DK Findout! Stone Age

Stone Age

Author: Klint Janulis
Consultant: James Dilley

Senior editor Marie Greenwood Contents
Project art editor Joanne Clark
4 What is the Stone Age?
Editor Caryn Jenner 6 Meet a Stone Age human
US Editor Rebecca Warren 8 Where did they live?
US Senior editor Shannon Beatty 10 Ice Age
Design assistant Rhea Gaughan 12 Stone tools
Editorial assistant Kathleen Teece 14 On the hunt
Additional design Emma Hobson 16 Stone Age animals
Jacket design Amy Keast 18 Mammoths
Jacket co-ordinator Francesca Young 20 Making tools
Managing editor Laura Gilbert 22 Forest foods
Managing art editor Diane Peyton Jones 24 Shelter
Pre-production producer Dragana Puvacic
Producer Srijana Gurung Mammoth
Art director Martin Wilson
Hand ax
Publisher Sarah Larter
Publishing director Sophie Mitchell
Educational consultant Jacqueline Harris

First American Edition, 2017
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

Copyright © 2017 Dorling Kindersley Limited
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC

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ISBN 978-1-4654-5750-9
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bce/ce

When you see the letters bce, it means
Before the Common Era, which began in
the year 1 ce (Common Era).

2

Carved spear-thrower tip

26 Fire 48 Stone Age village
28 A day in the life 50 Arts and crafts
30 Taming wolves 52 Bronze Age
32 Stone Age clothes 54 Iron Age
34 How to survive the Stone Age 56 Today’s hunter-gatherers
36 Beliefs 58 Stone Age facts and figures
38 Cave painting 60 Glossary
40 Caves of the world 62 Index
42 Stone Age detective 64 Acknowledgements
44 Meet the expert
46 First farmers an
Sham

Neanderthal skull Bone
Hunter with spear necklace

3

! The Stone Age is 99 percent of human history!

What is the Old Stone Age
Stone Age? (Paleolithic)

The Stone Age covers almost all of This is the biggest Stone Age time
human history. It was the time period as it covers more than
when humans used stone tools.
Through most of the Stone Age, 3 million years of human history.
people were hunter-gatherers. It is the time when people started
They looked for food by hunting,
fishing, and collecting plants and to develop, or evolve, in many
fruit to eat. Gradually, early people important ways, such as by
developed to live in groups and making simple stone tools.
communicate with each other,
much like we do today. The Stone Harpoon tips
Age can be divided into three main Flint hand ax
periods, as shown here.

How people developed The shape and
size of the skulls
Our ancestors learned to make stone of early humans
tools and this allowed them to get food changed over
much more easily. Over many time.
generations, this resulted in humans
becoming cleverer and better at Early human
toolmaking, with larger brains and Living in Africa, Europe, and Asia between
different bodies, eventually becoming 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, Homo
the species we are today, Homo sapiens. heidelbergensis is the direct ancestor of
humans and Neanderthals. They could hunt,
4 make complex stone tools, and use fire.

Old Stone age Middle Stone Age
3.3.million years ago–11,500 years ago 11,500–6,500 years ago

Neolithic polished ax head New Stone Age New Stone Age
6,500–4,000 years ago

After the Stone Age
4,000 years ago

(Neolithic)
“Neo” means “new,” and it
describes a time when people Bronze Age ax

Microliths moved away from hunting and
(blade points) gathering, and became farmers in
many parts of the world. However,
people still continued
to use stone tools.
After the Stone Age
Middle Stone Age Some societies started to make
(Mesolithic) metal tools during periods called

During this time, icy glaciers the Bronze Age and Iron Age.
were melting and the seas were However, to this day there are still

rising. People developed the people in the world living as
tools they needed to deal with hunter-gatherers.

these changes. They became
better at certain hunting skills,
such as using harpoons (long
spears) for catching fish.
Sickle for

cutting grain

Iron Age
helmet

Neanderthals Homo sapiens
had bigger had smaller
eyes and brains than
brains than Neanderthals.
humans.

Neanderthal Homo sapien
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are Humans that looked like we do today
our closest relatives. They lived between appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago,
250,000 and about 24,000 years ago. They but we are not sure how similar their brains
had bigger brains than humans and it is not were to ours today. About 12,000 years ago,
understood exactly why they died out. they had spread to most of the world.

5

FACT FILE Animal-skin shelter
When following herds of animals,
Stone Age hunter people needed shelters that were
quick and light to put up, like this
Stone Age hunters like this one lived toward one made from deer skin.
the end of the Stone Age. They used animal
skins to keep warm and to build shelters. Stone Age human wears a
They were skilled at making stone tools, tunic made from animal
rope and, fire. They were strong and skin for protection from
capable, and true adventurers! the cold.

» Species: Homo Sapiens Cordage
» Time period: Late Stone Age Cordage was rope made
» Where did they live: Every continent apart from plant or animal
fibers. It was used for
from Antarctica everything, including
carrying firewood,
Meet a making baskets, and
Stone Age building shelters.
human
Fire-making kit
Stone Age people had the Making fire was an
same basic needs that people essential skill. One
do today. We all need food, way was to use a bow
clothing, shelter, and and a stick (drill) to
companionship. But Stone create fire by friction.
Age people had to go out and This was called the
hunt for their own food. They bow-drill method.
made their own clothes and
shelters. In some ways, they Stone tools
were more skillful than we are Stone tools helped people
today! Let’s compare a to cut down branches,
Stone Age hunter with a hunt, and prepare food.
modern adventurer ... Making stone tools was one
of the first skills humans
6 mastered, and was essential
for their survival.

