Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument
| Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
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Alibates Flint Quarries | |
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| Location | Potter County, Texas, USA |
| Nearest city | Amarillo |
| Coordinates | 35°34′30″N 101°41′02″W / 35.575045°N 101.6837868°WCoordinates: 35°34′30″N 101°41′02″W / 35.575045°N 101.6837868°W[1] |
| Area | 1,371 acres (555 ha)[2] |
| Authorized | August 31, 1965 |
| Visitors | 3,282 (in 2012)[3] |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| http://www.nps.gov/alfl/index.htm | |
| Designated | October 15, 1966 |
| Reference no. | 66000822[4] |
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument is a U.S. National Monument in the State of Texas. For thousands of years, people came to the red bluffs above the Canadian River for flint, vital to their existence. Demand for the high quality, rainbow-hued flint is reflected in the distribution of Alibates Flint through the Great Plains and beyond. Indians of the Ice Age Clovis Culture used Alibates flint for spear points to hunt the Imperial Mammoth before the Great Lakes were formed. The flint usually lies just below the surface at ridge level in a layer up to six feet thick. The quarry pits were not very large, between 5 to 25 feet wide and 4 to 7 feet deep.[5] Many of these quarries were exploited by the Antelope Creek people, of the Panhandle culture, between 1200 and 1450. The stone-slabbed, multi-room houses built by the Antelope Creek people have long been of interest to the public and studied by archaeologists. Today this area is protected by the U.S. National Park Service and can only be viewed by ranger-led guided tours, which must be reserved in advance.
Alibates Flint Quarries was the only National Monument in the state of Texas until Waco Mammoth National Monument was created in July 2015, and is an integral part of Lake Meredith National Recreation Area.
The monument was authorized as Alibates Flint Quarries and Texas Panhandle Pueblo Culture National Monument on August 31, 1965, but the designation was shortened to the current name on November 10, 1978.[6]
References
- ↑ "Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ↑ "Listing of acreage as of December 31, 2011". Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ↑ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
- ↑ Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ "Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
- ↑ "The National Parks: Index 2009–2011". National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
External links
Media related to Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument at Wikimedia Commons- National Park Service webpage of Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument
- Geology information on Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument
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