-Lengua y cultura IV- 28/3 - González María Victoria.

1. What was prehistoric Britain like? Pay attention to prehistoric ages. Describe each of
them.
2. Who were the Druids and The Celts? Look for information about them and tell me how
we can relate them to Britain and this period.

1. The archaeologists divide Prehistoric life in Britain into periods on the basis of the
material used for implements and weapons. The Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
Archaeologists work by digging, the top layers consist of objects deposited in recent years, lower
down digger may find medieval artifacts, and still lower the remains of the prehistoric
settlements.

The Prehistoric Ages

The stone Age
The Stone Age lasted from about (200,000 to about 2,000 B.C) this long period was divided into:
The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age, the Mesolithic or Middle stone Age and the Neolithic or new
stone era.

The Paleolithic Age: During this period the climate in Britain was mild, men and women could
live without clothes or shelter, then the glaciers descend, for this reason the inhabitants started
to make simple clothes from animal hides and by seeking shelter in caves, they also learned the
use of fire .

The Neolithic Age: Began about 4000 B.C, during this period a milder climate returned.
A culture group called the Windmill Hill people crossed the channel (3000 B.C), bringing with
them a way of life that included settled agriculture, the keeping of domestic animals as Dogs and
sheep, the use of well-shaped arrowheads and the making of pottery ornamented with spiral
and thumbprint designs.
The skeletons of their dead were buried intact (inhumation).

A later Neolithic group called the Beaker folk migrated from northern Europe between 2500 and
2000 B.C, their name derives from the characteristic shape of their pots, and such pottery has
been found at sites throughout England, Ireland and Sothern Scotland.
The Beaker Folk usually buried their dead singly in round barrows. Beaker sites have also yielded
Bronze drinking cups and jewelry, but these articles were probably acquired by trading.

The Bronze Age (2000 to 1000 BC): The art of working with bronze came to the British Isles,
bronze has low melting point, for this reason it was easier to handle than iron. It is also more
attractive for decorative objects but it is less useful for knives and weapons.
The most important Bronze Age group were called the Wessex Culture, this invaders brought
with them the skill in producing bronze articles, the dead of the wessex were cremated. Objects
from Egypt and Greece have been found in these sites, a proof that wessex people were
involved in international trade.
The Iron Age: (came to Britain about 1000 Bc): Bronze continued to be used for ornamental
objects, iron superseded bronze for utilitarian purposes, settled farming was now practiced with
corrals, store houses or barns.

2- The Celts are usually associated with the British arose bagpipe tartan Ginger, It was
believed that they were ancient the original indigenous.

The druids were a religious caste, also intellectuals during the Iron Age.

A Druid is a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures (were the caretakers of
Celtic culture). People in Britain who served a wide variety of roles as philosophers, teachers,
judges, the intermediates between ordinary people and gods (They couldn’t talk to god unless a
druid was present).
However, the information about the druids is second hand knowledge, because texts that
mention them were written by non-druids.
Of all the aspects of the culture of the Iron-Age, the one that has attracted the greatest
attention is the role of the druids.