The Neolithic Period in Hackney (4000 BC -2200 BC)
Note
The New Stone Age changed ways of life so dramatically that it is called ‘the Neolithic Revolution’. Items dating to the Neolithic held by Hackney Museum demonstrate the technological innovations of the time.
Farming began in the Middle East, China, India and South East Asia about 10,000 years ago. It later arrived in Britain as people migrating from Europe brought with them the knowledge and resources to farm.
Instead of moving around the landscape hunting wild animals, people relied on growing crops and caring for herds of pigs, sheep, goats and cows. People lived in small settlements year-round, allowing for new types of belongings and technologies suited to a less mobile life, such as pottery.
People began to transform the world around them. Forests were cleared to make space for farming. Now settled in one location, they built houses, walkways, and large monuments to bury their dead.
Like the whole of London, extremely little evidence from the New Stone Age has survived in Hackney. Excavations at Principal Place in Shoreditch found 436 fragments of pottery from at least 24 separate vessels dating to around 3,600 BC - the largest group of Early Neolithic pottery to ever be found in London. Food traces on the pots suggest they were used to prepare dairy products and cook beef and mutton stew. The site shows that the people who lived there were established farmers who ate cow, sheep and goat dairy products as a central part of their diet. These people were likely to have been linked to the migrant groups who were the first to introduce farming to Britain from Continental Europe around 400 years before.
Other local Neolithic finds include:
- A Neolithic arrowhead found in Shacklewell
- Neolithic or Bronze Age pottery at the site of Mossbourne Academy
- A Neolithic or Early Bronze Age black flint dagger fragment at Holywell Priory, Holywell Lane
- Neolithic polished and unpolished axes were discovered around the River Lea, "near the Hackney Brook".
Following the Neolithic, a new population of farmers migrated into Britain from continental Europe, bringing with them a distinctive style of 'beaker' pottery. A decorated beaker fragment was found on Victoria Park Road in 1864.
Farming began in the Middle East, China, India and South East Asia about 10,000 years ago. It later arrived in Britain as people migrating from Europe brought with them the knowledge and resources to farm.
Instead of moving around the landscape hunting wild animals, people relied on growing crops and caring for herds of pigs, sheep, goats and cows. People lived in small settlements year-round, allowing for new types of belongings and technologies suited to a less mobile life, such as pottery.
People began to transform the world around them. Forests were cleared to make space for farming. Now settled in one location, they built houses, walkways, and large monuments to bury their dead.
Like the whole of London, extremely little evidence from the New Stone Age has survived in Hackney. Excavations at Principal Place in Shoreditch found 436 fragments of pottery from at least 24 separate vessels dating to around 3,600 BC - the largest group of Early Neolithic pottery to ever be found in London. Food traces on the pots suggest they were used to prepare dairy products and cook beef and mutton stew. The site shows that the people who lived there were established farmers who ate cow, sheep and goat dairy products as a central part of their diet. These people were likely to have been linked to the migrant groups who were the first to introduce farming to Britain from Continental Europe around 400 years before.
Other local Neolithic finds include:
- A Neolithic arrowhead found in Shacklewell
- Neolithic or Bronze Age pottery at the site of Mossbourne Academy
- A Neolithic or Early Bronze Age black flint dagger fragment at Holywell Priory, Holywell Lane
- Neolithic polished and unpolished axes were discovered around the River Lea, "near the Hackney Brook".
Following the Neolithic, a new population of farmers migrated into Britain from continental Europe, bringing with them a distinctive style of 'beaker' pottery. A decorated beaker fragment was found on Victoria Park Road in 1864.
