Back to the Stone Age as hunters gather at Cheddar Caves

Step back in time to the days when hunter-gatherers roamed the land! Later this month Cheddar Caves & Gorge celebrates this year’s Festival of British Archaeology with demonstrations of Stone Age survival skills, authentic prehistoric face painting, and talks about our cannibal ancestors and early life in the Gorge.

This year’s 16-day Festival, organised by The Council for British Archaeology, runs from Saturday 18 July to Sunday 02 August, and every day at Cheddar Caves & Gorge customers can find out more about how their ancestors survived Stone Age and Ice Age in Britain’s biggest gorge. It’s been an important place for as long as Homo sapiens have lived in Britain – 40,000 years – and evidence survives showing how a fascinating civilisation evolved here 13,000 years ago. This is the place where the first British evidence of cannibalism was discovered, and it’s also home to 9,000-year-old Cheddar Man – Britain’s oldest complete skeleton only because he wasn’t cannibalised.

Authentically dressed hunter-gatherers will be at large in the Museum of Prehistory encampment, ready to share their ingenious fire-lighting and flint-knapping skills with present day descendants. Youngsters can find out why people like themselves painted their faces thousands of years ago. Did it turn you into a wild animal or help you hide from them? Everyone can join in the frequent talks which help you visualise just what it was like to live in Cheddar in those far-off times.

The caves where our ancestors kept warm and well-fed throughout the Ice Age are just across the road. Anyone who buys a Caves & Gorge Explorer ticket gets to take part in the Stone Age activities and to see all the other attractions which make up a full day out in this world-famous beauty spot. Ring 01934 742343 for more details.

See What’s on section for information about other events taking place during the Festival.