Savannah River Agates found near Girard, Georgia!

[Beardenr]

Thanks.
I watched the same video. That’s How I found out about it. He also has videos on Graves Mountain and JXR. Thanks for the info.

 

[NCHillbilly]

The Hillsboro point in the middle I knapped from some of that Savannah River agate. Sorry for the crappy pic, I'm too lazy to take it out of the frame.

 

[Artfuldodger]

I see the name Dalton point come up a lot. One from Daugherty County, Ga. among these pictures. It says they had a dual purpose or maybe even more than that.
What or how were they attached and to what? I see where many points were spears and thrown darts. I've been guilty of calling points arrowheads when most finding may not be arrowheads at all.

Those Briar Creek site findings mentioned Dalton Points. Here is a link to more examples;
http://www.projectilepoints.net/Points/Dalton.html

 

[NCHillbilly]

I see the name Dalton point come up a lot. One from Daugherty County, Ga. among these pictures. It says they had a dual purpose or maybe even more than that.
What or how were they attached and to what? I see where many points were spears and thrown darts. I've been guilty of calling points arrowheads when most finding may not be arrowheads at all.

Those Briar Creek site findings mentioned Dalton Points. Here is a link to more examples;
http://www.projectilepoints.net/Points/Dalton.html

Dalton points are really old. Transitional Paleo. Dalton points were likely atlatl dart points and knives. In the southeast, the Dalton culture apparently gradually morphed into the Hardaway culture, then the Palmer and Kirk over time.
And yeah, probably 90% of points found here aren't arrowheads. The bow and arrow didn't arrive in the southeast until around 1000 BC, about the same time that ceramic pottery and maize agriculture showed up. The Dalton culture was roughly around 9,000-10,000 years ago. Most true arrowheads are Woodland and Mississippian small triangles and stemmed points.

 

[Beardenr]

Here are some of the haul from today. All of these came from river road. The pinkish one was from the middle of the road. I would have liked a bigger piece, but only had my geologists pick with me. They had likely just scraped the road as there were only two other sets of tire marks on the road.

 

[NCHillbilly]

That is some tough knapping material without heat-treating.

 

[Artfuldodger]

That is some tough knapping material without heat-treating.

I think I read where they probably heated most of it before knapping. I guess it was such a prized area because it's maybe scarce in these parts.
Once heat-treated does any chert, flint, or whatever make better points or is the heat-treating just to make knapping easier?

 

[Artfuldodger]

Here are some of the haul from today. All of these came from river road. The pinkish one was from the middle of the road. I would have liked a bigger piece, but only had my geologists pick with me. They had likely just scraped the road as there were only two other sets of tire marks on the road.

Great finds, did ya'll go anywhere else on this trip? Did you look before the creek or up the hill on the other side?
Here is a few more of ours;

 

[Artfuldodger]

Here are some of the haul from today. All of these came from river road. The pinkish one was from the middle of the road. I would have liked a bigger piece, but only had my geologists pick with me. They had likely just scraped the road as there were only two other sets of tire marks on the road.

Here is some stuff a lady found yesterday in Summerville at Patty Construction. She said you can only go on Sunday when the quarry is not being worked and you can just show up. I'd probably still call before I drove that far from Augusta.
Another area I saw a few quartz pieces was from Forest Service road 231 in an area called "The Pocket & John's Mountain near Calhoun and Lafayette, Ga.

 

[Nicodemus]

Here is some stuff a lady found yesterday in Summerville at Patty Construction. She said you can only go on Sunday when the quarry is not being worked and you can just show up. I'd probably still call before I drove that far from Augusta.
Another area I saw a few quartz pieces was from Forest Service road 231 in an area called "The Pocket & John's Mountain near Calhoun and Lafayette, Ga.

Looks real similar to the stuff that is found around here.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I think I read where they probably heated most of it before knapping. I guess it was such a prized area because it's maybe scarce in these parts.
Once heat-treated does any chert, flint, or whatever make better points or is the heat-treating just to make knapping easier?

It makes the knapping process easier.

 

[Artfuldodger]

Looks real similar to the stuff that is found around here.

I've read where others have said that. I wonder what the geological connection is? Isn't there a lot of chert/flint in your area? Maybe it's related to the limestone of an ancient coastline.
One area I also saw some nice Chert was in the Ocmulgee at Lumber City and a lot of points and other artifacts in a little shop in Workmore.

 

[Nicodemus]

I've read where others have said that. I wonder what the geological connection is? Isn't there a lot of chert/flint in your area? Maybe it's related to the limestone of an ancient coastline.
One area I also saw some nice Chert was in the Ocmulgee at Lumber City and a lot of points and other artifacts in a little shop in Workmore.

There is a tremendous amount of chert here. Coastal Plains chert, and over around Hilton, there`s some stuff us locals call "blue ice". You could probably cut diamonds with blue ice. It`s that hard. All of the shoals in the river and creeks is limestone and chert. I know of four major quarry sites where Indians mined and gathered it, and there`s a lot more that I don`t know about. Most of the points and artifacts I found on the homeplace 10 miles north of Lumber City were of Coastal Plains material.

