Age of Ancestors

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0:00:06 > 0:00:10This is the story of how Britain came to be.

0:00:10 > 0:00:16Of how our land, and its people, were forged over thousands of years of ancient history.

0:00:21 > 0:00:23This Britain is a strange and alien world...

0:00:25 > 0:00:30A world that contains the hidden story of our distant pre-historic past.

0:00:34 > 0:00:42The occupation of Britain began with hunters, battling for survival through the Ice Age...

0:00:42 > 0:00:49It's fantastic, after 14,000 years, to get a glimpse of the way at least one individual was thinking.

0:00:49 > 0:00:54..and continued into a new age that came after the ice.

0:00:55 > 0:00:59Instead of hunting mammoth and reindeer in the snow,

0:00:59 > 0:01:05he hunted red deer in the wild wood.

0:01:05 > 0:01:08Now the journey continues...

0:01:11 > 0:01:15..with the next chapter in our epic story...

0:01:15 > 0:01:19Nothing like this had ever been seen in Britain.

0:01:21 > 0:01:27..the invention of farming and the massive social revolution that came with it.

0:01:28 > 0:01:33A brave new world that shaped our land and the way we lived...

0:01:34 > 0:01:35..forever.

0:01:52 > 0:01:58I'm going back 10,000 years, to a wild and untamed Britain.

0:02:01 > 0:02:05The Ice Age was over and a new Britain had emerged

0:02:05 > 0:02:12blanketed with trees - birch, alder, hazel and finally oak.

0:02:12 > 0:02:15Across the whole of our land,

0:02:15 > 0:02:18perhaps no more than a few thousand nomadic hunters

0:02:18 > 0:02:23lived by drawing everything they needed from that landscape.

0:02:23 > 0:02:25They had flint for tools.

0:02:25 > 0:02:32Red deer provided meat, antlers for picks and harpoons and needles,

0:02:32 > 0:02:36hides for shelters and clothes.

0:02:36 > 0:02:41These people didn't just live close to nature, they were part of nature.

0:02:46 > 0:02:4910,000 years ago Britain was still attached to mainland Europe,

0:02:49 > 0:02:52as it had been throughout the Ice Age.

0:02:54 > 0:02:58Now though, sea levels were rising and a new Britain was emerging.

0:03:01 > 0:03:04Gradually, Britain was becoming an island.

0:03:04 > 0:03:09Much of the land that had been home to nomadic hunters for thousands of years

0:03:09 > 0:03:11was disappearing beneath the waves.

0:03:19 > 0:03:22Here on the south coast, just off the Isle of Wight,

0:03:22 > 0:03:24there's a relic of that ancient world.

0:03:24 > 0:03:29Evidence of people who lived here just as all this was becoming sea.

0:03:31 > 0:03:3510,000 years ago there was no Isle of Wight.

0:03:35 > 0:03:37It was part of the English mainland to the North

0:03:37 > 0:03:41and still joined to Northern Europe and France to the South.

0:03:41 > 0:03:46And all of that out there, the Solent, was dry land.

0:03:48 > 0:03:52Which should mean out there, underneath the water,

0:03:52 > 0:03:56are the relics of a lost world and of the people who lived on it.

0:04:04 > 0:04:08It's a world that's being explored by archaeologist Gary Momber.

0:04:08 > 0:04:12And I'm going to join him.

0:04:26 > 0:04:31'I'm about to go back to a time when rising sea levels were turning land into tidal marsh,

0:04:31 > 0:04:33'when Britain was an island in the making.'

0:04:35 > 0:04:41The site is 8,000 years old, a time archaeologists call the Mesolithic,

0:04:41 > 0:04:45or middle stone age.

0:04:45 > 0:04:47It's opening a picture of the Mesolithic period

0:04:47 > 0:04:49that we're not getting from sites on land.

0:04:49 > 0:04:52So when the sea level was lower, we're further back in time,

0:04:52 > 0:04:55and we're finding the well-preserved remains.

0:04:55 > 0:04:58So it's actually the sea that's going to make it awkward for us

0:04:58 > 0:05:00is what has preserved what we're going to see..

0:05:00 > 0:05:03If it wasn't for the sea, it wouldn't be there.

0:05:06 > 0:05:08We're doing a final diver check.

0:05:10 > 0:05:12Diver's ready for the water.

0:05:23 > 0:05:27Once this was home to a coastal community of hunter gatherers

0:05:27 > 0:05:31living a way of life that had barely changed for thousands of years.

0:06:28 > 0:06:32What's been discovered here is more than an ancient hunting camp.

0:06:32 > 0:06:35It's the oldest boat building yard in the world.

0:06:37 > 0:06:42And it contains fragile evidence of the sophistication of the people who once lived here.

0:06:54 > 0:06:58- That was fantastic. - It was. I could stay down there for hours when it's like that.

0:06:59 > 0:07:03So this piece of timber is how old? How long is it since it was worked?

0:07:03 > 0:07:04It's over 8,000 years old.

0:07:04 > 0:07:09It has come up in association with other bits and pieces,

0:07:09 > 0:07:11and one piece of timber in particular,

0:07:11 > 0:07:14which we believe may be part of a logboat.

0:07:14 > 0:07:19See those grooves, how clearly defined they are?

0:07:19 > 0:07:22- So that's woodworking? That's not natural erosion? - No, that's woodworking.

0:07:22 > 0:07:27That's obviously part of something, with the grooves either side.

0:07:27 > 0:07:33So someone 8,000 years ago was working with a stone tool to create these grooves.

0:07:33 > 0:07:38You don't, as a general rule, you just don't see organic material coming out of Mesolithic sites.

0:07:38 > 0:07:42You get the stone tools, but to see what those stone tools were being used for,

0:07:42 > 0:07:44it's the other half of the equation.

0:07:44 > 0:07:47It's pretty unique and pretty special.

0:07:51 > 0:07:56The logboat is an extraordinary insight into the lives of the hunters who once lived here.

0:07:58 > 0:08:01Mesolithic life might have been nomadic,

0:08:01 > 0:08:03but it was largely carried out

0:08:03 > 0:08:06around the shorelines of Britain's coasts and rivers.

0:08:06 > 0:08:11The forested land of the interior was a dangerous, forbidding world.

0:08:13 > 0:08:15But all that was about to change.

0:08:20 > 0:08:24And all because of these - tiny grains of barley.

0:08:24 > 0:08:28Like the Solent boat builders, these are around 8,000 years old.

0:08:28 > 0:08:30But these aren't from the Isle of Wight.

