Pedernales Pink Flint

Pedernales Pink flint is a colorful and high quality material found within the Pedernales River drainage basin in Gillespie County.  This flint occurs within the same Fort Terrett and Segovia geological formations that yield Root Beer flint. Like many of the colorful flint varieties in Gillespie, Kimble, and Kerr Counties, Pedernales Pink has a fairly localized distribution: from the vicinity of Harper, Texas to the vicinity of Fredericksburg.

In primary context, Pedernales Pink occurs in rather thin bands (2-6 cm), seams, or ledges, and is often found on the surface as broken slabs and flat cobbles.  There is considerable variety in the color schemes, with some pieces being mostly two or three shades of light pink.  Another variety has pinks, browns, and light yellows.  Some Pedernales pink is also similar to Rootbeer in that the innermost portion is of poor quality and appears as a band of brown flint that is bordered by lighter colored layers. And, identical to the reduction technique seen in certain Rootbeer flint, many Pedernales cores from prehistoric quarries had fakes removed from only the good outer material.  However, these cores are miniatures compared to the often much larger flat “boulders” of Root Beer flint.

The quality of Pedernales pink sometimes rivals its exceptional color, being relatively glassy and having good flaking properties.  However, on the whole it is less glassy and brittle than the best materials, and can often be improved by heat-treating.