Prehistoric Britain was a period in the human occupation of Great Britain that extended throughout prehistory, ending with the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43. British military history is a long and varied topic, extending from the prehistoric and ancient historic period, through the Roman invasions of Julius Caesar and Claudius and subsequent Roman occupation; warfare in the Mediaeval period, including the invasions of the Saxons and the Vikings in the Early Middle Ages, the... The History of British society demonstrates innumerable changes over many centuries. ... Stonehenge, England, erected by Neolithic peoples ca. ... Roman invasion of Britain: Britain was the target of invasion by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire several times during its history. ... Look up AD, ad-, and ad in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Events Aulus Plautius, with 4 legions, landed on Britain. ...

Preface

Britain has been inhabited by members of the Homo genus for hundreds of thousands of years and by Homo sapiens for tens of thousands of years. During the last Ice Age (around 6000 BC) Britain was cut off from the rest of Europe. By around 4000 BC, this new island was populated by Neolithic nomads.^[1] However, none of the pre-Roman inhabitants of Britain had any written language, so their history, culture and way of life are known only through archaeological finds. Species Homo sapiens See text for extinct species. ... Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man) is the scientific name for the human species. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. ... Roman or Romans may refer to: A thing or person of or from the city of Rome. ... For referencing in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Citing sources. ...

The first written record of Britain and its inhabitants was by the Greek navigator Pytheas, who explored the coastal region of Britain around 325 BC. Ancient Britons were however involved in extensive trade and cultural links with the rest of Europe from the Neolithic onwards, especially in exporting tin which was in abundant supply. Pytheas (Πυθέας(Pitheas), ca. ... BC may stand for: Before Christ (see Anno Domini) : an abbreviation used to refer to a year before the beginning of the year count that starts with the supposed year of the birth of Jesus. ... An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. ... This article is about the metallic chemical element. ...

Located at the fringes of Europe, Britain received foreign technological and cultural achievements much later than mainland areas did during prehistory. The story of ancient Britain is traditionally seen as one of successive waves of settlers from the continent, bringing with them new cultures and technologies. More recent archaeological theories have questioned this migrationist interpretation and argue for a more complex relationship between Britain and the continent. Many of the changes in British society demonstrated in the archaeological record are now suggested to be the effects of the native inhabitants adapting foreign customs rather than being subsumed by an invading population. Migrationism is an approach to explaining changes in past societies based on the theory that movements of people from one region to another can account for changes in the culture of the second region. ... The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyise and reconstruct the past. ...

The Palaeolithic

Palaeolithic Britain is the period from almost 750,000 years ago until around 10,000 years ago. This huge length of time saw many changes in the environment, encompassing several glacial and interglacial periods which greatly affected human settlement in the region. Providing dating for this distant period of time is difficult and contentious. The inhabitants of the region at this time were bands of hunter-gatherers who roamed all over northern Europe following herds of animals. The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic – lit. ... This article is about the geological formation. ... Glaciation, often called an ice age, is a geological phenomenon in which massive ice sheets form in the Arctic and Antarctic and advance toward the equator. ... In anthropology, the hunter-gatherer way of life is that led by certain societies of the Neolithic Era based on the exploitation of wild plants and animals. ...

Lower Palaeolithic

There is evidence from bones and flint tools found in coastal deposits near Happisburgh in Norfolk and Pakefield in Suffolk that a species of Homo was present in what is now Britain around 700,000 years ago. At this time, southern and eastern Britain were linked to continental Europe by a wide land bridge allowing humans to move freely. The current position of the English Channel was a large river flowing westwards and fed by tributaries that would later become the Thames and Seine. Reconstructing this ancient environment has provided clues to the route first visitors took to arrive at what was then a peninsula of the Eurasian continent. Archaeologists have found a string of early sites located close to the route of a now lost watercourse named the Bytham River which indicate that it was exploited as the earliest route west into Britain. Flint tools were made by stone age peoples worldwide. ... The view of the cliffs from the end of Beach Road showing the precarious position of several houses, as the cliffs are being eaten away by coastal erosion. ... Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... Statistics Population: 57,746 (2001 Census) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TM548933 Administration District: Waveney Shire county: Suffolk Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Suffolk Historic county: Suffolk Services Police force: Suffolk Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: East of England Post... Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in East Anglia, England. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... For the Thoroughbred racehorse of the same name, see English Channel (horse). ... This article is about the River Thames in southern England. ... This article is about the river in France; it should not be confused with the Senne, a much smaller river that flows through Brussels. ... The Bytham River is a now lost ancient river in paleolithic Britain that ran through the English Midlands until around 450,000 years ago. ...

Sites such as Boxgrove in Sussex illustrate the later arrival in the archaeological record of an archaic Homo species called Homo heidelbergensis around 500,000 years ago. These early peoples made Acheulean flint tools and hunted the large native mammals of the period. They drove elephants, rhinoceri and hippopotami over the tops of cliffs or into bogs to more easily kill them. Boxgrove is the name of a Lower Palaeolithic archaeological site discovered in a gravel quarry to the east of Chichester in the English county of West Sussex. ... This article refers to the historic county in England. ... Species Homo sapiens See text for extinct species. ... Binomial name †Homo heidelbergensis Schoetensack, 1908 Homo heidelbergensis (Heidelberg Man) is an extinct species of the genus Homo and the direct ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis in Europe. ... Acheulean hand-axes from Kent. ... Genera and Species Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Elephas antiquus † Elephas beyeri † Elephas celebensis † Elephas cypriotes † Elephas ekorensis † Elephas falconeri † Elephas iolensis † Elephas planifrons † Elephas platycephalus † Elephas recki † Stegodon † Mammuthus † Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of pachyderm, and the only remaining family in the order Proboscidea... Black Rhino from Howletts Wild Animal Park For other uses, see Rhinoceros (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758 The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or Greek ίππόποταμος (hippos meaning horse and potamus meaning river) is a large, plant-eating African mammal, one of only two living and three (or four) recently extinct species in the family Hippopotamidae. ... Lütt-Witt Moor, a bog in Henstedt-Ulzburg in northern Germany. ...

The extreme cold of the following Anglian glaciation is likely to have driven humans out of Britain altogether and the region does not appear to have been occupied again until the ice receded during the Hoxnian interglacial. This warmer time period lasted from around 300,000 until 200,000 years ago and saw the Clactonian flint tool industry develop at sites such as Barnfield Pit in Kent. The period had produced a rich and widespread distribution of sites by Palaeolithic standards, although uncertainty over the relationship between the Clactonian and Acheulean industries is still unresolved. The Anglian glaciation is a name for an ice age period which occurred between 450,000 and 300,000 years ago. ... The Hoxnian interglacial is a name for an interglacial period which occurred between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. ... The Clactonian is the name given by archaeologists to an industry of European flint tool manufacture which dates to the early part of the interglacial period known as the Hoxnian, the Mindell-Riss or the Holstein interglacial (300,000-200,000 years ago). ... Barnfield Pit is the site of a gravel quarry near the village of Swanscombe in the north west of the English county of Kent. ...

This period saw also Levallois flint tools introduced, possibly by humans arriving from Africa. Finds from Swanscombe and Botany Pit in Purfleet support Levallois technology being a European rather than African introduction however. The more advanced flint technology permitted more efficient hunting and therefore made Britain a more worthwhile place to remain until the following period of cooling (Wolstonian glacial, 200,000-130,000 years ago). The Levallois technique is a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of flint knapping developed by humans during the Palaeolithic period. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... , Swanscombe is a village, part of the Borough of Dartford on the north Kent coast in England. ... Purfleet is a place in the Thurrock unitary authority in England. ... The Wolstonian glaciation was an ice age period which occurred between 200,000 and 125,000 years ago. ...

