Lithic Resources of

Western Louisiana
Paul V. Heinrich
Consulting Geologist
ABSTRACT
A preliminary investigation of the lithic resources of
western Louisiana demonstrated the presence of six mate-
rials suitable as lithic resources that are native to this area.
They are silicified wood, Eagle flill Chert, gravel chert,
Fleming Gravel Chert, Fleming Opal and Catahoula
Sedimentary Quartzite. This paper describes the nature,
occurrence, distinguishing attributes and origin of each
material. The reported occurrence of limestone as a native
SUBMITTED NOV., 1984
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
lithic material was investigated. It was found not to be a na-
tive lithic resource within western Louisiana.
The occurrence oflithic resources is an important factor
in the study of the prehistory of Louisiana. Knowledge of
their occurrence and physical attributes aid greatly in the
study of prehistoric subsistence and settlement patterns.
Analysis of the distribution of different lithic materials at
sites may be used to study the procurement and utilization
of natural resources by prehistoric cultures and possibly
elucidate changes within a group's territory or trade rela-
tions. Before such studies can be done, a general knowl-
edge of the occurrence, nature, and distinguishing attri-
butes of native lithic materials must be developed.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the occurrence
and nature of native lithic materials within western
Louisiana. It presents a general overview of the nature, oc-
currence, origin, and distinguishing features of these lithic
materials.
TERMINOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION
This study uses the terminology of Ambuehl (1979:95-
98) and Knauth (1972: 16-24) for rocks composed of silica,
Si02. They defined "opal" as amorphous silica, which forms
the rock, opal, and the binding material in some
sandstones. By their definition, chert is a rock that consists
of one or more varieties of microcrystalline silica, quartz.
Their varieties of microcrystalline quartz are granular
microcrystalline quartz, fibrous quartz, and megaquartz.
The structure and diagnostic properties of these forms of
microcrystalline quartz were given by Ambuehl (1979:95-
97) and Knauth (1972: 17-23). As defined above, jasper,
novaculite, flint, chalcedony, and similar materials are
color and textural variations of chert.
For purposes of this report, mineralogy, textures, and re-
lict textures are used for the classification of lithic materials
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Lithic Resourses
composed of silica. Petrographic analysis of petrographic
thin sections may objectively and reproducibly determine
the exact mineralogy, texture, and relict texture of a lithic
material. As all cherts form by the replacement, cavity fil-
ling, or alteration of a preexisting material, the relict tex-
ture-the texture inherited from this preexisting replaced
or altered material-is important in determining origin and
usually the source of a chert. Finally, the petrographic anal-
ysis of lithic materials may correlate physical attributes
within a lithic material.
Unfortunately, the visual attributes possessed by a single
lithic material, particularly opals and cherts, may vary
greatly. Attributes such as color, diaphany, fracture, and
luster, may vary greatly within a lithic material. The varia-
tion results from minor differences in trace elements and
other minor constituents within a lithic material (e.g.,
McBride and Thomson 1970:45-60). In addition, attri-
butes such as luster, fracture, and color lacking Munsel no-
tations are subjective in nature. As a consequence, they
often vary according to the investigator describing them.
NATIVE LITHIC RESOURSES
Petrographic and visual examination of materials and ar-
tifacts from western Louisiana indicated the presence of
five lithic materials suitable for the manufacture of ar-
tifacts. They are silicified wood, Eagle Hill Chert, gravel
chert, Fleming Opal and Catahoula Sedimentary
Quartzite. A sixth material, a black gravel chert, occurs
within the Fleming Formation, but material for examina-
tion has been unobtainable. Although listed by others as a
native, utilized lithic material, prehistoric cultures failed to
use limestone to manufacture artifacts in western
Louisiana.
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
Silicified Wood
Tertiary strata containing petrified wood outcrop in
broad bands across western Louisiana. The petrified wood
that is usable as a lithic resource consists of wood replaced
by opal or chert. Hence, petrified wood used to manufac-
ture artifacts is more properly called "silicifed wood."
Depending on the degree of replacement by silica,
silicified wood may vary gready in its physical properties.
If it retains much of its original organic matter, it will pos-
sess a black to dark grey color and tend to fracture along
the original grain of the wood forming flat and curved frac-
tures. Wood permineralized almost entirely by silica will
form a hard material that will fracture with a suitable con-
choidal fracture. Its color, diaphany, luster, and other attri-
butes will depend upon the trace elements and minor con-
stituents that are incorporated into the silica matrix. The
relict structure of the silicified wood may be preserved to
various degrees or fail to be preserved during the silicifica-
tion process.
The variation in color, luster, diaphany, and other attri-
butes resulted from the variable amount of impurities in-
corporated into the silicified wood's opal or chert. These
impurities include iron oxides, organic matter, manganese
dioxides, authegenic clays, and various trace elements.
Within and between individual pieces of silicified wood
from the same strata, considerable variations in the
amounts of these impurities may occur. The variable prop-
ortions of these materials present within silicified woods re-
sulted from the localized and heterogeneous geochemical
environment in which silicification takes place (L. P.
Knauth personal communication 1981; Knauth 1972:44-
45; Leo 1975).
A diverse variety of species and genera of ancient trees
occur as silicified wood. The most distinctive of these fossil
woods is a type of silicified wood called "palm wood" by
rock collectors and geologists. Palm wood is a group of fos-
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sil woods that contain prominent rod-like structures within
the regular grain of silicified wood. Depending on the
angle at which these structures are cut by fractures, they
show up as spots, tapering rods, or continuous lines. The
rod-like structures are sclerenchyma bundles that com-
prised part of the woody tissues and gave verticle strength
to the Oligocene and Miocene tree genera, Palmoxylon
(Berry 1916:227-251; BlackwelletaI.1983:4-5).
The remainder of the silicified wood that retains its relict
woody structure consists of silicified wood with a rather
nondescript grain (Brassieur 1983:250). Generally, the
identification of these silicified woods is impossible without
oriented thin sections, specialized references, and com-
parative material (Blackwell et al. 1983:2). Therefore they
are best described as "silicified wood" in the field and labo-
ratory.
A less common form of silicified wood occurs within
western Louisiana. It consists of silicified wood in which the
relict woody structure has failed to be preserved during its
silicification. It may retain the outer form of a per-
mineralized trunk, branch, limb or stump, but internally it
consists of massive opal or chert. The massive opal or chert
contains only scattered patches of well to very poorly pre-
served remnants of the wood's relict woody structure. The
differences in preservation of the woody texture reflect dif-
ferent modes of silicification, resulting in different trace
element compositions between this and other types of
silicified wood (L. P. Knauth personal communication
1981).
Limited petrographic analysis of silicified wood from the
Miocene strata of western Louisiana indicates that it con-
sists of opal or chert. The bulk of the latter consists mostly
of granular microcrystalline quartz containing lesser
amounts of fibrous quartz as irregular patches and the fil-
ling of cell interiors mostly in the form of chalcedonite.
Rare pieces of silicified wood consist of opal partially or
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
wholely retaining a very poorly preserved relict woody tex-
ture. Minor to trace amounts of iron oxides, organic mat-
ter, and other materials occur within the silicified wood as
disseminated opaque matter.
The infilling of the cellular structure of wood by silica
formed the Miocene silicified wood. Within the Miocene
strata, groundwater dissolved silica from glassy volcanic
materials contained in the strata. The silica, in the form of
silicic acid, attached itself to ligin and cellulose of the wood
as groundwater passed through the wood. Thus, a layer of
silicic acid formed on the wood. The silicic acid dehydrated
into silica gel. To this layer of silica gel, more silicic acid at-
tached itself eventually filling and encasing the wood with
silia gel. Continued dehydration of the silica gel converted
it into opal. With additional time, dehydration and crystalli-
zation of the opal converted it into chert. The presence of
organic matter catalyzed and hastened the change from
opal to chert. In some cases, some of the original woody
matter remained encased in silica. Otherwise, the woody
matter decayed and silica filled the resulting voids (Leo
1975).
The primary source of silicified wood in western
Louisiana is outcropping Miocene strata, the Catahoula
and Fleming formations. These strata outcrop in a broad,
west-east belt across upper Vernon Parish, lower Sabine
Parish, and middle Rapides Parish (Anderson 1960; Fisk
1940; Welch 1942). Welch (1942:41) and Fisk (1940:156)
noted silicified wood, mostly palm wood, eroding out of the
Fleming Formation. Matson (1916:215) found an abun-
dance of silicified wood, mostly palm wood, eroding out of
the Catahoula Formation.
The silicified wood occurs in a variety o( sizes from peb-
ble-size fragments to large logs. The logs can be several
meters long and over a meter in diameter. Some large logs
can be seen beside a private residence on the west side of
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U.S. Highway 171 at a point 0.4 mile south of Hornbeck,
Louisiana.
Brassieur (1983:251) described a typical occurrence of
silicified wood. South of Kisatchi, Louisiana, Little Sandy
Creek has cut down as much as 16 m into local Miocene
strata. The creek's sand bars and channel gravels contain
large, angular log fragments and rounded cobbles and peb-
bles of silicified wood. Slope and stream erosion has eroded
and concentrated it in the creek's sands and gravels.
Silicified wood can be found on the upland surface wherev-
er Miocene strata is exposed by dissection (Brassieur
1983:251).
