0:00:02 > 0:00:03We may be a small island,
0:00:03 > 0:00:07but we have a big history that's still full of mysteries.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13So every year hundreds of archaeologists go out hunting
0:00:13 > 0:00:16for clues to our forgotten past.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19I have never seen anything like that.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22In 2016, their discoveries have been more exciting than ever.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24It's all happening now.
0:00:24 > 0:00:25- You little devil, Johann!- Yeah.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27HE LAUGHS
0:00:27 > 0:00:30In this programme, Digging For Britain showcases
0:00:30 > 0:00:32the very best of them from the East.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Each excavation was filmed as it happened
0:00:36 > 0:00:39by the archaeologists themselves.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Their dig diaries mean that we can be there for
0:00:44 > 0:00:47every exciting moment of discovery.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50- Cracking little find.- It's superb.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56And now the archaeologists are bringing their finds - from pottery
0:00:56 > 0:00:59to metalwork to human remains -
0:00:59 > 0:01:02into our lab so that we can get a closer look at them
0:01:02 > 0:01:06and find out what they tell 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 east of the country to share in their biggest discoveries.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37In Barnet, North London,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40we're searching for the site of one of the most important battles
0:01:40 > 0:01:42of the Wars of the Roses.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45We found something that's actually quite interesting
0:01:45 > 0:01:47and could indeed be from the battle.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51We travel to Norfolk to reveal strange burial rituals
0:01:51 > 0:01:54of the earliest Christians.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57We've uncovered our best preserved wooden burial.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58One, two, three.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05And we're in East London as archaeologists unearth a theatre
0:02:05 > 0:02:09that inspired some of Shakespeare's greatest plays.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14It's quite thrilling to think that he was here performing on this stage
0:02:14 > 0:02:15that was just behind me.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22To find out how these discoveries fit into the story of Britain,
0:02:22 > 0:02:27I've come to Canterbury to explore the city's museums and find out how
0:02:27 > 0:02:31the artefacts in these collections help to tell the story of the East.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Our first dig takes us to East Anglia,
0:02:37 > 0:02:42where an entire 3,000-year-old village has been preserved
0:02:42 > 0:02:44in the famous watery fens.
0:02:44 > 0:02:50Must Farm is a Bronze Age site in Cambridgeshire, and what can I say?
0:02:50 > 0:02:52I honestly believe that this is
0:02:52 > 0:02:55the most exciting archaeological discovery in Britain
0:02:55 > 0:02:57during my lifetime.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05'I was lucky enough to visit the site earlier this year
0:03:05 > 0:03:07'when the excavations got under way.'
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Oh, wow!
0:03:09 > 0:03:12'The preservation is so extraordinary,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15'it's been dubbed Britain's Pompeii.'
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Oh, this has just sent a shiver down my spine.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19This is amazing!
0:03:24 > 0:03:29The Must Farm site consists of five complete roundhouses -
0:03:29 > 0:03:32the remains of what was once a thriving Bronze Age village.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38But 3,000 years ago it caught fire
0:03:38 > 0:03:40and collapsed into the marshy fens,
0:03:40 > 0:03:45where the houses and their contents were perfectly preserved in the mud.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54We can see quite clearly the layout of the settlement from up here,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and you can see how the roof timbers -
0:03:57 > 0:04:02the radiating roof timbers - have fallen down almost in situ.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09So far the excavations have revealed Britain's oldest wheel...
0:04:09 > 0:04:11This is just bigger and better than anything else,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14and complete - the fact it's complete is wonderful.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18..and precious imported glass beads.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20Beautiful objects, aren't they?
0:04:21 > 0:04:25Showing us that Bronze Age Britons were technologically advanced
0:04:25 > 0:04:29and more closely connected to Europe than we'd previously imagined.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37We've come back to Must Farm because
0:04:37 > 0:04:42the team expects more revelations to emerge from inside the roundhouses.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46We often talk about archaeological sites as being time capsules
0:04:46 > 0:04:49where we can peer in and see the objects of the past
0:04:49 > 0:04:54and imagine what life was like, but Must Farm is a special case.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00Its catastrophic end means that we have this moment frozen in time.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02The layout of the roundhouses is
0:05:02 > 0:05:07there to see and we've even got the contents of those houses, as well.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09So we're starting to be able
0:05:09 > 0:05:14to really appreciate what family life was like 3,000 years ago.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Before the discovery of Must Farm,
0:05:22 > 0:05:26we knew that Bronze Age roundhouses consisted of a single living space,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29but how this space was used was a mystery.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35The houses and contents are so well preserved here
0:05:35 > 0:05:38that for the first time, Mark Knight and his team
0:05:38 > 0:05:42are effectively able to step inside Bronze Age homes
0:05:42 > 0:05:44where they hope to see exactly how
0:05:44 > 0:05:46our ancestors organised their everyday lives.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49It's unbelievable, isn't it?
0:05:49 > 0:05:53It's beyond any sort of dream of what you could do within archaeology
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and the sense that there is height.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59You know? We feel like we have to sort of...
0:05:59 > 0:06:03dip our heads slightly and we'll be walking into those buildings.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05The archaeologists begin with Roundhouse One
0:06:05 > 0:06:07in the centre of the village.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13They start digging at the north-eastern end of the building
0:06:13 > 0:06:15and one of their first finds is extraordinary -
0:06:15 > 0:06:20the remains of 3,000-year-old prehistoric food.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24You can see the sort of carbonised remains within the pot.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Sometimes you can see grains,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29fragments of leaves and things like that.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33As they continue to dig, a surprising pattern emerges.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Everything they find here is for food preparation.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40This is the north-eastern quarter of Roundhouse One.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43So we've got a bowl here.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47There's a wooden platter starting to come up here.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50There's a big storage vessel just there.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53There's more bowls just over here,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57and then there's a wooden bucket or bowl and an inverted platter
0:06:57 > 0:06:58just there, as well.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05What the team has found is quite clearly a dedicated kitchen area
0:07:05 > 0:07:07within the roundhouse.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Until this discovery, there has never been any evidence
0:07:10 > 0:07:14that Bronze Age people laid out their homes like this.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17And this kitchen is equipped
0:07:17 > 0:07:20with everything needed for a slap-up meal.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24You can imagine that there was a handle here and a handle there,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26presumably for presenting a meal
0:07:26 > 0:07:28or, I don't know, a pig's head
0:07:28 > 0:07:31or whatever it is that sits on this object.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36As the team move on to focus on another part of the roundhouse,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39the discoveries take an entirely different turn.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43OK, so we're just excavating
0:07:43 > 0:07:47the south-east quadrant of the roundhouse.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50We're coming down to an area, we've got lots of textile
0:07:50 > 0:07:53and we've got a really nice piece down here.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57This is the weavers' quarter or something like that
0:07:57 > 0:07:59because we've got loom weights, we've got textiles
0:07:59 > 0:08:02and we've got plant fibres that haven't been processed or spun yet.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07This is a revelation.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10This roundhouse is not an all-purpose space,
0:08:10 > 0:08:14but it's subdivided into highly organised open-plan living.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20We've taken the roof off Roundhouse One
0:08:20 > 0:08:22and we're doing that in quadrants
0:08:22 > 0:08:24and we're finding that each of the quadrants that we excavate
0:08:24 > 0:08:26is different from the next.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30So that sense of, there's an arrangement of things going on inside the roundhouse
0:08:30 > 0:08:32is really, really important, I think.
0:08:32 > 0:08:38We knew that this type of Bronze Age home consisted of a single room,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41but we didn't know anything about the organisation.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43This new evidence shows us
0:08:43 > 0:08:46that the space was divided into specific areas
0:08:46 > 0:08:50and suddenly we're looking at something very familiar to us.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53It feels like the way we organise our houses today.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56And in the final part of Roundhouse One
0:08:56 > 0:08:58there's another surprising revelation.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04It's the 31st March, first thing in the morning.
0:09:04 > 0:09:05We found...
0:09:06 > 0:09:09..these little pieces of metalwork.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11So we've got a small axe-type thing
0:09:11 > 0:09:14that might be like a chisel or something like that,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16and then another kind of currently unidentified piece of metal.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19It's like a tube. We don't really know what that could be yet.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21This is the axe object and this is the tube.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Bronze Age metal tools like these
0:09:24 > 0:09:27were thought to be rare and precious possessions,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31so this number of discoveries is unexpected
0:09:31 > 0:09:33and, astoundingly, the finds keep coming.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37And then Lou has just found...
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Ooh! Hadn't seen that one.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Lou has just found this little pin.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44Yeah. Pretty cool.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48And then there's also...
0:09:48 > 0:09:52this spear, so that's quite exciting for us
0:09:52 > 0:09:56because that's a spear inside one of the houses.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58I think that's quite unusual.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02On-site, Mark is developing a theory
0:10:02 > 0:10:05that could explain what's going on here.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09We're starting to see, I think, tool kits,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12but they seem to be occurring within roundhouses.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16So it does look like each household had...
0:10:16 > 0:10:20I don't know, punches and awls and chisels and gouges
0:10:20 > 0:10:22and axes and things like that,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and tweezers and razors and things like that
0:10:25 > 0:10:27occurring within the household.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33The extraordinary finds here take us closer than ever before
0:10:33 > 0:10:36into the lives of our Bronze Age ancestors.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46I've invited Mark to join me in the lab to help explain how Must Farm is
0:10:46 > 0:10:50revolutionising our understanding of the Bronze Age and what it was like
0:10:50 > 0:10:54to live in one of those 3,000-year-old roundhouses.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Mark, what would it have been like walking into this house?
0:11:00 > 0:11:01So, if we entered this building,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04I think the first thing that we would find is that
0:11:04 > 0:11:05the floors were quite springy.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07So we've got a watercourse beneath us,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10so we're not necessarily certain about our footing, I think.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13And then we have that sense of distribution, I suppose.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17The entranceways are facing towards the sunrise, towards the east,
0:11:17 > 0:11:21so we're coming in where there's the most light and immediately we see
0:11:21 > 0:11:24the metalwork distribution and all the pots and the wooden vessels
0:11:24 > 0:11:26and things and then the textiles.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28So things that maybe needed light,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32things that you were doing on a daily basis and stuff like that.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Whereas the western half of the building was pretty much
0:11:35 > 0:11:39materially sterile. It was very rare to find anything in there at all.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41So maybe that is the sort of dark recesses,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44- the sleeping area, the places like that and things.- Yeah, yeah.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48'But it's the contents of these houses that are really changing
0:11:48 > 0:11:51'our ideas about Bronze Age living standards.'
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Where did all of this metalwork come from?
0:11:54 > 0:11:55This is all from Roundhouse One.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57- From a single house? - From a single house.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00So it's already sort of bamboozling the experts
0:12:00 > 0:12:02in a sense of its quantity.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04So we're seeing for the first time what a complete assemblage
0:12:04 > 0:12:08or a household assemblage looks like, and this is it.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10And it's surprising us.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12'And it's not just Roundhouse One.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16'Incredibly, each house in this village was equally well equipped.'
0:12:17 > 0:12:22It feels as if we have a set inventory for each structure
0:12:22 > 0:12:26and that each structure has a list of objects that are very similar.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28So it's...
0:12:28 > 0:12:3411 pots, seven axes, a couple of spears, two sickles, two gouges,
0:12:34 > 0:12:39a razor and then amongst that we've got wooden buckets, wooden platters.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41It's utterly fascinating.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43It's rather like if I was to come round to your house
0:12:43 > 0:12:46I'd expect to find certain sets of things.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50I'd expect in your kitchen to find a drawer that contains cutlery in it,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53that contains knives and forks and spoons, and I would expect that
0:12:53 > 0:12:55probably you'll have a garden spade and a garden fork,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58probably just one garden spade and one garden fork.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00It's this kind of level of detail that we're getting at.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03Absolutely and I think that's the sense of,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07you feel like we're adding some sort of texture and flesh, I suppose,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11to that period that we'd not previously had.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14'Importantly, Mark doesn't think
0:13:14 > 0:13:17'that the settlement at Must Farm was extraordinary.'
0:13:17 > 0:13:19I'd like to think that this is typical,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22this is a representative settlement of the later Bronze Age.
0:13:22 > 0:13:23This is not an anomaly.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26We're not looking at some sort of special place and things,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30we're actually seeing something that has been beyond us
0:13:30 > 0:13:33because we just don't get these levels of preservation.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36This is where archaeology gets really exciting for me,
0:13:36 > 0:13:41where it's forcing us to confront our expectations.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43- Yeah.- And it's going to make us change our minds.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46I think so. Do you know what? I feel like for the first time
0:13:46 > 0:13:48we're digging their world and not our world
0:13:48 > 0:13:50and I think that's the difference.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54The excavations at Must Farm
0:13:54 > 0:13:58are rewriting our understanding of life in the Bronze Age.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04It seems that 3,000 years ago our ancestors enjoyed a lifestyle
0:14:04 > 0:14:06that we'd recognise today.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Complete with lovingly designed homes
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and much-prized personal possessions.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16This muddy and waterlogged site
0:14:16 > 0:14:20is revealing the beginnings of our modern world.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30Must Farm was discovered by accident in Cambridgeshire's marshy fens,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34but some discoveries are the result of intense searching.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41One such search took place on the outskirts of London, near Barnet -
0:14:41 > 0:14:45the site of one of the most decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51In the 15th century, the Houses of York and Lancaster clashed
0:14:51 > 0:14:53over control of the English throne.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57It was a war that would end with the death of Richard III
0:14:57 > 0:15:00and the establishment of the Tudor dynasty.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03One of its most decisive battles was that of the Battle of Barnet,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07but, rather extraordinarily, nobody knows exactly where it happened.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17The Battle of Barnet took place on the 14th of April, 1471...
0:15:19 > 0:15:22..and pitted the Yorkist forces of Edward IV
0:15:22 > 0:15:25against the Earl of Warwick's Lancastrian army.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33The battle is believed to have been fought where the modern town is today,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36but no evidence of the fighting has ever been discovered here.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42But when medieval cannonballs were found in a field
0:15:42 > 0:15:44a mile to the north of the town,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47archaeologist Sam Wilson decided to investigate.
0:15:49 > 0:15:50And when he got to the area,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53he was intrigued to see that it fits
0:15:53 > 0:15:56the historical descriptions of the battlefield.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59We are in this area that's really
0:15:59 > 0:16:03of quite a lot of interest to us
0:16:03 > 0:16:05because if you look around,
0:16:05 > 0:16:10if I pan the camera around very slowly...
0:16:11 > 0:16:13..all the way around,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18you can see we're sort of in
0:16:18 > 0:16:20a very large bowl in the landscape.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The land rises up away from us over there.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25It rises up over there
0:16:25 > 0:16:28and then it rises up all the way over there.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32And potentially this puts us in an area that is actually
0:16:32 > 0:16:34described in one of the accounts.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37It talks about Edward moving his men off the road
0:16:37 > 0:16:39into a hollow in a marsh
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and this whole area could potentially, we think,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45be that hollow that is described in the accounts.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49It's a promising start in his search for the battlefield
0:16:49 > 0:16:51but the scale of the challenge is daunting.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58They will need to scour nearly 2,000 acres, and what's more,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01these fields are all littered with modern metal debris.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Anything exciting?
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Probably a ring off an umbrella or something.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10- It's a piece of rubbish. - A piece of rubbish.- Hooray!
0:17:12 > 0:17:15The team knows that the Battle of Barnet was
0:17:15 > 0:17:16a brutal and bloody affair,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19ultimately decided by hand-to-hand combat.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25So metal detecting gives them the best chance of finding
0:17:25 > 0:17:27items lost during the fighting.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30So we're here in Barnet again.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34It's about day 60, something like that.
0:17:34 > 0:17:35I've slightly lost track.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38And we're in this very, very large field.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40It's about 50 acres in total.
0:17:40 > 0:17:41METAL DETECTORS BEEP
0:17:41 > 0:17:46Finally, after months of combing every inch of this ground,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50they find their first possible sign of the medieval battle.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54Oh. Oh, it's all happening now.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58This is half of a purse bar.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00What you had was a little block
0:18:00 > 0:18:03in the centre with a loop that attached to your belt
0:18:03 > 0:18:05and then a corresponding one of these on the other side
0:18:05 > 0:18:09and then you had a cloth pouch that hung off of it,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13so, for your loose change and your spectacles or whatever.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15And that would just sit on your belt.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19So, potentially that's something...
0:18:19 > 0:18:22Well, probably every man in the 15th century
0:18:22 > 0:18:24would have had a purse of some sort.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29It's a promising find but they need much more evidence.
0:18:31 > 0:18:32They're in luck.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38Well, that's really good.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41That's about the fourth spur we've had.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43I'll let you do the explanation, Simon.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Yeah, it's a mount for leather.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47It's got little hooks on the back
0:18:47 > 0:18:50for piercing the leather, then folding over.
0:18:50 > 0:18:51And you think medieval?
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Yeah, I've shown it to a couple of the lads and they said definitely.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Yeah, that looks interesting.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02And then...
0:19:02 > 0:19:03RAPID BEEPING
0:19:03 > 0:19:06..the team hit the most telling find of all -
0:19:06 > 0:19:09a discovery that exactly matches
0:19:09 > 0:19:12those found at other Wars of the Roses battle sites.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Typically, as everyone was packing up,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19just one detectorist was still working.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22About the last 30 metres of his transit, we found something
0:19:22 > 0:19:25that's actually quite interesting and could indeed be from the battle.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29It's in here...
0:19:29 > 0:19:30Here we go.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37So this is medieval.
0:19:37 > 0:19:38It's a mount.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41It's quite substantial,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43so it's possibly a bit too big to be a belt mount.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46It might be off a horse harness, something like that.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Perhaps this is actually from the battle
0:19:48 > 0:19:51or certainly we're getting close to the battlefield.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56You'd expect to find items like this on a battlefield
0:19:56 > 0:20:00and they are all from the right period in the 15th century.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04So could this be the site where Edward IV defeated the Earl of Warwick,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08eventually paving the way for a Tudor dynasty?
0:20:08 > 0:20:10I love that. Can I pick it up?
0:20:10 > 0:20:13- Yeah, sure.- So you think this would have been attached to
0:20:13 > 0:20:16someone's clothing or perhaps part of a horse trapping?
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Yeah, I think it's probably a bit substantial to be
0:20:19 > 0:20:21attached to clothing or a belt.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23It's quite big, it's fairly heavy,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27and you might well have had several of these in a repeated design.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Perhaps it could be something from a horse harness, a bridle,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34something like that. But of course the armies used a lot of horses,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37thousands and thousands of horses, to get to the battlefield.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39So they're using guns from a distance.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41I presume this is brutal stuff.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44The cannonballs really work by pure brute force.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46They are solid spheres of lead.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Some of the larger ones have got iron cores in them or stone cores
0:20:50 > 0:20:54and really, they were just there to punch through files of men.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57I find it really odd that Edward is bringing his men into
0:20:57 > 0:21:00this low-lying area. That seems like such an odd strategy
0:21:00 > 0:21:02if you're just about to engage in battle.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04I think that is probably due to
0:21:04 > 0:21:08the fact that Edward approaches the battlefield as it's getting dark.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12He doesn't quite know where Warwick is and vice versa.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14But it plays to his advantage?
0:21:14 > 0:21:18According to some of the accounts, Warwick actually is firing
0:21:18 > 0:21:21his artillery where he believes Edward to be.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25The accounts describe that the shots go over the heads of Edward's men
0:21:25 > 0:21:27and perhaps that's because they're down in this hollow.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Do you think you've got enough evidence to actually
0:21:31 > 0:21:32reposition the whole battle?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35I think - based on this concentration of evidence
0:21:35 > 0:21:38and the apparent lack of evidence elsewhere,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41I think we're certainly getting close to it.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44- You'll have to come back next year and tell us how you do.- I hope so.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46And I hope I can have more cannonballs with me.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52Incredibly, the precise location of the Battle of Barnet has been lost
0:21:52 > 0:21:55for over 500 years.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59But Sam's investigation is bringing us closer to discovering not only
0:21:59 > 0:22:01where it was fought, but how
0:22:01 > 0:22:04the landscape proved to be a decisive factor
0:22:04 > 0:22:08in this bloody clash that led to the foundation of the Tudor dynasty.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20Britain has been Christian for well over 1,000 years.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23It's woven into the fabric of our society.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Its emergence in the late sixth century -
0:22:28 > 0:22:31a period for which we have few written records -
0:22:31 > 0:22:33means we know very little about
0:22:33 > 0:22:38how ordinary Britons adopted and practised this new religion.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43But now, two remarkable excavations are changing that.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48The first comes from Great Ryburgh in Norfolk.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53The spread of Christianity across England involved
0:22:53 > 0:22:57not just a change in beliefs, but a change in practices,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00and that's where archaeology comes into its own.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05The chance discovery of a small cemetery in North Norfolk offers us
0:23:05 > 0:23:09astonishing insights into rituals practised by a community
0:23:09 > 0:23:12just a few generations after conversion to Christianity.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21In late 2015, landowner Gary Boyce started to dig
0:23:21 > 0:23:23a conservation reservoir on his land.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27But not long after the diggers started work,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31one of the workmen found something unexpected.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32A human bone.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Within days, multiple fragments of skeletons
0:23:37 > 0:23:39began to emerge from the mud.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Shocked would be the first word that springs to mind!
