 The Early Neolithic was a revolutionary period of British history . Beginning in the fifth millennium BCE , it saw a widespread change in lifestyle as the communities living in the British Isles adopted agriculture as their primary form of subsistence , abandoning the hunter @-@ gatherer lifestyle that had characterised the preceding Mesolithic period . Archaeologists have been unable to prove whether this adoption of farming was because of a new influx of migrants coming in from continental Europe or because the indigenous Mesolithic Britons came to adopt the agricultural practices of continental societies . Either way , it certainly emerged through contact with continental Europe , probably as a result of centuries of interaction between Mesolithic people living in south @-@ east Britain and Linear <unk> culture ( <unk> ) communities in north @-@ eastern France . The region of modern Kent would have been a key area for the arrival of continental European settlers and visitors , because of its position on the estuary of the River Thames and its proximity to the continent . 
