Editing South West England (section)

===Pre-Roman===
[[File:Stonehenge-Green.jpg|thumb|[[Stonehenge]]]]
There is evidence from [[flint]] [[Artifact (archaeology)|artefacts]] in a quarry at [[Westbury-sub-Mendip]] that an ancestor of modern man, possibly [[Homo heidelbergensis]], was present in the future Somerset from around 500,000 years ago.<ref name="somerset.gov.uk">{{cite web | title=Mendip Hills An Archaeological Survey of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty | work=Somerset County Council Archeological Projects | url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/HES_MendipAONB.pdf | access-date=8 November 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516154619/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/HES_MendipAONB.pdf | archive-date=16 May 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> There is some evidence of human occupation of southern England before the [[Last glacial period|last ice age]], such as at [[Kents Cavern]] in Devon, but largely in the [[South East England|south east]]. The British mainland was connected to the continent during the ice age and humans may have repeatedly migrated into and out of the region as the climate fluctuated. There is evidence of human habitation in the caves at [[Cheddar Gorge]] 11,000–10,000 years BC, during a partial thaw in the ice age. The earliest scientifically dated cemetery in [[Great Britain]] was found at [[Aveline's Hole]] in the [[Mendip Hills]]. The human bone fragments it contained, from about 21 different individuals, are thought to be roughly between 10,200 and 10,400 years old.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.somerset.gov.uk/media/896B4/MendipAONB.pdf |title=Earliest British cemetery dated |access-date=27 January 2007 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206032722/http://www.somerset.gov.uk/media/896B4/MendipAONB.pdf |archive-date=6 February 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> During this time the tundra gave way to [[birch]] forests and [[grassland]] and evidence for human settlement appears at [[Salisbury Plain]], Wiltshire and [[Hengistbury Head]], Dorset.

At the end of the [[Last Glacial Period|last Ice Age]] the [[Bristol Channel]] was dry land, but subsequently the sea level rose, resulting in major coastal changes. The [[Somerset Levels]] were flooded, but the [[dry point]]s such as [[Glastonbury]] and [[Brent Knoll]] are known to have been occupied by [[Mesolithic]] hunters.<ref name="Dunning">{{cite book |last=Dunning |first=Robert |title=A History of Somerset |year=1983 |publisher=Phillimore & Co |location=Chichester |isbn= 0-85033-461-6 }}</ref> The landscape at this time was [[tundra]]. Britain's oldest complete skeleton, [[Cheddar Man]], lived at Cheddar Gorge around 7150 BC (in the [[Upper Palaeolithic]] or Old Stone Age), shortly after the end of the ice age;<ref>{{cite web | title=Cheddar Man | work=RN-DS Partnership| url=http://www.rn-ds-partnership.com/reconstruction/cheddarman.html | access-date=18 April 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080611054000/http://www.rn-ds-partnership.com/reconstruction/cheddarman.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 11 June 2008}}</ref> however, it is unclear whether the region was continuously inhabited during the previous 4000 years, or if humans returned to the gorge after a final cold spell. A [[Palaeolithic]] flint tool found in West Sedgemoor is the earliest indication of human presence on the Somerset Levels.<ref name="somhist">{{cite web|url=http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/pdfs/esaspdfs/stage1/SOMHIST.pdf |title=Historical Monitoring in the Somerset Levels and Moors ESA 1987–1994 |access-date=10 June 2007 |work=DEFRA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223213/http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/pdfs/esaspdfs/stage1/SOMHIST.pdf |archive-date=26 September 2007 }}</ref> During the 7th millennium BC the sea level rose and flooded the valleys, so the [[Mesolithic]] people occupied seasonal camps on the higher ground, indicated by scatters of flints.<ref name="somhist" /> The [[Neolithic]] people continued to exploit the reed swamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways. These included the [[Post Track]] and the [[Sweet Track]]. The Sweet Track, dating from the 39th century BC, is thought to be the world's oldest [[timber trackway]] and was once thought to be the world's oldest engineered roadway.<ref name="robinwilliams"/> The Levels were also the location of the [[Glastonbury Lake Village]] as well as two lake villages at [[Meare]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adkins |first1=Lesley |first2=Roy |last2=Adkins |title=A field guide to Somerset archeology |year=1992 |publisher=Dovecote Press |location=Wimborne |isbn=978-0-946159-94-9 |pages=69–70 }}</ref> [[Stonehenge]], [[Avebury]] and [[Stanton Drew stone circles|Stanton Drew]] are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK.

The region was heavily populated during the Neolithic, [[Bronze Age]] and [[Iron Age]] periods. Many monuments, barrows and trackways exist. Coin evidence shows that the region was split between the [[Durotriges]], [[Dobunni]] and [[Dumnonii]]. The Iron Age tribe in Dorset were the Durotriges, "water dwellers", whose main settlement is represented by [[Maiden Castle, Dorset|Maiden Castle]]. [[Ptolemy]] stated that [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] was in the territory of the [[Belgae]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dot-domesday.me.uk/tribes.htm |title=British Tribes |access-date=2 December 2007 |work=From Dot to Domesday |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122144457/http://www.dot-domesday.me.uk/tribes.htm |archive-date=22 January 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> but this may be a mistake.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kmatthews.org.uk/Ravenna_Cosmography/group12.html |title=Britannia in the Ravenna Cosmography |access-date=2 December 2007 |work=cyberhome of Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315165719/http://www.kmatthews.org.uk/Ravenna_Cosmography/group12.html |archive-date=15 March 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Celtic gods were worshipped at the temple of [[Sulis]] at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] and possibly the temple on [[Brean Down]]. Iron Age sites on the [[Quantock Hills]] include major [[hill fort]]s at [[Dowsborough]] and [[Ruborough]], as well as smaller earthwork enclosures, such as [[Trendle Ring]], [[Elworthy Barrows]] and [[Plainsfield Camp]].

At the time of the [[Roman invasion of Britain|Roman invasion]], the inhabitants of the entire area spoke a [[Brythonic Languages|Brythonic Celtic]] language. Its descendant languages are still spoken to a greater or lesser extent in [[Cornwall]], Wales, and [[Brittany]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=liY4AAAAIAAJ&dq=language+and+history+in+the+british+isles&pg=PA241] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217084301/https://books.google.com/books?id=liY4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA241&dq=language+and+history+in+the+british+isles&hl=en&ei=Lmz2Tc3zN8yGhQe4-7ngBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA|date=17 February 2017}} Language in the British Isles, Peter Trudgill, 1984</ref>