Unearth the Facts on Brighton Museum’s Archaeology Gallery

1 How does this period fit into worldwide prehistory?

Use of fibres First to produce Invention pyramids Ice Age Iron Age First Black Rock clothing of wheel built Hollingbury Writing 220,000 years ago 35,000 years ago 5,500 years ago 4,700 years ago 2,800 years ago 2,000 years ago

First Homo Neolithic Hieroglyphic Bronze Age Romans Anglo sapiens Whitehawk Hove Barrow Springfield Road 5,700 years ago script 3,500 years ago 2,000 years ago Saxons Africa Stafford Road 200,000 years ago developed 1,400 years ago 5,100 years ago

Welcome to the Ice Age

When was the Ice Age? It started 220,000 years ago, but we’re technically still in it!

What is the Ice Age? The Ice Age is known for epic changes in the global climate, which alternated between warm and cool. These periods of warming and cooling shaped human development. As people coped with changes in climate they learned to walk upright and make tools. They also became more complex mentally and socially.

About 12,000 years ago, the climate warmed and open grassland and tundra (treeless plains) became woodland. Large animals like reindeer and mammoth were replaced by smaller, faster species like red deer, wild boar and wild ox. Around this time Britain was connected to France, until the last land bridge was flooded about 8,000 years ago when sea levels started to rise. Britain was an island again.

Who lived then? The Ice Age is so long ago that nobody is completely sure about the people that lived in Britain at the time. But we can make some pretty good guesses…

Early humans (Homo antecessor) could have arrived in Britain as early as one million years ago. Homo antecessor was between 1.68m (5’ 5”) and 1.83m (6’ 0”) tall and weighed up to 90kg (200lb). They had smaller brains than modern people.

By 500,000 years ago, we think another species (Homo heidelbergensis) arrived. The remains of one of them were found at Boxgrove, near Chichester. He’s called

1 ‘Boxgrove Man’. Although slightly smaller than their ancestors, Homo heidelbergensis were hunting large animals across Sussex.

In Europe around 350,000 years ago, Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) evolved. They became shorter and stockier so they could live better in a cold climate. They were shorter and heavier than us, with larger brains.

By about 40,000 years ago, modern humans (Homo sapiens) arrived in Britain. Evidence suggests that modern humans had families with Neanderthals and that both species lived together in Northern Europe for around 10,000 years before Neanderthals died out. We’ve got some different ideas about what might have happened to them. Did they fail to adapt to climate change? Fight to the death with

Homo sapiens? Or interbreed with them?

Today, we’re the only species left. But since up to 4% of our DNA is Neanderthal, the past has definitely left its mark.

Reconstruction of Neanderthal Woman Reconstruction of early Modern Man

2 What were their lives like? As soon as people developed tools, they could do more than their ancestors, from using weapons to harvesting fruit.

These tools changed everything. For example, they could make tiny flint blades called Microliths into arrows to hunt animals through forests, as well as tools to harvest wild seeds and fruit from trees and shrubs. They learned to eat more fish and shellfish too.

People lived in small temporary homes. They moved across the land to make best use of the resources available during the different seasons. As time went on, we think they probably moved less. Instead, they started to control the landscape around them to provide what they needed to survive. They started to express themselves through cave painting and take part in rituals.

What do we have in the gallery? We’ve got a large selection of stone tools from the Ice Age. They include the hand axe – which people used to cut up animals for at least 1.8 million years. There’s also a fantastic collection of bones and fossils from animals that lived alongside people in Britain during the Ice Age. These include mammoth, woolly rhino, bear, wild horse and auroch (ancient wild cattle).

Which local site can we look at to tell us more about Ice Age life in Brighton & Hove? Behind ASDA at the Marina you can still see evidence of a 220,000-year-old raised shingle beach at Black Rock. When the beach was formed, Brighton was in a warm stage with high sea levels. It’s possible Neanderthals were hunting big game there, including horse, red deer, bison and mammoth.

