The oldest history of mankind is inextricably linked with the development of fire, the study of the properties of beneficial plants and the domestication of domestic animals. But only one thing gave a name to two huge historical periods - Paleolithic and Neolithic. This is a stone flint. This mineral allowed man to become king of nature.
Judging from the point of view of mineralogy, there is nothing special in flint: it is almost completely silica-containing material, the color of which is given by salts of other chemical compounds. Due to the diversity of these substances and a wide range of formation conditions, flint stone can have the most unexpected shape and color.
Geologists characterize it as a “viscous strong aggregate” of amorphous and cryptocrystalline forms of silica.
This stone is very weakly visible if you look at it, placing it opposite a powerful light source. Very often it is of organic origin, since silicon was part of the shells of mollusks.
For millions of years, sedimentary rocks at the bottom of the ancient seas first turned into opal, and only then into other minerals, including chalcedony. Their color is so diverse that precious stones immediately come to mind. Oddly enough, flint stone is sometimes really used in such a role, although its scope is completely different.
A long time ago, a person noticed that it can be easily polished, and only then appreciated its hardness, because of which the mineral began to be used as a material for the manufacture of tools and even utensils. Then people learned how to split and grind it correctly, after which the stone flint became a formidable weapon, embodied in the tips of spears and arrows.
If you look at its section under a microscope, you can see tiny needles of sea sponges, skeletons of radiolarians, the smallest flaps of incredibly tiny bivalve mollusks.
Flint formation continues to this day. Waves of ebbs and flows, rivers and rains gradually grind rocks, taking a stone crushed into dust far into the ocean. Chemical substances that find their way to the surface after volcanic eruptions fall into it. Gradually, silica is collected in the finest colloidal suspension, which hangs in the water column. Part of this suspension is used by marine protozoa and mollusks, the body of which needs material to build shells. Gradually a stone flint forms, the description of which was given above.
Remember how we talked about the “viscosity” of this material? It was she who allowed it to be used in the production of stone tools: cobblestone did not fly into pieces upon impact, but cracked, forming neat plates.
It was processed flint that gave man an unprecedented advantage over wild animals. And when his ability to strike sparks was discovered upon impact, then a new world opened up before people - a world of heat, fire and security. The food prepared on it was tastier and more nutritious, and the most powerful predators were afraid of the heat and light of an open flame.
We hope you find out what flint stone looks like. His role in the history of our civilization is undeniable.
