Early Man in the District of Huddersfield
By James A. Petch

SUMMARY

The broad outlines of the period we have been studying are then somewhat as follows:-

Man possibly existed at the end of the Tertiary Age, making rostro-carinate flint implements.

During the succeeding Ice Age, River-Drift Man lived in south-east England. Later, Upper Palaeolithic Man occupied shelters and caves. During warm periods lions and hyenas lived in Britain; the last cold period saw the mammoth and reindeer. Before La Madeleine times, the Cresswell Caves were inhabited.

Mas d’Azil Tardenois men, making pygmy implements of flint, then move northwards, small parties making short stays on the local hill-tops. At first they found the local climate dry, later damp.

Next came Neolithic Man, an agriculturist, grinding and polishing stone to make celts. Towards the end of the Neolithic Period the "Beaker People" arrived in Britain.

Between 1800-1400 B.C. the use of bronze was introduced into Britain. Settled local population, traceable e.g. in the Pule Hill burial, was still very sparse.

The Bronze Age was a time of great tribal movements on the Continent. About 600 B.C. the Goidels entered Britain, and were later followed by the Brythons.

Between 600-400 B.C. came the transition to the use of iron. Few local Iron Age relics have come down to us.

About 320 B.C. Pytheas visited Britain.

About 100 B.C. gold coinage came into use in southern Britain, and its use slowly spread northward. That the Brigantes adopted, as illustrated by the local coin hoards.

43 A.D. the Romans invade Britain.

In 51 A.D. Cartimandua, the pro-Roman queen of the Brigantes, surrenders to the Romans the fugitive Caratacus.

78 A.D. Agricola came to Britain as Governor of the province. He subdues the Brigantes before invading Scotland in 80.

Trouble in northern England about 110 A.D. causes the building of Hadrian’s Wall soon after 120 A.D.

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