Brighton & Hove must have been good hunting grounds with lots of big game around. People could easily find local flint to make hand axes to butcher what they’d killed.

As the climate cooled, the sea retreated and shifts in the earth’s surface pushed the stranded beach further up and inland. Slowly, as the landscape froze and thawed out again, the chalk cliff started to crumble. In time the beach was covered by a layer of

3 chalk sludge and other claylike deposits. Gideon Mantell, the 19th century geologist and fossil collector, named these deposits the ‘Elephant Beds’, because they hid so many fossilised ‘elephant’ bones. The bones would actually have belonged to mammoths!

Archaeologists have found a hand axe at Black Rock. It probably dates from the Lower Palaeolithic, hundreds of thousands of years before the beach was formed.

Next time you wander along the Undercliff Walk behind ASDA in Brighton Marina, look up. You can still see the shingle beach suspended in the cliff line, covered with chalk and layers of orangey-brown silt. You might even see a mammoth tusk poking out!

4 Welcome to the Neolithic, or New Stone Age

When was the Neolithic? Around 6,000 to 4,500 years ago.

What was the Neolithic? It began with an explosion of ideas coming from the Continent. These included:

• Growing crops • Keeping animals • Building large landscape monuments • Formal burial • Making pottery and polished stone axes • Developing long-distance trade networks

What were people’s lives like? People made the tools they needed for farming in the same place year after year. These included specialist flint tools like scrapers, awls and fabricators, picks made out of antlers and shovels made from oxen shoulder blades. They made quern stones out of sandstone for processing wheat and special axes for trading and clearing land. These axes were often ground smooth and polished. Neolithic people travelled long distances and dug deep mines to find the best quality stone.

Neolithic people are also known for their mysterious large monuments, like large causewayed enclosures built with circular ditches and banks. We think they were places to feast or even bury the dead. As time went on they built circular monuments of wood and stone, possibly to mark changes in season.

Pottery arrived in Britain. Handmade pinch and coil pots became more heavily decorated. Later came Impressed Ware – pottery decorated with twisted cord and bird bone. Next, people developed flat bottomed, more angular vessels, called Grooved Ware.

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Meet the locals – Whitehawk Woman

Female aged 17-25, height 1.45m (4’ 9”).

This woman was buried in a ditch at an entrance to Whitehawk Causewayed Enclosure. Buried with her were:

• Two small pieces of chalk with holes in • Two fossil sea urchins • Half the leg bone of an ox and other animal remains

Small and slight, she probably died in childbirth. Her careful burial at Whitehawk may mean she was part of an important Reconstruction of Whitehawk Woman family. She probably grew up close to Wales, Normandy, Brittany or Spain. Her clothes were made from animal skins. She would have worked hard looking after animals, growing crops and grinding wheat into flour. Most Neolithic people didn't live longer than 35 years.

6 What do we have in the gallery?

We have a large Neolithic collection. It’s mostly from local sites such as Whitehawk and the Sussex flint mines. In the gallery you can see:

• The skeleton of Whitehawk woman with her grave goods • A scored chalk block • Fossilised sea urchins (otherwise known as

Shepherd’s Crowns) Scored chalk block found at Whitehawk • Butchered animal bone • Entire restored pots • Stone tools including polished axes

Which local site can we look at to tell us more about Neolithic life in Brighton & Hove? Whitehawk Causewayed Enclosure was built around 5,600 years ago. That’s up to a thousand years before the major stone circles at Stonehenge! We think it took one or two whole generations to complete.

It’s made up of at least four concentric rings of ditches and banks which cover around six hectares, making it a major monument in the landscape. People would have been able to clearly see the white chalk banks from miles away. The gaps in the banks and ditches would have allowed people to access the inner circle.

Causewayed Enclosures became very popular in southern England about 5,700 years ago. Most may have remained in use for only a few decades. However, we think Whitehawk Enclosure was used for up to 250 years as a large arena where the communities gathered, traded, celebrated and possibly worshipped.

