The area in Södra Sallerup is, as far as we know, the only large-scale flint mining area in Sweden. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the flint was mined mainly during the Early Neolithic. It is clear, however, that the flint that was scattered throughout the area by the mining activity was used during later periods, even as late as the Viking and Medieval Periods. The large-scale mining during the Early Neolithic was probably related to the extraction of high-quality flint for the productio of point-butted axes. The concentration of these axes to south-west Scania and eastern Zealand points in this direction. However, it would be wrong to assume that the mines were merely ‘axe factories’, motivated by economic reasons only. The very extraction of flint from pits and shafts in the chalk was most probably socially and symbolically significant in itself. The activity was probably an integral part of the Early Neolithic mentality involving extraction of resources from the land on a scale that was not envisioned until the introduction of farming in this part of Scandinavia.