The Iron Age
c800 BC until 43 AD
(START: 800 BC is the rough date when iron was first used for making tools in Britain.
END: 43 AD is the date of the Roman invasion of Britain.)
Note: People in Iron Age Britain are usually called Ancient Britons or Celts.
See also Placenames.
Not stone, not bronze, but IRON - it's tough stuff!
Rocks containing iron are much more common in Britain than the copper and tin needed to make bronze. And iron tools are much stronger than bronze ones.
But iron needs a much higher temperature to melt, over 1500°C. This is rather hotter than copper which melts at about 1000°C. (The oven in your kitchen at home heats up to 220°C.)
Heating iron to 1500°C needed greater knowledge and skill and new techniques had to be learned.
↓ Don't try this at home . . .
'Making an Axe from Iron Ore' is a modern film by MegaRavans about making iron
in the same way as Iron Age people did 2000 years ago.
The video is embedded in this website but links to YouTube out of this website.
At the beginning of the Iron Age, iron was rare and used only for making special objects such as swords. But from about 300 BC it became more common and was used to make everyday tools such as axes, hammers, knives, chisels, and reaping hooks. Having iron tools made life easier for ordinary families.
Iron Age Langar and Barnstone
Were people living here during the Iron Age?
YES!
If you travel along Main Road from Langar to Barnstone, just before you get into Barnstone village there is a large field on your right-hand side.
In March 1980, after the field had been ploughed, a group of archaeologists walked across the field looking for evidence of the past. They found lots of pieces of broken pottery which they identified as dating from the Iron Age.
The archaeologists also discovered evidence of marks in the ground which showed where houses, fields and ditches were over 2000 years ago.
↑ Pieces of Iron Age pottery were found in this field on Main Road near Barnstone.
People lived on a farm here in the Iron Age 2000 years ago.
Click the picture to take you to the Google Maps website.
The weblink takes you out of this website.
An Iron Age roundhouse
Two roundhouses have been reconstructed in Iron Age style at Llanddeusant in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Click to watch a video to see how people lived here during the Iron Age.
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Farming in the Vale of Belvoir
The Vale of Belvoir is good farming country and Iron Age people took advantage of this.
Much of the countryside was divided into fields separated by ditches; some of these can still be identified.
Crops People grew wheat and barley, as well as peas and beans, and flax which could be made into cloth.
Livestock People kept cattle, sheep, pigs and hens, as well as dogs and horses. Pigs were kept for meat; sheep provided meat and milk, wool and manure to fertilise the fields; cattle produced meat, milk and leather and they were also used for pulling ploughs and carts.
Sometimes people had more food than they needed for their own family. They took their surplus produce to the market at Bingham where they could sell it or trade it for things they couldn't make themselves - pottery, perhaps, leather or metal goods.
New technology
↑ Above: the old way of doing it
↓ Below: The rotary quern
Before the invention of the rotary quern, cereal grains were ground into flour using a pebble on a stone. A rotary quern was easier to operate and made more flour more quickly.
↑ Above: the old way of doing it.
↓ Below: The closed clay oven
Before the invention of the oven, cooking was done over an open fire. Closed ovens were more efficient and allowed for a wider range of cooking. (Closed ovens were also used to melt iron.)
More new technology
Flint was still used to make small tools and bronze was made into ornaments and weapons. However iron replaced flint as the main material for tools and weapons.
Other new technologies were developed:
Pottery - By the end of the Iron Age the potter's wheel had been invented and pottery kilns were in use. Pieces of broken pottery are common finds on Iron Age sites, where other materials such as wood, leather, cloth and even iron have rotted away.
Jewellery - Some of the finest products of the Iron Age were made by skilled workers for Iron Age lords and ladies. Glass and enamel were used to make beads, bracelets and brooches.
Polished and decorated metal was made into mirrors, shields, helmets, and sword scabbards and required a very high level in skill in their manufacture.
The Newark Torc
An excellent example of Iron Age jewellery is the Newark torc which was found by a metal detectorist near Newark-on-Trent in 2005. Torcs were necklaces worn by wealthy and powerful people. The Newark torc is made from electrum, a mixture of gold, silver and copper. It weighs 700 grams. It was made from rolled gold wires plaited into eight thin ropes twisted together. The torc is of the very best quality and would have belonged to an Iron Age king or queen. It is on display in Newark at the Civil War Museum.
The Corieltauvi Tribe
Many tribes lived in Britain during the Iron Age. The Corieltauvi (or Coritani) lived in farms and villages across the East Midlands, in what are now the counties of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.
The people who lived in the field at Barnstone were members of the Corieltauvi tribe.
When the Romans invaded Britain, the Corieltauvi offered no resistance.
The Romans created a capital of the Corieltauvi region at Leicester which they called Ratae Corieltauvorum (Fortress of the Corieltauvi).
Weblinks
Find out more. Watch the video -
The Story of Britain - The Iron Age
An Iron Age family deal with a raid by another tribe - from the BBC.
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The Ancient Brittonic Language
During the Iron Age people in Britain spoke languages related to modern Welsh.
Click the image to watch a YouTube video and hear how they sounded.
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