It is often the case that we think of people who lived in the remote past as being less sophisticated than ourselves. Wheeled vehicles were not used in the British Isles during the Neolithic and there is no direct evidence of water transport. However, particular objects show us that people did travel. For example, a number of axes made of an attractive green stone called jadeite have been found in England which date from the very beginning of the Neolithic. The jadeite comes from northern Italy. This shows that from at least 6000 years ago objects, and therefore people, were travelling long distances.

Although people must have been aware of distant communities who had different objects to trade, it is not clear how trade and exchange networks operated during the Neolithic. Objects like these axes were probably traded between communities, and gradually made their way to England through a series of exchanges over shorter distances. Whatever the mechanism for the movement of such objects, in order to reach England they must have crossed the sea at some point. This tells us that though no evidence has yet been found, Neolithic communities must have been capable of building seafaring craft.