PREHISTORIC
BRITAIN REACH OUT
YEAR 3
name: class: Knowledge Organiser • Prehistoric Britain • Year 3
Map of Europe during the Ice Age Map of Northern Europe today
Prehistoric Animals
Vocabulary Homo sapiens The scientific name for humans. The Ice Age A very long period when the earth was extremely cold. Woolly Woolly Elk Palaeolithic The early stone age. Humans Mammoth Rhinoceros Era used very basic tools. (Extinct) (Extinct) (Extant) Mesolithic Era The middle stone age. Humans perfected their tools. Neolithic Era The new stone age. Humans Stone Age Tools began farming. Neanderthals Another type of human. They are now extinct. Extinct Animals that used to be alive but now they are all dead. Torc A piece of bronze jewellery. Bronze The first metal humans used. Iron A metal that is harder and Hand axe Hammer stone Spear stronger than Bronze.
2 Lesson Question You will learn Learning Review
How do we know • The age of the Earth and when life about life in the began. Stone Age? • How scientists learn about this period. • How people travelled across the world.
Which animals lived • Some of the creatures that were alive during the Ice Age? during the Ice Age. • The difference between extant and extinct.
What were the • The three different Stone Ages. different periods in • How life developed through those the Stone Age? periods.
What was life like • What a nomadic life-style was life. in a Stone Age • The impact on people of building settlement? permanent homes.
How did the Bronze • How bronze is made. Age change how • The case study of the Beaker People. humans lived?
Who were the Celts, • Why the Celts used iron. and what was life • What impact iron had on the lives of the like for them? Celts.
3 Lesson 01 How do we know about life in the Stone Age?
1. How long ago was the Stone Age?
Term Definition
Evolve When an animal or plant changes gradually over time, allowing it to survive in its environment.
Prehistory The period of history before people wrote anything down, because writing had not yet been invented.
Archaeologist A person who studies the past by looking carefully at objects from a very long time ago which have been buried.
Palaeontologist A person who studies the past by looking carefully at fossils Timeline A line showing when different events took place, to help us see what came first and what came later.
Artefacts Any object made by a human, which can help us learn about the past.
Life on Earth Planet Earth is over four and a half billion years old (that’s 4,500,000,000 years ago). After about a billion years, life appeared on earth. The first living things were tiny microbes deep in the ocean. Then, over billions of years, larger, more complex plants and creatures evolved. Most animals began to appear suddenly about 540 million years ago, in an event called the Cambrian Explosion. Dinosaurs roamed for millions of years, until they became extinct about 65 million years ago. After this, mammals could safely live and spread across the earth.
4 • Lesson 1 2. Watch the video about life on earth with your partner. Put these different events in order on the timeline. Extension: draw a picture of each event. • The • Cambrian • Dinosaurs • Simple life and • Microbes, dinosaurs Explosion: lots become plants slowly the first life, rule the of different extinct and evolve in the appears on earth. animals and the age of oceans. Microbes, earth. plants appear. the mammals the first life, begins. appears on earth.
3.5 billion years ago
3.5 billion years ago to 600 million years ago
600 million years ago
250 million years ago to 65 million years ago
65 million years ago
Humans didn’t suddenly appear on earth. They began to evolve from apes over millions of years. The earliest humans looked more like apes than humans. However, they began to evolve to have larger brains, to walk upright, and have better control with their hands. There were lots of different species of humans, but only one type survived to today. Us. Our species is called homo sapiens, and we first evolved about 300,000 years ago.
Lesson 1 • 5 3. Look at these different types of humans. How have humans changed over time?
Homo Homo habilis Homo erectus Homo Homo sapiens Australopithecus heidelbergensis 4 million years 2.8 million years 1.9 million years 0.6 million years 0.3 million ago ago ago ago years ago
Different scientists have helped us to learn more about early humans. • Palaeontologists study fossils: special rocks which show the imprint of skeletons and plants. • Archaeologists study artefacts that were made by humans and have been buried. These scientists find clues from the past. These clues tell us where humans were at different times, and how they might have This is a fossil of a seymouria, one of the behaved. Using these clues, it is thought earliest creatures to leave the sea and live that about 150,000 years ago, homo on land. It is about 280 million years old. sapiens began to travel out of Africa and into the middle east and then Europe.
4. What is the name of a scientist who studies fossils?
• Archaeologist • Palaeontologist.
6 • Lesson 1 5. Point to the different continents on the map: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Australasia
This map shows when different species of humans left Africa and began to live in different parts of the world. The numbers show how many years ago the humans travelled.
6. Complete these sentences using information from throughout the lesson.
Homo sapiens left east Africa and travelled ______. There were different human species living 200,000 years ago, including homo sapiens, ______and ______. About 70,000 years ago, homo erectus made it to ______. Homo sapiens first arrived in Britain around ______years ago. Around 50,000 years ago, humans first arrived in ______.
Lesson 1 • 7 Lesson 02 Which animals lived during the Ice Age?
Retrieval Practice
1. Name one type of early human species: homo ______
2. What was the name of the event when lots and lots of animals suddenly appeared on earth? a. The Cambrian Explosion b The Mesolithic Era c. Homo sapiens
3. What is the name of a scientist who studies artefacts made by humans which have been buried under ground? a. Palaeontologists b. Archaeologists c. Artefactorists d. Cambrianologists
4. Which continent to scientists think humans first evolved from. a. Europe b. Asia c. North America d. Africa
5. What is the name of a special rock which has the imprint of a skeleton in in? a. Artefact b. Seymouria c. Fossil d. Microbe
8 • Lesson 2 Term Definition
Ice Age The long period of time when the earth was much colder, and covered in huge sheets of ice.
Glaciers Another name for huge sheets of ice. Extinct When there are no more of a species left. They have all died out. Extant When a species still exists and is alive today. Ivory The horns or tusks of animals, including elephants and rhinos.
A frozen planet These glaciers covered most of Britain, For most of the stone age, the world Europe, parts of North America, South looked very different to how it is today. America and Australia, as well as other Early humans were living in an Ice Age. The places. The most recent ice age began world was much colder than it is now. There about 1.5 million years ago and ended were huge sheets of ice, called glaciers, about 15,000 years ago. covering lots of land.
1.Watch the video, and then draw the ice sheets on this map of the world.
Lesson 2 • 9 During this ice age, there were some This creature was a member of the elephant incredible beasts which roamed the earth. family. It was larger than elephants today, These animals had adapted to the cold and was covered in fur. Woolly mammoths conditions, and some lived in Britain. Some went extinct about 4,000 years ago. of these animals, like elk, are extant, which Scientists have found frozen bodies of means that they are still alive today. Other woolly mammoths. species went extinct, which means that there are none of them left alive today. It 3. Scientists think that they might be wasn’t only animals that went extinct. All of able to breed new woolly the kinds of humans except for our species, mammoths by taking their DNA homo sapiens, were extinct by the end of and putting it into a modern the ice age. Scientists disagree about what elephant. Do you think that they caused this. should do this?
2. What could cause a species to Humans had to work together to hunt go extinct? Give as many woolly mammoths, it would have been reasons as you can think of. very dangerous. They used spears, and perhaps bows and arrows. Humans would ______need to make a plan and communicate ______instructions, something other animals ______couldn’t do. ______If a woolly mammoth was killed, humans would be able to use the ivory tusks for tools, the skin for clothes, and have plenty There were many animals living in Britain of fat and meat to eat. However, one during the ice age which are now extinct. wrong move and the mammoth would easily kill a human with a swipe of its tusks. Woolly Mammoth 4. Would hunting a woolly mammoth have been worth the risk? Why/why not?
Advantages Disdvantages
10 • Lesson 2 5. Look at the picture of each of these extinct, prehistoric animals. Write a short description based on what you can see.
Woolly mammoths weren’t the only animals living in Britain during the Ice Age. There were also these:
Sabre-toothed tiger Woolly rhinoceros ______
Irish elk Cave lion Cave bear ______
Lesson 2 • 11 Lesson 03 What were the different periods in the Stone Age?
