Friday, May 16, 2014

Alibates Flint Quarries


Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument is located near the town of Fritch, Texas and near Lake Meredith National Recreational Area.   Archeological traces of prehistoric Indian campsites, workshops and homes dot this area  of the Texas Panhandle and the Canadian River region.  Natives worked the area for flint for their personal use and for trade to other Native tribes for 12,000 years. The flint was of vital importance in their everyday life. Even before the Great Lakes were formed, Indains of the Ice Age Clovis  Culture used Alibates flint for spear points to hunt Imperial Mammoth.

Alibates flint is of excellent quality and beautiful in color. Colors range from maroon, cream, chocolate and gold look like candy or slabs of bacon. Flakes mottled with indigo and emerald resemble jewels. The flint lies below the surface at the ridge level, in a layer up to six feet thick.  Indians dug flint by hand or with sticks or bone tools.

  If you visit this site be sure to call the visitor center the day before to arrange a tour of the site as visits are by appointment only. On the day we took our hike up the ridge we were the only ones with the Ranger led hike.






No comments:

Post a Comment