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TheBritish Iron Age is a conventional name used in thearchaeology ofGreat Britain, referring to theprehistoric andprotohistoric phases of theIron Ageculture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excludingprehistoric Ireland, which had anindependent Iron Age culture of its own.^[1][2]The Iron Age is not anarchaeological horizon of common artefacts but is rather a locally-diverse cultural phase.

The British Iron Age followed theBritish Bronze Age and lasted in theory from the first significant use ofiron for tools and weapons in Britain to theRomanisation of the southern half of the island. The Romanised culture is termedRoman Britain and is considered to supplant the British Iron Age.

The tribes living in Britain during this time are often popularly considered to be part of a broadly-Celtic culture, but in recent years, that has been disputed.^{[citation needed]} At a minimum, "Celtic" is a linguistic term without an implication of a lasting cultural unity connecting Gaul with the British Isles throughout the Iron Age. TheBrittonic languages, which were widely spoken in Britain at this time (as well as others including theGoidelic andGaulish languages of neighbouring Ireland and Gaul, respectively), certainly belong to the group known asCeltic languages. However, it cannot be assumed that particular cultural features found in one Celtic-speaking culture can be extrapolated to the others.^[3]

Claudius Ptolemy described Britain at the beginning of Roman rule but incorporated material from earlier sources.^[4] Although the name "Pretanic Isles" had been known since the voyage ofPytheas, and "Britannia" was in use byStrabo andPliny, Ptolemy used the earlier "Albion", which is known to have been used as early as theMassaliote Periplus.

At present over 100 large-scale excavations of Iron Age sites have taken place,^[5] dating from the 8th century BC to the 1st century AD and overlapping into the Bronze Age in the 8th century BC.^[6] Hundreds ofradiocarbon dates have been acquired and have been calibrated on four different curves, the most precise being based ontree ring sequences.

The following scheme summarises a comparative chart presented in a 2005 book byBarry Cunliffe,^[7] but British artefacts were much later in adopting Continental styles such as theLa Tène style ofCeltic art:

The Iron Age has been further subdivided with the "Late Iron Age" in Britain showing developments of new types of pottery, possibly influenced by Roman orGaulish cultures. The clearing of forests for cultivation of agricultural crops intensified and areas with heavier and damper soil were settled.Spelt (Triticum spelta) was planted in these areas like theTees Lowlands and some parts ofNorthern England.^[8]

The end of the Iron Age extends into the very earlyRoman Empire under the theory that Romanisation required some time to take effect. In parts of Britain that were notRomanised, such asScotland, the period is extended a little longer, say to the 5th century. The geographer closest to AD 100 is perhapsPtolemy.Pliny andStrabo are a bit older and therefore a bit more contemporary, but Ptolemy gives the most detail and the least theory.

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Attempts to understand the human behaviour of the period have traditionally focused on the geographic position of the islands and theirlandscape, along with the channels of influence coming fromContinental Europe.

During the laterBronze Age, there are indications of new ideas influencingland use andsettlement. Extensivefield systems, now calledCeltic fields, were being set out, and settlements were becoming more permanent and focused on better exploitation of the land. The central organisation to undertake that had been present since theNeolithic period but became targeted ateconomic andsocial goals, such as taming the landscape, rather than the building of large ceremonial structures likeStonehenge. Long ditches, some many miles in length, were dug withenclosures placed at their ends. Those are thought to indicate territorialborders and a desire to increase control over wide areas.

By the 8th century BC, there is increasing evidence of Great Britain becoming closely tied to Continental Europe, especially in Southern and Eastern Britain. New weapon types appeared with clear parallels to those on the Continent, such as theCarp's tongue sword, complex examples of which are found all overAtlantic Europe.Phoenician traders probably began visiting Great Britain in search ofminerals around this time and brought with them goods from the Mediterranean. At the same time, Northern Europeanartefact types reached Eastern Great Britain in large quantities from across theNorth Sea.

