<< Our Photo Pages >> Vera Cruz Quarry Pits - Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry in United States
Submitted by aluta on Tuesday, 24 October 2006 Page Views: 18172
Multi-periodSite Name: Vera Cruz Quarry Pits Alternative Name: Jasper Quarry, Jasper ParkCountry: United States Type: Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
Nearest Town: Emmaus Nearest Village: Vera Cruz
Latitude: 40.509000N Longitude: 75.501W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Quoting from Preservation Pennsylvania:
The Vera Cruz Jasper Quarry is one of the most significant archeological sites in eastern Pennsylvania. The earliest Native Americans, known as Paleo-Indians, quarried and shaped its stone for tool making as early as ten thousand to twelve thousand years ago. Their descendants continued to quarry and work this stone until the time of their first contact with Europeans in the 17 th century.
The jasper that occurs in Vera Cruz is part of a larger formation found in portions of Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, and Bucks Counties. The quality of the Vera Cruz jasper, however, is exceptional. The quarry's jasper is ideal for lithic toll making, owing to its internal crystalline structure. When struck during tool production, it cleaves in regular, predictable pieces, a valued characteristic in lithic reducing, shaping, and edge making. Native Americans widely recognized this quality, as evidenced by the long period of time during which they mined the quarry and by their carrying or trading the jasper over a wide region. Artifacts made from this jasper have been found on archeological sites throughout eastern North America. The quarries were determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The Vera Cruz and related quarries are unfortunately among the most threatened cultural resources in the state. Vera Cruz and other quarry-related resources have become endangered due, in part, to the opening of Interstate Highway Route 78, which has promoted commercial and industrial development in the region. In addition, this area is now within commuting distance of Philadelphia and New York metropolitan areas. While a portion of the Vera Cruz quarry is preserved and maintained as a park by Upper Milford Township, the remainder of the site is privately owned and threatened by increasing residential construction.
[Note from aluta: A drystone wall, incorporating some of the jasper, leads directly to the pits. It is not known if the wall is prehistoric.]
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