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The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, which had an independent Iron Age culture of its own.〔Cunliffe (2005) page 27.〕 The parallel phase of Irish archaeology is termed the Irish Iron Age. The Iron Age is not an archaeological horizon of common artefacts, but is rather a locally diverse cultural phase. The British Iron Age lasted in theory from the first significant use of iron for tools and weapons in Britain to the Romanisation of the southern half of the island. The Romanised culture is termed Roman Britain and is considered to supplant the British Iron Age. The Irish Iron Age was ended by the rise of Christianity. While the tribes populating the island are often and especially popularly considered to have belonged to a broadly Celtic culture, or sometimes an Insular Celtic sub-group (a label which includes the Iron Age Irish, but excludes the continental Celtic cultures of Gaul and Iberia), in recent years the usefulness of this label has become a matter of controversy. At a minimum, "Celtic" is a linguistic term without an implication of a lasting cultural unity connecting Gaul with the British Isles throughout the Iron Age. The Brythonic languages spoken in Britain at this time, as well as others including the Goidelic and Gaulish languages of neighbouring Ireland and Gaul respectively, certainly belong to the group known as Celtic languages. However it cannot be assumed that particular cultural features found in one Celtic-speaking culture can be extrapolated to the others.〔Fitzpatrick (1996) page 242: "It is clear, then, that there is no intrinsic 'Celtic' European unity and that the idea of 'Celtic' Iron Age Europe has developed in an almost ''ad hoc'' fashion. When examined critically the central idea – of being 'Celtic' – may also be seen to be weakly formulated ...."〕 ==Periodisation== At present over 100 large-scale excavations of Iron Age sites have taken place,〔Cunliffe (2005) page 20.〕 dating from the 8th century BC to the 1st century AD, and overlapping into the Bronze Age in the 8th century BC.〔Cunliffe (2005) page 32.〕 Hundreds of radiocarbon dates have been acquired and have been calibrated on four different curves, the most precise being based on tree ring sequences. The following scheme summarises a comparative chart presented in a 2005 book by Barry Cunliffe,〔Cunliffe (2005) page 652. The dates are the mid-points of Cunliffe's transitional lines. His earliest and latest possibilities have been used for the end points. In the text 750 BC is his summary date for the beginning.〕 but it should be noted that British artefacts were much later in adopting Continental styles such as the La Tène style of Celtic art: The end of the Iron Age extends into the very early Roman Empire under the theory that Romanisation required some time to effect. In parts of Britain that were not Romanised, such as Scotland, the period is extended a little longer, say to the 5th century. The geographer closest to AD 100 is perhaps Ptolemy. Pliny and Strabo are a bit older (and therefore a bit more contemporary), but Ptolemy gives the most detail (and the least theory). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British Iron Age」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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