However, there is little evidence of human occupation during the subsequent Ipswichian interglacial between around 130,000 and 110,000 years ago. Meltwaters from the previous glaciation cut Britain off from the continent for the first time during this period which may explain the lack of activity. Overall, there appears to have been a gradual decline in population between the Hoxnian interglacial and this time suggesting that the absence of humans in the archaeological record here was the result of gradual depopulation. The Ipswichian interglacial is a name for an interglacial period which occurred between 150,000 and 115,000 years ago. ...

Upper Palaeolithic

Neanderthal occupation of Britain was limited and by 30,000 BC the first signs of modern human (Homo sapiens) activity, the Aurignacian industry, are known. The most famous example from this period is the burial of the Red Lady of Paviland in modern day coastal south Wales. A final ice age covered Britain between around 70,000 and 10,000 years ago with an extreme cold snap between 22,000 and 13,000 years ago called the Dimlington stadial which may have driven humans south out of Britain altogether, pushing them back across the land bridge that had resurfaced at the beginning of the glaciation. Sites such as Gough's Cave in Somerset provide evidence suggesting that humans returned to Britain towards the end of this ice age, in a warm period known as the Dimlington interstadial although further extremes of cold right before the final thaw may have caused them to leave again and then return repeatedly. The environment during this ice age period would have been a largely treeless tundra, eventually replaced by a gradually warmer climate, perhaps reaching 17 degrees Celsius (62.6 Fahrenheit) in summer which encouraged the expansion of birch trees as well as shrub and grasses. For other uses, see Neanderthal (disambiguation). ... Aurignacian is the name of a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic present in Europe and south west Asia. ... The Red Lady of Paviland was a fairly complete human skeleton dyed in red ochre that was discovered in 1826 by Rev. ... This article is about the country. ... Cold snap is used in two ways to describe climate: A cold snap is a geological term for a period of intensely cold and dry weather, often occurring during an Ice Age. ... Cheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom Cheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom, near the village of Cheddar in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. ... This article is about the county of Somerset in England. ... For other uses, see Tundra (disambiguation). ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale (previously known as the centigrade scale). ... For other uses, see Fahrenheit (disambiguation). ... Species Many species; see text and classification Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula, in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. ...

The first distinct culture of the Upper Palaeolithic in Britain is what archaeologists call the Creswellian industry. It produced more refined flint tools but also made use of bone, antler, shell, amber, animal teeth, and mammoth ivory. These were fashioned into tools but also jewellery and rods of uncertain purpose. Flint seems to have been brought into areas with limited local resources; the stone tools found in the caves of Devon seem to have been sourced from Salisbury Plain, 100 miles (161 km) east. This is interpreted as meaning that the early inhabitants of Britain were highly mobile, roaming over wide distances and carrying 'toolkits' of flint blades with them rather than heavy, unworked flint nodules or improvising tools extemporaneously. The possibility that groups also travelled to meet and exchange goods or sent out dedicated expeditions to source flint has also been suggested. In archaeology, culture refers to either of two separate but allied concepts: An archaeological culture is a pattern of similar artefacts and features found within a specific area over a limited period of time. ... Creswellian is a British Palaeolithic culture named after the type site of Creswell Crags in Derbyshire. ... For other uses, see Amber (disambiguation). ... This article is about the genus Mammuthus. ... Part of the seafront of Torquay, south Devon, at high tide Devon is a large county in South West England, bordered by Cornwall to the west, and Dorset and Somerset to the east. ... This article is about the plateau in southern England; Salisbury Plain is also an area on South Georgia Island. ...

