Prehistoric Britain was home to hunter-gatherer societies from the earliest arrival of humans until the Roman conquest. Hunter-gatherers survived by hunting animals and gathering wild plants, and lived a nomadic lifestyle in search of food. Over time, they developed new skills such as herding animals and growing crops, as well as learning how to make tools and weapons from stone, bone, and metals. While prehistoric people left no written records, archaeologists study remains of homes, tools, and human skeletons to learn about how these early Britons lived between 15,000 to 2,000 years ago. Hunter-gatherers decorated caves with paintings of animals and made jewelry, carvings, and figurines as

1. PALEOLITHIC ERA with a focus on
ART marina_hurt
HISTORY 1
Main Source: BBC IGCSE Bitsize

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What was prehistoric Britain like?
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The story of prehistoric Britain began when the first humans
arrived in Britain. It ended when the Romans conquered the
ancient Britons and Britain became part of the Roman Empire.
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The earliest humans were hunter-gatherers and PREDATORS.
They survived by hunting animals and finding food to eat. Then,
very gradually people learned new skills. First they learned to herd
animals and grow crops. Later they discovered the secrets of
making bronze and iron.
●
Prehistoric people couldn't read or write, but they were astonishing
builders. Their tombs, forts and monuments have survived for
thousands of years.

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How do we know about prehistory?
●
Prehistoric people left no written records, so how do we know about their lives?
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Archaeologists work like detectives looking for evidence. They use this evidence to build up a
picture of the past.
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The remains of homes and temples show how people lived and worshipped. Tools and
weapons give clues about the way people worked and fought. Bumps and ridges in the
landscape show the layout of ancient villages, fields and forts.
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Some of the best evidence comes from human remains. Skeletons have been found buried
with their possessions and a few bodies have been preserved in bogs.
●
By examining human remains, experts can work out when a person lived. Sometimes they
can even suggest what they looked like!

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How did Stone Age hunter-gatherers
live?
● Hunter-gatherers had to catch or find everything they ate. They moved
from place to place in search of food.
● People hunted with sharpened sticks. Later, they used bows and arrows
and spears tipped with flint or bone. People gathered nuts and fruits and
dug up roots. They went fishing using nets and harpoons.
● People cut up their food with sharpened stones and cooked it on a fire.
They used animal skins to make clothes and shelters. After a good day’s
hunting people could feast on meat. But the next day they had to start
finding food again!
● People made simple hand-axes out of stones. They made hammers from
bones or antlers and they sharpened sticks to use as hunting spears.

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What kind of art did hunter-
gatherers make?
● Stone Age Britons made necklaces and bracelets from tusks, bones and shells. They also drew
patterns on their bodies, using a kind of paint made from ochre (a type of red clay).
● People living in caves decorated their walls with pictures of animals. Carvings found on cave walls
show giant bulls, stags, horses, bison and birds.
● No cave paintings have been found in Britain, but Stone Age Britons probably painted scenes like the
ones found at Lascaux in France. The Lascaux cave paintings were created around 14,000 years ago.
They show animals as well as some human hunters.
In Spain, we will be talking about ALTAMIRA CAVES and, very close to us, in Cáceres: SANTA ANDA
CAVE and MALTRAVIESO CAVE.
● Some historians believe that Stone Age paintings had a religious meaning. They think the painted
animals were meant to represent powerful spirits.
● An engraved antler bone, depicting a horse, found in the Magdalenian, Robin Hood Cave
● This work of art was found in a cave at Cresswell Crags, Derbyshire. It was made around 12,000 years
ago. The Stone Age artist used a sharp stone to scratch the outline of a horse onto a piece of bone.

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What kind of art did hunter-
gatherers make?
● This work of art was found in a cave at
Cresswell Crags, Derbyshire. It was made
around 12,000 years ago. The Stone Age artist
used a sharp stone to scratch the outline of a
horse onto a piece of bone.

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Art during the Paleolithic Age
● Cave paintings. They painted realistic representations of animals.
● They painted on protruding parts of the rock and cave ceilings to give
an impression of volume.
● Polychrome paintings. They used, ochre and black.
● They painted animals, simple hand stencils, red disks, and claviforms
(club shapes).
● They carved pieces of bone and horn.
● They made little statues of women called VENUS STATUES. These were
made of ivory, stone or bone. These figures were FERTILITY SYMBOLS.

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ALTAMIRA CAVE
● SOURCE: wikipedia.org

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MALTRAVIESO CAVE (Cáceres,
Spain)
● Maltravieso Cave Visitor Centre

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MALTRAVIESO CAVE (Cáceres,
Spain)
● Another Maltravieso Cave showing three hand
stencils (circled).
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THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION
● MALTRAVIESO