VISITORS have the chance to hold history in the palm of their hand, including getting to grips with the stone tools once wielded by our ancient ancestors.

Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service is running a workshop focused on the stone tools used by our ancient ancestors.

Worcestershire is full of traces of our ancient ancestors, from 300,000 year-old tools of Ice Age hunters to the vast hillforts built 2500 years ago by Iron Age communities.

One of the most enduring and fascinating windows into their world is the stone tools they left behind.

For most of human history, stones like flint were vital for toolmaking, and studying the many examples unearthed across the county tells us much about the lives of the people who made and used them.

This workshop will explain how to identify key types of stone tools, what they tell us about lifestyles, trade and cultural contact, and how changes in technology reflect shifting patterns of life in this area over thousands of years.

Using real artefacts as well as examples from our replica collection, attendees will get the chance to see, examine and hold our prehistoric past in their hands.

The workshop will take place on Tuesday, July 19 between 7pm and 9pm at the Hive.

In this photo archaeologist Rob Hedge holds an early Bronze Age flint arrowhead, around 4000 years old, found in south Worcestershire.

He said: "Stone tools are a powerful connection to the everyday lives of our ancestors, as well as providing invaluable clues for archaeologists about how people lived in the past.

"Holding a piece of history in your hand, knowing that the last person to use it, hundreds of generations ago, held it in just the same way, is a very special feeling.

"This workshop is a chance to learn more about these extraordinary tools and the people that made them."

Places are £6 and need to be booked in advance. People can book via http://www.thehiveworcester.org/explore-the-past-events.html