My Top Resources for Teaching... the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages
When the Stone to Iron Age first appeared as a unit on the 2014 National Curriculum, it caused many teachers to wonder where they would find resources about it and how they would make it engaging for pupils. Since then, far more books and online resources have been published about this topic. In addition, its subject matter is not the bone-dry stuff many originally thought; in fact, it can be a hugely rewarding topic to teach.
Below are some resources that I have genuinely found useful in teaching these three periods. Please remember however that the Stone Age is itself a huge period which incorporates the Paleolithic (old), Mesolithic (middle) and Neolithic (new) Stone Age and that the Stone, Bronze and Iron ages were global (for example the Ancient Greek Bronze Age of Homeric epics). For the purposes of this piece, I am concentrating primarily on the Stone Age in Britain.
Stone Age Boy - Satoshi Kitamura
My first recommendation is this picture book which sparked lots of interest and discussion amongst my pupils when we used it in lessons. It could form part of English sessions however it is well researched and would equally lend itself to being used in history lessons. Illustrations such as the ones below could be used as a starting point for enquiry questions about what life was like in such settlements and how society was organised. Pupils might use images from the book as a source but then investigate further evidence to find out how the author knows this or how accurate the picture portrayed in the book is.
Star Carr
Star Carr is an Mesolithic settlement in Yorkshire which dates from 11,000 years ago. The most famous artefacts unearthed there are a red deer antler headdress (now on show in the British Museum) and the Star Carr Pendant. There are lots of resources and images showing the excavation of the site and it would be interesting to show these to children for them to understand what archaeologists do. There are also teacher resources to download as well as a selection of videos about aspects of the site. I particularly liked this reconstruction of what the settlement would have been like in the Mesolithic era. This could lead to all kinds of questions: how did its inhabitants survive; what were homes like; how did settlements change from the Paleolithic era?
Skara Brae
http://www.steveflanagan.co.uk/media/tours/skarabrae/orkney.html
The Stone Age wouldn’t be the Stone Age without looking at Skara Brae. This virtual tour allows you to explore the site and there are some great images that can used to be discuss what homes were like there. It’s a fascinating site to explore and provides a contrast with earlier settlements: pupils might focus on similarities and differences between this and Star Carr for example including the artefacts found there.
Virtual tour of the Caves of Lascaux
https://archeologie.culture.gouv.fr/lascaux/en/visit-cave#axial-gallery
This site is a real gem. It takes you on an underground tour of the cave art discovered in Lascaux, France. It would definitely inspire awe and wonder and would be a great starting point for children to look at the art and discuss what it shows us about Stone Age life. It’s also a brilliant starting point for related art work based on the cave paintings.
Stone Age Liverpool
https://historyofliverpool.com/stone-age-liverpool/
This site has some good information about the Stone Age - there are lots of facts and images that would be good to use for pupils’ own research or for homework. The section on the Stone Age links to Liverpool is very interesting and this could be utilised well to make links to local history.
The whole site is about the history of Liverpool and - if relevant - this could be a really interesting local history study for pupils about how the city has changed over time.
BBC Bitesize
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z82hsbk
BBC Bitesize is always a good go-to site for reliable information. This section covers Stone, Bronze and Iron ages. The animations are useful to add into lessons to introduce or consolidate learning and it’s always a good place to refer pupils for homework projects.
British Museum
The BM does of course have a wealth of artefacts that can be looked at online. There’s also some useful resources such as this one on the Bronze Age which can be adapted for use in class.
A Street Through Time - DK & Steve Noon
This book is just brilliant and is well worth investing in for your classroom. It shows how a the same street changed during different periods of our history. It would be great for discussing the similarities and differences between settlements in each of the time periods in this unit and to help answer the over-arching question ‘What were the main changes to Britain during the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages’.
Stonehenge
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/stonehenge360/
This is another great virtual tour - this time of Stonehenge. You can take a 3D tour of the site plus explore the landscape and look at plans of Stonehenge which could be useful if you’re investigating why/what it was built for.
Maiden Castle
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/maiden-castle/history/
My last pick is the above site about Maiden Castle, an Iron Age hill fort. This site gives you an idea of what these hill forts were like and how the site evolved over time. There’s also a gallery of aerial photographs showing what remains today here:
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/maiden-castle/
