Pagans of Roman Britain Stories from the Dark Earth: Meet the Ancestors Revisited


Pagans of Roman Britain

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Right across Britain,

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archaeologists are unearthing the relics of ancient lives.

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But so much of modern archaeology is what happens after excavation.

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Today, forensic analysis and cutting-edge science,

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as well as brand-new finds,

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are overturning what we once thought

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about entire eras of our ancient history.

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I'm Julian Richards, and over the years

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I've been lucky enough

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to have taken part in some of our most important digs.

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You've not! A lead coffin?

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Now I'm going back to some of my favourites

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to discover the very latest stories of our most ancient ancestors.

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No period of Britain's deep history

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has left a greater legacy than the centuries of Roman rule.

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Right from the moment of their violent invasion,

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the Romans left their mark on this island,

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shaping who we are today.

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Even giving us our name - Britannia.

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What often doesn't spring to mind

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is late-Roman Britain, the fourth century AD,

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when Rome had started to decline,

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the world's greatest empire heading for extinction.

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Now, as an archaeologist, it's these hidden bits of history

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that really fascinate me, and the questions that they raise -

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what was life like in the cities of Roman Britain

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on the edge of a dying empire?

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More than a decade ago, I took part in two remarkable discoveries

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which offered the chance to find out more.

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In 1998, I helped reveal a burial from Roman Winchester -

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a local man who died early in the 4th century AD.

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Now, over a decade later,

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new science has challenged long-held assumptions,

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changing our understanding of the world he lived in.

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I've looked at a lot of decapitated burials,

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and it's much more common

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to find individuals where they've had their head chopped off.

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Then, just a year later, a fantastically rich burial

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of an aristocratic woman from 4th-century London.

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Back in 1999, she seemed to be foreign,

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a holder of unusual new beliefs.

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But it's only now that new studies and a decade of research

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have finally solved the mystery of just who she was.

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It was just so exciting, I was...I was dancing around the room,

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much to the amusement of the builders who were on the opposite roof.

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Together, these two burials

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have opened up windows into the lives and beliefs

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of people who were living through some turbulent times.

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It was an era of political instability

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where usurpers and rebels vied for power.

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And also, a time of spiritual uncertainty

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where Christianity - a new religion from the East -

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challenged traditional Roman values.

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So I'm returning to these two finds

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to see what science and archaeology have revealed

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in the dozen years since they were unearthed.

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By the 4th century, Roman influence had spread throughout Britain.

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Roads had brought prosperity,

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linking the countryside with its abundance of food

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to the new towns and cities.

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I've always been aware of one of those Roman towns in particular -

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Winchester.

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It's a civitas, or regional capital,

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and one of the largest towns in Roman Britain.

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So when, in 1998, I heard about excavation starting up

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at the Eagle Hotel just to the north of the city,

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I was very keen to get involved.

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And now, more than a decade on from that dig,

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I'm heading back to the city

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to find out how our understanding

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of 4th century Roman Winchester has moved on.

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This is where we were digging all those years ago,

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where we found our Winchester man.

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The weather's certainly nicer than it was then

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because it hailed, it snowed.

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On top of that, the back wall of the hotel

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threatened to fall into the site.

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It was...quite challenging.

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But I do remember being down one of the graves and getting very excited

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about finding some Roman coffin nails,

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when suddenly, we heard this shout

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from over the other side of the site.

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Let me take you back 15 years to 1998.

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-Oh, wow!

-You've not!

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A lead coffin!

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Oh, you're joking!

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'That shout was to mark the discovery

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'of something very special.' Oh!

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Just uncovering...what appears to be a lead coffin.

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Just removing...

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some of the stained chalk from around the edges.

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-Does this mean you're working over the weekend?!

-Guess so!

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This is a really great discovery, so I'm excited about it, yeah!

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Despite well over a century of excavations,

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only one lead coffin had previously been found in Roman Winchester.

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But with a grave this deep,

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we needed something bigger than our trowels.

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After the JCB had done the heavy work,

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we finally exposed the whole coffin.

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It was aligned north-south, a Romano-British pagan tradition.

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And there, in the gloom, was the rounded shape of a skull.

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A week after it was first discovered,

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the heavy coffin was finally lifted from its chalky resting place.

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Now this is the moment of truth.

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We peeked through the lid so we know there are SOME bones.

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We still don't know if there's a whole skeleton. We'll find out!

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-OK. You ready?

-ALL: Ready!

-I've got it!

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Oh, bloody hell!

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LAUGHTER

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And there he was, as daylight spilled into the coffin

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for the first time since the lid was closed,

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over 1,600 years ago.

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The fragile bones entombed in lead were those of a well-built man.

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But then we came across something else.

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Halfway down where the Roman's hand had lain...

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was a coin.

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Hopefully, eventually, we'll be able to identify that.

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Nearly 15 years after the dig,

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the remains of our man are now in the care of Winchester City Council.

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This is our man from Winchester.

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See, I remember the state of his bones when we found him.

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Because of the lead coffin, they were peculiarly eroded -

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all the surfaces were very flaky.

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And of course, when we first opened that coffin,

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we were all completely covered up in masks and suits

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because we weren't sure

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what the effect of all that lead was going to be,

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because lead's very toxic,

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but we now know that it's quite safe,

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although I'm still wearing gloves

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because that's a good idea when handling human bones anyway.

