Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes

Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
	Section of mines at Spiennes
Location	Spiennes, Mons, Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium
Criteria	Cultural: (i), (iii), (iv)
Reference	1006
Inscription	2000 (24th Session)
Area	172 ha (430 acres)
Website	www.minesdespiennes.org
Coordinates	50°25′11″N 3°58′55″E / 50.41983°N 3.98183°E
	Location of Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes in Belgium

The Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes are among the largest and earliest Neolithic flint mines which survive in north-western Europe, located close to the Walloon village of Spiennes, southeast of Mons, Belgium.^[1] The mines were active during the mid and late Neolithic between 4,300 and 2,200 BC. Declared to be "remarkable for the diversity of technological solutions used for extraction" the site and its surroundings were inducted into the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 2000.^[2]

Description

Discovered in 1843, the first excavations were undertaken by the mining engineer Alphonse Briart and two others during railway construction in 1867,^[3] with results presented to the International Prehistoric Congress held in Brussels in 1872.^[4] Intermittent excavations have been carried out up to the present day.^[5]

The Mines of Spiennes cover some 100 ha (250 acres) of downland four miles south-east of the city of Mons. The site is dotted with millions of scraps of worked flint and numerous mining pits, that Neolithic settlers have gradually turned into vertical mine shafts to depths of over 10 m (33 ft). Underneath is an elaborate man-made network of caverns accessible via the many shafts.^[2]^[6]

A seminal stage of human inventiveness, technological and cultural application and progress, the transition between opencast and underground mining for flint nodules is impressively displayed and documented. Research has illustrated Neolithic techniques for the cutting of the flint and the extraction of large slabs of flint, that weighed up to hundreds of kilos. The nodules were extracted using flint picks. The stones were then knapped into rough-out shapes of axes, and finally polished to achieve the final state.

The rough-outs were exchanged over a wide area, about 150 km (93 mi), and were often polished at their destination. Polishing strengthens the final product, making the axe- or adze-head last longer. The smooth surface also aids the cutting action by lowering friction with the wood. The axes were used initially for forest clearance during the Neolithic period, and for shaping wood for structural applications, such as timber for huts and canoes.

flint mines of Champ à Cailloux
mines of Champ à Cailloux
Excavations in Champ à Cailloux

Conservation and access

An interpretative centre called SILEX'S opened in spring 2015. There is a museum on the surface and it is normally possible to descend into a mine.^[7]^[8]

Similar sites

The site has been compared with Grimes Graves and Cissbury in the United Kingdom, and Krzemionki in Poland, which are also sources of flint stone. However, different hard rocks were used for the polished stone axes. There are several locations in Britain where fine-grained igneous or metamorphic rock was collected from screes or opencast mines, then roughed out locally before trading on to other parts of the country. Examples include the Langdale axe industry, Penmaenmawr and Tievebulliagh.

Deer antler pick (Grimes Graves)
Late Stone Age flint axe, about 31 cm long

References

^ "Neolithic Flint Mines of Petit-Spiennes: Official website". Archived from the original on 31 December 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2007.
^ ^a ^b "Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons) - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
^ Alphonse Briart et al., Rapport sur les découvertes géologiques & archéologiques faites à Spiennes en 1867 (Mons, 1872), on Google Books.
^ Thomas Wilson, Arrowpoints, Spearheads, and Knives of Prehistoric Times (Washington DC, 2007), ch. 4.
^ "A visit to Spiennes Flint Mines, Belgium". Journal.lithics.org. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
^ "Neolithic flintstones mines in Spiennes". Minesdespiennes.org. Archived from the original on 31 December 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
^ "Silexs Mons Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes". En.silexs.mons.be. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
^ "Neolithic flint mines in Spiennes - SILEX'S Mons". Opt.be. Retrieved 24 January 2017.

