Neolithic Flint Mines of Spiennes - UNESCO World Heritage Site
A tour of the UNESCO World Heritage neolithic flint mines near the southern Belgian town of Spiennes. For a thousand years, starting around 4600 BC, neolithic humans dug deep mine shafts here to mine flint, using only bones, antlers and flint axes. Going down into the mines was a real thrill!
More World Heritage sites in Belgium:
More mining World Heritage sites:
Major Mining Sites of Wallonia:
Blaenavon Industrial Landscape:
Cornish Mining Landscape:
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Music: Bensound.com - Happiness
Underground images courtesy of Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons) (UNESCO/NHK)
The Neolithic flint mines at Spiennes, covering more than 100 ha, are the largest and earliest concentration of ancient mines in Europe. They are also remarkable for the diversity of technological solutions used for extraction and for the fact that they are directly linked to a settlement of the same period.
Source: UNESCO TV / © NHK Nippon Hoso Kyokai
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The Neolithic mines in Spiennes
The Neolithic mines in Spiennes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
The network of mines at Spiennes goes back to about 5,000 BC, a little before the beginning of the present era. The chalk is primarily made up of ancient sea beds, deposits wich date back millions of years.
Spiennes is one of the most beautiful archeological sites in Europe, and its sheer size and the excellent state in wich it has been preserved make it one of the most important examples of mining sites from the Neolithic Age
Les minières à silex de Spiennes (Belgique) - Flint mining in Spiennes (Belgium)
NEOLITHIC FLINT MINE - GRIMES GRAVES (E.H) history in description
HISTORY:
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Grime’s Graves is the only Neolithic flint mine open to visitors in Britain. This grassy lunar landscape of 400 pits was first named Grim’s Graves by the Anglo-Saxons. It was not until one of them was excavated in 1870 that they were identified as flint mines dug over 5,000 years ago.
Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex in Norfolk, England. It lies 8 km (5.0 mi) north east from Brandon, Suffolk in the East of England. It was worked between c. 3000 and c. 1900 BC, although production may have continued well into the Bronze and Iron Ages (and later) owing to the low cost of flint compared with metals. Flint was much in demand for making polished stone axes in the Neolithic period. Much later, when flint had been replaced by metal tools, flint nodules were in demand for other uses, such as for building and as strikers for muskets.
In order to remove the chalk efficiently, the ancient miners built wooden platforms and ladders as they dug downwards and piled the spoil around the shaft opening using turf revetments to hold it in place for the season, when the shaft and all its galleries were thoroughly and fastidiously backfilled to promote stability. The landscape around Grime's Graves has a characteristic pockmarked appearance caused by the infilled shafts. This is probably what inspired the later Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of the area to name it after their god Grim (literally the masked, or hooded one, a euphemism for Woden). Although the pagan Anglo-Saxons seem to have had some idea of what the site was, as the name of the site means literally 'The masked one's quarries,' (or Grim's Graben,) it wasn't until Canon William Greenwell excavated one of the shafts from 1868- 1870 that their purpose was discovered in modern times. Other similar sites have been found in Europe like Cissbury in the United Kingdom, Krzemionki in Poland and Spiennes in Belgium.
Tools[edit]
Deer antler pick
The miners used picks fashioned from the antler of red deer. They probably used wooden shovels, although this is only inferred by analogy with other flint mines with better conditions for the preservation of artefacts. Analysis of the antlers (Clutton-Brock 1984: 25) has shown that the miners were mainly right-handed and favoured the left antlers out of those that were naturally shed seasonally by the deer. The 28 pits excavated up to 2008 yielded an average of 142.5 antler picks each, of which an average of 14.8 have been found to be left-handed.
Once they had reached the floorstone flint, the miners dug lateral galleries outwards from the bottom, following the flint seam. The medium-depth shafts yielded as much as 60 tons of flint nodules, which were brought to the surface and roughly worked into shape on site. The blank tools were then possibly traded elsewhere for final polishing. It is estimated that 60 tons of flint could have produced as many as 10,000 of the polished stone axes, which were the mines' main product. Extrapolation across the site suggests that Grime's Graves may have produced around 16-18,000 tonnes of flint across the 433 shafts recorded to date. However, there are large areas of the site covered by later activity which are believed to conceal many more mineshafts.
