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120 Stone Age facts, all checked

Every fact on this site in one place, each linked to its source. Our build checks each one against the source text; see the sources page. Things that can change carry the date we checked them, and where sources disagree you’ll find both.

Jump to: The Stone Age overall | Palaeolithic Britain | Mesolithic Britain | Neolithic Britain | Stonehenge | After the Stone Age, and beyond Britain | School curriculum (dated) | Where sources differ

The Stone Age overall

  1. 1 The Stone Age is the long stretch of prehistory when people made and used stone tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  2. 2 It began about 3.3 million years ago, the age of the oldest known stone tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  3. 3 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
  4. 4 The three periods are told apart by how skilfully people made and used stone tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  5. 5 Britannica lists four kinds of Stone Age tool: pebble tools, hand-axes, flake tools and blade tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  6. 6 The Palaeolithic covers roughly 98 per cent of the time since the first true human ancestors appeared. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  7. 7 Most of what survives from the Palaeolithic is made of flint, stone, bone and antler, because those materials last. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  8. 8 Palaeolithic people lived by hunting, fishing and gathering wild fruits, nuts and berries. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  9. 9 Many Palaeolithic sub-periods have French names, because many early finds were made in France. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  10. 10 Britannica dates the end of the Palaeolithic to about 8000 BC, near the start of the Holocene, the warm period of the last 11,700 years. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age

Palaeolithic Britain

  1. 11 People first reached Britain nearly a million years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  2. 12 Stone tools from Happisburgh in Norfolk and Pakefield in Suffolk show people were here between 950,000 and 700,000 years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  3. 13 A trail of footprints, left by a small group walking across estuary mudflats, was found at Happisburgh. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  4. 14 No bones of those first visitors have been found; from the dates, they could have been Homo antecessor. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  5. 15 At least four species of human have tried to settle in Britain. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  6. 16 The Natural History Museum’s research found at least 10 separate waves of people, driven out again and again by big changes in climate. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  7. 17 The first human fossils found in Britain are a leg bone and two teeth from Boxgrove in West Sussex, about 500,000 years old. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  8. 18 The Boxgrove people butchered horse, deer and rhinoceros, which suggests they planned and hunted as a group. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  9. 19 About 450,000 years ago the Anglian glaciation, the most extreme cold stage of the last million years, made life in Britain impossible for people. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  10. 20 A skull from Swanscombe in Kent shows early Neanderthals were in Britain about 400,000 years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  11. 21 No human remains or tools at all have been found in Britain from 180,000 to 60,000 years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  12. 22 Neanderthals came back across Doggerland, land that is now under the North Sea. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  13. 23 Those cold grasslands supported woolly mammoth, woolly rhino and reindeer. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  14. 24 Winter temperatures there averaged about −10°C. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  15. 25 The earliest direct evidence of our own species in Britain is a jaw fragment from Kent’s Cavern in Devon, at least 40,000 years old. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  16. 26 People have lived in Britain continuously only since about 12,000 years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  17. 27 Early modern humans made tools of bone and ivory as well as stone, and carved, painted and sculpted. Natural History Museum: First Britons
  18. 28 Over the last million years Britain’s climate swung between Mediterranean-like warmth and long cold stages with ice sheets. Natural History Museum: First Britons

