The stone weapons of the Neolithic (New Stone Age) inhabitants of Britain who migrated north from Southern Europe following the receding glaciers of the Last Ice Age were no match for the bronze weapons weilded by new migrants - the Geals or Giodels who forced them to seek refuge in Wales and the Scottish Highlands.
In contrast to the short dark Neolithic folk, the Broze Age people from central and eastern Europe were tall, fair and short-headed, possibly hailing from what is now Northern Germany. The were predominantly hunters and buried their dead in round barrows.
The Broze Age invaders are often known as the 'Beaker Folk' after the shape of their pottery which was quite distinct from the round-bottomed pots of their Neolithic predecessors.
It is fairly certain that the great megalithic monuments of Stonhenge and Avebury were built by the Neolithtic predecessors of the Bronze Age Beaker Folk in about 1,000 BC. It is also certain that these impressive monuments were also used during the Bronze Age as they are surrounded by nearby Bronze-Age barrows.
It is thought that the Megalithic monuments by both Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples and also that they intermingled to a considerable extent.
The Gaels or Giodels were in their turn driven to Ireland and the Highlands by a new invasion of the iron armed Cymri or Brythons. The forced migration of the Bronze Age people has left its legacy into the present in the Welsh word for Irish - Gwyddel.
Archaeological evidence has shown that the famous tin mining industry of Cornwall was established in Cornwall during the Early Bronze Age (c.2100 to c.1500 BC) and had become widespread by the Middle Bronze Age (c.1500 to c.800 BC).
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| CORNWALL |  |
| The Scilly Isles |
| | Now an archipelago of five larger inhabited islands and some 140 small rocky islets, the area was a single large land mass as late as the Roman occupation. The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age with the land and sea providing a subsistence existence. Over 500 Neolithic and Bronze Age sites have been excavated above the present high water line, 30 or so are only accessible at low water and many more must lie on the sea bed. |