Rock collectors have removed vast amounts of silicified
wood from western Louisiana. As a member of a gem and
mineral society, this author observed and participated in
this wholesale removal of silicified wood from the Gulf
Coastal region including western Louisiana in earlier years.
Personal observation and inquiries indicated that the
wholesale removal of silicified wood from western
Louisiana continues unabated. Therefore, any current sur-
face attempts to inventory and map the occurrence of
silicified wood will reveal only a partial picture of its occur-
rence in prehistoric times.
Petrified wood has been reported from other outcrop-
ping strata in western Louisiana. Unfortunately, its compo-
sition and character is currently unknown. Anderson
(1960:63,92 and 103) reported the occurrence of petrified
wood within the outcrops of the Sandel, Cockfield, and
Summit Hall Formations of Central Sabine Parish. Murray
( 1948: 115) noted the presence of petri fied wood in the
Logansport Formation of central De Soto Parish. Martin et
al. (1954: 124) found petrified wood in soils derived from
the Wilcox Group of southeastern Webster Parish.
In central and southern portions of western Louisiana,
silicified wood occurs within Pleistocene sands and gravels.
For example, cobble and pebbles of reworked palm wood
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
occur in the iron-stained gravelly sands that cap the hills of
the Bayou Zourie area within Vernon Parish (K. J. Jolly
personal communications 1984). This Miocene silicified
wood was eroded from the underlying Miocene strata. The
Pleistocene strata might contain silicified wood native to it
(Blackwell et al. 1983:4).
Eagle Hill Chert
Within the Eagle Hill area of the Peason Ridge Military
Reservation within Sabine Parish, a chert occurs within the
local Miocene strata. Because of its restricted occurrence
and prehistoric use in the Eagle Hill area, it is named the
"Eagle Hill Chert." It is a massive silicified wood that lacks
any visually recognizable relict woody structure.
Various authors have given numerous names to the
Eagle Hill Chert. Servello and Bianchi (1983:377-566)
called this material both "Fleming Opal" and "Peason
Ridge Opal." Jolly (1982:290- 292) subdivided the Eagle
Hill Chert into several categories of "visually distinct mate-
rials" based upon highly variable and subjective attributes.
The "light tan, dark tan, dark tan mottled, light tan mot-
tled, light tan opaque, red/yellow, white opaque, brown
opaque and some grey opaque cherts" and the "chal-
cedony" and "translucent cortex" are Eagle Hill Chert and
its cortex as demonstrated by petrographic analysis. The
"black" and "black mottled" cherts of Jolly (1982:291) are
thermally altered Eagle Hill Chert. Brassieur (1983:253)
included the Eagle Hill Chert in his "Eagle Hill material."
Eagle Hill Chert is a hard, massive, microcrystalline silica.
It breaks with a smooth to irregular conchoidal fracture,
which reveals a dull to waxy, opaque to translucent chert.
It lacks any recognizable relict woody texture. This chert
also lacks any visible crystals or grains that can be described
as "fine-grained" to "coarse-grained" in the traditional
geological usage of these terms (e.g., Pettijohn etal. 1973: 1-
3) as noted by Jolly (1982:290-292). The Eagle Hill Chert
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has a white, earthy cortex that lacks any polished pebble
surfaces or associated weathering rinds. The weathering
rinds possessed by some Eagle Hill Chert are associated
with culturally formed surfaces (Heinrich 1983:552).
The Eagle Hill Chert has a white to off-white cortex. It
varies from a few mm to several cm in thickness. The cortex
of an unmodified nodule of Eagle Hill Chert appeared to
grade into claystone. Inclusions of chert frequently occur
within the cortex. The chert-cortex boundary varies from
a sharp line to a complex interfingering of both materials.
The Eagle Hill Chert consists of microcrystalline quartz.
About 96 to 97 percent of this chert consists of granular
microcrystalline quartz. The remainder consists of fibrous
quartz and an unidentified white opaque material that is
finely disseminated throughout the chert. The abundance
and distribution of this white opaque material appears to
control the color and diaphany of this chert. The absence
of other impurities, the disseminated nature of the white
opaque material, and the relatively uniform grain size of
the microcrystalline quartz explain the lack of a visible relict
woody texture. The white cortex consists of subequal prop-
ortions of microcrystalline quartz and white opaque mate-
rial. The white weathering rind contains a similar, possibly
different, white opaque material that has formed within the
chert. The white opaque material in both the cortex and
weathering rind enhance the poorly preserved, relict
woody structure observable only in thin sections. In the
chert, faint differences in the refractive indexes of the
microcrystalline quartz and the fibrous quartz poorly pre-
serve a relict woody texture.
