some rock from bama

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

just posted bout my stave run in the "around the campfire",  and mentioned i also picked up some local bama rock that knapps good for what i can tell, i left my tools in montana but with a hammerstone it breaks really nicely.  seems to feel pretty waxy although i bet it would improve with a little heat.   lots of old flaking areas with pieces of arrowheads around and with the amount of red and peanut butter colored stone  i knew there had to be a good local source so i started keeping my eyes open and found these cobbles of tan\ peanut butter rock with some reddish highlights.....  any ideas as to what it is for sure?   its around Jasper and winfield Alabama outside of Birmingham...... by the name of the town one would assume it may be a jasper.....but i dont know...looks like the cobbles of texas chert but not nearly as hard and from my experience jasper is pretty tough rock....  any thoughts as to what it is?...just a local chert?  or is there an actual noted name for it?

[JustinNC]

Id turn it into gravel! Looks like a good haul.

[leapingbare]

I have no idea

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

if it turns out to be real good stuff, next year i am going to have to spend a whole afternoon hunting "cobbles" instead of "gobbles".   i love knapping obsidian and stuff like that, but i love finding this real, genuine, wild rock native to the hills...in the same fashion as the aboriginals did.   not saying obsidian isnt genuine,   if i could go find chunks of it on my own i would, there's just a world of different between picking up cobbles and knocking flakes off of them instead of ordering a priority box of someone elses quarried stone.... just makes me feel more of a primitive hunter when i discover it myself.... same goes for cutting my own staves

[cowboy]

Agate, Coastal plains? Dunno. Looks like what i pick up in the Brazos here. Nice haul!

[RidgeRunner]

Ryan:
I am no knapper but I recognize your rock.

It is a Quartzite Gravel.  It is sandstone that has been cemented together with silica.
The natives of west Alabama used it.  As I understand it heat will do wonders for it. 
Due to the iron in it heat will make it turn red.

There is tons of this stuff in West Alabama.
It is very much used as landscapping rock here.

David

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

that is great to know and that makes sense why most of the pieces and chips are red in color that we find in old indian settlments... great info thanks.   may have to do the the old build a fire and bed heat them.

[Bill Skinner]

I have heard that called several different names, Tennessee River chert, Buffalo River chert, and a bunch more.  It is part of the Ft Payne formation, it is a type of jasper.  The yellow does not normally change color but if it does, it turns a deep burgundy red.  Usually, the yellow is called Tennessee River chert and the red, blue and purple are called Buffalo River.  It is the same rock, it just comes from different areas.  Bill

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

perfect info....  i figured they may be tenn river chert.... but what do i know...  i hope to make some good hunting points with them this year