0:00:03 > 0:00:07We might be a small island, but we've got a big history.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Everywhere you stand, there are worlds beneath your feet.
0:00:11 > 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 > 0:00:20Who lived here, when and how?
0:00:20 > 0:00:23There was a blade in here and 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 > 0:00:38- He's biting his shield. - Biting his shield, yeah.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42From Orkney to Devon,
0:00:42 > 0:00:47we're joining this year's quest on sea, land and air.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51We share all of the questions and find some of the answers
0:00:51 > 0:00:54as we join the teams in the field...
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Our written history doesn't begin until the Roman Invasion.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06But for about 2,500 years before that
0:01:06 > 0:01:11the people of Britain living through the Bronze and the Iron Ages
0:01:11 > 0:01:16were producing beautiful, intricate pieces of metalwork,
0:01:16 > 0:01:18like this fantastic gold torque.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22Which does suggest that the culture of prehistoric Britain
0:01:22 > 0:01:26was more sophisticated than we might sometimes imagine.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Metal is at the heart of the ages of Bronze And Iron,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34but there's much more to pre-Roman Britain than that.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39This year's archaeology gives us incredible glimpses into a world
0:01:39 > 0:01:44that's unfamiliar, complex and sometimes very strange.
0:01:45 > 0:01:52Like the Bronze Age skeletons changing our understanding of prehistoric death rituals...
0:01:52 > 0:01:54This is starting to look very strange indeed.
0:01:55 > 0:02:01..the metal Cauldrons revealing the secrets of Iron Age feasting...
0:02:01 > 0:02:07and the mysterious monument emerging from the mud where it's lain for two millennia.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09Oh, that's just amazing!
0:02:14 > 0:02:19The Britain we know is not a place our Bronze Age ancestors would recognise.
0:02:19 > 0:02:27When the era began in around 2300 BC, much of this land was covered in forest.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Bronze Age people changed the landscape.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34They used the first metal tools,
0:02:34 > 0:02:39cleared forests and lived in settled communities.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43The population rose to around half a million people.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Their lives are still mysterious to us.
0:02:46 > 0:02:51But each year archaeology reveals more surprising evidence.
0:02:52 > 0:02:59This year's revelations begin at a site uncovered between 1989 and 2002.
0:02:59 > 0:03:05The University of Sheffield were digging on the Hebridean Island of South Uist.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13They were excavating a terrace of Bronze Age houses.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20Under the floors, they discovered something quite unexpected.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23Human remains.
0:03:25 > 0:03:31Including what appeared to be one complete adult male
0:03:31 > 0:03:33and one complete female.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37They were buried with their arms and legs bent and drawn up
0:03:37 > 0:03:42in a recognised early Bronze Age style known as a crouched burial.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47Complete Bronze Age skeletons are rare,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50so this was already the find of a lifetime.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53The bones were brought to Sheffield for examination.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57This was the beginning of a long investigation that now suggests
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Bronze Age attitudes to death were far stranger and more complex
0:04:02 > 0:04:04than we had ever imagined.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08This might not look quite as exciting as visiting a dig,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12but so much of the information that we can glean from archaeology
0:04:12 > 0:04:15comes not just from the excavation itself
0:04:15 > 0:04:19but from looking at artefacts and bones later on in the laboratory.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22As a human bone expert, I'm really excited about
0:04:22 > 0:04:25looking at this particular collection of skeletons,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29which have the potential for revolutionizing our ideas
0:04:29 > 0:04:33about life and death in the Bronze Age.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35I think I press this button...
0:04:38 > 0:04:40I'm in!
0:04:40 > 0:04:45Osteoarchaeologist Christie Willis has been part of the Cladh Hallan Project since 2004.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50- So this is your lab?- Yes.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54Here we have the two main skeletons from Cladh Hallan laid out on the table for us.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56'We're starting with the male.'
0:04:56 > 0:04:58Looks nicely preserved.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00He's very nicely preserved.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02'This appears to be a normal adult skeleton.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05'But a closer look reveals it's anything but.'
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Take a look at this jaw.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09What we can see is the occlusal surface itself,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11which is the top part of the teeth.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13It's actually quite worn down.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16OK, so the grinding surface of the teeth?
0:05:16 > 0:05:18I'd agree with that, certainly quite worn.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22But if we look at his top teeth, they're actually all missing.
0:05:22 > 0:05:23All the molars have gone.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Not only have they gone, they went a long time ago.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Because of all the anti-molar tooth loss. Exactly.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33'The upper and lower jaws seem to be a mismatch.
0:05:33 > 0:05:39'It's hard to see how the lower teeth would have become so worn down if the upper teeth were missing.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43'Christie suspects that this skeleton is more than one man.
0:05:43 > 0:05:50'To see if this strange discovery was a one-off, she turned her attention to the female.'
0:05:50 > 0:05:53This is a beautiful female pelvis, isn't it?
0:05:53 > 0:05:57It's really nice. It has a very wide obtuse sciatic notch there.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Typical female traits.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03But the skull, osteologically, is male.
0:06:03 > 0:06:04Very strange.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09It has a very large occipital protuberance at the back here.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12But that, to me, wouldn't immediately make me think
0:06:12 > 0:06:14it was from a different skeleton.
0:06:14 > 0:06:15I'd think this is a female,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18because we'd go with the pelvis as the main indicator.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21But a woman who looked a bit manly, perhaps.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23That's exactly right.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26But because I knew what we had with the skeleton behind us,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29I felt more research was necessary.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31'In the case of the second skeleton,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33'just looking at the bones wasn't enough.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38'To investigate whether it, too, was made up of more than one person,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42'Christie arranged for some of the bones to be tested for DNA.'
0:06:43 > 0:06:48- And what were the results? - We have three individuals here!
0:06:48 > 0:06:50This is starting to look very strange indeed.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55If there are three individuals, which bones belong to each individual?
0:06:55 > 0:06:58So we have the male skull.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01And then we have a female pelvis.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03And then we have...
0:07:03 > 0:07:07The humerus here has been tested and that's a different individual.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11- That's given a different DNA haplotype reading.- Right.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Close examination suggests that both these skeletons
0:07:17 > 0:07:21are made up of the bones of at least three different people.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26As far as the team knows, these are the first examples
0:07:26 > 0:07:28of complete British Bronze Age skeletons
0:07:28 > 0:07:31constructed from the remains of multiple individuals.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38But this extraordinary discovery is only part of the Cladh Hallan mystery.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43For the next stage in the investigation,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46I've come to meet Professor Mike Parker Pearson,
0:07:46 > 0:07:51one of Britain's foremost experts on both the Bronze Age and on burial archaeology.
