Lesson video

Hello, welcome to Lesson 3 of Roman Britain and I really hope you've been enjoying the lessons so far, I've certainly enjoyed teaching what I think is very fascinating history.

What we're going to look at today is, "What was Britain like before the Romans?" Let's have a look at the agenda together now.

Here's our agenda for today, the first thing that we're going to look at together, is: "What was life like in 43 CE?" and then in the second half of this lesson, we are going to be looking at: "How do we know about life in Britain before the Romans?".

As with each of our lessons, you will need three key things: the first thing is an exercise book or some paper, the second thing, is a pencil or a pen, and the third thing is our brains.

Pause the video now, make sure you've got all those things, and then we will get started.

So it's time to start the first part of our lesson, which is all about "What was life like in 43 CE?" and you may be wondering, "Why are we looking at such a specific year in history?" maybe you know the answer.

If you have just said to your screen, "Because Mr Barber, 43 CE is the year in which the Romans invaded Britain", then you're absolutely correct.

So why we're looking at that year, is that it's very useful information, to know what it was like just before the Romans arrived, because then later on, we can look at how things changed as a result of their arrival.

And, like any great historian, I love timelines, I know we've looked at a similar timeline, in previous lessons, but again I just wanted to show you this one, because it gives us a good perspective of where 43 CE fits into the period in which we are studying.

And so again, remember, each of those blocks represents 500 years, and you can see round about where we are now, and look back how long ago this was.

So what do we need to know about what life was like in Britain in 43 CE? Britain was a tribal society at that time and the people who lived there we now call the Celts.

And one unique thing about Britain at that time is that there was no national leader, at the moment in Britain, we have a Prime Minister who is our national leader, but at that time they didn't really see themselves as an entire country like that, and therefore there is no national leader, and instead, each tribe had their own leader.

And sometimes, those tribes would actually fight each other.

Another key thing to know about this time is that previously, the Romans had actually tried to invade Britain, but they had failed.

They had arrived into Britain, but many of those tribes had successfully fought them off.

I wonder do you know which famous Roman actually led those invasions that were not successful? That's right, it was our guy, Julius Caesar, from the previous lesson.

Based on all the information that we've just learned about Britain in 43 CE, you're going to complete this task now here's what you've got to do.

Read each of the sentences that are on your screen, and you need to decide which of these sentences are true or false.

I don't mind if you write that down, or you can just say it at the screen.

But read them very carefully, and decide whether they are true or false.

Pause the video now, to complete that task, and then resume once you are finished.

Okay, let's go through those answers together, and we'll start with sentence A.

So sentence A: The Romans travelled to Britain in 55 BCE.

Hmm, let me have a think, I know they tried to invade Britain at that time and if you're going to invade a country, you do have to travel there, and that is why that statement is true.

Sentence B: IN 43 BCE Britain had a single King.

Hmm, have a think.

What did I say was quite different about Britain at that time? And if you're thinking Britain was quite different because they did not have a single king, you're right, and that's why that statement is false.

Britain did not have a single national leader, they had tribes who had their own leaders.

Sentence C: Julius Caesar successfully conquered Britain in 55 BCE.

Well, we've sort of already gone over that point haven't we, they did try to invade, they travelled there, but they failed, and so that statement is false.

And then sentence D: People in Britain lived in tribes and were called 'Celts' I think we know, that is absolutely true.

Well done! Let's get started on the next part of the lesson.

In this second part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at: "How do we know about life in Britain before the Romans?" and this is really important stuff for us historians, because history, it's not just about knowing what happened in the past, but we also need to have a good understanding of how we actually know those things happened.

Now Britain, at that time, was living in a period of time know as the Iron Age.

And the reason why it was called the Iron Age, is because the use of Iron had become very wide spread.

People in Britain, not everyone, but many people in Britain had become very skilled metal workers, because iron, which I'm sure you're aware of, is a type of metal.

And people who were metal workers made many different things, like weapons, tools, cooking pots and nails.

And one of the great things for historians is that those objects that people make out of iron, they actually last a very, very long time.

And so historians have been able to find lots of these objects that they made during the Iron Age.

And those objects that we find from the past that are of historical interest, or objects that tell us something about the past, we call those objects artefacts.

So just to sum up, Britain lived in a period known as the Iron Age, because the use of iron was very wide spread, lots of people were using it.

People in Britain, or many people in Britain, were very skilled metal workers, people who crafted things out of metal and iron in particular.

And we know a lot about the past, or a lot about that period of time, because we've found lots of artefacts, objects that tell us something about the past.

What we're going to do now, is some very quick questions based on what we've just learned about the Iron Age.

