Communication in Prehistoric times?

Question

1. I was watching Time Team last night and they were going on about making bronze tools. What language(s) did they speak in Britain 2500 years ago? It was 500 years before Christ, and if Egypt was that civilised, then Britain should have been getting there too..

2. How did word spread? Who found out about making weapons and tools from Bronze? How did the idea occur?How did they work out that Iron was better? How did these ideas spread? They couldn't possibly have worked it out all at the same time all over Britain, could they?

Answer 1

There's been a long argument if things were invented in one place and then spread out (diffusion) or if they were invented multiple times in many places.

One problem with the issue of diffusion is that often a sole source cannot be established. Somebody certainly was the first to smelt bronze. However bronze is an improvement from the use of copper, and copper was widely used. Tin was also known in ancient times.So it's more then possible that multiple people mixed tin in with copper to get the harder bronze.

The same is true of iron. It's very hard to smelt and work but it will chop up bronze weapons. No doubt iron from meteors was the first smelted but then mining and smelting of iron ore developed.

The "Iceman" carried with him a copper ax and his body showed the effects or working at smelting. He could be an example of some trader that got a new invention, then carried the information along a trade route.

Genius occurred just as often then as today. People that were knowledgeable about metals would be able to refine the process and mixed metals to get a better product. When new products appeared on the trade routes, no doubt many of these people would say "I can do that!" and start producting.

Answer 2

They were using bronze in the UK by 2000BC. You have to remember that 6,000 years prior to this, most of the UK was covered in ice, and most of the Northern Europeans we are descended from were living on the fertile plains that are now at the bottom of the North sea. Egypt was always there, the same as it is now, so cut the ancient Britons some slack.

The technology was probably brought in from Europe by Celtic immigrants.Bronze use came from mainland Europe. The language spoken back then would have been some variant of Gaelic.

There's a theory that copper nodules may have been observed when someone tried to put malachite on pottery to decorate it, and they appeared after going in the kiln. Tin would have been a lot more common, and if you have a shortage and add the two metals together, you get bronze.

The use of smelted iron goes back almost as far as bronze in the middle East, but it was so ludicrously expensive it was only used on a small scale for beads at first. As to where it was first discovered, is any ones guess. India is looking good for most of the early metallurgy, but all those ancient cities are now underwater.

Iron is just a lot tougher, and less brittle than bronze. Anyone using the two would soon realize iron is a superior metal for tools.

Answer 3

Actually, Britain was fairly civilised around 500bc!  Even at 1000bc they had settlements like Flag Fen in Peterborough.

I don't know what language they spoke, but it was probably the precourser of Gaelic.  As for the second part of your questions, these are all unknowables.  Obviously the technology spread by word of mouth, but as for who, when and how! Forgfet it.  I know it was a guy called Hengist Pod (his wife was Senna) who tried to invent the wheel and failed.  I saw that bit in the movies (Carry On Cleo)

Answer 4

I don't know about question one but materials technology was always spread by travel and trade.

Answer 5

There was no communication. Thats why its called pre-history.