0:08:30 > 0:08:35These are from more than 2,000 miles away to the south-east, what's now Syria.

0:08:35 > 0:08:41This is evidence of a new way of living, a world not of hunting, but of farming.

0:08:41 > 0:08:43When this new technology arrived in Britain

0:08:43 > 0:08:48it would nudge us towards a whole new era in our history,

0:08:48 > 0:08:52what we call the Neolithic - the new stone age.

0:08:55 > 0:09:01By producing food, farming communities could provide for bigger families, more children.

0:09:01 > 0:09:06And that meant better chances of survival for the whole group.

0:09:08 > 0:09:15Instead of hunting the wild herds, now farmers had new, domesticated breeds of cattle and sheep.

0:09:15 > 0:09:23Instead of gathering wild nuts and berries, farmers could grow most of what they needed from seed.

0:09:23 > 0:09:29The Neolithic revolution was to utterly change the way we thought about food and survival.

0:09:29 > 0:09:31But it was much, much more than that.

0:09:34 > 0:09:42It was also to profoundly alter our sense of ourselves as human beings, as part of the natural world.

0:09:43 > 0:09:47In a sense, as well as domesticating livestock,

0:09:47 > 0:09:51we were also domesticating ourselves.

0:09:58 > 0:10:03This revolution, when it finally reached our shores, would change everything.

0:10:05 > 0:10:08It would change the land, the things we ate.

0:10:08 > 0:10:10It would change our relationship with time.

0:10:13 > 0:10:17It would change our beliefs and the way we understand our place in thee universe.

0:10:21 > 0:10:23This change, the jump to farming,

0:10:23 > 0:10:26was the single greatest social revolution there's ever been.

0:10:30 > 0:10:32HORN BLARES

0:10:38 > 0:10:43To try and understand what happened when the radical new world of agriculture

0:10:43 > 0:10:46collided with the ancient world of the hunter,

0:10:46 > 0:10:50I'm leaving England behind and crossing the Channel to France.

0:10:51 > 0:10:57By 5,000 BC, Neolithic culture was spreading into Western Europe.

0:10:57 > 0:11:02For the hunting communities of Northern France, the new ways must have been completely baffling.

0:11:09 > 0:11:12In Brittany, there's a unique set of monuments -

0:11:12 > 0:11:16line upon line of ancient standing stones.

0:11:25 > 0:11:31These were not erected by Neolithic farmers, but by Mesolithic hunters,

0:11:31 > 0:11:35just as the first farmers started appearing on their doorstep.

0:11:37 > 0:11:40This place is just extraordinary.

0:11:40 > 0:11:45I've known about it for years, I've seen photographs of it countless times, but this is my first visit.

0:11:45 > 0:11:50And the impact of the stones is just breathtaking.

0:11:50 > 0:11:52Everywhere you look there are more of them.

0:11:52 > 0:11:55They're in every direction, line after line of them.

0:11:55 > 0:11:58When you look at any one of them, they weigh at least tens of tons.

0:11:58 > 0:12:01Some of them look like they weigh even more.

0:12:06 > 0:12:09They completely dominate the landscape, everywhere you look.

0:12:11 > 0:12:18We use extraordinary to describe a lot of things, but a place like really deserves the word.

0:12:23 > 0:12:26What we're looking at is the result of a collision,

0:12:26 > 0:12:31not just of cultures, but of two completely different belief systems.

0:12:31 > 0:12:39All of this might be the result of a monumental tipping point in human history.

0:12:46 > 0:12:49The hunters hauled the stones into place to demonstrate their strength

0:12:49 > 0:12:53in the face of people they didn't understand.

0:12:54 > 0:12:57But theirs was the "old" world.

0:12:59 > 0:13:03In just a few hundred years Neolithic culture took over.

0:13:05 > 0:13:12And many of these great standing stones became building material for something new...

0:13:15 > 0:13:17Neolithic stone tombs.

0:13:20 > 0:13:25Archaeologist Serge Cassen has studied them for over 20 years.

0:13:25 > 0:13:30Is there a connection between the change from lines of stones

0:13:30 > 0:13:35to tombs like this, and the change to farming?

0:13:35 > 0:13:40Yes. It is probably linked with this new process, this new economy,

0:13:40 > 0:13:44this full Neolithic, where life of animals,

0:13:44 > 0:13:49life of plants are very important inside this life-cycle.

0:13:54 > 0:13:58Inside one tomb, excavated by Serge,

0:13:58 > 0:14:04this decisive fork in history is marked by some remarkable rock art.

0:14:04 > 0:14:09So these are the old style Mesolithic hunting weapons,

0:14:09 > 0:14:13almost like a primitive boomerang to kill birds?

0:14:13 > 0:14:17- Exactly.- So this is the old world, very male, very phallic.- Yes.

0:14:17 > 0:14:21'One carving in particular brings it all home.'

0:14:21 > 0:14:24We can observe now carvings...

0:14:24 > 0:14:27Another throwing stick.

0:14:27 > 0:14:32Yes, the same shape, the same weapon, the same presentation, and under,

0:14:32 > 0:14:38we have the arcs from the Neolithic period, with this handle.

0:14:38 > 0:14:41- So this triangular shape.- Yes.

0:14:41 > 0:14:46So you've got the new technology of the axe,

0:14:46 > 0:14:51on top of and even cutting into the old world.

0:14:51 > 0:14:53Yes.

0:14:53 > 0:14:58This is almost the moment, it's depicting the moment when the

0:14:58 > 0:15:01old world and the new world collide

0:15:01 > 0:15:05and after that collision, the new world is dominant over the old.

0:15:05 > 0:15:07Exactly.

0:15:09 > 0:15:13We may never fully understand a site like Carnac.

0:15:13 > 0:15:19We might never hear what those hunters were trying to say with the stones

0:15:19 > 0:15:25but to me, apart from anything else, they are a statement of defiance.

0:15:25 > 0:15:28They're saying to the farmers,

0:15:28 > 0:15:31"Come in. Bring your crops, bring your animals,

0:15:31 > 0:15:35"but be aware that we are here, that we've always been here.

0:15:35 > 0:15:39"We're part of this landscape and we belong to it."

0:15:39 > 0:15:41They're saying,

0:15:41 > 0:15:44"We may not last forever.

0:15:44 > 0:15:50"Our way of life may not last forever, but we will be remembered.

0:15:50 > 0:15:53"Not just for now but for all time."

0:15:57 > 0:16:02The age of the Mesolithic was coming to an end.

0:16:02 > 0:16:08By 4500 BC, the Neolithic revolution had conquered almost all of Europe.

0:16:08 > 0:16:13But around here, it came to a halt because of that.

0:16:13 > 0:16:16Farming might have swept across the land mass of Europe

0:16:16 > 0:16:20but the last few watery miles presented a different challenge.

0:16:21 > 0:16:28It would take hundreds of years, but that final leap across the Channel and into Britain was inevitable.

0:16:34 > 0:16:39Exactly how the new stone age came to Britain and what the local hunters made of it

0:16:39 > 0:16:43remains one of the greatest mysteries in all of our prehistory.

0:16:47 > 0:16:53The first farmers must have come to Britain by boat, bringing their families, domestic cattle and grain.

0:16:57 > 0:17:03These were pioneers, undertaking a perilous journey to a new and unknown land.

0:17:07 > 0:17:13And direct evidence of some of those first farmers can be found here in Kent.

0:17:24 > 0:17:25Wait till you see what's up here.

0:17:34 > 0:17:38Nothing like this had ever been seen before in Britain.

0:17:38 > 0:17:41This is one of the very earliest stone tombs.

0:17:41 > 0:17:43This is Neolithic behaviour.

0:17:43 > 0:17:47The people who built this were amongst the first

0:17:47 > 0:17:49to come and farm our land,

0:17:49 > 0:17:53and we're talking about 6,000 years ago.

0:17:56 > 0:18:01Today, the rich soil of Kent is still prime farming land.

0:18:02 > 0:18:05And together with its proximity to mainland Europe,

0:18:05 > 0:18:09you can see the attraction for the earliest farmers coming over.

0:18:10 > 0:18:13You have to remember that 6,000 years ago,

0:18:13 > 0:18:16when the first people arrived with the intention of farming here,

0:18:16 > 0:18:18all of that would've been woodland,

0:18:18 > 0:18:21so first of all they had to clear the trees, cut them down,

0:18:21 > 0:18:23burn them down,

0:18:23 > 0:18:26and then they had to build their homesteads.

0:18:28 > 0:18:30You can only imagine what the local hunters thought.

0:18:36 > 0:18:41Unlike the of Mesolithic hunters who hugged the coastline and river valleys,

0:18:41 > 0:18:46the first farmers began to break into the interior of Britain.

0:18:46 > 0:18:50And what they found was a wild and wooded place.

0:18:52 > 0:18:58For thousands of years, forests of oak and birch had grown, blanketing the landscape in green.

0:19:00 > 0:19:03This was home to red deer and elk.

0:19:03 > 0:19:07In the undergrowth, bears and wild pig.

0:19:09 > 0:19:13But this wild and ancient Britain was about to be transformed...

0:19:14 > 0:19:16..forever.

0:19:20 > 0:19:23The new farmers were technologists.

0:19:23 > 0:19:26This wasn't living off the land like the Mesolithic hunters

0:19:26 > 0:19:32but shaping it, adapting it, making IT work for THEM.

0:19:36 > 0:19:39These people weren't simply fitting into the world alongside nature.

0:19:39 > 0:19:43They were going to rule OVER it.

0:19:45 > 0:19:52Incredibly, some of those pioneers, the very mothers and fathers of this brave new world, have survived.

0:20:01 > 0:20:06Around 17 individuals were interred in that Neolithic tomb in Kent

0:20:06 > 0:20:11and these are the bones of just a few of them.

0:20:11 > 0:20:17There's a whole age range represented amongst the dead.

0:20:17 > 0:20:23These pelvis bones, this is a baby, and an older child through to

0:20:23 > 0:20:27older people, and old people in Neolithic terms is somebody my age.

0:20:27 > 0:20:30Somebody in their 40s would be pensionable.

0:20:31 > 0:20:36We often talk about the Neolithic revolution and the farming revolution

0:20:36 > 0:20:40and the effect it had on Britain and on the landscape.

0:20:42 > 0:20:46But what you also see here, and you have to remember all the time, are REAL people.

0:20:46 > 0:20:53This is part of a man's skull.

0:20:53 > 0:20:59These individuals are part of the most profoundly affecting

0:20:59 > 0:21:02living experiment that's ever been attempted.

0:21:02 > 0:21:05They trust their future

0:21:05 > 0:21:10to planting a few seeds in the spring in the hope of a harvest in the autumn.

0:21:10 > 0:21:12They keep some animals

0:21:12 > 0:21:19in the hope that that meat will be enough to sustain them and their families.

0:21:19 > 0:21:23It's a gamble, so whatever else you might want to imagine

0:21:23 > 0:21:27about this...man,

0:21:27 > 0:21:29he was certainly brave.

0:21:35 > 0:21:38It's traditionally been thought that farming gradually spread north

0:21:38 > 0:21:42and west from its first foothold in the south-east.

0:21:42 > 0:21:45But new evidence suggests this could be wrong.

0:21:49 > 0:21:53This is a piece of a bone from a domesticated cow -

0:21:53 > 0:21:56a classic Neolithic indicator.

0:21:56 > 0:21:59What makes this one unique, however, is that it wasn't found in the

0:21:59 > 0:22:04south-east of England, but in the deep south-west of Ireland.

0:22:04 > 0:22:09It may date from as early as 4,300 years BC.

0:22:09 > 0:22:14That's hundreds of years before the first trace of the Neolithic lifestyle in Kent.

0:22:14 > 0:22:19So far, no one has been able to explain what it's doing there.

0:22:22 > 0:22:26And the unexplained cow bone isn't the only evidence that's challenging

0:22:26 > 0:22:30the accepted story of how Neolithic culture spread through Britain.

0:22:34 > 0:22:42As far north as Orkney, there's also evidence of early farmers - in the shape of prehistoric voles.

0:22:42 > 0:22:46So here's a group of skulls. You can see characteristic skull shapes.

0:22:46 > 0:22:48This guy here is the field vole.

0:22:48 > 0:22:52This is the vole found most commonly in the UK mainland.

0:22:52 > 0:22:55This guy here is actually much more interesting.

0:22:55 > 0:22:56This is the vole that's found

0:22:56 > 0:23:00in Orkney, but is not found, importantly, in the UK and Ireland.

0:23:01 > 0:23:05Microtus arvalis - the Orkney vole -

0:23:05 > 0:23:08only lives on a few islands off the north-east tip of Scotland.

0:23:10 > 0:23:13The evidence of ancient vole bones shows

0:23:13 > 0:23:17that they first appeared at least 5,500 years ago.

