Between 5500 and 5000 years ago, people were seeking stone for axe blades across Europe. From the Italian Alps to Shetland, the rocks they sought had immense value. But not just because they could then fell trees with them, in an age known to us now as the ‘Neolithic’ - or ‘New Stone Age’ - an age before metal technology.

The biggest Neolithic stone axe blade production sites in the UK and Ireland are those in the central fells of the Lake District. Internationally significant, sites revealed here show that thousands of blades were created, the majority from sites on Pike o’Stickle in Langdale, and high on Scafell Pike. The changes in the Neolithic set a course that led to the Lake District’s inscription as a World Heritage Site.

This talk explores how and why this happened, featuring the latest archaeological discoveries from Lakeland’s highest mountains.

About the speaker

Steve Dickinson graduated in archaeology from the University of Durham, and has gone on to direct many excavations and surveys in the Lake District. His current projects include finding evidence for a new set of Viking Age sites in West Cumbria, and revealing evidence for a huge array of Neolithic ritual sites in SW Cumbria. He is a member of the European Association of Archaeologists, and of the Prehistoric Society.