0:07:51 > 0:07:57So I'm delighted to be meeting him to talk about those very odd Cladh Hallan burials.
0:07:59 > 0:08:05Mike asked his team to take their examination inside the bones.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Normally, once bacteria have moved in,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11decay spreads through the skeleton.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Sections of the Cladh Hallan bones, though,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17revealed that this process had suddenly halted.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22So what we've got is decay starting
0:08:22 > 0:08:27but, instead of reaching out through the whole bone, it's being stopped.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30And that's the really exciting thing
0:08:30 > 0:08:34because that's one of the key indicators that we're looking at.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Preservation of soft tissue at some time soon after death.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44The evidence suggested that the Cladh Hallan bodies
0:08:44 > 0:08:46had not decayed normally.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49The bones were found buried in shell sand,
0:08:49 > 0:08:54but looked as though they'd been in a much more acidic environment.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58The clue as to what had happened was in the landscape.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03The environment of South Uist includes acidic peat bogs.
0:09:04 > 0:09:10The preservative qualities of peat prevent decay in organic material,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12like human tissue.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Mike's final conclusion was extraordinary.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19The Cladh Hallan bodies had been deliberately put into peat
0:09:19 > 0:09:22for long enough to mummify them.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27His team had discovered Britain's first Bronze Age Mummies.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34- So you were surprised? - To put it mildly.
0:09:34 > 0:09:35If anyone had asked me,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39I would have just dismissed it and said, "Complete fantasy."
0:09:39 > 0:09:43And even when we came up with our results initially,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46some people were very sceptical.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51But the great thing is, we've had many years to actually work on this
0:09:51 > 0:09:53and demonstrate it beyond doubt.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Mike doesn't believe the mummies were buried immediately,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01but rather kept above ground to play a part in society.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06To our eyes, this is an alien concept, but there are parallels.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08'Looking round the world,
0:10:08 > 0:10:13'what do we know about other mummy-using societies?'
0:10:13 > 0:10:15And the whole point is that you mummify
0:10:15 > 0:10:18because you actually want the mummies
0:10:18 > 0:10:21to continue to play a role among the living.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25The mummies may have been made into composites of different individuals
0:10:25 > 0:10:30either long before or immediately prior to burial.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Mike thinks they could have been used as ancestor figures,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36perhaps to provide the community with advice.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42This is actually them figuring out what happens when you die.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45It isn't the end, there's something beyond.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51But it's also a series of quite complicated states of being -
0:10:51 > 0:10:56alive, not quite alive and, finally, fully dead.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00This investigation is still unfolding.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05It seems unlikely that the people of South Uist
0:11:05 > 0:11:08were alone in making mummies.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11So, Mike's asked his team to begin to examine
0:11:11 > 0:11:16bone sections from some of Britain's other crouched burials.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19One of the first comes from Cambridgeshire -
0:11:19 > 0:11:22far from the Hebrides.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Analysis of the bones' interior
0:11:27 > 0:11:30revealed that decay had started and then stopped.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36A very similar pattern to the Cladh Hallan mummies.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44This stage of the project is still in its infancy.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48The aim is to discover if the evidence from other crouched burials
0:11:48 > 0:11:51suggests they were also mummified,
0:11:51 > 0:11:56and whether mummies were part of life across Bronze Age Britain.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03I have always been intrigued by these Bronze Age crouched burials.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06And it now seems that we have real evidence
0:12:06 > 0:12:10that at least some of them may have been mummified.
0:12:10 > 0:12:11This is like a forensic case -
0:12:11 > 0:12:14you've found a body and you have to work out how it's got there.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17You have to work out the processes it's gone through
0:12:17 > 0:12:20before it was buried in the ground and you found it.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24And how extraordinary that we can use these modern scientific techniques
0:12:24 > 0:12:30to unlock secrets from bodies that have been buried for thousands of years.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Bronze Age people altered their landscape by building permanent settlements.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44But their Britain was still much wilder than ours.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52In one corner of the country,
0:12:52 > 0:12:57archaeology is helping to recreate an environment they would recognise.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01This might look like the surface of Mars,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04but, in fact, I'm in the middle of the Cambridgeshire countryside,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07and this is a massive quarry,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10providing gravel for the construction industry.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Not long ago, this was farmland,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20but, before that, this landscape was part of the Cambridgeshire wetlands.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25In prehistory, these wetlands supported both people and wildlife.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Quarrying began in 1997.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Once the quarrying is over,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35the level of the land here will really be too low
0:13:35 > 0:13:37to make it useful for agriculture.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39But that is very good news for the wildlife,
0:13:39 > 0:13:44because this whole area will be returned to wetland.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49So, a very similar environment to what was here in the Bronze Age.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58The work of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit
0:13:58 > 0:14:02is informing the recreation of these wetlands.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04Working ahead of the quarry,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08the archaeologists have now surveyed and excavated 1,000 acres of land.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18The evidence they've uncovered shows us how our pre-historic ancestors
0:14:18 > 0:14:20used their environment to survive.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28It's nice that the material we've been getting out from the lake...
0:14:28 > 0:14:32We're getting a nice resonance in terms of what we're finding.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34It's early days, but one of the nicest finds
0:14:34 > 0:14:38is this piece of wood, which has been gnawed by beavers -
0:14:38 > 0:14:41you can tell, their tooth marks are quite distinct.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44One can almost relate them - this is one of the beaver jaws.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47So, we know the beavers were here in Willingham Mere
0:14:47 > 0:14:50in the later Bronze Age and Iron Age,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and we know they're being exploited, primarily for their pelts.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59Lots of arrowheads like this from the early Bronze Age.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01They were hunting, no doubt about it.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06Here at the Ouse Fen Nature Reserve, the quarrying has ended
0:15:06 > 0:15:09and the process of rebuilding the wetlands has already begun,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Further archaeological discoveries show that beavers
0:15:16 > 0:15:19shared this landscape with creatures so exotic,
0:15:19 > 0:15:23we'd never imagine them living in Britain.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26- This is a Dalmatian pelican bone. - Wow, massive!
0:15:26 > 0:15:30This was a huge bird, with a wingspan of about three metres overall.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35You can see where the feathers were fixed along the bone there.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36Oh, that's just extraordinary,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39these bumps all along the surface of the bone.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41This is absolutely massive.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43That's so much longer than my ulna in my forearm.
