The ability to provenance geologic materials such as chert to
their point of origin is immensely useful to archaeologists and
other investigators of prehistoric cultures. While simple visual
classification and analysis can be useful among separate chert
formations, it is inadequate to deal with an intra-formational
study such as the Prairie du Chien. In the latter case,
geochemical analyses must be employed in order to begin to
uncover coherent regional variations which may facilitate the
provenance study. The large-scale sampling and Neutron
Activation Analysis of cherts throughout much of the Prairie du
Chien group has revealed a number of interesting results. It
appears that the Shakopee and Oneota formations behave
geochemically as essentially a single formation, with no
coherent differences between the two. There do not seem to be
any other coherent variations in the vertical dimension, either.
This may be either fortunate or unfortunate for those interested
in the provenance of Prairie du Chien chert; a