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So these are some of his long bones that are better preserved.

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But they've all got this peculiar flaky surface on them.

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Rather strange bone growth with them as well.

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All these sort of...they remind me of just how tall this chap was.

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Oh, right, here's the...here's one of the thigh bones, a femur.

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It's terrible condition, but it's big.

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It's very chunky.

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And actually putting that together,

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that was what suggested that he was particularly tall,

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he was about 5 foot 9", taller than me,

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and tall for the time as well.

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So somebody that gave us the impression as soon as we found him

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that he was strong, chunky.

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In some ways, typically British.

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The Britons were famed for their strength and their height.

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They made good slaves.

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What's this? Box three. Ah!

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OK. This is the skull.

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Right.

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Oh, yes.

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That's...that's a very male skull - strong jaw,

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prominent ridges over his brows,

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big muscle attachments to the back,

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a strong neck, a very powerful-looking man.

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And of course, what we found out since then by looking at his teeth

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is that he actually came from the Winchester area.

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He was born on the chalk.

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He was a bit of a Roman townie really.

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A very British Roman.

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-It IS complete, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Isn't that nice?!

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'Back in 1998, his well-preserved skull provided a good foundation

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'for forensic artist Richard Neave.'

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Now, out you come, young man!

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Now, that is a big, powerful skull, isn't it? My goodness!

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A big mastoid process.

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Quite a prominent chin.

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Not particularly full lips.

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Not a very deep upper lip.

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'It was up to medical artist Denise Smith to rebuild every detail

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'of our man's face.'

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He's going to have quite a wide nose,

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and...

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..he may have a slightly heavier brow

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making his eyes look more deep set.

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But...er...he's going to have quite a strong, powerful face.

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The reconstruction brought the dig team face-to-face with our Roman.

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A man who was local, British and physically very strong.

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And here's another strong, powerful face

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that can tell us something about our man -

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the impress on the coin that we found in the coffin.

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Now, coins are great clues because not only can they tell us

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about trade and about the spread of Roman influence,

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but above all, they make great dating evidence.

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What we had was a coin from the reign of Emperor Constantine,

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issued around 313 AD.

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What this tells us is that he had to have been buried after 313 AD,

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the year that the coin was minted.

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But it could have been in circulation in the markets

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of Winchester for years before it ended up in the coffin.

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The coin though provides us with more than just a date,

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it marks a landmark, because the year before it was minted,

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Emperor Constantine had converted to Christianity,

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paving the way for this to become the official religion of the empire.

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But ironically, our man certainly wasn't a Christian.

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Not only was he buried in a North-South direction,

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but this was in his hand.

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The fare to pay the ferryman to take his soul across the River Styx

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and into the afterlife.

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All this points to good, traditional Romano-British paganism.

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4th century Winchester was prosperous.

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Our man would have walked its neatly laid-out streets,

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worshipped at its temples,

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and perhaps, enjoyed the pleasures of its public baths.

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The man in the lead coffin tells us that by this time,

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the locals had become fully Romanised.

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A Briton here could become as wealthy and successful

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as anyone from the empire.

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but things start to get really interesting when we look

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at other burials from the cemeteries around our Winchester man.

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All Roman cities by law buried their dead outside their walls.

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Winchester had several burial areas.

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The largest of all lay to the north of the city

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along a road leading to Cirencester.

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I'm now right in the middle of that huge cemetery.

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Our man was found in the road over there.

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And the street at the top in medieval times,

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was known as Bone Street, because every time you stuck a spade

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in the ground, you would unearth the remains of some poor soul.

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Back in 1998, I paid a visit to Steve Teague at the Historic Research Centre

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to discover the extent of Winchester's Roman cemeteries.

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This is what we currently understand

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about the layout of the internal Street within the town.

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-Can we have a more detailed look at the town?

-All right.

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So where are we digging? Somewhere around here?

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-Somewhere over here, yes.

-Oh, so it's just outside one of the town gates?

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-Outside the defences.

-Yes.

-Just outside the city.

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How many burials have you excavated in total, then?

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In total, excavated and also and observed,

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we are talking about around 1,000 burials.

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-So this is one big burial ground here?

-Yeah.

-Just outside the city.

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-And that's the area that we were digging in.

-Yes.

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-That had about how many burials in? Altogether?

-It had 35.

-35 burials?

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Just within that area!

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Excavations going right back to Victorian times have revealed

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dazzling arrays of grave goods.

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Today, the content of hundreds of Roman burials

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are stored in Winchester City Council's museums, which hold

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arguably the richest 4th-century collection in the whole of Britain.

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These are just some of the wonderful objects that have been found

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in this burial ground.

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There is everything here, from whole pots, fragile glass vessels,

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to all of these objects of bronze, shale, jet. Absolutely wonderful.

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Things like this, a beautiful bronze strap end

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with a buckle at the end of it.

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This, I think is wonderful.

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A beautiful, very delicate shale bracelet.

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It is so shiny you can hardly believe

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that has been in the ground for over 1,600 years.

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And these, crossbow brooches. This is so heavy.

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So beautifully decorated,

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it has even got an inscription around the side of it.

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There is more of these been found in the cemetery

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than in any other cemetery in Britain.