Although obvious quarry sites for the Eagle Hill Chert
are currently lacking, archaeological and petrographic data
indicate that its sources are within the Eagle Hill area. (1)
I ts mineralogy and relict texture resembles that of the local
silicified woods. (2) Large amounts of primary and secon-
dary reduction debris including large chunks of cortex and
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
chert occur at the Eagle Hill I Site, 16SA8, indicating that
a source occurs near the site. (3) Large amounts of primary
and secondary reduction debris of Eagle Hill Chert and its
cortex occurs at the Eagle Hill II Site, 16SA50, indicating
a nearby source. (4) About 97 to 93 percent of the artifacts
at both sites consists of Eagle Hill Chert. Finally, (5) unmod-
ified nodules of Eagle Hill Chert as determined by petrog-
raphic analysis occur southwest of Eagle Hill.
Although similar in appearance, the Eagle Hill Chert dif-
fers texturally and mineralogically from the Edwards Chert
found in central Texas. The Eagle Hill Chert lacks the cal-
cite, dolomite, and pyrite inclusions, the relict carbonate
textures, sponge spicules, and disseminated carbonaceous
matter found in the Edwards Chert (Geno 1976:31-44;
Folk and Pittman 1971:1045-1046; Pittman 1959:121-
134). Thus, the texture and mineralogy of the Eagle Hill
Chert resembled that of the local silicified wood rather than
the Edwards Chert. Additional research concerned with
the Edwards Chert as a source of Eagle Hill Chert as
suggested by Brown (1982: 179) is unwarranted.
The Eagle Hill Chert fails to resemble the chert found in
regional Pleistocene gravels. The Eagle Hill Chert lacks the
molds of former calcite and dolomite incusions, relict tex-
tures of silicified evaporites and carbonates, sponge
spicules, iron oxides, tectonic megaquartz, weathering
rinds, and pebble surfaces possessed by the gravel chert
within the Pleistocene deposits. Investigation of these
gravel chert deposits to the south by this author, Bianchi
(personal communication 1984), and Servello (personal
communication 1984) failed to find any Eagle Hill Chert
within them. Therefore, the Eagle Hill Chert fails to occur
within the Pleistocene gravel cherts as suggested by Garner
(1982: 126) and Brown (1981 :60-61).
The Eagle Hill Chert probably occurred as silicified
wood in the form of logs or nodules in the Eagle Hill area.
The use of such occurrences might mine out this material,
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leaving only scattered concentrations of cortex. Several
such concentrations of cortex debris exist within the Eagle
Hill area (e.g., 16SA150) (A. F. Servello personal communi-
cations 1984).
As the Eagle Hill Chert is a massive type of silicified
wood, it may occur throughout the outcrop of the Fleming
Formation within western Louisiana. Brassieur (1983:254)
noted the occurrence of Eagle Hill Chert throughout the
Peason Ridge Military Reservation area in Sabine Parish.
The Eagle Hill Chert, however, only dominates the artifac-
tual assemblages within the Eagle Hill area and occurs
sporadically elsewhere. Therefore massive, cherty silicified
wood outcrops as isolated concentrations within the Flem-
ing Formation of Welch (1942). If present, similar concen-
trations of massive silicified wood may produce exotic ap-
pearing cherts that have local sources.
Gravel Chert
The most important and utilized lithic resources of pre-
historic western Louisiana is chert gravel. This chert com-
prises more than 90 percent of the gravel that occurs within
Pleistocene strata and Holocene stream sediments. The
chert gravel is called "gravel chert" to emphasize its origin
and source. Formational and age determinates are omitted
from this name to recognize temporal and stratigraphic un-
certainties within the Pleistocene strata of Louisiana as well
as the occurrence of these gravels in Holocene fluvial sedi-
ments.
Numerous names have been given this type of chert.
Brassieur (1983:253) called it "pebble chert." Garner
(1982:122) included it within his "siliceous gravels." Jolly
divided it into "grey opaque" and "red opaque" cherts. The
"carmel opaque" chert of Jolly (1982:292) is thermally al-
tered gravel chert. The descriptions of the "shale" of Lopez
(1982: 155) indicates that it is really gravel chert. Most com-
monly, gravel chert is simply called "local chert" (e.g., Webb
et al. 1971 :25-26).
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
The gravel cherts consist of a heterogeneous variety of
cherts in the form of highly weathered and rounded gravel.
Typically, it consists of pebbles less than five cm in diame-
ter. Rare boulders and cobbles of chert also occur within the
Pleistocene strata along with the pebble size gravel (G. De-
cote, personal communication 1982; Woodward and Geno
1941).