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Now it's quite exciting.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Gary had no idea what he'd stumbled upon,
0:23:51 > 0:23:53so he called Historic England,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57who in turn brought in experts from Museum of London Archaeology.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02But as the skeletons were properly excavated,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05it became clear that this was no ordinary burial site.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08This is the first time we've seen
0:24:08 > 0:24:10tree trunks that have been hollowed out to contain the body.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15It appeared that every person here
0:24:15 > 0:24:18had been laid to rest in a hollowed-out tree trunk.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21This is a very unusual burial practice.
0:24:24 > 0:24:25But who were these people
0:24:25 > 0:24:28and why were they buried in this strange way?
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Site director Jim Fairclough
0:24:31 > 0:24:35believes the orientation of the graves provides a strong clue.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40In part, basically by the positioning and the orientation
0:24:40 > 0:24:42we think there may be some Christian influences.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44But without any form of grave goods or anything like that,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46it's kind of hard to tell right now.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54Like most Christian graveyards, the people buried here are facing east.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Dating the cemetery may provide a further clue
0:24:57 > 0:25:00but at this point there are no objects here which could
0:25:00 > 0:25:02point to a particular time period.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Then, one of the team gets lucky.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11It looks to be a section of pot base,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14a shard of Ipswich ware, mid-Saxon.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20This is an important find,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24as a mid-Saxon date roughly around the eighth century
0:25:24 > 0:25:28suggests that these people probably were Christians
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and amongst the first Britons to convert to Christianity.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36But using hollowed-out tree trunks for coffins
0:25:36 > 0:25:39is extremely unusual for this period.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43More clues start to emerge from the excavation.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47We're halfway through week five now
0:25:47 > 0:25:52and basically we've uncovered what is our best-preserved wooden burial.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Again we have a basic dug-out base from a section of tree.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57On this one we also have a lid which is basically covered up.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59It wasn't a sealed coffin
0:25:59 > 0:26:01but basically another hollowed-out piece of wood
0:26:01 > 0:26:03has been placed over the top to protect the burial.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06And what we're going to try to do today is lift the lid.
0:26:06 > 0:26:07One, two, three.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Because the coffins are so well preserved,
0:26:14 > 0:26:19the archaeologists start to notice that the wood is very poor quality.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21It's very knotted wood,
0:26:21 > 0:26:23so very irregularly shaped and very knotted in places.
0:26:23 > 0:26:28You see here we have a large number of knots on the actual wood itself,
0:26:28 > 0:26:29at this end piece.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31What our specialist thinks is
0:26:31 > 0:26:33it's wood that's unsuitable for creating timbers out of.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40These people are clearly not using the best wood for their coffins.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45With the wood technology they're using - which our specialist says
0:26:45 > 0:26:47is similar to the stuff used for building troughs
0:26:47 > 0:26:51and mill runs - and also the lack of grave goods we've got so far,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54it points to a poor Christian burial site.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59Log coffins are well-known from earlier periods,
0:26:59 > 0:27:04going back into prehistory, but the archaeologists are really surprised
0:27:04 > 0:27:06to see this type of practice
0:27:06 > 0:27:09in what seems to be an early Christian cemetery.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17I've asked the team to come in and explain what's going on here.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23So this is certainly unusual, to have these log burials.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Does that hark back to an earlier pagan past, do you think?
0:27:27 > 0:27:29I think it does.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31We have to be very careful when we're talking about pagan
0:27:31 > 0:27:34because it's a pre-Christian religion or religions.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37We don't exactly know how they articulated their faith
0:27:37 > 0:27:41and their religion, but we do know from burials of that date
0:27:41 > 0:27:45that they were using structures - wooden structures of some sort -
0:27:45 > 0:27:48where the body was very clearly laid out in the ground.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51So we do seem to have, 100 years later,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55the same sort of tradition surviving but with a new religion.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00It's interesting, isn't it? Rather than seeing this new religion
0:28:00 > 0:28:06coming through with a package of ritual around it, it's very mosaic
0:28:06 > 0:28:07and you've got local diversity.
0:28:08 > 0:28:14'So it seems that our ancestors were blending pagan with Christian traditions.'
0:28:15 > 0:28:18Mid-eighth century there are lots of cemeteries
0:28:18 > 0:28:22that still have grave goods and orientations of graves
0:28:22 > 0:28:25in all sorts of directions, and things like ring ditches
0:28:25 > 0:28:28that suggest there might have been barrow mounds over them,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31so it was a time of great religious diversity.
0:28:33 > 0:28:39We need to look in more depth at the find spot and see if we can build up
0:28:39 > 0:28:41a bigger picture from it.
0:28:41 > 0:28:42- But it's exciting times.- Yeah.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46And it's thrown up all of these surprises totally by chance.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50Totally by chance. We just haven't seen a cemetery like this before
0:28:50 > 0:28:52anywhere in England.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58This is such a surprising and unexpected discovery,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01which seems to hark back to very ancient traditions.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07There may not be an unbroken link back to pagan burial rites,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11but what we're seeing here, thanks to the preservation of the wood,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14is a precious glimpse of a forgotten ritual.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21Chance finds like this log coffin -
0:29:21 > 0:29:25in fact, that whole cemetery full of log coffins -
0:29:25 > 0:29:28give us a really important insight
0:29:28 > 0:29:33into how Christianity was actually practised in those generations
0:29:33 > 0:29:37just after the re-emergence of this religion in Britain.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42But in a largely illiterate world,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46how did people first come into contact with Christianity?
0:29:47 > 0:29:52An excavation in North Oxfordshire tells a very surprising story
0:29:52 > 0:29:54of how the religion spread.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00In mid-2016, excavations in advance of quarry work
0:30:00 > 0:30:04unexpectedly revealed a large burial ground.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Over 120 graves were discovered,
0:30:08 > 0:30:10many dating to the seventh century -
0:30:10 > 0:30:15a time when Christianity was first taking root in Anglo-Saxon England.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Knowing that a site like this might produce some incredible finds,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25Oxford Archaeology's Steve Lawrence kept us this dig diary.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30This site is a complete surprise in terms of the Saxon archaeology.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32We'll be here until it's done.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35We estimate about two to three more weeks to
0:30:35 > 0:30:37finish off the graves we have left.