 

[Phish242]

This is mostly chert but some of it is pretty translucent. Can also find coral, shells, fossils, shark's teeth and Native American artifacts.
I've only gone once and that was last week. You have to stay in the road bed, banks, and ditches. All holes dug must be filled back in.

So glad you posted this because this is new stuff to me . As we rockhounds are I am always looking and just never know where that may take me . I have been going to my dads hunt club in Burke for over 15 years and I have never found anything but small oblong rocks I call potatoe rocks and I don’t bother with them . Well my luck has changed now that I actually hunt and last week I learned I had been missing out on some incredible stuff. It all started when my four wheeler over heated coming back from my morning hunt and I decided to look around while I wait . I immediately started finding chert and broken artifacts everywhere- it was like picking up shells at the beach . I was delighted and walked the dirt road for hours before I got my self back to camp . I could not believe my finds and that’s when I did my google search . Wow is all I can say because I found so much information and it’s so interesting . I have zero experience with fossils and I am curious what I should look for in materials from this area . Can’t wait to go back this weekend and explore some more . I am typically on the little ohoopee at our hunt club and my finds are so different there . Can’t wait to learn more about how the two areas were connected and anything you have to share would be awesome

 

[Artfuldodger]

So glad you posted this because this is new stuff to me . As we rockhounds are I am always looking and just never know where that may take me . I have been going to my dads hunt club in Burke for over 15 years and I have never found anything but small oblong rocks I call potatoe rocks and I don’t bother with them . Well my luck has changed now that I actually hunt and last week I learned I had been missing out on some incredible stuff. It all started when my four wheeler over heated coming back from my morning hunt and I decided to look around while I wait . I immediately started finding chert and broken artifacts everywhere- it was like picking up shells at the beach . I was delighted and walked the dirt road for hours before I got my self back to camp . I could not believe my finds and that’s when I did my google search . Wow is all I can say because I found so much information and it’s so interesting . I have zero experience with fossils and I am curious what I should look for in materials from this area . Can’t wait to go back this weekend and explore some more . I am typically on the little ohoopee at our hunt club and my finds are so different there . Can’t wait to learn more about how the two areas were connected and anything you have to share would be awesome

Did you see the driving direction in Post #20? At least that was where we were told to go.

 

[Artfuldodger]

There is a tremendous amount of chert here. Coastal Plains chert, and over around Hilton, there`s some stuff us locals call "blue ice". You could probably cut diamonds with blue ice. It`s that hard. All of the shoals in the river and creeks is limestone and chert. I know of four major quarry sites where Indians mined and gathered it, and there`s a lot more that I don`t know about. Most of the points and artifacts I found on the homeplace 10 miles north of Lumber City were of Coastal Plains material.

I saw some pictures of the blue chert someone sent to be that was found in Lumber City. They were in the river at low water on the highway from Hazlehurst, on the side where the Telfair Forest Products is. I do see a boat ramp down their between the highway and the railroad trestle. It was some pretty good size pieces too.
I don't have a picture of the bluer chert but here is one they showed me.

 

[Nicodemus]

I saw some pictures of the blue chert someone sent to be that was found in Lumber City. They were in the river at low water on the highway from Hazlehurst, on the side where the Telfair Forest Products is. I do see a boat ramp down their between the highway and the railroad trestle. It was some pretty good size pieces too.

The only rocks in the area where I grew up is on the Oconee a couple of miles north of where it runs into the Ocmulgee to form the Altamaha. That stretch is called Chaney`s Reach. We have some blue chert over in Early County that is a form of Coastal Plains chert. We call it Blue Ice. It`s harder than woodpecker lips and don`t even find many points or tools made from it. I made a gunflint from it for my rifle and I`ve used it for over 15 years now, with no resharpening.

I`ll also carry a scar on my thumb to the grave where a spall of it kissed me when I was knocking spalls of it off a parent stone that was bigger than the bed of a pickup truck.

 

[Nicodemus]

Here are some of the haul from today. All of these came from river road. The pinkish one was from the middle of the road. I would have liked a bigger piece, but only had my geologists pick with me. They had likely just scraped the road as there were only two other sets of tire marks on the road.

That looks a lot like Bay Branch chert.

 

[Artfuldodger]

The only rocks in the area where I grew up is on the Oconee a couple of miles north of where it runs into the Ocmulgee to form the Altamaha. That stretch is called Chaney`s Reach. We have some blue chert over in Early County that is a form of Coastal Plains chert. We call it Blue Ice. It`s harder than woodpecker lips and don`t even find many points or tools made from it. I made a gunflint from it for my rifle and I`ve used it for over 15 years now, with no resharpening.

I`ll also carry a scar on my thumb to the grave where a spall of it kissed me when I was knocking spalls of it off a parent stone that was bigger than the bed of a pickup truck.

Why don't you find many points made from it? Too hard to work or just destroyed by nature over time because it's so hard?

Wow, that was a pretty big piece.

 

[Nicodemus]

Why don't you find many points made from it? Too hard to work or just destroyed by nature over time because it's so hard?

Wow, that was a pretty big piece.

Because it`s so hard, I reckon. I did see a cache of five preforms a friend of mine found made of it. Plus, Southwest Georgia, the Panhandle, and Southeast Alabama is full of high quality knapping stone.