0:00:05 > 0:00:07This is Digging for Britain...
0:00:10 > 0:00:12..the programme which brings you
0:00:12 > 0:00:15this year's most outstanding new archaeology.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22All year, in hundreds of digs across the UK, teams have been
0:00:22 > 0:00:27uncovering new archaeological clues which help us to tell our story.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35We'll be looking at highlights from all the digs with in-depth
0:00:35 > 0:00:39analysis from archaeologists who are going to extraordinary
0:00:39 > 0:00:45lengths to uncover our history in a way that only archaeology can.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47And they've been out there filming themselves to make sure
0:00:47 > 0:00:51that we were there for every moment of discovery.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53It's in perfect mint condition.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56And they'll be joining us back here at the Dorset County Museum,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59to help us make sense of what the new finds actually mean.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Tonight, we're in the West of England, as we meet
0:01:03 > 0:01:07army veterans on the hunt for Anglo-Saxon warriors.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12We investigate Britain's earliest leprosy hospital, changing what we
0:01:12 > 0:01:15know about how sufferers might have been treated.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20And treasure hunters find a 3,000-year-old gold hoard
0:01:20 > 0:01:23but with a very unlikely owner.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40We're in Dorchester, home to the Dorset County Museum,
0:01:40 > 0:01:44established in 1845,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47and famous for housing the study and notebooks of one of
0:01:47 > 0:01:49England's most well-loved writers,
0:01:51 > 0:01:52Thomas Hardy.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01But it's also home to some of our most important treasures,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04like The Chickerell Rings, these Bronze Age gold torques
0:02:04 > 0:02:06discovered by metal detectorists.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14And the Langton Matravers Axes,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19the largest hoard of Bronze Age axes ever discovered in Britain
0:02:19 > 0:02:22and which some believe were made as a gift to the gods.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29In our first dig, just 50 miles away from the museum,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33more extraordinary Bronze Age remains are coming to light,
0:02:33 > 0:02:37at Barrow Clump, in the heart of Salisbury Plain.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Over the last three years,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42archaeologists from the Ministry of Defence, who owns the land,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45have been excavating a Bronze Age burial site.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51This ancient site dates back to over 5,000 years ago
0:02:51 > 0:02:55but archaeologists have been called in now because it's in danger.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02Badgers are burrowing through the soil, destroying the archaeology,
0:03:02 > 0:03:06so the team must hurry to recover and record as much as possible.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12And after only two days on site, their work pays off with
0:03:12 > 0:03:16an important discovery, a Bronze Age burial urn
0:03:16 > 0:03:21so fragile that its temporary protection is a bucket.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25There you go! It's really, really exciting, this.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29You can see the rim of the pot coming round here
0:03:29 > 0:03:31and within it, bits of collapsed pot
0:03:31 > 0:03:36but all this burned material which we presume is burned human bone.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39We'll lift it out as a block and we'll excavate that back in the lab.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41It's a fantastic find.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Having gently excavated the urn, osteoarchaeologist,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55Jacqueline McKinley, carefully lifts the collar.
0:04:00 > 0:04:01Voila!
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Like doing a sponge cake.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07If I lift that up can you see all that lovely cord
0:04:07 > 0:04:09decoration on the inside of there?
0:04:12 > 0:04:13Brilliant, isn't it?
0:04:17 > 0:04:20No sooner has the first urn been rescued
0:04:20 > 0:04:22but a second vessel is found.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25This much larger urn has been buried upside down.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31It is moving though, isn't it? I'm just worried.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41After a tense hour, the urn comes out in one piece,
0:04:41 > 0:04:42carefully bandaged.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45It's actually a food vessel, Bronze Aged food vessel,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48which I know looks like a bandaged head at the moment.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50But the reason that bandage is there is
0:04:50 > 0:04:54because it's slightly elasticated so it gives support to the vessel
0:04:54 > 0:04:58and stops it falling apart while I'm getting things from inside it.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04And Jacqui, you're in the process of looking at this material,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08I think, from the first urn, the urn with the cord marking on it.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11That's right, this was actually quite badly damaged on the site,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13it was only about 10cm left
0:05:13 > 0:05:17so I decided, in this case, to excavate what was inside it on site.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20And today, actually, is the first time I've seen this, now that
0:05:20 > 0:05:22it's been washed and cleaned up again.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25And at this point, what can you tell about this bone?
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Well, what I've done is I've pulled out some very useful
0:05:28 > 0:05:31pieces of bone, like, for instance, this here, which is
0:05:31 > 0:05:35part of the super-orbit, which goes about there,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38and there's a few other pieces around there, like, for instance,
0:05:38 > 0:05:43this one, which is from there,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46which is part of the diagrammatic arch.
0:05:46 > 0:05:47The skull is very useful,
0:05:47 > 0:05:53one, in that you have a very easily identifiable piece of bone, which
0:05:53 > 0:05:58you only either have one or a pair of, so they're very useful for doing
0:05:58 > 0:06:01minimum numbers of individuals, but also a lot of the skull
0:06:01 > 0:06:06is very diagnostic in terms of sexing the individual, the adult individual.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08And what about the sex of this individual,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10is this an adult male or female?
0:06:10 > 0:06:12Looking at the general size and robusticity,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14I would say it's most likely to be male.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17And do you think these were high-status individuals who were
0:06:17 > 0:06:19treated in this way and buried in the Barrows?
0:06:19 > 0:06:20Status?
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Well, you know, in the past, the antiquarians always thought
0:06:23 > 0:06:25that everybody was a chief, it was always chieftains,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28it was always men, always chieftains, who were buried in here.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29So, this would have been a King?
0:06:29 > 0:06:32It would have been a King, yes, undoubtedly, or a prince or
0:06:32 > 0:06:34something, but when you actually look at the individuals you
0:06:34 > 0:06:41find in these places, they are a mix of individuals, you could get males,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44females, children, and one of the things I have noticed when
0:06:44 > 0:06:48I've been looking at material from these barrows, is that you have
0:06:48 > 0:06:53quite a large number of females with infants or young children.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Now, if you think about your community
0:06:57 > 0:06:58and what matters to a community,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02one of the important things there is the future and your future is your
0:07:02 > 0:07:07children, so really, the children and the mother, the mother that
0:07:07 > 0:07:12produces the children, could be seen as very important to the community.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15So, it's not really surprising that they're quite often chosen to
0:07:15 > 0:07:18be buried in these positions.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21But these urns aren't the only things that make this dig special.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24In a unique project, known as Operation Nightingale,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28the MOD archaeologists are working closely with injured soldiers
0:07:28 > 0:07:31for whom this is vital therapy.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37This pioneering scheme is introducing
0:07:37 > 0:07:41veteran Armed Forces personnel to the practice of archaeology.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Operation Nightingale's really a recovery opportunity, some of them
0:07:50 > 0:07:53will want to, having had, maybe, a tough operational tour, will
0:07:53 > 0:07:57want to just come out and experience some very benign atmosphere.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00You can see how it's quite cathartic in the broadest sense that you can
0:08:00 > 0:08:04come out here, be with your friends and just get to understand a little
0:08:04 > 0:08:06bit about the past landscapes over
0:08:06 > 0:08:08which you've trained over many years.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13For many men like former rifleman, Kenny Kendrick,
0:08:13 > 0:08:14it's been a lifesaver.
