George Singleton tells of flint Indian arrowhead material site along Flat Creek in Monroe County, Alabama

Flint core, flakes and a hammer stone.

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Indians found good flint for arrows along creek” was originally published in the July 10, 1975 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

There was a time when the Red Man walked the hills and flatlands of what is now Monroe County.

His world evolved around hunting and growing corn and squash in the bottoms along the creeks of this area. He trapped small game with handmade snares and stalked large animals with a long bow and arrow.

The supply of flint was a great necessity for the early Indian and he would build his villages near the place where good flint could be found. Such a place was along Flat Creek to the east of Highway 41.

There beside the rushing water was the village of the arrowmaker whose job was to supply the hunters and warriors with the flint arrow tips essential for their survival.

Selected flint chips

Arrowheads were chipped from selected pieces of flint that had been carefully broken off larger pieces. The right kind of flint was of utmost importance because at best about one out of four chips was grained for where an arrowhead could be started. Many times after the arrowhead was almost complete it would flake the wrong way and have to be discarded.

Many theories have been proposed as to how the pieces of flint were shaped. Some think that fire and water were used. The flint was heated to a very high degree and then water was dropped on the hot material, causing it to flake, forming and shaping the arrowhead.

But this method was not used because of the time element involved. A good arrowmaker had to turn out around a hundred arrowheads a day to supply the demand of a normal size village.

Broke off small pieces

It is my belief that an arrowmaker would select a large piece of flint, such as the one shown in the photograph. He then would use a wooden club to break smaller pieces from the large one. From these he would select the ones he thought best suited for the making of arrowheads and spearheads.

He would then take a piece of rawhide, placing it in the inside of his hand like a glove to protect his hand from the sharp edges of the flint.

He would use a piece of deer antler to pick and flake the small chips from the arrowhead, forming it to the right size and shape. Since the deer antler was the softest of the two, it would not crush the flint as it was picked and flaked from the corners of the projectile.

Use stick for leverage

Many times the arrowmaker would secure a small stick about three feet long to the deer antler. He would hold the antler in his hand and let the stick pass along his upper forearm, giving him leverage by moving his arm. This would brace his wrist, allowing him to work longer at his task.

Many of the broken pieces of flint were used for other things such as scrapers – tools with which to dig the land when farming – and many, many other things.

The village by the creek is quiet now. Nothing remains there but a few piles of broken flint chips. No sound can be heard but the running water as it rushes westward to the river. But here the arrowmaker labored, a part of a proud people, living at peace and in harmony with nature.

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)