Northwest Europe, 05 Britain (Britannia), 5C ENGLAND, Pre-Roman Iron Age (800-00-43): Introduction (England)

The Hallstatt culture (800-450 BC) and the Celtic language spread from mainland Europe about 800 BC but the use of iron working technology was gradual and did not become widespread across Britain until after 500-400 BC,

Flint was still used for small tools and bronze continued in use throughout the period for bowls and decorative objects. Iron was used for utilitarian articles such as swords, axes, sickles, and ‘currency bars’. 

Until the wheel was introduced to Britain during the first century BC British pots were handmade by coil- or slab-shaping. As techniques improved, the clay was mixed with a ‘temper’ such as sand or crushed pottery in order to reduce shrinking and cracking on drying.

In addition to roundhouses the typical settlement included pits and barns. Sites were sometimes open but often enclosed with a wall or bank and ditch. Settlements of a single house were common, but they could be clustered into larger groups.

Iron Age hillforts are grouped in four different types. A contour fort has defences that follow the contours encircling the hill; a promontory fort has its approach limited by natural features such as cliffs, steep slopes, rivers etc; a hill-slope hillfort is situated with sloping ground on one side and a crest on the other; and a plateau fort has level ground on all sides regardless of elevation.

Around 450 BC, largely as a result of trade, the metalwork of the La Tène culture (450-00-43) found its way into Britain, much of which was copied by local craftsmen who thus gave rise to British styles. 

The Arras culture (4th-1st century BC), which takes its name from Arras Farm in East Riding, is defined by its burial practices, not its metalwork, which are uncommon outside East Yorkshire, but are found in continental Europe, and show some similarities with those of the La Tène culture. The inhumations consist of burials in square enclosures, or chariot burials, or both. The Wetwang Slack chariot burial of c.300 BC is unusual in that a woman was interred with the chariot.

Carn Euny, Cornwall had activity there during the Neolithic and a number of timber huts built c.200 BC replaced by stone huts by the first century BC. Carn Euny is best known for its large fogou, an underground chamber more than twenty metres long. The purpose of fogous is unknown.

Courtyard houses date from Roman Period but some have been earlier settlements such as Chysauster in Cornwall, inhabited from about 100 BC it included eight to ten houses, each with its own internal courtyard. To the southeast there are the remains of a fogou.

During the second/first centuries BC settlements known as Oppida began to appear, the majority of which were high status, fortified and had many of the characteristics of later towns. They are distinguished from the hillforts by their residential, industrial, market and administrative functions.

Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications (or Stanwick Camp), a huge Brigantian hillfort in North Yorkshire, emerged as a major regional centre in the first century BC, growing rapidly in importance in the following decades.

The earliest currency in Britain consisted of various forms of iron bars. The first coins appeared towards the end of the second century BC, and by 20 BC they were in use across much of southeast England.