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• Around 2500BC settlers from mainland Europe brought new skills to Britain.

• They were metalworkers who knew how to work with copper.

• Slowly, Britons learned to make objects from copper, gold and bronze.

• By 2100BC, Britons were mining metals.

• Trading ships travelled to mainland Europe carrying copper, tin and precious objects made by metalworkers.

During the Bronze Age, many people crossed the sea from mainland Europe to Britain.

• They travelled in long wooden boats rowed by oarsmen.
• The boats carried people, animals and trading goods.
• They were loaded with metal from mines, precious swords, pots and jewellery.
• Boats were very useful for carrying heavy materials like stone.

• By the Bronze Age, people in Britain had learned to tame horses.
• Around 1000BC, they learned to make carts with wheels.
• Farmers travelled on horseback or used wooden carts, pulled by horses or oxen.
• The first war chariots appeared at the end of the Bronze Age.

• In 2002, archaeologists at Amesbury, in Wiltshire made an amazing find.
• They discovered the grave of a Bronze Age man.
• He was nicknamed 'the Amesbury Archer' because he was buried with arrowheads used by archers.
• He was buried just two miles from Stonehenge.
• He was buried with around 100 objects!

What can you learn about the Amesbury Archer from his grave?

Main image © The Salisbury Museum. Additional images © Wessex Archaeology