0:00:02 > 0:00:03Britain has an epic history,
0:00:03 > 0:00:08but within it, there's a wealth of untold secrets still to uncover.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10It's a really key find. Find of the week.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14So, every year, hundreds of archaeologists set out
0:00:14 > 0:00:16hunting for clues to solve the mystery
0:00:16 > 0:00:18of who we are and where we've come from.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22We've just found this amazing pendant.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27Over the past year, their discoveries have been more exciting than ever.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29This series will explore the best of them...
0:00:29 > 0:00:31- I've just found a coin. - Oh, marvellous.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36..brought to you from the field in a very special way.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38Each excavation has been filmed for us
0:00:38 > 0:00:42as it happened by the archaeologists themselves.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47It looks absolutely fantastic.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50He said he had a bad day, but he never brought these back.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55Their dig diaries mean that we can be there for every
0:00:55 > 0:00:57crucial moment of discovery.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00- Oh!- Wow!
0:01:01 > 0:01:02I think we have a winner.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05- I think it's stunning.- Incredible.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Our archaeologists will be joining us here in our special lab
0:01:08 > 0:01:10to take a closer look at their finds
0:01:10 > 0:01:12and to figure out what they really mean.
0:01:14 > 0:01:15This is so exciting.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Welcome to Digging For Britain.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32This time, we're exploring dramatic discoveries
0:01:32 > 0:01:34from the west of Britain.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38We'll reveal how the invaders and outsiders of the past
0:01:38 > 0:01:39have shaped our world
0:01:39 > 0:01:44and give tantalising insights into the spiritual beliefs of our ancestors.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47We'll explore evidence of foreign pilgrims
0:01:47 > 0:01:51and strange rituals around Stonehenge...
0:01:51 > 0:01:54It's an immediate link to the people that lived here.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59A lost British city rediscovered after 700 years.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03At least 100 buildings going up in flames all at once.
0:02:03 > 0:02:09..and the warrior invaders we now know were more than just legend.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13These discoveries are rewriting our history.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17To find out how, archaeologist Matt Williams and I
0:02:17 > 0:02:20have been given special access to Salisbury Museum.
0:02:20 > 0:02:26Its unique collection spans nearly half a million years of life on this island.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29So, these are all Anglo-Saxon grave goods.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32This is absolutely beautiful.
0:02:32 > 0:02:33This is the Warminster Jewel.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37'And we're going behind the scenes to the back rooms
0:02:37 > 0:02:40'ordinary visitors don't get to see.'
0:02:41 > 0:02:43That is enormous. That is a shin bone or a tibia.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50Less than ten miles from Salisbury Museum is Stonehenge.
0:02:51 > 0:02:554,000 years ago, the spiritual beacon of Britain and Europe.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01Today, an enduring mystery that leaves us asking,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05"Who came to this vast monument and what did they do here?"
0:03:06 > 0:03:11The answers may lie buried in the hills and valleys that surround Stonehenge.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Archaeologists have been interested in the landscape around
0:03:16 > 0:03:21Stonehenge for some 300 years, but now new technology has revealed
0:03:21 > 0:03:25hidden details in the landscape that haven't been seen before.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31We've discovered Stonehenge didn't stand alone.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33It was one of a network of sacred monuments
0:03:33 > 0:03:36along the River Avon in Wiltshire,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40many of which have lain hidden for thousands of years.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Since they've been identified,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47archaeologists have wondered what clues they might conceal.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50At the end of the day, though, the only way to understand how
0:03:50 > 0:03:54all these monuments linked together is to excavate them.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57And that's what a team from the University of Reading is doing.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06They're digging just ten miles from Stonehenge at Marden Henge.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09A henge is a circular bank of earth,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12which we can still make out at Marden.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Archaeologist Jim Leary is digging here, hunting for clues
0:04:15 > 0:04:19to explain the rituals our ancestors practised in this landscape
0:04:19 > 0:04:214,000 years ago.
0:04:22 > 0:04:2612 days into the dig, his team strikes it lucky.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30They've found the outline of a building right inside the henge.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35OK, rolling.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38OK, well, this is a very, very exciting moment,
0:04:38 > 0:04:44because we have just uncovered our Neolithic building.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49You can see the edges of the chalk floor very clearly on this side, on this side.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54Some features showing up in the ground that have yet to be
0:04:54 > 0:04:59excavated, so what goodies await us underneath this section here?
0:05:00 > 0:05:05The team's next job is to look for evidence of what kind of building it was.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07And on day 16,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11they make an intriguing discovery just outside its walls.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Here we have the remains of an external fire.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21This was a big bonfire and it's all emanating from one place
0:05:21 > 0:05:25and it's created this huge spread of charcoal and ash and burnt stone.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28The presence of burnt stone is puzzling.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33They're pieces of sarsen stone, a type of local rock,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35and clearly scorched.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39But it's not clear why anyone would put rocks on a fire.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Then inside the building, they find a second hearth.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47So, one of the really key elements of the building is the huge
0:05:47 > 0:05:49hearth right in the middle.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53This is where there was significant amount of burning,
0:05:53 > 0:05:58so much so that it's discoloured the chalk into an orangey hue.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02But interestingly, there's no charcoal at all.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06I don't believe that this is an open flame fire.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Wood-burning fires produce charcoal,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13but there's no trace of any in this inner hearth.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17So, if it wasn't a fire, what was the source of the heat that
0:06:17 > 0:06:20discoloured the ground inside the building?
0:06:20 > 0:06:22So, we have a little bit of a conundrum,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25but I think the key is the burnt sarsen stone that
0:06:25 > 0:06:28we're getting in the charcoal spread outside the building.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34Jim has an extraordinary theory that these mysterious twin hearths
0:06:34 > 0:06:40reveal a ritual practised by our ancestors in the Stonehenge landscape.
0:06:41 > 0:06:47I think what's happening are people are heating up the sarsen stones in the external fire
0:06:47 > 0:06:50and that's a fire that we know is this open flame bonfire.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53And then I think they are picking up the hot stones,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57probably with two pieces of wood, and then they are carrying them
0:06:57 > 0:07:02into the building and they are putting them in the central hearth.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05And piling up these hot rocks.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09And then I think people are using the ledge around the edge
0:07:09 > 0:07:14to sit down, close the door, pour water on these hot rocks
0:07:14 > 0:07:16and create a sauna.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20And I think this building was being used as a sweat lodge.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25It's an intriguing idea and Jim has brought his finds into our lab
0:07:25 > 0:07:27so we can explore it further.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31It's a really interesting site, Jim, and it's quite a persuasive
0:07:31 > 0:07:33hypothesis I think you've come up with.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Well, I think so. I mean, it might not be the answer,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40but it's the best solution that we can think of at the moment.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42We've got some of the sarsen stones here, Jim.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44These are the burnt stones, are they?
0:07:44 > 0:07:49Yeah, so we're finding burnt stone within the external bonfire,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53the outside fire, and here we have some of those fragments.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55They've been clearly heated up,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59they've changed to a sort of pinkish hue, fire-cracked and broken.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02So, you've got the hearth outside where you're finding these burnt stones,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04the burnt air inside.
0:08:04 > 0:08:05Burnt stones don't make a sauna.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07What else have you found?
