Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about Stone Age Britain.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain what archeologists think they know about the Paleolithic Era and the evidence it is based on.

To help you with the lesson content, I'd like to introduce you to some of the keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are Paleolithic Era, nomadic, hand axe and flint.

I'm going to say them again, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Paleolithic Era, nomadic, hand ax and flint.

Well done.

Let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Here are the definitions of those keywords.

The Paleolithic Era is a time in history sometimes called the Early Stone Age.

Someone who doesn't settle in one place to live is nomadic.

A hand axe is a prehistoric tool used for cutting.

Flint is a type of stone that was used to make tools in the past.

Pause the video here to make a note of the keywords.

And when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we will be working through together in today's lesson.

In the first learning cycle, we will look at what the Paleolithic Era is.

Pre-history is a period in time before written records and writing systems were used.

As it covers such a huge amount of time, millions of years, it is often divided into three sections.

These are called the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

Can you have a little think? Why do you think they might be called those three things? These periods of time are named after the main materials that were used at the time for making tools and weapons, stone, bronze and iron.

The Stone Age covers such a long period that archeologists have split it into three parts.

These are called the Paleolithic Era, the Mesolithic Era and the Neolithic Era.

So you can see on the timeline here where those three eras are in the Stone Age.

The Stone Age is a time in history when early humans used stone tools.

The Paleolithic Era is part of the Stone Age.

You can see that the Paleolithic Era is sometimes called the Early Stone Age.

It's almost the beginning part of the Stone Age.

Let's pause and check our understanding.

The Paleolithic Era is part of the, let's finish that sentence.

Is it part of the Iron Age, the Bronze Age, or the Stone Age? Pause the video and take a moment to think.

If you selected Stone Age, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, Britain was very different back during the Paleolithic Era, and here are a few reasons why.

The climate went through periods of extreme cold called ice ages, and also periods of hotter weather than we experience today.

The landscape and sea levels changed, which meant Britain was joined to mainland Europe via a land bridge sometimes, and it was not an island.

Can you imagine being joined to Europe with a land bridge instead of all the sea surrounding us as an island? Different animals that do not live naturally in Britain today, like hippos and elephants, may have lived in Britain naturally during the Paleolithic Era.

This was because of the differences in climate and landscape.

Scientists and historians also believe several different types of humans existed during prehistory, but these have now become extinct.

Let's have a moment to think about this question.

Which of the following two are reasons why Britain was different in the Paleolithic Era compared to today? So two reasons, is it A, Britain was always an island in the Paleolithic Era, B, elephants and hippos lived naturally in Britain, C, archeologists believe different types of humans lived during the Paleolithic Era? Pause the video and start it again when you are ready.

If you selected elephants and hippos lived naturally in Britain, you are correct.

And if you selected archeologists believe different types of humans lived during the Paleolithic Era, you are also correct.

Britain was not always an island because there was a land bridge that connected Britain to Europe during certain periods during the Paleolithic Era.

Now we've almost come to the end of the first part of this lesson, and this is your first learning task.

Now, we've got some sentences that I'd like you to fill in the gaps with words.

So I'm gonna read through each of those sentences, where the gaps are, I will say, "Blank." The Stone Age is a period in history when early humans used blank tools.

The Stone Age is often divided into blank parts.

The Paleolithic Era is sometimes called the Blank Stone Age.

The Stone Age began with the Paleolithic Era over blank million years ago.

So what goes in those blank spaces in those gaps? I'd like you to pause the video here and give yourself enough time to fill in those gaps.

You could write those sentences out or you could talk to a partner.

Pause the video now and restart when you're ready to find out the answers.

Okay, so hopefully you have had a chance to either chat to a partner or write these sentences down with those words in those missing gaps.

So the Stone Age is a period in history when early humans used stone tools.

Well done if you got that one correct.

The Stone Age is often divided into three parts.

The Paleolithic Era is sometimes called the Early Stone Age.

The Stone Age began with the Paleolithic Era over two million years ago.

Well done if you got the correct words of stone, three, Early, and two.

We're going to move now into the second part of this lesson.

This learning cycle is going to explore what evidence there is from the Paleolithic Era.

Unfortunately, there is very little evidence from the Paleolithic Era because it was before written records.

Instead, historians use stone tools, ancient footprints and bones as evidence to help them understand what the Paleolithic Era was like.

Let's take a moment to pause.

How much evidence is there from the Paleolithic Era? Have a quick chat to a partner or a think to yourself.

Is there, A, a very small amount of evidence, B, a small amount of evidence, or C, a huge amount of evidence? How much evidence is there? Have a moment to think.

If you said a very small amount of evidence, you're absolutely right, well done.

That's because there were no written records at that time and the archeologists only had a few things to find out about the Paleolithic Era.

So who do you think might have made these, these footprints? Hmm, I wonder.

Well, footprints made by Paleolithic humans have been discovered in Norfolk, Britain.

Now, these footprints are thought to be nearly one million years old.

That is some really old footprints.

Let's have a look at these bones.

Hmm, imagine uncovering that in an archeological discovery.

Wow.

Bones of different types of early humans dating from the Paleolithic Era have been found, and animal bones have also been found.

And these tell us what type of animals were around during the Paleolithic Era.

Now, can you remember what those things were? What two sources of evidence from the Paleolithic Era do archeologists use? Is it A, bones, B, stone tools, or C, written records? Have a think or a chat to your partner.

You can pause the video and then restart it when you're ready.

If you said bones, that's absolutely right.

That's one of the sources of evidence.

And the other source is stone tools.

Fantastic, well done if you got those right.

This is an image of a hand axe.

They look very different to axes people used today.

Why is that? What's missing that we might see on an axe from today? Now, paleolithic hand axes did not have handles.

That's because they were held in the hand.

Now, paleolithic hand axes were made from flint.

Now, flint is a type of rock, a type of material that could be sharpened.

What do you think they were used for? What did they use those hand axes for? Archeologists think that hand axes were used to skin animals for clothes and to strip branches for fire and shelter.

Hand axes have been found in areas where Flint isn't available.

This suggests that early humans were nomadic and carried their hand axes around with them.

So those hand axes were very important for helping those in the Paleolithic Era survive.

What two things do archeologists think Paleolithic hand axes were used for? Let's take a moment to think about that.

Is it A, decorating houses to show wealth, B, skinning animals for clothes, or C, stripping branches for fire and shelter? Pause the video to have a think or talk to your partner.

What do you think hand axes we use for? Those two reasons that archeologists think hand axes were used for? Pause the video and restart when you're ready.

If you said they were used for skinning animals for clothing, that is one correct answer, well done.

And if you said they were also used to strip branches for fire and shelter, then you are also correct, well done.

Now, we've learnt a lot about paleolithic humans.

Now I'd like you to really think about what we've learnt so far and that information that we have gathered.

And I'd like you to match the piece of evidence to what it tells us.

So you might like to grab some pen and paper to write down some keywords, or you might like to talk to a partner, or you might like to just think about what these pieces of evidence, bones, stone tools and where the tools were found, how that matches to what it tells us.

So which of those tells us that paleolithic humans made and used hand axes, which they may have used to skin animals for clothes and strip branches for fire and shelter? There were different types of early humans.

Hmm, which piece of evidence tells us about that? And early humans were nomadic and carried their tools around with them.

Which piece of evidence could you match to that statement? So pause the video now and take some time to think about which piece of evidence matches those statements.

What does it tell us about the paleolithic humans? Pause the video now and restart it when you're ready.

So let's have a look at each piece of evidence.

The bones.

Well, that shows that there were different types of early humans.

That evidence tells us that.

The stone tools tells us that paleolithic humans made and used hand axes, which they may have used to skin animals for clothes and strip branches for fire and shelter.

And finally, where the tools were found shows that the early humans were nomadic and carried their tools around with them, 'cause if you remember, those hand axes were made from flint and you don't get flint everywhere.

So that shows that when they carried those hand axes around, that they were nomadic.

That brings us now to our final task of today's lesson.

Andeep, Izzy and Alex are discussing what historians know about the Paleolithic Era.

Who do you agree with and why? Now, I'm going to read through what each of Andeep, Izzy and Alex have said, but you might want to grab some pen and paper, or you might want to have a discussion with your partner about who you agree with and why.

It doesn't matter which one you choose, it's up to you.

So Andeep says, "It is difficult to know what the Paleolithic Era was like because there is very little evidence." Izzy says, "There is no evidence because it was before written records." And Alex says, "Archeologists use clues from evidence to work out what the Paleolithic Era was like." So who do you agree with and why? Pause the video and restart it when you're ready.

So you could've agreed with Andeep or Alex.

They're both correct.

Now, Izzy is right that the Paleolithic Era was before written records, but historians have other types of evidence, such as footprints, bones and stone tools, to use to work out what the Paleolithic Era was like.

So you might have agreed with Andeep and Alex.

They're both correct.

Now, Izzy is right that the Paleolithic Era was before written records, but like Alex says, historians have other types of evidence, such as footprints, bones and stone tools, to use to work out what the Paleolithic Era was like.

And Andeep was correct because there is very little evidence of those things, footprints, bones and stone tools.

Well done if you agreed with Andeep and Alex, and were able to explain why.

Now, we've come to the end of our lesson today.

So let's summarize what we have learnt about the Paleolithic Era.

The Paleolithic Era is the Early Stone Age.

It began over two million years ago.

Stone tools are some of the main sources of evidence from the Paleolithic Era.

Early humans made and used stone tools like hand axes from flint.

Archeologists think that paleolithic hand axes were used to skin animals for clothing and strip branches for fire and shelter.

Thank you so much for joining me during this lesson.

I really look forward to seeing you for the next lesson.

See you next time.