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.

In today's lesson, you are going to be able to describe how humans lived in the Mesolithic Era.

To help you with the lesson content, I would like to introduce you to some key words.

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

The key words we're using today are Mesolithic Era, campsite, settlement.

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

Mesolithic Era, campsite, settlement.

Good job.

So let's think in more detail about what these key words might mean.

Here are the definitions for those keywords.

The Mesolithic Era was the middle period of the Stone Age.

A group of temporary shelters is called a campsite.

A settlement is a place where people come to live in.

I'd like you to pause the video here to make a note of the keywords, and when you are ready to continue, just press play.

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

Firstly, we're going to think about the question, when was the Mesolithic Era? Let's explore that.

Long, long ago, before writing systems existed, it's called prehistory.

That's because no written evidence exists for this time.

Archaeologists have used bones, fossils, and artefacts dated to this time to try and work out what life was like.

But sometimes there is very little evidence as not everything used back then has survived.

It can be like trying to solve a giant puzzle or a mystery.

Pre-history is often divided into time periods according to the technology and materials used.

These time periods are the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.

Can you remember why they're called that? That's right.

Early humans use stone tools, bronze tools, and iron tools during these times.

The Stone Age is thought to have begun over 2 million years ago.

That's a long time, and it lasted until approximately 4,000 years ago.

That's a really long time.

So archaeologists and historians have split the Stone Age up into sections called the Palaeolithic Era, the Mesolithic Era, and the Neolithic Era.

The Mesolithic Era is in the middle.

Sometimes people call it the Middle Stone Age.

It began approximately 12,000 years ago.

Dates for the Stone Age around the world vary as technologies developed at different rates.

So the Stone Age is a time in history when early humans used stone tools, and it's split into those three Eras, the Palaeolithic Era, the early Stone Age, and now we have the Mesolithic Era, the Middle Stone Age.

And there is also the Neolithic Era, the Late Stone Age.

The Mesolithic Era began approximately 12,000 years ago.

That's a long time, and I wonder why it's called the Middle Stone Age.

Hmm.

Perhaps it's because it's the one in between the Palaeolithic Era and the Neolithic Era.

So let's check our understanding.

What is another name for the Mesolithic Era? Is it A, Early Stone Age? B, Middle Stone Age? Or C, Late Stone Age? Talk to your partner and have a think.

What's another name for the Mesolithic Era? If you said the Middle Stone Age, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

So starting with the earliest, I'd like you to put the parts of the Stone Age into the order that they happened.

So at the minute they're all jumbled up.

So I'd like you to grab yourself a piece of pen and paper or just talk to your partners about what the correct order that these happened in.

So we have the Neolithic Era, Late Stone Age, Palaeolithic Era, Early Stone Age, and the Mesolithic Era, the Middle Stone Age.

So if you'd like to pause the video and either write them down in the correct order or talk to your partner about which one goes where, which one happens first, second, and third.

You could put a one, two, and three.

And when you are ready, press play to restart the video.

How did that go? Let's take a look.

So the first of the Stone Age is the Palaeolithic Era, the Early Stone Age.

The second is the Mesolithic Era, the Middle Stone Age, and the third is the Neolithic Era, the Late Stone Age.

So this should be the order that you have them in, Palaeolithic Era, Mesolithic Era, and Neolithic Era.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, the Mesolithic Era is in the middle.

Sometimes people call it the Middle Stone Age.

It began around the end of the last ice age.

When the ice melted sea levels rose and Britain became an island cut off from mainland Europe.

So here you can see on the map, this is where Britain is, and you can see in that bottom corner, mainland Europe.

So at some point there was that land bridge that allowed those early humans to walk across from mainland Europe to Britain.

But when the ice melted and the water rose, then it became an island.

Britain became an island.

The climate was similar to today's climate.

Britain became covered in forest and woodland.

So let's take a moment to check for our understanding.

In the Mesolithic Era what was Britain covered in? Hmm.

A, ice, B, water or C, woodland? Have a chat to your partner.

A, B, or C.

What do you think? If you said woodland, then you are correct.

Well done.

We've learned lots of information about the Mesolithic Era.

So now it's time for your first learning task of the lesson.

I'd like you to talk to your partner and tell them what the Mesolithic Era was.

Maybe try to use some of these words, Middle Stone Age, prehistory, ice age, island, and woodland.

And listen carefully to your partner.

Can you add any information about the Mesolithic Era? Pause the video now and take some time to have that discussion and then restart it when you are finished.

Here's an example of what you might have said to your partner.

