SKETCH OP FLINT RIDGE, LICKING COUNTY, OHIO. 867 



of this point has been plowed this year, and the remains of " primitive 

 industry " cover all this area. How much more may be hidden under 

 the soil formed by vegetable growth since the shop was abandoned is 

 uncertain, but it seems reasonable to suppose that all the part in which 

 no pits are found, some 4 acres, may have been left by the aborigines 

 as a place in which the work might be completed. On the part that 

 has been plowed there is about half an acre in which the flint amounts 

 to four-fifths of the whole ; that is, if all the soil could be put in one pile 

 and the flint chips in another, this would be the proportion of each. 



Nearly all this is in small flakes and spalls, chipped off in finishing. 

 Very few angular blocks or fragments are found, and such as do occur 

 are those which were carried from elsewhere, but on which, for some 

 reason, the finishing process had not begun. This is the only work- 

 shop on the ridge where may be found the flint "coves" from which 

 were flaked off long, thin splinters to be used as knives, perforators, 

 lancets, and the like.* 



On J. Kreager's farm is a shop just north of the pits and on the side 

 of the hill. Both angular fragments and thin flakes may be found here, 

 showing that the rough blocks were fully dressed out before being car- 

 ried away. 



Smaller shops may be found on J. S. Loughman's land, just at the 

 western edge of the break in the stratum, and on Cook's land, a short 

 distance southwest of Capt. John Loughman's. 



The work of making these implements, then, seems to have been 



thus: 



The aborigines (meaning thereby Indians, Mound Builders, or what- 

 ever other name may be assigned to the people who did this work) knew 

 that by digging into the unweathered bed-rock a quality of flint could be 

 obtained better suited to their purposes than that which could be pro- 

 cured along the outcrop. The dirt was cleared away, by being carried 

 out in baskets or skins, until the flint was exposed. Cleaning out a 

 space sufficient for working purposes, a fire was built on top of the rock, 

 and when it was heated water was thrown on it. This would cause the 

 rock to crumble, and on clearing out the fragments a fresh surface of 

 flint would be exposed around the hole thus made in it, from which 

 pieces could be broken off with the large bowlders found in the vicinity. 

 A question presents itself here, "If this method was used, why did 

 they not follow the flint stratum, once they had found it, throwing the 

 dirt behind them, instead of opening so many fresh holes?" The only 

 answer to be given is that they did not, except in a few instances, and 

 that is all we know about it. 



The pieces thus obtained, if not already small enough, could be again 



• On digging in this shop, after the above was written, it was discovered that the 

 layer of chips was not so thick as it was supposed to be ; at any point in the field soil 

 free from flint could be found at not more than 16 inches below the surface. Still, an 

 immense amount of work has been done here. 



