0:00:04 > 0:00:09This is the story of how Britain came to be.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Of how our land, and its people,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15were forged over thousands of years of ancient history.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25This Britain is a strange and alien world.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30A world that contains the epic story
0:00:30 > 0:00:32of our distant, prehistoric past...
0:00:35 > 0:00:38'From a time of Celtic glory...'
0:00:38 > 0:00:42The owner of this is a man who's being seen by his followers
0:00:42 > 0:00:45as nothing less than a king.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48'..To a new, mysterious religion.'
0:00:48 > 0:00:54Whoever wore this was obviously a Christian, a believer.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56'And the technological breakthroughs
0:00:56 > 0:00:59'that created whole new ages.'
0:01:01 > 0:01:04You've got the basis of mass production there, haven't you?
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Today, modern science and new archaeology
0:01:09 > 0:01:11are solving ancient mysteries.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16And revealing the seismic shifts
0:01:16 > 0:01:17that transformed Britain.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20It shows the way in which the Romans, quite literally,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23brought the modern world, the future with them.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28'The latest chapter in our epic story...'
0:01:28 > 0:01:31That's the lot of the Bronze Age miner.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34God bless him.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36'..From a golden age of bronze...'
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Then there's this magnificent cauldron.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41It's so modern somehow.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43'..To a Britain in crisis.'
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Everything about this place says, "Keep out."
0:01:48 > 0:01:50A time of economic meltdown,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53sudden climate change...
0:01:53 > 0:01:56and the dawn of a new era...
0:01:56 > 0:01:59of iron.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22I'm going back 3,000 years
0:02:22 > 0:02:24to late Bronze Age Britain,
0:02:24 > 0:02:261,000 years BC.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32An island that is home to perhaps half a million people,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36living in farmsteads and hamlets,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38spread right across the land.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Here, on this wild stretch of Devon coastline,
0:02:47 > 0:02:48near the town of Salcombe,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52you can see field boundaries clinging to that slope over there.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54They're not modern,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56they're not Medieval, either.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59In fact, they're around 3,000 years old.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04These boundaries were created
0:03:04 > 0:03:07by self-sufficient Bronze Age farmers.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Up close, strangely enough,
0:03:10 > 0:03:16the lines are actually harder to see. It's because they're so big.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18The lines that were so obvious from over there,
0:03:18 > 0:03:23are actually the bracken that's growing on the real boundary
0:03:23 > 0:03:27which is a heaped-up earthen bank.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31In this field, and in the fields that surround it, 3,000 years ago,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Bronze Age farmers were growing oats and rye
0:03:34 > 0:03:37or keeping cattle or sheep.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43By the late Bronze Age,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46what we see emerging is a Britain that has the first glimmers
0:03:46 > 0:03:49of a world that we would recognise today.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Permanent settlements with neighbours,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54people keeping animals, growing crops,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58and seeming peace and stability that has lasted for generations.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04The Bronze Age was a kind of golden age in our history,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07one in which a warm and generally favourable climate
0:04:07 > 0:04:11enabled a growing population to expand into newly-cultivated lands.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15It was as if we had finally come of age,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19after countless thousands of years of dramatic struggle for survival
0:04:19 > 0:04:21and turbulent upheavals in society.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Our story first began in times so remote
0:04:31 > 0:04:33that the people who occupied Britain
0:04:33 > 0:04:36were even a different species.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41These are the oldest human remains
0:04:41 > 0:04:42ever found in Britain.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Boxgrove Man
0:04:45 > 0:04:48lived half a million years ago.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52From around 30,000 years ago,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55bands of modern humans came to Britain,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59hunting the herds of horse and reindeer.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02It's a fragment of horse bone,
0:05:02 > 0:05:07with an engraving of a horse etched into it.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08It's miraculous.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13This was a struggle for survival in Ice-Age Europe,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15when Britain was a peninsula.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20But when the ice retreated, around 10,000 years ago,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23a new land of forests and rivers emerged...
0:05:26 > 0:05:31..Attracting new generations of nomadic hunters.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Instead of hunting mammoth and reindeer in the snow,
0:05:35 > 0:05:40he hunted red deer in the wild wood.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46As the ice continued to melt, sea levels rose,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and by 6,000 BC,
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Britain became an island.
0:05:53 > 0:05:552,000 years later,
0:05:55 > 0:05:56the first farmers came,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59bringing seed, livestock,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01and a whole new way of life...
0:06:03 > 0:06:08..as well as sophisticated, cosmological beliefs.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11The illumination of this carving once a year,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13in a piece of religious theatre,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16lay at the very heart
0:06:16 > 0:06:20of the beliefs of the people who designed and built this place.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26They created some of the greatest monuments in all of prehistory.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Vast passage tombs...
0:06:32 > 0:06:36stone circles...
0:06:39 > 0:06:41And the monument of Stonehenge itself.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46But the arrival of metal
0:06:46 > 0:06:49brought the Stone Age to an end.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52From a time of cosmological priests,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56status now came from owning bronze.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00No humble carpenter could possibly have dreamt
0:07:00 > 0:07:04of owning something so valuable in the early days of bronze.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Much more than tools,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08these are objects of desire...
0:07:08 > 0:07:10showing off.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17Bronze Age Britain ushered in a new world of commerce and trade -
0:07:17 > 0:07:20opportunities to gain wealth and prestige.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35Just off the Devon coast, a team of archaeologists
0:07:35 > 0:07:40is discovering a relic of this new world.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42The wreck of a trading vessel that sank here...
0:07:42 > 0:07:453,000 years ago.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49What are we actually looking for?
