The presence of ancient "factories." Some of these sites have enough waste debris to suggest that many people labored there forĭecades producing a variety of obsidian objects. At some locations, tons of obsidian flakes reveal The manufacture of obsidian tools by humans dates back to the Stone Age. Success occurs when they are cushioned during the tumbling with smaller pieces of rough or small ceramic media. They are difficult to polish because the obsidian chips and bruises easily. People who do rock tumbling often polish Apache Tears. Those stones are now found as the black obsidian nodules. Upon hearing the story of the battle, the tears of their family members turned to stone when they hit the ground. Cavalry in 1870, the outnumbered Apaches, facing defeat, rode their horses over a cliff rather than allow themselves to be killed by their enemy. During a battle between Apaches and the U.S. Their name comes from a Native American legend. Obsidian outcrops that are known today were discovered and utilized by ancient people.Īpache tears: "Apache Tears" is a name used for small obsidian nodules of about one inch or less that can be found in volcanic areas of the southwestern United States.
The easy-to-recognize rock became one of the first targets of organized "mining." It is probably a safe bet that all natural Once these discoveries were made, obsidian quickly became the raw material of preference for producing almost any sharp object. Obsidian was used to make knives, arrowheads, spear points, scrapers, and many other weapons and tools.
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People then discovered how to skillfully break the obsidian to produce cutting tools in a variety of shapes. The first use of obsidian by people probably occurred when a sharp piece of obsidian was used as a cutting These sharp fragments may have prompted the first use of obsidian by people. The conchoidal fracture of obsidian causes it to break into pieces with curved surfaces. The best way to learn about rocks is to have specimens available for testing and examination. Rock & Mineral Kits: Get a rock, mineral, or fossil kit to learn more about Earth materials. Image copyright iStockphoto / Charles Butzin. Obsidian spear point: A spear point fashioned from opaque black obsidian. The mostĬommon color combination is black and brown obsidian swirled together - that's called "mahogany obsidian" (see photo). Occasionally two colors of obsidian will be swirled together in a single specimen. The colors are thought to be caused mainly by trace elements or inclusions.
However, it can also be brown, tan, or green. Rainbow Obsidian: A baroque cabochon of iridescent "rainbow obsidian."īlack is the most common color of obsidian.
Mahogany obsidian: A tumble-polished specimen of "mahogany obsidian." Image copyright iStockphoto / Arpad Benedek. The nice photo above is from the Glass Butte Rockhounding Site page on the Deschutes National Forest website. Clockwise from upper left are: double flow obsidian, rainbow obsidian, black obsidian, pumpkin obsidian, mahogany obsidian, gold sheen obsidian, and the piece in the center is gold sheen. It shows the diversity of obsidian types that can be found in a small geographic area. Types of Obsidian: The specimens shown above are from Glass Butte rockhounding site in central Oregon.
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