Lower Palaeolithic
2.5 million years ago the first human beings chipped pebbles to make the first stone tools. They lived in Africa, hunting animals and finding plants to eat. About 1.6 million years ago, they learned how to use fire for cooking, toolmaking, heating and lighting.
700 thousand years ago, our ancestors made sharp knives from flaked stone. People didn't live in the same place all year; they followed migrating animals. Hunting became more organised, special hunting tools such as the bolas were invented.
Middle Palaeolithic
100 thousand years ago, Neanderthal people made axes from chipped stone. They buried their dead with rituals. They were not ancestors of modern people, but they were closely related.
Upper Palaeolithic
40 thousand years ago, the first modern humans made knife blades from stone. Archaeologists know they built houses made of wood and skins, and sometimes lived in caves. But Palaeolithic people didn't live in the same place all year round, they travelled from place to place. No one knows how long they stayed at each place, or if they went to the same places every year. Palaeolithic people painted art on their walls, and made jewellery and sculpture.
Mesolithic
From around 12 thousand years ago in the British Isles, people started hunting small animals with bow-and-arrows. Dogs were domesticated.
Neolithic
In Britain people started growing crops and keeping farm animals 6 thousand years ago. They made polished axes from stone and chopped down trees to make fields. People stopped moving from place to place. They built houses to live in near their fields. People began to build monuments which included Stonehenge.
Bronze Age
During the Bronze Age most people were farmers. Around 4.5 thousand years ago in Britain, they began making metal tools from copper mixed with other metals. Bronze was made from a mixture of tin and copper. Bronze axes and knives were sharp but not as strong as stone. Flint arrowheads and other tools were still made from stone. People became very skilled at weaving and pottery during the Bronze Age.
Iron Age
Celtic culture reached Britain nearly 3000 years ago. Most people lived on small farms, but some lived in hillforts. People belonged to tribes, which sometimes fought one another. In times of war, hillforts were a good place to go for protection.
People had learned to make a harder metal called iron, and more things were being made of metal, including weapons, tools, pots and pans and horse harness parts.
The Romans
In Britain, prehistory ended, and history began, with the Roman invasion in 43 AD. Rome had an empire which included most of Europe. Roman technology included writing. The Romans built roads and created towns where they built impressive houses, shops and temples.
Although the Romans brought new organisation and technology to Britain, some people carried on their way of life as if nothing had changed. Others began to live like Romans.