prehistoric Britain

Stone Age

Palaeolithic

Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) Britain is the period of the earliest known occupation of Britain by humans. The oldest known occupations of the island date to the end of the early Pleistocene, around 900,000 years ago. During the Palaeolithic, Britain was repeatedly colonised by archaic humans during temperate interglacial periods, before retreating during the harsh cold glacial periods. This process of colonisation and retreat is thought to have occurred at least 9 separate times. Habitation was intermittent, and even during periods of occupation may have reproduced below replacement level and needed immigration from elsewhere to maintain numbers. According to Paul Pettitt and Mark White:

The British Lower Palaeolithic (and equally that of much of northern Europe) is thus a long record of abandonment and colonisation, and a very short record of residency. The sad but inevitable conclusion of this must be that Britain has little role to play in any understanding of long-term human evolution and its cultural history is largely a broken record dependent on external introductions and insular developments that ultimately lead nowhere. Britain, therefore, was an island of the living dead.

Prior to around 130,000 years ago Britain was permanently a peninsula of mainland Europe, connected by chalk and clay rocks running across to northern France, allowing hominins to freely disperse into Britain. From around 500,000 years ago this land bridge began to erode, which was complete by around 130,000 years ago, resulting in Britain being an island during the Last Interglacial (130-115,000 years ago) and most the Holocene (from around 9,000 years ago), though it reconnected to Europe during Last Glacial Period (115,000-11,700 years ago) and remained connected into the early Holocene via Doggerland.

There is evidence from animal bones and flint tools found in coastal deposits near Happisburgh in Norfolk that early humans were present in Britain over 800,000 years ago. Paleomagnetic analysis shows that the sediments in which the stone tools were found have a reversed polarity which means they are over 780,000 years old, prior to the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal. The evidence is that the early humans were there towards the end of an interglacial during that date range. There are two candidate interglacials - one between 970,000 and 935,000 years ago and the second from 865,000 and 815,000 years ago. Numerous footprints of equivalent age to the tools were found on the beach at Happisburgh in 2013 of a mixed group of adult males, females and children. No human fossils have been found at Happisburgh. It has been tentatively proposed that Homo antecessor is the most likely candidate species of ancient human as there are remains of roughly the same age at Gran Dolina at Atapuerca, northern Spain, though a later 2020 study noted that the footprints were similar to those made by Homo erectus.

Mesolithic

(c. 9,700 to 4,300 BC)

The Younger Dryas was followed by the Holocene, which began around 9,700 BC (approximately 11,700 years Before Present), and continues to the present. By 8000 BC temperatures were higher than today, and birch woodlands spread rapidly, but there was a cold spell around 6,200 BC which lasted about 150 years. Doggerland would no longer have formed a continuous plain by around 7000 BC (9000 BP) and submergence was largely complete by 5000 BC (7000 BP). 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.

The older view of Mesolithic Britain as monotonous and unchanging, with the endless repetition of seasonal rounds is now being replaced with a more complex picture. Different periods of Mesolithic occupation in Britain are distinguished by the use of differently shaped microlith (small lithic pieces used as spear tips and arrowheads) technology, though the chronology of a number of different British microlith industries is currently poorly resolved. During the earliest part of the Mesolithic, evidence of occupation of Britain is concentrated in the drainage basin of the Thames in Southern England, and in the northeast of England, including the important Star Carr site in North Yorkshire.

At Star Carr, located on the former edge of a lake, and occupied c. 9300-8500 BC, organic remains have been found alongside stone tools, these include the remains of animals, including the antlered skulls of red deer stags that have been modified into headdresses, wooden structures, including raised platforms, as well as the Star Carr Pendant, an engraved slate pendant which represents the oldest Mesolithic art in Britain. The later Mesolithic shows an increased construction of structures such as houses, pits and hearths. Excavations at Howick in Northumberland uncovered evidence of the construction of huts dating to c. 7800 BC. Animal bones and in coastal areas, seashells were frequently dumped into middens. Hazelnuts were also widely exploited as a food source, with their charred remains often found at (particularly Middle) Mesolithic sites.

One of the most famous human Mesolithic skeletons is Cheddar Man, dating to c. 8300 BC who has a typical Western Hunter-Gatherer DNA profile (though with some minor Magdalenian-related ancestry) similar to those of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers across western-central Europe.

Neolithic

(c. 4,300 to 2,000 BC)

DNA analysis of human remains spanning the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition shows that the transition to the Neolithic c. 4000 BC was brought by the migration of European Neolithic Farmers from the continent (with British Neolithic farmers being closely related to Neolithic farmers in the Iberian Peninsula), who had ultimately originated in Anatolia (the Asian part of modern Turkey) several thousand years earlier. The continental Neolithic farmers effectively appear to have replaced the previous Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, and there is little evidence of mixing of British Neolithic farmers and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers outside of Western Scotland, where some individuals appear to have had recent hunter-gatherer ancestry.

The construction of the earliest earthwork sites in Britain began during the early Neolithic (c. 4400–3300 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. Evidence of the use of cow's milk comes from analysis of pottery contents found beside the Sweet Track. According to archaeological evidence from North Yorkshire, salt was being produced by evaporation of seawater around this time, enabling more effective preservation of meat.

The Middle Neolithic (c. 3300–2900 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.

Different pottery types, such as grooved ware, appear during the later Neolithic (c. 2900–2200 BC). In addition, new enclosures called henges were built, along with stone rows and the famous sites of Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill, which building reached its peak at this time. Industrial flint mining begins, such as that at Cissbury and Grimes Graves, along with evidence of long-distance trade. Wooden tools and bowls were common, and bows were also constructed.

Bronze Age

(Around 2200 to 750 BC)

This period can be sub-divided into an earlier phase (2300–1200 BC) and a later one (1200–700 BC). Bell Beaker culture pottery appears in England around 2475–2315 cal. BC along with flat axes and burial practices of inhumation. With the revised Stonehenge chronology, this is after the Sarsen Circle and trilithons were erected at Stonehenge. Several regions of origin have been postulated for the Beaker culture, notably the Iberian peninsula, the Netherlands and Central Europe. The arrival of the Bell Beaker culture in Britain appears to be associated with another major episode of migration from mainland Europe, associated with people with high levels of Eastern European steppe-associated ancestry that originated in the Yamnaya culture of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia, effectively replacing the earlier Neolithic inhabitants of Britain (with 90% of the gene pool of Bronze Age Britons coming from continental Bell-Beaker migrants).

Beaker techniques brought to Britain the skill of refining metal. At first the users made items from copper, but from around 2150 BC smiths had discovered how to smelt bronze (which is 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.

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.

The Beaker people were also 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 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, 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.

Iron Age

(around 750 BC – 43 AD)

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 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, on the limited evidence of place-names recorded by Pytheas of Massalia and transmitted to us second-hand, largely through Strabo. Certainly by the Roman period there is substantial place and personal name evidence which suggests that this was so; Tacitus also states in his Agricola that the British language differed little from that of the Gauls. Among these people were skilled craftsmen who had begun producing intricately patterned gold jewellery, in addition to tools and weapons of both bronze and iron. It is disputed whether Iron Age Britons were "Celts", with some academics such as John Collis and Simon James actively opposing the idea of 'Celtic Britain', since the term was only applied at this time to a tribe in Gaul. However, place names and tribal names from the later part of the period suggest that a Celtic language was spoken.

The traveller Pytheas, whose own works are lost, was quoted by later classical authors as calling the people "Pretanoi", which is cognate with "Britanni" and is apparently Celtic in origin. 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. The dispute essentially revolves around how the word "Celtic" is defined; it is clear from the archaeological and historical record that Iron Age Britain did have much in common with Iron Age Gaul, but there were also many differences. Many leading academics, such as Barry Cunliffe, still use the term to refer to the pre-Roman inhabitants of Britain for want of a better label.

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 earthworks on the sides of hills undermined their defensive value, hence "hill forts" may represent increasing communal areas or even 'elite areas'. However some hillside constructions may simply have been cow enclosures. Although the first had been built about 1500 BC, hillfort building peaked during the later Iron Age. There are around 3,300 structures that can be classed as hillforts or similar "defended enclosures" within Britain. By about 350 BC many hillforts went out of use and the remaining ones were reinforced. 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.

Late pre-Roman Iron Age

The last centuries before the Roman invasion saw an influx of Celtic-speaking refugees from Gaul (approximately modern day France and Belgium) known as the Belgae, 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, although it is hard to estimate what proportion of the population there they formed. A Gaulish tribe known as the Parisi, who had cultural links to the continent, appeared in northeast England.

From around 175 BC, the areas of Kent, Hertfordshire and Essex developed especially 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. This was used in southeast England, but not in areas such as Dumnonia in the west.

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.

Protohistory

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. However, there may be some additional information on Britain in the Ora Maritima, a text which is now lost but which is incorporated in the writing of the later author Avienius. Julius Caesar also wrote of Britain in about 50 BC after his two military expeditions to the island in 55 and 54 BC. The failed invasion during 54 BC is thought to be an attempt to conquer at least the southeast of Britain.

After some further false starts, the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD led to most of the island falling under Roman rule, and began the period of Roman Britain.