Examine individual changes

'{{about|the prehistoric fortnite occupation of [[fortnite]]the geological history|Geology of Great Britain}} Several species of humans have occupied [[Great Britain|Britain]] for almost a 1000000 years. The [[Roman invasion of Britain|Roman conquest of Britain]] in 43 AD is conventionally regarded as the end of 'Prehistoric Britain' and the start of recorded history in the island, although some historical information is available from before then. The earliest evidence of human occupation around nine hundred thousand years ago is at [[Happisburgh]] on the [[Norfolk]] coast, with stone tools and [[Happisburgh footprints|footprints]] probably made by ''[[Homo antecessor]]''. The oldest human fossils, around 500,000 years old, are of ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' at [[Boxgrove]] in [[Sussex]]. Until this time Britain was permanently connected to the Continent by a chalk ridge between south-east England and northern France called the [[Weald-Artois Anticline]], but during the [[Anglian Glaciation]] around 425,000 years ago a [[megaflood]] broke through the ridge, creating the [[English Channel]], and after that Britain became an island when sea levels rose during [[interglacial]]s. Fossils of very early [[Neanderthal]]s dating to around 400,000 years ago have been found at [[Swanscombe]] in , and of classic Neanderthals about 225,000 years old at [[Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site|Pontnewydd]] in Wales. Britain was unoccupied by humans between 180,000 and 60,000 years ago, when Neanderthals returned. By 40,000 years ago they had become extinct and modern humans had reached Britain. But even their occupations were brief and intermittent due to a climate which swung between low temperatures with a tundra habitat and severe ice ages which made Britain uninhabitable for long periods. The last of these, the [[Younger Dryas]], 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, known as [[Doggerland]], persisted much longer, probably until around 5600 BC.<ref name=Cunliffe56>Cunliffe, 2012, pp. 47-56</ref> By around 4000 BC, the island was populated by people with a [[Neolithic]] culture.<ref>[http://www.myguidebritain.com/britain-history/#prehistoric Prehistoric Britain 6000BC&nbsp;– 55BC], Guide to Britain {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711223337/http://www.myguidebritain.com/britain-history/#prehistoric |date=11 July 2007 }}</ref> However, no written language of the pre-[[Ancient Rome|Roman]] inhabitants of Britain has survived; therefore, the history, culture and way of life of pre-Roman Britain are known mainly through [[archaeology|archaeological]] finds. Although the main evidence for the period is archaeological, available genetic evidence is increasing, and views of British prehistory are evolving accordingly. Toponyms and the like constitute a small amount of linguistic evidence, from river and hill names, which is covered in the article about pre-Celtic Britain and the [[Insular Celts#Celtic invasion|Celtic invasion]]<!-- The term? -->. The first significant written record of Britain and its inhabitants was made by the [[ancient Greece|Greek]] navigator [[Pytheas]], who explored the coastal region of Britain around 325 [[Before Christ|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 [[Avienus]]. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that ancient [[Britons (historical)|Britons]] were involved in extensive maritime trade and cultural links with the rest of Europe from the [[Neolithic]] onwards, especially by exporting [[tin]] that was in abundant supply. [[Julius Caesar]] also wrote of Britain in about 50 BC after his two military expeditions to the island in 55 and 54 BC. The invasion during 54 BC is thought to be an attempt to conquer at least the southeast of Britain (it failed).<ref>{{cite book|last=Webster|first=Graham|title=The Roman Invasion of Britain|year=1980|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-0-7134-1329-8|page=85}}</ref> Located at the fringes of Europe, Britain received European technological and cultural achievements much later than Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region did during prehistory. The story of ancient Britain is traditionally seen as one of successive waves of invasion from the continent, with each bringing different cultures and technologies. More recent archaeological theories have questioned this [[migrationism|migrationist]] interpretation and argue for a more complex relationship between Britain and the Continent.<ref name="Cunliffe 1982">{{cite journal|last1=Cunliffe|first1=Barry|title=Britain, the Veneti and beyond. 