Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ancient Stones
It's thought that humans have inhabited southwest England for more than 100,000 years,
but the first evidence of human settlement is a jawbone dating from around 35,000 BC, un-
earthed in Kents Cavern, near Torquay, during an excavation in 1927 (academic opinion is
still divided as to whether the bone belongs to a Neanderthal or prehistoric ancestors of
Homo sapiens
). A similar argument continues to rage over the controversial issue of canni-
balism: some evidence has emerged that seems to suggest early humans had no qualms
about eating their deceased relatives, and may even have used their bones to make drinking
vessels and dining implements.
The earliest settlers were tribes of hunter-gatherers, living seasonally from the land and
travelling in pursuit of seasonal game, but the first signs of organised farming and animal
domestication emerged around 4000 BC. Around this time prehistoric builders developed
their taste for eye-catching architecture, and built many stone circles, menhirs, quoits and
barrows across Devon, Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor, Penwith and the Isles of Scilly.
By 1800 BC there was already a thriving trade in gold, tin, bronze and copper between
southwest mines and many parts of Europe and the Mediterranean. This trade continued
following the arrival of the Celts, who established themselves in southwest Britain from
around 1000 BC.
The Celts quickly conquered much of the area, establishing themselves in hilltop forts
and coastal strongholds. The remains of several Bronze and Iron Age 'villages' can still be
seen in many areas, including Dartmoor and Penwith: Chysauster, Carn Euny and Grim-
spound are perhaps the best preserved.
Over the next few centuries, Celtic society flourished in southwest Britain and developed
its own culture, architecture and language, but by the 1st century BC, a new wave of in-
vaders had landed and brushed all but the hardiest Celtic defenders aside.
Veni, vidi, vici
-
the Romans had arrived.
