0:00:02 > 0:00:05This is the story of the invasions of the British Isles.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Whoa!
0:00:10 > 0:00:13It's the story of the enemies we feared,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16it's the story of the fear of invasion itself,
0:00:16 > 0:00:21and of the idea that we Britons are somehow unique.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27There have been battles for Britain for millennia,
0:00:27 > 0:00:32from weapons like these Hurricanes to sticks and stone axes.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37Invasions come in many forms - mass migration,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40immigrants bringing ideas and religions.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43All have shaped Britain and made it what it is.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45The farming invasion.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47A fashion invasion.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49The foodie invasion.
0:00:49 > 0:00:50Cheers.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55There is the Roman, Saxon, and Viking invasions.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58And it's not even 1066 yet.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03We love to believe in the island fortress.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Shakespeare wrote of "This royal throne of kings,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10"this sceptred isle".
0:01:11 > 0:01:15In Rule Britannia, we've never been defeated.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Churchill called us the island race.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23It's a story we all tell ourselves,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27but we all descend from people who came here from elsewhere.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29For one reason or another.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35This gap between that myth and the reality is a captivating tale,
0:01:35 > 0:01:40and it starts with the first people who came to Britain
0:01:40 > 0:01:42at a time when you could just walk right in.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05There was no continuous habitation of the British Isles
0:02:05 > 0:02:07until 12,000 years ago.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Hunter-gatherers came here to hunt and forage
0:02:10 > 0:02:14and then left again in cycles lasting thousands of years.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16Why?
0:02:16 > 0:02:19Because climate change turned the British Isles
0:02:19 > 0:02:20into a frozen wasteland.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29People living in what is now Britain were driven out by invasion.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31An ice invasion.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34As many as ten times in our prehistory.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36As glaciers advanced south,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38they pushed humans out.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44Changes in the Earth's orbit and in the angle at which the Earth rotates
0:02:44 > 0:02:46moved it further from the sun's warmth
0:02:46 > 0:02:51in cycles lasting from 1,000 to 150,000 years.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57The further the Earth orbited from the sun the colder it got.
0:02:57 > 0:02:58And you couldn't fight it
0:02:58 > 0:03:00by lighting fires and wrapping up warmly.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10For Stone Age Britons, there was only one thing to do.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Leave.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16But when you got to where the English Channel is today,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20you didn't have to get on a ferry because all of this water was land.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38This is Creswell Crags in Derbyshire.
0:03:42 > 0:03:4414,500 years ago,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48this woodland was arctic tundra left by retreating ice.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55And as this ice age ended, there is evidence here that humans returned.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03In this cave, something shows
0:04:03 > 0:04:06they were more than just prehistoric hunters.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09This image etched into the limestone
0:04:09 > 0:04:11is at the beginning of art in this land.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16It's similar to engraved art in what is now Germany,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19suggesting that these people migrated from there.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22It's been identified as auroch...
0:04:22 > 0:04:25GROWLING
0:04:25 > 0:04:29..a huge prehistoric wild cow hunted for food.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Soon after this art was created,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57the ice age returned for the last time
0:04:57 > 0:04:59and Britain was abandoned again.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02But by around 9600 BC,
0:05:02 > 0:05:07the climate stabilised and became pretty much what it is today -
0:05:07 > 0:05:09an immigrant's cave.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Soon Britain's population rose to around 20,000,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16but with stability came invasion.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Water from melting ice created the English Channel,
0:05:28 > 0:05:29dividing us from Europe.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32But it didn't keep people out.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38This was the first great invasion of Britain -
0:05:38 > 0:05:41the invasion of the farmers.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43They didn't all come at once,
0:05:43 > 0:05:48but they didn't stop coming until they transformed Britain.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52The impact of this event has been revealed
0:05:52 > 0:05:56by the very latest in DNA research.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59We are beginning to understand that our history is one of
0:05:59 > 0:06:01invasion and migration.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03By the time we get up to the top of the London Eye,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06we will be able to see where there are millions of people living.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10At the beginning of farming, there would only have been thousands of people.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14How has the study of DNA changed
0:06:14 > 0:06:18our understanding of invasions of Britain?
0:06:18 > 0:06:21One of the things we realise is that actually the history of
0:06:21 > 0:06:24the population that lives in the British Isles
0:06:24 > 0:06:30is one of migration and replacement of existing peoples.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32That pattern probably seems to go back
0:06:32 > 0:06:35at least 10,000 years, maybe even further than that.
0:06:35 > 0:06:3710,000 years?
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Yes. So the oldest DNA that we have from the British Isles
0:06:41 > 0:06:44is from hunter-gatherers about 10,000 years old.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47And most people are very different
0:06:47 > 0:06:50to the people that follow on from them.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Neolithic farmers arrived perhaps around 6,000 years ago.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Where did those farmers come from?
0:06:57 > 0:06:59From the Near East and from the Middle East.
0:06:59 > 0:07:00They migrate across Europe
0:07:00 > 0:07:02and they eventually make their way into the British Isles,
0:07:02 > 0:07:07and what we seem to have now is a pattern whereby they replace
0:07:07 > 0:07:09the hunter-gatherers in Britain.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11And that happens very quickly.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19This DNA evidence is a revelation to me.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23Proof of slow but steady migrations that have changed Britain
0:07:23 > 0:07:27exist within the remains of our excavated ancestors.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34This old history book, Outlines of British History, from 1919,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38begins with the Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40But now, with DNA,
0:07:40 > 0:07:42each and every one of us contains
0:07:42 > 0:07:47a historical text which takes us back thousands of years.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55It's a highly personal historical record that we all carry.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Every generation over the centuries
0:07:58 > 0:08:00has felt it is the last to be truly British
0:08:00 > 0:08:03because it's under this existential threat
0:08:03 > 0:08:05from the invasion of migrants.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Was there ever a true British people?
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Does such a thing exist?
0:08:09 > 0:08:10This is a classic immigrant nation.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12The immigration started so long ago
0:08:12 > 0:08:14it's not part of our popular narrative any more.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17It's just a question of how long ago your ancestors came.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20And somebody I spoke to recently was suggesting it should be
0:08:20 > 0:08:22compulsory for all schoolchildren to be DNA tested
0:08:22 > 0:08:24so that they could explore their history.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28The spirit behind it of everybody having that inquisitive approach to
0:08:28 > 0:08:30their identity and their heritage.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37And I'm going to find out something of my identity and heritage.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41My DNA tests arrived.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44So let's see what mysteries this contains.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47Here we go. Right, let's see what it says.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49Using one swab at a time,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51open your mouth and rub swab firmly back and forth,
0:08:51 > 0:08:56up and down the inside of your cheek for a full 30 seconds.
0:08:56 > 0:08:57Right. Here we go.
0:08:57 > 0:08:58Right.
0:08:58 > 0:08:59Ah.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05So that's going to finally prove
0:09:05 > 0:09:08that I'm related to William the Conqueror.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12It feels quite weird that the secrets to my historical soul
0:09:12 > 0:09:14are on my cheeks.
0:09:15 > 0:09:16Who knew?
0:09:19 > 0:09:20There she goes.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25Now, let's get back to those Neolithic farmers.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29The arrival of farmers into Britain
0:09:29 > 0:09:32changed the landscape more dramatically
0:09:32 > 0:09:34than any other invasion in history.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38In just 400 years,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40the population of the British Isles
0:09:40 > 0:09:43was changed from hunter-gatherers to farmers.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47PIGS GRUNT
0:09:47 > 0:09:49PIG SQUEALS
0:09:51 > 0:09:55All Britons are immigrants. Even all these pigs are immigrants.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00Our pigs, cattle, and sheep all originated in the Middle East.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Just imagine loading your family, your possessions,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09your grain, and your livestock
0:10:09 > 0:10:14onto a boat and crossing the English Channel 6,000 years ago.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20No-one knows what boats carried this relentless wave of migration.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Archaeologists favour boats made out of animal skins
0:10:24 > 0:10:26stretched over a wooden frame,
0:10:26 > 0:10:32like these umiaks, which featured in this remarkable 1920s film.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35They are still used in Greenland today.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38They crossed in their thousands,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42taking their futures and their lives in their hands.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Some probably never made it.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47If they didn't tie their livestock up...
0:10:48 > 0:10:51..they'd probably capsize the boat,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54kick a hole in it or even eat it.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00A plague.
0:11:03 > 0:11:04COW MOOS
0:11:07 > 0:11:09These farmers from the Middle East
0:11:09 > 0:11:12were so successful that within just 400 years,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15farming had spread right across Britain.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20The new owners of the land
0:11:20 > 0:11:24built shrines like this long barrow at Caldwell in Kent.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Wow. What a place.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34James Dilley, experimental prehistoric archaeologist,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37believes that this is one of the first stone monuments
0:11:37 > 0:11:39to be built in Britain.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41What was Coldrum for?
0:11:41 > 0:11:45So, Coldrum is a long barrow, it's a place to store the dead.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49This would've been an open chamber that people could have brought
0:11:49 > 0:11:53their relatives to after leaving them exposed for a period of time
0:11:53 > 0:11:55which is known as excarnation,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59where the body is put out and the wildlife and the elements
0:11:59 > 0:12:01expose the bones.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04And as well as having its obvious function as a burial mound,
0:12:04 > 0:12:08it is that marker to say, we are here, this is our land.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10How important have invasions been
0:12:10 > 0:12:12for the development of the British Isles?
0:12:12 > 0:12:17Many thousands of years before these Neolithic farmers would have been coming to Britain,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20we had people coming in and out of Britain to hunt and gather.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23People constantly bringing in new ideas,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26long before the Romans even thought about moving into Britain.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Yeah. And these farmers who arrived,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30were they really from the Middle East?
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Certainly their ideas were and their methods of working the landscape.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36So this was an invasion of the farmers,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38and they were very much rooted in the ground.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43It was sensible or obvious for them to change the landscape.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45And that's a great way of putting it
0:12:45 > 0:12:47because they are starting to grow plants and crops
0:12:47 > 0:12:49that are taking root into the ground.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52You'd have to clear large areas of woodland.
0:12:52 > 0:12:58You could say large areas of Britain are a Neolithic monument in itself.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04There is evidence that there was so much to be done
0:13:04 > 0:13:08that the very first thing they did was to dig flint mines
0:13:08 > 0:13:11to get the thousands of flint axes they needed
0:13:11 > 0:13:14to cut down the hundreds of acres of woodland.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Neolithic farmers dug beneath the fields,
0:13:17 > 0:13:19and beneath this house,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22there's a hole in the chalk that may well be prehistoric.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38This hole was discovered before the house was built
0:13:38 > 0:13:40when a pig fell down it.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43It's 30 feet deep and over 100 long.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Beneath a home in Kent.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50You can still see the footholds in the wall
0:13:50 > 0:13:53that the miners used to climb in and out.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11These marks seem to have been made in the wall
0:14:11 > 0:14:13with an antler pick like this modern one.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19They mined flint extensively,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22even transporting flint to areas that lacked it.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31It's no surprise that with organisation like this,
0:14:31 > 0:14:34they had transformed the landscape in 400 years...
0:14:35 > 0:14:40..and cleared as much as 10% of Britain's woods.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46How many flint axes would you need to clear, you know,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49even a small area of woodland? It must be hundreds.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Well, it really depends on experience of the woodworkers,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55or the tree fellers and the quality of the axes.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59But you'd need hundreds, possibly even thousands of these things to clear a large quantity.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Yeah. To clear a huge area,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06to start to set up areas of settlement and for agriculture
0:15:06 > 0:15:09and to keep animals in, you know, you're looking at hundreds of axes.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14So the real difference is...new technology and enormous quantity.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17Yeah, definitely. And these are brand-new toolkits, really,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20to start to work the landscape to their advantage.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22I want to work a bit of this landscape
0:15:22 > 0:15:24so should we have a go at making one?
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Definitely. Stick on some safety glasses.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30So this is the material we'll be working with.
0:15:30 > 0:15:31Flint.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33A really well-sized piece of flint.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38And this one, I think, I hope, will give us a good axe head.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40It is difficult to do?