0:15:43 > 0:15:49It's remarkable to think that birds like these once flew over Britain.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56In Europe, Dalmatian pelicans only survive today in large wetlands,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59like Romania's Danube Delta.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02But, by reinstating the reed beds at Ouse Fen,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04the RSPB has already attracted back
0:16:04 > 0:16:07some of the smaller birds that once lived here.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Do you think a Bronze Age person sitting right where we are now
0:16:11 > 0:16:13would recognise this landscape?
0:16:13 > 0:16:15I think they would, absolutely.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Because we've actually produced the diversity,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21we've got grassland, we've got reed here, we've got cattle grazing,
0:16:21 > 0:16:23birdsong in the background.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25I feel we've almost made it.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27We're back in the Bronze Age!
0:16:31 > 0:16:34The Cambridge team will be digging ahead of the quarry
0:16:34 > 0:16:36for many more years.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Their excavations have produced tens of thousands of finds,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44helping to build up a detailed picture of everyday life
0:16:44 > 0:16:47right back through the Bronze Age.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Each object has to be carefully cleaned and catalogued.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57This huge task belongs to finds supervisor Dr Jason Hawks.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00It's simply a matter of just very gently probing
0:17:00 > 0:17:04any obvious areas of surface dirt.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08So there we are - it's a very slow, painstaking process.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10All those little bits of it.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13There we go, little bits of soil coming off there.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17- It's quite nerve-racking. - No, it is!
0:17:17 > 0:17:19'Bronze axes like this were more resilient
0:17:19 > 0:17:23'and better for woodworking than the stone tools that went before.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27'The finds here aren't just practical, though.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31'They include personal objects that connect us directly to prehistoric people.'
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Well, these are quite interesting.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37You can see that all of these shells have been perforated,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40all in exactly the same place on the shell.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44I mean, presumably, they were...they were strung,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47- they were suspended...- Yes. - And they might have been jewellery?
0:17:47 > 0:17:49- They might have been a necklace. - Yeah.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52I still go to beaches today and pick up shells
0:17:52 > 0:17:55- and try and make necklaces out of them.- Yeah.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59It seems extraordinary that so much concrete evidence of our ancestors' lives
0:17:59 > 0:18:04has been preserved and painstakingly identified.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Now, what about these little lumps of clay?
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Is it lumps of clay you've got there?
0:18:08 > 0:18:09- Yes.- Now, why are these important?
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Well, these are really, really very intriguing.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14If you look very carefully,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17you can actually see the faintest of impressions
0:18:17 > 0:18:21of textile on the original surface of that piece of clay.
0:18:21 > 0:18:22That's amazing.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26That almost looks like hessian sacking, that kind of appearance.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30'This imprint is the ghost of a Bronze Age fabric,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32'perhaps even clothing, preserved for millennia.'
0:18:32 > 0:18:38It's these traces, these amorphous, lasting traces,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41of somebody going about their day-to-day life,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46that I think really does just make you sit back and think, "Wow,"
0:18:46 > 0:18:48you know, that...that's such a real point of connection
0:18:48 > 0:18:51with someone that was living 4,000 years ago.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55- Makes all the hours of cataloguing worth it.- It does...
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Almost, yeah!
0:19:01 > 0:19:04The excavations here have revealed evidence
0:19:04 > 0:19:08not only of the people who lived here during prehistoric times,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11but of an entire vanished world.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Just imagine pelicans flying over these wetlands
0:19:14 > 0:19:18in a landscape that our Bronze Age ancestors would recognise.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24The Bronze Age began
0:19:24 > 0:19:28with the arrival of metal from Continental Europe by sea.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31European metal has been discovered in East Anglia,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34so the Waveney River may have been one of the early routes
0:19:34 > 0:19:36by which goods were brought into Britain.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39The trade in metal and other commodities
0:19:39 > 0:19:42would continue into the Iron Age.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43For the past five years,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46a team from the University of Birmingham
0:19:46 > 0:19:48has dug alongside the Waveney River.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50What they're uncovering is not metal
0:19:50 > 0:19:55but a series of vast and mysterious timber structures.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58It's likely these structures were built
0:19:58 > 0:20:02partly because of the importance of the river trade.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06But they also give us an insight into the complex beliefs of our ancestors.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09What makes this excavation so exciting
0:20:09 > 0:20:12is that this is a wetland site,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15so we have organic remains preserved here,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18the sort of things which just wouldn't stick around
0:20:18 > 0:20:22in any dry-land archaeological site.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25And, crucially, the team are finding wood
0:20:25 > 0:20:28which has been preserved for thousands of years.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32And today they're hoping to actually extract some of that wood.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38Prehistoric people built trackways across Britain,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42but rivers were an easier way to move goods around.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55Dr Henry Chapman is taking me to the site by this ancient route.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58We're getting evidence now of quite complex boats.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01We also have evidence for quite basic boats.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04The way I imagine it is, you've got people sort of bobbing around
0:21:04 > 0:21:07on...on everything from coracles to, er...to dug-outs...
0:21:07 > 0:21:09And then, you know, you have your posh person,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13he's got the lovely sewn-plank wonder-boat.
0:21:13 > 0:21:14So, I think a real variety.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17It's populated - you see a landscape like this
0:21:17 > 0:21:20and there are people here - and you would know it.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25'The structures appear to date from the Iron Age,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28'when this land lay within the territory of the Iceni tribe.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31'The evidence that's emerging shows they put enormous effort
0:21:31 > 0:21:35'into building these ostentatious constructions,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38'to impress traders and other travellers.'
0:21:38 > 0:21:41So, what would a trader in prehistoric times
0:21:41 > 0:21:43have seen as they came up this river?
0:21:43 > 0:21:45It would be weird, wouldn't it?
0:21:45 > 0:21:47If you imagine the first time you come up, it's sort of...
0:21:47 > 0:21:50it's badlands as you're coming up the river.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53And occasionally there would be gaps in the vegetation
0:21:53 > 0:21:57and you'd be seeing these long lines of very unnatural timbers.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Huge posts, standing above the ground,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05probably two or three metres above ground,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08which is a massive statement, really, completely over-engineered,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12far too much effort for anything which is vaguely practical alone.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13It would have been quite strange,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16you would know that you'd arrived somewhere.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19This is what the traders might have seen -
0:22:19 > 0:22:22tracks that ran for up to a third of a mile,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25flanked by rows of massive oak posts.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29As you'd expect, these were probably pathways across boggy land.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33But in prehistory manmade structures like this
0:22:33 > 0:22:37would also have been an extraordinary and impressive sight.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42There is no written record of their existence - without archaeology,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46we wouldn't know they were here.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49Dr Ben Geary is in charge of lifting the posts.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52As you can see, we've got some highly technical and expensive equipment
0:22:52 > 0:22:54to lift this post out.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59There's nothing very glamorous about getting one of these posts out of the ground,
0:22:59 > 0:23:01- as you're going to see.- Right!
0:23:01 > 0:23:03'The timber has only survived
0:23:03 > 0:23:04'because it was sealed in waterlogged peat.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08'On other sites, it would have rotted away.'
0:23:08 > 0:23:09Good.
0:23:09 > 0:23:15It's certainly wobbling, it's like a tooth that wants to come out.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16Grab the rope.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18That's not budging.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20'This is no easy task.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24'The builders carved the posts into sharp pencil points...'
0:23:24 > 0:23:28- Exciting and nerve-racking at the same time.- It is.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31'..then drove them deep into the mud.'
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Oh... Is it moving? Is it moving?
0:23:33 > 0:23:36- Is that coming, Kris? - I don't know.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Yep, it is. Alice, can you help with the rope?
0:23:38 > 0:23:40- Here it comes. Oh, my goodness! - That's it.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43- Towards this way.- Towards me, Kris.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48Look at that! You can see where it's been shaped - that's beautiful.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51That's just amazing.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53And that is hard timber.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56'Often the only evidence of prehistoric metalwork
0:23:56 > 0:23:58'is the tools themselves.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01'But, through this unusual preservation,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03'we can see how our ancestors used metal
0:24:03 > 0:24:09'to build these remarkable constructions around 2,000 years ago.'
0:24:09 > 0:24:11It's just amazing how fresh this looks.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13And because it's worked in a fairly crude way,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16you can identify individual axe marks on it.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Yeah, you can see, if you like, individual moments in time,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22you know, that process, and you can see in your mind's eye -
0:24:22 > 0:24:25or I can see in my mind's eye, at least -
0:24:25 > 0:24:27you can see someone sort of crouched over the wood,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30you know, working a tool.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33And that's why wetland sites are, you know, really so important,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35because you see that human detail
0:24:35 > 0:24:38in the nature of the tool marks and the woodworking.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42The evidence the team have uncovered suggests that these structures
0:24:42 > 0:24:44were made up of hundreds of posts.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48And it tells us how our ancestors used metal tools
0:24:48 > 0:24:52to transform the natural landscape into a manmade environment
0:24:52 > 0:24:55that was a statement of territory and identity.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02I can just imagine this field as a prehistoric construction site.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05They would have cleared any trees that were in their way,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08and then hauled in these massive pieces of timber.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12You can imagine the sound of the metal axes ringing out
0:25:12 > 0:25:14and instructions being shouted.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17So this was a massive undertaking.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20It would have required the efforts of the entire community.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Many different goods were traded in prehistory,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30but metal had a particular importance.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34To gain a deeper understanding of our ancestors' minds,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36we need to know why metal was so much more
0:25:36 > 0:25:39than just a material for making tools.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Norwich Museum have lent us some Bronze Age metal objects
0:25:43 > 0:25:46discovered in East Anglia.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48One of my favourites here is this lovely axe.
0:25:48 > 0:25:53It's an early Bronze Age axe, which was... It's not a native design.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55Where might it have come from?
0:25:55 > 0:25:59It's from Germany, imported, so we know there's trade going on,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04that people living in this area were, from the early Bronze Age at least,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06trading with Continental Europe.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10In the Bronze Age, people used metal to express status.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Its value was as much symbolic as practical.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15You look at this beautiful torque.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19This material, the actual gold, probably comes from Ireland,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22imported either as a raw material or as a finished object.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24That's beautiful.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28There is something weird going on with metal during this time, isn't there?!
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Well, a lot of things are being traded, but metal's really special.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36It requires a weird understanding of technology and alchemy almost,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38to actually create something from a rock.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41It must have seemed so magical to be able to extract
0:26:41 > 0:26:43- this very different material from stone.- Absolutely.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47And I think it's also unlike anything you can create naturally.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51'It seems that Bronze and Iron Age people
0:26:51 > 0:26:54'believed that metal had other-worldly qualities.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59'They used metal objects like these to make religious offerings,
0:26:59 > 0:27:04'often burying them near water or placing them directly in it.'
0:27:04 > 0:27:08'Henry thinks that water was spiritually significant.'
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Water is special.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13It's neither this world nor a different world.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16The surface of the water is kind of a metaphor for it.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19You can see through it, sort of, and as you deposit something
0:27:19 > 0:27:22you can sort of see it go into this other world
0:27:22 > 0:27:24and become hidden beneath the peat.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28I think that's probably quite a sort of magical process.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31'Metal had multiple values.
0:27:31 > 0:27:37'Henry believes the same is true for those vast timber monuments.'
0:27:38 > 0:27:41They were stunning structures to impress traders,
0:27:41 > 0:27:48practical pathways and spiritual gathering places by the river.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Water was really important to those prehistoric people
0:27:52 > 0:27:57in a way that it's really difficult to get at and properly understand.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01We know they put offerings very deliberately into water,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05and here we are, as modern archaeologists,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08looking at a site where water is helping us
0:28:08 > 0:28:11get in touch with our ancestors.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15It's the very nature of the waterlogged, peaty soil
0:28:15 > 0:28:20which preserves their wooden constructions so brilliantly.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26The Bronze Age became the Iron Age in about 700 BC.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Iron was stronger than bronze.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34With iron-tipped ploughs, heavy soil could be cultivated.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39Our ancestors used this new metal to create more farmland,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43turning Britain into an increasingly man-made landscape.
0:28:43 > 0:28:48Archaeology shows there were three big sources of iron -
0:28:48 > 0:28:52the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, the Weald in Kent,
0:28:52 > 0:28:56and the Jurassic Ridge of Leicestershire.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Excavations at Burrough hill fort, near Leicester,
0:29:06 > 0:29:12are producing evidence that tells us how iron changed the lives of ordinary people.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16Antiquarians and archaeologists have been studying hill forts for at least 150 years.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21But in the past people have tended to concentrate on the great earth ramparts,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23the earthworks around the outside,
0:29:23 > 0:29:27whereas now archaeologists are starting to focus
0:29:27 > 0:29:30on what's going on inside the hill forts,
0:29:30 > 0:29:34trying to work out what Iron Age people actually used them for.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39There were over 3,000 hill forts of different types across Britain.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42Burrough was built in around 500 BC.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47It served a farming community of up to 5,000 people.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50It's a chance to find out something more
0:29:50 > 0:29:53about these massive features in our landscape,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56which are at once so familiar but so enigmatic.
