During a trip to Belgium in June 2004 and specifically to the Wallonian area I had decided to visit the Neolitic Mines of Spiennes as my 138th World Heritage Site. Having arrived in the city of Mons, I jumped into a taxi heading for the small village of Spiennes were I had made an appointment with archeologist Helen Collet who was going to show me the site. She was waiting for me and we drove off to the first of the two archeological sites while telling me that the whole area of Spiennes is scattered with over 1000 Neolithic mines, holes in the ground, around 4-12 meters deep, where the ancient Neolithic men dug for flint stone about 4000 years BC. “Tools made from Spiennes flint has been found as far as in eastern Germany”, Helen continued. “But unfortunately we have only been able to investigate two mines so far. But these two are very deep, something that is quite unusual from that period”.

The first of the two sites was housed inside a small building on top of the first “hole”, built by the archeologists who first discovered the mines in the late 19th century and now the office for the archeological investigations. After a coffee and some initial discussions about Neolithic mining with Helen and her husband Michel who now had joined the party, it was time to enter the underworld. My outfit of the day was completely discarded by Helen and Michel in favor of some more suitable clothes and a helmet. The min to be entered was about 16 meters deep and having been secured with an extra rope I descended down a slippery ladder into the world of the Neoliths. Helen climbed down after me and together we crawled round in the mine which was not more than 70 centimeters high and about 5 meters deep - indeed a claustrophobic experience. Crawling back up the ladder again also reminded me that I’m 41 years old and smoking too much and after surfacing and coughing for about 10 minutes, Helen told me that we now were going to the second hole....puh!

The second hole was located on the other side of the small village and actually much easier to access. Not only was it just 10 meters deep but also spacious enough allowing you to stand straight up once down. Here it was also easier to study the work of the Neolithic man and understand how they had dug the mine and the techniques used.

Visiting Spiennes was quite a unique experience and I would like to extend my big thanks to Helen and Michele for guiding me and learning me more both about modern archeology as well as Neolitic mining. The only downside is the fact that the City of Mons is not promoting the site what-so-ever. It is therefore hard to find and not possible to access unless you contact Helen in advance.