Interpreting Hidden Chalk Art in northern European Flint Mines

Neolithic flint mines across northern Europe during the transition between the fifth and fourth millennia BC show similarities in their dating, extraction methods and morphology, as do contemporary forms of monumentality such as causewayed enclosures, earthen long barrows and megalithic tombs during this period. Recent research has identified further similarities in the expressions of art motifs within the mines. While certainly found during different excavations, most of these motifs incised in chalk have not been reported on. Following archival analysis, this paper details these similarities in motifs that extend between sites in the UK, Denmark, Belgium and potentially Poland, and perhaps increasingly over time to other, non-mining, sites. We argue that the practice of flint mining and incising of art motifs may indicate shared specific cultural beliefs at the beginning of the Neolithic in northern Europe that have not been previously recognized.