Flint mines in Denmark and Sweden
The Neolithic flint mines in Denmark and Sweden were primarily exploited during two phases.
The Neolithic mines of Södra Sallerup and Klagshamn near Malmö are in western Skåne . In parts of northern Jutland and in the southeast of the islands of Zealand and Mön , the flint is embedded in layers of chalk . So far, however, flint mines in Denmark are only known from the Thisted region. In Hov the excavations of 1957–59 and 1965 brought a number of large shafts with widening to light. At Aalborg and Hillerslev , flint mines of a different type have been excavated. Here the flint in long and narrow was, but not very deep mining in open pit won. The flints obtained were used as raw material for daggers. No settlement was found here.
When the lime was solid, flint was mined to a depth of 8.0 meters, in widenings up to 3.0 meters wide. In this way, areas of 30–50 square meters were exploited from a vertical shaft. When the chalk was loose, the miners used wider shafts with easy expansion .
The ax blanks were roughly broken on the spot and then transported away. Traces of permanent settlements have been found near Hov and Nørre Bjerre. However, the Neolithic were only active here because of mining . Both places provided data dating back to around 2800 BC. In the Neolithic period. The next mining phase dates from the late Neolithic around 1800 BC. Chr.
During the excavations at Kvarnby near Malmö in Skåne, a third period of flint mining was documented. It confirms observations made by Hov in Jutland. During the late Bronze Age , the remains of regular but more primitive mining were found in irregularly dug pits in the limestone. They were 3–5 meters wide on the surface and no more than 4.0 m deep. This flint also came to the north of Scandinavia. Flint was still used for some types of equipment during the Late Bronze Age.
literature
- CJ Becker: Flint Mining in Neolithic Denmark . In: Antiquity . tape 33 , no. 130 , June 1959, p. 87-92 , doi : 10.1017 / S0003598X00029100 .
- Helmut Wilsdorf : Cultural history of mining. An illustrated journey through times and continents . Verlag Glückauf, Essen 1987, ISBN 3-7739-0476-2 , p. 13 .
- Gerd Weisgerber , Rainer Slotta , Jürgen Weiner: 5000 years of flint mining. The search for the steel of the Stone Age (= publications from the German Mining Museum Bochum . Volume 77 ). 3rd, improved, enlarged and updated edition. German Mining Museum Bochum, Bochum 1999, ISBN 3-921533-66-X .
- Sabine Gayck: Prehistoric Silex Mining in Europe. A critical analysis of the current state of research (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. 15). Beier and Beran, Langenweißbach-Weissbach 2000, ISBN 3-930036-22-3 (also: Cologne, University, Master's thesis, 1993).