What was life like in the Bronze Age?

Bronze Age Britain began around 2500BC.

It was a time when Britons learnt how to use metals to make many different objects.

People travelled using long wooden boats and by riding horses that had been tamed, this meant they had been taken from the wild and trained to be useful. This helped Bronze Age Britons travel and trade goods with people in Europe.

Many of these items have been found by *archaeologists who study objects and places from the past.

These items have helped them understand what life was like for people in Bronze Age Britain.

Important words on what we know about Prehistoric Britain.

Around 2500BC, settlers from mainland Europe brought new skills to Britain.

They were metalworkers who knew how to work with copper.

They were later called the Beaker people after the bell-shaped pottery they made and used.

By 2100BC, Britons were mining metals by digging them out from underground.

Trading ships travelled to mainland Europe carrying copper, tin and precious objects made by metalworkers.

Some settlers who arrived belonged to the Beaker culture.

Named by archaeologists after the bell-shaped pottery they made and used, Beaker people lived in clans led by powerful chiefs, held religious ceremonies at stone circles and buried their dead in circular graves. These customs became part of life in Ancient Britain.

Watch the video to learn more about how swords were made in the Bronze Age.

Click through the slideshow to see the kinds of things people made in the Bronze Age.

During the Bronze Age, many people crossed the sea from mainland Europe to Britain.

They travelled in long wooden boats rowed by oarsmen.

The boats carried people, animals and trading goods.

Boats were very useful for carrying heavy materials like stone.

Large areas of land were covered by forest, so it was much easier to transport goods by river or sea.

The boats could also be loaded with metal from mines, precious swords, pots and jewellery.

They could be very large. The Dover Bronze Age boat found by archaeologists in 1992, needed 18 people to paddle it!

By the Bronze Age, people in Britain had learned to tame horses.

In around 1000BC, they learned to make carts with wheels.

Some farmers travelled on horseback or used wooden carts pulled by horses or oxen.

The first war chariots appeared towards the end Bronze Age. Warriors rode into battle standing on these chariots, which were pulled by horses.

In 2002, archaeologists in Amesbury, in Wiltshire, discovered the grave of a Bronze Age man.

Tests on the his skeleton show that he lived around 2300BC, grew up in the mountains of mainland Europe then travelled to England as an adult.

He was:

• discovered just a few miles from Stonehenge
• buried with around 100 objects
• nicknamed ‘the Amesbury Archer’ because he was buried with arrowheads used by archers
• also found with wristguards that archers wore to protect their arms from the bowstring

Although he is known as the Amesbury Archer he probably spent a lot of his time working with metal. One of the objects in his grave was a cushion stone - a tool used by metalworkers.

The people who buried him must have believed that he would use the objects in his grave the next world.

Bronze Age people made many objects from hard metals.

This meant these objects could last for thousands of years in the ground.

Archaeologists discovered artefacts in Esher, Surrey, in 2013 and 2014, including a Bronze Age hoard.

A hoard is a large collection of valuable items, such as weapons, tools and jewellery.

The remains of Bronze Age homes have also been found in Britain, such as the 3,000 year old remains at Must Farm.

Archaeologists can use and compare clues from all of these finds to learn more about Bronze Age Britain, what it may have been like and how its people may have lived.

Have a look at the thinking points below and think about your answer to each question. You could even write them down on a piece of paper or discuss them with somebody else if you want to.

• Bronze Age people used boats to travel to and trade with people in Europe. What do you think this can tell people about Bronze Age people and Britain at that time?

• Archaeologists discovered and studied the grave of the Amesbury archer and well-preserved homes at Must farm. Why do you think it is important for archaeologists to look at lots of evidence and dig sites to fully understand the Bronze Age?

• Beaker culture had customs like living in clans and holding religious ceremonies at stone circles. How are these customs similar or different to how people live today?

What can you learn about the Amesbury Archer from his grave?

Main image © The Salisbury Museum. Additional images © Wessex Archaeology

Let's find out what you know about life in the Bronze Age in this quiz.

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