The Mesolithic Stone Age: Cheddar Man and Star Carr

Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) go back 15,000 years to tell of the Mesolithic Stone Age. The Ice Age is over. The world has completely changed from the Paleolithic Stone Age and the woolly mammoths of our last episode. ----more----

There are new seas like the English Channel.  The era of animals like the Woolly Mammoth is over. Trees cover the land. Humans are still hunter gatherers. But they are now more seasonal. They are better at making tools, especially more delicate tools of stone. But they also use more wood like for example making canoes.

 

We learn how they are starting to keep animals for assistance, especially the Dog. They clearly love their dogs so much as they are often buried with them.

 

We learn about the stone age settlement at Star Carr in Yorkshire. We discover Britain’s first ever house, a mysterious floating platform over a lake, and some spooky sets of scary skull and antler hats.

 

But the girls really want to get to know an actual Stone Age man. So we meet Cheddar Man. Found 100 years ago his skeleton is the oldest skeleton ever found in Britain. The girls are astonished to learn how much we know about him just from analysing his bones. In particular, he had dark skin and blue eyes but his face is covered in a terrible scar.

 

The episode ends with the start of the Neolithic period which will be our topic for next week.

 

If you liked this episode you might like to listen to our episode on the Paleolithic period.

Apple: https://link.historystorytime.com/Apple-Paleolithic

Other: https://link.historystorytime.com/Paleolithic

 

For listeners in Britain we have had lots of good feedback from teachers that this series is especially helpful for Key Stage 2 (KS2) learning.

 

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