0:30:38 > 0:30:43Very quickly, the team realise that this was no ordinary burial ground.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48The discovery of rich grave goods with some of the skeletons
0:30:48 > 0:30:52indicates that the local Anglo-Saxon aristocracy was buried here,
0:30:52 > 0:30:54many of whom may have been Christian.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Then, towards the end of the dig,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02they uncover one grave that is particularly intriguing.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08The first thing they notice are small pieces of iron
0:31:08 > 0:31:11mysteriously dotted around the skeleton.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17This is one of the most exciting graves we've had so far.
0:31:19 > 0:31:24At the western end we have two iron headboard stays just showing up.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27We have the skull, you can see at the very bottom,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30but that's overlain by this layer of rubble.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37The team have something incredibly rare - an Anglo-Saxon bed burial.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41Underneath our bags here
0:31:41 > 0:31:44we do have some small, delicate iron fittings that go with the bed.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48Once we reveal or remove all of this limestone rubble, we should then see
0:31:48 > 0:31:50also further iron fittings.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57Bed burials are unique to the seventh century -
0:31:57 > 0:31:59a time when Christianity was first
0:31:59 > 0:32:03spreading across Anglo-Saxon England - and strangely,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06the only people buried in this way were women.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08This one seems to fit the pattern.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13At the moment it's looking more female than male,
0:32:13 > 0:32:15but that's only judging by its brow.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19There's not too much wear on the upper teeth
0:32:19 > 0:32:22- so it probably is still quite young, as well.- Quite young.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29The team remove the rubble from the grave to examine the remains
0:32:29 > 0:32:30of the bed in more detail.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38We've now got revealed a series of three cleats going down each side.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42These are to hold the planking of the bed together.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45The two stays at the top
0:32:45 > 0:32:49and a series of eyelets dotted all around
0:32:49 > 0:32:53with a couple of extra iron fittings at the foot end there
0:32:53 > 0:32:56and another one at the head end here.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01These corroded pieces of iron
0:33:01 > 0:33:04once held together an expensive, ornate bed.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09There is no doubt that this was not an ordinary young woman.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14With the burial fully excavated,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16the team can see how she was laid to rest.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Start now.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23We now have the bed burial fully revealed.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25From the skeleton we can now tell
0:33:25 > 0:33:29it's definitely a young adult female,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33been kind of buried in almost a sleeping-like position on her side.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39To find out why this wealthy Anglo-Saxon woman
0:33:39 > 0:33:41was buried in this way,
0:33:41 > 0:33:45and to see what she can tell us about Christianity at the time,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47I've asked some of the team to join me in the lab.
0:33:51 > 0:33:52So these are the remains of
0:33:52 > 0:33:53this young woman that was buried
0:33:53 > 0:33:55with a bed at your site, Steve?
0:33:55 > 0:33:57Yep. These are fresh out of the ground.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00They only came out of the ground a couple of days ago.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03Were there any other associated artefacts with her to give us
0:34:03 > 0:34:04more of a clue to her identity?
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Unfortunately not.
0:34:06 > 0:34:07It was just the body and the bed.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10I say just the bed - the bed is an amazing discovery.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Sam, you've dug sites where you've seen bed burials
0:34:14 > 0:34:18but I think you've had other artefacts in the burial, as well.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Yeah. We had a very nice site at Trumpington just outside Cambridge
0:34:22 > 0:34:24and that burial had spectacular finds with it -
0:34:24 > 0:34:27a gold and garnet pectoral cross,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30so one of these kind of nice cruciform designs,
0:34:30 > 0:34:32so we're starting to get associations from that burial,
0:34:32 > 0:34:36but also some of the other bed burials, that these are often
0:34:36 > 0:34:38associated with potentially high-status women.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40And high-status women who were
0:34:40 > 0:34:43demonstrating their allegiance with Christianity?
0:34:43 > 0:34:47There are five examples of these very distinct pectoral crosses.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Two of them are with bed burials,
0:34:49 > 0:34:51one of them is with St Cuthbert.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55It's a real striking set of finds that you've got there.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59I think it has to be with those burials associated with Christianity.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01Is there any way that being buried in a bed
0:35:01 > 0:35:02can be seen as part of that?
0:35:02 > 0:35:05It's an interesting question.
0:35:05 > 0:35:11My colleagues who study Anglo-Saxon literature will talk about links
0:35:11 > 0:35:13between verbs to sleep and to die,
0:35:13 > 0:35:17that you start seeing come through the Christianised literature.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19I think it's definitely a possibility
0:35:19 > 0:35:21of what's going on at this time.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23It may be that bed burials were seen
0:35:23 > 0:35:26as a clearly Christian burial practice
0:35:26 > 0:35:28and wealthy women may have had
0:35:28 > 0:35:32a vital role in converting Britain to Christianity.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35So is this telling us something interesting about gender
0:35:35 > 0:35:38and the spread of Christianity? Because I think we tend to
0:35:38 > 0:35:40think of the church as being incredibly male-dominated.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42Not in the seventh century.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45For a lot of aristocratic women in this period,
0:35:45 > 0:35:49it offers an attractive and a viable alternative to marriage.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53But at the same time it's a way of them retaining their power.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Yeah. And it's a network that spreads across Europe, as well.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59So women who are running monasteries in England
0:35:59 > 0:36:03have sisters who are running monasteries in the Frankish kingdoms
0:36:03 > 0:36:05and so these networks of power
0:36:05 > 0:36:09are spreading across Western Europe at this time.
0:36:09 > 0:36:10And it's not until later on
0:36:10 > 0:36:13that women lose that place within the church.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18The discovery of bed burials like this
0:36:18 > 0:36:20casts light on a vitally important
0:36:20 > 0:36:24but almost entirely forgotten part of our history -
0:36:24 > 0:36:26a network of powerful women
0:36:26 > 0:36:30who helped to introduce Christianity to ordinary Britons.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35And it's intriguing that for many of these women,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39Christianity offered not just a spiritual faith,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42but a chance to live their lives independently.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47One of the most important of these women lived here in Canterbury -
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Queen Bertha of Kent.
0:36:49 > 0:36:541,400 years ago she was very famous and influential, and one special
0:36:54 > 0:36:59treasure associated with her is kept here at Canterbury's Beaney Museum.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01So tell me more about this particular pendant
0:37:01 > 0:37:03and how it's made.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05It's made of gold.
0:37:05 > 0:37:06And what they've done,
0:37:06 > 0:37:08they've built up the body of it
0:37:08 > 0:37:10and then they've inlaid garnets.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13None of this object is made of materials
0:37:13 > 0:37:17that can be sourced locally but it's certainly made in East Kent
0:37:17 > 0:37:20and I think that objects like this
0:37:20 > 0:37:25- are made deliberately to be given out as gifts.- Oh, really?
