0:00:03 > 0:00:07We might be a small island but we've got a big history.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12Everywhere you stand, there are worlds beneath your feet.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15And so, every year, hundreds of archaeologists across Britain
0:00:15 > 0:00:18go looking for more clues into our story.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Who lived here? When? And how?
0:00:21 > 0:00:23There was a blade in here...
0:00:23 > 0:00:25So he's being attacked from all angles.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30Archaeology is a complex jigsaw puzzle drawing everything together
0:00:30 > 0:00:34from skeletons to swords, temples to treasure.
0:00:35 > 0:00:36He's biting his shield.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Biting his shield, yeah.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43From Orkney to Devon, we're joining this year's quest
0:00:43 > 0:00:45on sea, land and air.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48We share all of the questions,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50and find some of the answers,
0:00:50 > 0:00:55as we join the teams in the field, Digging For Britain.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Throughout its history, Britain has been divided and enriched
0:01:19 > 0:01:21by invaders from overseas.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23And none have gripped our imaginations
0:01:23 > 0:01:25quite as much as the Vikings.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29But how much of what we think we know about the Vikings
0:01:29 > 0:01:31is just a stereotype?
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Do they really live up to their savage reputation?
0:01:35 > 0:01:39And how much did they influence and shape British culture?
0:01:41 > 0:01:44This year's archaeology is enriching and challenging our vision
0:01:44 > 0:01:49of the Vikings, with digs, artefacts and messages they left behind.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Wow! That is a beautiful object!
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Like the fortress of a Norwegian Viking chief in Orkney.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00This cup is absolutely extraordinary, isn't it?
0:02:00 > 0:02:05The magnificent hoard of silver buried in a time of bloodshed.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08And the victims of a vicious nationwide massacre.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12But you're suddenly kind of connecting with this awful moment,
0:02:12 > 0:02:14which is his death.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24History paints the Vikings as illiterate, bloody raiders
0:02:24 > 0:02:27bringing chaos in their wooden longships.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30In monkish chronicles, these Norsemen are presented
0:02:30 > 0:02:35as marauding pirates who attacked and plundered along Britain's coast
0:02:35 > 0:02:37from the 8th Century onwards.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Their raids stretched from Orkney, to Ireland and beyond.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49But in the past decades, archaeology has been throwing up complexities,
0:02:49 > 0:02:55with a richer picture of these invaders emerging through what they left behind.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04On the Isle of Harris, in the Outer Hebrides,
0:03:04 > 0:03:09archaeologists are just starting to bring evidence of the earliest Vikings to light.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18A team from the University of Birmingham is digging
0:03:18 > 0:03:20at a site called Horgabost.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24The name itself has a Norse origin.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28A strong hint that the Vikings were here.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Just over these dunes is one of this season's targets.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Now, archaeologists have been digging here before
0:03:41 > 0:03:44and they discovered an Iron Age settlement.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47But there is some archaeological evidence that the Vikings
0:03:47 > 0:03:48were here too.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52A couple of burials threatened by erosion seem to have been Norse,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56and small Norse finds have been discovered as well.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00But the archaeologists are really hoping that they're going
0:04:00 > 0:04:02to find evidence of a settlement,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05and if they do that, it'll be the first of its kind on Harris.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13OK then, Alice, what we have here is a very interesting Iron Age site
0:04:13 > 0:04:15with a bit of a mysterious end to it,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18which we're trying to come to terms with at the moment.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20If you step this way...
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Some very striking layers in the ground there.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26'The team is being led by Kevin Colls, and I joined them
0:04:26 > 0:04:28'right at the start of the digging season.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33'The site may hold the key to the first contacts between incoming Vikings
0:04:33 > 0:04:35'and the Gaelic people already living here.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39'Will it be a story of destruction?'
0:04:39 > 0:04:43What's slightly more mysterious, and slightly more interesting for me,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47is this deposit here that's sealing everything else.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51- What is that? It's a completely different colour as well.- Completely different.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55It's almost demolition debris, full of very late Iron Age pottery.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00- Right.- And lots of charcoal, lots of sort of waste material.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02Sometimes archaeology works this way.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07They're finding subtle glimpses within the soil of a time of abandonment.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12We need to find out when this occurred.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16And that's why we're taking samples for carbon dating and see if,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18hopefully, see if it can be because of the Norse,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22the Norse invasion, or when the Vikings came to the island,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26and whether it sort of clashes with this site being abandoned.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Close by, a building is emerging that seems to be
0:05:29 > 0:05:31rectangular in shape,
0:05:31 > 0:05:32a style that is Scandinavian,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35and unlike the roundhouses favoured by Iron Age people.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40So could this be evidence of Vikings displacing the original inhabitants?
0:05:41 > 0:05:44- Now, there's a nice corner here. - Absolutely.- Yeah.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48And there are lots of stones in this vicinity which suggest
0:05:48 > 0:05:50the feature is running under the dunes.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52I can see some here.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55So they carry on going backwards in this direction.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Absolutely. There's more here.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Are you going to extend the trench back?
0:05:59 > 0:06:01We will extend back and see
0:06:01 > 0:06:04if we can get the full plan, and see if it is a rectangular house,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06in line with a Norse long house.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09And as the first traces of their buildings start to come to light,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13the team is also coming across evidence of the people who died here.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16But are they the remains of Norse invaders
0:06:16 > 0:06:19or the island's Gaelic population?
0:06:19 > 0:06:22I've got a very small fragment of bone.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25- Oh, really? And that's just come out of here, has it?- Yeah.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Just from the centre down there.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29And it looks like it could be human.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34So what I think we're looking at here is a collapsed burial mound or cairn,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36with a cist burial in the middle.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38So these stones here...
0:06:38 > 0:06:43- It's actually a stone-lined burial. - Stone-lined grave. So these stones here are sealing
0:06:43 > 0:06:47the actual grave itself.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50If there is a skeleton in there, the body would have been laid out
0:06:50 > 0:06:53presumably in an extended position in this grave.
0:06:53 > 0:06:54Absolutely.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57So we're sort of hoping that the preservation of the bone
0:06:57 > 0:06:58is going to be good.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02Yeah. Well, that little fragment gives you hope, yeah.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05It is... Even though it's so tiny,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09the bone itself is actually quite well preserved.
0:07:10 > 0:07:11So you never know.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15With further analysis, this tiny piece of bone may emerge
0:07:15 > 0:07:20as physical proof of one of the first Vikings on Harris.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24But so far, perhaps the strongest evidence of the meeting of these cultures
0:07:24 > 0:07:27comes from a scattering of objects found across the site.
0:07:27 > 0:07:34So we have...the things on this side are late Iron Age in date.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39So you've got a storage jar or a big cooking pot there made from ceramic.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41We've also got this very strange...
