Kompendium 16 – Flint/flinta/chert/tinna/silex/selce/Feuerstein/pedernal/fflint

Kompendium 16/2014
Flint / flinta / chert / tinna / silex / selce / feuerstein / pedernal / fflint

Åse Eg Jørgensen har fotograferet flintesten.

Flint er sort, grå eller brun ofte med en hvid kridtkappe. Stenarten består af finkornet kvarts, der stammer fra blandt andet kiselsvampe. Den er et strukturløst mineral med karakteristiske muslede (muslingeformede) brud. Hårdheden er som glas og bruddet er meget skarpt.

Flint findes som knolde i kalk- og kridtaflejringer. Her er flinten udfældet fra kiselsyreholdige væsker i hulrum i sedimentet, som ofte er dannet af døde dyr på havbunden. Når flinten trænger ind i disse hulrum dannes et indvendigt aftryk, fx fra et forstenet søpindsvin.

Allerede i stenalderen tildannede man redskaber og våben af flint, som blev udvundet og også eksporteret. Flint giver en gnist, når den slås hårdt mod en anden sten, og blev brugt i fyrtøj sammen med svovlkis. I dag anvender man bl.a flint til sandpapir og slibepulver, hvor det optræder i knust form. Kalcineret flint (flint ophedet så meget, at der sker en spaltning) bruges som hvide vejbelægninger. Og rullesten af flint benyttes bl.a. i kuglemøller.

Flint optræder i stednavne som Flintholm, Flinterup, Flintager, Flintebjerg. Og i faste udtryk som at “flyve i flint” og være “hård som flint”.

Flint er Danmarks almindeligste sten.

dansk: flint | norsk: flint | svensk: flinta | engelsk: flint, chert | islandsk: tinna | fransk: silex | italiensk: selce | tysk: feuerstein,
kieselstein | spansk: pedernal | walisisk: fflint |

Flint is black, grey or brown, often with a white chalk casing. The stone is made up of fine-grain quartz derived from, among other things, siliceous sponges (halichondria). It is a structureless mineral showing characteristic conchoidal (shell shaped) fractures. The hardness is like glass and the break is very sharp.

Flint is found as tubers in limestone and chalk deposits. Here the flint is precipitated from silicic acid-containing fluids within cavities in the sediment, which are often formed by dead animals on the seabed. When the flint penetrates into these cavities an inner imprint is formed, for example from fossilized sea urchins.

Back in the Stone Age tools and weapons were crafted out of flint, which was extracted and also exported. Flint provides a spark when stricken hard against another stone and was used in tinderboxes with pyrites. Today flint may be used for sandpaper and as an abrasive powder when employed in its crushed form. Calcined flint (flint heated to the extent of fissure) is used for white road surfaces. And sphere-shaped flint pebbles and cobbles are used in stone grinders.

Flint appears in place names like Flintholm, Flinterup, Flintager, Flintbjerg. And in turns of phrases like to “fly into flint (a rage)” and be as “hard (tough) as flint.”

Flint is Denmark’s most common stone.

Danish: flint | Norwegian: flint | Swedish: flinta | English: flint, chert | Icelandic: tinna | French: silex | Italian: selce | German: feuerstein, kieselstein | Spanish: pedernal | Welsh: fflint |

Åse Eg Jørgensen

2014

Format: 15 x 21
36 sider
vægt: 52 g.
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