Lithic Sourcing

Archeologists guide to toolstone sources.

Pitkin

Distribution:

 

 

A highly lustrous, fine-grained, dark black or dark grey chert. Can have faint banding. Calcite crystal inclusions are often visible under strong light or with a hand lens. Sometimes has small fossil inclusions but not easily visible in dark colored chert.

Pitkin artifacts from Arkansas.

Upper Mississippian - Chesterian. The Pitkin Formation lies above the Fayetteville Formation and upper Fayetteville formation chert is nearly indistinguishable from Pitkin. The source of Pitkin Chert is along the edge of the Ozark Plateau.

Contact:

Diana Rose Angelo, M.A., R.P.A.

E-mail: lithicsourcing@yahoo.com

Description:

Electronic Links:

Geologic Time and Context:

Geographic Location Map:

Archeological Site Locations:

Photos:

Bibliography:

Dickson, Don R. 1991. The Albertson Site: A Deeply and Clearly Stratified Ozark Bluff Shelter. Research Series No. 41. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

 

Ray, Jack H. 2007. Ozarks Chipped Stone Resources: A Guide to the Identification, Distribution, and Prehistoric Use of Cherts and Other Siliceous Raw Materials.  Missouri Archeological Society, Springfield, Missouri.