0:30:03 > 0:30:08The excavation is being run by the University of Leicester.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11John Thomas is digging what's been called a guard's chamber,
0:30:11 > 0:30:16perhaps used to control access to the fort entrance.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19In the Iron Age, it would have looked very different.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25You've got two massive stone-built walls coming all the way in,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28so it would have been a very imposing entrance passage.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30What we've found here...
0:30:30 > 0:30:33- So this is the wall here? - The very base of the wall.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36You can see really nice facing stones here.
0:30:36 > 0:30:37Dry stone wall,
0:30:37 > 0:30:42but originally we think that this wall would have stood at least as high as this.
0:30:42 > 0:30:43Right up there?
0:30:43 > 0:30:46If not higher, and then with a timber palisade on top.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49It's just fantastic revealing it, isn't it?
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Because you suddenly realise that underneath all smoothed contours,
0:30:52 > 0:30:56when this was new, it would have been much more angular.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01- It would have looked like a medieval castle.- Yeah, imposing and showy.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03Just like a medieval castle,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Burrough would have towered over the landscape.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08A safe haven in times of trouble.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12But the artefacts John and the team have uncovered
0:31:12 > 0:31:18make it clear that the hill fort played a much wider role for the community than just this.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24We're getting some idea of the types of things that happened in here.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27What we've got mostly is evidence of weaving.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32And this is interesting, worked bones that have been perforated,
0:31:32 > 0:31:34presumably for suspension at some point,
0:31:34 > 0:31:36but they're also highly polished at one end,
0:31:36 > 0:31:41- they're probably big bodkin-type needles or something. - Oh, that's lovely.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45We've also got evidence for different craft activities.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49The main other activity that seems to have been taking place is metalworking.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53We've got this fantastic punch here,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55somebody would have been hammering the end
0:31:55 > 0:31:58to punch holes through sheet metal, that kind of thing.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03- Well, I think that would have been pretty effective!- I reckon so.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05We don't expect to find metalworking in a guard's chamber.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10But this new evidence suggests that in times of peace
0:32:10 > 0:32:13this was a workshop providing tools for the community.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15What are we doing, just cleaning?
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Yeah, just sort of trowelling back gently.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23This excavation will run every summer for five years,
0:32:23 > 0:32:27allowing the archaeologists to build a more complete picture
0:32:27 > 0:32:29of how our ancestors used hill forts.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Just outside the ramparts, they're digging a group of roundhouses
0:32:38 > 0:32:42where some of Burrough's farming families may have lived.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46- This would have been a big roundhouse, wouldn't it?- Oh, yeah.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49The interior is about eight and a half, nearly nine metres across.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52How many people would have lived in here?
0:32:52 > 0:32:55We're probably looking at a single extended family,
0:32:55 > 0:33:00so anywhere between half a dozen and perhaps 15 people could quite easily live in a house of this size.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05With iron tools, Britain could produce more food.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08By the end of the Iron Age, archaeologists believe
0:33:08 > 0:33:11the population had grown to around one million.
0:33:11 > 0:33:16The team have discovered several rotary quern stones for grinding flour.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20Iron helped make them more efficient than simple Bronze Age querns.
0:33:20 > 0:33:26So this is an absolutely wonderful thing, and a great bit of technology.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28This spigot is the key.
0:33:28 > 0:33:29Hole drilled in the bottom stone,
0:33:29 > 0:33:34iron spike which centres the top stone over it.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Absolutely crucial, because if you try and use a rotary quern without it
0:33:37 > 0:33:41it'll go off centre very quickly and you simply couldn't use it.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44They've also discovered an iron blade.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48Simple tools like this transformed agriculture.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52- It's a very nice piece. - So what might the handle have been made of?
0:33:52 > 0:33:55Possibly a wooden handle, bone, but also antler.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59The idea with the blade is of course you can then sit the handle in that.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02- Slot it in. - And the rivet holds it to place.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06It almost feels like it's some kind of industrial revolution,
0:34:06 > 0:34:09that they've discovered this fantastic new hard metal,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12and then they're just thinking, what on earth can we do with it?
0:34:12 > 0:34:17That certainly seems to be the case, although it doesn't happen overnight.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21This is really more about increasing and improving agricultural innovations
0:34:21 > 0:34:25associated with the arable harvest and with feeding that ever-increasing population.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31I think that, by the time we get to the Iron Age,
0:34:31 > 0:34:35we still see some aspects of life that seem very foreign to us.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40But on the other hand there are things, particularly objects they were using on a day-to-day basis,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42that seem very familiar,
0:34:42 > 0:34:47and that's because they have this new material that we know from our lives.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Here's an iron knife blade.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Now, this is a familiar object to us.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57It's not a world away from the knife you're using to eat your dinner with.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12When hill forts were built between 900 and 100 BC,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16Britain had no sense of itself as a united island.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20But strong regional identities and tribal groups began to emerge.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28Some experts believe that population growth put pressure on resources,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32which led to violent raids between these communities.
0:35:34 > 0:35:3770 miles north-west of Burrough,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41a dig at another important hill fort called Fin Cop
0:35:41 > 0:35:44has revealed powerful evidence for this.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49The fort lies in the bucolic Peak District of Derbyshire.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Fin Cop hill fort is a much-loved beauty spot,
0:35:52 > 0:35:56but archaeologists and locals wanted to find out more about its history,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00so an application was made to dig through part of its ditch.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10Excavations began in 2009, led by Dr Clive Waddington.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16What he discovered was shocking in the extreme -
0:36:16 > 0:36:19evidence of an Iron Age massacre.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Now, we found the first body about here.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28The head was twisted to one side.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31One arm was behind, one arm in front.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Just over here, we got another adult woman.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37We opened a second trench,
0:36:37 > 0:36:42and we found evidence for another five bodies.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46In total, Clive and his team unearthed the remains of nine people.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56To piece together a fuller picture of what happened at Fin Cop,
0:36:56 > 0:37:00the next stage was a thorough examination of those skeletons.
0:37:03 > 0:37:08These are the bones of a teenager, probably a boy.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13Analysis has revealed that his skull was cut by a sharp blade like a sword.
0:37:15 > 0:37:21The wound had never healed, so it must have happened around the time of his death.
