History of Britain: Prehistoric England

THE ICE AGE

Thousands of years ago, long after the disappearance of the glorious dinosaurs, Britain was not a separate island. It was a peninsula as a part of the European continent covered with ice. The earliest evidence of human inhabitants was found on the Suffolk Coast around 800,000 BC. Animals such as mammoths, beavers, and rhinos lived on the island around that period along with humans. In 130,000 BC, the prominent species was Neanderthal, (Homo neanderthalensis, OR Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). Although many humans share a small scale of Neanderthal DNA, they were very different from modern humans. ''Some defining features of their skulls include the large middle part of the face, angled cheekbones, and a huge nose for humidifying and warming cold, dry air. Their bodies were shorter and stockier than ours, another adaptation to living in cold environments. But their brains were just as large as ours and often larger - proportional to their brawnier bodies.'' (King). 

Artist's rendering of Homo neanderthalensis, who ranged from western Europe to Central Asia for some 100,000 years before dying out approximately 30,000 years ago. (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.)

Even though almost nothing is known about their culture, customs, and traditions, Neanderthals were a hunter-gatherer community who may have lacked cognitive skills. They were very skilled at hunting animals in the snowy landscape. They had larger brains which gave them the perfect skill to survive, hunt, and gather. Yet, they lacked social interactions with each other as well as basic thinking. Around the year 25,000 BC Northern Europe and most of Britain once again faced a deep ice age which is one of the main causes that brought the extinction of the Neanderthal species. ''Around 40,000 years ago, the climate grew colder, transforming much of Europe and Asia into a vast, treeless steppe. Fossil evidence shows that Neanderthal prey, including wooly mammoths, may have shifted their range further south, leaving Neanderthals without their preferred foods. Humans, who had a more diverse diet than Neanderthals and long-distance trade networks, may have been better suited to find food and survive the harsh, new climate. Some scientists believe that Neanderthals gradually disappeared through interbreeding with humans. Over many generations of interbreeding, Neanderthals—and small amounts of their DNA—may have been absorbed into the human race.'' (History.com Editors). Neanderthals were replaced by Homo-Sapiens, modern humans.

Tunnel Valleys of Ice Age - Northern Europe

NEW STONE AGE

Bririan remained uninhabited for a long time. Later, as the climate became warmer the ice melted and when the sea level rose, Great Britain became an independent island as Europe flooded due to the rising sea level. The warmer climate gave fertile soil to Britain. The forests were grown covering all the land which contributed to agriculture. Modern humans arrived in Britain from Europe around the year 4000 which marked the start of the Neolithic Age. It was also known as the New Stone Age, which spanned from 4300 BC to 2000 BC, that is around 6,000 years ago. Prominent Neolithic sites in Britain include Avebury, Stonehenge, and Silbury Hill.

Silbury Hill

''The Neolithic or New Stone Age can be defined as the time when people took up agriculture as a way of life, and stopped being nomadic hunter-gatherers. Sometime around 4000 BC the ideas and technology of farming, and perhaps some of the first livestock, crossed the Channel and arrived in England. Farming quickly spread all across the British Isles, a social revolution every bit as eventful as the Industrial Revolution some 6000 years later. Neolithic farmers settled in stable communities, cleared land, planted wheat and barley, and raised herds of domesticated sheep, cattle, and pigs. What hunting they did as a supplement to their agriculture may have been done with the assistance of small dogs.'' (Ross). They produced many devices that made their life easier such as pottery, tools, and weapons as well as new types of monuments, and places for inhabitants like villages.

BRONZE AGE 

''The beginning of the Bronze Age in Britain can be put around 2,000 BC. Although not certain, it is generally thought that the new bronze tools and weapons identified with this age were brought over from continental Europe. The skulls recovered from burial sites from the Bronze Age are different in shape from Stone Age skulls. This would suggest that new ideas and new blood were brought over from the continent. Stone and bronze can be used together, subject to the availability of both materials. True bronze is a combination of 10% tin and 90% copper. Both materials were readily available in Britain at this time. Before it entered Britain, the Bronze Age was in full swing in Europe. The island of Crete was the centre for the expansion of the bronze trade to Europe. The Mycenaeans created the finest bronze weapons. They came from southern Russia at around 2,000 BC and settled in the lowlands of Greece. There they began to trade with the Minoans. They built a large navy and began to attack nearby lands. Over time they adapted to the Minoan way of life, and eventually, around 1,400 BC, became the major power in the Aegean Sea.'' (BBC History)

BEAKER CULTURE

Around the year 2400 Beaker people emerged from Iberia, today's Spain and Portugal, Their name originated from the beakers that accompanied their burials. Other kinds of instruments such as pottery vessels and cooper knives were also found at the graves. The beakers were farmers as well as archers who lived in a close-knit community in huts.

Model of a Beaker

Around the year 2000, Stonehenge was completed. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Britain today. The massive ruin has a circular shape which is probably associated with the power of the sun. Even though its exact meaning and purpose are not clear, it most likely has an important astrological significance. 

Stonehenge monument 

IRON AGE

The Iron Age began around 800 BCE in Britain. Iron replaced bronze as it was the most important metal. ''It was the arrival of ironworking techniques from southern Europe that brought Britain into the Iron Age. Iron was stronger and more plentiful than bronze and ironworking revolutionized many aspects of life, most importantly agriculture. Iron-tipped plows could turn the 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.'' (Cunliffe). The population increased gradually and the island witnessed a gradual socio-political change as the warrior elite, Celtic people arrived from Central Europe in 50

In conclusion, Britain has witnessed major changes over the years starting from the dominance of the dinosaurs who lived way before Neanderthals, nearly 200 million years ago. Yet, they remained hidden under the deep surface for a long time until they were discovered in the 19th century which triggered the revolutionary idea of evolution! These findings gave Charles Darwin a major inspiration and helped him to trace the origin of spaces. However, there is still time for the dinosaurs to be found as life on the island just started with homo sapiens after the island awaken from the deep ice age. Later, the island became fertile as the forest grew by becoming a home for modern humans as well as the Beaker people. In the Iron Age, the island witnessed more changes as the Celtic people arrived to claim the land as their own until the arrival of the Ancient Roman army and later the Angles and Saxons.

Timeline of the History of Britain until the Saxon Invasions

SOURCES CITED:

BBC. "Bronze Age Britain." BBC History - Ancient History in Depth, Accessed 9 September 2023 from https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/bronzeageman_01.shtml.

Cunliffe, Barry. Britain Begins. Oxford University Press, 2021. University of Warwick Classics Network. "Iron Age Britain." Warwick Classics Network. Accessed 9 September 2023 from https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/warwickclassicsnetwork/romancoventry/resources/prehistoricbritain/ironage/.

History.com Editors. "Neanderthals." HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 7 July 2023, https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/neanderthals. Accessed 9 September 2023. (Original Published Date: 17 October 2017)

King, W., 1864. The reputed fossil man of the Neanderthal.  Quarterly Review of Science 1, 88-97. Accessed from https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-neanderthalensis August 22, 2023

Ross, David. "The Neolithic Era (c. 4000 - 2000 B.C.)." Britain Express, Prehistoric Britain, https://www.britainexpress.com/History/The_Neolithic_Era.htm.