CONTENTS

PAGE
[Preface]iii
[List of Illustrations]xv
[PART I]
[CHAPTER I]
[Introduction]1
[CHAPTER II]
[THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE]
[Reasons for devoting a chapter to the Palaeolithic Age]13
[Tertiary Man]13
[The Ice Age]14
[Continental Britain]19
[The relation of palaeolithic man to the Ice Age]22
[‘Eolithic’ man?]25
[The environment of palaeolithic man in Britain]30
[Whence did he come?]30
[Chronological puzzles]31
[Palaeolithic skeletons]33
[Palaeolithic artists]35
[Range of the palaeolithic hunters in Britain]35
[Where their tools have been found]36
[Inhabited caves]37
[Cave implements and river-drift implements]38
[Divers forms of tools]41
[Palaeolithic workshops]42
[Handles]44
[Uses of tools]45
[Culture of the palaeolithic inhabitants of Britain]45
[Religion]49
[Totemism]51
[Was the domestication of animals a result of totemism?]55
[Magic]57
[Was there a ‘hiatus’ between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Age?]59
[CHAPTER III]
[THE NEOLITHIC AGE]
[The early neolithic immigrants]62
[The origins of British civilization were neolithic]63
[Geography of neolithic Britain]64
[Who were the later neolithic invaders?]64
[Evidence from dolmens]65
[Relics of the neolithic population: their settlements]67
[Flint mines and implement factories]69
[Difficulty of determining age of stone implements]71
[Indefiniteness of the prehistoric ‘Ages’]72
[Stone implements]73
[The two main divisions of flint implement]73
[How flint implements were made]73
[Celts]75
[Their uses]77
[Chisels and gouges]77
[Axes, axe-hammers, anvils, and mullers]78
[Implements made of flakes]79
[Javelin-heads and arrow-heads]80
[Bone implements]82
[Pygmy flints]82
[Specialization of industries]83
[A lost art]83
[Dwellings]84
[Food and cookery]88
[Agriculture]89
[Treatment of women]91
[Duration of life]91
[Clothing and ornaments]91
[Trepanning]92
[The couvade]94
[Hill-forts]95
[Primitive writing]99
[Sepulture: barrows and cairns]100
[Inhumation and incineration]110
[Human sacrifice]112
[Traces (?) of cannibalism]113
[Interment of animals]114
[Religion]115
[An alien invasion: period of transition]119
[CHAPTER IV]
[THE BRONZE AGE AND THE VOYAGE OF PYTHEAS]
[A Copper Age preceded the Bronze Age in certain countries, but has not been proved to have existed in Britain]121
[Bronze implements used for many centuries in Europe before the Iron Age]123
[Where did the European bronze culture originate?]124
[Origin and affinities of the bronze culture of Britain]126
[Period of its commencement]126
[Physical characters of the late neolithic and early bronze-using invaders of Britain]127
[Their social organization]128
[Character and results of the invasions: the invaders poor in bronze weapons]129
[Evidence of finds as to the settlements of the invaders]129
[Stone implements used long after the introduction of bronze]132
[Hill-forts]132
[Primitive metallurgy]139
[Bronze implements:—celts]139
[Sickles]144
[The Arreton Down hoard]145
[Halberds]145
[Shields, swords, spears]145
[Moulds]148
[Decoration of weapons]149
[Hoards]149
[Pasturage]150
[Agriculture]151
[Signs of amelioration in the conditions of life]152
[Dwellings]153
[Lake-dwellings]153
[Hut-circles]154
[Inhabited camps]156
[The Heathery Burn Cave]157
[Dress]160
[Pins and buttons]161
[Weapons mounted with gold or amber]162
[Ornaments]163
[Distribution of wealth: sources of gold, ivory, and amber]167
[Why was Wiltshire exceptionally rich in ornaments?]169
[British trade and the spiral]170
[Comparative backwardness of culture in Britain]171
[The information obtainable from graves]172
[Round barrows, cairns, and sepulchral circles]173
[Chronology of the barrows]181
[Cremation and inhumation]184
