BACK TO: FLINT TYPES
Crescent Quarry, Burlington, chert is found in abundance at archaeological sites throughout Illinois and some surrounding states. In it's raw state, it provides a strong tool that holds an edge well. In it's heat-treated state, It makes a sharper edge and is easily knappable. Generally, in the Cahokia Mounds area, almost 80% of the chert used is raw Crescent Quarry.
(Photos LK)
Above, is some of the finest raw Crescent. It's almost icy-blue when uncovered and patinas to a bright white.
Some ancient quarry pits at the Route 66 park. (Pictures taken in July, 1981, by LK)
Check out Dr. Michael Fuller's site on Crescent Quarries.
(Photos LK)
These Burlington fossils are present in both the regular and colorful Crescent Quarry cherts.
(Photo LK)
The wood grain, raw, Crescent above occurs in both the Colorful and regular Crescent Quarry Burlington. This is a grainy piece. It gets much finer than shown here.
(Photo LK)
Above, is a typical piece of Regular, raw, Crescent. It shows the high quality chert, cortex, and rust colored cleaves in the fracture lines.
For more information, check out the Parkland College CHERT TYPES pages.