Flint was an extremely useful material during the Neolithic period. It can be worked to create a variety of tools including sharp knives. Flint occurs naturally in the chalk beds of southern and eastern England. It can also be found in surface deposits and although this flint is often perfectly workable, it can be weathered and flawed.

The earliest flint mines were dug in the chalk downlands of southern England, but a little after 3000 BC mining began at Grimes Graves in Norfolk. This site is among the largest in Europe, with some 360 pits and shafts up to 15 metres deep. In the deep mines tunnels (also known as galleries) were dug outwards from a central shaft, following the seam of flint. Two kinds of flint were extracted at Grimes Graves. Nodular flint, called ‘wallstone’, occurs in irregularly shaped lumps and forms the upper two flint layers. The more highly prized flint was tabular flint, known as ‘floorstone’, which lies deepest within the bedrock. Miners used picks made from deer antler to prise the flints from the chalk. It was then brought to the surface and roughly shaped before being taken away for finishing.