Figure 1.--This is an artist rendering of neolithic people about the time Britain became an island due to rising sea levels and disappearnce of Doggerrland (about 4,500 BP). We are not sure about the clothing depicted, it looks rather modern.

Very little is known about the early inhabitants of the British Isles, although archeological work has unearthed some fascinating information in recent years. Humans reached what is now Britain about 900,000 years ago. We know that because of the presence of flint tools. At the time Britain was not an island, it was connected to the Continent by Doggerland. The earliest actual Human remains have been dated to more than 500,000 years ago. These were Neanderthals. The ice ages would have driven humans from northern Europe, including much of Britain. Humans retreated to southern Europe. The Last Glacial Period (LGP)/Ice Age covered Britain south to the Midlands (about 115,000-11,700 BP). The ice sheet retreated and shrank after 27,000 BP. Scientists estimate that it had disappeared by 11,300 BP. 【Emery】 The earliest remains of modern humans date to about 40,000 years ago as the ice sheets retreated. This was probably sporadic hunting trips. The earliest cave art has been found at Creswell Crags in Derbyshire (11,000 BP). Modern humans and continuous occupation would not follow in numbers until the warming period and the ice sheets receded (10,000 BP). These were hunter gatherer people pursuing game. This was possible because of the Doggerland land concoction still existed. The warming trend steadily increased seas and the Doggerland ice bridge was inundated, making Britain an island (4,500 BP). Agriculture gradually developed (about 2,000 BP or 4,000 BC). DNA research has added to the work of archaeologists. Many historians have tended for a variety of reasons to ascribe to the theory that the Anglo-Saxons waged a war of extinction rather than absorbing the Romano-Celtic population that remained in Britain after the Legions departed. There was no ways to prove this, but the cultural artifacts and linguistic record tended to confirm this assessment. As the Anglo-Saxon invaders were pre-literate, there is no written evidence. Modern science has provided us a way to test out this theory--DNA genetic sampling. The DNA evidence is striking and surprised many historians. The disappearance of Latin and Celtic had convinced many historians that the Germanic invaders, may not have absorbed the Celts, but rather conducted a war of extinction. The DNA evidence shows that this did not occur. Something like 75 percent of Britons came to Briton long before the arrival of Celts, Romans, or Anglo Saxons, yet alone the Normans. It was the early hunter-gathers who reached Briton something like 5,500-13,000 BC who were the ancestors of most modern Britons. This was after the melting of the Ice Age ice caps, but while Britain and Ireland were still connected to the European land mass. Existence as an island people helped to create a relatively homogeneous ethnicity and discourage mixing with the many varied continental people. One author describes the British people as a kind of 'genetic time capsule' of southwestern Europe at the end of the Ice Age. And the continental group closest to the British is the Basque people. Thus the first British language was not a Celtic language, but one similar to the distinctive Basque language. There were many subsequent invasions and migrations which affected culture, language, technology, and other attributes, but no ethnicity. The subsequent groups if they came as invaders may have replaced the ruling elite, but none of these groups have contributed more than 5 percent to the modern British population and ethnic makeup. 【Oppenheimer】

Early Inhabitants

Very little is known about the early inhabitants of the British Isles. Humans are beliebed to have reached what is now Britain about 900,00-800,000 BP meaning years ago. (When discussing the Stone Age, it is more practival o use BP than the BC/AD convention.) The oldest evidence of human presence in Britain was found at Happisburgh, Norfolk. The find incuded stone tools and animal bones. It should be stressed that we are talking about very small numbers of people at this time, so even if they were more modern people leaving more artifacts, actual surviving evidece of their presence would be extremely rare. We ae not sure which human species reached Britain, but the only ones to have done so in numbers were the Neanderthals. The oldest human remains tht have been found in England (500,000 BP). He hase been identified as a male Homo heidelbergensis. What we b know as the Ice Agg included many warminga and cooling peiods. It is beleved that Neanderthas came to and retreated from what is now Britain during these warming and cooling periods (300,000 to 35,000 BP). hee were lng periods in which the severe cold entirely drove people from what is now Britain. It is important to undrsand that ocean currents ae not fixed like terrestrial rivers. The Gulf Stream, which warms Britain through the North Atlantic Current is a fairly modern event. We are not sure just when it began to warm Britain. Estimates vaey widely. We see one estimate referring to the formation of the Istmus of Panama sparating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (3 millin BP). Others believe that is more recent, suggesting that it has influenced Britain's climate for tens of thousands of years. While this was long before recorded history, i is not before humans arrive Britain. One estimate suggests that it developed during the Holocene Epoch (roughly 11,700 BP). 【Hänninen】 When ever it arrived, the Gulf Stream's warm waters had a huge impact on the climate of Northwest Europe, especially the Brtsh les-the area most exposed to it. It made the climate warmer than other regions at similar latitudes such as in North America. Before then, the climate of the British Iles was much more severe than is the case today, especially during cooling periods.

