Bronze Age 2300 BC – 700 BC

Axe hoard Discussion ideas Watch the first part of the ENGAGE video and ask your pupils to look closely at the photographs of the objects.

Discussion ideas •

•

•

•

•

All these objects are similar, but are they exactly the same? Look closely. Do you think they are all whole objects, or are there some broken objects and parts of objects too? Do you think the objects would have looked like this when they were first buried? What might have happened to them in the ground to make them look this way? Bronze gradually replaced stone as the main material used for making tools and weapons. Why do you think this was? What properties might bronze have that meant people preferred it to stone? Collect together the photographs of the Bronze Age objects in this series. They are the ceramic vessel, the jet ear stud, the gold ring and bracelet and this hoard of axes. What could you find out about Bronze Age people from these objects? What kind of information is missing? Archaeologists think a bronze worker might have owned these objects and intended to melt them down and make them into something else. Why do you think Bronze Age people recycled metal in this way? What might have caused the worker to bury the objects and not come back to collect them?

Activity ideas • •

Make your own axe head using plaster of Paris. See the child-friendly video for a demonstration: [add link]. Creative writing: ask your pupils imagine they are the Bronze Age person who buried the hoard of axes. Write an account of the burial and the reasons behind it. They will need to use their imaginations as well as piecing together a story from the evidence.

1