0:08:14 > 0:08:15What happened to me is
0:08:15 > 0:08:20I suffered a mental breakdown while over in Germany and it's
0:08:20 > 0:08:24given me a whole new lease of life, a new career. I left the army
0:08:24 > 0:08:28and I've become an archaeologist full-time and once I start
0:08:28 > 0:08:31digging, it's very hard to stop. If I'm not told when to take a break
0:08:31 > 0:08:35or have a drink or have my dinner I'd probably dig until it gets dark.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38In fact, the disciplines of military
0:08:38 > 0:08:42and archaeology are not such strange bedfellows.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Anyone who's watched the news
0:08:44 > 0:08:47footage from Afghanistan or Iraq has seen people, military
0:08:47 > 0:08:51figures, looking for IEDs and things like that with a metal detector.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Critical skill in the military, key skill on an archaeological site.
0:08:57 > 0:08:58Just do that area again.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00'There's almost a symbiotic relationship, in many ways,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03'there are so many crossover skills and its quite an'
0:09:03 > 0:09:07inspirational thing for the archaeologists amongst us to see that
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and working together as a team, and it's a team thing that is crucial.
0:09:13 > 0:09:19As its name suggests, Barrow Clump is a barrow, or burial mound,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23so it's no surprise that the team uncover skeletons.
0:09:25 > 0:09:30He was a very large bloke, these femurs are truly huge,
0:09:30 > 0:09:35and his feet are, the toe bones, I've never seen anything so big.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37As burial after burial appears,
0:09:37 > 0:09:42they soon realise they're unearthing an Anglo-Saxon cemetery,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44dating from the sixth century AD,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48just a few metres away from the original Bronze Age burial site.
0:09:49 > 0:09:50There's huge progress on site.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54We started off with one or two grave cuts that we could see
0:09:54 > 0:09:58and over the weeks we've now exposed at least 12.
0:10:07 > 0:10:08There we go.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Like this spearhead.
0:10:13 > 0:10:14And shield boss,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17the metal centre of a shield which would have protected the hand.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22The original shield could have been up to a metre in diameter.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29These are warriors' graves.
0:10:33 > 0:10:39But with so many on site, the team are beginning to wonder, why?
0:10:39 > 0:10:41One of the theories that were put forward to me
0:10:41 > 0:10:44by one of the soldiers on the project was that
0:10:44 > 0:10:49the outside of the ditch seemed to have quite a large concentration
0:10:49 > 0:10:52of males with shields and thought that this was perhaps something
0:10:52 > 0:10:57like an equivalent in death of the Saxon shield wall protecting those
0:10:57 > 0:11:00buried inside the monument, which I think is a really lovely idea.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08So, it is interesting to have all those Anglo-Saxon burials
0:11:08 > 0:11:11alongside the Bronze Age ones, but is it unusual?
0:11:11 > 0:11:15No, there's quite a lot of evidence that Anglo-Saxons would
0:11:15 > 0:11:21choose what were obvious, important, particularly mortuary important,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25landscape features in which to bury their own dead.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28This would have been very obvious features at that time.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31The mounds would have been quite obvious there and people would have
0:11:31 > 0:11:35recognised that they were very important to people in the past.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39In a way, the same way as in the Bronze Age, they were almost staking
0:11:39 > 0:11:44a claim in that landscape by producing these mounds.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47The Anglo-Saxons, by coming in and burying their dead there,
0:11:47 > 0:11:51may also have been staking a claim to the same land.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Well, in spite of a growing number of warrior graves
0:11:55 > 0:11:59at Barrow Clump, there's still one thing that's eluding the team.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Chap in front of us has between his knees,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09the remnants of an iron shield boss
0:12:09 > 0:12:12and that's one of several we've now had over the site.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14To the left of the individual,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18just poking out above the grave, is the socket of a spear, so,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22all those things that you'd expect, perhaps, to find with a warrior.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24What we're missing from that
0:12:24 > 0:12:28and something you see referred to throughout Saxon poetry is a sword.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Swords were prized by the Saxons
0:12:30 > 0:12:33but are extremely rare finds.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Richard's greatest hope is that they'll find one
0:12:36 > 0:12:42but despite unearthing 75 graves, the prize is proving elusive.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46However, the badgers burrowing on this site have
0:12:46 > 0:12:51left a trail that leads the team right to this year's prize find.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55As we were going down, we had a lot of badger packing material
0:12:55 > 0:12:56so we weren't sure
0:12:56 > 0:13:00whether they would have disturbed any remains that were there.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03As it happens, we do have a badger run that does run right
0:13:03 > 0:13:05alongside and has damaged the skeleton.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08But the rest of it is very well preserved.
0:13:08 > 0:13:09And, we're very lucky,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12the fact that we've got a sword lying alongside it.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16So, this one's got the big three, really, in that it's got
0:13:16 > 0:13:20the spearhead, the shield boss and then a sword alongside.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Now all they have to do is get the sword out,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27an extremely delicate task,
0:13:27 > 0:13:31carried out by Lynn Wootton, conservator with Wessex Archaeology.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34So, a sword, which is
0:13:34 > 0:13:37sitting right on the top arm bone,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39which is coming out in fragments.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43I'm going to try to get the whole lot up in one go.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48If the sword survives excavation, the trick will be to find out
0:13:48 > 0:13:49if it's pattern welded.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55This was a complicated method of forging a blade
0:13:55 > 0:13:57to produce a top-class sword.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02A clue, perhaps, to the man who was buried with it.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06We're thrilled to be joined by Richard
0:14:06 > 0:14:09and some of his colleagues from the Medical squadron
0:14:09 > 0:14:11And we're especially lucky because we're going to x-ray
0:14:11 > 0:14:14the sword in real time, right here, in the museum.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17But before we do that, Richard, what can you tell us about it?
0:14:17 > 0:14:18We're really excited about this
0:14:18 > 0:14:20because this was the only sword we had, it was
0:14:20 > 0:14:23found by one of the soldiers of the project, so really, really exciting.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26And what we really want to know is to see whether it is one of those
0:14:26 > 0:14:29fabulous, high-status weapons that's pattern welded and really
0:14:29 > 0:14:32part of the whole mythology of Anglo-Saxon England,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35of the sword with its name and that sort of thing, it's a powerful item.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38And this came out of the ground in one piece, didn't it?
0:14:38 > 0:14:39It did and it was a nervous moment,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43having this thing lifted, Excalibur-like, from the ground.
0:14:44 > 0:14:45There you go.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Oh, that's mineralised wood.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54So yes, a real thing of beauty
0:14:54 > 0:14:57and then the sword being such an important artefact
0:14:57 > 0:14:59in the sixth century, this was really quite a thrill to find it.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01So what have we got here? This is the handle end
0:15:01 > 0:15:03and bits of copper along here?
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Right, you've got the remnants of the scabbard,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07perhaps you can make out little traces of mineralised
0:15:07 > 0:15:11wood, which is the fabric of the scabbard, and these are the gilded
0:15:11 > 0:15:14copper alloy mounts at the side of the scabbard, same with the top
0:15:14 > 0:15:17area, might have some decoration, x-ray will hopefully show us that.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21And then perhaps you can see some elements of the horn handle
0:15:21 > 0:15:23that was here in its sixth century guise.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25So that's been mineralised. So is there an iron core
0:15:25 > 0:15:27running through the middle of that?
0:15:27 > 0:15:29I think so. We can pick that up on the x-ray.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31And have you cleaned it up at all or
0:15:31 > 0:15:32is this just as it came out of the ground?
0:15:32 > 0:15:35This is subject to immediate stabilisation so it doesn't deteriorate,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and then the full conservation will happen after the event.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Brilliant, well, I think we should probably let
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Sergeant McDowell and Sergeant Barnet get on with the x-rays.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45We need to clear while they do that.
0:15:45 > 0:15:46That's a good idea.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Wow, look at that. That's come up beautifully, hasn't it, Richard?
0:15:58 > 0:15:59Well, this is fantastic
0:15:59 > 0:16:02cos you can see all the things we really wanted to see.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Course, the thing you really think of a sword in this period is
0:16:04 > 0:16:06whether it's pattern welded or not.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08And that was the real question we wanted to answer.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11And the answer is, yes, it is, which is fantastic.
0:16:11 > 0:16:12How can you tell that?
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Can you see all these little sort of zigzags in here?
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Can you see there's a sort of crisscross element
0:16:17 > 0:16:19right in the middle of the blade, up here?
0:16:19 > 0:16:22That's really indicative of these three bars of iron that've
0:16:22 > 0:16:24been twisted and twisted to form...
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Well, there's a debate at the moment as to whether that's for strength
0:16:27 > 0:16:30or for decoration but it certainly would've been very beautiful.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33A bit like a herring or one of these fish, beautiful, decorated thing.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36- You see that in samurai swords as well.- It's exactly the same thing,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38cause it's a strengthening thing
0:16:38 > 0:16:41and you can see how, perhaps, making out the white lines
0:16:41 > 0:16:43going down the sword, can you all see that?
0:16:43 > 0:16:45See that?
0:16:45 > 0:16:48That's the actual edge of the sword where this pattern welding goes on.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50And then the hardened steel edges are on the side there.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53So, that's when it starts to bevel out towards the cutting edge.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55That's right, and so you've got a thing of beauty
0:16:55 > 0:16:58but a thing with a real purpose to it, these aren't just prestigious
0:16:58 > 0:17:02objects for no reason, they're also things that can actually kill.
0:17:02 > 0:17:03It was great to be able to see all that
0:17:03 > 0:17:07without actually having to start taking that soil off.
0:17:07 > 0:17:08It's fabulous, it's a non-intrusive
0:17:08 > 0:17:11way of finding an awful lot of data and information
0:17:11 > 0:17:15about the artefact without rendering it fragile and vulnerable, really.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19OK, so, who was the man who had this artefact then?
0:17:19 > 0:17:20That's a very good question.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22He had not only this, he had a shield with him,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25he had a spear and he had a knife,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28so he's got more or less the panoply of arms going into the grave.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31He's right in the most important part of the burial mound,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34so he must have been somebody with a degree of power and wealth.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37This isn't an everyday item, as I said, it's
0:17:37 > 0:17:41the only one we've had out of the 75 burials, so he's an important man.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45The soldiers believe that the owner of this sword might have been
0:17:45 > 0:17:48a local king, or warrior chief,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52who was buried surrounded by the burials of other warriors
0:17:52 > 0:17:57and placed in the ground with his spear, shield and sword.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04This find, close to a Bronze Age cemetery, contributes both
0:18:04 > 0:18:07to our understanding of Anglo-Saxon burials
0:18:07 > 0:18:11and shows how they reused earlier monuments for their cemeteries.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19But there's another group of warrior dead here at the Dorset Museum,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23who are central to a long-running debate.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26For years, historians have argued whether the Romans
0:18:26 > 0:18:29invaded Britain or staged a peaceful takeover.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34So, Rebecca, Maiden Castle is famous because it's a
0:18:34 > 0:18:38really beautiful hill fort but also for the cemetery that's up there.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Exactly. There is what has become known as the war cemetery
0:18:41 > 0:18:43at the eastern end of the hill fort.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46And these are two of the skeletons from that cemetery?
0:18:46 > 0:18:49Yeah, these two are very, very special young chaps
0:18:49 > 0:18:52because they are the ones that contain the most unique evidence
0:18:52 > 0:18:56that we have that enables us to pin this cemetery down to AD43.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58So, let's have a look at these two then.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01I can immediately see something which looks a bit suspicious.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02Yes.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04And it's got an arrow pointing to it as well.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06I know, it's very helpful.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Which is this bolt here.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12I'm just going to move this vertebra out
0:19:12 > 0:19:14so that we can have a good look at it... Look at that!
0:19:16 > 0:19:18- Well, that's amazing.- It is.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22It's actually embedded into the bone, so it's passed through that
0:19:22 > 0:19:25individual and lodged in their vertebra.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27Is that a typical Roman weapon?
0:19:27 > 0:19:30It is, it's a classic Roman ballista bolt
0:19:30 > 0:19:32and that's how we can date these burials.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35So, we know that although the individuals,
0:19:35 > 0:19:40the pottery they're buried with is late-Iron Age, that absolutely
0:19:40 > 0:19:41dates them to the Roman invasion
0:19:41 > 0:19:44because none of those weapons are here before the Romans get here.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49So, it's coming in like this, right through the guts, through the
0:19:49 > 0:19:52kidney, in fact, and grazing the
0:19:52 > 0:19:55vertebra and coming right to the back, here.
0:19:55 > 0:19:56So that's enough to kill somebody?
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Yeah, absolutely, but there is more.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01So, very obviously,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04this young chap here has got a rather large hole in his head.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07- So that's where he's been bashed on the head.- Yeah.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Then these lines, you only get the fracture lines running off
0:20:10 > 0:20:14in these directions if it's something that's happened at the time of death.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16And then it kind of gets worse for this guy
0:20:16 > 0:20:19because then this very little knick here
0:20:19 > 0:20:22and that's out of the back of his mandible
0:20:22 > 0:20:25and that's where someone with a sword then tried to cut his head off.
0:20:25 > 0:20:26Right, OK.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Then they've had another go because he's then got this blow,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34which has actually peeled off the bone on his mandible here.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35Nasty.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Yeah, so they've tried to cut his head off twice.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41He's really been hacked, hasn't he? This is vicious, this is violent.
0:20:41 > 0:20:47- And it's not...- Yeah.- ..just one piece of evidence of violence,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50I mean, shock and awe at its worst.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52It is very, very shocking.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55So, the Roman army are going above and beyond what is necessary
0:20:55 > 0:20:56to kill someone.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59But we know that when they are conquering new territories
0:20:59 > 0:21:01they really did go and decimate people.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10These skeletons graphically reveal one side of the story
0:21:10 > 0:21:13of the Romans' arrival in Britain.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16But in 2011, I visited a site in North Dorset
0:21:16 > 0:21:21which told a different story, the Durotriges Big Dig Project.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25For several years,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28archaeologists have been digging at Winterborne Kingston.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32The dig was originally started as an Iron Age exploration
0:21:32 > 0:21:38looking back almost 2,000 years to when members of the Durotriges tribe
0:21:38 > 0:21:42lived and farmed here before the Romans arrived.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Well, this survey of the site, which is a magnetic survey,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48shows us the Iron-Age ditched enclosure
0:21:48 > 0:21:49we call the banjo enclosure,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52that's because it superficially resembles a banjo
0:21:52 > 0:21:55with the body and the neck.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57Do you think this was a defensive enclosure?
0:21:58 > 0:22:00Not at all, not at all.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05This is effectively an undefended farmstead.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08'But as the team continue the dig, they started to turn up
0:22:08 > 0:22:11'more and more signs of Romanisation,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14'influencing the lives of the local inhabitants.'
0:22:14 > 0:22:16So, you've also got pieces of chicken
0:22:16 > 0:22:19and, of course, we're familiar with chicken today
0:22:19 > 0:22:22but in the late Iron Age this is an exotic animal,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24this is coming in from the Roman world.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Presumably, they're selling their produce and their grain
0:22:27 > 0:22:30and they're getting these luxury food items in return.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33This particular fragment is a handle of an amphora,
0:22:33 > 0:22:37a large storage vessel that would've stood up to the height of an adult.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40We can tell by the fabric and by the shape that it's from Spain
0:22:40 > 0:22:43- and it would have probably held wine.- That's lovely.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45It is, so we can imagine that they're eating chicken,
0:22:45 > 0:22:47they're drinking wine,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49they're sort of plugged in to the Mediterranean world.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54So, for these Iron-Age farmers,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58life with the Romans appears to have been a peaceful coexistence
0:22:58 > 0:23:02in stark contrast to the massacre at Maiden Castle.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06You don't see evidence
0:23:06 > 0:23:09of a really abrupt transition at your site, do you?
