Year 5 The Anglo-Saxons: how do we know about life in Anglo-Saxon England? worksheet

“Clues from Anglo-Saxon graves” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 history unit “The Anglo-Saxons: how do we know about life in Anglo-Saxon England?”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 22 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 25 to 30 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Clues from Anglo-Saxon graves

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · History · about 22 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can explain how grave goods help us learn about the Anglo-Saxons.

A Look back3 min

1.
The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43. What happened in AD 410, at the empty box on the timeline? Write it here.
2.
AD 43 AD 410. Write the sign that makes this true.
3.
This is a history detective chain. The first box is empty. Write the missing first step.

B Watch me, then you4 min

Archaeologists began digging at Sutton Hoo in 1938. The famous ship was found in 1939.

Watch me

The dig began in 1938 and the ship was found in 1939.

1939 is one year after 1938, so it sits just to its right.

1938 − 1930 = 8, so the dig began 8 years after 1930.

Now you

1.
The ship was found in 1939. How many years after 1930 was that?

C Your turn8 min

Look at the grave goods on the table. Many red garnets in Anglo-Saxon jewellery came from India. Silver bowls came from Byzantium, far to the east. Then answer each question.

Objects laid on a wooden table: a helmet, a gold buckle, a silver bowl and a sword

1.
Which of these is a grave good? Circle one.
a sword buried in a gravea letter from a kinga school registera newspaper article
2.
Write each card under the right heading.
A sword was buried in the graveA gold buckle was in the graveThe sword was used in battleThe person's favourite food
We know Good guess No way to know
3.
Join each object to where its materials may have come from. Draw a line.
garnet jewellerysilver bowlsiron sword
ByzantiumAnglo-Saxon workshopIndia
4.
Put these steps of an archaeologist's work in order. Write 1 to 4 in the boxes.
1. Study the objects and make inferences
2. Dig carefully and find objects
3. Write up what the objects tell us
4. Record where each object was found

Say it out loud: Which object told you the most about the person in the grave? Tell your grown-up why.

D Spot the mistake3 min

A grassy burial mound with a ship outline in the soil and gold objects inside

Kit says: “We only know about the Anglo-Saxons because they wrote books.”

1.
Tell Kit one thing grave goods show us that writing alone cannot. Write it here.

E Think deeper4 min

Broken pots, a comb and an iron knife lying in the soil of a grave

1.
Only some objects survive in the ground for 1,400 years. Gold and iron often last. Which objects might have rotted away, and what clues would we lose?

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Clues from Anglo-Saxon graves · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. Look for: Romans left Britain or Roman rule ended in AD 410 If your child writes the invasion, check the dates. The blank is the later event, the year AD 410.

2. < If your child writes >, they may think the bigger year is earlier. In AD years, the smaller number comes first.

3. Look for: Ask a question first, before finding evidence or making a conclusion

B

1. 9 If your child writes 10, they may have counted both 1930 and 1939. Count the jumps from 1930 to 1939, which is 9.

C

1. a sword buried in a grave If your child circles the letter, ask whether a letter was found in the grave. Grave goods are objects placed in the grave with a person.

2. We know: A sword was buried in the grave, A gold buckle was in the grave · Good guess: The sword was used in battle · No way to know: The person's favourite food If your child puts the sword in battle under We know, ask: did someone see it used, or do we only suspect it?

3. garnet jewellery → India; silver bowls → Byzantium; iron sword → Anglo-Saxon workshop If your child joins the bowls to India, they have mixed up the garnets and the silver. Each object has its own source.

4. 1 Dig carefully and find objects · 2 Record where each object was found · 3 Study the objects and make inferences · 4 Write up what the objects tell us If your child puts the study before the digging, ask: how could you study an object you have not found yet?

D

1. Look for: Says grave goods show what people valued, trade links, or craft skill, without relying on written records If your child writes about books or writing, ask what the sword or the gold buckle could tell us without any words.

E

1. Look for: Names a material that rots, such as wood, cloth or leather, and explains it would not survive in the ground

Words to use

Say“What did the objects tell us that no book could? Which clue would you check first?”

Instead of“Just tell them the answer, or say that objects are not really evidence.”

After the sheet

Pick three ordinary objects at home, such as a spoon, a shoe and a mug. Write what each would tell a future archaeologist about the people who used it, then talk about what might be missing.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

What graves can tell us(with a plan)
Clues from Anglo-Saxon coins(with a plan)
What laws reveal(with a plan)
Pagan and Christian Clues(with a plan)
Reading the Clues from the Past(with a plan)

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