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The Iron Age: hill forts, Celtic language and the first coins

Study note

The Iron Age came after the Bronze Age, taking its name from the moment people learned to make tools and weapons out of iron, a harder and more useful metal than bronze. Iron Age communities still lived in roundhouses, but these were now often grouped together into larger settlements.

For protection, the people built defended sites called hill forts, set on high ground and ringed with banks and ditches. One of the most impressive examples that survives is Maiden Castle, in the county of Dorset. Knowing the name Maiden Castle and its location is useful for the test.

The people of the Iron Age spoke a Celtic language, part of a family of languages related to forms still spoken today in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. They also produced the very first coins to be made, or minted, in Britain. Some of these coins carried the names of Iron Age kings. Because these coins record real rulers, they are seen as marking the beginnings of recorded British history.

Memory tip: Iron Age: hill forts (Maiden Castle, Dorset), Celtic language, the first British coins.

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Question 1 of 5

What kind of defended settlement did Iron Age people build?

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Show all questions and answers for The Iron Age: hill forts, Celtic language and the first coins(5 questions with explanations)

The Iron Age: hill forts, Celtic language and the first coins: questions, answers and explanations

  1. 1. What kind of defended settlement did Iron Age people build?

    • Roman baths
    • Round barrows
    • Hill forts
    • Stone cathedrals

    Correct answer: Hill forts

    Iron Age people built defended hill forts.

  2. 2. In which county can the impressive Iron Age hill fort of Maiden Castle be seen?

    • Suffolk
    • Dorset
    • Wiltshire
    • Yorkshire

    Correct answer: Dorset

    Maiden Castle is an Iron Age hill fort in Dorset.

  3. 3. Which language family did the people of the Iron Age speak?

    • Latin
    • The Celtic language family
    • Norman French
    • Old Norse

    Correct answer: The Celtic language family

    Iron Age people spoke a language from the Celtic family, related to languages still spoken in Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

  4. 4. The first coins minted in Britain date from the Iron Age.

    • True
    • False

    Correct answer: True

    True. The first coins made in Britain were minted during the Iron Age.

  5. 5. The names of which people were inscribed on some of the first British coins?

    • saints
    • emperors
    • popes
    • Iron Age kings

    Correct answer: Iron Age kings

    Some early British coins carried the names of Iron Age kings.

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