Large amounts of animal bone found in the ditches suggest a lot of feasting must have happened there. We’ve also found lots of stone tools. Many people were buried

7 there too. The remains of four complete burials have been found in the ditches. They include the body of an eight-year-old child as well as Whitehawk Woman.

We think that these enclosures were created when societies were becoming more settled. They took a massive amount of work and resources to build, suggesting they were proud symbols of local communities. Each community may have had its own leader and identity. The fact that they fell out of use so quickly shows how fast society was changing at this time.

8 Welcome to The Bronze Age

When was the Bronze Age? Around 4,500 to 2,700 years ago.

What was the Bronze Age? Just as the final stone circles were being built at Stonehenge 4,500 years ago, a new culture arrived in Britain. They became known as the Beaker culture, after the beaker-like shape of the pots they used. The Beaker culture introduced metalwork to Britain and started a major change in British life.

What were people’s lives like? People still gathered in small farming communities but now lived in roundhouses and wore clothes woven from wool. A form of class system evolved and people started to be more interested in wealth and belongings. People were buried in individual graves, often with important objects buried with them.

In the Middle Bronze Age (around 1500BC) things changed again. Larger villages were built. People used ditches and banks as borders for their homes, suggesting that it mattered who owned what.

At around 1000BC the climate became colder and wetter. Lots of people left some of the upland settlements, like Dartmoor. This may have led to conflict between communities as people moved into warmer areas where others already lived. Status within settlements became important for the first time, with evidence of farmsteads and defended homes, as well as hill forts.

Towards the middle/end of the Bronze Age there was a trend to deposit objects and bronze hoards in areas where land meets water, such as fens and bogs. We don’t know why.

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Meet the locals – Ditchling Road Man

Male aged 25-35, height 1.71m (5’ 6”).

The skeleton of this man was found when Ditchling Road was being built. He was buried in a crouched position with a pottery beaker at his feet. An arrowhead was placed under his head and snail shells in front of his mouth.

He was one of the new wave of metalworking people from Europe. Most were farmers. He was anaemic and weak and his teeth show us that his diet was poor.

Reconstruction of Ditchling Road Man At times he might not have had enough to eat. He would have worn clothes mostly made from skins.

What technology did they use? Flint: Flint was still used throughout the Bronze Age. Many of the tools became more crudely made with less care or time spent on making them.

Metal: Bronze alloy, made of copper and tin, started to be widely used. It was much tougher than pure copper and encouraged trade between Britain and the Continent. This trade created demand for skilled local metalworkers who also made high status objects out of gold. Many bronze weapons and tools were produced during the period.

Pottery: At first the new Beaker pottery was being made at the same time as local pottery. As the Bronze Age continued, large urns appeared, often in burial sites. We

10 also see smaller, flat-bottomed food vessels decorated with etched lines or applied clay. Towards the end of the Bronze Age, large bucket and barrel urns appeared. These had less decoration and were more rounded.

Cloth: The technology to weave cloth from wool also arrived from the Continent. No cloth has survived in Britain from this period. However, loom weights have been found at Bronze Age sites. The imprint of cloth is also sometimes left in fired clay.

What were Bronze Age burials like? People were often buried in a crouched position in round burial chambers, or barrows. They were buried with a wide range of burial goods, often including a pottery vessel. After 1900BC, bodies started to be cremated and put in pots. These were buried with a wider range of objects, including new types of dagger and stone battleaxes. The Middle Bronze Age (1500BC) saw a switch to flat cremation cemeteries. Towards the end of the Bronze Age formal burial seems to have become less popular. It may have been that ashes were scattered rather than buried.

What do we have in the gallery?

