This artifact was recovered during excavations at the Union Pacific Railroad Depot in Lawrence, Kansas. It is either a biface or a gunflint made from either a chalcedony or quarried and manufactured in France, as is indicated by it's honey-yellow or blonde color. The edges show crushing and retouch. Gunflints were used to generate a spark in a flintlock musket or pistol and as strike-a-lights for lighting a fire. This site served not only as a depot, but also had dwellings, a meat market, a saloon, a possible boarding house or hotel, a grain elevator and other commercial buildings located within the project area excavated in 1995 by Kansas Historical Society archeologists.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Gunflint or Biface from the Union Pacific Railroad Depot, 14DO324 - 2