Show examples of Iron Age jewellery and dress accessories from Folkestone, including the bronze brooch in Learn with Objects Stone Age to Iron Age 6: brooch; the bone toggle in Learn with Objects Stone Age to Iron Age 7: toggle; and the archaeological drawing of the brooches at Learn with Objects Stone Age to Iron Age 9: Cheriton Urn-field.
Show the photos as mystery objects. Ask pupils the following questions to see if they can come up with some initial ideas about what the objects might be.
- What material is the object made from?
- How would you describe it - colour, texture, pattern?
- How do you think they were they made?
- What do you think they were used for?
- Who might they have belonged to?
- What might we use today instead?
Through this discussion, introduce the children to the subject of the Iron Age, and that Iron Age people were living in the Folkestone area, including in the Cheriton area and on the East Cliff, before the town was built. We know about their lives from the evidence they left behind.
The children research Learn with ObjectsStone Age to Bronze Age 6, 7 and 9, and other websites to find out more about Iron Age jewellery and dress accessories (items from clothing).
Below are links to some excellent resources you can use in the classroom.
Here’s an intricate Iron Age brooch in rotatable 3D.
https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/schools/learning-resources/3d-objects-stone-age-to-iron-age/brooch
And here’s a superbly decorated Iron Age silver mirror.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1924-0109-1