The dominant food species were the Wild Horse (Equus ferus) and Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) although other mammals ranging from hares to mammoth were also hunted. From the limited evidence available, burial seemed to involve skinning and dismembering a corpse with the bones placed in caves. This suggests a practice of excarnation and secondary burial, and possibly some form of ritual cannibalism. Artistic expression seems to have been mostly limited to engraved bone although the cave art at Creswell Crags is a notable exception. Trinomial name Equus ferus ferus Boddaert, 1785 The Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus, was the Eurasian wild horse. ... This article is about the species of deer. ... Genera Lepus Caprolagus Pronolagus Hares and Jackrabbits belong to family Leporidae, and mostly in genus Lepus. ... This article is about the genus Mammuthus. ... In archaeology and anthropology the term excarnation refers to the burial practice adopted by some societies of removing the flesh of the dead, leaving only the bones. ... Cannibal redirects here. ... Cave, or rock, paintings are paintings painted on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually dating to pre_historic times. ... Map sources for Creswell Crags at grid reference SK536741 Creswell Crags is a limestone gorge on the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire border, in the Midlands of England. ...

By 10,500 years ago the climate was becoming cooler and dryer. Food animal populations seem to have declined although woodland coverage expanded. Tool manufacture in the Final Upper Palaeolithic revolved around smaller flints and bone and antler work became less common. However, the number of known sites is much larger and more widely spread. Many more open air sites are known such as that at Hengistbury Head. Hengistbury Head is a headland jutting into the English Channel between Bournemouth and Christchurch in the English county of Dorset. ...

Mesolithic

Around 10,000 years ago the ice age finally ended. Temperatures rose, probably to levels similar to those today, and forests expanded further. By 8,500 years ago, the rising sea levels caused by the melting glaciers cut Britain off from continental Europe for the last time. The warmer climate changed the Arctic environment to one of pine, birch, and alder forest; this less open landscape was less conducive to the large herds of reindeer and wild horse that had previously sustained humans. Those animals were replaced in people's diets by less social animals such as elk, red deer, roe deer, wild boar and aurochs which would have required different hunting techniques in order to be effectively exploited. Tools changed to incorporate barbs which could snag the flesh of a hunted animal, making it harder for it to escape alive. Tiny microliths were developed for hafting onto harpoons and spears. Woodworking tools such as adzes appear in the archaeological record, although some flint blade types remained similar to their Palaeolithic predecessors. The dog was domesticated because of its benefits during hunting and the wetland environments created by the warmer weather would have been a rich source of fish and game. It is likely that these environmental changes were accompanied by social changes amongst the Britons of this time. Humans spread and reached the far north of Scotland during this period. Sites from the British Mesolithic include Star Carr in Yorkshire and Oronsay in Orkney. Excavations at Howick in Northumberland uncovered evidence of a large circular building dating to c. 7,600 BC which is interpreted as a dwelling. A further example has also been identified at Deepcar in Sheffield. The view of Mesolithic Britons as being exclusively nomadic is now being replaced with a more complex picture of seasonal occupation or in some cases, permanent occupation and attendant land and foodsource management where conditions permitted it. This article is about the geological formation. ... For other uses, see Pine (disambiguation). ... Species Many species; see text and classification Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula, in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. ... Species About 20-30 species, see text. ... Caribou redirects here. ... Trinomial name Equus ferus ferus Boddaert, 1785 The Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus, was the Eurasian wild horse. ... For other uses, see Moose (disambiguation). ... This article is about the species of deer. ... Binomial name (Linnaeus, 1758) The European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) is a deer species of Europe, Asia Minor, and Caspian coastal regions. ... Binomial name Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig. ... Binomial name Subspecies Bos primigenius primigenius   (Bojanus, 1827) Bos primigenius namadicus   (Falconer, 1859) Bos primigenius mauretanicus   (Thomas, 1881) See Ur (rune) for the rune. ... A microlith is a small stone tool, typically knapped of flint or chert, usually about three centimetres long or less. ... Adze The tool known as the adze [pronounced adds] serves for smoothing rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. ... Trinomial name Canis lupus familiaris The dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a domestic subspecies of the wolf, a mammal of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. ... Star Carr is a Mesolithic archaeological site in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. ... Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England. ... There is more than one Scottish island named Oronsay: Oronsay, Inner Hebrides (near Colonsay) Oronsay, Outer Hebrides See also: Ornsay, Orosay and Orsay for other Scottish islands. ... Location Geography Area Ranked 16th  - Total 990 km²  - % Water  ? Admin HQ Kirkwall ISO 3166-2 GB-ORK ONS code 00RA Demographics Population Ranked 32nd  - Total (2006) 19,800  - Density 20 / km² Scottish Gaelic  - Total () {{{Scottish council Gaelic Speakers}}} Politics Orkney Islands Council http://www. ... The Howick house Mesolithic site was found when an amateur archaeologist noticed flint tools eroding out of a sandy cliff face near the village of Howick in Northumberland. ... Northumberland is a county in the North East of England. ... Stocksbridge and Upper Don ward is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. ... For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ...

The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition

It is likely that the bounteous nature of the Mesolithic environment and ancient Britons' success in exploiting it eventually led to exhaustion of many natural resources. The remains of a Mesolithic elk found caught in a bog at Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire demonstrated that it had been wounded by hunters and escaped on three different occasions, indicating over-hunting during the Mesolithic. A few Neolithic monuments overlie Mesolithic sites but little direct continuity can be demonstrated. Farming of both crops and domestic animals was adopted in Britain around 4,500 BC at least partly because of the need for reliable food sources. Hunter-gathering ways of life would have persisted into the Neolithic at first but the increasing sophistication of material culture with the concomitant control of local resources by individual groups would have caused it to be replaced by distinct territories occupied by different tribes. Other elements of the Neolithic such as pottery, leaf-shaped arrowheads and polished stone axes would have been adopted earlier as part of the Neolithic 'package'. The climate had been warming since the later Mesolithic and continued to improve, replacing the earlier pine forests with woodland. , Poulton-le-Fylde is a town within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. ... Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. ... The Mesolithic (Greek mesos=middle and lithos=stone or the Middle Stone Age[1]) was a period in the development of human technology between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age. ... Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ...

The Neolithic

Traditionally the arrival of the Neolithic in Britain has been seen as a wave of immigration from the continent, supplanting the local hunter-gatherers. Modern archaeology now considers that farming along with pottery and settled living was in fact adopted by the native population who were related to the similarly newly-farming Neolithic people across the water. Knowledge of farming and ceramics probably passed between kinfolk through intermarriage, trade and other cultural ties. Links with continental Europe are demonstrated by finds of axes made from exotic stone such as jadeite. Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral with composition NaAlSi2O6. ...

Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of modern European populations shows that over 80% are descended in the female line from European hunter-gatherers. Less than 20% are descended in the female line from Neolithic farmers from the Middle East. In 1997 DNA analysis was undertaken on a tooth from a Mesolithic man whose remains were found in Gough's Cave at Cheddar Gorge. His mitochondrial DNA was of a type found in 11% of modern European populations. Mitochondrial DNA (some captions in German) Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria. ... The structure of part of a DNA double helix Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a nucleic acid molecule that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. ... Cheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom Cheddar Gorge is the largest gorge in the United Kingdom, near the village of Cheddar in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. ...

Such findings have cast doubt on the traditional view of successive waves of mass immigration annihilating earlier peoples. Historical examples where only the ruling, clerical and mercantile classes travelled long distances may be applicable to prehistory too. The arrival of farming and a sedentary lifestyle as shorthand for the Neolithic is increasingly giving way to a more complex view of the changes and continuities in practices that can be observed from the Mesolithic period onwards. For example the development of Neolithic monumental architecture apparently venerating the dead may represent more comprehensive social and ideological changes involving new interpretations of time, ancestry, community and identity.

In any case, the Neolithic Revolution, as it is called, introduced a more settled way of life and ultimately led to societies becoming divided into differing groups of farmers, artisans and leaders. Forest clearances were undertaken to provide room for cereal cultivation and animal herds. Native cattle and pigs were reared whilst sheep and goats were later introduced from the continent as were the wheats and barleys grown in Britain. The Neolithic Revolution is the term for the first agricultural revolution, describing the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement, as first adopted by various independent prehistoric human societies, in numerous locations on most continents between 10-12 thousand years ago. ...