Retrieval Practice
1. When did the last ice age end? a. 1.5 million years ago b. 200,000 years ago c. 15,000 years ago d. 4,000 years ago
2. Which word means that a species has completely died out? a. extinct b. extant
3. When did the earliest humans begin to evolve? a. 3.5 billion years ago b. 3.5 million years ago c. 350,000 years ago d. 3,500 years ago
4. What is the name of a scientist who studies fossils: a. palaeontologist b. archaeologist
5. Write another word beginning with g which means ice sheet: g______
12 • Lesson 3 Term Definition
Palaeolithic The old stone age. Humans used basic tools, and travelled around Era looking for animals to hunt and plants to gather. Mesolithic Era The middle stone age. Humans began to perfect their tools and use communication and teamwork to hunt.
Neolithic Era The new stone age. Humans began farming, and living together in villages.
Hunter- The name given to early humans who roamed around hunting gatherers animals and gathered plants, nuts and berries. Neanderthals A species of human that lived from 400,000 years ago to 40,000 years ago. They are now extinct.
Three different Stone Ages 1. What do you think an early Different kinds of humans have been living human would have used a on earth for the last 3 million years. These hammer stone for? new humans began to use stone tools to help them survive. We call it the Stone Age because humans were using stone tools. The Palaeolithic Era lasted for a very long The stone age is split up into three parts: time. Early homo sapiens didn’t have real language, and were always on the move • The Palaeolithic Era looking for their next meal. We sometimes • The Mesolithic Era call them hunter-gatherers, because they were roaming around hunting animals and • The Neolithic Era gathering plants that they could eat. The Palaeolithic era is the oldest part of the Stone Age. The tools that humans used were very basic. For example, they chose 2. What were the names of the certain stones to use as a hammer stone. three stone ages? P______M______N______
3. How is life different now compared to life in the Palaeolithic Era?
Lesson 3 • 13 Humans in Britain 5. What is another name for the About 60,000 years ago Neanderthals, Mesolithic era? another species of human, arrived in Britain. Then, about 40,000 years ago, homo a. The old stone age sapiens arrived in Britain. They were able to b. The middle stone age walk across from Europe to Britain, because it was connected to Europe by land called c. The new stone age Doggerland. After the ice sheets melted, Doggerland became flooded and is now Finally, about 6,000 years ago, the new under the sea. stone age (or Neolithic era) began in Britain. Humans discovered that they could cook and eat different kinds of grains, like 4. Find where you live on the map wheat and millet. They began to farm and mark it with a X. these grains, which was much easier than hunting and gathering.
Neolithic humans would put sharpened The ice sheets began to melt about 12,000 stone into wood or bone to make a hand years ago. A new period started, called sickle. the Mesolithic era. Another name for the Mesolithic Era was the middle Stone Age. 6. Match these eras with the During the Mesolithic era humans got changes in how humans lived better at perfecting their tools. They would and behaved. sharpen stones and bones into spears and knives. These could be used for hunting, Palaeolithic Humans began to and to make clothing from animal skins. Mesolithic settle and farm Neolithic Humans improved their tools and language Humans were hunter gatherers using basic tools.
14 • Lesson 3 Lesson 04 What was life like in a Stone Age settlement?
Retrieval Practice
1. Where did the life on earth first begin? a. In the oceans. b. In volcanoes. c. In the jungles d. In Africa.
2. What was a hand sickle used for? a. To attack enemies b. The chop grain. c. To cut animal skins. d. To hunt animals.
3. Which of these would you find during the Stone Age in Britain? a. Woolly mammoth b. Cave lion c. Tyrannosaurus rex d. Neanderthals
4. What is millet? a. A type of tool used by homo sapiens b. A type of weapon used by homo sapiens c. A type of grain humans can eat.
5. What is the name of our species? a. Homo sapiens b. Homo hablis c. Homo Australopithecus d. Neanderthals
Lesson 4 • 15 Term Definition
Nomadic Wandering around without a permanent home. Millet A type of grain which can be cooked and eaten. Permanent Designed or planned to last forever.
