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History of the British Isles
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Prehistoric Britain was a period in the human occupation of Great Britain that was the later part of prehistory, conventionally ending with the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, though some historical information is available about Britain before this. The history of the British Isles has witnessed intermittent periods of competition and cooperation between the people that occupy the various parts of Great Britain, In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2700 to 700 BC. In Britain and Ireland the Iron Age lasted from about the 7th century BC until the Roman conquest and until the 5th century in non- Romanised Archaeology and Geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex and dramatic past before the Romans brought Scotland Prehistoric Wales in terms of human settlements covers the period from about 230000 years ago the date attributed to the earliest human remains found in what is now Wales Prehistory Mesolithic (8000 BC - 4500 BC What little is known of pre- Christian Ireland comes from a few references in Roman writings Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410 Up to and during the Roman occupation of Britain, the native inhabitants of Roman Britain spoke Brythonic languages (a sub-family of the Celtic languages Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an Archaeologists ' label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity. The history of Ireland begins with the first known settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC when Hunter-gatherers arrived from Great Britain and continental The Early Medieval era in Ireland from 800 to 1166 is characterised by Viking raids then settlement in what had become a stable and wealthy country This period in Ireland's history was marked by the dominance of the so-called Protestant Ascendancy. Great Britain during the Middle Ages (from the 5th century withdrawal of Roman forces from the province of Britannia The Early Middle Ages, a period which corresponds in part with Early Historic Scotland and the Later Iron Age, is that era of Scottish pre-history and The history of Scotland in the High Middle Ages covers Scotland in the era between the death of Domnall II in 900 AD and the death of king Alexander III The history of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages might be said to be dominated by the twin themes of crisis and transition The Norman invasion of Wales began shortly after the Norman invasion of England. Wales in the Late Middle Ages covers the period from the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in late 1282 to the incorporation of Wales into England by the Laws in Wales Acts Gaelic Ireland was the political order that existed in Ireland prior to the Norman invasion and that ran in parallel to the subsequent nominal Lordship The later medieval period in Ireland (" Norman Ireland " was dominated by the Cambro-Norman invasion of the country in 1171. Early Modern Britain is the History of the island of Great Britain roughly corresponding to the 16th 17th and 18th centuries Early Modern Ireland saw the first full conquest of Ireland by England and its colonization with Protestant settlers from England and Scotland The history of the United Kingdom — British history — as an unified Sovereign state begins with the legistlative union between the kingdoms of England The history of Ireland begins with the first known settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC when Hunter-gatherers arrived from Great Britain and continental Northern Ireland was established as a distinct region of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1921 under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act 1920. From 1801 to 1922 the whole island of Ireland formed a constituent part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK The Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann (1922&ndash1937 was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by The country of Wales, or Cymru in Welsh has been inhabited by modern humans for at least 29000 years though continuous human habitation The history of England is similar to the history of Britain until the arrival of the Saxons The history of Ireland begins with the first known settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC when Hunter-gatherers arrived from Great Britain and continental Northern Ireland was established as a distinct region of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1921 under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The Republic of Ireland first became an independent state on 6 December 1922 The Isle of Man has been the scene of human occupation since the end of the Last glacial period over 10000 years ago The history of Scotland begins around 10000 years ago when Humans first began to inhabit Scotland after the end of the Devensian glaciation, the last The country of Wales, or Cymru in Welsh has been inhabited by modern humans for at least 29000 years though continuous human habitation The Bailiwick of Guernsey (Bailliage de Guernesey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. The island of Jersey and the other Channel Islands represent the last remnants of the medieval Duchy of Normandy that held sway in both France and Prehistoric Orkney See also Prehistoric Orkney As with Prehistoric Scotland generally the arrival of Hunter gatherers in Orkney had to The British Isles have a long history of migration from across Europe, starting in the Palaeolithic period The Constitution of the United Kingdom is said to be uncodified. Irish states have existed under a number of different names for nearly a thousand years This is a history of the economy of the United Kingdom and of the countries that joined to form it in 1707 and 1801 To 1800 The first settlers in Ireland were seafarers who survived largely by Fishing, Hunting and gathering. The military history of the United Kingdom covers the period from the birth of the united Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 with the political union of England and The History of English society demonstrates innumerable changes over many centuries The Maritime history of the United Kingdom involves events including Shipping, Ports Navigation, and seamen, as well as marine See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Stone Age Paleolithic See also Paleolithic, Recent African Origin, Early Homo sapiens, Early human migrations "Paleolithic" This page refers to the conquest begun in AD 43 For other Roman invasions see Caesar's invasions of Britain and Carausian Revolt. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus homo is part of the Geology of the British Isles. The Geology of Great Britain is hugely varied and complex and gives rise to the wide variety of landscapes found across the islands The prehistoric period is conventionally divided into a number of smaller periods but their boundaries are uncertain and the changes between them are gradual. The times of change are generally different from those of continental Europe.

Contents

Preface

Britain has been intermittently inhabited by members of the Homo genus for hundreds of thousands of years and by Homo sapiens for tens of thousands of years. Homo is the Genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus DNA analysis has shown that modern man arrived in Britain before the last ice age but retreated to Southern Europe when much of Britain was ice covered, with the remainder being tundra. At this time the sea level was around 127m lower than today so that Britain was joined to Ireland and to the continent of Europe. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world

After the end of the last Ice Age (around 9500 years ago) Ireland became separated from Britain and later (around 6000 BC) Britain was cut off from the rest of Europe. By 12,000 BC Britain had been reoccupied, as shown by archaeology. By around 4000 BC, the island was populated by people with a Neolithic culture. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos [1] However, none of the pre-Roman inhabitants of Britain have any known surviving written language. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC No literature of pre-Roman Britain has survived, so its history, culture and way of life are known mainly through archaeological finds. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos Though the main evidence for the period is archaeological, there is a growing amount of genetic evidence which is still changing. There is also a little amount of linguistic evidence, from river and hill names, which is covered in the articles on Pre-Celtic and Celtic. The term pre-Celtic refers to the period in the prehistory of Central and Western Europe postdating the emergence of Proto-Celtic and predating the expansion of the Celts Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts

The first significant written record of Britain and its inhabitants was by the Greek navigator Pytheas, who explored the coastal region of Britain around 325 BC. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Dates Pliny says that Timaeus (born about 350 BC believed Pytheas' story of the discovery of Amber. However, there may be some information on Britain in the "Ora Maritima" which is lost but incorporated in later authors' writing. 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. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos Tin is a Chemical element with the symbol Sn (stannum and Atomic number 50 Julius Caesar wrote of Britain around 50 BC.

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. 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 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. The archaeological record is a term used in Archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which Archaeologists

The Palaeolithic

Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) Britain is the period of the earliest known occupation of Britain by man. The term Paleolithic (or Palaeolithic) (from Greek παλαιός palaios, " Old " and λίθος Lithos, "stone" 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. "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. An interglacial is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature that separates Glacial periods within an Ice age. 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 or supported themselves by fishing. A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild Foraging and Hunting

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis suggests that 21% of the maternal lines in modern Britain came in the pre-glacial period and 51% in the Late Upper Palaeolithic.

However, by stark contrast, several studies of the Y-chromosome have shown that a mass migration of 50–100% of English males occurred in the past 2,500 years, most probably during the Anglo-Saxon invasion. For example, the 2002 study: "Y-chromosome evidence for Anglo-Saxon mass migration" [2] and the 2005 study: "The place of the Basques in the European Y-chromosome diversity landscape" [3]. Both these studies found that, only in Wales, was there a significant population of pre-Anglo-Saxon Y-chromosomes and that the English Y-chromosome was indistinguishable from that of Friesland in the Netherlands.

Recent (2006) scientific evidence [4] regarding mtDNA sequences from ancient and modern Europe has shown a distinct pattern for the different time periods sampled in the course of the study. Despite some limitations regarding sample sizes the results were found to be non-random. As such, the results indicate that, in addition to populations in Europe expanding from southern refugia after the last glacial maximum (especially the Franco-Cantabrian region), evidence also exists for various northern refugia.