1982|journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology|volume=1|issue=1|pages=39–68|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0092.1982.tb00298.x|year=1982}}</ref> Many of the changes in British society demonstrated in the [[archaeological record]] are now suggested to be the effects of the native inhabitants adopting foreign customs rather than being subsumed by an invading population.{{Citation needed|date=September 2013}} ==Stone Age== ===Palaeolithic=== [[Palaeolithic]] (Old Stone Age) Britain is the period of the earliest known occupation of Britain by humans. This huge period saw many changes in the environment, encompassing several [[glacier|glacial]] and [[interglacial]] episodes greatly affecting human settlement in the region. Providing dating for this distant period is difficult and contentious. The inhabitants of the region at this time were bands of [[hunter-gatherer]]s who roamed Northern Europe following herds of animals, or who supported themselves by fishing. [[File:Franks HouseDSCF7165.jpg|thumb|[[Boxgrove]] [[handaxe]]s at the [[British Museum]]]] 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 at least 814,000 years ago. At this time, Southern and Eastern Britain were linked to continental [[Europe]] by a wide land bridge ([[Doggerland]]) allowing humans to move freely. The species itself lived before the ancestors of Neanderthals split from the ancestors of ''Homo sapiens'' 600,000 years ago. The current position of the [[English Channel]] was a large river flowing westwards and fed by tributaries that later became the [[River Thames|Thames]] and [[River Seine|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. Sites such as [[Boxgrove]] in [[Sussex]] illustrate the later arrival in the archaeological record of an archaic ''[[Homo (genus)|Homo]]'' species called ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' around 500,000 years ago. These early peoples made [[Acheulean]] flint tools (hand axes) and hunted the large native mammals of the period. One hypothesis is that they drove [[elephant]]s, [[rhinoceros]]es and [[hippopotamus]]es over the tops of cliffs or into [[bog]]s to more easily kill them. The extreme cold of the following [[Anglian Stage]] 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 Stage]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}} This warmer time period lasted from around 424,000 until 374,000 years ago and saw the [[Clactonian]] flint tool [[archaeological industry|industry]] develop at sites such as [[Swanscombe Heritage Park|Swanscombe]] in Kent. The period has 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. Britain was populated only intermittently, 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 Paleolithic|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.<ref>Pettitt and White, pp. 132-33</ref> This period also saw [[Levallois technique|Levallois]] flint tools introduced, possibly by humans arriving from [[Africa]]. However, finds from Swanscombe and Botany Pit in [[Purfleet]] support Levallois technology being a European rather than African introduction. 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 known as the [[Wolstonian Stage]], 352,000–130,000 years ago. Britain first became an island about 350,000 years ago.<ref>[[Phil Gibbard]], [http://www.qpg.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/englishchannelformation/ ''How Britain Became An Island: The report'', Nature Precedings] {{doi|10.1038/npre.2007.1205.1}}</ref> Early Neanderthal remains discovered at the [[Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site|Pontnewydd Cave]] in Wales have been dated to 230,000&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/article/1968/|publisher=National Museum of Wales|title=The oldest people in Wales&nbsp;– Neanderthal teeth from Pontnewydd Cave|year=2007|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613164909/http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/article/1968/|archivedate=13 June 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and are the most north westerly Neanderthal remains found anywhere in the world. 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 neighbouring areas of north-west Europe being unoccupied by hominins at times when Britain was both accessible and hospitable.<ref>Pettitt and White, p. 292</ref> [[File:Ochre Horse.jpg|300px|thumb|[[Robin Hood Cave Horse]], from [[Creswell Crags]]]] 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). There was limited Neanderthal occupation of Britain in [[marine isotope stage]] 3 between about 60,000 and 42,000 years BP. Britain had its own unique variety of late Neanderthal handaxe, the [[bout-coupé]], so seasonal migration between Britain and the continent is unlikely, but the main occupation may have been in the now submerged area of [[Doggerland]], with summer migrations to Britain in warmer periods.