Defensive structures dating from this time are often impressive such as thebrochs of NorthernScotland and thehill forts that dotted the rest of the islands.^[11] Some of the most well-known hill forts includeMaiden Castle, Dorset;Cadbury Castle, Somerset; andDanebury,Hampshire. Hill forts first appeared inWessex in the Late Bronze Age but became common only in the period between 550 and 400 BC. The earliest were of a simpleunivallate form and often connected with earlier enclosures attached to the long ditch systems. Few hill forts have been substantially excavated in the modern era, Danebury being a notable exception, with 49% of its total surface area studied. However, it appears that the "forts" were also used for domestic purposes, with examples of food storage, industry and occupation being found within their earthworks. On the other hand, they may have been occupied only intermittently, as it is difficult to reconcile permanently-occupied hill forts with the lowland farmsteads and theirroundhouses found during the 20th century, such as atLittle Woodbury andRispain Camp. Many hill forts are not in fact "forts" at all and demonstrate little or no evidence of occupation.

The development of hill forts may have occurred from greater tensions that arose between the better-structured and more populous social groups. Alternatively, there are suggestions that in the latter phases of the Iron Age, the structures simply indicate a greater accumulation of wealth and a higher standard of living although any such shift is invisible in the archaeological record for the Middle Iron Age, when hill forts come into their own.^[12] In that regard, they may have served as wider centres used for markets and social contact. Either way, during theRoman occupation the evidence suggests that as defensive structures, they proved to be of little use against concerted Roman attack.Suetonius comments that Vespasian captured more than 20 "towns" during a campaign in the West Country in 43 AD, and there is some evidence of violence from the hill forts of Hod Hill and Maiden Castle in Dorset from this period. Some hill forts continued as settlements for the newly-conqueredBritons. Some were also reused by later cultures, such as theSaxons in the earlymedieval period.

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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.

The Roman historianTacitus suggested that theBritons were descended from people who had arrived from the Continent, and he compared theCaledonians (in modern-dayScotland) toGermanic peoples, theSilures of SouthernWales toIberian settlers and the inhabitants of SoutheasternBritannia toGaulish tribes.^[14] Thatmigrationist view long informed later views of the origins of the British Iron Age and the making of the modern nations.Linguistic evidence inferred from the survivingCeltic languages in Northern and Western Great Britain at first appeared to support the idea, and the changes in material culture thatarchaeologists observed during laterprehistory were routinely ascribed to a new wave of invaders.

From the early 20th century, the "invasionist" scenario was juxtaposed to adiffusionist view. By the 1960s, the latter model seemed to have gained mainstream support,^[15] but it in turn came under attack in the 1970s.

There was certainly a large migration of people fromCentral Europe westwards during the early Iron Age. The question of whether these movements should be described as "invasions", as "migrations" or as mostly "diffusion" is largely a semantic one.

Examples of events that could be labelled "invasions" include the arrival in Southern Britain of theBelgae from the end of the 2nd century BC, as described in Caesar'sCommentaries on the Gallic War. Such sudden events may be invisible in the archaeological record. In that case, it depends on the interpretation ofAylesford-Swarling pottery.^[16] Regardless of the "invasionist" vs. "diffusionist" debate, it is beyond dispute that exchanges with the Continent were a defining aspect of the British Iron Age.^[17] According to Caesar, the Britons further inland than the Belgae believed that they wereindigenous.^[18]

The population of Britain increased significantly during the Iron Age probably to more than one million, partly due to improved barley and wheat and increased use of peas, beans and flax.^[19] Most were concentrated densely in the agricultural lands of the South. Settlement density and a land shortage may have contributed to rising tensions during the period. The average life expectancy at birth would have been around 25, but at the age of five, it would have been around 30.^{[citation needed]} Those figures would be slightly lower for women, and slightly higher for men throughout the Middle Iron Age in most areas, on account of the high mortality rate of young women during childbirth; however, the average age for the two sexes would be roughly equal for the Late Iron Age.^{[citation needed]} That interpretation depends on the view that warfare and social strife increased in the Late Iron Age, which seems to be fairly well attested in the archaeological record for Southern Britain at least.

