Humans have occupied the island of Britain since long before recorded history. Even as long ago as 4,000 BC, Stone Age men were mining flint and constructing tools. Of these people we know virtually nothing. They made tools. They built forts on top of hills. They raised up great standings stones, but we don't know why.
It is not until around the year 500 BC that we can begin to speak about the people of Britain with any kind of authority, for around that time the first Celts arrived. "Celts" is a general term applied to a large group of separate tribes connected by a similar culture and language. Archaeological evidence says that they originated in the Alps, spread out across Gaul (France) and finally into Britain.
The Celts were a bronze and iron-age people and when they arrived in Britain their superior weapons allowed them to push the previous inhabitants into the far corners of the country. The first group of Celts to arrive in Britain are called the Hallstatt, because of their connection to burial mounds found in Hallstatt, Austria. This group settled in the south-east of England around the river Thames. Later this group would be identified as two separate tribes, the Iceni and the Trinobantes.
Around the same time, another group of Celts called the La Tene also invaded the island. They occupied areas further west and north of the Hallstatt, including the areas of present day Wales and Cornwall. It is from these people that we first see examples of the famous Celtic artwork - brooches, pins, and earrings often decorated with abstract circular designs.
In the north of England these tribes would become known as the Caledonians and the Brigantes. In the south they acquired the names the Dumnonii, the Coritnai, and the Dobuni.
For several hundred years these tribes worked the land and fought one another for territory, unmolested by any outside invaders. But then, around the year 75BC, the last of the great Celtic invasions occurred. A new people called the Belgae began to arrive from northern Gaul. They were even more technologically advanced than the previous Celtic Invaders. They had a new type of ox-drawn plough which allowed them to better work the land. They brought with them the potter's wheel and first gold coins to be seen on the island. For defence they built ramparts and dug ditches around their farms. Quickly the Belgae came to dominate the whole of the south of England.
The earlier Celtic tribes were pushed farther north and into the corners, just as they had pushed the stone-age men before them. Britain had truly become a Celtic domain and this is how the island looked when its people entered into recorded history with the coming of the Romans.