0:07:49 > 0:07:53We're looking for ingots, Neil. There's two sorts of ingots here.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Both copper and tin ingots have been found on this site.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59And that's precisely the two metals that you need to make bronze.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02- That's right, yeah. - We're in 50 feet of water here.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04How do we find the cargo?
0:08:04 > 0:08:06We find the cargo with a metal detector.
0:08:06 > 0:08:12- Exactly like the sort of thing you'd use in a farmer's field, isn't it? - It's exactly the same piece of kit.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16- It looks like an electric shock waiting to happen. - It does, doesn't it?
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Three, two, one...drop, diver.
0:08:29 > 0:08:30When the boat sank,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33it was laden with copper and tin,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36the valuable resources of the Bronze Age.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46The boat's timbers have long decayed,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50but some of its precious cargo still survives.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07The Salcombe boat is evidence of an economy based on bronze,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09and a modern and mobile social class -
0:09:09 > 0:09:12the metal dealers of their day.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42One of the divers has got a signal.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24So this is the first time
0:10:24 > 0:10:26that the contents of this bag
0:10:26 > 0:10:29- has been in the open air... - That's right.- ..for 3,000 years.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31That's right.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Look at that!
0:10:35 > 0:10:37Now, that is unmistakable, isn't it?
0:10:37 > 0:10:38The heft of it,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40the weight and the colour.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45So, how much of this material have you recovered,
0:10:45 > 0:10:46or have the team recovered?
0:10:46 > 0:10:48The team's recovered almost 300 ingots now,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51which come to a total of about 85kg.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57'But it wasn't only raw metal that went down with the boat...'
0:10:57 > 0:11:01Neil, this is a sword that was found two or three dives ago now.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Now, that is a bit more recognisable than a copper ingot.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Was that being moved as metal,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09or was it there as a sword, a fighting weapon?
0:11:09 > 0:11:12I think this is somebody's personal possession for defence.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15The defence of the boat and the cargo.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18The copper ingots are... anonymous, in a way,
0:11:18 > 0:11:23but finding this...is such a priceless personal belonging.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25It really speaks of a person, doesn't it?
0:11:25 > 0:11:28You can imagine that he'd only willingly be parted from it
0:11:28 > 0:11:30along with his life.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34That's right. He may have lost his life at the same time as his sword.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41By analysing samples of excavated metal,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45scientists can discover more about the Salcombe wreck's cargo.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53The analysis of what we've looked at so far from Salcombe
0:11:53 > 0:11:55suggests that that particular ingot
0:11:55 > 0:11:58did not come from Devon or Cornwall.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04Copper contains an atomic signature that can reveal where it was mined.
0:12:04 > 0:12:10We can link copper in Britain
0:12:10 > 0:12:14with a range of areas in the continent.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Trade in bronze wasn't confined to Britain -
0:12:18 > 0:12:20this was an international economy.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25From the Alps, Brittany, down through central France,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Spain, maybe even Portugal.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36The Salcombe finds are revealing more than a coastal trading vessel,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40moving cargoes of domestic copper and tin.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43The boat that sank here 3,000 years ago
0:12:43 > 0:12:47was a link in a long chain of international trade
0:12:47 > 0:12:52which connected Britain to the very heart of Western Europe
0:12:52 > 0:12:54through the exchange of bronze.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Metals had come to Britain 1,500 years earlier,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08around 2500 BC...
0:13:12 > 0:13:15..Brought by the first metal prospectors
0:13:15 > 0:13:18arriving from continental Europe.
0:13:26 > 0:13:33In amongst this dazzling array of grave goods, is metal.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Look at this. Here's one of them.
0:13:36 > 0:13:41It's a copper knife. It would have been in a wooden handle, maybe, coming out, to give you a grip.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43There's the cutting edge.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45These are the oldest metal objects
0:13:45 > 0:13:48found so far in Britain.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54'But it was when copper was mixed with tin
0:13:54 > 0:13:57'that a technical revolution occurred...
0:13:58 > 0:14:01'Turning two soft metals into a new alloy,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04'hard enough to keep a sharp edge -
0:14:04 > 0:14:05'bronze.'
0:14:07 > 0:14:11From liquid fire to a metal sword in a couple of minutes.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17The Stone Age had been characterised
0:14:17 > 0:14:19by vast communal monuments.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23But the Bronze Age would be different,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26with personal, domestic life at its heart.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Unlike these massive stones,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33metal technology would make it possible
0:14:33 > 0:14:35to cast and work exquisite objects,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39the like of which had never been seen before.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46A collection at the National Museum Of Wales
0:14:46 > 0:14:50reveals just what late Bronze Age workers were capable of
0:14:50 > 0:14:53after 1,000 years of technological innovation.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02All of these items were crafted around 700 years BC
0:15:02 > 0:15:04and there are all types.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07There are socketed bronze axe-heads,
0:15:07 > 0:15:12different sizes and weights.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15The edge on this one...
0:15:15 > 0:15:18has obviously been struck against something hard
0:15:18 > 0:15:20with considerable force, at some point.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24But I particularly like
0:15:24 > 0:15:27this little item here.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32This is a bronze razor for shaving,
0:15:32 > 0:15:37and it's when you handle and see pieces like this
0:15:37 > 0:15:41that you get that sense of real, living people.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44I have to say, I've often wondered
0:15:44 > 0:15:46just how effective
0:15:46 > 0:15:50a razor like this would have been.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54I can just about imagine keeping facial hair under control with it,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57but I think the idea of a modern clean shave
0:15:57 > 0:16:01would still be some centuries in the future
0:16:01 > 0:16:03when this was in vogue.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10And then there's this magnificent cauldron, also made of bronze.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14These strips have been individually punched hundreds of times
0:16:14 > 0:16:19to take these hundreds and hundreds of pointed delicate rivets.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24And then there are the separately-cast big hoop handles.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26It really is fantastic
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and the cauldron itself is a powerful symbol.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33There's more going on here than just cooking and feeding people,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36because the cauldron, for a long time,
0:16:36 > 0:16:37was symbolic of much more.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41It's about regeneration and it's about life itself.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44And so this, whether or not it's been used for cooking,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48is a powerful iconic symbol.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55Trade in bronze was fuelled by demand
0:16:55 > 0:16:57from a high-class elite.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Not everyone had the wealth for a bronze razor,
0:17:00 > 0:17:02let alone a feasting cauldron.
0:17:08 > 0:17:09For those at the top,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11bronze was a material of desire,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15a source of status and wealth.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19And right across Europe,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22people of means couldn't get enough of it.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Britain, on the far north-western fringe of Europe,
0:17:33 > 0:17:38was well-placed to take advantage of this insatiable demand.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41And that was because of our natural resources.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Down in Cornwall,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46there were large reserves of a rare metal, tin,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49a key ingredient in the manufacture of bronze.
0:17:49 > 0:17:54Not for nothing was Britain later known as the Tin Islands.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57But as well as tin, you needed copper.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58And just wait till you see
0:17:58 > 0:18:00what's further along this headland,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04above Llandudno in North Wales.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19Great Orme - the biggest prehistoric mine in the entire world.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25The mining operation began here as an open-cast pit
0:18:25 > 0:18:27about 4,000 years ago.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30That's 1,000 years before the Salcombe wreck.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32And once the surface deposits were exhausted,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36there was only one place to go - underground.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45Miners hacked a web of tunnels down through the bedrock,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48penetrating over 20 metres below the surface.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54I'm only fighting
0:18:54 > 0:18:57to manoeuvre my way through here.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00What you have to bear in mind all the time
0:19:00 > 0:19:04is that Bronze Age miners had to cut these holes
0:19:04 > 0:19:07through the rock.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10And then, at the same time,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12removing the ore,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14getting it out.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16And the spoil, all the waste -
0:19:16 > 0:19:19the wrong kind of rock that they didn't want -
0:19:19 > 0:19:21they had to get rid of that as well.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25The physical effort of all that...
0:19:25 > 0:19:27it's just incredible.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35I just have to turn on my back for a minute.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Oh, my!
0:19:42 > 0:19:43Just in front of me
0:19:43 > 0:19:46is the entrance to...
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Well, to call it a tunnel...
0:19:48 > 0:19:52It's like... It's about 20 centimetres wide.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54It's backfilled with rubble at the moment,
0:19:54 > 0:19:58but at some point, somebody was in there working.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Somebody very small or, more likely I suppose,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03somebody very young.
0:20:03 > 0:20:04It's just terrifying.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14'So far, archaeologists have excavated eight kilometres of tunnels,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19'and over half the network still remains undiscovered.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21'Enough ore was mined here
0:20:21 > 0:20:25'to make around 2,000 tonnes of bronze.'
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Right at the heart of the mine,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33several of the copper veins converged,
0:20:33 > 0:20:38and in excavating them, in mining them,
0:20:38 > 0:20:39the Bronze Age miners
0:20:39 > 0:20:44created this enormous, cavernous space.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52Every cubic metre of space
0:20:52 > 0:20:55has been created by people.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00This is probably the largest, prehistoric man-made chamber
0:21:00 > 0:21:01anywhere in the world.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08'It's ironic that bronze itself was too valuable to use down here,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13'so the miners had to make do with rock and bone.'
0:21:15 > 0:21:19This is an actual Bronze Age hammer stone.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22This would have been used to expose the ore,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25but also, and even more unbelievably, I suppose,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27to dig the tunnels.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Imagine having to dig these spaces out
0:21:29 > 0:21:34with tools no more sophisticated than this.
0:21:34 > 0:21:35Then once they were in here,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38and once the copper was visible to them,
0:21:38 > 0:21:39they turned to these...
0:21:39 > 0:21:42This is a rib bone from an animal.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44It looks like a pick, and it is a pick.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47It was used to dig out the ore.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49Such simple technology.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53Of course, the glaring reality that I've been overlooking
0:21:53 > 0:21:58is the fact that the miners wouldn't have been able to use light.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02If they had lit fires or used oil-burning lamps,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05the flames would have been consuming the oxygen
0:22:05 > 0:22:07that they depended on for their very survival.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11So the only viable option was to work in the dark.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20It's like a whole collection of nightmares all in one place.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22Confined spaces,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25tens of metres under ground.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28That's the lot of the Bronze Age miner.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29God bless him.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38For hundreds of years,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41the Bronze Age had sharpened divisions in society
0:22:41 > 0:22:44around the idea that status and wealth
0:22:44 > 0:22:47could be gained through the exchange of the metal.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52But now, the very bronze economy that had given some people
0:22:52 > 0:22:56financial opportunity and social mobility
0:22:56 > 0:22:58was spinning out of control.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05The insatiable appetite for bronze all across Britain and Europe
0:23:05 > 0:23:07went way beyond practical needs.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11After all, there's only so many bronze axes that anyone needs
0:23:11 > 0:23:12to cut down a tree.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15Instead, what we've got
0:23:15 > 0:23:17is bronze as a unit of exchange.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22And it's this that's fuelling the digging of mines like the Great Orme,
0:23:22 > 0:23:24and the international coastal trade.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27By around 1,000 years BC,
0:23:27 > 0:23:32the bronze axe has become a kind of proto-currency -
0:23:32 > 0:23:35wealth divorced from its practical use as a metal.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38And a bit like the economic bubbles that we see today,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40that spelled danger,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43because a change in the attitude to bronze
0:23:43 > 0:23:45would have far-reaching consequences,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47not just for the Bronze Age elite,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49but for all of British society.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56By 800 BC, Britain, along with the rest of Europe,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58was heading for an economic meltdown.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06A golden era that had lasted for over 1,000 years
0:24:06 > 0:24:08was about to end.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15Bronze, the international currency of exchange,
0:24:15 > 0:24:16began to be dumped.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23The astonishing display on this table
0:24:23 > 0:24:28is the Langton Matravers bronze axe hoard.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31They were found back in 2007
0:24:31 > 0:24:32by a metal detectorist
0:24:32 > 0:24:35investigating a farmer's field in Dorset.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40At first, he possibly thought he was just finding one or two of these,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42but then it turned into dozens,
0:24:42 > 0:24:43and then into hundreds.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44And by the end,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48he had nearly 400 socketed bronze axes.
0:24:48 > 0:24:49It's unbelievable.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Examination of them reveals
0:24:54 > 0:24:57that most were never used as axes.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00They were made, probably locally,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03and then almost immediately buried in the ground.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Just deposited, discarded.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10'Huge amounts of buried bronze from this time
0:25:10 > 0:25:12'have been discovered all over Britain.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15'The moment when the economic bubble burst
0:25:15 > 0:25:20'and axes like this became all but worthless.'
0:25:20 > 0:25:24These hoards mark an extraordinary turning point in our history.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28Bronze - much sought-after, much valued,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32the very base of power and exchange across Britain and Europe
0:25:32 > 0:25:34was being thrown away.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41But sometimes, discoveries from this time
0:25:41 > 0:25:43don't only contain bronze.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Back at the National Museum Of Wales,
0:25:50 > 0:25:55the Llyn Fawr hoard contained a new, technological wonder.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Alongside the bronze axes,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03and the magnificent feasting cauldron,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05this hoard included a material
0:26:05 > 0:26:07that had never been seen in Britain before.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15What makes this collection special is right here...
0:26:15 > 0:26:20These are sickles for harvesting a crop.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22These two are made of bronze,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24but this one...
0:26:24 > 0:26:26is made of iron.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32And it's one of the earliest iron objects ever found in Britain.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36It's a stepping stone between two technologies,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38because the craftsman who made this
0:26:38 > 0:26:40has used iron to create an object
0:26:40 > 0:26:43that looks as though it were made of bronze.
0:26:43 > 0:26:44This spine here
0:26:44 > 0:26:48would have been necessary to give the bronze blade strength,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50but it's not necessarily here.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55The craftsman has still gone to the bother of creating it.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58And the socket has been made
0:26:58 > 0:27:00by folding and hammering
0:27:00 > 0:27:03a flat piece of iron into a tube,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06when it would have much simpler,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08and more practical,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10just to have a flat tang
0:27:10 > 0:27:12and halved it that way.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15So, it's as thought the craftsman who was working with it,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18was experienced in bronze
0:27:18 > 0:27:22and is using his bronze-making experience,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25as best he can,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27to try and work with this new material.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31This marks the transition
0:27:31 > 0:27:35between bronze and iron.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37It's the start of a whole new age.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Iron work first appeared in the Eastern Mediterranean
0:27:46 > 0:27:49around 1,200 BC.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53By 800 BC, it was beginning to be used
0:27:53 > 0:27:57by a new elite culture in central Europe.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03This was the beginning of the Iron Age.
0:28:10 > 0:28:11In time,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15iron would transform Britain,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17not just technologically,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20but socially as well.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23What we're seeing at the end of the Bronze Age
0:28:23 > 0:28:25and the beginning of the Iron Age,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28isn't as simple as an old technology
0:28:28 > 0:28:29being replaced by a new one.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33Bronze had a role in society
0:28:33 > 0:28:36that went way beyond its practical uses -
0:28:36 > 0:28:40as a material for making tools to harvest wheat or cut up meat.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Its value as an exchange currency
0:28:43 > 0:28:45was the basis for social relations.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49It had a ritual, even religious significance.
0:28:49 > 0:28:55Iron, though, would never have the same cachet as bronze,
0:28:55 > 0:28:58and the new economy of the Iron Age
0:28:58 > 0:29:01would not be based on metal at all,
0:29:01 > 0:29:02but on agriculture -
0:29:02 > 0:29:04animals and grain.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11In this Britain, land would be at the forefront,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15and tribal chiefs would fight for territorial power.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21In 800 BC though, all that was still to come.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28Because, strangely, it seems that iron didn't actually come into use
0:29:28 > 0:29:32until centuries after the Bronze Age ended.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40And that leaves experts with one of the biggest problems in all of prehistory.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49Apart from a few rare finds, like the Llyn Fawr treasures,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53there's just not a lot of iron around in 750 BC.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56Or, indeed, for hundreds of years thereafter.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59This massive tipping point in our history,
0:29:59 > 0:30:01the shift from bronze to iron,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04seems to have a mysterious gap in it.
0:30:04 > 0:30:10It might be that even the remote existence of iron destabilised the economy,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13contributing to the end of the Bronze Age,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16and a crisis that would last for 200 years.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Recent research however is suggesting that all this came
0:30:21 > 0:30:24at a time of sudden and severe climate change.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27THUNDER RUMBLES
0:30:32 > 0:30:37By studying the larvae of Scottish midges from 750 BC,
0:30:37 > 0:30:41scientists are finding evidence of a colder, wetter Britain.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Different midge species are happiest at different temperatures.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51And when they find themselves in a lake where the temperature suits them
0:30:51 > 0:30:53they're going to be extremely abundant.
0:30:56 > 0:31:02Preserved remains of midges from thousands of years ago can reveal the climate they once lived in.
0:31:03 > 0:31:09We find that around 800 BC, there's a change in the composition of the midge assemblage
0:31:09 > 0:31:12and we get an increase in cold-water species
0:31:12 > 0:31:15and a decrease in warm-water species.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20And this happens over a very short period of time, so it's probably around 50 years or so.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24And this corresponds with other evidence we have from pollen
0:31:24 > 0:31:27and from peat bogs where the indication is
0:31:27 > 0:31:33that the temperature declined, but also precipitation or rainfall increased at the same time.
0:31:38 > 0:31:44In 750 BC, sudden climate change was a matter of life and death.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Too little rain and your crops would wither.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50Too much and there would be no ripening, no harvest.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Just as the bronze economy was collapsing,
0:31:56 > 0:32:01Britain's population also fell, possibly for the first time since the Ice Age.
0:32:05 > 0:32:11This was a dual crisis that was driving Britain into a period of social turmoil.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16A crisis that would utterly reshape British society.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30An army training ground in Wiltshire contains the remains
0:32:30 > 0:32:33of over a century of massive regional gatherings.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37That's how I'm going to insist on arriving on site from now on.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Absolutely, I think everybody should have one of them.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50Archaeologist Niall Sharples is finding clues to how people here
0:32:50 > 0:32:53were responding to changing, frightening times.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55This is a time of crisis.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58This is a time when there's a major transformation.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Bronze was used for all sorts of things, but primarily
0:33:02 > 0:33:05it's creating relationships of status within communities.
0:33:05 > 0:33:11So when the bronze goes, you have to find social mechanisms
0:33:11 > 0:33:13to structure that society.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15It's not too much to look at.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19'Wealth now was not measured in bronze, but in livestock,
0:33:19 > 0:33:24'and people came here to show it off in a new way.'
0:33:24 > 0:33:29Under our feet, there are thousands and thousands of pieces of broken-up pottery,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33broken-up fragments of bone, carbonised plant remains,
0:33:33 > 0:33:38all the implements and tools and debris of their lives on this spot.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42There's quite a lot of material lying on the surface,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46but we can probably clear away here some of the nettles
0:33:46 > 0:33:48and we'll see it a bit clearer.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51- I mean, there are very large pieces of animal bone.- That's a bone.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53That's probably a bit of cow.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57- Uh-huh.- And big bits of pots. - Some bits there.
0:33:57 > 0:34:02You can see pottery, some more bone there, a nice sheep's jaw.
0:34:02 > 0:34:09'By slaughtering animals and sharing their meat, you could strengthen relationships and gain prestige.'
0:34:09 > 0:34:13What I think we're seeing is we're seeing an attempt to create
0:34:13 > 0:34:17relationships between a fairly large region
0:34:17 > 0:34:21based upon feasting and based on conspicuous consumption.
0:34:21 > 0:34:27So rather than showing that you matter by having a particularly expensive bronze object,
0:34:27 > 0:34:33you show that you matter cos you've got all this surplus food, surplus animals that you can just use up.
0:34:33 > 0:34:39There's always someone who's bringing more food, killing more cattle, killing more pigs.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42Bringing cattle instead of sheep...
0:34:42 > 0:34:46It's a way of creating distinctions, so you can structure society
0:34:46 > 0:34:49and break it down into the really important people,
0:34:49 > 0:34:52the people with maximum wealth, access to good animals,
0:34:52 > 0:34:57access to good crops, access to the best quality pottery, that kind of thing.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01And the lowest who've got a few sheep and a crummy little pot.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12Remarkably, the remains of one man have survived from these times.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28When he lived, around 2,500 years ago,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Britain was going through a time of transformation.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37It's safe to assume that he was a farmer,
0:35:37 > 0:35:40and given the time in which he lived,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43he was probably dealing with a tougher climate
0:35:43 > 0:35:48than that which had been known to his forefathers a few hundred years before him.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50It was colder, wetter,
0:35:50 > 0:35:54so he might have been experimenting with new crops.
0:35:54 > 0:35:59He might have been keeping more livestock to compensate.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02If he was a livestock farmer, then he may from time to time have taken
0:36:02 > 0:36:06some of the beasts to one of those midden sites and slaughtered them there,
0:36:06 > 0:36:11to take part in one of the great feasting rituals, the great feasting events.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17But the way this man was buried gives clues,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20not just to changing relationships in life,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23but changing beliefs in death.
0:36:25 > 0:36:31He was found buried in a pit, which sounds casual, almost as if he'd been thrown away,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34but it wasn't casual, there was ritual at play,
0:36:34 > 0:36:40and we know that because he'd been laid to rest in the foetal position,
0:36:40 > 0:36:46curled into a ball, and his knees were so tightly pulled up towards his chest
0:36:46 > 0:36:49that in death he must have been tightly bound up,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52possibly in a funerary shawl or shroud.
0:36:52 > 0:36:58For the longest time, the funeral tradition had been cremation, and so to suddenly get burials,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02people being put into the ground intact, marks a change.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06And that's always significant because a change in the way people
0:37:06 > 0:37:13are being treated in death suggests that they were living differently, that life was different.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21The remains of another man who lived in Yorkshire 200 years later
0:37:21 > 0:37:24is a clue to changing Iron Age beliefs.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31When we found the skull in the ground, it was face down.
