Hello and welcome to this lesson.

My name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about Bronze and Iron Age Britain and how life changed during that time.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to describe some of the changes that took place in settlements and trade in Britain during the Iron Age.

Before we get started, I'd like to introduce you to some keywords and we'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these down.

The keywords we'll be using today are hillfort, earthworks, ramparts, pottery.

I'm going to say those again and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Hillfort, earthworks, ramparts, pottery.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Here are some definitions for each of our keywords.

A settlement on top of a hill with a protective barrier is a hillfort.

Earth that has been moved to a building or construction is called earthworks.

Ramparts are protective barriers such as ditches, fences or walls surrounding an area.

Items made from clay, such as pots, vases, bowls, and cups are called pottery.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

How did settlements change during the Iron Age? How did trade change during the Iron Age? In the first learning cycle, we'll explore how settlements changed during the Iron Age.

At the beginning of the Iron Age, people lived in small farming settlements.

You can see a picture here, a reconstruction of an early Iron Age settlement.

During the Iron Age, settlements became much larger.

So have a look at this illustration of a later Iron Age settlement, you can see that there are a lot more of those homes in that settlement.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

During the Iron Age, settlements became larger, became smaller, or stayed the same? So just take a moment to think.

Pause the video and restart when you're ready to continue.

If you said became larger, that's absolutely right.

Well done.

There were thousands of hillforts around Britain during the Iron Age, and many can still be seen today across Britain.

Examples include Maiden Castle in Dorset, and Castell Henllys in Wales.

The wooden walls, fences around the houses have gone, but the earthworks are still visible, especially from the air.

Take a look at that aerial photo of Maiden Castle.

Can you see the shapes of the earthworks there? So the earthworks remain as this is where the soil was moved to build the hillfort and shows where the ramparts would have been.

At the beginning of the Iron Age, settlements were next to farmland.

And during the Iron Age, the Celts began to build and live in settlements on top of hills.

And these settlements were called hillforts.

And there are still earthworks of some of those hillforts that can be seen today.

So having a look at that illustration there of a hillfort, you can see all the different houses and those earthworks surrounding it.

So why do you think the Celts built their settlements on top of a hill? Hmm.

I wonder.

Let's take a moment to pause.

Is this statement true or false? During the Iron Age, settlements were called hillforts.

Is that true or false? Hmm.

What do you think? If you said that it's true, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

And how do we justify our answer? Have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? The Celts built their settlements on top of hills.

The Celts built their settlements in the wildwood.

Hmm.

Talk to your partner and when you are ready, restart the video to continue.

What did you think? Well, if you and your partner discussed that the Celts built their settlements on top of hills, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

During the Iron Age, the Celts began to build ramparts, barriers around their settlements to enclose them.

Why do you think the Celts wanted their settlements to be enclosed? Hmm.

Why would they want barriers around their settlements? What do you think? Well, historians are unsure whether the hillforts were built for protection or to look impressive.

Maybe it was both.

So the settlements hilltop position and ramparts were good for protection from potential danger.

And being high up on a hill meant that the Celts had a good view of the surrounding area and could see if anyone was approaching long before they arrived.

So like Andeep says, the hillfort would've been really well protected by those ramparts.

And Sofia says that the hillforts, they looked very impressive around the settlements.

And being high up on a hill would help the Celts spot potential enemies.

Now, there were different types of ramparts.

Some had wooden walls or fences, and some had ditches, and some hillforts had several of them.

So around the outside you've got these wooden fences or walls, or sometimes just those ditches around the outside.

And inside the hillfort, communities lived and worked together, and they lived in roundhouses.

They were made of wooden poles with wattle and daub walls and straw roofs.

So you can see there how the community lived together in these hillforts.

Let's pause now to check our understanding.

Can you label the picture of a hillfort? So we want to label hill, ramparts and roundhouse.

Where do each of those labels go? Pause the video here and take some time to have a discussion with your partner about where you would put those labels.

And when you are ready to restart, press play.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at where those labels might go? So, the hill is around the outside.

That's where the earthworks would've been moved.

And then we have the ramparts, which would've been ditches or wooden fences and walls.

And then we have the roundhouse, which was part of the community where they lived inside that hillfort.

Well done if you labelled those correctly.

That brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to describe how settlements changed during the Iron Age.

Use the following words in your answer.

Larger, farmland, hillfort, ramparts, enclosed.

So taking a look at the image, the first image is of an early Iron Age settlement.

And then the next image is an illustration of a later Iron Age settlement.

So how did those settlements change during the Iron Age? So take some time now, pause the video here, and when you're ready to continue and find out what the answer is, then press play.

How did that go? Did you manage to describe how the settlements have changed? Did you use the words? Let's take a look at an example.

So your answer could have included, during the Iron Age, settlements became much larger.

One example of a large Iron Age settlement can be seen today at Maiden Castle in Dorset.

Settlements also changed as they used to be built near farmland.

But during the Iron Age, the Celts began to build their homes on top of hills.

Then these new settlements were called hillforts.

The Celts also enclosed the settlements with different types of ramparts.

Well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of this lesson.

We're going to explore how trade changed during the Iron Age.

At Castell Henllys in Wales, archaeologists have reconstructed an Iron Age settlement on the site of a hillfort.

