Children’s University Tübingen: Bronze Age Resources – discovering by playing
Bronze Age live and interactive on Tübingen Castle.
As a part of the programme ‘Children’s University’ on the 6th of July 2014 the handling of resources and everyday live of the epoch could be experienced playfully in different stations.
Students of archaeology took the role of Bronze Age settlers and taught children the basics needed to build a settlement. The Bronze Age ways of dealing with material resources such as cereals and ores were explained with the help of real plants and metals. In addition the use and importance of intangible resources, such as infrastructure, trade networks and cultural achievements was addressed.
Handicraft as a resource
The children were exploring prehistoric craftsmanship by producing needles from deer bones. Needles made from bone were, as a necessity for textile working, part of everyday life since 40,000 years.
From needle to garments – Iron Age fashion
Apart from their production, Iron Age clothes themselves were a subject to discover. The children had the choice from garments of a variety of periods to fit out a Celtic couple. Finally the clothes really belonging into the Iron Age were revealed. The different parts of the garment explained and the kids were allowed to wear them.
The question of daily bread has always been an important issue in people's everyday lives. What cereals existed in the Bronze Age and how can they be further processed into flour? The children were able to grind grain with a millstone and then taste self-made bread and a Stone Age stew.
