Breedon Hill, near Melbourne, is the site of an Iron Age 'hillfort'. The Iron Age (800 BC to AD43) is the period before the Roman invasion of what is now England. Traditionally, we see it as a period of conflict, that led to people banding together and building defended settlements. These are often found on the tops of hills. Maiden Castle, in Dorset, is perhaps the most famous of these hillforts. The people who built these forts were mainly farmers, who grew crops and managed livestock. Archaeologists have found their houses both inside hillforts and right across the Leicestershire landscape. The hillforts may have been permanent homes for some Iron Age people, but refuges in times of strife for others.
This pot may have been made in Leicestershire: many Iron Age vessels found in the East Midlands are made of a clay which is found in Charnwood Forest. Pots like this one were used for cooking and storing food. This vessel may have been used as a grain store or water butt: pots like it are often found by archaeologists placed in the ditches around the round houses that caught rainwater from the roof.
