KS2 History: Iron Age Britain (animation)

NARRATOR:3,000 years ago, and our settlement is under attack.

IRON AGE BOY:Ahhh!

IRON AGE BOY:What the?

IRON AGE BOY:Ouch!

IRON AGE GIRL:What is it?

IRON AGE BOY:The cattle.

NARRATOR:Tribes stealing from each other and fighting over land is a big problem.

NARRATOR:A tribal meeting is called to discuss what to do.

IRON AGE MAN:Another tribe, the Red Knee, have stolen some of our cattle.

IRON AGE LADY 1:But what can we do?

IRON AGE LADY 2:We’re just not protected living here.

IRON AGE MAN:See this? We captured one of the thieves.

THIEF:I, I was caught by the enemy tribe, they made me their slave.

IRON AGE MAN:If you tell us where we can get this metal, you can join our tribe.

THIEF:It’s in the rocks. It’s, 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.

THIEF:Even a, a sharp sickle for you to cut your crops with.

NARRATOR:Learning the secret of making iron is a revelation to the Britons.

IRON AGE MAN: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.

NARRATOR:Our family put their new discovery to use immediately.

IRON AGE MAN:We can make enough iron spears to defend our land. That might be enough.

BLACKSMITH:I’ll just finish this last one.

IRON AGE FATHER:We have new iron weapons, now we can fight the Red Knee tribe.

IRON AGE MOTHER:But remember we must consult the druidess first.

IRON AGE FATHER:Oh!

NARRATOR:Druids are the wise priests of the Iron Age, and can be men or women. In some ways they were even more important than the tribe’s leader and it’s believed they can look into the future.

NARRATOR:They act as healers, teachers and judges. Not just for one tribe, but for many tribes over a great area.

NARRATOR: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?

IRON AGE FATHER:Should we go into battle with the Red Knee tribe?

NARRATOR:To help them predict the future, druids pour liquids between special spoons.

DRUIDESS:No, you should not go after the cattle thieves.

IRON AGE FATHER:No!?

DRUIDESS:They have iron, you have iron. Many on both sides will die. I have been given a better idea.

DRUIDESS:This is a hill fort, it will 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.

NARRATOR:Hill forts are places where tribes live and work, where crops are prepared and stored, goods traded and exchanged and religious gatherings are sometimes held.

IRON AGE GIRL:We can see for miles.

IRON AGE BOY:North, south, east, west.

IRON AGE GIRL:Oh, oh!

IRON AGE FATHER:Give them a warning shot.

NARRATOR:Life in Britain is changing once again, helped along by the introduction of this new metal.

FISHERMAN:Lovely fish freshly caught this morning.

NARRATORThis is the Iron Age.