Cultural History of Britain Lecture 2

Timeline 1 c. 450,000 – 10,000 BC Palaeolithic (Early Stone Age) c. 10,000 – 4,500 BC Mesolithic  hunting-gathering communities over Europe  c – the “land bridge” connecting the continent and the would-be British Isles disappears  “flaked stones” c. 4,500 – 2500 BC Neolithic (New Stone Age)  cultivation of land, domestication of animals  first built monuments on the British Isles (tombs, religious sites)  megaliths and dolmen  polished stone and flint axes  first pottery  tribal communities  dramatic events related to religion and the burial of the dead

Palaeolithic Britain: The Red Lady of Paviland (Gower, Wales) Bones of a young man who died about 26,000 years ago (discovery: 1823) (Aldhouse-Green)

Neolithic Britain 1: Stonehenge (Salisbury Plain, c BC) Built in 4 waves in the Stone and Bronze Ages Bluestones (up to 4 tons, from Wales, Preseli Mountains) Sarsen stones (up to 40 tones, Marlborough Downs) Why was it built? (Druids, religious site, calendar, burial or healing place)

Neolithic Britain 2: Newgrange (Ireland, c ) Passage tombs Ashes and bones in the central chamber Winter solstice

Timeline 2 c – 700 BC Bronze Age  First metalwork (bronze and gold)  Monuments (stone circles)  18 th century BC – immigration of Beaker Folk  Settlements  Field systems, land divisions  Bog bodies (mummification, human sacrifice?) c. 700 BC – 43 AD Iron Age (Celtic Britain)  Immigration of Celts from the continent in several waves  Agricultural settlement (roundhouses)  Hill-forts  Late period: enclosed settlements in the south  Increasing contacts with the continent

The Bronze Age 1: Beaker Folk (Bell-Shaped Pottery) Might have brought bronz to Britain Later: Wessex Culture

The Bronze Age 2: The Cladh Hallan Mummies ( BC, Hebrides)

The Iron Age 1: Celtic Tribes Two different waves and cultures:  Hallstatt culture (Austria)  La Tène culture (territory of the Danube and Rhine, Eastern France)  Surviving Celtic languages: Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Welsh Highly developed metalwork (stylised, abstract), two schools:  North-East: repoussé bronze (horse-masks, shields, stylised plant forms)  South-West: engraving of bronze mirrors, theme of three

The Iron Age 2: The „Insular” Art of the Celts – Metalwork

The Iron Age 3: Celtic Hoards – Votive Offerings

The Iron Age 3: the Hill-Fort Maiden Castle (near Dorchester, completed in the 5 th c. BC)

The Iron Age 4: the Roundhouse

The Iron Age 5: Prehistoric Hill Figures A number of white chalk figures on plains and hillsides Uffington White Horse (1 st c. BC)  Probably Celtic tribal symbol Cerne Giant (Cerne Abbas, Dorset, ambiguous date, 2 nd c. BC or AD, or 5 th c. AD  Connected to ancient fertility rites

Timeline 3 43 AD – 410 – Roman Britain  43 AD: King Verica invites the Romans to liberate his territory from a neighbouring, hostile tribe  after 57 AD: revolts against the Romans (61 AD: Boadicae)  process of colonisation  planned towns  roads  villas and palaces  122-7: Hadrian’s Wall  : Antonine’s Wall  4 th c. – regular attacks of the Celtic Picts and Scots from the North  391: Christianity becomes the state religion of the Roman Empire  : withdrawal of Roman legions from Britain

Roman Britain 1: Fishbourne Palace

Roman Britain 2: The Roman Bath in Bath

Roman Britain 3: Gorgon’s (Medusa’s) Head at the Temple of Sulis Minerva (Bath)

Roman Britain 4: Hadrian’s Wall (Tyne-Solway line, )

Works Cited Aldhouse-Green, Stephen. “Great Sites: Paviland Cave.” British Archaeology (Oct. 2001). BBC – History. Gelfert, Hans-Dieter: Nagy-Britannia rövid kultúrtörténete. Corvina, Budapest, Halliday, F. E. An Illustrated Cultural History of England. London: Thames and Hudson, Laing, Lloyd and Jennifer. Art of the Celts. London: Thames and Hudson, Wilson, Hugh. „The healing stones: Why was Stonehenge built?” BBC – History. _stones.shtml.