Alibates flint

Along the canyon rims of the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle, where we stayed last night, are signs of craftsmanship that spanned the course of human history in North America. Small pits and literally tons of stone manufacturing debris are signs of thousands of years of quarrying a brilliantly colored stone known as Alibates flint (technically a silicified or agatized dolomite, just for Mary). The material, prized by prehistoric hunters, was traded over distances as far north as Montana, as far south as Central Mexico, and east to at least the Mississippi River. What catches your eye for hundreds of yards beyond the pits are the quarry wastepiles and tool-making debris blanketing the hillslopes: thousands of quarried chunks, tested cobbles, flakes, and tools in various stages of production. Based on evidence at the Alibates locale and at sites further afield, prehistoric peoples throughout the millennia have used stone from the quarry to make tools and weapons. Late ice-age hunters apparently sought the material to tip the weapons used to kill now-extinct large game animals. Finely flaked and fluted Alibates flint projectile points were found at the Blackwater Draw site in eastern New Mexico, near our current campsite. The scene of a mammoth kill, the site dates to 13,000 years ago at its earliest level.