As hunter-gatherers, Mesolithic people lived nomadic lives. This meant that they moved camps during the year so they could use food sources as they became available, or follow the seasonal movements of herds. They also travelled to collect or trade flint and other materials to make tools. Some sites are large and located near lakes or rivers. These may have been semi-permanent settlements for larger groups over longer periods of time. Other camps are small and were used for short episodes when people carried out a single task, such as collecting plants, waiting for animals to hunt, or making stone tools.

Animal bone, teeth or antler can sometimes show the season in which people visited a site. This is because bone and teeth can reveal the age of an animal at death. As we know what time of year certain animals give birth, we can work out in which season they died. Because antlers are shed and re-grown annually, they can also show the season that a site is occupied. Although it is clear that seasonal patterns exist, there are not enough sites yet to show exactly how groups of people moved around their territory.