This thesis deals with aspects of the prehistoric archaeology of the Wear Valley from the river's source in western Durham down to Sunderland on the east coast. It is the product of field, documentary and museum research designed to collect and bring together archaeological data from a previously neglected area and attempts to provide a full typological and morphological discussion of the material in a northern British context. It also attempts to use the information In conjunction with available environmental data to produce models for prehistoric settlement and land and resource utilisation in the area from the Later Mesolithic to the Iron Age period. The thesis is presented in three volumes. Volume 1 is a discussion of collected data in ten chapters. An initial discussion of the forces at work in the production of the archaeological distributions is presented (Ch. I) and the available environmental data are outlined and the study area described in detail (Ch. II). An attempt is made to set the present research into a historical context (Ch. III) and then the collected data are discussed under the headings, Flint and Chert Material, Polished Flint and Stone Axes and Shaft Hole Implements, Prehistoric Pottery, Bronze Metalwork, Burial Sites and Later Prehistoric Settlement Sites (Chs. IV - IX). Ch. X presents a detailed discussion of prehistoric settlement and land and resource utilisation. Volume 2 is an Inventory providing detailed descriptions of sites and finds arranged in six sections to correspond with Chs. IV - IX in Volume 1 and Volume 3 is a corpus of illustrative material.