Kentucky Lithic Material
Name | Natural | Non-heat treated points | Heat treated points | Color details | Primary found in: | Associated Formation / Member |
Allens Creek Chert Muldraugh variation AKA: Floyds Knob Chert |
Mottled and ranges in color from gray, tan, brown, and blue. May be translucent. | North central central Kentucky | Muldraugh Formation of the Sanders Group | |||
Argillite | Light to dark green, but may range to various shades of gray. | Kentucky | ||||
Bailey Chert | Western Kentucky | Bailey Formation Limestone | ||||
Banded Slate | Kentucky | |||||
Berea Sandstone | Light gray to a buff | Extreme northeastern Kentucky | Waverly Group | |||
Bisher Chert AKA: Highland Chert, Lilley Chert |
Ranges in color from a white to yellow including mottled tan and creams. | North central Kentucky | Bisher Dolomite formation | |||
Bowling Green Chert | Southeastern Missouri | Bowling Green Member of the Edgewood Limestone Formation | ||||
Brassfield Chert AKA: Clifton Chert / Agate, Belfast Chert |
Artifacts tend to range in color from light greenish to blue or light tans mottled with yellowish red to milky white | Central Kentucky | Brassfield Formation | |||
Breathitt Chert | Range from a dark chocolate brown to a black or from shades of brownish green to tan with tan or yellow inclusions are often present. | Northeastern Kentucky | Breathitt Formation | |||
Broyle Chert | Vary in color from yellows to tan or blues. The cortex is white and chalky. Rarely may be translucent | North central Kentucky | Middle Devonian chert | |||
Brush Creek Chert AKA: Crooksville Chert, Hughes River Chert |
Varies in color from a tan to a brown olive or light green | Northeastern Kentucky | Conemaugh Group | |||
Burlington Chert | Varies from white to gray or tan. Banding and mottling may be present. | Western Kentucky | Burlington Formation | |||
Cain Springs Chert | North central Kentucky | |||||
Cambridge Chert | Gray colored chert | North eastern Kentucky | Cambridge Member of the Conemaugh Formation | |||
Camden Chert | Mottled white to gray, gray to gray blue, pale yellow to olive-yellow or tan. Vugs, quarts inclusions, streaking generally present | Western Kentucky | Tuscaloosa Formation | |||
Cannel Coal | Ranges from dark gray to black | Eastern Kentucky | ||||
Carter Cave Chert AKA for Paoli Chert |
Translucent and ranges in color from yellow to tan, red, and orange. Rarely green and blue are present | Northwestern Kentucky | Paoli Limestone formation | |||
Clear Creek Chert | Ranges from a slight yellowing gray to white | Western Kentucky | Overlies the Backbone Limestone formation | |||
Cobden- Dongola Chert AKA: Anna Chert, Hornstone, and St. Louis Ball Chert |
Shades of dark gray to blue-gray which may be solid or have dark gray bands | Western Kentucky | St. Louis Limestone | |||
Coffee Creek Chert Jeffersonville Chert variation |
Semi-translucent and variegated ranging from a bright white to a light gray, very pale brown, slightly pinkish white in color with a milky or creamy appearance | Extreme north central Kentucky | Jeffersonville Limestone formation | |||
Copper Ridge Chert (Ridge and Valley Chert) |
Ranges in color from medium to dark gray to black | Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania | Copper Ridge Member of the Knox formation | |||
Crab Orchard Banded
Chert AKA: Gray Banded, Jelly Roll, Kentucky Stromatoporoid chert |
Banded gray and white. It has broad alternating bands of light to dark whites and grays followed by darker grays to almost black | Central to western Kentucky | Crab Orchard member | |||
Crystal Quartz | clear colorless stone similar to clear glass | Kentucky | ||||
Degonia Chert | Ranges from white to gray and blue | Northwestern Kentucky | Degonia formation | |||
Derby Chert |
Vary in color from a light medium gray to a medium dark gray. White or
dark gray banding may be present |
Northwestern Kentucky | ||||
Ditney Chert | Northwestern Kentucky | Shelburn formation topping the West Limestone member | ||||
Dongola Chert | Dark tan to dark brown with banding of dark brown | Western Kentucky | St. Louis formation | |||