A nomadic lifestyle Nomadic humans might have to walk for Early humans were nomadic. This means days, and so would not carry much with that they would always be travelling them. They would not be able to talk to each around, avoiding predators and searching other much as they wandered around, and for food. They had no permanent home. so their language did not develop much. When they needed to sleep, these early If they were unable to regularly find food, humans would find whatever shelter they they would starve to death. could, in forests or in caves. We have evidence of humans living in caves from Settling down paintings on the wall. All of this began to change during the Mesolithic era (the middle Stone Age). This painting is from the Altamira cave in The earth began to warm up as the Ice Spain, and is thought to be about 20,000 Age ended. More forests and grasslands years old. appeared. Humans began to stay in the same place for longer periods of time. They 1. What does the Altamira painting built small homes out of sticks and straw, show? Why do you think the usually near water. humans painted it?
2. Why do you think humans would ______make their camps near water? ______
16 • Lesson 4 Building permanent homes One of the most famous Neolithic villages is During the Mesolithic era humans had Skara Brae, which is on an island in Scotland. begun to collect the grasses that were now People lived there about 5,000 years ago, growing. Some of these grasses, like wheat but it was only discovered in 1850. This is and millet, were edible. They first had to be because it had been buried by lots of soil cooked, or ground into flour, but this meant during a storm. There are ten homes built that other animals were less interested in out of stone in Skara Brae, and it gives us the grains. Humans had no competition. evidence of how Neolithic people lived. It was also much quicker to collect the grain Stonehenge compared to other hunting and gathering. It wasn’t only homes that Neolithic humans In just a few hours, a person could collect built. They also created huge circles made enough grain to last them weeks. As long from large pieces of stone. The most as it was kept dry, it also wouldn’t go rotten, famous of these is Stonehenge, which is unlike meat and other plants. in Wiltshire. Incredibly, many of the stones actually came from south Wales, over 160 3. What were the advantages of miles away. Each stone weighs around 25 collecting grain? tons, and the Neolithic people would have had no wheels to use. ______
Gradually humans learnt how to grow these crops for themselves. They could now build permanent homes by piling stones on top of each other. This was the beginning of the Neolithic Era, and saw the first permanent villages begin to appear.
It is a mystery how they moved the stones so far. Some archaeologists think that they might have rolled the stones on logs. Others think they might have used a sleigh along special tracks greased with animal fat.
Lesson 4 • 17 Lesson 05 How did the Bronze Age change how people
Retrieval Practice
1. What was the name of the Neolithic village discovered in Scotland? a. Skara Brae b. Scare Bree c. Skara Bray d. Scar Brey
2. Name one prehistoric animal that use to live in Britain:
3. How heavy were each of the stones used to build Stone Henge? a. 2.5 kilograms b. 25 kilograms c. 2.5 tons d. 25 tons
4. What was the Cambrian Explosion? a. A time when lots of different animals suddenly appeared. b. The event that killed the dinosaurs. c. A huge volcanic eruption.
5. “During the Neolithic age, humans were hunter gatherers”. True / False
18 • Lesson 5 Term Definition
Ivory The tusks of an animal, such as an elephant or a rhinoceros . Ore A rock that contains tiny bits of metal. Bronze A metal made by mixing copper and tin. Brittle When a material easily breaks, shatters or snaps. Trade When people swap things that the other person doesn’t have. Hoard A large collection of something, especially valuable.
A new material 2. Watch the video showing how to Early humans first began using stone tools make bronze, then use the millions of years ago. Our species, homo following recipe to tell your sapiens, used stone and bones and ivory partner how to make bronze. tools for hundreds of thousands of years. However, around 4,000 years ago, a discovery was made that would change How to make Bronze people’s lives forever: metal. 1. First find some copper ore. This is a rock which has tiny bits of copper in it. 1. What objects do you use each 2. Then find some tin ore. This is a rock with day that are made out of metal? bits of tin in it. 3. Crush the rock so to get the metal out. ______4. Next, put most of the copper and a little bit of tin in a very hot fire. ______5. Wait for the metals to melt into a liquid and mix together. Metals can be found in some rocks, called 6. Pour the metal into a mould to get the ore. It is very difficult to get the metal out shape that you want. of the rocks, which is why it took humans so long to discover and use metal. The 7. Let it cool so that it goes very hard. first kind of metal humans used was called bronze. It is a mixture of two other metals: copper and tin.
