The period in the British Isles, excluding
Ireland, from prehistory to the Roman
occupation. After the last glacial retreat of
the Ice Age about 15,000 BC, Britain was
inhabited by hunters who became neolithic
farming villagers. They built stone circles
and buried their chiefs in barrow mounds.
Around 400 BC Britain was conquered by the
Celts and 54 BC by the Romans under Julius
Caesar; Boudicca led an uprising against
their occupation. The original inhabitants
gradually changed from hunting and gathering
to keeping livestock and growing corn; traces
of human occupation in the Old Stone Age have
been found at Cheddar Caves, Somerset. In the
New Stone Age the farming villagers buried
their chiefs in long barrows; remains of
flint mining can be found at Grimes Graves,
Norfolk. In the Bronze Age they used round
barrows. About 1800 BC, the Beaker people
invaded, and left traces of their occupation
at Avebury and Stonehenge (stone circles).
About 450 BC the Iron Age began, and shortly
afterwards Britain was conquered by the
Celts, who built hillforts and left burial
sites containing chariots. The Celts were a
tall, fair- haired people who migrated in two
waves from Europe. First came the Goidelic
Celts, of whom traces may still be seen in
the Gaels of Ireland and the Highlands; there
followed the Brythonic Celts or Bretons, who
were closely allied in descent and culture to
the Gauls of France. The early Britons were
highly skilled in pottery and metalwork. Tin
mines in Cornwall attracted merchant sailors
from Carthage. In 55-54 BC Julius Caesar
raided England. AD 43 marked the start of the
Roman conquest; among the most visible
surviving remains are those found in Bath,
Fishbourne (near Chichester), Hadrian's Wall,
Watling Street, London (Temple of Mithras),
Dover, St Albans, and Dorchester. In 407 the
Romans withdrew, but partly reoccupied the
country about 417-27 and about 450. For later
history, see England, history; Scotland,
history; Wales, history; and United Kingdom.