The mining Neolithic eras of flint of Spiennes are in a calcareous zone of the Province of Hainaut in Belgium, with Spiennes, 6 km in the south-east of the town of Mons. They are registered on the Liste of the world heritage of UNESCO since 2000.
Geographically, the site is presented in the form of a Cuesta covered with wind silt, and notched by two rivers, the Trouille and the Wampe. Those delimit two plates:
- in the west, " Pa' of with the liau" or across water;
- in the east, the " Camp-with-Cayaux" or field with stones.
These two plates were a long time considered uncultivable considering the impressive quantity of stony waste present, related to the exploitation of the mines of Silex located in their basement.
The exploitation of the site began with the Neolithic , approximately 4.000 years before J. - C., to finish towards 750 before J. - C. winding shafts were dug until about fifteen meters of depth, for an exploitation on approximately 100 hectares.
It is during the 19th century that were discovered, during the construction of a railway line, the first traces of this old exploitation. It first was discovered in Europe. A strengthened village of the Culture Michelsberg was also discovered.
Localization:
See too
Internal bonds
Two other Neolithic flint careers in Belgium.- Mountain Saint-Pierre
- Spy
External bonds
- Descriptive of the site by UNESCO
- Document of evaluation (2000) Evaluation preliminary to the inscription with the world heritage realized by ICOMOS
- Official site of the Mines of Small-Spiennes
- Visit of the Neolithic site of Spiennes
- Tools
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