0:08:08 > 0:08:11So, the building itself is very well made. The surface is well-prepared.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15There's a nice ledge around it, which just seems appropriate.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19The internal fireplace, the internal hearth, it's huge.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22I mean, it's utterly dominant and I just cannot envisage
0:08:22 > 0:08:24other things going on inside this building.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26You wouldn't have room to live.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29So, we need to focus on that hearth but that's our clue
0:08:29 > 0:08:31that's our way into understanding the building.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Jim, a prehistoric sweat lodge, I mean,
0:08:33 > 0:08:35is there any precedence for that kind of thing?
0:08:35 > 0:08:36It's not a crazy idea.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39And of course if you look in the ethnographic record,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42it's replete with examples of sweat lodges.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47It's a fantastic way of purifying the body, of cleansing the self.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50And although we'll never really know how it was used,
0:08:50 > 0:08:51if indeed it was a sweat lodge,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55it's very tempting to ascribe some kind of ritual ceremony or
0:08:55 > 0:08:58purpose to it when it's in this landscape, so close to Stonehenge.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01That's right. We're in a landscape surrounded by temples.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Stonehenge is a temple, Marden's a temple, Wilsford is a temple,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Avebury, Silbury Hill, these are all ceremonial monuments.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13This sweat lodge is brand-new evidence of an intriguing
0:09:13 > 0:09:17ritual that may have taken place near Stonehenge.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21But who were these people and where did they come from?
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Jim's team starts another dig at another henge,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29this one less than three miles away at Wilsford.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33And from day one, trench supervisor Rose is feeling confident
0:09:33 > 0:09:36she knows exactly where to look for clues.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40She's learnt from previous digs that the entrance ways to
0:09:40 > 0:09:43henges can be the site of major discoveries,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45so that's where she puts her first trench.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52So, in this terminus, we hope to find the majority of finds.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Normally, you find very precious finds there,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56because that's where they've dumped, like,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59ceremonial objects or whatnot, that's normally where all
0:09:59 > 0:10:02the good finds are found, so we're going to do a big
0:10:02 > 0:10:05slot in the end and hopefully we're going to find some wonderful things.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Just three weeks later, Rose is proved right,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13when she makes a discovery more exciting than
0:10:13 > 0:10:15even she could have hoped for.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18A Neolithic burial.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21She calls Jim to come and see for himself.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26- It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful.- Absolutely.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29- The hands and, yeah, I think it's absolutely beautiful.- Incredible.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Finding human remains within a henge is exceptionally rare.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39An incredibly powerful link to our ancestors.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45So, obviously, what we have here is a crouched inhumation. OK...erm...
0:10:46 > 0:10:49This individual's lying on their right-hand side,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53legs pulled up, arms crossed over.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Basically a foetal position.
0:10:55 > 0:10:56And...
0:10:58 > 0:10:59It's extraordinarily evocative.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03I mean, it reminds us that these monuments were constructed
0:11:03 > 0:11:06by and for real people.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08This was a real individual.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10They lived and they died.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14It's just brings it really all to life
0:11:14 > 0:11:15when you see something like this.
0:11:15 > 0:11:21This person has been tenderly and carefully placed within the ditch.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24You know, so it's got some...
0:11:24 > 0:11:26It's really, really important
0:11:26 > 0:11:29and really, you know, just such a lovely discovery,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33just an immediate link to the people that lived here.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Jim knows a burial like this could tell us
0:11:38 > 0:11:42who worshipped in the sacred landscape around Stonehenge
0:11:42 > 0:11:45and as Rose carefully excavates the skeleton,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48she finds an important but fragile clue.
0:11:49 > 0:11:55So, we have exposed and removed the rest of the body
0:11:55 > 0:11:59and we're now left with the top three cervical vertebrae
0:11:59 > 0:12:03and the skull and a tiny piece of the scapula.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06What we're going to do is we're going to try and block lift it.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09The reason is because we've got these tiny little amber beads
0:12:09 > 0:12:13coming up that are really fragile and they look quite crushed,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15so in order to keep all of that together, we're going to try
0:12:15 > 0:12:18and block lift it, wrap it in bandages
0:12:18 > 0:12:21and send it off to a specialist to be excavated properly.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Jim has brought the preserved bones back to our lab.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29As an osteologist myself, I'm thrilled to see this evidence.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32The fact this person was buried in the entrance to a henge
0:12:32 > 0:12:35shows they must have been significant.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Now I want to know what else the skeleton can tell us.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42We can see that his bones haven't quite fused fully,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44so he's still in the process of growing.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47You can see that the top of the humerus there is separate from the shaft,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50so we can get quite a good age in terms of his biological age.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54He's in his mid-teens, you know, around 15.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57How old is he in terms of his chronological age?
0:12:57 > 0:13:04We'd be looking at somewhere between 2400 BC and 1800, roughly speaking.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09The fragments of an earthenware cup in his grave showed that this
0:13:09 > 0:13:12boy was one of the Beaker people who may have come from the
0:13:12 > 0:13:17continent to settle in the landscape around Stonehenge, 4,000 years ago.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20They were dazzling craftsmen
0:13:20 > 0:13:23and Beaker burials often include valuable jewellery.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25This boy's grave was no different.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34The only proper grave good from his grave was a beautiful amber necklace.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36So, this is them here?
0:13:36 > 0:13:39That's right, you can see the sort of orange amber coming through there.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Amber that might even have come from the Baltic, possibly.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Well, quite possibly, yeah.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48'It's a clue showing how Stonehenge and this network of sacred monuments
0:13:48 > 0:13:51'drew pilgrims from across Europe.'
0:13:51 > 0:13:54The amber necklace, the way it's buried,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56very, very different to what went before.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58This is your...
0:13:58 > 0:14:01You know, what you would expect from a Beaker burial.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05This is a new, cultural group of people.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09Very different to what went before, which seems to be quite...
0:14:09 > 0:14:11an insular culture.
0:14:11 > 0:14:12All of a sudden,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16we're getting very much an outward-looking group of people.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21When they arrived here, the Beaker people transformed Britain
0:14:21 > 0:14:23with new skills and technology.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26To understand them better,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Matt's examining Salisbury Museum's star exhibit -
0:14:30 > 0:14:35another extraordinary Beaker burial known as the Amesbury Archer.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39He was discovered close to Stonehenge itself
0:14:39 > 0:14:42and he was buried with an array of fine metalwork.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Like these golden hair wraps.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Well, he was also buried with some of the earliest copper
0:14:52 > 0:14:54objects that have been found in Britain.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59We have three copper knives and daggers found in the grave
0:14:59 > 0:15:01and here is one of the daggers here.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06The Beaker people transformed Britain by introducing metal.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10And these fine metal objects suggest that the Amesbury Archer
0:15:10 > 0:15:13himself may have been a gifted metalworker,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17a skill completely unheard-of in Britain
0:15:17 > 0:15:20until the arrival of the Beaker people.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24And so this is just on the cusp of the Neolithic bronze age,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26so metalwork is just being introduced?
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Well, that's right, it's a new technology that's just coming into this country at the time,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33so it is incredibly rare and you have to imagine that
0:15:33 > 0:15:35when this was new, it would have been golden in colour,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38it would have gleamed, it would have been a very impressive,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40although very small, object.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42So, this would have marked out the Amesbury Archer as somebody
0:15:42 > 0:15:46important, owning really unusual objects like this.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49So, if he was just a visitor, do we know where he was coming from?
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Well, that's the interesting point is that we've done oxygen isotope
0:15:52 > 0:15:56analysis of his teeth and we've been able to work out where he grew up.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00And we've discovered that he probably grew up in Central Europe, possibly in the Alps region.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03He's a foreigner, effectively, coming to this area, perhaps spreading
0:16:03 > 0:16:05this new information about metalworking.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10This immigrant to Britain had travelled across the continent to get here.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Stonehenge may have been the reason why.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18Stonehenge at the time when he was alive, about sort of 2500 BC,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21was a temple and many people would have been visiting this area
0:16:21 > 0:16:24to perform ceremonies and visit ceremonies taking place there.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Perhaps he wanted to meet those people.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Perhaps he wanted to share this almost magical understanding
0:16:28 > 0:16:31he had of metalworking technology with these people.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33So, he's come hundreds of miles with this incredible new
0:16:33 > 0:16:36technology which must have astounded the locals
0:16:36 > 0:16:37or the people visiting Stonehenge.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40It's no wonder he was given such an incredible burial.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43That's right, buried with over 100 objects is absolutely exceptional for this period.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46Together with the Amesbury Archer,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50the new discovery of the Marden boy shows us more clearly than ever
0:16:50 > 0:16:55how the power of Stonehenge pulled in pilgrims from across Europe.
0:16:57 > 0:17:014,000 years ago, in this ritual landscape,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04people were purifying their bodies,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08visiting the temples and burying their dead.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14And the incomers from Europe brought metalworking technology to Britain,
0:17:15 > 0:17:21propelling us out of the Stone Age and into the Bronze Age.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29At Winterbourne Kingston in Dorset, a team from Bournemouth University
0:17:29 > 0:17:33has also been investigating evidence of religious rituals,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38this time from the Iron Age, around 2,000 years ago.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42What they've unearthed is eye-opening and very strange.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47They've discovered extraordinary new evidence -
0:17:47 > 0:17:52bizarre animal burials pointing to very odd beliefs and rituals
0:17:52 > 0:17:55and they had their cameras rolling right from the start.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01The geophysical survey of the area
0:18:01 > 0:18:04had revealed an array of dark markings in the landscape.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07As the team excavated these,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11they uncovered the remains of a settlement over 2,000 years old,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14which included a number of massive storage pits.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19OK, well, I'm in the base of one of these cylindrical
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Iron Age storage pits.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23You can see it's fantastically well cut,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26nice flat-bottomed base to it,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28and we've got absolutely no idea
0:18:28 > 0:18:30what they were storing in these originally,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32although we presume it to be grain, that there's some kind of
0:18:32 > 0:18:35grain silo for storing grain over winter.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40The grain pits are vivid evidence of a thriving Iron Age settlement.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45Then at the beginning of week four of the excavation,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47they find something very unusual.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Where Elisha, Zach and Emily are excavating here, we've got
0:18:51 > 0:18:54what appears to be the remains of three sets of pigs.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59Very strangely, the pigs have not been butchered,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01they have been placed in the pits whole.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05This is a real dramatic wastage of animals.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09These are good, viable animals, a good lot of meat on them,
0:19:09 > 0:19:11but they've been deliberately killed and placed in these pits.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17But if the animals weren't killed to be eaten, then what is going on?
0:19:18 > 0:19:22Now, we presume they've been sacrificed as a deliberate kill,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25that these are offerings for some kind of god of the underworld
0:19:25 > 0:19:29for some kind of god to assume the continual protection
0:19:29 > 0:19:31of the herd or the community.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35But this possible evidence of sacrifice is just the beginning.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39In week five, the team discovers even stranger practices.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Yeah, we've got a front leg.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45- That's another front leg.- Yeah.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47And there's a bit of humerus here as well.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49It's the remains of a sheep,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52but it has a cow's head placed on its hindquarters.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55So, it's kind of like this.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58The discovery is unprecedented.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04By day 22, the team has discovered even more burials of these
0:20:04 > 0:20:06strange man-made beasts.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Nothing quite like this has ever been discovered in Britain.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16Right at the very bottom of the pit,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19we're getting a whole series of specially placed deposits
0:20:19 > 0:20:22and what we can see in this particular example, we've got
0:20:22 > 0:20:25part of a horse's leg here, partially articulated
0:20:25 > 0:20:27and a cow's rib.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30And what we're finding in a number of these pits is there's sort of a...
0:20:30 > 0:20:33almost like a hybrid animals of cow and horse.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Where you find a horse's skull, it's always with a cow's jaw.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Sometimes you find a horse's head with a cow's body.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41They're mixing and matching the two animals.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Obviously both animals are important to them for different reasons.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52So, incredibly, it looks like our Iron Age ancestors were creating
0:20:52 > 0:20:57hybrid beasts from the body parts of animals sacrificed to their gods.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01It sounds unbelievable, but Miles has brought the bones to the
0:21:01 > 0:21:05studio so we can see the evidence with our own eyes.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Miles, this site just gets more and more interesting, doesn't it?
0:21:12 > 0:21:14This isn't just rubbish, they're not filling them
0:21:14 > 0:21:18in with discarded remains of butchered animals.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21No, the one thing actually we're not getting in any part of the site
0:21:21 > 0:21:24is normal rubbish material, not sort of discarded waste.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27This isn't disordered dumps of material, there is
0:21:27 > 0:21:29a very specific order going on here.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33But when we're finding our horse and cow,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36they are cut up and obviously you wouldn't be able to cram a whole
0:21:36 > 0:21:38horse into one of these pits in the complete state,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42but they are cut up and they are being placed with other body parts,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45so it's a rather sort of macabre jigsaw puzzle.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47And that's what you've got here, is it?
0:21:47 > 0:21:50- That's a cow, I assume, cos of the horns, and a horse?- Yes, yes.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54In fact, one of the storage pits when we found it,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57it was actually sort of resting the cow's skull on top there,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00so it was creating this rather bizarre hybrid animal.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05- Like a chimera. A mixture of different animals.- You could say that, yes, yes.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09It is a direct attempt to create something that doesn't exist in nature,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12where they are dismantling or dismembering animals
0:22:12 > 0:22:15and then reassembling them whilst they are still fleshed and bloody.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19And there don't seem to be any cut marks on these bones at all.