Dover Chert Fort Payne variant AKA: Elco Chert |
Range from a light tan to almost a black chocolate brown with swirls, bands, or streaks of light to dark | Kentucky | Fort Payne Formation | |||
Ferdinand Chert |
Dark bluish gray fossiliferous chert |
Northwestern Kentucky | Mansdfield formation, Lead Creek member | |||
Flanagan Chert | Gray color | Central Kentucky | Flanagan Limestone Formation | |||
Flint Ridge Chert /Chalcedony AKA: Van Port Chert, Raccoon Creek Chert |
White to bluish hues with bands of light gray, reds, and yellows | Central to eastern Kentucky | Van Port Member of the Allegheny Formation | |||
Fort Payne Chert | Ranges in color from black to a grayish blue, or white to a bluish white. Bluish gray is the predominate color with bluish hues | Kentucky | Fort Payne formation | |||
Grassy Knob Chert |
Ranges in color from a pale yellowish gray to a light olive brown |
Western Kentucky | Bailey Limestone formation | |||
Greenfield Chert | Ranges from a light to dark gray with white chalcedony / quartz inclusions.. | Northwestern Kentucky | Greenfield formation, Saline Group | |||
Haney Chert | Color is white or light gray with specks of brown | Northwestern Kentucky | Haney Limestone formation | |||
Hardy Creek Chert | Ranges from a brown to a gray or an olive black | Southeastern Kentucky | Hardy Creek Limestone Formation | |||
Harrodsburg Chert | Ranges from commonly dark olive-brown to tan, although various shades of browns, tans, blues, and off-white, oolites form white speckles | North central Kentucky | Harrodsburg Limestone formation | |||
Hillsdale Chert | Black weathering gray | Eastern Kentucky | Hillsdale Limestone Formation | |||
Holland Chert AKA: Upper Huntingburg Chert |
High quality light gay to dark bluish gray chert | North central Kentucky | Holland Limestone formation | |||
Hopkinsville Chert Ste. Genevieve Variation |
Ranges in color from a light to dark gray color. | Southwestern Kentucky | Ste. Genevieve formation | |||
Kanawha Black Chert | Vary from a black to a bluish black /gray to a dark gray | Northwestern Kentucky | Kanawha formation | |||
Kaolin Chert | Ranges from hues of golden tans to gray and reds. Light banding may be present. | Western Kentucky | Paleozoic Limestone formation | |||
Kornthal Chert Kornthal Chert Breccia |
Brecciated to conglomeritic ranging from a pinkish gray, to red most common, blue, yellow, brown, and inclusions of white chert or quartz | Western Kentucky | McNairy Formation | |||
Lafayette Gravel Chert | Most commonly ranges from brown to tan, greyish tan, yellowish tan, or cream, less common white and black occur. Mottling or rarely banded | Western Kentucky | Lafayette Gravel Formation | |||
Lafayette Quartzite | Western Kentucky | Lafayette Gravel Formation | ||||
Laurel Chert AKA: Raisch-Smith Chert |
Mottled and ranges in color from a off white to a light tan or light gray. | North Central Kentucky | Laurel formation | |||
Lead Creek Chert Type I AKA: Rockport Chert |
Opaque, mottled, varying shades of gray commonly having a marbles appearance with patches or streaks of an orange, tan, or gray | North central to northwestern Kentucky | Lead Creek Limestone Formation | |||
Lead Creek Chert Type II AKA Plummer Chert |
Opaque, variegated with shades of medium to dark gray. Patches or streaks of orange, tan, or gray and white specks of fossils | North central to northwestern Kentucky | Lead Creek Limestone Formation | |||
Lead Creek Chert Type III AKA: Lieber Chert |
Mottled and ranges in colors from a pale blue to a dark navy blue or black. | North central to northwestern Kentucky | Lead Creek Limestone Formation | |||
Lenoir Chert | Dark Gray | Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama | Lenoir Limestone Formation | |||
Louisville Chert | Varies in color from a very light gray to a medium light gray. It is mottled and opaque and may have brownish specks | North central Kentucky | Louisville Limestone formation | |||
Lower Mercer Chert | Bluish gray color with quartz inclusions. | Northeastern Kentucky | Lower Mercer Member of the Pottsville Formation | |||