<ref>Pettitt and White, pp. 332, 349-51</ref> [[La Cotte de St Brelade]] in [[Jersey]] is the only site in the British Isles to have produced late Neanderthal fossils.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Journal of Quaternary Science|last=Bates|first= Martin |first2=Matthew|last2=Pope|first3=Andrew|last3=Shaw|first4=Beccy|last4=Scott|first5=Jean-Luc|last5=Schwenninger|title=Late Neanderthal occupation in North-West Europe: rediscovery, investigation and dating of a last glacial sediment sequence at the site of La Cotte de Saint Brelade, Jersey|date=16 October 2013|doi=10.1002/jqs.2669|volume=28|issue=7|pages=647–652|bibcode=2013JQS....28..647B|url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1410303/}}</ref> The earliest evidence for modern humans in North West Europe is a jawbone discovered in England at [[Kents Cavern]] in 1927, which was re-dated in 2011 to between 41,000 and 44,000 years old.<ref>{{citation | last1 = Higham | first1 = T | last2 = Compton | first2 = T | last3 = Stringer | first3 = C | last4 = Jacobi | first4 = R | last5 = Shapiro | first5 = B | last6 = Trinkaus | first6 = E | last7 = Chandler | first7 = B | last8 = Groening | first8 = F | last9 = Collins | first9 = C | last10 = Hillson | first10 = S | last11 = O'Higgins | first11 = P | last12 = FitzGerald | first12 = C | last13 = Fagan | first13 = M | title = The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe | journal = Nature | volume = 479 | issue = 7374 | pages = 521–524 | year = 2011 | doi=10.1038/nature10484 | pmid=22048314| bibcode = 2011Natur.479..521H }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/science/fossil-teeth-put-humans-in-europe-earlier-than-thought.html?scp=1&sq=kents%20cavern&st=cse | work=The New York Times | title=Fossil Teeth Put Humans in Europe Earlier Than Thought | date=2 November 2011}}</ref> 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]], which was dated in 2009 to be 33,000 years old. 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]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The British Museum Magazine|date=Winter 2012|issue=74|page=26|first=Robert|last=Dinnis|title=Hunting the Hunter}}</ref> The climatic deterioration which culminated in the [[Last Glacial Maximum]], between about 26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago,<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Peter U. |last=Clark |first2=Arthur S. |last2=Dyke |first3=Jeremy D. |last3=Shakun |first4=Anders E. |last4=Carlson |first5=Jorie |last5=Clark |first6=Barbara |last6=Wohlfarth |first7=Jerry X. |last7=Mitrovica |first8=Steven W. |last8=Hostetler |first9=A. Marshall |last9=McCabe |lastauthoramp=yes|author-link6=Barbara Wohlfarth |year=2009 |title=The Last Glacial Maximum |journal=Science |volume=325 |issue=5941 |pages=710–4 |doi=10.1126/science.1172873 |pmid=19661421 |bibcode = 2009Sci...325..710C }}</ref> drove humans out of Britain, and there is no evidence of occupation for around 18,000 years after c.33,000 years BP.<ref>Pettitt and White, p. 422</ref> Sites such as Cathole Cave in Swansea County dated at 14,500BP,<ref>U-series dating suggests Welsh reindeer is Britain's oldest rock art, http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2012/8606.html</ref> [[Creswell Crags]] on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire at 12,800BP and [[Gough's Cave]] in [[Somerset]] 12,000 years BP, provide evidence suggesting that humans returned to Britain towards the end of this ice age during a warm period from 14,700 to 12,900 years ago (the [[Bølling-Allerød]] interstadial known as the ''Windermere Interstadial'' in Britain), 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, encouraging the expansion of [[birch]] trees as well as shrub and grasses. The first distinct [[archaeological culture|culture]] of the Upper Palaeolithic in Britain is what archaeologists call the [[Creswellian]] industry, with leaf-shaped points probably used as arrowheads. 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]], such as [[Kent's Cavern]], seem to have been sourced from [[Salisbury Plain]], 100 miles (161&nbsp;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 else 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 [[equine]]s (''[[Equus ferus]]'') and [[red deer]] (''Cervus elaphus''), although other mammals ranging from [[hares]] to [[mammoth]] were also hunted, including rhino and hyena. 