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The First Farmers: Neolithic Period (4500-2500 BC)

At the beginning of the Neolithic period (the new stone age) farming methods of crop cultivation and animal husbandry were adopted, and people began to live in more permanent settled communities. However, this was a gradual process and during the earlier part of the period (4500-3500 BC), the farmers were probably still semi-nomadic, mixing hunting with the cultivation of small plots of land and small-scale animal husbandry.

The most impressive surviving Neolithic monuments are the sites which were used for ritual activities and burial. These include the ‘long barrows’ which are large communal burial mounds, and the large sites enclosed with banks and ditches such as the ‘causewayed enclosures’ and ‘henges’ in which ritual and ceremonial activities were carried out.