Teaching Prehistoric Yorkshire

Teaching Prehistoric Yorkshire

York Museums Trust have created a free classroom teaching resource for primary schools which explores prehistory through 15 incredible archaeological finds from Yorkshire.

From the earliest evidence of human activity in Yorkshire 500,000 years ago to the Roman invasion, this image-rich resource will help teachers bring prehistoric Yorkshire to life in the classroom. Can you work out who might have owned the earliest gold found in Yorkshire, who buried the weapons cache at South Cave just after the Roman invasion, or how a Bronze Age man buried in a tree trunk coffin died?

Teaching Prehistoric Yorkshire is completely free and includes:

  • High resolution images of the 15 objects
  • A short video introduction to each object focusing on enquiry questions
  • A short film of a curator talking about the object and why it’s important
  • Short animations showing how the objects might have been used
  • Comprehensive teachers’ notes on each object
  • Ideas for classroom enquiries and activities linked to the objects and time periods
  • Classroom activity sheets to download and print
  • Background notes for teachers on the main prehistoric time periods: the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Teaching Prehistoric Yorkshire is the ideal complement to our Prehistoric Progress workshop at the Yorkshire Museum. In this interactive workshop pupils can handle real prehistoric objects and explore different aspects of prehistoric life including building a shelter, dressing for a ritual, making and decorating a Bronze Age pygmy cup and creating a colourful Iron Age coin. Please see our workshop programme for further details.

Teaching Prehistoric Yorkshire was supported by the Art Fund and created in partnership with Craven Museum and Art Gallery, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Malton Museum, Scarborough Museums Trust and Whitby Museum.

Click here to view Teaching Prehistoric Yorkshire.