page_title: Prehistoric Norfolk
section_title: References
hierarchical_section_title: Prehistoric Norfolk / Neolithic / References
context_page_description: The prehistory of the County of Norfolk, England is broken into specific time periods.
  Norfolk has a very rich prehistoric past, from the Palaeolithic era 950,000 years ago, to end of the Iron Age 2000 years ago. Indeed, Norfolk has the earliest evidence of human occupation of what is now Britain, and some of the country's best-preserved archaeological sites.
context_section_description: Beex, W., Peterson, J 2004. 'The Arminghall henge in space and time: how virtual reality contributes to research on its orientation'. In [Enter the Past] The E-way into the four dimensions of Cultural Heritage, CAA2003, BAR International Series 1227, pp. 490–493, Oxford.
  Clark, J.D.G., 1936 'The Timber Monument at Arminghall and its Affinities', Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 2, 1–51
  Robertson, D. (NLA), 2005.
  Wade-Martin, P. (ed), 1999 Norfolk from the Air II
  Long Barrows
  In Norfolk there is only rare evidence of the remains of Long Borrows, most of the remains having been ploughed flat over the years.
  Broome Heath, Ditchingham A Neolithic burial mound or long barrow, about 50m long and 25m wide. Human remains were found in the 19th century, but these were probably a later insertion. Neolithic flints and pottery fragments have been found over the years, often being excavated by rabbits.
  The barrow, as well as being used for burial, may also have had ceremonial uses.
  Harpley Common This Neolithic long barrow is visible as an oval mound 1.2m high and 31m long by 23m wide. This is part of a larger mound that has been destroyed by ploughing and the construction of the Harpley to Weasenham St Peter road. The mound is surrounded by a ditch about 4.5m wide. The ditch is now infilled.
  Felthorpe This is a possible Neolithic long barrow, which survives as an earthwork mound.
  Roughton Seen as a crop mark
  Marlingford Seen as a crop mark
  Tuttington Seen as a crop mark
  Neolithic Industry
  Grimes Graves  is a large Neolithic flint mining complex near Brandon close to the border between Norfolk and Suffolk .A recent survey by English Heritage found that Grimes Graves was one of only ten Neolithic flint mines known in England, of which only six survive as earthworks. Dating from roughly 3000–2000 BC, mining began at the site during the later Neolithic and continued for a while into the Bronze Age. The Anglo-Saxons believed the site was the work of the god Grim – (possibly a euphemism for Woden,) -the place-name means 'Grim's quarries'. The available radiocarbon dates suggest that mining may have taken place over a period of between 500 and 1,000 years. It extends over an area of around 37 ha (0.37 km² / 96 acres) and consists of at least 433 shafts dug into the natural chalk to reach seams of flint. The deepest shafts are more than 12 m (40 feet) deep and the widest is around 18 m (60 ft,) in diameter at the surface. It has been calculated that more than 2,000 tonnes of chalk had to be removed from the larger shafts, taking 20 people around five or six months, before stone of sufficient quality was reached. An upper, (topstone,) and middle (wallstone,) seam of flint was dug through on the way to the deeper third seam (floorstone,) which most interested the miners. The mines were sunk at a rate of one every one or two years. Although recent research has suggested that small groups of mines may have been dug simultaneously. Mining was however neither intensive, nor on an 'industrial' scale, as we understand the term today. The geology at Grimes Graves comprises a number of flint layers lying below sands and clays and interspersed between chalk. It was the upper three seams of flint which were exploited, and the lowest of the three, known as 'floorstone', was generally targeted because it was in larger tabular nodules, it was easily flaked, less flawed than flint from the other layers, and had a lustrous deep black colour. To get to the flint the Neolithic miners dug shafts up to 12 m deep with radiating galleries at their base, as well as shallower pits from 3 m to 8 m deep. Some mines are grouped together with two or three in a single quarry, implying that some were dug in sequence.
  Whitlingham Evidence has been found in the area of a Neolithic flint axe factory, including unfinished axes and waste flakes. In the 18th century a human skeleton, together with the picks made from deer's antlers, were found in one of the chalk tunnels – possibly the body of one of the Neolithic flint miners.
caption: View of a seam of Flint in the Grimes Graves excavation. The pit props are modern supports added when the site was excavated
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