Who inhabited the British Isles before the arrival of the Celts? (ancient, influence)

[UrbanCrossroads]

And I'm not referring to peoples who established colonies on those isles for the purposes of mining and trading (e.g., Phoenicians).

Off the top of my head, based on what I've learned over the years, I can't remember specifically when Celts first started to settle in the British Isles. Maybe 1500 BCE? I don't remember. If I recall correctly, the arrival of the Celts happened over a series of three separate "waves". Also, Stonehenge had already been built by the time the first wave of Celts arrived there. But then, where did the people already living there (who built Stonehenge and whatnot) originally come from?

Might those people have been related to the ancestors of modern-day Berbers in North Africa?

[JordanJP]

Irish legend (if I recall correctly) explains this by saying that people started arriving from what was likely Spain a lot earlier than 1500 BC. Milesians or something like that, who would have been ancestors of the Celts.

[ABQConvict]

The Brtish Isles have been continuously inhabited since the last ice age. Genetically these people are related to people all along the Atlantic seaboard from western Norway all the way down to Potugal and Spain.

Various waves of Indo-Europeans such as Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Scandinavians have influenced the population both by settllement and cultural diffusion.

The article at the following link may shed some light on this Atlantic culture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Europe

[Snowball7]

It's possible the British Isles were not uninhabited by man
at any time since the beginning, just as the British Isles were
not uninhabited by animals. When it broke off from the continent,
animals and perhaps people were living there (as it was attached
to the continent); those closer to the interior survived the breaking
apart. I mean, all the animals didn't swim over the English Channel
or the Irish Sea. Therefore its not unreasonable to believe that
men didn't migrate over the waters to get there either.

[UrbanCrossroads]

Originally Posted by JordanJP

Irish legend (if I recall correctly) explains this by saying that people started arriving from what was likely Spain a lot earlier than 1500 BC. Milesians or something like that, who would have been ancestors of the Celts.

I had heard about a people called the "Tuatha de Danann" ("the people of the goddess Dana"), but I don't know if they were just characters from Irish myths, or if they were an actual people who existed in Ireland. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the "Tuatha" people were associated with one of the ancient civilizations of the Greek islands. Minoans, I think. I can't remember.

[UrbanCrossroads]

Originally Posted by ABQConvict

The Brtish Isles have been continuously inhabited since the last ice age. Genetically these people are related to people all along the Atlantic seaboard from western Norway all the way down to Potugal and Spain.

Various waves of Indo-Europeans such as Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Scandinavians have influenced the population both by settllement and cultural diffusion.

The article at the following link may shed some light on this Atlantic culture.

Atlantic Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for the link. Years ago, I used to believe that the original inhabitants of Europe were probably the forerunners of the Basque people. But these days I'm more inclined to think that early Europe was probably inhabited by a people related to the Berbers. This particular line from that Wikipedia entry caught my attention:

Bob Quinn in his documentary series Atlantean speculates that western European Celtic culture is actually an earlier, pre-Celtic, Atlantic culture that included Atlantic Europe and people of the Maghreb such as Berbers and that it continues today.

[John-UK]

I find it hard to believe the British Isles, in northern Europe, was directly influenced by Arabs. Maybe some very small indirect influence via France, but directly? I am sceptical. To travel by sea was a hell of a task in those days. They never had large seaworthy vessels. And why would they sail over a large sea to get to islands out of the way? It would be very difficult for people in the Iberian peninsular to get to the British Isles in primitive vessels never mind Arabs. To my knowledge not one Arab Dow or Chinese Junk ever sailed up the English Channel. British vessels sailed all over the world and to parts people never knew existed.

Migration to the British Isles was mainly across the short English Channel and southern North Sea.

[John-UK]

Originally Posted by Justme305

I had heard about a people called the "Tuatha de Danann" ("the people of the goddess Dana"), but I don't know if they were just characters from Irish myths, or if they were an actual people who existed in Ireland. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that the "Tuatha" people were associated with one of the ancient civilizations of the Greek islands. Minoans, I think. I can't remember.

Myth or more like total tosh.

[Snowball7]

And when Troy fell to the Greeks, ancient british histories record that Aeneas, with his family, including his father Anchises and son Ascanius, sailed to what would become known as Britian (named after Ascanius’s son Brutus, previously named Hibernia, after Heber, the biblical Eber), apparently bringing with them the language of the Trojans, reflected in the runic language recorded on stones from Britain and too across Scandinavia and Germany, including the inscripted word aesar, from the etruscan term aisar, meaning god or gods.
Etruscan Origins Aegean Norse Sea Aesar Gods Aisar Eretria Mystery Language Trojans Troy Troas Son of Dardanus Lydian Pelasgian Possibilities Relationships Anchises Aeneas Ascanius Roots of Ancient Britain Rune Stones Runic Language Etymologies Etrus

Etruscans in Montana ? Etruscans in Montana? – LewRockwell.com

Some maintain that the tribe of Dan, known for its seafaring, conducted sea voyages to Ireland and colonized it as early as the period of the Judges in the 7th century BC under the name Tuatha Dé Danann.
Scholar Janet Moser writes: "There are certain facts that suggest that the Celts might have derived from a Jewish tradition from the East. The Celtic body of ecclesiastical and civil knowledge was Druidism. Their system can be traced to about 1800 B.C...”
In 'The Psalter of Cashel' an ancient text written by Saint Cormac it states that: 'The Tuatha de Danaan' ruled in Ireland for about two centuries, and were highly skilled in architecture and other arts from their long residence in Greece.'
The Tuatha de Danaan were the descendants of Danaus, the son of Belus, who went with his fifty daughters to Argos, the home of his ancestor Io. In Irish legends the Tuatha de Danaan, who were considered to be demi-gods, ...were said to have possessed a ...Grail-like vessel... These teachers of wisdom ... were the founders of the Druidic priesthood."
Are the Celts one of the ten lost tribes of Israel? - IrishCentral.com

[Miserere]

Celts are a culture.....

The Islands were inhabited by different human species and Homo Sapiens arrived around 25.000 to 30.000 years ago. Due to glaciations, the islands were intermitently unhabited.

During the last glaciation, the inhabitants of the area moved to "shelters" located in Aquitaine and Northern Spain 15.000 years ago...

The islands, that were united to the continent due to a lower sea level, became a vast tundra with scarce life.

It seems that the former inhabitants "reoccupied" the area some 11.000 years ago. The inhabitants were not "Celts" and did not have the foggiest idea about modern Indoeuropean cultures. Their culture was called, I'm not sure, the Bell Beaker culture, Menhir culture, etc... the same ones existing in all western Europe. There's no information whatsoever about their language. Related to Basque and Aquitanian?

Neolithic arrived in England 4.000 years ago and with them arrived the so-called Celtic culture, metal, horses, etc.