Hello, my name's Mrs. Casey.

What's your name? I am so excited to be joining you for today's history lesson.

Today's lesson is called the Wetwang chariot and Celtic warfare.

It's part of the unit Iron Age Britain.

What have historians learnt about Iron Age Britain? This is all about a really exciting archaeological find that tells us lots of interesting things about the Iron Age.

It's a real insight into Iron Age life, and Celtic warfare in particular.

Can you remember the Celts lived in Britain during the Iron Age.

They lived on small farming settlements.

Shall we get started? By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain what archaeologists have learned about Iron Age Britain from the Wetwang chariot.

We're gonna find out all about the Wetwang chariot, what it was and what it taught archaeologists.

Here are some keywords we're going to be using during our lesson.

Chariot.

I wonder if you've ever heard of a chariot before.

A chariot was a two-wheeled vehicle pulled by horses or ponies and used in ancient warfare or sometimes racing.

Coral.

The hard skeleton of a type of tiny sea animal is called coral.

It's a pinkish, reddish colour and often used in jewellery.

Romans.

The Romans were a group of people from Italy that took lots of land across Europe, Africa and the Middle East during ancient times.

Chariot, coral, Romans.

Those are our keywords.

Make sure you look out for them in the lesson.

Today's lesson, the Wetwang Chariot and Celtic warfare, has two parts.

The Wetwang Chariot and Celtic warfare.

I'm going to start by looking at the Wetwang chariot.

Are you ready? Let's go.

Wetwang is a small rural village in Yorkshire, England.

It's an unusual name, isn't it? It's thought to be a Viking name that meant meeting place.

In 2001, archaeologists made an exciting and rare discovery there.

Rare means it's not very common or is very unusual.

A housing developer was due to build some new houses in the village of Wetwang, but before building could begin, there had to be an archaeological survey conducted in the field where the houses were going to be built.

This is where archaeologists check the area for anything important that might affect the building project.

During this survey, an Iron Age grave was discovered.

Here's a photograph of an archaeological dig.

Fantastic listening so far, everyone.

Let's check what we've learned with this true or false.

Is it true or false? An exciting discovery was made in Wetwang during the Iron Age.

Pause the video and talk to the person next to you.

That statement is false.

Is it false because A, an exciting discovery was made in Wetwang in 2001.

Archaeologists found an Iron Age grave.

Or B, an exciting discovery was made in Wetwang in 2001.

Archaeologists found an Iron Age house.

Is the statement false because of A or B? Well done, it's false because the discovery was made in 2001 and it was an archaeological grave, not a house.

Buried in the earth was an impressive collection of objects, along with the bones of a human skeleton.

This suggested that it was a burial site of someone important because valuable items and food have been buried with the body.

Alongside the skeleton, archaeologists found the bones of a pig, a chariot that had been taken apart and placed with the body, a valuable mirror and a brooch decorated with coral.

This person must have been very important for them to have buried a whole chariot, along with the body.

Great listening.

Let's check what we've learned, which items were found in the Iron Age grave at Wetwang? A, an Iron Age mirror.

B, an Iron Age shield.

C, an Iron Age Chariot.

D, an Iron Age brooch.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, everyone.

An Iron Age mirror was found in the grave, not a shield.

A chariot was found in the grave and a brooch made from coral.

Chariot was one of our keywords.

Can you remember what it means? A chariot is a two-wheeled vehicle pulled by horses or ponies.

Chariots were used in ancient times, often in warfare or sometimes for racing.

Here is a photograph of a chariot reconstruction.

You can see that it's made from wood.

It has two wheels, an axle, a pole, and a yoke.

A yoke is a bar that is worn by two animals, such as the horses or sometimes cattle and attached to the vehicle or farm machinery for the animals to pull along.

The chariot that was found in the Wetwang Iron Age grave was made from wood and metal.

It was decorated with bronze fittings and inlaid with coral.

Inlaid means that the coral pieces were set down into the metal.

Although the wood had disintegrated over time, the imprints were left in the soil and the metal still remained.

The chariot must have belonged to someone important as it was so carefully decorated.

Here's a photograph of an Iron Age chariot wheel.

The chariot had been carefully taken apart before it was buried.

This was probably so that they could fit it into the grave.

Archaeologists found evidence of iron wheels, an axle, a pole, a yoke and horse reins.

Let's check what we've learned.

Can we label the diagram of the chariot? We have the words axle, wheels, pole and yoke.

Pause the video and think about where the labels would go on the diagram.

Well done, everyone.

Some great discussions.

Here is the yoke.

Remember, that's the bit that is worn by the two animals that pull the chariot along.

Here is the pole, here is the axle.

The axle joins the two wheels together.

And the wheels.

A chariot had two wheels.

Excellent work, everyone.

Now it's time for our first task.

Andeep is talking about the Wetwang chariot.

Do you agree with him? Explain your answer.

Here is what he said.

"The chariot must have been very important." Here are some words that can help you with your explanation.

Archaeologists, buried, coral.

Pause the video and have a go at our first task.

Excellent, everyone.

Here is something that you may have answered with.

Archaeologists believe that the chariot was very important because it was carefully taken apart and buried.

It was also elaborately decorated with bronze and coral.

Now it's time for the second part of our lesson, Celtic warfare.

The Celts are often thought of as fierce warriors.

Evidence for this comes from artefacts, such as swords, shields, and spears, artwork showing battles, just like on this Roman coin here, showing a chariot.

Can you see the horses and the wheels? There was also evidence from Romans that they had written down, although we must remember that the Romans were writing about their enemies, so it might not be accurate.

The Celts are believed to have lived in tribes who often fought against each other.

Super listening.

Let's check what we've learned so far.

What evidence is there to support the idea that the Celts living in the Iron Age were fierce warriors? Is this photo of a Roman coin evidence? Is this photograph of an Iron Age mirror handle evidence? Is this photograph of Celtic weapons evidence the Celts were fierce warriors? Pause the video and tell the person next to you.

Great work, everyone.

The Roman coin is evidence that the Celts were fierce warriors.

As we can see, the chariots going into battle.

The Iron Age mirror is an artefact from the Iron Age, but it doesn't tell us that they were fierce warriors.

The Celtic weapons suggest that the Celts were fierce warriors.

Archaeologists and historians used the findings in the Wetwang grave to reconstruct what they believed an Iron Age chariot would've looked like.

That means they had a go at building their own chariot as an example.

It's an impressive piece of engineering.

The archaeologists and historians also conducted reenactments to research and test how the chariot would have moved over the ground, and if it would've been possible to launch weapons from it.

That means they tested out their chariot to see how it moved across the fields and if you could throw things from it.

They found out that the chariot would have been able to move quickly over the rough bumpy fields, but it was steady enough that they could launch weapons effectively, so it would've been good in battle.

Using the evidence from their reenactments and also written evidence from Romans, archaeologists believe that the Celts would've used the chariots to ride into battle and throw javelins and spears at their enemies.

It's also thought that the chariots might have been used to support Celtic warriors to and from the battlefields where they would then continue fighting on foot.

Can you see this painting of a chariot? Well done, everyone.

Let's check what we've learned so far.

Identify whether each statement is true or false.

Indicate your answers with a tick for true or a cross for false.

Listen carefully as I read the statements out loud.

A.

A, archaeologists tested the chariot they found in the Wetwang grave.

B, archaeologists used the findings from the Wetwang grave as examples to build their own chariot.

C, chariots may have been used to transport warriors to and from the battleground.

D, the Celts may have thrown spears from the back of the chariots during the battles.

Pause the video and discuss it with your partner.

Well done.

Let's find out which ones of these are true and which ones are false.

A is false.

Archaeologists didn't test the chariot they found in the grave.

B is correct because they used the findings from the Wetwang grave as an example to build their own chariot.

Chariots may have been used to transport warriors to and from the battleground.

That one's true.

The Celts may have thrown spears from the back of the chariot during battle.

That's also true.

Did you get them all right? Well done.

Now it's time for our second task.

Describe what a chariot was and how they were used in Celtic warfare.

Here are some words to help you.

Vehicle, warriors, horses, spears.

You can use the painting of a chariot here to give you some ideas too.

Pause the video and have a go at the task.

Well done.

Your answer could have included something like this.

A chariot was a two-wheeled vehicle pulled by horses and used in warfare.

It was made from wood and iron.

The chariot may have been used to transport warriors to and from the battlefields.

Celtic warriors may have thrown spears from the chariot during the battle.

Excellent listening today, everyone.

Well done.

Let's summarise what we've learned in today's lesson.

The Wetwang chariot and Celtic warfare.

In an English village in 2001, an Iron Age grave was discovered.

Inside the grave was a human skeleton, an iron mirror, and a coral brooch, and a chariot made from wood and iron and decorated with coral.

It had carefully been taken apart.

The items inside the grave suggest that the person was important.

The grave suggests that chariots were important in Celtic warfare during the Iron Age.

There is evidence that the Celts used chariots in battle, in ancient artwork, artefacts and Roman writing.

Did you spot our keywords there too? Chariot, coral, Roman.

Well done, everyone.

That's the end of our lesson today.

Bye for now.