Grimes Graves prehistoric flint mine is set in the Breckland heath landscape of Norfolk, a site of Special Scientific Interest and habitat for rare plants and fauna. Dating back 5000 years, it is one of the most important flint mines in Europe.
Mining the prehistoric world
Grimes Graves: digging for flint… ‘prehistoric black gold’
Grimes Graves: key features
- A lunar-like landscape of over 400 prehistoric mineshafts
- Pits and mining galleries up to 13m deep
- Jet-black flint, used for some of Britain‘s most distinctive prehistoric artefacts
- The only Neolithic flint mine open to visitors in Britain
- The ‘Grimes Graves Goddess‘... now in fact believed to be a modern fake
Reconstruction of mineshaft - Credit: Historic England Photo Library
View across Grimes Graves prehistoric Flint Mine - Credit: Skyscan Balloon Photography
Flint axe - Credit: © Trustees of the British Museum
Excavated mining galleries - Credit: Historic England Photo Library
Grimes Graves Goddess - © Trustees of the British Museum
Send a Postcard
Aerial view of Grimes Graves prehistoric flint mine (© Skyscan Balloon photography; Historic England photo library), and Manga style cartoon of Grimes Graves excavations (Hugo Yoshikawa)
CONTACTS
Principal Investigator: Dr Simon Kaner,
Sainsbury Institute, University of East Anglia
Co-Investigator: Dr Sam Nixon
Sainsbury Institute, University of East Anglia
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Prehistoric mining worldwide
Lynch Knife River mine
USA
Strikingly similar sites to Grimes Graves are found across the world – Lynch Knife River in the USA was mined from over 10,000 years ago, and its stone tools are found across North America
Flint tools from Lynch Knife River mine (USA)
Lynch Knife River mine (USA) - Credit: Archaeology & Historic Preservation Division, State Historical Society of North DakotaObsidian Mine
Hoshikuso: Japan
Comparing some of the flint tools at Grimes Graves with tools from the Hoshikuso obsidian mine in Japan demonstrates how remarkably similar prehistoric stone tool technologies developed worldwide.
Hoshikuso obsidian mine tools - Credit: Nagawa-machi Obsidian Museum/Center for Obsidian and Lithic Studies, Meiji University
Excavations at Hoshikuso obsidian mine -
Credit: Nagawa-machi Obsidian Museum/Center for Obsidian and Lithic Studies, Meiji University