0:23:09 > 0:23:13No, you can't really tell when the Romans arrived
0:23:13 > 0:23:15because there's small amounts of Roman material coming in
0:23:15 > 0:23:17in the 1st century BC.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20As we go on to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd century AD
0:23:20 > 0:23:23there's still equivalent amounts of Roman pottery.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25It's all very low-level stuff,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28there's no sudden break when the Romans arrived, there's no change,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31there's no dramatic increase in Roman artefacts.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33And we're seeing that right the way across Dorset.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36I think like Native American societies, they're picking
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and choosing a few things that facilitate their lifestyle,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42but there's no major change in settlement or religion going on.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45It takes 300 years after the invasion before we start seeing
0:23:45 > 0:23:49real significant Roman material like villas and temples being created.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52There's a big time-lag between the arrival of the Romans
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and their final evolution of Roman culture.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58I think the main thing is the picture that we're used to
0:23:58 > 0:24:01is too simple, isn't it? It's much more complex.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03It is, you get this black and white idea, the Romans arrive,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05those who they don't kill
0:24:05 > 0:24:07end up living in villas and towns straight away.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11It takes three centuries for that kind of Roman culture
0:24:11 > 0:24:14to really take a hold in this part of Britain.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17You've been digging at this site now, Miles, for quite a few seasons.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19How's the picture been changing over the years?
0:24:19 > 0:24:20It's been changing quite a lot
0:24:20 > 0:24:23because we started out with an Iron-Age settlement,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26we were looking at that transition from Iron Age to Roman
0:24:26 > 0:24:29and what we're finding is evidence going on a good three centuries afterwards.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32So, we're doing a geophysical survey around the whole area.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35But we're finding more evidence of later Roman material.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38I think a couple of your more plucky students filmed
0:24:38 > 0:24:40- this year's dig for us, didn't they? - Absolutely, yes.
0:24:42 > 0:24:43We're in day three
0:24:43 > 0:24:46in trench one at the top end of the site
0:24:46 > 0:24:49and the cleaning back has revealed exactly what we were hoping to find
0:24:49 > 0:24:54really, which is, we've got this large, it's about 15 meters across,
0:24:54 > 0:25:00square enclosure defined by a very thin ditch. And the interior
0:25:00 > 0:25:03of which, there's a whole series of small pits and other features.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05It could be a shrine, it could be a temple,
0:25:05 > 0:25:06it could be none of the above.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09It could be some sort of animal agriculture enclosure.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12But until we start going down into it we're not going to know.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14It's a very nice distinct feature
0:25:14 > 0:25:15and it fits beautifully in the trench.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18And, once again, because it's dug down in the chalk,
0:25:18 > 0:25:19it shows up fantastically.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Miles and his students are hoping that this find
0:25:23 > 0:25:26will yield clues about the people who lived here.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Were they farmers who adopted Roman ways?
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Or were they Romans from elsewhere in the Empire?
0:25:39 > 0:25:42OK, so it's the beginning of day seven and we're quite excited
0:25:42 > 0:25:46that inside the square enclosure, in trench one,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50there's four rectangular cuts which look extremely like graves.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56This is the team's first major clue as to who might have lived here.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00We've started cleaning up these rectangular cuts
0:26:00 > 0:26:03and they have, actually, thankfully started turning up into graves.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07We were wondering to begin with, cos these are east-west aligned,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09whether they were going to turn out to be Christian burials.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11But the heads are at the eastern end.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14If they were Christians you'd expect them to be at the other end,
0:26:14 > 0:26:20so facing the sunrise on the Day Of Judgment.
0:26:20 > 0:26:21We've got a skull coming up here
0:26:21 > 0:26:26and we've got just part of a pottery vessel coming up at the other end.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30So these are unlikely to be Christian graves,
0:26:30 > 0:26:35and neither do they appear to be Iron Age, as in this area
0:26:35 > 0:26:37those tend to take the form of a crouched burial.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44The expectation is that they are Roman because in 2013,
0:26:44 > 0:26:45just in the next field,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48they excavated a late 4th-century Roman villa.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56After another day's digging, the team begin to find
0:26:56 > 0:27:00strong evidence of a connection, as more skeletons start to appear.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06You can see just here in this particular grave
0:27:06 > 0:27:09we've got one coffin nail coming out here.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12So we know that these individuals are all in coffins,
0:27:12 > 0:27:14which is probably another indication
0:27:14 > 0:27:18that they're not early Christian, which tends to be buried in shrouds.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21We've also got a spindle whorl which is another little nice object
0:27:21 > 0:27:24they're taking with them into the afterlife and quite a lot
0:27:24 > 0:27:28of late Roman female burials have spindle whorls buried with them.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31I don't know if that's an activity they would have done in life.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33One of the other cuts that's been excavated,
0:27:33 > 0:27:35we've had hobnails coming up, the little nails
0:27:35 > 0:27:38that are hammered into sandals in Roman footwear, suggesting
0:27:38 > 0:27:42that they're going into the grave wearing almost military-style boots.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44At the moment, we can say that these are Roman,
0:27:44 > 0:27:46they are almost certainly late Roman,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and the provisional evidence at present suggests
0:27:49 > 0:27:50they are contemporary with the villa.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Which is what we're hoping for, to try and find a link
0:27:53 > 0:27:57with villa occupants and the house they actually occupied.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Just a day later, Miles and the team uncover three female
0:28:05 > 0:28:06and two male skeletons.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17That was the end of day nine, things are going extremely well.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20The square barrow in trench one is turning out rapidly
0:28:20 > 0:28:23to become what appears to be a family mausoleum.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25We've now got at least five graves in there -
0:28:25 > 0:28:30what looks like one immature, one juvenile character and four adults,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32none of which appear to be Christian,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36all of which, at the moment, seem to have indication of grave goods.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41It was traditional for Romans to bury goods with their dead
0:28:41 > 0:28:42like footwear or pottery.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Like this bowl they found in one of the female graves.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Hopefully, we'll start to get all those out
0:28:52 > 0:28:54and get a better idea of their date.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58Still hoping they are the occupiers of the villa we excavated last year.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01If they can get an accurate date for the pot,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05it will give the team an even better idea of who these people were.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14Miles, when do these burials that you've just been finding date to?
0:29:14 > 0:29:18Well, that's the question. The pot that comes out with them,
0:29:18 > 0:29:23this particular vessel, we know is made sometime around 370, 380 AD
0:29:23 > 0:29:24but the question is,
0:29:24 > 0:29:26how old is it at the time it's gone into the grave?
0:29:26 > 0:29:28That's lovely, it's got imprinted pattern on it.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31It's got this rosette pattern all the way around,
0:29:31 > 0:29:32but you can see it's very worn,
0:29:32 > 0:29:37the slip's worn off and it originally had a base, it had a foot
0:29:37 > 0:29:40on it which has been broken off and it's been worn smooth.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44And given it may have taken 40, 50, 60 years
0:29:44 > 0:29:46before it's actually ended up in the grave.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49So we're seeing people who have been buried in Roman-style tradition
0:29:49 > 0:29:53but they haven't got access to high status Roman goods.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56I suspect given that we've only got a few spindle whorls,
0:29:56 > 0:29:58we've got fragments of pottery,
0:29:58 > 0:30:02there's not a lot of Roman status goods going in with these graves.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05I think we're dealing with a sub-Roman population.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07This is the people who are, sort of, traditionally
0:30:07 > 0:30:11grubbing around in the remains of their Roman world.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15So, do you think this is after the collapse of the Roman Empire, then?
