Class 3 Visit to the Ironage

19th March 2019
On Tuesday Class Three went back in time to visit the Iron Age! They visited Greystones Farm in Burton-on-the-Water to learn what it was like to be children at this time.
After lunch the children donned woolen blankets like those they would have worn in Iron Age times and set off along the timeline back to the past. 
They sat in the round house and learned how it was made, what it was used for and what sort of chores children would be expected to do.
They learned how Iron Age children lit fires using flint and tinder. They had a go themselves using a metal flint and cotton wool. It was much harder than they thought and took a lot of persistence but they worked together and all managed to burn their cotton wool ball.
It was a fantastic day and a great opportunity to really experience life in the Iron Age. Thank you to all at Greystone Farm and the Wildlife Trust volunteers for sharing it with us.
The day started with a walk around the fields learning about the clues Class 3 could find to tell them more about the Iron Age tribe who lived there.
There have been archaeologists exploring the site from as early as 1930s and lots of pottery, jewelry and other artifacts have been found. Often the activities of badgers digging their setts has thrown items out for walkers to find. The children hunted for puzzle pieces to  learn more about the artifacts that have been found. They found all the pieces and completed the puzzles in 5 minutes, a new record!
They also had a chance to taste honey and learned that this would have been an important food giving sweetness to their diet and also a valuable trade for items not available on their land such as flint for fire lighting.
They also examined a variety of artifacts found on the site which gave further insights to the way they lived. These included a sheep bone and the cheek bone of a very large trout and also a pottery pipe that may have been discarded by an archaeologist in the 1930s.
They learned how the walls of the roundhouse were made using wattle and daub and had a go at making some walls themselves. Getting the daub to stick wasn't easy!
The children learned more about what people ate and ground wheat to make flour using the mill stones. They shaped their bread and cooked it over the fire before eating it.