Mesolithic Britain

  1. 29 Cheddar Man is the oldest almost complete skeleton of our species found in Britain. He lived about 10,000 years ago. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  2. 30 His Mesolithic skeleton was found in 1903 in Gough’s Cave, Cheddar Gorge, Somerset. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  3. 31 Ancient DNA suggests Cheddar Man had dark skin and blue eyes. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  4. 32 He was about 166cm tall and died in his twenties. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  5. 33 When he was found, some claimed he was 40,000 to 80,000 years old; radiocarbon dating from the 1970s onwards put him at about 10,000 years. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  6. 34 In Cheddar Man’s time, Britain was joined to mainland Europe and becoming thick forest. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  7. 35 He belonged to a group of hunter-gatherers who hunted game and gathered seeds and nuts. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  8. 36 Hunted animals included red deer and aurochs, huge wild cattle. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  9. 37 Nearby Aveline’s Hole is one of Britain’s biggest Mesolithic cemeteries, with about 50 people. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  10. 38 People in Britain today share about 10% of their genetic ancestry with Cheddar Man’s population, but aren’t his direct descendants. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  11. 39 Current thinking is that his population was mostly replaced by farmers who moved to Britain later. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  12. 40 Cheddar Man’s skeleton and a reconstruction of his face are on display in the Natural History Museum’s Human Evolution gallery. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy · checked 29 Oct 2026
  13. 41 Star Carr in North Yorkshire was a Mesolithic settlement about 1,000 years older than Cheddar Man. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  14. 42 Archaeologists at Star Carr found red deer skull-caps that may have been worn as headdresses. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  15. 43 An engraved shale pendant from Star Carr is known as the oldest Mesolithic art in Britain. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  16. 44 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
  17. 45 The house was a circular structure about 3.5 metres across, beside an ancient lake near Scarborough. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)
  18. 46 It had post holes round a central hollow, probably filled with reeds or similar, and possibly a fireplace. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)
  19. 47 A platform of split and hewn timbers at Star Carr is the earliest evidence of carpentry in Europe. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)
  20. 48 The Star Carr hunter-gatherers didn’t farm, but they kept domesticated dogs. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)
  21. 49 They hunted deer, wild boar, elk and aurochs. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)
  22. 50 The peat preserved a boat paddle, arrow tips and red deer skull tops worn as masks. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)
  23. 51 The Star Carr house is at least 500 years older than the previous record holder, at Howick in Northumberland. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)
  24. 52 English Heritage says pine posts were put up near where Stonehenge now stands in the Mesolithic, between 8500 and 7000 BC. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge

Neolithic Britain

  1. 53 The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, is marked by polished stone tools, farming, permanent villages, pottery and weaving. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  2. 54 The earliest Neolithic began in the Middle East about 10,000 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  3. 55 The first farmers grew barley and wheat and kept sheep and goats, later cattle and pigs too. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  4. 56 The Neolithic didn’t happen everywhere at once: different regions started it at different times. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  5. 57 The Neolithic is the last stage of the Stone Age; in Europe and Asia the Bronze Age comes next. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  6. 58 Bronze is made by combining copper with tin (or arsenic), and it replaced stone for tools and weapons. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  7. 59 English Heritage dates the Neolithic in Britain to about 4000–2300 BC. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  8. 60 Farming was brought to Britain by migrants from the Continent about 4100 BC, along with pottery. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  9. 61 Grime’s Graves in Norfolk is the largest known prehistoric flint mine. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  10. 62 Grime’s Graves is the only prehistoric flint mine open to the public. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves · checked 29 Oct 2026
  11. 63 People began mining the dark flint at Grime’s Graves around 2600 BC. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  12. 64 The miners dug shafts up to 13 metres deep, then worked along tunnels at the bottom. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  13. 65 They prised out the flint with picks made from antlers. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  14. 66 The bumps and hollows at Grime’s Graves mark 433 mines and pits. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  15. 67 The flint itself formed about 90 million years ago, when the area was a warm sea. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  16. 68 The best layer, called “floorstone”, was prized for its quality and glossy black colour. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  17. 69 Flint made arrowheads, axes for felling trees, and tools for cutting, scraping and piercing. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  18. 70 Flint from Grime’s Graves was traded over long distances. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  19. 71 The name Grime’s Graves comes from the Anglo-Saxons, who thought the pits were the work of the god Grim. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  20. 72 In 1868–70 Canon William Greenwell dug a deep shaft and proved Grime’s Graves was a Neolithic flint mine, the first recognised in Britain. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  21. 73 A carefully buried dog skeleton was found in a tunnel off Greenwell’s Pit. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  22. 74 Skara Brae in Orkney is a Neolithic village so well preserved that even the stone furniture survives. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  23. 75 Nowhere else in Western Europe shows so richly how people lived then. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  24. 76 Since 1999 Skara Brae has been part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  25. 77 It was first an inland village beside a freshwater loch. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  26. 78 Its houses were built of flat stone slabs, set into mounds of midden and joined by covered passages. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  27. 79 Each house has one room of about 40 square metres. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  28. 80 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
  29. 81 Finds include gaming dice, tools, pottery, jewellery and carved stone objects. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  30. 82 The villagers were farmers, hunters and fishers. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  31. 83 No weapons have been found, which suggests a peaceful life. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  32. 84 No one knows why village life ended around 2500 BC: some say a huge sandstorm, others a slower change. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history
  33. 85 One larger building has a special hearth and no beds, so it may have been a workshop. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history

