How did Iron Age people live?
Around 800 BC people in Britain learned how to use iron. This discovery had a dramatic impact on everyday life. Iron tools made farming much easier than before and settlements grew in size.
People in Iron Age Britain lived in clans that belonged to tribes led by warrior kings. Rival tribes fought with deadly iron weapons. Many people lived in hill forts to keep safe from attacks.
During the Iron Age, the Celtic people spread out across Europe and many settled in Britain. The ancient Britons followed a Celtic way of life. They enjoyed feasting, music and poetry.
They produced fine metalwork which they traded with people in mainland Europe.
Watch: What was an Iron Age hill fort?
Raksha Dave visits Maiden Castle in Dorset to find out about Iron Age tribes.
A very long time ago in ancient Britain, there were no written words.
This was the time before history was recorded.
It's prehistory.
The only clues to life back then come from the objects, burials, cave paintings and monuments which speak to us about Britain's ancient past.
My name is Raksha Dave, I'm an archaeologist and I'm in search of Britain's Ancient Voices.
This may look like an odd-shaped hill, but, in fact, it's what's left of an Iron Age hillfort, built 2,500 years ago.
This is Maiden Castle.
At this time, people in Britain lived in tribes, but as land began to be used up, tribes started to fight each other, so some built hillforts to defend their territories.
This is the largest hillfort of them all.
In fact, it's as big as 50 football pitches.
It's incredibly steep, so must have been really difficult to attack.
This is hard work.
Oh, and once you think you've got to the top, there's another ridge to get over.
Maiden Castle isn't built from stone, but carved from the hill.
To make the hillfort hard to enter, banks were built all around it.
These banks, known as ramparts, are built out of chalk, dug from the ditches down here, which were much deeper in the Iron Age.
And, of course, there were no mechanical diggers back then, so digging this by hand was hard, physical work.
The ramparts would have been a brilliant chalky white and visible from a long way away.
Finally, I've reached the top, and up here is where the tribe would have lived.
Here at the hillfort's entrance, you'd have a bird's-eye view of who was arriving, and if any enemies were spotted, they would be lobbed with stones kept in large pits here.
And we know this because 20,000 of them, like these, were found at the eastern entrance just for that purpose, and they could be deadly.
The tribe must have felt very protected living here, on top of the hillfort.
Just imagine the roundhouses here in neat little rows, with sheep outside bleating in their pens, children practising with their slingshots, their parents warning them to be careful, people sharing stories and food around the campfire, tribal elders calling them for a meeting.
Maiden Castle was also a safe place to buy and sell crops, pots, weapons and jewellery.
And to pay for these goods, they used grain, which they kept in special pits on top of the hillfort.And they used metal ring money, too.
These are actual Iron Age coins, about 2,500 years old.
They look very different from the flat coins that we use today.
The bigger the ring, the more it weighed, and the greater the value of the coin.
It's amazing to think that on top of this hill, inside these walls, this was a place teeming with life, where people were busy going about their daily activities— working, trading and meeting people, and keeping an eye on the crops and animals in the fields below Maiden Castle.
No wonder it's called Mai-dun—the Iron Age words for "great fort".
By the end of the Iron Age many people lived in hill forts. The forts were surrounded by walls and ditches and warriors defended their people from enemy attacks. Men and boys trained as warriors. They had to be prepared to fight at any time.
Homes
Inside the hill forts, families lived in round houses.
These were simple one-roomed homes with a pointed thatched roof and walls made from wattle and daub (a mixture of mud and twigs).
In the centre of a round house was a fire where meals were cooked in a cauldron.
Around the walls were jars for storing food and beds made from straw covered with animal skins.
Farming
- Iron Age farmers grew crops and vegetables.
- They kept geese, goats and pigs and had large herds of cows and flocks of sheep.
Jobs
- Some people worked as potters, carpenters and metalworkers.
Iron Age tools
Iron Age people developed some very useful tools to help them in their daily work. Click on these pictures to find out more.
What did Iron Age people believe?
