Discovering metalwork in Bronze Age Britain | History - Ancient Voices

Archaeologist Raksha Dave visits Butser Ancient Farm to look at the beginning of the Bronze Age, and construct an axe head in exactly the same way Bronze Age man would have done.

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Archaeologist Raksha Dave visits Butser Ancient Farm to look at the beginning of the Bronze Age and construct an axe head in exactly the same way Bronze Age man would have done. Starting with copper and tin, we see how an axe is made by heating the metal to 1,000 degrees centigrade, turning it into a red-hot liquid before cooling it in water. To finish the process, the blade is fitted onto a wooden handle. Flint and bronze axes are then compared, to explore the impact that metal making had on people in Britain.

This clip is from the BBC series Ancient Voices. In a series of short films, archaeologist Raksha Dave explores the amazing places, monuments and archaeological finds left behind from prehistoric Britain to build a picture of what it must have been like living in the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages.

To bring prehistory alive and show how the ancient people of Britain shaped where we live now, Raksha makes a razor-sharp flint tool, helps to cast a bronze axe and, using only a red deer antler, mines iron ore in an ancient mine. She visits the exceptional Stone Age burial at Paviland, explores Stonehenge - where, nearby, the biggest discovery of prehistoric gold was unearthed - and enters the Secret Forest, home to the only known prehistoric open-cast iron mines in the world. Raksha also has a chance to help out with daubing a replica Neolithic home, tries on Bronze Age clothes and feasts on Iron Age food.

Presented by Raksha Dave, field archaeologist on Channel 4\'s Time Team, with a wealth of knowledge about the world before history was documented in Britain, the films are specifically aimed at children of Key Stage 2 age for BBC Learning Zone.

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For Class Clips users, the original reference for the clip was p02mbgtv.

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Teaching History?

This clip could be used to explore continuity and change – in technology (flint weapons versus bronze weapons), in style, and in impact. How exactly did the Bronze Age impact on life in Britain? How was it different to the Stone Age? How was it similar? Children could bring in bronze items from home to show how the metal is still in use today.

This clip will be relevant for teaching History at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2nd Level in Scotland.

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