Until around 8000 BC. people could walk across to Britain from Europe; the English Channel did not exist. The Highland's first inhabitants, hunter-gatherers, walked here across that land bridge from mainland Europe.
The first farmers settled around 3500 - 4000 BC. We call this the beginning of the Stone Age or the Neolithic. Farming brought settlement, which paved the way for more advanced civilisations between 3000 and 700 BC. These were the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age peoples.
With improvements in metalworking between 700 BC and 400 AD, the Iron Age peoples emerged. It is during this period that our Celtic forebears arrived in Britain, bringing with them the Celtic languages of Welsh, Cornish and Gaelic. Gaelic, however, did not arrive into Scotland until the 5th century. Scots at this time were known by the Romans as the Picts. But whether the Picts were the same people as the Celts, remains a mystery.
In the fifth century AD, the Gaels or 'Scotti' settled on Scotland's southwestern seaboard having come across from Ireland. They were among the first to bring Christianity to Scotland and included missionaries such as Saint Columba. There is however evidence that Christianity had already travelled from Scotland to Ireland through Saint Patrick.
Around 790 AD the Norse, or Vikings, crossed the North Sea from Norway and invaded the north west coast of Scotland. The Norse eventually led the region's ruling elite. Their Norse-Gaelic descendants became the Lords of the Isles, a major power until the 15th century.
The Norse-Gaelic influence on Scotland was challenged from the 12th century on by the Normans. The Normans originated in France. The Normans introduced feudalism to the Highlands. Some of the Norman families evolved into clans we know today such as the Frasers, Chisholms and Douglases.
Read the text then answer the following questions.
Questions
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Sort out the 'beginnings' of the sentences with the correct 'endings' to complete a short paragraph on the early history of the Highlands - the 'beginnings' are in the right order.
Beginnings Endings Before 8000 BC hunter-gathers could . . . . . . through settlement The first farmers came to our shores . . . . . . ruled the Isles until the 15th century They brought early forms of civilisation . . . . . . around 4000 BC Iron Age peoples brought the Celtic . . . . . . migrate on foot from Europe to Britain Not until the 5th century did the . . . . . . Gaels come to Scotland The Norse followed in the 8th century and . . . . . . languages to Britain after 700 BC