0:15:40 > 0:15:41Yes. Yeah.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46So the first tool we're going to need to work this
0:15:46 > 0:15:48other piece of stone is a pebble.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51This is not a test of strength or power,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54it's a test of accuracy with your hammers
0:15:54 > 0:15:56and a test of knowing the material.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58So I'll start in this corner.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04I think it's time for you to take a couple of flakes.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Aim for about there.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Good shot. Perfect.
0:16:08 > 0:16:09This is fun.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Argh! That was on the side of my knee!
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Unbelievably painful.
0:16:15 > 0:16:16Right.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Better.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20OK.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29It's like a sculpture emerging
0:16:29 > 0:16:32from the inside of the black piece of stone.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Amazing.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39So I think that'll pretty much do it.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41There we go. Look at that.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Right. To make that, you need three things.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47You need two different types of stone,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50and you need a little bit of ingenuity.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54And it was the ingenuity that the Neolithic farmers
0:16:54 > 0:16:56brought the British Isles.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10It's close. You know, you're not far off.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17- Hey-hey!- Well done.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19I did it with this. Amazing.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23But it was a worthwhile invasion.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25This new way of making stone tools
0:17:25 > 0:17:30allowed people to start to clear areas of forest just like this.
0:17:35 > 0:17:41From 4200 BC, deforestation swept through the British Isles.
0:17:41 > 0:17:47By 2500 BC, stone monuments could be found across the land.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Archaeologists have wondered
0:17:49 > 0:17:52if some could be explained by invasion or migration.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Archaeologists had a theory.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07Ancient Britons must have needed some help to build
0:18:07 > 0:18:09something as amazing as Stonehenge.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Before the advent of DNA testing,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18archaeologists had to use their logic rather than science
0:18:18 > 0:18:21to work out where people come from.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27In 1969, a massive archaeological dig was broadcast live on BBC Two.
0:18:33 > 0:18:34What is that?
0:18:39 > 0:18:41SAM LAUGHS He's got his suit on!
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Down at the far end of this tunnel,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46right in the very heart of Silbury Hill,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48I've just been looking at
0:18:48 > 0:18:51a most extraordinary and fascinating spectacle.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Now, this is proper TV archaeology.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54Now beginning to yield up...
0:18:56 > 0:18:59No-one knew what might be at the centre of Silbury Hill,
0:18:59 > 0:19:04a man-made hill 15 miles from Stonehenge.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Perhaps even a burial chamber,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09potentially as exciting as Tutankhamun,
0:19:09 > 0:19:11housed Stonehenge's builder.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Professor Atkinson, now that...
0:19:13 > 0:19:17Professor Richard Atkinson looked at architectural similarities between
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Stonehenge and Mycenae in southern Greece,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24and concluded that Stonehenge was
0:19:24 > 0:19:26built by a high-status outsider.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31He could even be buried in the middle of Silbury Hill.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Six weeks from now, we shall be at and indeed
0:19:33 > 0:19:35beyond the centre of the mound
0:19:35 > 0:19:38and shall have some idea of what goes on there.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Supposing we came across a pit in the base of the tunnel
0:19:41 > 0:19:43filled with skeletons.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45Wouldn't it be great if that was true?
0:19:45 > 0:19:48But archaeologists found no Silbury 'khamun.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52Atkinson never found his proof
0:19:52 > 0:19:57and the BBC hastily cut their programme of live broadcasts
0:19:57 > 0:19:58from Silbury Hill.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05Radiocarbon dating later proved that Stonehenge was older than Mycenae.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Archaeologists concluded that on this occasion,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12ancient Britons weren't invaded.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17But now, DNA is proving what the Silbury Dig couldn't.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22There was an ongoing invasion of Britain at this time,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25and it has consequences more far-reaching
0:20:25 > 0:20:27than the Norman Invasion of 1066.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32The smoking gun points at the most successful immigrants or invaders of
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Europe, they don't have a name.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37We had to invent one.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38The Beaker people.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Because all of their burials contained beakers like this.
0:20:42 > 0:20:43Cheers.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51The Beaker migration originated from the steppes,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54from southern Ukraine and southern Russia.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01The Beaker came to Britain about 4,500 years ago.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04They brought metallurgy, ceramics,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07and built incredible monuments like Avebury ring
0:21:07 > 0:21:11as well as the later stages of Stonehenge.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17But we now think this is a very significant invasion, do we?
0:21:17 > 0:21:23So, this is perhaps the single most important migration event that has
0:21:23 > 0:21:25happened into the British Isles.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29The so-called Beaker people seem to replace the Neolithic farmers
0:21:29 > 0:21:31by wholesale replacement of
0:21:31 > 0:21:34the existing population through violence.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36- I'm sort of struck dumb by this. I had no idea.- Yeah.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42This ground-breaking beaker phenomenon
0:21:42 > 0:21:47revealed by ancient DNA studies is creating a seismic re-evaluation
0:21:47 > 0:21:52of what archaeologists think about the prehistory of the British Isles.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Does that mean that both you and I are Beakers?
0:21:56 > 0:21:58In some ways, yes.
0:21:58 > 0:22:04So, it's likely that a very large proportion of your genome,
0:22:04 > 0:22:0970%, can be traced back to that Beaker migration event,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13that migration event that occurred about 4,500 years ago.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15I don't know about you, but I haven't had any strong desire to
0:22:15 > 0:22:19make any bell-shaped pottery recently.
0:22:19 > 0:22:20I haven't thought about it.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23I think it may be welling up inside of me, uncontrollably.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29The Beaker invasion is currently the last major migration event
0:22:29 > 0:22:32that can be picked up using ancient DNA.
0:22:33 > 0:22:38There have been no major changes to our DNA ever since.
0:22:44 > 0:22:49But the Beaker takeover didn't mean that early Britons stayed put.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52From about 1000 BC,
0:22:52 > 0:22:57expanding communities clashed in bitter and violent conflicts.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05So, mobility was part of everyday life in ancient Britain.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Hunter-gatherers had moved to stay close to food supplies
0:23:08 > 0:23:10and now farmers were constantly moving
0:23:10 > 0:23:12to seek out new opportunities.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20But all of this movement must have caused trouble.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Human beings are also territorial and they like their personal space.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30But to what extent were they killed by waves of immigration
0:23:30 > 0:23:32and invasion?