0:07:41 > 0:07:43It looks like a rock.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47But if you feel the coarseness of the outside edge,
0:07:47 > 0:07:52when compared to the flat edge, it's been used, and used constantly.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Yeah, so what's that been used for?
0:07:55 > 0:07:57We suspect it's used for working animal hides.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01And that fits so nicely in your hand, doesn't it?
0:08:01 > 0:08:02It's very tactile, yes.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07So these finds are intriguing because they could be later Iron Age, they could be Norse.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10- You can't really distinguish between them.- No, you can't.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15'But from their early investigations comes the first conclusive proof
0:08:15 > 0:08:17'of contact with the Vikings.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22'A tiny scrap of steatite, or soapstone,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25'a material often imported from Scandinavia
0:08:25 > 0:08:29'and found in great quantities on Norse sites across Britain.'
0:08:29 > 0:08:32What you can say from this fragment of soapstone bowl
0:08:32 > 0:08:34is that this is typically Viking.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39Either somebody who was already here learnt how to make such a thing
0:08:39 > 0:08:45from a Viking, or they got it from a Viking, or it belonged to a Viking.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48- Exactly. So the Vikings were here. - Yeah.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58You can see why the Vikings might have felt at home here.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03This is a landscape perfectly suited to their seafaring way of life.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07You can just imagine their longships coming in
0:09:07 > 0:09:11and then being pulled up on these flat, wide beaches,
0:09:11 > 0:09:16ready to start a new life in a land that's completely surrounded by sea.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22And the arrival of the Vikings would mark the beginning of a new phase in
0:09:22 > 0:09:28this island's history, and one that would leave a lasting impression.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33It's a history that is still frustratingly
0:09:33 > 0:09:35just below the surface on Harris.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39But I don't have to look too far to find more substantial evidence
0:09:39 > 0:09:40of Norse culture.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Just up the road, on the adjoining Isle of Lewis,
0:09:44 > 0:09:50is perhaps the most famous and iconic Scandinavian treasure ever discovered in Scotland.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55It was found in the 1800s but dates from the 12th Century,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59a time when Lewis was controlled by the kings of Norway.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Still shrouded in mystery,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05it's a compendium of 93 ivory chess and gaming pieces,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09known to us as the Lewis Chessmen.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13A selection of the chessmen has come back to Lewis
0:10:13 > 0:10:17some 180 years after they were first thought to have been found.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19They are such charismatic little figures
0:10:19 > 0:10:22and I've been fascinated by them since I was a child.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24My grandparents had a replica chess set.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Well, now, they're on tour, following a new piece of research
0:10:28 > 0:10:30looking into their origins and their story.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33And it's so lovely to come here to Stornaway to see them,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36close to where they were discovered.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45The new research places the chessmen firmly at the heart
0:10:45 > 0:10:49of the once powerful but now forgotten Kingdom of the Isles,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53a hybrid Norse Gaelic state controlled by the kings of Norway.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57The project has been led by Dr David Caldwell
0:10:57 > 0:11:00from the National Museum of Scotland.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02We've got all the characters you'd expect,
0:11:02 > 0:11:07we've got kings and queens and bishops and knights, and who's this character here?
0:11:07 > 0:11:08Right.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11This is a warrior or warder,
0:11:11 > 0:11:16and nowadays he's normally represented by a tower,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18he's a rook, in other words.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Although this particular one, as you can just see there...
0:11:22 > 0:11:25- He's biting his shield. - He's biting his shield, yeah.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28This, in fact, I think, is one of the key
0:11:28 > 0:11:32bits of evidence that these pieces were made in the Scandinavian world,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36because that's a reference to a cult in the Scandinavian world,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39the cult of the Berserkers.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43The Berserkers were warriors who got so high before going into battle
0:11:43 > 0:11:48- that they had to bite their shields to hold themselves back.- Really?
0:11:50 > 0:11:53And I don't think this chessman is really a Berserker
0:11:53 > 0:11:58but I think it's the carver, in a way, just showing his cultural roots
0:11:58 > 0:12:01or perhaps gently poking fun at some of his contemporaries
0:12:01 > 0:12:02by showing that.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09The finding of the chessmen is shrouded in mystery.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Tradition has it they were lost by a passing merchant.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15But David thinks it's possible they were owned by
0:12:15 > 0:12:18an important person living on Lewis.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Lewis was the centre, or one of the centres,
0:12:21 > 0:12:23of a Scandinavian kingdom,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25the Kingdom of the Isles,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27which people have now forgotten about,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31but it was a very important kingdom on a European model
0:12:31 > 0:12:33which was here until 1266.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37This was the year in which the Vikings handed the Hebrides
0:12:37 > 0:12:40over to Scotland for the sum of 4,000 marks,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44ending four centuries of Norwegian sovereignty on the islands.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48But who made these beautiful figures?
0:12:48 > 0:12:49Detailed study of their faces
0:12:49 > 0:12:53has revealed that they fall into five different types,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57which suggests they were made by five different craftsmen.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59This face... this face is beautiful.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Yeah. That's one of my favourites.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07The craftsman who made this was exceptionally good
0:13:07 > 0:13:10and ivory is an amazingly tough material to carve.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13It must have taken days to do this,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16but just the subtlety of the expression there.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Just the look,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20and even when you move away from the face
0:13:20 > 0:13:23and you look at the knuckles, the detail there,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27you can almost sense that the hand is actually gripping that sword.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Those hands are absolutely beautiful and the contours of the face,
0:13:31 > 0:13:32there's even a change in contour
0:13:32 > 0:13:35when we go from the cheek, down to the upper lip,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38that crease between the nose and the mouth is shown.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45These figures may be stylised, but there's every reason to believe
0:13:45 > 0:13:48they're based on living Scandinavians.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50The people who carved them
0:13:50 > 0:13:53were paying attention to authentic details.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58So the clothes aren't just figments of the imagination of a carver,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02this is real attire that is being represented.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06Yes, they clearly have a very good understanding
0:14:06 > 0:14:08of what they're representing.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13They understand the different layers of vestment a bishop is wearing,
0:14:13 > 0:14:17the chasubles, the albs, and everything else,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21and they represent that very carefully indeed.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24These craftsmen probably worked in a major centre in Norway
0:14:24 > 0:14:28where they could closely observe high-status Scandinavians.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Where they may even have had bishops or kings as their patrons.
