Iron Age My Story


Iron Age

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This story belongs to Rowan

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and her mummy Erin.

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It's a tiny tale about how children just like you

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lived in the olden days over 2,500 years ago.

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And now it's time for Rowan and Mummy Erin

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to go on a journey of discovery.

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Together, they're going to find out what life was like

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all those years ago.

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-Can you pass me that hammer, please, Rowan?

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

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I think that's it.

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Thank you, that was a big help.

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What do you think of that?

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-Brilliant.

-Do you think the birds will like it?

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-I hope so.

-Do you know what shape that is?

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-Round.

-That's a round house.

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I know a story about a girl who lived in a round house

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and her name was Cartimandua

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and she lived in a time called the Iron Age.

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What's the Iron Age?

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Well, it's a period of time a long, long time ago

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and people discovered lots of different things, including metals.

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And one of the metals they discovered was iron

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and iron is very strong. We use it today in our tools.

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And finding the iron was the start of the Iron Age.

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Iron can be found in rocks called iron ore.

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When it's heated in a really hot oven called a furnace,

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the iron in the rock melts.

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When iron is heated, it can be shaped.

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And when it's put into cold water, it cools down, becomes hard

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and extra strong.

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Would you like to get dressed up and we can learn about Cartimandua?

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Yes!

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Rowan! Can I see your clothes?

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Wow.

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What do you think about your Iron Age clothes?

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Well, the outside feels really rough,

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but inside feels nice and cosy and fluffy.

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-Cartimandua's mummy would make her clothes for her.

-Why?

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Well, because they didn't have any shops.

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So, what she would do, she would keep sheep

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and she would make the clothes from the wool.

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-A like your hair, Mummy.

-Thank you.

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This is a clip like they had in the Iron Age.

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-Out of iron?

-Out of iron.

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Would you like to learn more about Cartimandua and the Iron Age?

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-Yes, please.

-Will we do some Iron Age poses?

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Yes.

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Now that Rowan and Mummy Erin look like people from the Iron Age,

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they're ready for the big adventure.

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But where will they go?

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Mummy Erin has brought Rowan along to the Scottish Crannog Centre.

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Some clever people called archaeologists found lots of pieces

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from the Iron Age here and they built a house to show

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how things would have looked a long time ago.

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Rowan, this round house is called a crannog.

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And "cran" means two things - it means "basket"

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and it means "young tree."

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-And do you think it looks like a basket?

-Yes.

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And what do you think it's made from?

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-Wood.

-That's right, and what's all around us?

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-Trees.

-Trees.

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And Cartimandua's daddy would have made this and he would have used

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all the trees around, and he would have used an iron axe like this one.

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Do you think your daddy could make a crannog like this?

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-No.

-No?

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Iron Age people built their crannog houses on stilts

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at the side of water.

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They were a symbol of power and building it on water

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made it safer, to stop big wild animals getting close to them

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and their animals.

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Being on the water meant the house was cooler in the summer

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and warmer in the winter.

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There were less flies and bugs on the water too.

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They thought it was the best place to be.

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Now Rowan and Mummy Erin are inside the crannog.

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Large families called tribes would live in the crannog.

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How many people do you think lived here?

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23, I think.

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I think that's a good guess, about 20.

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And in charge of those tribes, there was one person called a chief.

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Who do you think the chief would be in our family?

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-I think it would be you.

-I think that's probably right.

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Cartimandua and her family would sleep up on a platform like this,

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but at the moment, it's actually filled with bracken.

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Can you see that?

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What's bracken?

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That's fern that grows on the hills.

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And they didn't have carpet, but they'd need something

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to keep them warm and to keep the floor soft,

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so that's what's underneath.

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Is it nice and soft under your feet?

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They'd also have their animals in here

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and they'd probably live over there.

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What kinds of animals?

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They would have cows and pigs and goats and sheep.

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-Would you like to live in a crannog?

-No.

-Why not?

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Because the fire might be dangerous for kids.

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That's probably quite true.

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Mummy would like to live in one because they're very, very cosy.

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The fire's where they cooked for the whole tribe

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and it would also keep the crannog warm.

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So they would have to keep it on all the time,

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so that would have been an awful lot of work.

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-And can you see the little round stone beside the fire?

-Yes.

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That is called a pot boiler.

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And they would heat it up on the fire and then they would put it in

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the pot to warm up the water when they were cooking.

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What would they eat?

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Well, Cartimandua and her mummy were very clever farmers.

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And they would have grown wheat and barley to make bread.

