But these ones in Norfolk have a different origin, and despite their name, they are not graves.
Indeed, flint remained in use for many centuries even after men learned to make tools out of metals.
The largest shafts are more than 14 meters deep and 12 meters across at the surface.
The sizes are impressive considering that the Neolithic miners used antlers for picks and wooden shovels.
The galleries would often connect with those from adjacent shafts to form a internet of tunnels.
you might still see soot marks on the roofs of the galleries.
The flint was then hauled to the surface.
Mining continued at Grimes Graves until about 1400 BC.
In this later period, the pits became shallower and lacked underground galleries.
As bronze tools became more common and items of status, they started to eclipse traditional flint tools.
Lack of demand eventually led to the closure of the mines.
After the mines were abandoned, subsequent civilizations started using the shafts as garbage dumps.
During the Iron Age, some of the shafts became burial chambers.
Today, Grime’s Graves is one of the few surviving Neolithic flint mines in the world.