0:37:25 > 0:37:31So if a powerful man and woman, husband and wife, went to a feast
0:37:31 > 0:37:33and the king was present,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36he might gift the man with a jewelled sword belt
0:37:36 > 0:37:41and he might gift the woman with a pendant or a brooch like this.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45'But we also know that Kentish queens could be as powerful -
0:37:45 > 0:37:48'even more powerful - than Kentish kings.'
0:37:48 > 0:37:50So who was Queen Bertha?
0:37:50 > 0:37:55Bertha was the wife of King Ethelbert of Kent.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58She was Frankish.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02Franks were the sort of superpower of Western Europe at that time.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05So she was Christian.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09Ethelbert, when they married, was still pagan,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13but she brought with her a bishop to Canterbury
0:38:13 > 0:38:17and was given St Martin's Church as a place to worship.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Before the arrival of St Augustine,
0:38:20 > 0:38:26who brings the mission from Rome to convert the English to Christianity,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28Bertha's already here in Canterbury.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31- With a bishop? - With a bishop, worshipping.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35It sounds as though Bertha was powerful in her own right.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37She was marrying a king but
0:38:37 > 0:38:40she's part of this other very important dynasty on the Continent.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45Yes, she is part of a much more powerful family.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49So Ethelbert had done very well to be married to Bertha
0:38:49 > 0:38:54and she, I'm sure, would have been a formidable person
0:38:54 > 0:38:55and in no way in his shadow.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03From the powerful women like Bertha who spread Christianity
0:39:03 > 0:39:07to the faithful who perhaps combined it with their pagan past,
0:39:07 > 0:39:12these incredible discoveries help to fill in big gaps in our knowledge.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18And they remind us that Christian practices didn't arrive as a package
0:39:18 > 0:39:22and that they evolved over hundreds of years into the religion
0:39:22 > 0:39:24that we recognise today.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29In contrast to the countryside burial grounds,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32our next dig takes us into the city.
0:39:34 > 0:39:35To London's East End,
0:39:35 > 0:39:39where we're on the trail of one of Britain's most famous names.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44William Shakespeare is our greatest playwright.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46But the playhouses which employed him
0:39:46 > 0:39:48had a huge impact on his writing.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53And although we associate him with London's Globe Theatre,
0:39:53 > 0:39:56it's not the first venue that he wrote for.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Before the Globe, Shakespeare performed at an earlier playhouse,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01The Curtain, and it was this place
0:40:01 > 0:40:04that saw the premieres of some of his best-loved plays,
0:40:04 > 0:40:06including Romeo and Juliet.
0:40:09 > 0:40:15But no-one knew the precise location of The Curtain until 2011,
0:40:15 > 0:40:20when some building work revealed traces of the lost playhouse.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23In the year that marked the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death,
0:40:23 > 0:40:27a team from Museum of London Archaeology excavated The Curtain.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30Not only were they hoping to uncover and preserve
0:40:30 > 0:40:32the remains of the playhouse,
0:40:32 > 0:40:34they also wanted to test ideas
0:40:34 > 0:40:37about how the architecture of the performance space
0:40:37 > 0:40:40might have influenced the plays that were written for it.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46With layer upon layer of history piled up beneath London's streets,
0:40:46 > 0:40:48this is a complex dig for Heather Knight and her team.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52We've got a lot going on with the archaeology
0:40:52 > 0:40:54within the space of 100 years.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59So in places we can have three, four metres of stratigraphy.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01That is quite a lot to sort through!
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Despite the difficulties on site,
0:41:06 > 0:41:11the team have managed to reveal a key section of the playhouse.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15This wall formed part of the back of the theatre,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18so you would have the galleries against it.
0:41:20 > 0:41:26It's a great first find, but it also reveals something very surprising.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30The big thing, we found out,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33is that despite what a lot of people thought -
0:41:33 > 0:41:36that it was going to be polygonal - it's actually rectangular.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39This shape is an important revelation.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41It would influence the style of theatre here.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46So hopefully, in a few weeks' time,
0:41:46 > 0:41:50we'll really understand how this building worked.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54We'll understand the sizes and dimensions of the gallery space,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58the area of the yard where the audience would have been standing.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01We may get some evidence of the size of the stage.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Already the team can tell that The Curtain would have looked
0:42:07 > 0:42:11very different to polygonal or round theatres like The Globe.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13This was more like a typical Tudor inn.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18It was at The Curtain in the late 1590s
0:42:18 > 0:42:22that Shakespeare premiered two of his most famous works -
0:42:22 > 0:42:25Romeo and Juliet, and Henry V.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30And as the dig continues, the team begin to build a vivid picture
0:42:30 > 0:42:35of what it might have been like to be there on the first night.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39We've got these little beauties.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42These are the tops of money boxes.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44They're kind of a money box about this size.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47They'd be on top with a slit down the front.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50And as people are coming in to use the playhouse,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54they're depositing a penny to be able to come into the yard.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57Those money boxes were then taken back to the box office,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59which is where we get the term from,
0:42:59 > 0:43:03smashed, and the money is removed. Obviously, as they're smashed,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05we're looking to try and find the pieces
0:43:05 > 0:43:07of those that have been deposited.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10And luckily, at the bottom of these pits,
0:43:10 > 0:43:12we've managed to find a couple of pieces.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18Judging by the rest of the finds, once the audience paid up,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21they were guaranteed a good time.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25As well as the live entertainment, they were drinking beer,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28smoking clay pipes and snacking on shellfish.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34This was an afternoon of riot and fun, basically,
0:43:34 > 0:43:36from sort of two o'clock in the afternoon
0:43:36 > 0:43:37all the way through to six.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40Completely different, I think, from what we imagine,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43you know, when we go to see Shakespeare performed today.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45A completely different experience.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49By week eight, the team have uncovered
0:43:49 > 0:43:52more of the building's structure.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56But they're struggling to find what they really want - the stage itself.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03Then, during the final week of the dig, they make a breakthrough.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05It appears that one section of the wall,
0:44:05 > 0:44:08that they thought was a later addition, is exactly
0:44:08 > 0:44:10what they've been looking for.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16This wall that I've got my hand on, it's been with us for...
0:44:16 > 0:44:18Ooh, quite a while.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21And it actually could be... What we're thinking at the moment
0:44:21 > 0:44:25is it's the foundation for the front of the stage.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27So what they've done, in effect,
0:44:27 > 0:44:31is created a masonry shoebox, if you like...
0:44:32 > 0:44:37..which they then created the wooden stage on that masonry foundation.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43At 14 metres wide and nearly five metres deep,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46the stage is far bigger than the team expected.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50Its discovery is helping them reconstruct, for the very first time,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53what The Curtain may have looked like during its heyday.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58With a wide yard for the standing audience,
0:44:58 > 0:45:00two side galleries
0:45:00 > 0:45:04and a large rectangular stage at the back of the playhouse.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08So, here we are in the... you know, in celebrating, you know,
0:45:08 > 0:45:12400 years of Shakespeare and it's quite thrilling to think that
0:45:12 > 0:45:16he was here, performing on this stage that was just behind me.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22So, how do all these discoveries increase our understanding
0:45:22 > 0:45:24of Shakespeare's work?
