For over ten thousand years people have been quarrying
high quality Burlington chert from the hills around my home. It has been transported throughout North
America and was worked into Clovis tools long before the Great Sphinx was a
dream. The Crescent Hills Quarry District was one of the primary sources of
tools for the Mississippian Mound Civilization. Workers transported bifaces and
finished tools down the Meramec River to the Mississippi/Meramec Confluence
where trade with the Mound People took place.
Trade stone was transported by foot northward to the
Mississippi/Missouri Confluence where it was destined for the Great Plains and
the Great Lakes. The almost pure white, vitreous, easy to flake Crescent Hills
Chert was legendary among the indigenous people of North America.
The quarry district is listed in the St. Louis County National
Register of state historic sites as “address restricted, Crescent.” The finest and most exposed
quarrying evidence is along the West Tyson County Park spur of the Chubb
Trail. Here, one can see literally
hundreds of pits dug out of the steep hillsides, and piles of lithic flake and quarry
artifacts piled ten feet deep. The size of the operation was massive by today’s
standards. Two miles downhill of the quarries is a prairie complex along the
Meramec River.
At dusk along this ridge I can
almost feel the spirits of tens of thousands of humans making their way to the
prairie camp for dinner and stories. There would be fish in abundance, smoked
venison, acorn and nut breads and juicy blackberries to name just a few menu
items. Today the knowledge of the past allows me a glimpse of how it must have
been. Amazingly very little archaeological work has been undertaken in this
area. As I bushwhack down the hillsides from the quarries, avoiding the Chubb
Trail, I have found bifaces on the ground near seeps and springs. The area is
littered with scrapers and stone tool work just waiting to be found.
I ordered a reprint of a book
from the Missouri University Library that is one of the few archaeological
studies of this area. My hope is to gain
further insight into the nature and location of ancient habitation in the
Crescent Hills. If I’m lucky, I may receive tiny gifts of wisdom from the
people who came before.
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| Squirrel Pipe from the Davis Site, near Crescent Hills |