Lower Palaeolithic

(up to 250,000 years ago)

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. Chipped stone tools were made by Stone age peoples worldwide Paleolithic tools were relatively simple repeated small flakes being struck or pressed from a cobble Happisburgh (pronounced - first syllable like 'haze' is a Village and Civil parish in the English County of Norfolk. Norfolk (ˈnɔrfək is a low-lying county in East Anglia, England, United Kingdom. Lowestoft (ˈləʊstɒft/ /ˈləʊstəf is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England, lying between the eastern edge of The Broads National Park Suffolk (ˈsʌfək is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. 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. The Thames ( is a major River flowing through southern England. The Seine (sɛn in French) is a slow flowing major River and commercial waterway within the regions of Île-de-France and Haute-Normandie 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. The Bytham River is a now lost ancient River in Paleolithic Britain that ran through the English Midlands until around 450000 years

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. Boxgrove is a Village and Civil parish in the Chichester District of the English county of West Sussex, about five kilometres (3 Sussex is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. Homo is the Genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives Homo heidelbergensis ("Heidelberg Man" is an Extinct Species of the Genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor These early peoples made Acheulean flint tools (hand axes) and hunted the large native mammals of the period. Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian,) is the name given to an Archaeological industry of Stone tool manufacture associated with prehistoric Hominins They drove elephants, rhinoceri and hippopotami over the tops of cliffs or into bogs to more easily kill them. Elephants ( family: Elephantidae) are large land Mammals of the order Proboscidea. Rhinoceros (raɪˈnɒsərəs often colloquially abbreviated rhino, is a name used to group five extant species of Odd-toed ungulates in the family The hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius) from the Greek ἱπποπόταμος ( hippopotamos, ιππος hippos meaning "horse" A bog or mire is a Wetland type that accumulates Acidic Peat, a deposit of dead plant material &ndash usually Mosses but also

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. The Kansan Glaciation (known in the UK as the Anglian glaciation, Elster glaciation in northern Europe and the Mindel glaciation in the 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 Clactonian is the name given by Archaeologists to an industry of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the Interglacial period An archaeological industry is the name given to a consistent range of assemblages connected with a single product, such as the Langdale axe industry. Swanscombe Heritage Park is a National Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Swanscombe in north-west 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.

This period saw also Levallois flint tools introduced, possibly by humans arriving from Africa. The Levallois technique is a name given by Archaeologists to a distinctive type of flint knapping developed by humans during the Palaeolithic period Finds from Swanscombe and Botany Pit in Purfleet support Levallois technology being a European rather than African introduction however. Swanscombe is a small town 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 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).

However, there is little evidence of human occupation during the subsequent Ipswichian interglacial between around 130,000 and 110,000 years ago. The Eemian interglacial era, now known as the Eemian Stage is temporally equivalent to the Sangamon Stage in North America, the Ipswichian Stage in 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.

Middle Palaeolithic

(from around 180,000 to 40,000 years ago)

From 180 to 60 kya there is no evidence of human occupation in Britain. From 60 to 40 kya Britain was grass land with giant deer and horse, with woolly mammoths, rhino and carnivores. The woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius) also called the tundra mammoth, is an extinct species of Mammoth. Neanderthal man had arrived in Britain by around 40,000 years ago. The Neanderthal (neɪˈændərtɑːl also with /niː-/ and /-θɔːl/ or Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from

Upper Palaeolithic

(around 40,000 – 10,000 years ago)

This period is often divided into three subperiods: the Early Upper Palaeolithic (before the main glacial period), the Middle Upper Palaeolithic (the main glacial period) and the Late Upper Palaeolithic (after the main glacial period). Evidence of Neanderthal occupation of Britain is limited and by 30,000 BC the first signs of modern human (Homo sapiens) activity, the Aurignacian industry, are known. Aurignacian is the name of a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic located in Europe and southwest Asia. The most famous example from this period is the burial of the "Red Lady of Paviland" (actually now known to be a man) in modern day coastal south Wales. The Red Lady of Paviland is a fairly complete Upper Paleolithic -era human male skeleton dyed in Red ochre, discovered in 1823 by Rev 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 (with the Last Glacial Maximum at around 20,000 years ago). This may well have driven humans south and out of Britain altogether, pushing them back across the land bridge that had resurfaced at the beginning of the glaciation, possibly to a refuge in Southern France and Iberia. Sites such as Gough's Cave in Somerset dated at 12,000 BC 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. Gough's Cave is located in Cheddar Gorge on the Mendip Hills, in Cheddar, Somerset, England. Somerset ( or) is a county in south west England The County town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county 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. In physical Geography, tundra is an area where the Tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons The Celsius Temperature scale was previously known as the centigrade scale. 6 Fahrenheit) in summer which encouraged the expansion of birch trees as well as shrub and grasses. Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736 a German Physicist who proposed it in 1724 Birch is the name of any Tree of the genus Betula ( Bé-tu-la) in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the

The first distinct culture of the Upper Palaeolithic in Britain is what archaeologists call the Creswellian industry, with leaf-shaped points probably used as arrowheads. In addition to its usual meaning in Social science, in Archaeology, the term culture is also used in reference to several related concepts unique to The Creswellian is a British Upper Palaeolithic culture named after the type site of Creswell Crags in Derbyshire by Dorothy It produced more refined flint tools but also made use of bone, antler, shell, amber, animal teeth, and mammoth ivory. Amber is Fossil tree Resin, which is appreciated for its color and beauty A mammoth is any Species of the Extinct Genus Mammuthus. These Proboscideans are members of the elephant family and 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, such as Kent's Cavern, seem to have been sourced from Salisbury Plain, 100 miles (161 km) east. Devon is a large county in the South West of England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name Kents Cavern is a Cave system in Torquay, Devon, England. It is notable for its archaeological and geological features Salisbury Plain is a Chalk Plateau in central southern England covering. 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.

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, including rhino and hyena. The Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus, was the Eurasian Wild horse. The last specimen of this species died in captivity in Ukraine in 1876 The Red Deer ( Cervus elaphus) is one of the largest Deer species Hares and jackrabbits are Leporids belonging to the Genus Lepus. A mammoth is any Species of the Extinct Genus Mammuthus. These Proboscideans are members of the elephant family and 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. In Archaeology and Anthropology the term excarnation refers to the burial practice adopted by some societies of removing the flesh of the dead, leaving Cannibalism (from Spanish es ''caníbal'' in connection with cannibalism among the Antillean Caribs, also called anthropophagy (from Greek ἄνθρωπος Artistic expression seems to have been mostly limited to engraved bone although the cave art at Creswell Crags and Mendip caves are notable exceptions. Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times Creswell Crags is a Limestone Gorge in North East Derbyshire, England near the villages of Creswell, Whitwell and Mendip is also a shortened name for The Mendip Hills, from which this district takes its name

From 12,700 to 11,500 years ago the climate became cooler and dryer, in what is known as the Younger Dryas period. Food animal populations seem to have declined although woodland coverage expanded. Tool manufacture in the Final Upper Palaeolithic revolved around smaller flints but bone and antler work became less common. Typically there are parallel-sided flint blades known as "Cheddar Points". There are scrapers, some of which are annoted with what may be calendars. However, the number of known sites is much larger than before 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

Mesolithic

(around 10,000 to 5500 years ago)

Around 10,000 years ago the ice age finally ended and the Holocene era began. The Holocene is a Geological epoch which began approximately 10000 years ago (about 8000 BC Temperatures rose, probably to levels similar to those today, and forests expanded further. By 9,500 years ago, the rising sea levels caused by the melting glaciers cut Britain off from Ireland, and by around 6500 years ago continental Europe was cut off for the last time. "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. 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. This article is about the tree For other uses of the term "pine" see Pine (disambiguation. Birch is the name of any Tree of the genus Betula ( Bé-tu-la) in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the Alder is the common name of a Genus of Flowering plants ( Alnus) belonging to the Birch family (Family Betulaceae) The Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus, was the Eurasian Wild horse. The last specimen of this species died in captivity in Ukraine in 1876 Those animals were replaced in people's diets by pig and less social animals such as elk, red deer, roe deer, wild boar and aurochs (wild cattle) which would have required different hunting techniques in order to be effectively exploited. The moose (North America or elk (Europe Alces alces, is the largest extant Species in the Deer family. The Red Deer ( Cervus elaphus) is one of the largest Deer species The European Roe Deer ( Capreolus capreolus) is a Deer species of Europe, Asia Minor, and Caspian coastal regions The boar or wild boar ( Sus scrofa) is an Omnivorous, gregarious Mammal of the biological family Suidae. The aurochs or urus ( Bos taurus primigenius) was a very large type of cattle that was prevalent in Europe until its Extinction in 1627 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. A microlith is a small stone tool typically knapped of Flint or Chert, usually about three centimetres long or less They are typically one Centimetre Woodworking tools such as adzes appear in the archaeological record, although some flint blade types remained similar to their Palaeolithic predecessors. An adze or adz (ædz is a tool used for smoothing rough-cut Wood in hand Woodworking. 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. The dog ( Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated Subspecies of the gray wolf, a Mammal of the Canidae family of the order 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 the Mendips, Star Carr in Yorkshire and Oronsay in the Inner Hebrides. Mendip is also a shortened name for The Mendip Hills, from which this district takes its name Star Carr is a Mesolithic archaeological site in North Yorkshire, England. Yorkshire is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Oronsay ( Scottish Gaelic: Orasaigh) also sometimes spelt and pronounced Oransay by the local community is a small Tidal island The Inner Hebrides ( Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan a-staigh - the inner isles is an Archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, to the south Excavations at Howick in Northumberland uncovered evidence of a large circular building dating to c. 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. The non-metropolitan county of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west 7,600 BC which is interpreted as a dwelling. A further example has also been identified at Deepcar in Sheffield. Stocksbridge and Upper Don ward &mdashwhich includes the districts of Deepcar, Oughtibridge, Stocksbridge, and Wharncliffe Side, and Sheffield ( is a city and Metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England The older 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 food source management where conditions permitted it. Travel distances seem to have become shorter, typically with movement between high and low ground.

The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition

Though the Mesolithic environment was of a bounteous nature, the rising population and ancient Britons' success in exploiting it eventually led to local 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 unsuccessful-hunting during the Mesolithic. Poulton-le-Fylde (commonly shortened by locals to just Poulton) 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 A few Neolithic monuments overlie Mesolithic sites but little direct continuity can be demonstrated. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age 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. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture 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.

In 1997 DNA analysis was undertaken on a tooth from a Mesolithic Cheddar Man from 9000 BC whose remains were found in Gough's Cave at Cheddar Gorge. Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a human male found in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. His mitochondrial DNA was of a type (H5) found in 11% of modern European populations.

The Neolithic

(4000 – 2000 BC)

The Neolithic was the period of domestication of plants and animals. A debate is currently being waged between those who believe that the introduction of farming and a sedentary lifestyle was brought about by resident peoples adopting new practices or by continental invaders bringing their culture with them and, to some degree, replacing the indigenous populations.

Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of modern European populations shows that over 80% are descended in the female line from European hunter-gatherers. Mitochondrial DNA ( mtDNA) is the DNA located in Organelles called mitochondria. Less than 20% are descended in the female line from Neolithic farmers from the Middle East. The percentage in Britain is smaller at around 11% with the paternal varying from 10–100% across the country, being higher in the east. However, as already noted, this situation is reversed when looking at English and Scottish Y-chromosomes, which show a large degree of population replacement during the Anglo-Saxon invasion and a nearly complete masking over of whatever population movement (or lack of it) went before on these two countries[5][6]. The Y chromosome is the sex-determining Chromosome in most Mammals including Humans In mammals it contains the gene SRY, which triggers Looking from a more Europe-wide standpoint, researchers at Standford University have found overlapping cultural and genetic evidence that supports the theory that migration was, at least, partially responsible for the Neolithic Revolution in Northern Europe (including Britain)[7]. The science of genetic anthropology is changing very fast and a clear picture across the whole of human occupation of Britain has yet to emerge.

Pollen analysis shows that woodland was decreasing and grassland increasing, with a major decline of elms. The winters were typically 3 degrees colder than at present but the summers some 2. 5 degrees warmer.

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. The Neolithic Revolution was the first Agricultural revolution &mdashthe transition from hunting and gathering communities and bands to Agriculture and 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. However, only a few actual settlement sites are known in Britain, unlike the continent. Cave occupation was common at this time.

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. A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the early Neolithic period Causewayed enclosures are a type of large prehistoric earthworks common to the early Neolithic Europe. The former may be derived from the long house although no long house villages have been found in Britain, only individual examples. The Neolithic long house was a long narrow timber dwelling built by the first farmers in Europe around 7000 years ago The stone-built houses on Orkney such as those at Skara Brae are however indicators of some nucleated settlement in Britain. Orkney (also known as the Orkney Islands or incorrectly the Orkneys) is an Archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 10 miles (16 km north ||-||-||-| Skara Brae (ˈskɑrə ˈbreɪ is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of mainland Orkney 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. The Sweet Track is an ancient Causeway in the Somerset Levels, England. The Somerset Levels (or Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly called is a sparsely populated Wetland area of central Somerset Leaf-shaped arrowheads, round-based pottery types and the beginnings of polished axe production are common indicators of the period. Evidence of the use of cow's milk comes from analysis of pottery contents found beside the Sweet Track.

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. Cursus (plural 'cursūs' or 'cursuses' was a name given by early British Archaeologists such as William Stukeley to the large parallel lengths of banks with external A chamber tomb is a Tomb for Burial used in many different Cultures In the case of individual burials the chamber is thought to signify a higher status Maeshowe (or Maes Howe) is a Neolithic Chambered cairn and Passage grave situated on mainland Orkney, Scotland. The earliest stone circles and individual burials also appear. A stone circle is an ancient monument Such a monument is not always precisely circular and often forms an ellipse or a setting of four stones laid on an arc of a circle

Different pottery types such as Grooved ware appear during the later Neolithic (c. Grooved ware is the name given to a pottery style of the British Neolithic. 2900 BC – c. 2200 BC) whilst new enclosures, called henges were built, along with stone rows and the famous sites of Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill reached their peak. henge is a prehistoric Architectural structure. In form it is a nearly circular or oval-shaped flat area over 20 Metres (65 feet) in diameter http//enwikipediaorg/wiki/ImageKnocknakilla_25jpgView of part of the megalithic complex at Knocknakilla, a 3 Stonehenge is a Prehistoric Monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury Avebury is the site of a large Henge and several Stone circles in the English county of Wiltshire surrounding the village of Avebury Silbury Hill is a 40-metre (130-ft high man-made chalk Mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. Industrial flint mining such as that at Cissbury and Grimes Graves began, with evidence of long distance trade. 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 Grimes Graves is a large Neolithic Flint mining complex near Brandon in England close to the border between Norfolk and Wooden tools and bowls were common, and bows were constructed.

The Bronze Age

(around 2200 to 750 BC)

Main article: Bronze Age Britain

This period can be sub-divided into an earlier phase (2300 to 1200) and a later one (1200 – 700). In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2700 to 700 BC. Beaker pottery appears in England around 2475–2315 cal BC[8] along with flat axes and burial practices of inhumation. Burial, also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground With the revised Stonehenge chronology, this is after the Sarsen Circle and trilithons were erected at Stonehenge. Stonehenge is a Prehistoric Monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury Believed to be of Iberian origin, (modern day Spain and Portugal), Beaker techniques brought to Britain the skill of refining metal. The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. The M acro E xpansion T emplate A ttribute L anguage complements TAL, providing macros which allow the reuse of code across At first the users 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. Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus Tin is a Chemical element with the symbol Sn (stannum and Atomic number 50 With this discovery, the Bronze Age arrived in Britain. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for Over the next thousand years, bronze gradually replaced stone as the main material for tool and weapon making.

Britain had large, easily accessible reserves of tin in the modern areas of Cornwall and Devon in what is now southwest England, and thus tin mining began. Cornwall ( Kernow ˈkɛɹnɔʊ is the most southwesterly county of England, on the Peninsula that lies to the west of the River Tamar Devon is a large county in the South West of England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body By around 1,600 BC the southwest of Britain was experiencing a trade boom as British tin was exported across Europe, evidence of ports being found in southern Devon at Bantham and Mount Batten. Bantham is a village in Devon, England. It is in the South Hams district and lies on the estuary of the River Avon quarter of a Mile Mount Batten is a 24-metre-tall outcrop of rock on a 600-metre Peninsula in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England. Copper was mined at the Great Orme in North Wales. The Great Orme ( Welsh: Y Gogarth or Pen y Gogarth) is a prominent Limestone headland on the north coast of

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 central southern Britain. Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79 The Wessex culture is the predominant prehistoric culture of central and southern Britain during the early Bronze Age, originally defined by the British

Early Bronze Age Britons buried their dead beneath earth mounds known as barrows, often with a beaker alongside the body. A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a Mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves beaker is a small ceramic or metal drinking vessel shaped to be held in the hands Later in the period, cremation was adopted as a burial practice with cemeteries of urns containing cremated individuals appearing in the archaeological record, with deposition of metal objects such as daggers. Cremation is the act of reducing a Corpse by burning, generally in a crematorium furnace or crematory fire A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. An urn is a Vase, ordinarily covered and without handles that usually has a narrowed neck above a footed Pedestal. People of this period were also largely responsible for building many famous prehistoric sites such as the later phases of Stonehenge along with Seahenge. Stonehenge is a Prehistoric Monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury Seahenge or Holme I is a Bronze Age monument discovered in 1998 just off the coast of the English county of Norfolk at Holme-next-the-Sea The Bronze Age people lived in round houses and divided up the landscape. Stone rows are to be seen on. for example, Dartmoor. Dartmoor is an area of Moorland in the centre of Devon, England. They ate cattle, sheep, pigs and deer as well as shellfish and birds. They carried out salt manufacture. Pytheas says that the Britons were renowned wheat farmers. The wetlands were a source of wildfowl and reeds. There was ritual deposition of offerings in the wetlands and in holes in the ground. The Lindow man may have been ritually killed as an offering. Lindow Man, also known as Lindow II and Pete Marsh, is the name given to the naturally-preserved Bog body of an Iron Age man discovered in a

There was 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. Genetics suggests that there was only a small infux of people to Britain at this time, around a few percent.

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. B Syria - Belka Woman from Damascus Arab from Baghdadjpg|thumb|Inhabitants of the Near East late nineteenth century The Sea Peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political Some scholars consider that the Celtic languages arrived in Britain at this time. The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family.

The Iron Age

(around 750 BC – 43 AD)

Main article: British Iron Age

In around 750 BC iron working techniques reached Britain from southern Europe. In Britain and Ireland the Iron Age lasted from about the 7th century BC until the Roman conquest and until the 5th century in non- Romanised Ironwork is any Weapon, artwork, Utensil or architectural feature made of Iron especially used for decoration Iron was stronger and more plentiful than bronze, and its introduction marks the beginning of the Iron Age. Iron (ˈаɪɚn is a Chemical element with the symbol Fe (ferrum and Atomic number 26 Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Iron working revolutionised many aspects of life, most importantly agriculture. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of 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. The plough ( American spelling plow; both plaʊ is a Tool used in Farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape split and cut Wood, Harvest timber, as a Weapon There was a landscape of arable, pasture and managed woodland. There were many enclosed settlements and land ownership was important.

By 600 BC, British society changed again. Often termed the "Celtic culture", it had by 500 BC covered most of the British Isles. Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts The Celts were highly skilled craftsmen and produced intricately patterned gold jewellery and weapons in bronze and iron. Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts It is disputed whether Iron Age Britons were "Celts", with numerous academics such as John Collis [9] and Simon James [10] actively opposing the idea of 'Celtic Britain', since the term was only applied at this time to a tribe in Gaul. However, placenames and tribal names from the later part of the period suggest that a Celtic language was spoken, for example the people were said to be "Pretanni". The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. The term "Celtic" continues to be used by linguists to describe the family that includes many of the ancient languages of Western Europe and modern British languages such as Welsh without controversy. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic [11]

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

As people became more numerous, wars broke out between opposing tribes. This was traditionally interpreted as the reason for the building of hill forts, although the siting of some hill forts on the sides of hills undermined their defensive value, hence "hill forts" may represent increasing communal areas or even 'Elite Areas'. A hill fort is a fortified refuge or defended settlement However some hillside constructions may simply have been cow enclosures. Although the first had been built about 1,500 BC, hillfort building peaked during the later Iron Age. By about 350 BC many hillforts went out of use and the remaining ones were reinforced. Large farmsteads produced food in industrial quantities and Roman sources note that Britain exported hunting dogs, animal skins and slaves. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC

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 around 50 BC. Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul in the 1st century BC and later also attested in Britain. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial They settled in the area around Winchester. Winchester or Winton ( archaic) is a historic city in southern England, with a population of around 40000 within a radius of its centre A tribe known as the Parissi, who had cultural links to the continent, were in north-east England.

From around 175 BC, the areas of Kent, Hertfordshire and Essex had especially advanced pottery-making skills. KENT (1400 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards/MOR format Hertfordshire (ˈhɑːtfədʃə(r, abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of Essex is a county in the East of England. The County town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common The tribes of south-east England were partially Romanised and were responsible for creating the first settlements (oppida) large enough to be called towns. A town is a type of settlement ranging from a few to several thousand (occasionally hundreds of thousands inhabitants although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan

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. A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of Goods and/or services It is one form of Money, where money is Coinage was developed, based on continental types but bearing the names of local chieftains. This was used in south-east England, but not in areas such as Dumnonia. For the Brythonic colony of the same name in Brittany see Domnonée Dumnonia, sometimes referred to as Damnolia, was a Brythonic

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 AD 43 and 410

See also

References

  1. ^ Prehistoric Britain 6000BC – 55BC, Guide to Britain
  2. ^ Molecular Biology and Evolution 19: 1008–1021 (full text)
  3. ^ European Journal of Human Genetics (2005) 13, 1293–1302 (full text)
  4. ^ Molecular Biology and Evolution 2006 23(1):152–161 Tracing the Phylogeography of Human Populations in Britain Based on 4th–11th Century mtDNA Genotypes (full text]
  5. ^ Molecular Biology and Evolution 19: 1008–1021 (full text)
  6. ^ European Journal of Human Genetics (2005) 13, 1293–1302 (full text)
  7. ^ Overlapping Genetic and Archaeological Evidence Suggests Neolithic Migration, Say Stanford Researchers (2002) (press release)
  8. ^ Pearson, Mike; Ros Cleal, Peter Marshall, Stuart Needham, Josh Pollard, Colin Richards, Clive Ruggles, Alison Sheridan, Julian Thomas, Chris Tilley, Kate Welham, Andrew Chamberlain, Carolyn Chenery, Jane Evans, Chris Knüsel, (September 2007). 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 Prehistoric Wales in terms of human settlements covers the period from about 230000 years ago the date attributed to the earliest human remains found in what is now Wales The last Ice Age came to an end in Ireland about 10000 BC. Human occupation of Ireland began about 7000 BC and the earliest humans are believed to have migrated from The British Isles have a long history of migration from across Europe, starting in the Palaeolithic period Population research using DNA is initiating research into the genetic history of the British Isles "The Age of Stonehenge". Antiquity 811 (313): 617–639.  
  9. ^ Collis, John. The Celts - Origins, Myths and Inventions. Tempus, 2003
  10. ^ James. Simon. The Atlantic Celts British Museum Press, 1999
  11. ^ Ball, Martin J. & James Fife (ed. ) (1993). The Celtic Languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415010357.

External links

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