Books

Kate Cunningham and Sam Cunningham

Vlad and the Stone Age

A Flea in History

Vlad Flea’s latest adventure takes him back thousands of years to prehistory.

11,300 years ago a family are on their way to Star Carr near modern-day Scarborough in Yorkshire.

Spring has arrived, the days are getting warmer, and Vlad the flea and Clum the wolf are travelling to Star Carr with their human family. There will be food and celebrations, but will they make it there safely or become a snack for a hungry cave bear?

In Vlad and the Stone Age archaeological finds are used to recreate life for people after the Ice Age. The illustrations feature the findings of decades of digs at Star Carr, showing what the reality of life in the Mesolithic period. These include the earliest evidence of homes, woodworking to build jetties on Flixton Lake, spear throwers and a bow and arrow. However, most intriguing are the shale pendant with markings that could have recorded a map, and thirty-three deer masks which had been left in the lake.

Kate and Sam have taken these objects and created a world where deer are not only sustenance, but also guides and mystical creatures that are intimately linked to the family.

On the surface Vlad and the Stone Age is an adventure story, but within it are also history facts and theories about how people lived many centuries ago.