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Speaker 1
0:00
Part Two, you will hear a talk by a volunteer who has been taking part in a project to find
out what everyday life was like 2500 years ago in Britain during the time known as the
Iron Age. First you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15?
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Speaker 1
0:55
Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15
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Speaker 2
1:03
Jim Stevens has been taking part in an experiment to find out what everyday life was
like in Britain over 2500 years ago, in the period of history we call the Iron Age. He is
one of a group of volunteers who have been living for the last six months in the sort of
village that people inhabited in those days, and following the sort of daily routine that
ordinary people followed them. So, Jim, tell us what you do on a typical day.
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Speaker 3
1:35
A typical day in the Iron Age village begins with rising at first light. I occasionally did that
when I was at home because I loved having time to myself before the family got up. But
here I do it every day, because it's so light. Others also get up early because they find
the straw beds rather cold. We start work immediately, usually tending to our fires which
have died down in the night. I feed the cattle before starting to get breakfast ready,
usually porridge that's been soaked the night before. It sounds horrid, doesn't it. But it's
not so bad. As it takes such a long time to cook anything, we end up eating only twice a
day. We have a late breakfast after a morning's work. And then in the evening, we
gather together as a community. Although the evening meal provides a chance for us to
chat about the day, it can be quite chilly. So we go to bed pretty early. I think we're

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always hungry. Because we use much more energy than usual. It's all the physical
exertion, a lot of time is spent just trying to get enough to eat, looking for berries and
fruit and things like that. There are lots of other jobs to be done, like cooking, finding
word and keeping the fires going. The biggest priority for the blacksmiths working the
Forge is to attend the fire, and to get it nice and hot so they can carry out their tasks.
They've got various things to make tools, cooking implements, and so on. So life here is
about looking after the animals and looking after ourselves. Everybody's always doing
something around the fire as well. It's not as if we're just sitting there chatting, just living
surviving takes up most of our time. And actually, it's quite difficult to fit in other things
around it. For example, you might be breaking hazelnuts, spinning some wool or just
doing things like straining milk. Here you're finding out how to do different things every
day, which keeps you on your toes and keeps you interested.
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Speaker 1
3:51
Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20?
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Speaker 1
4:22
Now listen, and answer questions 16 to 20.
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Speaker 2
4:29
And I understand that you even built your own houses to live in round houses built in
just the same way that archaeologists think that Iron Age people constructed them. So
tell us exactly how you build an Iron Age Round House.
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Speaker 3
4:44
It's a bit like putting up a tent at first but without the benefit of readymade metal poles.
You mark the center of your house with a wooden peg. What you do then, is loop a

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length of rope around it a mile I count the circle to give you the outer boundary of your
building. Once you've got this, you then have to dig out the ground ready for the wall.
And in Iron Age times people didn't have shovels or diggers like we do today, but use
tools, which they fashioned from animal bone. It must have been quite hard work. Next,
you have to start on the wall. Although there were several native trees around like the
ash and the elm, the ancients preferred oak for the wall posts, which they knocked into
the circle they had dug. Don't forget to leave room for the entrance, otherwise he won't
be able to get into the house. Now you can begin to see the wall of the house
developing to create the framework for the final wall. The stakes were not nailed or
glued onto each other as they might be today. Instead, once with holes cut into each
end are slotted over the upright posts making what to us looks like a fence. This
procedure creates a very firm structure to support the large roof first you need to put up
a good size center post, which is secured with ropes and pegs. But it's not only this,
which is relied upon to hold up the roof. So the next thing you have to do is build around
the post a timber scaffold tower similar to the metal ones used in Britain today. This
temporary structure of wooden poles enables you to put up the main supporting beams,
which are then tied together with rope and fixed to the wall plate at the bottom of the
fence. The top part of this tent like construction is strengthened with two ring beams.
Now the framework for the roof has to be completed. Rather like weaving a basket
using rods from the willow tree. Hazel wood rods are linked to the beams in parallel
hoops. Now you can see the house in skeletal form. The tricky bit is thatching the roof
because it requires great skill. I find this very difficult. First you take Reed bundles and
cut them so that each is of equal length. Then you must fix them firmly so they won't
blow away and heavy winds. The final part of the process is the daubing which in effect
is like modern day plastering. Whereas today we use plaster and paint or wallpaper.
The Iron Age people had a mixture of clay cow dung and straw which they did all over
the inside and outside to give the house a smooth finish.
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Speaker 1
7:45- That is the end of part two. You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to
part two

Group: original exams- phone: 0964879926

Group: original exams- phone: 0964879926