THE PLATFORM-a publication of the Minnesota Knappers Guild-
THE PLATFORM
-a publication of the Minnesota Knappers Guild-
Editor: Gene Altiere
712 Medical Arts Building
Duluth, MN 55802
Val Waldorf sent us a flyer announcing the 1994 CALIFORNIA KNAP-IN. Apparently the flyer got to Val too late to make the most recent issue of "CHIPS", so Val asked if we would announce it. This is the 10th Anniversary Knap-in for the California group and will be held on April 16-17, 1994. This announcement is going to be going out somewhat late also and the flyer didn't have a phone number to call, sorry.
GOOD NEWS! Contrary to recent mailings, the "Flint Knapper's Exchange" is NOT dead. None other than Charlie Spears has agreed to become the new editor and has already sent out his first edition.
| 1. Cedar Valley Chert | 11. Maquoketa Chert |
| 2. Galena Chert | 12. Prairie du Chien Chert (Oneota variety) |
| 3. Grand Meadow Chert | 13. Prairie du Chien Chert (Shakopee variety) |
| 4. Gunflint Silica | 14.RecrystallizedRhyolite (Lake of the Woods Rhyolite) |
| 5. Hudson's Bay Lowland Chert | 15. Red River Chert |
| 6. Jaspilite | 16. Sioux Quartzite |
| 7. Kakebeca Chert | 17. Swan River Chert |
| 8. Knife Lake Siltstone | 18. Taconite Jasper |
| 9. Lake Superior Agate | l9.Tongue River Silica (Silicified Sediment) |
| 10. Lake of the Woods Chert | 20. Vein Quartz (Bull Quartz, Milk Quartz) |
Dear 1993 Misiano Site Volunteer:
Thanks for your help this past year and your contribution to making it a successful one. The entire summer was much the same as the time you spent with us...wet, cold and buggy!! Does this sound familiar? Well, if you were '92' volunteer, I started the letter last year with the same sentences!! The only difference was that this summer wasn't colder that 1992 (that's according to the weather folks, if you believe them!!), but it was a heck-of-a-lot buggier. I told the 1989 through 1991 volunteers that the hot and dry weather they were experiencing was not a typical Minnesota summer. I might have been wrong....I guess that after living here for fifteen years, there is nothing "typical" about Minnesota's weather!
We did get all of the materials washed and cataloged during the two weeks the students were in the lab. They worked like a bunch of beavers. I must get more intimidating as I get older!! Better that 90% of the lithics are Knife Lake Siltstone, which I believe adds support to our interpretation of site function,
As luck would have it, in Misiano "Main" (Area A), the materials and firehearths continued to a depth of better than 70 cm below the surface in some units. An interesting thing about the firehearths is that only one produced burnt animal bone...If one produced, why not all?? The soil samples from the fire pits are currently being processed for macrofossils (seeds) by Seppo Valppu (another MKG member - Ed.) from UMD's Archaeometry Lab.
On the other hand, "the Projects" (Area B) and "Lakeside Estates" (Area C) "maxed out" at around 40 cm. This leads me to believe that our interpretation of the melting of the buried "ice wedges" and the silting in of the low surface areas was correct. In any case, we did finish the three areas this year....much to our amazement!!
In order to put the results from this year into perspective, I'm going to include portions of my letter to the volunteers from 1992 (marked in bold print - Ed.). I think that this may be informative as to seeing how additional archaeological data changes the interpretation of a site.
1992 - While we didn't get very deep in this area (Area C), it has produced "tons" of flakes, (mostly Siltstone) a broken biface, a graver, a scraper, several cores and utilized flakes. Burnt bone from a juvenile Ungulate (moose, deer, or hopefully caribou) was also recovered. This is important, to me at least, because it established the season of occupation as late spring or early summer, at least for one group of site occupants. Something good was bound to happen this summer!!
From the 1992 and 1993 results, it's apparent they were producing something out of siltstone, and a lot of "somethings"! My initial thought in 1992 was bifaces or "preforms"! This is a bifacially flaked knife-like piece from which spear or dart points were made at a later date, and usually at someplace else. However, in 1993, in addition to recovering the tip portion of the siltstone biface found in 1992, we also recovered two trihedral adzes, one broken during manufacture and the other discarded because of the poor quality of the material. These are tools for "heavy duty" woodworking! We also recovered the base of a late Paleoindian dart point made out of jasper taconite. I believe this was discarded as a broken tool, and possibly replaced with a siltstone point made at the site. As for the 1992 ungulate, no fire hearths or diagnostic tools were found which could suggest association with a group or time period. While I think this relatively recent, because of its' lack of depth, it remains and enigma without associated context!!
