Prehistory

From the moment you arrive the experienced Butser Ancient Farm education team organise the smooth running of the day for all school visitors. All trips begin with an introductory talk and discussion around a real fire in one of the ancient houses. Our school visitors then move through their planned activities, all conducted in one of our buildings or in a superb open-air setting. The Butser education team provide hands-on instruction for each activity as well as a discussion of archaeological evidence, historical detail and fascinating anecdotes to reinforce learning... and fun! There is ample time for discussion with students and staff and each activity stimulates a lively, fun discourse in which everybody is encouraged to participate.
At the end of a Butser day our visiting schools leave a little dirtier, highly stimulated, much more knowledgeable about and engaged with their subject, and on time.

We have a Stone Age area and an Iron Age village at Butser Ancient Farm. All our structures are based on evidence from archaeological excavations, our Stone Age buildings are based on evidence from Durrington Walls, near Stonehenge and from North Wales. We know from this evidence that houses were square or rectangular. Our Iron Age Round houses are based on evidence from a variety of sites in Wales, Somerset and Wessex.

Prehistory

From the Stone Age to Iron Age Butser Ancient Farm offers a choice of activities to teach children about life in the past. Our reconstructed buildings from the Stone Age and Iron Age give children an authentic experience of life in the past with Stone Age houses and Iron Age roundhouses.

Students visiting the farm for a whole day will take part in at least 4 hands-on activities chosen in advance from an extensive list. Activities are led by experienced Butser education staff and are designed to be specially relevant to the period studies. Our activities include Pottery, Wattle Fence Making, Jewellery, Clunching, Spinning, Cordage, Flint Wall Building, Chalk Carving and Archaeology.

Minimum price is for 20 children, however we welcome smaller groups at this price. Maximum is 300 children.

Our houses are our classrooms and visitors will have a chance to sit around a real fire and learn about life in Britain while they experience these authentic buildings.

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