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First people in Britain

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  Posted by ottermania (U13975238) on Wednesday, 27th May 2009

  Who were the first people to inhabit Britain, I know the Beaker people came before the Celts but was there anyone before them and what date did they arrive here?

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  Posted by henvell (U1781664) on Wednesday, 27th May 2009

  The initial hominids treked to Britain before 500Ka.Prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens the Neanderals resided in the UK.The initial Homo sapiens were probably descendants of Gravettians and their occupation pre-dated the last glacial maximum.People journeyed to the UK from the Iberian glacial refugium after the LGM.Whether Britain was inhabited during the Younger Dryas is a moot point.Once again people came from Iberia to settle in Britain ca 9600 BC.There forebearers were probably mostly Gravettians.

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  Posted by lolbeeble (U1662865) on Thursday, 28th May 2009

  The area made up of the British Isles has been inhabited and deserted by hominids a number of times over the last few hundred thousand years. There has been continuous occupation since around twelve thousand years ago after the retreat of the glaciers that covered Northern Europe. This population appears to have spread north from Spain and France following the expansion of forest zones. They used tools made of stone, antler and bone associated with late Magdelanian technology that originated in Southern France and Northern Spain. Because glaciers trapped so much water, sea levels were considerably lower and these people probably settled the lowland river and coastal zones now covered by the channel and the North Sea.
  
  Northern Europe starts to display its own culturally distinct identity by around ten thousand years ago during what is termed the Mesolithic with the spread of Maglemosian tools. A typical site using these tools is Starr Carr in North Yorkshire that was situated on the northern shore of what was part of complex of giant lakes made of glacial melt water. These river, lake and coastal environments continued to be favoured settlement sites during the next few thousand years providing a rich diet from aquatic and woodland resources although climatic instability and the changes in pressure on the earths crust meant that that water levels fluctuated wildly over the period. However as time passed hunter gatherer communities started to bury their dead in large scale cemeteries rather than in individual burials possibly showing that populations were getting larger over this period and people wanted to lay claim their territory in an increasingly crowded world by burying their ancestors there. These cemeteries are believed to have become increasingly common in the centuries preceding the introduction of farming.
  
  Farming was introduced to the British Isles from Continental Europe by around six thousand years ago. Quite how it was introduced is uncertain although there must have been some migration due to the presence of genetic material that ultimately can be traced back to the Middle East. Estimates vary between one and two fifths of modern British genetic material is derived from these immigrants. Most of the rest comes from the preceding waves of migration at the end of the ice age. The initial colonists were probably from the area at the mouth of the Rhine and the the Low countries however. The desire to mark out territory with the presence of their ancestors continued and there was a flourishing of monumental tomb construction starting in Western Britain and Northern Ireland and spread over much the British Isles with considerable regional variation by four and half thousand years ago. This is allied to other forms of large scale construction such as causewayed enclosures and henge monuments that appear to have spread from the North. Associated with these monuments is a style of pottery known as Grooved ware that appears to be used for some kind of ritual purpose associated with these monuments.
  
  The Beaker people represent a cultural break with these traditions starting around four and a half thousand years and coincide with the introduction of Bronze working to the British Isles. Despite similarities with much of Western Europe this would seem to be as much a change in fashion with only a limited impact from immigration outside the British Isles. It does show that extensive links had developed with both Northern Europe through the Rhine valley as well as the Mediterranean along the Atlantic coast. The adoption of the Bell beaker assemblage displays a move towards greater emphasis on individuals over the community and its place in the landscape with the appearance of single burials with grave goods. It would seem groups in society were more willing to express their social status and increasing control of wealth more openly using material goods like archery equipment and personal grooming kits and especially with the creation of burial mounds to mark individual burials. Despite initial resistance the Bell Beaker complex spread into the South West around four thousand years ago and the rich material culture that it spawned has come to identify the period as Wessex culture. The iconic trilithons of stone henge date to this period.
  
  As the Bronze age progressed and more land was cleared for agriculture so patterns of land use became more permanent. Celtic field systems are actually mid Bronze Age land divisions appearing between three thousand eight hundred and three thousand one hundred years ago. Cremation also replaced burial and the remains were placed inside urns that were then buried often forming large fields of burials. The onset of a wetter climatic conditions around around three thousand years ago in the late Bronze Age saw the spread of wetland marshes and appears to have been accompanied by an increasing concentration on religious rituals surrounding water such as depositing goods in rivers, lakes and streams. Some have pointed out that there is a continuing obsession with boundaries although it changes from farmed and non farmed to wet and dry land. Such obvious parallels to aspects of the mythology of the British Isles therefore seem to predate the appearance of the material cultures that are usually associated with the Celts.

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  Posted by Haesten (U4770256) on Friday, 29th May 2009

  lolbeeble
  
  (previous message hasn't appeared)
  
  Genetic research on the Irish hare suggest that people could have survived the last ice age around the Irish sea.
  Apparently the Irish hare is a separate species that has been there for at least 60,000 years.

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  Posted by Haesten (U4770256) on Thursday, 28th May 2009

  lolbeeble
  
  I have seen a case made using genetics for people surviving the last ice age around the Irish Sea, a fresh water lake at the time.
  
  Genetic studies of Irish Hares seems to back this up.
  
  The Irish hare’s unique morphology, ecology and behaviour in relation to other mountain hares is thus the result of genetic adaptation (i.e. speciation) as the result of continuous isolation for at least for the past 30,000 – 60,000 years (or more considering times of divergence between Irish hares and other mountain hares, see Table 1) . The unique evolutionary history and continued genetic isolation of the Irish hare challenges its present taxonomic classification as a subspecies.
  
  [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]

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  Posted by lolbeeble (U1662865) on Friday, 29th May 2009

  Well it is not inconceivable that there were several species adapted to arctic conditions that survived in lowland tundra environments. The link you have provided appears to have fallen foul of the moderators and I'm having problems finding anything that implies Northwestern Europeans have any haplotypes that could have been the result of a similar period of genetic isolation from populations on the Mediterranean and Black Sea margins. These areas are generally thought to have been the primary ice age refuges.

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  Posted by Haesten (U4770256) on Friday, 29th May 2009

  lolbeeble
  
  Yes it is a pdf.
  
  google
  Population genetic structure and systematics of the Irish Hare

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  Posted by henvell (U1781664) on Friday, 29th May 2009

  Haesten,
  Thanks a tonne for the link to the Irish Hare PDF.Had not been aware of this research.The southern portion of Ireland,which could could have been a refugium during the LGM,has been inundated by the rising waters of the glacial melt.Evidence of human occupation during that era would be difficult to find.

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  Posted by Haesten (U4770256) on Saturday, 30th May 2009

  This is quite interesting.
  
  SEA6 Maritime Archaeology
  
  

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  Posted by PaulRyckier (U1753522) on Saturday, 30th May 2009

  Re: Message 3.
  
  lol,
  
  thank you very much for this message. It is always such a relief to read your messages in the middle of the rest.
  
  Thank you also Haesten and Henvell for a high-level exchange of thoughts.
  
  Warm regards to the three of you.
  
  Paul.

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