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It began about 3.3 million years ago, the age of the oldest known stone tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age 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 English Heritage dates the Neolithic in Britain to about 4000–2300 BC. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves

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 three periods are told apart by how skilfully people made and used stone tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age

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 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

People first reached Britain nearly a million years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons 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

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 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

Skara Brae in Orkney is a Neolithic village so well preserved that even the stone furniture survives. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history Since 1999 Skara Brae has been part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. Historic Environment Scotland: Skara Brae, history

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 The earliest big event was a circular ditch and bank, about 100 metres across, dug about 3000 BC. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge

Grime’s Graves in Norfolk is the largest known prehistoric flint mine. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves The miners dug shafts up to 13 metres deep, then worked along tunnels at the bottom. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves

Farming was brought to Britain by migrants from the Continent about 4100 BC, along with pottery. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves Britannica: the slow change to farming across Europe was not complete in Britain and Scandinavia until after 3000 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic

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 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

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 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

Those cold grasslands supported woolly mammoth, woolly rhino and reindeer. Natural History Museum: First Britons They hunted deer, wild boar, elk and aurochs. University of York: Stone Age remains are Britain’s earliest house (10 August 2010)