ARROWPOINTS, SPEARHEADS, AND KNIVES. 869 



soil resulting from the disintegration of the shales and sandstones which formerly 

 existed at this horizon. The natural place of the Kittanniug co;il of the Pennsyl- 

 vania series is 15 to 20 feet above the level of the flint, but it runs out before reach- 

 ing this far west, at least there is no trace of it here. These beds of bituminous 

 coal lie at different levels in the hills; 104 feet below the flint is a workable seam 

 of cannel coal. A section of the formation in the eastern jtart of Licking County 

 shows the same alternation of sandstone, shale, clay, coal, limestone, and iron ore 

 that is found in all coal regions, so that a detailed statement of its geological struc- 

 ture is unnecessary. 



Mr. Fowke describes the variations of the flint as follows:' 



At I e extreme western end it is of a gray, whitish color, cellular or porous in 

 structure and conmionly called buhrstone, and in the early occupation by white man 

 had been quarried for use as millstones. I'y the oxidation of the included iron it 

 shows shades of yellow brown along the line of fracture. Half a mile e.ast aj)pears 

 the translucent and bluish variety ; still the buhrstone predominates. Two miles 

 farther east, while the bed rock retains the bluish cast, the surface specimens Ity 

 weathering show every color known to flint — white, black, brown, yellow, green, 

 and blue. 



At the intersection of the crossroads, the Clay Lick Station road, the well dig- 

 gers report the flint as translucent and light-blue. A few hundred yards to the 

 north it is nearly white; the same distance south it is nearly black. These varie- 

 ties are found in other parts of the plateau and finally finishes at the extreme 

 eastern end with the same buhrstone that it commenced. In the crevices are fre- 

 quently found quartz crystals. They are of every size from microscopic to that of 

 a hen's egg, and of every color from limpidity to almost black. 



The flint was found to be in a continuous stratum, not in nodules. 

 It may have had fractures and faults, but was practically a solid mass 

 from 3 or 4 to 7 feet thick (in one place it was only 29 inches), with an 

 area 8 by 2.i miles. The central portion only was worked, except some 

 scattered diggings on the east in Muskingum County. The worked 

 area was about 2 miles square, and was covered with clay and soil to 

 a depth of from 4 to 8 or 10 feet. 



The prehistoric mining is believed by Mr. Fowke, who has examined 

 it with great detail and thoroughness, to have been conducted in the 

 following manner: 



The clay and soil covering was removed by digging and carrying up 

 on the level. This digging, continued down to the layer of good flint, 

 naturally made a pit with sloping sides like an inverted cone, with its 

 point resting on the flint layer; the point would be more or less trun- 

 cated according to the width of the excavation, which was from 15 or 

 20 feet up to 60 or 80 feet. In some places these pits were so close 

 that they ran together and the earlier was partially filled with the debris 

 from the later. Many have been filled with soil, leaves, etc., and, 

 having retained the rain water, are now filled with muck and become 

 veritable marshes; in others the water is more or less pure and has 

 been used for watering cattle. 



The flint being laid bare in the manner indicated over a greater or 



■ Smithsonian Report, 1884, p. 857. 