0:22:19 > 0:22:20They seem to be pretty intact.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24I mean, you'd expect to see cut marks here where muscle had been taken away,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26meat had been taken away from the cheek,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30and then perhaps cut marks on the inside here where the tongue had been taken out,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32- but we can't see any evidence of that.- No, no, exactly.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36In most of them, we're not finding any kind of evidence that meat's been removed
0:22:36 > 0:22:39or indeed that the bones have been broken up to get at the marrow.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44And we're getting quite big sections of animals in there all together,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47so perhaps there is a way of by re-assembling them in there,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49you are creating almost like a deity,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52or you're creating a deposit that the gods would accept which
0:22:52 > 0:22:55would ensure the long-term survival of your community.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01By next year, Miles may have even more answers.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05But for now, it certainly looks like his team have discovered
0:23:05 > 0:23:08a new Iron Age religious phenomenon
0:23:08 > 0:23:13that had been entirely forgotten about for over 2,000 years.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Our next dig diary features another staggering find.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25This time, an entire city that disappeared for seven centuries
0:23:25 > 0:23:28in Monmouthshire in Wales.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Ten years ago, an archaeologist developed a hunch
0:23:34 > 0:23:39that a pretty little village on the Welsh-English border had a forgotten past -
0:23:39 > 0:23:43that it did, in fact, lie right at the heart of the English struggle
0:23:43 > 0:23:46for dominance over the Welsh in the 1200s.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51One particular field was crucial to his idea,
0:23:51 > 0:23:57so he gathered up his life savings, bought the field and started digging.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02That archaeologist was Stuart Wilson and this year he's kept us a dig diary.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09Today this sleepy village is home to around 3,000 people,
0:24:09 > 0:24:14but if Stuart is right, then 800 years ago, this was a very different place.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Evidence is being unearthed outside the village in what is now
0:24:19 > 0:24:20Stuart's very own field.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25It was here that his hunch came good when he discovered an entire
0:24:25 > 0:24:28medieval high street in the middle of nowhere.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Could this be the medieval city of Trellech -
0:24:32 > 0:24:38the centre of power and industry that was lost in the 14th century,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42and for which archaeologists have been searching for generations?
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Well, here we have a series of workshops in medieval times.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50And what we have down is iron slag floor surface
0:24:50 > 0:24:51with stone-lined drains
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and a nice central fireplace in the middle.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56So, you could have walked up along here with your horse,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00with your dagger or bits of armour, come in here into a hard working
0:25:00 > 0:25:03surface where the metalworkers repair whatever you're coming in with,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06right next to the main road in medieval times.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10The remains date back to the 1200s.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12The sheer scale makes it clear
0:25:12 > 0:25:15that this was just part of a huge settlement.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17And as the dig continues,
0:25:17 > 0:25:22Stuart's team begin to turn up clues as to what made this town grow.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26One of the things that we find consistently in each
0:25:26 > 0:25:30and every trench we dig, is this stuff.
0:25:30 > 0:25:31It's iron slag.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36These nuggets are the by-products of smelting iron
0:25:36 > 0:25:39and the town produced so much of it, they started using
0:25:39 > 0:25:43the slag as building material in floors and on their roads.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Iron production on this scale indicates that Trellech was
0:25:48 > 0:25:51a major centre of trade and industry.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55Stuart's team has found evidence that this was no ordinary place.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00We do have a lot of indications here that the people who lived here
0:26:00 > 0:26:04were extremely wealthy and we've got a couple of very nice finds from
0:26:04 > 0:26:07previous excavations that really show the wealth of these people.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11The first is this medieval flowerpot.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13We could really say it's a unique piece because it's the only
0:26:13 > 0:26:17medieval flowerpot that has ever been found in Wales.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Another piece that we have is this one.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Most people see it as some sort of a dish, that comes out
0:26:25 > 0:26:28of the kitchen but actually this would be on top of your roof.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30This is a medieval finial.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32It's a very high-quality glaze on there,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34it's a very expensive object
0:26:34 > 0:26:37and it would have a large ceramic spike on top of it.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39So if lightning would strike, this would break
0:26:39 > 0:26:42and your roof would still be intact.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Showing to the people of your village that you can actually
0:26:45 > 0:26:48afford to break an object like this, really shows great wealth.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52For Stuart, the evidence of affluence at the site
0:26:52 > 0:26:55confirms that he has indeed discovered
0:26:55 > 0:26:57the lost town of Trellech.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59This was no small Welsh settlement
0:26:59 > 0:27:02but a vast English military supply base.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Now he's also uncovered remarkable evidence that its great
0:27:07 > 0:27:12wealth could have made it a target for attack by rebel Welsh,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16who may even have attempted to burn the place down.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18The buildings we found were quite interesting.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22The buildings could have been burnt down in a very severe house fire.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26We had glass actually formed out of the thatch,
0:27:26 > 0:27:28which has actually melted in the fire.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31We found the mica on the stone had melted,
0:27:31 > 0:27:33a glaze on the stone itself.
0:27:33 > 0:27:34So a very, very severe fire.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37We think of a great attack on the town
0:27:37 > 0:27:39in about 1295/96 by the Welsh.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Not only is it possible that this English-run town was once
0:27:45 > 0:27:48burned down by the Welsh, Stuart is also finding
0:27:48 > 0:27:52compelling clues that the Welsh posed a constant threat.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57For here we have a massive round tower,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00which looks like a good fortification to the manor house
0:28:00 > 0:28:01but also to the town.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03It's a really nice stone construction.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06It's got a single stone wall about a metre thick
0:28:06 > 0:28:10with an iron slag core to it, and inner stone wall,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14and all built up of one nice circle rising upwards.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17We think it's defensive because of its sheer size,
0:28:17 > 0:28:19the way it's been built,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21it's very well constructed.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23In fact, it's not just how this tower was built
0:28:23 > 0:28:27but where that indicates its purpose was defence.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30If this stood up nice and high, it would see across the gardens
0:28:30 > 0:28:32of the neighbouring burgages,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34along this road, along Tinkers Lane
0:28:34 > 0:28:36and across the entire common fields.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Stuart is convinced that the round house construction shows just
0:28:42 > 0:28:45how solid Trellech's defences needed to be,
0:28:45 > 0:28:47in order to see off Welsh aggression.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51But a big question still remains -
0:28:51 > 0:28:56why did this 700-year-old town just disappear?
0:29:00 > 0:29:04I'm still intrigued by how you came across this to begin with, Stuart,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07given other people have been looking for Trellech for a long time.
0:29:07 > 0:29:09How did you put all the clues together?
0:29:09 > 0:29:11You're never going to discover an elephant
0:29:11 > 0:29:12by looking through a microscope
0:29:12 > 0:29:16because you're looking too close at it. You need to stand back.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18When you stand back and actually look at the landscape,
0:29:18 > 0:29:19it's speaking to you.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21You've a map here - shall we have a look at that?
0:29:21 > 0:29:23Does that give us any clues?
0:29:23 > 0:29:24Yes, it does.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26These maps are extremely useful.
0:29:26 > 0:29:27When does this date from?
0:29:27 > 0:29:30This actual map dates from 1881.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33What we have are thin fields
0:29:33 > 0:29:35here following the main roads
0:29:35 > 0:29:36and more thin fields.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39The thin fields carry all the way down to the south.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41With the large fields behind.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43Why are these fields like they are?
0:29:43 > 0:29:46They're all man-made, they must have been here for a reason
0:29:46 > 0:29:50and when you then compare it to medieval towns.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Let's take the buildings out and what do we get, we get this pattern.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56- The thin fields are where the buildings used to be.- Right.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59- Then they back on to large fields, which are the common fields.- OK.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01Exactly what we've got here.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04The buildings would have essentially lined up in the plots
0:30:04 > 0:30:07along here and these lines here form the back of the buildings.
0:30:07 > 0:30:08Exactly. Yes.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11From the documentary evidence, you had an indication of the size of it
0:30:11 > 0:30:13in terms of numbers of houses.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16We knew there were 378 taxable buildings in 1288.
