Neolithic man lived during the Stone Age
There are some of them-plastic, paper, steel, wood and so on. But long, long go –many thousands of years ago, there was a time when man learns how to make use of stones. That period of time in history is known as the Stone Age.
Neolithic man lived during the Stone Age. In some ways, he was like Neanderthal man, but in many other ways he was different. Neanderthal man lived many thousands of years before Neolithic man.
Neolithic man looked more like a man and less like an ape. He was both a hunter and a farmer. He grew crops for food and he domesticated animals that were useful to him.
He could make fine weapons and tools out of polished and ground stone. Do you know he polished a stone? He rubbed one stone against another very hard. He then sharpened the edge off the polished stone by chipping off flakes. In this way, he made axes. He could clear the forests now and grow his crops. He also made sickles to help him cut the harvest. When he went out to hunt, he carried a bow and arrow.
Neolithic man did not live in caves like Neanderthal man but the built huts out of mud and dried bricks. He knew how to make pots and pans and he could weave baskets. He could also and weave cloth out of flax. Thus he clothed himself better than Neanderthal man.
Poor Neanderthal man could only cover himself with animal skins. Though Neolithic man was very clever, like Neanderthal man he could not read or write.
Neolithic man did not know about God but he worshipped the earth which gave him food. He worshipped the sun which gave him warmth and made the plants grow. Sometimes, he worshipped even plants and animals.
One of the places where Neolithic man lived for over a thousand years was in the south of England, which was then known as Britain. These Neolithic men are still remembered because they built Stonehenge on the plains of Wessex. Even today Stonehenge attracts thousands of tourists.
Megaliths are huge, single stones weighting many tons. Neolithic man used thousands of these megaliths to build Stonehenge. These stones were of different sizes and shapes and set up in different patterns. There were full circles, half –circles within circles and horse-shoes. There were single stones and stones balancing on others. There were big stones, bigger stones and biggest stones- all standing tall and firm.
The men of Stonehenge believe that there was magic in these patters and so they carefully planned how they should be set up. The sites were also chosen with care. Stonehenge was not built n a month or even in a year. It took hundreds of years for it to be completed.
Was stone useful to the men who built? Some of the single stones stood over the graves of important men.
Other stones were used as altars where offering were made to the sun. The priests of these early men are called druids. They used Stonehenge as their temple. Stonehenge was also used as a kind of calendar. The druids were so clever that they could tell when the seasons would change by watching the position of the sun over these stones. They knew which was the longest and the shortest day of the year.
Have you over tried to carry a large heavy stone across the garden? It is not an easy task. And yet Neolithic men were able to set up these huge stones without the help of any machines. Some of these stones weighed more than five hundred tons and these stones were brought from very far-off places. We still do not know they did this.
Stonehenge must have looked very beautiful especially in the moonlight. Hundreds of huge stones stood up proudly against the distant hills and the distant sky. No wonder the men of Stonehenge were filled with awe when they saw these megaliths.
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