0:00:01 > 0:00:05We might be a small island, but we've got a big history
0:00:05 > 0:00:08that is still full of mysteries.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13So every year, hundreds of archaeologists go out hunting
0:00:13 > 0:00:15for clues to our forgotten past.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19That is stunningly beautiful.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23In 2016, their discoveries have been more exciting than ever.
0:00:23 > 0:00:24It is all happening now.
0:00:24 > 0:00:25You little devil!
0:00:27 > 0:00:28In this programme,
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Digging For Britain showcases the very best of them from the north.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37Each excavation was filmed as it happened
0:00:37 > 0:00:39by the archaeologists themselves.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Their dig diaries mean that we can be there
0:00:44 > 0:00:47for every exciting moment of discovery.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Cracking little find.
0:00:49 > 0:00:50Superb.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56And now the archaeologists are bringing their finds,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00from pottery to metalwork to human remains, into our labs
0:01:00 > 0:01:04so that we can get a closer look at them and find out what they
0:01:04 > 0:01:07tell us about our British ancestors.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13Welcome to Digging For Britain.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28In this programme I'm joining archaeologists
0:01:28 > 0:01:31in the north of Britain on their quests to discover
0:01:31 > 0:01:34the lost worlds of our ancestors.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39In the Outer Hebrides, we dive deep
0:01:39 > 0:01:41to discover startling Stone Age technology.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43Oh, my word.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46I have never seen anything like that.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53We join the team tracking down the famous monastery of Lindisfarne,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57sacked by the Vikings and lost for over 1,000 years.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59It is an incredibly exciting thing to be doing.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02It's hard not to be like a little boy
0:02:02 > 0:02:04when you finally get the trenches open.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09And we are there when an excavation takes a surprising turn
0:02:09 > 0:02:13to reveal the grizzly reality of life in a medieval village.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17It must have been a catastrophic event that happened
0:02:17 > 0:02:18that ended their lives.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28I've come to the National Museum of Scotland
0:02:28 > 0:02:30to see how these discoveries are helping to rewrite
0:02:30 > 0:02:32the history of Britain.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I've been given behind the scenes access, so I'll be looking at
0:02:35 > 0:02:38parts of the collections that are rarely seen by the public.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41And I'll be getting up close and personal with some of
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Britain's most remarkable and enigmatic treasures.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53Our first dig comes from Burnswark in Dumfriesshire,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56where some new discoveries are rewriting the history
0:02:56 > 0:02:58of the Roman conquest.
0:03:00 > 0:03:01When the Romans invaded Britain,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05they swiftly conquered most of the southern tribes,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08but they never conquered all of Scotland -
0:03:08 > 0:03:12twice they tried and twice they failed.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16But no-one has ever found any trace of a major battle.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Well, this season, archaeologists think they've got definitive
0:03:22 > 0:03:27evidence for the first time of a Roman siege in Britain.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34When the Roman army invaded Britain in 43 AD,
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Burnswark Hill was home to a local Iron Age tribe
0:03:38 > 0:03:40who built a hillfort on its summit.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47But this hillfort is unique in Britain,
0:03:47 > 0:03:52because just metres from the summit, it is flanked by two huge
0:03:52 > 0:03:53Roman army camps,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56one to the north, and one to the south.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03For decades it has been believed that these were Roman army
0:04:03 > 0:04:05training camps.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11But now archaeologists think that they might be siege camps.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15If they're right, it would show the Roman war machine in Britain
0:04:15 > 0:04:18was far better resourced than we had ever imagined.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Andrew Nicholson is the dig director.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28We have two weeks to excavate here at Burnswark.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32We're putting two trenches here into the Roman south camp
0:04:32 > 0:04:36and one trench into the Roman north camp, and we're looking
0:04:36 > 0:04:41for evidence of Roman missiles such as lead sling bullets
0:04:41 > 0:04:43and Roman stone ballista balls.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51First, the team start to dig in the south Roman camp.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57And on day one, dig coordinator John Reid is there
0:04:57 > 0:05:01with a camera, as they make their first exciting discovery.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05OK, here we are in the south camp and the guys have just
0:05:05 > 0:05:06shouted me over.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09So what have we got?
0:05:09 > 0:05:11Oh, yes.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14That looks very suspicious.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Yeah, perfect.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19The first thing we uncover under the turfs is
0:05:19 > 0:05:24a Roman ballista ball, a local red sandstone ball that would have been
0:05:24 > 0:05:29launched from a catapult from the Roman camp up towards the hillfort.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34We know from evidence across Europe that Roman siege tactics
0:05:34 > 0:05:36were brutal.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40This lethal stone missile would have been shot
0:05:40 > 0:05:44from a catapult or ballista to maim or kill an enemy.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48It was one of the many powerful siege weapons in their arsenal.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55After a promising start, for the next three days the team dig
0:05:55 > 0:05:59for more clues, and one small but highly significant find
0:05:59 > 0:06:00keeps turning up.
0:06:03 > 0:06:04Over the last few days,
0:06:04 > 0:06:09we have managed to secure over 40 Roman sling bullets.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15These are the very objects that we came here to try and find.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Over 40 is quite a significant amount.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22These solid lead sling bullets were ammunition
0:06:22 > 0:06:24for a simple but deadly weapon.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30These are propelled from a hand slung catapult
0:06:30 > 0:06:33at between 35 and 45 metres per second.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39They were fired by specially trained troops called slingers, who could
0:06:39 > 0:06:44disable the enemy with a fast and furious hail of lead bullets.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47It's even more evidence that the hillfort was attacked.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54But if this was a full-scale siege, the team would expect to find
0:06:54 > 0:06:58more evidence of ammunition in the north camp.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02But nothing has turned up.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Then, on day four...
0:07:06 > 0:07:07BEEPING
0:07:09 > 0:07:11..a metal detector picks up a strong signal.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16This could be the breakthrough they need.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20OK, here we are in the north camp.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Hi, guys.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24- Hi, John.- How's it going?
0:07:24 > 0:07:25Well...
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Have we found any bullets?
0:07:27 > 0:07:30You wanted sling bullets, and we have one or two for you here.
0:07:30 > 0:07:31Fantastic.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33In the last count there was just over 20.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37This is very, very impressive.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43But when they dig down further,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46they find more evidence than they could ever have imagined.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50BEEPING
0:07:52 > 0:07:56It goes off the scale, and there is still a large number of them
0:07:56 > 0:07:59continuing downwards beyond these stones.