0:37:31 > 0:37:37There was only the skull, the jaw and a finger bone.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41At the base of the skull were the first and second vertebrae
0:37:41 > 0:37:45of the neck still in position, and basically, that was it.
0:37:47 > 0:37:54Remarkably, though, this skull still contained a 2,500 year old brain.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56What this seems to be telling us, this brain,
0:37:56 > 0:37:59is that this person died very quickly.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Not only do we have remnant brain chemistry in here, but we have
0:38:02 > 0:38:07remnants of the structures, of the fine components within the brain.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12But we don't have putrefaction, and it's usually putrefaction that destroys the brain,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15turns it to soup in a very short time after death.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20So perhaps this brain went into the ground very quickly after death.
0:38:21 > 0:38:26The man's vertebrae preserved evidence of just how he died.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30It's incomplete, it's lost its arch across here.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32And this is consistent with hanging.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36And then we've got a series of very, very fine cuts,
0:38:36 > 0:38:38about nine cuts across the vertebrae.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43Somebody has taken a small knife and felt their way through the flesh
0:38:43 > 0:38:49to find the gap between the second and third vertebrae in order to take the head off the body.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54This wasn't just a killing, it seemed to be a ritual,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56a human sacrifice.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04What you see in the early Iron Age is a change of beliefs.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08There were offerings of valuables in the Bronze Age,
0:39:08 > 0:39:15but in the Iron Age, you get more and more offerings of animals, and sometimes perhaps people as well.
0:39:15 > 0:39:20It's as though people living through the bronze crisis and climate change
0:39:20 > 0:39:25felt forced to reassess their lives and their place in the bigger scheme of things,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28and for some, that was a path leading to a grisly end.
0:39:32 > 0:39:38The period between 800 and 600 BC is one of the most mysterious in all of prehistory.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44And yet, so much of what was going on resonates with our own age.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51Economic collapse, fear of climate change.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54But back then, there were no scientists
0:39:54 > 0:39:57or central banks to explain or to help.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02So the crisis affected everyone, though in different ways.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07The end of bronze had a different impact in the north than it had in the south,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10in the uplands and in the lowlands.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14We also start to see at this time the beginning of something else
0:40:14 > 0:40:16we would recognise from Britain today,
0:40:16 > 0:40:20and that's the emergence of strong, regional identities.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24As society became more locally focused, people began to find
0:40:24 > 0:40:27local solutions to problems, local to them.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36When Britain's climate began to improve once more, around 600 BC,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39with warmer, drier summers,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42the regions continued to develop in different ways.
0:40:47 > 0:40:53In the far north of Scotland, people began to construct massive stone towers,
0:40:53 > 0:40:54called brochs.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02Here at Gurness on Orkney, there's a classic example.
0:41:02 > 0:41:03There's banks and ditches
0:41:03 > 0:41:07encircling a little settlement of low, stone houses,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11but the whole scene is dominated by that wall, and that's the base
0:41:11 > 0:41:14of a massive stone tower that at one stage would have stood
0:41:14 > 0:41:16as much as ten metres, 30 feet high,
0:41:16 > 0:41:21head and shoulders above the wall line of any modern house.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23You can only imagine the impact it would have had
0:41:23 > 0:41:29on anybody who came to visit or attack here, 400 years BC.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41Little is known of the people who lived here or what they believed.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45So we can only speculate on the kind of society this was.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Here on the inside, you can see the setting for an iron-shod post
0:41:52 > 0:41:55that would have supported a big timber door
0:41:55 > 0:41:59that would have slammed shut against these stone faces here.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03These slots would've taken a massive timber that would have locked,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05barricaded the door from the inside.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Everything about this place says "keep out".
0:42:17 > 0:42:24Meanwhile, largely in the south, farming communities were creating something very different.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27Some of the most famous features of the Iron Age.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34One of the best examples is at the top of this scree slope.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38Wait till you see Tre'r Ceiri, the town of the giants.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44It's a hillfort, one of the iconic symbols of the age.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58Tre'r Ceiri is actually quite a late hillfort,
0:42:58 > 0:43:04but they start appearing over much of southern Britain from around 600 BC,
0:43:04 > 0:43:08and they're often overlooking plains of fertile agricultural land.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14The thing about these places is they weren't just defensive.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18The term "hillfort" is pretty misleading -
0:43:18 > 0:43:22the threat of conflict wasn't always the spur for their construction.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26These were elevated places where people lived.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31Some experts even think they were a communist-style collective.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35And they do certainly seem to be about sharing labour
0:43:35 > 0:43:39and sharing produce for communal benefit.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47Perhaps the development of hillforts bore some relationship to the great midden gatherings -
0:43:47 > 0:43:53the local connections made through the sharing and display of animals and grain.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55These were farming communities,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58and when there was surplus production,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02seeds and crops stored in storage pits could be exchanged.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07Food, not bronze, represented wealth in this newly emerging world.
0:44:07 > 0:44:13And the more land you could cultivate, the more successful your community could be.
0:44:18 > 0:44:24One thing that was common across Britain was that by around 500 BC,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27iron finally began to appear in quantity.
0:44:29 > 0:44:34Britain was at last about to embark upon the Iron Age proper.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40After the initial impact of the bronze crisis, around 750 BC,
0:44:40 > 0:44:42things started to settle down.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46From the brochs in the north to the hillforts in the south and west,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50and all manner of farmsteads and settlements in-between.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58By 500 BC, there was a kind of stability.
0:44:58 > 0:45:04People had got over the seismic effects on the great international bronze economy.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08This was a turning point in our history, when iron finally began
0:45:08 > 0:45:11to appear across Britain in increasing quantities.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16It would change the way people lived, it would change the settlement of Britain as a whole.
