Monday 11th – Friday 15th May 2020 History

Think about what the word ancient means. Which description below do you think is the most accurate? 1. Ancient means a period of time five years ago. 2. Ancient means a period of time five hundred years ago. 3. Ancient means a period of time five thousand years ago.

This half term, we will be looking at a time in history when people lived many thousands of years ago. People who lived many thousands of years ago lived in what we call ancient times. There were three main time periods (long lengths of time) in ancient times in Britain (the country we live in). We call these periods of time the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

Bronze and iron are types of metal. Why do you think these periods of time were named after metals?

Look at the pictures below. Can you match the ancient artefact (object) to the right time period? What clues can you see?

We will be looking in more detail at the Bronze Age and Iron Age – they both happened after the Stone Age. The Bronze Age began around 2,100BCE (over 4,000 years ago). It lasted for around 1500 years until 750BCE when the Iron Age began.

Bronze Age Anglo-Saxons Thames Tunnel

2,100BCE 750BCE 55BCE 0 410 1620 1825 1940 2020

Iron Age The Mayflower The Blitz Just like the Stone Age when early humans made tools from stone, the Bronze Age was called that because humans started making tools from…bronze! The Bronze Age started at different times around the world – depending on when humans in different countries discovered how to make bronze by mixing other metals together.

There were no telephones, emails or aeroplanes in ancient times so how do you think humans shared how to make bronze with people in different countries?

Before it was used in Britain, bronze was being used in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, India and China.

How might this discovery of bronze, which was a hard metal, have helped to improve people’s lives? Look around your home and think about all the things that are made from hard metals.

Bronze Age people came to Britain from northern European countries like Germany and Switzerland. How do you think they travelled here?

Some of these people were known as the Bell Beaker people. They have been named after the bell-shaped pottery that they made, which was mainly used as cups for drinking. The pottery was decorated with bands that had patterns in them made by a comb or a rope pressed into the clay.

Why don’t you try inventing a pot design of your own? Think about how you could decorate it:

• You can find out more about the Bronze Age by typing Bronze Age Britain KS2 into Google. • Here is a BBC video animation with more facts about the Bronze Age: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/story-of-britain-bronze-age- britain/znrygwx (if you can’t use the link, you can type BBC KS2 Story of Bronze Age Britain into Google).