Transcript EARLY ENGLAND - The World of Britain

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 Age
2500-700 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)