Editing History of Wales (section)

===Bronze Age===
{{see also|Bronze Age Britain}}
[[File:BrynCelliDdu3.jpg|thumb|left|[[Bryn Celli Ddu]], a late Neolithic chambered tomb on [[Anglesey]]|alt=A low grassy mound with an entrance at its centre framed by cyclopean stones]]
Metal tools first appeared in Wales about 2500 BC, initially copper followed by [[bronze]]. The climate during the [[Bronze Age|Early Bronze Age]] (c. 5000–1400 BC) is thought to have been warmer than at present, as there are many remains from this period in what are now bleak uplands. The Late Bronze Age (c. 1400–750 BC) saw the development of more advanced bronze implements. Much of the copper for the production of bronze probably came from the copper mine on the [[Great Orme]], where prehistoric mining on a very large scale dates largely from the middle Bronze Age.{{sfn|Lynch|1995|pp=39-40}} [[Radiocarbon dating]] has shown the earliest hillforts in what would become Wales to have been constructed during this period. Historian [[John Davies (historian)|John Davies]] theorises that a worsening climate after around 1250 BC (lower temperatures and heavier rainfall) required more productive land to be defended.{{sfn|Davies|2009|p=23}}

Over the centuries following their initial settlement, the Neolithic population assimilated immigrants and adopted ideas from [[Bronze Age]] and [[Iron Age]] [[Celts|Celtic]] cultures. Some historians, such as [[John T. Koch]], consider Wales in the Late Bronze Age as part of [[Atlantic Bronze Age|a maritime trading-networked culture]] that included other [[Celtic nations]].<ref name="Koch2009">{{harvnb|Koch|2009}}</ref>{{sfn|Cunliffe|Koch|2010|p=384}}{{sfn|Cunliffe|2008|pp=55-64}} This "Atlantic-Celtic" view is opposed by others who hold that the Celtic languages derive their origins from the more easterly [[Hallstatt culture]].{{sfn|Koch|2009b}}