To prehistoric people, flint was one of the most important of materials for making tools and weapons. A cross-section of our collection is on display this year.

 

Flint is a crystalline form of quartz, formed from the skeletons of prehistoric sea creatures, and occurs in sedimentary rocks such as chalk. It’s been used widely for millennia in Norfolk, which lies on significant beds of chalk and flint.

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Flint fractures into pieces with extremely sharp edges, making it ideal for axes, arrows and other implements.

But it wasn’t until local antiquarian John Frere studied flints from clay mining pits at Hoxne and the Waveney Valley near Diss that he realised that their age and the age of the humans who had made them was much greater than was then believed. Frere, who lived at Roydon Hall and became known as the father of Paleolithic archaeology, reported his findings to the Society of Antiquaries in 1797. However, it took 60 for their significance to be fully accepted.

 

Flint was first worked in the Palaeolithic Age from about 3.3 million years ago, to create tools for butchery, scrape hides for clothing and work wood.

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The Mesolithic Age, from around 20,000 years ago, saw more sophistication in flint design to support a hunter-gatherer way of life, including tranchet axes for woodworking.

Tools to support the introduction of farming, including polished axes for forest clearance, marked the Neolithic Age from about 10,000 years ago.

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Arrowheads were among the flints that changed over time. The earliest were simple ovals but later ones had barbs, which ensured the arrowhead couldn’t fall out, and a tang - a lump in the base to secure it to the shaft.