In Studying the peoples of pre-Roman Britain, what are our primary reference sources?

Question

Where do we get our information on the people's of pre-Roman Britain?

Answer 1

If the historian Tacitus simply provides too much of a Roman perspective and/or is too late in history (1st century AD), then archaeological evidence is likely the best source (as DVK previously commented).

The people of Iron Age Britain

Demography The Roman historian described the Britons as being descended from people who had arrived from the continent, comparing the Caledonians (in modern-day Scotland) to their Germanic neighbours; the Silures of Southern Wales to Iberian settlers; and the inhabitants of Southeast Britannia to Gaulish tribes. This migrationist view long informed later views of the origins of the British Iron Age and, indeed, the making of the modern nations. Linguistic evidence inferred from the surviving Celtic languages in Northern and Western Great Britain at first appeared to support this idea, and the changes in material culture which archaeologists observed during later prehistory were routinely ascribed to a new wave of invaders.

Other Resources:

• English Heritage Discover the Past (The Iron Age town of Calleva)
• Iron Age Britain (English Heritage) Author: Barry Cunliffe