In t roduc ing Prehistor ic Dartmoor

People have been visiting and living onDartmoor for thousands of years. Most ofthat vast stretch of time was before recordedhistory during the prehistoric period. It wasduring this period that people and theiranimals dramatically altered the appearanceand nature of Dartmoor. These changeswould have occurred gradually generationafter generation. Evidence from tiny plantpollen grains preserved in the moor’s peat

Dartmoor National Park Authority Introducing Prehistoric Dartmoor Factsheet July 2010 Page 1 of 4

bogs indicates large scale clearing of treesover many hundreds or even thousands of years. Large areas changed into grassland,some of which was enclosed within walls,banks and hedges. The higher ground wasleft open. Due to climate change towards the end of the prehistoric period much of this grassland slowly became poorer and boggier, and changed into the typicalmoorland we recognise on Dartmoor today.

1) A Stone Age (Mesolithic) Dartmoor scene (7,000 years ago)

2) A Bronze Age Dartmoor scene (3,500 years ago)

3) An Iron Age Dartmoor scene (2,500 years ago)

1) Stone Age (Mesolithic)We can try to imagine

the earliest humanuse of Dartmoorduring the StoneAge (Mesolithic)period 7,000 yearsago. To create apicture we must

try to use theevidence that

archaeologists havefound and fill the gaps

with sensible guessworkbased on remains found in

other places. People havealways needed large animals

to make a living off therugged granite landscape. We know that thepeople in the Mesolithic were hunters of wildgame and gatherers of wild plants in a mainlywooded landscape. Thin layers of ash orcharcoal in the peat bogs on the higher partsof Dartmoor suggest that they were cuttingand burning trees, creating clearings in thewoods. This was to encourage grazing animalssuch as deer or wild cattle and to help themhunt for food and other useful materials suchas skins for clothing.

2) Bronze AgeIf we then imagine a glimpseacross the moor during themiddle of the Bronze Age3,500 years ago, much ofDartmoor would have lookedvery different from how itlooked during the Mesolithicperiod. Instead of hunting andgathering people had becomeexpert farmers. They would

still have hunted andgathered food fromthe wild. However, they were far moredependent on theirdomesticated livestock;sheep, cattle and ponies.They probably used

some of the animals’ manure to grow crops in their enclosed fields. This different way of life allowed Dartmoor to support many morepeople who in turn cleared more forest lowerdown, built more settlements and enclosedmore land for the cultivation of crops.The archaeological evidence indicates apeaceful, well organised society with strongreligious ideas that was well connected throughtraded goods and ideas with the outside world.

3) Iron Age Things continued to develop and life onDartmoor a thousand years later (2,500 years ago)would again have changed, and not necessarilyfor the better. The climate had became colderand wetter, the soils and the vegetation werechanging and becoming less productive throughoveruse. Many settlements and their surroundingson the higher ground were abandoned. More competition for resources (food and usefulmaterials), combined with the production of new and more effective iron tools and weapons,would have led to more warlike conditions. Some of the remaining people built and used hillforts for defence, farming was more mobile anddependant on grazing animals, and society wasdominated by chiefs and their warriors.

Much of this information comes from the archaeological remains but some knowledge of this Iron Age world comes to us from the Romans who conqueredmost of Britain and wrote downtheir history. This thereforebrought the Prehistoricperiod to an end and much of Dartmoor would have looked familiar to us today.

Find: a piece of potteryUse: a pot for holding food or water

Find: a spindle or whorl Use: for spinningwool to weaveinto clothes

Find: anaxeheadUse: an axefor choppingwood

Find: an arrowheadUse: a bow andarrow for hunting

Stone Agehunter

Bronze Age farmer

Iron Age warrior

Reconstruction Bronze Age round houseSpot the items found in the excavation

above in the picture below

Find: a quern Use: for grinding grain into a flour for baking

A recent archaeological excavation of a Bronze Age round house Careful excavation of the floor has uncovered a number of finds. Each find allows us to work out what it came from, and whatprehistoric people would have used it for.

Merrivale stone row as seen today

For further information, and a list of other Fact Sheetsavailable, contact the: Education, Information and Communications Service, Dartmoor National Park Authority, Parke, Bovey Tracey, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ13 9JQ Tel: (01626) 832093E-mail: education@dartmoor-npa.gov.ukWeb site: www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk Visit Learning About for more educational resources.This publication may be photocopied for educationalpurposes under the Copyright Act 1988.

Further information available

from our web site

www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk

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Dartmoor National Park Authority Introducing Prehistoric Dartmoor Factsheet July 2010 Page 4 of 4

Bronze Age Link ActivityMatch the archaeological feature with the statement. We have done one for you.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL FEATURES STATEMENT

A large burial cairn on top of a hill

Climate change - a colder, wetter climate made farming very difficult

Some people were regarded as beingmore important than others

During the Bronze Age many people felt safe from attack from raiders

Some people liked to offer their most valued possessions to their gods

People in the Bronze Age liked to eat beef and enjoyed dairy products

Cow hoof prints preserved under a wall that fell down 3,000 years ago

Ruined houses and abandoned fields

Unused bronze axe head carefully put in a peat bog

Many round houses were scattered among the small fields

Dartmoor’s religion and beliefs during thePrehistoric timesWe cannot know what prehistoric peoplethought or believed. However, we cannotdoubt that religion had a powerful influence on their understanding and behaviour. The many surviving standing stones, stonerows and stone circles tell us that thesemonuments were just as important to them

as our present day Dartmoor churches andchapels are to us today. Were they places for gathering, for worship? Did they use them to celebrate the seasons?

We do know from the many nearby gravesthat they liked to bury their dead close tothese places but over such a long period their religious beliefs and activities must have developed and changed.