A History of Ancient Britain (65 page)

It is more than 2,000 years since Caesar’s legionaries first splashed ashore on a beach in Kent; 4,500 since the arrival of people with metal tools; 12,000 since the first hunters after
the ice and 33,000 since the time when the oldest modern human being we know about lived and died here. It is half a million years since Boxgrove Man closed his eyes for the last time on a Britain
roamed by elephants, lions and hyenas.

At the time of writing it is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first orbit of the Earth. We wonder at the experiences of those who spend time now in the International Space Station,
watching 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours. Few of us indeed will ever have the benefit of that view downwards from so very high above the blue marble upon which we all depend.

But we are flecks of foam on the surface of the blue. Beneath us is an ocean of deep time and we can gaze down into it whenever we want, from wherever we are. It is a more revealing view by far
than any to be had from space, which only reminds us where we live, how small our home is and
how vulnerable. The space station orbits the marble every 90 minutes – so
anyone looking out for the British Isles from up there will see them come around 16 times every day. Everything that matters is therefore too small, too far away and moving too fast.

As flecks of foam we have all the time in the world. By contemplating the ocean of time beneath us we are reminded that people, gradually evolving to be more and more like us, have found ways to
survive for millions of years. Our existence in the here and now is no fluke. It has been the work of the ancestors, all the nameless individuals who somehow lasted long enough to make the people
who made us. How they achieved that is no secret. It is all right there. We have only to remember to look down.

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