Prehistoric Earley - The Romans and beyond - The Middle Ages - The Manors of Erlegh - About Soly Joel - Maiden Erlegh Park - Other Natural Features - From Hamlet to Town

It is very likely that humans from the Palaeolithic period - the Old Stone Age - up to 400,000 years BC were foraging in Earley for edible vegetation and grubs and hunting wild cattle, deer and elephant. In 1961 Ian Skaife, then a schoolboy, found a small pointed handaxe near Maiden Erlegh Lake and near excavations at Instow Road. Finds of handaxes and other items from the same period have been discovered from gardens in Silverdale Road, Fowler Close and in other nearby locations within the immediate area. All finds are thought to come from Late Palaeolithic period around 35,000 years ago. It seems hard to imagine Earley some 12,000 years ago covered with pine and birch woodland. As the climate warmed and the English Channel was created the woodlands of southern England had seceded to elm, alder, lime and oak. This period of history is known as Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age. It is in this time that we find the first evidence of human settlement or activity in the area. Traces of flimsy shelters made from brushwood have been found in North Earley on the site of the old Power Station at the Thames Valley Business Park. Tools from this era have been found within the Town. These early residents would have depended on the surrounding woodland for hunting and gathering of edible plants such as nuts, berries and roots. During this period of time, the early humans began to change the landscape by the deliberate burning of the woodland. This would have created glades in the forest which in turn would have attracted wild animals into clearings to feed on the new growth, and thus provided easy hunting. For example, Hazel is known to benefit from increased sunlight to the forest floor, which in turn would have provided another food source.

It is thought that the clearing of woodland for agriculture and the keeping of domesticated animals started around 4000 BC, the Neolithic or New Stone Age, with the arrival of people from the Continent. Small areas of wildwood would have been cleared using stone tools. Cereals would have been grown to create pasture for cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. The grazing of these animals would have prevented re-growth from the tree stumps. Half of England had ceased to be wildwood by 500 BC. Again artifacts from this period have been found in Silverdale Road and other locations. There is archeological evidence for continued human presence during the Bronze Age and Iron Age on the site of the Thames Valley Business Park in North Earley.

Prehistoric Earley - The Romans and beyond - The Middle Ages - The Manors of Erlegh - About Soly Joel - Maiden Erlegh Park - Other Natural Features - From Hamlet to Town