Early in the Iron Age, the widespread Wessex pottery of Southern Britain, such as the type style fromAll Cannings Cross, may suggest a consolidated socio-economic group in the region. However, by 600 BC, that appears to have broken down into differing sub-groups with their own pottery styles.^[20] Betweenc. 400 and 100 BC, there is evidence of emerging regional identities and a significant population increase.[21]

The Romans described a variety of deities worshipped by the people of Northwestern Europe.Barry Cunliffe perceives a division between one group of gods relating to masculinity, the sky and individual tribes and a second group of goddesses relating to associations with fertility, the earth and a universality that transcended tribal differences. Wells and springs had female, divine links exemplified by the goddessSulis worshipped atBath. InTacitus'sAgricola (2.21), he notes the similarity between both religious and ritual practices of the pre-Roman British and theGauls.^[22]

Religious practices often involved the ritual slaughter of animals or the deposition of metalwork, especially war booty. Weapons and horse trappings have been found in the bog atLlyn Cerrig Bach onAnglesey and are interpreted asvotive offerings cast into a lake. Numerous weapons have also been recovered from rivers, especially theThames but also theTrent andTyne. Some buriedhoards of jewellery are interpreted as gifts to the earth gods.

Disused grain storage pits and the ends of ditches have also produced what appear to be deliberately-placed deposits, including a preference for burials of horses, dogs and ravens. The bodies were often mutilated, and some human finds at the bottom of pits, such as those found atDanebury, may have had a ritual aspect.

Caesar's texts state that the priests of Britain wereDruids, a religious elite with considerable holy and secular powers. Great Britain appears to have been the seat of the Druidic religion, and Tacitus's account of the later raid on Anglesey led bySuetonius Paulinus gives some indication of its nature. No archaeological evidence survives of Druidry, but a number of burials made with ritual trappings and found inKent may suggest a religious character to the subjects.

Overall, the traditional view is that religion was practiced in natural settings in the open air.Gildasmentions "those diabolical idols of my country, which almost surpassed in number those of Egypt, and of which we still see some mouldering away within or without the deserted temples, with stiff and deformed features as was customary". Sites such as atHayling Island, inHampshire, and the one found during construction work atHeathrow Airport are interpreted as purpose-built shrines. The Hayling Island example was a circular wooden building set within a rectangular precinct and was rebuilt in stone as aRomano-British temple in the 1st century AD to the same plan. The Heathrow temple was a smallcella surrounded by a ring ofpostholes thought to have formed anambulatory, which is very similar to Romano-Celtic temples found elsewhere in Europe. A rectangular structure atDanebury and a sequence of six-poster structures overlooking calf burials and culminating in a trench-founded rectangular structure atCadbury Castle, Somerset, have been similarly interpreted. An example at Sigwells, overlooking Cadbury Castle, was associated with metalwork and whole and partial animal burials to its east.^[23] However, evidence of an open-air shrine was found atHallaton,Leicestershire. Here, a collection of objects known as theHallaton Treasure were buried in a ditch in the early 1st century AD. The only structural evidence was a woodenpalisade built in the ditch.^[24]

Death in Iron Age Great Britain seems to have produced different behaviours in different regions.Cremation was a common method of disposing of the dead, but thechariot burials and otherinhumations of theArras culture of East Yorkshire and thecist burials of Cornwall demonstrate that it was not ubiquitous. InDorset, theDurotriges seem to have had small inhumation cemeteries, sometimes with high status grave goods.^[25] In fact, the general dearth of excavated Iron Age burials makes drawing conclusions difficult.Excarnation has been suggested as a reason for the lack of burial evidence, with the remains of the dead being dispersed either naturally or through human agency.