Bull roarer
This was a piece of wood or
bone attached to rope that
made a loud noise when
spun around. It was a way
of checking to see if other
people were nearby.

Tent FACT FILE
Nylon tents used by campers today
are lighter than Stone Age shelters. Modern day adventurer

Instead of branches for the frame, Modern humans do not need to hunt
they have thin aluminum poles animals for food and skins to survive.
that can be reused. They can go to a store to buy the food
and equipment they need. The tools they
Today’s human use have been designed and made by
specialists. Are they real adventurers?
wears a waterproof
» Species: Homo Sapiens
jacket for protection » Time period: Present day
» Where do they live: Every continent
from wind and rain Rope
including Antarctica
Campers use
Otzi the Iceman
lightweight but
The fully dressed body of Stone Age
strong nylon adventurer Otzi the Iceman was found in
a glacier in the Austrian Alps. He was
rope. It is similar wearing a bearskin hat and had a
waterproof cloak made of grass. Studies
to cordage, but on his body showed that Otzi
had been murdered by
even stronger. being struck with an
arrow and then being
Matches hit on the head.
Modern-day
adventurers use Stone Age
matches, lighters, arrowheads
and fire starters
to make fire out ! WOW!
in the wilderness. Tattooing
goes back to
Knife the Stone Age!
A multi-tool or Swiss Army Otzi had over

knife can do many of the 60 tattoos
same things a stone tool on his body!

can do, like cut, shave, 7
pierce, or saw materials.

Mobile phone
Where would we be
without our mobile
phones? Today, people
use their phones to
communicate instantly
with each other from afar.

Where did they live?

Early in the Stone Age, the first people spread out from
Africa to Europe and Asia. Eventually, over thousands
of years, early people traveled across the world.
They adapted to different environments, from the
freezing Arctic to the hot, dry climate of Australia.

1 Greenland GREENLAND

People who settled 1
in Greenland learned
to hunt and find food in NORTH 3
freezing ocean waters. They AMERICA
made boats and special tools EUROPE
for hunting in the ocean. Even
today, some people still follow AFRICA
some of the same traditions.
SOUTH 4
AMERICA

2

Settlers in Greenland hunted
sea birds.
2 Americas
North and South
America are known as
the Americas. These
were the last areas
to be settled. People
spread across both
continents, some
living as hunter-
People in South America hunted gatherers, others
llama and deer with stone tools. as farmers.

3 Europe
People arrived in mainland Europe about 40,000
years ago. They reached the British Isles much
hPuenotpelde,ifnisShteodn,eaAndgegEauthroerpeed later—near the end of the last Ice Age, around
fruit and nuts. 10,000 years ago. These early Europeans had to
cope with icy glaciers and very cold weather.

8

4 Africa People in Afsrtiiccaksleianrlnaekdestoanspderaivrefrissh. with sharp

The first humans developed
in Africa, where they began
to walk on two legs and use
stone tools. Some of these
early humans evolved into
modern humans, called Homo
sapiens, our direct ancestors.
These early people ate wild
plants, and fished and
hunted for food.

5 5 Arctic
Humans need particular
ASIA skills to live in the freezing
6 Arctic. Many early humans

that lived here became
specialists in trapping
animals and hunting, or
they learned to manage
7 AUSTRALASIA herds of animals, such

as reindeer. Artcotikcepeepowplaerwmoirnethheeacvoyldfu. rs

People made early clay pots in Japan. The preohfisAtuosrticramliaegaarefanuonwa (giant animals)
extinct.
6 Japan
7 Australia
Humans arrived in Japan about Archaeologists don’t know how early people
35,000 years ago. They were the traveled to Australia, but they quickly adapted
first people to make their stone to the hot climate. They would have faced
axes by grinding them instead of animals such as giant turtles and marsupials
flintknapping (shaping flint). as big as a cow!

9

Ice Age The last great Ice Age started
about 110,000 years ago.
When freezing temperatures
cause ice to cover large parts of About a third of
the world, this is called an Ice the Earth was
Age. There were several Ice Ages covered in ice.
during the Stone Age, but the
last major one started about Where?
110,000 years ago. It lasted for
many thousands of years, ending Ice sheets up to 2 miles (4 km) thick could
around 10,000bce. At its height, be found on five of the Earth’s seven
a third of the Earth was covered continents during the last great Ice Age.
in ice. Living things had to learn Some of this ice still exists today in
to survive the cold. Ice Age Antartica and Greenland.
humans made warm clothes
and shelters from animal skins, Humans
fur, and bone.
The first humans appeared and developed
Danger! in Africa about 200,000 years ago. It was

In many places, temperatures stayed during a later Ice Age, about 130,000
below freezing throughout the year. to 90,000 years ago, that they
People had to find ways of protecting started to spread. Over time,
themselves against the cold.
Food became hard to come by they traveled across
because few plants could the world.
grow and many animals
Ice Age skull
couldn’t surive. of a human

10

The ocean waters of the Arctic in the Shelter
north and Antarctic in the south were
also covered in ice. People in the coldest parts of the world
made huts. As trees couldn’t grow in
freezing conditions, they used animal
bones to make the frames, and draped
them with animal skins.

Even today, A Ukranian
Greenland is animal-bone
covered in ice. hut

Animals

Some animals from the Ice Age have been
found frozen in ice after many thousands of

years. As well as mammoths, people have
discovered woolly rhinos, horses, bison
(buffalo), cave lions, and even puppies!

Today’s ice coverage This ancient horse Woolly bison
breed is called
Clothes Przewalski’s horse 11
and it still exists
Ice Age clothes were made out of animal today!
skins, which were carefully cleaned and
prepared first. Some clothes were decorated
with thousands of beads. These clothes

took years to make.

