New archaeological discoveries made by Professor of archaeology Dr Francis Pryor and his team of archaeologists, are re-writing the history of Britain.
New historical evidence shows that British culture has never been eradicated by "invasion". He shows that early Britons developed social and economic independence as opposed to being in a so called dark age, and evidences that before early Romans settled amongst us we had a developed culture which was civilised. Evidence also exists to show that British King Verica invited Rome to Britain rather than as we've learned, that Britain was "invaded". This pretext for this so called invasion of Britain, of a nation which had traded with Rome for decades, is now quite unbelievable. It is more reasonably believed to have been a peaceful relationship at least with some Britons, along with a "celebration" of British cultural power, Dr Pryor says.
Since Dr Pryor made his history programmes for Channel 4, the BBC has produced a timeline of early history which I've condensed a little here below in order to help make more sense of our ancient history. In addition, you can see Dr Pryor's absorbing documentaries below, which prove that British culture has been alive and kicking, and that it was civilised for several thousands of years before the Roman Army even set foot here. You can see it is still prevalent today in the DNA of the native people of these islands who mostly still remain fiercely independent.
4500 BC to 3000 BC
Small permanent settlements are developed
There are fewer earlier Neolithic (Late Stone Age) settlements in England and Wales - which may reflect a more mobile lifestyle among early farmers in these areas - than in Scotland and Ireland. Most earlier Neolithic settlements in Britain were of about one to three houses with possibly a few outbuildings. They were rarely defended, except in Cornwall. Most settlements were placed at some distance from areas of barrows.
3807 BC to 3806 BC
Europe's first wooden trackway (footpath) is built
The Sweet Track in the Somerset Levels consists of a wooden footpath raised above boggy ground on crossed timber supports. It extended across a marsh between what was then an island and an area of high ground. It was excavated between 1970 and 1982 and its precise age revealed by tree-ring dating (dendrochronology).
3000 BC to 1500 BC
Settlements proliferate and more land is cleared for farming
Technology changed at the start of the Bronze Age (2500 BC in Britain), but the basic way of life continued much as before. The greater frequency of known settlements, allied to evidence for increasing clearance of land for farming, indicates steady population growth. From circa 2500 BC, roundhouses were the main form of domestic building. From circa 2000 BC there is evidence of field systems, often aligned on pre-existing barrows which suggests they followed earlier systems of land partition.
2500 BC
Metalworking develops with improvements in furnace technology
Following the introduction of pottery two millennia previously, the appearance of metalworking was another important technological step in the control of heat and the production of ever-higher temperatures using small furnaces and hide bellows. The earliest British metalwork was made of pure copper, bronze (an alloy of about 90% copper, 10% tin) or gold. Gold was used for ornaments and jewellery, bronze and copper for spearheads, axes, knives and daggers.
2500 BC to 800 BC
Metalwork becomes increasingly sophisticated
Early Bronze Age (2500-1500 BC) saw the regular production of more sophisticated metalwork, consisting mainly of axes, daggers and 'tanged' spearheads (attached to the shaft by a prong).
'Specialists' create highly decorated 'beaker' pottery
While household pottery was probably produced domestically, the appearance of metalwork and new, highly-decorated forms of drinking vessels called (by archaeologists) 'beakers' indicate the presence of 'specialists' in Britain. The very first makers of beaker pottery probably came from the continent, but after a short interval these specialists were local. It seems probable that with metalworking went certain religious practices that may have marked the smiths out from other members of society.
Elite leaders are buried with elaborate grave goods
A series of burials of individuals beneath round barrows and with elaborate grave-goods, including special funerary pottery, bronze and copper daggers and gold and amber objects, were discovered in the 19th century in the Wessex area (Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire), and then in the 20th century as far afield as Norfolk. There are strong parallels with Brittany, France, suggesting regular contact between the two areas.
1800 BC
First industrial-scale copper mines are dug
Shortly after 2000 BC the first deep copper mines were dug. Two of the best known are at Mount Gabriel in County Cork, Ireland, and Great Orme, north Wales. Another major area of prehistoric mining was in mid-Wales. Most Bronze Age mines went out of use in the Iron Age. The scale of metal production was truly industrial. Mount Gabriel is thought to have produced about 370 tonnes of copper and Great Orme 175 to 235 tonnes.
1500 BC
More sophisticated metal weapons and ornamentation appear
In the Middle Bronze Age (1500-1200 BC) smaller forms of axes (palstaves) began to appear alongside the first 'socketed' spearheads (attached to the shaft by a hole in the base). Thrusting weapons (dirks, rapiers) appeared, as well as elaborate bronze pins and bracelets.
Major lowland valleys are extensively settled
The scale of later Bronze Age settlement was poorly understood until about 1970, when it became possible to differentiate pottery of the period from that of the Iron Age. This coincided with increased aerial survey data and excavation ahead of commercial development. Current knowledge suggests that this was the period when the major lowland river valleys were extensively settled.
1200 BC to 800 BC
Celtic culture and tribal kingdoms start to emerge
Changes in religion, ceremonial and burial practices imply social change. The new structure persisted through the Iron Age and has been labelled as 'Celtic'. It seems probable that the later Bronze Age controlling elites comprised a larger proportion of society and may have been centred upon a 'warrior aristocracy'. This is the period when the numerous tribes of Britain began to combine into the larger groupings that became the named tribal kingdoms of the Iron Age.
700 BC to 43 AD
Small farming settlements with networks of fields start to develop
Throughout the Iron Age there is evidence for extensive networks of fields associated with small farming settlements. A mixed farming economy is suggested by cattle, sheep and pig remains and the processing of cereals including wheat, barley and oats. Improved cereal crops and breeds of domestic animal were developed and introduced during the Iron Age. The best surviving areas of Iron Age farming can be seen on Salisbury Plain, the Marlborough Downs, the Cheviot Hills and other upland areas.
330 BC
Pytheas of Massilia circumnavigates Britain
Pytheas of Massilia (now Marseilles), a Greek merchant and explorer, circumnavigated the British Isles between about 330 and 320 BC and produced the first written record of the islands. He described the inhabitants as skilled wheat farmers, usually peaceable, but formidable in war when they used horse-drawn chariots. He also described the Cornish trade in tin with the Mediterranean.
Built on large timber platforms, these settlements were set on the edge of a now vanished area of marsh and open water. Excavation has recovered thousands of wooden and other organic artefacts that rarely survive from dry-land settlements, and which provide greater insight into the skills of Iron Age woodworkers. In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, smaller lakeside settlements called 'crannogs' are known. Many of these survived into the Roman period and later.
100 BC
Coins are used and produced for the first time
The first coins found in Britain were gold and minted in France. Around 80-60 BC, production started in Britain and by 20 BC silver and bronze were used in south east England. Coins began to bear the names of rulers, some titled 'Rex' (Latin for king) and some naming the place they were minted, such as Camulodunum (Colchester). These inscriptions suggest a growing level of literacy and familiarity with Latin. No Iron Age coins were produced in northern England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland.
55 BC
Julius Caesar raids south east England
54 BC
Julius Caesar launches a full-scale invasion of England - Was it really an invasion?
"Cheddar Man" and Mitochondrial DNA testing
In 1996, Bryan Sykes of Oxford University first sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of Cheddar Man, with DNA extracted from one of Cheddar Man's molars. Cheddar Man was determined to have belonged to
Haplogroup U5a, a branch of mitochondrial haplogroup U. U5a, the specific haplogroup of Cheddar Man, is known to be the oldest truly modern human (not Neanderthal) mtDNA haplogroup in Europe.
Bryan Sykes' research into Cheddar Man was filmed as he performed it. As a means of connecting Cheddar Man to the living residents of Cheddar village, he compared mitochondrial DNA taken from twenty living residents of the village to that extracted from Cheddar Man’s molar. It produced two exact matches and one match with a single mutation. The two exact matches were schoolchildren, and their names were not released. The close match was a history teacher named Adrian Targett.
Sykes argued that this modern connection to Cheddar Man (who died at least three thousand years before agriculture began in Britain) makes credible the theory that modern-day Britons are not all descended from Middle Eastern migratory farmers, but rather modern Britons are descended from ancient European Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherer tribes who much later on adopted farming.
As stated by Dr Pryor and his team, our ancient ancestors are still with us today in an unbroken line of DNA which spans at least 9,000 years.
Britain AD
"In the year 407AD, the Emperor Constantine III, led the last few Roman troops from these islands", says archaeologist Dr Francis Pryor, as he explains a TRUE historical account of "Britain AD and "King Arthur's Britain". In the following video Dr Pryor makes a compelling case to suggest history has held a distorted view about Britain after the Romans which it called the Dark Ages. I'd say the view we've been given is anything but the truth when you listen to Dr Pryor's interesting historic account of our islands history. "This version of our history is wrong", says Dr Pryor, who exposes archaeological evidence which proves "ancient British culture was strong", and that we have ALWAYS had a strong and independent culture of our own which "we did not get from the Romans". In fact, the way it looks, is that the Romans and others, have simply tried to crush it. Dr Pryor says; "Britain's culture survived the Romans intact", as he shows Medieval axes and swords along with remains of ancient causeways, iron age spears, and an array of many archaeological finds, which give testament to the fact that ancient Britons were indeed very well advanced for hundreds of years before Britain was invaded, and for a long time after they left. "Archaeologists are beginning to re-think the history of ancient Britain", says Prof Pryor.
"Britons were trading with and associating themselves with the 'New Imperial Order' of Rome years before Rome invaded us", says Prof Pryor. And he says that the invasion by ancient Romans was really a "liberation" under "invitation". Early historians even got the position of the Roman landing wrong, says Dr Pryor and a fellow archaeologist who shows firm evidence that it was in Fishbourne under the request of King Verica who "opened his doors to the Roman troops", says Dr Pryor.
It begs the question why our English history has been given to us that we knew nothing before the Romans, and why our English culture has been subjected to constant and repeated attempts to subjugate and even to try to eradicate it. Dr Pryor's account really re-writes (and re-rights), the wrong's perpetrated against the isles of Britannia and in particular our very own historical cultural heritage which existed "Several thousand years" before Christ, and Britons living in our islands today, still have the DNA to prove it.
See Dr Pryor's video presentations HERE - BC
PART ONE - BC
PART TWO - AD
PART ONE - AD
PART TWO
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