Site · United States
Alibates Flint Quarries
Plains Village, Clovis, 11000 BCE–1500 CE
The banded red, purple and white agatized dolomite of the Alibates outcrop was quarried from Clovis times, when it was carried to the Blackwater Draw kill sites, through the Antelope Creek villages that lived beside it. It is the type locality for one of the most recognisable toolstones of the Plains and the only national monument devoted to a quarry. Artifacts of Alibates material appear across the Great Plains and as far as the Mississippi valley.
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State / province | Texas |
| Dates | 11000 BCE–1500 CE |
| Status | National Monument |
| Managed by | National Park Service |
| Access | The quarries are visited only on ranger-guided walks booked through the Lake Meredith visitor center; the walk climbs to the quarry pits on the mesa top. |
| Coordinates | 35.575, -101.672 (public site) |
What was found
Survey and excavation recorded hundreds of shallow quarry pits with tested cobbles, hammerstones and knapping debris, and nearby Antelope Creek phase (about 1200–1450 CE) stone-slab villages with pottery, bone tools and trade goods including obsidian and Pacific shell.
Rules
No flint, artifact or rock may be collected anywhere in the monument, including the abundant surface flakes; the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (1979) and Park Service regulations apply. This article is for study and context only and is not a collecting locality.
Elsewhere
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Alibates Flint Quarries" (Site). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/sites/alibates-flint-quarries. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-alibates-flint-quarries,
title = {Alibates Flint Quarries},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/sites/alibates-flint-quarries}},
year = {2026},
note = {Site article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.