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And they would find things round about, like nuts and berries.

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Would you like to try some?

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Yes, please.

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What does the crannog sit on top of?

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What's underneath us?

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-Water?

-Mm-hm, and what do we find in water?

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-Fish.

-Cartimandua and her mummy would catch fish in this.

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The fish would swim inside and they would have their fish for their tea.

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So, Cartimandua and her mummy would have bread and fish

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and brambles and nuts.

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-Would you like to eat that every day?

-No.

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What do you like to eat?

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Cheese and ham.

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This is John, and he works at the Crannog Centre.

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He's going to show Rowan and Mummy Erin how to make rope

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without any tools.

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A long time ago, people used to make their own rope.

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Can you think what they maybe made the rope from?

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-Wool?

-Wool.

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They made rope from nettles, they made rope from willow bark.

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A great many different things you could make rope from.

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and today I'm going to show you how to make rope from grass.

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You hold this side.

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And you turn round that way and I'll turn round this way.

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That's it, keep going.

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Keep going.

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Now, we do that... Look, and it twists round on itself.

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And if you keep twisting that, we'll end up by making good,

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strong rope made from grass.

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Rope was very important in the olden days.

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It helped keep the crannog together. They used it to tie up their animals.

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Can you think how we use rope today?

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It's getting long now.

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I think it might be starting to get quite strong.

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You try and pull that apart.

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-It's impossible, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Very strong.

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Wow, what a great rope.

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John is now going to show Rowan and Mummy Erin

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how to make something else.

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I wonder what it could be.

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Look at this stone, Rowan.

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It's a perfect round hole.

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What's it for?

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Well, we can use them for, maybe, fishing weights for nets or traps.

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You can have one sitting into the ground, like that,

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and have the base of your door in there.

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And it'll let you open and close your door,

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without the base moving anywhere.

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How do you make it?

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Well, you need two different types of stone,

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both of which you'll find down on the shore.

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There's this white quartz and there's this much softer stone.

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And what we do is we knock the hard stone on to the soft stone,

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like this.

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Today it's called pecking.

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There were no schools in the Iron Age.

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Children like Cartimandua, would have learned how to do things

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by watching their parents, or other people in the tribe.

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Remember, if you needed something, you had to make it.

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How long would it take them to make this?

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Oh, it would take them two or three days to make them, at least.

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So, it must have been very important to them.

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Let's make music.

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RATTLING

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In the Iron Age, they wouldn't have had cars,

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so they would have got about in canoes.

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And this that you're sitting on here is just like the canoe

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that they would have had all that time ago.

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It looks like one big tree trunk.

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That's right. They would have used their iron axes

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to cut down the tree, and the ropes that we learned to make,

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they would have used them to pull it down to the shore.

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It looks like they scooped out the middle.

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They would have used those iron axes and it would've taken a long time,

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and they also would have made paddles for their canoe.

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And Cartimandua and her mummy and daddy would've got in their canoe

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-to go and trade things.

-What's trade?

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Trade's where they would've taken things that they had,

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like their barley, and they would've taken it to their neighbours

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who had other things that they would want and they'd swap.

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Just like I could swap my necklace for your bracelet.

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What else do you think Cartimandua and her family would've done

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in the boat?

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Explore.

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Yeah. Would you like to go exploring in the canoe?

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Yes, please!

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That looks like fun.

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Mummy Erin and John are doing a great job paddling the canoe.

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Did you like learning about the Iron Age

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and what happened a long time ago?

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Yes, I like learning about Cartimandua and the crannog.

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-And can you remember everything that we've learnt?

-Yes.

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We got dressed up in clothes like Cartimandua would've worn.

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We went to visit a crannog.

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It looks like a giant basket on stilts.

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The crannog inside looked just as special as the outside.

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We ate berries and nuts by the warm fire.

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John showed us how to make rope from grass.

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You try and pull that apart.

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I learned how to make a hole in the stone...

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without using any tools.

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Just like people from the Iron Age.

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We went exploring in a dugout canoe.

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Just like Cartimandua would've done.

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What did you enjoy the most?

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I enjoyed the canoe.

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What did you enjoy, Mummy?

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I like making things, but most of all I like spending time with you.

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-Will we have a...

-Hug!

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What a fabulous heap of fun! That was Rowan and Mummy Erin's

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tiny tale about what it was like living during the Iron Age

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over 2,500 years ago.

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Now Mummy Erin has shared this story with Rowan,

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it's time for Rowan to start her very own story.

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Do you know someone with a story to share?

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