Ice Age shoes filled
with dried grasses
to help insulate
from the cold.

Stone tools

People in the Stone Age regularly needed to cut
meat, scrape skins, and cut up plants. Stone was

the best and most common material around to
make tools to do these tasks. The earliest tools

were rocks that had been hit with great force

to create sharp edges. As people began
using stone tools for special tasks,
A straight
different styles developed. blade was

Hand axes sharper than
a hand ax.

Hand axes were one of Blades
the earliest and most
popular tools in the Blades were struck from
Stone Age tool kit. larger pieces of stone.
They were especially They had lots of different
useful for chopping uses, including carving
meat, and were also out pieces of antler and
used to break open bone that could be made
bones and cut wood. into other tools.

! WOW!

People used
to call axes
“thunderstones” as
they thought they
were made by
lightning!

How to hold a hand ax

12

Microliths

These are small, sharp points
snapped off from blades. They
could be attached to arrows, spears,
darts, or harpoons (long spears
used for fishing).

Blade being used Microliths could be
to carve an antler glued to a piece of
antler to make a
harpoon tip.

Scraper being used on an Axes
animal hide
At the end of the Stone Age,
The tip was used people began farming. They
for scraping. needed more specialized axes so
they could cut bigger trees to clear
Scrapers land. Some axes were made by
carefully grinding very hard stone
As their name suggests, against rough rocks to create
scrapers were used to strong and sharp ax heads.
scrape flesh and hair
from animal skins to Ax being sharpened with a stone

make leather or furs.
They had to be sharp
enough to remove
flesh, but not so
sharp that they cut
into the skin.

13

On the hunt Arrow points
Sharp points made of stone
Early people hunted almost anything or bone were attached to
that climbed, crawled, walked, swam, the end of an arrow or spear
or flew. Animals were the main to cut through animal skin.
source of food necessary to survive
in the Stone Age, especially in cold Leaf-shaped
climates. This meant that people
needed to invent effective weapons Fishtail-shaped
for hunting in order to stay alive.

Feathered
arrows

Bow string Arrow made
made from from hazel
animal sinew wood
(tissue)
Bows were traditionally
Bows held in a made from wood, but some
quiver made from groups made them from
rabbit skin antler and bone.

14 Bow hunting

Bows were invented near
the end of the Stone Age.
They needed a lot of time
and effort to make, but the
hunter did not have to be as
close to the animal as they
did with spears, so it was a
safer way to hunt.

Fishing What did
they hunt?
People fished in many
ways. They waded into Big animals, such as woolly
rivers and the sea to rhinoceros, were dangerous to
spear fish. They also used hunt. Some groups of people
fish traps and hooks, and specialized in catching one type
worked together using of animal, such as reindeer.
nets. This hunter is using Smaller animals, such as frogs
a harpoon—a spear for and turtles, were easier to catch.
catching fish.

Spear thrower Harpoon head In the water
This was a stick with The pointed end Early people caught fish and other
a hook at one end to of the harpoon animals in rivers and in the sea.
hold a spear. By throwing was called the head, Shellfish were collected on the coast.
the spear using the and it was often Fish could be dried, smoked, and
thrower, the speed, decorated with plant stored, and provided a healthy diet.
distance, and power or bird shapes.
were increased. Seal Salmon

Spear made from Trees and bushes Ptarmiga n
hazel wood Birds nesting in trees Red
and bushes, such as deer
Spear throwing pigeons and
ptarmigans, were 15
The first spears were hunted. Squirrels
made for thrusting. They were also caught.
required the hunter to
get close to an animal to Land
wound it. This could be People hunted all
dangerous. Then people kinds of land animals,
started making spears to including hares, bison,
throw. Some groups of red deer, wild boar,
people made spear and horses.
throwers, so spears could
be thrown even further. Hare

Stone Age animals

Many Stone Age animals would be terrifying to humans today!
Herbivores (plant-eating animals) tended to be much larger than
their modern relatives, which meant that many of the carnivores
(meat-eating animals) hunting them were much larger as well.
Large Stone Age animals are known as megafauna.

Tooth fossil

» Scale Saber-toothed cats

These large cats had long
fangs that looked like a saber
(sword) and could be up to 20 in
(50 cm) long! Their sharp teeth could
even pierce the hair and hide of
larger animals. The most famous
species was the saber-toothed tiger,
found only in the Americas.

Auroch skull fossil

Aurochs » Scale

The aurochs was a large ancestor
of today’s cows. Like modern
cows, aurochs ate mostly grass.
They survived much longer than
most Stone Age megafauna. The
last recorded example died in
1627. Aurochs are frequently
seen on cave art.
16

» Scale Woolly rhinoceros

Related to modern rhinos, the woolly
rhinoceros had a thick coat and a compact

body suited for life in the cold
grasslands of Northern Europe
and Asia. Some of the woolly
rhino’s habitat is now
underwater.

A molar tooth
from a woolly
rhino

Cave bears Still around today

Humans had to compete with Many of the animals that existed
cave bears for caves to live in. in the Stone Age are still with us today
These huge bears ate mainly in a similar form to their ancestors.

plants. Cave bears were Wild boar quickly
related to American adapt to new
brown bears and environments.
weighed about 1,000 lb
(450 kg) or more.

» Scale Wild horses were a
big source of food
Cave bear in the Stone Age.
tooth fossil

Many species
of deer still
exist across
the world.

17

Mammoths Thick fur coat
The fur had two layers—a long

outer layer and a thick, inner
layer that helped protect, or

Mammoths were one of the largest land insulate, from the cold.

animals living during the Stone Age and are

one of the best known. Related to elephants,
these giant animals were adapted to cold

weather and were found in North America,

Europe, Africa, and Asia. Much of what we
know about them comes from mammoths

that have been found frozen in ice.