Stonehenge

  1. 86 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
  2. 87 The earliest big event was a circular ditch and bank, about 100 metres across, dug about 3000 BC. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  3. 88 Just inside the bank are 56 pits called the Aubrey Holes; experts still debate what stood in them. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  4. 89 About 64 cremations have been found there, making Stonehenge the largest late Neolithic cemetery in the British Isles. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  5. 90 Two kinds of stone were used: big sarsens and smaller “bluestones”. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  6. 91 The sarsens stood as an inner horseshoe and an outer circle, with bluestones between. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  7. 92 The Stonehenge Cursus, a rectangular earthwork 1.7 miles long, is part of a group of monuments from around 3500 BC. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  8. 93 With Avebury, Stonehenge is at the heart of a World Heritage Site. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  9. 94 The stones went up at a time of change, as Beaker pottery and metalworking arrived from the Continent. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  10. 95 Four sarsens carry hundreds of carvings of axe-heads, probably bronze axes from about 1750–1500 BC. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  11. 96 A story from 1136 said the wizard Merlin built Stonehenge; people widely believed it until the 16th century. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  12. 97 Cecil Chubb gave Stonehenge to the nation in 1918. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
  13. 98 Mining at Grime’s Graves began around the time many of the Stonehenge stones were first raised. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves

After the Stone Age, and beyond Britain

  1. 99 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
  2. 100 English Heritage dates the Iron Age in Britain to about 800 BC–AD 43. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  3. 101 Ötzi the Iceman is a glacier mummy from the Copper Age, found by hikers in the Alps in 1991. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi the Iceman
  4. 102 He lived over 5,300 years ago, so he is older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi the Iceman
  5. 103 Ötzi still used stone tools, but he owned a valuable copper axe. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi the Iceman
  6. 104 The name Ötzi comes from the Ötztal Valley Alps, where he was found. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi the Iceman
  7. 105 Ötzi has been on show at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, since 1998, kept in a cold cell seen through a small window. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi the Iceman · checked 29 Oct 2026
  8. 106 Farming communities appeared in Greece as early as 7000 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  9. 107 Farming based on millet and rice appeared in China’s Yellow River valley and Southeast Asia by about 3500 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  10. 108 Maize (corn) was first domesticated about 8000 BC in what is now southern Mexico, from a wild grass called teosinte. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  11. 109 An independent Neolithic began in New Guinea about 5,000 years ago. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic

School curriculum (dated)

  1. 110 In England’s national curriculum, Key Stage 2 pupils are taught about “changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age”. GOV.UK (DfE): National curriculum in England, history programmes of study · checked 29 Oct 2026
  2. 111 Its non-statutory examples include late Neolithic hunter-gatherers and early farmers, such as Skara Brae, and Bronze Age religion, technology and travel, such as Stonehenge. GOV.UK (DfE): National curriculum in England, history programmes of study · checked 29 Oct 2026
  3. 112 At Key Stage 3, one suggested depth study is a significant turning point, for example the Neolithic Revolution. GOV.UK (DfE): National curriculum in England, history programmes of study · checked 29 Oct 2026

Where sources differ

  1. 113 English Heritage: farming came to Britain with migrants from the Continent about 4100 BC. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  2. 114 Britannica: the slow change to farming across Europe was not complete in Britain and Scandinavia until after 3000 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
  3. 115 English Heritage: the first metal objects in Britain appeared about 2400 BC, starting the Bronze Age (about 2300–800 BC). English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
  4. 116 South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi lived in the Copper Age, “a period of the late Neolithic”, and the coming of copper marked the start of the Bronze Age. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi the Iceman
  5. 117 Natural History Museum: Star Carr is about 1,000 years older than Cheddar Man, who lived about 10,000 years ago. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
  6. 118 University of York (2010): the Star Carr house dates to at least 8,500 BC, and a tree trunk there is 11,000 years old. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)
  7. 119 Britannica: the Palaeolithic runs to about 8000 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
  8. 120 English Heritage: pine posts near Stonehenge were put up in the Mesolithic between 8500 and 7000 BC. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge