Recent feedback:
“I can’t thank you enough for your prehistory workshop that you delivered last Thursday afternoon! Your introduction to prehistory has proved essential to the way I’ve approached it with Y3 since!! Thank you so much!”
Archaeology is the best way to understand Britain in a time before writing, a time before history!
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Prehistory Workshop: (Stone Age to Iron Age)
Archaeosoup is proud to present a complete, fun and informative overview of Prehistory in Britain, complementing the Primary School national curriculum (Key stage 2) and based on the best archaeological evidence.
Our journey begins in the Palaeolithic, during the height of the last Ice Age and moves through a time of lush plenty, the Mesolithic; into an age of monuments and farming, the Neolithic and beyond to the time of Stonehenge, the Bronze Age.
This is a chance to look at the how and why things changed over time. Together, we examine changes in environment, lifestyles, burial and religious practices and of-course the development of stone and metal technology.
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Making a stone tool and drawing cave art.
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Sorting the bones of the dead for a long barrow tomb.
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Hunting deer (a willing volunteer) around the class room.
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Trying food from Prehistory including berries, nuts and bread.
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Digging in a copper mine, building stone circles and even wearing clothes made of gold!
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What is Prehistory?
Quite simply, Prehistory is the time before recorded History. History in Europe is usually accepted as beginning with the Roman Empire and other Mediterranean/ African Iron Age cultures around 2,000 years ago.
Despite the length of recorded history, it is only a short span of time compared to the length of time our species has existed on this planet!
Around 97% of all human history is accounted for by the Stone Age!
This is such a massive piece of history that it is easier to think of it as three distinct stone ages; each with their own environments, cultures and tool-types. These are called the Old, Middle and New Stone Ages.
Palaeolithic – Old Stone Age
Mesolithic – Middle Stone Age
Neolithic – New Stone Age
You can find out more about these terms in this video:
Other resources:
You may also find it useful to take a look at a playlist of videos specifically about Prehistory and associated topics, sites and questions:
