Welcome to the BHP Palaeolithic timeline, created by Jamie Jeffers and Chris Szigeti. This is one of a number of timelines that are intended to help you better understand the events that have shaped Britain into the nation it is today.;xNLx;;xNLx;For many people, the study of Britain begins with 1066 CE. Or if your education went further into detail, it may have begun with Julius Caesar and his invasions. But British history began so much earlier than that. So we are beginning our story at 750,000 BCE with the arrival of Homo Erectus in Britain.;xNLx;;xNLx;For more information on British History, as well as a list of our ;xSTx;a href="http://thebritishhistorypodcast.com/?page_id=1164";xETx;cited sources;xSTx;/a;xETx;, please visit us at ;xSTx;a href="http://www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com";xETx;www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com;xSTx;/a;xETx;
Britain enters the Devensian glacial period (of the current ice age) lasting approximately 100,000 years. This glacial period is one of several in Britain during the Pleistocene epoch.
The Pleistocene epoch comes to an end and the Holocene (or recent) epoch begins. This cross-over, and subsequent warming up period, marks the end of the Devensian glacial period and the start of Flandrian interglacial period, a period of warmth as the ice sheets retreat.
Britain enters a period of warmth during the Ipswichian interglacial period, lasting for approximately 20,000 years.
The Devensian glacial period is at its maximum extent.The peak occurred at around 16,000 BCE.
It's cold....really cold. Hunter-gatherers move on to milder climates in mainland Europe, most likely France, Spain (Iberian Peninsula) in search of food. There will be another period of warmth followed by another cold snap before Britain is permanently occupied.
There is an absence of human occupation in Britain for 140,000 years. Why? This is a very important question that was undertaken by the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project.
Homo neanderthalensis remains from Pontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire, Wales. Among the remains are 19 teeth from five different individuals, a small upper jaw fragment of an 8 year old boy, animals remains showing signs of butchery and stone tools.
The Red Lady of Paviland, actually a 21 year old male nomadic hunter-gatherer, dies in the southern region of Wales. Discovered in the Paviland Caves by Reverend William Buckland, the burial yielded some suprising finds such as over 4000 worked flints, necklace bones, mammoth-ivory bracelets and stone needles.
Circa 300,000 BCE - 200,000 BCE Skull remains from Swanscombe. Discovered in three pieces on separate digs in 1935, 1936 and 1955. Although labelled as Swanscombe Man, the skull fragments are known to belong to a young female. Cause of death is unknown.
Homo sapiens (modern humans) appear in Britain bringing with them new flint technology: slender, parallel-sided flints called blades.
Acheulean handaxe flint-tools discovered in Swanscombe, Kent.
Here we have an ancestor of Neanderthal man arriving in Britain and bringing with him advanced tools, such as those found at Boxgrove, West Sussex. At Boxgrove, West Sussex, we have found a homo heidelergensis tooth and tibia remains from this period as well as various hand axes and animal remains including brown bear, rhino, giant deer and wild horses, all believed to have been butchered due the visible cut marks made from flint-tools. At approximately this point, Acheulean hand axes were introduced to Britain and used primarily for the butchering of animals among other possible uses.
The British Isles are connected to mainland Europe and Homo erectus, the first hominid to leave Africa, brings tool use to the south-east coast of modern day England.
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