Surrey Archaeological Society

The Neolithic period c. 4000 - 2200 BC

Although the ‘New Stone Age’ is traditionally seen as the period when farming was introduced to Britain, the vast timeframe of early prehistory can make it easy to generalise on the many – often complex – developments which took place. Rather than too much focus on ‘settling down’ however, emphasis has shifted to the real change being a new world view comprising notions of time, descent, origin, ancestry, community, nature, etc.

The Mesolithic period c. 9300 - 4300 BC

The vast period of the ‘Stone Age’ is often broadly generalised in terms of the key developments which took place, though many concepts have since evolved over the years. The Meso- (‘Middle’) era is one which is most commonly characterised as the period of nomadic groups living off of what they could hunt or gather seasonally, during a period which shifted to covered woodland as a result of rising sea levels and climatic warming.

The Palaeolithic period c. 850,000 - 9000 BC

The vast timespan of the ‘Stone Age’ – over half a million years – is often difficult to conceptualise, not least because it is represented by a wide diversity of artefacts and complexity of themes. The Palaeolithic (or ‘Old Stone Age’) is the era which begins with the earliest humans and ends with the retreat of the glaciers in the last Ice Age. Although much of our evidence is in the form of the flint tools left behind in the archaeological record, other sites from around Britain can give some insight into other aspects of material culture, including art.

Although its archaeology is frequently under-rated, Surrey is a unique area of rich history. Numerous nationally-important archaeological sites include Palaeolithic camps, a unique and extensive Mesolithic microlith industry, the Stanwell Neolithic cursus and Badshot Lea long barrow, Bronze Age centres (e.g. Runnymede) and an unusually high number of Iron Age hillforts. Its historic heritage is equally exceptional, including Roman temples, villas and pottery industries, Saxon cemeteries, medieval monasteries, churches and castles, and Tudor palaces such as Nonsuch which are arguably the most spectacular in the country.