Flint Hill

Very cool Mel! So, you say it appears they didn't heat treat their material before knapping.. is there tell tale signs like color change or something? Have you found other things like pottery shards and beads around the area?

Brian: There is evidence of some of the flint at the quarry site being heat treated. The color of both the flint and the cortex ( nodule exterior) do change. The flint appears, to me, to be slightly less glassy after heat treating too. However, I've found a lot of partial points now and a goodly number of the points are mostly nice translucent rootbeer colored flint which does not appear to be heat treated. Don't have a clue how they pressure flaked that stuff. Must have had really strong hands and even stronger tools. Or maybe they formed the points primarily by percussion and only finished the edges by pressure flaking. Some of the hill was burnt over when the previous owner cleared the cedar and at one of our members suggestion ( agatemaggot/Harley) I dug down a bit in the pits and I think I've found some really nice heat treated flint from below the layer destroyed by the burning. I've very excited to try to knap some of that and see how it works up.

Artifacts other than flint tools seem extremely rare here. Texas Diggers website pictures a few gorgets and occasional pottery shards but they are rare here just like they were back in California. Think their bowls and such were probably wood or basketry ......Mel