[Sepulchral pottery]191
[The ‘drums’ of Folkton Wold and their significance]199
[Sepulchral evidence as to religion]200
[Engraved stones]205
[Sun-worship]207
[Stone circles and other megalithic monuments]207
[Stonehenge]213
[The voyage of Pytheas]217
[Ictis]221
[‘Ultima Thule’]224
[Pytheas and the ethnology of Britain]227
[The passing of the Bronze Age]230
[CHAPTER V]
[THE EARLY IRON AGE]
[Iron probably introduced into Britain by Gallic invaders]231
[The Belgae preceded by other Brythons, who began to arrive about 400 B.C.]232
[Ethnology of the invaders]234
[The order in which the various tribes arrived unknown]235
[‘Late Celtic’ art]236
[Coral and enamel]237
[Swords and scabbards]238
[Mirrors]239
[Brooches and pins]240
[Ornaments]241
[Woodwork]241
[Pottery]242
[The noblest creation of Late Celtic art]244
[Imported objects of art]246
[British ships and coracles]247
[Trackways]247
[Coinage]248
[Iron currency bars]250
[Mining]251
[Agriculture]252
[Dwellings of the rich]254
[Towns]254
[Hill-forts]255
[Some permanently inhabited]257
[Hunsbury]259
[Inhabited caves; pit-dwellings; ‘Picts’ houses’; beehive houses; and brochs]260
[The Glastonbury marsh-village]263
[Dress]264
[Reading and writing]265
[Inequalities in culture]266
[Intertribal war and political development]268
[Instances of female sovereignty: the condition of women]269
[Political and social conditions of Britain and Gaul compared]270
[Religion]271
[Sepulchral usages]286
[The Druids]289
[Ties between Britons and Gauls]299
[How the Britons were affected by Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul]300
[CHAPTER VI]
[CAESAR’S FIRST INVASION OF BRITAIN]
[Caesar obliged to secure his rear before invading Britain]301
[He contemplated invasion as early as 56 B.C.]301
[Campaign against the Veneti necessary in order to secure command of the Channel]303
[Campaign against the Morini]305
[Its failure leaves Caesar’s base not quite secure]305
[Caesar determines to sail from the Portus Itius (Boulogne)]306
[He attempts to obtain information about Britain from Gallic traders]307
[Gaius Volusenus sent to reconnoitre the opposite coast]308
[Envoys from British tribes sent to Caesar to promise submission]308
[He commissions Commius to return with them and gain over tribes]309
[Volusenus’s voyage of reconnaissance]309
[Kentishmen prepare for resistance]312
[Certain clans of the Morini spontaneously promise to submit]312
[Caesar’s expeditionary force]313
[Sabinus and Cotta sent to punish the recalcitrant Morini and the Menapii]314
[Caesar’s voyage]314
[His cavalry transports fail to put to sea in time]314
[He anchors off the Dover cliffs]315
[Late in the afternoon he sails on to Walmer—Deal]316
[The landing vigorously resisted]316
[Caesar’s victory indecisive owing to want of cavalry]317
[The Romans encamp]317
[British chiefs sue for peace]318
[The cavalry transports dispersed by a gale]318
[Caesar’s fleet partially wrecked]319
[The British chiefs prepare to renew hostilities]320
[Caesar labours to retrieve the disaster]320
[The 7th legion surprised and attacked while cutting corn]321
[Military operations suspended owing to bad weather]322
[The Britons, attempting to rush Caesar’s camp, are defeated with heavy loss]323
[Caesar compelled by the approach of the equinox to return to Gaul]323
[Causes of his partial failure]323
[Two transports fail to make the Portus Itius: the troops whom they carried attacked by the Morini]324
[Punishment of the Morini and Menapii]324
[Thanksgiving service at Rome for Caesar’s success]325
[CHAPTER VII]
[CAESAR’S SECOND INVASION OF BRITAIN]
[Caesar builds a fleet for a second expedition]326
[Mandubracius flees from Britain and takes refuge with Caesar]327