Traces

These early huntrergather people left few traces. Most of what they fashioned was bidegradeable materials like wood, animal skins, and plant material whuch has long since deraded. Only the stne tools they made survived. But during the early Stone Age it is very difficult to definitely idetify early tools from naturally chipped rock. It is only as early people began refining their stool making that stone tools cann be definitively identified. Archeological work has unearthed some fascinating information in recent years.

Doggerland and Ice Ages

For much of the Stone Age, Britain was not an island, it was connected to the Continent by Doggerland. The Ice Age ice sheets locked up huge quantitoes of water, lowering sea levels. This meantm that Doggerland ws above the surface, although much of it seems to have been marshy gorund. Doggerland was nt a land bridge. It was huge, as large as modern England and compsing much of what is now the North Sea. The earliest actual Human remains have been dated to more than 500,000 years ago. These were Neanderthals. The severe ice ages would have driven humans from northern Europe, including much of Britain. Humans retreated to the more moderate climte of southern Europe. The Last Glacial Period (LGP)/Ice Age covered Britain south to the Midlands (about 115,000-11,700 BP). The ice sheet retreated and shrank after 27,000 BP. Scientists estimate that it had disappeared by 11,300 BP. 【Emery】

Modern Humans

The earliest remains of modern humans (Homo sapiens) date to about 40,000 years ago Here estimates vary. We have seen some estimates of the arrival of modern humans as recent as 30,000 BP. This occurred as the ice sheets retreated which began even before the Gulf Stream developed. But the 11,700 BP estimate made by one researcher 【Hänninen】, may not be the first appearance in Britain, but it was the appeance just as aricultural was being invented. It shoud be sressed that this was all at the very end of the Ice Age. Here we do not mean mdern human colonized what is now Bitain, We ae probabably talking about small bands of people who may at first ventured into Britain only seasonally. These modern humnas were probably enggaged in sporadic hunting trips. Stone tools and cave art was all had to go on for these early adventurers. The earliest British cave art has been found at Creswell Crags caves in Derbyshire (11,000 BP). This was about the same time tha Modern humans began the continuous occupation of Britain in numbers. It was made possible by the warming period causing the the ice sheets to receded (10,000 BP). These were still hunter gatherer people pursuing game. This was pssible because of the Doggerland land concoction still existed. The warming trend steadily increased sea levels and Doggerland was inundated, making Britain an island. But this only occurred in relatively modern times (about 4,500 BP). Agriculture began to develop first in the Middle East (about 12,000-10,000 BP). This was the Neolithic or Aricultural Revolution which began in river valleys. It took sometime for agriculture to reach the British Iles (probably about 6,000 BP, meaning about 4,000 BC). This mean that some degree of agriculture had reachd britain before the land connection with Europe was broken. DNA research has added a imprtant new tool to add tothe the work of archaeologists. And the DNA evidence links these people to modern Brits. (This may change but the earliest DNA links only goes back 9,000 years.) Many historians until the 21st century have tended for a variety of reasons to ascribe to the theory that the Anglo-Saxons waged a war of extinction rather than absorbing the Romano-Celtic population that remained in Britain after the Legions departed. There was no ways to prove this, but the cultural artifacts and linguistic record tended to confirm this assessment. As the Anglo-Saxon invaders were pre-literate, there is no written evidence. Modern science has provided us a way to test out this theory--DNA genetic sampling. The DNA evidence is striking and surprised many historians. The disappearance of Latin and Celtic had convinced many historians that the Germanic invaders, may not have absorbed the Celts, but rather conducted a war of extinction. The DNA evidence shows that this did not occur. Something like 75 percent of Britons came to Briton long before the arrival of Celts, Romans, or Anglo Saxons, yet alone the Normans. It was the early hunter-gathers who reached Briton something like 5,500-13,000 BC who were the ancestors of most modern