EARLY ENGLAND
From Hunter-gatherers to the Romans
The evolution of the British Isles
The geological stages of the formation of the island
(reflected in the present landscape)
2700 mln. years ago
Volcanic eruptions –
Rocks in the Scottish Highlands
570mln. years ago-
seas covered the south of Britain
Later –
alternation of floods and drying outs (growing forests, swamps)—
rottening of vegetation—peat formed and compressed—
coal in S.Wales, Yorkshire, Kent, N.England
280-200 mln. years ago –
Britain was a desert
150 mln. Years ago –
plants and animals appeared again
70 mln. Years ago
seas at the highest level – Britain was blanketed by the fragments
of algae –CHALK
(up to 500 m thick in some places – white cliffs of the s. coast)
2,5 mln. years ago –succession of ice ages (~12)
Average temp. – 6-9 C(As far as to London)
Signs of erosion in the Lake District, Snowdonia, Scottish
Highlands
MAN APPEARED
Old Stone Age (Paleolithic)70,000-8000 BC
• Alternation of warm and ice-age conditions• For most Britain is glaciated• Sea level is low. Land-bridges between
England and Europe. People could walk to and from the continent.
• Hunters-gatherers. Lived in caves. No cave art
• The only evidence – stone tools (flint axes)
Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic)8300 – 3500 BC
• Climate warmer, glaciers retreated. Britain is an island.
• Hunters-gatherers started to settle for longer periods in Britain.
• Communities began to hunt in localised areas
• Regional trends
New Stone Age (Neolithic)3500-2500BC
• Introduction of agriculture (cultivation of crops and domestication of animals) – – Permanent settlement– Trade– Clearance of forests
• Depended on communal effort• Mines (to get flint)• A cult of the dead – communal burials
Bronze Age2500-700 BC
• Increased inequality between the rich and the poor
• Communal burials replaced with individual graves
• “Beaker People”
• Chiefdoms and ornaments of power
• Farming (horse-riding equipment. Wheel?)
Stone Circles
• Over 900 in the British Isles• The original purpose is unclear• Hypotheses:
– For ceremonies
– As trading places
– As ancient observatories
• Location : the Lake District, the Land’s End and Wiltshire Downs (Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge)
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