Trade links developed in the Bronze Age and beforehand provided Great Britain with numerous examples of continental craftsmanship. Swords especially were imported, copied and often improved upon by the natives. Early in the period,Hallstatt slashing swords and daggers were a significant import, butby the mid-6th century^[clarify], the volume of goods arriving seems to have declined, possibly from more profitable trade centres appearing in the Mediterranean.La Tène culture items (usually associated with theCelts) appeared in later centuries, and again, they were adopted and adapted with alacrity by the locals.

There also appears to have been a collapse in thebronze trade during the early Iron Age, which can be viewed in three ways:

1. Steady transition: the development of iron parallel to a diminishing bronze system.
2. Rapid abandonment; iron undermines bronze and takes over its social function.
3. Bronze crisis: severe reduction in the supply ofbronze allows the iron to replace it.

With regard to animal husbandry, cattle represented a significant investment in pre-Roman Britain, as they could be used as a source of portable wealth and to provide useful domestic by-products such as milk, cheese and leather. In the later Iron Age, an apparent shift is visible, revealing a change in dominance from cattle rearing to that of sheep. Economically, sheep are significantly less labour-intensive, requiring fewer people per animal.

Cattle and sheep dominate the osteo-archaeological record, but evidence for pig, ox, dog and rarely chicken is widely represented. There is generally an absence from environmental remains of hunted game and wild species as well as fresh and sea water species, even in coastal communities.

A key commodity of the Iron Age was salt, used for preservation and the supplementation of diet. Though difficult to find archaeologically, some evidence exists.Salterns, in which sea water was boiled to produce salt, are prevalent in theEast Anglia fenlands. Additionally, Morris notes that some salt trading networks spanned over 75 km.

Representing an important political and economic medium, the vast number ofIron Age coins found in Great Britain are of great archaeological value.^[26][27] Some, such asgoldstaters, were imported from Continental Europe. Others, such as the cast bronze (potin) coins of Southeast England, are clearly influenced by Roman originals. TheBritish tribal kings also adopted the continental habit of putting their names on the coins they had minted, with such examples as Tasciovanus fromVerulamium and Cunobelinos fromCamulodunum identifying regional differentiation.Hoards of Iron Age coins include theSilsden Hoard inWest Yorkshire found in 1998. A large collection of coins, known as theHallaton Treasure, was found at a Late Iron Age shrine nearHallaton,Leicestershire, in 2000 and consisted of 5,294 coins, mostly attributed to theCorieltavi tribe. These were buried in 14 separate hoards over several decades in the early 1st century AD.^[28]

The expansion of the economy throughout the period, but especially in the later Iron Age, is in large part a reflection of key changes in the expression of social and economic status.

The Early Iron Age saw a substantial number of goods belonging to theHallstatt culture imported from the continent, and they came to have a major effect on Middle Iron Age native art.

From the late 2nd century BC onwards, South-Central Britain was indirectly linked into Roman trading networks viaBrittany and the Atlantic seaways to south-westernGaul.^[29]Hengistbury Head inDorset was the most important trading site, and large quantities of Italian wineamphorae have been found there.^[29] These Atlantic trade networks were heavily disrupted followingJulius Caesar's failed conquest of Brittany in the 50s BC.^[29] This fact may support a supposition that the Celts of Britain had an economic interest in supporting their Gallic brethren in their resistance to Roman occupation.^{[citation needed]}

In South-eastern Britain, meanwhile, extensive contact with the 'Belgic' tribes of northern Gaul is evidenced by large numbers of imported Gallo-Belgic goldcoins between the mid-2nd century BC and Caesar'sconquest of Gaul in the 50s BC.^[30] Thosecoins probably did not principally move through trade. In the past, the emigration of Belgic peoples to South-Eastern Britain has been cited as an explanation for their appearance in that region. However, recent work suggests that their presence there may have occurred from a kind of political and social patronage that was paid by the northern Gaulish groups in exchange for obtaining aid from their British counterparts in their warfare with the Romans on the Continent.^[31]

After Caesar's conquest of Gaul, a thriving trade developed between South-Eastern Britain and the near Continent. That is archaeologically evidenced by imports of wine and olive oil amphorae and mass-produced Gallo-Belgicpottery.^[32]Strabo, writing in the early 1st century AD, lists ivory chains and necklaces, amber gems,glass vessels and other petty wares as articles imported to Britain, and he recorded the island's exports as grain, cattle, gold, silver, iron, hides, slaves and hunting dogs.^[33] That trade probably thrived as a result of political links andclient kingship relationships that developed between groups in South-Eastern Britain and the Roman world.^[34]

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  Remains of an Iron Age village atChysauster, Cornwall
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  Imported goods

Historically speaking, theIron Age in Southern Great Britain ended with theRoman invasion. Although the assimilation of Briton culture was far from instantaneous, some relatively-quick change is evident archaeologically. For example, the Romano-Celtic shrine inHayling Island,Hampshire was constructed in the AD 60 to 70s,^[35] andAgricola was then still campaigning in Northern Britain (mostly in what is nowScotland), and on top of anIron Age ritual site. Rectilinear stone structures, indicative of a change in housing to theRoman style are visible from the mid-to-late 1st century AD atBrixworth andQuinton.^[36]

In areas where Roman rule was not strong or non-existent, Iron Age beliefs and practices remained but not without at least marginal levels of Roman or Romano-British influence. The survival of place names, such asCamulodunum (Colchester), which derive from the native language, is evidence of that.

• Iron Age tribes in Britain
• Pytheas

• Cunliffe, B. W. (1988).Greeks, Romans and Barbarians. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Cunliffe, B. W.; de Jersey, P. (1997).Armorica and Britain: Cross-Channel Relationships in the Late First Millennium BC. Oxford.
• Cunliffe, Barry W. (2005).Iron Age Communities in Britain: An Account of England, Scotland and Wales from the Seventh Century BC Until the Roman Conquest (4th ed.). Routledge.ISBN 0-415-34779-3.
• Cunliffe, B. W. (2009). Clark, P. (ed.).Looking forward: maritime contacts in the first millennium BC. Oxford: Oxbow.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
• Fitzpatrick, Andrew P (1996). "'Celtic' Iron Age Europe: the theoretical basis". In Graves-Brown, Paul; Jones, Siân; Gamble, Clive (eds.).Cultural Identity and Archaeology: The Construction of European Communities. Routledge. pp. 238–255.ISBN 978-0-415-10676-4.
• Map of Southern Britain in the Iron Age. Chessington, Surrey, UK: Ordnance Survey. 1962.
• Rhys, J. (1904).Celtic Britain: Third Edition Revised. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.Downloadable Internet Archive.

• Collis, J.R., 2003,The Celts, origins, myths, inventions. Stroud: Tempus.
• Creighton, John, 2000.Coins and power in Late Iron Age Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Cunliffe, Barry W., 2004.Iron age Britain. London: B.T. Batsford.
• Harding, D. W., 2016.Death and burial in Iron Age Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Harding, D. W., 2023.Rethinking roundhouses: later prehistoric settlement in Britain and beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Haselgrove, C., 2001, Iron Age Britain in its European Setting, in Collis, J.R. (ed)Settlement and Society in Iron Age Europe, Sheffield: Sheffield Archaeological Monograph 11, pp37–73
• Haselgrove, C. and Moore, T., 2007,The later Iron Age in Britain and beyond, Oxford: Oxbow.
• Hill, J.D., 1995,Ritual and Rubbish in the Iron Age of Wessex BAR British Series 242doi:10.30861/9780860547846
• Pryor, F., 2003,Britain, BC; life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans, London: Harper Collins, chapters 11-12

Wikimedia Commons has media related toIron Age in Britain.

• Lindsay, Euan (2008)."Place names on Ptolemy's Map of Scotland". Roman Britain. Archived fromthe original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved2008-11-22.
• Ross, David (1996)."Celtic Britain (The Iron Age) c. 600 BC – 50 AD". Celtic Britain. Retrieved2007-03-13.

• Iron Age Britain

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