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Flint Ridge State Memorial, Ohio, June 2012. One of the large quarry pits lies in the centre of the photo with a collapsed tree trunk for scale. A substantial waste dump can be seen in the background. Photo © Pete Topping

EDITORIAL Welcome to issue #8 of The Quarry. By now those of you who are intending to travel to the SAA’s Annual Meeting in Hawaii next year will have submitted your proposals for papers, or agreed to participate in some way in the various fora. Our interest group has sponsored an interesting symposium (see below) and as ever there will be the members meeting which gives all attendees the opportunity to meet together, hear from the Committee about the preceding year’s activities and their plans for the future. The members meetings provide a unique forum where the membership can discuss the business of the group amongst themselves and with the Committee. So if you are lucky enough to get to Honolulu then do take the time to go to the members meeting to catch up with news, network with old and new friends and suggest ideas for future events.

The Quarry The e-Newsletter of the SAA’s Prehistoric Quarries &

Early Mines Interest Group

#8 September 2012

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In June this year I made another visit to Flint Ridge in Ohio during a study tour of Moundbuilder sites. For those of you who have not yet visited the site let me strongly recommend it – quite simply this place is amazing. Not only are the quarries spread

over a vast area, but in places the earthworks are very well preserved, particularly in Flint Ridge State Memorial1 where the depressions of the quarries and the large heaped waste dumps can be very dramatic nestled amongst the open woodland. Flint Ridge is a 7 mile (11km) long chain of hills which contain Vanport flint2 in beds ranging from 1-5ft (0.3-1.5m) in thickness. However, in the area of the State Memorial the deposits reach up to 12ft (3.6m) in thickness. The Vanport flint on Flint Ridge is one of the most extensive surface deposits of high quality flint in the eastern part of the US and has been exploited since the Paleo-Indian period.

Flint Ridge State Memorial, Ohio, June 2012. Two shallow quarry pits are picked out by damp, rotting vegetation. Waste dumps are not so prominent in this area. Photo © Pete Topping The first major survey of the quarry complex was published by WH Holmes in 1919 when he recorded the quarrying activity along the entire chain of hills. Holmes plotted the extent of the flint outcrops, where the quarries had been located, the

1 Flint Ridge State Memorial, 7091 Brownsville Road, Glenford, Ohio 43739 (for opening

hours check website). 2 The flint at Flint Ridge occurs in the Vanport Limestone Member of the Allegheny Group of

the Pennsylvanian System. Several varieties of flint are found: Flint Ridge Moss Agate which is highly translucent; Flint Ridge Nethers Variety which has a heavily banded appearance; and a grey-blue translucent variety known as Flint Ridge Chalcedony. The presence of minerals and organic impurities have produced flint in white, yellow, pink, salmon, red, blue, green and black deposits, the colours often intermingled (cf. DeRegnaucourt & Georgiady 1998, 54-67). Flint Ridge flint is the official gemstone of Ohio.

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distribution of workshop areas and the position of mounds3 and two ‘earth enclosures’. The mounds and enclosures occur in the western part of the complex in Licking County. The many quarry pits ranged in depth from 5-25ft (1.5-7.6m) and Holmes found that in places there was a substantial overburden of earth between 10-20ft (3.0-6.0m) in depth. Consequently many of the pits in these areas had significant waste dumps located nearby.

Flint Ridge State Memorial, Ohio, June 2012. Some of the tools produced at the quarries. Photo © Pete Topping

3 One of these mounds, the Hazlett Mound, lying in the west in Hopewell Township, was

investigated by Mills and found to be Hopewell in origin. It would appear that the mound covered a flint ‘building’, roughly square in plan with walls standing up to 6 feet in height, and which contained two inhumations, one disturbed by previous excavations, and a second accompanied by classic Hopewell artefacts comprising a copper gorget of a type found at the Tremper Mound and Fort Ancient, copper ear ornaments, a copper-covered wooden handle, a necklace of shell beads, and the left hand held an ornament crafted from the lower jaw of a grey wolf (Mills 1921, 146-161).

