4300 BC to 57 BC

Flint miners and Belgae

Flint was mined at Spiennes, near Mons, from around 4300 BC, in one of Europe's largest Neolithic mines. By the first century BC the land was held by the Belgae, a group of tribes such as the Nervii, Eburones and Menapii. Julius Caesar later wrote that of all the peoples of Gaul, the Belgae were the bravest.