0:23:19 > 0:23:22The question is, how did they arrive?

0:23:22 > 0:23:26The closest relatives that we have genetically to the Orkney vole

0:23:26 > 0:23:32population are from the Rhine valley in Germany,

0:23:32 > 0:23:35and maybe in Brittany.

0:23:35 > 0:23:40It's clear the voles aren't swimming from Europe to Orkney on their own,

0:23:40 > 0:23:42which means that humans are involved.

0:23:43 > 0:23:49It's thought the voles came amongst grain carried by early farmers.

0:23:49 > 0:23:53Not from the British mainland, but direct from France.

0:23:57 > 0:24:04It seems that the early settlers in Kent might represent only one route Neolithic culture took from Europe.

0:24:07 > 0:24:12There are also those earlier Neolithic expeditions to south-west Ireland,

0:24:12 > 0:24:16and the mysterious vole-carrying voyages direct to Orkney.

0:24:21 > 0:24:24What's emerging is something much more complex

0:24:24 > 0:24:28and subtle than the traditional view of the Neolithic revolution.

0:24:31 > 0:24:37Many people would have continued with a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle,

0:24:37 > 0:24:39supported by a few domesticated animals.

0:24:39 > 0:24:43And that way of life would have continued for hundreds of years at least.

0:24:43 > 0:24:45And then there were the settled farmers themselves.

0:24:45 > 0:24:49They would have continued to hunt to supplement their diet.

0:24:51 > 0:24:56However people took up the new ways, it's now thought that Neolithic culture

0:24:56 > 0:25:00in some form swept across the whole of Britain in just a few generations.

0:25:02 > 0:25:06But, with just a few fragments of evidence from 6,000 years ago,

0:25:06 > 0:25:11exactly how it all began might forever remain a mystery.

0:25:14 > 0:25:20What's more, across the whole of Britain there's precious little evidence of how those early farmers

0:25:20 > 0:25:26actually lived, which is why I'm leaving our shores yet again, headed this time for Ireland.

0:25:55 > 0:26:02Welcome to the west of Ireland, one of the wildest, most spectacular landscapes I've ever seen.

0:26:24 > 0:26:25In Britain,

0:26:25 > 0:26:29archaeologists have only discovered fragments of early farming.

0:26:29 > 0:26:33But here something's been preserved on a truly massive scale.

0:26:34 > 0:26:38What's special about this place is the ground.

0:26:38 > 0:26:44This landscape is blanketed in peat bog - slowly decaying vegetation that builds up layer upon layer.

0:26:44 > 0:26:48It takes thousands of years. But what has drawn me here isn't the bog itself,

0:26:48 > 0:26:54but what's hidden beneath it, as much as four metres beneath my feet.

0:26:54 > 0:26:55Just drive it in.

0:26:55 > 0:26:58It's like a knife through butter!

0:26:58 > 0:27:04Archaeologist Seamus Caulfield has been probing this bog with simple metal rods for over 40 years.

0:27:06 > 0:27:07So just about here.

0:27:07 > 0:27:10Put it in straight, vertical.

0:27:10 > 0:27:17'He's using them to map ancient stone walls, made by the Neolithic farmers who once lived here.'

0:27:20 > 0:27:24So that's the old ground surface coming on and then...

0:27:24 > 0:27:26You can hear that you are hitting stone now.

0:27:26 > 0:27:28It's beginning to look like it.

0:27:28 > 0:27:30CLUNKING

0:27:30 > 0:27:33- That's amazing. - Listen to that again.

0:27:33 > 0:27:34Yeah, knock, knock.

0:27:34 > 0:27:385,500 years ago, someone lifted a stone in place,

0:27:38 > 0:27:42and now we're hearing it for the first time.

0:27:42 > 0:27:46So how much have you found? How extensive is the wall?

0:27:46 > 0:27:50Something over 100 linear kilometres at this stage.

0:27:50 > 0:27:52- 100 kilometres?!- Yeah.

0:27:52 > 0:27:56You're joking! That's jaw-dropping.

0:27:56 > 0:27:58The scale of it, 5,500 years ago.

0:27:58 > 0:28:01Yes, it's just sitting there under the bog as it was.

0:28:02 > 0:28:06By probing every inch of this land, Seamus and teams of helpers

0:28:06 > 0:28:09have revealed far more than some buried walls.

0:28:14 > 0:28:20What they've found is the biggest Neolithic field system in the entire world -

0:28:20 > 0:28:24cattle enclosures that stretch almost as far as the eye can see.

0:28:28 > 0:28:31What are the fields for?

0:28:31 > 0:28:34It's a dairy economy. They have to wean the calves

0:28:34 > 0:28:39from the milk cows, separate the dry stock from the milking animals.

0:28:39 > 0:28:42There's herd management...

0:28:42 > 0:28:44is what is involved.

0:28:44 > 0:28:50- So they need lots of separate areas to keep bull calves and milking cows and all the rest?- Yes.

0:28:57 > 0:29:01Typically in Ireland, the weather turns foul.

0:29:01 > 0:29:04But I'm determined to uncover some of this wall for myself.

0:29:06 > 0:29:10And here on the bog, there's only one way to do it.

0:29:11 > 0:29:13Clean the blade.

0:29:15 > 0:29:17Is this all just used locally, Seamus?

0:29:17 > 0:29:19This is just for folk to burn?

0:29:19 > 0:29:24That's 90% water at the moment, but it dries out, and that is the fuel we use all the time.

0:29:24 > 0:29:26So this is all for fuel?

0:29:30 > 0:29:31NEIL LAUGHS

0:29:32 > 0:29:34All I can say is, don't give up the day job.

0:29:34 > 0:29:36You're right!

0:29:41 > 0:29:43Look, there it is! Look at that.

0:29:47 > 0:29:50That is the wall.

0:29:50 > 0:29:52That's amazing.

0:29:52 > 0:29:54Come here. Look at this. Look.

0:29:54 > 0:29:57That's the top of a wall which is about a metre high.

0:29:57 > 0:30:00It extends down about a metre beneath my feet.

0:30:00 > 0:30:06The sun has risen and set two million times since these stones last saw the light of day.

0:30:06 > 0:30:09The last hands to touch these before mine

0:30:09 > 0:30:14were those of a Neolithic farmer 5,500 years ago.

0:30:14 > 0:30:18Even on a foul day like today - and this is truly foul -

0:30:18 > 0:30:22the sight of these, the touch of these, makes it worthwhile.

