Flint Stones

Yesterday I went to my Archaeology class.

The Archaelogy Class  was on the subject of Grimes Graves, a misnomer that can mislead as it is not an area of graves at all but is the site of the country's most important Neolithic flint mines which were mined for 300 years from 2600 BC to 2300 BC.    I am talking here about 4000-4500 years ago.    Grimes Graves is located in Norfolk.

Where I live is a major flint area of England and I am  more familiar with flints than any other stone.  Flints are all around us here and on the farm the flint is   the curse of the tractor tyre  and when I got a flat tyre in my car  last year a flint was responsible  when I drove over a piece that had been flung out on to the road by a man on a  hedger working alongside.  Not his fault and he would not have known.      When bits break off a flint they are as sharp as a razor, hence  their ideal use for the tools as described below.    Houses are built using them and my own house,  whilst not flint,  is built on a foundation of flint which is visible for about 18 inches around the base of the house.

The mine was a bit of a Screw Fix of its time, although perhaps  a Chinese manufacturing plant with retail  is more of an accurate description.  The flints were brought up from 30 feet down on a rope pulley system (they had ropes) and were fashioned into tools  and turned up all over the British Isles  and France.  It was highly organised manufacture and distribution.   A piece of Cornish greenstone  was found as a ritual offering in one of the mines which helped to place the mines as Neolithic.   

    The rich seams of flint were down 30 feet.   The flints were made into cutting tools, blades and axes and heads for arrows for hunting,  and weapons,  and firelighters (strike two pieces of flint together and you will get a spark to light a fire),  mostly rough and not finished off leaving the customer to finish off to his own requirements. 

The process of making flint into something is called flintknapping which means hitting the flint to shape it  using a stone or other hard object but not another flint.   Flintknapping is still carried out around here and new houses in some areas, particularly north Norfolk,  are still faced with flints.

The mines were highly organised and the mining excavation tool of preference was the deer's antler.     As red deer were so prolific around here there was no shortage of antlers and when finished with the antlers were just discarded in the mines and a new one found .   The percentage of left handers was roughly 10% same as it is now.  This has been judged by  comparison and  observation of the  wear and tear  on the antler tools.   Many 100s of antlers tossed to one side down in the mines have been found.   

The area was densely wooded at the time. 

The mining area was extensive with 433 mines found and recent excavations suggest that the area may have been even more extensive. 

New technology came in in the Bronze Age about 2400 BC.  The mines eventually stopped production in around 2300 BC.     When the pits were no longer used they were backfilled with chalk from the next diggings, from one mine to the next.     The white of the chalk gave much light to the mines under ground and the flint is black and shows up.     Excavations show the shafts connecting the mines and the routes to bring the flints to the surface.

The mines are now managed by English Heritage and they have  said that children under 10 years old are not  allowed in the mines any more for health and safety reasons  so parties of primary school children can only stay on the surface so visits from them have diminished.

The mines are located near Weeting, near Thetford and I have never visited them.

I am sure you all know what flint looks like.   I tried to include an image but Blogger didn't let me.

We then talked about field walking in archaeology and looking to see what you can find in fields around here just walking which is a bit like a farmer walking his fields and knowing every bit of them and how they change and understanding the changes from year to year with ploughing and what moves up to the surface.     I particularly liked this part of the class as I could easily identify with it.

That was it.

I went to meet my cryptic friends in the afternoon and then came home.