Now first off, I drove over 800 miles, finding these things isn't easy anymore.
So with that said, I found a place to get Flint Ridge, Ohio flint in-situ. I am well beyond hammering a big flint boulder, but with the heavy rains that have recently gone through, and with temps around 75 degrees, I headed out yesterday am for another great adventure. I have never been to Ohio, and found it a most pleasant trip through the heart of Pennsylvania. Those tunnels through the mountains are neat! And across in Wheeling, WV and on to Zanesville, Ohio to get close to the Licking County site. Of course, that exit of I-70 was closed, so I went on farther to the next one and backtracked on Route 40. I had to stop and ask directions twice! Then I wound up in nowheresville, maybe just call it "Bob's Road" or such but from photos on the net found the house and the owner was home. I got my directions, and pulled literally across the street and most of the way along the 500' track to some pits. I'm not sure I could get back there by myself.
The flint was EVERYWHERE! Now most was just or the stuff modern flintknappers would use to make or try to make arrowheads from. Two young ladies were there and were looking for small quartz crystals that occur in the flint. That's bad new for knappers, but great for crystal fans. Since it rained so hard, there was no sense in doing any digging.
I took a folding chair and decided to NOT go in the pits as these were made by modern machines, but opted to look for the older, darker colored topsoil areas the dozers had disturbed, wanting to find old worked flint. Some folks had taken sledge hammers to some icky cherty flint. That was useless as a few of the pieces would "thud" if you hit them with another rock. The good stuff "rang" when banged.
However, I do not know how to flint knap, so I was looking for older worked pieces. It became obvious quickly due to the patina on an old piece versus a newly chipped one which were which. I even banged a couple to test out my theory. Then the fun began. I picked up aboriginal flint, some blades, cores, spalls and "bladelets", which are thin prehistoric razor knives! Those things still cut you! I ought to know. A few pieces I picked up were simply waste flakes, but some of the colors were wonderful.
No arrowheads, but this was a quarry site and you would not really expect to find one there. I did find a broken hammerstone and a complete one, the owner said finding these was tough! So I kept pretty much anything worked by Pre Columbian people. And part II follows the first set of pictures.
I got up early, dang it! and headed back. I took the truck to the car wash, it deserved it and came home and had a happy nap. The Susquehanna River (and everything else around here) flooded and the some roads just reopened I suppose this morning to traffic. The flooding was minor today, however. That's were I found the worked glass and green stone items.
I walked the paths and in the where there used to be brush and found two hammerstones, some fire rock, a few flakes and a point! With that, I was elated as people have been hunting this area for 100 years now. The broken point was lying with its edge up in a gravel bar and I spotted it. Moving along, I found a second point. This one just had the base coming out of the ground. I thought I was about done and move to under some exposed roots of trees. They have been exposed at least 20 years, but the stone move around a lot. I saw a roundish edge to a rock barely sticking out of the sandy soil. I took my little stick that I had and the blasted thing wouldn't budge. So I used more force, I turned over a lot of rocks this afternoon. Anyway, I finally got the stick (bamboo walking stick) under the thing and scratched some more and was able to get a grip on it. My eyes almost came out as I'm staring at an unbroken full groove ax! I have found axes here before, and as a matter of fact found my best one not 50' from this one but what a way to end the weekend! The last ax I found was before dinosaurs ruled the earth.
So with that said, I found a place to get Flint Ridge, Ohio flint in-situ. I am well beyond hammering a big flint boulder, but with the heavy rains that have recently gone through, and with temps around 75 degrees, I headed out yesterday am for another great adventure. I have never been to Ohio, and found it a most pleasant trip through the heart of Pennsylvania. Those tunnels through the mountains are neat! And across in Wheeling, WV and on to Zanesville, Ohio to get close to the Licking County site. Of course, that exit of I-70 was closed, so I went on farther to the next one and backtracked on Route 40. I had to stop and ask directions twice! Then I wound up in nowheresville, maybe just call it "Bob's Road" or such but from photos on the net found the house and the owner was home. I got my directions, and pulled literally across the street and most of the way along the 500' track to some pits. I'm not sure I could get back there by myself.The flint was EVERYWHERE! Now most was just or the stuff modern flintknappers would use to make or try to make arrowheads from. Two young ladies were there and were looking for small quartz crystals that occur in the flint. That's bad new for knappers, but great for crystal fans. Since it rained so hard, there was no sense in doing any digging.
I took a folding chair and decided to NOT go in the pits as these were made by modern machines, but opted to look for the older, darker colored topsoil areas the dozers had disturbed, wanting to find old worked flint. Some folks had taken sledge hammers to some icky cherty flint. That was useless as a few of the pieces would "thud" if you hit them with another rock. The good stuff "rang" when banged.
However, I do not know how to flint knap, so I was looking for older worked pieces. It became obvious quickly due to the patina on an old piece versus a newly chipped one which were which. I even banged a couple to test out my theory. Then the fun began. I picked up aboriginal flint, some blades, cores, spalls and "bladelets", which are thin prehistoric razor knives! Those things still cut you! I ought to know. A few pieces I picked up were simply waste flakes, but some of the colors were wonderful.
No arrowheads, but this was a quarry site and you would not really expect to find one there. I did find a broken hammerstone and a complete one, the owner said finding these was tough! So I kept pretty much anything worked by Pre Columbian people. And part II follows the first set of pictures.
I got up early, dang it! and headed back. I took the truck to the car wash, it deserved it and came home and had a happy nap. The Susquehanna River (and everything else around here) flooded and the some roads just reopened I suppose this morning to traffic. The flooding was minor today, however. That's were I found the worked glass and green stone items.
I walked the paths and in the where there used to be brush and found two hammerstones, some fire rock, a few flakes and a point! With that, I was elated as people have been hunting this area for 100 years now. The broken point was lying with its edge up in a gravel bar and I spotted it. Moving along, I found a second point. This one just had the base coming out of the ground. I thought I was about done and move to under some exposed roots of trees. They have been exposed at least 20 years, but the stone move around a lot. I saw a roundish edge to a rock barely sticking out of the sandy soil. I took my little stick that I had and the blasted thing wouldn't budge. So I used more force, I turned over a lot of rocks this afternoon. Anyway, I finally got the stick (bamboo walking stick) under the thing and scratched some more and was able to get a grip on it. My eyes almost came out as I'm staring at an unbroken full groove ax! I have found axes here before, and as a matter of fact found my best one not 50' from this one but what a way to end the weekend! The last ax I found was before dinosaurs ruled the earth.
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