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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 describe how archaeologists know about Homo sapiens' early settlement of Britain.
To help you with the lesson content, I would like to introduce you to some key words.
We'll be using these key words during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.
The key words we'll be using today are Homo sapiens, hunter-gatherer, Ice Age.
I'm gonna say them again and I'd like you to repeat them after me.
Homo sapiens, hunter-gatherer, Ice Age.
Well done.
Now let's think about what they mean in more detail.
Here are the definitions of the key words.
The only surviving group of humans is the Homo sapiens.
Hunter-gatherers hunt animals and gather berries and nuts.
An Ice Age is when earth becomes very cold for a long period of time.
Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.
These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.
The first learning cycle we're going to take a look at is when did modern humans settle in Britain? From studying bones, ancient footprints and stone tools, archaeologists believed that different types of early humans existed in prehistoric times.
Prehistory is a period of time in the past before written records and writing systems developed.
From looking at and testing bones, stone tools, and ancient footprints from this time, archaeologists work out what they think happened and what life might have been like.
Archaeologists believe some of these early humans, such as Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens came to and left Britain at different times.
Why don't you have a go at reading out each of those early human groups? I'll do it with you.
Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens.
Good job.
It is thought that different humans had many common features, such as big brains and walking on two feet.
But did you know that homo means human? Take a look at the pictures of the different types of humans.
What do you notice? What is similar and what is different? Take a moment now to have a look at those images on screen.
Now, only Homo sapiens have survived whilst all other types of humans became extinct.
Modern humans, just like you and me, are Homo sapiens.
Now let's stop to check for our understanding.
Looking at this statement, modern humans are Homo sapiens.
Is that true or false? Take a moment to think about that.
If you selected true, that's correct.
Well done.
Now, if we were to justify our answer, is it A, other types of early humans have become extinct, or B, Homo sapiens lived in prehistoric times? Which helps to justify our answer that modern humans are Homo sapiens? Pause the video and take a moment to think or maybe note down your answer.
If you said other types of early humans have become extinct, you are correct.
Well done.
Now the first Homo sapiens are thought to have come to Britain over 40,000 years ago.
Archaeologists found a Homo sapien jawbone that is 40,000 years old.
So it's the pieces of evidence like that, that help archaeologists work out when the Homo sapiens arrived in Britain.
An Ice Age is when Earth becomes very cold for a long period of time.
What causes an Ice Age is not clear.
Scientists have made many different theories, however, several Ice Ages have taken place in the past as the earth has warmed and cooled.
Due to these climate changes, Homo sapiens did not stay in Britain for long periods.
The climate and landscape have changed dramatically due to Ice Ages taking place.
Changes in sea levels have altered the shape of Britain and even meant that it was joined to Europe when sea levels were low.
During the Ice Ages, Britain is thought to have been too cold for humans to survive there.
Humans are believed to have come and left Britain before settling at the end of the last Ice Age.
Let's check our understanding.
Archaeologists believe early Homo sapiens.
Let's finish that sentence, came to and left Britain many times, settled straight away, never settled in Britain.
So pause the video and think about what the answer may be.
Is it A, B or C? You could note your answer down and press play when you are ready to come back.
If you said that they came to and left Britain many times, that's absolutely right.
Well done.
Now it was not until the end of the last Ice Age over 12,000 years ago that modern humans settled in Britain.
Archaeologists found a Homo sapien skeleton in Britain.
The skeleton named Cheddar man by archaeologists is thought to be around 10,000 years old.
Can you remember when the Ice Ages were? 450,000 Years ago and 20,000 years ago.
You can see on the timeline here that an Ice Age occurred between the time of the Homo sapiens when they first arrived and when they finally settled.
And it was also around the time that it was the evidence of the first early humans in Britain.
Let's take a minute to think.
Homo sapiens settled in Britain 12,000 years ago at the end of the Stone Age, the last Ice Age, or pre-history? When did the Homo sapien settle in Britain, at the end of which period of history? Take a moment to write down your answer or to talk to a partner.
Is it A, B, or C? If you said B, that's absolutely right.
At the end of the last Ice Age, the Homo sapiens settled in Britain 12,000 years ago.
Now we're coming to the end of this first part of the lesson.
I'd like you to pause the video in a moment to give yourself enough time to circle the types of evidence archaeologists use to work out when modern humans settled in Britain.
So you might want to write down on a piece of paper these key words.
Stone tools, photographs, bones, skeleton, diaries, and clay pots.