1992 - In addition, we encountered portions of some rock concentrations which we initially interpreted as possible structures (houses?). After some reflection, I doubt that this is the case in view of the large oval rock patterns we encountered during the final weeks of work in "Main". These patterns more reflect house outlines which would appear on the tundra barrens during the early PaleoIndian period up here. While I'm really not sure that these rock patterns indicate houses, tbe size of the -rocks and uniform distance between them suggest that the alignments are not natural. We took soil samples from within and outside the rock alignments in order to see if there were acidic differences in the soil. In addition to the patterns, the hearth features in "Main" appear to be inside of the possible structures and are off-set to the north side of the structures. I guess that a pattern means something, and a pattern is a pattern!!
My statement from last year is true...."a pattern is a pattern!" Unfortunately, there were no discernible pH differences in the soil samples taken from within and outside the rock patterns in 1992, which suggests these are not houses. If these were houses, the pH from inside would have been less acidic. The question is, what do these rock patterns represent....If not houses, what?? Still got your attention?? Stay tuned....More on this later!! (this is a good place to interrupt Dr. Peters' letter. We'll print more in the next issue. -Ed.)
There is a certain mystique about Gunflint Silica as an archaeology knapping stone. A good part of this mystique arises from the fact that its origin has been thought to be hidden away in the remote areas in extreme northeastern Minnesota and adjoining Canada. Although it has been believed to be associated only with the Gunflint Iron Formation, its actual quarry source appears to be mainly undocumented. The Gunflint Formation was so remotely isolated that geologists once believed it was a separate formation from the Mesabi. However, it is now generally agreed the Gunflint Formation is actually a northeastern extension of the Biwabik Iron Formation of the Mesabi Iron Range, separated and distanced by about 50 miles of flows of anorthosite and related rocks of the Duluth Complex. Adding to the mystique is the fact that it is poorly recognized, or even unknown, to many archaeologists. Because it is a regional stone tool source, even fewer out-of-state investigators are familiar with it even though it is the material of many very diagnostic artifacts. Further adding to the confusion, Gunflint Silica itself is an extremely variable material which is also related to and integrates with several other geologically contemporary lithic materials used by indigenous man.
Fundamental to attempting to understand these 1.8 billion year old Animikie rocks is at least a superficial knowledge of their geology, petrology, mineralogy and the metamorphic changes. According to Hayatsu, et al, (1983), "The Precambrian sequence in the Lake Superior region is divided into lower (Pokegama Quartzite), middle (Amimikie), and upper (Virginia and Rove Slate) groups (Goldich et al. 1961). The Gunflint Iron Formation -----is part of the middle Precambrian Animikie Group, which also includes the Biwabik Iron Formation found on the Mesabi iron range in northeastern Minnesota. The Gunflint Iron Formation is the northeastern extension of the Biwabik Iron formation of the Mesabi iron range, which is the largest source of iron ore in the United States. The Gunflint, however, has never produced iron ore, but its geology has been intensively studied because of good exposures, slight deformation, and minor alteration. As such, it is a prototype of all of the more altered and deformed sediments found on the other iron ranges (Morey, 1973)."
The main Animikie rocks are Gunflint Silica, Jasper Taconite and Kakabeca Chert. These resistant "taconite" rocks were formed in the East Mesabi and Gunflint Ranges and were variably altered by the heat of the flows of molten gabbro. I have always been inquisitive concerning the bodies or fragments of bodies seen dispersed internally in these Animikie rocks. These bodies were also subject to much attention by early authors investigating the Mesabi and Gunflint Ranges. They have been variously called granules, pelloids, concretions and oolites, with little agreement.
"Taconite", (a geologic misnomer) according to Gruner, 1946, is a good term because of its longevity of use in describing all the types of rock in the iron formation, "a rock which usually has a peculiar granular texture and consists of chert, iron silicates, iron oxides and carbonates."
Gruner's publication contains illustration of tiny irregular globs called "granules", which he implies "suggest" or "may be" of organic origin. He also displays photographs of "Hematite oolites or concretions in chert matrix". He further states "Any mineral of the taconite may be in granular form or may be the matrix to granules of another mineral."
