Key Stage 2 history · British history

KS2 Bronze Age Britain and Stonehenge: a guide for parents

The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from about 2500 BC to about 800 BC. Children in Key Stage 2 learn how people began to make tools and jewellery from bronze, how they buried their dead and built monuments, and how far they travelled and traded. Stonehenge is the best-known example, and the topic is also a lesson in how historians work out the past from objects and remains.

Bronze Age Britain, explained

The National Curriculum asks children in Years 3 to 6 to study changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Bronze Age religion, technology and travel, for example Stonehenge, is one of the examples in the programme of study. These examples are non-statutory, so schools choose their own sites and finds. Children are expected to note connections, contrasts and trends over time, such as how technology and trade changed, and to understand how we know about a period with no written records.

The first metal objects in Britain were made of copper and gold, and bronze followed within a few centuries. Bronze is an alloy, a mixture of metals, made mostly of copper with a smaller amount of tin. It is harder than copper alone and can be melted and poured into moulds to make axes, spears, swords, knives and jewellery. Copper and tin are found in different places, for example copper in North Wales and tin in Cornwall, so making bronze meant that someone had to bring them together. Metalworkers became skilled specialists, smelting metal from rock and casting it, and bronze goods were valuable. Many people kept using stone, flint and wood for everyday tasks, so the change from the Stone Age was slow rather than sudden.

Stonehenge in Wiltshire was built in stages over a very long time. The earliest ditch and bank date from around 3000 BC and the main circle of large stones was put up around 2500 BC, so the monument spans the late Stone Age and the start of the Bronze Age. The largest stones, called sarsens, often weigh around twenty-five tonnes and came from about fifteen miles away. The smaller bluestones were brought from the Preseli Hills in Wales, roughly a hundred and fifty miles away. The stones line up with the sunrise at midsummer and the sunset at midwinter. Nobody knows for certain what Stonehenge was for, but burials nearby suggest it was important in how people thought about death and the world. Bronze Age people also buried their dead under round mounds called barrows, and left metalwork as offerings in rivers and bogs.

Travel and trade are the third strand. In 1992 a Bronze Age boat made of sewn oak planks, about 3,500 years old, was found in Dover. It shows that people could travel by water, although how far it went is debated. Chemical studies of the teeth of the Amesbury Archer, a man buried near Stonehenge around 2300 BC, suggest he grew up in central Europe, probably in or near the Alps. At Must Farm in Cambridgeshire, houses that burned down and fell into the river mud preserved pots, cloth and food from about three thousand years ago. Children are asked to consider what such finds do, and do not, prove.

Words your child will hear

Bronze: A hard metal made by mixing copper with a smaller amount of tin.
Alloy: A metal made by mixing two or more metals together.
Smelting: Heating rock that contains metal to get the metal out.
Barrow: A mound of earth built over a grave in prehistoric times.
Monument: A large structure built to mark something important, such as Stonehenge.
Trade: Exchanging goods with other people, sometimes from far away.
Ritual: A set of actions done for religious or special reasons, which people repeat.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught about changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
Pupils should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms.
Pupils should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

A worked example: weighing up the evidence

What evidence shows that people in the Bronze Age travelled and traded?

Start with Stonehenge. Geologists have matched its bluestones to rocks in the Preseli Hills in Wales, about a hundred and fifty miles away. Someone moved them, most likely over land and perhaps partly by water.
Look at bronze itself. Copper and tin come from different places, for example North Wales and Cornwall. To make bronze, one metal had to travel to the other, or both had to be carried to a workshop.
Look at the Dover boat. It is about 3,500 years old and made of sewn oak planks. It suggests that people could build boats big enough to carry people and goods along the coast, and perhaps across the Channel in calm weather, though we do not know exactly how far it went.
Look at people. The Amesbury Archer was buried near Stonehenge with copper knives and gold hair ornaments. Tests on his teeth suggest he grew up in central Europe, probably near the Alps, so he travelled a long way in his lifetime.
Weigh the evidence. Each find is a clue, but a single find proves little. Several clues pointing the same way make the case stronger. We still cannot tell how many people travelled or why.

Bluestones from Wales at Stonehenge, bronze made from metals found far apart, the Dover boat and the Amesbury Archer all suggest that Bronze Age people travelled and traded over long distances. Because several kinds of evidence agree, the conclusion is strong, but we still do not know exactly who travelled or why.

Common mistakes and how to help

“The Druids built Stonehenge”

Druids are often shown there in books and films, and the two are linked in popular stories.

What helps: Druids were priests in the Iron Age, mentioned by Roman writers. Stonehenge was built long before, so Druids could not have built it. Modern Druids hold ceremonies there today, which adds to the muddle.

“Everyone switched to bronze at once”

Timelines show clear dates, so the change looks like a switch.

What helps: Explain that bronze was expensive. Most people kept using stone and flint tools for years, and the change spread slowly. The dates are approximate.

“We know exactly what Stonehenge was used for”

Documentaries and books often use confident language, and children like a clear answer.

What helps: Encourage the phrases “may have” and “the evidence suggests”. We know it lines up with the sun and that there were burials, but its full purpose is still debated.

“The stones were too heavy to move without machines, so it must have been something else”

Modern people find it hard to imagine a task being done with only ropes, wood and many people.

What helps: Ask how your child would move a heavy box using logs as rollers and a team to pull. People of that time had skill, planning and a large workforce, even without machines or engines.

How to help at home

Try moving something heavy. With an adult watching, put a box of books on the floor and ask your child to push it across the room. Then try again with round pencils or broom handles underneath as rollers, keeping fingers and toes clear. Talk about how a team and clever ideas could move a stone.
Watch the sun. Notice where the sun rises or sets from a window in summer and winter, and mark it on a drawing. Never look straight at the sun. It shows why a place that lines up with the sun could matter to people long ago.
Hunt for bronze. Look for bronze objects when you are out, such as a statue in a park, a church bell or a bronze medal. Talk about why bronze is still chosen for statues and bells today, and why it was so useful when it was new.
Build a stone circle. Stand blocks, tubs or stones in a circle in the garden or on the floor, with a few across the top. Ask what would be the hardest part to do without machines, and how a big group would plan it.
Plan a trade route. On a map of Britain, mark where copper (North Wales), tin (Cornwall) and Stonehenge’s bluestones (Preseli Hills in Wales) came from. Work out which routes a person might have to take, by land or by sea.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: Medieval Britain 1066 to 1509
Key Stage 3: Tudors and Stuarts: Britain 1509 to 1745
Key Stage 3: Britain 1745 to 1901: industry and empire
Key Stage 3: Britain and the world, 1901 to today
Key Stage 3: The Holocaust