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The beginning of the Iron Age, which was to take Britain out of its last
prehistoric culture into the civilised world, was part of a slow and
complicated movement of Celtic peoples in Europe. There was no sudden invasion
or conquest, but groups, sometimes quite large, of newcomers arrived from time
to time in southern Britain after 550 B.C. They differed little in their way
of life from the Bronze Age inhabitants amongst whom they settled, apart from
their knowledge of iron working. Continuing waves of immigrants, however,
brought new ideas of tribal organisation under chieftains and eventually of
confederations of tribes under 'kings'. Their ambition to secure more land
and wealth led to a long period of tribal warfare in a country that hitherto
appears to have been peaceful, and the elaborate fortifications of their hill
fort settlements still remind us of this important period. |
The Lake Villages