Alibates Flint Quarries

For 12,000 years or more, the Alibates Flint Quarries were worked by Indians living in the Panhandle area of Texas, particularly the Southern Plains Apache. From these quarries came the multicolored flint arrowheads and tools which were both used by the inhabitants of the locality and traded by them for goods supplied from far-distant sources. Flints from these quarries have been found as far north as Minnesota and Wisconsin, as far west as Colorado and Utah, and as far south as Mexico. The early hunters of megafauna such as mammoths and mastodons probably obtained their flint tips from these same quarries. Consequently, the Alibates Flint Quarries hold a significant place in the prehistory of North America.