The construction of the earliest earthwork sites in Britain began during the early Neolithic (c. 4400 BC- 3300 BC) in the form of long barrows used for communal burial and the first causewayed enclosures, sites which have parallels on the continent. The former may be derived from the long house although no long house villages have been found in Britain, only individual examples. The stone-built houses on Orkney such as those at Skara Brae are however indicators of some nucleated settlement in Britain. Evidence of growing mastery over the environment is embodied in the Sweet Track, a wooden trackway built to cross the marshes of the Somerset Levels and dated to 3807 BC. Leaf-shaped arrowheads, round-based pottery types and the beginnings of polished axe production are common indicators of the period. A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the Neolithic period. ... Causewayed enclosures are a type of large prehistoric earthworks common to the early Neolithic Europe. ... The Neolithic long house was a long, narrow timber dwelling built by the first farmers in Europe around 7,000 years ago. ... Location Geography Area Ranked 16th  - Total 990 km²  - % Water  ? Admin HQ Kirkwall ISO 3166-2 GB-ORK ONS code 00RA Demographics Population Ranked 32nd  - Total (2006) 19,800  - Density 20 / km² Scottish Gaelic  - Total () {{{Scottish council Gaelic Speakers}}} Politics Orkney Islands Council http://www. ... For the music group, see Skara Brae (music). ... The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England. ... The view towards Brent Knoll from Glastonbury Tor. ...

The Middle Neolithic (c. 3300 BC-c. 2900 BC) saw the development of cursus monuments close to earlier barrows and the growth and abandonment of causewayed enclosures as well as the building of impressive chamber tombs such as the Maeshowe types. The earliest stone circles and individual burials also appear. Cursus was a name given by early British archaeologists such as William Stukeley to the large parallel lengths of banks with external ditches which they thought were early Roman athletics tracks, hence the Latin name Cursus, meaning Circus. Cursus monuments are now understood to be Neolithic structures and may have... A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. ... Maeshowe Maeshowe Entrance Maeshowe (or Maes Howe) is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. ... Swinside stone circle, in the Lake District, England. ...

Different pottery types such as Grooved ware appear during the later Neolithic (c. 2900 BC-c. 2200 BC) whilst new enclosures, called henges were built, along with stone rows and the famous sites of Stonehenge and Silbury Hill reached their peak. Industrial flint mining such as that at Cissbury and Grimes Graves began. Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. ... A henge is a roughly circular or oval-shaped flat area over 20m in diameter which is enclosed and delimited by a boundary earthwork that usually comprises a ditch with an external bank. ... In archaeology, a stone row or stone alignment is a linear arrangement of standing stones. ... For other uses, see Stonehenge (disambiguation). ... Silbury Hill Silbury Hill (grid reference SU100685), part of the complex of Neolithic monuments around Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire (which includes the West Kennet Long Barrow), is the tallest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and one of the worlds largest. ... Cissbury is the name of a prehistoric site near the village of Findon around 5 miles north of Worthing in the English county of West Sussex. ... View of a seam of Flint in the Grimes Graves excavation. ...

The Bronze Age

Main article: Atlantic Bronze Age

Extent of the Beaker culture

In around 2,700 BC a new culture was adopted in Britain, often referred to as the Beaker culture. Beaker pottery appears in the Mount Pleasant Phase (2,700 BC - 2,000 BC) along with flat axes and burial practices of inhumation. The megalithic phases of Stonehenge date to this period. The so called Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the approx. ... Image File history File links Beaker_culture. ... Image File history File links Beaker_culture. ... In archaeology, culture refers to either of two separate but allied concepts: An archaeological culture is a pattern of similar artefacts and features found within a specific area over a limited period of time. ... approximate extent of the Beaker culture The Bell-Beaker culture (sometimes shortened to Beaker culture, Beaker people, or Beaker folk; German: ), ca. ... The Mount Pleasant Period is a phase of the later Neolithic in Britain dating to between c. ... By other animals Humans are not the only species to bury their dead. ... For other uses, see Stonehenge (disambiguation). ...

Believed to be of Iberian origin (modern day Spain and Portugal), Beaker techniques brought to Britain the skill of refining metal. At first they made items from copper, but from around 2,150 BC smiths had discovered how to make bronze (which was much harder than copper) by mixing copper with a small amount of tin. With this discovery, the Bronze Age arrived in Britain. Over the next thousand years, bronze gradually replaced stone as the main material for tool and weapon making. The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... This article is about metallic materials. ... For other uses, see Copper (disambiguation). ... This article is about the metal alloy. ... This article is about the metallic chemical element. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

Britain had large reserves of tin in the areas of Cornwall and Devon in what is now southwest England, and thus tin mining began. By around 1,600 BC the southwest of Britain was experiencing a trade boom as British tin was exported across Europe. For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... Part of the seafront of Torquay, south Devon, at high tide Devon is a large county in South West England, bordered by Cornwall to the west, and Dorset and Somerset to the east. ... This article is about mineral extractions. ...

The Beaker people were also skilled at making ornaments from gold, and examples of these have been found in graves of the wealthy Wessex culture of southern Britain. GOLD refers to one of the following: GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade). ... The Wessex culture is a name given to the predominant prehistoric culture of southern Britain during the early Bronze Age. ...

Early Bronze Age Britons buried their dead beneath earth mounds known as barrows, often with a beaker alongside the body. Later in the period, cremation was adopted as a burial practice with cemeteries of urns containing cremated individuals appearing in the archaeological record. People of this period were also largely responsible for building many famous prehistoric sites such as the later phases of Stonehenge along with Seahenge. A tumulus (plural tumuli, from the Latin word for mound or small hill, from the root to bulge, swell also found in ) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. ... A beaker is a small ceramic or metal drinking vessel shaped to be held in the hands. ... The crematorium at Haycombe Cemetery, Bath, England. ... Graves at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York A cemetery is a place (usually an enclosed area of land) in which dead bodies are buried. ... Maya funerary urn For the computing term, see URN. An urn is a vase, ordinarily covered and without handles that usually has a narrowed neck above a footed pedestal. ... For other uses, see Stonehenge (disambiguation). ... Seahenge or Holme I is a bronze-age timber circle discovered in 1998 just off the coast of the English county of Norfolk at Holme-next-the-Sea. ...

There is some debate amongst archaeologists as to whether the 'Beaker people' were a race of people who migrated to Britain en masse from the continent, or whether a prestigious Beaker cultural "package" of goods and behaviours (which eventually spread across most of western Europe) diffused to Britain's existing inhabitants through trade across tribal boundaries. Modern thinking tends towards the latter view. Alternatively, a ruling class of Beaker individuals may have made the migration and come to control the native population at some level.

There is evidence of a relatively large scale disruption of cultural patterns which some scholars think may indicate an invasion (or at least a migration) into southern Great Britain circa the 12th century BC. This disruption was felt far beyond Britain, even beyond Europe, as most of the great Near Eastern empires collapsed (or experienced severe difficulties) and the Sea Peoples harried the entire Mediterranean basin around this time. The Near East is a term commonly used by archaeologists, geographers and historians, less commonly by journalists and commentators, to refer to the region encompassing Anatolia (the Asian portion of modern Turkey), the Levant (modern Israel/Palestine, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), Georgia, Armenia, and... The Budgie People is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty, and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ...

