Paleolithic Britain

Question 1

The “recorded history” of Britain is conventionally reckoned to begin when, though some historical information is available before then

Answer 1

in AD 43 with the Roman invasion of Britain

Question 2

When did modern Humans arrive in Britain

Answer 2

around 42,000 years before present

Question 3

What Period is the earliest known occupation of Britain by humans

Answer 3

Paelolithic

Question 4

Where and when were the earliest finds of human activity in Britain

Answer 4

flint tools found near Happisburgh in Norfolk and Pakefield in Suffolk at least 814,000 years ago.

Question 5

Around 800,000 years ago Southern and Eastern Britain were linked to continental Europe by a wide land bridge, what was it called

Answer 5

Doggerland

Question 6

Sites such as Boxgrove in Sussex around 500,000 years ago illustrate the later arrival in the archaeological record of an archaic Homo species called what

Answer 6

Homo Heidlebegansis

Question 7

What period after the Boxgrove site was Britian unhabited due to colder climates

Answer 7

Anglian Stage 478,000 years ago to 424,000 years ago

Question 8

What made the Anglian Stage so uninhabitable for Humans

Answer 8

he Anglian was the most extreme glaciation during the last 2 million years.

Question 9

What Warmer Period followed the Anglian stage

Answer 9

Hoxnian stage

Question 10

the Warmer Hoxnian stage lasted between when

Answer 10

from around 424,000 until 374,000 years ago

Question 11

What did the Hoxnian stage see

Answer 11

It saw flint tool industry develop at sites such as Swanscombe in Kent.

Question 12

The British Lower Palaeolithic (and equally that of much of northern Europe) is thus a long record of abandonment and colonisation, and a very short record of residency what was The sad but inevitable conclusion

Answer 12

that Britain had little role to play in any understanding of long-term human evolution

Question 13

What next period of cooling did Britain experience after the Hoxnian stage

Answer 13

Wolstonian Stage, 352,000–130,000 years ago

Question 14

When did Britain first become an Island

Answer 14

350,000 years ago

Question 15

What are the Earliest Neanderthal remains discovered and where

Answer 15

at the Pontnewydd Cave in Wales have been dated to 230,000 Years ago

Question 16

What is most striking about the Neanderthal finds at Pontnewydd Cave in Wales

Answer 16

They are the most north westerly Neanderthal remains found anywhere in the world.

Question 17

From what period after 230,000 years ago are there no evidence of human occupation, probably due to inhospitable cold in some periods, Britain being cut off as an island in others, and the neighbouring areas of north-west Europe being unoccupied by hominins at times when Britain was both accessible and hospitable

Answer 17

180,000 to c.60,000 years ago

Question 18

What Periods cover the Lower and Middle paleolithic and the Upper paleolithic

Answer 18

Lower and Middle Paleolithic - 800,000 - 45,000 years ago

Upper Paleolithic - 45,000 - 10,000 years ago

Question 19

What was The earliest evidence for modern humans in North West Europe

Answer 19

a jawbone discovered in England at Kents Cavern in 1927, re-dated in 2011 to between 41,000 and 44,000 years old

Question 20

What was the most famous example of early human dated to be around 33,000 years old

Answer 20

the “Red Lady of Paviland” (actually now known to be a man) in modern-day coastal South Wales, which in 1823 was

Question 21

Where was the Red Lady of Paviland discovered

Answer 21

coastal area of the Gower Peninsula, south Wales

Question 22

what year was the Red lady of Paviland discovered

Answer 22

1823, the first human fossil ever discovered anywhere in the world

Question 23

When was the Last Glacial Maximum, b

Answer 23

26,500 and–20,000 years ago

Question 24

the last Glacial maximum drove humans out of Britain, and there is no evidence of occupation between what period

Answer 24

for around 33,000 to 15,000 years ago

Question 25

What was the first distinct culture of the Upper Palaeolithic in Britain

Answer 25

The Creswellian industry

Question 26

What was distinct about the Creswellian Industry

Answer 26

leaf-shaped points probably used as arrowheads. more refined flint tools making use of bone, antler, animal teeth, and mammoth ivory

Question 27

What were the dominent food spieces around 30,000 years ago

Answer 27

Red Deer , although other mammals ranging from hares to mammoth were also hunted, including rhino and hyena

Question 28

What did burial involve around 30,000 years ago

Answer 28

skinning and dismembering a corpse with the bones placed in caves

Question 29

What happened in Britain through the Period 12,890 - 11,650

Answer 29

Britain returned to glacial conditions during the Younger Dryas, and may have been unoccupied for periods