White, 1954, observes "granules are rarely greater than 1 mm. in diameter although aggregates may make larger blobs. Some granules have cracks filled with the material of the matrix and a few have small "tails" or appendages. Granules have no regular internal structure, but some taconite contains rounded bodies that are true oolites, having concentric layers of Jasper or hematite around a quartz or iron oxide core." He goes on to say "Oolites are far less abundant than the structureless granular taconite---". In addition to "granular" taconite, White describes "slatey" taconite where microscopic grains of magnetite are randomly dispersed and not in granules.
In Bulletin 43, The Geology of the Metamorphosed Biwabik Iron Formation, Eastern Mesabi District, Minnesota, written by Gundersen and Schwartz, 1962, it is thought the original iron range, high silica, sedimentary material was made up of fine grained chert and granular magnetite. This rock type was the precursor of not only Gunflint Silica, but also other related rock types such as Jasper Taconite and Kakabeca Chert. The bulletin contains many microphotographs of thin sections displaying numerous smooth margined, irregularly shaped, dark bodies and their lighter surrounding matrix. The photographs portray some metamorphic recrystallizing of the original rock. The granular bodies which have persisted in present day rock specimens are referred to as "relic granular structures". According to the authors, these relic granules "--were probably precipitated flocs of chemical origin, somewhat resembling silica gel, that were subsequently congealed, rolled, and well-sorted on the ocean floor to produce the obvious clastic fabrics that the granules and their fragments produce". These granular structures: "consisted mainly of variable amounts of iron oxide (magnetite) and SiO and possibly trace amounts of magnesium and aluminum." They go on to say: "The granules and lamellae that are preserved as relics indicate these small-scale structures or portions of the iron formation once varied in composition from nearly pure chert to nearly pure chert to nearly pure magnetite" They further state: "Although the granules were apparently of chemical origin, they were undoubtedly transported, sorted, broken, packed together, and generally acted upon by normal transportation agencies prior to final deposition. This mixing, along with an inherent variability of initial composition dependent upon the lithotope in which the granule first grew, easily explains the compositional variation among the adjacent granules as well as the matrix which encloses them."
It appears these aggregates of tiny magnetite particles forming a granular structure either persisted as "relic granules" or were broken up in micron sized "dusty" (I have used the term "ground pepper") particles which were then randomly dispersed and "frozen" in a translucent or transparent surrounding matrix. It would appear to this writer, Gunflint Silica contains mostly the "dusty" form of iron oxide, Jasper Taconite the "relic granular structures", and Kakabeca tiny acicular (needle shaped) forms which are arranged parallel to one another as well as to the characteristic banding.
It is important to note that in the above mentioned Bulletin, the term "oolite" was not used. The rounded inclusions in Jasper Taconite, for example, have been incorrectly, in my opinion, referred to as oolites by some archaeologists. Oolites are "--tiny balls produced by CaCo3 accumulating on particles rolled around in gentle currents in warm, shallow seas." (The Field Guide to Geology, David Lambert and the Diagram Group, 1988). We are, of course, familiar with Oolitic Chert, a mass of oolites which have been silica-permeated and silica-cemented. Gruner forthrightly stated his oolites "do not have clastic grains for centers." Be also refers to "hematite oolites or concretions", not deciding on one or the other. As an interested amateur, I have never seen an iron range specimen that resembles other Minnesota oolitic cherts. Even in modern day geography books such as Ojakangas and Matsch, the text refers to "oolites" in the Biwabik Formation, but in describing their photograph they refer to "layered, rounded grains". The layering to me is highly questionable at best, the grains are not round, they are not concentrically layered, nor do they have central nuclei. It appears the confusion persists. In a recent article by a Canadian group investigating methods for ascertaining heat treating, Jasper Taconite inclusions are referred to as "ellipsoidal pelloids (sic)". My geology books state peloids "are spherical, elongate or angular grains composed of micrite". (Micrite is a microcrystalline calcite) "Many peloids are fecal pellets or coprolites of sea creatures. Others are often of undetermined origin." In the petrology section of the article the statement is made "the pelloids may represent original oolites". I must be missing the difference between "pelloids" and "peloids"!
Another fine publication is "THE FLINTKNAPPER'S EXCHANGE". Charles Spear has just taken over as editor from Jeff Behrnes. If you've ever read any of Charlie's articles in "CHIPS" or previous editions of "FKE" you know he'll do a good job. "FKE" is printed 6 times a year, $12.00/yr. Send checks to 278 West Eighth St. Peru, IN 46970
FOR MORE INFORMATION: JIM REGAN (612) 462-5568