GRIME'S GRAVES SKULL

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2153, 20 May 1914, Page 11

GRIME'S GRAVES SKULL

HOW PREHISTOI? 1C 31INEJSS fJVED AND WOKKED.

Tim recent excavations at tho prehistoric flint mines at Grime's Graves, near Thetford, Norfolk, begun by th« Prehistoric Society of East Aogiia, Ellwand, liavo yielded ninny ronumtk) "ftlids." Grime's Graves arc 250 hollows in a piM plantation, wliidj'liave been found to bo the openings of shafts sunk by prehistoric Britons to obtain flint from the chalk. Quo shaft, about 30 feet deep, has been cleared right out. It lias boen found to ha' 14 feet- in diameter at the base, as compared with *1% feet at the mouth. From the base seven tumiejs diverge, two of which are 30 feet long, though their height is only about 2$ feet. The ancient miners used picks wade from the- antlers of the red deer, from which all .the tines, with the exception of the brow tine; were* removed. When tkeso broke or became blunted they were thrown aside, and about fifty discarded specimens have been discovered. Various occupation levels were discovered down the shaft, with :i number of hearths and quantities of charcoal. A human skull was found 13 feet from the snrfa-cc, embedded in chalk rubble. The other discoveries include bones of various animals which formed the food-of the minors, large quantities of molhtsea, quart?,ito liammerstones, and thousands of flint flakes and implements, including a fine axe 7$ inches'in length.