0:00:04 > 0:00:08This is Must Farm in the fenlands of Cambridgeshire...
0:00:10 > 0:00:13..an extraordinary site
0:00:13 > 0:00:17that is revolutionising what we know about our past.
0:00:17 > 0:00:23This landscape was once part of the largest wetland in Britain
0:00:23 > 0:00:26and deep down, it is the waterlogged conditions
0:00:26 > 0:00:29that have guaranteed the survival
0:00:29 > 0:00:33of a prehistoric farmstead for 3,000 years.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38It is an exceptional site and I just can't wait to see it.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42During the Bronze Age,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46this settlement collapsed into the marshy fens
0:00:46 > 0:00:48where it was frozen in time,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51perfectly preserved until it was discovered by chance
0:00:51 > 0:00:55and this major excavation was launched.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59This is the crown jewels in terms of what it can tell us
0:00:59 > 0:01:01about past humanities
0:01:01 > 0:01:06and the way people lived in this landscape 3,000 years ago.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09The level of preservation is so extraordinary,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13this site has been dubbed Britain's Pompeii.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15For the first time,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19we can step inside our Bronze Age ancestors' homes
0:01:19 > 0:01:22and discover uneaten meals,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25pristine farming tools,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27beautiful glass jewellery
0:01:27 > 0:01:30and the biggest collection
0:01:30 > 0:01:33of Bronze Age fabric ever found in Britain -
0:01:33 > 0:01:37evidence of the first complete textile-making process.
0:01:39 > 0:01:44This excavation is posing new intriguing questions.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46How were the houses built?
0:01:46 > 0:01:48How did the people survive here?
0:01:48 > 0:01:52And was their world peaceful
0:01:52 > 0:01:53or violent?
0:01:54 > 0:01:59The answers may unlock the mystery of how our ancestors lived.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Over ten months,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06the archaeologists are working to unearth evidence which they hope
0:02:06 > 0:02:09will help them to solve this puzzle.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11But this excavation promises to shed light
0:02:11 > 0:02:14not only on this ancient settlement
0:02:14 > 0:02:18but also on the very roots of our modern world.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Deep in the marshes of the Cambridgeshire fens,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Must Farm is wedged between the M11 and the edge of a quarry.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54'The village was built in the Bronze Age,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57'about 1,000 years before the Romans invaded Britain.'
0:02:59 > 0:03:01Oh, wow.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13This has just sent a shiver down my spine. This is amazing.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21I cannot tell you how unusual this is.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Most prehistoric sites, you're looking at the sediment,
0:03:25 > 0:03:29the soil and you've got to try and imagine what was there
0:03:29 > 0:03:31and it's so rare to get wood preserved.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39Look at this. It's all there in situ, intact.
0:03:39 > 0:03:413,000 years old.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49I'm blown away by this, I really am.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Just astonishing.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57The surviving settlement is made up of five wooden roundhouses,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59built closely together.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12I want to get down in there and have a look.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18'There is so much domestic detail here,
0:04:18 > 0:04:20'we'll be able to piece together
0:04:20 > 0:04:23'how ancient Britons arranged their homes...
0:04:25 > 0:04:28'..from cooking, to storage, to crafts.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:34We can see quite clearly
0:04:34 > 0:04:36the layout of the settlement from up here.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39You can make out the posts
0:04:39 > 0:04:42that delineate these roundhouses
0:04:42 > 0:04:45and you can see how the roof timbers,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48the radiating roof timbers
0:04:48 > 0:04:50have fallen down almost in situ.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59The Pompeii analogy, it's as if we've got a pristine settlement,
0:04:59 > 0:05:04a pristine image of exactly what was going on within a settlement
0:05:04 > 0:05:073,000 years ago, of a series of households,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10all of their worldly goods,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13um, in 3-D.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22There's another house behind there but we've only got a fragment of it.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24'For site director Mark Knight,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26'this is an unprecedented opportunity to understand
0:05:26 > 0:05:29'the intimate lives of our Bronze Age ancestors...'
0:05:29 > 0:05:31It's unbelievable, isn't it?
0:05:31 > 0:05:35It's beyond any sort of dream of what you can do within archaeology.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40'..while wood expert Mike Bamforth has a once-in-a-lifetime chance
0:05:40 > 0:05:44'to investigate the structure of a Bronze Age village.'
0:05:44 > 0:05:47For a wood specialist, this is about the best site
0:05:47 > 0:05:49you could ever imagine to find.
0:05:50 > 0:05:51Wood survives in any environment
0:05:51 > 0:05:54where microbes and bacteria can't go to work on it.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56So in frozen environments,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59in very arid environments and in wet environments
0:05:59 > 0:06:03where eventually all the oxygen has been taken out of the system.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Excavation is a painstaking task
0:06:08 > 0:06:10that can't be rushed.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14Every find and piece of wood is carefully cleaned of soil
0:06:14 > 0:06:17as the layers are slowly stripped away.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Exposed to the air for the first time in 3,000 years,
0:06:25 > 0:06:30the timber will begin to dry out and decay, so it must be kept wet.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42The team is discovering near-perfect bowls containing half-eaten food,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45giving the impression that the villagers were interrupted
0:06:45 > 0:06:48in the middle of a meal.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51At the heart of this discovery lies a mystery,
0:06:51 > 0:06:56because this village was wiped out by a sudden catastrophic event.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00The settlement burned to the ground
0:07:00 > 0:07:05and, for some reason, the inhabitants never returned.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07It took them by surprise, it wasn't planned.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10There's a real sense here that things were all in situ,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13that the settlement was going about its daily routine,
0:07:13 > 0:07:15hence there's food inside the pots
0:07:15 > 0:07:18and things and spoons and stuff like that, so it's caught that.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22It's as though whoever lived at Must Farm fled from that place,
0:07:22 > 0:07:24leaving all their belongings behind
0:07:24 > 0:07:26and those objects were then preserved
0:07:26 > 0:07:30almost in situ for three millennia
0:07:30 > 0:07:33until the archaeologists arrived in the 21st century.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40'At every turn, the archaeologists
0:07:40 > 0:07:42'are making ground-breaking discoveries.'
0:07:46 > 0:07:49So you can see it's got this kind of ridge
0:07:49 > 0:07:51running through the top of it
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and it's quite... As you can see, it's quite substantial.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59The actual piece of wood itself, it goes... It's running all the way,
0:07:59 > 0:08:00all the way underneath,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03so who knows how far it goes that way or that way.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05It seems to be going that way as well.
0:08:05 > 0:08:06This bit is quite weird as well.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09I mean, it must be, it's probably a post
0:08:09 > 0:08:13like this one but the fact it's kind of connected to this big piece
0:08:13 > 0:08:17makes it seems as if it's something different, I don't know.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23'As the object is uncovered,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26'it becomes clear that it IS something different...
0:08:28 > 0:08:32'..a find that demonstrates the people living here had access
0:08:32 > 0:08:35'to the most sophisticated technology.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40'This is the earliest complete wheel ever found in Britain.'
0:08:41 > 0:08:43This is the best preserved,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46most complete one from this area.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52That's all I need to say, really. I mean, it just...
0:08:53 > 0:08:56It's just bigger and better than anything else.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00And complete. It's the fact it's complete, it's wonderful.
0:09:00 > 0:09:01It's so important,
0:09:01 > 0:09:04wood expert Maisie Taylor has come to examine it
0:09:04 > 0:09:06before it's fully excavated.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10It's unbelievably compressed,
0:09:10 > 0:09:15so it would've been quite a lot thicker than this originally.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Evidence for the use of wheels in Britain at this time is scarce.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22This incredible discovery suggests the team can look forward
0:09:22 > 0:09:26to unearthing a wealth of new evidence.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32The Must Farm excavation promises to answer one of the big questions
0:09:32 > 0:09:34about the Bronze Age -
0:09:34 > 0:09:39exactly how connected was Britain to the rest of Europe?
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Must Farm sat in a wetland environment,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01crisscrossed by waterways that, to our ancestors 3,000 years ago,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05formed a vital network for communication and trade.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10Water was simply the easiest way to get around in this environment,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13the easiest way to transport materials
0:10:13 > 0:10:16and to reach out and trade with other communities.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19It was water that connected this ancient village
0:10:19 > 0:10:20to the rest of the world.
0:10:25 > 0:10:26In an earlier test dig,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Mark Knight made another extraordinary discovery
0:10:30 > 0:10:34in an ancient riverbed right next to the site -
0:10:34 > 0:10:38eight complete pristine logboats.
0:10:39 > 0:10:40Wherever you go along this channel,
0:10:40 > 0:10:43there are boats and that is a...
0:10:43 > 0:10:46If ever there was a testament to the richness
0:10:46 > 0:10:50but also to the scale of human activity along this channel,
0:10:50 > 0:10:51then that's it for me, I think.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56The unprecedented scale of this find
0:10:56 > 0:10:58is conclusive evidence that the villagers
0:10:58 > 0:11:01were not living isolated lives.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05What would happen to us if, in this modern world,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07we didn't have the internet?
0:11:07 > 0:11:09How connected would we be?
0:11:09 > 0:11:11You feel in a way that the logboats and the rivers
0:11:11 > 0:11:14was that sort of network, really, that sort of connection.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19We know there was some trade between
0:11:19 > 0:11:21Britain and Europe at this time.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Hopefully Must Farm can help us understand
0:11:24 > 0:11:25how much trading went on
0:11:25 > 0:11:28and how far Britain's connections stretched.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33'As the team dig deeper into the villagers' homes,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36'they notice the fire damage to the wood
0:11:36 > 0:11:39'occurs in a strange pattern.'
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Karl, this has to be one of my favourite pieces of wood.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46You've actually got the structure still intact
0:11:46 > 0:11:48with this piece of wood with the sockets in it
0:11:48 > 0:11:49and these joints coming through,
0:11:49 > 0:11:51these pieces coming through from the other side -
0:11:51 > 0:11:53lovely mortise and tenon joints.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55They're beautiful.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58This is what I would call differential charring, so you've got
0:11:58 > 0:12:02some moderate charring, some cracking there of the wood
0:12:02 > 0:12:04and some places where there is no charring whatsoever,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07no sign of any fire damage whatsoever. This is just...
0:12:07 > 0:12:10'Karl is puzzled as to why timbers higher up in the house
0:12:10 > 0:12:14'are damaged but those lower down are not.'
0:12:14 > 0:12:17- What's that over there? - This is a wooden bowl.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21So it's almost entirely charred but it's right next to another
0:12:21 > 0:12:23base plate like this, I think,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25that's only just touched,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27so I think what you're looking at there
0:12:27 > 0:12:30is a difference of height within the structure,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34so the bowl has been higher up when it's been sat in life
0:12:34 > 0:12:38in the structure. The base plate is sat at a floor level,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41like a skirting board and most of the heat within a fire
0:12:41 > 0:12:44is going to rise through the structure,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47so the bowl has suffered for longer because of that convection heat,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49whereas the base plate has been quite protected.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52So do you have any idea at the moment, and this is a difficult
0:12:52 > 0:12:55question cos there's so much more data to come out of this site,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- but do you have an idea at the moment where this fire might have started?- No.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04'As the fire investigation continues,
0:13:04 > 0:13:06'the team realise that the roundhouses
0:13:06 > 0:13:10'were constructed in an unusual way.'
0:13:10 > 0:13:14If we look at some of the bigger uprights, so this upright here,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16there's no signs of any charring on it,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20it's directly next to large timber members that have charring.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25So that level of protection suggests that that's below flooring,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29that our floor is somewhere up here and all of
0:13:29 > 0:13:33the damage of the fire is then falling down to this level later on.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37'This same feature repeats across the village.'
0:13:37 > 0:13:41So we're just sitting here on the edge of roundhouse one and, as we're
0:13:41 > 0:13:42peeling the roof timbers away,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46we're starting to feel we've got hints of a raised floor structure.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49We know the raised floor structure was here because we've got these
0:13:49 > 0:13:52long lengths of support posts that haven't been burnt at all.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58This is an incredible discovery.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03It turns out that the houses were built on stilts over the water
0:14:03 > 0:14:07and that's why the posts below were protected from the fire.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10No Bronze Age village built in this style
0:14:10 > 0:14:13has ever been found in Britain.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21We can imagine the floor might be up here and that dam
0:14:21 > 0:14:23would actually be underwater.
0:14:23 > 0:14:29OK, so what Dan is excavating is the collapsed charred remnants
0:14:29 > 0:14:32of a building that was above water that's now below water.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36So that's why what you see is not particularly in order,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39it's quite chaotic but in that chaos
0:14:39 > 0:14:42there's lots of indications or attributes
0:14:42 > 0:14:44of what was going on up here,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48so we're seeing timbers that are worked and are charred
0:14:48 > 0:14:51but we're also seeing these sort of thatchy clumps
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and matted-like materials and things, as if we've got the flooring
0:14:54 > 0:14:56as well as the thatch above the roof as well,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58so he's trying to disassemble that.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06While a settlement like this is new for Britain,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08you can see something very similar
0:15:08 > 0:15:10in mainland Europe.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17700 miles away on the shores of Lake Constance in Germany,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19a prehistoric lake village
0:15:19 > 0:15:22has been painstakingly reconstructed.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Could this surprising connection
0:15:27 > 0:15:29be the clue that sheds new light
0:15:29 > 0:15:33on prehistoric European immigration to Britain?
0:15:35 > 0:15:37We know that in the Bronze Age,
0:15:37 > 0:15:42rivers and lakes were thoroughfares transporting people and goods.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49That's why many villages around the Alps were built over water.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Now, there are striking similarities
0:15:53 > 0:15:56between the lake villages on the Continent
0:15:56 > 0:15:59and the newly discovered pile dwellings at Must Farm.
0:15:59 > 0:16:05So is it possible that the knowledge of this way of construction and
0:16:05 > 0:16:09indeed this way of life came to England from mainland Europe?
0:16:11 > 0:16:14There's already evidence that a few individuals
0:16:14 > 0:16:17came from the Continent to live in Britain
0:16:17 > 0:16:19but we don't know the extent of this immigration.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26This important new evidence suggests that 3,000 years ago,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28an entire community
0:16:28 > 0:16:31may have migrated from mainland Europe to the fens.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39So we can imagine the pile dwellers of Switzerland or the Alpine region
0:16:39 > 0:16:43or the people that lived on the rivers of Holland
0:16:43 > 0:16:45being the very people that came and occupied this space
0:16:45 > 0:16:49because it was a space they were already very adept at adapting to
0:16:49 > 0:16:52or inhabiting, so they already had the technology,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54they didn't invent it because of the change of the environment,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57this was their texture.
0:16:57 > 0:16:58As the team digs,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02more intriguing evidence of powerful European connections
0:17:02 > 0:17:04keep turning up.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Tiny, beautifully made glass beads.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Well, this is something really special, Mark, isn't it?
0:17:13 > 0:17:16These are gorgeous glass beads from the Bronze Age.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18We used the word "exceptional" a lot, I suppose,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21in the project and things but these things stand out completely,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24don't they? In their delicate nature but also in their colour.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28They are such beautiful objects, aren't they?
0:17:28 > 0:17:29Lovely colour.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33That is just fantastic, isn't it?
0:17:33 > 0:17:36Did you have people saying to you, "Are you sure this is Bronze Age?"
0:17:36 > 0:17:39- Yes.- Because it's not later, is it? Is it Iron Age?- Yes.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42When we first started recovering so many beads from this context,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44there were sort of raised eyebrows about the fact we were
0:17:44 > 0:17:49saying this is a late Bronze Age settlement because beads aren't found in this quantity.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Mark has sent the beads for analysis
0:17:52 > 0:17:54to try to pinpoint where they come from.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59The indications were straightaway that they were exotic,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01they weren't from round here, and
0:18:01 > 0:18:04we were given sort of indications that they were central European
0:18:04 > 0:18:06and things like that.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08And I think that information is being more refined now
0:18:08 > 0:18:12and we're now starting to get indications that it's even further afield, sort of thing.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15So, sort of Mediterranean and those sorts of areas.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Finds like this are clear evidence
0:18:25 > 0:18:29that the villagers imported luxury goods from Europe.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34But the archaeologists would like to know how much they traded
0:18:34 > 0:18:36and from how far away.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46This is the River Po in northern Italy
0:18:46 > 0:18:49and close to the ancient course of this river,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53archaeologists found a vast prehistoric trading centre,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57an emporium dating to the Bronze Age.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01Raw materials were imported from across the known world
0:19:01 > 0:19:05and worked up into finished objects for export.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09It was production and commerce on an industrial scale.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15'The site is known as Frattesina.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18'Professor Mark Pearce from the University of Nottingham
0:19:18 > 0:19:21'has come to interpret some of the incredible finds for me.'
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Mark, this is such a wonderful collection of objects from Frattesina.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29What do they tell us in terms of the connections of this place?
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Amazing. This is a connection that goes from the far end,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35the eastern end of the Mediterranean right up into Central Europe.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40This is a centre of the world in the Bronze Age. It's exciting.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43So should we start with these? What are these little beads?
0:19:43 > 0:19:44It's a good way to start.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48These are beads that are made out of ostrich egg.
0:19:48 > 0:19:49Do you want to grab them?
0:19:49 > 0:19:51- Got them there. - I'll be very careful.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Now, ostrich egg comes to Frattesina
0:19:54 > 0:19:57up the Adriatic as a raw material
0:19:57 > 0:20:00and it's transformed here into beads.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02So it hasn't arrived as a finished object?
0:20:02 > 0:20:05No, no, this isn't a place which is bringing in finished objects,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08this is a place that's bringing in raw materials and transforming them.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10And it is the Bronze Age we're talking about,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13so there is evidence of metalworking here.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16- Yes, here's a mould for making rings...- Fantastic.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21..and you can see how the copper flows down the groove.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23So there would have been another half to this bowl.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26- There'd be another half.- You pour the copper in the top there.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30And then you break off each ring and you can see where it's been broken off -
0:20:30 > 0:20:33- it's not been finished, this one. - Yeah, amazing.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41'A vast range of raw materials was shipped to Frattesina.
0:20:41 > 0:20:42'Amber from the Baltic...
0:20:44 > 0:20:46'..ivory from as far away as Asia.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49'It's clear that the Must Farm villagers
0:20:49 > 0:20:52'weren't alone in their love of exquisite things.'
0:20:52 > 0:20:55I think we've come to the most spectacular thing last.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00Yes, well, these eye beads and barrel beads are made here in Frattesina.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Frattesina is the major centre of glass-making that we know,
0:21:03 > 0:21:07the biggest centre of glass-making that we now in this period.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11They are beautiful beads. They're really wonderful.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13So it's not just glass working,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17it's also glass-making here at Frattesina and here you can see
0:21:17 > 0:21:20some ingots of glass in various colours.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24This one's really interesting
0:21:24 > 0:21:27because can see the shape of the ingot and you can see
0:21:27 > 0:21:32where the pincers sank into the semi-molten glass
0:21:32 > 0:21:34as the glass worker picked it up.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36That's absolutely amazing.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41You've got the actual operations of the glass-maker
0:21:41 > 0:21:43preserved in this ingot.
0:21:43 > 0:21:44That is fantastic, isn't it?
0:21:44 > 0:21:47- Preserved a moment in time, that has.- Yes, absolutely.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53'Experts are developing scientific techniques
0:21:53 > 0:21:54'that may soon be able to map
0:21:54 > 0:22:00'exactly how Frattesina glass and those beads found at Must Farm
0:22:00 > 0:22:01'travelled around Europe.'
0:22:02 > 0:22:07More recently there's been an awful lot of really interesting work on
0:22:07 > 0:22:12using isotopes and other methods to actually try to understand
0:22:12 > 0:22:15where the raw materials for that glass came from,
0:22:15 > 0:22:17and that's really at its beginnings.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Sites like Frattesina are fascinating in their own right -
0:22:29 > 0:22:32it's amazing to think of people 3,000 years ago
0:22:32 > 0:22:37manufacturing all those goods and trading across the known world.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41The fact that we've got amber from the Baltic or the North Sea coming
0:22:41 > 0:22:45here, ivory from Africa or Asia,
0:22:45 > 0:22:47but I'm really intrigued by the glass beads.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Might it be possible to find a signature for a Frattesina bead,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55so that if one turns up in another archaeological site,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58we'll be able to tell exactly where it came from?
0:22:58 > 0:23:02We're starting to map these connections across the ancient world
0:23:02 > 0:23:04in a way that's never been possible before.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09The Must Farm villagers possessed
0:23:09 > 0:23:14not only locally made goods but exotic luxury items.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19But this was a world before money,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23so what could they have been exchanging in return?
0:23:23 > 0:23:27We found this bladed object which we think is a sickle.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31It's interesting because you can sort of see it's shiny still,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34which is really the unique thing about this site,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37that stuff is so well preserved that it comes out the ground shiny,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39which is pretty amazing.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48This is number six in the number of sickles
0:23:48 > 0:23:50that have come out of the site so far
0:23:50 > 0:23:52and it's the second from roundhouse one.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Thank you.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56So a little hand sickle, still fairly sharp.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59- Yeah.- That's amazing.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01And this looks interesting down here, Mark.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04Yes, well again, there we go - we've got a socketed axe.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07It's one of several that's come out of this roundhouse.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11- Oh, wow.- And you can see, again, like everything else,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14it sort of comes out looking like bronze and not green and things.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17It's got that real sense of being pristine.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19It's heavy. Yeah.
0:24:20 > 0:24:21- I think...- Lovely.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Maybe that's another aspect, another attribute of this excavation,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26- is how fresh everything looks.- Yeah.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30You know, that's the fourth of that type to come out of this house,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32so that's four from one structure.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41Metal started to be used in Britain during the Bronze Age,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44so tools that had once been flint
0:24:44 > 0:24:47could now be reimagined in this exciting new material.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54The incredible quantity of the metal tools found at Must Farm shows that
0:24:54 > 0:24:58the villagers farmed on a grand scale.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02The discovery of bronze was a technological revolution -
0:25:02 > 0:25:05it would transform life in so many ways.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08People had been farming since the beginning of the Neolithic,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11but the advent of bronze meant better tools,
0:25:11 > 0:25:16changes in farming practice and an intensification of agriculture.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Britain never looked back.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29The team has also discovered an abundance of animal bones,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33alongside the tools for farming and bowls of cereal.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37The villagers were herding livestock as well as cultivating crops.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41In this fertile environment,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44they may well have produced more than enough
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and Mark Knight believes that this agricultural surplus
0:25:48 > 0:25:50could have been used for trade.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57We know that the Bronze Age was marked
0:25:57 > 0:26:01by a huge intensification and expansion of agriculture.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07But how did the Must Farm villagers
0:26:07 > 0:26:11keep track of the seasons and manage their crops?
0:26:17 > 0:26:22An intriguing clue can be found in the state of Saxony Anhalt,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24central Germany, in the modern city of Halle.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31There, in the State Museum is an object so extraordinary
0:26:31 > 0:26:33it's recognised by UNESCO
0:26:33 > 0:26:36as one of the most important archaeological finds
0:26:36 > 0:26:38of the 20th century.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45It's known as the Nebra Sky Disc.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49The disc was found in 1999
0:26:49 > 0:26:52and it's the earliest known depiction of the night sky.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56It helps us understand how Bronze Age farmers
0:26:56 > 0:27:01knew when the time was right to sow their crops.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03This is the first picture
0:27:03 > 0:27:07of the real heaven we've had in world history.
0:27:07 > 0:27:14Its surface shows a cluster of stars known today as the Pleiades.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18It's these stars that were so important to farmers.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23The picture is really simple.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27We have here the seven stars of the Pleiades
0:27:27 > 0:27:29and we have here the moon
0:27:29 > 0:27:33and the conjunction of moon and Pleiades
0:27:33 > 0:27:38showed us one special time in the year, the early March.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44The Pleiades are visible in the northern hemisphere
0:27:44 > 0:27:46throughout the winter
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and disappear in the spring,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51around the time that crops should be sown.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55The special thing is not the metalworking,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57the special thing is the knowledge
0:27:57 > 0:28:00fixed into a really, really simple, convincing picture.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Now, scientific analysis has revealed
0:28:06 > 0:28:11that the Nebra Sky Disc was made from metal imported into Germany.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18We analysed the copper. The copper comes from the Alps,
0:28:18 > 0:28:21from the Mitterberg region near Salzburg.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Then we have analysed the tin.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27The tin is coming definitely from Cornwall
0:28:27 > 0:28:29and also the analysis of the gold
0:28:29 > 0:28:31shows us that it's coming from Cornwall.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35So it is a mixture of Germany and of England.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41This exciting evidence suggests that the people of Britain and Germany
0:28:41 > 0:28:47were linked not only by trade but by sophisticated technological ideas.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57Modern scientific techniques like the chemical analysis of metal
0:28:57 > 0:29:01are proving just how dynamic and connected Europe was
0:29:01 > 0:29:033,000 years ago.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08The demand for metals and for luxury goods led to a system of exchange
0:29:08 > 0:29:12that prefigured modern international trade
0:29:12 > 0:29:15and these connections would have a profound impact
0:29:15 > 0:29:18on the developing culture of Europe.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29If water was the gateway to Europe,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32it seems our ancestors at Must Farm
0:29:32 > 0:29:34were determined to take control of it.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41So they are very much stuck out here in the marshes.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44They're away from the dry land, they're away from their fields
0:29:44 > 0:29:48and their farm animals. Why have they put themselves here?
0:29:48 > 0:29:51They recognise that by basically moving out onto this wet space
0:29:51 > 0:29:55and by sitting themselves on top of the rivers,
0:29:55 > 0:29:59they were able then to get themselves to the North Sea,
0:29:59 > 0:30:00get across to the Continent
0:30:00 > 0:30:03or get themselves up into Middle England and get themselves over
0:30:03 > 0:30:06towards the copper and tin of Wales and Cornwall and things.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08Or even if they weren't being that mobile,
0:30:08 > 0:30:11the things that were passing through this landscape,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13just like they were passing up and down the Thames and the Trent
0:30:13 > 0:30:15and all the other major rivers,
0:30:15 > 0:30:19they were in between those movements and able to control it.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23It's the sense of living near the motorways, I suppose,
0:30:23 > 0:30:25the main sort of arteries of life,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29rather than plonking themselves on the margins.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36The Must Farm dig is providing new answers
0:30:36 > 0:30:40to some of the biggest questions about Bronze Age Britain,
0:30:40 > 0:30:44and now, inside one of the villagers' homes,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Mark has found something truly ground-breaking.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51Evidence of the birth of one of Britain's oldest industries -
0:30:51 > 0:30:53cloth making.
0:30:53 > 0:30:54We're in roundhouse one
0:30:54 > 0:30:57and in amongst all of the sort of burnt material,
0:30:57 > 0:30:59we're actually seeing textiles
0:30:59 > 0:31:02and we're also seeing plant fibres.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07These lovely sort of twists or bundles of processed plant fibres
0:31:07 > 0:31:10in preparation for making textiles.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12It just looks like a little bundle of raffia, tied round.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16Yes, absolutely and you can see things like this made from lime bast
0:31:16 > 0:31:19with this little row of knots going across it.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21What's lime bast?
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Lime bast is the fibres behind the bark of a lime tree
0:31:24 > 0:31:25which you can process
0:31:25 > 0:31:28and really make quite fine textiles from and things.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33I mean, that there could be part of a soft flexible basket,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37it could be a mat, it could be a cape. It's really frustrating,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40- but wonderful to have it.- Yes.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44'It is incredible that these waterlogged conditions can preserve
0:31:44 > 0:31:47'textiles for three millennia.'
0:31:47 > 0:31:50The piece to your right there, in close up,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54it's very finely woven plant textiles.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58I don't know, there's a magnifying glass if that helps.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03- It's fabric.- It is fabric and, to all intents and purposes,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06it looks like the stuff that my trousers are made out of,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09you know what I mean? It's that sort of finely woven.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13Yeah, I feel ashamed to say it, but I think I would have expected
0:32:13 > 0:32:17any textiles that these people had in their possession
0:32:17 > 0:32:20to be more like sackcloth, to be something fairly crude,
0:32:20 > 0:32:22and this is far from crude.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24That's absolutely beautiful.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28How amazing to think that's a piece of cloth
0:32:28 > 0:32:32- that's survived for 3,000 years.- Absolutely.
0:32:32 > 0:32:33Really wonderful.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39'Such an extensive array of delicate fabrics
0:32:39 > 0:32:43'has never been found on a British Bronze Age settlement before.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46'To find out just how important they are,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50'Mark is calling in textile expert Dr Susanna Harris.'
0:32:52 > 0:32:54It is important to have portable equipment.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58You can't always take the finds to your laboratory, so...
0:32:58 > 0:33:03you want to have equipment that you can move around.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06The microscope reveals the sophisticated techniques
0:33:06 > 0:33:09used to produce these ancient textiles.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15What we have are these, what we call these passive elements
0:33:15 > 0:33:17and the active elements.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20This is one of those active elements
0:33:20 > 0:33:24and here you see it tucks behind this one
0:33:24 > 0:33:27and it comes out again here, you can see it nicely coming out.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33Susanna can see that the threads
0:33:33 > 0:33:38used to make these fabrics were spun out of natural plant fibres.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41Spinning them must have taken incredible skill.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49So, I've just drawn a line that's five millimetres long,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52so what I want to do is count those threads.
0:33:52 > 0:33:559, 10, 11, 12, 13.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57So over five millimetres,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59we've got 13 threads,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02so over a centimetre we'd have 26 threads,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04and so the Must Farm textiles
0:34:04 > 0:34:07are really...they're up there
0:34:07 > 0:34:09with the other fine textiles in Europe at this time.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15They are also very similar to the cloth we make and use today.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19Like us, the villagers wanted their clothes and their homes
0:34:19 > 0:34:20to look beautiful.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Just because they look black and brown now
0:34:23 > 0:34:26doesn't mean that is what they were like in the past
0:34:26 > 0:34:28and indeed that's part of our research,
0:34:28 > 0:34:33is to try and understand them as they were made in all their glorious
0:34:33 > 0:34:34textures and colours.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39Eventually, this cloth will tell us a lot more
0:34:39 > 0:34:41about Bronze Age lifestyles
0:34:41 > 0:34:46but the question now is whether the villagers were making cloth or
0:34:46 > 0:34:48importing it from Europe.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54In the pile dwellings of Lake Constance in Germany,
0:34:54 > 0:34:58textiles similar to those at Must Farm have also been found.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04Just like at Must Farm,
0:35:04 > 0:35:09some of them appear to be baskets and nets,
0:35:09 > 0:35:11while others are much finer.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15If there was extensive trading
0:35:15 > 0:35:18between villages like these around Europe
0:35:18 > 0:35:21then cloth could well have been one of the commodities
0:35:21 > 0:35:23that was traded.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31But, as work progresses at Must Farm,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35the team discovers something never seen before in Britain -
0:35:35 > 0:35:40a full set of the tools needed for cloth making.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43And there's this rather large object here. What's that?
0:35:43 > 0:35:46OK, so the sort of thing that looks a bit like a cricket bat
0:35:46 > 0:35:48is known as a cloth beater
0:35:48 > 0:35:52and the idea is that this is an object that you are hitting
0:35:52 > 0:35:56the flax stems with in order to turn it into plant fibres.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58It's actually sitting in a groove
0:35:58 > 0:36:01with the plant stems placed across it and then this thing
0:36:01 > 0:36:04is being sort of pivoted and pounding down
0:36:04 > 0:36:07until you start getting the sorts of fibres
0:36:07 > 0:36:09that we were seeing in the bundles inside roundhouse one.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13So you've got quite a few stages in terms of production.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15As you find one element,
0:36:15 > 0:36:18you start to build the broader picture of its production.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22So, textiles were perhaps the first thing we started finding
0:36:22 > 0:36:24but now we've got things like the cloth beater,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27things like the bobbins with the thread wound round them.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Absolutely beautiful. Look at that.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35That's a wonderful, wonderful tiny object
0:36:35 > 0:36:38with it looks like a piece of wood...
0:36:38 > 0:36:42- Yes.- ..and then the thread wound around it.- Yeah.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47Things like the loom weights that also turned up in roundhouse one.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51And like the textiles, they've also suffered from the fire event,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53so you can see they've been burnt as well,
0:36:53 > 0:36:55they're covered in soot and things.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58You can see they're this wonderful pyramid shape.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02That is just fantastic. What's it made of?
0:37:02 > 0:37:05So it's just clay that's just been sort of shaped
0:37:05 > 0:37:08and then pierced and then crudely fired.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12We knew that some cloth was made in Britain at this time
0:37:12 > 0:37:15but we've never before discovered
0:37:15 > 0:37:17the complete technological process,
0:37:17 > 0:37:22all the way from harvest to manufacture to end product.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26It is so rare, exceptional,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30to find the whole sort of range of sort of equipment in terms
0:37:30 > 0:37:33of their production, right from the plant stems themselves right through
0:37:33 > 0:37:35to garments and things.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Our textile specialists will be in a situation where they're going
0:37:38 > 0:37:39to be overwhelmed with that detail.
0:37:42 > 0:37:43Even at this early stage,
0:37:43 > 0:37:47the team thinks that the villagers were making cloth on a large scale.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53It's such an intimate glimpse into our ancestors' daily lives.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55You can imagine them using this technology
0:37:55 > 0:37:57every day in their own homes.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03But why were in these homes,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06along with all those valuable tools, abandoned?
0:38:09 > 0:38:13The answer to that mystery could be found in the charred timbers
0:38:13 > 0:38:15of the roundhouses.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Forensic archaeologist Dr Karl Harrison
0:38:18 > 0:38:21is working to discover how the fire spread
0:38:21 > 0:38:25and whether it was an accident or started deliberately.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29We're getting very similar charring patterns that you might
0:38:29 > 0:38:32expect within a model structure and if that's the case,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35then we can make use of fire investigation techniques
0:38:35 > 0:38:39that we might normally associate with crime scenes, fire scenes,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43to work out hopefully where it started
0:38:43 > 0:38:46or how it spread through the building. That might tell us more
0:38:46 > 0:38:48about how the building is put together in the first place.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51So you're applying what you know about how a building
0:38:51 > 0:38:57would burn today and applying that to a structure 3,000 years ago?
0:38:57 > 0:38:59Yeah, that's the idea. I'm not a fire investigator,
0:38:59 > 0:39:01I'm a forensic archaeologist,
0:39:01 > 0:39:05but the main area of interest that I have is in adapting those techniques
0:39:05 > 0:39:08to the archaeological record and where we have an opportunity
0:39:08 > 0:39:10where the preservation is so good,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13it's so unusual in a British environment
0:39:13 > 0:39:15to actually work with timbers like this,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19then we can really start to use those techniques to their utmost.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28After such an extensive initial examination,
0:39:28 > 0:39:33Karl is now focusing down on where and how the fire might have started.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35I think as we investigate further
0:39:35 > 0:39:38and we understand how the fire developed,
0:39:38 > 0:39:40we'll know a little bit more then about whether
0:39:40 > 0:39:44what we're looking at is a fire that ignites and begins
0:39:44 > 0:39:48and develops in this structure and then spreads across to the other,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52or whether we've got two separate fires that both start
0:39:52 > 0:39:55within the structures, in which case that suggests much more
0:39:55 > 0:39:58that there's an intentional desire to burn.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02If it's an accident,
0:40:02 > 0:40:04we'd expect there to be an accident in one place
0:40:04 > 0:40:07and for it to spread across the site.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11If it's intentional then maybe we'll have multiple fire points.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15The archaeologists also want to discover how fast the fire spread
0:40:15 > 0:40:17and how long the villagers had to escape.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24The next stage in the fire investigation
0:40:24 > 0:40:27is the construction of an experimental roundhouse.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36The reed, the water reed is definitely in the archaeology,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39and the hazel rods are as well.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44You've got to concentrate so you don't fall off the roof.
0:40:53 > 0:40:58Once it's complete, Karl and his team will set it alight,
0:40:58 > 0:41:01and track the intensity and pattern of the flames.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09This experimental roundhouse retains the fundamental features
0:41:09 > 0:41:11of the Must Farm houses.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13All the key structural elements are here.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15There's a ring of supporting posts
0:41:15 > 0:41:18and the principal rafters are coming down from the roof apex,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21balancing on those principal posts.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25It's tied together in sort of circular hoops, purlins.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28These are in place to help hold the thatch up.
0:41:31 > 0:41:36If the fire was deliberate, then what was the reason behind it?
0:41:36 > 0:41:38As the team dig deeper,
0:41:38 > 0:41:40they're beginning to believe
0:41:40 > 0:41:43that there was a darker side to life here.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47They're discovering that the inhabitants built a fence around their village.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52There's an ash palisade running right around the edge of the settlement.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56These ash posts standing shoulder to shoulder with occasional oak posts.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00We don't know how high they stood, but probably above head height.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04Mark Knight suspects that this fence wasn't just for show.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10There is something about the fact that they're in a landscape
0:42:10 > 0:42:12where they've detached themselves from the dry land,
0:42:12 > 0:42:14they've put a barricade around themselves,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16so there is a sense of enclosure.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20It has the sense of a potential defensive nature about it.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24We don't know much about how Bronze Age villages like this
0:42:24 > 0:42:26might have defended themselves.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29If the fence was needed for protection,
0:42:29 > 0:42:31the team would hope to find further evidence...
0:42:33 > 0:42:36..so this find is intriguing.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Yesterday we found a bronze sword.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45Normally when we find bronze it's green and crusted over
0:42:45 > 0:42:47but because of the excellent preservation at the site,
0:42:47 > 0:42:53this is sort of like the actual bronze colour that you can see here.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55The discovery is immediately exciting
0:42:55 > 0:43:00because it's in the Bronze Age that swords first appear.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03But what we don't know is whether swords
0:43:03 > 0:43:05were primarily prestige items,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08commissioned by an elite to show off their wealth,
0:43:08 > 0:43:12or regularly used as weapons.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16The sheer number of swords found around Must Farm
0:43:16 > 0:43:18forms really important evidence,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21which might help the team to answer this big question.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27We pick this thing up. That sharpness of the edge.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30I think you should feel that edge, actually,
0:43:30 > 0:43:32cos it just feels like it's just been made.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35- Ooh. Yeah.- It's just super sharp.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37I don't really want to run my fingers on that, actually,
0:43:37 > 0:43:39- for fear of cutting them.- Yeah.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43And are these actual notches from use along the sides, here?
0:43:43 > 0:43:45Yeah, I don't know. They're really delicate, aren't they?
0:43:45 > 0:43:47So I didn't know.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51I mean, they're less evident than, for example, what's on this blade.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54So, we've got a break
0:43:54 > 0:43:56but equally we've got these deep, deep notches.
0:43:56 > 0:44:01You can see the little burrs going back, where something just hit it
0:44:01 > 0:44:03and that might be indicative that the object itself
0:44:03 > 0:44:06was actually used in conflict.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09So, is this the evidence we're looking for
0:44:09 > 0:44:13that Bronze Age swords were not just luxury goods
0:44:13 > 0:44:16but needed as weapons in everyday life?
0:44:20 > 0:44:23And the fact that you've got swords like this here at the settlement,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26does that suggest that they were fairly ubiquitous,
0:44:26 > 0:44:28that they're not being carried by,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32you know, a small, elite group of warriors,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34but that actually you would expect, perhaps,
0:44:34 > 0:44:36most men to be carrying a sword?
0:44:36 > 0:44:39You know, people talk about them as being disposable
0:44:39 > 0:44:41but I don't know if that's quite the case but there does seem to be
0:44:41 > 0:44:45a lot of these weapons in this environment.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47Presumably this does speak of
0:44:47 > 0:44:49a certain level of violence in this society.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51It's strange, isn't it? We get ourselves into sort of a twist
0:44:51 > 0:44:53in our interpretation as archaeologists.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57We start talking about the sort of weapons being symbolic and things,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59the idea that they don't represent warfare,
0:44:59 > 0:45:01they were status symbols, that sort of thing,
0:45:01 > 0:45:03and we get so far down that route,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06the actual idea that they were ever weapons seems to sort of disappear, sort of thing.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10And yet, you felt the edge of that, you could see how they are made.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12They are...they are weapons.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15They are there for... They're not for hunting, they are for killing.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22To give us a better understanding of how our ancestors made swords,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26swordsmith Neil Burridge is going to try to make one
0:45:26 > 0:45:29using original Bronze Age technology.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43This is a nervous point for me.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47The mould is parted at the top but that's not too bad.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50So I'm just going to top it up a little bit.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52But hopefully...
0:45:52 > 0:45:54Very skilled.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56I'm probably the most experienced
0:45:56 > 0:45:57person in Europe at this
0:45:57 > 0:46:01and I'd say I scratch a one on the Bronze Age scale of ten.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03So it is very difficult.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10Just one sword takes nearly a kilo of precious bronze.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12Neil's experimental work shows our ancestors
0:46:12 > 0:46:15poured massive resources into making them,
0:46:15 > 0:46:17whether for prestige or for battle.
0:46:41 > 0:46:46So you can see there, the mould fragments have broken off
0:46:46 > 0:46:49and you can see the sword casting.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53So it's not bad for a first attempt.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59I think the mould parted a little bit more than I expected,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02so it's increased the width of the sword.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05So it's, in Bronze Age terms, it's a bit heavy.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08They would have gone, "Nah, I don't fancy that one."
0:47:08 > 0:47:11It's a case of working the surface down on the blade
0:47:11 > 0:47:15to bring it up to something like this.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18So they would work on it, polishing.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21They'd use something that is locally available.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24The next, most important stage,
0:47:24 > 0:47:28is forging the edges down to a thin wafer.
0:47:28 > 0:47:33This is very skilled and it's done with anvils and hammers.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35When we find them in excavations,
0:47:35 > 0:47:39they're usually green and corroded and not very attractive.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42But probably in the Bronze Age when a sword was finished,
0:47:42 > 0:47:43it looked like this.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46Beautifully polished, handle,
0:47:46 > 0:47:48decorated blade, and very sharp edges.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05The notches on the swords found at Must Farm
0:48:05 > 0:48:08are being fed into an ambitious new study
0:48:08 > 0:48:11to analyse Bronze Age fighting techniques,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13run by Newcastle University.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18This starts far apart then immediately moves close.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21There's not really much in between.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23You're either unable to reach him,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26or you're both literally face-to-face.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30And it's a very exciting way to fight, certainly.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35Dr Andrea Dolfini is studying
0:48:35 > 0:48:38hundreds of British Bronze Age weapons.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42The problem I'm trying to address is,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45we know these weapons would have been used for fighting, for combat,
0:48:45 > 0:48:47for raiding in the Bronze Age,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49but we don't know exactly how.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54The weapon itself, because it's so short,
0:48:54 > 0:48:58effectively you're using what you could consider to be a long knife.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01Because of that you have to get in so much closer,
0:49:01 > 0:49:02so much more personal.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08The marks left on the swords as they clash
0:49:08 > 0:49:12help Andrea to build an accurate picture of Bronze Age battle.
0:49:12 > 0:49:17We've seen very similar on Bronze Age swords in that the dent
0:49:17 > 0:49:22is opened up. Probably the two blades met and then swing...
0:49:22 > 0:49:25in that direction, and open the dent.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29It's a very brutal, very visceral pursuit
0:49:29 > 0:49:32but it requires a degree of intelligence
0:49:32 > 0:49:35and so it's all about learning to read your opponent
0:49:35 > 0:49:39and really, ultimately, it is to impose your will upon your opponent.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53It does now appear that the Must Farm villagers
0:49:53 > 0:49:57were warriors as well as farmers.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01The team is unearthing lots of well preserved spearheads.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06And it's interesting that they're all carrying along the inside of the palisade.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09So in your mind's eye, what you start doing is...
0:50:09 > 0:50:12You've got people stood there with spears, keeping guard,
0:50:12 > 0:50:15and things like that. So who knows? It reminds us that this world
0:50:15 > 0:50:20wasn't necessarily one of just baskets and pots and roundhouses
0:50:20 > 0:50:23but also was a world where you felt it necessary
0:50:23 > 0:50:26to have a sword and a spear.
0:50:26 > 0:50:31The evidence from Must Farm suggests that, 3,000 years ago,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Britain could have been a violent place.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37So is it likely that the fire that destroyed the village
0:50:37 > 0:50:39was started deliberately?
0:50:47 > 0:50:51Forensic archaeologist Karl Harrison has been building
0:50:51 > 0:50:54a picture of what happened when the village caught fire.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00He's now being joined by wood expert Mike Bamforth.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03They're going to set fire to the reconstructed roundhouse
0:51:03 > 0:51:06to see exactly how the flames might have behaved.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09I've come with some temperature monitors
0:51:09 > 0:51:13and a monitor that will give us an indication
0:51:13 > 0:51:15of the amount of radiant heat
0:51:15 > 0:51:17that's going to escape from the building sideways.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21That should help us understand how fire might have spread at Must Farm.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24And, Mike, what are you hoping to get out of this experiment?
0:51:24 > 0:51:27I think how much of the house is standing at the end.
0:51:27 > 0:51:28Something we don't understand at Must Farm
0:51:28 > 0:51:30is if the house went up in flames
0:51:30 > 0:51:32and then came crashing down as part of the fire
0:51:32 > 0:51:34or if it burnt and was still partially standing
0:51:34 > 0:51:36and then later on it's collapsed and fallen down.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39It's going to be amazing.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42'Karl believes that the fire started inside a house,
0:51:42 > 0:51:44'so that's what he's recreating.'
0:51:46 > 0:51:49The flaming energy that's going to come off this when it's lit
0:51:49 > 0:51:51is going to be sufficient to carry fire up to the roof.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57'In discovering how fast the fire spread,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59'Karl can also build a picture
0:51:59 > 0:52:01'of how long the villagers had to escape.'
0:52:03 > 0:52:05How long do you think this fire is going to last?
0:52:05 > 0:52:07Will it go up quickly or are we going to be here all night?
0:52:07 > 0:52:10I think it will develop quite quickly.
0:52:10 > 0:52:11I think within 6-7 minutes,
0:52:11 > 0:52:14we'll start to see some involvement in the roof space.
0:52:14 > 0:52:1730 minutes and I'd expect the roof to the totally involved,
0:52:17 > 0:52:18and then starting to collapse.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23There's the speed of ignition up to the roof.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27And you can already see the yellowing smoke that's coming out
0:52:27 > 0:52:28on this side in particular.
0:52:30 > 0:52:35The fire takes hold much faster than Karl expected.
0:52:35 > 0:52:36- That's so quick.- Yeah.
0:52:36 > 0:52:37Scary.
0:52:40 > 0:52:41Wow.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47- That's a lot...- Quite warm!
0:52:53 > 0:52:55The heat that we can feel here
0:52:55 > 0:52:57is all radiant heat, spreading laterally.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00So this is what's going to be striking the other buildings
0:53:00 > 0:53:02in our Bronze Age settlement.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04'With houses so close together,
0:53:04 > 0:53:07'the whole village would've gone up incredibly fast.'
0:53:07 > 0:53:11You can see the roundhouse shape is making it a cyclone.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14- Cold air being drawn in... - I can see embers,
0:53:14 > 0:53:15spiralling round inside there.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21'You can imagine panic sweeping through the settlement,
0:53:21 > 0:53:24'the villagers running in terror,
0:53:24 > 0:53:26'forced to leave their precious homes behind.'
0:53:28 > 0:53:33It's suddenly got really hot. The roof's fallen in completely, Karl.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36That has been quick. Do you know what time we started the fire?
0:53:36 > 0:53:40I think that can only be ten minutes, really.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42Yeah, it's not been long, has it?
0:53:47 > 0:53:51'As the whole village went up, it must have been a terrifying sight.'
0:53:53 > 0:53:57And that wide, flat landscape with big skies,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59the spectacle of the pall of smoke and flames.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02It's just pouring off, this huge quantity of smoke.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05It'd be really visible in the landscape.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08'If this village was torched by an enemy
0:54:08 > 0:54:11'then it was a stark and dramatic statement of power.'
0:54:21 > 0:54:26The weight of evidence does seem to point towards a violent attack.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30Most compelling is the fact that these people never returned
0:54:30 > 0:54:34to resettle their village or to reclaim their precious belongings.
0:54:37 > 0:54:38Once the thing had burned down,
0:54:38 > 0:54:41there's no real indication they ever came back.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46So there is also that feeling that the force that drove them away
0:54:46 > 0:54:47might have been more than the fire,
0:54:47 > 0:54:50it might have actually been someone else who'd set that fire
0:54:50 > 0:54:52that didn't want these people in this landscape.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58The settlement at Must Farm shows us that, 3,000 years ago,
0:54:58 > 0:55:03there were people who were living comfortably well-off lives
0:55:03 > 0:55:06that we can still recognise today.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08They were materially wealthy.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13They had objects which they had made themselves with great care,
0:55:13 > 0:55:15and they had objects which were exotic,
0:55:15 > 0:55:16that had arrived with them
0:55:16 > 0:55:21through those complex Bronze Age exchange networks.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23But because they were settled in the landscape
0:55:23 > 0:55:28and because they had this material wealth, they had more to lose.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31So perhaps it's not surprising that during the Bronze Age,
0:55:31 > 0:55:36we see an upsurge in violence and conflict.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46The excavation at Must Farm has vastly expanded our knowledge
0:55:46 > 0:55:48of Bronze Age Britain
0:55:48 > 0:55:52and taken us closer than ever before to the people who lived there.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57We've discovered the Must Farm villagers
0:55:57 > 0:56:01had the creative and practical skills to make fine textiles
0:56:01 > 0:56:04that rivalled anything found across Europe,
0:56:04 > 0:56:08using tools that are at the root of modern industry.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14What they couldn't make, they could acquire,
0:56:14 > 0:56:17because this village was connected to exchange routes
0:56:17 > 0:56:21that stretched across Europe and beyond.
0:56:26 > 0:56:283,000 years ago,
0:56:28 > 0:56:33our ancestors used technology and complex scientific ideas
0:56:33 > 0:56:35to transform their world.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43After the team finishes their work,
0:56:43 > 0:56:46what's left of the village will be buried once again.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52But this isn't the end of the Must Farm adventure.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57The more intensive our excavation programme becomes,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00the more we're seeing. The more you dig, the more questions come up,
0:57:00 > 0:57:01the more detail comes out.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05Every moment, another object comes out with a new story.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07So we're in the throes of completion,
0:57:07 > 0:57:09but in the knowledge that a lot of the materials here
0:57:09 > 0:57:11will go on to another stage.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13They'll be under microscopes, they'll be in laboratories,
0:57:13 > 0:57:17they will be sliced and examined and measured
0:57:17 > 0:57:18and, if anything,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22the story you've been given so far today will be enriched.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24There will be colour, there will be texture that will come out and
0:57:24 > 0:57:27transform elements of our story as well.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34This is the crown jewels in terms
0:57:34 > 0:57:36of what it will tell us about past humanities
0:57:36 > 0:57:40and about the way people lived in this landscape, 3,000 years ago.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48The story of Must Farm has only really just begun to be told
0:57:48 > 0:57:51and there'll be a huge amount of work left to do
0:57:51 > 0:57:54after the excavation has finished.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57It will take years of study and analysis
0:57:57 > 0:58:00before Must Farm reveals all of its secrets
0:58:00 > 0:58:02but it's already changing our ideas
0:58:02 > 0:58:06about the place of Britain in Bronze Age Europe,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09and the foundations of our modern world.