What Happened in Prehistoric Britain?
Prehistoric Britain refers to the period of time prior to the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 CE, though a few historic references exist before this. The island of Britain has been occupied intermittently by members of the genus Homo (such as Homo erectus) for hundreds of thousands of years, and modern humans for tens of thousands of years. DNA analysis has shown that humans lived in Britain before the last glacial maximum, more than 20,000 years ago, though only south Britain would have been habitable at the time, north Britain being completely covered by glaciers. A very long time (500,000 years) ago, prehistoric Britain had elephants, rhinoceri, and hippopotami which were hunted by the natives. These natives were not Homo sapiens but Homo heidelbergensis, a pre-human ancestor. During the last glacial period, up until 12,000 years ago, the world’s sea levels were lower and Britain and Ireland were both connected to each other and the mainland. Archaeological finds have indicated that
