Welcome to part one of our look at the Mesolithic period in the Prehistory of Britain! In this, we try to include the basics – what you really need to know – and some interesting things that you might never have thought of. By way of an introduction, it might be useful to consider the words of Prof Penny Spikins of the University of York, who wrote that “Mesolithic Europe was a world in which there were towering glaciers, cataclysmic floods, tsunamis, and rising and falling

As you might well imagine, over the course of almost a million years the environment in what we now call Britain has changed considerably. These changes, including several ice ages have left their mark on both the archaeology and the land itself.  What we offer here is a brief overview of a long and very complex history, but one we feel will help you explain this aspect of Prehistoric Britain to your pupils. Glacials and Interglacials The climate of Palaeolithic Britain is ac