British history IV

Neolithic and Bronze Ages

The development of farming c. 4000 BC - c. 3000 BC

By 4000 BC, the inhabitants of the islands of Britain had developed farming techniques and had built large hilltop enclosures (sites such as Windmill Hill, Wiltshire and Maiden Castle in Dorset). The shift to farming allowed for a more sedentary lifestyle, which in turn enabled parents to raise more than one child at a time. It is also possible that this agricultural society denuded the landscape of virtually all trees. The new methods of farming probably led to the start of a population increase, and the cultivation of more land.

These 'Neolithic' people also buried their dead in long barrows in the earth. Among the new immigrants were a people traditionally referred to as the Beaker folk who took their name from the drinking vessels with which they were buried. Other smaller waves of immigration and settlement followed but the population of the island remained small and scattered until c. 1600 - 1500 BC, when, for reasons unknown (perhaps climatic change), the population seems to have increased considerably.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/neo_farming.shtml