0:14:33 > 0:14:34You must feel very close to them.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40You've looked after them for years and you've also initiated
0:14:40 > 0:14:42this new research.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Yes. I think it's very important for lots of reasons,
0:14:45 > 0:14:50but one obvious reason is that we've rather neglected or forgotten about
0:14:50 > 0:14:52our Scandinavian heritage.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56We've totally forgotten about this Kingdom of the Isles.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01And I think restoring these chessmen to that,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05and making people more aware of that is important.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09You and I will inevitably have Scandinavian blood
0:15:09 > 0:15:12flowing through our veins, and we ought to be proud of it
0:15:12 > 0:15:16and think that it was our ancestors that had these
0:15:16 > 0:15:19and valued these and carved these.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23So the Vikings came to the Western Isles
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and created a Scandinavian state to rival
0:15:26 > 0:15:28the kingdoms of England and Scotland.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31One that we've all but forgotten about.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36And we have potent Viking legacies in the form of amazing craftwork
0:15:36 > 0:15:40that reminds us of our shared Scandinavian genes.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43But what lured the Vikings here in the first place?
0:15:48 > 0:15:53Back on Harris is another site where the archaeology
0:15:53 > 0:15:57is reminding us that they first came here to plunder.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00It's a possible medieval monastery,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04the ultimate temptation for a seafaring pirate.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07History tells us that the riches of these Christian monasteries
0:16:07 > 0:16:10are what drew the Vikings to our shores.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17This site houses a ruined chapel, and there are traces dating
0:16:17 > 0:16:20all the way back to an Iron Age broch, or tower.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25'Professor John Hunter is overseeing excavations here.'
0:16:26 > 0:16:29Anyway if we get... Stand here, and we just look round here.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33- This is the outer face of the broch. Huge stones.- Oh, that's fantastic.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36And you can see the collapse has just fallen in.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Massive. Massively thick walls.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41The walls...four metres thick, roughly.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44If there was an early monastery here,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46you're directly on the great sea routes,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49that bring Norwegian Vikings all the way down to Ireland
0:16:49 > 0:16:51and they would've seen this.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55It would've been sweets for the taking, it really would.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Just outside the boundary of the possible monastery are some graves
0:16:59 > 0:17:01that might be Norse.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04And the team has discovered the first fragments of whoever
0:17:04 > 0:17:06was buried here.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08But is it a long dead Viking?
0:17:09 > 0:17:14Oh, OK, so as well as these bits of bone, a tooth.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18Tell us about that, then. Where's it from?
0:17:18 > 0:17:21Well, it looks like a lower incisor,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25I think, and it's very worn,
0:17:25 > 0:17:29so all of the enamel on the top has been worn down.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31It's somebody who's an adult
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and who's been wearing that tooth down for many years.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41Even if these are all that remains of a Viking,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45does it necessarily prove that he or she lived here?
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Or might this be the grave of a passing seafarer,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50whose remains were brought to shore
0:17:50 > 0:17:52before the ship continued on its way?
0:17:54 > 0:17:58It's very exciting being here with archaeologists who are trying
0:17:58 > 0:18:01to work out what Harris was to the Vikings.
0:18:01 > 0:18:02As part of the Hebrides,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06it's on that sea route between Shetland and Orkney in the north,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10and Ireland, places that were all firmly part of the Viking world.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12But what about Harris?
0:18:12 > 0:18:14Was it just a stopping-off point,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16were the Vikings here only transiently,
0:18:16 > 0:18:19or did they actually settle here
0:18:19 > 0:18:23and put down roots, as the place names seem to suggest?
0:18:23 > 0:18:28Well, they're finding what look like Norse buildings
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and we have that piece of steatite as well,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35which suggests that the archaeologists are just on the brink
0:18:35 > 0:18:41of finding the first hard evidence of Viking settlement here on Harris.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49In England, there's one city that boasts
0:18:49 > 0:18:52more evidence of Viking occupation
0:18:52 > 0:18:54than anywhere else in Britain.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59York, or Jorvik.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04The first Viking to take the city was Ivar the Boneless,
0:19:04 > 0:19:07a Danish Viking leader and reputed Berserker.
0:19:07 > 0:19:13Jorvik became the capital of his new Danish territory in 866 AD.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16For the next 20 years, the Danes continued
0:19:16 > 0:19:18with their aggressive expansion
0:19:18 > 0:19:21until the English king Alfred the Great
0:19:21 > 0:19:24drew up a treaty with the Viking king Guthrum.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27The country was sliced in two,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31and the Danes were given their own territory in the north and east,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35the Danelaw, with York at its heart.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Even though they only ruled here for 100 years,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42York is still very much associated with the Vikings.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47And an excavation in the '70s here at Coppergate dragged
0:19:47 > 0:19:52York's Viking past into the present in a very vivid way.
0:19:53 > 0:19:54Now all of that archaeology
0:19:54 > 0:19:57is sealed beneath these shops and cafes.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00But there's a current excavation going on
0:20:00 > 0:20:02in another part of the city not far from here,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06and again we're starting to see the buried history of this city.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09So I'm going to visit the dig
0:20:09 > 0:20:13to find out what more we can learn about the Vikings of Jorvik.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Archaeologists have been working in an area called Hungate
0:20:20 > 0:20:24in the centre of the city for four-and-a-half years.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27It's a huge, multi-layered excavation
0:20:27 > 0:20:32but right now, the archaeologists are almost three metres below today's ground level,
0:20:32 > 0:20:37and digging what I'm interested in - the Viking layer.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41And they're revealing that they were not just about looting and fighting.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44The Vikings were traders and builders of cities too.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Once the Vikings had taken York, they stayed here,
0:20:50 > 0:20:54bringing up families and blending with the city's previous inhabitants,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58creating a unique culture known as Anglo-Scandinavian.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02And they remained even after the last Viking king had been expelled,
0:21:02 > 0:21:07expanding their town and putting up huge, permanent buildings.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10So are you into the final phase, really?
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Yeah, this is the very final part.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17'Peter Connelly is running excavations here
0:21:17 > 0:21:19'for the York Archaeological Trust.'
0:21:19 > 0:21:20It's landscape archaeology,
0:21:20 > 0:21:25- it just happens to be in an urban environment.- Yeah.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29Most of the buildings here sit on an organised grid layout,
0:21:29 > 0:21:34unexpected evidence that the Vikings had a talent for urban planning.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38There's a big sequence of posts,
0:21:38 > 0:21:44and I'm going to ask you, if you just reach down into there, go on.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47It'll just give you an idea of how deep they're driven.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50I can't reach the bottom, actually.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52These enormous post holes outline
0:21:52 > 0:21:56the substantial foundations of the buildings that stood here
0:21:56 > 0:21:59and are evidence of how the Anglo-Scandinavians
0:21:59 > 0:22:02were using this area at the edge of their city.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06'The land here slopes gently down to the river,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09'making it an ideal loading and unloading spot.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12'These buildings were probably storage warehouses.'
