Alibates Flint Quarries Survey Pictures

Time for some more pictures from the August 2009 survey of the Alibates flint quarries conducted in August of 2009.  These pictures present a side of the quarries that aren't usually seen by most visitors due to vulnerable status of this historic archaeological site.  Tours are available and where this particular location can be seen by the public at large, though it pays to call up in advance to make sure that a tour is on since this is one of the less visited of our National Monuments.  (Don't forget to click on the pictures for larger images...)

Here Chris is measuring one of the round quarry sites located on the hill where tours are led.  It's impressively large, fairly deep, and surrounded by so much beautiful flint debitage it's hard to believe!  There are numerous similar quarry sites up here, though not all the quarry sites out here are necessarily dug down, like this one was.  Many are on hillsides, like the ones seen behind Chris, as well as actually on the hill down away from him. 

Here is one of those boulders, which as one can see from the centimeter marker at the base isn't really all that large.  It is especially interesting because of the sizeable white quartz inclusion it reveals.  Smaller quartz inclusions are not unusual in Alibates flint, but this one is pretty impressive.

Why is Bob smiling like this?  He holds in his hand another interesting find from the survey.  It appears to be a piece of Alibates flint with paleo-flaking!

The Alibates flint quarries are not considered a paleolithic site, but since the Antelope Creek Phase quarriers weren't there to run them off, it's entirely likely that people had been sneaking into the location for thousands of years before them, possibly even leaving evidence of their intrusions behind!

This is one of the most archaeologically significant sections of the quarries, off limits to visitors and actually quite a way from the normally beaten path.  It is the location of Alibates 28, where the much investigated dwelling sites of the quarriers were located.  There are actually the scattered remains (and beleive me, very little does remain) of many dwelling sites scattered around this one, but since we spent so much time at the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum going over the artifacts from this area, it was an absolute joy to get to visit see just what it looked like now and how it contrasts to the images created in the minds eye by going over maps of the area so many times.

To the right is the interior of the ruin, and on the left can be some of the few remaining uprights of the dwellings. The stone slabs in them was not laid flat, one upon another, but rather placed upright in two running rows which were then filled and mudded over. 

Here is a closer view of the two rows of slabs which constituted the inner and outer walls, again with a centimeter rule for scale. 

Working in such an environment does start to have its effect after a while, some of which can be quite unexpected.

After a while Chris began to beleive he was some sort of ArcGIS shaman, which in he is in many respects.   However, we had to remind him that no, nothing can be take away from the site and after a slight struggle we did convince him to take the antlers off his head and leave them where he found them.