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People in Iron Age Britain
People in Iron Age Britain
Most of the millions of people who lived in the
Iron Age are anonymous. Only in the last 100 years of the period
are some of their names known to us from the writings of foreigners
or from inscriptions on coins. Even then, we can name only a few
individuals, mostly rulers and mostly
men.
The Romans called the
Iron Age people Britones
or Britanni (Britons).
The Britons spoke Celtic languages, which probably originally
spread to the island through trade and other contacts. There is no
evidence of any mass migrations of 'the Celts' into
Britain.
Several million
people probably lived in Britain at the end of the Iron Age. Most
people lived in extended family units. Life expectancy was low.
Many died in infancy; those who survived often died before they
were 35-40. At the age of 15, one or both of your biological
parents was probably dead. Arthritis was common, as were occasional
periods of malnutrition, especially vitamin
deficiency.
There is little
evidence for what people looked like. Iron Age Britons almost never
carved or made images of people. Almost no item of clothing from
the period has been preserved. Basic clothing probably consisted of
woollen or linen shirts and trousers for men, blouses, dresses or
skirts for women; both genders wearing cloaks or shawls. Evidence
from jewellery and other items shows that personal appearance
changed over the centuries and that people from one part of Britain
might have looked very different to those from
another.
Other
views: Skeleton of a woman aged 17-25,
Grave 106, Rudston, East Yorks.