These cherts consist of hard, microcrystalline silica. They
possess well-developed pebble surfaces and weathering
rinds. Most of these pebbles break along preexisting frac-
tures, forming irregular or flat surfaces unsuitable for the
manufacture of artifacts. Enough of the gravel chert breaks
with a conchoidal fracture, however, to provide a usable
source of chert. In some cases, the poor quality and limited
size of the chert gravel affected the form of artifacts made
from it (Brassieur 1983:253).
The color of the gravel chert varies considerably. Mostly
dull, opaque light greys, whites, brownish yellows, dark yel-
lowish browns, and other colors of the IOYR hue dominate
the color of this material. Colors ranging from weak red
(lOR 4/4) to light olive brown have been noted in gravel and
artifacts examined. Hues redder than lOR appear to repre-
sent colors formed by thermal alteration, because these col-
ors generally are associated with features such as potlids
and spalling. The gravel cherts are typically dull and
opaque and may contain molds of fossils, pores, or other
voids.
Pebble surfaces and weathering rinds also characterize
the gravel cherts. Because of the small size of the chert peb-
bles, most artifacts made from gravel chert will retain a por-
tion of the pebble surface, weathering rind, or both. The
pebble surface consists of a polished surface possessing
concentric scars called "percussion marks." Beneath that
surface, weathering created layers of differentially stained
chert within the pebble, which are weathering rinds. On the
broken faces of the artifacts, these rinds appear as bands of
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color, typically of the 10YR hue, that are millimeters in
thickness and that parallel the pebble's former surface. -
Gravel chert consists almost entirely of microcrystalline
quartz. The samples examined consisted primarily of
granular microcrystalline quartz with lesser amounts of
fibrous quartz and megaquartz. Given the varied origin of
these cherts, differing abundances of the types of micro-
crystalline quartz may occur within the gravel cherts. The
samples examined, however, typified the gravel cherts in
that they contained some texture or relict texture of a
nodular or bedded chert. For example, these textures and
relict textures included the molds of dolomite and calcite
crystals, casts of evaporites, Paleozoic fossils, sponge
spicules, detrital grains of quartz silt, novaculitic textures,
laminations, burrows, and tectonic veins of megaquartz.
Also, the fibrous quartz consists primarily of quartzine and
leuticite.
A prominent petrographic feature of the gravel chert
examined was the pervasive presence of iron oxides. They
have filled the molds of calcite and dolomite inclusions,
stained fibrous quartz, and replaced sponge spicules.
These iron oxides have also been finely disseminated
throughout the microcrystalline quartz matrix. The size,
shape, types, and concentration of the iron oxides appear
to have determined the color of the chert.
The gravel chert represents the eroded, weathered, and
river-worn remains of nodular cherts (silicified carbonates)
and bedded cherts (lithified siliceous sediments). They all
contain textures, relict textures, fossils, inclusions, and
structures that reflect the chert's origin in Paleozoic marine
sediments. Scholle (1978) illustrated some of these tex-
tures, fossils, inclusions, and structures for unsilicified
marine carbonates. Nodular cherts inherited these features
when they replaced these carbonates. Goldstein (1959) and
McBride and Thomson (1970) illustrated some of the fea-
tures of bedded cherts formed from the lithification and re-
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
crystallization of opaline sediments composed of the re-
mains of microscopic organisms.
Widespread erosion removed cherts from outcrops of
Paleozoic strata in the Arbuckle and Ouachita mountains.
After a considerable period of fluvial transport, these
gravels accumulated within Pleistocene coastal plains. After
erosion and uplift of these coastal plains, modern streams
and rivers redistributed some of the gravel chert along
their courses. Intensive chemical weathering has stained
these gravel cherts with iron oxides producing their weath-
ering rinds and dull colors. Various periods of fluvial trans-
port produced the distinctive pebble surfaces (T. H. Bian-
chi personal communication 1983; Woodward and Geno
1941).
The gravel chert occurs within Pleistocene deposits that
outcrop as a west-east belt that is the Williana Structural
Surface of Bianchi (1983:71-76) and the Williana Terrace
of Fisk (1940). This belt lies west-east across southern Ver-
non Parish, northern Beaureguard Parish, northern Allen
Parish, and central Rapides Parish (Woodward and Geno
1941 :Plate 2). Within this belt, light concentrations of
gravels can be found on the higher ridges and hills. Sizable
concentrations occur within the second order streams and
alluvial bottoms that cross this belt. South of this belt, the
gravel is restricted to the alluvium of modern streams and
rivers that drain the belt. To the north of this Pleistocene
outcrop belt, the gravel chert occurs only along the major
river systems and in the Pleistocene deposits that flank
them. Within the adjacent uplands, gravel occurs as iso-
lated patches that contain quartz gravels, including little, if
any, chert. These gravels were derived from the underlying
Tertiary strata, which contain very little gravel chert (T. H.