Lesson 5 • 19 By itself, copper was too soft. Tin, on the 4. What might the people in Britain other hand, was too brittle (it broke easily). have traded with the Beaker However, when mixed together into bronze, culture? a new metal was made that was both sharp and strong. Britain had lots of tin available. The Burton Hoard 3. How would bronze be an Archaeologists have found lots of metal improvement on the stone tools items in Britain. Unlike lots of other materials, that people were already using? metal does not rot away. This means that we can have a much better idea of what ______life might have been like during the bronze ______age, even though there was no writing. ______One of the biggest collection of bronze and gold items was found in Burton in Wales. It is called the Burton Hoard and includes tools, Beaker people weapons and jewellery. The artefacts are During the Neolithic era, humans had thought to be over 3,000 years ago. begun to move around and trade with each other. One important culture was called the Beaker People, who were very 5. What do you think each of skilled at pottery (the beaker in their name these items are? Label the refers to pots that they made to drink out items with what you think they of). Some archaeologists think that it was were used for. the Beaker people who taught people in Britain how to make Bronze.
This map shows where the Beaker culture lived during the Neolithic era.
20 • Lesson 5 Lesson 06 Who were the Celts, and what was life like for them?
Retrieval Practice
1. What are the three different eras in the Stone Age? P______M______N______
2. Where did the rocks from Stonehenge originally come from? a. Wales b. Scotland c. England d. Ireland
3. Which two metals are needed to make bronze? ______and ______
4. Why were the Beaker people called the Beaker people? a. They were from a place in Europe called Beaker. b. They would eat entire birds, including the beak. c. They were skilled at making cups (beakers). d. They wore a kind of beak over their face.
5. What was the name of the land that used to connect Britain to Europe?
Lesson 6 • 21 Term Definition
Tribes Large groups of families who have joined up to live, work and fight together.
Hillforts A large village on top of a hill, protected by a wall or barrier. Iron A metal; stronger than bronze. Can be turned into steel. Clans Groups of people who are all loosely related in the same family. Roundhouse The type of house Celts lived in, made with sticks and mud. Celts The name for the people living in Britain during the Iron Age. Thatched Layering straw or sticks on top of each other to make a roof.
Clash of Clans With the discovery of Bronze, humans were now out of the Stone Age. The developed better tools and weapons which helped them to build bigger villages, called tribes. They created new inventions which would last a very long time. However, now that humans were living in the same place, and had lots of valuable items, they began to 2. Why was living in a hillfort safer attack each other’s land. than living in a normal village? ______1. What was the reason that people ______in Britain began to attack each ______other?
______Soon after people had discovered bronze, they learnt how to make another ______metal: iron. Around 800 BCE, people in Britain began to make lots of their tools and weapons out of iron. Families joined Different tribes began to build their villages together in groups called clans, and clans on hills to make them difficult to attack. joined up to make tribes. These would be They built walls around their land to protect led by chiefs or warrior king. their people. These villages were now forts on hills, and so were called hillforts. You can With different tribes growing in size and still see evidence of hillforts today. number, and plenty of iron weapons, life in Britain was now a dangerous place with lots of battles. The people living in Britain at this time were known as Celts.
22 • Lesson 6 Celts lived in roundhouses. These were 3. Watch the video about Iron Age made by weaving sticks together, and Britain, and list all of the activities then packing a mixture of mud, clay, and that people in Iron Age Britain animal dung. This is known as wattle and would do. daub. The wattle is the sticks, and the daub is the mud-clay-dung mixture. The roof was ______then thatched with straw and sticks. Inside ______the roundhouse, a fire would be lit to keep ______everyone warm and allow cooking. ______
Life in Celtic Britain would have been very busy. Inside the hillforts there were farms with different crops and animals. People would make pots out of clay. Grain had to be crushed to make flour so that bread could be cooked. Different kinds of cloth were weaved together using wool. Tools and weapons were made out of iron. And of course, Celts would need to practice their fighting skills in case they were attacked. There are no roundhouses left intact today, but people have made reconstructions 4. Which Celtic job would you using the same techniques and tools, like prefer to have? the one in this picture.
5. How was life different in Celtic Britain compared to today?
Celtic Britain Today
• Tribes attacked each other all of • It is very safe, different groups don’t the time attack each other • • • • • • • • • • • •
Lesson 6 • 23 REACH OUT
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