Baby mammoth
Mammoth babies
nursed from their
mothers and
stayed close by
until they were old
enough to defend
themselves.

Lyuba The 41,800-year-old Lyuba is in ! WOW!
Shemanovsky Museum, Russia.
Lyuba was a baby Mammoths were
mammoth found in the still alive 4,000
Russian Arctic in 2007 by years ago—when
reindeer herder Yuri the Egyptian
Khudi. The mammoth pyramids were
was in such good
condition that they knew being built!
what her last meal was!
Lyuba was named after
Yuri’s wife to thank him.

18

Tiny ears Strong, sharp tusks
The mammoth’s ears Mammoths may have
were small to prevent used their massive tusks
them being damaged to fight each other with
from the extreme cold. and as shovels to clear
snow away from the
plants they ate!

Feet Hunted animal
The soles of the feet
had large cracks. The mammoth was a great
This gave grip in the source of food and tools for
snow, like the tread any Stone Age hunter lucky
on snow boots! enough to hunt one or find
a dead one. Their thick hair
and body fat, large bones,
and tusks meant the whole
animal could be used—like
having a Stone Age
supermarket!

Mouth
Inside the mammoth’s
mouth were ridges that
helped grind tough
plants. They acted like a
conveyor belt, moving the
food to the back of the
mouth as they chewed!

Mammoth sizes
There were a number
of different species of
mammoth. These
pictures on the right
show the sizes in Imperial mammoth Woolly mammoth Pygmy mammoth
comparison to an This huge mammoth was This was about the size The pygmy was one of
adult human. one of the biggest species, of an African elephant, the smallest species, at
at about 16 ft (4.9 m) tall. at 11.4 ft (3.5 m) tall. 6.8 ft (2.1 m) tall.

19

Making tools TOOLKIT

Early people used stone tools to chop up meat Hammer stones
and cut plants and animal skins. The earliest These are rounded rocks
used to strike the flint,
stone tools, called choppers, were simple causing it to split in the
chunks of glassy rock that were direction you want.
sharp on one side. People made
beautifully shaped tools called Soft hammer
hand axes. Hand axes could Usually made of antler
be used for many jobs. (deer horn), this causes
They were the Stone Age the flint to break in a
person’s “multi-tool.” thinner, more regular
way to make finer tools.
Shaping rocks The piece of
rock being Many of the flakes
Flint is a hard rock shaped is that come off the
found in chalk and called the rock are still useful
limestone. The shaping core. as cutting tools
of flint and other because they
stones to make tools is can be very sharp.
called flintknapping.
Stone Age people
learned to flintknapp
from a young age. It was
a skilled technique that
took years to master.

Leather clothing
helped protect the
flintknapper from
being cut by sharp
pieces of rock flying
off at high speed.

20

1 Toolmakers had to find the right type They began by using large hammer stones 2
of rock. The rock here is flint, which is to thin and shape the rock (called the
ideal. People would travel far to find core). By hitting both sides of the rock,
the right stone for their tools. large pieces were removed and the shape
started to emerge.

How to make
a hand ax

Here’s how Stone Age
toolmakers shaped a hand ax
from a piece of rock. They used

stone, such as flint, which
would break without
crumbling when you
struck it.

To thin it, the toolmaker hit the hand ax The toolmakers continued to strike 3
with either a smaller hard hammer, such each side of the rock. Each strike
created a flat ”platform” on which to 21
4 as a pebble, or by using a soft hammer, create the next strike.
such as a piece of deer antler.

Forest foods

Before farming, Stone Age people relied on
the forest for food and medicines. They
Crab apples
were highly skilled at identifying the best Stone Age people gathered
plants and when and how to use them. wild apples, such as crab apples.
If it was edible and tasted good, Stone Age People of central Asia were they
first to grow apples as crops.

people probably ate it! Hawthorn

The berries stay on

the trees late into

Plums Fruit winter and the
Full of natural sugar, many tender leaves are
varieties of wild plum were Wild fruit was the easiest source eaten in the spring.
gathered by Stone Age people. of sugar for early people. Children

especially may well have enjoyed
eating the sweet, ripe fruit. When
people brought fruit back to camp,
they would have scattered fruit
seeds unintentionally, and so
encouraged fruit to grow near
their camps.

Sloe berries Blackberries Elderflower
These berries become Blackberries grew wild The berries need
very sweet after a and their brambles made cooking before
frost. Otzi the good cordage (rope). eating, and were
Iceman had them usually made into
in his stomach. drinks.

Poisonous plants Holly berries
Colorful holly
Stone Age people learned from berries may be
experience to avoid poisonous beautiful, but
plants. Some plants are not just eating only a few
poisonous to eat but may even will make both
be poisonous to touch. Remember to people and animals
stay away from poisonous plants! very sick.

22

Burdock Dandelions
This plant has tasty Highly nutritious,
and nutritious roots dandelions are
that are still eaten or often cooked like
brewed in tea. spinach.

Rose hips Plants Sorrel
High in vitamin Slightly sour,
C, this fruit can Stone Age humans did not just sorrel leaves
be dried and eat meat. Plants made up a are eaten
later used in large part of many people’s worldwide.
winter. diets. Early people may also

Acorns have used plants as medicine.
Most acorns have bitter The willow bark, for instance,
chemicals called contains the same painkilling
tannins that have to be ingredient found in aspirin.
removed by grinding
and boiling them. Walnuts Nettle
Walnuts are very Nettle leaves lose
nutritious and full their sting when
of good fats. cooked and are good
in soups or toasted.