Macot Dolomite / Chert | Ranges from white to a light to medium gray with with mottling or streaking ranging from pink to red or green | Southeastern Kentucky | Mascot Dolomite Formation of the Newala Group | |||
McNairy Quartzite | Tightly packed pale yellowish quartzite with limited or no inclusions. Red staining may be present. | Northwestern Kentucky | McNairy Formation | |||
Mill Creek Chert | Vary from white to gray, grayish brown, orange white to orange gray, or pale blue to black. Concentric banding may be present | Western Kentucky | Salem / Ullim Limestone formation | |||
Monteagle Chert | Medium gray | South central Kentucky | Monteagle Limestone formation | |||
Mounds Gravel Chert Lafayette Chert variation |
Most commonly ranges from brown to tan, greyish tan, yellowish tan, or cream. Less commonly white, black, pink, red, olive gray or greenish gray | Northwestern Kentucky | Lafayette Gravel Formation | |||
Muldraugh Chert | Ranges in color from light to medium grays, pale brown to an light olive brown or dusty yellow. Variegated or mottling or vugs may be present.. | North central to central Kentucky | Muldraugh Formation of the Sanders Group | |||
Nethers Chert Flint Ridge Chert variation AKA: Ribbon Chert |
Banded with colors ranging from light gray to black, pink to red, or tan to brown | Northern to central Kentucky | Van Port Member of the Allegheny Formation | |||
New Castle Chert | Ranges from a more common duller variegated light gray to a pale brown or a less common homogeneous bluish gray | North central Kentucky | Silver Creek limestone formation | |||
Newman Chert | Ranges in color from yellow to tan, red, and orange | Southeastern Kentucky | Newman Limestone formation | |||
Obryan Chert AKA: Southern Vanport Chert |
Ranges in color from a mottled gray to white with calcium carbonate vermiculate lines | Northeastern Kentucky | Allegheny formation of the Obryan Member | |||
Orthoquartzite | Varies | Kentucky | ||||
Paoli Chert AKA: Carter Cave Chert |
Translucent and ranges in color from yellow to tan, red, and orange. Rarely green and blue are present | Northwestern Kentucky | Paoli Limestone formation | |||
Poteet Chert | Ranges from a dark olive gray to olive black. | Southeastern Kentucky | Poteet Limestone Formation | |||
Quartz |
Milky white with thin veins |
Kentucky | ||||
Quartzite | Varies from white to gray, or pink and tan in color | Kentucky | ||||
Ramp Creek Chert | Extreme north central Kentucky | Ramp Creek Limestone Member, Muldraugh Formation | ||||
Rhyolite | Gray to grayish black, flow banding may be present alternating from light to darker gray | Kentucky | ||||
Salem Chert | Ranges from a dull brown to gray | Northwestern Kentucky | Salem Formation | |||
Sonora Flint AKA for Wyandotte Chert |
Vibrant colorful flint that may range from tans to light gray-blue and dark brown to purples | Kentucky | Ste. Genevieve Limestone formation | |||
St. Louis Green
Chert AKA: St. Louis Formation Chert |
Varying shades from light gray green to yellow green | Western to central Kentucky | St. Louis formation | |||
Ste. Genevieve Chert | Ranges from light to medium blue, gray, and black, to olive gray and yellowish gray with gray concentric bands commonly present | Western Kentucky | Ste. Genevieve Limestone formation | |||
Tyrone Chert AKA: Crab Orchard Chert |
Two tone or stripped colors | Eastern to central Kentucky | Tyrone Group | |||
Ullin Chert | brownish gray color | Northwestern Kentucky | Ullin Formation | |||
Vienna Chert | Ranges from a deep bluish black to a light grayish tan or pinkish | Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana | Vienna Formation | |||
Wayne County Chert AKA: Kentucky Blue and White Chert |
Off white to light tan with white and blue | South central Kentucky | ||||
West Franklin Chert | Ranges from a light gray to light bluish gray. Commonly mottled with blue and with light brown streaks and chalky vugs | Northwestern Kentucky | ||||
Wyandotte Chert AKA: Indiana Hornstone, Harrison County Chert |
Ranges in color from a medium bluefish gray to a medium light gray. Banding is common and is various shades of gray | Western Kentucky | Fredonia Member of the Ste. Genevieve Limestone formation |