Video Glossary: Oolites

Tiny spherical grains sometimes seen within Prairie du Chien chert are called oolites and reflect the formation of the stone during the Ordovician Period 480 million years ago when Wisconsin was covered by a warm sea. This video explains how the oolites formed, and how they became part of the chert used by Native Americans. For more information about Prairie du Chien chert, see Dan Wendt, 2014, PDC Group Chert Resources of the Upper Mississippi River Valley in Southeastern Minnesota and Far Western Wisconsin. The Minnesota Archaeologist Volume 73, pages 75-89. Credit Bedrock Stratigraphic Units in Wisconsin taken from Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, UW Extension, Educational Series 51, 2011. Available at https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000200/resource/es051 Links for further information: Related MVAC webpages: -Flintknapping: https://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/educators/archaeology-terms/?letter=f&term=128919 -Lab Analysis - Lithic Analysis: https://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/process-of-archaeology/lab-analysis/lithic-analysis/ -Lithics: https://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/educators/archaeology-terms/?letter=l&term=129047 -Making Stone Tools: https://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/pre-european-people/native-technologies/making-stone-tools/ -Technologies - Lithics: https://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/past-cultures/native-knowledge/technologies/#Lithics Related MVAC videos: -Characteristics of an Artifact: Chipped Stone – MVAC’s Dr. Connie Arzigian describes how archaeologists define and recognize chipped stone artifacts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjvtU0OA3SA&t=69s -Cultural vs. Natural: Chipped Stone – Dr. Arzigian shows how to distinguish culturally worked chipped stone, such as a spokeshave, from naturally worn stone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvHnAhrbkIw&t=1s Artifact Identification Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse works mainly in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa and can provide information related to that region. If you would like information on artifacts, email a description of the item and where it was found, and attach a picture of the artifact with a scale to show its size. For more information visit MVAC’s website at: https://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/contact/. For information on other regions, we suggest contacting the appropriate state archaeologist from the following list: https://sites.google.com/view/state-archaeologists.