The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools When was it? • • • The Bronze Age began in 2400 BC (about 4400 years ago), after the end of the Neolithic The Bronze Age ended in 800 BC (about 2800 years ago), at the start of the Iron Age The Bronze Age lasted for about 1600 years Mesolithic 9600 BC How do we know how old things are? Watch the ‘How old are things’ video! Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools Where people lived • Farming became more and more important in the Bronze Age. How do you think this affected the landscape in Britain? • In the Middle Bronze Age the weather became warmer, but in the Later Bronze Age it turned colder and wetter again. How do you think this affected where Bronze Age people lived? Mesolithic 9600 BC Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools Where people lived • In the Bronze Age, Britain would have been a patchwork of fields and forests. However, in the Middle Bronze Age, people started making larger systems of fields divided by hedges and ditches. • Field systems would have been built around farmsteads. These farmsteads were made of a small group of ‘roundhouses’, round post-built structures where people lived. Mesolithic 9600 BC Look at this 3 D model of a network of ditches making a Bronze Age field system here. How do find sites? Watch the ‘field archaeology’ video! Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools Where people lived • As the weather improved, people started to spread out into places that they could not really live before, such as low lying areas in the south east of Britain, and to higher parts, like Dartmoor and the Pennines. • But then when the weather became worse, people had to leave some of these places because they could not grow crops or keep animals anymore. This meant people were concentrated into certain areas of Britain again. Mesolithic 9600 BC Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools How people lived • How do you think the increased focus on farming in the Bronze Age affected people’s lives? • In the Later Bronze Age, the weather became colder and wetter, making parts of Britain less suitable to live in. How do you think this would have affected peoples’ relationships with each other? Mesolithic 9600 BC Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age How people lived • Bronze Age farmers kept cows, sheep and pigs, but also started growing more crops, and even used horses to plough their fields. • The increased focus on farming, especially crops, led to larger field systems and more permanent farmsteads. Some people would still have moved around with their animals, but others would need to stay on the farmsteads to look after the crops. Mesolithic 9600 BC From Prehistory to Primary Schools How do we know what animals were alive in the Bronze Age? Watch the ‘Zooarchaeology’ video! Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools How people lived • Colder and wetter weather in the Later Bronze Age meant people abandoned some areas of Britain. This meant people were squeezed into other areas, which might have led to competition and conflict. • Later Bronze Age settlements became more defensive, using ditches, palisade fences and hill tops. These might have been used to keep neighbouring groups out! Mesolithic 9600 BC Have a field trip to a Bronze Age hilltop enclosure on Mam Tor! Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools Bronze Age technology • The Bronze Age is really exciting, because people started using a brand new type of material. What was it, and why do you think it would have been important? • With the arrival of new materials, do you think flint and pottery were still used like people in the Neolithic used them? • What do you think Bronze Age people were using plants to make? Mesolithic 9600 BC Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools Bronze Age technology • The Bronze Age was the first time people in Britain started using metal! Copper was first, followed shortly afterwards by bronze (which is a mixture of copper and tin) and gold. • In the Early Bronze Age, objects made from these metals were probably being used as symbols of power rather than practical tools. Carrying a gold button, bronze axe or copper dagger would show important you were! Mesolithic 9600 BC Look at some amazing examples of Bronze age metal objects from Must Farm here Look at 3 D models of Bronze axes, swords and spearheads here, here and here! Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools Bronze Age technology • Although people in the Bronze Age started using metal, they continued making tools from flint, and making pottery. People started making a new type of arrowhead, called a ‘barbed and tanged’ arrowhead (look at your 3 D printed barbed and tanged arrowhead), and new pots, including ‘beakers’ and How do we know about prehistoric stone tools ‘collared urns’. and pottery? Watch the • Activity: Decorate your own beakers! ‘stone tool’ and ‘pottery’ • People used plants to make lots of things! Flexible videos! willow was used to make fishtraps and fences, wood and bark were used to make plates and platters, and Look at some amazing examples of Bronze age plant fibres were used to make string and fabric! plant textiles from • Activity: Make your own plant cordage (string)! Must Farm here Mesolithic 9600 BC Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools What did they believe? • How do you think the treatment of the dead in the Bronze Age was linked to people’s ideas of family and ancestors? • Bronze Age people made round barrows (burial mounds) to bury some of their dead. How do you think these were made into important places in the landscape? • Wetter weather made lowland areas more difficult to live in as marshes and bogs swallowed up fields. How do you think Bronze Age people tried to stop this? Mesolithic 9600 BC Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools What did they believe? • • • In the Early Bronze Age, people were buried in round burial mounds called ‘round barrows’. Multiple people would be buried in a barrow, and over time, barrows were built together in groups. The people buried in barrows were probably all related, and the barrows were built together to show that. Looking at a group of barrows in the Bronze Age would be like looking at your family tree. In the Middle Bronze Age, people were mainly cremated. These cremations would be buried together, and sometimes placed around earlier barrows, making a connection to ancestors. Mesolithic 9600 BC Look at 3 D models Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools What did they believe? • Round barrows were regularly built on hilltops and ridgelines, so you could see them silhouetted against the sky for miles around. This would mean that Bronze Age people might be thinking about their ancestors quite a lot! • In the Later Bronze Age, people started depositing metal objects like swords and spear heads in watery places. Sometimes, objects like swords were bent or broken, as if to ‘kill’ or sacrifice the object as an offering. This may have been Bronze Age people trying to appeal to gods or deities, to try and stop the wetter weather and the loss of their farmlands to growing bogs and marshes. Mesolithic 9600 BC Look at this virtual reconstruction of timber trackway at the site of Flag Fen. People used this to deposit metal objects into watery places Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD

The Bronze Age From Prehistory to Primary Schools Digital Resources 3 D Scans and models Bronze Spear: https: //sketchfab. com/3 d-models/bronze-age-spearhead-78 b 66 cc 559554 c 5 e 9 a 76 e 5836 fbdd 583 Axe: https: //sketchfab. com/3 d-models/ar 3551 -ax 004 b-mid-bronze-age-palstave-axe-5 f 1 cb 9 fe 64 d 84762 a 67 a 7 bfb 7 fdccc 94 Sword: https: //sketchfab. com/3 d-models/bronze-age-sword-7 bc 67 cbdcc 194 a 568302 d 3637 d 745063 Beaker: https: //sketchfab. com/3 d-models/bronze-age-beaker-vessel-tillyochie-scotland-2808 fc 67 bd 1 d 427 c 993 d 9 b 62 f 52232 e 3 Collared urn: https: //sketchfab. com/3 d-models/netheravon-collared-urn-early-bronze-age-e 86 eb 1 f 30 d 1 a 412 aae 6 b 5 e 7 e 11663 e 53 Round barrow: https: //sketchfab. com/3 d-models/crug-y-biswal-round-barrow-carmarthenshire-3 de 2891 f 4 e 0 d 469 b 92 e 51890846 e 5295 Field system: https: //sketchfab. com/3 d-models/decklers-cliff-bronze-age-field-system-2 f 46 ab 9281 cd 44 f 6933 b 5 ada 248111 e 1 Videos Make your own Pinch Pot Video-use this with the ‘decorate your beaker’ activity, if you want to make a beaker : https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=b. ELg. M 8 a. Sq. Lc Virtual reconstruction of a Bronze Age timber trackway at Flag Fen, Cambridgeshire: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=ABs. ERO 0 LXn 8 Further Reading and Site Visits Must Farm-an incredible Late Bronze Age site in Cambridgeshire: Read about the amazing excavations at Must Farm: http: //www. mustfarm. com/bronze-age-settlement/about/ Artefact Gallery: http: //www. mustfarm. com/bronze-age-settlement/discoveries/ 3 d scans of artefacts and timbers from Must Farm: https: //sketchfab. com/search? q=must+farm&sort_by=-pertinence&type=models Must Farm Facebook page: https: //www. facebook. com/Must. Farm. Archaeology/ (in particular, look at their great pictures from the excavation and the videos about artefacts!) Field trip to Mam Tor in the peak district-read more about the site here: https: //historicengland. org. uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1011206 Mesolithic 9600 BC Bronze Age Iron Age Neolithic 4000 BC 2400 BC 800 BC 43 AD