The Iron Age

Main article: British Iron Age

In around 750 BC iron working techniques reached Britain from southern Europe. Iron was stronger and more plentiful than bronze, and its introduction marks the beginning of the Iron Age. Iron working revolutionised many aspects of life, most importantly agriculture. Iron tipped ploughs could churn up land far more quickly and deeply than older wooden or bronze ones, and iron axes could clear forest land far more efficiently for agriculture. In the British Isles, the Iron Age lasted from about the 7th century BC until the Roman conquest and until the 5th century in non-Romanised parts. ... Ironwork is any weapon, artwork, utensil or architectural feature made of iron especially used for decorative purposes. ... For other uses, see Iron (disambiguation). ... This article is about the metal alloy. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... The traditional way: a German farmer works the land with a horse and plough. ... Axe For other uses, see Axe (disambiguation). ...

About 900 BC, British society changed again. Broadly termed the Celtic culture, it had by 500 BC covered most of the British Isles. The Celts were highly skilled craftsmen and produced intricately patterned gold jewellery and weapons in bronze and iron. This article is about the European people. ... Celts, normally pronounced //, is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic language. ...

Iron Age Britons lived in organised tribal groups, ruled by a chieftain.

As people became more numerous, wars broke out between opposing tribes. This led to the building of hill forts. Although the first had been built about 1,500 BC, hillfort building peaked during the later Iron Age. Large farmsteads produced food in industrial quantities and Roman sources note that Britain exported hunting dogs, animal skins and slaves. A hill fort is a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for military advantage. ... Roman or Romans may refer to: A thing or person of or from the city of Rome. ...

The Late pre-Roman Iron Age (LPRIA)

The last centuries before the Roman invasion saw an influx of refugees from Gaul (modern day France and Belgium) known as the Belgae, who were displaced as the Roman Empire expanded. Roman or Romans may refer to: A thing or person of or from the city of Rome. ... Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... The Belgae were a group of nations or tribes living in north-eastern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 1st century BC, and later also attested in Britain. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ...

From around 175 BC they settled in the areas of Kent, Hertfordshire and Essex and brought with them especially advanced pottery-making skills. The Belgae were partially Romanised and were responsible for creating the first settlements large enough to be called towns. For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... For the similarly named county in the West Midlands region, see Herefordshire. ... For other meanings of Essex, see Essex (disambiguation). ... Ronda, Spain Main street in Bastrop, Texas, United States, a small town A town is a community of people ranging from a few hundred to several thousands, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas. ...

The last centuries before the Roman invasion saw increasing sophistication in British life. About 100 BC, iron bars began to be used as currency, while internal trade and trade with continental Europe flourished, largely due to Britain's extensive mineral reserves. Coinage was developed, based on continental types but bearing the names of local chieftains. Coinage is: A Drinking game also known as Quarters a series of coins struck as part of currency a magazine about numismatics, capitalized: COINage The right or process of making coins The creation of a neologism, or new word; see word coinage The duty or tax on refined tin, abolished...

As the Roman Empire expanded northwards, Rome began to take interest in Britain. This may have been caused by an influx of refugees from Roman occupied Europe, or Britain's large mineral reserves. See Roman Britain for the history of this subsequent period. Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between 43 and 410. ...

See also

• List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
• Category:Celts
• Prehistoric Scotland
• Prehistoric Wales
• Geology of the United Kingdom - for the pre-human history of Britain.
• UK topics

Great Britain has many prehistoric sites and structures of interest, dating from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. ... Archaeology and geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex and dramatic past before the Romans brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history. ... Prehistoric Wales in terms of human settlements covers the period from about 225,000 years ago, the date attributed to the earliest human remains found in what is now Wales, to the year 48 when the Roman army began a campaign against one of the Welsh tribes. ... Geological map of Great Britain. ... This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the year 42. ... Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between 43 and 410. ...

References

External links

• Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project
  • Britain's human history revealed
• 700,000 year old remains in Norfolk
• The Boxgrove project
• Ancient Britons come mainly from Spain

Bibliography

• British History Encyclopedia. Paragon 1999, ISBN 1-4054-1632-7

• Brian Sykes: The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry. Bantam, London 2001, ISBN 0-593-04757-5