1. Prehistory The hunter gatherer quiz
Prehistoric London
The hunter-gatherer quiz
Images © Museum of London/ Derek Lucas
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2. During the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) people hunted large animals like mammoths. As the climate warmed during the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), the landscape became forested. At this time people would have hunted smaller game like deer.
People would have gathered food too, such as mushrooms, leaves, flowers, nuts and berries. Some were good to eat but others were poisonous. Could you tell the difference?
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3. Do you have the skills to survive life as a hunter gatherer?
Start the quiz

4. Sabre toothed tiger Woolly rhinoceros Woolly mammoth Cave lion
Animal remains give us evidence of which animals lived in the London area during the Stone Age. Which animal has not been found in the London area?
Sabre toothed tiger
Woolly rhinoceros
Woolly mammoth
Cave lion

5. Woolly mammoth tusk and jaw
Well done!
There is no evidence of a sabre tooth tiger in prehistoric London. However woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, cave lion, wolf and reindeer remains have all been found!
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6. Your family are hungry. How will you get food?
Pop to the shops
Order a take away
Go to the market
Hunt animals and gather wild forest food

7. I hope they invent pizza soon!
Well done!
There were no shops or restaurants in the Stone Age. People had to hunt and gather.
They would eat the meat from the animals and birds they caught along with foraged foods such as nuts, fruit and roots.
I hope they invent pizza soon!
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8. You arrive on foot to an area that will one day be London
You arrive on foot to an area that will one day be London. There are no caves here. Where will you live?
In a wooden roundhouse
In a straw hut
In a brick house
In a tent

9. Well done!
The hunter gatherer lifestyle was one on the move. People would have set up temporary camps while tracking animals. What materials do you think the tents may have been made from? Why do you think there is no surviving evidence of these shelters?
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10. You’ve been sent to gather wild forest foods
You’ve been sent to gather wild forest foods. Can you tell which foods are tasty and which are deadly? Click on the image you don’t want to eat.

11. You didn’t want to eat those poisonous fungi!
Well done!
You didn’t want to eat those poisonous fungi!
It would have been very important to understand what you could and couldn’t eat. It was probably the job of elders to educate the younger members of the group as they moved around and set up camp.
Have you ever picked your own food?
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12. You’ve caught a reindeer on a hunt
You’ve caught a reindeer on a hunt. What part of this animal would you use?
I’d use all of it for lots of different things!
I would use the antlers to make tools but leave the rest.
I would use the fur to make clothes and tent materials.
I would just eat the meat.

13. Antlers for tools
Hide for clothes
Well done!
People would use as much of an animal as possible in the Stone Age.
The hide would be scraped clean to use for clothing, antlers were used for tools and of course people would eat the reindeer meat.
They would also eat the offal (organs such as liver, kidneys and heart) and crack open the bones to eat the fat rich marrow.
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14. You make your own tools. What materials would you find in a Stone Age toolkit ?
plastic
stone and antler
metal
glass

15. Bone hammer
Flint microliths
Serrated antler harpoon
Well done!
The materials in a Stone Age toolkit would be stone and bone. Wood was used too, but as this rots, less evidence survives.
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16. How would you dress? In the latest fashions of course!
I’d knit something from wool
I’d sew something from cotton
I’d use animal skins to make clothes from fur and leather

17. Well done! Clothes don't survive, so archaeologists have to look for other clues.
These flint scrapers would have been used for cleaning animal hides so that they could be used to make clothes and leather.
Wool would not have been used until later in the Neolithic period (New Stone Age) when people began farming.
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18. Stalk quietly and use a bow and arrow With a gun
The Ice Age is over and many of the large animals have moved north or died out. You’re hunting deer and wild boar in the woods. How will you kill them?
Stalk quietly and use a bow and arrow
With a gun
I’d chase them on horseback
I’d lay out traps and snares

19. Well done! During the Mesolithic period, hunters would have killed smaller prey with a bow and arrow. They also made clearings in the forest to lure animals into.
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20. Visit the Museum of London website
Congratulations! You have the skills to survive life as a Stone Age hunter gatherer.
Play the quiz again
Visit the Museum of London website
End