The first page in my History book makes quite a few bold claims, some of which don’t quite
convince, so as I go through it, it might be wise to do a bit of fact-checking.
Hot Weather
The Stone Age covers a massive period of around 3.4 million years, so in that time the
climate fluctuated quite a bit, including at least three ice ages and several warmer periods
called interglacials. The Paleolithic period (here infantilised as ‘The Old Stone Age’ - and I
think if we can cope with the word ‘dinosaur’ we can definitely cope with ‘paleolithic’) lasted
almost that entire time, until the end of the Pleistocene epoch about 11,700 years ago. So to
write the weather off as just ‘hot’ does prehistory a great disservice. Although to be fair, in a
few pages the weather is merely ‘warm’, and before long people are making fire to stop
themselves freezing to death, so maybe the author knew this and just forgot to say so.
Massive Animals
There were definitely large beasts in Britain and the rest of Europe during the Ice Age (which
may well have been part of the Stone Age), including the Cave Lion, the Stone Age Elephant
(twice the size of a modern African elephant), the Woolly Rhinoceros, the Woolly Mammoth
and the giant deer, or Irish elk. Supersize lions, 25% bigger than the biggest lions of today,
once roamed Britain, but this wasn’t discovered until 2009.
You’d be expected to know this stuff now if you’re in Key Stage 2 (around 7-8 years old).
Stone Age Diet
It’s obvious, right? Nuts and berries and fruit and bits of meat from small animals killed
humanely. Nothing mixed together or cooked or made to taste any better. Always the same,
all around the world, for millions of years. So obvious, we just instinctively know it’s true and
don’t have to investigate it any further at all.
Unsurprisingly, the truth isn’t quite so straightforward. The ‘Paleolithic Diet’ we all
instinctively know is basically a modern fad diet based on misconceptions about stone age
cuisine. This article explores what Stone Age humans actually did eat. This article examines
the evidence for the suggestion that humans started eating meat round 2.6 million years
ago (when it’s debatable whether we were actually humans at all).
Also: did Stone Age people really only eat small animals? Would they rather eat a squirrel,
which would barely cover breakfast, than a mammoth, which might feed an entire family for
a week? All these massive animals and no one’s going to try to kill and eat them?
October 1979
People in the Old Stone Age
People in the Old Stone Age
Guy Fawkes
People in the Old Stone Age: 2
People in the Old Stone Age: 3
The New Stone Age
People of the Bronze Age
The Story of Nelson: 1
The Story of Nelson: 2
The Story of Nelson: 3
Florence Nightingale
The Story of Nelson: 4
The Story of Nelson: 5
The Story of Nelson: 6
The Story of Nelson: 7
Christopher Columbus: 1
Christopher Columbus: 2
The Soldier
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon’s Mother
The Queen of Spain
The French Revolution
The Surrender of Toulon
Upon Return From Italy
The Armed Revolt
Josephine de Beauharnais
The Thin Young Man
The Little Corporal
The Most Famous Man in France
A Proposal About Egypt
Master of France
Weary of War
Hero of the People
Emperor at 34
Danger Across the Sea
Wherever Wood Can Float
An Empire in Decline
WAEN SHEPHERD
Who was this strange
little boy?
GEOGRAPHY 1
Sept 1979 - Feb 1981
Great Space Battles
Three mighty empires
take their first steps
into outer space
TERM 1
A day-by-day account of
Waen’s first term at
Fairburn School
TOPIC 1
He knows the names of
all the dinosaurs
TOPIC 2
The one where it all
kicks off
Ward’s 7
John Ward and his band
of rebels fight the evil
Federation