Boddam Flint Mines

The flint mines at Den of Boddam are a remarkable example of prehistoric industry dating back to the late Neolithic. Rather than underground tunnels, the site consists of numerous shallow pits dug for flint within the gravel deposits of the area. These pits are especially important because flint is rare in Scotland, making this site one of the few known locations of prehistoric flint extraction in the country. They occur mainly above the 300' (91m) contour, on the ridge of high ground which runs westward for about 10 miles (13.4km), from the coast between Invernettle (NK 12 44) and Stirling Hill (NK 12 41) to west of Skelmuir Hill (NJ 98 41) and Hill of Dudwick (NJ 97 37). The flint, yellow in colour, occurs in the form of gravel, pebbles, nodules and boulders.

Numerous rough hollows about 6 to 8ft across and currently 2 to 3ft deep representing former flint mines dating from Neolithic and Bronze Age times. [Canmore]

Oval-shaped pits were dug as deep as 4.5 m below the surface to reach flint cobbles of suitable quality. The pits were often very close together, and much of the spoil extracted from each new pit was thrown back into the adjacent abandoned one. The flint was tested for quality on the surface by knapping. The result of this testing can be seen in the millions of discarded flakes and fragmentary cobbles which litter the whole site. The debris of flakes, cobbles and hammerstones were found in areas between the pits where the flint had been processed. Surrounding areas also had flint extraction but evidence for this has been ploughed away; it has been suggested that the site covered 12 hectares and somewhere in the region of 1,000 pits. [HER]

Although the excavations have revealed complex sequences of pits cutting one another, the mines visible on the surface today appear to have migrated progressively further up the slope of the Den. Indeed, all the evidence gathered on the intensively exploited W side of the Den showed that the spoil dumps consistently overlay workings on their downslope sides.

The origins of this deposit remain controversial in terms of the provenance of the gravel constituents, depositional environment and age. The main constituents of the gravel are flint, quartzite, vein-quartz and kaolinitic silt and sand. It has long been held that the flints are derived from a former Chalk cover. The deposits were heavily altered by deep chemical weathering during the Neogene, resulting in preferential preservation of silica-rich lithologies.

Links and Resources:

Photo 1 showing traces of numerous pits still visible along the den. (I. Greig, 16/04/10)
Photo 2 taken from one of the (now infilled) pits. (I. Greig, 16/04/10)
Canmore ID 21303.
Information from Iain Greig, 30/9/2020.
www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2017-06/Publication%202009%20-%20Landscape%20fashioned%20by%2....
Pastmap, OS 10k background mapping.
Historic Environment Scotland, Scheduled Ancient Monument, SM6137.
Historic Environment Record, NK14SW0003.
Bridgland and Saville, D R and A. (2000) 'Den of Boddam', in Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (eds), The Quaternary of the Banffshire coast and Buchan, publication of the Quaternary Research Association). Page(s): 102-15 illus.
Bridgland and Saville, D and A. (1994) 'Scotland's earliest geologists? Prehistoric flint quarrying at Den of Boddam', EarthHeritage: conserving our ecology and landscapes, 2, July 1994. Page(s): 23-5 illus.
Bridgland, D R. (2000) 'Flint-rich gravels in Aberdeenshire', in Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (eds), The Quaternary of the Banffshire coast and Buchan, publication of the Quaternary Research Association). Page(s): 96-101 passim. illus.
Bridgland, Saville and Sinclair, D R, A and J M. (1997) 'New evidence for the origin of the Buchan Ridge Gravel, Aberdeenshire', Scottish Journal of Geology, vol. 33, 1, 1997. Page(s): 43-50 passim. illus.
Childe, V G. (1946c) Scotland before the Scots: being the Rhind lectures 1944. London. Page(s): 46-7 RCAHMS Shelf Number: E.2.CHI.
Ferguson, W. (1875) 'Notes on some collections of flint implements from Buchan, Aberdeenshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 10, 1872-4. Page(s): 515.
Graham-Smith, G S. (1918) 'Sandfordhill', Proc Prehist Soc, vol. 3, 1918. Page(s): 59 Groome, F H (ed.. (1901) Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland, 5v. New. Edinburgh. Page(s): 1674 RCAHMS Shelf Number: B.2.GRO.
Jamieson, T F. (1868) 'On some remains of the stone period in the Buchan district of Aberdeenshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 6, 1864-6. Page(s): 243-4.
Merritt, J W, Auton, C A, Connell, E R, Hall, A M, and Peacock, J D. 2003. Cainozoic geology and landscape evolution of north-east Scotland. Memoir of the British Geological Survey.
Murray, A. (1863a) 'Notice of remains near Peterhead, in a letter to the Secretary', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 4, 1860-2. Page(s): 387.
Ordnance Survey (Name Book. (1848-1878) Object Name Books of the Ordnance Survey (6 inch and 1/2500 scale). Page(s): Aberdeenshire, No. 72, 84 RCAHMS Shelf Number: Ref.
Saville and Bridgland, A and D. (1995) 'Digging for flint: the Den of Boddam/Buchan Ridge Gravel Project, Aberdeenshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 125, 1995, Lecture Summaries. Page(s): 1195-6.
Saville, A. (1993) 'Flint quarry findings', Brit Archaeol News, vol. 7, 1993, October. Page(s): 5.
Saville, A. (1997f) 'The prehistoric exploitation of a flint resource in North-East Scotyland: work at Den of Boddam in 1991', in Ramos, Millan, A and Bustillo, M A, Siliceous rocks and culture. Granada, Spain. Page(s): 293-9 illus.
Saville, A. (2000e) 'The NMS project on flint mining in Scotland', in Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (eds.), The Quaternary of the Banffshire coast and Buchan, publication of the Quaternary Research Association). Page(s): 93-5 illus.
Saville, A. (2005o) 'Prehistoric quarrying of a secondary flint source: evidence from North-East Scotland', in Topping, P and Lynott, M (eds., The cultural landscape of prehistoric mines. Oxford. Page(s): 1-13 passim. illus.
Saville, A. (2005p) GB 20 Den of Boddam near Peterhead, Grampian Region, Scotland [and] GB 21 Skelmuir Hill, Grampian Region, Scotland', Archaeologia Polona, vol. 33, 2005. Page(s): 353-68, passim. illus.
Tipping and Milburn, R M and P. (2000) 'Palaeoenvironmental evidence from peat beneath the floor of the Den of Boddam', in Merritt, J W, Connell, E R and Bridgland, D R (eds), The Quaternary of the Banffshire coast and Buchan, publication of the Quaternary Research Association). Page(s): 116-52 illus.
Wickham-Jones, C R. (1987) 'The procurement and use of stone for flaked tools in prehistoric Scotland', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 116, 1986. Page(s): 2-3, 5-6.

This entry was last updated: 2026-04-01 08:07:35

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NGR:	NK 11384 41478
WGS84:	57.46344, -1.81189
Length:	Not recorded
Vert. Range:	Not recorded
Altitude:	91 m
Geology:	Buchan Ridge Gravel Member - flint
Tags:	Mine, Shaft, Archaeo, SSSI, SAM
Registry:	main

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