Transcript british-prehistory - Stonehenge

THE EARLIEST TIMES
• Britain has not always been an island.
• It became an island after the end of the last
ice age, about 8000 years ago
THE EARLIEST PEOPLE
• The people living in Britain were
descendants of the first homo sapiens who
arrived in Europe 30000 – 40000 years ago
• They lived by fishing, hunting and
collecting fruit, nuts, berries, etc.
NEOLITHIC: INTRODUCTION OF
FARMING
• The introduction of farming, when people
learned how to produce food, is considered
one of the biggest changes in human history
• Farming started to develop in Britain
between 5000BC and 4500 BC
NEOLITHIC: INTRODUCTION OF
FARMING
• The introduction of farming into Britain is
probably the result of migration of people
from the continent.
• It took about 2000 years to spread across
the island
• When they produced food, they needed a
place to store it, so they stopped moving
around the country every season and settled
down.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS
• From about 3800
BC people started
to settle down
and we find the
first large
communal tombs
(called barrows
or mounds)
EARLY SETTLEMENTS
• There are also ceremonial monuments,
where people from a particular region
gathered together.
• Some of these monuments, called henges,
were built according to the position of the
sun during the winter or summer solstice.
• The most famous of these monuments is
Stonehenge, developed about 3000 BC
STONEHENGE
• Stonehenge is a circular arrangement of standing
stones built in prehistoric times and located near
Salisbury
• The stones were put in place in three main phases
c. 3100–c. 1550 BC.
• There are many theories about the reason for the
building of Stonehenge but none has been proved.
• People generally believe that it was a place of
worship and ritual and there seems to be some
connection with the summer solstice
STONEHENGE
STONEHENGE
STONEHENGE
BRONZE AGE
• About 2500 BC the Bronze Age starts.
• Henges continue in use, but communal
tombs are replaced by individual ones.
Important men and women were buried
separately with objects like metal daggers
or axes and pieces of pottery (beakers)
THE BEAKER PEOPLE
• The Beaker people
took barley to Britain.
• They also took skills
to make bronze
utensils
BRONZE AGE
• At this time people lived
in settlements consisting
of round houses grouped
together
• Metalwork improves.
• The first field systems are
developed in Britain
about 1500-1250 BC
LATE BRONZE AGE
• About 1250-800 BC the field systems
continued in use.
• They constructed the first hillforts, which
were used for trade and religious activities.
THE IRON AGE (800 BC)
• The Celts probably came from Central Europe and were
technically advanced.
• They could work with iron, and could make better
weapons than the people who used bronze.
• They took new crops (new varieties of barley and wheat),
peas, beans.
• They used new farming techniques (iron plough).
• As a consequence, the population grew.
CELTIC HILLFORTS
• Celts lived in round houses and they built
hill forts that they used for trade and
religious activities
CELTIC ROUND HOUSES
CELTIC HILL FORTS
CELTIC LIFE
• The Celts didn't leave books behind because they
didn't read and write
• But the Greeks and Romans wrote about the Iron
Age Celts. They tell us that the Celts lived in
tribes, they wore gold and loved to fight and drink
wine. They also wrote about the power of the
Celts' priests, who were called druids.
• The druids knew how to keep their gods happy they sacrificed food, precious objects, and even
people to their gods and goddesses.
CELTIC LIFE
• Archaeologists have found
lots of Celtic jewellery
• The Celts used bronze
and gold as well as iron.
The heads of the tribe
would wear jewellery to
show how important they
were.
• They also needed sharp
objects like spears, as well
as shields, to defend
themselves from enemy
attack
CELTIC LIFE
• The Romans say that the Celts were fierce warriors.
• The farmers had to be ready to fight whenever the head of
the tribe called on them.
• The Celts often fought naked - and it's believed that
women would fight as well.
• Their main weapons were the sword and spear, and they
sometimes fought in horse-drawn war chariots.
• Even though the Celts were proud, brave and skilled
fighters, they were rather undisciplined. They could not
fight against the Romans' order and power. And, of course,
in the end they were defeated by the Romans.
RELIGION AND BELIEF
• Archaeologists believe that the Iron Age Celts had many
gods and goddesses and that the Celts worshipped their
gods through sacrifice, giving them valuable objects to
keep them happy.
• But material treasures weren't the only sacrifices - the Iron
Age Celts sacrificed animals, and even humans, to their
gods.
• The Celts also sacrificed weapons to the gods by throwing
them into lakes and rivers
• The Celtic religion was closely related to the natural world
and they worshipped gods in sacred places like lakes,
rivers, cliffs and bushes. The moon, the sun and the stars
were especially important - the Celts thought that there
were supernatural forces in every aspect of the natural
world.
RELIGION AND BELIEF: THE
DRUIDS
• The druids were the Celts' priests, responsible for
all sorts of religious ceremonies.
• They were educated and powerful members of the
tribe
• The Druids instructed young men, supervised
sacrifices, judged fights, and decreed penalties;
they didn’t go to war and paid no tribute.
• The Druids were suppressed by the Romans but
survived as poets, historians, and judges.
THE END OF THE CELTIC AGE
• By 450 BC hill forts were abandoned or
transformed into primitive towns
• About 200 BC Roman influence began to extend
into Western Europe and Britain.
• When the Romans conquered Gaul, the British
Celts helped the Celts of Gaul. The Romans
invaded Britain so that they could use British food
for the Roman army in Gaul.
• In AD 43 the Romans conquered England. They
could never conquer Scotland.
HADRIAN’S WALL