0:30:16 > 0:30:17That is massive.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20It's even bigger than Cardiff at the time.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22- We are talking a really, really big town.- Mmm.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25I can recognise one thing over there - that's the iron slag
0:30:25 > 0:30:28and that's a product of what made this town so rich.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Oh, yes.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Now this is iron slag.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34They use this as hard-core.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37By recording how much we get off this every so often,
0:30:37 > 0:30:40we can actually start recording up how industrialised the town was.
0:30:40 > 0:30:41That will take decades of work.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44At the moment we've only got a very, very small sample.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Why is it forgotten? Why did it disappear?
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Yes, the Welsh rebelled but basically they had been defeated.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53The military reason for it being here has gone.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Combined with that, 1314 happened to be the first year
0:30:57 > 0:31:00of five very severe weathers in this country,
0:31:00 > 0:31:01which caused a great famine.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04That precipitates a big economic depression.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08That means the civilian market for iron reduces.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11Then the economy goes, then the population goes,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14then it gets hit by the second wave of plague.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Then you have civil war at the end of the century.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20So within a century, everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Trellech was left without a purpose.
0:31:25 > 0:31:26Gradually, the people left
0:31:26 > 0:31:30and this great, medieval hub withered and died.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35- So how many more fields are you going to buy, then, Stuart?- Well...
0:31:35 > 0:31:37- That looks pretty good. - I reckon this one here.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41If there is one field I would really like, it would be 121, just here.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44If you ever go up there, you can
0:31:44 > 0:31:46see where the ground just slopes off
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and clearly a building just under the ground
0:31:49 > 0:31:52and if I was going to build an important building in the town,
0:31:52 > 0:31:54that's exactly where I would build it.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56That's where I would like to dig.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58How long are you going to spend excavating medieval Trellech?
0:31:58 > 0:32:02All my life. I was hoping to do my field in 70 years.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04I've only done ten years so far
0:32:04 > 0:32:08and the 70 years hasn't reduced because it's only increasing.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10So it'll probably take me another 100 years to do the field.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13So unless I live for an extremely long period of time,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16then it is going to take me longer than my lifetime.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Our successors will all be here discussing, still, medieval Trellech
0:32:20 > 0:32:23on a dim and distant version of Digging For Britain.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25Yes.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30Next year, Stuart is sure to have even more
0:32:30 > 0:32:34revelations about life in the lost medieval boom town of Trellech.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39This work highlights the real power of archaeology,
0:32:39 > 0:32:40to bring to life stories
0:32:40 > 0:32:44that are only hinted at in the written record.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48Discoveries like Trellech are the result of years of searching
0:32:48 > 0:32:53and our archaeologist dig diaries mean that we can be there for that
0:32:53 > 0:32:56all-important moment of discovery
0:32:56 > 0:32:59when all the hard work pays off.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05As in our next dig, where to learn more about the
0:33:05 > 0:33:07first Homo sapiens in Britain,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10archaeology was the only hope.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14This dig diary from Torquay in Devon
0:33:14 > 0:33:17takes us back to the ice age.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23Kents Cavern in Torquay is one of the most famous
0:33:23 > 0:33:25prehistoric sites in Britain.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29Excavations in the 19th and the early 20th centuries
0:33:29 > 0:33:32produced finds dating back to the last ice age,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35including animal and human remains.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Recent re-dating of the human bones has placed them
0:33:38 > 0:33:41at older than 40,000 years,
0:33:41 > 0:33:45amongst the oldest human remains in north-western Europe.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49But now archaeologists from Oxford University think they have
0:33:49 > 0:33:53discovered a previously unexcavated entrance to the cave,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56so it seems that there are new secrets about to emerge
0:33:56 > 0:33:58from Kents Cavern itself.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04Kents Cavern in Torquay is a popular tourist spot.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07This extraordinary site has given us the oldest
0:34:07 > 0:34:10modern human remains in Britain
0:34:10 > 0:34:12but Rob Dinnis and his team
0:34:12 > 0:34:16believe that this famous cave system has more secrets to give up.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21They think that this mysterious wall
0:34:21 > 0:34:25could conceal a previously undisturbed cave entrance,
0:34:25 > 0:34:27so they're swapping their trowels
0:34:27 > 0:34:31for pneumatic drills to go looking for a breakthrough.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36So first day at Kents Cavern, we've just arrived on site,
0:34:36 > 0:34:37we haven't done anything yet
0:34:37 > 0:34:40but one thing we want to do is to see what's behind this
0:34:40 > 0:34:43wall here and also under the concrete on the floor here.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46We're going to be doing some building work to remove this
0:34:46 > 0:34:49and then to see if there are any cave deposits lying behind it.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51So fingers crossed.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54The wall was clearly built in the 20th century
0:34:54 > 0:34:58and Rob believes that whoever built it
0:34:58 > 0:35:01inadvertently hid a long-forgotten cave entrance,
0:35:01 > 0:35:06which he hopes may link to a very important part of Kents Cavern -
0:35:06 > 0:35:09the main vestibule.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14It was here that excavations in the 1920s and '30s
0:35:14 > 0:35:18uncovered a long sequence of ice age settlements within which
0:35:18 > 0:35:21were ice age animals but also the stone tools
0:35:21 > 0:35:24left by late Neanderthals and early modern humans.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28One of the areas that interests me is this area up here.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30This is the North-east Gallery
0:35:30 > 0:35:32and, if we're right,
0:35:32 > 0:35:34at the other end of the North-east Gallery
0:35:34 > 0:35:36is where that wall is outside.
0:35:39 > 0:35:40During the last ice age,
0:35:40 > 0:35:44Kents Cavern lay at the end of a massive grassland
0:35:44 > 0:35:46linking Britain to northern Europe.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51We know that early modern humans lived in nomadic tribes here,
0:35:51 > 0:35:55hunting wild animals for food and clothing.
0:35:55 > 0:35:56We know very little else about them.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01So could this unassuming breeze-block wall
0:36:01 > 0:36:03be hiding priceless clues?
0:36:04 > 0:36:05Still recording...
0:36:05 > 0:36:07This is the end of day six.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09The good news is it's definitely a cave entrance.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11It looks like it's a big cave entrance as well.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14The next good news is that it looks like you've got
0:36:14 > 0:36:17cave sediments behind the wall which have not been messed around with,
0:36:17 > 0:36:19they seem to be in place, which is great.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22It means the early excavators have not dug this before.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27It might look just like a wall of mud but if Rob is right,
0:36:27 > 0:36:29it's a spectacular find.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33Cave sediment undisturbed for tens of thousands of years
0:36:33 > 0:36:36that may contain precious evidence
0:36:36 > 0:36:39of how our ice age ancestors lived.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44The plan now is to remove a bit more of the wall,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47try and find the top of this bank of deposits and then
0:36:47 > 0:36:50we can excavate down through it to see if it contains anything.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55After days of meticulous preparation and then excavation,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59the cave finally begins to yield the first
0:36:59 > 0:37:01of its prehistoric secrets.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04OK, so we've just gone through a spit that's been very sterile
0:37:04 > 0:37:09and now we're just coming into some very loose cave earth
0:37:09 > 0:37:12and there has been several small carnivore teeth come out
0:37:12 > 0:37:15and just see in here,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17there's a much bigger tooth coming out.
0:37:17 > 0:37:19It looks like a bear molar.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Before long the tooth is followed by more remains,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27first the bones of a paw.