Yew Fly agaric Deadly nightshade
Yew wood has been This classic toadstool Despite having an attractive
used to make tools for contains a poison that berry, this plant has been
at least 400,000 years, can kill in high doses. used to make poison for
but almost all parts of it Early people would thousands of years.
are poisonous to have known to stay
humans and animals. well away. 23

Shelter Flexible wooden Simple
poles often made containers to
Stone Age people needed good shelters from ash or hazel carry food and
to protect themselves from bad weather. tools
Animal-skin huts were among the for the frame
earliest types of shelter built. The Deer skin
frames were made from thin, flexible covered the
tree branches, and animal skins were floor for
draped over them. The materials were warmth.
light enough to carry easily, making
them ideal for the typical hunter-
gatherer, who was always on the move.

Deer-skin hut

This hut is a recreation of a Stone
Age shelter, and was made from
about 40 roe-deer skins. Animal
skin was ideal material for
hut walls, as it trapped in
the heat, so the
insides were dry
and warm. It was
also easy to
repair.

The top layers
of skins
overlapped
the lower
layers to keep
water out.

24

Ax for Extra clothing Other shelters
cutting and animal-skin
poles blankets While many people used animal skins
to build their shelter, others used dried
grasses. Caves were popular because
they didn’t have to be built!

Cave in Mongolia

What’s inside Cave life Humans and
Caves offered immediate cave bears
Take a peek inside this deer-skin tent protection from wind, may have
to find out what you’d see in a typical rain, and snow. But many competed for
Stone Age shelter. Woven baskets were were dark and damp and the same cave.
handy for storage. Animal-skin blankets there was always the
covered the floor, helping to keep the tent danger that animals,
snug and warm. such as bears, lived there.

! WOW! Shelter made from grasses, England

Stone Age Grass shelter
roof-thatching Simple grass shelters were used by some Stone Age
techniques are still groups during the winter. The careful layering of grasses
used for houses in is called thatching, and helps hold in heat.
some parts of the
world today! 25

Fire Warmth

Fire-making is a very ancient skill A warm fire is cozy and
and one of the most important of the comforting to sit around,
Stone Age. Once people started using but for early humans this
fire, it provided many advantages. warmth would have been
Fire helped people to keep warm,
cook food, and to provide light for crucial for survival,
work in the evening. especially in cold climates.

How people made fire Step 1
A small nest from dried grass, called
Early humans came across wild fires in The drill is a thick, tinder, was made. Small pieces of
forests, and then gradually learned how pencil-shaped dry wood, called kindling, were
to make it themselves. One method of stick. collected. These would be used to
making fire using various handmade catch the first flame.
tools is called the bow drill.

Piece of wood, Piece of
called a hearth, wood to
with notches cut protect
into it the hand

Bow made from Nest of dried Small, dry sticks
flexible hazel wood grass, called of wood, called
tinder kindling

26

Light Cooking Protection

Fire gave early people Eating cooked food helped to Fire helped protect early
light, which is important make people healthier, as food humans from predatory
because our eyes do not that has been cooked carries less animals, such as wolves or
bears. They would have been
see well in the dark. disease. Cooked food is also scared of the light from
Having light allowed quicker and easier to digest. The
people to hunt and find the fire.
shelters at night. It let extra energy may have helped
people explore deep the brain to grow bigger, too. Gray wolf

caves that gave
good shelter.

Cooking pot

Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
The tip of the drill was placed into As the fire-maker spun the drill He continued to blow on the ember
one of the notches of the hearth. faster, smoke appeared, and a red- until it burst into a small flame. He
The bow string was wrapped hot ember formed. He then placed set it on the ground and added the
around the drill. The drill was spun the burning ember by hand into kindling, until it flared into a
by moving the bow back and forth. the tinder bundle and blew on it. crackling fire.

Piece of wood to Bow looped Ember starts Place the
protect the hand around drill to smoke burning ember
on the ground

27

A day in the life

During the Stone Age, it is believed that people lived
together in close-knit groups of about three or four families.
Children helped out with everyday jobs from an early age.
This story imagines what life would have been like for a young
girl called Tiya ...

The families had
arrived at their summer
camp. Tiya helped her
grandmother put up the
frame of their shelter.
They used long flexible
branches from the hazel
tree and draped them
with animal skins.

That night, the hunters
returned with their prize—a
young bison. This would feed
the group for weeks!

Some of the group were preparing to go hunting.
Tiya wanted to join in, but she was too young just
yet. She took a spear and started practicing.
28

There were great celebrations around the campfire that
night. The group sang songs and told stories. They
played flutes made from bone and mammoth ivory.

Suddenly, Tiya heard rustling in the trees.
She crept away to investigate and spied a
wolverine! Though small, it was known

to kill prey larger than itself.

Tiya knew she had to think Tiya’s grandmother led
quickly. She grabbed a the group in congratulating
spear, and hurled it. The Tiya for being brave and
animal stumbled and fell. quick-thinking. She was now
ready to join the next hunt.

29

Taming wolves

About 30,000 years ago, early people
started to live and work alongside Stone
Age wolves. These early wolves looked and
behaved in similar ways to today’s wolves.
Over thousands of years, early wolves
developed into the many breeds
of dogs that we see today.

Wolves today

Stone Age wolves probably
looked very similar to today’s
gray wolves, but they were
even larger.

How it Around the campfire Wolves and cubs
happened Some groups got used to having As wolves got used to being near
wolves nearby. They scared away people, they started to have their cubs
Wolves were naturally predatory animals. Some wolves nearby. Some people began feeding
drawn to early human may have followed human camps. the friendlier cubs and wolves.
settlements. They
became used to
searching for waste
that people had left
out, or even began
to steal food.