0:23:35 > 0:23:39This incredible archaeological site is Must Farm,
0:23:39 > 0:23:44found in the Cambridgeshire fenlands, called Britain's Pompeii.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52It contains nasty clues about the dark side of migration away from
0:23:52 > 0:23:55mega-monuments, culture, and technology.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00It even suggests a different story of migrants
0:24:00 > 0:24:03who suffered at the hands of the existing population.
0:24:03 > 0:24:09About 3,000 years ago, these Bronze Age houses burnt down...
0:24:11 > 0:24:15..their contents preserved in the marsh like a shipwreck.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20The stilted houses suggest immigrants from mainland Europe.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22Even modern Switzerland.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26The contents reflect material richness,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30part of a prehistoric trade superhighway
0:24:30 > 0:24:33that brought glass beads from Mediterranean
0:24:33 > 0:24:35and amber from Scandinavia.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38Must Farm raises the question, did some awful,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41traumatic event take place here?
0:24:41 > 0:24:46Did these people fall foul of some local jealous xenophobes?
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Found in and amongst ruins were swords and axes
0:24:49 > 0:24:52which bore the marks of combat.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56If ancient people were as intelligent as us, well,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00why wouldn't they be as violent as us as well?
0:25:00 > 0:25:03In any case, it's a great story for something dug up
0:25:03 > 0:25:05outside a chip factory in Peterborough.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10With tribal boundaries replacing monuments,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13this was an age of internal invasion.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16By the end of the Bronze Age,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Britain's population had soared and there was intensive occupation
0:25:20 > 0:25:23and competition for resources.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25Settlement all over Britain
0:25:25 > 0:25:29show evidence of warfare from trauma in human remains
0:25:29 > 0:25:31to layers of burning.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35With group rather than national identity,
0:25:35 > 0:25:40our prehistory is filled with frequent internal invasions
0:25:40 > 0:25:42as tribe fought tribe.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46It's ironic but hardly surprising
0:25:46 > 0:25:49that despite sharing a common descent with the Beaker people,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52ancient Britons could be at each other's throats
0:25:52 > 0:25:56in a continuous cycle of internal invasions.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00And this Beaker DNA actually raises a bit of a problem
0:26:00 > 0:26:04because it seems to prove that one of the greatest invasions
0:26:04 > 0:26:08of ancient Britain that many of us believe in never actually happened.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16History books used to talk of the Celts,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18a prehistoric people from southern Europe
0:26:18 > 0:26:22coming to Britain in up to three separate waves of invasion.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31In the 17th century, the pioneering linguist Edward Lhuyd
0:26:31 > 0:26:33wrote Archaeologica Britannica,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37an account of the languages, histories, and customs of Great Britain
0:26:37 > 0:26:41from travels through Wales, Cornwall, past Britannia,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45Ireland, and Scotland and in that book he identified
0:26:45 > 0:26:49the original language of England and Wales as Celtic.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Now, this was the first time that ancient Britons
0:26:52 > 0:26:54had been described as Celts,
0:26:54 > 0:26:56and in doing so, he established a myth.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02If you ask many Britons where they think that their origins lie,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04they will say that they are Celtic.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07But, in fact, there is no classical source
0:27:07 > 0:27:11that actually says that the Celts ever came to northern Europe.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16Caesar writes that they lived only in southern Europe.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19Was there a Celtic invasion of Britain?
0:27:19 > 0:27:21No, I don't think so.
0:27:21 > 0:27:22I think there was no big incoming force
0:27:22 > 0:27:25but there was a trickle of people coming over from the Continent
0:27:25 > 0:27:29with knowledge of Celtic art styles, a fashion invasion, if you like.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32And that was embraced and creatively taken up
0:27:32 > 0:27:35by the local people in Britain, and so it led to a fusion,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38a hybridity of ideas, a vibrant artistic culture
0:27:38 > 0:27:42that then became known as the British Celtic art style.
0:27:43 > 0:27:49So, forget the Celtic invasion and remember the fashion invasion.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51From western continental Europe
0:27:51 > 0:27:57came a succession of distinctive luxury goods archaeologists call La Tene.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Think Gucci, think Versace.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06This was a brand invasion that swept through the British Isles
0:28:06 > 0:28:10from the Picts in the north to the Coriondi in Ireland.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Some metalworkers copied La Tene.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17Some created their own distinctive designs.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Celticness was an art movement.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24This idea of a Celtic art style being particularly flamboyant -
0:28:24 > 0:28:25where does that originate from?
0:28:25 > 0:28:27There's lots of different ideas,
0:28:27 > 0:28:29but there is certainly an inspiration initially
0:28:29 > 0:28:31from the Mediterranean that goes up into Central Europe,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34there are influences from Eastern Europe, Western Europe,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36that create this melting pot of ideas.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40And it is that artwork that we recognise as a Celtic, as La Tene,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42that then goes north.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45It's quite mysterious and I think that speaks to the inhabitants of
0:28:45 > 0:28:51Britain of a world that they find full of ritual, gods, goddesses,
0:28:51 > 0:28:53who live in the animal world, in the animal kingdom.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56And that's what they try to represent in their art.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05There may have been no physical Celtic invasion
0:29:05 > 0:29:08but the cultural invasion was overwhelming.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12And the Britons didn't just lap up La Tene fashion to strut around in
0:29:12 > 0:29:14and show off their status.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20They deposited enormous amounts of artefacts in rivers and streams,
0:29:20 > 0:29:25places where their gods of the underworld interfaced with men.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Perhaps this is where the legend of Excalibur,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36that sword of King Arthur, taken from a sacred lake comes from.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40This legend, possibly dating
0:29:40 > 0:29:44from the Iron Age practice of depositing weapons,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47has inspired film-makers like John Boorman
0:29:47 > 0:29:49to create spellbinding scenes.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53But it wasn't just the mysteries of magic and belief
0:29:53 > 0:29:57that attracted the British elite to this cultural invasion.
0:29:59 > 0:30:00We all like to show off.
0:30:03 > 0:30:08This was a time of warfare, competition, and elite display.