0:22:14 > 0:22:17And right in the middle of these structures,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21the Vikings built something that would have been totally indispensable.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Now the stuff that I'm digging through at the moment is
0:22:24 > 0:22:27effectively human waste, it's poo.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Cos what I'm sat in at the moment,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33it's the remains of a Viking toilet or cess pit.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38All the bits of animal bone that we're finding in here as well,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41it's been used as a general rubbish pit as well.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Although the majority of it is human waste,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49you are getting other bits and pieces in here as well.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51But fortunately,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55it's not just rubbish that's come out of the ground at Hungate.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Over the four-and-a-half years that the archaeologists have been working here,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03they've turned up thousands of artefacts from the Viking period.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Most of them are pottery and bone, and represent household waste.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11But there is a handful of intriguing small finds which provide us
0:23:11 > 0:23:16with additional clues as to what the Vikings were doing in this part of the city.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22The finds researcher at York Archaeological Trust is Nicky Rogers.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25So, Nicky, this is a collection of finds
0:23:25 > 0:23:28- that are all from the excavation at Hungate?- They are.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32They're a fraction of what we've found over the five years we've been excavating there.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35We've found over 12,000 individual artefacts.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37What's this here?
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Well, actually, this is a jet pendant.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41It's quite sweet, I think,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44because the hole... Well, it's a bit off centre.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47I like the shape of it. That's quite modern-looking.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Well, it is, but that's a very typical shape of the period in fact.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Where would that have come from, the jet for that?
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Probably from Whitby, from the north coast.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00- What about these beads, are these amber?- This is all amber here.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02So where would that have come from?
0:24:02 > 0:24:04That's going to have come from the Baltic area.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10So the Vikings living in Hungate imported high-quality material.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Their trade routes stretched hundreds of miles away
0:24:13 > 0:24:15across the Scandinavian world.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20But they also used less exotic material to turn out huge numbers
0:24:20 > 0:24:23of an item that's a little more surprising.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Well, these are actually skates.
0:24:26 > 0:24:27- Really?- Yes.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30They're effectively very easy to make
0:24:30 > 0:24:35because the bone is already that size, that shape.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38Very little has to be done to it to turn it into...
0:24:38 > 0:24:41So what is the bone... this is a metapodial, isn't it?
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Yes, they're usually horse or cattle metapodials.
0:24:44 > 0:24:45Right. OK.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48All that's been done to this one, if you look at it is, well,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51on the bottom it's been flattened and smoothed,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54so that's a very smooth, flat surface.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57- And that's been deliberately done. - That has been deliberately done.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Your foot would have sat on here, your heel there, your toe there.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05You couldn't take your foot off the ice, you pulled yourself with poles.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08So they're not ice dancing, not pirouetting round,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11they're keeping their feet on the ground, using them like cross-country skis.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13That's it.
0:25:13 > 0:25:19These simple bone objects connect us to customs imported from the frozen Norse homelands.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21But animal products could also be used
0:25:21 > 0:25:24to make intricately-crafted items.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26That is lovely, what is it?
0:25:26 > 0:25:30It's a decorated buckle plate made of antler
0:25:30 > 0:25:34and it's got this beautiful sort of plated decoration on it.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37- Yes, that's really lovely. - It is nice.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40- It's an amazing connection with somebody 1,000 years ago...- It is.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43..here in York. Oh, it's lovely.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53The archaeology of Hungate,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58the buried evidence of people who lived here in Jorvik 1,000 years ago,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00is not about monumental remains.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02We're not looking at the elite of society,
0:26:02 > 0:26:07but we're getting an insight instead into the lives of ordinary people,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11as they started to plan their town.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15And we see how they adapted their buildings to suit the land
0:26:15 > 0:26:18and the specific purpose they wanted them for.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23These people lived in York but they kept a connection with their Scandinavian homeland,
0:26:23 > 0:26:28through the objects that they bought, used and wore.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31And, in a very real way, 1,000 years ago,
0:26:31 > 0:26:36they were laying the foundations of the York that we see today.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43While, in York, the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons learnt to get along,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47throughout the rest of England, their relationship remained uneasy.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51Although pockets of Danes lived and traded here,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54they hadn't gained a permanent foothold
0:26:54 > 0:26:57and full-scale Danish raids continued along the coast.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01The English king, Ethelred the Unready,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04was repeatedly forced to pay them off with huge sums of money
0:27:04 > 0:27:06known as Danegeld.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10And the growing tension between these clashing nations
0:27:10 > 0:27:15led to a horrific act - the St Brice's Day massacre.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24But the perpetrators of this slaughter were not Vikings,
0:27:24 > 0:27:26they were Anglo-Saxon.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29And what's more, the murder was sanctioned by King Ethelred.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31He decreed that...
0:27:31 > 0:27:35"All the Danes who had sprung up in this island,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37"sprouting like cockle amongst the wheat,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41"were to be destroyed by a most just extermination."
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Some of the victims of this extermination
0:27:49 > 0:27:55may now have been discovered by archaeologists in a pit in Oxford.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58The skeletons of at least 35 people
0:27:58 > 0:28:03lay in a mass grave, where they'd been dumped 1,000 years before.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09It is very rare that archaeologists get the chance to examine
0:28:09 > 0:28:12evidence from a particular historical event,
0:28:12 > 0:28:17and one that the scholars agree did actually happen.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20But I'm interested in the analysis of these bones.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23Do the bones show evidence of violence,
0:28:23 > 0:28:28could they indeed represent the victims of this massacre?
0:28:32 > 0:28:35Osteologist Ceri Falys has been examining their remains
0:28:35 > 0:28:37for signs of trauma.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42This was actually the first skeleton we found.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45But it wasn't until we placed his skull back together -
0:28:45 > 0:28:50it was in hundreds of fragments - that we actually saw the trauma.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53- There's at least ten... - Oh, my goodness.- Ten blade wounds.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58So there's a blade wound here, here, there, so that's three.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00There's a glancing wound here.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03And what about these little triangular holes?
0:29:03 > 0:29:05They're puncture wounds, made by maybe a spear,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08- or something like that. - It is awful, isn't it?
