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Paleo flint sources, New York State

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Dane:
Hi, this is probably the first time I have written in this forum, but I hope someone can help.

Does anyone happen to know the location of flint in the Northeast? I was looking at a book, and it stated that there were three main paleo flint sources in Little Falls, Mohaw River, NY, Coxackie, Hudson River, NY, and Catskill, Hudson River, NY. All there locations are fairly close to me, and actual campsites are only a few miles from me, in Deerfield, Monatgue, and Chicopee, Massachusetts.

If not the actual sites, anyone sell flint or other type of knapping stone that would have been used in Paleo times in North America?

Thanks much,

Dane

Otoe Bow:
Hey Dane:  I've never been to NY, but the best places to look for flint or other knappable material is to go to a creek or river bed.  Look for rock that either has a concrete outer covering and has a glass bottle type "ring" sound to it when you strike it with a rock or bone or has a shiny outer surface, (nature has broke the rock up and hence the lack of the outer concrete).  Road cuts are also a good place to find rock that is readily exposed.  If it knapps, there is a good bet that paleo folk used it in some fashion or other.  Rock hunting is now one of my favorite things to look for when I'm out stomping around. 

If you want to buy some rock, Missouri Trading Company sells some good stuff.  Most is local to the Ozarks, but some of it is probably more common than to just that area.  If you want to try "cheap" stuff to get started, glass bottle bottoms, porcelain toilet tanks or other types of glass all are good free learning material.   

 

Dane:
Thanks, Otoe Bow. It is not exactly just for my own personal purposes, but also for a larger project I hope to get off the ground. Part of what I want to do at the club I'm with now is to create a primitive skills and life program, and it will focus on Paelo through early colonial periods in this part of New England. That includes making tools from known local sources of stone - even if conjecture, the closer I can get to stone sources used by peoples of this area of Western Mass, all the better.

Ideally, I want to build a small settlement or camp, and that means eventually making stone tools to create the village.

Dane

Hillbilly:
Dane, NY has Normanskill chert and Onandaga chert. Try googling those cherts or formations, should narrow your search a bit.

Dane:
Thanks, Hillbilly. I will do that next week. BTW, any ideas about knappable rock in Western MA?

Dane

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