Editing History of England (section)

===Later Prehistory===
{{Main article|Bell Beaker culture|Bronze Age Britain|British Iron Age}}

====Bronze Age====
[[File:Bush Barrow.jpg|thumb|Artefacts from [[Bush Barrow]] at Stonehenge. [[Wessex culture]], [[Bronze Age Britain|Early Bronze Age]], {{circa|1900 BC}}]]

The [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] began around 2500&nbsp;BC with the appearance of bronze objects. This coincides with the appearance of the characteristic [[Bell Beaker culture]], following migration of new people from the continent. According to Olalde et al. (2018), after 2500&nbsp;BC Britain's Neolithic population was largely replaced by this new Bell Beaker population, that was genetically related to the [[Corded Ware culture]] of central and eastern Europe and the [[Yamnaya culture]] of the eastern European [[Pontic-Caspian Steppe]].<ref>Olalde etal. (2018), [https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25738 ''The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe''], Nature</ref><ref>The Guardian, [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/21/arrival-of-beaker-folk-changed-britain-forever-ancient-dna-study-shows ''Arrival of Beaker folk changed Britain for ever, ancient DNA study shows'']</ref> While the migration of these Beaker peoples must have been accompanied by a language shift, the Celtic languages were probably introduced by later Celtic migrations.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43115485 | title=Ancient Britons 'replaced' by newcomers| work=BBC News| date=2018-02-21| last1=Rincon| first1=Paul}}</ref>

The Bronze Age saw a shift of emphasis from the communal to the individual, and the rise of increasingly powerful elites whose power came from their prowess as hunters and warriors and their controlling the flow of precious resources to manipulate tin and copper into high-status bronze objects such as swords and axes. Settlement became increasingly permanent and intensive. Towards the end of the Bronze Age, many examples of very fine metalwork began to be deposited in rivers, presumably for ritual reasons and perhaps reflecting a progressive change in emphasis from the sky to the earth, as a rising population put increasing pressure on the land. England largely became bound up with the [[Atlantic Bronze Age|Atlantic trade system]], which created a cultural continuum over a large part of Western Europe.<ref name="ReferenceA">Francis Pryor, ''Britain BC'', 2003</ref> It is possible that the [[Celtic languages]] developed or spread to England as part of this system; by the end of the Iron Age there is much evidence that they were spoken across all England and western parts of Britain.<ref>Barry Cunliffe, ''The Ancient Celts'', 1997</ref>

====Iron Age====
[[File:Maiden Castle, Dorchester..jpg|thumb|View of the ramparts of the hillfort of [[Maiden Castle, Dorset|Maiden Castle]] (450 BC), as they look today]]
[[File:London - British Museum - 2453.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Battersea Shield]] (detail), 350 BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1857-0715-1 |title=The Battersea Shield |website=British Museum}}</ref>|255x255px]]

The [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] is conventionally said to begin around 800&nbsp;BC. At this time, the [[British people|Britons]] or Celtic Britons were settled in England. The Celtic people of early England were the majority of the population, beside other smaller ethnic groups in Great Britain. They existed like this from the British Iron Age into the Middle Ages, when it was [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|overtaken]] by Germanic [[Anglo-Saxons]]. After some time, the [[Celtic Britons]] diverged into the multiple distinct ethnic groups such as Welsh, Cornish and Breton, but they were still tied by language, religion and culture. They spoke the Brittonic language, a Celtic language which is the ancestor of the modern Brittonic languages. The Atlantic trade system had by this time effectively collapsed, although England maintained contacts across the channel with France, as the [[Hallstatt culture]] became widespread across the country. Its continuity suggests it was not accompanied by substantial movement of population; crucially, only a single Hallstatt burial is known from Britain, and even here the evidence is inconclusive. On the whole, burials largely disappear across England, and the dead were disposed of in a way which is archaeologically invisible: [[excarnation]] is a widely cited possibility. [[Hillfort]]s were known since the Late Bronze Age, but a huge number were constructed during 600–400&nbsp;BC, particularly in the South, while after about 400&nbsp;BC new forts were rarely built and many ceased to be regularly inhabited, while a few forts become more and more intensively occupied, suggesting a degree of regional centralisation.

[[File:The Great Torc - Snettisham Hoard - geograph.org.uk - 2395380.jpg|thumb|Gold [[torc]] from [[Snettisham Hoard|Snettisham]], 70 BC|220x220px]]

Around this time the earliest mentions of Britain appear in the annals of history. The first historical mention of the region is from the [[Massaliote Periplus]], a sailing manual for merchants thought to date to the 6th century&nbsp;BC, and [[Pytheas]] of [[Massilia]] wrote of his voyage of discovery to the island around 325&nbsp;BC. Both of these texts are now lost; although quoted by later writers, not enough survives to inform the archaeological interpretation to any significant degree.

{{blockquote|''Britain, we are told, is inhabited by tribes which are autochthonous and preserve in their ways of living the ancient manner of life. They use chariots, for instance, in their wars, even as tradition tells us the old Greek heroes did in the Trojan War.''| [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'', 60–30 BC.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5B*.html|title=The Library of History of Diodorus Siculus|chapter=Book 5, chapter 24}}</ref>}}

Contact with the continent was less than in the Bronze Age but still significant. Goods continued to move to England, with a possible hiatus around 350 to 150&nbsp;BC. There were a few armed invasions of hordes of migrating Celts. There are two known invasions. Around 300&nbsp;BC, a group from the Gaulish [[Parisii (Gaul)|Parisii]] tribe apparently took over East Yorkshire, establishing the highly distinctive [[Arras culture]]. And from around 150–100&nbsp;BC, groups of Belgae began to control significant parts of the South.

[[File:Bronze coins of Cunobelin 1 to 42 CE.jpg|thumb|Bronze coins of [[Cunobelin]], called "King of the Britons" by [[Suetonius]]. 1–42 AD.|220x220px]]

These invasions constituted movements of a few people who established themselves as a warrior elite atop existing native systems, rather than replacing them. The Belgic invasion was much larger than the Parisian settlement, but the continuity of pottery style shows that the native population remained in place. Yet, it was accompanied by significant socio-economic change. Proto-urban, or even urban settlements, known as [[oppida]], begin to eclipse the old hillforts, and an elite whose position is based on battle prowess and the ability to manipulate resources re-appears much more distinctly.<ref>Barry Cunliffe, ''Iron Age Communities in Britain'', 2005</ref>

In 55 and 54&nbsp;BC, [[Julius Caesar]], as part of [[Gallic Wars|his campaigns in Gaul]], [[Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain|invaded Britain]] and claimed to have scored a number of victories, but he never penetrated further than Hertfordshire and could not establish a province. However, his invasions mark a turning-point in British history. Control of trade, the flow of resources and prestige goods, became ever more important to the elites of Southern Britain; Rome steadily became the biggest player in all their dealings, as the provider of great wealth and patronage. In retrospect, a full-scale invasion and annexation was inevitable.<ref>Guy de la Bedoyere, ''Roman Britain: A New History'', 2010</ref>