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.

So by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to describe some of the main features regarding the chronology of the earliest humans in Britain.

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

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

Grab a pen and paper.

The keywords we'll be using today are Homo sapiens, archaeologist, prehistoric, and Ice Age.

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

Homo sapiens, archaeologist, prehistoric, Ice Age.

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

Here are the definitions of our keywords today.

The only surviving group of humans is the Homo sapiens.

Someone who studies human history by exploring artefacts found in the ground is an archaeologist.

Something from before written history is known as prehistoric.

An Ice Age is when the Earth becomes very cold for a long period of time.

Pause the video here to make a note of the keywords and when you are ready to continue, press play.

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

In the first learning cycle, we will look at who the earliest humans were in Britain.

Archaeologists' and historians' ideas about the past develop and change as new evidence is found.

Most people used to think there was only one type of human.

Did you know that there is now evidence to suggest that there were many different groups of humans in the past? These different groups of humans all had human characteristics such as walking on two legs, large brains, and making tools.

Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens are all types of human.

You may have noticed that the group names all begin with Homo, which means man or human.

It is unclear how many different groups of humans there were, and these are just some of them.

Different early human groups are discovered and debated all the time.

However, only the Homo sapiens group survived the last Ice Age.

Modern humans are Homo sapiens, so you and me.

All other groups are now extinct.

Let's take a moment to just pause and check our understanding.

Which of the following statements are correct? All early humans were the same.

Different groups of humans have existed in the past.

Homo sapiens is the only group of human to have existed.

So which is correct, A, B, or C? Have a little think now.

If you selected different groups of humans have existed in the past, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Remember that Homo sapiens are not the only groups who have existed.

They are just the ones that are left now.

In 2013, footprints were discovered on the coast in a place called Happisburgh.

This is in Norfolk in the UK.

Archaeologists believe these footprints are approximately 900,000 to 800,000 years old.

There were footprints of different sizes.

This suggested they belonged to a family.

They are the oldest human footprints to be found in Europe.

Now the age of the footprints could mean that they are from the Homo antecessors, as an early human group.

Homo antecessor bones have also been found in other parts of the world.

At an archaeological site in Boxgrove, West Sussex in Britain, during the 1990s, a human bone was found.

It is believed to be the oldest bone found in Britain to date.

The bone is believed to have belonged to the Homo heidelbergensis and be approximately 500,000 years old.

So some very old bones there.

Human skull pieces were found in the 1950s in Kent, Swanscombe, and they are thought to belong to the early human group Homo neanderthalensis and believed to be approximately 400,000 years old.

The Homo neanderthalensis are sometimes called the Neanderthals.

Let's pause again and let's think about some of that evidence that we've just uncovered.

Which two of the following are evidence of early humans? A, ancient footprints, B, bones and teeth, C, stories they wrote, or D, written records they kept.

You could take a note of these or you could just think about which two are the evidence of early humans.

If you selected ancient footprints and bones and teeth, you are absolutely right, well done, fantastic.

So the Homo sapiens, they are the only group of humans that have survived and they have originated from Africa.

It is believed that they arrived in Britain 40,000 years ago.

Changes to climate and living conditions meant they came and went over the years, but are thought to have settled in Britain 12,000 years ago.

Bones of an early Homo sapien were discovered in Cheddar, Britain and are approximately 10,000 years old.

So you can see the Homo sapien skeleton that was uncovered.

What an amazing discovery.

So let's check for our understanding.

Looking at this statement, modern humans are Homo sapiens.

Is this true or false? Have a little think.

If you said true, that's correct, well done.

Now if we were to justify our answer, is it A, all other groups of human have died out, or B, other groups of humans survive today? Which one helps justify our answer that modern humans are Homo sapiens? Pause the video and when you're ready for the answer, press play again.

If you selected all other groups of human have died out, that's absolutely correct, well done.

Homo sapiens are the only group that are left.

Let's take a look at a timeline to track when each of the groups of humans existed in Britain.

Can you remember any of those tricky names that all started with Homo? Well, let's go through them again.

The first early humans in Britain around 900,000 years ago were Homo antecessors.

Homo heidelbergensis, they came to Britain around 500,000 years ago.

The Homo neanderthalensis came to Britain around 400,000 years ago.

And the Homo sapiens, they settled in Britain around 12,000 years ago.

Can you remember which evidence was found that identified the early humans? The first one's been done for you.

So the school that was found identified a Homo neanderthalensis.

Can you make a note now of which one identifies those early humans? So what did the bones identify? The skeleton, the footprints? Have a little think.

You can pause the video and press play when you're ready to find out the answers.

If you said that the bones belong to a Homo heidelbergensis, that is correct, well done.

So let's have a think now about the other two.

The skeleton was the Homo sapien, well done.

And that leaves us with the footprints which identified the Homo antecessor.

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

So you might want to get a pen and paper, or you might want to just think about which order you're going to put these letters in.

So starting with the earliest, can you put the groups of humans in order when they are thought to have arrived in Britain? So we have A, Homo neanderthalensis, B, Homo heidelbergensis, C, Homo sapiens, and D, Homo antecessor.

If you're going to move those, put them in the correct order.

Have a little think.

Pause the video to order those groups of humans and press play when you're ready to get those answers.

Let's have a look now.

So that earliest group of humans were the Homo antecessors.

So their letter was D, and then it was the heidelbergensis, so that's B.

Then the Homo neanderthalensis, A.

And then the Homo sapiens, C.

Fantastic, well done.

And I hope you are practising those names of those early humans with me.

So we're now ready to move on to the second part of the lesson.

And in this learning cycle, we're going to look at why humans came to and left Britain.

The Ice Ages are prehistoric times when it was very cold all over the world and large amounts of the Earth were covered in ice.

Can you imagine large amounts of the Earth being covered in ice? 450,000 years ago and 20,000 years ago were the last Ice Ages.

The Ice Ages caused long periods when no humans lived in Britain.

That's because it was too cold to survive in those kind of conditions.

Looking at this timeline, we can see when the Ice Ages occurred.

Which early humans did the Ice Ages affect? We can see that an Ice Age occurred between the heidelbergensis being in Britain and the Homo neanderthalensis being in Britain 400,000 years ago.

We can also see that there was an Ice Age between the Homo sapiens first arriving in Britain 40,000 years ago and when they settled 12,000 years ago.

During the Ice Ages, those early humans could not live in Britain, because it was just too cold.

Let's stop now and check our understanding.

Why did the Ice Ages mean there were long periods of time when no humans lived in Britain? Was it A, the Ice Ages were in prehistoric times before humans existed, B, the Ice Ages were too long ago for humans to be living in Britain, or C, during the Ice Ages, it was too cold for humans to survive in Britain? Make a note of your answer.

Pause the video and press play when you're ready to find out what the answer is.

If you said during the Ice Ages, it was too cold for humans to survive in Britain, you are absolutely right, well done.

Now, the Ice Ages, they caused the sea levels and the landscape to change.

At times, Britain would not have been an island.

So when the climate was warmer, a shelf, a sort of land bridge was exposed, joining Britain to what is now Europe, and early humans could walk across this bridge.

But when the Ice Ages came, the colder climate caused the sea levels to rise and this would cover the land bridge.

And this is why we are an island today surrounded by sea.

We no longer have that land bridge that we can walk across.

Well, we've learned so much about those early humans and why they came to and left Britain.

Now I'd like you to think about two reasons why humans may have come to and left Britain at different times.

You could talk to a partner or you can pause the video and you can write down some reasons if you'd like.

So pause the video now and take some time to think about those two reasons why humans may have come to and left Britain at different times, and press play to restart the video when you're ready.

How did that go? Let's take a look at an example answer that you could have given.

So you could have said that early humans left Britain during the Ice Ages as it was too cold and returned as the climate became warmer.

And early humans may have walked across the land bridge from Europe to come to and leave Britain.

So well done if you got those two reasons right and used one of our keywords, Ice Ages.

Now, before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about earliest humans in Britain.

Different groups of humans have come to and left Britain at different times due to the changes in climate.

The Ice Ages meant there were long periods in history when no humans lived in Britain.

Homo sapiens settled in Britain around 12,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have found ancient footprints and bones in Britain.

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

See you next time.