0:30:08 > 0:30:09And as an Iron Age Briton,
0:30:09 > 0:30:14there was an ultimate statement to say that you'd arrived.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17The chariot.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20Probably starting with the Etruscans in northern Italy,
0:30:20 > 0:30:24it spread northwards and joined the Celtic brand.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28This cultural invasion was as irresistible a piece of engineering
0:30:28 > 0:30:32to the Iron Age elite as a muscle car is today.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36- Come on, then. All right?- It's like he's emerging out of the past.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Celtic chariot horses. Eight-wheel drive.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Eight-wheel drive. Of course they are. Aren't they wonderful?
0:30:42 > 0:30:43Hello.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45So, what are we going to attach them to?
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Right. We have...
0:30:47 > 0:30:48Wow.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50There you go.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52What an amazing-looking thing.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54Beautifully made.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58A genuine rebuilt ancient British chariot.
0:30:58 > 0:31:03It's a funny mixture between being sturdy and very rickety.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07It's made out of ash and it's naturally flexible
0:31:07 > 0:31:13so this whole thing kind of is weighted and unweighted.
0:31:13 > 0:31:14It's not that heavy, actually, to move.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17You wouldn't want to be pulling it for very long, as a person,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21but it's a lot lighter than a modern carriage that those two would pull.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23It's not made of metal.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26It's quite a skill to balance two people on this,
0:31:26 > 0:31:27so we'll have to see how we go.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29We should do some experiments.
0:31:29 > 0:31:30I'm not sure what my chariot skills are like.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33We're going to discover in the next half an hour.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35Shall we get them attached, then?
0:31:38 > 0:31:42This Iron Age chariot isn't just part of a fashion invasion
0:31:42 > 0:31:44but a technical revolution.
0:31:50 > 0:31:51There you have it.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56If you kneel on the back.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58Is that better than standing?
0:31:58 > 0:31:59Yeah. Kneeling to begin with, yeah.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04- Are you on board? - Yeah, I'm on board.- OK. Walk on.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06Good boys.
0:32:06 > 0:32:07Good boys. That's it.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11- Ooh, you can sense their power, can't you?- Yeah.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15HORSE SNORTS
0:32:15 > 0:32:17- Woohoo!- Sssssssh.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22Steady now.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24Steady now. Good boys.
0:32:24 > 0:32:25Come round.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28I think we should have a go outside, don't you?
0:32:28 > 0:32:31I definitely think we should have a go outside. Let's do it.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33- I think we're warmed up.- Good.
0:32:37 > 0:32:38That was amazing.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41It's got spoke wheels, it's a convertible.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43It's just like an Italian sports car.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45It's very good fun.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10Whoa... Good lads. Good boys.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13That was exhilarating.
0:33:13 > 0:33:14That's how you get your kicks in the Iron Age.
0:33:14 > 0:33:15THEY LAUGH
0:33:16 > 0:33:19This peaceful fashion invasion
0:33:19 > 0:33:21left styles that have persisted throughout
0:33:21 > 0:33:23the history of the British Isles.
0:33:32 > 0:33:352,000 years after the Beaker arrived,
0:33:35 > 0:33:40Iron Age Britons would now face an invasion not by farmers
0:33:40 > 0:33:43but a vast military power.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50This is where the Romans first landed.
0:33:50 > 0:33:51Deal beach.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54It's a handy gap in the white cliffs near Dover.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Caesar writes that the deep water running up to the shore made it
0:33:58 > 0:34:02very difficult for his troops who were carrying heavy shields
0:34:02 > 0:34:03and wearing mail.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06And in 2,000 years, nothing's changed.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Julius Caesar wrote, "No-one goes to Britain except traders.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17"And invaders."
0:34:19 > 0:34:21He led his legions inland
0:34:21 > 0:34:26and somewhere in Kent his troops stormed a woodland hill fort.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30We are at Bigbury hill fort and we're in Kent,
0:34:30 > 0:34:32and this is supposedly one of the sites
0:34:32 > 0:34:36that Caesar had to conquer on his way into the country.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38What evidence do we have?
0:34:38 > 0:34:41It's still guesswork but it's a logical site.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46Something happens here around the right time that creates a kind of
0:34:46 > 0:34:47ghostly landscape.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50So it is just possible that you're standing where Caesar stood.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52Really?
0:34:52 > 0:34:54And that his troops looked out over this area
0:34:54 > 0:34:56and felt that they'd done their day's work.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58They'd taken the site.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00But in reality, it was a hollow victory
0:35:00 > 0:35:03and it takes another 100 years of actual political machinations
0:35:03 > 0:35:08before the country is really ready for a proper Roman invasion.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12Caesar wrote the Britons were fierce fighters.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16His invasions of Britain with the closest he ever came to ruining
0:35:16 > 0:35:18his reputation.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22But it wasn't the fighting Brits that nearly sank Caesar.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24It was the English Channel.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28He writes, "A great many ships, having been wrecked,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30"were unfit for sailing.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33"A great confusion, as would necessarily happen,
0:35:33 > 0:35:34"arose throughout the army."
0:35:36 > 0:35:39After Caesar's small invasions,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42the Romans left this remote land on the edge of their world.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46But invasions can be what we want.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48We may even invite them.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53Brits had seen the Roman lifestyle and they wanted a slice of it.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57And this was a weakness the Romans exploited.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01Before the main Roman invasion,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05was there any contact between Rome and Britain?
0:36:05 > 0:36:06Oh, yes, yes.
0:36:06 > 0:36:10They are messing around in local politics, they are offering goodies.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12Particularly foodstuffs, fine dining.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14- Softening us up.- Absolutely.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18- These Romans are playing the long game, are they?- They are.- They know exactly what they're doing.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22Because they've done it elsewhere and they know the cost of a real
0:36:22 > 0:36:26hard-core military war, so it's a softly, softly approach.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29The way to my heart is through my stomach.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31So I would be putty in the hands of the Romans.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Indeed, yes, yes, sadly so.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35THEY LAUGH
0:36:35 > 0:36:40Britain was ultimately invaded by Roman luxury imports.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44Before the Romans came to add Britain to their empire,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47some southern tribes were virtually part of the Roman world.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52This was the foodie invasion.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54Britons traded with Rome,
0:36:54 > 0:36:56Roman merchants wanted slaves
0:36:56 > 0:37:00so some Britons sold their fellow Britons into slavery
0:37:00 > 0:37:05in exchange for fancy tableware, wine, and some nibbles.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Not our finest hour.