There were other hard stones used for axe manufacture, those of the Langdale axe industry and Penmaenmawr in North Wales being traded across Europe, as well as other less well-known igneous and metamorphic rocks. The axes were much in demand for forest clearance and settlement, development of farmland for arable crops and raising animals, which characterises the Neolithic period.
The Bois-du-Luc, major mining site of Wallonia
Cultura Europa:
The site of Bois du Luc in La Louvière is established at the heart of the Centre basin, in the Province of Hainaut, between Mons and Charleroi.
Neolothic Mine Digging TEST2
Mystere à Spiennes
Un film réalisé par les élèves de 5e/6e année de l'école communale de Nouvelles (Mons).
Dans le village de Spiennes (Mons, des copains jouent à cache-cache. Ryan, l'un d'entre eux, tombe accidentellement dans un trou et se retrouve face à... un crâne.
Toute proche du site des Minières néolithiques de Spiennes, sur lequel un Centre d'Interprétation est en train de sériger (le Silex's), la classe de 5e/6e primaire de l'école communale de Nouvelles a été baignée, toute une année scolaire durant, de notions d'histoire, d'archéologie mais aussi de cinéma.
De ce qu'ils ont retenu, les élèves ont réalisé ce chouette court-métrage, encadrés par l'équipe du Plaza-Art.
Ce projet a reçu le soutien du décret culture-enseignement de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles et de la Ville de Mons.
The Bois du Cazier, major mining site of Wallonia
Cultura Europa:
The Bois du Cazier site is located in Marcinelle, Charleroi, in the Belgian Province of Hainaut.
Flint in SE England
prehistorics.uk
Documentary on the mining and usage of flint in the South East
Major Mining Sites of Wallonia - UNESCO World Heritage Site
A tour of some of the major UNESCO World Heritage mining sites in Wallonia, southern Belgium. It's hard to believe these days that Belgium was once the most industrialised nation in Europe with hundreds of coalmines across the landscape, but it's true. Today very little remains, with relics like the Bois-du-Luc mine and the Grand-Hornu mine that we visited on our travels.
More World Heritage sites in Belgium:
More mining World Heritage sites:
Neolithic Flint Mines of Spiennes:
Blaenavon Industrial Landscape:
Cornish Mining Landscape:
Don't forget to Like and Subscribe to see more of my UNESCO World Heritage Journey!
Music: Bensound.com - Happiness
Minières néolithiques de silex de Spiennes (Unesco) : un chantier en cours de fouilles
Reportage consacré aux minières néolithiques de silex de Spiennes (Mons, Belgique) - Patrimoine UNESCO (Archeologia.be, 10 octobre 2015)
Les minières néolithiques de silex de Spiennes se situent dans une zone calcaire sur le territoire de Spiennes. Depuis 1997, le Service public de Wallonie a entrepris, en collaboration avec la Société de Recherche préhistorique en Hainaut et la Ville de Mons, de nouvelles fouilles archéologiques. Celles-ci ont permis le dégagement de structures d'extraction du silex de 9 et 10 mètres de profondeur à Petit-Spiennes ainsi que la fouille d'ateliers de taille in situ. Au niveau des datations, l'exploitation des minières remontent au Néolithique moyen et s'étend sur une période allant de 4.300 aux environs de 2.500 avant notre Ere. Consacrant le génie humain, les minières ont été inscrites sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO en 2000.
Hélène COLLET, archéologue au Service public de Wallonie et responsable scientifique, nous parle du travail effectué et des enjeux de ce chantier hors-norme.
Copyright : Minières néolithiques de silex de Spiennes (24 août 2015)
Fouilles SPW-SRPH
Pierre Emmanuel LENFANT - Archeologia.be
Spiennes Aerial.mp4
Neolithic Village Spiennes Aerial Mons 2015
The Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their ... (UNESCO/NHK)
The four hydraulic boat-lifts on this short stretch of the historic Canal du Centre are industrial monuments of the highest quality. Together with the canal itself and its associated structures, they constitute a remarkably well-preserved and complete example of a late-19th-century industrial landscape. Of the eight hydraulic boat-lifts built at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, the only ones in the world which still ...
Source: UNESCO TV / © NHK Nippon Hoso Kyokai
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ลุงกับป้าตามล่ามรดกโลก 25/1092 เหมืองหินเหล็กไฟยุคหินใหม่ที่สเปียน Belgium
ลุงกับป้าตามล่ามรดกโลก (World Heritage Sites) : 25/1092 เหมืองหินเหล็กไฟยุคหินใหม่ที่สเปียน (มงส์) (Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes) ราชอาณาจักรเบลเยียม (Kingdom of Belgium)
การเดินทาง โดยสารรถไฟจากสถานี Bruxelles Central ไปสถานี Mons 70 กม. 1 ชั่วโมง ต่อรถยนต์โดยสารไป เหมืองหินเหล็กไฟยุคหินใหม่ที่สเปียน (มงส์) (Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes) 6 กม. 10 นาที เหมืองหินเหล็กไฟยุคหินใหม่แห่งสเปียน (ฝรั่งเศส: Minières néolithiques de silex de Spiennes, อังกฤษ: Neolithic flint mines of Spiennes) คือเหมืองหินเหล็กไฟ (flint) ยุคโบราณที่ใหญ่และเก่าแก่ที่สุดที่มีการค้นพบในทวีปยุโรป ตั้งอยู่ในเขตวัลลูน ใกล้กับเมืองสเปียน ซึ่งห่างไปประมาณ 6 กิโลเมตรทางทิศตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ของเมืองมงส์ ในมณฑลแอโน ประเทศเบลเยียม เหมืองแร่แห่งนี้มีอายุอยู่ในสมัยยุคหินใหม่ (หรือประมาณ 4300 - 2200 ปีก่อนคริสตกาล) ตัวเหมืองและอาณาเขตโดยรอบได้รับการจดทะเบียนเป็นมรดกโลกทางวัฒนธรรมโดยองค์การยูเนสโกเมื่อปี ค.ศ. 2000
Bells of Beguinage in Leuven, Belgium
The Beguinage in Leuven is a UNESCO World Heritage site
Les minières néolithiques de silex de Spiennes, par Hélène Collet (SPW)
Conférence présentée à l'Université de Monq (UMONS) par Hélène Collet, archéologue au Service public de Wallonie et responsable de l’exceptionnel site des minières néolithiques de Spiennes ! Cet exposé a inauguré le cycle Arkéo 2014, organisé à l’occasion de l’Année de l’Archéologie en Wallonie.
« A deux pas de Mons (Hainaut, Belgique), le village de Spiennes abrite un très vaste centre d’extraction et de taille du silex remontant au Néolithique, dernière période de la préhistoire. Qui pourrait penser en voyant ces champs caillouteux que, de 4300 à 2300 ans avant notre ère, des communautés ont extrait à cet endroit du silex dans des exploitations souterraines pouvant atteindre 16 m de profondeur, pour le façonnage de lames de haches et le débitage de lames ? Alors que les minières néolithiques de silex de Spiennes ont été découvertes voici plus d’un siècle, seule une infime partie en a été étudiée. C’est pourquoi les recherches archéologiques s’y poursuivent encore aujourd’hui. En 2000, ce site remarquable par son étendue, par la durée de sa fréquentation et par son potentiel archéologique a été inscrit par l’Unesco sur la liste du Patrimoine mondial de l’Humanité. Mais en quoi témoigne-t-il du génie humain au même titre que les pyramides de Gizeh, les peintures de Lascaux, le Mont-Saint-Michel ou le Taj Mahal ? Et qui étaient les mineurs de Spiennes ? Que sait-on de ces sociétés, de leur organisation et de leur savoir-faire technique ? C’est à toutes ces questions que l’exposé tentera de répondre. »
Brugge - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Gorgeous Bruges is a tourist's dream. This is Belgium's most perfectly preserved medieval town, and its jaw-dropping, beautiful architecture attracts more than two million visitors every year.
Schematic illustrations and video of chalk antler pick digging techniques