0:30:15 > 0:30:17I think it is. I think we are dealing with the last people
0:30:17 > 0:30:22who still have a remembrance of a Roman world.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24They're still clinging on to one or two items
0:30:24 > 0:30:26that link them back to that past.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27But they're no longer working
0:30:27 > 0:30:30within a functioning Roman administration.
0:30:30 > 0:30:31So, I think we are dealing with people
0:30:31 > 0:30:33who are probably dying and being buried
0:30:33 > 0:30:37probably sometime in the mid-5th century,
0:30:37 > 0:30:39so we've probably got 450 AD
0:30:39 > 0:30:41as, probably, our cut-off point
0:30:41 > 0:30:44for the time these people are going into their graves.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48There is a theory that the bodies at Maiden Castle are the natives
0:30:48 > 0:30:50who were taking one last stand against the Romans.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53Is it possible that the bodies you've got, or you're excavating,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55are their descendants, hundreds of years later?
0:30:55 > 0:30:58That'll be fantastic, if we could prove that, obviously.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01But if we got good DNA samples from both,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03then, we might be able to say that these are the descendants
0:31:03 > 0:31:05from the iron age inhabitants
0:31:05 > 0:31:08and that would be something rather spectacular.
0:31:08 > 0:31:09Because we still don't know, yet,
0:31:09 > 0:31:11whether the people who live in the villas
0:31:11 > 0:31:14are the descendants of the indigenous population,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17or whether they are 1st generation or 2nd generation migrants
0:31:17 > 0:31:19from another part of the Roman Empire.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23The Romano-Britons, who lived and died in the villa,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26offer clues to the poverty of the twilight world
0:31:26 > 0:31:29after the Roman army left, in 410 AD.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35But less than 100 miles away, at Chedworth,
0:31:35 > 0:31:39another dig is unexpectedly revealing the glories
0:31:39 > 0:31:41of Roman Britain in its heyday.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47First discovered by the Victorians 150 years ago,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51Chedworth is a late 4th century courtyard villa complex.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56In August, a team of archaeologists from the National Trust
0:31:56 > 0:32:00started a two week dig to find out more about the villa layout.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08Unfortunately, they had very little recorded information to go on.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11The last person to dig here was Sir Ian Richmond,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Professor of Archaeology at Oxford University,
0:32:14 > 0:32:18whose notes were lost, after his death in 1965.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24All that remains of his work are some modern concrete path borders,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28which the team believe Richmond laid down to outline
0:32:28 > 0:32:30a 2nd century Roman bathhouse.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35But they were in for a surprise, as Martin Papworth explains.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38When we started our excavation here,
0:32:38 > 0:32:40we really thought that Ian Richmond
0:32:40 > 0:32:43had dug everything, including the wall lines,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46where he put his concrete, and also the bits in between,
0:32:46 > 0:32:48which we call the "islands".
0:32:48 > 0:32:51So, we were quite surprised when we lifted a turf
0:32:51 > 0:32:57and we found bits of tesserae coming up, bits of mosaic coming up.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59And there were no records of any mosaics
0:32:59 > 0:33:01in any of these areas, between the walls.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06The "tesserae", or tile pieces, are revealing what might be
0:33:06 > 0:33:09a border in red, cream and blue,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13but whether anything else survives, of the central pattern, is unclear.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17There are areas...there are going to be big holes in it,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20there's going to be areas where the mosaic could be lost
0:33:20 > 0:33:24and Carol's working over here. She's got an edge against the wall,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27but lots of loose tesserae there, in a worn area,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29away from the wall.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31So we just need to gradually uncover
0:33:31 > 0:33:35and show what lies within these walls.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38There's also something else puzzling the team.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41They had thought they were working on a series of baths
0:33:41 > 0:33:42in separate rooms.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47The other strange thing is that we've taken the concrete up,
0:33:47 > 0:33:48we've cleaned underneath the concrete
0:33:48 > 0:33:51and we're not finding walls, yet, which is quite peculiar.
0:33:53 > 0:33:54Pretty soon, it becomes clear
0:33:54 > 0:33:58they're no longer dealing with a bathhouse.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00We knew from the beginning, when we first lifted the turf,
0:34:00 > 0:34:03that there was going to be mosaic underneath here,
0:34:03 > 0:34:06but now we can see it's part of one great, long mosaic.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11In fact, we now believe it's part of the grand reception hall
0:34:11 > 0:34:13of the villa.
0:34:13 > 0:34:14So, rather than having five or six
0:34:14 > 0:34:17little bits of different rooms of mosaic,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20all this mosaic joins up into one big pattern.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24The team make other finds,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28which give more of an idea of the decoration of the villa.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31We found bits of broad plaster on top of the top soil
0:34:31 > 0:34:35and, in that, we've got patterns in red, blue and white, green.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38- TAPPING - And, so, we must think of this floor
0:34:38 > 0:34:40as being part of something really grand.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Emerging from the rubble, an extraordinary, huge artwork
0:34:46 > 0:34:50and an insight into the wealth and power of the Romano-British.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54So, if we were looking at, in terms of,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57did this person consider themselves Roman?
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Were they presenting their life as being part of
0:35:00 > 0:35:05the Great Roman Empire and the whole link to classical civilisation,
0:35:05 > 0:35:09well, this, surely, must be someone really showing off their wealth
0:35:09 > 0:35:12- DIGGING - and their link to Rome
0:35:12 > 0:35:16and, really, presenting themselves as Roman.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22The team had started the dig thinking they were looking for
0:35:22 > 0:35:25a 2nd century bathhouse and they've finished up
0:35:25 > 0:35:28with a show-stopping grand reception hall.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35I think it's amazing how much you can find by going back
0:35:35 > 0:35:38and revisiting existing archaeological sites,
0:35:38 > 0:35:40- where you think you know everything already.- Yep.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42And find some incredible mosaics.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45Jon, how do those mosaics compare to these incredible mosaics
0:35:45 > 0:35:47that we're, literally, sitting on, right here?
0:35:47 > 0:35:48Well, we're very lucky, in Dorset,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51that we have an awful lot of mosaics.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Over 60 have been found in the county.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56But, in the county museum here, we have 12
0:35:56 > 0:35:58that have been relocated from around the county,
0:35:58 > 0:36:02including this one from Durngate Street, in the middle of Dorchester.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05And what have we got here? Is that a serpent over there?
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Yeah, we've got serpents and we've got drinking vessels.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13The serpents represent rebirth and that's Bacchus's drinking vessel,
0:36:13 > 0:36:16so it's good luck and celebration.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19What can these mosaics tell us about the people who owned them,
0:36:19 > 0:36:20or who owned the villas where they were?
0:36:20 > 0:36:24Well, the complexity of them, and their intricacy,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27suggests they were extremely wealthy.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29Also, there are things in them that tells us
0:36:29 > 0:36:32that they want to be part of the wider Roman culture.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37Their use of mythology, the imagery for the Roman gods and legends
0:36:37 > 0:36:41all suggest that they really want to identify with Rome.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44So were they locals made good,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48or were they Roman officials who'd moved in?
0:36:48 > 0:36:50That's going to be the million dollar question, isn't it?