0:45:16 > 0:45:21It would lead in just a few hundred years to the population increasing to unprecedented levels.
0:45:21 > 0:45:26And at its heart was a revolution in farming and food production.
0:45:28 > 0:45:35Discoveries of ironwork from this time reveal an extraordinary leap forward in technology.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41These wee treasures here are some of the Fiskerton Tools.
0:45:41 > 0:45:48They were deposited or discarded in Lincolnshire around 2,500 years ago.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00This is a hammer head.
0:46:00 > 0:46:01Handle here,
0:46:01 > 0:46:06the most obvious point of interest is the wear on the business end.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10That lip has been caused because that hammer has been used repeatedly,
0:46:10 > 0:46:12pounding against a hard surface.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15Probably used for hammering in iron nails, apart from anything else.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20This is a handsaw...
0:46:20 > 0:46:24that's broken, due to corrosion.
0:46:24 > 0:46:25But this is the handle.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28It's made of antler.
0:46:28 > 0:46:34It's beautifully worked and polished, with lovely detailing,
0:46:34 > 0:46:38to make it an attractive object as well as a useful one.
0:46:38 > 0:46:44The blade has broken due to corrosion during 2,500 years.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49It's so thin, and some of that might be down to corrosion,
0:46:49 > 0:46:52but it would've been thin anyway
0:46:52 > 0:46:56because a saw blade, in order to work, has to be thin.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59That begins to show the versatility of iron over bronze
0:46:59 > 0:47:03because you couldn't achieve that with cast bronze,
0:47:03 > 0:47:05so this is a job for iron.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11Possibly best of all is this one.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17You don't even need me to say the word, really,
0:47:17 > 0:47:19but it's a file.
0:47:20 > 0:47:26See how the cutting edges have been so carefully...
0:47:26 > 0:47:29worked into that, cut into the metal.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34It's so modern.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39If someone was to show you this and say, "This is from my great-grandfather's toolbox,"
0:47:39 > 0:47:41you'd be forgiven for believing them.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45There's nothing different about it from the tools we use today.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48And yet it's 2,500 years old.
0:47:53 > 0:47:59The time of crisis was becoming a distant memory as the population of Britain grew rapidly.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06Agricultural surplus lay at the heart of a newly emerging economy,
0:48:06 > 0:48:09and that depended heavily on iron.
0:48:11 > 0:48:18Iron was a metal that could be hammered into all manner of shapes and forms, not just cast,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22and unlike bronze it wasn't the preserve of some elite.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Iron instead was the metal of the people.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Working tools for working men.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35All that, combined with its strength and its widespread availability,
0:48:35 > 0:48:37was to transform our world
0:48:37 > 0:48:41and nudge us another step into the future.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54Iron working became a part of village life right across Britain.
0:48:56 > 0:49:01It's much better than the bronze because it's a bit more elastic so it's not going to snap
0:49:01 > 0:49:06if you hit something hard and if it does bend, you can always straighten it again.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09If it breaks, you can weld the two pieces back together again.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13And the iron also you can sharpen, keep putting an edge on,
0:49:13 > 0:49:17say for a sickle where you're cutting your corn or hay,
0:49:17 > 0:49:19you can keep sharpening it.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22It's much more versatile.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29Bronze casting remained a specialist art,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32but anyone could heat and reshape an iron tool.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38It's that sound as well. Knowing that that ringing sound
0:49:38 > 0:49:41would've been a permanent background noise...
0:49:41 > 0:49:44- Oh, yes.- ..for Iron Age village life, that ringing sound.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01- It looks best just while there's still a light in it.- Yes.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05For the rest of the time, it's just going to be cold metal, but for now, it's got a heartbeat.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08You can see it's dulling down.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11It's becoming utilitarian.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15- And such a simple, commonplace object, a sickle. - Yes, just a sickle.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18But at the moment, it's got the magic, hasn't it?
0:50:26 > 0:50:29Iron had another advantage.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31The ore was everywhere.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33This was a metal that could be local.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36It didn't depend on a complex trade network.
0:50:36 > 0:50:41So, by about 400 BC, as iron objects were beginning to appear in earnest,
0:50:41 > 0:50:46they became ubiquitous, and the effects of the new technology
0:50:46 > 0:50:51were felt right at the cutting edge of the agricultural economy.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57Dave Freeman and Simon Jay are directors of Butser Ancient Farm
0:50:57 > 0:51:01and study Iron Age farming techniques hands on.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05Right then, where are my mighty oxen?
0:51:05 > 0:51:08- We're here!- Oh, dear! Right.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Mush!
0:51:15 > 0:51:18- What is this exactly?- It's an ard.
0:51:18 > 0:51:20It's a very early form of plough.
0:51:20 > 0:51:22It's basically a piece of tree.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24Although I'm guessing...
0:51:24 > 0:51:27This one has the addition of an iron tip.
0:51:28 > 0:51:34In the Bronze Age then, they weren't ever tempted to put bronze tips on their ploughs?
0:51:34 > 0:51:37It may have been tried, but unfortunately of course,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40bronze doesn't stand up to wear and tear the same.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44With it being a casting, it's likely to break.
0:51:44 > 0:51:49And when it breaks, you have to make it molten and cast it again.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52Whereas an iron tip, of course, you take it to the nearest fire,
0:51:52 > 0:51:54get it hot and hit it with something.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59It's quite simple, if I could get the hang of a straight line.
0:51:59 > 0:52:05So these are starting to be visible from 400, 500 BC?
0:52:05 > 0:52:07Yes, they are. The later you go into the Iron Age,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10more iron is available and more people work it.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14It wouldn't be hard to persuade people why this was a good idea.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18- They'd rapidly see what the advantage was.- Yes. Go for another one?