0:45:24 > 0:45:26I've asked Heather to join me in the lab.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Must have felt pretty incredible digging that site and knowing
0:45:32 > 0:45:34- that you were that close to Shakespeare.- Yeah.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36SHE LAUGHS
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Do you think the building itself
0:45:38 > 0:45:42would have influenced the playwrights and the types of plays
0:45:42 > 0:45:43being put on there?
0:45:43 > 0:45:46When we think about the plays that we know were performed there -
0:45:46 > 0:45:50things like Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, you know -
0:45:50 > 0:45:54you think of the sword fights that take place within those plays.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Is it a big enough stage, do you think?
0:45:56 > 0:45:57- Oh, I think so.- Yeah?
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Yeah, yeah. I think it'd be... You know, it's bigger than...
0:46:01 > 0:46:04..say, the stage at The Rose.
0:46:04 > 0:46:05- Really?- And it's also bigger
0:46:05 > 0:46:08than the stage at the neighbouring theatre, as well.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10So, yeah, it's quite a large space, I think.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13So, that does suggest that perhaps you'd have more opportunity
0:46:13 > 0:46:17for those type of ensemble scenes and possibly fight scenes, as well.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20That's right. You can get quite a few people on the stage at the same time.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24These questions that, you know, we're posing, hopefully
0:46:24 > 0:46:26we'll get some way to answering.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30Rather wonderfully, the team have discovered a prop that
0:46:30 > 0:46:34could have been used in one of Romeo and Juliet's most famous scenes.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38It looks a bit like an egg cup.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41I don't know if you can see, it's actually got a sort of dimple
0:46:41 > 0:46:45in one side and there's a slight hole in it
0:46:45 > 0:46:48and that's where a rod has been passed through it
0:46:48 > 0:46:50and that's to connect a spout
0:46:50 > 0:46:51because it's a bird whistle.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53- Really?- So, you fill it with water
0:46:53 > 0:46:55and then you blow down it
0:46:55 > 0:46:57and it makes a sort of warbling noise.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02- Yeah.- So, in the context of finding it just outside the Playhouse,
0:47:02 > 0:47:06there's those questions of, is it related to performance?
0:47:06 > 0:47:09Are we seeing evidence of special effects?
0:47:09 > 0:47:12- Yes.- So, when you think of... - Birdsong in the background.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16Yeah, when you think of performances of, say, Romeo and Juliet,
0:47:16 > 0:47:18the nightingale and the lark that's mentioned,
0:47:18 > 0:47:24are they actually making birdsong to accompany that part of the play?
0:47:25 > 0:47:28'Heather thinks that the effect would have been similar to
0:47:28 > 0:47:30'a modern novelty bird whistle.'
0:47:30 > 0:47:32- Do you want me to...? - Yeah.- OK, then.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34Nightingale or a lark?
0:47:34 > 0:47:35We'll decide, shall we?
0:47:35 > 0:47:36TRILLING
0:47:36 > 0:47:38Ooh, yes.
0:47:38 > 0:47:39Fantastic.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43Just about, just about... Maybe a... Maybe a lark, I think!
0:47:43 > 0:47:44Yeah!
0:47:44 > 0:47:46It's one of those things we'll never know, isn't it?
0:47:46 > 0:47:49- No.- You know, I do rather like to imagine that
0:47:49 > 0:47:51that might have been used
0:47:51 > 0:47:53in a performance of Romeo and Juliet back then.
0:47:53 > 0:47:54That's fantastic.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02For the first time, archaeologists are able to suggest
0:48:02 > 0:48:06how the Curtain theatre was a major influence on Shakespeare.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10Its large stage gave him the freedom to write the famous fight scenes
0:48:10 > 0:48:14in masterpieces like Henry V and Romeo and Juliet.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19Our final discovery takes us
0:48:19 > 0:48:22right back to the beginnings of England as a nation,
0:48:22 > 0:48:26through an extraordinary find made near the village of Watlington
0:48:26 > 0:48:27in Oxfordshire.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32In the ninth century,
0:48:32 > 0:48:34England consisted of
0:48:34 > 0:48:36a number of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39They were ruled by powerful kings,
0:48:39 > 0:48:40some of whose predecessors
0:48:40 > 0:48:42had migrated to Britain from
0:48:42 > 0:48:45the Continent in the fifth century.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49Their laws and language would lay the foundations for England.
0:48:49 > 0:48:55The most famous, of course, was Alfred the Great, King of Wessex.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58In the 870s AD,
0:48:58 > 0:49:03Alfred was defending his Anglo-Saxon kingdom against rampaging Vikings.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06He emerged victorious, a hero,
0:49:06 > 0:49:09and his place in the history books was cemented.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12But a recently discovered hoard of coins
0:49:12 > 0:49:14reveals another side to this story.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19It suggests that Alfred may get too much credit
0:49:19 > 0:49:21for beating back the Vikings.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31In late 2015, James Mather was detecting a field near Watlington
0:49:31 > 0:49:33and not having much luck.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38I'd been out detecting for about five hours and unfortunately
0:49:38 > 0:49:41I hadn't found very much when I noticed a patch of high ground,
0:49:41 > 0:49:44which I hadn't detected on before.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Well, not long after I'd started detecting there,
0:49:47 > 0:49:49I received a really good signal.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52METAL DETECTOR BEEPS
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Digging down about six or seven inches, I found a small,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00about six-centimetre-long, silver ingot.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02It looked like a squashed cigar
0:50:02 > 0:50:04and I'd never found anything like that before.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09James later realised that this was a Viking ingot -
0:50:09 > 0:50:13a solid block of silver used as currency.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16It's a rare find for southern England.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Digging down, I found a hammered silver coin,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23which I immediately recognised was either Viking or Anglo-Saxon,
0:50:23 > 0:50:27so I carried on very, very carefully scraping soil away with my hand
0:50:27 > 0:50:30and I exposed a mass of silver coins.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34And at that point in time I realised I'd found something really special.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38James got in touch with the Portable Antiquities Scheme -
0:50:38 > 0:50:41the organisation that helps to report and interpret
0:50:41 > 0:50:43metal-detecting discoveries.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50The professionals decided to lift the hoard in one large block
0:50:50 > 0:50:51to protect coins.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54And then it was sent to the British Museum,
0:50:54 > 0:50:58where specialist conservator Pippa Pearce began the painstaking task
0:50:58 > 0:51:02of removing the individual treasures from the soil.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04It's a very greasy clay.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07It doesn't shift very easily, it doesn't brush.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10It clogs the brushes pretty well immediately.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14As the conservators work their way deeper into the hoard,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17they discover multiple treasures -
0:51:17 > 0:51:20Viking bracelets and silver ingots.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25Finally, they're ready to examine the coins in more detail.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27They soon identify a name.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32So, we've got an Alfred with an E - E-L-F-R-E-D.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36These coins date to just after
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Alfred's decisive victory over the Vikings
0:51:39 > 0:51:41at the Battle of Edington in 878.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46The defeated Viking forces may well have buried the hoard
0:51:46 > 0:51:48as they retreated back to their own territory,
0:51:48 > 0:51:50expecting one day to return.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56But as the team dig deeper into the hoard,
0:51:56 > 0:51:59they notice something entirely unexpected.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02It's not just King Alfred's name on the coins.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09I'd very much like to get this one out whole.
