This book is an account of a period covering some 4000 years from the beginnings of farming by stone-using communities to the end of the era of bronze. In this time the face of Britain changed profoundly, from a forest wilderness to a patchwork of open ground and managed woodland. Vast areas were deforested and have never grown trees since that time. The people went from building enormous ceremonial monuments to equally significant field systems, defended hillforts and permanent dwellings. Michael Parker Pearson looks at the ways in which we interpret the tantalizing evidence from this era of prehistory, showing what life was like and how it changed.