The Mesolithic Era is a time in prehistory.

It was part of the Stone Age.

The Mesolithic Era is sometimes called the Middle Stone Age.

The Mesolithic Era began about 12,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age.

Britain was an island covered in woodland at the time.

Well done if you talked about lots of those different things and used those key words.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson today, and we're going to look at how people lived during the Mesolithic Era.

Now, just like in the Palaeolithic Era, there were no shops to buy your food from.

During the Mesolithic Era all farms that grew crops.

Early humans had to find their food in the wild.

People hunted wild animals living in the forests such as wild deer, foxes, and bears.

They would most likely have caught fish from the streams and rivers too.

Early humans also gathered and picked nuts and berries growing in the wild to eat.

They may have roasted nuts, meat, and fish on fires at their campsite.

During the Mesolithic Era, early humans used stone flint to make tools.

These tools help them to hunt the wild animals, chop wood, make fire, build shelters, cut up meat and make clothes from animal skins.

You can see here the types of tools they might have made, a spear, a bow and arrow, and also the hand axes.

Let's take a look at this statement.

Stone tools were made from flint.

Is that true or false? What do you think? Have a quick chat to your partner.

If you said, true, that's absolutely right.

Well done.

So if we were to justify our answer, flint is a type of metal used to make tools.

Flint is a type of stone used to make tools.

Hmm, they're both very similar.

Which one justifies our answer? If you said flint is a type of stone used to make tools, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Archaeologists believe humans in the Mesolithic Era moved around to find food, most likely moving during the different seasons.

This is called a nomadic lifestyle.

They would not have settled in one place, but built temporary settlements to live in, and those were called campsites.

Mesolithic people needed to be near food and water.

Here's an image of what a Mesolithic campsite might have looked like.

It is thought that Mesolithic people built round structures to shelter in using sticks or wooden poles and covering these with either mud and grasses or animal skins.

They needed that shelter to keep them warm, dry, and safe.

Here on this screen, there are some items Mesolithic people needed to live.

Can you match the item to its purpose? So you could either write these out on a piece of paper if you'd like, or you could just talk to a partner and talk about each of those items and match it to their purpose.

So we've got shelter, wild animals, flint, nuts and berries, and water.

Which one matches which, to drink, wash and cook, to make tools, for food and clothing, to eat, to keep warm, dry and safe.

Pause the video now to have a think and either talk to your partner or write it down, which item goes with which purpose? And when you are ready, restart the video.

How did that go? Shall we take a look? So, shelter is going to help those Mesolithic people keep warm, dry, and safe.

That's the purpose of shelter.

Wild animals offer food and clothing.

Flint is to make tools.

Nuts and berries to eat, which leaves us with water, which is to drink, wash, and cook.

Well done if you matched all of those items correctly to their purposes.

In 2002, an archaeological site was discovered on the Northumbrian coast in the village of Howick.

You can see that on the map there.

In the ground, archaeologists uncovered evidence that a Mesolithic shelter had been there with markings from wooden poles showing the layout of a round structure.

There were also nutshells stone tools and animal bones.

Archaeologists built replica structures of the Mesolithic shelter to show what it might have looked like thousands and thousands of years ago during the Mesolithic Era.

So that image shows a replica, a model of a Mesolithic shelter.

That brings us to your second learning task.

Write an information sign for the model of the Mesolithic shelter, Howick house for visitors.

Make sure you describe how people lived during the Mesolithic Era.

So I'd like you to pause the video and give yourself enough time to think about your answer and write one or two sentences describing Howick house.

Pause the video now and restart when you are ready.

How did that go? Let's take a look at an example of what you could have written.

Howick house.

This is a model of a Mesolithic shelter.

It is made from sticks and grasses.

Mesolithic people built settlements like this to shelter in when they moved around to find food.

While done if you wrote something similar to that about how the shelters were made and why they were built.

Well done for completing that learning task.

You have learned so much during this session.

So before we finish, let's just summarise what we've learned all about the Mesolithic Era.

The Mesolithic Era began around 12,000 years ago.

Britain was attached to mainland Europe, but sea levels rose making it an island.

Mesolithic people hunted wild animals, fished, and gathered wild plants.

Tools were made from flint, which is a type of stone in the Mesolithic Era.

Mesolithic people lived in temporary settlements called campsites, likely moving camps often to find food.

Howick house is an archaeological discovery thought to be a Mesolithic shelter.

Thank you for joining me for today's lesson, and I really look forward to seeing you in the next lesson.

See you next time.