PREHISTORIC BRITAIN

PREHISTORIC BRITAIN LEARNING RESOURCES

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Collector cards and instructions (large)

Designed for Key Stage 1 and 2.

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Collector cards and instructions (small)

Designed for Key Stage 1 and 2.

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Object challenge Cards

Designed for Key Stage 1 and 2.

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Take One ... Cauldron teacher's Notes

Background notes for teachers to support using the Bronze Age Cauldron as a Take One resource.

Antler pick from Grimes Graves

Antler pick, Late Neolithic (c 2400 - c 2100 BC)

This antler pick was found at Grimes Graves in Norfolk. Grimes Graves is in fact not a grave, or burial place, but a flint mine. Some of the mine shafts are 30 feet deep. Neolithic miners would use antler picks like this one to dig down to the flint deposits.

Antler pick from Stonehenge

Antler pick, Late Neolithic (c 2600 - c 2400 BC)

This antler pick was found at Stonehenge. Stonehenge is one of the most famous Prehistoric monuments in Britain. Construction began in the Neolithic period and continued in the Bronze Age.

Archer gear

Archer gear, Stone Age - Late Neolithic (2400 - 2000BC)

This collection of archery equipment was found in a beaker burial of a young man at Stanton Harcourt near Oxford. The rectangular object is a bracer or wristguard and was an important piece of equipment for an archer.

Beaker

Beaker, Early Bronze Age (c. 2400 - 2100)

This beaker was found in the barrow burial of a young man at Radley near Oxford. The burial also contained three flint arrowheads and two gold basket shaped pieces of jewellery, which could either be earrings or hair ornaments.

Bronze Age Cauldron

Bronze Cauldron made of three hammered sheets rivetted together and with cast handles; repaired in antiquity

Late Bronze Age (Britain) (c. 1100 - 1000 BC)

From the bed of the river at Shipton-on-Cherwell

Pre-historic metal instruments, including a flute and horns

Bronze Age Horns (c. 800BC)

These horns were found in County Kerry in the west of Ireland. Horns like these tell us that Prehistoric people enjoyed music. Some of the horns were made in one piece. Others are in several which fit together.

Bronze spoons

Bronze spoons, Iron Age (50BC - AD100) These cast bronze spoons are extremely rare with only ten other pairs known from Britain. They may have been used for fortune telling or divining (telling the future), with liquid dripped from the spoon with the hole onto the divided spoon.

Flint hand axe

Flint hand axe, Stone Age - Palaeolithic (c. 300 000 years ago)

This handaxe was found in Swanscombe, Kent. This axe is made of flint. Early humans used hard hammer stones or antler to break flakes off large flint blocks to create sharp tools. This process is called flint knapping and is highly skilful and time consuming.

Gold earrings or hair ornaments

Gold earrings or hair ornaments, Early Bronze Age (c. 2400 - 2100)

These gold ear or hair ornaments date from the earliest part of the British Bronze Age. They were found in 1944 near the head of the skeleton of a 25-35 year old man buried near Radley, Oxfordshire.

Hoard of Bronze weapons

Hoard of Bronze weapons, Bronze Age (1400 -1250BC)

These weapons were found in Crediton, Devon. There are two rapiers and two socketed bronze palstave axeheads. Bronze is a mixture of copper and tin. The two metals would have to be melted in a furnace and mixed together. The molten metal would then be poured into a mould to make swords or axeheads.

Neolithic Lake Village model: basketry and pots

Detail from our Neolithic Lake Village model showing basketry and pots.

Neolithic Lake Village model: close up daub

Detail from our Neolithic Lake Village model showing close up daub.

Neolithic Lake Village model: drying animal skin

Detail from our Neolithic Lake Village model showing drying animal skin.

Neolithic Lake Village model: man with spear and a dog

Detail from our Neolithic Lake Village model showing a man with spear and a dog.

Neolithic Lake Village model: wattle and daub

Detail from our Neolithic Lake Village model showing wattle and daub.

Neolithic Lake Village model: weaving

Detail from our Neolithic Lake Village model showing weaving.

Shield

Shield, Bronze Age (c. 1200 - 700 BC)

This shield was found in the River Thames to the north of Long Wittenham village. It dates from the Late Bronze Age. It shows signs of battle damage.

Stone balls

Stone balls, Stone Age - Neolithic (3500 - 2000BC)

These stone balls were found on a stone dresser in a Neolithic house at Skara Brae in North-West Scotland. Similar balls were found in other houses nearby. Nobody is sure what the balls were made for.

Stone hand axe

Stone hand axe, Stone Age - Palaeolithic (c. 300 000 years ago)

This handaxe was found in Axminster, Devon. Hand axes like these were made by early humans in Europe from around 300,000 years ago.

Sword

Sword, Late Iron Age (120BC - AD 43)

This sword and scabbard were found in the River Thames near Little Wittenham in Oxfordshire. Only about one in ten warriors would have carried a sword at the time, making this quite a rare object.

The Ballyshannon sun disc

This gold disc was found in 1669. It is one of the first recorded prehistoric objects ever to be found!

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PREHISTORIC BRITAIN