Flint
Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fires. When struck against steel, flint will produce enough sparks to ignite a fire with the correct tinder, or gunpowder used in weapons. Flint mining is attested since the Paleolithic, but became more common since the Neolithic.
About Flint in brief
Flint is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fires. When struck against steel, flint will produce enough sparks to ignite a fire with the correct tinder, or gunpowder used in weapons. Flint mining is attested since the Paleolithic, but became more common since the Neolithic. In Europe, some of the best toolmaking flint has come from Belgium, the coastal chalks of the English Channel, the Paris Basin, Thy in Jutland and the Sennonian deposits of Rügen, Grimes Graves and Krzemion. To combat heat-treat flint, scientists are experimenting with actual knapping techniques by the creation of stone tools through the use of freehand percussion, freehand pressure and pressure pressure using a rest-tough pressure tool. Other scholars have conducted similar experiments using a pressure pressure tool using a different type of stone, like a sandstone, to combat heat fragmentation, heat-treated flint and heat-trapping.
The use of flint to make tools dates back millions of years, and flint’s extreme durability has made it possible to accurately date its use over this time. Flint is one of the primary materials used to define the Stone Age. It is formed from limey debris that was deposited at the bottom of inland Paleozoic seas hundreds of million of years ago that hardened into limestone and later became infused with silica. The flint from Flint Ridge is found in many hues like red, green, pink, blue, white and gray, with the color variations caused by minute impurities of iron compounds. It can be coloured: sandy brown, medium to dark gray, black, reddish brown or an off-white grey. Certain types of flints contain trapped fossilised marine flora. Pieces of coral and vegetation have been found preserved inside the flint similar to insects and plant parts within amber.
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This page is based on the article Flint published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 17, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
