Random Crazy Facts About Britain Before Christianity (21 items)

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  (#20) 30,000 Years of Mysteries

  The recorded history of Britain begins with the arrival of the Romans in 55 BCE. As we know from the Red Lady of Paviland, Britain was inhabited 30,000 years before this. Which means that several hundreds of generations of human history in the British Isles comes down to guesswork based on surviving artifacts. If nothing else, this means that not a single thing we know about pre-Roman Britain is certain; it might be very educated guesswork, but it's guesswork nonetheless. 
  
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  (#19) The People of Britain Were Never Celtic

  The descriptor "Celtic" appears a lot in histories and cultural studies of Britain, and yet, as it turns out, Celtic is nothing more than a language family. The people of Britain were not any more Celtic than the people of Latin America are Spanish. In the 18th century, a theory arose among historians that a great Celtic, or Gaulic, invasion of Britain happened at some point in prehistoric times. It turns out this never happened. Instead, countless peoples migrated to Britain over a period of thousands of years, and some of those groups—those who spoke Celtic languages, for instance—happened to dominate others. 
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  (#21) The Historical Legacy of the Druids

  Though the druids vanishes into the mists of history, they are part of more than one historical legacy. In Ireland, druids maintained their status and power until Christianity arrived. Though they lost their rights as religious leaders at this time, the druids survived as historians, judges, and poets, contributing to the storied history of Irish letters. It's also theorized that the druids descended from an ancient Indo-European priesthood, and are the western cousins of Hindu Brahmins from the Indian subcontinent. 
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  (#2) Humans Were Murdered in Brutal Sacrifices

  Well-preserved bodies found in bogs suggest human sacrifice in pre-Roman Britain. These bodies exhibit brutal wounds: one was hit so hard in the back of the head, skull fragments went into his brain and his teeth broke; his throat was then slit. Roman writings also attest to human sacrifice, though beyond descriptions of the physical killings, its unclear whether the Romans actually knew what they were talking about. 
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  (#10) The Scottish Have Always Been Scottish

  The culture and people of England has changed significantly over time, from the first writings of the Romans to present-day definitions of the English character. The Scottish, however, seem to have always been Scottish. As described by Roman general Tacitus, the Caledonians, or people of ancient Scotland, had red hair, large limbs, and were fierce and quick to fight. Sounds about right. 
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  (#15) Giant Deer and Hairy Rhinos

  Prehistoric Britain was home to some crazy animals, including Irish elk, which stood about as tall as a moose and had massive antlers with a span of 13 feet or more. These animals towered over the relatively short people inhabiting Britain at the time, and weighed up to 1500 lbs. If you were trotting about Britain during the Ice Age, you also may have run into a wooly rhinoceros, which is exactly what it sounds like. 

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