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]] and [[Mendip Hills|Mendip]] caves are notable exceptions. Between about 12,890 and 11,650 years ago Britain returned to glacial conditions during the [[Younger Dryas]], and may have been unoccupied for periods.<ref>Pettitt and White, pp. 489, 497</ref> ===Mesolithic=== <!-- BC dates from here down please --> {{see|Mesolithic Europe}} (c. 9,000 to 4,300 BC) The Younger Dryas was followed by the [[Holocene]], which began around 9,700 BC,<ref name="Walker, M. 2009. pp. 3">Walker, M., Johnsen, S., Rasmussen, S. O., Popp, T., Steffensen, J.-P., Gibbard, P., Hoek, W., Lowe, J., Andrews, J., Bjo¨ rck, S., Cwynar, L. C., Hughen, K., Kershaw, P., Kromer, B., Litt, T., Lowe, D. J., Nakagawa, T., Newnham, R., and Schwander, J. 2009. [http://www.stratigraphy.org/GSSP/Holocene.pdf "Formal definition and dating of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) for the base of the Holocene using the Greenland NGRIP ice core, and selected auxiliary records"]. ''J. Quaternary Sci.'', Vol. 24 pp. 3–17. {{ISSN|0267-8179}}.</ref> and continues to the present. There was then limited occupation by [[Ahrensburgian]] hunter gatherers, but this came to an end when there was a final downturn in temperature which lasted from around 9,400 to 9,200 BC. [[Mesolithic]] people occupied Britain by around 9,000 BC, and it has been occupied ever since.<ref>Ashton, pp. 243, 270-72</ref> By 8000 BC temperatures were higher than today, and birch woodlands spread rapidly,<ref>Cunliffe, 2012, p. 58</ref> but there was a [[8.2 kiloyear event|cold spell]] around 6,200 BC which lasted about 150 years.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kobashi |first=T. |year=2007 |title=Precise timing and characterization of abrupt climate change 8,200 years ago from air trapped in polar ice|journal=Quaternary Science Reviews|volume=26 |issue=9–10 |pages=1212–1222 |bibcode = 2007QSRv...26.1212K |doi = 10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.01.009 |display-authors=etal|citeseerx=10.1.1.462.9271 }}</ref> The plains of [[Doggerland]] were thought to have finally been submerged around 6500 to 6000 BC,<ref>McIntosh, Jane ''Handbook of Prehistoric Europe'' Oxford University Press, USA (Jun 2009) {{ISBN|978-0-19-538476-5}} p.24</ref> but recent evidence suggests that the bridge may have lasted until between 5800 and 5400 BC, and possibly as late as 3800 BC.<ref>Cunliffe, 2012, p. 56</ref> 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 [[Equus ferus|wild horse]] that had previously sustained humans. Those animals were replaced in people's diets by pig and less social animals such as [[Moose|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 [[microlith]]s were developed for hafting onto harpoons and spears. Woodworking tools such as [[adze]]s 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.<ref name="Balter 2015">{{cite web|last1=Balter|first1=Michael|title=DNA recovered from underwater British site may rewrite history of farming in Europe.|url=http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2015/02/dna-recovered-underwater-british-site-may-rewrite-history-farming-europe?intcmp=highwire|publisher=Science|accessdate=16 March 2015}}</ref> It is likely that these environmental changes were accompanied by social changes. Humans spread and reached the far north of Scotland during this period. Sites from the British Mesolithic include the [[Mendip Hills|Mendip]]s, [[Star Carr]] in [[Yorkshire]] and [[Oronsay, Inner Hebrides|Oronsay]] in the [[Inner Hebrides]]. Excavations at [[Howick house|Howick]] in [[Northumberland]] uncovered evidence of a large circular building dating to c. 7600 BC which is interpreted as a dwelling. A [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/pps/contents/contentsbyvolume.html further example] has also been identified at [[Deepcar]] in [[Sheffield]], and [[Star Carr house|a building dating to c. 8500 BC]] was discovered at the Star Carr site. The older view of Mesolithic [[Britons (historical)|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, [[archaeogenetics|DNA analysis]] was carried out on a tooth of [[Cheddar Man]], human remains dated to c. 7150 BC found in Gough's Cave at [[Cheddar Gorge]]. His [[Mitochondrial DNA]] (mtDNA) belonged to [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)|Haplogroup U5]]. Within modern European populations, U5 is now concentrated in [[Northeast Europe|North-East Europe]], among members of the [[Sami people]], [[Finns]], and [[Estonians]]. This distribution and the age of the haplogroup, indicate that individuals belonging to U5 were among the first people to resettle [[Northern Europe]], following the retreat of ice sheets from the [[Last Glacial Maximum]], about 10,000 years ago. It has also been found in other