0:36:50 > 0:36:52I think it's... My own instinct would be it's going to be
0:36:52 > 0:36:56a combination of the local population who have done well
0:36:56 > 0:36:59from Roman occupation, from trading with the Romans,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03and, also, those officials, from Rome, who want very grand houses
0:37:03 > 0:37:06in what was a very important part of Roman Britain.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12So these beautiful and intricate mosaics
0:37:12 > 0:37:15tell us of a vanished Romano-British world
0:37:15 > 0:37:19when at least SOME, in the west, enjoyed the riches of empire.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24For the past seven years, a team has been excavating
0:37:24 > 0:37:27one of the earliest leprosy hospitals, near Winchester,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30dating back almost a thousand years.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33And what they have been finding at St Mary Magdalen
0:37:33 > 0:37:37is really helping to change our ideas about leprosy
0:37:37 > 0:37:38in the Middle Ages.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45Just a mile from Winchester city centre, St Mary Magdalen
0:37:45 > 0:37:48was, once, a busy complex of buildings,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51but, now, nothing remains above ground.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57The last recorded medieval building on this site
0:37:57 > 0:38:00was a late 15th century almshouse.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04But archaeologists from the University of Winchester
0:38:04 > 0:38:09have been slowly peeling back an extremely rare medical history.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16As the dig unfolds, the team is filming it themselves
0:38:16 > 0:38:19and in charge is chief investigator Simon Roffey.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24This is the north wall of that infirmary, running across the site,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26so I'm inside the medieval infirmary now
0:38:26 > 0:38:28and as I step outside,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31into this area here,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34we have evidence of what we think may be
0:38:34 > 0:38:36the wall of a possible cloister.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Last year we found whole pots and metal objects
0:38:40 > 0:38:43evidence for, perhaps, medical practise.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50But more importantly, the team have uncovered 20 graves.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53The condition of the skeletons leads them to believe
0:38:53 > 0:38:57that there was a leprosy hospital here dating back to 1070.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04It's the earliest excavated leprosy hospital in Britain.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09The cemetery holds about 85% of individuals with leprosy -
0:39:09 > 0:39:12men, women, children and babies.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15It's the highest sample we've had from any British site.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21In the Middle Ages, it was thought that those with leprosy
0:39:21 > 0:39:24were unclean and sinful
0:39:24 > 0:39:26and that the disease was a punishment from God.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32'In 2011, I went to look at the skeletons
0:39:32 > 0:39:33'they'd uncovered, for myself,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36'and see the full, shocking extent of the disease
0:39:36 > 0:39:39'with osteologist Dr Katie Tucker.'
0:39:39 > 0:39:42Now, this is extreme, isn't it?
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Yeah, this is erm... Suppose you...
0:39:45 > 0:39:47don't know if it's the wrong word to use,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51the BEST example of leprosy, that we have on the site.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53- Yeah, you can see the massive amounts...- Goodness me!
0:39:53 > 0:39:55- ..of bone loss.- Yeah.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Totally lost the front of the nose.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00And you actually see, these are the sockets, here,
0:40:00 > 0:40:03for the first molars, so all the bone has been lost,
0:40:03 > 0:40:05- back to the first molars.- All the way back to the first molars?- Yeah.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09That is just horrific, isn't it? I mean, look at that.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12You've lost all of the front of the upper jaw here.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18And the bottom of the nasal cavity.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22- And the hard palate, of course, has gone.- Yeah, yeah.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25It probably would have been difficult for this individual
0:40:25 > 0:40:27to eat, without choking.
0:40:27 > 0:40:28Yeah.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31- It's quite a shocking disease, isn't it?- It is, yeah.- I find it shocking
0:40:31 > 0:40:33to look at it in a skeleton and, I think,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37it's not surprising that it was...it carried such a stigma with it.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40- I mean, they would have looked alien, really.- Mm.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45- Especially with the facial lesions, as well, in the soft tissue.- Mm.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48And probably would have needed help
0:40:48 > 0:40:51eating, maybe, because...
0:40:51 > 0:40:54Well, they may have even had difficulty picking things up,
0:40:54 > 0:40:58- because they'd started to get loss of feeling in their hands.- Yeah.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00I think they probably would have needed quite a lot of help,
0:41:00 > 0:41:02during the last few years of their life.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08Some accounts suggest that those suffering from leprosy
0:41:08 > 0:41:11would have been outcasts and not given the same treatment
0:41:11 > 0:41:14as ordinary citizens in life...
0:41:14 > 0:41:16or in death.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20But back at St Mary Magdalen,
0:41:20 > 0:41:23the team believes that the graves themselves
0:41:23 > 0:41:25reveal a very different story.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28What we can see here is, erm...
0:41:28 > 0:41:32a grave that's been well-cut, cut into the chalk.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Anthropomorphic - it's tapered down towards the feet end.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39There's a head niche there, to hold the head of the individual.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41And around the grave, you can see the lip,
0:41:41 > 0:41:46which would hold a lid, or a ledger, on top of it.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49You can see that all these graves are well-separated,
0:41:49 > 0:41:51they've been marked, as well.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55So, what we're seeing here is a certain level of care and attention
0:41:55 > 0:41:58that's gone into building these graves.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03It's clear that these were no hasty burials.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05In this religious hospital,
0:42:05 > 0:42:09people with leprosy seem to have been treated with respect
0:42:09 > 0:42:11and buried with care.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17The archaeologists also believe that one particular grave they uncovered,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20back in 2011, supports this idea.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24This skeleton of a man was discovered buried
0:42:24 > 0:42:26with a scallop shell -
0:42:26 > 0:42:30a traditional pilgrim badge, that he may have carried back
0:42:30 > 0:42:34from one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in the world -
0:42:34 > 0:42:36Santiago de Compostela, in Spain.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42Simon believes that this man proves that medieval leprosy sufferers
0:42:42 > 0:42:45could be treated with respect and dignity
0:42:45 > 0:42:47and not always with revulsion.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53This is the shell we just saw in the VT? The pilgrim's shell?
0:42:53 > 0:42:57That's right. This wonderful artefact was
0:42:57 > 0:42:59from an individual with mature years,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01he had early stage leprosy.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05Clearly took this with him to grave, as a, sort of, way of proving
0:43:05 > 0:43:07that he had done this arduous pilgrimage,
0:43:07 > 0:43:10to Santiago de Compostela.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14But I think, more widely, this badge tells us
0:43:14 > 0:43:16about the status of the hospital.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20I mean, here was a man of religious sensitivity,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23wealth, perhaps, and the means to go on a pilgrimage
0:43:23 > 0:43:27and here he is, buried in a community of leprosy sufferers,
0:43:27 > 0:43:32so this really challenges this view that we have that
0:43:32 > 0:43:36leprosy hospitals were somehow excluded from society,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40the community were outcasts, this sort of thing.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42But do you think he could he have been excluded
0:43:42 > 0:43:46when he developed the outward signs of leprosy? I mean, he's there
0:43:46 > 0:43:48in the hospital, he's buried within the hospital cemetery,
0:43:48 > 0:43:51and not with his own community.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54I think, when we look at the archaeology as a whole,
0:43:54 > 0:43:59what we have is well-appointed timber buildings, originally,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02got substantial postholes on the side,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05we have a chapel, we have a well-ordered cemetery.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08We've also got evidence for medical provision, on one example.
0:44:08 > 0:44:09All this put together, I think, tells us
0:44:09 > 0:44:12this site wasn't a site of outcasts, it was...
