HiddenMysteries: Meet Ohio's flint stones, a gem right out of history

By John Switzer

Ohio has two major sources for the flint that ancient Americans used to make their tools and weapons.

One source, in Coshocton County, produces Upper Mercer or Coshocton flint. The other is the Flint Ridge quarries in Licking County.

Around this time each year, folks scour farm fields for tools and projectile points lost thousands of years ago.

The best time to hunt is after the spring rains, before weeds and crops cover the fields. Artifact hunting is a fairly large hobby, and amateur archaeologists get to feel the wonder of finding something that was made by the first Americans.

I know because I have felt that wonder myself.

A good amateur archaeologist knows if a find was made of Upper Mercer or Flint Ridge flint.

Some say Upper Mercer flint was easier to work with and favored by some of the early cultures, including the Paleo, possibly the earliest people to inhabit this land 15,000 years ago or more, and later, the Adena, who produced some of the mounds in what is now Ohio.

But the Hopewell culture, which followed the Adena and built lots of earthworks in this state, favored Flint Ridge flint.

The major, ancient Flint Ridge quarries are owned by the Ohio Historical Society and produce what people call gem-quality stone. It is so beautiful that it has been named Ohio's official gemstone. It comes in reds, blues, pinks, whites, blacks, greens and even a mottled combination of colors.

Upper Mercer flint comes in blacks, grays, tans and whites. Some pieces have veins of lighter colors streaking through them. Those are referred to as lightning bolts.

Items made of Upper Mercer flint are found in parts of the eastern United States, but those made of Flint Ridge flint are found in an even larger area.

Bradley Lepper, an archaeologist at the Ohio Historical Society, offers a suggestion on why that is so.

He said the Hopewell made their projectile points, scrapers, knives and bladelets out of Flint Ridge flint because they prized its color.

"They didn't just want a functional tool, they wanted a beautiful functional tool," he said.

The Hopewell had a vast trade network, but Lepper doesn't think that's why the Flint Ridge flint is found over a far greater area than the Upper Mercer flint. Rather, he thinks it's because of the many earthen religious centers the Hopewell built here.

"I don't think it was as much a trade network than it was pilgrims (from faraway places) bringing offerings of copper, mica and obsidian to Hopewell religious centers," he said. "In turn, Flint Ridge flint served as pilgrims' tokens or souvenirs.

"One of the reasons I say that is because we found large amounts of exotic materials in what is now Ohio and only small amounts of Flint Ridge flint going out."

Lepper reminded surface hunters to get permission from landowners and to keep track of their finds and the fields they were found in.

"That way, they are collecting important scientific data and not just a box of rocks," he said.

Just one more thing. Remember, the moon will be full on Thursday for the second time this month.

Two full moons in one month mean the second is a blue moon because it happens "once in a blue moon." Thursday's moon is also the Milk Moon, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac.

The Hopewell probably would have noticed Venus so close to the crescent moon this month and maybe even the blue moon.

They paid attention to those sorts of things.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com

Meet Ohio's flint stones, a gem right out of history

Saturday, June 02 2007 @ 02:21 AM CDT