0:37:11 > 0:37:16The Romans invaded for good in 43 AD.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19In the south, they were welcomed by many locals
0:37:19 > 0:37:21already awed by the good life,
0:37:21 > 0:37:24seduced by the foodie invasion.
0:37:27 > 0:37:3150,000 foreign soldiers from France, Germany, Africa,
0:37:31 > 0:37:36Romania, formed Rome's garrison in a multicultural province
0:37:36 > 0:37:38of a omnicultural empire.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46The Romans built roads which spread invasion
0:37:46 > 0:37:48into the new province of Britannia.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55This is the A2 between Canterbury and the Kent coast.
0:37:55 > 0:38:00I was just wondering how many of the people driving this road today
0:38:00 > 0:38:02know that it's 2,000 years old.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08They say all roads lead to Rome
0:38:08 > 0:38:12but this one went north from the southern port of Richborough,
0:38:12 > 0:38:17and then it stopped, because not every Britain wanted to be a Roman.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23North of where Hadrian's Wall would be built were the free Britons.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28Rome's frenzy of invasion met fierce opposition.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31But enterprising Roman merchants saw profit
0:38:31 > 0:38:34and Hadrian's Wall became a trade barrier
0:38:34 > 0:38:38as much as it defended the northern limits of the Roman Empire.
0:38:39 > 0:38:44The most fierce opposition to Roman invasion was in southern Britain
0:38:44 > 0:38:47and it came from the first celebrity in British history.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49Boudicca.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51Steel your heart, woman!
0:38:51 > 0:38:52Be you a queen?
0:38:56 > 0:38:58You Britons hear me.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01For Britons are we all.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05We stand today,
0:39:05 > 0:39:08united by a common foe of Rome.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13Rome calls us savages.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17Wild mongrel beasts.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Well, let us show them just how wild we are.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Boudicca's line about Britain being made up of many tribes
0:39:35 > 0:39:38but uniting is an important part of the play.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41- Yeah.- Do you get a sense of that being relevant to the modern day?
0:39:41 > 0:39:43I think it's important to remember that actually,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46having people come together and working together for a common end
0:39:46 > 0:39:48is what makes people stronger.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Do you think she's now imbued with our contemporary anxieties?
0:39:51 > 0:39:54I think that's exactly it. She represents a paranoia of invasion,
0:39:54 > 0:39:58a paranoia, a fear of being taken over and being dictated
0:39:58 > 0:39:59and so I think, right now,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03what a lot of people are using her for is as a figure to represent the, um,
0:40:03 > 0:40:08the strength of one nation and the ability to carry on by yourself.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12Britons like Boudicca.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15This tribal queen who resisted Roman invasion
0:40:15 > 0:40:17remains a powerful image
0:40:17 > 0:40:20that subsequent generations have celebrated.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23For the Elizabethans,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26Boudicca was a reflection of their all-powerful queen,
0:40:26 > 0:40:28a defender of the realm.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30For the Victorians, well,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34they rebranded her from freedom fighter to empress,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37a cult Imperial figure.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40But in her fight against the Roman invaders,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43Boudicca stood against empire.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48Her Iron Age warriors faced a disciplined, professional Imperial Army.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51What I would have done is adopt more of a guerrilla warfare tactic,
0:40:51 > 0:40:54so, ultimately, the only way you can hope to prevail
0:40:54 > 0:40:57is to attack them bit by bit if they're on the move.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00- So you would have run away into the woods...- Indeed. - ..and joined the Romans.
0:41:00 > 0:41:01Live to fight another day.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05A British ambush destroyed the ninth Roman legion.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09Its commander, Petillius Cerialis, and his cavalry,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11fled for their lives.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15Boudicca's alliance of British tribes
0:41:15 > 0:41:18sacked Camulodunum and Londinium,
0:41:18 > 0:41:20modern Colchester and London.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22According to the Roman historian Tacitus,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26they slaughtered 70,000 Romans and their allies.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33But the Romans rallied and the 14th and 20th Legions
0:41:33 > 0:41:37faced Boudicca with just 10,000 men.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42Tacitus tells us the Britons had an incredible multitude
0:41:42 > 0:41:45but formed no regular line of battle.
0:41:47 > 0:41:48What do we think happened?
0:41:48 > 0:41:51You can't win against those organised troops.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54The Iron Age style of warfare is about bravado, about rushing the enemy.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57It's a lot of show, a lot of performance -
0:41:57 > 0:42:00you use your chariot to intimidate with noise and spectacle.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03It's much more about heroic combat, one-on-one.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05That's unintelligible to the Romans
0:42:05 > 0:42:07and whatever you throw against them, they're not fighting fair,
0:42:07 > 0:42:09they're not fighting in the way that you understand.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12In a pitched battle, with their ballista bolts,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15which have far greater range than your warfare,
0:42:15 > 0:42:17it's a bit of a lost hope, really.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20Few people can stand up against the Roman army.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24The Roman short sword, called a gladius,
0:42:24 > 0:42:26was a close-combat stabbing weapon.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Advancing in wedge formations,
0:42:29 > 0:42:34the Romans pushed the Britons into a dense mass where they were slaughtered.
0:42:37 > 0:42:43Having failed to repel Roman invasion, Boudicca poisoned herself.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47Britannia remained a Roman province for over 300 years.
0:42:49 > 0:42:54As a province of an Empire stretching as far south as the Sahara Desert,
0:42:54 > 0:42:58Britons had new frontiers, new identity.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00And new wealth.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02This was a land of plenty,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05and so coastal forts like this were built
0:43:05 > 0:43:07to keep out Germanic sea raiders
0:43:07 > 0:43:11but many of the Germanic tribesmen who would eventually take over
0:43:11 > 0:43:14what is now England, were already here.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17They had been invited by the Romans.
0:43:20 > 0:43:25To defend Britain, the Romans recruited Germanic mercenaries.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28Even when Britain was a Roman province,
0:43:28 > 0:43:32Germanic languages were spoken in the south and coastal areas.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36When the Romans pulled out in 409,
0:43:36 > 0:43:40they left Britain undefended, almost begging to be invaded.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48Picts from the far North raided south of the Thames
0:43:48 > 0:43:53but invading Germanic tribes like the Angles and Saxons
0:43:53 > 0:43:56wanted Britain, not booty.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59This was bloody invasion.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03Gildas wrote, "Swords glinted all around,
0:44:03 > 0:44:07"fragments of corpses covered with congealed blood looked as though
0:44:07 > 0:44:11"they had been mixed up in some dreadful wine press."
0:44:14 > 0:44:16Somewhere just down there,
0:44:16 > 0:44:20a mighty battle was fought between Britons and Anglo-Saxons.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records, in 455,
0:44:24 > 0:44:28Hengist And Horsa fought with Vortigern the King
0:44:28 > 0:44:31on the spot that is called Aylesford.
0:44:33 > 0:44:34No-one knows who won,
0:44:34 > 0:44:38but we do know that England was overrun by violent Germanic tribes
0:44:38 > 0:44:42who set up rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46England's very name derives from one of them, Angle Land.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Once, historians called this period the Dark Ages.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57They saw the Anglo-Saxons as heathen, barbarian invaders.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02They were sceptical of the inventiveness of a Saxon epic poem
0:45:02 > 0:45:06called Beowulf, that spoke of mighty hordes,
0:45:06 > 0:45:10golden shields and ship burials filled with treasure
0:45:10 > 0:45:12from all over the world.
0:45:13 > 0:45:19Beowulf may have been written as early as the seventh century at the height of Anglo-Saxon rule.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21It describes a king.
0:45:21 > 0:45:26"Shield Sheafson, a wrecker of mead benches rampaging among foes."
0:45:26 > 0:45:29I love "wrecker of mead benches".
0:45:29 > 0:45:32The Anglo-Saxons obviously loved a good pub fight.
0:45:32 > 0:45:33And a line describing him,
0:45:33 > 0:45:36even when read in the original Anglo-Saxon,
0:45:36 > 0:45:38shows the influence on our language.
0:45:38 > 0:45:40"Zet wes god cyning."
0:45:43 > 0:45:45This was the first work of English literature.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53In 1939,
0:45:53 > 0:45:57archaeologists proved that this wasn't a work of fantasy
0:45:57 > 0:46:00when they found a ship burial at Sutton Hoo.
0:46:01 > 0:46:07This discovery changed for ever the way we look at the Anglo-Saxons.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09Under a grass mound in Suffolk
0:46:09 > 0:46:14was proof that their invasion was a magnificent art invasion.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18This is the golden age of history TV right here.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23The group of bracken-covered mounds known locally as Sutton Hill formed
0:46:23 > 0:46:25part of the Sutton Hoo estate.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28The investigation was put into the hands of Basil Brown,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31who developed an extraordinary flair for finding things.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34That's his qualification - being able to find things.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Beowulf describes gold, splendid warriors
0:46:39 > 0:46:44and when the site was excavated, gold actually blew everywhere.
0:46:46 > 0:46:52It came from this shield which was once covered in gold leaf.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55The amount of gold leaf which was blowing about,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58as fast you caught a bit, it broke and flew.
0:46:58 > 0:46:59It was frightful.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Beowulf describes far-fetched treasures.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09Here was gold adorned with gems from India and Afghanistan.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15A belt buckle made from a pound of gold.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20And what Seamus Heaney's brilliant translation of Beowulf
0:47:20 > 0:47:22calls battle tackle.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27This isn't just evidence of a sophisticated warrior king
0:47:27 > 0:47:29descended from invaders
0:47:29 > 0:47:33but of a global role in the early medieval world.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36This was an invasion that made a serious impact
0:47:36 > 0:47:39on language and culture.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43But most of Beowulf isn't about ship burials full of treasure.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45It's about fighting monsters.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48Beowulf reflects fear of the other,
0:47:48 > 0:47:53and, ironically, even the invaders' fear of invasion,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55seen as a creature from the dark underworld.
0:47:58 > 0:48:03A fiend out of hell, Grendel was the name of this grim demon.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05Beowulf killed Grendel
0:48:05 > 0:48:09but a real monster was coming to threaten Britain.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15What are you afraid of?
0:48:19 > 0:48:22793 was a bad year.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24A terrible host appeared.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30It says in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle...
0:48:32 > 0:48:38"Portents appeared over Northumbria and sorely frightened the people.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42"Fiery dragons were seen flying in the air,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45"a great famine immediately followed those signs
0:48:45 > 0:48:49"and the ravages of heathen men."
0:48:49 > 0:48:53An eighth century cleric wrote in horror,
0:48:53 > 0:48:55"Behold the Church of Saint Cuthbert,
0:48:55 > 0:49:00"splattered with the blood of the priests of God."
0:49:01 > 0:49:05From the end of the eighth century, Vikings raided the British Isles.
0:49:09 > 0:49:14They showed all the hallmarks of ruthless desire for fortune and glory,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17regardless of the cost to others.
0:49:19 > 0:49:24This was shock and awe for Britain and Ireland - the Viking longboat.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30I, Viking literally means to go raiding in Norse.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34And the Vikings didn't just come here to raid.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36They came here to invade.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43The soil in Denmark can be very sandy
0:49:43 > 0:49:45and in an age before fertilisers,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48it became very difficult to make a living from farming.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52There simply wasn't enough good land to go around.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57Today's upwardly mobile Danes come here to Nyhavn in Copenhagen,
0:49:57 > 0:49:59but in the ninth century,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02many of them would have set out to raid Britain.
0:50:02 > 0:50:07These Vikings had everything to gain and very little indeed to lose.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12Some of them fought in a trancelike, uncontrollable fury.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14They were known as berserkers,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17which added a word to the English language -
0:50:17 > 0:50:18berserk.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33In 1962,
0:50:33 > 0:50:35the Danes discovered six Viking ships
0:50:35 > 0:50:38sunk at the mouth of Roskilde Harbour
0:50:38 > 0:50:39just outside Copenhagen
0:50:39 > 0:50:42and they excavated them and built a museum.
0:50:42 > 0:50:43We're off there now
0:50:43 > 0:50:46and I'm as excited as I've ever been
0:50:46 > 0:50:48about going to a museum.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50I've always wanted to go.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00Inside is the first secret of the Viking invasion.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12And this is it and she's an absolute beauty.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16This is the remains of a ship known as Skuldelev 2.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20She's a warship, a longboat, and she's almost impossibly big -
0:51:20 > 0:51:2130 metres long.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24She'd have a crew of up to 70 people.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27The Vikings knew her as a skeid,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30meaning one that cut through water,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34or a snekke, meaning a snake, a worm or a dragon,
0:51:34 > 0:51:37for the wake that she would leave in the ocean.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39That's exactly what she was -
0:51:39 > 0:51:43she was a sea monster from your worst nautical nightmare.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48Her crew weren't peaceful farmers interested in travel.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50Invaders of the British Isles
0:51:50 > 0:51:54frequently showed psychopathic tendencies
0:51:54 > 0:51:58from rape and mutilation to kidnapping and massacre.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02The Vikings shaped our sense of fear.
0:52:06 > 0:52:12Inside the museum are the remains of a Viking warship but this is
0:52:12 > 0:52:15a reconstruction of what that warship might have looked like.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21Now what's particularly wonderful about this ship is if I do this...
0:52:24 > 0:52:27..I can make the entire thing,
0:52:27 > 0:52:32a 30-metre long oak-built Viking ship wiggle, twist, and move.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37And that meant that when the waves passed under it,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40it moved with the sea, rather than against the sea.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52And that is the secret of the Vikings' success.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02There would have been 30 oars each side on this ship,
0:53:02 > 0:53:0660 rowers altogether, a crew of maybe 70,
0:53:06 > 0:53:07all armed to the teeth.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13And just imagine a flotilla of these ships
0:53:13 > 0:53:16bearing down on you from the sea.
0:53:20 > 0:53:21Terrifying!
0:53:24 > 0:53:27The effect was devastating.
0:53:27 > 0:53:32More and more ships sailed to the British Isles and the Anglo-Saxon
0:53:32 > 0:53:36response led to Viking success.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41On the battlefield, Anglo-Saxon tactics failed against skilled,
0:53:41 > 0:53:46determined and savage warriors who cared little for their own survival.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52Terrified Anglo-Saxon kingdoms adopted a fatal strategy.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55They paid Danegeld,
0:53:55 > 0:53:57bribes of thousands of pounds of bullion
0:53:57 > 0:54:00to persuade the Viking invaders to go away.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05But this was precisely what the Vikings wanted.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07So they came back for more.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that in 865,
0:54:13 > 0:54:17a great heathen army came to England.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19We don't know how big, but by 866,
0:54:19 > 0:54:24huge areas of the north and the east of England were under Viking control
0:54:24 > 0:54:27in an area which became known as the Danelaw.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30In what would become Scotland,
0:54:30 > 0:54:32Vikings made political centres
0:54:32 > 0:54:35across the Northern and Western Isles.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40And the very north became their south, their Sutherland.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44Invasion and settlement had replaced raiding.
0:54:45 > 0:54:50Rather brilliantly, the extent of the Danish occupation can be read
0:54:50 > 0:54:52in modern English place names.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56Places like Oldham, Durham, Selby,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Clitheroe, Keswick, Asgardby,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01or Haverigg, and, in fact,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Viking words are integral to the English language.
0:55:04 > 0:55:10And not just northern regional words like bairn or obvious ones like
0:55:10 > 0:55:16rampage or slaughter, but everyday words like leg, or get,
0:55:16 > 0:55:18or sky.
0:55:21 > 0:55:27What were rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms became united against the Vikings.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30This was the beginning of an English identity.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37But the blood or the DNA of the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons
0:55:37 > 0:55:39was the same.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42They were descendants of the Beakers from the Steppes.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48The database for my commercial DNA test is modern,
0:55:48 > 0:55:50so doesn't go back to the Beaker
0:55:50 > 0:55:54but it should suggest other invasion ancestors.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Ooh! My DNA tests have arrived.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05Let's see what they've got to say.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08Right, results for Samuel Bruce Willis.
0:56:08 > 0:56:09That's me.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14Amazing. Top gene pools.
0:56:14 > 0:56:15Wow!
0:56:15 > 0:56:2022%, Fennoscandia.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden.
0:56:24 > 0:56:25So I'm a Viking.
0:56:25 > 0:56:30Southern France, 13.8%, Orkney Islands, 11.8%.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34Western Siberia, 10.3%.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36Here we go.
0:56:36 > 0:56:37DNA migration routes.
0:56:37 > 0:56:42As the descendants of the occupiers of a once-empty Britain,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45we are all travellers, traders, refugees,
0:56:45 > 0:56:49people who have been blown off course for one reason or another
0:56:49 > 0:56:53and that's what really makes an island race.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57We're a mongrel nation but a captivating mix.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Sardinia! Nice, I went there on holiday this year.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04It's a lovely place. 9.8%.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07Perhaps wading ashore at Deal beach really is in my genes.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15The story of the invasions of the British Isles
0:57:15 > 0:57:20is written in our history books but it's also written in our DNA.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23In all my study of history,
0:57:23 > 0:57:27nothing has astonished me more than the new significance of
0:57:27 > 0:57:30the prehistoric British Isles.
0:57:30 > 0:57:36This story written in our DNA has been such a revelation to me.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39Especially the Beaker people.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44And it still amazes me that a people whose real name we'll never know
0:57:44 > 0:57:46made such an impact.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49And what about the Viking invasion?
0:57:51 > 0:57:53Well, it would take 600 years
0:57:53 > 0:57:58before they ceased to rule outlying parts of the British Isles
0:57:58 > 0:58:01and another invasion which changed Britain for ever and
0:58:01 > 0:58:06if you think that 1066 was the last invasion in British history, well,
0:58:06 > 0:58:08you're in for a very nasty surprise.
0:58:11 > 0:58:16Next time, the Golden age of invasions as Normans, Norse,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19and the Netherlands invade,
0:58:19 > 0:58:25bringing such unsavoury gifts as stunning architecture, jewellery...
0:58:27 > 0:58:30..and democracy.