Idea for new forum page

[wiseshanks]

I just recently had a problem that gave me a pretty good idea. It had to do with materials. I told someone the wrong lithic type and had to be corrected. I keep all of the flakes I find for material reference. I think that we need to have an entire forum page devoted to lithics. Kind of the same setup that we have for the typology page. For example, I would title a thread "Reed Springs." In the thread I would show samples, list where the material originates, and give as much info about it as possible. Lithics are tough to learn for people, myself especially. I think if members on the site, from all over the country, post examples of their local lithics, we could have a great online reference here. Overstreet is great if you need to reference a point type. Not so much for materials. Black and white photos just don't cut it. Maybe some of you guys already have some books or other references but I think for the general population on here, this would be a great addition.

[marksimerson]

I think that is a great Idea! I got Bayport chert from Michigan....not very pretty!

[wiseshanks]

Lithics give people a lot of trouble and since we have members from all over the country on here, we could get a very comprehensive list really quick. There are a lot of variants of lithics too so numerous members in one area like say here in OK could add good close up pics of the same material to display those variations.

[RedHawk_ArtifactHunter]

that would be wonderful. I could use that! Im terrible with material types

[Buckeye]

Excellent idea,

I second (or third) the motion!

[neralich]

I like the idea as well. I'm LOST when it comes to flint types other than burlington/crescent, rhyolite from my local area. I think it was Uniface that posted a thread on flint types recently, but it only had one sample of each type and while is a nice resource, It was very limited in info/pics and left me with more Q's than answers.

[oklasodak]

Awesome idea wiseshanks! I would love to have an online reference like that. One possible improvement to the idea would be to categorize by state or region (maybe a map of the country with lithic region icons). I mention this because if I had a piece from a material I didn't recognize, how would I be able to start my search (i.e. I wouldn't know to search for Reed Springs if I didn't know what it was to begin with.

Anywho, Awesome Idea For Sure!!!!!! Hope they make it happen!!!!!!

[wiseshanks]

Originally Posted by oklasodak

Awesome idea wiseshanks! I would love to have an online reference like that. One possible improvement to the idea would be to categorize by state or region (maybe a map of the country with lithic region icons). I mention this because if I had a piece from a material I didn't recognize, how would I be able to start my search (i.e. I wouldn't know to search for Reed Springs if I didn't know what it was to begin with.

Anywho, Awesome Idea For Sure!!!!!! Hope they make it happen!!!!!!

Something like that would help. That happens a lot with paleo pieces. A Clovis in Oklahoma might be of a material from Colorado.

[comanche]

Lithic scatter is so very important in understanding exactly what we are looking at.Esp. when it comes to Paleo artifacts///c

[Scotto]

Great idea!