Prehistory
Skara Brae: Orkney's Remarkably Preserved Neolithic Village
The best-preserved Neolithic village in northern Europe, part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site since 1999.
Era · Before c. 3000 BC
Prehistory
From the formation of Earth and the age of dinosaurs to the first cave art and monuments, before writing was invented.
Prehistory
Tarxien Temples: Spiral Carvings of Prehistoric Malta
The last great temple complex of prehistoric Malta, abandoned around 2500 BC and later reused as a Bronze Age cremation cemetery.
Prehistory
Stones of Stenness: One of the Oldest Stone Circles in Orkney
A stone circle within a henge, among the earliest in Britain, now part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.
Prehistory
Stonehenge: The Prehistoric Stone Circle on Salisbury Plain
A monumental stone circle aligned on the solstices, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world's best-known prehistoric monuments.
Prehistory
Mosasaurus of Maastricht: The Sea Lizard Seized by France
The skull taken to Paris in 1795 was recognised as an extinct giant marine lizard, later named Mosasaurus, and became key evidence that species can die out.
Prehistory
Megatherium: The Giant Ground Sloth Found in Argentina in 1787
The Luján skeleton became one of the first fossil vertebrates ever mounted and, through Cuvier, a founding piece of evidence for extinction.
Prehistory
Mary Anning and the Lyme Regis Ichthyosaur Discovery of 1811
The Annings' ichthyosaur, followed by Mary Anning's plesiosaur and pterosaur finds, gave early geologists some of the first complete skeletons of extinct marine reptiles.
Prehistory
Iguanodon: Gideon Mantell and the Discovery of the Sussex Teeth
Mantell named Iguanodon in 1825, making it the second dinosaur to be scientifically named and the first recognised as a plant-eater.
Prehistory
Megalosaurus (1824): William Buckland Names the First Dinosaur
Megalosaurus became the first dinosaur genus to be scientifically named and one of the three founding members of Richard Owen's Dinosauria in 1842.
Prehistory
Crystal Palace Dinosaurs (1854): The First Life-Size Models
The sculptures became the world's first life-size models of dinosaurs and other extinct animals; they survive today as Grade I listed monuments.
Prehistory
Hadrosaurus foulkii (1858): America's First Dinosaur Skeleton
Hadrosaurus became the first substantial dinosaur skeleton found in North America, the first evidence that some dinosaurs walked on two legs and, in 1868, the first dinosaur skeleton mounted for public display.
Prehistory
Archaeopteryx (1861): The Fossil Linking Birds and Dinosaurs
The first Archaeopteryx fossils revealed a Late Jurassic animal with both reptile and bird features, later recognised as key evidence that birds descend from dinosaurs.