Not Hixton after all

[George Looney]

Matt Rowe "Neanderthal" solved a more than 20 year mystery,Greg Perino called this material Hixton, This point was found in north west Ark near Mountainburg back in the 50's. all these years it was a mystery how it got all the way from Wi to north Ark,,Matt solved that mystery,,It's not Hixton,,,,it's a silicified sandstone from here in the ozarks that happened to be honey tan color. Matt used a scope at the show to determine the difference between the two. The man is Magic,,I owe him a bottle of wine.the good stuff,,the kind you can pour on pancakes,, I hope he will chime in and explain how he did this,, thanks buddy

[Neanderthal]

From first appearances, Hixton can really mimic quartz found in other areas. Magnification will usually tell-the-tale though, it's completely different. Hixton is an aggregate of silicified sandstone particles cemented in an opalescent -chalcedony matrix. In other words, it looks closer to tapioca pudding under a microscope than quartzite.

George, I'm more of a "box of the cheap stuff" kinda wine-guy. HA!

[George Looney]

Thanks Matt,,the Tapioca pudding appearance really helps.I gotta dig out my Hixton flakes now and study the difference.

Originally Posted by Neanderthal

From first appearances, Hixton can really mimic quartz found in other areas. Magnification will usually tell-the-tale though, it's completely different. Hixton is an aggregate of silicified sandstone particles cemented in an opalescent -chalcedony matrix. In other words, it looks closer to tapioca pudding under a microscope than quartzite.

George, I'm more of a "box of the cheap stuff" kinda wine-guy. HA!

[Wichita]

I have a few points of the same material. Always called it sugar quartz...

[pointdlr]

George/Matt,

Thanks for the info. That might solve a mystery I ran into from a Southern Missouri collection. There was a point that looked to me like Hixton, but it was colored olive green. Have you seen silicified sandstone in an olive green coloration?

Thanks,
Jon.

[Indianasmith]

We have a yellowish quartzite in NE Texas that can look a lot like Hixton too. Kinda glad to have that cleared up; I always wondered why we were finding Wisconsin lithics down here!

[George Looney]

No green Jon,,,have seen yellow and orange, no olive green tho,,could it have been an algae stain on a white rock ??

Originally Posted by pointdlr

George/Matt,

Thanks for the info. That might solve a mystery I ran into from a Southern Missouri collection. There was a point that looked to me like Hixton, but it was colored olive green. Have you seen silicified sandstone in an olive green coloration?

Thanks,
Jon.

[Neanderthal]

Jon, I have seen both (Hixton and quartzite) in a multitude of colors.

[knappingprodogy]

Crowley's Ridge in Arkansas has a layer of Quartzite in it and that is most likely where that bit of quartzite came from. The quartzite I have found in central Missouri is not as well sorted, meaning that the individual sand grains in the matrix are many different sizes and they are not cemented as well.

[George Looney]

Thanks Knappingprodogy,,,,see you at Water Creek.