0:30:22 > 0:30:24Doesn't it? Just about!

0:30:24 > 0:30:27It does. It still does.

0:30:29 > 0:30:31Amazing.

0:30:38 > 0:30:42The Ceide field structures are a hidden wonder of the world.

0:30:42 > 0:30:45But the walls aren't the only secret,

0:30:45 > 0:30:49because the peat itself can reveal just what this world was like

0:30:49 > 0:30:545,000 years ago, and even what was being farmed.

0:30:57 > 0:31:01- OK, you've got the top.- Yeah.

0:31:03 > 0:31:07The peat is preserving the record of human activity,

0:31:07 > 0:31:11vegetation etc through time,

0:31:11 > 0:31:17so it is like a history book of thousands of years.

0:31:17 > 0:31:21By studying pollen grains preserved in the peat, Michael O'Connell

0:31:21 > 0:31:25can identify what was growing in the ancient landscape.

0:31:30 > 0:31:34This particular pollen grain comes from pine,

0:31:34 > 0:31:37and pine was the dominant tree in Ceide Fields before farmers came.

0:31:37 > 0:31:43At the early part of the Neolithic, the pollen totally changed

0:31:43 > 0:31:48from being tree pollen-dominated to being herb and grass-dominated.

0:31:49 > 0:31:54The change to grassland pollen shows that the trees were cut down

0:31:54 > 0:31:57and replaced with pasture for grazing cattle.

0:31:58 > 0:32:04But in amongst the grassland pollen, Michael has made an even more startling discovery.

0:32:06 > 0:32:09We were really excited about these results.

0:32:09 > 0:32:11This particular sample has quite a number

0:32:11 > 0:32:15of cereal pollen, and of course this is really important

0:32:15 > 0:32:18because it shows wheat and maybe also barley were grown.

0:32:18 > 0:32:24So this was a really interesting and significant find.

0:32:29 > 0:32:33Cereals and domestic animals transformed society,

0:32:33 > 0:32:36but there was also a third Neolithic invention...

0:32:36 > 0:32:38pottery.

0:32:39 > 0:32:44Together, all three created a completely new diet,

0:32:44 > 0:32:47a feature of Neolithic life studied by Jacqui Wood.

0:32:47 > 0:32:53This is actually just wheat, just boiled - another new thing for the Neolithic.

0:32:53 > 0:32:57- Some bread.- A flatbread.

0:32:57 > 0:33:00- That is so flavoursome.- Now, this is a bit of prehistoric stew.

0:33:00 > 0:33:03- Slow cooking? - Slow cooking, absolutely.

0:33:03 > 0:33:06Butter was a big thing in the Neolithic.

0:33:06 > 0:33:10Bread and butter - what could be more quintessentially British?

0:33:10 > 0:33:14I tell you what, absolutely everything is so substantial!

0:33:14 > 0:33:17You wouldn't need much of anything, would you?

0:33:17 > 0:33:20It sticks to your ribs - and everything else!

0:33:20 > 0:33:23The new food might have seemed good, but human remains show evidence

0:33:23 > 0:33:29of farmers being less healthy than hunters, with their diet of fresh fish and red deer.

0:33:29 > 0:33:32No more, I beg of you!

0:33:32 > 0:33:36And there was another price to pay.

0:33:36 > 0:33:39This is actually a real quern - a Neolithic quern.

0:33:39 > 0:33:41This is the genuine article?

0:33:41 > 0:33:43This is the genuine article.

0:33:43 > 0:33:45Put some grain on first.

0:33:45 > 0:33:47- So this is some thousand years old? - That's right.

0:33:47 > 0:33:49What's the action?

0:33:49 > 0:33:52Spread up and down, like that.

0:33:52 > 0:33:56That sound is the sound

0:33:56 > 0:33:58of the Stone Age, basically.

0:33:58 > 0:34:02I'm doing this for a minute, but if you were put to work like this

0:34:02 > 0:34:07on a daily basis, what kind of a toll, physical toll, would this have had on people?

0:34:07 > 0:34:10We can actually see that it did have a toll.

0:34:10 > 0:34:13In the archaeology, we find some skeletons where the parts of the

0:34:13 > 0:34:18vertebrae are quite worn because of repeatedly doing this grinding.

0:34:18 > 0:34:25You need to grind for a good hour every day to make enough bread for a family - every day.

0:34:25 > 0:34:29So the daily grind, basically.

0:34:35 > 0:34:40Despite all the individual hardships it brought, it was the sheer productivity

0:34:40 > 0:34:44of farming that made it irresistible as a survival strategy.

0:34:51 > 0:34:55'This is where our working lives began -

0:34:55 > 0:34:59'invented by the first farmers of the Neolithic.'

0:34:59 > 0:35:02This was a point of no return.

0:35:02 > 0:35:06Farming was productive, so people could have more children

0:35:06 > 0:35:10and open up more land and the population increased.

0:35:10 > 0:35:13And there quickly came a day when they couldn't go back to hunting

0:35:13 > 0:35:17even if they wanted to because there were simply too many people around.

0:35:22 > 0:35:24And it wasn't just the daily grind.

0:35:24 > 0:35:30This new age would usher in the idea of land ownership - and conflict.

0:35:33 > 0:35:38The Neolithic would completely change how we thought about ourselves -

0:35:38 > 0:35:41in this life and the next.

0:35:47 > 0:35:50The Neolithic revolution changed our mindset.

0:35:52 > 0:35:58Not only towards work, but the idea of the land and our relationship to it.

0:36:01 > 0:36:03It changed our beliefs,

0:36:03 > 0:36:09and evidence of these new beliefs can be found in massive stone tombs,

0:36:09 > 0:36:14some of which mark our countryside even today.

0:36:18 > 0:36:21One of the most impressive is in Wiltshire.

0:36:28 > 0:36:35This great long mound was created by digging thousands of tons of chalk rubble from ditches on either side.

0:36:35 > 0:36:42Some of the stones weigh 40 tonnes, and they were hauled here from as much as a mile away.

0:36:42 > 0:36:45This is the work of a whole community, not just one family,

0:36:45 > 0:36:48and its people, for whom the creation of this mattered as much

0:36:48 > 0:36:51or more than anything else they were doing.

0:36:51 > 0:36:53And these were busy farmers.

0:36:53 > 0:36:55This isn't just a tomb.

0:36:55 > 0:36:58This isn't simply about remembering a loved one.

0:36:58 > 0:37:02This is about creating an entire world - one built

0:37:02 > 0:37:05by the community of the living for the community of the dead.