0:29:08 > 0:29:10You hold these bones and these are the bones of someone
0:29:10 > 0:29:13who died a very long time ago,
0:29:13 > 0:29:18but you're suddenly kind of connecting with this awful moment, which is his death.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Radiocarbon dating has shown that these people died
0:29:23 > 0:29:26between 998 and 1019 AD,
0:29:26 > 0:29:31which means it's possible they were killed on St Brice's Day, 1002,
0:29:31 > 0:29:35the day the Anglo-Saxons turned on the Danes.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38And he also has two puncture wounds to his back.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42There's one there and one a bit further down.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45So these are quite tiny puncture wounds into the spine.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48- What do you think they could have been caused by? - Possibly by a spear,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51something being thrust rather than thrown.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54Yeah, so just the tip for the spear being pushed in.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59Again, a young man, hacked to death...horrendous.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06Most of these men were between 16 and 25 years old when they died.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10Incredibly, the next skeleton I'm shown is that of a man
0:30:10 > 0:30:13whose murder was even more vicious than the last.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18His ear...just behind his ear has been sheared off.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22Yeah, so straight through that mastoid process, that chunk of bone behind the ear.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25The side of his mandible has been sheared off.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28So there's evidence of blade injury here as well.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Two definite blade wounds on that side of the jaw.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33He's got four wounds to his upper neck.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36So that's been chopped through.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39And the dens itself.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42So chopping through just underneath the ear,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46taking off the angle of the mandible and the blade carrying on through
0:30:46 > 0:30:48and cutting into the vertebrae of the neck.
0:30:48 > 0:30:49Yeah.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Other parts of this man's skeleton show further signs
0:30:52 > 0:30:55of the frenzied nature of the attack.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58He has three punctures to his pelvis.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01There's two small wounds there.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03But they've actually come in from the back.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06You can see these very square-shaped puncture wounds,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09which have gone all the way through the bone.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11So these are the tips of a weapon of some kind,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14- pushing all the way through to here. - Yeah.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19So he was attacked from the back there,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23so on the left side, somebody stabbed him just above the hip, from the back,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27and then he's also been speared or stabbed through from the front
0:31:27 > 0:31:33as well, from about here, going in and then hitting his pelvis
0:31:33 > 0:31:36as it passes backwards. So he's being attacked from all angles.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38All angles.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40And if the multiple stab wounds
0:31:40 > 0:31:42weren't enough to finish this man off,
0:31:42 > 0:31:46for good measure, he was set on fire.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50His forehead has been burnt, which accounts for the missing bone
0:31:50 > 0:31:54in the middle, and also his hand has been charred.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57Is this the only skeleton who has signs of burning?
0:31:57 > 0:32:00- No, quite a few of them have got charring.- Yeah.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03It's mostly to their heads, their pelvises and their hands.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07Ceri, were you shocked when you got these bones cleaned up and into the laboratory
0:32:07 > 0:32:11- at how much violence there was represented on them?- Very shocked.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16- I've never seen anything like this before.- Yeah.- It's...
0:32:16 > 0:32:20And just to have so many different weapons used on one individual.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24These skeletons bore none of the wounds you'd expect to find
0:32:24 > 0:32:27on people who tried to defend themselves,
0:32:27 > 0:32:30so it's likely that they were murdered whilst running away.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32But were they Vikings?
0:32:33 > 0:32:36Isotope analysis was not conclusive
0:32:36 > 0:32:39but did show their diet was rich in seafood,
0:32:39 > 0:32:43suggesting they did at least live a Viking way of life.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47And then they may have been hunted down and killed for it.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55So what can we say for certain?
0:32:55 > 0:32:59We have over 30 skeletons, all of them men,
0:32:59 > 0:33:02all showing signs of extreme violence.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06Whilst we can't be sure that they were the victims of the St Brice's Day massacre,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10the types of injury and the date of the skeletons
0:33:10 > 0:33:12makes it at least possible.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15These young men were cut down,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18were hacked to death in a frenzy of violence.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23And 1,000 years on, this mass murder is still shocking.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Through trauma analysis,
0:33:27 > 0:33:30archaeology has allowed us to explore the awful possibility
0:33:30 > 0:33:32of the Vikings as victims.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37But a different kind of archaeological discovery
0:33:37 > 0:33:39has opened a window onto life
0:33:39 > 0:33:41for a Viking whose luck had run out.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48Every now and then, metal detectorists turn up interesting objects,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52which have been lost, or abandoned, or even deliberately buried by their owners,
0:33:52 > 0:33:56and then they've laid hidden in the ground for hundreds of years.
0:33:56 > 0:34:01But it's extremely unusual to find a collection as diverse,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and which illustrates as many different aspects of a past society,
0:34:05 > 0:34:07as the hoard I'm about to see now.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16It's one of the most important Viking finds of the last 150 years
0:34:16 > 0:34:17and it's so rich in content
0:34:17 > 0:34:20that experts are still writing up their findings.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24It's currently on display at the Yorkshire Museum.
0:34:29 > 0:34:30So this is it.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33This is the Vale of York Hoard.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37It was found four years ago by a father-and-son metal-detecting team.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41And it really is an astonishing collection of silver objects
0:34:41 > 0:34:43with one piece of gold.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47But what's really amazing is that most of those objects were found
0:34:47 > 0:34:49inside that cup.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53It really is spectacular and beautiful
0:34:53 > 0:34:55but what I want to know is
0:34:55 > 0:35:00can we learn anything of any real archaeological significance
0:35:00 > 0:35:02from these objects?
0:35:02 > 0:35:07And, given what we know about this period of history in this area,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10might we be able to get an idea of the person
0:35:10 > 0:35:14who had this sort of wealth in their possession?
0:35:15 > 0:35:21The hoard comprises 617 coins and 67 pieces of silver,
0:35:21 > 0:35:24including items of jewellery.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27All objects which have a great deal to tell us
0:35:27 > 0:35:30about the Scandinavian world at the time of their burial.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34This cup is absolutely extraordinary, isn't it?
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Yeah, it's, I think, probably the finest thing in the hoard
0:35:38 > 0:35:39all on its own.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41It's a gilt silver cup,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44so it's silver and it's been gilded with gold.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49It was also decorated with niello, a kind of alloy that's black.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52So when this was first made it would have been,
0:35:52 > 0:35:56if you think of a wasp, quite gaudy yellow and black contrast.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58The detail would have showed up amazingly well.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00- Would you like to hold it? - I'd love to hold it.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04If you sit it in your hand, it kind of gives you a real good impression
0:36:04 > 0:36:08of what this might've been used for when it was originally made.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12It feels like a cup which wants to be passed on to somebody else.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15What do you think it was used for?
0:36:15 > 0:36:17Given the way that you hold it in both hands,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20the fact that it's been gilded and it may have had a lid,
0:36:20 > 0:36:24we think it could be an ecclesiastical vessel, something used in a monastery.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27So it's possible that this cup,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30which experts believe came from the Frankish Empire,
0:36:30 > 0:36:34fell into Viking hands as loot or in payment of tribute.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37It was made in the mid-ninth Century,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40predating the rest of the objects in this collection.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43But it presumably had a lot of special significance and meaning
0:36:43 > 0:36:46because it lasted another 100 years,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48so I presume it was passed down through the family
0:36:48 > 0:36:52and then came to, you know, hold the contents of this hoard.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57This object gives us a rare insight into the mind-set of a Viking.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01As an heirloom, it connects him back to his adventuring ancestors
0:37:01 > 0:37:03and their ill-gotten gains.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07But not all of the items in this hoard had sentimental value.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10What about these objects that were inside it?