0:52:18 > 0:52:19Yes.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25Oh, disastrous!
0:52:25 > 0:52:27It's a disaster for Scotland.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34Iron ploughs allowed heavier soils to be turned,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37so more land could be cultivated.
0:52:37 > 0:52:43And there were other innovations that added up to an agricultural and commercial revolution.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48How does it work? Why is a hole in the ground a good way to store grain?
0:52:48 > 0:52:51- I need to show you a finished hole.- OK.
0:52:51 > 0:52:52Come over this way.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Oh! So there's a great big hole under there?
0:52:57 > 0:53:01That clay cap is covering a storage pit that's fully loaded.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03Right. And what's...
0:53:03 > 0:53:06the magic that that provides?
0:53:06 > 0:53:10The clay cover keeps out moisture, air and light.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12The grain that's inside the pit,
0:53:12 > 0:53:17where it's touching the walls of the pit, sucks moisture out of the chalk and attempts to germinate.
0:53:17 > 0:53:22And of course in germination, you actually use oxygen, produce carbon dioxide.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24Because the pit is sealed,
0:53:24 > 0:53:28it runs out of oxygen and it hibernates - it actually goes to sleep.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33- So time stops?- It does indeed. And for quite some considerable period.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37You can actually store this quite safely for a full year.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41Occasionally we've got them to work for two years, so it's an enormous back up.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46And you can well imagine how something like a reliable surplus
0:53:46 > 0:53:51- of grain becomes almost like money - you can almost spend it.- It does.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56On the hillforts particularly, where you have the extra space and the political control,
0:53:56 > 0:54:03then we don't know how much was kept as a reserve by whoever it was that controlled that particular area.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05Your hillforts become a market town as well as a bank.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08That's how you invent debt!
0:54:08 > 0:54:13- Yes! You could give a farmer grain who had an accident and yes, then he's in debt to you.- He owes you one.
0:54:13 > 0:54:14Yes.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19Trade in grain was the basis of this new agricultural economy,
0:54:19 > 0:54:23and new devices were invented to process it.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26Some of the very first machines.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30For grinding grain, we use querns.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34- You're looking at anything up to an hour on a saddle quern. - It looks incredibly primitive.
0:54:34 > 0:54:35Back breaking.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38You can tell from skeletons, the wear and tear on bodies.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41A great leap forward was the rotary quern.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44The grain will go through several times.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47You're starting to see little flecks, look.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50- That's where the grain's actually being torn apart. - So it keeps going back in?
0:54:50 > 0:54:54- You'd just keep cycling it through. - It's just such a quantum leap -
0:54:54 > 0:54:57that's clearly Stone Age.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59This has got a design element about it -
0:54:59 > 0:55:03it's a composite tool made of multiple parts.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05Huge time saver, as well.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Iron Age housewives must have loved them!
0:55:07 > 0:55:12Yes, and of course it frees up an enormous amount of manpower.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15You can see...
0:55:15 > 0:55:17how a momentum would build up.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21If you've got iron tools, you can make more of these.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23- You're producing more grain.- Yes.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26These produce more flour, more bread, you can feed more people.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28- Population increase.- Absolutely.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31And it will just keep on building and building.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36All these factors combined -
0:55:36 > 0:55:42ploughs, pits, stores, querns and better weather -
0:55:42 > 0:55:45the fields of Britain had probably never been so productive
0:55:45 > 0:55:50and from around 400 BC, there was a population explosion.
0:55:50 > 0:55:56The crisis that followed the Bronze Age was over and a new Britain was emerging.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01This bronze axe was the symbol of an age
0:56:01 > 0:56:04that had lasted for over 1,000 years,
0:56:04 > 0:56:06but it was a symbol of the past -
0:56:06 > 0:56:09a metal that represented a golden age,
0:56:09 > 0:56:13with its benign climate and international economy.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16Bronze had created an elite,
0:56:16 > 0:56:20so it's not surprising that it had class overtones as well.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22There was also a spiritual aspect.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Bronze was about more than simply making tools.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29It was the glue that held society together.
0:56:29 > 0:56:36But this axe made of iron several hundred years later never had that kind of value in itself.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40The making of iron
0:56:40 > 0:56:45might still have been magical, but iron tools were entirely practical.
0:56:46 > 0:56:53And that set the tone for an age in which iron technology put agriculture -
0:56:53 > 0:56:56and therefore the land - at the very heart of society.
0:56:56 > 0:57:02Wealth and power could be grown and stored, bought and sold.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07In many ways, we'd lost something.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11The magic of the Bronze Age, replaced with something modern.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14And what it would lead to would be power structures that,
0:57:14 > 0:57:18compared to the bronze elite, would seem modern as well.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26'Next time, my journey continues...
0:57:28 > 0:57:31'..as I encounter a whole new age.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35'A time of powerful Celtic warriors...'
0:57:35 > 0:57:38He was laid in his grave
0:57:38 > 0:57:42and soon thereafter, three spears were thrust in.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46'..magical druid priests...'
0:57:46 > 0:57:50What events did he witness?
0:57:50 > 0:57:52And what power did he wield?
0:57:54 > 0:57:58'..and those at the very bottom of British society.'
0:57:58 > 0:58:00Look at this.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03It's an iron slave chain.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05It's over 2,000 years old.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11If you want to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors,
0:58:11 > 0:58:15then go to the website...
0:58:15 > 0:58:17to find out how to connect
0:58:17 > 0:58:19with Ancient Britain in YOUR area.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:32 > 0:58:35E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk