SIX STONE AGE SITES TO VISIT

1. Happisburgh Norfolk

Early people left no monuments, but we can visit places where we know they lived. At Happisburgh, Norfolk, a million-year-old landscape is being exposed as the coastal cliff erodes in stormy seas. Internationally important finds have been made on the beach, including the world’s oldest human footprints outside Africa. Free. Open daily.

3. Creswell Crags Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire

Many Neanderthal artefacts (60,000 years ago) have been found at this limestone gorge, but the caves are best known for Europe’s most northerly Ice Age cave art, made 14,000 years ago. Free (tour £9). Open daily to October (weekends Nov–Jan). Creswell, S80 3LH. creswell-crags.org.uk

5. Formby Merseyside

After the Ice Age, rising seas submerged low-lying coasts. Sometimes landscapes, complete with tree stumps, were preserved under silts and exposed later by erosion. At Formby, you can look for footprints left by Mesolithic and Neolithic people 7,500–4,500 years ago. Free. Open daily. nationaltrust.org.uk/formby

2. Thatcham Berkshire

Mesolithic people were everywhere, but left little trace. Key sites on the River Kennet include Thatcham, where walks from the Nature Discovery Centre take you through similar marshland to those known to people hunting and fishing 11,000 years ago. Free. Open daily (except Mon in winter). RG19 3FU. bbowt.org.uk/nature-discovery-centre

4. Natural History Museum London

The new Human Evolution gallery explores seven million years of our story. Features include a 400,000-year-old wooden spear from Clacton, Essex, a skull made into a cup from Gough’s Cave (14,700 years ago), and Cheddar Man, Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton (10,000 years ago). Free. Open daily. SW7 5BD. nhm.ac.uk

6. Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Cambridge

The exhibition A Survival Story: Prehistoric Life at Star Carr features Europe’s most famous Mesolithic site. Between 11,300 and 10,500 years ago, deer hunters built camps beside a Yorkshire lake, where the peat preserved exceptional remains. Free. Open daily. maa.cam.ac.uk