Visitors to Castell Henllys can learn about what it would've been like to live in an Iron Age hillfort.

Archaeologists have found lots of artefacts at hillfort sites like Castell Henllys that give them clues about life in a hillfort.

Something that archaeologists have found a lot of is pottery.

But how did the Celts make so much pottery? Pottery was made during the Iron Age using a potter's wheel.

The potter's wheel is one of the first examples of the wheel and was invented long before wheels were used for carts.

The potter's wheel is thought to have been invented in Mesopotamia, an early civilization over 5,000 years ago.

But the potter's wheel did not arrive in Britain until the Iron Age.

How do you think the potter's wheel works? Well, early potter's wheels were known as a kick wheel.

They had a wheel at the bottom, which was turned by the potter's foot, and then that turned a plate where the clay sat.

And this allowed the potter to use both hands to shape the clay as it spun around.

The potter's wheel made creating pottery a much easier and quicker process for the Celts.

Have a look at that photo of a potter's wheel there.

You can see where the potter would sit and where they would kick their foot in order for the clay to spin around.

The arrival of the potter's wheel in Britain allowed a greater range of quality pottery to be made, such as plates, bowls, cups, vases and pots.

This meant that pottery became very important in everyday life, as the Celts now had long lasting items for eating, storing and cooking food.

And by using the potter's wheel, more pottery could be made and surplus could be traded, which created more opportunities for people.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What is a potter's wheel? A machine for making pottery? A machine to transport pottery? A machine to mix clay? Hmm.

Take a moment to think.

What do you think? If you said it's a machine for making pottery, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

When was the potter's wheel first used in Britain? Almost 5,000 years ago? During the Stone Age? During the Iron Age? Hmm.

Take a moment to pause.

Have a quick discussion with your partner.

What do you think? If you said during the Iron Age, that's absolutely right.

Well done.

And how did the introduction of the potter's wheel change trade in Iron Age Britain? Surplus pottery could be traded? Made pottery quicker and easier to make? Greater range of pottery available? Hmm.

What do you think? Then pause the video here and when you're ready to find out the answers, press play.

What did you think? How did it change trade? If you said surplus pottery could be traded, you're absolutely right.

Well done.

Another important item that arrived in Britain during the Iron Age were coins.

Coins originally came from France, but the Celt soon adapted them and started making their own coins.

Coins during the Iron Age were very similar to the coins we use today.

And what they were made from? Hmm.

Well, coins during the Iron Age were round metal discs made from gold, silver or bronze.

The metal coins were moulded and then stamped with designs such as animals, weapons, patterns and heads.

Hmm.

Some interesting looking images on those coins there, isn't there? Can you see all the different pictures on them? What do you think the coins were used for? Take a moment to have a good look at those coins.

What do you think? What can you see on them? And what do you think they were used for? The introduction of coins changed Iron Age trade as it meant people began to trade using coins and put a set price on goods.

For example, a bundle of wheat could be exchanged for one silver coin, which meant that the price of the bundle was one silver coin.

This encouraged sharing values for goods across Britain.

Previously, the Celts would've swapped goods, which they thought had a similar value.

So for example, a bundle of wheat may have been exchanged for a bag of apples.

However, different people would have exchanged different items for a bundle of wheat.

Like Jun says, imagine going to the supermarket and swapping things instead of paying with money.

That would be quite interesting, wouldn't it? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Can you change this sentence so it is correct? The introduction of the potter's wheel changed Iron Age trade as it meant people began to put a set price on goods.

Hmm.

Take a moment here.

Have a discussion with your partner.

How would you change this sentence? Pause the video and restart when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Let's take a look at how we could change that sentence.

So, it's the introduction of coins changed Iron Age trade as it meant people began to put a set price on goods.

So well done if you managed to change that correctly.

It wasn't the potter's wheel, it was coins that changed Iron Age trade.

This brings us to our second learning task.

I'd like you to choose one item, explain how it changed trade during the Iron Age.

So you've got coins or the potter's wheel.

So choose one of those items and explain how it changed trade during the Iron Age.

So grab yourself a pen and some paper and take some time now to write an explanation.

And if you'd like to, you could draw one of these two items and pause the video here and restart when you're ready to continue.

How was that? Shall we take a look at an example? So, if you chose the coins, you could have said something like this.

During the Iron Age, people began to use coins to buy and sell things.

This changed trade as it was a totally new idea.

Before people would've swapped items for different items. It also meant that people put a set price on goods instead of exchanging them for similar items. So good job if you chose that, coins, and you were able to explain how it changed trade.

And then for the potter's wheel, you might have said something like this.

During the Iron Age, people began to use the potter's wheel to make pottery.

The potter's wheel meant higher quality pottery could be made and more quickly than before.

People could trade surplus pottery they made, which gave people new opportunities.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about changing settlements and trade in Iron Age Britain.

Settlements became much larger during the Iron Age.

The Celts began to build settlements called hillforts on top of hills instead of next to farmland.

We can still see the earthworks of some hillforts today.

The potter's wheel began to be widely used to make pottery in Britain.

The surplus pottery could be traded, which gave people new opportunities.

The Celts also began to use coins to trade.

This was a new concept as previously they exchanged similar value goods.

Thank you for joining me for today's lesson.

It's been a real interesting one and I'm really looking forward to seeing you at the next one.

See you then.