Abstract

Until about two decades ago, brightly coloured, variegated chert toolstones observed in the Maritimes prehistoric archaeological record were generally assumed to have been acquired by Native people from sources associated with the Jurassic-Triassic (Mesozoic) Scots Bay Formation sediments and North Mountain Formation basalts, exposed on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy. More recently, it has become clear that prehistoric Native people acquired some brightly coloured, variegated chert toolstones from sources associated with the Early Carboniferous Mabou Group sediments, exposed around the edges of the New Brunswick Lowlands. Raw materials and finished artifacts of both of these chert types circulated in prehistoric lithic procurement and exchange systems during the Late Maritime Woodland period (ca. 1500 to ca. 500 B.P.). Frequently, artifacts made from both chert types are found in the same archaeological assemblages. Here, we present five criteria-patterns of (1) translucency and (2) variegation, presence of (3) carnelian and (4) strain fractures, and (5) type and scale of infilling silica fabric -for probabilistically distinguishing Carboniferous-associated from Mesozoic-associated chert toolstones using low-cost, low-technology, hand-specimen and microscopic examinations