0:08:01 > 0:08:07At the moment, we've got 169, give or take a few,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09visible on the surface.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14It's certainly the largest in situ collection of Roman sling bullets
0:08:14 > 0:08:16that have ever been found anywhere within the Roman Empire.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22The team now has clear and compelling evidence
0:08:22 > 0:08:26for a highly organised and brutal Roman siege.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31The sheer quantity of missile material that they brought
0:08:31 > 0:08:39to the site is certainly a clue that there was an assault on the fort,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42and that they are simply using overwhelming force.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46We know that from 73 AD,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49the Romans tried to conquer northern Britain.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53But until now we had no idea that they used full-scale
0:08:53 > 0:08:56siege warfare against the native tribes.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02I want to know more about how that siege on Burnswark hillfort
0:09:02 > 0:09:04played out. What was the outcome?
0:09:05 > 0:09:09So, John, this is just a small portion of that great cache
0:09:09 > 0:09:12of lemon-shaped slingshots that you found.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15So they would fit in a sling like this, then?
0:09:15 > 0:09:17That's exactly right.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21And then you would turn it round your head, and then this flips out
0:09:21 > 0:09:26and it has the same ballistic momentum as a .44 Magnum bullet.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28That's astonishing.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30This is the forgotten firepower of the ancient world.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Yeah. But what are these curious things?
0:09:33 > 0:09:34They look like pendants almost.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Yeah, they're very exciting because they've never been
0:09:37 > 0:09:38described before,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40and the key element of them
0:09:40 > 0:09:43is they all have a little hole in them.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44And it doesn't go all the way through.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46Doesn't go all the way through, and I had the theory
0:09:46 > 0:09:48that they were for poison.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50My brother, who knows nothing about archaeology, said,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53"I fish, and when I've cast my fishing weights
0:09:53 > 0:09:56"with a hole in it that size, they whistle as they go out."
0:09:56 > 0:09:59So we made some, we tested them, and they whistle.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02This is what they sound like.
0:10:04 > 0:10:05WHISTLE AND CRACK
0:10:05 > 0:10:07HE CHUCKLES
0:10:07 > 0:10:12So what they are, we think, is a terror weapon that make a sound.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Until this dig, we had no idea
0:10:16 > 0:10:20that the Romans designed bullets like these.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22When you imagine that's just the sound of one -
0:10:22 > 0:10:26if you've got 300, 400 slingers all going at the one time,
0:10:26 > 0:10:27that is a lot of noise.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30- So psychological warfare as well? - Mm-hm.
0:10:31 > 0:10:32WHISTLE AND CRACK
0:10:34 > 0:10:37These bullets could travel at over 100mph.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41To simulate their effect on human flesh,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44John's set up a test using ballistic gel.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51This is what the Britons at Burnswark were up against.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57So you've got what looks like this large cache of ammunition
0:10:57 > 0:11:01in the camp. Have you found anything on the hillfort itself?
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Well, if you look at this,
0:11:03 > 0:11:07the pink dots represent the spread of bullets across the site.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11So we can see the positions that the shooters are standing in,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15and we can also see where the recipient target area is
0:11:15 > 0:11:16along the south face.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20This ballistic map clearly shows that the people
0:11:20 > 0:11:24on Burnswark Hill were totally surrounded by the Roman army.
0:11:26 > 0:11:32So we now have the smoking gun of what took place here.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35And what about the little cluster to the north of the hillfort?
0:11:35 > 0:11:39This is a group of bullets that we didn't expect.
0:11:39 > 0:11:45This is the only area that you can escape from, from the north.
0:11:45 > 0:11:46Almost certainly,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49a group of people met their end in that position there.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51I mean, that's horrendous, because that's not just about
0:11:51 > 0:11:55driving people out of that hillfort, that's about...a massacre.
0:11:55 > 0:11:56That's about a massacre, yeah.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02The evidence from Burnswark Hill entirely changes
0:12:02 > 0:12:04our understanding of the Roman invasion.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08We had no idea that they had brought this level of strategic
0:12:08 > 0:12:12planning and firepower to Britain.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15So, for our ancestors, the consequences of resistance
0:12:15 > 0:12:17could be devastating.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26Our next dig takes us to the heart of another British community,
0:12:26 > 0:12:31who also faced adversity over 1,000 years later.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36The Middle Ages in Britain were a time of unprecedented
0:12:36 > 0:12:38chaos and turmoil.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43Lives were blighted by war, famine and plague.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47But away from the cities, we know less about how these events
0:12:47 > 0:12:50affected the lives of ordinary people.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55Our next site offers us a precious glimpse into the struggles
0:12:55 > 0:12:59of one rural community during these turbulent times.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Thornton Abbey in North Lincolnshire was one of the richest abbeys
0:13:06 > 0:13:08in medieval Britain...
0:13:10 > 0:13:14..founded by Augustinian monks in 1139 and dissolved
0:13:14 > 0:13:17by Henry VIII 400 years later.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Archaeologists from the University of Sheffield
0:13:21 > 0:13:24have been digging here for five seasons, building up
0:13:24 > 0:13:29a detailed picture of how the monks of this wealthy abbey lived.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30But last year,
0:13:30 > 0:13:34they began to excavate just outside the abbey walls.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39It was here that the team made a shocking discovery that would turn
0:13:39 > 0:13:42the course of the dig from focusing on the lives of the rich...
0:13:45 > 0:13:48..to the much more elusive medieval poor.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53We were originally looking for a rectangular building
0:13:53 > 0:13:56but what we actually found was a rectangular pit
0:13:56 > 0:13:59that was full of around 40 individuals,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01all placed in the pit at the same time.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07The bodies of 21 adults and 27 children
0:14:07 > 0:14:09piled into a mass grave.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15It consisted of one fill, suggesting that the bodies were placed there
0:14:15 > 0:14:18and the thing was backfilled in one event.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20We assume because they've been buried in one event
0:14:20 > 0:14:23that it must have been a catastrophic event that happened,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25that ended their lives at around the same time.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32This part of Lincolnshire has always been rural, so whatever
0:14:32 > 0:14:36killed this many people must have devastated the local community.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41To find out what it might have been,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45I've asked site osteologist Diana Swales to join me in the lab.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52So, Diana, this is a huge number of people all buried in one mass grave.
0:14:52 > 0:14:53When does it date from?
0:14:53 > 0:14:56The radiocarbon dates come back from the 14th century.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00And do you have any idea as to the cause of death?
0:15:00 > 0:15:03When we excavated them, we had no ideas.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Our first point of call was to check that there was no trauma
0:15:05 > 0:15:08at the time of death, so we had a good look through and checked
0:15:08 > 0:15:09that nobody had been massacred.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12There's no evidence for those kind of activities.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16So we took DNA samples from the teeth and we sent them off
0:15:16 > 0:15:22for analysis, and they identified the bacteria yersinia pestis,
0:15:22 > 0:15:24which is the bacteria for the Black Death.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31The Black Death swept across Europe in the mid-14th century,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35killing a staggering 50 million people.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39In Britain, it's estimated that a third of the population died.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46Incredibly, this is the first plague pit
0:15:46 > 0:15:49that's ever been found in the British countryside.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53But what surprised the team most was its location,
0:15:53 > 0:15:55right outside an abbey.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01These were ordinary women, men and children, not wealthy monks.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04So why were they buried here?
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Then, just metres from the plague victims,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14they make another unique discovery.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20We discovered a long, thin building running on an east-west alignment,
0:16:20 > 0:16:25and having excavated this we can now say with some certainty
0:16:25 > 0:16:27that this was actually a medieval hospital.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34So this explains the location of that plague pit -
0:16:34 > 0:16:39and it's the first time a medieval hospital attached to an abbey
0:16:39 > 0:16:41has ever been excavated.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45It could give the team valuable new insights into medieval health care.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49So we think this hospital was in use from the mid-12th century
0:16:49 > 0:16:51until the dissolution.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54That would have consisted of a hospital chapel which is the area
0:16:54 > 0:16:57behind me and the area to the west, which was the dormitory
0:16:57 > 0:17:00where the inmates would have visited and lived and died.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Experts aren't sure what relationship existed between
0:17:05 > 0:17:07the wealthy abbeys and the local population.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11So now Pete wants to find out.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14Who WERE the people using this hospital?
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Just a few days later, the team strike it lucky.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27So just outside the walls, a possible church on all three sides.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30We're finding a large number of individuals.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37They've found the official burial ground of the hospital patients.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41This is an extraordinary opportunity to look at the range
0:17:41 > 0:17:43of diseases that medieval people suffered from.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47The lower limb
0:17:47 > 0:17:48of this old adult male
0:17:48 > 0:17:51has been amputated just below the knee,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53a long time before they died.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59This young child is really, really interesting, because they have
0:17:59 > 0:18:01a bulbous, very round head,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03which looks as though
0:18:03 > 0:18:05they have hydrocephaly,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08where water on the brain is causing the skull to expand.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12This skeleton here
0:18:12 > 0:18:15has bowing of the femur,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19and this looks suspiciously like rickets.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22This is a malnourished individual.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Over the next week,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29the team uncovers more victims of malnutrition and disease.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32We're face to face with the suffering of our ancestors -
0:18:32 > 0:18:35medieval Britain's rural poor.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47In the last few days of the dig, the team discovers another burial,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49this time inside the hospital chapel.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53But this is not a poor man's grave.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57We've just come down onto this,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01which is a later medieval grave slab.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05And actually we have the word "obit" and "Ricardus",
0:19:05 > 0:19:09so whoever was buried underneath this originally was named Richard.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14The archaeologists flip it over,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17to try to find more clues about who Richard was.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22So we've actually got a date for when this individual died,
0:19:22 > 0:19:27which is the 2nd of April, and that's in 1317.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30And obviously we have the individual himself, Richard -
0:19:30 > 0:19:33he's in fact holding across his breast
0:19:33 > 0:19:36a chalice, which would have been his kind of symbol of office,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39definitely if they were a canon or a priest.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Underneath the elaborate grave marker,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47the team finds the human remains of Richard himself.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51The clues suggest that he was a key figure in this hospital.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Back in our lab,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56I'm hoping that Diana can reveal what his role was.
0:19:58 > 0:19:59- This is Richard, is it? - This is Richard.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03So we have his actual human remains, and we have this image of him
0:20:03 > 0:20:05- as he was in life.- Mm-hm.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08So we know that he was bald on top, he's got hair round the side,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10it's almost like a tonsure.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12And so, how old was he when he died?
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Looking at his teeth, they are very worn,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18which makes me think that he is actually very old.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20Gosh, that third molar there,
0:20:20 > 0:20:22there's hardly any enamel left on it.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25- It's really just the root, isn't it?- Yes.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28So do we presume that he was a priest who was working
0:20:28 > 0:20:30in that hospital?
0:20:30 > 0:20:32Yes. So he's buried in quite a prestigious location
0:20:32 > 0:20:37within the chapel, and at this time there are no doctors at hospitals.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41It's up to the priests to have a kind of caregiving capacity.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45And what about the population that we see buried outside the hospital
0:20:45 > 0:20:46in the hospital chapel?
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Because you seem to be seeing quite a lot of children
0:20:49 > 0:20:52buried there, and also a lot of pathology as well.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56What it's showing is that we're getting normal lay populations
0:20:56 > 0:20:58being buried at the hospital.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01The most exciting thing about Thornton Abbey
0:21:01 > 0:21:04is that we're seeing an interaction between
0:21:04 > 0:21:08the normal lay populations and the monastic community.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10- For looking after them? - Yes, looking after them.- Yeah.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15At Thornton Abbey, the archaeologists were surprised
0:21:15 > 0:21:19to find themselves unearthing the lives of the poor
0:21:19 > 0:21:21as well as the rich.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24And then they were amazed to discover
0:21:24 > 0:21:29such a tangible link between the two that is changing our understanding
0:21:29 > 0:21:30of medieval health care.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Archaeology gives us information about ordinary people
0:21:36 > 0:21:39in a way that the history books simply can't.
0:21:44 > 0:21:50But when we go back into prehistory, before any written records,
0:21:50 > 0:21:55archaeology is the only way to understand how people lived.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Our next dig takes us back into the Stone Age,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01where a recent chance find
0:22:01 > 0:22:06has led to a completely groundbreaking new discovery.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10This pottery is 5,500 years old.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15It's Neolithic, but it wasn't discovered during an excavation.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Each one of these pieces of pottery was found by divers
0:22:18 > 0:22:20at the bottom of a loch.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24This led the archaeologists to investigate further -
0:22:24 > 0:22:27what they discovered was truly astonishing.
0:22:29 > 0:22:35The pottery was discovered on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38in the shallow waters around one of the beautiful islands
0:22:38 > 0:22:40dotted across Lewis's many lochs.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47This season, a team of underwater archaeologists set out
0:22:47 > 0:22:52to solve the mystery of why the pottery was there.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55What they found is turning our understanding of
0:22:55 > 0:22:58the Scottish Stone Age upside down.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04It's day one in the Outer Hebrides on the Isle of Lewis.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07I'm Duncan Garrow, and this is my friend and colleague Fraser Sturt.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10- Hello, Fraser.- Hello, Duncan.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13We're standing by a loch as you can see, and we've come
0:23:13 > 0:23:17to investigate three islands within three different lochs,
0:23:17 > 0:23:18the first of which is this one.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24The team starts their investigation around an island in Loch Arnish.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28So the kind of thing we'll be looking for is of course the pots
0:23:28 > 0:23:31on the bottom of the lochs, but also maybe some other
0:23:31 > 0:23:33archaeological evidence that gives us richer insights
0:23:33 > 0:23:37into the kind of lives people were living at that time.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43The water here isn't just freezing cold, it's murky,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and at first the divers struggle to see anything.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51But after a few very cold hours,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55one of the team does manage to spot something.
0:23:57 > 0:24:03I happened to notice amongst the bad visibility, a little shape,
0:24:03 > 0:24:08and it was just this rim that caught my eye which didn't look
0:24:08 > 0:24:10like any other stones.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13This is actually two pieces of prehistoric ceramic.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Pots like this were used for everyday cooking.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Could this suggest that 5,000 years ago,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25a family made this little island their home?
0:24:25 > 0:24:29It is a tantalising thought because, as far as we knew,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Stone Age people didn't live in the middle of lochs.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38At Loch Langabhat to the west of Loch Arnish, the team go
0:24:38 > 0:24:41looking for more evidence of island life.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48They're prepared for another long, cold today of underwater hunting.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52But within just a few hours...
0:24:59 > 0:25:00Oh, Dan.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Oh, my word.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06I'm just going to take some video.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11I have never seen anything like that.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13That is absolutely amazing.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19This beautifully decorated pottery has been underwater for 5,000 years,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22last touched by its Stone Age owner.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26And the loch bed is brimming with pottery like this.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31The archaeologists were right,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34it looks like these islands were family homes.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42They hope to find more evidence at Loch Bhorghastail.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48It's a full day of diving before they find anything.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52But when they do, it's incredible.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58We've been out snorkelling and looking at the islet
0:25:58 > 0:26:02out there, and we've found some beautiful Neolithic pottery
0:26:02 > 0:26:03and timbers in situ.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08These timbers are crucial - they suggest that Stone Age people
0:26:08 > 0:26:11weren't just camping on these islands, they were building
0:26:11 > 0:26:15permanent structures on and around them. And when the dive team
0:26:15 > 0:26:19look even closer, the full realisation hits them.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25This whole island has been built by hand.
0:26:25 > 0:26:26It's definitely man-made.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32You can see that it's now stones piled up on a natural rise, and then
0:26:32 > 0:26:36we've also got split timbers which show that it's been made by people.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40It's just been amazing, so this is really significant.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44It's new Neolithic archaeology. So we couldn't be happier.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49These loch islands were built by people five millennia ago.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Duncan and Fraser are now joining me to explain
0:26:55 > 0:26:58how this discovery changes the story of Britain.
0:27:01 > 0:27:02Duncan and Fraser,
0:27:02 > 0:27:08this looks like a Neolithic settlement on an artificial island.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Yeah, that's exactly what we've got, actually. You're right.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15They often use the term "crannog" to describe those, which is basically
0:27:15 > 0:27:19an island, sometimes artificial, with a building or buildings on it.
0:27:19 > 0:27:20But crannogs are Iron Age things.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23- Yeah, that's what people have always said.- Yeah.
0:27:23 > 0:27:24That's amazing, cos that
0:27:24 > 0:27:27pushes them back at least a couple of millennia.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31Absolutely. We've got a picture of what people think
0:27:31 > 0:27:32they may have looked like.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Crannogs are famously found in prehistoric Scotland, Ireland
0:27:38 > 0:27:42and Wales, but until now we believed that they only appeared
0:27:42 > 0:27:45around 800 BC, at the beginning of the Iron Age.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48This new evidence shows that people were building
0:27:48 > 0:27:52these sophisticated island homes 2,000 years earlier.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Cos they're not using natural islands - they're bringing
0:27:55 > 0:27:58those stones out into the middle of the lake and dropping them there
0:27:58 > 0:28:00until they've got an island.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03There was a calculation done, and someone thought it
0:28:03 > 0:28:05was 1,500 tonnes of rock that you might need to move.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08So this isn't just, "Oh, we should build a little island,"
0:28:08 > 0:28:10this is a... Well, you can say a monumental effort.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14So what's next? You have to go and look at all the known crannogs,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16which are presumed to be much later.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Do they have earlier origins?
0:28:18 > 0:28:21It is quite possible, to be honest. Lots of them might be Neolithic.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24It's an overused phrase, but actually
0:28:24 > 0:28:27the archaeological textbooks are going to have to be rewritten.
0:28:27 > 0:28:28- Yeah.- Yeah. Exactly.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36This discovery has pushed the invention of Britain's
0:28:36 > 0:28:40famous crannogs right back into the Stone Age.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43We knew that people were building houses back then,
0:28:43 > 0:28:48but we certainly didn't know that they were building whole islands.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52You can imagine that this would have been a communal effort and it seems
0:28:52 > 0:28:56that the Neolithic communities of the Outer Hebrides
0:28:56 > 0:29:00were well connected, and not only at a local level.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Deep in the vaults of the National Museum of Scotland,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07I've come to see some finds which reveal
0:29:07 > 0:29:11much wider connections with other parts of the British Isles.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18That is such an incredibly well-preserved axe.
0:29:18 > 0:29:19Where was that found?
0:29:19 > 0:29:23It was found in Siulaisiadar, in the north of the island of Lewis.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28We radiocarbon dated it, it came out between 3300 and 3000 BC.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30Fantastic.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33But the other thing that's really incredible about it is that
0:29:33 > 0:29:34the axe head itself is not local at all,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37it's from County Antrim in the north-east of Ireland.
0:29:37 > 0:29:38- Really?- Yeah.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40- So it's travelled all that way? - Absolutely.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42It's one of several pieces of evidence that tells us that
0:29:42 > 0:29:46the farming communities in the Hebrides were connected
0:29:46 > 0:29:48with farming communities elsewhere.
0:29:48 > 0:29:49And what about these balls -
0:29:49 > 0:29:53I mean, they're absolutely wonderful pieces of art, aren't they?
0:29:53 > 0:29:58They are superb, and these are very slightly later, but again they tell
0:29:58 > 0:30:00us about long-distance contact.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02So these three are from the Hebrides,
0:30:02 > 0:30:04these two are from Orkney,
0:30:04 > 0:30:06and then these are from elsewhere in Scotland.
0:30:06 > 0:30:07What are they?
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Well...many, many hypotheses, but certainly you could have
0:30:11 > 0:30:12used these as weapons,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15you could have dealt somebody a pretty good blow on the head
0:30:15 > 0:30:18if you were to swing it and throw it at them, but I think
0:30:18 > 0:30:20more importantly these were weapons of social exclusion.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24Members of the elite were making long-distance boat journeys
0:30:24 > 0:30:27as a way of showing off their power.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30Most people would be just humble farmers, and not everybody
0:30:30 > 0:30:33would have a boat but the people who were able to travel long
0:30:33 > 0:30:38distances, for them this was a very important prop to their power.
0:30:38 > 0:30:43The connection between all of these just demonstrates really vividly
0:30:43 > 0:30:47the connectedness of the world in the Neolithic.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51Absolutely. And the sea plays a very major role in all of this movement
0:30:51 > 0:30:54of ideas and objects and people. I think we tend to think of the sea
0:30:54 > 0:30:57as a barrier, but in the Neolithic it was like a superhighway.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07Now the discovery of the crannogs of Lewis is starting to allow us
0:31:07 > 0:31:10to piece together how some of Britain's highly connected
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Stone Age communities actually lived.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19In an island nation like ours, people living on the coast
0:31:19 > 0:31:22have often been at the forefront of innovation and change.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30Our next dig comes from Lindisfarne Island
0:31:30 > 0:31:32off the shores of Northumberland.
0:31:32 > 0:31:371,400 years ago, this was the spiritual heartland of Britain.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41The Anglo-Saxon monastery at Lindisfarne
0:31:41 > 0:31:45was a beacon of Christianity in Western Europe, and an incredibly
0:31:45 > 0:31:47important cultural centre.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53For almost 200 years, Lindisfarne was a driving force in the
0:31:53 > 0:31:57creation of a new Christian Britain.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01The monks of Lindisfarne converted the pagan Anglo-Saxon kings
0:32:01 > 0:32:03to Christianity.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06And through their contact with the Pictish, Gaelic and Celtic tribes
0:32:06 > 0:32:09of Britain, they produced some of the finest works of art
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and scripture in the medieval world,
0:32:12 > 0:32:14like the Lindisfarne Gospels.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19This renaissance is known as the Golden Age.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28But in 793 AD, this world was annihilated,
0:32:28 > 0:32:31when the Vikings landed on these shores
0:32:31 > 0:32:34and wiped the monastery from the map.
0:32:35 > 0:32:41Remarkably, no-one knows the precise location of the early monastery.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44This year, archaeologists went looking for it.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51Their mission is to find this lost centre of early Christianity.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57It's an incredibly exciting thing to be doing.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01It's a site with such potential, it's hard not to be like
0:33:01 > 0:33:03a little boy when you finally get the trenches open.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11It's a ridiculously exciting place for an archaeologist to dig.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15It's one of the touch points in the entire Christian tradition.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21If they can find the original monastery, then they may also
0:33:21 > 0:33:25find evidence of the monks who were the masterminds of its Golden Age.
0:33:27 > 0:33:33Today, only the ruins of a much later 12th-century priory remain.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38We're standing in a field to the east of the later medieval priory.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43We did geophysics here, and we've put our two trenches out on areas
0:33:43 > 0:33:46where we thought we could see possible structures.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52For three days, the archaeologists scour the trenches
0:33:52 > 0:33:54for any hint of a building.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59A big monastery like this would have had lots of different buildings,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02churches, workshops, craft areas.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05What we're trying to do is find some of these structures.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09On day four, it looks like they have made a breakthrough.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15In this trench we were looking for a building, and we do seem
0:34:15 > 0:34:16to have a broad band of rubble,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19and it's possible that this might be
0:34:19 > 0:34:23the foundations for a wooden structure.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26We certainly know that other monasteries of this date
0:34:26 > 0:34:28in the north of England often have buildings
0:34:28 > 0:34:31with similar stone rubble foundations.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35These could be some of the first stones laid down
0:34:35 > 0:34:39by the Anglo-Saxon monks, when they built the original monastery
0:34:39 > 0:34:411,400 years ago.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47But then, one of the team spots something mixed in with the rubble.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52So we've got a possible cranium...
0:34:52 > 0:34:56We're down here, we've come down onto the top of what looks like
0:34:56 > 0:34:59the top of the cranium, so the top of the skull.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02And there's other scatters of bone across this whole trench.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05It does suggest that at some point there must have been
0:35:05 > 0:35:08a reasonable size burial ground in the area.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14The team start to wonder if they have found the monastic symmetry.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19On day nine, they find something hidden in the rubble
0:35:19 > 0:35:22that could hold a crucial clue to the world of Lindisfarne.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30We've found a piece of stone which looks like it's possibly got
0:35:30 > 0:35:32some carving or inscription on.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35There's John just giving it a bit of a clean...
0:35:37 > 0:35:40We're going to see what materialises.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Letters begin to emerge from the mud.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47It's an Anglo-Saxon name stone.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49- Oh, wow.- Seventh, eighth century AD.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Cracking little find.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55Superb. That is tremendous.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00This is a so-called name stone.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03This probably would have acted as a small headstone
0:36:03 > 0:36:05at the top of a grave. When you find something like this
0:36:05 > 0:36:08which has actually got the name of one of those Anglo-Saxon monks,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10it's exactly what you hoped you'd find.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12He may even have been involved
0:36:12 > 0:36:14with the creation of the Lindisfarne Gospel.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16I think a stone like this is pretty much a smoking gun.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19We must be in the very near vicinity of an Anglo-Saxon
0:36:19 > 0:36:22monastic cemetery. So it's exactly what we have been after.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26Then, with just a few days to go,
0:36:26 > 0:36:30the team find another key piece of evidence.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33You can't just come up here and say these things to me. Where is it?
0:36:33 > 0:36:37One of the volunteers over there in trench one has found a small coin.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40It's almost certainly an Anglo-Saxon silver coin,
0:36:40 > 0:36:44so again it is exactly the kind of thing we are looking for.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49This coin was minted at the height of Lindisfarne's Golden Age.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53We've had the name stone, now we have got a coin.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55One piece of evidence, two pieces of evidence.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59So I think it is safe to say we have found some really solid evidence
0:36:59 > 0:37:04of the early monastery here and it's a really exciting day for our team.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10These new finds are of the right date - they do seem to be
0:37:10 > 0:37:14tantalising traces of that lost Anglo-Saxon monastery.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16They're a link to the monks who were there
0:37:16 > 0:37:19at the pinnacle of its Golden Age.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Well, what extraordinary finds
0:37:22 > 0:37:25from this first season of digging at Lindisfarne.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29I mean, this is fantastic, this is the headstone you found.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32This is the prize find.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36This is the really distinctive piece of Anglo-Saxon sculpture.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39You can just about see there's an inscription on here.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43It's an Anglo-Saxon name, so it's someone called Ithfrith.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45I can see the "-frith" here.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Originally this would have been the top of a cross,
0:37:48 > 0:37:49with the terminals here and here.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52Oh, yeah. This is fantastic.
0:37:52 > 0:37:57We're getting a view of Lindisfarne going right back to the time
0:37:57 > 0:38:00when the first monastery was there, and those beautiful Gospels
0:38:00 > 0:38:01were being made.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Yeah, I mean, the person who's remembered on that stone
0:38:04 > 0:38:06may well have seen the Gospels being made,
0:38:06 > 0:38:09may well have been involved in creating the Gospels,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12so we are right at the peak of the Golden Age of Northumbria
0:38:12 > 0:38:14with these finds.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17And then that Golden Age disappears,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21we have a whole sequence of Viking attacks on Lindisfarne,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25and apparently an evacuation of the island.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27But you're starting to query that as well.
0:38:27 > 0:38:28We are.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31We put another trench in another field
0:38:31 > 0:38:34and we found this fantastic tenth=century comb.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38This suggests that perhaps there was a presence,
0:38:38 > 0:38:42a continued presence in defiance of those Viking threats.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45Do you think there is any chance at all that you might find
0:38:45 > 0:38:48evidence of that Viking attack?
0:38:48 > 0:38:51What I think is really interesting is the way that these stones
0:38:51 > 0:38:55have been broken up, and this cemetery has clearly been
0:38:55 > 0:38:56quite badly mashed around.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Is it to do with the Vikings?
0:38:59 > 0:39:01We don't know, but hopefully we will be able to find out.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08In this first short season, the team unearthed far more
0:39:08 > 0:39:09than they expected.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Next year they hope to dig deeper,
0:39:12 > 0:39:15to discover more about Lindisfarne's Golden Age
0:39:15 > 0:39:19and perhaps the famous Viking attack that destroyed it.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30Lindisfarne transformed Britain with works of insular art,
0:39:30 > 0:39:32a unique style which reflected a fusion
0:39:32 > 0:39:34of different artistic traditions.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38More than this,
0:39:38 > 0:39:43insular art can reveal the spiritual beliefs of one individual.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47One of the finest examples is here in the National Museum of Scotland.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Alice, this is a stunningly beautiful brooch.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54When does this date from?
0:39:54 > 0:39:57So this is the Hunterston brooch. It was made some point between
0:39:57 > 0:40:00the mid-seventh and mid-eighth centuries AD.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04It is the biggest, most elaborate brooch that we have from
0:40:04 > 0:40:09early medieval Scotland, but it is also the flowering if you like
0:40:09 > 0:40:13of an immense mixing of influences in northern Britain at this time.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16So it's blending together several different styles, is it?
0:40:16 > 0:40:21Yes, because this form of brooch is found in Scotland and in Ireland,
0:40:21 > 0:40:25but here it's melded together with Anglo-Saxon interlace and animals.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30Now, this cross-like decoration there,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34do you think that might be a bit of Christianity coming through?
0:40:34 > 0:40:36I think it's absolutely some Christian influence.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Early Christian art in Scotland and Ireland at this time
0:40:39 > 0:40:44does embed layers of meaning, and although this brooch would have been
0:40:44 > 0:40:48meant to be seen by other people like this, there's quite a different
0:40:48 > 0:40:51reading of it possible to the person that is wearing it looking down.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55What we're looking for here is this little filigree beast.
0:40:55 > 0:41:01- This amber inset is its eye.- Right. - We've got two circular insets here
0:41:01 > 0:41:05which are at the top and the bottom of its open jaw,
0:41:05 > 0:41:08with these hooked teeth biting the cross.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10Yes. That's extraordinary.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Before you told me that was there, I couldn't see
0:41:13 > 0:41:17a creature at all but now I can see him and I can't stop seeing him.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22And these two beasts are confronting either side of this cross.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26This design derived from a really important early Christian text,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29and that references the knowing of Christ,
0:41:29 > 0:41:33so Christ will be known in between two living things.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35And, as you say, this is facing the wearer.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39It almost suggests that it's more important that the person wearing it
0:41:39 > 0:41:42knows about all of this symbolism, and this is a talisman.
0:41:42 > 0:41:43Absolutely.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46We tend to see these brooches as status symbols,
0:41:46 > 0:41:51as secular objects related to kingship perhaps or power.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55But in actual fact they can be deeply Christian as well.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00The Hunterston brooch gives us a powerful insight
0:42:00 > 0:42:03into one person's faith over 1,000 years ago.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14But when we go even further back in history, before Christianity,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17it becomes more difficult to decipher what people believed in.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25The beliefs of our prehistoric ancestors are mysterious.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27They didn't write anything down, so we're left
0:42:27 > 0:42:31turning to archaeology for some clues.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35This season, archaeologists digging on Orkney have found new evidence
0:42:35 > 0:42:40of very strange rituals, involving secret objects
0:42:40 > 0:42:42including human remains.
0:42:44 > 0:42:49They have been digging on the island of South Ronaldsay,
0:42:49 > 0:42:53to solve the mystery of Scotland's most iconic Iron Age monuments
0:42:53 > 0:42:54known as brochs.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00The remains of 500 brochs can still be seen
0:43:00 > 0:43:02along the Scottish coastline.
0:43:04 > 0:43:10Once, these were remarkable dry stone towers up to 13 metres high,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13and we believe that they were homes to elite tribal families,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16defensive forts and statements of power.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22But we don't know why most of them were abandoned
0:43:22 > 0:43:24by the fourth century AD.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33Here in Orkney, Martin Carruthers and his team have been
0:43:33 > 0:43:37investigating one example known as Cairns Broch.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40They've discovered clues that after abandonment,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43this broch served another purpose.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48This season, they kept us a dig diary.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52So it's day one at the Cairns,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55straight into the thick of the action.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01From previous digs, the team knows that the walls of this broch
0:44:01 > 0:44:05were deliberately dismantled in the second century
0:44:05 > 0:44:08and the stone was piled up inside to create a mound.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12So now, in their tenth year of excavating,
0:44:12 > 0:44:16they're ready to remove the rubble from inside the broch.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24We managed to remove a huge amount of rubble from the northern side
0:44:24 > 0:44:28of the broch, and now for the first time in possibly 2,000 years
0:44:28 > 0:44:31we're getting to look at this northern section of wall
0:44:31 > 0:44:34which is particularly beautiful and stunning.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40This outer wall was an impressive five metres thick.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45It formed an impenetrable fortress 22 metres in diameter.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50The team thinks that the answer to why it was dismantled
0:44:50 > 0:44:51might lie inside.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58For ten days they scour the broch floor for anything that might
0:44:58 > 0:45:00help them to explain it.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04Then, there's a breakthrough.
0:45:07 > 0:45:12So it's day 17 at the Cairns, and we're on the outer wall of the broch
0:45:12 > 0:45:16and Carolina has made quite a startling discovery.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18What have you got there?
0:45:18 > 0:45:21- A human jaw.- Wow.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23There's no doubt that it's a human jaw,
0:45:23 > 0:45:27no doubt whatsoever from the shape of it.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30Just next to it is something even stranger.
0:45:30 > 0:45:35It looks as if that human jaw is closely associated
0:45:35 > 0:45:41with a very substantial vertebral bone of whale.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45It's quite a remarkable deposit so far.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51The next day, there's more intriguing animal bone.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54Lo and behold we've revealed all this amazing
0:45:54 > 0:45:58set of red deer antlers,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01that seem to be almost wrapped around
0:46:01 > 0:46:04the outside of this whalebone.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08These strange finds could be a clue as to what was going on here
0:46:08 > 0:46:11when the broch was dismantled.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15It looks like what happened here is that towards the end of
0:46:15 > 0:46:19the life of the broch, they laid out these items
0:46:19 > 0:46:23as a kind of decommissioning deposit, an act of closure
0:46:23 > 0:46:25at the end of the broch.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31I've asked Martin to join me in the lab to explain what purpose
0:46:31 > 0:46:35these dismantled fortresses might have had, and how these
0:46:35 > 0:46:39objects might have been used as part of an ancient ritual.
0:46:43 > 0:46:48Martin, what a fantastic season at Cairns broch,
0:46:48 > 0:46:50and these really are astonishing finds.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53This whale bone here, this is fascinating,
0:46:53 > 0:46:57- and someone has hollowed it out to convert that into a vessel.- Yeah.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59And then next to it are these antlers which we can see
0:46:59 > 0:47:01really nicely here.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06They've been propped against the outer side of the whale bone vessel.
0:47:06 > 0:47:07And this is the mandible then
0:47:07 > 0:47:11that was there with this whale bone vessel, and the two antlers?
0:47:11 > 0:47:15And you've just got the remains of the holes for the roots
0:47:15 > 0:47:19of the incisors here. So you are looking at an old person here.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22Yeah. Well, that's fascinating
0:47:22 > 0:47:24because one of the hypotheses we have
0:47:24 > 0:47:28is that perhaps this is a fragment of someone
0:47:28 > 0:47:32that's been curated and held on to for a longish period of time,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36maybe even centuries, akin to the kind of saintly relics that
0:47:36 > 0:47:39are kept for a long time in the medieval period.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42The fact that this is an elderly person is interesting, because
0:47:42 > 0:47:45they presumably had a biography and were a well-known,
0:47:45 > 0:47:47maybe even renowned individual.
0:47:48 > 0:47:53This jaw bone could have belonged to one of the Iron Age elite
0:47:53 > 0:47:58of Cairns broch, whose remains were used in this strange ritual.
0:47:59 > 0:48:05Are you saying this is specifically part of funerary ritual, then?
0:48:05 > 0:48:08I don't think the presence of this individual is actually
0:48:08 > 0:48:10recognising their death.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14This is the use of a dead person in ritual paraphernalia,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18and at the right moment in time at the end of the broch,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21that is when this piece of this individual was then put back
0:48:21 > 0:48:23into the ground as part of that deposit.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27So effectively they're turning what had been a freestanding,
0:48:27 > 0:48:32upstanding, massive, substantial house for generations
0:48:32 > 0:48:36and they're turning it into a mound, literally an ancestral pile.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Martin is at last beginning to unravel the mystery of why
0:48:42 > 0:48:46at least one of Scotland's famous brochs was dismantled,
0:48:46 > 0:48:51and his strange finds from this season suggest that the broch
0:48:51 > 0:48:53remained at the heart the community,
0:48:53 > 0:48:57becoming transformed into a sacred site.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07The excavation at Cairns Broch is still turning up amazing finds
0:49:07 > 0:49:10after a decade of digging.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14But sometimes it's one extraordinary find
0:49:14 > 0:49:17that triggers a huge new excavation.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic warriors who in the fifth century AD
0:49:26 > 0:49:29invaded Britain, bringing us our language and our laws
0:49:29 > 0:49:34and setting up the first kingdoms in what would become England.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37But there are few historical records from this time
0:49:37 > 0:49:40and archaeological evidence is also thin on the ground.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44But this year, a serendipitous discovery revealed
0:49:44 > 0:49:47a forgotten part of the Anglo-Saxon story.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56In 2011 in the small village of Little Carlton in Lincolnshire,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00local builder Graham Vickers was metal detecting in a barley field...
0:50:01 > 0:50:04..when he discovered some extraordinary objects.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11Most of the things I found had been found in this area over here.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16This is pins, brooches, styli like that one -
0:50:16 > 0:50:19I've found over 20 of these.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23Graham had stumbled across something incredibly rare -
0:50:23 > 0:50:26prestigious objects and writing tools
0:50:26 > 0:50:30belonging to the literate Anglo-Saxon elite.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34So why were they turning up here in this empty field?
0:50:38 > 0:50:41These finds were so rare, a team of archaeologists
0:50:41 > 0:50:45from the University of Sheffield launched an investigation.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50They were intrigued, because there had never been any evidence
0:50:50 > 0:50:52for the Anglo-Saxons in this part of Lincolnshire.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00Very quickly, dig director Hugh Wilmott and his team
0:51:00 > 0:51:03uncover a big settlement,
0:51:03 > 0:51:07a gold mine of new information about how
0:51:07 > 0:51:09these mysterious Anglo-Saxons lived.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13This is the Little Carlton dig diary for excavations in 2016.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16We've just finished machining off the plough zone
0:51:16 > 0:51:20and the archaeological features are already popping through.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24Now he wants to find out what kind of settlement this was.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28After just a few days of digging, the team get their first clue.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35We've been finding lots of really exciting things.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39This is a pair of tweezers that has been metal-detected,
0:51:39 > 0:51:42and this is a pair of tweezers that was found yesterday.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45They could be for cosmetic purposes,
0:51:45 > 0:51:46but it has been suggested
0:51:46 > 0:51:48that possibly these might have served other functions
0:51:48 > 0:51:51such as for turning parchment pages in a book.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57In Anglo-Saxon England, Christian monks were usually the only people
0:51:57 > 0:51:59who could read and write.
0:51:59 > 0:52:05So for Hugh, this is a big clue that this could be a forgotten monastery.
0:52:07 > 0:52:11But on day eight, the team find something that tells them
0:52:11 > 0:52:14that this was more than just a place of prayer.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19It's rather hard to see, but it's a bit of a glass vessel.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22It's definitely Saxon, and it is a sort of globular beaker.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25And that's really a rather nice find, actually, Sam. That is good.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29This is the kind of artefact that you wouldn't expect to find
0:52:29 > 0:52:30on an ordinary site.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32This is a high status drinking vessel.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34It's probably a continental import.
0:52:34 > 0:52:35Very nice.
0:52:37 > 0:52:39This shows that the people who lived here
0:52:39 > 0:52:42were wealthy, and trading with the continent.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48But another find reveals something even more surprising.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55One of the most unique artefacts we've got is this iron manacle.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57It has a barrel lock here and a hinged loop here,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00and this would have gone around the leg
0:53:00 > 0:53:03of some captive or possibly a slave.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07Slavery was a widespread practice in early medieval Europe,
0:53:07 > 0:53:12and again this suggests high status, trade in individuals perhaps.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14But again this is pretty much a unique find -
0:53:14 > 0:53:17I don't think there's been another one found on a British site.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22This is a remarkable find.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25So far the evidence suggests that this site could have been
0:53:25 > 0:53:29a monastery, an upper-class settlement and a trading centre.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36Then, the dig takes an even more unexpected turn.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Now, two weeks into the excavation,
0:53:40 > 0:53:45we're actually coming face-to-face with the Anglo-Saxons themselves.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47This part of the site where we're digging is actually the location
0:53:47 > 0:53:50of one of the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55All these people seem to be buried in a Christian style,
0:53:55 > 0:53:59laid out on their backs and aligned east to west.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02But on day 18,
0:54:02 > 0:54:07the team uncovers an individual that is unlike all the others,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10and shows some signs of strange burial rites.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14It's our penultimate day here at Little Carlton, and we're just
0:54:14 > 0:54:17finishing up the excavation, and one of the things we have been doing
0:54:17 > 0:54:18is excavating this skeleton here.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22And it's probably the most exciting thing that we have found so far.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25What makes this a really interesting burial is the fact that they have
0:54:25 > 0:54:26been buried on their front.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28But there's something else that really makes this special,
0:54:28 > 0:54:32and it's when you see how narrow the body is in the grave.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36These are the two shoulders and there's about 25cm between them,
0:54:36 > 0:54:37so they're really crunched together.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44It's a bizarre burial for a Christian person,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47but what more can it tell us about this Anglo-Saxon settlement?
0:54:50 > 0:54:53So, Hugh, these are the bones that we saw being uncovered
0:54:53 > 0:54:55right at the end of that video.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Looking at this skeleton in the grave, then,
0:54:57 > 0:55:00this is somebody buried face down and very narrow.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03Yes, absolutely. This one has clearly been bound in a shroud
0:55:03 > 0:55:05or something like that, very, very tight.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08And then there's something odd going on with his legs...
0:55:08 > 0:55:09I hope you can tell me about this.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Cos here we're looking at the back surface
0:55:12 > 0:55:16of a femur, and then you come down to here and there's a kneecap.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19- Now, you haven't got kneecaps on the back of your knee...- No.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22..so this suggests that these legs have come apart at the knee,
0:55:22 > 0:55:27and then have been put back together but twisted 180 degrees.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30So I think what we can say for definite is that it was
0:55:30 > 0:55:33buried in the ground after the body had started to decompose,
0:55:33 > 0:55:37and that the limbs have started to fall away from the rest of the body.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41But then great care has been taken to try to put the limbs back.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44Absolutely. A great deal of care has been taken over this burial,
0:55:44 > 0:55:48so this could be an individual who perhaps has died away from
0:55:48 > 0:55:51the site, and has been brought back to be interred here specifically.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54Because there are stories about the bodies of kings
0:55:54 > 0:55:55for instance being moved.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58Yes. And of course saints and holy people.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01There could be something like that going on here.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05This special burial then suggests Little Carlton may have
0:56:05 > 0:56:09been a settlement of great importance, and it was perhaps
0:56:09 > 0:56:13the resting place of an Anglo-Saxon king or saint.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20So what you found then is a lost Anglo-Saxon settlement,
0:56:20 > 0:56:21and possibly monastery?
0:56:21 > 0:56:24Absolutely. No-one knew it was there before, and it certainly looks
0:56:24 > 0:56:26a good contender for a possible early monastery.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31You're really redrawing the map archaeologically.
0:56:31 > 0:56:32Nobody knew this was there.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38Little Carlton is so packed with information
0:56:38 > 0:56:41that Hugh and his team expect to be digging here for many years.
0:56:43 > 0:56:48At the moment, the finds are intriguing but hard to decipher.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52But the more that they uncover,
0:56:52 > 0:56:54the more they will be able to untangle the story
0:56:54 > 0:56:57of how the Anglo-Saxons staged their occupation
0:56:57 > 0:57:01and laid the foundations for the first kingdoms of England.
0:57:06 > 0:57:11This year's finds in the north have changed the story of Britain -
0:57:11 > 0:57:17from what it was really like to face the might of Rome,
0:57:17 > 0:57:21to the forgotten Stone Age inventors of Scotland's famous crannogs...
0:57:21 > 0:57:24Oh, Dan.
0:57:24 > 0:57:25That is absolutely amazing.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30..and the lost rituals of our ancient ancestors.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35There's no doubt that it's a human jaw. No doubt whatsoever.
0:57:37 > 0:57:38Through archaeology,
0:57:38 > 0:57:40we've been able to reach out across
0:57:40 > 0:57:43the centuries, and touch our ancestors' lives.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53Next week's episode of Digging For Britain
0:57:53 > 0:57:57comes from the East, and is packed with revelations.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01Brand-new insights from the prehistoric village
0:58:01 > 0:58:03dubbed Britain's Pompeii...
0:58:03 > 0:58:08We've got a pristine image of exactly what was going on
0:58:08 > 0:58:103,000 years ago.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14..discovering the site of one of the most decisive battles
0:58:14 > 0:58:15of the Wars of the Roses...
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Certainly we're getting close to the battlefield.
0:58:21 > 0:58:24..and uncovering Shakespeare's lost theatre.
0:58:26 > 0:58:30Quite thrilling to think that he was here, performing,
0:58:30 > 0:58:32on the stage that was just behind me.