Five Chisel Cache	by Bruce Francis
Central States Archaeological Societies 2025 October Journal	Carbondale, Illinois

This excerpt from "Five Chisel Cache" published in the 2025 Central States Archaeological Societies 2025 October Journal Read the complete column in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2025 October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2026

Figure 1.The top face of the cache of five chisels.

On April 4th, 2012, my long-time friend, Jim, and his companion were hiking along the base of a small bluff line on private property in Jackson County, Illinois, when they noticed a small cavity in the rock at ground level. Jim described it as a space “…about big enough to push a wheelbarrow into." His companion crawled into the hole and began to scratch around, soon uncovering two flint chisels approximately six inches in length. The chisels were standing upright, just a couple of inches beneath the soil surface. They did not explore the space further, but hiked back to the house where his companion gifted Jim the chisels. Later that day, Jim called his brother and his father – his father being a relatively well-known avocational archaeologist and invited them to come and help fully explore the little cave.

A few days later, they returned and excavated the floor of the small cave, finding three more chisels. These three were in the same spot as the previous two, but had settled horizontally in the soil rather than remaining upright. The arrangement of the five artifacts suggested that all had likely been buried together, standing upright, perhaps as if all had originally been in a pouch together. Beneath the chisels was a flat rock approximately 18 inches in diameter and about two inches thick. The rock had evidence of red ocher staining. There was nothing else of consequence found in the cave, and sterile soil was evident beneath the flat rock, which was less than a foot beneath the surface.

These five chisels are extraordinary in several ways they are all made of Kaolin chert, a high-quality material found in southern Illinois – particularly in Union County, which is just south of the location where the chisels were discovered. Kaolin is found in eroded beds associated with Paleozoic limestone formations. This translucent chert ranges in color from white to various amber tones and was prized by the local indigenous people for its exceptional tool-making qualities and beautiful colors. Kaolin artifacts are still highly sought after by today’s collectors for the same reasons.

The chisels range in length from 5 ¼” to 6 ½”. An exceptional feature of this assemblage is that the chisel bits (e.g. working ends), are graduated by exact 1/8” increments, forming a “tool set” with bits of 3/4”, 5/8”, 1/2”, 3/8” and 1/4”. All chisels are pristine with no damage. The bits on each chisel except for the 5/8” are highly usepolished, as are the high spots on both surfaces. The 5/8” tool, though just as perfect as the others, may have been broken and had to be replaced with a new one – also made from Kaolin

It is my opinion that rather than being a cache of indiscriminate preforms or a random bunch of chisels, these are ...

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