Prehistoric Britain

The earliest evidence of human occupation around 900,000 years ago is on the Norfolk coast, with stone tools and footprints.

The oldest human fossils, around 500,000 years old, are in Sussex. Until this time Britain was permanently connected to the Continent by a chalk ridge between south-east England and northern France, but around 425,000 years ago a mega-flood broke through the ridge, creating the English Channel, and after that Britain became an island when sea levels rose.

Fossils of Neanderthals dating to around 400,000 years ago have been in Kent and Wales. Britain was unoccupied by humans between 180,000 and 60,000 years ago. Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000 BC, when modern humans reached Britain.

But even their occupations were brief and intermittent due to a climate which swung between low temperatures and severe ice ages which made Britain uninhabitable for long periods. The last of these ice ages ended around 11,700 years ago and since then Britain has been continuously occupied.

Britain and Ireland were then joined to the Continent, but rising sea levels cut the land bridge between Britain and Ireland by around 11,000 years ago. A large plain between Britain and Continental Europe persisted until around 5600 BC. 

By around 4000 BC, the island was populated by Celtic tribes from Germany and Scandinavia.

The first significant written record of Britain and its inhabitants was made by the Greek navigator Pytheas, who explored the coastal region of Britain around 325 BC.

Archaeological evidence demonstrates that ancient Britons were involved in extensive maritime trade and cultural links with the rest of Europe, especially by exporting tin that was in abundant supply. 

Between 40,000 to 8,000 BC. Britain experienced several glacial periods. The inhabitants of the region at this time were bands of hunter-gatherers who roamed Northern Europe following herds of animals, or who supported themselves by fishing. They were thought to drive elephants, rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses over the tops of cliffs or into bogs to more easily kill them.

There is evidence from bones and flint tools found in coastal Britain were linked to continental Europe by a wide land bridge allowing humans to move freely before the Neanderthals.

The current English Channel was a large river flowing westwards and fed by tributaries that later became the Thames and Seine.

Sites in Sussex produced flint tools, hand axes dated at 500,000 BC.

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 period from 352,000–130,000 BC. Britain first became an island about 350,000 years ago. 

 From c.180,000 to c.60,000 years ago there is no evidence of human occupation in Britain, probably due to inhospitable cold in some periods, Britain being cut off as an island in others, and the neighboring areas of north-west Europe being unoccupied by hominins at times when Britain was both accessible and hospitable.

The earliest evidence for modern humans in North West Europe is a jawbone dated at 44,000 BC. 

The distribution of finds shows that humans in this period preferred the uplands of Wales and northern and western England to the flatter areas of eastern England. Their stone tools are similar to those of the same age found in Belgium and far north-east France, and very different from those in north-west France. At a time when Britain was not an island, hunter gatherers may have followed migrating herds of reindeer from Belgium and north-east France across the giant Channel River.

Glaciers covered Britain between 26.500 and 20,000 BC. Humans returned to Britain towards the end of this ice age during a warm period from 14,700 to 12,900 years ago. Sites include tools, arrowheads and artifacts made of stone, flint, bone, shell, amber, animal teeth and ivory.

Early inhabitants of Britain were highly mobile, roaming over wide distances and carrying 'toolkits' of flint blades with them for trade. Game included deer, rabbit, mammoth and other animals.

Between about 12,890 and 11,650 years ago Britain returned to glacial conditions and may have been unoccupied for periods.

Between 9,000 and 4,300 BC, temperatures rose in 8,000 BC spurring the growth of forests, grassland and crops and cooled from 6,200 BC to 6,000 BC.
From 4,300 to 2000 BC, Flint axe was used for cutting down trees. Animals were domesticated and crops were planted.
From 2200 to 750 BC, Bronze Age tools included flat axes indicating the development of metal smelting of copper and tin to make bronze used to make tools and weapons.
The Iron Age 750 BC – 43 AD)

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 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.

Tools changed to incorporate barbs which could snag the flesh of an 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. Wheat of a variety grown in the Middle East was present on the Isle of Wight at the Bouldnor Cliff Mesolithic Village dating from about 6,000 BC. Humans spread and reached the far north of Scotland during this period.

Excavations in Northumberland uncovered evidence of a large circular building dating to c. 7600 BC which is interpreted as a dwelling. A further example has also been identified in Sheffield with a building dating to 8,500 BC.

The older view of Mesolithic Britons as nomadic is now being replaced with a more complex picture of seasonal occupation or, in some cases, permanent occupation. Travel distances seem to have become shorter, typically with movement between high and low ground.

In 1997, DNA analysis was carried out on a tooth dated at 7,150 BC. matched to Northern European Finns and Estonians and related to remains found in Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, France and Spain.  

The rising population and the ancient Britons' success in exploiting it eventually led to local exhaustion of many natural resources.

Farming of crops and domestic animals was adopted in Britain around 4500 BC, at least partly because of the need for reliable food sources. The climate had been warming and continued to improve, replacing the earlier pine forests with woodland.

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. The former may be derived from the long house, although no long house villages have been found in Britain. 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.

Evidence of the use of cow's milk comes from analysis of pottery contents found beside the Sweet Track.

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.

From 3300 BC – c. 2900 BC) saw the development of stone circles, Stonehenge and burial sites. Industrial flint mining begins. Mass migration from Anglo-Saxon Germany appeared in DNA.

Britain had large, easily accessible reserves of tin in the modern areas of Cornwall and Devon and thus tin mining began. By around 1600 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. Copper was mined at the Great Orme in North Wales.

People were skilled at making ornaments from gold, silver and copper, and examples of these have been found in graves of the wealthy Wessex culture of central southern Britain.

Early Bronze Age Britons buried their dead beneath earth mounds. 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. People of this period were also largely responsible for building many famous prehistoric sites such as the later phases of Stonehenge along with Seahenge.

The Bronze Age people lived in round houses and divided up the landscape. Stone rows are to be seen on, for example, Dartmoor. They ate cattle, sheep, pigs and deer as well as shellfish and birds. They carried out salt manufacture. The wetlands were a source of wildfowl and reeds. There was ritual deposition of offerings in the wetlands and in holes in the ground.

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 in 1,200 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 Celtic languages arrived in Britain at this time, but the more generally accepted view is that Celtic origins lie with the Hallstatt culture^.

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 revolutionized many aspects of life, most importantly agriculture. Iron tipped ploughs could turn soil more quickly and deeply than older wooden or bronze ones, and iron axes could clear forest land more efficiently for agriculture. There was a landscape of arable, pasture and managed woodland. There were many enclosed settlements and land ownership was important.

It is generally thought that by 500 BC most people inhabiting the British Isles were speaking Common Brythonic. The British language differed little from that of the Gauls. Celtic language was also spoken.

Among these people were skilled craftsmen who had begun producing intricately patterned gold jewelry, in addition to tools and weapons of both bronze and iron.

Iron Age Britons lived in tribal groups, ruled by a chieftain. As people became more numerous, wars broke out between opposing tribes resulting in the building of hill forts.

Pytheas was quoted as writing that the Britons were renowned wheat farmers. Large farmsteads produced food in industrial quantities and Roman sources note that Britain exported hunting dogs, animal skins and slaves.

The last centuries before the Roman invasion saw an influx of Celtic speaking refugees from Gaul (France and Belgium), who were displaced as the Roman Empire expanded around 50 BC. They settled along most of the coastline of southern Britain between about 200 BC and AD 43.

From 175 BC, Kent, Hertfordshire and Essex developed advanced pottery-making skills. The tribes of southeast England became partially Romanised and were responsible for creating the first settlements (oppida) large enough to be called towns.

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.

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_Britain

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader