The Overton Period is the name given by archaeologists to a division of prehistory

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

 in Britain

Prehistoric Britain

For the purposes of this article, Prehistoric Britain is that period of time between the first arrival of humans on the land mass now known as Great Britain and the start of recorded British history...

 covering the period between 2000 BC and 1650 BC.

It follows the Mount Pleasant Period

Mount Pleasant Period

The Mount Pleasant Period is a phase of the later Neolithic in Britain dating to between c. 2750 BC and 2000 BC. It was so named by Colin Burgess in the 1970s using Mount Pleasant henge as its typesite. The period is divided into three phases, the Frankford industries, the Migdale-Marnoch...

 and precedes the Bedd Branwen Period

Bedd Branwen Period

The Bedd Branwen Period is the name given by Colin Burgess to a division of the early Bronze Age in Britain covering the period between 1650 BC and 1400 BC...

 and is named after the typesite of the West Overton

West Overton

-Local government:West Overton forms part of the civil parish of Fyfield and West Overton, which has an elected parish council. It also falls within the area of Wiltshire Council. Both councils are responsible for different aspects of local government....

 barrow cemetery in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

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During the Overton Period the first signs of Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 burial practices appear in the archaeological record; urned cremations and food vessel burials as well as the last stages of the use of Beaker pottery. Rich Wessex culture

Wessex culture

The Wessex culture is the predominant prehistoric culture of central and southern Britain during the early Bronze Age, originally defined by the British archaeologist Stuart Piggott in 1938...

 burials emerged during the period such as that at Bush Barrow

Bush Barrow

Bush Barrow is a site of the early British Bronze Age , at the western end of the Normanton Down Barrows cemetery. It is among the most important sites of the Stonehenge complex. It was excavated in 1808 by Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington...

 near Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...

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Characteristic metalworking types include the Amorico-British dagger and the Falkland industries which demonstrate influences form the Continental Unetice culture

Unetice culture

Unetice; or more properly Únětice culture ; is the name given to an early Bronze Age culture, preceded by the Beaker culture and followed by the Tumulus culture. It was named after finds at site in Únětice, northwest of Prague. It is focused around the Czech Republic, southern and central Germany,...

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