So pause the video, write out those six words, and then circle the ones that are the evidence archaeologists used to work out when modern humans settled in Britain.
When you're ready to find out the answers, press play again.
How did that go? Well done for completing that learning task.
The answers are stone tools, bones, and skeleton.
Those are the types of evidence that the archaeologists used to work out when modern humans settled in Britain.
We're now ready to move onto the second part of this lesson.
What was life like at the end of the last Ice Age? Nowadays, lots of people buy their food from supermarkets and shops.
The food is produced by farmers, then harvested and packaged for us to enjoy.
However, did you know that supermarkets, shops, and even farms did not exist at the end of the last Ice Age? Early Homo sapiens hunted and gathered food from the natural environment.
They were what historians call hunter-gatherers.
They might have hunted animals such as wild deer, wild horses, and woolly mammoths that roam the land.
Early Homo sapiens would've also gathered and picked wild berries and nuts to eat.
Let's take a moment to check our understanding.
True or false? Early Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherers.
Is that true or false? Take a moment to think.
Maybe chat to your partner.
If you said true, that's absolutely right.
Well done.
Now, if we were to justify our answer, which would we select, A or B? A, they hunted animals and gathered berries and nuts.
B, they farm the land and planted food.
Which one shows they were hunter-gatherers? You'd like to pause the video and chat to your partner.
Which one do you think justifies your answer? And press play when you are ready to find out what the answer is.
If you said that they hunted animals and gathered berries and nuts, you are absolutely right.
Fantastic.
Now, archaeologists have discovered bones of animals such as deer, wild horses, and woolly mammoths alongside prehistoric stone tools.
They think that Homo sapiens hunted animals for food to make clothing and to use the bones for tools.
Now, some of the stone tools that the archaeologists found are hand axes.
Now, hand axes were made from flint, which is a type of stone.
The stone was made into a hand axe by chipping pieces off to create the shape with a stone hammer.
Archaeologists believe that these stone tools made from flint were used for chopping wood to make fires and tools, and skinning animals to make clothes.
Stone tools have been discovered far from where the flint comes from, so this suggests that the Homo sapiens moved around Britain and they took their tools around with them.
They were nomadic.
Nomadic means to move around from place to place without settling.
They most likely did this to look for food sources.
You can see an image here on the screen of a prehistoric hand axe made from flint.
Can you see where they've chipped away the pieces to create that shape? Okay, I'd like you to think about the foods that are below here.
Crisps, berries, nuts, prehistoric horse, pizza, prehistoric deer.
Which of those foods are hunter-gatherer foods and which of them are not hunter-gatherer foods? If you'd like to pause the video now, you could draw this table a right hunter-gatherer, the top of one side, and not hunter-gatherer on the other side, and place the foods into the box.
Which foods go where you could write them out.
When you've done that, press play to restart the video.
Let's take a look at which are hunter-gatherer foods and not hunter-gatherer foods.
So the hunter-gatherer foods are prehistoric deer, prehistoric horse, berries and nuts.
And not hunter-gatherer foods are crisps and pizza.
They are foods that we are very familiar with now, but the hunter-gatherers would not have been.
What do archaeologists think each piece of evidence tells us? So this is your second learning task.
I'd like you to pause the video and I'd like you to think about each of these pieces of evidence, Homo sapien skeleton, stone hand axe, and bones of woolly mammoths.
What do each of those pieces of evidence tell us? I'd like you to pause the video and write a sentence about each piece of evidence and then restart the video when you are ready.
How did that go? Let's go through each of the pieces of evidence and see what the example answers say.
The skeleton tells us that Homo sapiens were living in Britain and it is thought that they settled 12,000 years ago.
The stone hand axes were found far away from where flint comes from, suggesting that early humans were nomadic.
Can you remember what nomadic means? It means they moved around a lot and they did not settle.
And then the bones of woolly mammoths have been found with stone tools.
So archaeologists believe early humans hunted animals for food and clothes.
Well done if you wrote something similar to the example answers.
Good job for completing that learning task.
Now we've come to the end of our session, so let's summarise what we've learned about the life at the end of the Ice Age.
Homo sapiens came and left Britain many times.
Homo sapiens settled in Britain at the end of the last Ice Age.
Archaeologists believe early Homo sapiens were hunter-gatherers.
Stone tools made from flint have been discovered far away from where flint is from, suggesting that Homo sapiens moved around Britain.
Thank you so much for joining me during this lesson, and I really look forward to seeing you for the next lesson.
See you next time.