0:37:10 > 0:37:13- Are these pieces of jewellery typically Viking in nature? - They are, yes.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16This is by far the most spectacular.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18That's the only gold piece, isn't it?
0:37:18 > 0:37:20This is the only gold piece in the hoard.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23If you'd like to hold it.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26- Gosh, that's heavy! - It is, it's quite a chunky thing.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30This single piece is a marker of extreme wealth.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Finding gold in Viking hoards is exceptionally rare.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Only someone of the highest social standing
0:37:36 > 0:37:37would have had access to it.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42And there are some complete items of jewellery
0:37:42 > 0:37:45but then there seem to be lot of pieces. This bit in particular.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48That looks like a brooch that's been cut in half.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52It does, and this is very typical of the way the Vikings did things.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54They had a lot of what we call hack silver.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59The Viking economy was based on the barter and exchange of silver.
0:37:59 > 0:38:04It was highly prized by the Vikings and valued by its weight and purity.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Before being chopped up and used as currency,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10silver could be worn and transported as jewellery.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13This is what we call a pennanular brooch.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16- If you think of this as the terminal at one end...- Yeah.
0:38:16 > 0:38:17..it would thin out,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21come in a big spiral, and then fatten out again at the other end.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23And you would have a huge pin through the middle.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27And that would sit on your cloak to keep your cloak together.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29And this is a particularly beautiful example.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32It's got these lovely little roundels
0:38:32 > 0:38:34and this really delicate, interlaced pattern.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36And it's made of little...
0:38:36 > 0:38:39like little beasts and they're chasing their tails around.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Very popular in Viking iconography, these little beasties.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46The Vikings travelled thousands of miles
0:38:46 > 0:38:50across vast, sweeping trade routes to get their silver.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53And some pieces within this hoard
0:38:53 > 0:38:55connect the Vikings here in Britain
0:38:55 > 0:38:58with trading centres as far away as the Islamic world.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Oh, that looks like Arabic script on there.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04It does. This is called a Dirham and it's an Islamic coin.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07- It really is?- It is, and it comes from Afghanistan.
0:39:07 > 0:39:08Wow!
0:39:08 > 0:39:12So this is evidence of Vikings trading all the way over
0:39:12 > 0:39:14- to the Middle East. - Absolutely, yeah.
0:39:14 > 0:39:20One other coin here sheds light on the moment this hoard was buried.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22It's a coin of the English king Athelstan,
0:39:22 > 0:39:28minted in 927 AD, just after he captured York from the Vikings.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31And judging by the lack of wear on its surface,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34it was placed in the ground almost immediately.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38And if you look very closely, you'll be able to see that this coin
0:39:38 > 0:39:42actually has the words "Rex To Brie", so R-E-X,
0:39:42 > 0:39:43T-O,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45B-R-I-E.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47Oh, yeah, I can see that.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49And that basically means "King of All Britain".
0:39:49 > 0:39:52So this coin proclaims Athelstan as the king of all Britain.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56So he used this coin to say that he'd got rid of all the Vikings
0:39:56 > 0:40:00and he'd unified the country and made it into one kingdom.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06But although the English king stamped his identity on his coins,
0:40:06 > 0:40:10the name of the person who owned these riches is lost to us.
0:40:10 > 0:40:16All we have are the clues passed down by his cherished possessions.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23This hoard of beautiful objects raises the tantalising possibility
0:40:23 > 0:40:25that what we're looking at is the treasure,
0:40:25 > 0:40:30the life savings of a man whose days amongst the ruling classes
0:40:30 > 0:40:33in northern England are numbered.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38And the hoard dates from precisely the time when there's this changeover of power
0:40:38 > 0:40:41between the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons.
0:40:41 > 0:40:48So are we looking at a Viking running away and burying his wealth for safety?
0:40:48 > 0:40:53All that we can be sure about is that he never returned to dig it up.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00200 miles to the north, near abandoned shipyards on the River Clyde,
0:41:00 > 0:41:02is a different kind of forgotten collection.
0:41:02 > 0:41:07One that lay neglected for years
0:41:07 > 0:41:11because the sheer volume of material became completely unmanageable.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16Govan in Glasgow might seem like an unlikely place to come looking for Viking archaeology
0:41:16 > 0:41:21but I'm here to see what is perhaps the most extensive collection
0:41:21 > 0:41:27of Norse artefacts from any Viking site anywhere in rural Britain.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31Now, these objects are not treasure, they are domestic items,
0:41:31 > 0:41:35things that Viking men and women would have used every day of their lives
0:41:35 > 0:41:38and they're also at the beginning of their story
0:41:38 > 0:41:43because they've been excavated but the examination, the interpretation of them
0:41:43 > 0:41:46is very much still a work in progress.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50So what I want to find out is the potential of this collection
0:41:50 > 0:41:54for helping us understand Viking everyday life.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58The actual material is fine, but as you see from the packaging...
0:41:58 > 0:42:03Beverley Ballin-Smith has a huge archaeological task ahead of her.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07The processing and recording of all the small finds
0:42:07 > 0:42:10from a site called the Udal in North Uist,
0:42:10 > 0:42:16the largest Norse settlement ever to have been excavated in The Western Isles.
0:42:16 > 0:42:21It was a monumental project, which involved a dedicated group of volunteers
0:42:21 > 0:42:28who returned to dig again and again over a 30-year period starting in 1963.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33But the significance of the site is still only partially understood.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41I don't think I have ever seen so many bone needles
0:42:41 > 0:42:42and I imagine we're just starting.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45So, you wanted to have a look at...
0:42:45 > 0:42:49- That little poppy one, can we take it out?- Yeah.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51Want to...?
0:42:51 > 0:42:53Ooh, look at that, that's really lovely.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55What are these made of?
0:42:55 > 0:42:58I think that's a bird bone. It's pretty, isn't it?
0:42:58 > 0:43:00It's really lovely, yeah.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03'There are hundreds of decorated bone pins here,
0:43:03 > 0:43:06'perhaps a reflection of their value in everyday life
0:43:06 > 0:43:10'as something to fix a Viking's hair in place, or to fasten his cloak.'
0:43:10 > 0:43:12That's fantastic.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15In a sense, all these are lost objects.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18Yes, things that have just dropped off people.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21- Dropped off and not been recovered. - "Where did that go?"
0:43:21 > 0:43:24They trod it into the mud and then archaeologists found it.
