At the given coordinates if you look to the south you will see Cissbury Hill. Littered all you around you, you are sure to find many flint nodules. It's hard to believe that where you are now standing, was once a major commercial centre. At Cissbury the use of flint in the making of weapons and tools meant that it was one of the most valuable commodities of the time.
These mines started to be used when other shafts in the Sussex area had been exhausted. The shafts had a warren of galleries leading from them. It was here that the miners dug with primitive tools fashioned from red deer antlers. Supplies of Cissbury flints have turned up in northern England and all over Europe. Three to four thousand years before Christ, flint extraction was in its heyday and flint goods were regularly transported along the ancient ridge-top trackways to the great centres such as Avebury in Wiltshire.
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalk and limestone. Inside the nodule, flint is usually either dark grey or black in colour, and often has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white and rough in texture.
The exact mode of formation of flint is not yet clear. One possibility is that a jelly like material fills cavities in the soft sediment, such as holes bored by crustaceans or molluscs and that this becomes replaced by minerals. This theory certainly explains the complex shapes of flint nodules that are found. The type of flint that is found in this area can sometimes contain trapped fossilised marine flora. Pieces of coral and vegetation have been found preserved like amber inside the flint. Thin wafers of the stone often reveal this effect.
Flint tools
Flint has been a useful commodity throughout the ages. In prehistoric times it was used for tools, in early 17th century it was used for flintlocks to ignite the gunpowder in rifles. This was achieved by striking against hardened steel, which sparked and ignited the priming powder. It was also a very useful building commodity and is still being used to this day. Many of our fine old churches and buildings used it. It was often interwoven with brick and other large stones, and held together by lime mortar. Understandably, you won't have to travel very far around here to find several fine examples of this type of building work.
To claim this earthcache simply answer the following questions via my profile...
- Including Cissbury there are 14 confirmed flint mining hills in the Worthing area. Look to the west and you will be able to clearly see three others. What are they called?
- Flint is worked and shaped by percussion. This involves the striking of the flint using wood or antler to remove tiny flakes. What is this process called?
- Name three items that could be fashioned in this way?
- Take a picture of yourself, your gps and some of this once valuable commodity.*
*Optional