Seventy five years after Grimes Graves, on the Norfolk-Suffolk border (England), was first opened to the public, English Heritage is set to bring the Neolithic flint mining site into the 21st century. Officials from the Stone Age village revealed plans to launch a virtual tour of the unique 37 hectare site, near Mundford, and a proposal for a new visitor centre for the next 75 years.
     Grimes Graves, which was first opened to the public in 1931, has a grassy lunar like landscape of more than 400 pits and Britain's only accessible flint mine. Between 2100 and 1800 BCE, it was a place for flint excavation and tool making and from 1000 to 800 BCE it was used by Bronze Age farmers.    
     Dave Mcomish, archaeologist for English Heritage in Cambridge, said television programmes like Time Team had made historical sites more popular. He added that visitors had brought in some 'fantastic' axe heads and cutting tools over the anniversary weekend. "In the British Isles there are ten known sites and only one accessible flint mine, so we are lucky to have Grimes Graves." Mr Mcomish added that a new virtual reality tour of Grimes Graves would allow people of all abilities to discover the mines. Plans for a new environmental and low impact visitor centre were also being drawn up.

Source: EDP 24 (19 June 2006)