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Now, a lot of these objects were excavated in the 1960s and 1970s.

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And the archaeologist who studied them

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came up with quite a controversial theory.

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What he said was that a lot of these objects appeared to have been made abroad.

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And that the way that they were placed in the grave -

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the burial rite - looks like graves from the Roman province of Pannonia.

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That's modern-day Hungary.

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So what was being suggested was that provincial Winchester

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was full of foreigners.

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But just because we have got lots to go on,

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it doesn't mean that we can't get it wrong.

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Because what we thought we knew about many of the graves

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a decade ago, has now completely changed.

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In 2009, archaeologist Hella Eckardt completed

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the largest isotope analysis of Roman Britain ever conducted.

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By studying chemicals within the enamel of human teeth,

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it is possible to identify where ancient people grew up.

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Taking 58 unusual Winchester graves, the aim here wasn't just to discover

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where individuals came from, but to sample an entire population.

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Here is an example of a girl's grave,

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where we can see that some of the grave goods are unusual.

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So she had some very fancy beads, some of which are exotic.

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Like these ones, these golden glass beads which are quite rare

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and are often thought to be indicative of an incomer.

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You also have these beautiful bracelets.

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And this girl was actually wearing these bracelets in death

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on her left arm,

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so she had multiple bronze, iron and shale bracelets on her left arm.

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And again, that is not a local burial rite.

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-She must have been tiny, because these are really small bracelets.

-Yes, absolutely.

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I think she was only five or six years old when she died.

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And that's unusual, is it? To find a whole array of bracelets?

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It would be relatively unusual in Britain, it would be more

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common in Pannonia.

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And that is certainly what the early excavators picked up on.

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And she also had this headband.

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The little bronze objects fitted onto a leather band

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and you can still see on her skull, where it is discoloured,

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that this is what she was wearing in death.

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And again, that is not a very common thing to have.

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So those are all archaeological indicators of an exotic origin.

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So what does the science say?

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What we did is, we looked at her teeth,

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to try and get an isotopic signature.

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What that allows you to do,

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you then compare the signature of the individual

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to what we define as the local range.

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So everybody in the box, isotopically, would be local.

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So you might expect, given that she has these exotic grave goods,

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that she would come from somewhere outside the box,

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but in fact, here she is, right in the middle of the box.

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-So, the science says she's local?

-It does.

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So our exotic girl actually, isotopically, looks local.

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And then, if we look at the other examples that we have studied,

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we have some people who earlier excavators thought were local

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and they come from a climate that is more continental and colder,

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so they are not local.

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And we have other people who earlier excavators thought

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were from Pannonia, but they are not, they are from all over the place.

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So you have got some from colder climates, could be Pannonian,

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but also some which are much warmer.

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And you have two that could be local.

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Science has now revealed that many of those old archaeological assumptions

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about the grave goods are wrong.

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It seems that early 4th-century Roman Winchester was far more

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culturally complex than anyone had previously thought.

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Is this just a question of getting the interpretation

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-of the objects wrong?

-No, I think that this is...

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The relationship between your biological origin

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and your social origin is a bit more complicated.

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Perhaps she was a second-generation immigrant.

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Perhaps this girl was buried by one parent, or two parents,

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who were from somewhere else.

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And they still wanted to follow certain rites, but they were able

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to buy some objects locally, where they were now living.

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They have settled in Winchester.

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And more generally, it just tells us that people do different things.

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Some people blend in, some people stick to the ideas of their homeland.

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So do you get an idea of an overall figure here,

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how many incomers were there to Winchester at this time?

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It's difficult to be sure, but our figures suggest that perhaps

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up to 30% of people who we sampled were not local to Winchester.

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So, Roman Winchester was a very diverse city with a population

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drawn from all over the Empire.

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A place where traders, soldiers, and perhaps even slaves

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could settle, marry, and raise their families in this, their new home.

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In 1998, we knew the burials we were excavating were Roman, but there was

0:21:530:21:58

always a discussion about where exactly these people had come from.

0:21:580:22:02

And now we know.

0:22:050:22:06

Because science has shown Roman Winchester to be an incredible

0:22:060:22:09

cultural melting pot.

0:22:090:22:11

And in the middle of it all, our man.

0:22:110:22:14

A man whose story seems quite simple and yet successful.

0:22:140:22:17

Perhaps a Romano Brit who has done well for himself.

0:22:170:22:21

Buried early in the fourth century in an expensive Roman coffin.

0:22:210:22:25

Back in 1998, though,

0:22:280:22:29

our excavation didn't just find the remains of only one man.

0:22:290:22:34

Just yards from the lead coffin, we unearthed other burials.

0:22:350:22:39

And they were very strange indeed.

0:22:390:22:43

Unlike our man, these people had been buried in very different ways

0:22:430:22:46

and perhaps has also ended their lives in different ways, too.

0:22:460:22:51

First, there were the remains of a child,

0:22:530:22:56

lying in a very unusual position.

0:22:560:22:59

You can tell this child is lying face down

0:22:590:23:01

because that's the back of the skull

0:23:010:23:03

and you can see the jaw coming down here, and the teeth.

0:23:030:23:07

So we know the face is down.

0:23:070:23:09

And also, if you look here, there is the backbone, and the arm bones.

0:23:090:23:13

But that is the shoulder blade there.

