Turning point: the Neolithic Revolution

Before farming, people moved around the land to hunt animals, fish and gather wild plants, nuts and berries.
They made tools from stone, bone and wood, and lived in temporary camps.
The Neolithic means the 'New Stone Age'. Historians call the change to farming the Neolithic Revolution because it changed how people lived so deeply.

Farming reached Britain from mainland Europe around 4000 BC.
People grew crops such as wheat and barley and kept cattle, sheep and pigs. They cleared forest to make fields.
Farmers had to stay near their crops, so they built permanent homes and villages. They made pottery and polished stone axes.
Food could be stored, so more people could be fed.

Skara Brae in Orkney is a Neolithic village of stone houses, lived in from about 3180 BC to 2500 BC. Each house had a central hearth, stone beds and a stone dresser. A storm uncovered it in 1850.
Stonehenge in Wiltshire began as a circular ditch and bank in about 3000 BC. The great stones were set up in about 2500 BC. Most of the smaller bluestones came from the Preseli Hills in west Wales.
Building Stonehenge needed planning and many workers, which shows how organised farming communities had become.