Editing Hampshire (section)

===Before the Roman Conquest===
{{Main|History of Hampshire}}
The region is believed to have been continuously occupied since the end of the [[Last Glacial Maximum|last Ice Age]] about 12,000 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last=Oppenheimer |first=Stephen |date=2006 |title=The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story |publisher=Carroll & Graf |isbn=9780786718900 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780786718900}}</ref> At that time sea levels were lower and Britain was still attached by a land bridge to the European continent and predominantly covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants were [[Mesolithic]] [[hunter-gatherers]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The British Museum: Prehistoric Britain |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/visit-resource_prehistoric-britain-KS2.pdf |page=6 |access-date=14 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218232939/http://www.britishmuseum.org/PDF/visit-resource_prehistoric-britain-KS2.pdf |archive-date=18 February 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The majority of the population would have been concentrated around the river valleys.<ref name=HER>{{cite web |title=Hampshire County Council: The Atlas of Hampshire's Archaeology |url=http://documents.hants.gov.uk/archaeology/TheAtlasofHampshiresArchaeology.pdf |access-date=14 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180415063900/http://documents.hants.gov.uk/archaeology/TheAtlasofHampshiresArchaeology.pdf |archive-date=15 April 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Over several thousand years the climate became progressively warmer and sea levels rose; the English Channel, which started out as a river, was a major inlet by 8000 BCE, although Britain was still connected to Europe by a land bridge across the North Sea until 6500 BCE.<ref>Gaffney, V, Fitch, S, and Smith, D, 2009, ''Europe's Lost World: The rediscovery of Doggerland''</ref> Notable sites from this period include [[Bouldnor Cliff]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maritimearchaeologytrust.org/bouldnor |title=Bouldnor Cliff |publisher=Maritime Archaeology Trust |access-date=11 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412082418/http://www.maritimearchaeologytrust.org/bouldnor |archive-date=12 April 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Danebury Fort - aerial image, Hampshire Data Portal.jpg|thumb|left|[[Danebury|Danebury Fort]] – aerial image]]
[[Agriculture]] was being practised in southern Britain by 4000 BCE and with it a [[Neolithic]] culture. Some deforestation took place at that time, although during the [[Bronze Age]], beginning in 2200 BCE, it became more widespread and systematic.<ref>Pryor, F, 2003, ''Britain BC''{{full citation needed|date=December 2019}}</ref> Hampshire has few monuments to show from those early periods, although nearby [[Stonehenge]] was built in several phases at some time between 3100 and 2200 BCE. In the very late Bronze Age fortified hilltop settlements known as [[hillforts]] began to appear in large numbers in many parts of Britain including Hampshire, and they became more and more important in the early and middle [[Iron Age]];<ref name= "CunliffeIronAge">Cunliffe, B, 2008, ''Iron Age Communities in Britain'', fourth edition</ref> many of them are still visible in the landscape today and can be visited, notably [[Danebury|Danebury Rings]], the subject of a major study by archaeologist [[Barry Cunliffe]]. By that period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a [[Celtic languages|Celtic language]], and their culture shared much in common with the [[Celts]] described by classical writers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry W. |date=1997 |title=The Ancient Celts |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198150107}}</ref> The town of [[Bitterne]] (''Byterne'' in a reference from the late 11th century.<ref name="placenames">{{cite book |last=Mills |first=A.D. |title=Dictionary of English Place-Names |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=1998 |edition=2nd |isbn=0-19-280074-4}}</ref>) shares the same root as the [[River Erne]], suggesting the name refers to the [[Iverni]].<ref name=roulston>Roulston, William J. ''Fermanagh: History and Society''. Geography Publications, 2004. pp.577-578.</ref><ref>[[Ptolemy]]. ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]''. 2.2.6 (ed. K. Müller [Paris 1883–1901])</ref>

Hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Probably around that period the first recorded invasion of Britain took place, as southern Britain was largely conquered by warrior-elites from [[Belgae|Belgic tribes]] of northeastern Gaul, but whether those two events were linked to the decline of hillforts is unknown. By the time of the Roman conquest the ''[[oppidum]]'' at [[Venta Belgarum]], modern-day Winchester, was the ''de facto'' regional administrative centre; Winchester was, however, of secondary importance to the Roman-style town of [[Calleva Atrebatum]], modern [[Silchester]], built further north by a dominant Belgic polity known as the [[Atrebates]] in the 50s BCE. Julius Caesar invaded south-eastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, but he never reached Hampshire. Notable sites from this period include [[Hengistbury Head]] (now in Dorset), which was a major port.<ref name="CunliffeIronAge" /><ref>Pryor, F, 2004, ''Britain BC''{{full citation needed|date=December 2019}}</ref>