0:23:130:23:15

And you can see that the ribs are going underneath the shoulder blade.

0:23:150:23:20

So that must be the child's back.

0:23:200:23:22

But perhaps the oddest thing was the grave of a man whose head

0:23:230:23:27

had been removed and placed by his knees.

0:23:270:23:30

Archaeologists have been finding decapitated Roman skeletons

0:23:340:23:37

for years and the thinking had been

0:23:370:23:40

that they had their heads removed

0:23:400:23:42

after death as part of some murky ritual.

0:23:420:23:45

But new research is suggesting that things might not quite be what they seem.

0:23:470:23:51

Across town, osteo-archaeology is getting to grips with these strange

0:23:530:23:57

decapitation burials found not only in Winchester, but all over Britain.

0:23:570:24:03

When I was digging at the Eagle Hotel, Katie,

0:24:040:24:07

I remember digging a very odd burial.

0:24:070:24:09

-Somebody with their head by their knees.

-Yeah.

0:24:090:24:13

It's quite a common minority burial rite in Roman Britain,

0:24:130:24:16

they are called decapitated burials,

0:24:160:24:19

or decapitation burials.

0:24:190:24:20

Where you have the head not in the correct anatomical position,

0:24:200:24:23

but it has been placed elsewhere within the grave.

0:24:230:24:27

So as you can see, we have got a number of plans of burials here.

0:24:270:24:31

These are all from Winchester. Also you can see here...

0:24:310:24:34

That was where the one that I dug was. It was right down by...

0:24:340:24:37

It is, it is quite common between the lower legs

0:24:370:24:40

or the knees is quite a common position.

0:24:400:24:43

You can see again here, it's higher up, it's on the femur.

0:24:430:24:46

-So it's on the thigh. This one is by the knees.

-How widespread is it?

0:24:460:24:54

There's a handful of cases outside of Roman Britain,

0:24:540:24:57

but when we come into Britain itself, there's hundreds of examples.

0:24:570:25:01

Back in 1998, we thought this peculiarly British practice

0:25:030:25:07

was a burial rite.

0:25:070:25:08

But Katie's new study has revealed that many heads were removed

0:25:090:25:13

for more practical, earthly reasons.

0:25:130:25:17

So you can see, this individual here, this is from St Martin's Close.

0:25:200:25:25

You can see here there is a chop mark which has removed

0:25:250:25:28

the top of the second cervical vertebra and has also removed

0:25:280:25:32

part of the arch and facet of the first cervical vertebra.

0:25:320:25:36

So you can see the chop mark here. This is actually coming from behind.

0:25:360:25:42

You can tell this because the side of the bone where the blow has

0:25:420:25:46

actually come in, it is nice and clean in appearance.

0:25:460:25:50

And the opposite side, the bone has broken away as the blow has

0:25:500:25:53

-gone through the neck.

-So that is more of a distinct chop.

0:25:530:25:57

-Yes, this is a chopping blow.

-Right.

0:25:570:26:00

And do you know whether that happened

0:26:000:26:02

when that person was alive, or whether it was after they had died?

0:26:020:26:05

In this individual, I think this was probably how they died.

0:26:050:26:08

-This is what killed them.

-How can you tell that?

-Well, you can see...

0:26:080:26:13

This is all the same chop mark which has affected both vertebrae.

0:26:130:26:17

But in order to get those two cuts to line up,

0:26:170:26:21

you have to actually move the first cervical vertebra upwards,

0:26:210:26:27

-so the head would have been down onto the chest.

-Right.

0:26:270:26:31

But this is impossible to produce in a corpse

0:26:310:26:34

lying face down on the ground.

0:26:340:26:36

So this individual would have had to have been alive at the time that this was done.

0:26:360:26:39

So, does this imply execution?

0:26:390:26:42

I would think in this individual,

0:26:420:26:44

it is a good indication that this is probably an execution burial.

0:26:440:26:48

This research is suggesting that executions were more common

0:26:490:26:53

than we once thought.

0:26:530:26:55

But there is still the intriguing question of why the executed corpses

0:26:550:27:01

were buried in such unusual ways.

0:27:010:27:03

From the ethnographic evidence and from later medieval sources

0:27:030:27:07

and from evidence elsewhere in Europe, the most likely explanation

0:27:070:27:11

seems to be that it is a way of preventing hauntings.

0:27:110:27:14

Stopping undesirable individuals from being able to come back after they were dead.

0:27:140:27:18

Roman Winchester, with all its strange beliefs,

0:27:210:27:24

still lies hidden beneath today's modern streets.

0:27:240:27:27

But since our excavation over 15 years ago, new scientific

0:27:300:27:34

studies have transformed our understanding of this ancient world.

0:27:340:27:38

Back then, it seemed such a simple story.

0:27:420:27:45

Our wealthy man from Winchester was a classic Romano-British pagan

0:27:470:27:50

who died early in the 4th century AD. He was buried with

0:27:500:27:54

a coin to pay the ferryman to

0:27:540:27:56

take his soul across the River Styx into the next world.

0:27:560:27:59

But that coin had on it a portrait of the first Christian emperor.

0:27:590:28:04

A sign that our man's world was changing and that very soon,

0:28:040:28:07

Christianity would become the Empire's official religion.