People in Iron Age Britain believed in powerful spirits. They met to worship the spirits in sacred places, like the shores of a lake or a clearing in a wood.
Priests known as druids led religious ceremonies. They sacrificed animals and sometimes humans too! The druids gave precious offerings, such as swords and cups, to the spirits. They buried the offerings in the ground or threw them into rivers, lakes and bogs.
When the Romans first arrived in Britain they wrote about the religion of the ancient Britons. They described four of their main festivals:
- Imbolc was held in February to welcome the birth of the first lambs.
- Beltane was celebrated in May, when the cattle were moved to their summer fields.
- Lughnasadh was held in August to celebrate the ripening of the crops.
- Samhain took place in November and marked the end of the year.
Activities
Activity 1: Iron Age quiz
Activity 2: Compare and contrast
Watch this video about life in the Iron Age from BBC Bitesize for Teachers.
- Can you write down three of the biggest changes from the Bronze and Stone Ages.
- Write down three things that have changed the least.
Life in Iron Age Britain shown through the eyes of a typical family as they deal with a raid by another tribe. The impact of the discovery of iron is explored.
People have been living in Britain for thousands of years.
People just like us, but living very different lives in very different times.
This is their story.
This is the story of Britain.
3,000 years ago, and our settlement is under attack.
BOY: Oh!
What the…!
Ow!
BOY 2: — What is it?
BOY: — What?
The cattle!
NARRATOR: Tribes stealing from each other and fighting over land is a big problem.
A tribal meeting is called to discuss what to do.
TRIBE LEADER: Another tribe, the Regni, have stolen some of our cattle.
WOMAN: But what can we do?
WOMAN 2: We're just not protected, living here.
See this, we captured one of the thieves.
THEIF: I was caught by the enemy tribe, they made me their slave.
TRIBE LEADER: If you tell us where we can get this metal you can join our tribe.
THEIF: It's in the rocks.
It's much more plentiful than the copper and tin you need to make bronze.
They call it iron.
Look, if you heat it up, you can make it into anything.
Even a sharp sickle for you to cut your crops with.
NARRATOR: Learning the secret of making iron is a revelation to the Britons.
TRIBE LEADER: You can turn it into something else.
NARRATOR: The rocks that contain iron can be found much more easily than those needed to make bronze.
Iron has more uses too.
It can be hammered into shape and mended when broken.
And while bronze is expensive and only for the important few, almost everyone can have something made from iron.
Our family puts their new discovery to use immediately.
TRIBE LEADER: We can make enough iron spears to defend our land.
That might be enough.
MAN: I'll just finish this last one.
We have new iron weapons.
Now we can fight the Regni tribe.
WOMAN: But remember, we must consult the druidess first.
TRIBE LEADER: Oh!
NARRATOR: Druids are the wise priests of the Iron Age and can be men or women.
In some ways they are even more important than the tribe's leader and it's believed they can look into the future.
They act as healers, teachers and judges, not just for one tribe, but for many tribes over a great area.
They have so much power that people say they can walk into the middle of a battlefield and actually stop the fighting.
DRUIDESS: What is your question?
TRIBE LEADER: Should we go into battle with the Regni tribe?
NARRATOR: To help them predict the future, Druids pour liquids between special spoons.
DRUIDESS: No. You should not go after the cattle thieves.
TRIBE LEADER: No?
DRUIDESS: They have iron, you have iron, many on both sides will die.
I have been given a better idea.
This is a hillfort.
It will help you defend your tribe.
NARRATOR: In the Iron Age, forts are built on top of hills, often with surrounding ditches, to help protect tribes from their enemies.
Hillforts are places where tribes live and work, where crops are prepared and stored, goods traded and exchanged, and religious gatherings are sometimes held.
BOY: We can see for miles.
BOY 2: North, South, East, West.
Uh-oh.
TRIBE LEADER: Give them a warning shot!
Whoa!
CHEERING
NARRATOR: Life in Britain is changing once again.
Helped along by the introduction of this new metal.
This is the Iron Age.
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