0:37:05 > 0:37:07And wait till you see what's inside.

0:37:11 > 0:37:14About 40 people were buried here

0:37:14 > 0:37:19around 3600 BC over a period

0:37:19 > 0:37:22of maybe just 25 years or so.

0:37:22 > 0:37:26What we think happened was, when someone died, if it was

0:37:26 > 0:37:33deemed appropriate that they become part of this place, their body would be laid out,

0:37:33 > 0:37:38maybe nearby, maybe even in here in the passageway, and then the natural process

0:37:38 > 0:37:44of decomposition would begin and animals and birds would remove the flesh over a period of time.

0:37:44 > 0:37:50And then, once there was little remaining, but the skeleton, the bones,

0:37:50 > 0:37:54they would be gathered up and placed in the chambers.

0:37:54 > 0:37:57Now, there was a particular logic to this place.

0:37:58 > 0:38:05Old people and young people in separate chambers on either side of the passageway.

0:38:05 > 0:38:12And then, further in, maybe adult males and females, again separated on either side of the passageway.

0:38:12 > 0:38:16And then, all the way at the back,

0:38:16 > 0:38:18just the remains of adult males.

0:38:18 > 0:38:24They weren't laid out as individuals, as intact skeletons.

0:38:24 > 0:38:27You would have a pile of skulls,

0:38:27 > 0:38:33then a separate neat pile of vertebrae, then another pile of long bones.

0:38:33 > 0:38:38That was important, because what is going on is a process by which

0:38:38 > 0:38:45the loved ones cease to be just individuals, members of the community.

0:38:45 > 0:38:51They become part of one collective presence, the ancestors.

0:38:53 > 0:38:59Strangely, though, tombs like this weren't sealed, but left open.

0:38:59 > 0:39:02In some ways they were more akin to temples

0:39:02 > 0:39:07which you could enter to commune with the spirits of the dead.

0:39:07 > 0:39:09And imagine what that felt like

0:39:09 > 0:39:13for people who truly believed that their loved ones,

0:39:13 > 0:39:17as well as the ancient dead, were somehow in here,

0:39:17 > 0:39:23that their will was in here and that they were watching them and that they were aware.

0:39:23 > 0:39:25So you would come in here

0:39:25 > 0:39:30with great reverence and great respect, with the hairs going up on the back of your neck

0:39:30 > 0:39:35and all over your body, as you wondered what would happen next.

0:39:43 > 0:39:47But these great structures also had an earthly function.

0:39:49 > 0:39:53All around us is rich and fertile farmland, highly valued.

0:39:53 > 0:39:58By building this here, the people are laying claim to it.

0:39:58 > 0:40:02This long barrow forged a permanent link between the community,

0:40:02 > 0:40:07their ancestors, and the fields they had farmed for generations.

0:40:07 > 0:40:14This is about the arrival of something new in our history, the concept of ownership.

0:40:16 > 0:40:21But the notion of ownership, the idea that a place, a territory,

0:40:21 > 0:40:26belonged to the tribe and their ancestors was to have consequences.

0:40:37 > 0:40:39Up on top of this hill

0:40:39 > 0:40:46is the site of one of the earliest examples of a great watershed in British history -

0:40:46 > 0:40:48armed conflict.

0:40:49 > 0:40:51SHOUTS AND BATTLE CRIES

0:41:08 > 0:41:10Look at that for a view.

0:41:10 > 0:41:13That's the Severn Valley down there.

0:41:13 > 0:41:18Over there, ghostly in the mist, the Malvern Hills.

0:41:18 > 0:41:21Over in that direction, the Forest of Dean.

0:41:21 > 0:41:24Beyond that the Black Mountains, and onwards into Wales.

0:41:24 > 0:41:27That's modern day Gloucester down there.

0:41:27 > 0:41:31But of course, 5,500 years ago

0:41:31 > 0:41:34that landscape would have been predominantly woodland

0:41:34 > 0:41:38with the occasional farmstead and cleared field.

0:41:38 > 0:41:45And in a sense, whoever controlled this high ground controlled the landscape below.

0:41:45 > 0:41:53So if you wanted to lay claim to all of that valuable land, you had to take this, the top of Crickley Hill.

0:41:53 > 0:41:57And what's been found up here is testament to that.

0:42:01 > 0:42:03Look at these.

0:42:03 > 0:42:05These are half a dozen flint arrowheads

0:42:05 > 0:42:07and they're from a collection

0:42:07 > 0:42:10of around 450 complete arrowheads or fragments

0:42:10 > 0:42:15that were found scattered all across the top of Crickley Hill.

0:42:17 > 0:42:19To my eye,

0:42:19 > 0:42:22these are just the most beautiful things.

0:42:22 > 0:42:24They're so symmetrical,

0:42:24 > 0:42:26so beautifully shaped.

0:42:26 > 0:42:29Look at the profile of that.

0:42:29 > 0:42:31Look how fine it is.

0:42:31 > 0:42:35How much effort has gone into taking off infinite numbers of tiny flakes

0:42:35 > 0:42:40to produce that tear-shape arrowhead.

0:42:40 > 0:42:44But as well as appreciating the beauty of them,

0:42:44 > 0:42:48and some of these could be jewellery,

0:42:48 > 0:42:49as well as appreciating that,

0:42:49 > 0:42:52you have to appreciate that this is

0:42:52 > 0:42:56also evidence of the cruel intention to kill.

0:43:06 > 0:43:115,000 years ago, the longbow was state-of-the-art technology.

0:43:12 > 0:43:15What we've got here is a Neolithic longbow.

0:43:15 > 0:43:18This particular piece of wood is ash.

0:43:18 > 0:43:19It was cut down a year ago,

0:43:19 > 0:43:22so it's not carrying too much moisture.

0:43:22 > 0:43:23That makes it nice and springy.

0:43:25 > 0:43:29Now, we've made a fairly heavy bow here.

0:43:31 > 0:43:33If it bends and it works,

0:43:33 > 0:43:38I hope your guy Neil has some strength behind him, because this...

0:43:42 > 0:43:44..is no kids' bow.

0:43:46 > 0:43:51Pine resin makes a strong Neolithic glue to fix the arrowheads.

0:43:53 > 0:43:57And for the flights, crows' feathers.

0:43:57 > 0:44:00So that is ready to go.

0:44:10 > 0:44:15In the attack on Crickley Hill, the Neolithic bow proved decisive.

