Earliest Times (Unit 1)

• Prehistory: there are no records of the events, no written records
• History: once writing was introduced
• In the case of the UK, writing was introduced by the Romans
• Prehistory covers from the first human appearance in the British Isles to the beginning of written records
• Britain experienced extremes of climate in prehistoric times over millions of years, from the Mediterranean-like conditions to long stages of cold weather when ice covered the British Isles
• There were at least 10 separate waves of occupation, but people were driven away by extreme changes in the environment
• Britain has not always been an island
• Humans and animals freely crossed and also inhabited the area known as Doggerland
• In May 2013, a storm uncovered a series of fossilised footprints on the beach in Norfolk
• Skara Brae is a Neolithic Village discovered in 1850 and located in Orkney, Scotland from 3000 BC - 2.500 BC
• Skara Brae was a peaceful village with no more than 8 houses; 100 inhabitants
• Skara Brae had circular one-room houses with passageways and really thick walls
• Varied artefacts were found, such as dice, beads, buttons or needles in Skara Brae
• Remains show there might have been some prison-like house and a workshop (Skara Brae).
• Barrow: burial mound made of earth or stone
• Long Barrows were communal tombs with elongated shape
• Long Barrows were centers of religious activity around the dead and fertility
• Long Barrows were oriented towards the east, to show the importance of rising
• Long Barrows belong to the Neolithic to Bronze Age
• Barrow mounds were more numerous than long barrows
• Barrow mounds are sometimes marked in maps as “tumuli”
• Barrow mounds were introduced to England by Beaker People
• Barrow mounds have the shape of an overturned bowl and were burial places for individuals
• Barrow mounds were not intended for burial, but as a territory marker, visible in the open land
• The Witan was the King’s Council.
• The Saxons created institutions which made the English state strong for the next 500 years.
• Barrow mounds were typically of the Bronze Age
• In Ireland, Christianity was already established in the 5th century, when a British slave, Patrick, arrived.
• Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731) contributed to the creation of a sense of unity of the English people.
• In the last hundred years of the Roman government, the Christianity became firmly established across Britain, both in Roman-controlled areas and beyond.
• Henges were centres of religious, political and economic power
• The Witan established a system which remained an important part of the king's method of government (today’s Privy Council)
• In 597 pope Gregory the Great sent a monk, Augustine, to re-establish Christianity in England and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 601.
• The purse filled with 27 gold coins, which provided key evidence for dating the burial to the early seventh century.
• The Church increased the power establishing monasteries, or minsters, for example Westminster, which were places of learning and education.
• The gold buckle would have been used to fasten the kind of waist belt commonly worn by Anglo-Saxon men at the time.
• The use of the heavy plough changed land ownership and organisation, as now bigger area and animals would be shared cooperatively by several families.
• Towards the end of the 8th century new raiders were tempted by Britain’s wealth (the Vikings)
• Over each shire was appointed a shire reeve, (the king's local administrator)
• The buckle’s surfaces are decorated with 13 animals including birds, interwoven snakes and four-legged beasts.