30

FACT FILE

» Name: gray wolf, also

called the timber wolf

» Habitat: colder

climates in the northern
hemisphere (half ) of the
world

» Diet: large and small

animals; occasionally
fruits and berries

Wolf cubs tamed Living together
Gradually, wolf cubs were adopted Stone Age people used these
and tamed by people. These adopted early tamed wolves to hunt with.
wolves bred with each other, gradually The dogs also acted as guards
creating a new species. and companions.

31

Stone Age Leather outfit
clothes
This woman is wearing
Just as we do today, early people a tunic and trousers
needed clothes to keep warm. made from softened
In later Stone Age times, clothes deer skin. Leather is
were made from grasses and very hardwearing,
plant stems that were woven while giving
together to make fabric. Animal protection from
hides were also worn, and were cold winds.
especially useful in cold weather.
Necklace made
Summer worker from animal
bones
This woman is wearing
a tunic made from the flax Container made
plant. At the end of the from tree bark
Stone Age, clothes woven
from flax fiber were Legs stayed
found to be ideal for warm in
keeping cool in warmer leather
weather and for working. trousers

32 There were no
concrete sidewalks
in Stone Age times,
and people could
quite easily walk on
earth and grass in
bare feet.

Long sticks, called digging sticks,
were used to dig up vegetables and
roots. The stick was burnt at either
end to make the points harder, so
both ends could be used.

This spearhead is made from ! WOW!
a rock called flint. Other
spearheads were made Some clothes
from bone, antler, or ivory. were woven from

Winter hunter the stems of
stinging
In the cold winter months, nettles!
Stone Age people wore
animal skins, such as this The dull brown color
tunic made from red deer of the fur made great
skin. Skins kept them camouflage in
warm while out hunting. woodland.

This backpack is made from The belt has a pouch
deer skin. The wooden frame at the front for
is similar to metal frames carrying stone tools.
found in modern rucksacks.
Spears were made
from hazel or ash
wood.

Shoes made from deer
skin were sometimes
worn to keep warm in
the cold winter.

Needle and thread Needles were
made from bone
Toward the end of the Stone Age, and threaded
the needle and thread were with plant fiber.
invented to help make clothes.
Once people could wear fitted
clothing, it was easier for them
to keep warm and to live in
harsher climates.

33

FACT FILE How to survive
the Stone Age
» Name: Klint Janulis
» Born: March 17, 1980 Klint Janulis, a former American Special Forces
» Favorite Stone Age soldier, is now a survival instructor and Stone Age
archaeologist at the University of Oxford, England.
tool: Acheulean hand Klint studies how people survived in the Stone Age
ax—“The Stone Age and how modern hunter-gatherer groups live to look
multi-tool” for clues about how humans lived in the past.

» Special skills: survival, Make a good shelter

hunting, flintknapping, “Surviving the Stone Age required technical
building shelters skills, social skills, and intelligence.

Knowing how to make a good shelter was
essential. This could be made from leaves
and grasses, animal skins, or if you were

lucky, you might find a cozy cave.”

Klint made this shelter from dried grass.

34

Hunting and trapping

“Stone Age people understood their
environment—what plants they could eat, what
types of wood were best for spears, where deer

liked to bed down at night. Hunting and
trapping animals, and fishing, were vital skills.

For a Stone Age child, play was made up of
learning the skills to hunt and trap.”

fishK-lcinattcwheinagvibnagsaket Fish-catching
basket

Make fire Make friends

“Making fire was one of the most “We make friends by helping each other out
important Stone Age skills. and sharing. Making friends in the Stone
Age gave you advantages. If you wanted to
It kept you warm, scared away hunt a large herd of animals, your friends
dangerous animals, and cooked and neighbors could help out.”
your food. Using fire in the Stone
Age was as important as knowing
how to use a computer today.”

Think ahead Grain could
be stored
“Early people learned how to
plan for the future. This included 35
storing extra food for later, when

food was scarce. This is similar
to people today saving money
in the bank instead of spending

it straightaway.”

Beliefs Megalith

We can find out a lot about early A megalith is a huge stone, or a
people’s beliefs by the burial sites collection of stones, that were used
they left behind. The dead were to mark a sacred place. The word
buried with tools and jewelry that comes from two Greek words
would have taken months meaning "big" and "rock."
to make. Great ruins such as
Stonehenge tell us that people
were thinking about more than
just hunting and gathering food.

Shamans may have GöbeAknliimTeaplec,aArvniantgolfirao,mTurkey
worn animal skins to
show their status. Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe is one of the most important
Shamanism Stone Age finds. It is a large series of stone
Shamans were people buildings that have carvings of animals on
who looked after the them. It may have been a religious temple.
spiritual and physical
well-being of the group.
They held rituals to
keep the community
safe from evil spirits
and used medicinal
plants to treat
illness.

36

Most megaliths consist of Stonehenge
several huge stones fitted
together without cement. This circle of standing stones called
Stonehenge is surrounded in mystery.
Nobody knows exactly why Stonehenge
was built or how it was used. It may have
been a sacred monument, a burial site, a
center for healing, or acted as a calendar.

Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England

Newgrange burial mound, Burial objects Bone
County Meath, Ireland The earliest objects to necklace
be buried with the dead
Burial mound were stone tools and 37
At the end of the Stone Age, people were red ochre (a mineral
sometimes buried in burial mounds. These used to make paint).
were large mounds of earth containing graves. Jewelry and traces of
They have been found all over the world. wildflowers have also
been found.