0:28:070:28:10

Now we have discovered that late-Roman Winchester was

0:28:120:28:15

a place of extraordinary diversity.

0:28:150:28:18

People from all over the Empire came here and enjoyed its splendour.

0:28:180:28:23

As long as they toed the line.

0:28:230:28:25

The Empire ruled and those who broke its laws could expect to be

0:28:250:28:28

punished, sometimes severely, perhaps even by execution.

0:28:280:28:33

But in the background,

0:28:330:28:34

cracks were starting to appear in the Empire's authority.

0:28:340:28:37

The first signs that within a century of our man's death,

0:28:370:28:41

once-proud Winchester would start its slide into ruin.

0:28:410:28:45

For all the fascination of Winchester's Roman cemeteries,

0:28:510:28:54

I am leaving our pagan man behind.

0:28:540:28:57

Winchester might have been important, but it was Londinium that

0:29:010:29:04

was the commercial and administrative heart of Roman Britain.

0:29:040:29:08

And it was 14 years ago, at Spitalfields in east London, where

0:29:080:29:12

I took part in one of the most exciting discoveries of my entire career.

0:29:120:29:17

I have come 60 miles east to catch up with the latest developments

0:29:190:29:23

surrounding a remarkable grave,

0:29:230:29:25

this one dating from the middle of the 4th century.

0:29:250:29:27

About a generation or so after our Winchester man died.

0:29:270:29:31

In 1999, a team from the Museum of London started excavating

0:29:450:29:49

a huge medieval cemetery hidden beneath present-day Spitalfields.

0:29:490:29:54

But it wasn't only medieval mass graves that the team discovered.

0:29:560:30:00

There were earlier, Roman burials.

0:30:030:30:06

Including a massive stone sarcophagus.

0:30:060:30:10

LOUD BEEPING

0:30:130:30:14

-It's a pretty big signal, isn't it?

-It is.

0:30:190:30:21

Is it all the way along?

0:30:230:30:25

Yes.

0:30:250:30:27

I still think that's a good indication of a lead lining, don't you?

0:30:270:30:33

-It's possible.

-What else could it be?

0:30:330:30:36

This is the first time I have been back to Spitalfields since 1999.

0:30:420:30:47

I'm used to things changing a lot, but this is...very puzzling.

0:30:480:30:54

I'm trying to work out where the hell I am.

0:30:540:30:57

That's Bishopsgate down there so on that basis,

0:30:570:31:01

the old market must be behind that building.

0:31:010:31:05

So if that's the case,

0:31:070:31:10

and that's still there,

0:31:100:31:14

the burial must be somewhere underneath that!

0:31:140:31:18

People have been finding Roman skeletons at Spitalfields for centuries.

0:31:240:31:28

Now here, we are just outside Londinium.

0:31:280:31:31

But Roman burial law didn't allow anybody to be buried

0:31:310:31:33

inside the city walls.

0:31:330:31:35

So what happened, the cemeteries grew up alongside the roads

0:31:350:31:38

that led out in all directions.

0:31:380:31:40

This one is by the Northgate.

0:31:400:31:42

We're now trying to get the lid off without the thing falling to bits.

0:31:440:31:48

It's quite fortunate that it's cracked,

0:31:480:31:52

cos this smaller end will lift off, it only weighs about 200 kilos.

0:31:520:31:56

But the other bit will be a problem. That could involve the car jack.

0:31:560:32:01

Finding a sarcophagus was one thing, getting it open was quite another.

0:32:030:32:08

Can you get it up any higher on that side? ..There we go.

0:32:120:32:18

Is there a joke about how many archaeologists it takes to lift a sarcophagus?

0:32:180:32:24

What's the answer?

0:32:240:32:27

About 30 at the moment, I think.

0:32:270:32:29

29 to put the scaffolding tubes in and one to lift up the jack.

0:32:290:32:35

Finally, 30 archaeologists managed to move the lid.

0:32:350:32:38

Oh, look at that!

0:32:400:32:42

Can we get this back one out?

0:32:420:32:45

-Isn't that fantastic?

-Unbelievable.

0:32:470:32:50

I've never seen anything like this.

0:32:500:32:53

Not only is there this stone coffin, but a lead one inside it as well.

0:32:530:32:58

No wonder the metal detector gave such a strong signal. Fantastic.

0:32:580:33:03

I'm dying to see what's underneath...

0:33:030:33:05

'The signal had hinted at a major discovery.'

0:33:050:33:08

Now, that had been confirmed.

0:33:080:33:11

No sarcophagus complete with lead coffin had been

0:33:110:33:14

excavated in London since Victorian times.

0:33:140:33:17

But who had it been made for?

0:33:180:33:19

This is pretty exceptional,

0:33:200:33:23

probably someone important, and if we know who he is,

0:33:230:33:28

it fills a gap in our knowledge.

0:33:280:33:31

You're making the assumption that it's a HE. How can you be so sure?

0:33:310:33:36

I don't think we have any evidence

0:33:360:33:38

that women held high positions

0:33:380:33:42

in Roman society in England

0:33:420:33:44

in that period,

0:33:440:33:46

-so I slightly doubt it.

-Yeah.

0:33:460:33:48

But one has to keep an open mind,

0:33:480:33:51

because if I say, "It could never be a woman," it'll be a woman, won't it?

0:33:510:33:57

We did need to keep an open mind because there, from the earth

0:34:000:34:04

next to the sarcophagus, mysterious objects began to emerge.

0:34:040:34:08

These are objects made of jet

0:34:100:34:13

which are in the soil fill around the outside of the sarcophagus.

0:34:130:34:18

I'm not quite sure what they are yet,

0:34:190:34:23

but I suspect that they might be cosmetic implements,

0:34:230:34:28

which might give us an indication of the sex of the coffin's occupant.

0:34:280:34:34

It might be that we have a lady and these were objects she would've used.

0:34:340:34:39

It seemed that the Spitalfields discovery wasn't just

0:34:430:34:46

the burial of a high-ranking Roman but unexpectedly,

0:34:460:34:50

that of a woman who had lived and died in Londinium around 350 AD.

0:34:500:34:57

Coming back here again took me straight back to the dig,

0:34:570:35:01

the feeling of excitement and the sense that this was

0:35:010:35:04

one of those finds that would contain as many secrets as answers.

0:35:040:35:08

Finding that intact sarcophagus was one of those moments that

0:35:080:35:12

makes archaeology really magical for me.

0:35:120:35:14

Because suddenly, there is that immediate,

0:35:140:35:16

intimate contact with the past.

0:35:160:35:19

And as the lid came off and we saw that decorated lead coffin

0:35:190:35:22

and we found the objects of jet and glass,

0:35:220:35:24

suddenly we realised that we were on something really big.

0:35:240:35:28

Here, we had something that was so rich,

0:35:300:35:33

so special, that we thought we had a much better chance

0:35:330:35:36

of understanding not only the person but the world that they lived in.

0:35:360:35:40

And here, we had someone from a particularly interesting place and time.

0:35:400:35:45

Roman London, 4th century AD.

0:35:450:35:49

So I couldn't wait to see what happened when we got the coffin lid off.

0:35:490:35:53

Back in 1999, that huge, two-tonne sarcophagus

0:35:550:35:59

was lifted from the place where it had rested for the last 1,600 years.

0:35:590:36:03

Its next stop was the Museum of London and a meeting with the press.

0:36:060:36:12

We're very relieved that we've got it here in one piece.

0:36:120:36:16

It's been reasonably flat, with minimum disturbance to the coffin,

0:36:160:36:21

so we're hoping that it won't be disturbed too much inside the coffin.

0:36:210:36:26

Once safely in the museum, conservators began

0:36:290:36:32

the delicate task of removing centuries of stubborn London clay.

0:36:320:36:37

No-one could have guessed what it had been hiding.

0:36:370:36:40

The exciting thing was when we started to clean it and we saw what was underneath the soil.

0:36:410:36:45

We were so surprised, really.

0:36:450:36:48

We had no idea we'd get something as fabulous as that

0:36:480:36:51

on our coffins.

0:36:510:36:52

Revealed for the first time was extraordinary decoration.

0:36:550:36:59

Intricate patterns of rope and scallop shells.

0:36:590:37:03

At the time, the scallop shells, as well as the east-west alignment of

0:37:040:37:08

the grave, was suggested as evidence that this was a Christian burial.

0:37:080:37:12

And at last, after weeks of waiting, it was time to come face to face

0:37:140:37:18

with the occupant of this elaborate tomb.

0:37:180:37:21

Everyone ready? Lift on three.

0:37:230:37:25

-After one, two, three. Is everyone happy with that?

-Yup.

0:37:250:37:30

One, two, three.

0:37:300:37:33

And lower.

0:37:350:37:36

The bones are much better preserved that I'd have expected and quite small and slim.

0:37:510:37:56

What's your immediate impression?

0:37:560:37:58

My immediate impression is what's all the wet material?

0:37:580:38:04

Maybe this silt in the bottom has fixed the bones in position.

0:38:040:38:09

With such well preserved remains, forensic experts could create

0:38:100:38:14

a fittingly lavish reconstruction of our woman.

0:38:140:38:17

We can get some idea about the shape of the nose

0:38:170:38:20

from the shape of the bones around the nasal aperture.

0:38:200:38:25

For example, on this particular skull,

0:38:250:38:29

the nasal spine slopes slightly downwards,

0:38:290:38:33

so the base of her nose will slope slightly downwards.

0:38:330:38:37

First clay.

0:38:400:38:41

Then wax.

0:38:440:38:45

And all the skills of a make-up artist were used to

0:38:480:38:51

painstakingly reconstruct the features which would last

0:38:510:38:54

have been seen by Roman Londoners.

0:38:540:38:56

And finally, we got a glimpse of what she might have looked like.

0:38:580:39:03

Today, 14 years later,

0:39:140:39:16

our Spitalfields lady still lies in the Museum of London.

0:39:160:39:20

This takes me right back to the time when I first saw her.

0:39:360:39:39

And strangely, it wasn't out on an excavation site with bones

0:39:390:39:42

being revealed one by one as the soil was gently removed.

0:39:420:39:46

It was here, in the Museum of London.

0:39:460:39:48

And just like with our man from Winchester it was

0:39:480:39:51

when the lid of the coffin came off and suddenly there was a revelation.

0:39:510:39:56

Here, though, it was in the full glare of publicity.

0:39:560:39:59

What we realised as soon as the lid came off was that

0:40:000:40:04

it contained a woman.

