Презентация "British Prehistory" 9 класс

Old Stone Age

(Palaeolithic)

250,000 –

10,000 years ago

The period of the earliest known occupation of Britain by humans. This huge period saw many changes in the environment. The inhabitants of the region at this time were bands of hunter-gatherers who roamed Northern Europe following herds of animals, or who supported themselves by fishing. Around 50,000 BC a new type of human being seems to have arrived, who was the ancestor of the modern British. These people looked similar to the modern British, but were probably smaller and had a life span of only about thirty years.

Boxgrove

Handaxes

(the British Museum)

Robin Hood Cave Horse

Middle Stone Age

( Mesolithic)

10,000 -5,500 years ago

About 10,000 years ago the ice age finally ended and the new era began. Temperatures rose to levels similar to those today. By 9,500 years ago, the rising sea levels caused by the melting glaciers cut Britain off from Ireland and, by around 6500 BC to 6000BC continental Europe was cut off for the last time. Humans spread and reached the far north of Scotland during this period. The dog was domesticated because of its benefits during hunting.

New Stone Age

(the Neolithic)

around 4000- 2000 BC

About 3,000 BC Neolithic people crossed the narrow sea from Europe in small round boats. Each could carry one or two persons. These people kept animals and grew corn crops, and knew how to make pottery. They probably came from the Iberian (Spanish) peninsula. They were small, dark, and long-headed people. They settled in the western parts of Britain and Ireland.

This was the period of domestication of plants and animals. The Neolithic Revolution, as it is called, introduced a more settled way of life. Cave occupation was common at that time. The construction of the earliest earthwork sites began during the early Neolithic (4400BC-3300BC) in the form of long barrows used for communal burials. The earliest stone circles also appear. Building reached its peak at the famous sites of Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill. Industrial flint mining begins along with evidence of long distance trade. Wooden tools and bowls were common.

Long barrows

Stone circles

Scara Brae

Stonehenge

Avebury

Silbury Hill

The Bronze Age

(around 2200 to 750 BC)

After 2400 BC new groups of people arrived in southeast Britain from Europe. They were round-headed and strongly built, taller than Neolithic Britons. Their influence was soon felt and, as a result, they became leaders of British society. Their arrival is marked by the first individual graves, furnished with pottery beakers, from which these people get their name: the “Beaker” people.

The Beaker people probably spoke an Indo-European language. They seem to have brought a single culture to the whole of Britain. They also brought skills to make bronze tools and these began to replace the stone ones. The Beaker people were also skilled at making ornaments from gold, silver and copper. The Bronze Age people lived in round houses and divided up the landscape. They ate cattle, sheep, pigs and deer as well as shellfish and birds.

The Iron Age

(around 750 BC – 43 AD)

In around 750 BC iron working techniques reached Britain from Southern Europe. Iron was stronger and more plentiful than bronze, and its introduction marks the beginning of the Iron Age. Iron Age Britons lived in organized tribal groups, ruled by a chieftain.