training your eye.....

[cgode]

here's a saying that the "new" guys to this hobby may have heard and if your like me you think...."what the heck does that mean?"
I have found out over time....it's lithic recognition as you hunt your particular area. If you can recognize what was used in your area for stone tool production it makes it easier to find them when confronted by a confusing array of rocks and debris while hunting......you basically "train" your eyes to find the appropriate material for closer examination.

Start with a little homework first, what is the materials used in your particular area of the country?.......try looking at collections from your area and pay attention to the actual types of lithic material that was used. This will include what materials are naturally occurring in your back yard as well as what "exotic" rock types that were "imported" through a trade system. The stuff I find here will not apply to other parts of the country but that's why it's up to you to do the homework. I would also take a look at member's photo galleries from your own neck of the woods to get an idea.

I hunt a salt water beach which makes for a very cluttered and confusing mess of things to look at when trying to spot that one point or tool hiding in the vast array of shells, rocks, glass, seaweed, crabs and tampon applicators among other things. Sure, sometimes they're just sitting on the cleanly washed over sand screaming "here I am" but more often than not, they're hiding in sea grasses or the high tide mark with a bazillion other things snuggled up to them and half covering them.

My main lithic material here is quartz. There are several types, clear or "crystal", rose, milky, smoky and a striated form that I'm unsure of the exact name. Not all have the same physical properties and some are very "crumbly" compared to others and as such would not be a good choice for stone tool production. Guess what, they didn't use those lesser quality rocks for tools as a general rule......you do occasionally find them but the natives had to be hard pressed to use it....so most of what your looking for is the higher quality rock....and we're here to "train" our eyes to it so we can scan the piles of other stuff with some accuracy......again, "training our eyes" to your local lithic materials used.

case and point: the majority of my quartz artifacts are milky quartz and the striated form....if I can recognize those my focus is immediately drawn to them and they will get a closer examination such as this killer point that was 80% hidden in the sand.....I pokes at it only because I recognized the material as being used frequently for points.....the point slid out of it's hiding spot revealing what it really was....it could have been very easily missed!


Here's anther one that was hiding....

The "exotic" materials imported are another material that immediately draws my attention.....but you need to do your homework for your area......
here's some flint that is not naturally found here....this is just a flake but grabbed my attention first due to the lithic material, second for the flake scars...

another one:



I think you guys get the idea...I know this is something that any collector that has been hunting for a while does automatically and without a thought, but I thought this post may help some of the newer guys to the hobby or at least give them something to think about........hope it helps someone!!
Happy hunting

[mbrown1833]

Thanks, Chris. Good read.

[arrow719]

Good post cgode! One mistake I have seen many new hunters make is they will hunt for color instead of shape. For instance, if you are in a area that is loaded with obsidian don't look for black. If you do you will miss all the stuff made from other different colored lithics.

[Bonehunter]

Thanx cgode, I'm very tempted to start copying all these hints and start a book (lol). My Dad used to tell me that when you are looking for info on a subject, the only bad information is no information unless it is outright wrong. That's why this websight is so valuable. If anyone starts spouting garbage, there are dozens of you guys to set things straight and fast! Now that I'm retired and can devote the time necessary, I hope to start accumulating the "inner gut instincts" to know exactly where to go and what to do to increase my chances.

And thanx again to all of you who contribute so much of this!

[Cluton]

Look for a button, then you'll see everything! Get the drift???

[Hoss]

Nice post Chris way to go man! Actually when I was five years lod my Dad would bring me to corn fields with my brother. At the edge of the field he would hand us both a paper bag and show us a piece of quartz and say go pick up all the white ones like this. Two weekends later he showed us flint and then Argillite then Jasper then Agate. After two years of just walking with him on weekends in the spring time I didn't know crap from school but I could name lithic materials from Western Connecticut like a geologist. LOL So I get the whole point of looking for material types first and that method was used with my own children.

[DesertWalker]

This is a great thread. It's hard to concentrate on what's there, especially if you have found a certain lithic or artifact. I was in areas yesterday where there were high numbers of chips and flakes of many different colors. After I found a white point, my mind kept looking for white points. I had to really concentrate to look for shape instead of a certain color.

[ghost recon]

Here's a pretty simple but really effective piece of advice that helps me alot...especially when hunting new areas or for quickly surveying a new spot. Instead of looking for and focusing on arrowhead shaped rocks look for material that looks exotic or stands out from the typical gravel or natural rocks in your area. You can cover alot of ground surface hunting this way. Good thread Chris.

[cgode]

Thanks guys, I know I got to the point where I would pass over certain types of materials and would be immediately drawn to others, even differentiating the different types of quartz for example. I started thinking how many hours of hunting had gone into fine tuning this technique and figured I'd post it to hopefully help someone else out along the way........like I had said though, there is homework to be done....

This is only one of many tips I've seen given here on this forum, good luck to all!!

[cgode]

Here ya go "JRJ".....
Here's another example I took a pic of after I had posted this, I recognized the material from about 5 feet away. It's an exotic material here, possibly from delaware valley, it's just another clue that I'm in an area that tool/point manufacturing was taking place.

a closer view........


And found that same day.....