Amazing find Cow painted in
red ochre
The Lascaux cave paintings are
about 17,000 years old. They Horse painted in
were discovered by accident in brown ochre
1940, when four teenage boys
followed their dog into a hole in
the ground. They rescued the
dog and found the cave! The
paintings show cattle, horses,
and other animals painted in
reds, yellows, and browns.

Cave painting ! WOW!

Thousands of years ago, the first artists Early people blew
painted colorful scenes inside caves. paint through
Among the most famous paintings are
those found in Lascaux in southwest hollow bird wing
France. Many of the paintings show bones, making the
animals that people hunted for food. first spray paint!
Stone Age artists looked closely at the
animals and drew them very carefully
and accurately.

38

Human figures rarely appear in cave
paintings, but here you can see an outline
of a person with a birdlike head.

Deer can be seen in many
of the Lascaux paintings.
The one here is called
”the running deer.” Its
long antlers can be
clearly seen.

Natural colors Yellow ochre Painting tools Leather
Early artists made their pebble Early people painted pad filled
paints from natural using brushes, much like with moss
materials, such as ochre, artists today. To spread
a mineral found in the paint over large areas, Goose feather
earth. Ochre was ground they used leather pads paintbrush was used
into a powder, then mixed filled with moss or grass.
with water or animal fats for lighter coats.
to create paint. Crushed Horsehair
red ochre brush gave a 39
Charcoal in a shell heavier coat
(burnt wood) of paint.
was used for
black.

Caves of the world

Stone Age humans often made their homes in caves because
they provided a ready made house and were often close to
water, which would attract animals. People decorated these
caves with magnificent prehistoric paintings, many showing
animals. The artists may have painted to celebrate success at
hunting or as a way of communicating with the spirit world.

Red buffalo
These cave paintings
in Altamira Cave were
the first ever found.
They show animals
including horses,
goats, and buffalo. The
paintings changed the
way early people were
viewed. Up until then,
people did not think
that early people
could draw and paint.

Altamira Cave, Cantabria, Spain

Cave of Hands
Early people in Argentina created
these wonderful outlines of hands.
They placed their hands on the
wall and blew paint over the wall
to create the painting. It may have
been a way of leaving a signature
or sign, perhaps for the spirit world.

Cave of Hands (Cueva de las Manos), Santa Cruz, Argentina

40

Bhimbetka rock shelters, Madhya Pradesh, India The rock shelters shown
from the outside
Hunters on horseback
Early people in India painted
this scene showing men on
horseback hunting with spears.
These paintings are the earliest
ever found in India.

Warriors and dancers BraKdimshbaewrleroyc, kAupsatirnatliinags,
Stone Age artists painted over a million
pictures on rocks in the Kimberley region of
Australia. Many show human figures hunting,
running, or dancing, carrying bags, and
wearing tassels and headdresses. These

paintings are over 20,000 years old.

41

Stone Age detective

Aatcoraebherrnccopecwhhmuleinahtcsieiaetclqooisnafulrle(oesismtgsitmnliooaasitdstsdghstephaeldsotstaeop)lhwiaocamaserfsvttouSde,irftnetueaohtlcsientegtehcyeshdtaiAuttnvte.sghelAedelsesir.smgtcuoFoh.umsooaprlheeseooaotxrwlooftaigmtfofhiialnspdectdltsaessoa,a.mmuulTstsaooeithnfemoigrnwiaadkloeoiusurt

Olduvai Gorge

In the Olduvai Gorge in
Tanzania, Africa, archaeologists
have found traces of early humans
that are more than 2 million years
old. These include some of the
earliest evidence of humans using
tools to chop up animals,
discovered from cut marks on
animal bones.

The very dry landscape and geology in the
Olduvai Gorge helped to preserve the Stone Age

tools and fossils.

Neolithic bowl Spiral meander
design
Aphrawpceotsouoomtltldtrdtthtakreueeciirrernoryeeydoussnbptsfldaeesotwnycfooatalhddnefmias,ncdtthaoeaftprmelomhcseoShoemoodtapphrou.eeloennoeBltcelipyatootetAiagmueerngisys.smea,.Stt,lssoioymucnzlciaiinhntlnaokgr
Making stone tools
required intelligence
and skill. By studying
how tools were made,
archaeologists can
determine the abilities
of our early ancestors.

42

“The hobbit” DAuwtlttohnhhibinetdeagahgnebssegrcihortclnitehotrtnleetholuwhsgamsleeaenhstrdoeotptlsffhlehtisatelueeehrafccdbeptflh.oootpaTthtniehtlheoeoetitlmonshoopkoagphvnoy.oaeffitvsptoaeortpmboyh!sbeaIe.eantsTnbsothlylhtydehbiebsetereorpdeesyirntcsolutoootufnhmfnrgeeser,itres

Often called “the hobbit” due to
its small size, remains of this
human relative were found
on an island off the coast
of Indonesia, where the
water is very deep.
Archaeologists are
trying to work out
how these people
got to the island
and why they were
so small.

“The hobbit” skull

Markers show rock
layers for studying
(stratigraphy)

Cheddar Man’s skeleton Cheddar Man

Cheddar Man is the name given to a body found
in a cave in Cheddar Gorge, England, a place
famous for its cheese. The caves in the gorge
have a constant temperature, making them
ideal for aging cheese as well as providing a
comfortable home for Stone Age humans.

! REALLY?

DNA evidence shows that
Cheddar Man is a distant
ancestor of some people

living there today.

43

Meet the expert

Dr. Beccy Scott works at the British Museum in
London, England. She is particularly interested in
Neanderthals and is trying to find out how they
survived in the area around the English Channel by
studying their stone tools in detail.

Q: Could you explain what an Q: What inspired you to become an
archaeologist does? archaeologist?
A: Archaeologists use the traces (pieces) A: I grew up near the chalk hills of Kent,
people leave behind to recreate what their England, so I was always collecting flints,
lives were like. We might excavate (dig) trying to make arrowheads, and trying to
the sites where they lived and recover find monuments marked on maps.
objects that they left behind: stone tools, Q: What do you enjoy most about being an
pottery, animal bones. We then study archaeologist?
these things in detail—to see how they A: I enjoy fieldwork the best. When you’re
were made, and what they were used for.
digging, it brings you close to the
people we’re studying. You’re recreating
the actions of someone thousands of
years ago. It can feel a bit spooky!
Q: What do you love about studying
the Stone Age in particular?
A: I love that we only have evidence
that Stone Age people left us to

understand how they lived. It means
you need a good imagination to open
your mind to all possibilities!

Chalk cliffswohnerteheBecoccaystgoref wKeunpt, England, Beccy enjoyed
trying to make
44 arrowheads as
a child.

Q: What things have you learned about Q: What sort of equipment do you use?
Stone Age people?
A: It depends what I’m doing. We use
A: I mostly study the Neanderthals, and shovels and mattocks, or pickaxes, then
they never cease to surprise me. trowels, and finally, if you’re cleaning
Archaeologists used to write about them around delicate bones or flints, we might
as if they were hardly human. We now use plastic tools. We hardly ever use
know that they were people just like brushes, despite what you see in films!
us—they just had different ways of living.
Q: What is the most difficult part
Q: What is your most of your job?
amazing find?
A: I’m not a very patient
A: The find I’m proudest person, and sometimes
of is a henge! It was hard to you have to be patient as
see at first because the ditch an archaeologist. It takes
was infilled with gravel. I time to excavate carefully.
was really pleased—not just You need to finish what
that we’d found it, but that you’re doing, understand
I’d stuck to my guns when it, and then move on.
no one believed me!
Q: Could you describe a A henge is a Neolithic monument with a Q: Do you have any
typical day in your work? circular ditch and bank. This henge is in advice for future
archaeologists?
Derbyshire, England.

A: If I’m in the field, then we get up early A: Look at everything like an
and spend the day on site digging. We archaeologist! When you go to the beach,
remove sediment carefully with trowels, see how people choose to sit around, and
leaving all the stone tools exactly where the marks that they leave behind. How do
we found them. Then we plot exactly the marks relate to what you saw? Imagine
where the tools are, and lift them one at a finding the contents of your pockets in
time. They go straight into bags with all the future: what would rot away, and what
the details of where they came from would people think about you based on
written on them. When we get back to our what survived? You don’t have to dig holes
camp in the evening we make sure these to be an archaeologist—it’s a way of
details are put onto computers. looking at people through things.

Plastic tool Ends used for
Trowel digging and
chopping

Mattock

45

Grinding ston Crop farming

e Shifting to farming Among the first crops to be farmed were
meant that new stone peas, lentils, and wheat. These could all
tools were needed. be stored for a long time. Having extra
People began using food that was stored gave people a much
coarse stones to grind
grains into flour. better chance of surviving a hard
winter or a drought.

Planting seeds at the
right time of year was
very important.

Instead of planning
around the yearly hunt, a
farmer’s life now focused
on the harvest.

Farmers learned to dig Farmers chopped
canals to route water down trees and used
from lakes and rivers the wood for tools
toward their fields. and to make fires.
Some early canals are
still in use today!

First farmers

Toward the end of the Stone Age, people started to farm in
many parts of the world. Some settled down in fixed
houses to plant crops and raise farm animals. Others kept
small farms but continued to hunt and gather for most of
their food. As farming developed and changed, so did the
plants and animals that were being farmed.

46

Animal farming Shepherds
needed to keep a
Farming animals had advantages over careful watch of
hunting them. It provided a source of their sheep to
goods from the same animal year-round. keep them safe.
To keep an animal such as a goat
meant that you constantly had milk,
and could cut its wool each year
for clothing.

Some groups raised
animals but were still
nomadic, traveling
from place to place.

Wild pigs were
domesticated
and kept in pens.

People cooked People used the
meat from the flat roofs of
animals they raised houses as extra
on open fires. living space.

! REALLY? Goats could be
All large farm animals raised in dryer
share an important climates, as they
trait—they all live in herds needed little water.
that have leaders.
47

Stone Age Skara Brae
village
Skara Brae is a Neolithic (New Stone
Age) site in the Orkney Islands.
It was made almost entirely out of
local rocks that are wide, flat, and

stack very easily, making them
ideal for building. The buildings
A village in the Stone Age was quite give an amazing glimpse of
different to a village today. People relied Neolithic life!

on each other for getting food and putting

up shelters, and worked together as a

group throughout the year. Not only did

villagers know each other very well,
but they lived closely together and
would probably have been related.

WHAT'S INSIDE 2

1 Fire hearth The fire was in the center of the The Orkney
house, allowing everyone to gather around. Islands are located
Dried seaweed or peat may have been burned.
off the coast of
2 Flat stones This site had very few trees to Scotland in the
build with, but there were plenty of flat stones
to build anything from walls to furniture. British Isles.

3 Outside The houses were built into piles of
waste with grass on top. This provided
insulation against the cold climate.

4 Stone dressers Located in the same position
in each house, these may have been used to
show off goods or for religious purposes.

5 Stone boxes These were waterproofed with
clay. People may have stored live limpets in
the boxes to use as fishing bait.

6 Stone beds Animal hides and coverings would
have made the beds more comfortable. Each
house had one large bed and one small bed.

48