Old, Middle and New Stone Age
Three periods, very different lengths. Here’s what each one means, in Britain and beyond.
Jump to: Overview | Palaeolithic | Mesolithic | Neolithic | After the Stone Age | Beyond Britain
Overview
The Stone Age is the long stretch of prehistory when people made and used stone tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age It began about 3.3 million years ago, the age of the oldest known 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 three periods are told apart by how skilfully people made and used stone tools. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
Many Palaeolithic sub-periods have French names, because many early finds were made in France. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
Palaeolithic: the Old Stone Age
The Palaeolithic covers roughly 98 per cent of the time since the first true human ancestors appeared. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age Palaeolithic people lived by hunting, fishing and gathering wild fruits, nuts and berries. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Stone Age
Most of what survives from the Palaeolithic is made of flint, stone, bone and antler, because those materials last. 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
People first reached Britain nearly a million years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons At least four species of human have tried to settle in Britain. Natural History Museum: First Britons
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 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
People have lived in Britain continuously only since about 12,000 years ago. Natural History Museum: First Britons
Mesolithic: the Middle Stone Age
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 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
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 Hunted animals included red deer and aurochs, huge wild cattle. Natural History Museum: Cheddar Man, Mesolithic Britain’s blue-eyed boy
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 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)
Neolithic: the New Stone Age
The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, is marked by polished stone tools, farming, permanent villages, pottery and weaving. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic The earliest Neolithic began in the Middle East about 10,000 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
The first farmers grew barley and wheat and kept sheep and goats, later cattle and pigs too. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic The Neolithic didn’t happen everywhere at once: different regions started it at different times. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
English Heritage dates the Neolithic in Britain to about 4000–2300 BC. 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
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
After the Stone Age
The Neolithic is the last stage of the Stone Age; in Europe and Asia the Bronze Age comes next. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic Bronze is made by combining copper with tin (or arsenic), and it replaced stone for tools and weapons. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
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 English Heritage dates the Iron Age in Britain to about 800 BC–AD 43. English Heritage: History of Grime’s Graves
The stones went up at a time of change, as Beaker pottery and metalworking arrived from the Continent. English Heritage: History of Stonehenge
Where the Stone Age “ends” depends on the definition. More on when sources disagree.
Beyond Britain
Farming communities appeared in Greece as early as 7000 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic Farming based on millet and rice appeared in China’s Yellow River valley and Southeast Asia by about 3500 BC. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
Maize (corn) was first domesticated about 8000 BC in what is now southern Mexico, from a wild grass called teosinte. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic An independent Neolithic began in New Guinea about 5,000 years ago. Encyclopaedia Britannica: Neolithic
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
Ötzi still used stone tools, but he owned a valuable copper axe. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi the Iceman The name Ötzi comes from the Ötztal Valley Alps, where he was found. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology: Ötzi the Iceman
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
Prehistoric dates are estimates, and good sources don’t always agree. Some give years “BC”, some “years ago”, and period names start and end at different times in different places. Each fact here links to who said it, and things that can change, like what’s on display or what the curriculum says, show the date we checked them. See when sources disagree for every difference side by side.
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