Old Stone Age

The first men and women came to Britain over two and a half million years ago. As the climate got warmer at the end of the second ice age, tribes of hunters and gatherers of food, who used simple stone tools and weapons, made their way into Britain. It was normal for them to move from place to place so they could find new resources.

These people left no literature, but they did leave many burial chambers, monuments and artifacts. Stone circles, Neolithic tombs and tools have been found all over the British Isles from the tip of Cornwall in the south to the very north of Scotland.

Britain used to be joined to the European land mass by a land bridge. It is believed that Stone Age man migrated to Britain across the land bridge. Britain became an island separate from the rest of Europe about 8,500 years ago, when melting ice formed the English Channel.

Year	What happened in Britain	The World
700,000 BC	People migrate to 'Britain' from Europe. Britain is joined to Europe (no sea in between) Mammoth, rhino and giant beavers live in 'Britain' Date of earliest human tools found on Suffolk coast.
130,000 BC	Neanderthal Britain The dominate human species is Neanderthal.
25,000 BC	Ice Age Northern Europe and most of modern Britain is plunged into a deep Ice Age
12,000 BC	Beginning of the end of the Ice Age Re-colonization of Britain by home sapiens.
8,500 BC	Warmer climate led to the growth of forests all over Britain.
6,000 BC	Britain becomes an Island. The land bridge joining Britain to Europe flooded as the sea level rose
4,200 BC	Farming people arrive from Europe. First evidence of farming Farming quickly spread all across the British Isles. Land is cleared, wheat and barley planted , and herds of domesticated sheep, cattle, and pigs raised.
3,000 BC	New Stone Age begins: farming people arrive from Europe. First stone circles erected.
2,800 BC	First phase of building Stonehenge
2,700 BC	Tools and weapons made from copper
2,100 BC	Bronze Age begins First metal workers People learn to make bronze weapons and tools. Introduction of cremation of the dead and burials in round barrows. Beaker culture - their name is thought to originate from the distinctive beakers that accompanied their burials. They were farmers and archers. They lived in round huts (similar to the Celts) with a low stone wall for a base. The roof was made of thatch, turf, or hides.
2,000 BC	Stonehenge completed
1650 BC	Trade routes began to form
1200 BC	Small Villages were first formed
1136-1327		Pharaoh Tutankhamen rules Egypt
753		Romulus and Remus found Rome.
750 BC	Iron Age began Iron replaces bronze as most useful metal. Population about 150,000.
563		Birth of Prince Siddhartha Gautama. He later became Buddha
509		Rome expels kings and becomes a republic.
500 BC	The Celtic people arrive from Central Europe. The Celts were farmers and lived in small village groups in the centre of their arable fields. They were also warlike people. The Celts fought against the people of Britain and other Celtic tribes.

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