Named stone
Camden chert
Also called Camden novaculitic chert, Camden Formation chert
A kind of chert (and flint)
Camden chertChert (and flint)SoutheastDescription
Camden chert is a light, novaculite-like chert named for the Devonian Camden Formation of western Tennessee, where it forms beds with soft tripolitic clay. The name is also used in Alabama for a similar chert that makes up much of the Tuscaloosa Formation gravels. Colours run white, yellow, olive-yellow, tan, light gray and gray-blue, with mottling, plus vugs or quartz in patches and streaks that make it harder to flake. Heating deepens the colours to pink, orange and red and reduces the breakage those flaws cause. Small pieces are hard to tell from Tuscaloosa gravel chert, and Parish and Durham describe the Tennessee stone as a medium-grained white chert with opaque inclusions.
How to identify it
- Colour
- White, yellow, olive-yellow, tan, light gray and gray-blue (Barry, quoting Skrivan and King 1983); white in Tennessee (Parish and Durham).
- Texture
- Medium grained in Tennessee (Parish and Durham); grain very like Tuscaloosa gravel but finer, and improved by heating (Barry).
- Inclusions
- Vugs or quartz in patches or streaks, plus color mottling; opaque inclusions in the Tennessee stone.
- Heat treatment
- Heated Camden resembles heated Tuscaloosa gravel: colours become white to pink, orange, dark gray, gray-pinkish-red or brilliant orange-red, with mottling more obvious, and flaking improves because vugs and inclusions no longer cause severe breaks (Barry).
Geology
The Camden Formation (Devonian) is light-gray novaculitic chert and tripolitic clay, with minor siliceous limestone, 0 to about 100 feet thick, in western Tennessee (USGS state geologic map). Camden cherts form a larger share of the Cretaceous Tuscaloosa Formation gravels than Tuscaloosa 'gravel' proper, and are found in local riverbeds and streams.
Where it comes from
Southeast
Quarries and outcrops
- Camden Formation outcrops just west of the Central Basin, Tennessee
- Tuscaloosa Formation gravels, western Alabama (Black Warrior River area)
Look-alikes
Stones that are easy to confuse with Camden chert.
- Tuscaloosa gravel chert (red, yellow, tan; fewer vugs and little mottling)
- Chalcedony or 'jasper' of the Gulf Coastal Plain gravels (the plan notes Camden is often mistaken for jasper)
Sources
- Barry, Steven Edward. 2004. Lithic Raw Materials and Chipped Stone Tools: A Comparison of Two Sites in the Moundville Chiefdom. M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.rla.unc.edu (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Geological Survey. State Geologic Map Compilation: Devonian Formations (Pegram, Camden, Harriman, Flat Gap, Ross), Tennessee (TND;2).mrdata.usgs.gov (opens in a new tab)
- Parish, Ryan M., and Ellis Durham. 2018. KRF look-a-likes in Tennessee. 30 Days of Tennessee Archaeology, Day 22. Tennessee Council for Professional Archaeology (blog).tennesseearchaeologycouncil.wordpress.com (opens in a new tab)