For each of the sentences on your screen, you need to write down what the missing words are, and all the missing words are based upon what I've just been speaking about.

Pause the video now, to complete the task, and then resume once you are finished.

Okay, how did you find that? Let's go through them together, and if you got any of them incorrect, don't worry, you can just add them in now.

So sentence A, "in 43 CE" by the way what happened in 43 CE? That's right! The Romans invaded Britain.

Ill start again, "In 43 CE, Britain was living in the *something* Age", and that age was what? Absolutely right, it was the Iron Age.

Sentence B: "Many people in Britain were very skilled *something* who made tools, weapons and cooking pots." Hmm, what did you have to be very skilled at in order to make those things at that time? What's that you say? You're absolutely right! Many people in Britain were very skilled metal workers.

And then sentence C: "Historians have learned a lot about this period through the discovery of.

." Hmm.

Looking for a good technical term in history here, what do we call objects of historical interest? What's that? You're absolutely right, it is artefacts.

Well done on completing that task, let's move on to the next part of the lesson.

What we're going to do in this final part of the lesson, is continue to explore or to find out about: "How do we know what life in Britain was like before the Romans?".

And one way we know about what life was like back then, is through the use of something called historical excavations.

Historical excavations are when you dig, into the ground, to try and find objects from the past.

What's another good phrase for an object from the past, do you think? Hmm, that's right, artefacts.

So when they're digging through the ground, in a historical excavation, they are trying to find artefacts.

And historical excavations have been going on in Britain for hundreds of years.

And in the 1800's lots of these things, called hill forts were discovered.

And through the those excavations they managed to prove that these existed during the Iron Age, in that period of time before the Romans arrived in Britain.

How do you think they were able to prove that? Hmm, well if you're thinking because they found lots of Iron Age items, metal pots, weapons and things like that, then you are absolutely correct.

The picture on the right there, slightly blocked by my head, but hopefully you can see most of it, is an example of a hill fort, called Maiden Castle.

And you can see from it that it's a very sloped structure, and what we know is that people lived inside or on top of those hill forts.

But based on what you can see in that picture, what do you think other purposes of a hill fort would be? Have a think about that on your own, just for a few seconds.

Hmm, well, if you think about what we talked about earlier on in the lesson about the tribes, remember, tribes in Britain at that time, they actually sometimes attacked each other.

So one purpose of hill forts, was to provide people with a defence from attacks, or provide protection from attacks.

And Maiden Castle, which is confusingly called a castle, but it is a hill fort, was used for that purpose.

And its a very fascinating example, when they were digging, or excavating, Maiden Castle it began in 1931, and they were excavating it from 1931 all the way until 1984 and they found many interesting examples of life at that time.

So for example, some things they found were round houses.

And you many have studied this previously, round houses, were the typical houses that the Celtic people lived in.

They also found things like pottery, and they also found examples, of jewellery.

And these were all great artefacts, which help us understand what life was like, before the Romans arrived in Britain.

What you're going to do now for this final task, is based on the information I've just been going through, answer the following questions, in nice, neat, full sentences.

When you're ready pause the video to complete your task.

And if you're struggling to get started, here are some sentence starters that you can use.

Okay, I think we're ready to rock and roll.

How did you find that task? Lets go through the answers together, and find out whether we got them right or wrong.

Let's see, so question number one: "Why do historical excavations take place?" Hmm, why do historical excavations take place? Digging and stuff is fun, but there is another purpose.

Historical excavations take place to look for objects from the past.

Or even better if you wrote: "to look for artefacts." Nice one, I'm a very proud teacher right now.

Question number 2: "Why were hill forts built during the Iron Age?" Hmm, what did we discuss people needed to do, considering it's quite a violent time.

Hmm, hill forts were built because people needed to defend themselves from attacks.

Well done, if you got that right, and I can imagine you may have phrased it slightly differently, that's absolutely fine.

As long as you have been able to write down that people needed to protect themselves, or it provided them a defence then that is absolutely fine.

And then the last question: "What evidence of the past did they discover at Maiden Castle?" Hmm, can you remember? Well there were three key things, they discovered evidence of roundhouses, pottery and jewellery.

And by discovering those things, it gave us a great insight or view into what life was like before the Romans arrived in Britain.

Well done, we've done some fantastic learning today, and with every lesson that you complete, you're becoming a much better historian, great job.

Before we finish, just two things that you need to do.

First thing, think of three memorable things that you've learned from today's lesson and note those things down.

That's going to be really helpful for keeping that knowledge in your brain.

And then the second thing, please complete the end of lesson quiz, because that is going to be a huge help in remembering everything we learned in today's lesson.

Have a great day, and I look forward to teaching you again soon.