FOWKE] ABORIGINAL FLINT QUARRIES 521 
of yellow and brown, and not susceptible of such delicate chipping as 
the compact chert of Ohio or the hornstone of southern Indiana. 
Most of the higher hills to the east and south of Clifton are capped 
with it, and wherever examined it has the same nature. 
Black flint is reported at several places on Eagle Creek from 
10 to 15 miles east of Clifton. Also, “ balls” or “ bowlders” of the 
same color are said to “roll out of the hillside” along a certain 
ravine. A careful search at various places, especially in the said 
ravine, disclosed some black flint which plainly came from a stratum 
having a maximum thickness of about 8 inches; at least this was the 
measure of the thickest piece found which had a natural surface on 
both sides. Most of it is in small angular fragments. ‘The owner 
of this farm, who has lived on it for more than 60 years, has never 
seen any nodules, or the black flint in place. The cap rock of 
the ridge is the same whitish chert observed on other hills. 
Pits, “like ore diggings,” were reported, as existing at 6 miles and 
also at 12 miles eastward of Clifton. They are due to the uprooting 
of large trees. Similar pits are reported from Lowryville, 28 miles 
southward; but as these are only a short distance from deposits 
near Florence, Ala., which are known to be unfit for aboriginal 
needs, they were not visited. 
Almost every strip of bottom land along the Tennessee and its 
tributaries, in the vicinity of Clifton, yields an abundance of flint 
chips, spalls, and broken implements. Nearly all larger fragments 
are of the ordinary chert, but many of the smaller pieces are pink, 
bluish, or dark stone of finer grain. It has not been ascertained 
whether the latter material belongs to this locality; if so, there must 
be very little of it. 
The principal workshop investigated is on the farm of Mr. Charles 
H. Moore, 8 miles south of Clifton, on Hardin Creek. A gentle slope 
with an elevation of 30 to 40 feet, between the creek and the steeper 
hill behind it, is divided into three parts by two ravines. On the 
western part, comprising somewhat more than an acre, much of the 
surface, especially on the portion toward the creek, is literally covered 
with workshop débris. A great many well-finished specimens have 
been carried away from the site. Most of the material is the chert 
capping all the hills and strewn over the slopes in the neighborhood. 
From the appearance of the débris it is almost a certainty that none 
of it was mined or quarried from the hills, but was gathered, perhaps 
dug out, from the creek bed and from ravines. Nearly all unworked 
surfaces have the smooth polish and rounded angles belonging to 
waterworn pebbles. A few specimens were made of flint which does 
not belong here. All of these are small except the sharpened end of 
a celt-like implement probably not less than a foot long originally. 
On the edge and part of the blade is the polish resultant from usage. 
55231°—28-_34 