0:37:29 > 0:37:30Then a pelvis.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35They find a prehistoric British brown bear,
0:37:35 > 0:37:38possibly 40,000 years old.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41It's very good because it's telling us
0:37:41 > 0:37:45that the bones are not coming from a long distance, they're probably
0:37:45 > 0:37:47the same part of the same animal
0:37:47 > 0:37:50being deposited very close together.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54This proves that Rob is right.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57The cave entrance has not been disturbed
0:37:57 > 0:38:00and in the future, there's every hope of finding more clues
0:38:00 > 0:38:04to the lifestyles of our ice age ancestors.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Now Rob, how exciting.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Kents Cavern is such a famous site when it comes to Palaeolithic Britain
0:38:11 > 0:38:14and to find undisturbed sediments like that.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16- I mean, that's like Christmas.- Yeah.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18And much more than we were expecting.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21Where is that breeze-block entrance?
0:38:21 > 0:38:25The breeze-block wall there is exactly there.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Right, OK.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30Really importantly, was it used by these early modern humans?
0:38:30 > 0:38:35Exactly, that's really the question that has driven us to go back
0:38:35 > 0:38:36and look at the site.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39It's possible that this was the entrance through which
0:38:39 > 0:38:41all of the archaeological material came.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44How can the bear remains tell you about the cave entrance
0:38:44 > 0:38:45and whether it was open or closed?
0:38:45 > 0:38:49The fact that we've found these bear remains,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51they all seem to belong to one individual,
0:38:51 > 0:38:54a brown bear and the fact that we have that at the end
0:38:54 > 0:38:57of the North-east Gallery, at this new entrance,
0:38:57 > 0:39:01suggests that that bear hibernated there, didn't wake up.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Really by dating the bear, what we're hopefully going to find out
0:39:05 > 0:39:09is when was that sealed up,
0:39:09 > 0:39:11when was that cave entrance sealed up
0:39:11 > 0:39:14and that should give us a clue as to when it was open.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17So this cave entrance would have been open
0:39:17 > 0:39:21when the cave was being used by the inhabitants of the cave?
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Cave entrances were incredibly important places.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26You probably saw a lot of activity in them
0:39:26 > 0:39:29because they had benefits of both the natural shelter of the cave
0:39:29 > 0:39:33but also the daylight and so day-to-day activities were
0:39:33 > 0:39:36probably carried out near cave entrances and, of course,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40day-to-day activities you would expect archaeological remains to be there.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42Evidence for a huge amount of activity in this cave
0:39:42 > 0:39:44but ultimately what happened to these people?
0:39:44 > 0:39:47It seems that with the climate being volatile,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50people came and went from Britain
0:39:50 > 0:39:53and probably didn't stay for very long each time
0:39:53 > 0:39:56and then we pick up glimpses between maybe 40, 30,000 years ago,
0:39:56 > 0:39:59we see glimpses of people but then they seem to disappear completely.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02This is on the run-up, then, to the last ice age, isn't it?
0:40:02 > 0:40:05- The peak of the last ice age. - The peak of the last ice age.
0:40:05 > 0:40:06When everybody clears out of Britain.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09- We have ice sheets coming down as far as the Severn.- Yes.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12So it becomes totally uninhabitable, even in Torquay.
0:40:14 > 0:40:1640,000 years ago,
0:40:16 > 0:40:21brown bears like this shared the landscape with our ancestors.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26But Britain was home to many more ice age animals.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29I'm going behind the scenes at Salisbury Museum to see
0:40:29 > 0:40:31evidence of the extraordinary wildlife,
0:40:31 > 0:40:36once native to Britain, killed off by the end of the last ice age.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42- Let's get you an example of something we've got.- It's enormous!
0:40:42 > 0:40:47- Ox bone.- These are the ancient European cattle. That is enormous.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49- That is a shin bone, or a tibia.- It is.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51These were huge creatures, weren't they?
0:40:51 > 0:40:53That's right, before they were domesticated.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56In the Neolithic they were absolutely colossal beasts.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Allied with that, we've got teeth.
0:40:59 > 0:41:00- Oh, mammoth teeth.- Yeah.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02So these are the cheek teeth,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05specifically for grinding up all the grass that they ate.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08- That's right.- I love seeing this actual physical evidence
0:41:08 > 0:41:11because I think we know that there were woolly mammoth
0:41:11 > 0:41:12here during the ice age
0:41:12 > 0:41:15but it's very difficult to think yourself back in time
0:41:15 > 0:41:18and when you see this evidence, it suddenly becomes more real.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Yes, it does. They were almost depending on those animals, as well.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24I'm sure they were probably hunting some of these species that were
0:41:24 > 0:41:27living here at the time. It was a coexistence.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29Now most of them do leave Britain, don't they?
0:41:29 > 0:41:32At the peak of the last ice age, when the ice sheets come down?
0:41:32 > 0:41:35That's right. The advance of the ice sheets pretty much pushes out
0:41:35 > 0:41:38a lot of the species that were living here, the whole country
0:41:38 > 0:41:41is almost inhospitable, both to animals and to humans.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43Yes, it was impossible to live here and, of course,
0:41:43 > 0:41:45at that time there was a land bridge as well.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49The sea levels would have retreated because they were soaked up into the ice
0:41:49 > 0:41:52and that enabled people and animals to move back across the Channel.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57Archaeology and geology come together to reveal what happened
0:41:57 > 0:42:00in Britain at the peak of the last ice age.
0:42:01 > 0:42:07By around 30,000 BC, the advancing ice had driven humans
0:42:07 > 0:42:09and wildlife out,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13leaving Britain a deserted, frozen wasteland
0:42:13 > 0:42:15for 10,000 years.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20But as the climate warmed, a new wave of humans
0:42:20 > 0:42:25arrived from continental Europe to re-colonise Britain.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28The first colonisers were Stone Age hunter-gatherers
0:42:28 > 0:42:30arriving in small bands,
0:42:30 > 0:42:34following herds of game across the land bridge from the continent.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Because the population was small and mobile,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40it's very rare to find archaeological evidence of them
0:42:40 > 0:42:43but a team of archaeologists in Jersey has been making some
0:42:43 > 0:42:45extraordinary discoveries.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50In 2011, Digging For Britain was there when a team
0:42:50 > 0:42:52from the Ice Age Island Project
0:42:52 > 0:42:55discovered signs of significant human activity.
0:42:55 > 0:43:00Flint tools that suggested a large Stone Age hunting camp was nearby.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04It's amazing to be finding these little traces of them, isn't it?
0:43:04 > 0:43:07It's very exciting, just because it's so old
0:43:07 > 0:43:09and it's really nice to be the first person
0:43:09 > 0:43:12for 14,000 years to be touching these tools.
0:43:12 > 0:43:18This was a promising start but the next four years proved frustrating.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20Lots of scattered flint,
0:43:20 > 0:43:25by 2015 still no direct evidence of a campsite.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29We are yet to hit an archaeologically significant sediment.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34The Holy Grail would be objects that have remained in situ,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37undisturbed by the passing millennia.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42The problem is, the site is on a gentle slope..