0:44:12 > 0:44:16these were people who had a certain level of status, I think.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18Cos there is the traditional view, the medieval view,
0:44:18 > 0:44:20that leprosy was, somehow, a sinful disease,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22but this doesn't appear to be the case.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24It's a very complex issue, I think,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27where we have this, perhaps, belief today
0:44:27 > 0:44:31that leprosy sufferers were sinful, were outcasts.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33This has only recently been challenged
0:44:33 > 0:44:35by certain revisionist historians
0:44:35 > 0:44:38and, also, our work at St Mary Magdalen, in Winchester.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40So it's really important, then,
0:44:40 > 0:44:43because it's showing these people were looked after?
0:44:43 > 0:44:46Certainly, and leprosy is a disease that affects people today,
0:44:46 > 0:44:51in places such as India and Brazil, among many other countries.
0:44:51 > 0:44:52There's only about a quarter of a million
0:44:52 > 0:44:55new cases of leprosy identified every year.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57And leprosy is still stigmatised in these countries,
0:44:57 > 0:45:01so part of what we're doing is really challenging this stigma.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18There are many "dark ages" in archaeology,
0:45:18 > 0:45:21periods when we're trying to piece together the story
0:45:21 > 0:45:23from fragmentary evidence
0:45:23 > 0:45:25and, because of the nature of that evidence,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28we often find ourselves focusing on adults.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32Children are conspicuous by their absence.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35But, now, a unique find from the English-Welsh border
0:45:35 > 0:45:39provides us with a precious connection with a bronze age child.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48Every year, some archaeological finds are turned up by amateurs
0:45:48 > 0:45:51armed with metal detectors.
0:45:53 > 0:45:58On November 9th 2013, in a pit near the Forest of Dean,
0:45:58 > 0:46:02two metal detectorists, Lee Todd and Steve Moodie,
0:46:02 > 0:46:06joyfully unearthed a group of bronze age bracelets.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10The bracelets were then sent to the headquarters
0:46:10 > 0:46:11of the Portable Antiquities Scheme,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14at the British Museum, for investigation.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17This year, Dr Neil Wilkins
0:46:17 > 0:46:21and his team are trying to solve the mystery of this hoard.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25The first set are two bracelets,
0:46:25 > 0:46:27wrapped inside one another, or "nested",
0:46:27 > 0:46:28as we would say.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33These have been crumpled, probably after they've been deposited,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36but one side is still beautifully intact
0:46:36 > 0:46:38and they've been very carefully decorated.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42The second set is even fresher,
0:46:42 > 0:46:46Still has its plug of soil, within the centre,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49but there's nothing inside the soil. We've done an X-ray to make sure.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51This, again, is two bracelets
0:46:51 > 0:46:54that have been wrapped inside one another.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58Both bracelets have been cut, or trimmed, on one side
0:46:58 > 0:47:01to remove the terminal, so they couldn't be used again.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04And we can see that on the outermost bracelet here.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09The goldsmith, or worker, who produced these bracelets
0:47:09 > 0:47:12was working as part of a long tradition of gold production
0:47:12 > 0:47:14that stretched back several hundred years
0:47:14 > 0:47:16before these bracelets were deposited.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22But this hoard contains something exceptionally rare.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27The third set of bracelets, which are by far the most spectacular,
0:47:27 > 0:47:32but what's absolutely fantastic and unique about this set
0:47:32 > 0:47:33is just how small they are.
0:47:33 > 0:47:35You can really see it, against my hand,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38that these could not have been worn by an adult. This little offering,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41a little bundle of joy, if you like,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44seems to belong to a very small individual.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47These must have been worn, if they were worn at all,
0:47:47 > 0:47:49by a small child, or an infant.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54There's very little evidence of what it was like
0:47:54 > 0:47:56to be a child 3,000 years ago.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01And Neil believes that all the evidence here
0:48:01 > 0:48:05points to these bracelets belonging to a very important youngster.
0:48:06 > 0:48:08We see so little of what it's like to be a child
0:48:08 > 0:48:11in the bronze age and how society's even structured.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14We see very few houses and everyday life.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18But the fact that a child or an infant was able to wear these
0:48:18 > 0:48:22gold ornaments does suggest that they inherited their status,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25that it was passed from parent and adult to children,
0:48:25 > 0:48:27rather than something that they earned
0:48:27 > 0:48:29in the course of life and that tells us quite a lot
0:48:29 > 0:48:31about how society may have been structured
0:48:31 > 0:48:34and how status may have been acquired.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39This child's bracelets, small as they are,
0:48:39 > 0:48:41help us to understand the bigger picture
0:48:41 > 0:48:44about society 3,000 years ago.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50And, back in Dorchester, there some are matching clues.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57A precious hoard, found near Chesil Beach, in 2010,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59in the grave of a teenage girl.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05In the end of the iron age, particularly in Dorset,
0:49:05 > 0:49:06it was common to bury
0:49:06 > 0:49:08some of your very finest things
0:49:08 > 0:49:10that you wanted to take with you to the next world,
0:49:10 > 0:49:11as part of your burial.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14So we've got these very wonderful beads.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17- Wow. What are they made of?- They're made of glass and they're of types
0:49:17 > 0:49:20that have not been seen in Britain before, from this period,
0:49:20 > 0:49:23- cos they're thought to have come from North Africa.- Wow.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26So the trade links and the connections are really mind-blowing
0:49:26 > 0:49:30in terms of where these people were trading with and connecting with.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33- And what's this? Is this a bracelet or an armlet?- It is a...
0:49:33 > 0:49:34I think of it as like a bangle.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37Reminds me of the cheap bangles kids had, when I was a teenager.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39- Probably not cheap in the iron age, though.- Definitely not cheap
0:49:39 > 0:49:42in the iron age. She's also got her tweezers,
0:49:42 > 0:49:43which are very, very fragile.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45And this, sort of, old-style brooch.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49So some really interesting things.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53Probably her finest pieces of jewellery.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56So what's this here, it looks very intricately decorated?
0:49:56 > 0:49:58Well, this is, I think, the most wonderful thing.
0:49:58 > 0:50:02This is a bronze mirror, buried across her heart,
0:50:02 > 0:50:04so a precious object to her.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07- That's the back of it we're looking at?- That's the back of it.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10The other side, if I just flip over, you can see is smooth,
0:50:10 > 0:50:12it's obviously very corroded now and a bi conserved,
0:50:12 > 0:50:16but would have been polished bright, to take the reflection.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19So anyone owing a mirror like this, would they have been seen
0:50:19 > 0:50:22to have special status, or something like that?
0:50:22 > 0:50:24I think, as a young girl, she was probably
0:50:24 > 0:50:26from an extremely high-status family,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29but the Romans thought that mirrors had magical powers.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32They used to cover them, because they thought
0:50:32 > 0:50:35if you saw the reflection without meaning to, it would be harmful, so
0:50:35 > 0:50:39the self-image is very important in these times.
0:50:39 > 0:50:40It's so amazing that we can get a glimpse
0:50:40 > 0:50:43into a teenager's life, from the iron age.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46I think so. I like the fact that it's not really that different
0:50:46 > 0:50:50from how a teenage girl might be today, with tweezers and
0:50:50 > 0:50:52bangles and beads and mirrors and, you know,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55these are still important things in a teenage girl's life
0:50:55 > 0:50:58and they were in the iron age, as well, quite clearly.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03These iron age trinkets,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06possibly belonging to a chieftain's daughter,
0:51:06 > 0:51:10remind us of a Britain before the Romans arrived,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12back where we began this programme.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16But this year's digs have thrown up one last twist
0:51:16 > 0:51:19in the complex tale of the West of Britain.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28For the Romans, the Far West was "frontier country".
