The Later Prehistory of Britain

This site examines the technology of Later prehistory in the British Isles, particularly that of the Neolithic (c3000-2500BC) and the Bronze Age (c2500-500BC).

The Neolithic (literally, New Stone Age) was when agriculture first started to be practised on any scale. The Neolithic is therefore synonymous with the introduction of crops and animal husbandry. People gradually changed their life-styles around these developments… the hunter-gathering peoples of the Mesolithic settled down and started to live a more sedentary lifestyle. Also in the Neolithic we see changes in the way stone tools were produced. Some of these changes include a general deterioration in the quality of flint-knapping, but also the introduction of wide-scale use of ground stone tool technology.

It was during the Neolithic that the megalithic monuments start to appear – in the form of causewayed enclosures, long-barrows, then cursus monuments, various types of stone tombs and stone circles. There are many regional variations and the availability of raw materials had an effect on what was built where. In the upland zone where there are plentiful supplies of rock monuments tended to be built in stone, whereas in the lowland zone earthen monuments (barrows) predominate.

As people began farming, settlements began to form. Recently large settlements have been found near Stonehenge. Previously there was relatively little evidence for Neolithic settlements with a few exceptions – especially in the far north of the British Isles where settlements built almost exclusively of stone have been noted (for example Skara Brae on Orkney).

Metal tools were first being used in Britain as early as 2500BC. A preserved wooden trackway from Corlea in Ireland was cut using a metal axe. Unlike the Mediterranean Britain did not have much of a Chalcolithic (copper-age). Bronze appears soon after the first appearance of metals. Why this might be so is not clear, but metallurgy did come slightly later to Britain than the rest of temperate north-west Europe… so the technology for casting bronze was introduced fairly rapidly. The first bronze tools were relatively simple forms such as flat daggers and small axes, but the technology advanced quickly and more complex forms appear. The main change in bronze technology was the introduction of two-piece moulds which allowed more complex shapes to be cast. Later clay moulds and the lost-wax method (see link) allowed for even more complex shapes to be cast. It appears that true swords were always cast in clay moulds as far as we can see (in Britain).

By the end of the Bronze Age people were able to cast complex shapes in bronze, were making bronze sheet and were skilled artisans.