1. EARLY ENGLAND From Hunter-gatherers to the Romans

2. The evolution of the British Isles The geological stages of the formation of the island (reflected in the present landscape)

3. 2700 mln. years ago Volcanic eruptions – Rocks in the Scottish Highlands

4. 570mln. years ago- seas covered the south of Britain

5. Later – alternation of floods and drying outs ( growing forests, swamps )— rottening of vegetation— peat formed and compressed— coal in S.Wales, Yorkshire, Kent, N.England

6. 280-200 mln. years ago – Britain was a desert

7. 150 mln. Years ago – plants and animals appeared again

8. 70 mln. Years ago seas at the highest level – Britain was blanketed by the fragments of algae – CHALK ( up to 500 m thick in some places – white cliffs of the s. coast)

9. 2,5 mln. years ago –succession of ice ages (~12) Average temp. – 6-9 C ( As far as to London ) Signs of erosion in the Lake District, Snowdonia, Scottish Highlands

10. MAN APPEARED

11. Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) 70,000-8000 BC Alternation of warm and ice-age conditions For most Britain is glaciated Sea level is low. Land-bridges between England and Europe. People could walk to and from the continent. Hunters-gatherers. Lived in caves. No cave art The only evidence – stone tools (flint axes)

12. Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) 8300 – 3500 BC Climate warmer, glaciers retreated. Britain is an island. Hunters-gatherers started to settle for longer periods in Britain. Communities began to hunt in localised areas Regional trends

13. New Stone Age (Neolithic) 3500-2500BC Introduction of agriculture (cultivation of crops and domestication of animals) – –Permanent settlement –Trade –Clearance of forests Depended on communal effort Mines (to get flint) A cult of the dead – communal burials

14. Bronze Age 2500-700 BC Increased inequality between the rich and the poor Communal burials replaced with individual graves “Beaker People” Chiefdoms and ornaments of power Farming (horse-riding equipment. Wheel?)

15. Stone Circles Over 900 in the British Isles The original purpose is unclear Hypotheses: –For ceremonies –As trading places –As ancient observatories Location : the Lake District, the Land’s End and Wiltshire Downs (Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge)