Bronze age to Celts

Who Are The British?

From the Ice Age to the Celts - At a Glance

Introduction

Like many nations the British are descended from a complex mixture of different peoples. Firstly nomadic tribes following heards of wild animals which provided their basic needs, then invaders who conquered and settled in the British Isles and more recently from immigrant settlers looking for a new land and a better way of life.

BC - AD

Many countries of the world, including Europe, use the Christian calendar. This means that years are counted from the birth of Jesus Christ. Years which have passed after the birth are sometimes followed by the letters AD which is Latin for Anno Domini, meaning the Year of our Lord. For example 50 AD means 50 years after the birth of Christ.

Dates without letters infer AD.

Years which passed before the birth of Christ are followed by BC. For example 50 BC means fifty years before Christ was born.

To find out how many years there are between BC and AD dates the two numbers must be added together. For example between 50 BC and 50 AD there are 100 years.

Sometimes dates are written with a 'c' (circa) in front of the number, for example c 1234. This means roughly about that time but not exactly that year.

Ideas

Task 1

This project contains several simple maps of Europe. It is a good way to:

practice simple map reading skills

familiarize children with the size and shape of Europe

see the relationship between European countries particularly as it relates to their early history.

Task 2

It is a good idea before starting this project to give children plenty of practice in the addition and subtraction necessary to quickly work with BC and AD dates. For example:

How long ago was the BronzeAge?

How long after the Broze Age was Britain invaded by the Celts?

Task 3

Interesting patterns can be created based on Celtic artwork. Their patterns consisted of intricate interlaced curved lines and circles. They used silver, gold and bronze and decorated their shields, for example, with coloured stones. The warriors shield would make a simple but interesting shape to start with.

The First Europeans

The British Isles are part of Europe. Scient Map of Europe ists believe that the first people did not arrive in Europe until about 30,000 BC during the last Ice Age.

These people who can be called the first Europeans probably came in search of food, following migrating herds of bison, reindeer and mammoths.

A wooley bison - food for the first settlers

They would have crossed into Europe via the Dardanelles which is now a stretch of water separating Greece from Turkey. Then it was a landbridge.

As the Ice age came to an end plant and animal life began to flourish. Early man moved slowly northwards into the fertile plains of Europe.

He learned how to tame animals, to grow plants for food and to makes clothes out of animal skins.

Archaeologists group early people according to what materials they used to make tools. The earliest evidence of man in Europe consists of stone and bone tools so the people who made them are said to belong to the Stone Age. All of Europe had probably entered the Stone Age by 4000 BC.

The Stone Age was followed c 2000 BC by the Bronze Age. Bronze weapons and tools, such as those used for farming, were greatly improved.

Growing food became easier so more was produced. As people had more to eat the population grew then more land and was needed.

This led to fighting between neighbouring communities which in turn led to the building of barriers around each community for protection.

Bronze Age Farmer

The Celts

The Celts were among Europe's oldest peoples. The first tribes lived in central Europe in hill-forts. This model of a hill-fort shows houses with thatched roofs supported by wooden frames surrounded by a timber fence with a ditch for protection. An underground passage was used for storage and protection.

Language

People who spoke the Celtic language first invaded Britain in the late Bronze Age about 900 BC. These tall, blue-eyed people with fair or red hair were proud warriors.

The Iron Age started in Britain about 600 BC when the Celts learned how to smelt iron. It was hard work, so iron was expensive. The Celts used iron bars as currency.

By 400BC they also dominated the British Isles, Spain, Italy and France.

Celtic eventually replaced all previous languages spoken in Britain. By 250 BC it was spoken over a vast areas of Europe

The red area of the map shows the Celtic Heartland the blue areas show the Celtic speaking countries. - from Britain in the west to Turkey in the east

The People

They were well organised and their tribal armies were well equipped with horse-drawn chariots. They built hill-forts to protect themselves and were easily able to take over Britain.

They were gifted craft workers and produced the first British art. They liked complicated swirling patterns and decorated bronze shields, ornamental daggers, pots, bowls, small bronze figures, jewellery and mirrors.

They were also efficient farmers able to make and use metal farming tools and rear animals

They showed no interest in building an empire or even unifying all their territories. Celtic tribes consisted of three main classes:

Warriors, armed with sophisticated iron weaponry, formed the aristocracy
Druids, religious leaders, who often held the power of life and death over other tribe members, and
Farmers, reared cattle and cultivated crops with iron tools, kept the economy going.

The Celts were eventually defeated by the Roman armies. Most Celtic civilisation in England slowly died out, but in what is now Northern England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland the Celts resisted Roman rule and their culture survived.

An artists impression of a Celtic Warrior with his beautifully decorated shield

The Romans left Britain in 410. They left written reports on the Celtic people and their customs.

Artist's impression of how a Celtic Chief and members of his tribe might have feasted in their timbered hall while listening to heroic poetry accompanied by music.