prehistoric britain - Mesolithic
Around 10,000 years ago the ice age finally ended. Temperatures rose, probably to levels similar to those today, and forests expanded further. By 8,500 years ago, the rising sea levels caused by the melting glaciers cut Britain off from continental Europe for the last time. The warmer climate changed the arctic environment to one of pine, birch, and alder forest; this less open landscape was less conducive to the large herds of reindeer and wild horse that had previously sustained humans. Those animals were replaced in people's diets by less social animals such as elk, red deer, roe deer, wild boar and aurochs which would have required different hunting techniques in order to be effectively exploited. Tools changed to incorporate barbs which could snag the flesh of a hunted animal, making it harder for it to escape alive. Tiny microliths were developed for hafting onto harpoons and spears. Woodworking tools such as adzes appear in the archaeological record, although some flint blade types remained similar to their Palaeolithic predecessors. The dog was domesticated because of its benefits during hunting and the wetland environments created by the warmer weather would have been a rich source of fish and game. It is likely that these environmental changes were accompanied by social changes with the groups that inhabited Britain at this time. Humans spread and reached the far north of Scotland during this period. Sites from the British Mesolithic include Star Carr in Yorkshire and Oronsay in Orkney. Excavations at Howick in Northumberland uncovered evidence of a large circular building dating to c. 7,600 BC which is interpreted as a dwelling. A further example has also been identified at Deepcar in Sheffield. The view of Mesolithic Britons as being exclusively nomadic is now being replaced with a more complex picture of seasonal occupation or in some cases, permanent occupation and attendant land and foodsource management where conditions permitted it.

• • prehistoric britain - Mesolithic - The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition
    • It is likely that the bounteous nature of the Mesolithic environment and ancient Britons' success in exploiting it eventually led to exhaustion of many natural resources. The remains of a Mesolithic elk found caught in a bog at Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire demonstrated that it had been wounded by hunters and escaped on three different occasions, indicating over-hunting during the Mesolithic. A few Neolithic monuments overlie Mesolithic sites but little direct continuity can be demonstrated.