Bianchi personal communication 1983; Brassieur
1983:246; Woodward and Geno 1941).
Several attributes are indicative of a gravel chert source
for these cherts. chert is typically dull, opaque,
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Lithic Resourses
and of a 10YR hue. Frequently, this chert contains
Paleozoic fossils and their molds or other voids. The pebble
surface and weathering rind will be diagnostic of this chert.
Gravel chert from the interior of a boulder or cobble, how-
ever, may be difficult or impossible to differentiate from
material brought in directly from an outcrop of Paleozoic
chert.
Fleming Gravel Chert
Within the Bayou Carnaham Member, the Fleming For-
mation contains some gravel chert. It occurs as pebbles of
black chert about 2.5 cm in diameter. The gravel chert
forms the lower half of a six m thick bed of gravel and sand
within the Fleming Formation (Welch 1942:51-52). There-
fore this lithic material is designated the "Fleming Gravel
Chert." Additional work is needed concerning the suitabil-
ity and attributes of this material.
The only known source of the Fleming Gravel Chert oc-
curs in a ravine tributary of the Sabine River in Vernon
Parish. It is likely that the fluvial deposits within the Flem-
ing Formation may contain additional outcrops of this ma-
terial within western Louisiana.
Currently, artifacts made from this material are un-
known. A fine-grained black chert reported by both Jolly
(1982:292) and Brassieur (1983:225) from the Peason
Ridge Military Reservation in Sabine Parish might repre-
sent this material. Additional research will be needed to test
such speculations.
Fleming Opal
Within western Louisiana, opal nodules occur in out-
crops of the Fleming Formation. Because these opal
nodules occur only in Fleming Formation of Welch (1942),
this lithic material is called the "Fleming Opal."
The Fleming Opal is a massive, usually vitreous and
translucent material. Being opal, it is softer and less dense
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
than chert (Hurlbut 1971 :457). It has a fair, but somewhat
blocky conchoidal fracture that produces relatively smooth
fractures. Flat, iron-stained fractures are common. The
cortex is generally thick, earthy, and white to off-white.
The Fleming Opal varies greatly in color. Usually, the
opal is finely mottled white and dark grey (10YR 4/4) to
white and very dark grey (10YR 311). Faintly mottled light
brownish grey (10YR 6/1) and dark grey (10YR 311) and
banded black (lOYR 2/1) and reddish brown (2.5YR 4/4)
opal have been noted. Its diaphany ranges from opaque to
translucent. Some of the Fleming Opal may be identical in
appearance to Eagle Hill Chert.
Petrographic and x-ray diffraction studies by Ambuehl
(1979) and Heinrich (1983) indicate that the Fleming Opal
consists almost entirely of isotropic to nearly isotropic opal-
CT. The opal-CT contains trace amounts of an uniden-
tified clay mineral and numerous vugs and fractures. A
clear, slighly bifringent and often fibrous opal-CT lines the
vug and fractures. Chalcedonite rims overlie the opal-CT
linings within the vugs and fractures (Ambuehl 1979: 172).
Both petrographic and x-ray diffraction studies failed to
find the chert inclusions noted by Brown (1981 :42). Appar-
ently, the bifringent opal-CT and chalcedonite vug and
cavity linings are mistaken for chert.
As a result of its composition, Fleming Opal can be non-
destructively differentiated from any chert. Because of the
difference in density between chert and opal, specific grav-
ity measurements can distinguish between chert and opal
(Hurlbut 1971 :457). Second, a determination of the hard-
ness of an artifact can differentiate opal from chert. Finally,
petrographic analysis of the translucent edge of an artifact
can differentiate opal from chert. Therefore, thin section
analysis used solely to differentiate Fleming Opal from
Eagle Hill Chert is wasted effort.
Ambuehl (1979:128) suggested that the opal nodules
were formed by the diagenetic concentration of silica con-
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tained in the original clay minerals of the Fleming Forma-
tion's sediments. Thus, the opal nodules formed much
later, at greater depths and under higher temperatures and
pressures than the silicified wood. Given the different
geochemical condition under which the Fleming Opal and
silicified wood formed, differences in trace element com-
positions between these materials may be expected, al-
though they may be found in the same strata.
The Fleming Opal occurs as nodules 0.6 to 30 cm in di-
ameter within compact, crumbly mudstones of the Fleming
Formation of Rapides Parish. Welch (1942:42 and 49)
noted their occurrence in outcrops of the Fleming Forma-
tion in Vernon Parish.
The Fleming Opal has been found in numerous places
within Sabine Parish. Numerous occurrences have been
noted within the Eagle Hill area of the Peason Ridge Mili-
tary Reservation by Ambuehl (1979: 172) and Brown
(1982: 176). Sample F-SP-l of Ambuehl (1979: 172) came
from the same location as sample PR-l of Brown
(1982: 176). All occurrences of the Fleming opal are in out-
crops of the Fleming Formation as defined by Welch
(1942).