0:44:16 > 0:44:21Right here, 5,500 years ago, the defenders were routed.

0:44:24 > 0:44:28I'll show you how to use it, then see what you're like as an archer.

0:44:28 > 0:44:31We're always looking for good archers on English territory.

0:44:31 > 0:44:33Not Scots, surely!

0:44:33 > 0:44:35You don't want that.

0:44:39 > 0:44:40- Ooh, dead centre!- So...

0:44:42 > 0:44:45I'll do the Robin Hood shot

0:44:45 > 0:44:47and I'll split that shaft.

0:44:49 > 0:44:51I think I'll go for three fingers.

0:44:51 > 0:44:53- Right-o.- OK.

0:44:56 > 0:44:58Put some shoulder behind it.

0:45:01 > 0:45:03- NEIL LAUGHS - Give me another arrow.

0:45:04 > 0:45:07Go for it. I'm sure there's a lucky one in here for you.

0:45:07 > 0:45:12That looks more like it. It was clearly the arrow that was wrong as opposed to my technique.

0:45:36 > 0:45:38- Oh!- Yes!

0:45:41 > 0:45:46Even in the hands of a beginner, this weapon is lethal.

0:45:46 > 0:45:50An arrow fired from 30 metres would have gone straight through any medium-sized animal...

0:45:53 > 0:45:54..or human.

0:45:57 > 0:46:02- What's the damage?- Well, as I think you're going to see...

0:46:02 > 0:46:05Check that out, right the way through.

0:46:05 > 0:46:10That's flesh and bone. That's what these things are capable of.

0:46:10 > 0:46:14Of course, up here on Crickley Hill it was being used against more than sides of pork.

0:46:14 > 0:46:18Human beings were the prey that day.

0:46:18 > 0:46:21- You wouldn't want it in your leg, would you?- I would not!

0:46:28 > 0:46:34Back at the Natural History Museum, there's direct evidence of this violent world.

0:46:36 > 0:46:37Look at this poor chap.

0:46:40 > 0:46:46The condition of his teeth suggests he died probably in his mid-20s, no older than that.

0:46:47 > 0:46:53And he died because someone smashed his skull in

0:46:53 > 0:46:58with a blunt object, maybe a stone axe, or a stone hammer.

0:46:58 > 0:47:03And the wound was inflicted with such force that it caused

0:47:03 > 0:47:06this fracture line

0:47:06 > 0:47:10to radiate right round to the other side of his skull.

0:47:10 > 0:47:12He would have been killed instantly.

0:47:14 > 0:47:16And the violence

0:47:16 > 0:47:19at that time wasn't limited to the men.

0:47:19 > 0:47:22This is a woman's skull.

0:47:22 > 0:47:26There's a wound here towards the front,

0:47:26 > 0:47:28and then,

0:47:28 > 0:47:32much easier to see, another dimpled wound

0:47:32 > 0:47:33to the back of her head,

0:47:33 > 0:47:40but she survived the attack that caused these wounds.

0:47:40 > 0:47:43We know she survived because she lived long enough

0:47:43 > 0:47:44for the wounds to heal over.

0:47:44 > 0:47:48She also lived long enough to have lost all of her teeth

0:47:48 > 0:47:50by the time she finally gave up the ghost.

0:47:54 > 0:47:57What we can say about this is really quite shocking.

0:47:57 > 0:48:01It means that if you lived in those first centuries of the Neolithic,

0:48:01 > 0:48:06at least between 4000 and 3000 BC, people would have known about,

0:48:06 > 0:48:11they would have witnessed, and they might even have experienced extreme physical violence.

0:48:11 > 0:48:13There was a lot of it about.

0:48:20 > 0:48:24In just a few hundred years, the population of Britain exploded

0:48:24 > 0:48:30from just a few thousand hunters to perhaps 100,000 farmers.

0:48:30 > 0:48:38As contact between groups became more frequent, people needed to find new ways of coming to terms with it

0:48:38 > 0:48:40without always killing one another.

0:48:41 > 0:48:46They also had to lay the foundations of a kind of local politics as well.

0:48:46 > 0:48:51It was as if they were saying, "It's not enough to change the way we live, the way we work,

0:48:51 > 0:48:54"we'll have to invent society as well."

0:49:07 > 0:49:14This need to co-operate, to get along, gave birth to monuments on a truly grand scale.

0:49:15 > 0:49:19The very act of hundreds or even thousands of people collaborating

0:49:19 > 0:49:23would have bound Neolithic communities together.

0:49:29 > 0:49:35The earthworks they created are so vast they remain etched into our landscape even today...

0:49:36 > 0:49:41..despite the ravages of thousands of years of wind and rain.

0:49:43 > 0:49:47One of those giant monuments can be found here in Wiltshire.

0:49:48 > 0:49:54The trouble is it's so big that up close you can't even see it.

0:50:04 > 0:50:08I'm right in the middle of something archaeologists call a cursus.

0:50:08 > 0:50:14This one is 3km long and 150m wide.

0:50:14 > 0:50:16Some are even bigger.

0:50:19 > 0:50:25To be honest, you could be forgiven for walking right past it without even noticing.

0:50:25 > 0:50:28Down there is the remains of a ditch.

0:50:28 > 0:50:33It's very shallow now but it stretches almost as far as the eye can see.

0:50:33 > 0:50:37It's barely perceptible, but in its original form, it would have been

0:50:37 > 0:50:42quite distinct - chalky white soil against the green of the grass.

0:50:42 > 0:50:48It would have marked out the interior as a very long, thin, lozenge shape.

0:50:48 > 0:50:50These were originally called cursuses

0:50:50 > 0:50:54because they were thought to be the remains of Roman racetracks.

0:50:54 > 0:50:58But of course we now know that they're much, much older.

0:50:58 > 0:51:04This thing was built by Neolithic farmers 3500 BC.

0:51:12 > 0:51:20Today, the only way to really get a sense of the shape of monuments like this is from the air.

0:51:21 > 0:51:24Even from up here, it's not that easy to see.

0:51:24 > 0:51:26But after a while, you get your eye in

0:51:26 > 0:51:30and you begin to see what it is you're supposed to be looking at.

0:51:30 > 0:51:35From one end, the cursus can be seen cutting through a bank of trees,

0:51:35 > 0:51:39almost like a gigantic runway disappearing off into the distance.

0:51:42 > 0:51:44RADIO CHATTER

0:51:49 > 0:51:51What you're struck with, more than anything,

0:51:51 > 0:51:53is the scale of the thing.

0:51:53 > 0:51:58And what hits you is the level of effort that was involved,

0:51:58 > 0:52:00not to mention the sheer determination.

0:52:01 > 0:52:06Of course, the big question is what does this shape symbolise?

0:52:06 > 0:52:08Is it a boundary?

0:52:08 > 0:52:10Is it a processional way?

0:52:10 > 0:52:16Is it even a narrow vessel designed to contain the dead?

0:52:16 > 0:52:18Perhaps it's a bit of all those things.

0:52:18 > 0:52:21But the simple truth is, we don't know.

0:52:24 > 0:52:28But there are other monuments we do know more about -

0:52:28 > 0:52:32massive earthworks known as causewayed enclosures.

0:52:34 > 0:52:36And there's one.

0:52:36 > 0:52:37Three concentric circles,

0:52:37 > 0:52:42like three necklaces looped around the hill, right down there.

0:52:45 > 0:52:48These monuments are meeting points where people

0:52:48 > 0:52:52came for large gatherings, perhaps at special times of the year.

0:52:59 > 0:53:04For archaeologist Alasdair Whittle, they reveal the beginning of Stone Age society.

0:53:06 > 0:53:12Causewayed enclosures are very exciting places and all sorts of things go on at them.

0:53:12 > 0:53:17They could settle disputes, or meet husbands and wives,

0:53:17 > 0:53:19marry people off?

0:53:19 > 0:53:22I think all these things would have gone on.

0:53:22 > 0:53:27Do we have the artefacts, do we have the things left behind?

0:53:27 > 0:53:30We have lots of artefacts. That's one of the big things about these sites.

0:53:30 > 0:53:33They're rich in material and we have lots of artefacts.

0:53:33 > 0:53:41So, here we've got the top of the skull and the horns

0:53:41 > 0:53:46- of a domesticated cow or ox. - So how old is that skull?

0:53:46 > 0:53:49A little over 5,500 years.

0:53:49 > 0:53:55That's a hugely significant find for me to see something like that.

0:53:55 > 0:53:59That's so early in the story of farming.

0:53:59 > 0:54:01The thought that that beast was here when this

0:54:01 > 0:54:04- was a shining white monument, looking out over woodland.- Yes.

0:54:04 > 0:54:09And it met its face, perhaps it was sacrificed, it was probably eaten.

0:54:09 > 0:54:11Then we can look at this pot here.

0:54:11 > 0:54:18Again, is this of a comparable age to the ox bone?

0:54:18 > 0:54:24This is the same age. So we're looking at about 5,500 years old.

0:54:24 > 0:54:28It's so redolent of everything the Neolithic is about.

0:54:28 > 0:54:35The domesticated animals, the new ceramic, the new foods that were made possible because of this.

0:54:35 > 0:54:40I keep thinking of a time capsule. Is this a conscious effort for people to remember

0:54:40 > 0:54:43where they came from, how far they've come?

0:54:43 > 0:54:46I think it is. I think memory's very important.

0:54:46 > 0:54:50And coming to terms with a huge change.

0:54:50 > 0:54:55Coming to terms with a really big change in existence, which has been

0:54:55 > 0:54:58played out over these opening centuries of the Neolithic.

0:55:01 > 0:55:08The early monuments of the new Stone Age are about people coming to terms with a whole new world.

0:55:08 > 0:55:12Not only with each other, but the land itself...

0:55:13 > 0:55:15..and their place within it.

0:55:17 > 0:55:21This place encapsulates what these people who lived in Britain,

0:55:21 > 0:55:26these early farmers, were trying to work out and to understand.

0:55:28 > 0:55:30And discoveries made here

0:55:30 > 0:55:33go some way towards summing it all up.

0:55:33 > 0:55:35Look at this.

0:55:35 > 0:55:40This is the ankle bone of a domesticated cow.

0:55:40 > 0:55:48It was found buried within the ditch that encircles the topmost, innermost part of this hill.

0:55:48 > 0:55:50That's where all the pottery was found as well.

0:55:52 > 0:55:58What it represents is the world that the farmers were trying to create

0:55:58 > 0:56:04- a safe, domesticated, controllable world.

0:56:04 > 0:56:08By contrast, look at this one.

0:56:08 > 0:56:13This is the ankle bone of a wild cow, an undomesticated animal.

0:56:13 > 0:56:20You can see right away how much bigger it is than the bone from the domesticated cow.

0:56:20 > 0:56:23Now, this wasn't found up here.

0:56:23 > 0:56:26Instead, this was buried right at the base of the hill.

0:56:26 > 0:56:29Down there, out there,

0:56:29 > 0:56:31is the dangerous world.

0:56:31 > 0:56:37The wild world. The uncontrolled, undomesticated world.

0:56:37 > 0:56:40To me, there's something a little bit sad about that,

0:56:40 > 0:56:42because it's the wild world,

0:56:42 > 0:56:47that the old way of life of the hunters was so in tune with,

0:56:47 > 0:56:49and yet it was that world

0:56:49 > 0:56:51that the farmers were trying to be separate from,

0:56:51 > 0:56:54to cut themselves off from.

0:56:54 > 0:56:59Here, around 3,800 years BC,

0:56:59 > 0:57:05the farmers were trying to make sense of all of that in their own minds.

0:57:05 > 0:57:10Just where was the boundary between the wild and the domestic?

0:57:10 > 0:57:16Where had the brave new world that they'd created actually brought them?

0:57:16 > 0:57:19It's as though

0:57:19 > 0:57:24they realised that now they had made their bed and that they would have to lie in it.

0:57:24 > 0:57:28And to some extent, so must we.

0:57:33 > 0:57:37'Next time my journey continues...'

0:57:37 > 0:57:40Of course, what everybody's waiting for is the sunrise.

0:57:42 > 0:57:46'..As I discover a whole new age.'

0:57:46 > 0:57:47Which one can I have?

0:57:47 > 0:57:48Take them all.

0:57:49 > 0:57:52'A time of elite travellers.'

0:57:52 > 0:57:56- To actually feel it working. - Feel it. I wanted to hear it. I wanted to feel it.

0:57:56 > 0:57:58That's a bit good.

0:57:58 > 0:58:01'Vast, cosmic constructions.'

0:58:01 > 0:58:05I see why you don't have this place open to the public.

0:58:05 > 0:58:09'And the very invention of heaven itself.'

0:58:09 > 0:58:14When some people died, they were to be sent to a new place, a different place.

0:58:14 > 0:58:18Not down into the earth, but up into the sky.