During the Neolithic people made axes from flint and other kinds of hard stone. One source of flint in Britain was the chalk beds of south and east England, from which it could be mined. In other regions suitable types of stone were quarried from the rock face, often in difficult locations. One method of quarrying was to set a fire and then drench the hot rock with water to split off workable pieces. The working debris found at these locations show that the stones were roughly shaped into axes there before being finished elsewhere.

Non-flint axes can sometimes be traced to a particular source by analysing the minerals which form the rock. However, boulders and pebbles were also used, including those carried and deposited through the movement of Ice Age glaciers (‘erratics’).

Quarrying was probably not carried out by full-time specialists. It is likely that stone was quarried during less busy periods of the farming year. The axes were highly valued, and were traded and exchanged far from their original sources.