Artifacts made from the Fleming Opal currently have
not been identified. Material identified by Servello and
Bianchi (1983) as "Fleming Opal" have been shown by pet-
rographic analysis of representative artifacts to be Eagle
Hill Chert. Neutron activation analysis by Brown
(1982: 173-179) supports the petrographic data.
Catahoula Sedimentary Quartzite
A minor lithic resource that occurs in western Louisiana
is the Catahoula Sedimentary Quartzite. Sedimentary
quartzite is a sandstone or siltstone sufficiently lithified
such that it breaks through rather than around its con-
stituent grains (Pettijohn et al. 1973: 169). The modifier
"sedimentary" is used to distinguish this material from
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
metamorphic quartzite. Metamorphic quartzites occur
within Louisiana only as pebbles within the Pleistocene
gravels. Also, they possess textures, origins, and physical
properties vastly different from the sedimentary
quartzites.
Various authors have named the Catahoula Sedimentary
Quartzite. Heinrich (1983:552) called it "quartz arenite."
Brassieur (1983:252) referred to it as "orthoquartzite." In
current usage, both terms refer to the sandstone's
mineralogical composition rather than to its physical prop-
erties (Pettijohn et al. 1973:214-217). Therefore,
"quartzite" is the preferred term for this material in this
paper. This lithic material is also known locally and by some
archaeologists as "Kisatchi sandstone" (T. C. Bearden, per-
sonal communication 1984).
The Catahoula Sedimentary Quartzite is a very well-
cemented sandstone. It breaks thorugh its constituent
grains with a rough, hackey fracture. Fractures reveal
rough, usually vitreous material, which sparkles with
numerous pinpoint reflections. Scattered grains of opaque
black and reddish brown sand seem to "float" in an other-
wise translucent matrix. On weathered surfaces, a thin
ashy, white cortex occurs. The cortex is less than a millime-
ter thick and contains distinct grains of sand. Some of the
Catahoula Sedimentary Quartzite consists of an opaque
and duller material in which distinct grains of sands can be
seen.
The lack of visible grains in the translucent quartzite re-
sult from the similar optical properties of the opal cement
and the sand grains. Both the sand grains and cement are
translucent and have similar index of refractions. In trans-
mitted light they behave as one material. Tlte pin point re-
flections from the broken surface of this material represent
the surfaces of broken sand grains.
The Catahoula Sedimentary Quartzite varies consider-
ably in color. Typically, it is a translucent dark grey (lOYR
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Lithic Resourses
5/1) to off-white. It contains scattered grains of black and
reddish brown sand. In some artifacts, pedogenic iron
oxides have stained this lithic material various shades of
brown to reddish brown. Thermal alteration will change
the color of this material to opaque greys. It appears that
the "yellow quartzite" of Jolly (1982:291) represents iron
stained Catahoula Sedimentary Quartzite.
The Catahoula Sedimentary Quartzite consists of fine to
coarse-grained sand cemented by opal. The sand is angular
to subangular and poorly sorted. Approximately 70 to 90
percent of the sand is quartz, of which half is volcanic
quartz. The remaining 10 to 30 percent consists offeldspar,
volcanic rock fragments, bentonitic clasts, and quartzose
rock fragments in variable proportions (Paine and
Meyerhoff 1968: 100-102). The cement consists of isotropic
to slightly isotropic opal-CT. Many of the terms found in
this paragraph are defined and explained in Pettijohn et al.
(1973).
The cementation by opal of fluvial sands within the
Catahoula Formation created the Catahoula Sedimentary
Quartzite. Deeper in the basin to the south, alkaline brines
dissolved glassey volcanics within the Catahoula Forma-
tion. As these silica-rich brines migrated northward
through the sands of the Catahoula Formation, they cooled
off and mixed with fresh, surface-derived groundwater
within central Louisiana. In this mixing zone, the dissolved
silica precipitated as silica gel within the voids between sand
grains. The silica gel later dehydrated to opal. Only the
more porous and permeable sands that carried these brines
were completely cemented by silica and converted into
sedimentary quartzite. The finer grained and clayey sands
were incompletely cemented and failed to form quartzite.
Therefore, the sedimentary quartzite tends to occur within
the medium to coarse grained and clay-free zones within
the sandstones and sands of the Catahoula Formation.
Later, uplift and erosion of the Miocene strata exposed the
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
former mixing zone containing the sedimentary quartzite
(Ambuehl 1979).