[Caesar winters in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum]327
[His correspondence with Cicero]327
[Cicero’s hopes and fears about the second British expedition]329
[Caesar returns to Gaul]329
[He is obliged to march to the country of the Treveri]330
[Returning to the Portus Itius, he finds fleet and army assembled]331
[He resolves to take Gallic chiefs of doubtful fidelity as hostages to Britain]331
[Dumnorix resolves not to go]332
[The fleet weatherbound]332
[The fate of Dumnorix]333
[Caesar sets sail, leaving Labienus in charge of Gaul]333
[The fleet drifts north-eastward out of its course]334
[The landing-place, between Sandown Castle and Sandwich, reached by rowing]335
[Leaving the fleet at anchor in charge of a brigade, Caesar marches against the Britons]335
[forces the passage of the Stour near Canterbury]337
[and storms a fort to which they had retreated]337
[Next morning he sends three columns in pursuit]337
[but is forced to recall them by news that many of his ships had been wrecked]338
[He beaches the ships, constructs a naval camp, and repairs damage]338
[Results of the disaster]338
[Caesar again marches towards Canterbury. Cassivellaunus elected commander-in-chief of the Britons]339
[The Romans harassed by British charioteers]340
[Trebonius routs the Britons]341
[The British infantry disperse]341
[War-chariots versus Roman troops]341
[Caesar marches for the country of Cassivellaunus]343
[whose chariots harass his cavalry]344
[Caesar crosses the Thames]345
[Cassivellaunus orders the kings of Kent to attack the naval camp]346
[Caesar enters the country of the Trinovantes, who furnish hostages and grain]346
[Five of the confederate tribes submit]346
[Attack on the naval camp repulsed]347
[Caesar’s hurried journey to the coast and its significance]348
[Cassivellaunus sues for peace]349
[Caesar and his army return to Gaul]350
[Caesar’s description of Britain]351
[Review of Caesar’s invasions of Britain]352
[CHAPTER VIII]
[THE RESULTS OF CAESAR’S INVASIONS OF BRITAIN]
[The importance of Caesar’s British expeditions underestimated by his contemporaries and by historians]355
[Development of British commerce]357
[The British inscribed coinage and its historical value]358
[The dynasties of Cassivellaunus and Commius]361
[Tasciovanus]361
[Epaticcus and Cunobeline]361
[Cunobeline’s coins prove growth of Roman influence in Britain]362
[His conquests]362
[Flight of Dubnovellaunus and Tincommius (?), the son of Commius, to Rome]363
[The later adventures of Commius]364
[His conquests in Britain]365
[Tincommius, Verica, and Eppillus]365
[Augustus contemplates an invasion of Britain]367
[Why he abandoned his intention]367
[Continued growth of Roman influence in Britain]368
[Cessation of British coinage in certain districts which had belonged to the sons of Commius]368
[Relations of Cunobeline with Rome]369
[His exiled son, Adminius, takes refuge with Caligula]369
[Death of Cunobeline]370
[Unpopularity of his dynasty intensified on the accession of his sons, Caratacus and Togodumnus]370
[Invasion of Britain by Aulus Plautius]371
[Review of British history from 54 B.C. to A.D. 43]371
[The Roman conquest and its results]372
[Permanence in English history of prehistoric and Celtic elements]372
[PART II]
PAGE
[The Ethnology of Ancient Britain.—]
I.[Introduction]375
II.[The methods of anthropology]376
III.[Eolithic man(?)]379
IV.[Palaeolithic man]380
V.[The Pygmies (?)]390
VI.[Neolithic man]393
VII.[The ‘Pictish Question’]409
VIII.[The Round-heads]424
IX.[The Celts]444
X.[Conclusion]455
[The Names ΠΡΕΤΑΝΙΚΑΙ ΝΗΣΟΙ, Britanni, and Britannia]459
[The Birthday of Religion]461
[Dumbuck, Langbank, Dunbuie]463
[Inhumation and Cremation]465
[Sepulchral Pottery]467
[Stonehenge]468
[The Cassiterides, Ictis, and the British Trade in Tin.—]
I.[The Cassiterides]483
II.[Ictis and the British trade in tin]499
[Dene-holes]515
[The Coast between Calais and the Somme in the Time of Caesar]517
[The Configuration of the Coast of Kent in the Time of Caesar]518
I.[Between Ramsgate and Sandown Castle]519
II.[Between Sandown Castle and Walmer Castle]521
III.[The Goodwin Sands]525
IV.[The South Foreland and the Dover Cliffs]528
V.[Dover Harbour]530
VI.[Between Dover and Sandgate]531
VII.[Romney Marsh]532
[Portus Itius.—]
I.[Review of the controversy]552
II.[The data furnished by Caesar, Strabo, and Ptolemy]554
III.[Caesar sailed from the Portus Itius on both his expeditions]556
IV.[The value of Caesar’s estimate of the distance between the Portus Itius and Britain]557
V.[The estuary of the Somme]558
VI.[Ambleteuse]563
VII.[Calais]565
VIII.[Wissant]565
IX.[Boulogne]585
[The Place of Caesar’s Landing in Britain.—]
I.[Introduction]595
II.[The data furnished by Caesar and other ancient writers]596
III.[The day on which Caesar landed in 55 B.C.]600
IV.[Did Caesar land at the same place in both his expeditions?]603
V.[The various theories about Caesar’s place of landing]604
VI.[The question of the tides]605
VII.[The theory that Caesar landed at Pevensey]611
VIII.[The theory that Caesar landed at Lympne or Hythe]622
IX.[The theory that Caesar landed at Hurst]638
X.[The theory that Caesar landed between Hurst and Kennardington]639
XI.[The theory that Caesar landed opposite Walmer and Deal]644
XII.[The theory that Caesar landed at Richborough or Sandwich]662
[The Credibility of Caesar’s Narrative of his Invasions of Britain]666
[The Disembarkation of the Romans in 55 B.C.]673
[The Site of Caesar’s Camp in 55, and of his Naval Camp in 54 B.C.]673
[The War-Chariots of the Britons]674
[The Operations of the Britons during the last few Days of Caesar’s First Expedition]677
[Where did Caesar encounter the Britons on the Morning after his Second Landing in Britain?]678
[Caesar’s earlier Operations in 54 B.C. (B. G., v. 9-11)]685
[Caesar’s Second Combat with the Britons in 54 B.C.]688
[The Combat between Trebonius and the Britons]692
[Where did Caesar cross the Thames?]692
[Caesar’s Passage of the Thames]698
[The Site of Cassivellaunus’s Stronghold]699
[Did Londinium exist in Caesar’s Time?]703
[The Julian Calendar and the Chronology of Caesar’s Invasions of Britain]706
[Topographical Notes]735
[Addenda]739
[Index]743
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGUREPAGE
1[Harpoon-head (Kent’s Cavern)]43
2[Flint flake (Reculver)]43
3[‘Tongue-shaped’ implement (Biddenham, Bedfordshire)]43
4[Oval implement (Dartford Heath)]43
5[Rough-hewn celt (Mildenhall, Suffolk)]75
6[Polished celt (Coton, Cambridgeshire)]75
7[Hafted celt (Solway Moss)]76
8[Chisel (Burwell, Cambridgeshire)]77
9[Double-edged axe-head (Hunmanby, Yorkshire)]78
10[Flint knife (Saffron Walden)]79
11[Curved blade (Fimber, Yorkshire)]80
12[Leaf-shaped arrow-head (Yorkshire Wolds)]81
13[Lozenge-shaped arrow-head (Yorkshire Wolds)]81
14[Triangular arrow-head (Amotherby, Yorkshire)]81
15[Barbed arrow-head (Rudstone)]81
16[Ground-plan of chambered barrow (Uley)]104
17[Horned cairn of Get]106
18[Flat bronze celt (East Riding of Yorkshire)]142
19[Flanged bronze celt (Norfolk)]142
20[Flanged bronze celt with stop-ridge (Northumberland)]142
21[Winged bronze celt (Dorchester, Oxfordshire)]143
22[Looped palstave (Brassington, Derbyshire)]143
23[Socketed celt (Kingston, Surrey)]143
24[Arreton Down blade]145
25[Bronze shield (Yetholm, Roxburghshire)]146
26[Leaf-shaped bronze sword (Battersea)]147
27[Bronze spear-head (Thames)]148
28[Jet button (Rudstone)]161
29[Bronze torque (Wedmore, Somersetshire)]164
30[Gold lunette (Llanllyfni, Carnarvonshire)]164
31[Amber necklace (Lake, Wiltshire)]166
32[Drinking-cup]192
33[Food-vessel]193
34[Cinerary urn (Goodmanham, Yorkshire Wolds)]193
35[Incense-cup (Bulford, Wiltshire)]194
36[Chalk ‘drum’ (Folkton Wold)]200
37[Bronze mirror (Trelan Bahow, Cornwall)]239
38[Brooch (Water Eaton, Oxfordshire)]240
39[Wooden bowl (Glastonbury)]242
40[Late Celtic urn (Shoebury, Essex),]243
41[Patterns on Late Celtic pottery (Glastonbury),]243
42[Late Celtic shield (Battersea)]245
43[Bronze open-work ring (Stanwick, N.R. Yorkshire)]265
44[Circle of interments (Aylesford)]287
MAPS
[South-Eastern Britain]to face page 305
[East Kent]to face page 313
[Romney Marsh and Hythe harbour (illustrating theories of their topography in 55-4 B.C.)]531

[The maps of South-Eastern Britain and East Kent, like all maps of Ancient Britain, are inevitably inexact; but the errors are unimportant. The Dover cliffs, for instance, have lost by erosion, but one cannot say how much (see pages 528-30); nor is it possible to indicate the exact nature of the slight change which the coast has undergone between Sandown Castle and Walmer Castle (pages 521-5). Again, I have not attempted to delineate the coast west of Pevensey or west or north of Reculver precisely as it was in 55 B.C., because, even if such an attempt had been successful, nothing would have been gained for the purpose of this book. As far as possible, however, the maps represent the conclusions reached in the article on the configuration of the coast of Kent in the time of Caesar. The outline of Richborough harbour and of the estuary between Thanet and the mainland is intended to show approximately the high-water mark of spring tides. At low tide the channel was very narrow (page 519).]

ANCIENT BRITAIN
AND
THE INVASIONS OF JULIUS CAESAR

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

When Caesar was about to sail on his first expedition to Britain, he summoned the Gallic traders whose vessels used to ply between Gaul and the Kentish coast, and tried to elicit from them information; but, to quote his own words, ‘he could not find out either the extent of the island, or what tribes dwelt therein, or their size, or their method of fighting, or their manners and customs, or what harbours were capable of accommodating a large flotilla.’ Even after he had seen the country and its inhabitants with his observant eyes he was not much better informed: all that he could learn about the aborigines he summed up in a single sentence; and later writers, Greek, Italian, and mediaeval—Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Augustus Caesar, Pomponius Mela, Tacitus, Suetonius, Dion Cassius, Herodian, and the rest—added very little to the knowledge which he had gathered. Yet the materials which are now available for a description of prehistoric and pre-Roman Britain, however limited their range, are so abundant that the difficulty is to use them with discrimination and to fashion the essential into a work of art. How have these materials been obtained? When the general reader takes up a history, he accepts the narrative in a spirit more or less sceptical. He knows that it has been composed, either directly or at second hand, from written, perhaps also from oral testimony; and he rarely troubles himself to inquire what the evidence is, or with what diligence and acuteness it has been sifted. But when he is invited to read an account of the evolution of culture among people who recorded nothing and of whom nothing was recorded, it is natural that he should insist upon peering into the writer’s workshop that he may judge for himself what the materials are worth.