Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve is a Native American flint quarry located in Hopewell Township, Licking County, Ohio, about north of Brownsville at the intersection of Brownsville Road and Flint Ridge Road. Old quarry pits are visible, and a museum owned and operated by the Ohio History Connection is located on the site.
Flint is a variety of quartz and the flint on the ridge is within the Vanport Limestone Member of the Allegheny Formation of Pennsylvanian age.Rice, C.L., Kosanke, R.M., and Henry, T.W., 1994, Revision of nomenclature and correlations of some Middle Pennsylvanian units in the northwestern part of the Appalachian basin, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia, IN Rice, C.L., ed., Elements of Pennsylvanian stratigraphy, central Appalachian basin: Geological Society of America Special Paper, 294, p. 7–26. DeLong, R. M., 1972, Bedrock Geology of the Flint Ridge Area, Licking and Muskingum Counties, Ohio: Ohio Division of Geological Survey Report of Investigations 84, color map with text. — via The Ohio State University
Flint Ridge was an important source of flint and Native Americans extracted the flint from hundreds of quarries along the ridge. This "Ohio Flint" was traded across eastern North America and has been found as far west as present-day Kansas City and south around the Gulf of Mexico. Flint from the Knife River area in modern North Dakota has been found in archaeological sites associated with the Hopewell Culture in Ohio. Ohio flint is the state gemstone of Ohio.
See also Paleo Crossing site
Notes
References
External links
Flint Ridge State Memorial - official site FLINT - OHIO'S OFFICIAL GEMSTONE