Bibliography

C. Guillaume, Ph. Lipinski & A. Masson: Les mines de silex néolithiques de la Meuse dans le contexte européen. Musées de la Meuse, Sampigny 1987. (in French)
F. Gosselin: Un site d'exploitation du silex à Spiennes (Hainaut), au lieu-dit "Petit-Spiennes". Vie archéologique 22, 1986, 33-160. (in French)
F. Hubert: Une minière néolithique à silex au Camp-à-Cayaux de Spiennes. Archaeologia Belgica, 210, 1978. (in French)
F. Hubert: L'exploitation préhistorique du silex à Spiennes. Carnets du Patrimoine n°22. Ministère de la Région wallonne, Direction générale de l'Aménagement du Territoire, du Logement et du Patrimoine, Namur 1997. (in French)
R. Shepherd: Prehistoric Mining and Allied Industries. (Academic Press, London 1980).
Société de recherches préhistoriques en Hainaut: Minières néolithiques à Spiennes (Petit-Spiennes). 1997 (in French)
ICOMOS evaluation
Collet, H. (2004). Les mines néolithiques de Spiennes : état des connaissances et perspectives de recherche (PDF). Section 10: The Neolithic in the Near East and Europe (in French). Oxford: Archaeopress. ISBN 1-84171-653-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2011. Actes du XIVème congrès UISPP, Université de Liège, Belgique, 2 – 8 septembre 2001(in French)
Hélène Collet, Philippe Lavachery, Michel Woodbury, Raw material exploitation strategies on the flint mining site of Spiennes (Hainaut, Belgium), (2016) in Journal of Lithic Studies (2016) vol. 3, nr. 2
H. Collet, A. Hauzeur & J. Lech, The prehistoric flint mining complex at Spiennes on the occasion of its discovery 140 years ago, (2008) in Flint mining in Prehistoric Europe: Interpreting the archaeological records, European Association of Archaeologists, 12th Annual Meeting, Cracow, Poland, 19–24 September 2006 (BAR International Series 1891): 41-77.
Hélène Collet, Mineurs illustres du Hainaut, (2012), in Les Cahiers nouveaux, no 83, septembre 2012, p. 21-25(in French)
[1] Toussaint M., Collet H., Jadin I., Lavachery P., Pirson S., Woodbury M., Durieux J., Eloy J. & Lambermont S., 2019. Recent discoveries of human skeletons in the flint mine shafts of Spiennes: casualties or burials? In: Collet H. & Hauz eur A. (eds), 2019. Mining and Quarrying. Geological Characterisation, Knapping Processes and Distribution Networks during Pre- and Protohistoric Times. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference of the UISPP Commission on Flint Mining in Pre- and Protohistoric Times, Mons and Spiennes, 28 September – 1 October 2016. Anthropologica et Praehistorica, 128. Bruxelles, SRBAP, pp. 245–262.

External links

Media related to Spiennes at Wikimedia Commons

[1] "Neolithic Flint Mines of Petit-Spiennes: Official website". Archived from the original on 31 December 2007. Retrieved 16 December 2007.

[uno-2] "Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons) - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 24 January 2017.

[3] Alphonse Briart et al., Rapport sur les découvertes géologiques & archéologiques faites à Spiennes en 1867 (Mons, 1872), on Google Books.

[4] Thomas Wilson, Arrowpoints, Spearheads, and Knives of Prehistoric Times (Washington DC, 2007), ch. 4.

[5] "A visit to Spiennes Flint Mines, Belgium". Journal.lithics.org. Retrieved 24 January 2017.

[6] "Neolithic flintstones mines in Spiennes". Minesdespiennes.org. Archived from the original on 31 December 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2017.

[silexs-7] "Silexs Mons Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes". En.silexs.mons.be. Retrieved 24 January 2017.

[8] "Neolithic flint mines in Spiennes - SILEX'S Mons". Opt.be. Retrieved 24 January 2017.

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v t e World Heritage Sites in Belgium
Architectural Work of Le Corbusier¹ Belfries of Belgium and France² Flemish Béguinages Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their Environs Colonies of Benevolence³ Funerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front)⁴ Great Spa Towns of Europe⁵ Historic Centre of Bruges La Grand-Place, Brussels Major Mining Sites of Wallonia Major town houses of the architect Victor Horta Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe⁶ Stoclet House		Flag of Belgium
¹ Listing shared with six other countries, which includes Belgium's Maison Guiette; ² Listing shared with France; ³ Listing shared with the Netherlands, which includes Belgium's Wortel; ⁴ Listing shared with France ⁵ Listing shared with seven other countries, which includes Belgium's Spa; ⁶ Listing shared with seventeen other countries, which includes Belgium's Sonian Forest.