MuseumFromHome: Bronze Age

This week we're heading back about 4000 years to the Bronze Age to learn more about how people lived and the things they did!

We know people lived in & around Ely at this time because of the evidence archaeologists find. Archaeologists find a mixture of objects, from pottery to metal. They find everyday objects like cooking pots and extraordinary pieces, such as the East Cambridgeshire gold torc, too.

Join us on our Facebook page as we have fun with Bronze Age themed crafts! Try making your own roundhouse and axe as well as making a woven cord and gold torc inspired bracelet too!

Once you've made your own roundhouse, why not try this activity to think about how it would be to live in a roundhouse? What would you be able to smell, see, taste, hear and touch there?

After quarantine, you can visit Flag Fen near Peterborough to see a real replica of a roundhouse and explore it inside.

While you're at Flag Fen, make sure to visit the Must Farm - an amazing Bronze Age settlement on site too. You can find out more about the archaeological dig they completed and the fantastic things they found!

Have a go at making your own Bronze Age axe too with our crafts and learn more about the process Bronze Age people used to cast their own axes and swords.

This great video from the Museum of London shows you how they were made

Have a go at making your own cast by using things you can find at home! You could use jelly to make a tasty treat or use plasticine or playdoh to make something stronger!

People in the Bronze Age also made different things to wear, including pieces made from cloth and from metal

This great BBC video tells us more about Bronze Age weaving. Enjoy watching the video then have a go at making your own Bronze Age inspired loom and weave your own cord! What will you turn your cord into?

Lastly, we must mention the amazing Bronze Age gold torc at Ely Museum! It was found by a metal dectorist in an East Cambridgeshire field and purchased by the museum, with lots of help from local people, in 2017.

We can't wait to reopen the museum and have it back on display for people to enjoy! In the meantime, join in with our crafts and make your own version from fusilli pasta which mimics the twisted shape of the torc.

Have a go at these two gold torc inspired activities and decide how you think the torc was found and how you would wear the torc - remember, its one of the largest ever found in Europe!

Tune in next week as we go even further back in time to meet the dinosaurs!