Oh Man, JEB, I knew someone was going to ask that question.
Finding the answer is not going to be that easy. But you phrased it correctly when you asked,
"Where the quarry "is or was",. There could be a Wal-Mart there now.
So much of the lithic material used in Michigan is/was glacial drift, that I don't know if the site you asked
about is a chert "outcrop" or a large "deposit" of the chert gravels. Pinpointing the exact location
will take a lot of leg work and research.
You can try and contact your state office of archaeology, reference the article and ask them for an exact
location. They definitely have the information, but many times the OSA's are reluctant to give it out.
They tend to be very protective of site information, but sometimes you will get lucky. The folks at the
OSA here in NC hate to see me coming. They hold their breath until they hear what I want.
But I pay my taxes so I try to get my moneys worth out of them.
The guys at the state geological survey office are usually much more helpful. They are bored to death looking at
rocks all day and are usually relieved when someone comes in with questions or rocks to talk about.
But the best place for you to start would probably be your local Michigan Archaeological Society. They are
much more helpful and are set up to help us poor amateurs. I checked their website and it looks like you
have a pretty active organization up there. Here's their link;
http://www.miarch.org/site-recording.htmlMost amateurs, like myself, choose not to use these agencies, but I'm more of a mind to use any source
I can to get the answers I'm looking for. You got to play the game and jump through some hoops, but
that's what they are there for.
Google Maps is a great tool. I have not been successful with accessing the chert overlay maps that have
been mentioned on this site previously in another thread, but use the satellite images all the time.
I know none of this is what you wanted to hear, and more than you were asking for, but I've been doing
this in NC for a long time, and there's a lot to doing it. Sourcing prehistoric quarries is something I, and
archaeologist, have been working on forever, and there are always more questions than answers.
Since I've gone this far I'm going to add one more link to an article that puts the whole subject into
context very well, incase you or anybody else is interested.
http://neld.lib.uconn.edu/luedtke1.htmOfcourse, lots of times, it's nice to just go for a walk and see what you come across.
Joe