0:52:09 > 0:52:14There's a coin of Ceolwulf, you can see the O and the L and the W.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18"Ceolwulf" is coming out intact.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23We're getting two people on the coins -
0:52:23 > 0:52:26one of them is Alfred the Great
0:52:26 > 0:52:29and the other one is someone called Ceolwulf,
0:52:29 > 0:52:35who is described by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a "foolish thane."
0:52:39 > 0:52:42The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a history of England
0:52:42 > 0:52:44started during Alfred's reign.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48Its reference to Ceolwulf is doubly insulting.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53Not only is he foolish, he's a thane - an insignificant, minor nobleman.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59But these coins prove that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is wrong.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03Ceolwulf was a king.
0:53:04 > 0:53:06At the end of the conservation process,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09the team discovers something really interesting -
0:53:09 > 0:53:15a coin depicting two rulers sitting beneath a symbol for unity.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19It suggests that Alfred and Ceolwulf had formed an alliance
0:53:19 > 0:53:20to fight the Vikings.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27'But why have we never heard about this before?
0:53:27 > 0:53:30'Coin specialist John Naylor has joined me in the lab.'
0:53:32 > 0:53:33What a wonderful find.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37This is a really curious image on this coin. I mean,
0:53:37 > 0:53:40does that suggest that you've got two kings
0:53:40 > 0:53:44of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms at this time ruling together?
0:53:44 > 0:53:45It's very possible.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49But the fact that it's happening at exactly the point that
0:53:49 > 0:53:52the two remaining Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were under great threat,
0:53:52 > 0:53:53so suggesting that it is an alliance
0:53:53 > 0:53:56between the two kings represented on a coin is very likely.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01'Ceolwulf's Mercia and Alfred's Wessex were the only kingdoms
0:54:01 > 0:54:04'to successfully resist the Vikings.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07'This evidence isn't just a new revelation - it makes sense.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11'Their alliance gave them the strength to fight back.'
0:54:11 > 0:54:14So, what happens to Ceolwulf, then?
0:54:14 > 0:54:17Because we don't really hear any more about him.
0:54:17 > 0:54:18We don't really know.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23There's no record of when he died, why he died, where he was buried,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26so he literally just disappears from history.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29'After that, Alfred took over Ceolwulf's lands
0:54:29 > 0:54:33'and airbrushed him from the records.'
0:54:33 > 0:54:37This does, I think, paint a bit of a different picture of Alfred
0:54:37 > 0:54:41than the one we're normally used to where he is the great and the good.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44You're seeing him a bit more as a politician here.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46He's positioning himself as
0:54:46 > 0:54:50essentially this emperor of the Anglo-Saxons.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55Yes, well, the documents do show him in a glowing light
0:54:55 > 0:54:59and he's the only king we have known as "the Great" in this country.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02He may well have been a very pious king and a very good king but he was
0:55:02 > 0:55:06also a typical early medieval ruler
0:55:06 > 0:55:10who took the political advantage that he could.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12Alfred the Great and the Wily.
0:55:12 > 0:55:13HE CHUCKLES
0:55:13 > 0:55:15Indeed.
0:55:16 > 0:55:21'This hoard is transforming the story of how Britain beat back the Vikings.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23'It really is an incredible find.'
0:55:23 > 0:55:28It's providing us with a more nuanced portrait of Alfred
0:55:28 > 0:55:33and slotting a forgotten king back into our history books.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38But no-one could keep the Vikings out forever.
0:55:38 > 0:55:45This year marks the 1,000-year anniversary of the Viking conquest of Britain in 1016.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50And here, in Canterbury's Heritage Museum,
0:55:50 > 0:55:53'there's a secret weapon that was instrumental to their victory.'
0:55:55 > 0:55:56Craig, you've promised to show me
0:55:56 > 0:56:00some of the most precious artefacts in the museum and...
0:56:00 > 0:56:02there's a rusty stirrup.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04This is a rare
0:56:04 > 0:56:07Viking stirrup made of iron
0:56:07 > 0:56:09from the early 11th century.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12OK, so I don't usually think of the Vikings being horsemen.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15No. Well, I guess in the earlier times they were raiding,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18so they were in and out quickly, but by the 11th century
0:56:18 > 0:56:22there were large armies of Vikings trying to conquer the whole country.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Obviously moving large armies requires quite a lot of horses,
0:56:25 > 0:56:27so they were developing technologies
0:56:27 > 0:56:31that allowed them to move around the countryside more easily.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34So, how do you know that this is definitely Viking
0:56:34 > 0:56:36and not Anglo-Saxon?
0:56:36 > 0:56:38Well, most of the research seems to say that
0:56:38 > 0:56:41the Saxons weren't using iron stirrups at this point.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44- Right.- So it's a Danish technology,
0:56:44 > 0:56:48so the iron is important because you can put more force into riding,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52so if you hit the enemy whilst your foot is in an iron stirrup,
0:56:52 > 0:56:54you've got the whole force of a horse and you.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58This led onto heavy cavalry, and the Knights of the Middle Ages
0:56:58 > 0:57:00were directly in line from this technology.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04- That's a really interesting story to come out of just one object.- Yes!
0:57:05 > 0:57:09It's extraordinary to discover that this simple stirrup technology
0:57:09 > 0:57:13played such an important part in the Viking conquest of Britain.
0:57:18 > 0:57:19Finds like these show how
0:57:19 > 0:57:22archaeology can change the story of Britain.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28The discoveries from 2016 have been more impressive than ever.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32Certainly the largest in-situ collection of Roman sling bullets.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37This is as if the British have captured the German trenches
0:57:37 > 0:57:39and then they have to dig in,
0:57:39 > 0:57:41facing German counterattack from up the hill.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45See, I'm starting to go on flights of fancy now, and to me
0:57:45 > 0:57:47this is where King Arthur lived.
0:57:49 > 0:57:54They've allowed us to reach out and touch our ancestors' lives.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56They have a kind of
0:57:56 > 0:57:58bulbous, very round head.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02- It's heavy.- Really?
0:58:04 > 0:58:09Next year, in 2017, the Digging For Britain adventure continues.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13We'll be joining the teams as they go back out into the field
0:58:13 > 0:58:17to reveal more incredible stories from our forgotten past.