0:43:24 > 0:43:25Wow!
0:43:25 > 0:43:28'It's not unusual to find combs in a Viking settlement.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31'They're commonplace personal objects.
0:43:31 > 0:43:37'What's surprising about this collection, though, is the sheer number of them found on one site.'
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Oh, that's fantastic. It's got a little animal on it!
0:43:40 > 0:43:43It's a little horse's head, I think.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47I love these roundels, which are kind of drilled in to the bone.
0:43:49 > 0:43:50I think you look at things like this
0:43:50 > 0:43:55and you have this immediate contact with somebody who lived centuries ago
0:43:55 > 0:43:57and this was their comb
0:43:57 > 0:44:00and you also know that you have the same kind of sensibilities
0:44:00 > 0:44:03that, you know, I like to have things that are that are nice.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08I like to have objects which aren't just functional but are quite attractive as well.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13The massive task of excavating this site and all the finds buried there
0:44:13 > 0:44:19was effectively the life's work of historian and archaeologist, Iain Crawford.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24But unable to continue with his task, due to ill health, it's now fallen to Beverley.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27But he ended up amassing a huge collection of finds
0:44:27 > 0:44:29that you're still looking through now.
0:44:29 > 0:44:34He obviously... What happened? Did he become overwhelmed with the amount he was finding?
0:44:34 > 0:44:37I've been there myself.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41You work on a massive site with complicated stratigraphy.
0:44:41 > 0:44:49So he carried on digging, he produced interim reports for every year that he dug,
0:44:49 > 0:44:55but then there's the next stage of actually writing up and getting the information out to the public.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57And I think he was simply overwhelmed.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04Even since my visit, fresh research has suggested the volume of beautiful combs
0:45:04 > 0:45:08may be proof of a Viking comb-making industry here.
0:45:08 > 0:45:15It reinforces just how important the research into the Udal will be in years to come.
0:45:16 > 0:45:22It's great to see just a small part of this massive collection of everyday objects.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25They seem mundane in some ways but they also show that,
0:45:25 > 0:45:29just like us, the Vikings liked to have nice things.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33And it's fantastic that this collection is being revisited.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37Archaeologically speaking, there's still an enormous amount to be learned about this site
0:45:37 > 0:45:40and all the artefacts it contained.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42And there must be people on North Uist
0:45:42 > 0:45:46who remember digging at that site in the dunes.
0:45:46 > 0:45:52I imagine it's important to them to know that the last chapters in the story of Udal
0:45:52 > 0:45:54are finally being written.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08Off the northeastern shore of Scotland lie the islands of Orkney.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12colonised by the Vikings in the 9th century.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18Sailing from their Norwegian homelands,
0:46:18 > 0:46:21it would have taken the Norse longships about a day to get here.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25When they settled for good,
0:46:25 > 0:46:29the islands became the centre of Norse power in Scotland,
0:46:29 > 0:46:36right up until 1469, the last bastion of Scandinavian authority in Britain.
0:46:36 > 0:46:41Today, these islands are home to a classic Norse archaeological find
0:46:41 > 0:46:48and also to new excavations that are offering tantalising glimpses of the Vikings in Scotland.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53My first destination is the dig currently taking place
0:46:53 > 0:46:58in the east of Orkney's mainland, near its ancient capital, Kirkwall.
0:46:58 > 0:47:03It sits on top of a 30-metre-high stack of sheer rock,
0:47:03 > 0:47:08the Brough of Deerness, which, even today, is challenging to access.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18This is such a wild place.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21There's nothing here but cliffs, sea and birds.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26I'm walking up a path that I can't imagine was here 1,000 years ago
0:47:26 > 0:47:31so I do wonder how people got across from the land there, to the Brough.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34This is such an exposed place, it's a lovely day today
0:47:34 > 0:47:38but imagine this on a rainy, windswept day.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42The Brough is totally exposed to the legendary Orcadian winds.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45What an extreme place to choose as your home.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54Whether coming from the mainland or from ships secured in a nearby bay,
0:47:54 > 0:47:57getting here can't have been straightforward.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01The old path up the Brough has disappeared into the sea.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04So we're now coming up through the original entrance to the site?
0:48:04 > 0:48:09- Exactly.- Can we have a look at some of the archaeology that you're exploring?
0:48:09 > 0:48:15There was once a settlement of around 30 Viking houses up here
0:48:15 > 0:48:19and Dr James Barrett and his team are excavating one of them this season
0:48:21 > 0:48:24So would this have been the original doorway?
0:48:24 > 0:48:28This is the original doorway of the phase that we're excavating now.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31So there was a settlement here before the Vikings came
0:48:31 > 0:48:35and the ground level, at that point, was at the top of that layer.
0:48:35 > 0:48:40Then the Viking Age houses were literally dug into the ground
0:48:40 > 0:48:44and lined with stone walls, what you see here,
0:48:44 > 0:48:48and then above that, at ground level, the rest of the house would've been built in turf and timber.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53It's likely that the Vikings dug their homes so deep into the ground
0:48:53 > 0:48:57to withstand the extreme winds that often blow here.
0:48:57 > 0:49:03Evidence of life inside one of those homes came to light during my visit.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06Oh, wow! Oh, my goodness!
0:49:06 > 0:49:10- We're just going to come in here and do a bit.- That's just beautiful.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13It's moments like these that make archaeology so rewarding,
0:49:13 > 0:49:19discovering an unexpected find, a forgotten part of somebody's life.
0:49:19 > 0:49:24If we start cleaning off most of this loose around it...
0:49:31 > 0:49:33That's fantastic.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37This is just brilliant. This is a Viking gaming board that was thrown away,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40that was thrown into this rubbish pit, this midden,
0:49:40 > 0:49:42that we've just found in the corner of the trench.
0:49:42 > 0:49:49It's wonderful to hold something that was obviously a very personal object to somebody,
0:49:49 > 0:49:53something that they would have enjoyed using 1,000 ago.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59It looks like a board for playing the popular Viking game, Hnefatafl.
0:50:03 > 0:50:09It's something that might have kept people occupied in place of looking after crops or farming animals.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12A task that would have been impossible up here.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17So their food must have been brought in from other farms or settlements nearby
0:50:17 > 0:50:22and only someone of the highest status could have demanded this of their neighbours,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25perhaps a Viking chief and his retinue.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29But it does beg the question, why live in such a difficult spot?
0:50:31 > 0:50:34The way it works is what you see.
0:50:34 > 0:50:39It's a site that is all about seeing and being seen.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43When people ask me "Why were they here?",
0:50:43 > 0:50:46when I want to give a glib answer, it's, "To make a point."