0:43:42 > 0:43:44Over the last 15,000 years,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48the ground has shifted downhill in a slow-motion landslide.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54This destructive slide would destroy any precious evidence of a campsite.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59But...finally, halfway through the dig,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02things start to look more promising.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06This flat ground here really provides the last opportunity
0:44:06 > 0:44:08to find a significant area
0:44:08 > 0:44:11of in situ or well-preserved archaeology.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14We're at the tipping point in the geology as well.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17It's a really exciting position to be at.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21On day 14, the team makes a significant breakthrough.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25This is a flint over here
0:44:25 > 0:44:29and it seems like there are two pieces
0:44:29 > 0:44:32which were originally part of the same core.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35If you're right and these stick together,
0:44:35 > 0:44:38then we're starting to see a part of the site
0:44:38 > 0:44:39we really haven't seen before,
0:44:39 > 0:44:41where everything is a lot more intact.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47It suggests that this area hasn't been disturbed by the slow
0:44:47 > 0:44:50landslide, giving the team a fighting chance
0:44:50 > 0:44:53of finding an actual campsite.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56The artefacts aren't all at crazy angles,
0:44:56 > 0:44:58they're relatively flat and they are relatively larger.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02That will tell us a lot more about what the people are doing here,
0:45:02 > 0:45:04how people are working at the side
0:45:04 > 0:45:07and it may be pointing to really good high-resolution archaeology.
0:45:07 > 0:45:13We've found some really fragile pieces of what look like bird bone.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16It's this particular darker band that seems to be packed
0:45:16 > 0:45:18full of goodies. It's the first evidence of organics
0:45:18 > 0:45:21we've had on the site and it's really quite exciting.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26Could this mean that the team has hit the jackpot
0:45:26 > 0:45:29and these are the leftovers of an ice age barbecue?
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Nearby, something absolutely extraordinary has turned up.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39Evidence that this is much more than just a temporary camp.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42One of the new things about this year
0:45:42 > 0:45:45is we're getting all of this granite material.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47Big, large blocks of granite.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51I mean, is this natural or is there any human impact here?
0:45:51 > 0:45:53If we look close at this big stone, you can
0:45:53 > 0:45:56see that actually it's fragmented in several places.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59- It's actually broken there in situ. - Absolutely, yes.
0:46:00 > 0:46:05The team believes this may have been a man-made paved surface.
0:46:05 > 0:46:06It's incredible.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10Nothing like this has ever been found in Britain before.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15It means that this could have been a semi-permanent settlement, used by
0:46:15 > 0:46:20some of the first European tribes to colonise Britain after the ice age.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22Matt, this site just gets more and more exciting
0:46:22 > 0:46:25and you've certainly scaled up your excavations this year, as well.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28So rather than stones just moving around
0:46:28 > 0:46:30and having ended up in those places,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33do you think they're actually lying where they were dropped?
0:46:33 > 0:46:35Yeah, the geology is looking different.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38It's looking as if we've got an intact land surface there.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41And, yeah, we're not finding things at crazy angles,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44higgledy-piggledy, or in these little mud flows,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47we're finding things in a spread, nice and flat,
0:46:47 > 0:46:48behaving themselves finally.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51And some evidence for that is this amazing paving stones,
0:46:51 > 0:46:53or paving slab. What do you think that's all about?
0:46:53 > 0:46:56OK, what we've got at the moment are big, granite slabs.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59Very close together, sometimes tessellating,
0:46:59 > 0:47:01sometimes lying over each other.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05We never found these big blocks before, within otherwise very sandy,
0:47:05 > 0:47:07silty and clay deposits.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09There needs to be an explanation for how they got there.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12At the moment, humans bringing them,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15placing them there is our best explanation.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18So, what do you think these stones were used for, then?
0:47:18 > 0:47:21Are they something to stand on, to sit on, or perhaps even to cook on?
0:47:21 > 0:47:24I just don't think we can say at the minute.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28We've only clipped the very edge of the preserved sites.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32These sorts of pavements aren't unknown from other Magdalenian
0:47:32 > 0:47:35- sites across Europe. - Hang on, when you say Magdalenian,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37what age are you talking about, what do you mean?
0:47:37 > 0:47:41Magdalenian is the term for the stone tool technology and these
0:47:41 > 0:47:45are the representatives of the modern humans,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48the end of the coldest part of the last ice age,
0:47:48 > 0:47:53who end up moving out all the way across Europe, across into Germany.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55Then ultimately into Britain, as well.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58So this is a hunter-gatherer camp that you've uncovered?
0:47:58 > 0:48:00I think we can be quite confident in that, yeah.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04Finally locating this camp is
0:48:04 > 0:48:07a triumph for the Ice Age Island Project.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09The archaeologists have given us a rare
0:48:09 > 0:48:13and direct connection back to the first humans who came here
0:48:13 > 0:48:17after the ice age and began to build the Britain we know.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26The next dig diary tells the story of another group of incomers
0:48:26 > 0:48:28who transformed this island.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33Warrior invaders who stormed into Britain in the fifth century AD.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36They were the Anglo-Saxons.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39They gave us our language, our laws
0:48:39 > 0:48:43and the beginnings of our modern culture.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49But they left us little written record of theirs.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52Now one of Britain's greatest treasure hoards could at last
0:48:52 > 0:48:55shine a light on this race of warriors.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01In 2009, the discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard
0:49:01 > 0:49:03astounded the world.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05It's the biggest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold
0:49:05 > 0:49:07and silver ever found.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09It's absolutely astonishing.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12I never, ever in my career thought I would be holding this
0:49:12 > 0:49:13kind of treasure.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16It's just incredible, unbelievable.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19The hoard was found near Lichfield,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24once the heart of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia,
0:49:24 > 0:49:29where it was buried around 675 AD.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34Now six years of meticulous conservation
0:49:34 > 0:49:37and research have revealed a picture of the people who owned these
0:49:37 > 0:49:42unique weapons, bringing to life a band of elite warriors,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45once thought to be only the stuff of legend.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48The conservators have sent us their lab diary.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53According to the famous Old English poem, Beowulf,
0:49:53 > 0:49:59the Anglo-Saxon invaders were aristocrats, adorned with gold.
0:49:59 > 0:50:04But with no hard evidence, experts assumed this was just legend
0:50:04 > 0:50:08and that the Anglo-Saxons were simpler, warrior farmers.
0:50:08 > 0:50:14Now, this incredible hoard of silver, gold and garnets,
0:50:14 > 0:50:18could prove the Beowulf legend is at least partly true.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22But first, they need to clean it.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26Today I'm working on an object from the Staffordshire Hoard.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30This is a hilt cover and it's made from gold and garnets.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32I'm cleaning the object to remove the soil.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38I'm using a solvent and that softens the soil
0:50:38 > 0:50:40and then I'm using this thorn
0:50:40 > 0:50:43to pick out the soil when it's softened.
