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Named stone

Attica chert

Also called Wabash Green, Independence chert

A kind of chert (and flint)

Attica chertChert (and flint)Midwest/Ohio Valley

Description

Attica chert is the blue-green chert of the middle Wabash valley in west-central Indiana, named for the town of Attica and outcropping west of Lafayette and along Sugar Creek. It belongs to the Muldraugh Formation of the Mississippian Borden Group. Fresh stone is blue-green with blue-gray streaks, bands and mottles; heating turns it purple with pinkish bands. Texture runs from fairly fine to medium-coarse and the luster is dull to slightly glossy. Fossils are rare apart from tiny sponge spicules, and some pieces have crystal-lined pockets. Internal stress cracks can make it break unpredictably and leave brittle edges, though nearly flawless pieces exist. Paleoindian and Early Archaic people in the middle Wabash seem to have favoured it for points, and it stayed in use through the Archaic, with less use in the Woodland and a rebound in the Late Woodland.

How to identify it

Colour
Blue-green with blue-gray streaks, bands and mottles (Cantin 2008, as summarized by Ball State AAL).
Texture
Variable, from fine-medium to medium-coarse.
Luster
Usually dull to slightly glossy.
Inclusions
Fossils rare except microscopic sponge spicules; crystalline vugs occur.
Heat treatment
Turns purple with pinkish bands and streaks when heated (Cantin 2008:12, via Ball State AAL). Heat-treated and heat-damaged Attica pieces are reported from Indiana surveys.

Geology

Muldraugh Formation, Borden Group, Mississippian. It can fracture irregularly because of internal stress fractures.

Where it comes from

Midwest/Ohio Valley

States

Quarries and outcrops

  • Attica area, west of Lafayette, middle Wabash valley
  • Sugar Creek outcrops (listed as Attica/Sugar Creek with Boone and Warren counties)
  • Outcrops about 10 km northeast and 50 km northwest of Calvert and Porter Woods, Montgomery County

Used by

  • Paleoindian and Early Archaic: preferred for projectile points in the middle Wabash valley (Moore 2024, citing Moore 2008)
  • Used regularly through the Archaic, less in the Woodland, picking up again in the Late Woodland (Wathen and others 2023, citing Cantin 2008 and Moore 2008)
  • Late Precontact (Oneota, Taylor Village site, Hamilton County): about 30 percent of triangular points were Attica chert, carried 50+ km (Baltz 2010/2011, citing Cochran 2002)

Sources

  1. Leeuwrik, Jamie M., Christine Thompson, Shelbi Long, Kevin C. Nolan and Erin Steinwachs. 2015. An Archaeological Survey of Newton County: Enhancement of a Data Deficient Region. Reports of Investigation 88, Vol. 1. Applied Anthropology Laboratories, Ball State University.bsu.edu (opens in a new tab)
  2. Wathen, Kelli, Christine Thompson and Kevin C. Nolan. 2023. An Archaeological Investigation of the Calvert and Porter Woods Nature Preserve, Montgomery County, Indiana. Indiana Archaeology 16(1):26-44. Indiana DNR Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.in.gov (opens in a new tab)
  3. Moore, Christopher R. 2024. The Archaeological Significance of Prophetstown State Park. Indiana Archaeology 17(1):6-38. Indiana DNR Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.in.gov (opens in a new tab)
  4. Baltz, Christopher J. 2010/2011. Site 12De772: An Oliver Phase Occupation in the Upper East Fork White River Drainage. Indiana Archaeology 5(2):50-73. Indiana DNR Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology.in.gov (opens in a new tab)

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