The UK Guardian reports that:

Archaeologists in Ukraine have unearthed the remains of an ancient pyramidal structure that pre-dates those in Egypt by at least 300 years. The stone foundations of the structure, which probably resembled Aztec and Mayan ziggurats in South America, were discovered near the eastern city of Lugansk.

And 2000 years before that, the largest freestanding structures in the world were in the nearby Danube basin where children were born to families living together with their cattle in the middle of winter, possibly a results of the proto Indoeuropean diaspora which itself may well have been linked to a fresh-water sea faring culture dispersed by a Black Sea flood around the same time and place.

In short, the myths of Christianity, Islam and Judaism may be little more than our history ripped from us, exported, repackaged and reidentified, and imported to us as an alien cult.  If you look at what Hollywood does with our history… and women… you see very much the same pattern.

A search turned up a cached copy of the following, now defunct, web page which I’m rescuing from oblivion since it is a concise overview that puts European prehistory in some perspective although I reserve endorsement:

An Overview of European Prehistoric Chronology

• c40000 BP (beginning of the Upper Paleolithic Era) - Modern Humans gradually populate Europe (possibly from Anatolia) and Central Asia (probably from the Middle East). These Moderns with their Aurignacian tool culture coexist with the indigeneous Neandertals with their Châtelperronian tool culture. The southwest part of France is the most densely occupied region of Europe during the Upper Paleolithic, the greatest concentration of archaeological finds (including Cro-Magnon) being in the watershed of the Dordogne river. Other notable concentrations are on the northern side of the central portion of the Pyrenees, as well as the northern coast of Spain.

• c29000 BP - The Aurignacian culture evolves into the Gravettian culture.

   

• c28000 BP - Extinction of the last Neandertals in Iberia, probably due to their marginalisation by the Moderns.

   

• c25000 to c22000 BP - The “Venus figurines”, which depict the sacred nature of the Mother, are widespread throughout Europe.

   

• c22000 BP - The Gravettian tool culture evolves into the Solutrean tool culture.

   

• c21000 BP - The last Glacial Maximum begins, lasting until c18000 BP. During this time, Humans are forced to retreat southwards.

• c17000 BP - The last Paleolithic tool culture, the Magdalenian, succeeds the Solutrean. It features the height of cave art, such as at Lascaux in France (c17000 BP) and Altamira in Spain (c14000 BP).

   

• c11600 BP/c9600 BC - End of the Last Ice Age, marked by the transition from the Paleolithic period to the Mesolithic period. This transition is characterised by increasing specialisation in tools and hunting techniques, as well as a tendency towards permanent settlements, particularly in coastal areas such as the Atlantic zone. Human populations move northward from the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions as the Glaciers retreat. At first, the Ural-Altaic peoples spread out along the north part of Eurasia, from the Atlantic to Siberia. Subsequently, the ancestors of the Indo-Europeans establish themselves in the steppe area extending from Romania eastwards to the Ural region, south of the Ural-Altaic peoples.
  
  Meanwhile, peoples from northern Africa speaking a language closely akin to the proto-Hamitic languages of North Africa immigrate northwards into Iberia and expand further along the Atlantic regions of Europe (France, the British Isles). These became the Iberians and the Atlantians.
  
  The original pre-Ice Age population of Western Europe remained in the area of northern Spain/southwestern France where the Aquitanians and Vascones lived 2000 years ago. Their descendants are the Modern Basques.
  
  The earliest Mesolithic culture is the Azilian Culture of southern France and northern Spain. It is considered to be a derivative of the Magdalenian. Meanwhile, the Mesolithic Tjongerian Culture of northern Europe and the Mesolithic Swiderian Culture of north-eastern Europe appear as contemporaries of the Azilian culture.

• c7500 BC - Beginning of the Mesolithic Maglemosian Culture of Northern Europe [c7500 to c6000 BC], which stretched from England to Poland. Primarily nomadic hunter-fisher-gatherers, possibly of Proto-Uralic speech. This culture is succeeded by the Kongemose Culture in Scandinavia.

   

• c7000 BC - The Mesolithic Sauveterrian Culture of southern France and Switzerland and the Mesolithic Tardenoisian Culture of northern France and Belgium develop from the Azilian Culture. These hunter-gatherer cultures lasted until the introduction of agriculture to Central and Western Europe (from c5000 BC onwards), which marks the beginning of the Neolithic in these regions.

   

• c6500 BC - Farming, introduced from Greece and Anatolia, appears in the Carpathian Basin.

   

• c6100 BC - The Neolithic Starcevo-Koros-Cris Culture [c6100 to c5300 BC] appears in the Northern Balkans, but does not go beyond the Mediterranean Climate Zone (which includes the southern and eastern fringes of modern Hungary, with the Carpathians forming the northeastern boundary). This limit to their expansion is due to the unsuitability of their domesticated cereals to the more northerly climate conditions. Overall, it covers most of Romania, Serbia and Bosnia, and extends southwards to central Greece. I believe the people of the Starcevo-Koros-Cris Culture may have been Achaeo-Phrygians and Illyrians. Here is an interesting page on the Starcevo Culture.

• c6000 BC - The Mesolithic Kongemose Culture of Scandinavia [c6000 to c5200 BC] develops from the Maglemosian Culture. It gave rise to the Ertebølle Culture.

   

• c5700 BC - The Neolithic LINEAR BAND POTTERY CULTURE

  (German LinienBandkeramik (LBK)), derived from the Starcevo-Koros-Cris Culture, begins in the vicinity of Western Hungary. With new varieties of cereals suited to temperate climates, this culture spreads north and west via the “Danubian Farmers”. These movements are probably connected with the spread of Indo-Europeans into Europe, particularly proto-Celtic speaking peoples. The LBK Culture reaches Western Europe by 5000 BC, where it encounters (and eventually absorbs) the LaHoguette Culture (see below).
  

  The domesticated plants used by the LBK Culture consist of those typically introduced from the Near East, including emmer and einkorn wheat, barley and lentils, as well as peas, flax, poppy and millet. Cattle were the primary livestock species, but sheep and goats were also well represented. Dogs were also kept (but probably not for food). Hunting and gathering also contributed much to the diet. At least at first, the “Danubian Farmers” of the LBK Culture, moving westwards and northwards along major rivers, targeted areas of loess soils to build their settlements, usually on a gently sloping plain in the vicinity of a river. Later, settlements seem to have spread into other areas at higher elevations. Since Europe was still densely forested, clearings were made for the settlements and their adjacents plots of farmland. For this, a “shoe-last celt” (a type of stone adze) was used to fell the trees, and the resulting timber went into the construction of the longhouses and other wooden structures.
  
  The LBK is named for its distinctive use of curvilinear bands to decorate its pottery. Apart from its distinctive pottery, LBK is characterised by its longhouses, consisting of timber structures about 20m X 7m (about 65’ X 25’) with sloping roofs and walls of branches in wicker-pattern daubed with clay. Longhouses typically had three sections: the back room was perhaps for storage, particularly for grain; the middle room was perhaps for eating and sleeping; and the front room with the only door was perhaps for indoor work, recreation and association. Longhouses were usually clustered in small groups of 6 or 7 at the most, and perhaps 20 to 30 people could have occupied each longhouse, which would give a maximum settlement population of about 200 people [ahh…the good old days…]. The LBK Culture also featured outdoor ovens built into the sides of pits, as well as the oldest dated wooden wells, dating from around 5100 BC. Apart from the longhouses, many earthen enclosures are found, some with evidence of timber palisades. Some may have had a ceremonial/religious purpose, and others may have been for keeping livestock. The LBK folk typically buried their dead in pits, the bodies most often placed on their left sides in a contracted (or flexed) position, but some instances of cremation are known. About half of the burials also contain grave goods, including food, weapons, tools and jewelry.
  

   

• Closely related to the LBK was the Alföld Linear (Decorated) Pottery Culture (Magyar Alföldi Vonaldíszes Kerámica (AVK)) which developed along the Tisza River in the Great Hungarian Plain (Aldföld).

   

• c5500 BC - The La Hoguette Culture [c5500 to c5300? BC], also called the Limburg Culture, appears. It is found mostly in northeastern France and southwestern Germany. This culture appears to be a basically indigeneous Mesolithic culture with the importation of Neolithic features, these apparently coming from the Mediterranean Cardial/Impressed Pottery Cultures [c6000 to c4000 BC]. Perhaps the route of transmission for these cultural influences was the Rhône-Saône valleys. It seems that LaHoguette was absorbed by the advancing LBK Culture, although there may have been a period of coexistence.

• Also around 5500 BC, the Neolithic Karanovo Culture [c5500 to c3300 BC] develops in southern Bulgaria (Thrace). Copper use is attested from the Karanovo V phase which begins around 4600 BC. I believe the Karanovo Culture represents the Anatolians, who would cross over into Anatolia at the end of this culture (which was brought about by advancing Thracians).

   

• c5300 BC - The Neolithic Vinca Culture [c5300 to c4500 BC] develops from the Starcevo-Koros-Cris Culture. Among the many artifacts uncovered from this culture are examples of an enigmatic script called “Vinca script” or “Old European Script” (Visit this page on the Old European/Vinca writing from Omniglot). Here is the first of four interesting pages (with many illustrations) on the Vinca Culture. Like the preceding Starcevo-Koros-Cris Culture, the peoples of the Vinca Culture were Achaeo-Phrygian/Illyrian peoples.

• c5200 BC - The last North European Mesolithic culture, the Ertebølle Culture [c5200 to c4000 BC], develops from the Kongemose Culture. In its later phase, called Ellerbek (beginning c4500 BC), pottery and farming begin to appear, these being introduced from the Danubian Cultures of Central Europe. The Ertebølle culture and its predecessors represent the pre-Indo-European ancestors of the Germanic peoples. They probably spoke a Proto-Finnic language, but were possibly beginning to adopt some Indo-European, particularly Proto-Celtic, from their Danubian neighbours. The result of the Danubian influence on the Ertebølle Culture produced the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture.

   

• c5000 BC - The LBK Culture is succeeded by various regional cultures in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe covering the period 5000 to 2800 BC. There is evidence for physical violence around 5000 BC which suggests that some unrest or upheaval accompanied the end of the LBK Culture. The LBK-derived cultures mostly continued the general characteristics of LBK, though the longhouses lost the triple sections and became more trapezoidal rather than rectangular. The earliest LBK derivatives in Central Europe are:

   

  • The Hinkelstein Culture based in western Germany [c5000 to c4850 BC], which is soon succeeded by the Grossgartach Culture (German Großgartach) [c5000 to c4600 BC], during which a change from emmer and einkorn wheat to bread wheat and barley is noted.

  • The Stroke-Ornamented Pottery Culture (Stichbandkeramik (STK)) [c5000 to c4500 BC] of central and eastern Germany, western Poland, Bohemia and Moravia, and Austria, from which the Austrian/Moravian Painted Ware Culture developed around 4700 BC.

     

  • Meanwhile, the Lengyel Culture [c4800 to c4300 BC (or later)] developed in the original LBK area of western Hungary and northwards. It is succeeded by the Jordanów Culture (Jordanów in Polish, Jordanov in Czech, and Jordansmühl in German) [c4300 to c3600 BC] of southwestern Poland, Bohemia, Moravia and parts of central Germany.

  • The Tisza Culture [c5000 to c4400 BC], further east in eastern Hungary and northwestern Romania developed from the AVK. This culture develops into the Tiszapolgar Culture [c4400 to c3700 BC], during which copper comes into use.

• c4800 BC - The Rössen Culture

  [c4800 to c4600 BC] develops in central and southern Germany, deriving from the Grossgartach Culture. Copper use is attested with this culture. Some villages were fortified with a stockade.

   

• c4500 BC - Beginning of the Sredny Stog Culture [c4500 to c3500 BC] in the Dniepr and Don regions of the Ukraine. This is considered by many to be the original Indo-European Culture, but I believe it represents the ancestors of only the Balts and Cimmerians [the Celts were already in Central Europe since the LBK expansion, the Illyrians and Achaeo-Phrygians were in the Balkans, while the Indo-Iranians/Scythians were in central Asia].

  *** Map of the cultures of Europe for the period 4500-4000 BC from Wikipedia.

   

• c4400 BC - The Michelsberg Culture [c4400 to c3600 BC] begins, apparently deriving from the Bischeim Culture

  [c4600 to c4200 BC], which is a later phase of the Rössen Culture. Its main distribution is along the mid- to upper-Rhine. Unlike previous pottery types, the Michelsberg pottery is largely undecorated. Michelsberg is also characterised by flint mining and the production of flint tools. Villages are typically surrounded by palisades and/or ditches, and are often on hill tops.

   

• c4300 BC - Megalithic Construction begins in Brittany, eventually reaching from southern Iberia to northern Britain and southern Scandinavia. The distribution of Megalithic Construction seems to indicate the areas settled by pre-Indo-European Atlantic populations (Indo-Europeans simply never built megalithic constructions), and it seems likely to me that the Megalithic Era of the Atlantic Community is the True Atlantis.
  

  The Era of Megalithic Construction ends around 2000 BC, although the last Megalithic tombs were still in use in Ireland and in other parts of Western Europe around 1200 BC. The end of the Megalithic Culture of the Atlantians indicates the beginning of their adoption of Celtic Indo-European culture, religion and language.

   

• c4200 BC - The Tripolye-Cucuteni Culture [c4200 to c3800 BC] appears in the area from central Romania to central Ukraine, bordering the Sredny Stog Culture to the east. I believe it represents the Thracian peoples, whose subsequent advances southwards/southwestwards may have brought about the end of the Vinca Culture of the Achaeo-Phrygian/Illyrian peoples, and the Karanovo Culture of the Anatolians [the Achaeo-Phrygians moved southwards, the Phrygians forcing the Anatolians into Anatolia, and the Illyrians moved towards the Adriatic coast].

   

• c4200 BC - The beginning of the Northeastern European Comb Ceramic Culture or Pit-Comb Ware Culture [c4200 to c2000 BC]. It ranged from Finland and the Baltic countries to central Russia and south to a line somewhat north of the border between Russia and Ukraine, bordering the Sredny Stog (or Dniepr-Don) Culture and subsequent Cimmerian Cultures. Though this culture remained essentially a Mesolithic-type hunter-gatherer culture, the introduction of pottery and some evidence of agriculture indicate cultural influence from adjoining Neolithic groups. Southern portions of the Comb Ceramic Culture area developed into the Eastern Corded Ware Culture, probably due to the expansions of Cimmerians from the South who eventually would become the Baltic peoples.

   

• c4100 BC - The Funnel Beaker Culture (German Trichterrandbecher or Trichterbecher (TRB)) [c4100 to c2800 BC] appears in the Northern European Plains, perhaps arising from the Ertebølle/Ellerbek Culture through the influence of nearby LBK-descended cultures.  These are the first farmers of Northern Europe, featuring the first wheeled carts, plows, copper and monumental architecture in this area. The TRB is subdivided into five groups: North Group (Northern Germany and southern Scandinavia); West Group (Northwest Germany); East Group (Northern Poland); Southeast Group (Southeast Poland); and South Group (Southern Poland and Czech Republic), first represented by the Baalberge Subculture.

  *** Map of the cultures of Europe for the period 4000-3500 BC from Wikipedia.

   

• c3600 BC - The beginning of the Yamnaya (or Yamna) Culture, also called the Pit Grave Culture and the Kurgan Culture [c3600 to c2200 BC], which is probably a derivative of the Sredny Stog Culture. It reached from the Bug and Dniestr rivers in the west to the Ural and Emba rivers in the east. The Kurgan folk were probably semi-nomadic Balto-Cimmerians (see further under Corded Ware/Single Grave Culture).

• c3500 BC - The Wartberg Culture

  [c3500 to c2700 BC] appears in Central Germany, clearly deriving from the Michelsberg Culture, but with influences from the nearby Baalberge Subculture of the TRB Culture.

   

• Around the same time, the Horgen Culture [c3500 to c2850 BC] appears in northern Switzerland and southwest Germany.

   

• Also around this time, the Baden Culture [c3500 to c2900 BC] begins. It extends from southern Germany and eastern Switzerland to eastern Hungary, and from southern Poland to northern Serbia.

   

• c3100 BC - The Globular Amphora Culture (German Kugleamphorenkultur (KAK)) [c3100 to c2500 BC] replaces the TRB Culture in Poland and East Germany, ranging also to the Ukraine and into the Czech Republic.

• c2900 BC - The CORDED WARE/SINGLE GRAVE CULTURE

  (also called Battle-Axe Culture) [c2900 BC to c2350 BC] appears. There are three main variants of this culture (and a few subcultures) :

   

  • The Central European Corded Ware Culture in the areas of northern Switzerland, southern Germany, Czech Republic and southwest Poland

  • The Eastern Corded Ware in Slovakia, eastern Poland, western and northern Ukraine, Belarus and into Russia

  • The Single Grave Culture in the Netherlands, northern Germany, Denmark, southern Sweden, northern Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and southern Finland.

  The origins of this cultural complex are debated, but a development from a fusion of the TRB Culture (particularly the Baalberge group) and the Wartberg Culture is possible, as well as an influx of Yamnaya/Kurgan Culture folk from the Ukrainian steppes (see below). In any case, it eventually absorbs the TRB Culture as well as the Globular Amphora Culture (of eastern Germany, Poland, Czech Republic and the Ukraine), as well as the Horgen, Wartberg and Baden Cultures.

  *** Map of the extent of the Corded Ware Culture from Wikipedia.

  Although the Corded Ware/Single Grave Culture is often thought to be the result of the invasion and settlement of peoples of the Kurgan Culture (also called the Yamnaya or Pit Grave Culture) of the steppes, along with the introduction of Indo-European language, there is little sign that the Kurgan folk replaced the agriculturally based Central Europeans, who had already been (probably Celtic) Indo-Europeans since the spread of the LBK Culture, and who may be particularly identified with the Central European Corded Ware Culture. In my view, the Kurgan folk were probably Balto-Cimmerian, and if there was a significant immigration of Kurgan folk, they would have been Balto-Cimmerians. Some of these may have ended up in Scandinavia and northern Germany, where, mixing with the native population (whose non-IE contribution to Germanic remains), they became the Germanic peoples of the Single Grave Culture; others may have moved towards the Baltic Sea at the same time, eventually to become the Balts of the Eastern Corded Ware Culture. (Some Cimmerians stayed behind in the Ukraine, where the Yamnaya Culture continued until c2200 BC, and was succeeded by subsequent Cimmerian cultures). These Balto-Cimmerian/Kurgan movements probably occurred in the century or so before the Corded Ware/Single Grave Culture began (c3000 BC).

  [* Note that the “Satem/Centum” split occurred after this time since it did not affect the Germanic speech, but it did affect Baltic
  (and probably Cimmerian, too)]

   

• Around the same time (c2900 BC), the Bell-Beaker type of pottery appears. Its area of origin is much debated, the primary candidate areas being Iberia or Central Europe. This pottery style belongs to no unified culture, being sporadically diffused over much of Europe, but rather indicates an extensive trading network between the various cultures of western, central, southern and northern Europe. The pottery style continues in some regions until c1800 BC. The important British sites of Stonehenge and of Avebury (with Silbury Hill and the West Kennet Long Barrow) are associated with the Bell-Beaker Culture.

   

• c2600 BC - The Indus Valley Civilisation arises [c2600 to c1700 BC]. Its Indo-Aryan population had migrated into the Indus Valley from Central Asia perhaps as early as the 5th millenium BC. From about 1800 BC, the cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation declined and they were abandoned by 1700 BC.

   

• c2500 BC - The UNETICE CULTURE

  [c2500 to c1600 BC], derived from the Corded Ware/Single Grave Culture, appears in Central Europe. Bronze-working in Europe begins with this culture.

• c2000 BC - The Andronovo Cultural Family appears in Central Asia, ranging from the Ural region where it borders with the Cimmerian Srubnaja Culture, and extending eastwards to the Yenisei river. This is the proto-Scythian culture. It is subdivided into three phases: Petrovka-Sintashta (c2000 to c1600 BC), Alakul’ and Fyedorovo (c1500 to c1300 BC) and Sargary-Alexeevka (c1200 to c1000 BC). Visit An Overview of the Andronovo Culture.

   

• c1900 BC - The Srubnaya or Timber Grave Culture [c1900 to c1200 BC] appears in the region of the Samara and Middle Volga rivers, just west of the southern Urals in a forest/steppe zone. It spreads southwards up to the Caspian Sea and Caucasus Mountains, and westwards to the Dniepr river. Like the previous Yamnaya Culture and the intervening Catacomb Grave Culture, the Srubnaya Culture was probably Cimmerian.
  

  Here is an interesting page about the excavation of Srubnaya sites in the Samarra river valley.

   

• c1600 BC - The Tumulus Culture

  [c1600 to c1200 BC] develops from the Unetice Culture. I suspect that the Italic group originated in the Proto-Lusatian Culture of this period from a fusion of Celtic (i.e. Tumulus) and Baltic elements.

   

• c1200 BC - The URNFIELD CULTURE

  , originating in the northern Balkans c1350 BC, spreads to Western Europe. It is characterised by the interment of cremated remains in urns. Migrations of Q-Celts and of Q-Italics may be associated with this spread, leading to some Q-Celtic settlement in Iberia and Gaul, and to Q-Italic settlement in Italy. Many other population movements seem to have occurred more-or-less around this time, such as the “Sea Peoples” who ravaged east Mediterranean coasts. Along with these population movements, the diffusion of Celtic language and culture in the Western Europe Atlantic Community begins, leading to the eventual adoption of these by the peoples of Britain and Ireland, where a distinct Atlanto-Celtic mix arises.
  
  Within the Urnfield Culture, four distinct cultural subgroups developed:

  • the North Alpine Culture, centered on the upper Rhine and including the upper Danube, Saône and Rhône. Its Celtic population probably went from Q-Celtic to P-Celtic.

  • the Lusatian (or Lausitz) Culture in the region of the Czech Republic and southwestern Poland which lasted until c500 BC. This sub-culture may have begun as Q-Italic, becoming P-Italic in association with the North Alpine Celts.

     

  • the Italian Culture which covered Italy and may have included the Q-Italic, or Latinian, peoples, among others.

  • and the Hungarian Culture which was probably Illyrian.

  Here is a good article on the Urnfield Culture from Wikipedia.

   

• c1000 BC - The Painted Gray Ware Culture [c1000 to c500 BC] of the Indo-Aryans begins in the Ganges Plain of northern India. The Indo-Aryans subsequently expand southwards, reaching the Godavari river by 500 BC.

• c800 to c450 BC - The HALLSTATT CULTURE

  , the first Iron Age culture, begins in central Europe and spreads to most of the Urnfield range. There is a return to inhumation rather than the cremation practised by the Urnfields. During this period, P-Celts gradually occupy Gaul & Britain, expanding from their homeland in the upper Rhine and upper Danube valleys; possible transition from Q-Celtic to P-Celtic in British and Gaulish Q-Celtic populations.
  
  During the sixth century BC, a centre of power, called the West Hallstatt Chiefdom Zone, was established in the Hallstatt core territories stretching from east-central France to the edge of Bohemia.

   

• c750 to c500 BC - The Chernoles Culture (or Cultural Complex) flourishes, stretching from central Poland through western and northern Ukraine and into Russia. These are the “Scythian Farmers” of Herodotus’ Histories, south of whom lived the Royal Scythians. In my opinion, the “Scythian Farmers” of the Chernoles Complex were Cimmerians who were pushed northwards by the Scythian advance. They are the ancestors of the Slavs.

• c450 to c250 BC - The Early LATÈNE CULTURE

  , which is considered the zenith of Ancient Celtic Culture. During this period, Gauls occupy northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul) (taking Rome around 390 BC), Galatians expand into Eastern Europe, the Balkans & Asia Minor (taking Delphi in 279 BC), and Belgians from Germania occupy northeastern Gaul and parts of southern Britain.
  
  The Celtic centre of power shifted northwards during this period, from the area of the West Hallstatt Chiefdom Zone to three distinct centres, one along the Marne river in France, one in the area of the mouth of the Moselle river, and the third in Bohemia.

   

• c250 to c150 BC - The Middle LATÈNE CULTURE

  . During this time, increasing trade and political links with the Greeks and Romans lead to the gradual “civilisation” of the southern Continental Celts. The Romans begin their conquests of the Celts, annexing Cisalpine Gaul by 190 BC.

   

• c150 BC onwards - The Late LATÈNE CULTURE

  . State-formation begins in certain areas of central Gaul (Aedui, Arverni, etc.), resulting from increasing Roman influence. These proto-states are characterised by the rejection of certain elements of traditional Celtic society, such as monarchy. The Romans gradually subjugate and conquer most of the Celts of the Continent: the south and southeast portions of Gaul are annexed in 121 BC; the remainder of Gaul is conquered by Julius Caesar between 58 and 51 BC; the conquest of Britain is initiated by Aulus Plautius under emperor Claudius in 43 AD. Meanwhile, the expansions of the Germanic peoples southwards leads to the assimilation of those Celtic peoples remaining beyond the Rhine and Danube. By the end of the first century AD, the Continental Celts have practically disappeared. The only free Celts remaining are the Atlanto-Celts of Ireland (Hibernians) and of northern Britain (Picts), while the Britons of Western Britain and the Aremoricans of Brittany retain a measure of autonomy under nominal Roman suzerainty.