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Nice collection Sam, and a lovely leaf point.
Just to help others understand the time-frames for people and artefacts in Britain:
The earliest evidence we have (at the moment) for hominids in Britain is from the extreme east coast, dating to around 900,000 years ago at a time when that part of Britain was connected to continental Europe by a wide land bridge known as “Doggerland”. The connection was progressively submerged by rising sea levels around 8,500 years ago and its remnants swept away by a huge tsunami shortly after that.
That earliest site (at a place called Happisburgh, pronounced ‘Hayzeburra’) is believed to have been occupied by Homo antecessor, until recently thought to be the last common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals, but now re-interpreted as a short-lived branch of the hominid tree from just before the modern human/Neanderthal split.
The oldest human fossils we have (as opposed to artefacts where we have to make presumptions about who made them) are from Homo heidelbergensis in the SE of England and date to around 500,000 years ago. At the time, that part of Britain was connected to continental Europe by a chalk ridge which was destroyed by a mega-flood around 425,000 years ago, leaving Doggerland as the only land route from Europe to Britain. Subsequent rising sea levels progressively reduced Doggerland to a series of marshy islets where crossing was still possible before it was finally swept away to leave Britain as an Island, accessible only by raft or boat.
During the period when land crossings were possible, we saw Neanderthal occupation from around 400,000 years ago (again supported by bones). Britain enjoyed a semi-temperate climate until about 374,000 years ago and then entered a period of bitter cold that seems to have driven everyone out. Britain was unoccupied between about 180,000 – 60,000 years ago, except perhaps for a few encampments stranded here during hunting forays from Europe when following game or megafauna. That’s one of the reasons why my Palaeolithic collection has more items from France than it does from Britain.
Neanderthals returned around 60,000 years ago but were extinct here by about 40,000 years ago, by which time modern humans had also arrived in Britain. However these occupations were intermittent and often brief, as Britain experienced multiple severe ice ages which made it uninhabitable for long periods. The last of these ended around 11,700 years ago, and heralded the beginning of our Mesolithic period from around 11,000 years ago. Since then, Britain has been continuously occupied by modern humans.
The Mesolithic period in Britain is generally taken as having ended around 6,300 years ago but of course there is variation from location to location with respect to the cut-off point for technologies and lifestyles regarded as Mesolithic rather than Neolithic. The Neolithic period then lasted until about 4,000 years ago but the Bronze Age overlaps that date by a couple of hundred years or so. Certainly, flint leaf points of the type shown above were still in use in the early Bronze Age, bronze initially being both scarce and valuable.
Just to help others understand the time-frames for people and artefacts in Britain:
The earliest evidence we have (at the moment) for hominids in Britain is from the extreme east coast, dating to around 900,000 years ago at a time when that part of Britain was connected to continental Europe by a wide land bridge known as “Doggerland”. The connection was progressively submerged by rising sea levels around 8,500 years ago and its remnants swept away by a huge tsunami shortly after that.
That earliest site (at a place called Happisburgh, pronounced ‘Hayzeburra’) is believed to have been occupied by Homo antecessor, until recently thought to be the last common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals, but now re-interpreted as a short-lived branch of the hominid tree from just before the modern human/Neanderthal split.
The oldest human fossils we have (as opposed to artefacts where we have to make presumptions about who made them) are from Homo heidelbergensis in the SE of England and date to around 500,000 years ago. At the time, that part of Britain was connected to continental Europe by a chalk ridge which was destroyed by a mega-flood around 425,000 years ago, leaving Doggerland as the only land route from Europe to Britain. Subsequent rising sea levels progressively reduced Doggerland to a series of marshy islets where crossing was still possible before it was finally swept away to leave Britain as an Island, accessible only by raft or boat.
During the period when land crossings were possible, we saw Neanderthal occupation from around 400,000 years ago (again supported by bones). Britain enjoyed a semi-temperate climate until about 374,000 years ago and then entered a period of bitter cold that seems to have driven everyone out. Britain was unoccupied between about 180,000 – 60,000 years ago, except perhaps for a few encampments stranded here during hunting forays from Europe when following game or megafauna. That’s one of the reasons why my Palaeolithic collection has more items from France than it does from Britain.
Neanderthals returned around 60,000 years ago but were extinct here by about 40,000 years ago, by which time modern humans had also arrived in Britain. However these occupations were intermittent and often brief, as Britain experienced multiple severe ice ages which made it uninhabitable for long periods. The last of these ended around 11,700 years ago, and heralded the beginning of our Mesolithic period from around 11,000 years ago. Since then, Britain has been continuously occupied by modern humans.
The Mesolithic period in Britain is generally taken as having ended around 6,300 years ago but of course there is variation from location to location with respect to the cut-off point for technologies and lifestyles regarded as Mesolithic rather than Neolithic. The Neolithic period then lasted until about 4,000 years ago but the Bronze Age overlaps that date by a couple of hundred years or so. Certainly, flint leaf points of the type shown above were still in use in the early Bronze Age, bronze initially being both scarce and valuable.
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