Grand Meadow Quarry Archeological District

Grand Meadow Quarry Archaeological District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Grand Meadow, Minnesota
Area	170 acres (69 ha)
NRHP reference No.	94000345
Added to NRHP	April 8, 1994

The Grand Meadow Quarry Archaeological District (21MW8) in Mower County, Minnesota is a 170-acre historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The principal site within the District is The Grand Meadow Chert Quarry. The original quarry was recorded as being 170 acres, now mostly under land plowed or developed, but a pristine 8-acre remnant of the original quarry still exists in a small woods, alongside 5 acres of restored prairie. That portion of the site, purchased by The Archaeological Conservancy as an archaeological preserve, is being developed for public access with a self-guided walking tour by the Prairie Island Indian Community and the Mower County Historical Society.

The chert quarry, first identified by Grand Meadow resident Maynard Green, was an Indigenous open-pit mine with perhaps as many as two thousand pits that were dug using handheld tools. These pits were dug in order to extract nodules of "Grand Meadow Chert," a stone used by Native Americans to make many everyday tools, including spear points, arrowheads, drills, knives and hide scrapers. The earliest known use of Grand Meadow Chert is from a bison kill near Granite Falls (21YM47), in a context that was C-14 dated to 7700-8000 B.P. This microcrystalline tool stone can range in color from olive gray to light yellow gray to very light gray. This quarry is the only known culturally utilized source for Grand Meadow Chert, which has been found at archaeological sites in 52 counties in Minnesota.

(Re)discovery of the Quarry The Grand Meadow Chert Quarry(GMCQ) is located in southeastern Minnesota near the modern town of Grand Meadow. It is located within an oak savanna surrounded by a wooded area. Local residents had noted the pitted nature of the region but did not press further into its significance. It was not until 1968 when an aerial photograph was taken of a farm nearby that densely packed quarry pits that were accidentally revealed. The aerial photograph led the Minnesota Statewide Archaeological Survey (MNSAS) to further observe the area. In 1980, the MNSAS cut a test trench into the landscape in order to reveal the side profile of one of the pits. In the bottom of a 110 cm to 140 cm deep pit, they discovered chert. The high-quality chert was discovered in yellow-brown, egg-shaped nodules that were between 4.5-30.5 cm in length.

What is chert and why is chert significant? Chert is a high quality stone that was often used to make high-quality stone-tools in the past. Chert is uniquely characterized as “cryptocrystalline quartz texture”, which can create a sharp edge for cutting, and is an extremely durable material. Heat treatment tests were done on the discovered chert to reveal that heat is not necessary when working with the rock, making it ideal for knapping, a process used to shape and sharpen a rock into a tool. Indigenous communities thus used chert to make many useful tools for their everyday life. These included knives, scrapers, and projectile points.

Grand Meadow chert has been used for over 8,000 years in Minnesota and has been found in more than half of Minnesota's counties, and in other surrounding states. These remnants of GMC indicate the existence of trade routes and networks connecting people and spreading the material. To date, there has been little evidence of long term occupation at GMCQ, implying that Indigenous communities may have utilized the site to extract chert and gone onwards to other locations to create their tools.

Grand Meadow chert with a fossil embedded inside.

Why is it called the Grand Meadow Chert Quarry?-- Understanding the name The naming of the GMC quarry is significant as it identifies the place and makes the location known to others. There have been many discussions about what the name of the site should be. While some archaeologists believe sites should be identified based on the geological formation there is also discussion of changing the name to represent the geographic location. In the past the site had been named “Rapid Chert” because of the gray color and geological attributes or “Cedar Valley Chert” because of the formation. “Grand Meadow Chert” is specifically named because of the geographical and broader landscape it represents. It is not always clear what the geological aspects of the site are, therefore naming things based on geography is most sustainable.