Flint fields, Flint field in the Schmale Heide near Mukran, Rügen, Germany

The flint fields are a natural accumulation of small stones spread along the Baltic coast between Mukran and Prora. The ground is covered with densely packed flint arranged in several parallel ridges that run toward the shore.

The flint stones weathered out of the Cretaceous cliff of the Jasmund peninsula and collected at its foot before a series of storm floods 3,500 to 4,000 years ago carried them to this spot in the Schmale Heide. The deposits form 14 open flint ridges, each about 25 metres wide and one metre high. The area was made a nature reserve in 1935.

Locals call the 40-hectare field between Mukran and Prora the Steinernes Meer, or Stone Sea, after its 14 parallel flint ridges, each about 25 metres wide and one metre high. The name is used for the whole northern part of the Schmale Heide, where the stones lie so thickly that the ground stays largely bare.

The site is reached on foot from the parking area at Neu Mukran with a walk of about two to three kilometers on marked paths. Sturdy shoes are necessary because the ground is uneven and covered with sharp stones.

The 14 open flint ridges, each about 25 metres wide and one metre high, were protected from overgrowth by fencing and game stocking from the mid-19th century and again from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. Two-metre-high strip ferns, holly and juniper bushes grow among them.