We have an extensive Bronze Age collection that’s recognised around the world. In the gallery you can see:

• The skeleton of Ditchling Road man with his grave goods • Bronze axes of all types • Swords and daggers • Entire pots of various styles • Bronze Age hoards (including jewellery) • High status burial goods (from local barrow burials, including the Hove Barrow)

11 Which local site can we look at to tell us more about Bronze Age life in Brighton & Hove? In 1856 workers uncovered a large burial chamber when building Palmeira Square in Hove – a rare and special find. They discovered an oak coffin about nine feet below the surface with fragments of human bone. The body was buried with an amber cup, a stone pendant, a bronze dagger and an axe hammer.

The most important item they found was the Hove Amber Cup. The cup is about nine centimetres in diameter and slightly less in height. It’s made from a single piece of amber from northern Europe.

It’s one of only two Bronze Age amber vessels surviving in Europe, and is by far the best preserved. The stone battle axe and pendant are also rare imported objects. This suggests that the Hove Barrow was a very important burial monument. Evidence points to an elite Bronze Hove Amber Cup Age group in Sussex, part of a complex society with trading links that stretched as far as the Baltic.

In 1913 or 1914 an important Bronze Age hoard was also uncovered at Black Rock in East Brighton. Three Sussex, or Brighton, Loops were found in the hoard. These are finely crafted bracelets made from a thick bronze rod which was bent double. The rod forms a loop at one end, and then bends round into an ‘O’ shape. The ends of the rod fit back into the loop.

Nearly 40 loops have been found in the South Downs/Weald area.

Strangely, they are mostly found buried in hoards in twos or threes, often buried with other

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Sussex Loop from Black Rock Hoard items of Bronze Age jewellery and weaponry. Some of these objects have been made on the Continent.

As none have been discovered outside this area, we think they are the work of a local craftsman or workshop and must have had some sort of local significance. Were they a badge of honour for a Bronze Age tribe living in or around Brighton?

13 Welcome to the Iron Age

When was the Iron Age? Around 800BC to 43AD.

What was the Iron Age? Because people could trade with other countries, ideas and fashions from the Continent continued to influence life in Britain. Around 150 years before the Roman invasion, many local tribes benefited from trade with Rome. We know wine was being traded for slaves, grain and minerals. It was these good relations that gave the Romans a foothold in the south when they invaded in 43AD.

What were people’s lives like? Farmsteads and small farming villages of roundhouses continued into the Iron Age. Sheep and wool were probably what Sussex mainly produced. Barley and wheat were becoming important staple crops, and people started to plough fields.

At the beginning of the Iron Age settlements seem to have been based on local chiefdoms centred around hill forts. They were getting more advanced, with ditches topped off by wooden fences. Eventually there were fewer forts, but the ones that remained were bigger and more complex. At the same time chiefdoms were taken over by tribal kings that ruled over towns.

As the climate improved, people became more efficient farmers with more effective tools, and got better at looking after the land. We think this led to more people getting together to make ‘urban’ communities.

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Meet the locals – Slonk Hill Man

Male aged 25-30 years old, height 1.71m (5’ 7”).

This man was buried at the bottom of a storage pit near Shoreham. His body Mee was resting on a bed of mussel shells. A fossilised sea urchin had been placed above his head. He had a cleft chin. His bones show that he had very large muscles on his right-hand side. He must have been active and strong.

Reconstruction of Slonk Hill Man

What technology did they use? Metal: Iron technology arrived from Europe. More aggressive, warlike Celtic tribes used horses and chariots in warfare and introduced long iron swords. However, Bronze objects continued to be made or imported into Britain until roughly the third to fourth centuries BC. At this point ironwork started to take over and people began to make weapons and jewellery with decorative spirals, curves and scrolls – the Celtic style we know today.

Pottery: New forms and fabrics developed during the Iron Age in lots of different regional styles. More angular jars and urns with light, impressed decoration evolved into finer, more rounded, bulbous jars and bowls. People developed straight-sided tubs and saucepans and decorated pottery with stamps and zigzags as well as rings and dots. The Belgae people introduced the potter’s wheel. Closer trade with Rome also brought more exotic styles from the Mediterranean.