Mesolithic remains in Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Russia,<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Bramanti B, Thomas MG, Haak W, et al. |title=Genetic discontinuity between local hunter-gatherers and central Europe's first farmers |journal=Science |volume=326 |issue=5949 |pages=137–40 |date=October 2009 |pmid=19729620 |doi=10.1126/science.1176869|bibcode=2009Sci...326..137B }}</ref> Sweden,<ref name="S7-AA">{{cite journal |author=Malmstrom, H. |display-authors=etal |title=Ancient DNA Reveals Lack of Continuity between Neolithic Hunter-Gatherers and Contemporary Scandinavians |journal= Current Biology |volume=19 |pages=1758–62 |date=November 2009 | doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2009.09.017 | url = http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mace-lab/publications/articles/2009/Malmstrom_CB09_PWC_Mod_Scan.pdf |pmid=19781941 |issue=20}}</ref> France<ref>{{cite journal |author=Deguilloux, M-F. |display-authors=etal |title=News from the west: Ancient DNA from a French megalithic burial chamber |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=144 |issue=1 |pages=108–18 |date=January 2011|doi= 10.1002/ajpa.21376 |pmid=20717990}}</ref> and Spain.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Federico Sánchez-Quinto |author2=Hannes Schroeder |author3=Oscar Ramirez |author4=María C. Ávila-Arcos |author5=Marc Pybus |author6=Iñigo Olalde |author7=Amhed M.V. Velazquez |author8=María Encina Prada Marcos |author9=Julio Manuel Vidal Encinas |author10=Jaume Bertranpetit |author11=Ludovic Orlando |author12=M. Thomas P. Gilbert |author13=Carles Lalueza-Fox |title= Genomic Affinities of Two 7,000-Year-Old Iberian Hunter-Gatherers|journal= Current Biology |date=June 2012 | doi=10.1016/j.cub.2012.06.005 | url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982212006501 |volume= 22 |issue= 16 |pages= 1494–9 |pmid= 22748318}}</ref> Members of U5 may have been one of the most common haplogroups in Europe, before the [[Neolithic Revolution|spread of agriculture from the Middle East]].<ref name="S7-U-Dist-1">{{cite journal|url = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213002157 | doi=10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.044 | pmid=23523248 | pmc=5036973 | volume=23 | issue=7 | title=A Revised Timescale for Human Evolution Based on Ancient Mitochondrial Genomes | year=2013 | journal=Current Biology | pages=553–559 | last1 = Fu | first1 = Qiaomei}}</ref> Though the Mesolithic environment was bounteous, the rising population and the 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]] show that it had been wounded by hunters and escaped on three occasions, indicating hunting during the Mesolithic. A few Neolithic monuments overlie Mesolithic sites but little continuity can be demonstrated. Farming of crops and domestic animals was [[Neolithic Revolution|adopted]] in Britain around 4500 BC, at least partly because of the need for reliable food sources. The climate had been warming since the later Mesolithic and continued to improve, replacing the earlier pine forests with [[woodland]]. ===Neolithic=== {{main|Neolithic British Isles}} (from around 4300&nbsp;– 2000 BC) [[File:Flint Axe, Wisbech Museum.JPG|thumb|[[Flint axe]] used for cutting down trees in the Later Neolithic. Wisbech Museum. From Bedlam Hill. This is a 'Seamer' Yorkshire type.]] The Neolithic was the period of domestication of plants and animals, but the arrival of a [[Neolithic package]] of farming and a sedentary lifestyle 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,{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} 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. 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&nbsp;– 3300 BC) in the form of [[long barrow]]s used for communal burial and the first [[causewayed enclosure]]s, sites which have parallels on the continent. The former may be derived from the [[Neolithic long house|long house]], although no long house villages have been found in Britain&nbsp;— only individual examples. The stone-built houses on [[Orkney]]&nbsp;— such as those at [[Skara Brae]]&nbsp;— 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&nbsp;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.