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Exploring Mesolithic Britain: a wild and vibrant landscape

For this blog I’m in Howick on the stunning Northumberland coast! Today, I’m taking you on a journey back to Mesolithic Britain. We’ll be walking through this area of outstanding natural beauty and exploring what life was like during the Mesolithic period – the time right after the Ice Age when the first hunter-gatherers returned to the British Isles.

Life after the ice age

Mesolithic Britain came after a very cold time – the Ice Age. Back then, parts of Britain were covered by glaciers a mile thick, and the southern part was a frozen tundra. It was a pretty inhospitable landscape! But as we entered the Mesolithic period, roughly 10,000 BC, temperatures began to rise, and Britain became habitable once again.

That’s when Mesolithic hunter-gatherers started to make their way into the British Isles, crossing land bridges where the English Channel and the North Sea are today.

As temperatures continued to rise, the landscape transformed. Thick woodlands spread across the land, carpeting everything except the hilltops. Imagine standing on a hill, looking out at a vast sea of trees with just a few hills visible in the distance – that was Mesolithic Britain!

These early settlers lived in a completely different environment, surrounded by dense woodland.

A new environment, new challenges

The animals that roamed Mesolithic Britain were quite different from those during the Ice Age. As the megafauna like mammoths began to disappear, they were replaced by animals you might recognise today, but with a prehistoric twist.

Take the auroch, for example – a massive type of wild cattle that stood up to two meters at the shoulder. These wild ancestors of modern cattle would have been an impressive sight. If you’re curious, you can still catch a glimpse of something similar by visiting the Chillingham wild cattle in Northumberland. These creatures give us a small hint of what the mighty auroch would have looked like.

Chillingham Cattle

There were also other animals roaming the land – from Irish elk with huge antlers, to wild boar, deer, and even predators like wolves and bears. These animals provided essential resources for the Mesolithic people, such as food, bones, and skins for clothing. But they were also competitors, sharing the landscape and its resources.

Irish Elk

The British Isles during this time were also home to abundant plant life. One notable example is the hazelnut tree, which was widespread. In fact, we often find pits with thousands of hazelnut shells at Mesolithic sites, showing just how important these nuts were in their diet. The Mesolithic hunter-gatherers lived off a combination of nuts, fish, meat, and even bird eggs, moving through this wild, untamed landscape to sustain themselves.

Mesolithic survival skills

These Mesolithic communities were resourceful, finding clever ways to make the land work for them. One technique involved using fire to clear areas of woodland. By burning patches of forest, they encouraged new plant growth – like grasses and fresh shoots – which in turn attracted grazing animals.

This made hunting more effective, as the Mesolithic hunters could lie in wait at the edge of these clearings, ready to strike as animals came in to feed. Archaeologists have found evidence of these burn sites, giving us an idea of how these early Britons transformed the landscape to suit their needs.

Britain’s landscape during the Mesolithic was quite different from how we see it today. Rather than open fields and rolling hills, it was a dense, wild forest, full of animals like bears that are now extinct in the British Isles. These first settlers were moving into a land rich in resources and new opportunities, reaping the benefits of a landscape made accessible by the melting ice sheets.

Bringing Mesolithic Britain to life

I hope this blog gives you a glimpse into what Mesolithic Britain would have been like – a land of dense woodlands, abundant wildlife, and a new human population making the most of what this rich environment had to offer. It’s fascinating to imagine how these early communities navigated the challenges of this wild land, adapting and thriving as they moved through it.

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