Discovering the past at Carn Euny Families Day

Well, weren’t we lucky with the weather on Sunday for our families day at Carn Euny?! By some miracle (the weather forecast was showing heavy rain all day!) we stayed dry all day and even had some spells on glorious sunshine!

We had a brilliant day, with a steady stream of families coming to explore the mystical Iron Age village. Using a story of an Iron Age boy, and special map, families navigated the activities and learnt about the sites past…

“This village was built high up here so that we could see our enemies approaching. To get a better viewpoint we would go up to the hill fort. Claim your family’s stake in Carn Euny and warn away any enemies, by making a family flag. Decide what emblem you want for your family and use natural dyes to illustrate the flag.”

Families created some brilliant family flags made to ward away enemy tribes.

Warding away the enemy!

“Water was really important to us for drinking, cooking, farming and washing. To help celebrate the well and thank it for the life it brings, we would make special tokens to decorate it, and sing and make beautiful music. Use these natural materials to make something special and take it to the well.”

A selection of weird and wonderful natural tokens were created and processed (with music and song) to adorn the natural well.

Beautiful tokens adorn the well

To collect and carry their wares, families worked with local woodsman Greg Humphries to make Iron Age backpacks. Constructed from 3 sticks, some rope and a hoodie or backpack, this technique was discovered to have been used as far back as the Stone Age.

Other activities included guessing what the fogou was used for (it’s amazing how varied these guesses are!) and role-play in one of the courtyard houses.

Our dedicated weaver of the day… one of the activities in a courtyard

On display was our Carn Euny suitcase, which has been travelling around local primary schools with us, and contains postcards and memory badges created by the children, as well as photographs and DVD’s of their visits.

Admiring the Carn Euny suitcase

Here are some photos of the day-

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Using the map to navigate the site at Carn Euny Families Day

Thank you to all the lovely families who came to play, and for all the positive feedback you gave…

This day was part of the ‘Landmark Travels- Our past in a suitcase’ project which is in partnership with the Institute of Cornish Studies and Cornwall Heritage Trust and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Cornwall Heritage Trust.