Britain’s first recession was 2,500 years ago

In its simplest terms , European prehistory can be split up into three component : the Stone Age , the Bronze Age , and the Iron Age . But there ’s a mysterious 300 class break in prehistoric Britain , created by one of man ’s first economic bubbles .

Between 800 and 500 BCE , the archeological grounds order a foreign floor . Ancient Britons were n’t using bronze much any longer , but they had n’t yet really begun the switching to iron . They seem stuck between ages , and archaeologist suspect they were living through the prehistorical equivalent of an economical recession .

The problem plausibly began about two hundred in the first place , as bronze became overestimate and started inseminate the seeds of prehistoric economic collapse . Historian Neil Oliver explains :

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“ By 1000 BC the bronze axe had become almost a proto - currency . It was wealth that was divorced from its use as a metallic element . And , a little like economical bubble that we see today , it spelt danger . attitude to bronze were about to change , with dramatic import not only for Bronze Age elite , but for all British society . By 800 BC , Britain – along with the rest of Europe – was maneuver for an economic meltdown . ”

Of of course , we ca n’t straight compare the overuse or overvaluing of bronze in prehistorical Europe to the economical turmoil of today . There ’s in all probability some larger force that sparked the region ’s decline , but the trouble is that no one quite hump what happened , as University of Southampton archaeologist Timothy Champion explains :

“ It ’s one of the handsome trouble . There are all sorts of explanations that people have suggested , including climatic modification , environmental destruction cause by over - victimisation or even home rotation by the exploit peasantry . Alternatively , it could be external invasion – there is no generally agreed account for what looks like a major event . ”

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Key to the enigma may have been bronze ’s enjoyment as a status symbol . archaeologist have recovered tons of bronze and copper from sites all over Britain , many of these predating the emergence of factual tools . Instead , these metals were often used more as ornament and as a sign of riches and prestigiousness . And , as Neil Oliver pointed out , the increasingly metaphoric conception of bronze ’s grandness meant its social and economic value were drifting apart . When this unsung crisis score , these bronze trinkets were n’t particularly helpful , and the total economic system start to collapse .

But the news report probably is n’t that simple-minded . Part of the problem is that Britain was technologically behind the Mediterranean , which had superior branding iron tools by 1,200 BCE and riding horses imported from Asia by 800 BCE . Because of Britain ’s geographic closing off , these all important innovations did n’t hit it until about 600 BCE . By then , the comer of new prestige detail and newfangled sources of wealth could have thrown an already dead economic system into even further upheaval .

Just to make things bad , Britain also had to endure about fifty years of savagely frigid weather between around 600 and 550 BCE . Neil Oliver explain the dire consequences of this :

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“ As bronze economic system was collapsing , Britain ’s population also fell – possibly for the first time since the Ice Age . This was a dual crisis that was driving Britain into a time period of social turmoil … a crisis that would absolutely remold British smart set . What we ’re seeing in the early Iron Age is a convert belief . It ’s as if the people of Britain – strike by clime variety in dissimilar ways – are take to reevaluate their life and their place in the great scheme of thing in raw ways . ”

The climate stabilise around 550 and so too did Britain ’s prehistoric economy . Iron went from lavishness point to common good , and its widespread introduction – many centuries after the rest of Europe started using it , it should be pointed out – create huge improvements in farming and food production , restoring Britain ’s population and saving . Unlike bronze , branding iron was common enough to be used by everyone , not just the elite , and its enjoyment support an agrarian rotation that would presently make the centuries - long recession a remote remembering .

ViaBBC News . For more on Bronze Age Britain , watch out BBC 2 ’s upcoming seriesA History of Celtic Britain . Image viaArchaeology UK .

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