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 will be able to explain why archaeologists think humans began to farm in Britain during the Neolithic era.

To help you with the lesson content, I would like to introduce you to some key words, and we'll be using these key words during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these down.

The key words we'll be using today are Neolithic era, domesticated, and pottery.

I'm going to say those again, and I'd like you to repeat them after me, Neolithic era, domesticated, pottery.

Well done.

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

Here are some definitions for our key words.

The Neolithic era is also known as the New Stone Age.

It is the third and final part of the Stone Age.

A domesticated plant or animal is under human control.

Items made out of clay are called pottery.

Pause the video here to make a note of these key words.

And when you're ready, press play.

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

We're going to look at the changes during the Neolithic era.

The Neolithic era is a time in prehistory.

It is part of the Stone Age, and the Stone Age is a time in history when humans used stone tools.

The Stone Age is split into three parts, the Palaeolithic era, the Mesolithic era, and the Neolithic era.

Now, the Neolithic era is often called the New Stone Age, and it began approximately 6,000 years ago.

So as you can see, the Neolithic era is the final stage in the Stone Age.

What is another name for the Neolithic era? Is it A, Early Stone Age, B, Middle Stone Age, or C, New Stone Age? Take a moment to talk to your partner.

Which do you think it is? If you said New Stone Age, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, in the Mesolithic era, humans were hunter-gatherers.

They'd go out looking for berries and nuts, and they would also hunt for animals.

During the Neolithic era, humans started to become farmers.

In the Neolithic era, humans domesticated animals and grew crops.

Archaeologists think humans domesticated animals by farming cattle, sheep, and pigs.

And archaeologists have found evidence that humans planted wheat and barley seeds for food, as well as flax for making clothes.

Let's check for our understanding.

Is it true or false, this statement here? Humans in the Neolithic era started to become farmers.

Is that true or false? Hmm.

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

Now, which of these two sentences helps to justify our answer? Have a discussion with your partner.

Is it A, Neolithic humans collected berries and hunted wild animals, or B, Neolithic humans domesticated animals and planted crops to harvest? Which of those two helps to justify our answer? If you selected Neolithic humans domesticated animals and planted crops to harvest, that is absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, in the Mesolithic era, humans were nomadic.

They sheltered in tents in temporary camps.

In the Neolithic era, humans settled in one place to farm, and they built houses in permanent settlements.

Neolithic houses were circular.

Most were probably made from wattle and daub, hmm.

Wattle is woven wood.

Daub is a clay mixed with water and straw.

Roofs were made from straw, and houses were permanent structures.

Let's check our understanding.

What shape do archaeologists think Neolithic houses were, A, circular, B, rectangular, or C, hexagonal? Take a moment to think.

What shape do archaeologists think Neolithic houses were? If you said circular, that's absolutely right, well done.

Here are some Neolithic pots.

In the Neolithic era, humans discovered how to use clay to make pottery.

They shaped wet clay before heating it to make it hard.

The pots they made were used for storing food and cooking.

What were cooking pots made from during the Neolithic era? Can you remember? Is it A, clay, B, glass, or C, stone? If you remembered clay, well done, fantastic.

Now, we've almost come to the end of the first part of this lesson.

I would like you to sort the ways of life into the correct column.

So if you'd like to, on a piece of paper, you could draw a table like this one on screen and write Mesolithic era in one side and Neolithic era in the other.

Now, each of these ways of life down the side, we want to write into one of the two columns.

We have farming, hunter-gathering, temporary shelter, permanent homes, nomadic, settled, and making pottery.

Can you remember which ways of life would go into the Mesolithic era and which ways of life go into the Neolithic era? Pause the video and give yourself enough time to write those down, or you could talk to a partner about where you would put them.

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

How did that go? Let's take a look at those ways of life and which column they went into.

In the Mesolithic era, we have hunter-gathering temporary shelter, and nomadic.

Can you remember what nomadic means? That's right.

It meant that they moved around a lot to find their food.

The Neolithic era, we have farming, permanent homes, settled, and making pottery.

So there's quite a difference from the Mesolithic era to the Neolithic era.

Well done if you sorted those ways of life into the correct era.

We're now going to move onto the second part of this lesson, and we are going to explore the evidence at Skara Brae.

Skara Brae is a Neolithic settlement.

It is a really important excavation site with evidence of how humans lived during the Neolithic era.

Hmm, I wonder what they found.

Well, Skara Brae is a village of stone houses dating back to the Neolithic era.

A community of humans lived here over 5,000 years ago.

So where is Skara Brae? Skara Brae is on the Orkney Islands on the north coast of Scotland.

Can you see it there on the map right near the very top? Let's check for our understanding.

Where is Skara Brae? Is it A, the north coast of England, B, the north coast of Scotland, C, the south coast of Scotland, or D, the north coast of Wales? Hmm, where is Skara Brae? Can you remember? If you said the north coast of Scotland, that's absolutely right, well done.

Now, there were no trees at Skara Brae.

So Neolithic humans used stone instead of wood to build here.

Let's take a look at the image and have a look what's inside.

So we can see that it's built from stone all the way around.

There is also stone furniture, a roundhouse with one room.

Hmm, and there's a fire pit in the middle.

So what they found, this Neolithic house at Skara Brae was a round house of just one room, was built from stone with stone furniture and a fire pit.

How fascinating.

Well, Alex and Lucas are talking about Neolithic houses.

Who do you agree with and why? Alex says that Neolithic houses were all built from stone.

And Lucas says that Neolithic houses were built from different materials.

Hmm, who do you agree with and why? Pause the video to have a discussion with your partner, and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

Well, in this case, Lucas is correct.

The Neolithic houses at Skara Brae were built from stone because there were no trees in the area.

In other settlements around Britain, Neolithic humans used wattle, daub, and straw to build permanent houses.

Well done if you remembered that.

So what evidence did archaeologists find of how humans lived in the Neolithic era at Skara Brae? Well, the house itself or the houses, they're evidence of permanent settlement.

The clay pots, they are evidence that pottery was made and used.

Animal bones, they are evidence of domesticated animals and farming, and seeds are evidence of growing and harvesting crops.

So lots of different evidence found, and it tells archaeologists lots of different things about the Neolithic era.

So I'd like you to now look at the pieces of evidence and match it to what it tells archaeologists about the Neolithic era.

You could write down these words and write next to it what it tells us.

Or you could just talk to your partner and tell them what it tells us about houses, pottery, animal bones, and seeds.

I'll read through the other side of what it tells us.

Neolithic humans used clay to make pots.

The pots were used to store food and cook with.

Evidence of cattle, sheep, and pig bones show that Neolithic humans were farmers.

Evidence of flax, barley, and wheat seeds show that Neolithic humans planted and harvested food.

They were farming.

The houses show that Neolithic humans were making and living in permanent homes.

So pause the video now to match that evidence to what it tells us, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? Let's take a look, shall we? So the houses match to the houses show that Neolithic humans were making and living in permanent homes.

The pottery, Neolithic humans used clay to make pots.

The pots were used to store food and cook with.

Animal bones, evidence of cattle, sheep, and pig bones show that Neolithic humans were farmers, and seeds, evidence of flax, barley, and wheat seeds show that Neolithic humans planted and harvested food.

They were farming.

Well done if you could match that evidence to what it tells us.

It's now time for our second learning task of this lesson.

I'd like you to explain to a partner why archaeologists think Neolithic humans in Britain became farmers.

Think about all of that evidence we've explored.

What did they find at Skara Brae? Pause the video and explain to your partner why archaeologists think Neolithic humans in Britain became farmers.

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

How did that go? Let's take a look at what you could have said to your partner.

Using evidence such as animal bones and seeds dated to the Neolithic era, archaeologists believe Neolithic humans were farmers.

The animal bones from cattle, sheep, and pigs show Neolithic humans had domesticated animals to farm.

The wheat, barley, and flax seeds discovered show that Neolithic humans planted and harvested crops.

Well done if you explained something similar to your partner and used some of our key words as well.

Before we come to the end of this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about the Neolithic era and Skara Brae.

There were lots of changes for humans during the Neolithic era.

Archaeologists think farming began in the Neolithic era.

Evidence shows that humans domesticated animals in the Neolithic era.

There is evidence pottery was created in the Neolithic era.

And Skara Brae is an important excavation site with evidence of how humans lived in the Neolithic era.

Thank you so much for joining me during this lesson, and I really look forward to seeing you for the next one.

See you next time.