Creswell Crags Museum and Visitor Centre

Stone Age People

In this section...

• The Creswell Area
• Exhibition Objects
• Virtually the Ice Age
  • Stone Age People
    • Test your survival skills
    • Culture and creativity
    • Tools and raw materials
    • Food and hunting
    • Camp sites
    • Pets
  • The Natural World
  • Discover the Past

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• Seasonal visits?

  A seasonal visit following the reindeer or horse who were attracted to the lush pastures growing during spring and summer?

  Tracking the movement of herd animals like reindeer and obtaining meat, skins for clothing and bones for tools was essential. Meat was an important part of the diet especially where there was little plant food. Creswell Crags may have been a summer hunting ground before returning to more permanent bases further south for winter.

• The Stream?

  A supply of water was crucial for survival and would have attracted other animals.

• A convenient shelter

  Caves and rock overhangs are convenient shelters. However, they are not that widespread away from Creswell Crags. Here temporary shelters and windbreaks were made from animal bones, wood and hides as people moved between camps. Hyaenas, wolves and bears live in caves, so they may have been dangerous places for humans who may have preferred camping on the top of the gorge away from the insects close to the stream.

• A meeting place?

  Sharing information with other groups of hunters about the whereabouts of food may have been important in developing friendships - friends help each other out when times are hard.

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• Windbreaks?

  Post holes and large rocks have been found at a number of sites which may have been the settings for posts. The large boulders may have been used to weigh down the skins and provide extra support. Excavation at Thorpe Common rockshelter near Creswell uncovered a semicircular arrangement of boulders enclosing part of the shelter floor. This structure is dated to the late Mesolithic.

• Fire?

  People liked to gather around a fire to chat, keep warm and cook. Fire also provided light in the darkness of the cave and scared off wild animals.

  During Cold Stages wood was scarce, some would have been available in the shelter of the gorge but fatty bones were also used to keep fires alive.

• Blankets and bedding?

  Furs, skin blankets and sleeping bags, as well as dried grass could be used to make a soft, warm place to sleep.

• South facing?

  Caves on the south facing side of the gorge attract more sunlight and may have been preferred. We know this because they contained richer archaeological deposits. One site, Church Hole, faces north, it may have been used when the other caves were being used by carnivores such as wolves or spotted hyaenas.