Iron Age Brochs History Detective Pack

A history detective pack for ages 11 to 14: when was Mousa Broch built, and why do the sources give different dates? Six short quoted sources with provenance, an evidence table, reading the dates, open questions, how many brochs there were, a judgement question and full answers.

What’s inside:

- Teacher page (fits a Key Stage 3 study of an aspect or theme in British history from before 1066; Department for Education wording)

- Background: brochs and Mousa

- Glossary

- Sources A to F: short quotations with provenance from Historic Environment Scotland, Shetland Amenity Trust and UNESCO’s Tentative List, with source-weighing grids

- Task 1: evidence table

- Task 2: reading the dates

- Task 3: open questions, where the sources give no single answer

- Task 4: how many brochs were there?

- Task 5: your judgement, with a planning prompt

- Full answers with sources

- Credits, licence and sources

Pages: 13 (including cover and credits). Sizes: A4 (210 × 297 mm) and US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), both PDFs included in one zip.

Printing: Print at 100% / actual size on A4 or US Letter. Inside pages use light backgrounds and print well in black and white; covers are dark, so start from page 2 to save ink.

Every fact is checked against named source pages from Historic Environment Scotland, UNESCO, Shetland Amenity Trust and the Department for Education (checked 3 Nov 2026), and the sources are listed on the pack’s credits page. Where the evidence gives no single answer, what each source says is shown with its source.

There are no photos in this pack: all drawings, puzzles and layouts are REALLYBYTE’s own work. Drawings are simplified impressions: not photographs, not reconstructions of any real broch, not to scale, and not copied from any site plan, map, guidebook, print, photo or book. Not affiliated with Historic Environment Scotland, UNESCO, the Shetland Amenity Trust, the RSPB, any government, the UK government or any museum. Their names, and the names of the places they look after, are used only to identify the places and sources we quote.

Licence: personal and single-classroom use. You may print as many copies as you need for your own family or your own class, and share it with your class through a password-protected platform. Please don’t resell, re-upload or share it publicly. For school-wide use, please email info@reallybyte.com.

Made by REALLYBYTE, the team behind brochs.forts.im. Questions: info@reallybyte.com

This is a digital download: no physical item will be shipped.