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The lack of writing means we know very little about the culture of these Stone Age people. Story telling and maybe some music would have continued from last time. Small stone cubes with different dents on each side have been found so we can assume they may have had a game using their type of dice. These people also worshipped many different gods. The people believed that these gods or spirits had an influence on nature. Gifts would be left for the gods and ceremonies would be held to honour them. As the Stone Age went on, the way the people dealt with death seems to have changed too. Before 4,000BC when people died they would be placed in a pit used by everyone. This was known as a communal burial because a community used it. Around 4,000BC individuals were buried in rectangular barrows. A barrow, in this case, is a burial mound. The dead were placed in a stone chamber which was then covered with earth. Later barrows changed shape and became circular. Barrows sometimes had several chambers for different family members. However recently some archaeologists have uncovered barrows which do not contain any human bones. This has got everyone thinking as to what these barrows might be. Perhaps people would bury their homes and possessions as they moved away, hoping to come back some time and live there again. Any ideas? As we said before it was also during this period that stone circles began to appear. Stonehenge, the most famous stone circle in England, was started in about 2,700 BC but wasn’t finished for 700 years so you may read more about it next time.
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