flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...
from underground. Flint mines can be as simple as a pit on the surface or an area of quarrying, or it may refer to a series of
shaft
Shaft may refer to:
Rotating machine elements
* Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power
* Line shaft, a power transmission system
* Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque
* Axle, a shaft around whi ...
s and
tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
s used to extract
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...
.
Flint has been mined since the
Palaeolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
, but was most common during the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
. Flint was especially valued in
prehistory
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...
for its use in weaponry. Although flint is not as valuable a resource in modern times, a few flint mines remain in operation even today (for example at Miorcani).
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with th ...
Orp-Jauche
Orp-Jauche (; nl, Adorp-Geten, ; wa, Oû-Djåce) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. On January 1, 2008, Orp-Jauche had a total population of 8,400. The total area is 50.50 km² which gives a po ...
)
*Denmark
**Hov (near
Thisted
Thisted is a town in the municipality of Thisted in the North Denmark Region of Denmark. It has a population of 13,461 (1 January 2022)Qena
Qena ( ar, قنا ' , locally: ; cop, ⲕⲱⲛⲏ ''Konē'') is a city in Upper Egypt, and the capital of the Qena Governorate. Situated on the east bank of the Nile, it was known in antiquity as Kaine ( Greek Καινή, meaning "new (city ...
)
**
Nazlet Khater
Nazlet Khater is an archeological site located in Upper Egypt that has yielded evidence of early human culture and anatomically modern specimens dating to approximately thirty to fifty thousand years ago.
Excavations at the Nazlet Khater 2 site ( ...
(Upper Egypt)
*France
** located between
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Falaise, Calvados
**
** Le Grand-Pressigny
*Germany
**Lengfeld (near Bad Abbach).
** near
Abensberg
Abensberg () is a town in the Lower Bavarian district of Kelheim, in Bavaria, Germany, lying around southwest of Regensburg, east of Ingolstadt, northwest of Landshut and north of Munich. It is situated on the river Abens, a tributary of t ...
**Asch (near
Blaubeuren
Blaubeuren () is a town in the district of Alb-Donau near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
it had 11,963 inhabitants.
Geography Geographical location
The core city Blaubeuren lies at the foot of the Swabian Jura, west of Ulm.
Neighborin ...
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...
Rügen
Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
island there are the exposed flint fields between Mukran and Prora
** Schernfeld
*Great Britain
**
Beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
(
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
)
**
Blackpatch
Blackpatch is an archaeological site in West Sussex, England, about west of the village of Findon and about north-west of Worthing.
It is the site of a Neolithic flint mine, and Bronze Age barrows. The site is a scheduled monument.
Descript ...
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...
and
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...
Church Hill, West Sussex
Church Hill is an archaeological site, of the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, in West Sussex, England. It is on the South Downs near the village of Findon and about north-west of Worthing. It is a scheduled monument.
Description Flint mine
T ...
**
Harrow Hill, West Sussex
Harrow Hill is an archaeological site in West Sussex, England. It is on the South Downs about north of the village of Angmering and north-west of Worthing.
There is Neolithic flint mine, and a Martin Down style enclosure of the Bronze Age. Th ...
Conwy County Borough
Conwy County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Conwy) is a county borough in Wales. It borders Gwynedd to the west and south, and Denbighshire to the east. Other settlements in the county borough include Abergele, Betws-y-Coed, Colwyn Bay, Conwy ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
*Hungary
** Tata
** Szentgál
*Netherlands
**
**
*Pakistan
**Flint quarries in Rohri Hills and Ongar (
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
province)
*Poland
** Krzemionki
**Wierzbica "Zele"
**Skałecznica Duża
**Korycizna
**Sąspów
**Krunio
**Borownia
**Bębło
**Rybniki
*Romania
**Outside the village of Miorcani, there is a modern flint mine
**
Piatra Tomii {{coord, 46, 1, 29.63, N, 23, 18, 46.99, E, display=title
Piatra Tomii is a late Jurassic limestone outcrop forming a small hill near Răcătau village, Alba county, Romania. It is most well known for the Chalcolithic to Bronze Age flint mining ...
Regensberg
Regensberg is a municipality in the district of Dielsdorf in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It is located just to the west of Dielsdorf, on a ridge of the Lägern ().
History
Regensberg was founded as a hilltop fortified settlement ...
**Löwenburg (
Pleigne
Pleigne is a municipality in the district of Delémont in the canton of Jura in Switzerland.
History
Pleigne is first mentioned in 1179 as ''Plenna''. The municipality was formerly known by its German name ''Pleen'', however, that name is ...
,
Canton of Jura
The Republic and Canton of Jura (french: République et canton du Jura), less formally the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura ( , ), is the newest (founded in 1979) of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital ...
The above-mentioned flint mining sites and others are mentioned in the following texts:
*Allard, Bostyn, Giligny, Lech (Editors) 2006
*Aubry & Mangado 2006
*Hunt Ortiz 1996
*Matías Rodríguez, R. 2005
*Weisgerber & Slotta 1999