Blaven

0:00:05 > 0:00:09Islands are places that have always fired the human imagination

0:00:09 > 0:00:14with tales of mighty heroes and their epic deeds.

0:00:15 > 0:00:16Sailing in the Hebrides,

0:00:16 > 0:00:18you can see with your own eyes

0:00:18 > 0:00:22how these islands inspired the myths and legends of old,

0:00:22 > 0:00:25helping to shape the culture of the nation.

0:00:25 > 0:00:27This isn't just beautiful scenery,

0:00:27 > 0:00:30it's food for the imagination,

0:00:30 > 0:00:32a storyteller's dream.

0:00:42 > 0:00:48The spectacular rocky peaks of the Black Cuillin on the Isle of Skye

0:00:48 > 0:00:51rise to over 3,500 feet above the sea.

0:00:56 > 0:00:59This is the impressive summit of Blaven,

0:00:59 > 0:01:02an outlier of the main Cuillin range.

0:01:03 > 0:01:07These are mountains that inspire poetry.

0:01:07 > 0:01:10The great 20th-century Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean

0:01:10 > 0:01:13made many references to the Cuillin Mountains

0:01:13 > 0:01:14and to Blaven in his work.

0:01:16 > 0:01:20"And even if I came in sight of paradise,

0:01:20 > 0:01:24"what price its moon without Blaven?"

0:01:25 > 0:01:27The first recorded ascent of Blaven

0:01:27 > 0:01:31was made by two drunken 19th-century intellectuals,

0:01:31 > 0:01:34the gay poet Algernon Swinburne

0:01:34 > 0:01:36and his friend John Nichol,

0:01:36 > 0:01:39who was a professor of English at Glasgow University.

0:01:39 > 0:01:43The pair spent the summer of 1857 on Skye,

0:01:43 > 0:01:46mostly in a drunken stupor, it has to be said.

0:01:46 > 0:01:48But between drinking bouts,

0:01:48 > 0:01:52they did manage to summon up enough energy to climb Blaven,

0:01:52 > 0:01:56which they mistakenly believed to be the highest mountain on Skye.

0:01:59 > 0:02:04Instead of replicating Swinburne and Nichol's drink-sodden achievement,

0:02:04 > 0:02:07I'm taking a different approach.

0:02:07 > 0:02:09I'm going not to climb Blaven,

0:02:09 > 0:02:11but to explore underground,

0:02:11 > 0:02:17descending into a nether world of darkness, bones and ancient myth.

0:02:18 > 0:02:20Just working our way up towards the passage.

0:02:21 > 0:02:23I'm glad I've got my wellingtons on.

0:02:23 > 0:02:27My guide to the underworld is archaeologist Steven Birch,

0:02:27 > 0:02:32who's spent the last ten years excavating a limestone cave system

0:02:32 > 0:02:34in the shadow of Blaven.

0:02:36 > 0:02:38After ten minutes bent double,

0:02:38 > 0:02:41we finally emerge into the bone cave,

0:02:41 > 0:02:44where Steve made his extraordinary discoveries.

0:02:44 > 0:02:48We were working at the site, an archaeological excavation.

0:02:48 > 0:02:51Started in 2003, so several years here.

0:02:51 > 0:02:55And a really amazing site came to light.

0:02:55 > 0:03:00Just behind me, you'll see we've got this arching limestone cave roof.

0:03:00 > 0:03:03And that was the original entrance into this cave system.

0:03:03 > 0:03:06And excavations outside

0:03:06 > 0:03:10uncovered a sequence of three different stone-built staircases.

0:03:12 > 0:03:15What Steve and his team found in the cave

0:03:15 > 0:03:19are some of the rarest and most intriguing artefacts

0:03:19 > 0:03:22ever to appear in the Scottish archaeological record.

0:03:22 > 0:03:25It was like a treasure trove. There was animal bone.

0:03:25 > 0:03:27There was pottery. There was stone tools.

0:03:27 > 0:03:28Bone points.

0:03:28 > 0:03:30Bone needles. And I thought,

0:03:30 > 0:03:33"Wow! Something quite exciting is happening here."

0:03:33 > 0:03:35The objects in the bone cave

0:03:35 > 0:03:39cover a span of almost 5,000 years of human history,

0:03:39 > 0:03:43from the Stone Age to the Iron Age builders of the brochs.

0:03:43 > 0:03:45Since we carried out the excavations,

0:03:45 > 0:03:49we've been able to look at other cave sites around the world,

0:03:49 > 0:03:52or closer to home, even, places like Ireland.

0:03:52 > 0:03:55We've got inklings now to suggest

0:03:55 > 0:03:57that it was unusual things going on in caves.

0:03:57 > 0:03:59I think they were seen as otherworldly places.

0:03:59 > 0:04:01They were this transitional place

0:04:01 > 0:04:03between the upper world and world of the living.

0:04:03 > 0:04:05It was a place where you could

0:04:05 > 0:04:07perhaps communicate with the ancestors

0:04:07 > 0:04:11or to make special offerings to those deities

0:04:11 > 0:04:14who dwelt in these very unusual places below the ground.

0:04:14 > 0:04:16So this is a sacred site, then, isn't it?

0:04:16 > 0:04:18Or was a sacred site?

0:04:18 > 0:04:20It all points to people visiting this site,

0:04:20 > 0:04:24almost as a pilgrimage-type site on a periodic basis.

0:04:24 > 0:04:28Maybe just family groups coming at certain times,

0:04:28 > 0:04:30periodically through the year.

0:04:30 > 0:04:32But then, we have evidence to suggest

0:04:32 > 0:04:34that perhaps big groups of people were coming

0:04:34 > 0:04:37at certain times of the year, maybe on these big Celtic festivals,

0:04:37 > 0:04:39like Samhain or Beltane.

0:04:44 > 0:04:46It's amazingly atmospheric.

0:04:46 > 0:04:47The hairs on the back of my neck

0:04:47 > 0:04:50were beginning to rise as you were describing that scene.

0:04:50 > 0:04:53But there is something almost tangible about, or elemental,

0:04:53 > 0:04:54the past, here.

0:04:54 > 0:04:56- Have you ever felt anything?- Yes.

0:04:56 > 0:04:59I think, you know, even lifting the objects out off the ground.

0:04:59 > 0:05:01I think every object that came out, some more than others,

0:05:01 > 0:05:05they do give a tingle, as you say, on the back of your neck.

0:05:05 > 0:05:08And, certainly, working in this site, especially in the early years,

0:05:08 > 0:05:10there was only three of us in the first year,

0:05:10 > 0:05:12working inside this passage.

0:05:12 > 0:05:16And making that journey from the cavers' entrance down the streamway,

0:05:16 > 0:05:19sometimes, you know, making that journey alone,

0:05:19 > 0:05:20you have a little look over your shoulder,

0:05:20 > 0:05:23you think you've heard something, or maybe it's a presence.

0:05:23 > 0:05:26I think, yes, there is something very tangible

0:05:26 > 0:05:28about this place being underground.

0:05:28 > 0:05:30- The ancestors are just behind us. - Yes, that's right.

0:05:35 > 0:05:37'Back on the surface,

0:05:37 > 0:05:40'Steve shows me the layout of this once sacred site.

0:05:40 > 0:05:44'This is where he made the most remarkable discovery of all,

0:05:44 > 0:05:47'a fragment of a musical instrument.

0:05:47 > 0:05:49'An ancient lyre.'

0:05:49 > 0:05:50So here it is.

0:05:50 > 0:05:52What is this?

0:05:52 > 0:05:56So, this is a laser-scanned model, if you like,

0:05:56 > 0:05:57of the original lyre bridge.

0:05:57 > 0:06:01Well, the original has been dated by material

0:06:01 > 0:06:03associated with it in the fireplace, if you like,

0:06:03 > 0:06:06and it's dated to between 400 and 500 BC.

0:06:06 > 0:06:09And that's a very significant find, as far as you're concerned.

0:06:09 > 0:06:11Yes. Yeah, I think because it's so unique.

0:06:11 > 0:06:15You know, it's the earliest evidence in Western Europe from this time

0:06:15 > 0:06:16of a stringed musical instrument.

0:06:16 > 0:06:19Is it really? Wow!

0:06:19 > 0:06:23And I imagine, the technology to produce that 2,500 years ago

0:06:23 > 0:06:25would have been relatively sophisticated...

0:06:25 > 0:06:26That's right, that's right.

0:06:26 > 0:06:28..in order to make those precise grooves.

0:06:28 > 0:06:30And that's perfectly angled, as well,

0:06:30 > 0:06:32to sit on the body of the musical instrument.

0:06:32 > 0:06:36That's right. We're still learning more about it as time goes on.

0:06:36 > 0:06:40So we can not only look at how the object was manufactured,

0:06:40 > 0:06:43but how it sounded, as well, with a replica.

0:06:43 > 0:06:45And what tunes they would have played on it.

0:06:45 > 0:06:47What type of tunes they would have played.