Investigations at the Flint Ridge State Memorial, Ohio, 1987-1988

[Buckeye]

For those interested in Flint Ridge Ohio:

Hopewell Archeology:
The Newsletter of Hopewell Archeology in the Ohio River Valley
Volume 1, Number 1, May 1995
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11. Investigations at the Flint Ridge State Memorial, Ohio, 1987-1988 By Richard W. Yerkes, Ohio State University

In 1987 and 1988, the Ohio State University summer field school in archeology was held at Flint Ridge State Memorial. These investigations were designed to collect a sample of artifacts from the quarries and workshops that could be used to analyze the prehistoric methods used to extract the flint and produce the large bifaces and bladelet cores of Flint Ridge Flint that were transported to local and distant sites. We also wanted to know if most of the quarrying took place during the Middle Woodland period, and if there were any habitation or settlement areas adjacent to the quarries. Limited survey and test excavations were conducted during the two ten- week field seasons, but a total of 123, 972 pieces of chipped flint, 10 hammerstones, an anvil stone, and one piece of ground stone were recovered from 28 test units and 75 surface collection squares.

Thirty Ohio State University students helped with the cataloging and analysis of this large volume of lithic materials between 1987 and 1993. The final report on the Ohio State University field school investigations and the collected artifacts was submitted to the Ohio Historical Society for curation in May 1993.

These field school investigations were certainly not the first explorations at Flint Ridge. Study of the "Great Indian Quarry" began in the 19th century with the publications and correspondence of Caleb Atwater (1820) and Samuel Hildreth (1838). Several decades later, Gerard Fowke conducted the first systematic study of Flint Ridge which he published (under the pen name "Charles Smith") in the 1884 annual report of the Smithsonian Institution (Smith 1885). Flint Ridge was mentioned in many late 19th and early 20th century discussions of the "Moundbuilders" and their works, but the definitive study of the quarries was conducted by William Corless Mills for the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society (which he published in 1921). In 1933, the Flint Ridge State Memorial was set aside by the State of Ohio to preserve parts of the quarry site. Since then, Jeff Carskadden (1969), James Murphy (1989) and others have investigated several quarry, workshop, and habitation sites in this unglaciated region in Licking and Muskingum Counties, Ohio.

Remote Sensing

Grass and woods cover most of the Flint Ridge State Memorial, so prior to the start of the field school, a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey of portions of the east field was carried out to try and locate buried features. Unfortunately, the GPR survey did not reveal any clear subsurface anomalies. Twelve 2x2 m test excavation units were opened in the east field, and two 2x2 m units were excavated 40 meters to the west in the middle field. In the wooded area north of Flint Ridge Road and east of State Road 668, two 1x1 m units were excavated near several quarry pits, and a controlled surface collection of 75 one meter squares was completed. At the suggestion of Martha Otto (Ohio Historical Society), three 1 m wide profiles were cut along the bank north of Flint Ridge Road. In 1988, 12 additional 1x1 m squares were excavated in the east field, and James Foradas (Ohio State University) carried out a magnetometer survey in the areas where the GPR survey had been conducted. The only anomaly detected by the magnetometer was a buried metal container.

Number and Density of Artifacts Recovered

An average of 4,291 artifacts were found in each of the test excavation units, ranging from 383 in an historically disturbed unit to 22,118 in one of the units in the middle field. The average for the surface collection units was 51 artifacts. The density of chipped stone in the test units ranged from 319 artifacts per cubic meter of fill in the "disturbed" unit to 42,117 artifacts per cubic meter in a unit located where "natural" flint is exposed on the surface. The average density of the test units was 7,046 artifacts per cubic meter. Of course, the bulk of the artifacts at Flint Ridge would be classified as debitage (flint chips, chunks of flint, or other waste). Only 11 complete or broken projectile points were recovered, and only five of these could be classified. One of the vexing problems facing the investigator at Flint Ridge is the lack of chronologically sensitive stone tools (or pottery) among the vast quantities of non-diagnostic flint artifacts (cf. Mills 1921: 171).

The Extent of the Quarries and Workshops on Flint Ridge

The soils on Flint Ridge contain large quantities of flint fragments, and in places, large boulders and outcrops of flint are found on the surface (Wildermuth et al. 1938). The areas identified as "flint-bearing soils" on the U.S.D.A. soil maps for Licking and Muskingum counties were used to estimate the geographic extent of the ancient quarries and workshops (approximately 880 ha or 2,175 acres). This is slightly less than the extent of the Vanport flint beds on the ridge (about 1,000 ha). However, these data do not provide an accurate estimate of the number of quarry pits and workshops on Flint Ridge. Fowke made a sketch map of the "hundreds" of quarry pits around the crossroads and (Clark's) blacksmith shop (see Holmes 1919). This area now lies within the boundaries of the Flint Ridge State Memorial. The most detailed map of the extent of the flint quarries is the one prepared by Mills in 1921 and modified by Ernest H. Carlson (1987: 416; 1991: 66), but it does not show the total number of quarry pits or workshops.

Here's the rest...

Hopewell Archeology Newsletter -- Volumn1 Number1

[neralich]

Thanks for the article! Love the flint ridge lithic and hope to visit that place in the future!

[eddies]

i went to flint ridge once. it was very cool to see.