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The work of Holmes and earlier excavations by Fowke (1902) have provided much information about the chaîne opératoire at Flint Ridge. The process of extraction as suggested by Fowke began by digging a pit through the overlying strata until the flint deposits were reached. The flint was then broken through using fire-setting4 until the underlying limestone was exposed; this was then quarried away to undercut the flint strata leaving behind a shelf-like exposure of the flint. The areas of burnt flint were then chipped away to expose the unaltered flint which was then quarried. The quarrying was done using granite or quartzite hammerstones and wooden mallets, which were used to drive wood or bone wedges into the cracks in the strata and separate large blocks of flint. The quarried flint was then reduced to manageable sized blanks or preforms at the quarry, then transported to the nearby workshop areas, some of which were found to be 5-10 acres (2.0-4.0ha) in extent. Fowke’s analysis of the debitage at the workshops led him to suggest that as much as 90% of the quarried flint was rejected, a fact confirmed by later excavations undertaken by Mills (1921, 96) in 1918-19. Fowke’s also discovered the existence of a second tier of workshops where the preforms or roughouts were finished. These secondary workshop areas were not as extensive as the primary group, and the largest were discovered in the vicinity of the quarry pits or near the primary workshops. However, other smaller workshops were found near springs, camp sites or villages up to 50 miles (80.5km) distant from Flint Ridge. Most of the tool types crafted from the Vanport flint were designed for cutting, scraping, drilling or puncturing and included projectile points, scrapers, drills, knives, awls and bladelets. These tools were traded extensively, being found throughout the Midwest and as far away as New York, Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana and Kansas. In terms of chronological context, many Adena sites feature Flint Ridge material in their assemblages, and for the Hopewell Flint Ridge was arguably their most important source of flint. It is possible that the nearby Moundbuilder complex at Newark may have had some form of influence over the use of these quarries, but as to the detail of that influence one can only speculate – if it indeed ever existed. It may be that because Flint Ridge was an important resource over a considerable area, and presumably for many communities, its use transcended any social or political restrictions and it became a resource freely available to all, much like the Catlinite pipestone quarries in Minnesota. By now you are probably wondering why I have produced this travelogue. It is simple. As we all still appear to be in a global recession and the funding and survival of many archaeological sites is a tricky issue, I thought it would be good to highlight what is a truly terrific site that should appeal to all of our membership and one that would really repay a visit. And if you were to visit when passing by, or on vacation, your entry fee can only help such iconic sites survive the current economic problems. So I would urge you to do your bit and visit Flint Ridge next time you are in Ohio. References DeRegnaucourt, T & Georgiady, J 1998. Prehistoric Chert Types of the Midwest. Ohio: Occasional Monographs Series of the Upper Miami Valley Archaeological Research Museum, No.7.

4 Mills (1921, 114, 117 &123-126) disputes the use of fire at Flint Ridge following his

examination of 33 pits. The weight of Mills’ evidence must cast doubts on Fowke’s interpretation regarding the use of fire-setting.

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Fowke, G 1902. Archaeological History of Ohio: The Mound builders and later Indians. Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. Holmes, WH 1919. Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities: Part 1, Introductory, The Lithic Industries. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 60. Mills, WC 1921. Flint Ridge. Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications XXX, 91-161. As ever, I would like to make my usual plea for material for the next issue of the e-newsletter. Such pieces can feature reports on current research – perhaps to ask for views or feedback, notification of new discoveries, reviews of books which might appeal to the membership, or notification of upcoming events. The Quarry is the voice of the membership, do use it. Thanks go to Anne Dowd, Stephen Bridenstine and Ryan Parish for their contributions to this issue. Notes for contributors Contributions can be any length but ideally no more than 2,000 words in Word format. Plans and photographs should be supplied as low resolution jpegs; try to keep these to five or fewer to make the Editor’s job as simple as possible and prevent the file size from growing too large. Such restrictions will also help authors focus their efforts and use only the truly critical images. If you do use photographs please ensure that you can also supply written permission from the photographer for their use, and if anyone is featured in a photo, as a scale for example, that they also give their written permission for their image to be used in both the e-newsletter and on the SAA website where it will be placed in the archive of Quarry issues. These copyright procedures are essential to protect the interests of all concerned and must be in place before web dissemination can take place. So what are you waiting for, get something in to the Editor at: topping.pete@gmail.com.

NEWS & COMING EVENTS PQEMIG Forthcoming Annual Meeting to be held at the 78th SAA Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI, April 3-7, 2013 Report by Anne S. Dowd, Chair Next April the SAA's will be in sunny Hawai'i and all of you had better put on your grass skirts, board shorts, and get your surfboards waxed and ready to go. Juliet E. Morrow and Peter R. Mills will chair the PQEMIG-sponsored symposium that is proposed for 2013. It is titled: "Quarries and Early Mines: Settlement Context and Transportation Network Relationships," and is based upon ideas Chris Davis suggested at the last annual meeting. The session commentary will be offered by Adrian L. Burke of the Université de Montréal, who has recently organized a sister quarry group in Canada, and who in the past has served as our group's Meetings Secretary. Adrian's discussant comments will surely be one of the meeting's highlights. We hope that many of you will be in the audience. The symposium abstract is as follows: "This symposium treats the settlement context and transportation network of quarries and early mines. To date, there has been considerable research on quarries and their relationships with workshop or production areas. In addition, pathway and trails associated with quarries, linking specialized sites, may reveal the

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organization of quarrying activities and the raw material transport, as well as community settlement characteristics. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping provides new techniques for regional analysis at varying scales and ways to document the different site types related to quarries. Sites around quarries have the potential to specifically show how different cultural groups, both large and small, used quarries. Associated linear features such as trails or pathways may provide evidence for direction of transport or relationships with habitation or production sites." The PQEMIG-sponsored symposium from this year (2012) is slated for publication in a special thematic issue of North American Archaeologist (NAA), which will be dedicated to George H. Odell, who unfortunately passed away in October of 2011. Dr. Odell was to have been a discussant at the session, which was titled: "From Source to Center: Raw Material Acquisition and Toolstone Distributions." Dr. Robert G. Elston ably handled the discussant comments and his will be the concluding article in the NAA issue. Watch for it, because Elston's commentary is a valuable synthesis on the state of current quarry research, with a special emphasis on work that he has led at the Tosawihi quarry in Nevada (see also the recent article by Elston in The Quarry No. 7). In addition, Dowd and Elston have been invited to publish a general article on George H. Odell's contributions to the field of archaeology in the The SAA Archaeological Record. Besides these efforts, peer reviewers for the journal TRACE, a publication of CEMCA, in Mexico City, are presently considering for publication articles from the 2011 PQEMIG-sponsored SAA symposium organized by Damián Alvarez and Anne S. Dowd. As a number of the papers were written and presented in Spanish, a Central American publication venue is appropriate. Dr. Geoffrey Braswell was the discussant for this symposium, and his insightful comments were helpful in unifying the contributions from European, North and Central American quarry researchers. Eric Voigt (evoigt@louisberger.com) has offered to chair and organize a 2014 PQEMIG-sponsored symposium at the SAAs in Austin, Texas. If you would like to present a paper, contact him before the submissions deadline in September 2013. PQEMIG Annual Meeting held at the 77th SAA Annual Meeting, Memphis, TN Report by Ryan Parish, Meetings Secretary Over 700 SAA members are now signed up to this interest group. The goal of the Committee is to further expand enrolment and increase member participation. The Quarry newsletter was discussed. A new updated description of the group and its activities was to be prepared for dissemination through the SAA. Field trips during the SAA Annual Meetings were discussed, and proposals for an organized symposium at the next Annual Meeting were explored. PQEMIG Actions: the election of new officers for the Group Committee is to take

place during July 2012. The Ballot Announcement will be emailed to members via the SAA’s membership services. Topics discussed at the meeting: The possibility of a tour or field trip during the SAA

Annual Meeting in Honolulu was discussed, and it was suggested that Peter Mills might be used as a contact. A deadline of July 8th, or the 1st week of July is proposed for firm suggestions about the tour itinerary, to be sent to the Meetings Secretary. It was suggested that the group should continue to press their case with the SAA Board of Directors and staff to ensure consideration of the group’s proposed activities for the Honolulu meeting. The meeting also discussed at some length the issues surrounding field trips and limitations such as distance, parking, and disabled accessibility.