Britons. This was after the melting of the Ice Age ice sheets, but while Britain and Ireland were still connected to the European land mass. Existence as an island people helped to create a relatively homogeneous ethnicity and discourage mixing with the many varied continental people. This limited European access Britain, although European settlrs continued to trickle in, but in small numbes by sea. These new new settlers may have bought more dvanced agricultural later bronze age technology to Britain. One author describes the British people as a kind of 'genetic time capsule' of southwestern Europe at the end of the Ice Age. And the continental group closest to the British is the Basque people. Thus the first British language was not a Celtic language, but one similar to the distinctive Basque language. There were many subsequent invasions and migrations which affected culture, language, technology, and other attributes, but not fundamentally ethnicity. The subsequent groups if they came as invaders may have replaced the ruling elite, but none of these groups have contributed more than 5 percent to the modern British population and ethnic makeup. 【Oppenheimer】 It needs to be stressed that the various modern arrivals (Celts, Romans, Anglo-Sxons, Viking, and Normans may have introducd a doiminant culture/language, but that des nt nean a dominat etnnicity. The protypes of Britonnjc and Celtic languages appeared in southern Britain. Archeologists the Windmill Hill culture in southern England. 【Williamson】 This involce settled communities and basic mining for fint used foor tools and weapons (3000 BC). The Windmill Hill culture dominated in the Salisbury Plain which of course is where Stonehenge, a ritual causewayed enclosure near Avebury, was located. They seem to have been connected with another Neolithic tribe in East Anglia with a religion centered on stone circles. The eventual conversion to stone is largely why we knw of these peple. Henge structures were common throughout much of Britain and even eastern Ireland. Causeway strutures wee limited to what nw southeast England. We also see barrows where the dead weree burried with traasures of great interest to archeologists, providing for the first time insights on a belief in an after life, social hierarchy, and techonolgical levels. The momadic Beaker people originatng in the Eurasian Steppe began to doninate (after 3000 BC). They are nown for their destinctive pottery, but appar to have other advnced technologies. They my have been th peple erecting the freat megaltihs at Stnehedge. They behan to decline for unknown reasons (abot 1600 BC). Stonnehenge appears to have been the center f he mot imprant civiization n Britain at the time. It peaked just s the Bronze Age set it. This was epitomized by the Asbury archer found neaa Stinenenge. He mau have been ailgrim r warrior chief. Bronze Age Britain (c2500/2000-800 BC) conncted the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Tt began with the use of copper, soon suplanr=ed by bronze. Metals wre a technolgical leap provding far better tools and weaons. urials ae rich in weaoons testifying to the vronze Age being domibayed by warrior societiesries. Settlements grew in size and were ften buit on hills eit defensive wooden walls als suggestung endemic wrfare. Metal tools were important in converting forrests to productue agriucutyral fiedks which meant far greater farm production. During the British Bronze Age, large megalithic monuments similar to those from the Late Neolithic continued to be constructed and maiained, such sites as Avebury, Stonehenge, Silbury Hill and Must Farm. Archeolgists reort a large-scale disruption (12th century BC). This appeas to have been a ripple of the Broinze age collapse of the great Meditrranean civilizations. The Bronze Age was of course the end of he Neolithic Era. But the Iron Age that followed led us into modern Britain with the Celts.

Sources

Emery, Andy. "The LGM British-Irish Ice Sheet: An Introduction,"Atarcgtic Glaciers.org December 8, 2020).

Hänninen, Kari. "Atlantic Ocean circulation as the driving force for the holocene thermal maximum and millennial scale climatic variability," Environment and Ecology Research Vol. 9, No. 6 (2021), pp. 370-88.

Oppenheimer, Stephen. The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story.

Williamson, R. P. Ross. "Excavations in Whitehawk Camp, near Brighton," Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 71, (1930), pp. 56–96.

Created: 3:37 AM 5/30/2023
Last updated: 12:34 AM 3/20/2025