Pascal Bogdan Alexandru clasa X-K

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. 3100c. 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)

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 didnt 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

By 450 BC hill forts were abandoned or
AGE
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.

HADRIANS WALL