0:51:28 > 0:51:31And, in the past, we believed that they got no further than Exeter.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35But, a dig at Ipplepen, in Devon, is literally pushing
0:51:35 > 0:51:37the boundaries of Roman Britain in the West.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41I visited this site three years ago,
0:51:41 > 0:51:46when it was just a tiny collection of graves and a Roman road.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Now it's turning into something much more intriguing.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57It looks like it's an adult female.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00You can see it's got quite a high, straight forehead,
0:52:00 > 0:52:04which is a feature on females and quite small arches.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06You can feel, on yourself here,
0:52:06 > 0:52:10you've got quite low ridges, supraorbital ridge.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12So I think it's an adult female.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15Got half of the mandible here, which is this part,
0:52:15 > 0:52:17we've got this side and all of her teeth
0:52:17 > 0:52:19and you can see they're very worn.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21So all the enamel has actually come off
0:52:21 > 0:52:23and we've got the dentine exposed.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30The team finds no evidence of the cause of death
0:52:30 > 0:52:32in this skeleton, but this woman was probably
0:52:32 > 0:52:34about 30-years-old when she died.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44After some careful excavation, the first Ipplepen resident
0:52:44 > 0:52:47is off to the University of Exeter for radio carbon dating.
0:52:49 > 0:52:51'So it's the end of day eight'
0:52:51 > 0:52:53and, kind of, quite an emotional moment,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55lifting the first skull of the site.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59And, always, you've got to remember, you've got to be really respectful,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02that these people were real human beings
0:53:02 > 0:53:06and it's just quite amazing to think that they lived here, on this site,
0:53:06 > 0:53:112,000 years ago and how different the world must have been then.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19By day 12, the team have uncovered another nine burials
0:53:19 > 0:53:22and over 2,000 small finds,
0:53:22 > 0:53:27all adding evidence to their theory that this was a Roman settlement.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Although, some of the objects are a bit of a mystery.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33I've got quite an interesting find here.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Not sure exactly what it is,
0:53:35 > 0:53:39but I've got a feeling that it might be a cosmetic case,
0:53:39 > 0:53:40with make-up inside.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43We immediately wrapped it in bandages
0:53:43 > 0:53:46and packaged it up to be conserved and looked at,
0:53:46 > 0:53:51so we'll know more, at a later date, exactly, precisely, what it is.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53But what's, perhaps, the team's biggest clue
0:53:53 > 0:53:57to a Roman presence is the position of the graves.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Even though it's partially cut in to the edge of the road,
0:54:00 > 0:54:04- it is still respecting, generally, the line of the road.- Yeah.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06It's a roadside burial.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08It's deliberately placed at the side of the road.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12As burials were forbidden in Roman cities,
0:54:12 > 0:54:17the dead were buried on the outskirts, often along the roadside,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20just as the team is finding here.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22So it's day 18 on our excavations at Ipplepen.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25We've now got a total of 16 skeletons.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30So it's quite clear that what we're dealing with here
0:54:30 > 0:54:32is a Romano-British Cemetery, which is very exciting.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42It's amazing to see the way this site is developing,
0:54:42 > 0:54:44because when I visited, and we stood on that hill in Ipplepen,
0:54:44 > 0:54:48all there was, was a road and a couple of roadside burials
0:54:48 > 0:54:50and, now, you've got a whole cemetery,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52but what about the road itself?
0:54:52 > 0:54:54Where does it go?
0:54:54 > 0:54:55Don't know yet.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00I suspect probably from Exeter and out towards south Devon.
0:55:00 > 0:55:05But it's just really fascinating. We really didn't expect to find
0:55:05 > 0:55:08such a well-preserved Roman road, so far west of Exeter.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10We're still only scratching the surface
0:55:10 > 0:55:14but this year's excavations have been a real revelation.
0:55:14 > 0:55:19Here's just an example of the absolutely lovely stuff that we had.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22This is what was being excavated in the VT.
0:55:22 > 0:55:23And is it a powder compact?
0:55:23 > 0:55:26- SHE SIGHS - We don't know.
0:55:26 > 0:55:27We still don't know? Come on.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30This is a real mystery artefact, actually.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32Experts have looked at it, at the British Museum,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35and there's the possibility that it might be a lead weight
0:55:35 > 0:55:37that's been set into a case,
0:55:37 > 0:55:39- into a copper alloy case.- How strange!
0:55:39 > 0:55:40But I'm not sure why you would do that.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42Unless, perhaps, it was a weight
0:55:42 > 0:55:44that maybe belonged to your grandfather
0:55:44 > 0:55:47and it was a kind of keepsake, or something.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49So the jury's still out on this mystery artefact.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52We had hoped that it would be a ladies compact,
0:55:52 > 0:55:57because its really nice to see the female side of Roman Britain.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59Yeah. And a beautiful brooch.
0:55:59 > 0:56:00A beautiful brooch.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03And, you can see here, it's got amazing enamel
0:56:03 > 0:56:04set into the cells there
0:56:04 > 0:56:07and it's even intact, with its catch plating,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10its pin and its spring. I mean, it's such a lovely example,
0:56:10 > 0:56:13which dates from probably 75 to 175 AD.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15- And is that a tiny bead there?- Yeah.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17We've got beads, we've got coins, we've got hair pins,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19we got mystery objects.
0:56:19 > 0:56:20And, Danni, you came in,
0:56:20 > 0:56:23to our studio here, in Dorchester Museum...
0:56:23 > 0:56:25Incredibly exciting.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28You told us you've got a radio carbon date.
0:56:28 > 0:56:33Yes, we took the latest burial, which is dug into the roadside ditch
0:56:33 > 0:56:37of the Roman road, so it's the latest one we've excavated so far,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41and the radio carbon results have come back as 7th to 8th century.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45- Really?- Yeah!- So it's a long-running cemetery, then?
0:56:45 > 0:56:48Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. It's just absolutely stunning.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52So we're not just dealing with 1st century Roman stuff
0:56:52 > 0:56:55going through to the 4th century Romano-British,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58it's carrying on well into the post-Roman period
0:56:58 > 0:57:00and this is so important for Devon and Cornwall.
0:57:00 > 0:57:01That is fascinating.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04And just remember that you heard it here first.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06We are rewriting the history of the Romans
0:57:06 > 0:57:09and the Dark Ages in the south west, here on Digging for Britain.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15From the Saxon warrior's magnificent sword
0:57:15 > 0:57:19to the prized possession of a Bronze Age child,
0:57:19 > 0:57:23the West has provided us with a richly-woven tapestry
0:57:23 > 0:57:24of our past.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28What were your favourites?
0:57:28 > 0:57:30I think it's two grave goods that stood out for me.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33The first was that Roman bowl, which had been buried after a time
0:57:33 > 0:57:36when we think the Romans had left and looked after for 60, 70 years
0:57:36 > 0:57:37and, then, placed in the grave.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40And, also, the pilgrim's shell, travelled all the way to Spain,
0:57:40 > 0:57:44all the way back again and ended up here, buried in a hospital.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46And what were the highlights for you, Alice?
0:57:46 > 0:57:50Well, I'm really intrigued by the story of what happened, exactly,
0:57:50 > 0:57:52when the Romans arrived here, in the West.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55Because, on the one hand, we have that slaughter at Maiden Castle,
0:57:55 > 0:57:58incontrovertible evidence of extreme violence,
0:57:58 > 0:58:00and, then, on the other hand, a much calmer transition
0:58:00 > 0:58:03at Miles Russell's site, the Durotriges Big Dig site,
0:58:03 > 0:58:06so that's fascinating.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08Well, it's been a marvellous year for our archaeologists,
0:58:08 > 0:58:11here in the west. Good luck to them for next year.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14But for tonight, it's goodnight from him.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16And it's goodnight from her.