0:00:02 > 0:00:04We may be a small island,
0:00:04 > 0:00:06but we have a rich and complex history
0:00:06 > 0:00:08that's still full of mysteries.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13So, every year, hundreds of archaeologists go out hunting
0:00:13 > 0:00:16for lost pieces from our missing past.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19- Oh!- A tiny, tiny coin.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Every element is there.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24This is just unbelievable.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30In 2017, their investigations continue to fill in the gaps...
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Never... Never cease to be amazed, eh?
0:00:34 > 0:00:38..bringing us closer to our ancestors than ever before.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41I did not expect to be pulling that out of the ground.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42HE LAUGHS
0:00:42 > 0:00:46In this programme, Digging For Britain showcases the very best digs
0:00:46 > 0:00:48from the North of the UK.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Oh, wow! That's rather lovely, Sean.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Each of the excavations has been filmed as it happened,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59by the archaeologists themselves.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Their dig diaries mean that we can be there
0:01:03 > 0:01:05for each exciting moment of discovery...
0:01:05 > 0:01:08- Oh, it's Excalibur. - How does that feel, Rupert?
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Yeah, pretty good!
0:01:10 > 0:01:13..and now the archaeologists are bringing their finds -
0:01:13 > 0:01:16from pottery to metalwork to human remains -
0:01:16 > 0:01:19into our lab, so that we can take a closer look at them
0:01:19 > 0:01:23and find out what they tell us about our British ancestors.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28Welcome to Digging For Britain.
0:01:40 > 0:01:41In this programme,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43we're joining archaeologists in the North
0:01:43 > 0:01:45to share their biggest discoveries.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51We visit a site
0:01:51 > 0:01:55that's turning our image of the mysterious Picts on its head.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57- What do you think of that, Roy? - LAUGHTER
0:01:57 > 0:02:01- Internally...- Oh, man! Wow!
0:02:01 > 0:02:04We're there as a team unearths
0:02:04 > 0:02:07a spectacular Bronze Age weapons hoard...
0:02:07 > 0:02:08We realised very quickly
0:02:08 > 0:02:11that we had something very important on our hands.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16..and in Orkney, we join a team battling the elements
0:02:16 > 0:02:20to rescue a Neolithic settlement older than Skara Brae.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33I've come to Edinburgh, to the National Museum of Scotland,
0:02:33 > 0:02:35to find out how some of the 12 million objects
0:02:35 > 0:02:38contained in its vast collection
0:02:38 > 0:02:40can help us to tell the story of the North.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Our first dig takes us south of Edinburgh
0:02:47 > 0:02:50to the frontier fort of Vindolanda in Northumberland -
0:02:50 > 0:02:53one of the richest sites in Roman-British archaeology.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Vindolanda lies just off the Roman frontier of Hadrian's Wall.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03It was one of the wall's key forts,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06seeing off repeated uprisings from northern tribes.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Excavations have been going on here for nearly 50 years,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13uncovering thousands of incredible objects.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Every year, archaeologists delve deeper into Roman Vindolanda,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26and this year they're getting down to a very exciting level,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29early in the days of the fort, pre-Hadrian's Wall.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32So, can they find evidence that reveals what life was like
0:03:32 > 0:03:37for those soldiers in a turbulent time for Roman Britain?
0:03:39 > 0:03:42This is video diary, day one, for Dig For Britain at Vindolanda.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Hopes are high because, for the first time,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51the team is digging beneath the concrete floor of a barrack block.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57The remains sealed beneath the concrete have been protected from
0:03:57 > 0:04:01the corrosive effects of air for nearly 2,000 years.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Very quickly, the team chances upon a wooden find
0:04:09 > 0:04:11that, without these special conditions,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13would have long since rotted away.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16What Sam is uncovering here is a wooden artefact,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19or a series of wooden artefacts. Look at that.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22- Isn't that fantastic, the colour of the wood there?- Yeah.
0:04:22 > 0:04:23Oh, it's got a handle on it.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28These are handles. It's amazing! Look at this thing.
0:04:28 > 0:04:29I've been here for seven years
0:04:29 > 0:04:32and I honestly don't think I've found anything
0:04:32 > 0:04:34of that beauty before. I'm kind of a bit emotional.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38So... It's really quite something.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44It's not until they get it to the lab that they work out what it is.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48As usual, when things come down to the lab,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50they get cleaned up beautifully for conservation.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52When that happens, you get to see the detail.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54You can see the parts of tools,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57wooden planes which were used by the Romans to plane off the walls
0:04:57 > 0:05:00and make their furniture, and all the things that they used
0:05:00 > 0:05:02when they lived in those spaces.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Over the following days, the team unearths hundreds more objects.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14- So, what is it? - It's a footprint, possibly...
0:05:14 > 0:05:17I think probably a dog. It's fantastic!
0:05:17 > 0:05:20After a while, you learn, kind of, what to look for
0:05:20 > 0:05:23when you're looking at those kind of things. So it's great.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28The preservation here ensures a vivid picture
0:05:28 > 0:05:30of everyday life in a Roman fort...
0:05:32 > 0:05:35..but what the team's really hoping for is evidence of those early days
0:05:35 > 0:05:38of occupation, when the Romans were under attack
0:05:38 > 0:05:40from the British rebels.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44What they find exceeds all their expectations.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48- OK, Rupert, we're going to go for it.- OK.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02- Oh!- Excalibur.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05It's a sword, intact and still in its sheath.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11- That is absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing.- Well done.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16A Roman sword was an expensive weapon
0:06:16 > 0:06:18the owner himself would have paid for,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20and it's not something a soldier
0:06:20 > 0:06:22would have casually left lying around.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Something actually still sitting in its sheath.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29We would never expect to find that, to be honest.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34In a room that is effectively a living space, living quarters, no.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37That is not the sort of thing you'd expect them to leave behind.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Military records tell us that, in 117 AD,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45the Northern British tribes rebelled against the Romans -
0:06:45 > 0:06:48but, frustratingly, we have little detail of the conflict itself.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Does this abandoned sword suggest that the Romans
0:06:53 > 0:06:56were even more threatened here than we'd thought?
0:06:56 > 0:06:59The team's next find could bring them closer to the truth.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05We think we've just found a writing tablet.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08- Oh, my goodness! - Oh, my legs are shaking!
0:07:09 > 0:07:12- Let's have a look. - So... Wait, wait, wait.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Oh, my God, you can see something on it!
0:07:14 > 0:07:16- Yeah, yeah.- Can you see it?
0:07:16 > 0:07:18What they've found is a Roman letter,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21dropped in exactly the same room as the sword.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24- One on top of the other... - That's amazing.- Well done, Gary.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35The most famous finds to emerge from the fort are the Vindolanda tablets,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38first discovered in 1973.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42From birthday invitations to military shopping lists,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45they give us a unique insight into the lives of the Roman troops
0:07:45 > 0:07:47and their families in Britain.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52If you find the documents from the person who used the sword,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54and they're giving you their opinions,
0:07:54 > 0:07:56and they're talking about their everyday lives,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58well, that's unbelievable.
0:07:58 > 0:07:59You can't beat that sort of information.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04The new tablet is taken away for conservation
0:08:04 > 0:08:05in the hope that it will reveal
0:08:05 > 0:08:08what really happened during the rebellion.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15As the dig nears its end, the trench reveals one last surprising find.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21There we go.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Well, congratulations, you found yourself a Roman sword.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26- Thank you.- Well done.- Whoa! - SHE LAUGHS
0:08:26 > 0:08:29I wasn't really expecting this.
0:08:29 > 0:08:30It's incredibly rare.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32I don't think I've ever heard of anybody finding two swords
0:08:32 > 0:08:34on an excavation in a couple of weeks -
0:08:34 > 0:08:36but obviously they've left these swords here in a hurry.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39That's the only explanation I can possibly think.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46After one of the most exciting seasons of digging at Vindolanda,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49I'm asking Andrew into the lab to reveal what the dig says
0:08:49 > 0:08:52about that time of British rebellion,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54and to tell me about finding
0:08:54 > 0:08:57that first incredibly well-preserved sword.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Andrew, Vindolanda's such a wonderful site,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05and as you said there, it's so fantastic
0:09:05 > 0:09:09to have this written evidence as well as all of the objects, too.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13- Tell me about the sword, though. - Well, it's more or less complete.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16It's in its scabbard and it was left on the floor by the people who,
0:09:16 > 0:09:18well, we can only assume left in a hurry,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20amongst a host of other stuff.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23You know, an incredible collection of things, really.
0:09:23 > 0:09:24More than you would expect to find
0:09:24 > 0:09:27if people are leaving in an orderly fashion,
0:09:27 > 0:09:29taking all their belongings and their valuables.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Andrew believes that these possessions were abandoned
0:09:35 > 0:09:38in a period when the Romans were struggling to maintain control here,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41just before Hadrian's Wall was built.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45This is a time of British rebellion.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47This is when locals around Vindolanda
0:09:47 > 0:09:49are trying to remove the Roman yoke,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52and garrisons like the ones at Vindolanda are in trouble,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55and so, either they are leaving to deal with something
0:09:55 > 0:09:57and they don't have an opportunity to come back
0:09:57 > 0:09:59and take their valuables with them,
0:09:59 > 0:10:01or they're packing their bags in such a hurry
0:10:01 > 0:10:03that they can literally only carry
0:10:03 > 0:10:05what they can immediately get their hands on,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07and things like this, sitting in the corner of a room,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09- just get left behind... - It's been overlooked.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12- ..and overlooked.- And what's that? HE CHUCKLES
0:10:12 > 0:10:14This is a cavalry junction strap.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Now, it looks like gold, but it's not. It's actually bronze,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20and it would sit on the breast of the horse.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23So that's obviously been cleaned up quite a bit
0:10:23 > 0:10:26since it came out of the ground. Was it covered in green verdigris?
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Well, that is more or less the same condition it came out of the ground.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32In fact, I've got a photograph just over here on the table, showing you,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34- before we gave it a wash, there we go.- Oh, my goodness!
0:10:34 > 0:10:35- That's it there.- Yeah.- Yeah -
0:10:35 > 0:10:38and that's what anaerobic conditions at the site do.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40It's such weird preservation, isn't it?
0:10:40 > 0:10:41Because on most sites, something like that
0:10:41 > 0:10:43would have corroded and it would be green.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46- Bright green lump. - Yeah. It's just astonishing.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53Like the sword, this would never have been casually abandoned,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57and other finds suggest why the Romans might have been keen
0:10:57 > 0:10:59to flee the northern tribes -
0:10:59 > 0:11:01they had their wives and children with them.
0:11:04 > 0:11:05I particularly love this.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07- A baby boot. Because... - SHE GASPS
0:11:07 > 0:11:08- Can I pick that up?- Yeah, please do.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11- No cavalryman is going to be able to squeeze his foot into that.- No.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14So we're not looking at an exclusive military site?
0:11:14 > 0:11:17It's not just for soldiers. It's a real community.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19These are, you know... In fact, the soldiers may well have been
0:11:19 > 0:11:22outnumbered by children wearing shoes like this.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24That's astonishing.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Another team digging an even older stage of the fort this year
0:11:30 > 0:11:32also made some incredible finds.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40You've had more letters emerging from the sediment at Vindolanda.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42Well, we've had a haul of 25 tablets,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45some of which have been written by a guy called Masculus
0:11:45 > 0:11:46to his commanding officer -
0:11:46 > 0:11:47and this is about 92 AD,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50so a little bit before this barrack was operational.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52He's a Decurion, he's a cavalry commander.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54He's asking for leave for his men,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59and he's saying, "Look, can I have leave for 30 of my men?"
0:11:59 > 0:12:00and then he changes his mind.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02He just crosses the 30 out and writes 50 above.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04- Yeah.- Doesn't even bother rewriting the letter.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06So he's obviously got a really good relationship
0:12:06 > 0:12:08with his commanding officer.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Back in the barracks, in the layer associated with the rebellion,
0:12:13 > 0:12:18the team eventually found nine more tablets.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21It looked as though you had found tablets from the same time as this?
0:12:21 > 0:12:24We have, we found about ten writing tablets
0:12:24 > 0:12:26from this cavalry barrack.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29You know, from the rooms where things like this sword came from.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33So can one of those documents tell us about that moment,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35or the build-up to that moment in time,
0:12:35 > 0:12:37when these artefacts have to be deposited?
0:12:37 > 0:12:40We've got documents from the room where the sword was found.
0:12:40 > 0:12:41Does it mention the owner of that sword?
0:12:41 > 0:12:43We're just going to have to wait to find out.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45It's a long process to decipher the tablets.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50It takes 6-12 months for them to be conserved and then to be decoded -
0:12:50 > 0:12:53but, yeah, we've got some fun to come.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55I can't believe you've got letters from the same room.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57That's just brilliant -
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and come back next year and tell us what they say.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01OK, you've got a deal.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07More analysis of the swords and those new letters
0:13:07 > 0:13:11will give us even greater insights into the early phase of the fort.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13But this fantastic season at Vindolanda
0:13:13 > 0:13:17has already revealed that the Romans may have been far more vulnerable
0:13:17 > 0:13:21in the early years of conquest than we'd ever previously thought.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Our next dig takes us nearly 200 miles north,
0:13:30 > 0:13:34to the remote Scottish island of Iona,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37as archaeologists look for evidence
0:13:37 > 0:13:40of one of Britain's earliest monasteries,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43and traces of its legendary founder.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Iona is Scotland's most famous sacred site,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49and its history goes back nearly 1,500 years
0:13:49 > 0:13:51to one man, Saint Columba.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55Arriving in 563 AD, he put Iona on the map.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58From this remote island parish,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00legend says he set out to convert Scotland
0:14:00 > 0:14:04from a country of heathen barbarians to one full of Christians.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Columba built a monastery here with 12 followers.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14It became a celebrated centre for theological learning,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16but in the centuries after Columba's death,
0:14:16 > 0:14:20legends say that Iona grew into an important pilgrimage site,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24drawing Christians from across Europe -
0:14:24 > 0:14:27and scholars have even suggested that its layout
0:14:27 > 0:14:30may have been based on the holy city of Jerusalem.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32With no trace of the original buildings,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36we have no idea if these legends are true.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39This year, archaeologists are determined to find out.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Here we are, day one of three weeks of excavation
0:14:45 > 0:14:47on the famous Iona Abbey.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54Adrian Maldonado is leading the team from Glasgow University.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57They're following in the footsteps of Professor Charles Thomas,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00who in 1956 first excavated here
0:15:00 > 0:15:05to see if he could find evidence of the legendary monastery.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07He found some intriguing remains,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10but lacked the technology to date them, and the mystery endured.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17We're going back to a few of his trenches here at Iona,
0:15:17 > 0:15:18and re-excavating them,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21and recording them to a modern standard.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28The present abbey was built in the 13th century,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30600 years after Columba's death,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33but the team are hoping to find evidence
0:15:33 > 0:15:35of the original monastic site around it,
0:15:35 > 0:15:40so they start investigating what looks like the boundary, or vallum.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Most monasteries are surrounded by an outer enclosure,
0:15:45 > 0:15:46and in Columba's time,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49this would have been an earthen bank and ditch...
0:15:51 > 0:15:54..but one of the first things the team finds
0:15:54 > 0:15:56is a memento left by the 1950s team.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Wine bottles.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05- The archaeology of the archaeologist.- Yeah, absolutely.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Well, they did say that this year they were digging this trench,
0:16:08 > 0:16:09it was monsoon-like conditions.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12- Wow.- So it's quite possible that they've had a bad season and spent
0:16:12 > 0:16:15quite a lot of time drinking, by the look of it.
0:16:15 > 0:16:16LAUGHTER
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Fortunately, this 21st-century team are having better weather,
0:16:22 > 0:16:26and Cathy soon finds some organic matter she can use
0:16:26 > 0:16:28to date the vallum.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30At the very base of the ditch,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33we've come across a nice reddish, peaty layer,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35and we're able to see remnants of straw,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37or maybe even silver birch twigs,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39though I suspect it's a deliberate deposit.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42So, hopefully, if we're able to date this material,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45we'll be able to date something that happened
0:16:45 > 0:16:47fairly soon after the ditch was cut.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54Meanwhile, Adrian has been using geophysical surveying equipment
0:16:54 > 0:16:55to map out the full site.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00This means that, without having to excavate, he can trace the remains
0:17:00 > 0:17:03of buildings lost beneath the ground, and hopefully establish
0:17:03 > 0:17:06the size and complexity of that original monastery.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11So, we've been doing geophysical survey this week,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14alongside the trenches down below us,
0:17:14 > 0:17:16and what it's shown is that the vallum did indeed
0:17:16 > 0:17:18continue through all these fields,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20and so there's a possibility
0:17:20 > 0:17:25that we're looking at a monastic sanctuary, enclosure or vallum
0:17:25 > 0:17:28that has grown over the years,
0:17:28 > 0:17:29and they've had to expand.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36These results suggest that a huge bank and ditch
0:17:36 > 0:17:39enclosed an area of nearly nine hectares.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46And the radiocarbon dating analysis from Cathy's vallum sample
0:17:46 > 0:17:50reveals that it was constructed as early as the seventh century.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Spurred on,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54the team want to find out what stood within this enclosure,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56as a major site of pilgrimage
0:17:56 > 0:17:58would have had a number of different buildings
0:17:58 > 0:18:00for pilgrims to visit and pray in.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12This is day six of the Iona project,
0:18:12 > 0:18:16and we're opening a new trench here, as you can see.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22In the 1950s, Thomas exposed an intriguing selection of stone wall.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25To see where it leads, the Glasgow team extend their trench.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32We've discovered this nice, curving piece of wall here,
0:18:32 > 0:18:38which would seem to indicate an apse or an apsidal end of a building,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41and that's really exciting, because that indicates a church.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50The apse is a curved stone wall, usually found in churches...
0:18:53 > 0:18:55..but lab analysis suggests that this wall could date back
0:18:55 > 0:18:58to the seventh century, which would be extraordinary,
0:18:58 > 0:19:02because, at this time, almost all churches were built from wood.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Whatever this structure was, this date, if true,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12would make it the earliest stone-built feature ever discovered
0:19:12 > 0:19:14on a Scottish monastery,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18suggesting that Iona was a site of stature and importance...
0:19:23 > 0:19:25..and in the same trench,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28the team found evidence for industry at the site.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35This big black layer that runs through here
0:19:35 > 0:19:38is absolutely chock-full of iron slag.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41The result of producing iron
0:19:41 > 0:19:45for, presumably, fittings for the abbey.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47It really was a hive of activity.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51It wasn't just a quiet place of contemplation.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Even more excitingly, there's evidence that this community
0:19:54 > 0:19:56had international connections.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01This is probably fairly local material,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04but other materials they were bringing in,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07like tin and gold and silver from other places,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10glass from the Mediterranean and so on -
0:20:10 > 0:20:13so, very wide-ranging contacts,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16bringing all this material to the site, because it was so important.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24This is such an intriguing site - but has the mystery been cracked?
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Does the evidence suggest that early Iona was big enough
0:20:27 > 0:20:29to have been a pilgrimage site?
0:20:29 > 0:20:33And does the layout resemble Jerusalem at all?
0:20:33 > 0:20:36I've invited Adrian into the lab to talk through the evidence so far.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47It's fantastic to go back to such an important site,
0:20:47 > 0:20:52in terms of the early church in Scotland, and Saint Columba himself.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Yeah, it's...
0:20:54 > 0:20:58What we have of him is the legend that grows a century after he dies.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01So, in terms of the layout of the whole site, then,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04I think the important thing that you've discovered
0:21:04 > 0:21:06- seemed to be this vallum.- Yes.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09So what's marked here and picked out in red is the vallum,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12or the monastic enclosure of the site.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17This was a massive ditch which went down three metres into the earth
0:21:17 > 0:21:19and presumably the rampart, the bank on the inside of that,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22- would have been the same height again.- Yeah.
0:21:22 > 0:21:23So this is much more than you need
0:21:23 > 0:21:26to mark this sort of sacred enclosure.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30And what about Iona being this Jerusalem of the North,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32a site for pilgrimage?
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Do you really think it was that important
0:21:34 > 0:21:36as an early pilgrimage site?
0:21:36 > 0:21:39This is one of the things that comes out of these excavations.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44What we've got here is this schematic layout,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and this would have been the main church.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50This is the tomb of Saint Columba.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54The high crosses would have been around here,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56and Saint Oran's church, which is still there and still in use,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58just over here.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00So this is our vision of the layout
0:22:00 > 0:22:02of that early medieval monastery,
0:22:02 > 0:22:08and this is the schematic plan of Jerusalem, of the Holy Land.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13If you look at the, sort of, two schematic plans put together,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17you can see the similarities of the church to the east, the true cross,
0:22:17 > 0:22:22and the enclosure of the chalice being where the well is now.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27So you think they're trying to recreate the layout of Jerusalem,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30effectively, on Iona. When is this happening?
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Can you put a date on this?
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Well, it seems to be happening
0:22:34 > 0:22:37- from as early as 100 years after Columba dies.- So, which century?
0:22:37 > 0:22:40So this is the end of the seventh century.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43And do you think this layout is crucial
0:22:43 > 0:22:47- to the experience of pilgrims visiting the site?- Absolutely.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51If you imagine the sort of graded entrance,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54so by the time you come down and you're there,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57you are faced with the tomb of Saint Columba. You're in the shrine.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59You are sort of overwhelmed,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02you are experiencing or getting as close to heaven on earth
0:23:02 > 0:23:05as you can possibly get without going to Jerusalem itself.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07It's quite an extraordinary thing to do.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10- It's like early medieval virtual reality.- Maybe, yeah.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13- That's one way of putting it, sure. - HE CHUCKLES
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Spanning nearly 15 centuries,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Iona is a hugely complex site,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25but the traces of early monastic Christianity
0:23:25 > 0:23:27are still there to find...
0:23:30 > 0:23:33..and this new excavation has provided datable evidence,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37taking us right back to the earliest monastery on the island.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51In our next dig, we cross to the east of Scotland, to Carnoustie,
0:23:51 > 0:23:55where a chance find in farmland is changing our understanding
0:23:55 > 0:23:59of how British society was organised during the Bronze Age,
0:23:59 > 0:24:013,000 years ago.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Sometimes archaeologists will choose a particular site to excavate,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13with certain questions in mind or specific hypotheses
0:24:13 > 0:24:14that they want to test,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18but a lot of British archaeology is carried out at sites
0:24:18 > 0:24:20that are going to be developed.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22The archaeologists move in first,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25to excavate and glean what information they can,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27before the developers turn up,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30and a new road or housing estate is built.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Now, these sites can often produce surprising
0:24:33 > 0:24:35and unexpected discoveries.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42This was the case when a team came to Carnoustie to excavate a field
0:24:42 > 0:24:46before it was converted into two school football pitches.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49They already knew of intriguing crop marks in nearby farmland,
0:24:49 > 0:24:54which hinted at a prehistoric settlement in the area,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58but what they found at Carnoustie would exceed all their expectations.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09This was where we started topsoil-stripping in 2016,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12and during the course of removing the topsoil,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16we unearthed a number of buildings, all prehistoric in date.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23They had found the remains of a group of roundhouses,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27suggesting something incredibly rare - a Bronze Age village.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32In the houses, the team unearthed domestic items,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35like pottery fragments and weaving tools -
0:25:35 > 0:25:37but the best was yet to come.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Well, we were proceeding to strip topsoil
0:25:44 > 0:25:46across the site with a machine,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and one of my colleagues saw something on the ground.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53You could tell straightaway it was a blade,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56and lying next to it there was another object
0:25:56 > 0:25:58with a gold decorated end to it,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00and we realised very quickly
0:26:00 > 0:26:04that we had something very important on our hands.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08The sword and the gold object were so fragile
0:26:08 > 0:26:11that the team brought the whole 80-kilogram block of soil
0:26:11 > 0:26:15back for excavation in their Glasgow lab.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18- Internally...- Oh, man! Wow!
0:26:18 > 0:26:22I did not see that from a photograph. Wow.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26What they'd found was a weapons hoard.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37Bronze Age weapons are often found in water or boggy ground.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40They're thought to be religious offerings...
0:26:40 > 0:26:44..but finding a hoard in the middle of a village is very rare,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48suggesting that these weapons might be personal possessions,
0:26:48 > 0:26:50buried close to home.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53As the soil fell away,
0:26:53 > 0:26:56the true magnitude of the discovery was revealed.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01The sword's blade shows visible signs of combat.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08Not only that, lying next to it was an exceptionally rare spearhead,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11decorated with gold and bearing the remnants of the fur
0:27:11 > 0:27:14that it was once wrapped in.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19The fact that these organics survived, it's just unprecedented.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22It's nice to think that these items weren't just ceremonial,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25they may well have had actual use in warfare.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30It's incredibly unusual to have this level of decoration
0:27:30 > 0:27:32on a Bronze Age weapon.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35It does suggest that it must have belonged to a powerful man...
0:27:38 > 0:27:42..but what's really fascinating is that, just 17 miles away,
0:27:42 > 0:27:44at Pyotdykes Farm,
0:27:44 > 0:27:48an ornate, almost identical spearhead was found.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55So, is it possible that Northern Britain was controlled by a network
0:27:55 > 0:27:58of Bronze Age warrior chiefs?
0:27:59 > 0:28:03To find out more, I've asked Blair to join me in the lab.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07And Blair, here they are.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11- Absolutely wonderful find. - Yes. It was an extraordinary find.
0:28:11 > 0:28:12And what about the sword, then?
0:28:12 > 0:28:16Because I was intrigued to see that you think it's been used.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Some of these nicks, you think, then, are not, are not from,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21you know, sort of, damage since it's been in the ground,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24but actually damage from having been used as a weapon.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28I think so. These do look as though they are of some antiquity.
0:28:28 > 0:28:29So that's really important,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32cos it means it's not just a ceremonial item,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34it's actually an item which was designed for use.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Well, that's right. Good agricultural land
0:28:37 > 0:28:41was probably very, very sought after and desirable,
0:28:41 > 0:28:43so you might have to fight to acquire it,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46and then you might have to fight to retain it,
0:28:46 > 0:28:49so the weapons could well have been, in part,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52about controlling your territories.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Do you have a precise date for this hoard yet?
0:28:55 > 0:28:57Yes, we do.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59That arrived, actually, only yesterday...
0:28:59 > 0:29:04- Really?- ..and the date that was returned was around 1000 BC,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07which really fits very nicely into this sort of
0:29:07 > 0:29:09late Bronze Age period in Scotland.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15In the Bronze Age, a new social hierarchy emerged,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18and it's possible that the owner of these weapons
0:29:18 > 0:29:22belonged to one of an elite group of high status warriors.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25When you look at this, with this gold detail,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28- surely that is high status. - Well, that is, yes.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30I mean, there have been a handful of these
0:29:30 > 0:29:32found in Britain and Ireland before,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36so it's beginning to look like subdivision and occupation
0:29:36 > 0:29:41of the landscape was perhaps controlled
0:29:41 > 0:29:43by Bronze Age overlords, if you like -
0:29:43 > 0:29:47very wealthy, powerful men who governed,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50managed, almost, parishes of land, if you like.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52And what about the rest of the analysis?
0:29:52 > 0:29:55Cos I know that you've also been looking at the metal itself,
0:29:55 > 0:29:57to try to determine where it's come from.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59That's right. Well, the gold has been looked at,
0:29:59 > 0:30:03but it doesn't seem to come, originate from Scotland,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07so it's possibly from Ireland or England.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10So we're seeing, we're seeing connections with the wider world.
0:30:10 > 0:30:11- That's right.- Yeah.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14- Yeah.- I think this is an absolutely fantastic site.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18We've got a link back, potentially, to a Bronze Age chieftain
0:30:18 > 0:30:20who lived 3,000 years ago,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23and I'm sure this isn't the last we're going to hear of Carnoustie.
0:30:23 > 0:30:24Probably not.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29The Carnoustie hoard is remarkable.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33Its burial in the village suggests that it was simply being hidden
0:30:33 > 0:30:37or stored, rather than being an offering to the gods.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39It calls into question the interpretation
0:30:39 > 0:30:41of other Bronze Age hoards...
0:30:42 > 0:30:44..and some of the treasures at the National Museum of Scotland
0:30:44 > 0:30:47can help us set the finds at Carnoustie
0:30:47 > 0:30:50in the wider context of the European Bronze Age.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57The wealth of Scotland's Bronze Age elite wasn't built in isolation,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00it was the result of extensive trading networks
0:31:00 > 0:31:04that connected Scotland, not only with the rest of the British Isles,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06but with mainland Europe beyond.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11As curator Alison Sheridan is about to show me,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14with the museum's spectacular Balmashanner hoard,
0:31:14 > 0:31:16found not far from Carnoustie.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23It's a wonderful selection of things.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27- And is that amber?- Yes, it is, and it's got a fantastic story,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30because we think that the amber started its life as raw material
0:31:30 > 0:31:32in Denmark, and then was taken over to Ireland,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35where it was made up into the necklace -
0:31:35 > 0:31:37and of course Scotland was kind of midway between them.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40So it was a kind of stop-off point on these trade routes?
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Yeah - but I think it's more than that, so that the elite,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46who were living in this part of Scotland,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49would have been very active players in this interaction network,
0:31:49 > 0:31:53so if we look at these little things here, they're called tress rings,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55because we think they were worn in the hair,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58these are of a fashion that you find elsewhere in Ireland,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00but also in Belgium and northern France.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07So this hoard, much like the weapons found nearby in Carnoustie,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10suggests a region where warrior chieftains
0:32:10 > 0:32:13acquired valuable objects, using their international connections.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21The Carnoustie sword and spearhead are not just weapons.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24They are emblems of power and status.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28As part of propping up their power structure,
0:32:28 > 0:32:31it was important for people to demonstrate
0:32:31 > 0:32:34that they were in contact with their counterparts elsewhere -
0:32:34 > 0:32:36and so they were sharing their fashions.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39They looked alike, they had the same weaponry,
0:32:39 > 0:32:43and they indulged in things like feasting, so you would invite,
0:32:43 > 0:32:45you know, your counterparts to come.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48They also had combat, you know, set piece combat.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Whether they actually invited people to come and dine
0:32:50 > 0:32:52and then killed them all, we don't know -
0:32:52 > 0:32:56but, yes, it was this international culture club,
0:32:56 > 0:32:57if you like.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02It may just be that the Bronze Age warrior
0:33:02 > 0:33:05who buried his weapons at Carnoustie
0:33:05 > 0:33:09was part of this well-connected European high society.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17Our next dig transports us into the Roman period,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20and to East Lomond in Fife,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24where a newly discovered settlement is completely rewriting the story
0:33:24 > 0:33:27of the mysterious Pictish tribes of Scotland.
0:33:29 > 0:33:34Our understanding of the people who lived beyond that northern boundary
0:33:34 > 0:33:36of the Roman Empire in Britain,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40people that the Romans would later refer to as the Picts, is hazy,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43and it is largely based on the classical sources.
0:33:44 > 0:33:45To the Romans,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49the people of Scotland were savages and barbarians.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54When the Romans invaded Britain nearly 2,000 years ago,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57they failed to conquer the northern tribes.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00Since they couldn't subdue them,
0:34:00 > 0:34:03they kept their barbaric neighbours at arm's length
0:34:03 > 0:34:05by building Hadrian's Wall,
0:34:05 > 0:34:10and they lumped them together as the painted people, or Picti.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14Now new archaeological discoveries
0:34:14 > 0:34:16are challenging that Roman view of history,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19leading us to question what that relationship
0:34:19 > 0:34:21between the Romans and their neighbours
0:34:21 > 0:34:24to the north of Hadrian's Wall was really like.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31In 2014, a team discovered an ancient settlement
0:34:31 > 0:34:33on East Lomond Hill.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38What the archaeologists revealed was something quite extraordinary.
0:34:39 > 0:34:44The remains of a sophisticated metal workshop from the seventh century.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50It suggested a rather different picture from the painted savages
0:34:50 > 0:34:52that the Romans had earlier described.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57This year they're digging even deeper,
0:34:57 > 0:34:58to see if they can find more evidence
0:34:58 > 0:35:01to challenge the Roman caricature of the Picts.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09You join us here at East Lomond Hill fort,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12where we're on day two of our excavation,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16and suffice to say, we're revealing some really interesting finds.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25Quickly, they unearth something that looks neither savage nor barbaric.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Oh, my gosh! It's big, isn't it?
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Nice, there, Roy. That's great work.
0:35:33 > 0:35:38Roy's just excavating what we think may be the large part
0:35:38 > 0:35:42of a shale armlet. It's looking to be in a very good state.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45It's exciting.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47What do you think of that, Roy?
0:35:47 > 0:35:49LAUGHTER
0:35:50 > 0:35:52Well done.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54It's incomplete, but an armlet like this
0:35:54 > 0:35:59would have been a highly valued piece of jewellery.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02So that's been sitting there since the Iron Age.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05- We've just got it out. - It's extraordinary.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08This Pictish armlet dates to the Roman period,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10and suggests that the Picts at this site
0:36:10 > 0:36:13had a liking for beautiful things.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16It's only going to get better
0:36:16 > 0:36:19as we go into the latter part of the second week
0:36:19 > 0:36:20and into our third week here.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24Oliver's right. On day 15,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28there's fresh evidence of refined Pictish tastes.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31OK, Bob, you've just made a really nice discovery here.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Do you want to take us through it?
0:36:33 > 0:36:36- I thought I saw something there. - Mmm...
0:36:36 > 0:36:41And lo and behold, out came this beautiful little bead.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43Mmm. It is beautiful.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45Shall we lift it out and just have a...
0:36:45 > 0:36:47- Yeah.- ..a little closer look at it?
0:36:48 > 0:36:52So that looks, probably, Roman.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57I did not expect to be pulling that out of the ground today.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59Yeah. Beautiful thing.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03This glass bead is almost certainly of Roman origin.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08Could its presence here suggest the Romans and Picts
0:37:08 > 0:37:11were not the sworn enemies we'd understood them to be?
0:37:14 > 0:37:15Are you pleased with that?
0:37:15 > 0:37:18- Oh, I am absolutely delighted. - THEY LAUGH
0:37:21 > 0:37:23And then, on the final day,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27there is further evidence of contact with the Romans.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30There's only literally half an hour left of the day,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33so let's see what you've got. Let's hope it's something special.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35It has got a lip on it.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Do you think it's a rim of something?
0:37:38 > 0:37:41- Yeah, it looks like it could be. - Very fine glassware.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43So this could be Roman glass?
0:37:43 > 0:37:48- Could be. That's a nice wee find to finish on, eh?- It certainly is.
0:37:48 > 0:37:49Great stuff.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54This fragment of glass may have formed part of an elaborate
0:37:54 > 0:37:56Roman drinking vessel...
0:37:58 > 0:37:59..but the big question is,
0:37:59 > 0:38:03how did these Roman items get here, and what is the truth
0:38:03 > 0:38:06about the relationship between the Romans and the Picts?
0:38:08 > 0:38:12I've invited the team into the lab to share their conclusions.
0:38:16 > 0:38:17What an intriguing site.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20It certainly suggests that Hadrian's Wall
0:38:20 > 0:38:23wasn't this impenetrable barrier between the north and the south.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25No, absolutely.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29You've got a site that's 152 miles north of Hadrian's Wall,
0:38:29 > 0:38:31and there's clearly Roman contact going on here,
0:38:31 > 0:38:33which has not been known about before.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Until 2014, we didn't know this existed.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39So this is a surprise to us, as well.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41So that is the shale bracelet, isn't it?
0:38:41 > 0:38:44- The shale armlet. - That's the shale bracelet.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47- Can I pick it up? - Yeah, absolutely.- It's quite light.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51- It's light.- Yeah.- And you can see the working marks on the shale.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53- That's lovely. - And unfinished, of course.- Yeah.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56And it is clearly a status symbol, you know?
0:38:56 > 0:38:58- This is an armlet, it's supposed to go up on the bicep.- Yeah.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00How do you know it's unfinished?
0:39:00 > 0:39:03Well, normally, they're finely polished -
0:39:03 > 0:39:07when you get the complete piece, it's meant to be a beautiful ring.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09So this has just been kind of roughed out.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12- That's right.- And that's part of its value.
0:39:12 > 0:39:13It takes a long time to make.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17- Yeah.- It's a big investment in an agricultural community, you know,
0:39:17 > 0:39:19somebody has to really work at that.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21So when does this date to?
0:39:21 > 0:39:26So we can be firmly confident that we're looking at late Roman period,
0:39:26 > 0:39:283rd, 4th century AD.
0:39:30 > 0:39:35This armlet alone challenges the Roman portrayal of the Picts.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38These were clearly a people who had developed refined tastes...
0:39:39 > 0:39:41..but the Roman items on the site
0:39:41 > 0:39:43beg the question of what kind of contact
0:39:43 > 0:39:47the Picts actually had with those invading Romans.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53They are all shards of late Roman beakers,
0:39:53 > 0:39:54drinking vessels.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57These are what we think are feasting gear.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59And they've come from the Roman world,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03so probably produced in Roman Britain itself,
0:40:03 > 0:40:04so, 3rd or 4th century.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06How did they get here?
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Well, it doesn't necessarily speak of violent raiding to us.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13You know, is there a role for gift-giving here?
0:40:13 > 0:40:15Is this a diplomatic gift?
0:40:15 > 0:40:17There's a relationship here.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20So the Romans are telling us their story of the Picts
0:40:20 > 0:40:22being unreconstructed barbarians,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25troublesome neighbours to the north.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29This suggests there was a different kind of relationship going on, then.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32The earliest sources, when you look at Tacitus's Agricola,
0:40:32 > 0:40:35is as much propaganda, I suspect,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38as an accurate description of what they were encountering.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40It's not all barbaric.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43It's actually quite a civilised engagement.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45I just think it's extraordinary, you know,
0:40:45 > 0:40:49that we're no longer seeing the north beyond the wall
0:40:49 > 0:40:52as being this sort of isolated land,
0:40:52 > 0:40:56but actually somewhere that is - it is connected.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03The finds at this year's dig are convincing proof
0:41:03 > 0:41:06that there was a connection between the savage Picts
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and the civilised Romans...
0:41:11 > 0:41:13..and another recently discovered find,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15now here at the National Museum of Scotland,
0:41:15 > 0:41:20even suggests that this interaction was deliberate Roman policy.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26In 2015, archaeologists came across
0:41:26 > 0:41:29one of the most decisive pieces of evidence to date -
0:41:29 > 0:41:30a hoard of Roman silver,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33buried deep in the Pictish heartland,
0:41:33 > 0:41:38and I'm about to get a sneak preview before it goes on display.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Oh, this is so exciting,
0:41:44 > 0:41:48being able to open the cabinet up and get close to the objects.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52So these are objects which are part of your brand-new silver exhibition.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54Yeah, this is for Scotland's early silver,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58we've got this new find from Fife, never seen on public display before.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01And there are some really large pieces here.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05It has been hacked about, but you can kind of see what they were.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07You can now, thanks to the conservation.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09- This came to us as 400 fragments. - SHE GASPS
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Our Conservators have been working at it for hundreds of hours,
0:42:12 > 0:42:14to try and piece the various bits together -
0:42:14 > 0:42:17but this isn't just a barbarian chopping things to bits,
0:42:17 > 0:42:19this was done inside the Roman world
0:42:19 > 0:42:21and sent north as a weight of silver.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Right. So it's not actually about the objects any more,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26- it's just about their monetary worth?- Yeah. This is just bullion.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29This is sending a weight of silver north to buy peace
0:42:29 > 0:42:31or pay off mercenaries or something like that.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33So, what are these vessels, then?
0:42:33 > 0:42:35You've got what looks like a bowl here,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38and then you've got what looks like a silver brandy snap.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40Yes. Yeah, most likely, we think, a flawed casting,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43they've tried to make a vessel from it, it's failed,
0:42:43 > 0:42:45so they've just - rather than melting it down again,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47they've used it as a weight of silver.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49Now, are you sure that's the way round it was happening?
0:42:49 > 0:42:52I mean, couldn't this have been troublesome Picts
0:42:52 > 0:42:55marauding south of the wall, pillaging and plundering,
0:42:55 > 0:42:57and then taking Roman silver back with them?
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Well, that used to be the interpretation of this stuff,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01but when you look at it carefully,
0:43:01 > 0:43:05you find a lot of it is cut up to regular shapes, to regular sizes,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08and often to Roman weight standards.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11So you can see with this one, the cut marks down the side there.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14- Yes.- Although the cut marks are quite rough,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16it's quite carefully done as a quarter of a vessel.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Is it all about maintaining peace,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22or is there something that the Romans want north of the wall?
0:43:22 > 0:43:24Well, it may not just be about peace,
0:43:24 > 0:43:26it may also be about soldiers.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28Because at this time, the Roman army is getting stretched,
0:43:28 > 0:43:31and they're drawing in, effectively, mercenaries
0:43:31 > 0:43:33from a variety of other areas.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35So this could equally be the payment to somebody
0:43:35 > 0:43:38- who's been serving in the Roman army.- It sounds extraordinary,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41to think that there could have been Picts being recruited
0:43:41 > 0:43:44into the Roman army. So when does this date to?
0:43:44 > 0:43:46This dates to round about AD 300,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50and this is actually the earliest evidence we have from across Europe
0:43:50 > 0:43:53for this kind of hack silver coming north beyond the frontier.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55So it's a frontier-wide policy
0:43:55 > 0:43:57of trying to control what's happening to the north.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03This amazing hoard transforms our understanding of the conflict
0:44:03 > 0:44:06between the British tribes and the Romans.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11Perhaps the relationship wasn't always as hostile
0:44:11 > 0:44:13as we previously thought.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Our next dig takes us to Newark, and to a very definite conflict,
0:44:22 > 0:44:25over 1,000 years later.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27Archaeologists here are shedding light
0:44:27 > 0:44:31on one of the most bitter and divisive moments in our history -
0:44:31 > 0:44:33the English Civil War.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39The countryside surrounding Newark may look green and pleasant today,
0:44:39 > 0:44:44but 370 years ago, this was the site of a long drawn-out siege,
0:44:44 > 0:44:48so gruelling it would see the King and his Royalist Cavaliers
0:44:48 > 0:44:51surrendering to Parliamentarian Roundheads
0:44:51 > 0:44:54fighting for Oliver Cromwell.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57The siege of Newark was one of the most pivotal moments
0:44:57 > 0:45:01in British history, marking the end of four years of conflict
0:45:01 > 0:45:06that tore the country apart and eventually saw the monarch deposed -
0:45:06 > 0:45:10but, remarkably, traces of the siege itself are thin on the ground.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17We tend to associate the Civil War with short, brutal battles,
0:45:17 > 0:45:21but the defining moment came with the siege of Newark,
0:45:21 > 0:45:25which lasted six months and drew in around 16,000 soldiers
0:45:25 > 0:45:27from across the country.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31Now, a team of archaeologists from
0:45:31 > 0:45:34the Universities of Central Lancashire and Sheffield
0:45:34 > 0:45:38is digging here, hoping to find precious evidence
0:45:38 > 0:45:41of how this decisive siege played out on the ground.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49What we're excavating at the moment is what we call a redoubt.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53It's a very, very small square fortification to put a gun on.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56We've got evidence for the rampart, which you'd expect,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58so, hopefully, as the day progresses,
0:45:58 > 0:46:02we'll start to go down even further and find evidence of occupation.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07This gun battery was part of a network of fortifications
0:46:07 > 0:46:10laid by the besieging forces,
0:46:10 > 0:46:13and this one was built by Scottish troops,
0:46:13 > 0:46:16recruited by the Parliamentarians to help starve out the Royalists
0:46:16 > 0:46:19holed up in the town.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22Evidence of the besiegers quickly emerges.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27We've just come across a really, really exciting find.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31Sabrina here is literally just lifting it from the earth
0:46:31 > 0:46:33as we speak -
0:46:33 > 0:46:37and this actually has to be the best find we've found so far.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39Sabrina's intriguing find
0:46:39 > 0:46:42looks like it might have been part of a uniform.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44It's got two rivets here,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47which means it attaches to a belt.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Some beautiful 17th-century decoration on it...
0:46:50 > 0:46:54..and complete examples of these have actually been identified
0:46:54 > 0:46:56as sword belt fittings.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58You'd have three of them, they'd have little hooks,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01and from those hooks would be suspended your scabbard.
0:47:01 > 0:47:02So this is really, really important,
0:47:02 > 0:47:06cos actually it's the first type of proper military find that we have
0:47:06 > 0:47:09that really, really shows us that the Scots were here
0:47:09 > 0:47:11during the final siege.
0:47:12 > 0:47:17Unlike the Civil War battles, the siege lasted six months,
0:47:17 > 0:47:19and Rachel and the team are hoping it will give a rare glimpse
0:47:19 > 0:47:22into the lives of the soldiers on the front line.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26As you can see, we're getting the final, last few crumbs
0:47:26 > 0:47:29- from the trench, but...- Rachel.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31Ooh!
0:47:31 > 0:47:33Oh, wow!
0:47:33 > 0:47:35That's rather lovely, Sean.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39It is, in fact, a little copper alloy thimble,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42so quite a wonderful find.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46And as they dig deeper,
0:47:46 > 0:47:49the team gets further glimpses of the lives of the soldiers here.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54Just out of here, we've just come across this.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57So we've had bits of clay pipe before.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00As you can see from this one, it's a really nice example.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02It's still got the little spur on it,
0:48:02 > 0:48:04which you can sort of rest on a table -
0:48:04 > 0:48:07but also, because we've got bits of the bowl,
0:48:07 > 0:48:09we can estimate how large it would have been,
0:48:09 > 0:48:11and therefore what sort of date,
0:48:11 > 0:48:14and this is probably a 17th-century pipe.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17Who knows, you know? 350 years ago,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20you might have had a Scotsman sat on this very spot,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23puffing away and contemplating the hardships of sieges.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30The small Scottish redoubt gives us a fascinating window
0:48:30 > 0:48:32into the lives of 17th-century soldiers.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Now I want to find out how they fitted into the bigger story
0:48:38 > 0:48:41of the Civil War and helped to bring down a king.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48So I've invited Rachel's colleague, Hugh Willmott, into the lab.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51Well, thank you, Hugh, for stepping into the fray.
0:48:51 > 0:48:52Rachel can't be here,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55cos I understand that she's due to have her baby imminently.
0:48:55 > 0:48:56Imminently, yes.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58So I can recognise some of the things
0:48:58 > 0:49:00that she was showing us there.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03And it's really interesting to get these insights
0:49:03 > 0:49:06into the sort of everyday lives of the soldiers.
0:49:06 > 0:49:08- I mean, I love this thimble. - Absolutely.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11- Would that have belonged to a soldier?- Quite probably.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14I mean, it's unlikely that there may have been women present on this site
0:49:14 > 0:49:16cos it's a very small fortification,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19and if you look at the size of it, it's actually quite a large thimble.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21It is, my finger's rattling around in it.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23- I know.- Can you fit it on your finger?
0:49:23 > 0:49:25I mean, that's a loose fit for me.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28- That's a man's thimble! - So, you know,
0:49:28 > 0:49:32you could quite easily see a soldier mending his uniform
0:49:32 > 0:49:33or something with that,
0:49:33 > 0:49:37because obviously they had to rely on very limited supplies.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39If their uniforms became tatty, they would have to repair them.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41They wouldn't be able to get new ones easily.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44And can we see where all these beautiful finds come from
0:49:44 > 0:49:47- on this map? This is wonderful. - Absolutely.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49So we have Newark in the centre of the map,
0:49:49 > 0:49:52and this is the Royalist fortification.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55This is the Scottish headquarters, nicknamed Edinburgh.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59- Right, yeah.- And the find came from this little sort of feature here,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01which is marked as the Scots' Redoubt,
0:50:01 > 0:50:04which is the square feature that Rachel was excavating.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06And is it important to the Parliamentarians
0:50:06 > 0:50:08to have this extra assistance from the Scots?
0:50:08 > 0:50:11Oh, it's crucial. It tips the course of the war.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Prior to the Scots joining in 1643,
0:50:15 > 0:50:17the two parties are at stalemate, pretty much.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20The Scottish army adds extra numbers,
0:50:20 > 0:50:23but also it breaks some of the power base of the Royalists
0:50:23 > 0:50:25who are in the North of England.
0:50:25 > 0:50:27So, eventually, the Parliamentarian forces
0:50:27 > 0:50:30that are laying siege to Newark, they would win this siege.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33They do. They do. They have to wait six months,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36and it's really not their own actions that win the siege,
0:50:36 > 0:50:39it's actually this outbreak of plague that occurs in the spring,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42and eventually they do actually give up the town.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52This gun battery gives us not only a rare picture of the Scottish troops,
0:50:52 > 0:50:54key to toppling the monarchy,
0:50:54 > 0:50:59but also a unique insight into a defining chapter in the Civil War.
0:51:05 > 0:51:10Our final dig takes us to the far reaches of northern Scotland,
0:51:10 > 0:51:13to the island of Sanday in Orkney,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16and an investigation into an ancient settlement
0:51:16 > 0:51:19of Britain's earliest farmers.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24Generations of archaeologists have excavated these islands,
0:51:24 > 0:51:27revealing that Orkney was home to thriving settlements
0:51:27 > 0:51:295,000 years ago,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33including the remarkably preserved houses of the Neolithic village
0:51:33 > 0:51:34of Skara Brae...
0:51:38 > 0:51:39..but until recently,
0:51:39 > 0:51:43there had been no sign of human habitation on this part of Sanday.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47So when archaeologists chanced upon what looked like Bronze-Age tools
0:51:47 > 0:51:51sticking out of the beach at Cata Sands, they were really excited.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00Any discovery here provides us with a rare opportunity to find out more
0:52:00 > 0:52:03about Orkney's amazing prehistory,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06but the archaeologists are really up against it.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09After thousands of years of lying hidden in the sands,
0:52:09 > 0:52:13this site is in real danger of being swept away.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18So can the team act fast enough and recover those precious clues
0:52:18 > 0:52:20before they're finally lost forever?
0:52:22 > 0:52:26The team can only dig when the tide is out.
0:52:26 > 0:52:2822nd of August.
0:52:28 > 0:52:29Tide coming in.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33As you can see, it's going to get higher day by day.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37It's hard to imagine, perhaps, in this sunshine,
0:52:37 > 0:52:39but they are at the mercy of the elements.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42The weather can change at any time.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44You can see quite clearly here
0:52:44 > 0:52:46that the storm over the last couple of days
0:52:46 > 0:52:49has actually exposed quite a lot of the archaeology,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53and this is essentially how this site has been first exposed
0:52:53 > 0:52:54and then eroded.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58As the surface layers are removed,
0:52:58 > 0:53:04the team discovers what they'd hoped for - the outline of a house.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07We've now defined the edge of the wall quite nicely.
0:53:07 > 0:53:12So now we're in a position where we've got the internal floor layers
0:53:12 > 0:53:14now showing up.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17The next job, now that we've defined the location of the house,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20is really to get into these floor deposits
0:53:20 > 0:53:22and try and see what was going on in the house.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28They suspect that this is part of a late Neolithic settlement,
0:53:28 > 0:53:32built, like Skara Brae, 5,000 years ago,
0:53:32 > 0:53:36and from their finds they think that it lasted into the Bronze Age...
0:53:36 > 0:53:37..but as they dig further,
0:53:37 > 0:53:40they quickly make an unexpected discovery.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01The shape of the hearth is surprising.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05Unlike the square hearths of Skara Brae, it's rectangular,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09which suggests it could date to much earlier.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12Could this be evidence of the predecessors of the people
0:54:12 > 0:54:14who founded Skara Brae?
0:54:14 > 0:54:17If so, it will offer a rare opportunity,
0:54:17 > 0:54:21promising to reveal more about Britain's first farmers
0:54:21 > 0:54:23and how they transformed the landscape.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32I've invited Vicky and Jane into the lab
0:54:32 > 0:54:35to show me those prehistoric stone tools that first alerted them
0:54:35 > 0:54:38to the existence of the site at Cata Sands.
0:54:42 > 0:54:43What an incredible site.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45- It is amazing, isn't it? - It's fantastic.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47How did you discover it?
0:54:47 > 0:54:49Well, we were walking along that beach one day
0:54:49 > 0:54:51when it was really, really windy,
0:54:51 > 0:54:53so we had have our noses really close to the ground
0:54:53 > 0:54:55to stop the sand getting in our eyes,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57and we started seeing tools,
0:54:57 > 0:55:02much like these, actually, these great big, ugly-looking things.
0:55:02 > 0:55:03See, I find that quite amazing,
0:55:03 > 0:55:05that you walked along the beach and looked at those
0:55:05 > 0:55:08and thought they were anything other than just natural rocks -
0:55:08 > 0:55:09but they're not natural.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12No, they're actually Bronze-Age tools
0:55:12 > 0:55:13that were used for cultivation.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16So, this is a roughly shaped mattock,
0:55:16 > 0:55:20so you can see the business end is down here,
0:55:20 > 0:55:21and it would have been hafted here.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26- Yeah.- So these are flakestone bars, and this is the same kind of idea,
0:55:26 > 0:55:30only this one was used as the point of a plough,
0:55:30 > 0:55:32so these are very characteristic of the early Bronze Age.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34- These are Bronze Age, are they?- Yes.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37But you think you've got earlier layers there, as well?
0:55:37 > 0:55:41Yes, so this key artefact, if you look at it...
0:55:41 > 0:55:46On that side, it has a dimpled area, and then if you turn it over...
0:55:46 > 0:55:47It's extremely flat, isn't it?
0:55:47 > 0:55:50- It's completely flat. So that has been ground flat.- Mm-hm.
0:55:50 > 0:55:54So this is a grinder and it's also called a Knap o' Howar grinder,
0:55:54 > 0:55:56because they come from an early Neolithic site
0:55:56 > 0:55:58called Knap o' Howar on Papa Westray,
0:55:58 > 0:56:01so that would be associated with grinding grain -
0:56:01 > 0:56:03but in the very early Neolithic time,
0:56:03 > 0:56:05when people were first farming in Orkney.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07So it's pushing it back and back and back.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10This looks like it could still be Bronze Age,
0:56:10 > 0:56:11then you're going back in time and saying,
0:56:11 > 0:56:14"Well, actually, this looks a bit more like early Neolithic."
0:56:14 > 0:56:16- Yep.- It is quite incredible, isn't it?
0:56:16 > 0:56:18This point where we get the Neolithic taking hold,
0:56:18 > 0:56:20because this is a massive change in people's lives.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22They've been hunter-gatherers up until this point
0:56:22 > 0:56:24and suddenly they become farmers.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Yeah, I mean, it is part of the broader early Neolithic story
0:56:27 > 0:56:30of Britain, and that first occupation of Britain
0:56:30 > 0:56:32by pioneering farmers.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36And I think Orkney would have been an exceptionally rich environment
0:56:36 > 0:56:38for people to move into.
0:56:38 > 0:56:39It's got very fertile land.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43It would have been perfect for early farmers coming in
0:56:43 > 0:56:46with, er, grain and crops and animals,
0:56:46 > 0:56:49and it would have been a wonderful place for them to live.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56After so much archaeological scrutiny of Orkney,
0:56:56 > 0:57:00it is incredible that Cata Sands is revealing new secrets
0:57:00 > 0:57:02about our Neolithic ancestors.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06It will be fascinating to see what future digs here can reveal
0:57:06 > 0:57:09about this period of the Agricultural Revolution.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Discoveries like this show how archaeology
0:57:18 > 0:57:20can change the story of Britain.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24From upturning our outdated image of the relationship
0:57:24 > 0:57:28between the savage Picts and the civilised Romans...
0:57:29 > 0:57:31..and providing glimpses of the lost origins
0:57:31 > 0:57:34of one of Britain's most famous sacred sites...
0:57:36 > 0:57:38..to seeing what happened to the Romans
0:57:38 > 0:57:40when the Britons rose up in rebellion.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46Our ancestors made the country we live in today,
0:57:46 > 0:57:50and archaeology enables us to reach back through the centuries
0:57:50 > 0:57:52and touch their lives.
0:57:55 > 0:57:56In our final episode,
0:57:56 > 0:58:01we're returning to Vindolanda for a Digging For Britain special,
0:58:01 > 0:58:04searching out the forgotten story of the horsemen
0:58:04 > 0:58:07who defended Rome's most northerly frontier...
0:58:09 > 0:58:12..and following a team of modern riders
0:58:12 > 0:58:15as they recreate a Roman cavalry display
0:58:15 > 0:58:19for the first time in 2,000 years.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22This is one of the most challenging things that I have done.