0:37:27 > 0:37:32Other members of the group also show signs of similar injuries.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38This is the body of an adult woman. She's about 20 to 30 years old.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43And she's quite interesting, because on her left cuneiform, which is a foot bone,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46we can see this really quite clear cut mark
0:37:46 > 0:37:48caused by a sharp blade.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51So this would have been from the inside of the foot.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53Quite an unusual injury,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56but it's possible that she was running away with her leg trailing,
0:37:56 > 0:37:59and they've caught her on the back of her foot
0:37:59 > 0:38:02or the inside of her foot as she'd been running.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04After the group came under attack,
0:38:04 > 0:38:07their bodies were hurled into the ditch of the fort,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10and the stone ramparts thrown down on top of them.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13The group includes four tiny babies,
0:38:13 > 0:38:17two so young they may have still been in the womb,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20the others aged 8-11 months.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26So this is one of the collar bones. We can see here...
0:38:26 > 0:38:28to give you some sense of size of it,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30so really very small individuals,
0:38:30 > 0:38:35and these would have been despatched as well along with the adults.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44These people and their fort date to around 400 BC,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48about the middle of the Iron Age.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51Results from the excavation suggest the fort was attacked
0:38:51 > 0:38:55while still being built, and was never completed.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01The motivation for building this fort is something we can only guess at,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03but the fact that it was unfinished
0:39:03 > 0:39:09and that the fort was attacked really quite quickly after they started building it
0:39:09 > 0:39:16suggests it was being thrown up quickly in advanced of a threat that they perceived was coming their way.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20The dig only covered a small section of the ditch.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24Clive thinks further excavation would reveal more skeletons.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Hill forts played multiple roles as expressions of prestige
0:39:34 > 0:39:36and as gathering places for the community,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40but the evidence from a place like Fin Cop also reminds us
0:39:40 > 0:39:42that they were defensive
0:39:42 > 0:39:45and that violence was a part of Iron Age life.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57As the Iron Age population grew,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00tribal chiefs became increasingly important.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Feasting provided a valuable opportunity for chieftains
0:40:04 > 0:40:08and communities to come together.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12In 2004, a dozen cauldrons were found in a pit
0:40:12 > 0:40:15near the village of Chiseldon in Wiltshire,
0:40:15 > 0:40:18the largest hoard of Iron Age cauldrons
0:40:18 > 0:40:20ever discovered in Europe.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22Metal was precious.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Sacrificing such a huge amount was incredibly rare.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30So it appears the cauldrons were deliberately buried,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34at the end of a huge feast perhaps, to mark an important event.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40Earlier this year, the process of full analysis began.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48The Chiseldon Cauldrons have been described as gobsmackingly unique.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51And they provide experts with a rare opportunity
0:40:51 > 0:40:53to look at feasting during the Iron Age.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56And to find out how they're getting at this information
0:40:56 > 0:40:58I've come here to the British Museum.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01I'm not going to the public galleries, but behind the scenes
0:41:01 > 0:41:06to the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10After more than 2,000 years underground,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12the cauldrons were packed with soil.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15They were so fragile they had to be wrapped in plaster
0:41:15 > 0:41:17before being lifted from the pit.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21In charge of the enormous job of preserving them
0:41:21 > 0:41:23is conservator Alex Baldwin.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26- Oh, wow!- So this is one of the cauldrons.- It's huge!
0:41:26 > 0:41:28It is, yeah. It's quite large.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30So where was this one found in the pit?
0:41:30 > 0:41:34We've got a reconstruction of the pit here,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37and it's this one here.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39They're pretty crammed in, aren't they?
0:41:39 > 0:41:41They are quite crammed in, yeah.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44- So can I help, can I hold this bit? - Yeah, yeah. Please do.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47'Alex is saving all the soil,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50'pollen and organic residue from inside the cauldrons.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54'When this is analysed it may tell us exactly what was being eaten
0:41:54 > 0:41:58'and drunk, and even what time of year this huge feast took place.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03'Each cauldron will take up to 200 hours of work.'
0:42:04 > 0:42:06This is looking less like excavation
0:42:06 > 0:42:08and more like dissection now.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12Yes, it's very much like that, they're very fine tools.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14One of my favourites is a bent spoon.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19- What do you use that for? - It's like a little dustpan,
0:42:19 > 0:42:22very useful for getting into small spaces.
0:42:24 > 0:42:25'Under the soil and corrosion,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28'the cauldrons have iron rims around the top
0:42:28 > 0:42:33'and copper bowls beaten to less than one-fiftieth of an inch thick.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37'Making them would have taken enormous metalworking skill.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40'Alex's work has already confirmed
0:42:40 > 0:42:44'that the burial of the cauldrons was careful and deliberate.
0:42:44 > 0:42:45'This is very strange to us,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48'but it may have been done as a religious offering
0:42:48 > 0:42:52'and perhaps as a statement of power and wealth.'
0:42:53 > 0:42:57If you look at the rim, here, you can see
0:42:57 > 0:43:01there's a lot of fibrous brown material running along it,
0:43:01 > 0:43:07which is actually remains of straw or grass, something like that.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11It shows these objects were put in the ground with quite a lot of care,
0:43:11 > 0:43:15that the pit was lined with the straw
0:43:15 > 0:43:19and the objects were placed in and then covered as well.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24It's almost like they've been wrapped up in tissue paper or grass to keep them safe.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28The cauldrons were discovered near a hill fort known as Barbury Castle.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32This lies just off the Ridgeway, an ancient track
0:43:32 > 0:43:35that linked at least 20 hill forts together.
0:43:35 > 0:43:37An ideal place for an Iron Age gathering.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45A Greek writer describing Iron Age feasting rituals
0:43:45 > 0:43:49told of blazing hearths, cauldrons full of meat
0:43:49 > 0:43:53and brave warriors being offered the finest portions.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56And the Chiseldon Cauldrons seem to provide us
0:43:56 > 0:44:01with direct physical evidence of the importance of feasting.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03But how do they complement what we already know
0:44:03 > 0:44:06from other Iron Age finds?
0:44:06 > 0:44:11Dr Jody Joy is curator of the British Museum's European Iron Age collection.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14He analyses the evidence that Alex uncovers.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18This is quite special cos we've actually got some decoration on the cauldron.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20Oh, yeah.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23So can you see the ears or the horn of a cow,
0:44:23 > 0:44:25then it comes down, two eyes there,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28- and then it comes down to a snout, can you see the nostrils?- Yeah.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31This is especially exciting,
0:44:31 > 0:44:36because if reflects the discovery of two cattle skulls within the pit.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39'Perhaps the remains of animals that were cooked in the cauldrons
0:44:39 > 0:44:41'and eaten at the feast.'
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Jody, how important do you think feasting was
0:44:44 > 0:44:46to these Iron Age people?