0:50:46 > 0:50:49It gives extraordinary control of the maritime vantage
0:50:49 > 0:50:53and in addition to that, you will be seen.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55So, if you imagine a large hall here
0:50:55 > 0:50:58then if you were coming into the archipelago,
0:50:58 > 0:51:02you immediately know who you have to go and talk to, you know who's boss.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11I am quite taken by this ancient cliff-top settlement.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14It seems such an extraordinary place to live,
0:51:14 > 0:51:20so wild and windy, with these crashing waves all around.
0:51:20 > 0:51:25The men and women who lived up here must have been very isolated in some ways
0:51:25 > 0:51:29but, on the other hand, they can't have survived here on their own,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33they depended on support from people living on mainland Orkney.
0:51:33 > 0:51:34But who were they?
0:51:36 > 0:51:42One of the reasons the Vikings seem so mysterious is that they left few written records in Britain,
0:51:42 > 0:51:47but it's wrong to think they didn't write, they used runes.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49And last year, James found a tiny bronze strip
0:51:49 > 0:51:53with a mysterious message etched into its surface.
0:51:55 > 0:52:01Professor John Hines examined it to see if he could make some sense of it.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05It takes quite a while getting used to but once you get your eye
0:52:05 > 0:52:09into these things, you start seeing certain letters
0:52:09 > 0:52:13that we're familiar with. So if you look on it here,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16we've got, see that letter, like that, that's fairly clear.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20Then there's very clearly what we call an "I" and a "K"
0:52:20 > 0:52:23and we've got an "U" at the end of that.
0:52:23 > 0:52:28Some letters in the Scandinavian runic alphabet resemble our own
0:52:28 > 0:52:30and others are more cryptic.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33To make it even more difficult, they changed over time
0:52:33 > 0:52:38and experts continue to discover new letters and symbols.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45Unfortunately, going across all of the bits I can read,
0:52:45 > 0:52:51I just cannot put enough together to form coherent words
0:52:51 > 0:52:54and coherent strings of words.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59Interestingly, practically every mark that we've got on that
0:52:59 > 0:53:04we can identify as being the sort of things they were using as runes.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08They've abbreviated what they're writing rather like...
0:53:08 > 0:53:11people who are younger than me do when they send text messages
0:53:11 > 0:53:15and I try and work out what they're actually saying there.
0:53:15 > 0:53:22It's frustrating to be so close and yet so far away from knowing what's been written down by this Viking,
0:53:22 > 0:53:24living on the Brough of Deerness.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28A message from Scandinavian Orkney that we'll probably never decipher.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34But it's not just writing, these seafaring people left behind
0:53:34 > 0:53:36many other types of enigmatic clues
0:53:36 > 0:53:41and archaeology can help interpret them hundreds of years later.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52There's one more thing I really want to see before I leave Orkney
0:53:52 > 0:53:56and it's a fantastic example of the importance of rescue archaeology.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58A find of international significance
0:53:58 > 0:54:05that would have been lost into the sea forever were it not for a dramatic rescue operation.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13In 1991, a wooden boat was discovered
0:54:13 > 0:54:16in eroding cliffs by the sea.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18Known as the Scar Boat Burial,
0:54:18 > 0:54:23it contained the remains of three people who died around the same time
0:54:23 > 0:54:28in the 9th or 10th century - a woman, a man and a child.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32They were buried with objects that are evidence of the high status
0:54:32 > 0:54:34of the woman in particular.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39I think it's quite clear that the lady was the primary burial.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42- Why do you think that? - She was in the centre of the boat,
0:54:42 > 0:54:45the plaque was propped up at her feet in the middle of the boat.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48- This beautiful plaque? - Yes, that was at her feet.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50It's such an extraordinary thing
0:54:50 > 0:54:54and this is the really iconic find, isn't it, from Scar Boat?
0:54:54 > 0:54:57It's absolutely beautiful, what's it made of?
0:54:57 > 0:54:58It's the rib-bone of a whale.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02- May I pick it up? - Yes, yes, you carry on,
0:55:02 > 0:55:04it's quite well conserved, so it's quite solid.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06Oh, it's heavy!
0:55:09 > 0:55:14And then they've polished this outer surface and engraved it.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18This beautiful plaque, topped with dragons or mythical horse heads,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21was probably used for smoothing linen.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25It's a prestigious object that indicates this woman was special.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29Something that's reinforced by other items here.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35What about this extraordinary thing? This is proper treasure, isn't it? That's beautiful.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37That was found on her chest.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41It's an equal-armed brooch and it's covered in a style called Gripping Beasts.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45- So all that kind of tracery is arms and hands?- Yes, that's right.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48- What an extraordinary thing. - Pure bling.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51I guess that would've held her cloak together around her.
0:55:51 > 0:55:56What's the significance of the Scar Boat Burial to our understanding of the Vikings,
0:55:56 > 0:55:57particularly the Vikings in Orkney?
0:55:57 > 0:56:02Well, I think the whole meaning of this grave
0:56:02 > 0:56:08is to affirm the Scandinavian identity of the lady
0:56:08 > 0:56:15and her companions. Even the boat was caulked in Scandinavia.
0:56:15 > 0:56:22So she is saying, "I'm Scandinavian". This is 150 years, maybe,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24after the first Vikings came to Orkney,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27and still we're looking back to Scandinavia.
0:56:27 > 0:56:34Not only do these objects give us an insight into pagan Viking burial ritual,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37they connect us to this woman
0:56:37 > 0:56:40and ensure that, more than 1,000 years after her death,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43her affinity with Scandinavia lives on.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50The Norse archaeology that I've seen in Orkney
0:56:50 > 0:56:54has shown me some of the purest evidence of that culture,
0:56:54 > 0:56:59because when the Vikings came here, they transplanted their entire way of life from Norway.
0:57:04 > 0:57:09This year's research has unearthed unexpected evidence of this Viking lifestyle,
0:57:09 > 0:57:15of how they settled and shaped our landscape, as well as raiding here.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19Evidence like the ivory chessmen, carved in a Norwegian workshop.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22Tangible proof of a wealthy, forgotten kingdom.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28The buried life savings of a powerful Viking,
0:57:28 > 0:57:32whose wealth connects us to vast trading empires.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39And the horrific St Brice's Day massacre
0:57:39 > 0:57:43when men may have been killed just for being Scandinavian.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54Through its invaders, Britain became firmly connected with the Continent and beyond,
0:57:54 > 0:58:00and archaeology helps us understand how these outsiders came and enriched our culture,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03and ended up becoming British.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05And so the digging continues.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15You can get hands-on with archaeology yourself
0:58:15 > 0:58:17with BBC Hands on History.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19You can find events near you
0:58:19 > 0:58:23and download family activities to try at home on the website.
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