15 Coins: Right at the end of the Iron Age, coins arrived in Britain. This was probably encouraged by widespread European trade. The designs on coins can be traced back to the Continent. However local ‘kings’ in Britain started to produce coins with their name and tribal designs on them too. Like in the Bronze Age, coins and other valuables were buried in hoards. We’re not sure why.

What were burials like during the Iron Age? They were all very different! We don’t think that everyone was buried the same way, and it’s rare to find evidence of formal burials. Bodies were probably left in the open air until their flesh rotted away or was eaten by animals, and then bones were buried in pits around the settlement.

We’ve found evidence of cremation in south east England, as well as people being buried inside their chariots in Yorkshire.

People also started to bury bodies in bogs. Luckily, the bogs preserved them well and so we know that people suffered injuries before they were buried. Were they human sacrifices – or being punished for a crime?

What do we have in the gallery?

Highlights of the gallery are:

• The skeleton of Slonk Hill Man with his grave goods • An iron gang chain perhaps used for enslaving people

• Loom weights and other weaving-related items Iron gang chain perhaps used for enslaving people Gold coins • • A small bronze boar

16 Which local site can we look at to tell us more about Iron Age life in Brighton & Hove?

About 2,600 years ago, in the Early Iron Age, people built a hill fort at Hollingbury on the same site as some Bronze Age burial chambers.

They dug a single ring ditch about 2-3 metres deep, enclosing an area of about 300x400 metres. The chalk rubble from the ditch was deposited between a double Hollingbury Hill Fort Site from the air row of parallel posts. This created a box rampart behind the ditch. These posts would have supported a palisade and walkway. There was a large timber gateway built into the eastern rampart. Inside the fort, we’ve uncovered traces of at least five roundhouses. This suggests that local Iron Age people lived there.

But they probably didn’t live there for long. By the late Iron Age, a few hundred years later, the site was empty, with people building bigger, more complicated hill forts elsewhere.

It’s not always clear what these forts were used for. They had great defences, but weren’t always built in the best positions. We think they were used for storage and social gatherings – but there’s not much evidence they were inhabited all the time.

The forts probably made a powerful statement to others about how important the community was and what they were like. This is evidence that communities were becoming more tribal and centralised. By the time of the Claudian Roman invasion, Britain had clear and often competing tribes. The Romans exploited these rivalries to make their second invasion a success.

17 Welcome to Roman Britain

When was the Romano British period? From the year 43 to the year 410.

What was the Romano British period? As the name suggests, the Roman Empire was based in Rome in Italy. The Romans were more technologically advanced than a lot of people at the time, and had a huge organised army. This army conquered other people and occupied their land. The Roman Empire expanded until it included most of Europe as well as parts of Africa and Asia. Almost 2,000 years ago, in the year 43, the Romans invaded Britain. Some of the reason they were successful was because they had the support of the local rulers. They settled and ruled for nearly 400 years before their influence faded.

What were people’s lives like? Poorer farmers probably led a hard physical life with no education. Ports like London started importing goods from abroad. However, life in the countryside for poorer people wouldn’t have changed much and exotic Roman goods would only be for people with money.

Fathers were more important to the family than mothers, so men were generally in charge of the household. Women were often married off by fourteen. In poorer families women were expected to be in charge of housework, cooking and cleaning. In richer families servants would do this for her.

A lot of poorer people continued to live in small villages in wooden houses with thatched roofs. However, the Romans were famously great builders and engineers. They built new towns and cities in organised grid patterns with houses, shops,

18 temples, workshops and bathhouses, using materials previously unseen in Britain, like mortared stone, brick and glass. This transformed how people lived.

The biggest change was that some people started to write things down. Writing meant educated people could send messages, record laws and write books. Much of what we know about Roman Britain is from this writing.

Meet the locals – Patcham Woman

Female aged 25 – 35 years old, height 1.59m (5’3”).

This woman was buried in Patcham with the skeleton of a man at her feet. Iron nails were found around her knees, and one had pierced the back of her head.

She might have worked as a farm

worker, servant or been enslaved at a nearby villa. Her back and knee bones show signs of bending and heavy lifting. She must have had a hard physical life. She may have worn woven clothing in a Reconstruction of Patcham Woman Roman style.

Her burial is not normal. There were no grave goods. Was she a victim of violence, or had she committed a crime?

19 What do we have in the gallery? Roman Britain is represented in the gallery by:

• The skeleton of Patcham Woman • Our Bronze stag figurine • Painted plaster and mosaic tiles • Imported Samian ware • Glass vessels • Silver and bronze jewellery • A cosmetics spoon Roman bronze stag figurine • A bronze stylus or pen

Which local site can we look at to tell us more about Roman life in Brighton & Hove? The remains of a small Roman villa were discovered on Springfield Road in the late 19th century. There’s some evidence people lived on the site in the first and third centuries, so some people think it’s been continuously occupied for around 200 years.

The villa had decorated plaster walls and some black and white geometric mosaic floors often seen in the period. We think the villa probably belonged to a rich local landowning family. Several burial urns, skulls, bones, fragments of pottery, coins, figurines and even a pair of bronze tweezers were found.

You can find a plaque commemorating the villa at the southern entrance to Preston Park.

20 Welcome to Anglo Saxon Britain

When was the Anglo Saxon period? From the year 410 to 1066.

What was the Anglo Saxon period? After the Romans left, people from the north west of Europe (present-day Germany, Denmark and The

Netherlands) started moving in. In time they made up around 40% of the population of large parts of England. Today, we often call these people Anglo Saxons. Soon, most people in

England began leading a more Anglo Saxon way of life.

What were people’s lives like? Land was ruled by kings (cynings) supported by lords (aeoldermen) and their personal guards (housecarls). Village leaders (thanes) could call on their farmers (coerls) to fight to defend their land.

The villages were mostly farming settlements built on hill slopes or in valleys. The buildings were rectangular with walls made from wooden planks.

Life in Anglo Saxon villages was tough. From around age ten children would be expected to take on adult tasks. Boys would learn to chop down trees and plough fields. Girls were taught to weave cloth and cook meals. Women, men and children would fight to protect their land.

The Anglo Saxons were great craftspeople. People made:

• Iron tools • Pottery bowls • Jewellery from precious metals, gemstones and glass

21 • A huge variety of wooden items – from furniture to wheels

Storytelling was hugely popular. Whole villages would gather together to listen to stories and poetry as well as listen to music. Stories often featured gods, goddesses, dragons and other mythical beasts.

Meet the locals – Stafford Road Man

Male aged 45-50 years old, height 1.75m (5’ 11”).

This man was buried in a cemetery near Stafford Road. He was lying on his back with his knife and spear. A small copper buckle found next to him might mean he had a bag too.

He would have worn woollen and linen clothes. He was probably a farmer ready to defend his land. Carbon dating shows he could have been one of the first Anglo Saxons to settle here.

Reconstruction of Stafford Road Man He was a tall muscular man and quite old for the period. A huge open abscess in the front of his upper jaw might have caused his death by blood poisoning.

22 What do we have in the gallery? Our Anglo Saxon collection is quite compact. On display we have:

• The skeleton of Stafford Road Man with his grave goods • A silver Saxon penny minted in Lewes • A bronze buckle • Iron weaponry • Gilded jewellery A decorated bucket from an important warrior’s grave • Silver Saxon penny minted in Lewes

Which local site can we look at to tell us more about Anglo Saxon life in Brighton & Hove? Anglo Saxon graves containing shields and swords have been found in Brighton near St Luke’s Primary School, and in Stafford Road.

They would have formed parts of Anglo Saxon cemeteries for farming communities of around 60 to 100 people. Nearby, wooden buildings would have been set out neatly with fenced gardens. The leader might have had a bigger house or hall. There may have been a fence or ditch and bank around the enclosure. Fields, woods and meadows would have been nearby. In winter, animals would stay inside the settlement.

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