0:44:46 > 0:44:49A feast is an excuse for people to get together
0:44:49 > 0:44:51and it helps with the continuation of society.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55It's a kind of social glue, if that makes sense, so you may have
0:44:55 > 0:44:58groups of animals bought together in some kind of market,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02then have a feast or have marriage alliances, all that kind of thing.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05All of these things happen around the excuse, which is
0:45:05 > 0:45:07the large consumption of food and drink.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11Jody thinks that meat and alcohol were probably reserved
0:45:11 > 0:45:14for special occasions.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Alcohol could be served in metal tankards.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19This tankard was found in Northamptonshire in 1978.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24If you see how large it is, it's phenomenally large, really.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27- The capacity is around about four litres.- That's huge.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30Yeah, it's absolutely huge. But if you notice this handle at the side,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34you can probably only get about three fingers through the handle,
0:45:34 > 0:45:36so it's not something you could lift up like this.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39So possibly people are passing this around,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42sitting down, then consuming alcohol and passing it around.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45And having a really good glug of it, as it goes around.
0:45:45 > 0:45:50Exactly, you bring this out and then down a few ales or down some mead.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53The work on the Cauldrons has only just begun,
0:45:53 > 0:45:55but we are already getting new insights.
0:45:55 > 0:46:00Feasting must have played an important social and political role.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03But there's clearly something else going on.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06We are getting a glimpse of some very complex beliefs,
0:46:06 > 0:46:11because after the feast those cauldrons aren't washed up,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14they are carefully buried in the ground.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23By the end of the Iron Age, the power of some chieftains
0:46:23 > 0:46:26had grown into kingship.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30But in 43 AD the Romans invaded,
0:46:30 > 0:46:32sweeping through tribal territories
0:46:32 > 0:46:35and taking many into their vast empire.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Now excavations at Calleva, near Reading, are changing
0:46:39 > 0:46:43our perception of life in Britain before the Romans came.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49These are amongst the most complete Roman town walls in Britain,
0:46:49 > 0:46:53and today I'm looking out over green fields, but, had I been here
0:46:53 > 0:46:56in the Roman period, all of that would have been
0:46:56 > 0:46:58a busy, bustling town.
0:46:58 > 0:47:03The archaeologists here are digging down through the Roman layers
0:47:03 > 0:47:07to find the Iron Age town that lies beneath them.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10And they may also have uncovered evidence
0:47:10 > 0:47:13of British resistance to the Roman occupation.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23Calleva was built in the 1st century BC,
0:47:23 > 0:47:27perhaps 100 years before the Roman invasion.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32The University of Reading has been excavating here since the 1970s.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36This year, 250 archaeologists, students and volunteers
0:47:36 > 0:47:38are on site for six weeks.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42This is excavation on a grand scale.
0:47:42 > 0:47:47But some of the most exciting finds are absolutely tiny.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53Lisa Ludwick runs the team that processes all of the samples
0:47:53 > 0:47:55coming out of Calleva's wells.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58Ready to go, so now we just need to turn the pump on.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05'This flotation tank is designed to pick up minuscule organic remains
0:48:05 > 0:48:09'like plant seeds, which would never be spotted in normal excavation.'
0:48:10 > 0:48:12As we break up the sample,
0:48:12 > 0:48:15hopefully more bits will come to the surface.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18What's that there? Is that something?
0:48:18 > 0:48:20- I think that's a grain, it looks like.- Can I pick it up?
0:48:20 > 0:48:22If you're very careful.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Yeah, I think that looks...
0:48:24 > 0:48:29- probably like a barley grain. - Really?- I think so.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31How fantastic. It's kind of micro-archaeology, isn't it?
0:48:31 > 0:48:32Yeah, definitely.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41Lisa specialises in archaeobotany, and she's been working on
0:48:41 > 0:48:45the Iron Age samples emerging from this site for two years.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49By collecting and analysing plant remains,
0:48:49 > 0:48:54she can begin to work out what the ancient Callevans were eating.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57This work has produced some quite unexpected results.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05These are dated from AD30 to AD43, so we've got a seed of coriander,
0:49:05 > 0:49:07and a few seeds of celery.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11- So pre-Roman coriander?- Basically.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15These are very exciting, they're the earliest records of these in the country.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19- In the whole of the UK?- Basically, yeah.- That's just brilliant.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21There are all these plants
0:49:21 > 0:49:25that we think only reached Britain when the Romans arrived.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28- But they got here a few decades before.- Yeah.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31- Then see if we can get anything else in.- Gravel, gravel, gravel.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35'A lot of household waste ended up in the town wells,
0:49:35 > 0:49:39'so this process picks up all sorts of small but important finds.'
0:49:39 > 0:49:44- Oh, I missed that.- You'll come to recognise it with smaller bits first.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Oh, look at this bit. Oh, wow!
0:49:47 > 0:49:50Oh, that's fantastic. It's got a really beautiful pattern on it.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Can you see these lines, these grooves
0:49:53 > 0:49:57and then there's a kind of zig-zag pattern just punched into it?
0:49:57 > 0:49:59That's really pretty.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02A tiny little fragment that's been missed in the excavation,
0:50:02 > 0:50:05but is picked up through wet sieving.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09Pre-Roman Calleva covered 87 acres.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12This trench represents just 1%.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17On the left, the archaeologists are digging the Iron Age layers,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19on the right, early Roman.
0:50:19 > 0:50:24Field school director Amanda Clarke has clear evidence to show that
0:50:24 > 0:50:29Iron Age Callevans led sophisticated lives before the Romans invaded.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32This is very, very typical Roman ware - samian -
0:50:32 > 0:50:36found in a well of Iron Age date here.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39You can see there are little drinking vessels,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42so they're quite posh, almost like fine dining,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45but, you know, we are in the 1st century BC.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47And the thing about them is that, at the base of them,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50they have the makers' stamp,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53so the potters who actually made these little vessels.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57- So you can tell exactly where they came from?- Yes, you can.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01'Until these discoveries, we just didn't believe Iron Age people
0:51:01 > 0:51:04'enjoyed such a refined way of life.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06'These platters were imported from France.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10'They are beautiful, but also mass-produced and affordable.'
0:51:11 > 0:51:15These aren't barbarians that we're looking at in any shape or form,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18these are people who are drinking out of lovely wine cups
0:51:18 > 0:51:20and eating off plates.
0:51:20 > 0:51:22Right. I think they recognized nice things.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24They wanted the nice things,
0:51:24 > 0:51:26and they've adopted and adapted them.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29Pre-Roman Calleva was a wealthy town.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31It was also carefully planned.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34Archaeologists have uncovered the first evidence
0:51:34 > 0:51:37to show that Britons developed urban planning
0:51:37 > 0:51:40before Roman occupation.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43We're actually walking on a lane
0:51:43 > 0:51:46I would think that was established as early as the 1st century BC,
0:51:46 > 0:51:51but perhaps, you know, early centuries of the 1st century AD.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55Is this what you expect to find on an Iron Age site?
0:51:55 > 0:51:59A lane with a proper gravely surface to it,
0:51:59 > 0:52:01and it's running in a straight line.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03It seems a bit Roman to me.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08It was an amazing surprise to find such an ordered layout.
0:52:10 > 0:52:15The excavations here are revealing a quite unfamiliar picture of Iron Age life.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19The people were living in a settlement we'd recognise as a town.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22They were drinking wine, they were using olive oil,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25dill and coriander in their cooking.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28It's a sophisticated, urban way of living
0:52:28 > 0:52:32that we don't expect to find in prehistoric Britain.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41No medieval or modern town was ever built over Calleva,
0:52:41 > 0:52:46which gives the archaeologists an unusually clear opportunity
0:52:46 > 0:52:49to look at interaction between the Iron Age and Roman layers.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54They're uncovering tantalising evidence that suggests
0:52:54 > 0:52:59Calleva may have witnessed conflict between Romans and Britons.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03'Professor Mike Fulford runs the excavations here.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08'He's taking me into the early layers of the Roman town.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13'Roman records tell us that after invasion
0:53:13 > 0:53:16'the British chief Caratacus took them on
0:53:16 > 0:53:18'at the famous Battle of Medway.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23'It's the discovery of coins that may connect Caratacus to Calleva.'
0:53:24 > 0:53:27You have some examples here, these tiny, tiny coins.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31- Oh, aren't they lovely? Can I pick them up?- Yeah, yeah.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34Oh, they've got little eagles on. Are they eagles?
0:53:34 > 0:53:37- Yes, eagles on the reverse. - Those are gorgeous.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41- Are they silver? - Yeah, they're silver.- Cara!
0:53:41 > 0:53:43The inscription reads CARA,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46thought to stand for Caratacus.
0:53:46 > 0:53:51Archaeologists use coins to plot the territories of Iron Age chiefs,
0:53:51 > 0:53:56and many of these coins were found within a 25-mile radius of Calleva.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00It's pretty suggestive that this was Caratacus's stronghold
0:54:00 > 0:54:03and it was one of the wealthiest places.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06A place to be where you get your tax, your tribute,
0:54:06 > 0:54:08and exercise your power.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12If Caratacus was using Calleva as a stronghold,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15the Romans may have been keen to throw him out
0:54:15 > 0:54:17and to stamp their authority on the town.
0:54:17 > 0:54:23In the early Roman streets, the team is now finding metal artefacts
0:54:23 > 0:54:26that indicate a possible Roman military occupation.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31- This emerged last week.- A little point.- A little catapult bolt.
0:54:31 > 0:54:32That looks vicious.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37It is vicious, and you can see the socketing at the end here,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40so a wooden shaft going in there.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44And that would have been fired by a Roman ballista,
0:54:44 > 0:54:45a catapult device,
0:54:45 > 0:54:47so with a considerable range.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50Previously, they uncovered traces
0:54:50 > 0:54:53of what might have been a military building - and there's more metal.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59Here is a beautifully preserved belt fitting.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01- Part of a sword belt fitting? - Something like that.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Really is definitely military, then?
0:55:04 > 0:55:07It's not a part of normal attire?
0:55:07 > 0:55:09Yes, it joins these other artefacts
0:55:09 > 0:55:14we're accumulating, that point to a military occupation.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19The early years of Roman rule saw sporadic rebellions.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22The archaeology here
0:55:22 > 0:55:25indicates that one of these may have reached Calleva.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31In 60 to 61 AD, the British warrior queen Boudica
0:55:31 > 0:55:35led her tribe in a great revolt against the Romans.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39In layers dating to this period, the team have found signs
0:55:39 > 0:55:41of burning and destruction.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47Just here down in front of us, you've got this amazing smash,
0:55:47 > 0:55:51at least one, possibly two large jars that have been broken.
0:55:51 > 0:55:52You can see the rim.
0:55:52 > 0:55:53- Oh, here.- Yep.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56More rim to your left,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00and it's part of the debris of the destruction.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Calleva is likely to have been a newly-Romanised town,
0:56:04 > 0:56:06a potential target for Boudica.
0:56:06 > 0:56:11The evidence from the burnt layer suggests that the town
0:56:11 > 0:56:14lay abandoned for up to 20 years around the time of her revolt.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18That's a remarkable period of history, isn't it?
0:56:18 > 0:56:21This must have been a terrible time.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23You've lost everything, lost everything.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27And, you know, there's no insurance. You just have to start again.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29When you say there was no insurance,
0:56:29 > 0:56:34you suddenly think, "Imagine having a house fire and not having insurance."
0:56:34 > 0:56:37- Everything's gone. - Everything's gone.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48The Romans defeated Boudica's rebellion.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50For nearly 400 years
0:56:50 > 0:56:54their rule extended over much of Britain.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58The symbols of their empire were stamped across this land.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04This is Roman Calleva's amphitheatre.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06It lies just outside the town walls.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11There is no more powerful symbol of Roman culture in Britain.
0:57:11 > 0:57:16But in fact this was built on the alignment of the old Iron Age town.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22This year's archaeology has given us a deeper insight into
0:57:22 > 0:57:26the sophistication and complexity of the ages of Bronze and Iron.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31The Cladh Hallan mummies remind us our Bronze Age ancestors' beliefs
0:57:31 > 0:57:34were just as complex as ours.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37The Cauldrons bring us closer to the feasting rituals
0:57:37 > 0:57:40at the heart of the Iron Age.
0:57:42 > 0:57:49And the ancient timber structures of East Anglia allow us to explore the magic of metal and water.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54The Romans brought us writing,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57but written history only tells part of the story.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00Archaeology not only fills in the gaps,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03it paints a much more complex picture of our past,
0:58:03 > 0:58:07and connects us with the lives of ordinary people.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09And so, the digging continues.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19You can get hands-on with archaeology yourself
0:58:19 > 0:58:21with BBC Hands On History.
0:58:21 > 0:58:23You can find events near you
0:58:23 > 0:58:27and download family activities to try at home on the website.
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0:58:36 > 0:58:39E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk