The Mount Jasper Lithic Source is a prehistoric archaeological site in
Berlin, New Hampshire
Berlin ( ) is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coös County in northern New Hampshire, United States. It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire. The population was 9,425 at the 2020 census, down from 10,051 at the 2010 census.
It ...
. Located on the slopes of Mount Jasper on the north side of the city, it includes one of the only known evidences of mining by pre-Contact Native Americans in the eastern United States. The mountain is a source of
rhyolite
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...
, apparently prized for its qualities in the manufacture of stone tools. The site includes a mine shaft about deep, as well as workshops at the base and summit of the mountain. The site was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Description
Mount Jasper is a low peak 1 miles northwest of the confluence of the
Dead River and
Androscoggin River in
Berlin, New Hampshire
Berlin ( ) is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coös County in northern New Hampshire, United States. It is the northernmost city in New Hampshire. The population was 9,425 at the 2020 census, down from 10,051 at the 2010 census.
It ...
. Its summit is at above sea level, and its base at the Dead River is about . It is visually distinguished by a steep rocky slope near its summit. The geology of the mountain includes bands of rhyolite.
The site, owned by the city of Berlin, encompasses a triangular area from the summit to points on the Dead River. Its principal features include one or more short mine shafts that follow the seams of rhyolite in the upper reaches of the mount, and workshop areas at both the summit and river-facing base of the mountain. While the deepest mine is deep, there is ample evidence that other exposed seams of rhyolite were extensively quarried.
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Significance
The site is historically and archaeologically important as a source of rhyolite
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...
, and was identified in the 19th century as a Native American source of the stone. Archaeological investigation of the area conducted in the 1980s identified not only the locations where natives quarried the stone, but has also determined that workshops (where finished materials such as weapon points were fashioned) were located there. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that it was a source of stone for tools as much as 9,000 years ago, and it is unique in the eastern United States in that the natives working the quarry actually tunneled into the mountain. Tools fashioned from stone quarried here have been found at archaeological sites across the northeastern United States.
See also
*
References
External links
Mount Jasper Mine
- Article about excavations and findings at the site
{{NRHP in Coos County, New Hampshire
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire
Geography of Coös County, New Hampshire
National Register of Historic Places in Coös County, New Hampshire
Berlin, New Hampshire