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Photograph of Attendees at the 77th SAA Annual PQEMIG Meeting during the Raw Material Show and Tell, from left to right, Jack Ray, Mary Beth Trubitt, Ryan Parish, Karen Supak, Meeks Etchieson, Eduardo Neves, and Thomas Green. (Photo by Anne S. Dowd, Copyright © 2012, ArchæoLOGIC USA, all rights reserved).

Symposia suggestions for next year: GIS analysis of Alibates Quarries (Chris Davis, Texas State University). Chris offered to organize a group-sponsored symposium for Honolulu under the provisional title: “Pathways and trails within quarries, using GIS to map trails and track workshop areas.” Member's ongoing research: Jack Ray presented a grant submission to survey Peoria Quarry in northeast Oklahoma, which was a site originally surveyed by Holmes. The prehistoric quarries are being impacted by modern quarries, changes to the water line and housing developments. The survey and planning grant was designed to assess what survives of the prehistoric quarries - possibly as little as 15 acres out of 3 square miles of private land. The project will also test a site that produced Fresno points. A tertiary discussion focused on the effects of heat treatment on “Keokuk” Burlington chert. Publications Select papers from last year’s Sacramento symposium will be published in TRACE, published in Mexico City. A link is published in The Quarry e-newsletter #7. Jobs The Arkansas Archaeological Survey is hiring a new station archaeologist (as part of the University of Arkansas system). Mary Beth Trubitt announced the opening in April 19, 2012 and also sent out a job description, which was circulated to the people on the PQEMIG mailing list on July 30, 2012. Proposal for an online quarry database: Otis Crandel and Neil Hauser want to put a digital quarry database online as a worldwide source. Google documents was discussed as one forum for distribution. File upload and permissions are issues that were mentioned. Please contact Otis Crandell with suggestions and input.

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PQEMIG website: the group webpage has been revised. Anne S. Dowd offered to coordinate progress on this portal for information about the group’s activities. Romanian conference 2013: this conference was flagged to the membership, see below for contact information and first announcement.

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PQEMIG Committee Elections 2012 We did not receive any applicants following our call for new candidates to stand for election to the interest group committee, so the present incumbents will retain their positions for another two years. Please plan to let us know between April and June 2014 if you are interested in standing for one of these positions after this new term expires. The re-elected officers of the committee are as follows: Chair/SAA Contact person: Anne S. Dowd (adowd@archaeologicusa.com) Group Coordinator: Karen Supak (redtailarchaeology@gmail.com) Membership Secretary: Margaret Brewer-LaPorta (mbrewer-

laporta@laportageol.com, mbrewer-laporta@cinaq.org)

Meetings Secretary: Ryan Michael Parish (rmparish@memphis.edu) Editor: Pete Topping (topping.pete@gmail.com)

Lynch Knife River Flint Quarry National Historic Landmark Dedicated Report by Stephen Bridenstine, Interpretive Ranger, Knife River Indian Villages NHS National Park Service (NPS) personnel, public officials, tribal members, landowners, and the general public gathered at a ceremony on June 9, 2012, to formally dedicate the Lynch Knife River Flint Quarry National Historic Landmark in Dunn Center, North Dakota. The quarry officially became a national historic landmark on July 13, 2011. For thousands of years, people travelled to the quarry site to obtain the highly prized Knife River flint. Favored for its fine grain size and predictable fracturing pattern, Knife River flint was the dominant lithic material over a large swath of central North America. The dedication ceremony opened with a traditional Mandan blessing from Elder Edwin Benson, while fellow Three Affiliated Tribes members Cory Spotted Bear and Keith Bear played music. Speakers included Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site Superintendent Wendy Ross; NPS Midwest Region Deputy Director Patricia Trap; former NPS Assistant Director for American Indian Relations Gerard Baker; North Dakota Group Superintendent Valerie Naylor; and State Historical Society of North Dakota Archeology and Historic Preservation Division Director Fern Swenson. Vergil Noble, NPS Midwest Archeological Center, and Damita Engel, Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, presented the landowners with an official dedication plaque. The ceremony ended with a speech from landowner Gail Lynch, who thanked friends, family, and associates who contributed to the preservation of the quarry site and designation as a National Historic Landmark. The quarry joins five other national historic landmarks in North Dakota, including the Big Hidatsa Village Site at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, and Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site.