What is Flint?
[[Image:Flintstone.jpg|thumb|A flintstone]] [[File:Dover989.JPG|thumb|Chalk cliffs at [[Dover]] cliffs. The slanting dark lines in the chalk are flint.]] [[File:Handaxe by John Frere.png|thumb|Flint [[handaxe]] from [[Hoxne]], England. This is the first published picture of a handaxe in archaeological history.<ref>Frere, John. 1800. Account of flint weapons discovered at Hoxne in [[Suffolk]]. ''Archeologia'' '''13''', London. 204-205</ref> The handaxe was not a weapon; it was a [[tool]] used in [[butcher]]ing the carcasses of [[mammal]]s.]] '''Flint''', or '''flintstone''', is a kind of [[sedimentary rock]], made of [[silica]]. Bands of flint are found embedded in [[chalk]] and other kinds of soft [[limestone]]. When the chalk is [[erosion|eroded]], the hard flint nodules survive as [[pebble]]s on a [[shingle beach]]. It may happen that the pebbles later get [[cement]]ed into another rock, such as a [[puddingstone]]. In this way, they make up a sedimentary rock for the second time. == Technical description == Flint is a cryptocrystalline (means you can't see the crystals) form of the [[mineral]] [[quartz]].<ref>[http://webmineral.com/data/Quartz.shtml General Quartz Information] Webmineral.com</ref><ref>[http://www.quartzpage.de/flint.html Flint and Chert] quartzpage.de</ref> It is a variety of [[chert]]. It occurs as a line of knobbly masses in [[chalk]] and some [[limestone]]s.<ref name=Flints>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbm.me.uk/portsdown/PH_320_Flint.htm |title=''The Flints from Portsdown Hill'' |access-date=2011-07-25 |archive-date=2010-12-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226114858/http://bbm.me.uk/Portsdown/PH_320_Flint.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.theaaca.com/Learning_Center/flintvs.htm |title=Authentic Artefacts Collectors Assn: Flint vs Chert |access-date=2011-07-25 |archive-date=2004-08-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040817115706/http://www.theaaca.com/Learning_Center/flintvs.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Inside the nodule, flint is