Bonnefont jasper, Powhatan County, Virginia.
Type Jasper
Collection Location:
Powhatan County, Virginia.
Description
Bonnefont jasper is mainly mustard brown in color with some pieces trending towards a variegated red. Some of the jasper is of a mat finish while the rest is glassy or opalized. The jasper weathers to a distinctive mottled cream and brown if Early Archaic to Paleoindian in age. In some cases the weathering becomes a sold cream color on early artifacts.
Distribution
Bonnefont jasper is found as nodules within a couple of mile in diameter area along the creek ravines in Powhatan County north of Macon, Virginia. A number of sites in the region have artifacts from this material. Egloff has noted examples of this material in a private collection from along the James River in the adjacent county of Cumberland.
Cultural Implications
Bonnefont jasper was popular during the Paleoindian and Early Archaic periods. It was also used by Late Woodland people (MacCord 1982) at the Hetzler Site (44PO0003) in Powhatan County.
References
Prepared By Egloff 2008