Sandstones of various hardness and compositions occur
throughout the Tertiary strata exposed in western
Louisiana. Of these strata, only the Catahoula Formation
contains sandstone that is well cemented enough to form
sedimentary quartzite and material suitable for the man-
ufacture of chipped stone artifacts (Ambuehl 1979: 138-
139). Sandstones and siltstones from other strata lack ce-
ments strong enough to form sedimentary quartzite. At
best, they can be used to make ground stone artifacts.
For example, opal-cemented siltstone and fine-grained
sandstones occur within the Fleming Formation's outcrops
on Peason Ridge Military Reservation (T. H. Bianchi per-
sonal communication 1978; Garner 1982:125; A. F. Ser-
vello personal communication 1978). Of the numerous out-
crops and surface material examined, all were insuffi-
ciently cemented to form a workable lithic material or
sedimentary quartzite.
The outcrop of the Catahoula Formation contains scat-
tered exposures of the sedimentary quartzite named after
it. The outcrop belt occupies a strip that is 8 to 16 km wide
and 240 km long. The belt lies west-east across western
Louisiana through southern Sabine Parish just north of the
Sabine-Vernon Parish boundary and central Nachitoches
Parish (Paine and Meyerhoff 1968:95 and fig. 1). Cobbles
and pebbles of the Catahoula Sedimentary Quartzite occur
within the Pleistocene gravels (Wood ward and Geno 1941).
Limestone
Lopez (1982: 155) noted the occurrence of limestone
pebbles at the Eagle Bill II Site, 16SA50. Jolly (1982:291)
listed limestone among the lithic materials that composed
the artifacts at the site. These observations suggested that
limestone is another culturally utilzed lithic material native
to western Louisiana.
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Lithic Resourses
Examination of the Eagle Hill area showed an absence of
limestone or similar carbonate. Personal investigation of
the Miocene bedrock, Pleistocene alluvium, and Pleis-
tocene to Holocene colluviums and soils revealed a total
lack of limestone in these strata, including calcareous
nodules. An examination of pebbles from the U.S.L. Fort
Polk Archaeological Survey's test pits at the Eagle Hill II
Site failed to find any limestone. Pebbles resembling limes-
tone were found, but they failed to effervesce when tested
with hydrochloric acid, indicating that they were neither
limestone (Hurlbut 1971 :320) nor dolomite (Hurlbut
1971 :326-329).
A literature review failed to find any limestone in the
strata within the area of the Eagle Hill II Site. Anderson
(1960), Levert (1959), and Welch (1942) fail to mention
anything concerning the presence oflimestone in the Eagle
Hill area. Welch (1942:49, 51, 57 and 58) noted the pres-
ence of calcareous nodules within outcrops of the Fleming
Formation. Personal inspection of the area around the
Eagle Hill II Site site failed to find calcareous nodules. The
local Pleistocene sands, being highly weathered and
mineralogically mature, lacked any form oflimestone.
The current conclusion in this study is that both Lopez
(1982) and Jolly (1982) have mistakenly identified mate-
rials such as plinthite or weathered cortex as limestone. It
must be consequently concluded that limestone fails to
occur at the Eagle Hill II Site and in western Louisiana as
a utilized, native lithic material.
CONCLUSIONS
Within western Louisiana, six major lithic materials
occur in the outcropping Tertiary strata. They are silicified
wood, Eagle Hill Chert, gravel chert, Fleming Gravel
Chert, Fleming Opal, and Catahoula Sedimentary
Quartzite. The nature, occurrence, physical attributes, ori-
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LOUISIANA ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY, 1984
gin, and source of these materials were investigated and
briefly described. This study provides only an initial assess-
ment of these materials from which it is hoped that more
detailed studies can and will proceed.
The occurrence of limestone as a native and prehistori-
cally utilized lithic material was investigated. Chemical tests
and field investigations found that limestone was neither
used nor occurs in western Louisiana as a lithic resource.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank Dr. A. Frank Servello and the University of
Southwestern Louisiana for permission to examine mate-
rial collected by the U.S.L. Fort Polk Archaeological Sur-
vey. Also, I thank Mr. T. H. Bianchi, Dr. L. P. Knauth, and
Mr. John Guy for information, advice, and samples used in
this study. This paper is a continuation of work published
in a previous paper, Heinrich (1983), produced for the
U.S.L. Fort Polk Archaeological Survey. Finally, I thank
Engineering Research Associates, Inc. of Baytown, Texas,
for financial, logistical, and technical assistance which ena-
bled the completion of this study and paper.
All samples, thin sections, and data involved with this
study will be deposited with the Fort Polk Military Museum
of the U.S. Army at Fort Polk, Louisiana. These materials
will be curated with the archaeological materials recovered
by the various archaeological studies conducted at Fort
Polk.
186
Lithic Resourses
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