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Flint, fire and the first farmers

The Stone Age, dug up and double-checked.

The Old, Middle and New Stone Age in Britain: the first people, hunter-gatherers at Star Carr and Cheddar Gorge, the farmers of Skara Brae, the flint miners of Grime’s Graves and the builders of Stonehenge. For KS2 and KS3 topics, teens and grown-up history fans. Every fact is checked against museums, heritage bodies and Britannica, and where they disagree we show both.

The three periods The timeline

ditch and bank, about 100m across56 Aubrey Holessarsen circlebluestonesinner horseshoe
Our own simplified plan of Stonehenge. Not to scale. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
3.3 millionyears: the age of the oldest known stone tools Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
Nearly 1 millionyears since people first reached Britain Natural History Museum: First Britons
13mdeep: the flint mine shafts at Grime’s Graves English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
About 2500 BCthe Stonehenge stone circle goes up English Heritage: History of Stonehenge

The short version

The Stone Age is the long stretch of prehistory when people made and used stone tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age It is split into three periods: the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and the Neolithic (New Stone Age). Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age

The Palaeolithic covers roughly 98 per cent of the time since the first true human ancestors appeared. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age People first reached Britain nearly a million years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons

Farming was brought to Britain by migrants from the Continent about 4100 BC, along with pottery. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves Stonehenge was built in stages: the first monument, a henge, about 5,000 years ago, and the stone circle about 2500 BC, in the late Neolithic. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge

In Britain the first metal objects appeared about 2400 BC; English Heritage dates the Bronze Age to about 2300–800 BC. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves

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Our drawing of a flint hand-axe, one of the four kinds of Stone Age tool Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age

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Life at Skara Brae

Skara Brae in Orkney is a Neolithic village so well preserved that even the stone furniture survives. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history Each room has a stone “dresser”, two box-beds, a central hearth and small tanks set into the floor. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history

Not all cavemen

In 2010 the Star Carr team said they had found Britain’s earliest surviving house, dating to at least 8,500 BC. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010) · checked 29 Oct 2026 More on Star Carr.

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Our plan of a Skara Brae house Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
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Free sample

Free Stone Age printables sample, 6 pages. Pick your paper size:

A4 231 KBUS Letter 231 KB

Stone Age printables

Fact-checked PDFs in A4 and US Letter, for KS2 and KS3 classrooms, home learning, quiz fans and site visits.

  • Stone Age Britain KS2 Topic Pack

    Ages 7 to 11, teachers and home educators

    Worksheets for the Key Stage 2 unit “changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age”: the three Stone Age periods, reading pages on Skara Brae, Star Carr and Cheddar Man, Grime’s Graves and Stonehenge, a label-the-house page, cut-out order and sorting cards, a true-or-false quiz, a word search and a certificate, with answers.

  • Stone Age Britain Timeline & Poster Set

    Classrooms, libraries and home

    Poster pages: the Stone Age timeline from the first tools to the first metal, the three periods, Stonehenge in stages and life at Skara Brae. Every date sourced.

  • Stone Age Colouring & Activity Pack

    Ages 5 to 9

    Colouring pages of a hand-axe, a woolly mammoth, a Skara Brae house, Stonehenge, a flint mine, a deer headdress and a stone circle, plus a maze, spot-the-difference and draw-your-own-cave-art page.

  • The Neolithic Revolution: KS3 Source & Evidence Study

    Ages 11 to 14 and GCSE starters

    A source-based depth study on a turning point: short quoted extracts from museums and heritage bodies, inference and chronology tasks, a “when sources disagree” exercise on dates, and a mark-yourself answer guide.

  • Stone Age Britain Quiz & Trivia Cards

    Teens, adults, quiz nights and families

    Sixty cut-out quiz cards on the Old, Middle and New Stone Age in Britain, each answer with its source, plus a score sheet and tie-breakers.

  • Stone Age Britain Site Visit Journal

    Adult history fans, families and day-trippers

    A journal for visiting Stone Age places such as Stonehenge, Skara Brae, Grime’s Graves and Cheddar Gorge: sourced fact pages, what-to-look-for checklists, sketch and notes pages, and a visit log. Check opening details with each site before you go.

Best value

The Complete Stone Age Printables Bundle

All six packs plus a bundle guide, A4 and US Letter, in one download. $12.99 instead of $26.44 bought separately.