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Butser Ancient Farm

On Thursday 28th February, we visited Butser Ancient Farm as a part of our topic about the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
 
 
When we arrived at Butser, we were greeted by a lovely lady called Helen who introduced us to the farm's friendly goats. After this, we were taken to an Iron Age house where Helen gave us a fascinating talk about life in the Iron Age around a burning fire. 
 
After the talk, we were taken outside for our first activity where we learnt how to spin wool. We used a basic spindle to spin some wool into yarn which we used to make wristbands. 
 
For our second activity we became archaeologists. We used trowels and brushes to uncover artefacts which included a wide selection of animal bones, flint and shells. 
 
After lunch we were taken to build our own wattle fences. Sturdy oak posts were built into the ground and with our partners we had to weave the more flexible hazel branches in and out of the post before pushing them down to make the fences. The fences would have been used to keep the animals in and as the base for the house walls.
 
Our final activity of the day was chalk carving. We smeared natural green colouring from a leaf onto larger pieces of chalk before using a flint as a tool to carve a symbol. Flint is a very hard, sharp stone which the Stone Age people used for many things including a tool and a weapon. 
 
Overall we had a fantastic day, and we are excited to learn more about our topic back at school where we'll be able to link our learning to our experiences at Butser Ancient Farm.