0:50:43 > 0:50:45The thorn is really good because it's quite soft
0:50:45 > 0:50:47so it doesn't scratch the surface of the gold.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Now the conservators need to piece together
0:50:50 > 0:50:54the nearly 4,000 fragments to make complete weapons.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59So here I've got a very fragmented hilt guard.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01It's a very elaborate hilt guard in a sense it has
0:51:01 > 0:51:06a lot of decorative panels and decoration along the side of it.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09Because it's so fragile, in so many parts,
0:51:09 > 0:51:14I've had to make a custom-made mount which then appropriately allows
0:51:14 > 0:51:18it to be shown as it should be shown with the panels on the side.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22In the future, it can be displayed in all its glory.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25Restoring this will take thousands of hours.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31The priceless materials are as incredible as the craftsmanship.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37You can see in each of the individual cells
0:51:37 > 0:51:39is an individually cut garnet
0:51:39 > 0:51:42that's been cut exactly to fit into these unique cells.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49The gold was imported from Europe and the garnets from India.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54Proof that the Anglo-Saxons created a wealthy, sophisticated
0:51:54 > 0:51:59British aristocracy that was not just the stuff of legend.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05This is a very elaborate piece with very finely crafted decoration
0:52:05 > 0:52:07and this particular item would have been
0:52:07 > 0:52:10a pommel for the top of the end of the sword.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14It has a piece of every single type of material that you would
0:52:14 > 0:52:16find in the Staffordshire Hoard
0:52:16 > 0:52:20and, obviously, it shows that this person has been of a high ranking
0:52:20 > 0:52:22to have this as part of his weapon.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29Conservation work is already showing that there were over 100 weapons
0:52:29 > 0:52:34in this board, each one owned by an individual aristocratic warrior.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39We had no idea that this Anglo-Saxon aristocracy
0:52:39 > 0:52:42was so big, or so rich.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46The final step in the hunt for new information
0:52:46 > 0:52:49is to create a replica sword.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55And here we have it, the replica sword is absolutely beautiful.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57It's gorgeous.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01This is the long-bladed sword of the period.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03It's a slashing, overarm weapon, quite a clumsy weapon,
0:53:03 > 0:53:07not for duelling and it's here with its replica gold mounts
0:53:07 > 0:53:11at the end, based on examples that we have found in the hoard.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13Yes, so this is the gold work here that we can see
0:53:13 > 0:53:17kind of replicated here and the very end, the pommel,
0:53:17 > 0:53:19- that's what this is based on, isn't it?- That's right.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22This is an exact copy of that pommel.
0:53:22 > 0:53:23Were they ever used in war?
0:53:23 > 0:53:28I mean, certainly you can do a lot of damage with a blade like this.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31Across the hundreds of fittings on these weapons,
0:53:31 > 0:53:32we are seeing degrees of wear
0:53:32 > 0:53:35and where we find the most worn-down parts
0:53:35 > 0:53:37is on the top of the pommel.
0:53:37 > 0:53:42It's possibly to do with a warrior having his hand rested
0:53:42 > 0:53:44perhaps on the pommel, but interestingly
0:53:44 > 0:53:48in contrast where we don't find the wear is on the grip.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51If these weapons were frequently being drawn
0:53:51 > 0:53:54and frequently been wielded, we might expect to see much more
0:53:54 > 0:53:56wear on the grips than we do.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00Maybe it is a case that these weapons were also to be appreciated
0:54:00 > 0:54:04at an intimate level in the feasting hall, probably between warriors.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07The nature of this board and, I suppose,
0:54:07 > 0:54:11the very numerous artefacts that are contained within it,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14as you say, they were having to rethink what
0:54:14 > 0:54:16we know about the structure of society at the time
0:54:16 > 0:54:20because there were many more people, obviously, carrying
0:54:20 > 0:54:24- around this kind of superior weapon than we'd thought in the past.- Yes.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27I mean, this changes the whole landscape of looking
0:54:27 > 0:54:29at the warrior in Anglo-Saxon England.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33I mean, clearly there were swords of this calibre with this
0:54:33 > 0:54:37level of decoration in much wider circulation than we appreciated.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40So was this Beowulf and his warriors?
0:54:40 > 0:54:43The sword that Beowulf the hero uses to actually kill
0:54:43 > 0:54:47Grendel's mother is actually described as having had a hilt
0:54:47 > 0:54:50wrapped with gold, potentially with wire ornament.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52It could well have been a sword very like this.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58The Staffordshire Hoard paints a new
0:54:58 > 0:55:02and vivid picture of the powerful Anglo-Saxon warriors who
0:55:02 > 0:55:05ruled Britain in the seventh century.
0:55:05 > 0:55:10But what was their relationship with the Britons they lived alongside?
0:55:11 > 0:55:17Salisbury Museum holds the remains of the Anglo-Saxon Ford warrior.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20I'm getting to see him face-to-face.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24Re-assessing the objects from his grave in the light of the hoard
0:55:24 > 0:55:28will fill in more details in this picture of Anglo-Saxon Britain.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33Adrian, I can't get over how well preserved absolutely
0:55:33 > 0:55:35everything is from this grave.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38Yes, I mean, this is the burial of the Ford warrior,
0:55:38 > 0:55:41as we call him, who was found just to the
0:55:41 > 0:55:45north of Salisbury in the 1960s in an Anglo-Saxon burial mound.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Yeah, he is buried with all the trappings of somebody who was
0:55:48 > 0:55:52clearly going off into the afterlife to fight.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55The Ford warrior was buried with a long knife,
0:55:55 > 0:55:57a scabbard,
0:55:57 > 0:55:59spearheads
0:55:59 > 0:56:02and this, the boss from a huge shield.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05Typical grave goods for an Anglo-Saxon warrior.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09But other objects in his grave
0:56:09 > 0:56:13give a more subtle insight into how these invaders integrated
0:56:13 > 0:56:14with life in Britain.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17We've got this hanging bowl here
0:56:17 > 0:56:19which was when it was discovered was found to contain
0:56:19 > 0:56:21crab apples and onions.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23- Really?- Yes. - So a meal to take to the afterlife.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25These are interesting objects.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29Although what we see here are very typical Anglo-Saxon items,
0:56:29 > 0:56:34this thing here is a more indigenous native British object.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37You have here a combination of influences.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40You've got predominately Anglo-Saxon influence but this item here
0:56:40 > 0:56:43is something that was used by local people, as well.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45This is fascinating, isn't it,
0:56:45 > 0:56:49because we're moving away from the old simplistic idea of this
0:56:49 > 0:56:52invasion of Anglo-Saxons coming into Britain
0:56:52 > 0:56:54and wiping out everybody and replacing them,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58towards an idea we have a smaller influx of people,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01assimilation and cultures blending a lot more.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06The Staffordshire Hoard has thrown a new bright light
0:57:06 > 0:57:08on the Ford warrior.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10Together they reveal the true size
0:57:10 > 0:57:14and wealth of one of Britain's earliest aristocracies.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17Invading warriors,
0:57:17 > 0:57:21who blended their culture with that of the indigenous Britons.
0:57:21 > 0:57:26Laying a foundation for the language and legal system we use today.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31These Anglo-Saxons were just one of a wealth of people who
0:57:31 > 0:57:35came here from Europe and helped to build Britain.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41Our island story is rich and complex.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46But from ice age caves to Stonehenge,
0:57:46 > 0:57:51from forgotten Iron Age rituals to lost medieval cities,
0:57:51 > 0:57:53archaeology brings us
0:57:53 > 0:57:59closer to understanding how our ancestors made us who we are today.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Next time on Digging For Britain, we're in the East,
0:58:06 > 0:58:10unearthing the victims of rough justice in Roman London.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13The possibility is that these are beheading victims.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17We're there for a metal detectorist's find of a lifetime.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20I bet he had a bad day when he never brought these back.
0:58:20 > 0:58:26And we dive deep, hunting for clues to a naval disaster.