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} The Middle Neolithic (c. 3300 BC&nbsp;– 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 tomb]]s such as the [[Maeshowe]] types. The earliest [[stone circle]]s and individual burials also appear. Different pottery types, such as [[Grooved ware]], appear during the later Neolithic (c. 2900 BC&nbsp;– c. 2200 BC). In addition, new enclosures called [[henge]]s were built, along with [[stone row]]s 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. Changes in Neolithic culture could have been due to the mass migrations that occurred in that time. A 2017 study showed that British Neolithic farmers had formerly been genetically similar to contemporary populations in the Iberian peninsula, but from the [[Beaker culture]] period onwards, all British individuals had high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically more similar to Beaker-associated people from the Lower Rhine area. The study argues that more than 90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool was replaced with the coming of the Beaker people.<ref name=autogenerated1>[https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/05/09/135962 ''The Beaker Phenomenon And The Genomic Transformation Of Northwest Europe'' (2017)]</ref> Analysis of the [[mitochondrial DNA]] of modern [[European ethnic groups|European]] populations shows that over 80% are descended in the female line from European [[hunter-gatherer]]s.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} Less than 20% are descended in the female line from Neolithic farmers from the Middle East and from subsequent migrations. The percentage in Britain is smaller at around 11%. Initial studies suggested that this situation is different with the paternal [[Y-chromosome]] DNA, varying from 10–100% across the country, being higher in the east. This was considered to 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 in these two countries.<ref name="mbe.oxfordjournals.org">[http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/19/7/1008 ''Molecular Biology and Evolution 19: 1008–1021''] (full text)</ref> However, more widespread studies have suggested that there was less of a division between Western and Eastern parts of Britain with less Anglo-Saxon migration.<ref>Stephen Openheimer, The Origins of the British</ref> Looking from a more Europe-wide standpoint, researchers at Stanford 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).<ref>[http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2002/september/archeogen.html ''Overlapping Genetic and Archaeological Evidence Suggests Neolithic Migration, Say Stanford Researchers'' (2002)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609192554/http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2002/september/archeogen.html |date=9 June 2011 }} (press release)</ref> 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.<ref name="nature.com">[http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v13/n12/full/5201482a.html ''European Journal of Human Genetics (2005) 13, 1293–1302''] (full text)</ref> ==Bronze Age== (Around 2200 to 750 BC) {{Main|Bronze Age Britain}} This period can be sub-divided into an earlier phase (2300 to 1200 BC) and a later one (1200&nbsp;– 700 BC). [[Beaker pottery]] appears in England around 2475–2315 [[Radiocarbon dating#Calibration|''cal.'']] BC<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Age of Stonehenge|journal=Antiquity|date=September 2007|first=Mike|last=Pearson|author2=Julian Thomas|volume=811|issue=313|pages=617–639|id= |url=|format= |authorlink2=Julian Thomas}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Lemercier|2012|p=131}} Beaker techniques brought to Britain the skill of refining [[metal]]. At first the users made items from [[copper]], but from around 2150 BCE smiths had discovered how to [[smelting|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 [[tumulus|barrow]]s, often with a [[Beaker (archaeology)|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. There has been 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 Beaker cultural "package" of goods and behaviour (which eventually spread across most of Western Europe) diffused to Britain's existing inhabitants through trade across tribal boundaries. A 2017 study suggests a major genetic shift in late Neolithic/early Bronze Age Britain, so that more than 90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool was replaced with the coming of a people genetically related to the Beaker people of the lower-Rhine area.