What Is Pre-history? When Was It In Britain And Ireland?

Pre-history was a period at different dates in different places before any given culture had adopted the written word.

Pre- history in the British Isles began as soon as the land masses which are now Britain and Ireland became in habited by people. Over 250,000 years ago. These early humans and proto- humans did not have a settled lifestyle, or did they communicate through writing. There is no real evidence to date for any cave art ( such as exists in France and Spain) for the paleolithic here.

we do however have evidence for some art forms which decorate such artifacts as bone tools and weapons and also stones.
By the Neolithic and Bronze ages c 4,300BC- 2000BC different art forms such as cup and ring marks apppear in the record and these could be seen as forms of written communication

The influences from the 'Classical World' filtered to the British Isles and by the time of the Roman invasion people had adopted writing as a form.

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Pre history basically means before a time when there were written records. So Stone Age times and Neanderthal or Bronze Age times are well before there was any written records kept, so these can be said to be pre-history or in other words pre-historical.
Pre-history deals with anonymous information, provided by bones, or artefacts which have been found and then carbon dated. So we may know that someone whose remains have been found lived at such and such a period, but we will not know who they are specifically.
In Egypt, prehistory is said to have ended about 3500 BC since there are records available, albeit sketchy, from this period.
In Britaina dn Ireland, it is fair to say that history started around the third or fourth century AD but it is really only from about the 8th and 9th Century that we have specific records of individuals which are properly recorded.

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The historic period in Britain began with the Roman Conquest in AD43. In Ireland the so called Iron Age lasted longer because Ireland was relatively free from Roman influence. The 'Iron Age' in Ireland and some parts of Northern Britain lasted until around AD500

Archaeology has revealed evidence to suggest that some individuals in pre- Roman Britain were literate. Coinage was certainally developed in southern Britain before the Roman period.

Contacts with Roman influences in Gaul and Continental Europe were strong and many individuals had already adapted to Roman culture prior to AD43, particularly in southern Britain were the tribal capitals had developed into proto- towns , many of which became administrative centres after the initial confict brought about by the Romans.
Pre-history is researched through the study of the material remains of past peoples -artifacts and sites and monuments provide the evidence on which the archaeologist constructs the past. Because there are are no written records and documentary evidence for pre- history analysis is based on these material finds.

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