The Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages: topic summary

These are the earliest time periods that children have to study in school.

The Stone Age is usually divided into three sections because it spans such a vast period of time. They are Palaeolithic (as long as 150 000 years ago), Mesolithic (some 20 000 years ago) and Neolithic (around 10 000 years ago). Stone Age people lived originally in caves. Later they moved into portable wooden homes as they led a nomadic life before building more permanent stone structures. Originally they gathered food from the fields and forests as well as hunting animals using weapons made from sharpened stone. By Neolithic times they were also keeping animals and growing crops from grain and seeds they had collected. There is the remains of a Neolithic village called Skara Brae on the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland.