Prehistory [<AD55]
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The Palaeolithic (400,000 - 10,000 years ago)
The Palaeolithic was the period in which people lived by hunting and gathering on the open tundra plains of Europe before the close of the last ice age. Before the Upper Palaeolithic (30 000 – 10 000 years ago) archaic Homo Sapiens such as Neanderthals and their predecessor Homo Heidelbergis inhabited Europe, rather than modern humans.
The Mesolithic (8,000 - 4,000 BC)
The Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) is the period after the last ice age (8000 BC), lasting until the advent of farming around 3500-4000 BC. People subsisted by hunting and foraging.
The Neolithic (4,000 - 2,000 BC)
The Neolithic (New Stone Age) is the period in which people began farming and making pottery.
The Bronze Age (2,000 - 700 BC)
The period is marked by the introduction of metallurgy - mainly copper and tin in the form of bronze alloy. Stone tools were used in conjunction with metal tools.
The Iron Age (700 BC - AD 55)
The period saw the widespread use of metallurgy and the complete replacement of stone tools.
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The Exeter area may have been occupied for as long as 250,000 years. There is evidence of more-or-less continuous human activity since the last Ice Age.
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The Exeter area may have been occupied for as long as 250,000 years. There is evidence of more-or-less continuous human activity since the last Ice Age; this is dispersed over the countryside, rather than in towns.
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Sorry there are no objects in this theme at present.
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Remains of human burials from the Bronze Age have been found near Exeter.
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Making flint tools, pottery or metalwork needed much skill and practice. The tools and everyday items from this time represent a range of levels of technical skill and specialist ability.
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Evidence of Iron Age round houses have been found in a number of places in Exeter, suggesting people were farming the land before the arrival of the Roman army.
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Sorry there are no objects in this theme at present.
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The importation of desirable objects was an important part of prehistoric life.
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Very little evidence survives of dress and display from prehistoric Exeter.
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Sorry there are no objects in this theme at present.