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> 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 c. the 12th century BC. This disruption was felt far beyond Britain, even beyond Europe, as most of the great [[Near East]]ern empires collapsed (or experienced severe difficulties) and the [[Sea Peoples]] harried the entire [[Mediterranean]] basin around this time. Some scholars consider that the [[Celtic languages]] arrived in Britain at this time,<ref>[http://www.aber.ac.uk/aberonline/en/archive/2008/05/au7608/ Aberystwyth University - News<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref name=Koch>{{cite web|url=http://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/ODonnell.pdf|title=O'Donnell Lecture 2008 Appendix}}</ref><ref name=Koch2009>{{cite book | last = Koch | first = John | title = Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 (2009)| publisher = Palaeohispanica | year = 2009 | location = | pages = 339–351 | url = http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/54/26koch.pdf | doi = | id = | issn = 1578-5386 | accessdate = 2010-05-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146413465|title=New research suggests Welsh Celtic roots lie in Spain and Portugal|last=Koch|first=John|accessdate=10 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Cunliffe, Karl, Guerra, McEvoy, Bradley; Oppenheimer, Rrvik, Isaac, Parsons, Koch, Freeman and Wodtko|title=Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature|year=2010|publisher=Oxbow Books and Celtic Studies Publications|isbn=978-1-84217-410-4|pages=384|url=http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298//Location/DBBC|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612212219/http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298/Location/DBBC|archivedate=12 June 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Rethinking the Bronze Age and the Arrival of Indo-European in Atlantic Europe|url=http://www.oxbowbooks.com/pdfs/books/Celtic%20West%20conf.pdf|publisher=University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies and Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford|accessdate=24 May 2010}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> but the more generally accepted view is that Celtic origins lie with the [[Hallstatt culture]]{{Citation needed|reason=Can we get a recent source to back up this claim?|date=October 2017}}. ==Iron Age== [[File:Wandsworth Shield.png|thumb|[[Wandsworth Shield]], in the Insular version of [[La Tène style]], 2nd century BC]] (around 750 BC&nbsp;– 43 AD) {{Main|British Iron Age}} In around 750 BC [[ironwork|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 [[plough]]s could turn soil more quickly and deeply than older wooden or bronze ones, and iron [[axe]]s 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.<ref>The Agricola, Tacitus.</ref> 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<ref>Collis, John. The Celts&nbsp;– Origins, Myths and Inventions. Tempus, 2003</ref> and Simon James<ref>James, Simon. The Atlantic Celts British Museum Press, 1999</ref> 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 language|Welsh]] without controversy.<ref>Ball, Martin J. & James Fife (ed.) (1993). ''The Celtic Languages''. London: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-01035-7}}.</ref> 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, [[Prehistoric warfare|wars]] broke out between opposing tribes. This was traditionally interpreted as the reason for the building of [[hill fort]]s, 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 over 2,000 Iron Age hillforts known in Britain.<ref>[http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/hist_periods/iron_age.htm The Iron Age], smr.herefordshire.gov.uk</ref> 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 [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] sources note that Britain exported hunting dogs, animal skins and slaves. ===Late pre-Roman Iron Age (LPRIA)=== [[File:Brit Mus 17sept 048-crop.jpg|thumb|The Stanwick Horse Mask, La Tène style mount, British, 1st century AD, 10 cm]] The last centuries before the Roman invasion saw an influx of [[Celts|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 (Yorkshire)|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 [[town]]s. 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. [[Currency|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. ==See also== * [[Timeline of prehistoric Britain]] * [[Boxgrove Quarry|Boxgrove]] * [[Cheddar Man|Gough's Cave]] * [[Genetic history of the British Isles]] * [[Happisburgh]] * [[Happisburgh footprints]] * [[Kents Cavern]] * [[List of human evolution fossils]] * [[List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain]] * [[Pakefield]] * [[Red Lady of Paviland|Paviland]] * [[Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site|Pontnewydd]] * [[Barnfield Pit|Swanscombe]] * [[Arras Culture]] * [[Wetwang Slack]] * [[Danes Graves]] ==Notes== {{Reflist|30em}} ==Sources== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|first= Nick|last= Ashton |title=Early Humans |publisher=William Collins |location = London |year=2017 |edition= |isbn=978-0-00-815035-8 }} * Ball, Martin J. & James Fife (ed.). 1993. The Celtic Languages. London: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-01035-7}}. * ''British History Encyclopedia.'' 1999. Paragon House. {{ISBN|1-4054-1632-7}}. * Collis, John. 2003. ''The Celts&nbsp;– Origins, Myths and Inventions''. Tempus. *{{cite book|title=Britain Begins|first=Barry|last=Cunliffe|authorlink=Barry Cunliffe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-967945-4}} * James, Simon. 1999. ''The Atlantic Celts''. British Museum Press. * {{cite journal | last1 = Pearson | first1 = Mike | authorlink9 = Julian Thomas | last2 = Cleal | first2 = Ros | last3 = Marshall | first3 = Peter | last4 = Needham | first4 = Stuart | last5 = Pollard | first5 = Josh | last6 = Richards | first6 = Colin | last7 = Ruggles | first7 = Clive | last8 = Sheridan | first8 = Alison | last9 = Thomas | first9 = Julian | year = 2007 | title = The Age of Stonehenge | url = | journal = Antiquity | volume = 811 | issue = 313| pages = 617–639 | displayauthors = etal | doi = 10.1017/S0003598X00095624 }} *{{cite book|title=The British Palaeolithic: Human Societies at the Edge of the Pleistocene World|first1=Paul|last1=Pettitt|first2=Mark|last2=White|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|location=Abingdon, UK|isbn=978-0-415-67455-3}} {{refend}} ==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * Alonso, Santos, Carlos Flores, Vicente Cabrera, Antonio Alonso, Pablo Martín, Cristina Albarrán, Neskuts Izagirre, Concepción de la Rúa and Oscar García. 2005. The place of the Basques in the European Y-chromosome diversity landscape. ''European Journal of Human Genetics 13:1293-1302. * Cunliffe, Barry 2001. ''Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic and Its Peoples, 8000 BC to AD 1500''. Oxford University Press. * Cunliffe, Barry. 2002. ''The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek''. Penguin. * Darvill, Timothy C. 1987. ''Prehistoric Britain''. London: B.T. Batsford {{ISBN|0-7134-5179-3}} * Hawkes, Jaquetta and Christopher. 1943. ''Prehistoric Britain''. Harmondsworth: Penguin. * Miles, David. 2016. "The Tale of the Axe: How the Neolithic Revolution Transformed Britain". London. Thames & Hudson Ltd. {{ISBN|978-0-500-05186-3}} * Oppenheimer, Stephen. 2006. ''The Origins of the British''. London: Constable. * Pryor, Francis. 1999. ''Farmers in Prehistoric Britain''. Stroud, Gloucestershire and Charleston, SC: Tempus. {{ISBN|0-7524-1477-1}} * Pryor, Francis. 2003. ''Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans''. London, Harper-Collins. {{ISBN|0-00-712692-1}} * Sykes, Brian. 2001. ''The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry.'' Bantam, London. {{ISBN|0-593-04757-5}} * Sykes, Brian. 2006. ''Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland''. New York, Norton & Co. (Published in the UK, also in 2006, as ''Blood of the Isles''. London, Bantam Books.) * Wainright, Richard. 1978. ''A Guide to Prehistoric Remains in Britain''. London: Constable. * {{cite journal | last1 = Weale | first1 = Michael E. | last2 = Weiss | first2 = Deborah A. | last3 = Jager | first3 = Rolf F. | last4 = Bradman | first4 = Neil | last5 = Thomas | first5 = Mark G. | year = 2002 | title = Y Chromosome Evidence for Anglo-Saxon Mass Migration | url = | journal = Molecular Biology and Evolution | volume = 19 | issue = 7| pages = 1008–1021 | doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a004160 | pmid=12082121}} {{refend}} ==External links== *[http://www.ahobproject.org/ Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project] *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5317762.stm Britain's human history revealed] *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2025530.stm 700,000-year-old remains in Norfolk] *[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/boxgrove/ The Boxgrove project] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090415084856/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23367572-details/Ancient+Britons+come+mainly+from+Spain/article.do Ancient Britons come mainly from Spain] *[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/tcga/presentations/ASdemo/AS-26-11-03b.html An audio-visual presentation by Dr Mike Weale of UCL talking about genetic evidence for migration] {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2011}} {{Europe topic|prefix=Prehistoric|state=expanded|countries_only=yes|UK_only=no|GB=Prehistoric settlement of the British Isles|IE=Prehistoric settlement of the British Isles|ENG=|NIR=}} {{Prehistoric technology| state=expanded}} {{History of the British Isles|bar=yes}} [[Category:Prehistoric Britain| ]] [[Category:Prehistoric Europe|Britain]] [[Category:National prehistories|Britain]] [[Category:Archaeology of the United Kingdom]]'