0:40:040:40:05

The shape of the skull, the shape of the pelvis,

0:40:050:40:08

the slenderness of the bones, all pointed in that direction.

0:40:080:40:12

What we now know and what we didn't know then

0:40:120:40:15

was that she was about 25 years old

0:40:150:40:17

when she died, about five foot four tall, which is above average.

0:40:170:40:21

There are no signs of her having had any children.

0:40:210:40:24

But what was, and still is a mystery, is what she died of.

0:40:240:40:29

So what we have here are the bones of a young,

0:40:290:40:32

very wealthy Roman woman, from the middle of the 4th century AD.

0:40:320:40:37

But there are still questions remaining.

0:40:370:40:39

Who was she? And what was her place in this late Roman world?

0:40:390:40:43

Roman London was a changing city.

0:40:530:40:56

In its glory days of the second century,

0:40:560:40:59

it had a population of around 45,000.

0:40:590:41:01

Britain's very first metropolis.

0:41:030:41:05

But by the time of our Spitalfields lady, that population had halved.

0:41:060:41:11

In the early part of the 4th century AD,

0:41:200:41:22

the population of London might have shrunk

0:41:220:41:25

but life was still pretty good for most people who lived here.

0:41:250:41:28

There is plenty of evidence of wealth

0:41:280:41:30

and those that lived in the countryside in rich villas

0:41:300:41:33

were still enjoying a fairly opulent lifestyle.

0:41:330:41:36

But in the second half of the 4th century, Roman Britain,

0:41:360:41:39

with London at its heart, was going through some fairly turbulent times.

0:41:390:41:45

And wasn't just a time of political instability.

0:41:450:41:47

It was a time of changing beliefs.

0:41:470:41:50

Our woman, walking the streets of the city, might have caught

0:41:500:41:53

a glimpse of a new arrival, Roman London's first Christian bishop.

0:41:530:41:58

A decade ago, and just a year apart,

0:42:010:42:04

we had unearthed two very different burials.

0:42:040:42:07

One, a successful Winchester man from the start of the 4th century.

0:42:090:42:12

A Briton who had embraced Roman culture. And a pagan.

0:42:120:42:18

The other, a fabulously rich young woman,

0:42:200:42:23

someone who had lived in London a few decades later.

0:42:230:42:27

Someone who could, possibly, even have been a Christian.

0:42:270:42:31

And since our Spitalfields lady was living through

0:42:320:42:35

a time of religious change, it was possible that her burial

0:42:350:42:39

contained secrets that could reveal her personal beliefs.

0:42:390:42:43

It is going to be an interesting evening...

0:42:460:42:48

Back in 1999, with the world's press watching,

0:42:480:42:52

unusual objects began to appear from the silt inside her coffin.

0:42:520:42:57

-Can you see, Simon?

-What is it?

0:42:570:42:59

It looks like there is a group of leaves, or the casts of leaves.

0:42:590:43:02

-It is, absolutely!

-You can see it very clearly.

0:43:020:43:05

You can see the stem along there

0:43:050:43:07

and there are actually veins coming off it.

0:43:070:43:09

It's incredibly clear.

0:43:090:43:11

-That is very, very extraordinary.

-Incredibly exciting.

0:43:110:43:13

Look at the whole bit along there.

0:43:130:43:15

-That all looks like leaf, doesn't it?

-I think it's a whole group.

0:43:150:43:18

It's quite astounding.

0:43:180:43:20

Lying undisturbed for over 1,600 years,

0:43:200:43:23

it seems as though some of the leaves had almost turned to stone.

0:43:230:43:27

Others looked as if they had just fallen from the tree.

0:43:300:43:33

Microscopic comparison identify them as bay leaves.

0:43:360:43:41

It seemed as if they had formed a pillow

0:43:410:43:43

as she drifted through eternal sleep.

0:43:430:43:46

And then, another incredible find.

0:43:460:43:51

Tiny fragments of gold thread.

0:43:510:43:53

Is some of this textile, with the gold thread in it?

0:43:530:43:56

That's right. This is one of the pieces of textile that we found.

0:43:560:43:59

We're really not sure whether this is something she's lying on

0:43:590:44:04

or whether it is some kind of a garment.

0:44:040:44:05

Preserved in the silt at the bottom of the coffin

0:44:070:44:10

were the rare and delicate remains of Roman fabric.

0:44:100:44:15

-Have you seen anything like this before?

-No.

0:44:150:44:17

-So, everybody's very excited?

-Yeah!

0:44:170:44:21

Where that textile was, you can see

0:44:210:44:23

all the little tiny fragments of gold thread,

0:44:230:44:27

just sitting right on the bottom of the coffin.

0:44:270:44:30

This unique discovery was a purple damask silk,

0:44:320:44:37

embellished with a delicate gold thread.

0:44:370:44:39

The silk would have been cultivated in China,

0:44:450:44:48

embroidered in the Middle East and, finally,

0:44:480:44:52

used in London, as a funeral shroud,

0:44:520:44:54

ending an extraordinary global journey.

0:44:540:44:58

And then, a final surprise.

0:44:590:45:02

In the narrow gap between the outer stone sarcophagus

0:45:020:45:06

and the inner lead coffin - glass.

0:45:060:45:08

This is an amazing glass vessel,

0:45:100:45:13

-that we found.

-It's incredible!

-It's about a foot long. It's really long.

0:45:130:45:17

What would something like this contain, though?

0:45:170:45:20

Well, I understand that it's an ointment bottle.

0:45:200:45:24

So, some sort of ointment.

0:45:240:45:25

Today, these incredibly fragile objects

0:45:280:45:31

have been carefully conserved at the Museum of London.

0:45:310:45:34

-What a collection, though.

-Interesting range, isn't it?

0:45:340:45:37

You've got these amazing glass vials here.

0:45:370:45:41

You've got jet objects. We think that's part of a dipper for the vial.

0:45:410:45:44

A couple of jet objects here, which are hair ornaments,

0:45:440:45:47

-we think.

-A peculiar box.

-An amazing little trinket box,

0:45:470:45:52

which is actually made up of three sorts of jet-like material.

0:45:520:45:56

It would have been lovely and black and shiny

0:45:560:45:58

when it was first made.

0:45:580:45:59

-What are these?

-These...

-It's a bay leaf!

0:45:590:46:02

That was to do with the wreath behind her head, wasn't it?

0:46:020:46:05

Quite astonishing. There seems to have been a pillow of bay leaves

0:46:050:46:09

-under her head.

-That's some of the textile, isn't it?

0:46:090:46:12

-These are part of her clothing, yes.

-With the gold thread.

0:46:120:46:16

'Angela Wardle, the Roman finds expert at the museum,

0:46:180:46:21

'has spent over a decade investigating the objects.'

0:46:210:46:24

This narrow flask,

0:46:270:46:28

this very narrow flask,

0:46:280:46:31

did contain oils and I suspect that the dipper here was used

0:46:310:46:34

to sprinkle those.

0:46:340:46:36

You could dip that in and flick it, during the ritual.

0:46:360:46:39

That is an unbelievable object, isn't it,

0:46:390:46:41

that delicate cagework of glass, there?

0:46:410:46:46

'What's more, study of the objects has provided tantalising glimpses

0:46:460:46:50

'of our woman's beliefs.'

0:46:500:46:53

I remember when that sarcophagus

0:46:530:46:56

was opened and we first saw the lid there

0:46:560:46:58

and the scallop shells appeared.

0:46:580:47:00

Everybody's immediate thought was that it was Christian,

0:47:000:47:03

because we assume that is a Christian pilgrim symbol, don't we?

0:47:030:47:07

-But that is not the case.

-No. That theory has been dismissed now.

0:47:070:47:11

The scallop shell, in fact, is a very ancient symbol.

0:47:110:47:14

It was used in antiquity and has been used in burials and on coffins

0:47:140:47:20

from quite an early period,

0:47:200:47:22

possibly representing the journey of the dead to the underworld,

0:47:220:47:28

across the seas or across the River Styx.

0:47:280:47:31

Erm...but it's a very ancient symbol and not Christian.

0:47:310:47:34

-It was adopted by the Christians later...

-Yes.

0:47:340:47:36

..but that came much later.

0:47:360:47:39

But if our high-ranking lady wasn't a Christian,

0:47:390:47:42

what did she believe? And do her grave goods contain the answer?

0:47:420:47:48

So, we seem to have got a mixture of things in here that are either

0:47:480:47:51

personal possessions, like the hair ornaments,

0:47:510:47:53

or objects that might be more to do with the burial rite,

0:47:530:47:57

with the ritual. Do they point us in any particular direction,

0:47:570:48:00

apart from the fact that they are pagan?

0:48:000:48:02

Quite a lot of the things do perhaps point to the idea that

0:48:020:48:06

the lady herself, or her family,

0:48:060:48:09

may have belonged to some sort of mystery cult.

0:48:090:48:12

The bay leaves are evergreen.

0:48:120:48:15

It's perhaps symbolic of life in the hereafter.

0:48:150:48:17

Now, it's quite likely that this was used as a sprinkler.

0:48:170:48:22

It's got a very constricted neck.

0:48:220:48:25

Whatever the contents were, they would have to be shaken out,

0:48:250:48:28

so it could well have been that the body perhaps

0:48:280:48:31

was anointed before the lid was put on.

0:48:310:48:33

We don't know. But what is interesting,

0:48:330:48:36

that although this is fairly unusual in London -

0:48:360:48:39

I think we've got about five examples -

0:48:390:48:41

they're quite well known in the Roman world,

0:48:410:48:44

right from the east, to Europos, as far as York,

0:48:440:48:48

but they've only been found in funerary contexts - in burials.

0:48:480:48:52

The contents of one was analysed back in the early 20th century

0:48:520:48:56

in Bordeaux,

0:48:560:48:58

-and was found to contain...

-Wine?

-Yes.

0:48:580:49:01

If that flask held wine,

0:49:010:49:05

well, wine was used by Bacchus.

0:49:050:49:08

Romans who followed Bacchus

0:49:090:49:11

believed the grapevine symbolised death and rebirth,

0:49:110:49:15

and that intoxication from wine was an act of godly possession.

0:49:150:49:19

This was one of the so-called mystery cults

0:49:200:49:23

that grew in popularity in the middle of the fourth century -

0:49:230:49:26

just when our lady was alive.

0:49:260:49:29

We know, for example, there were shrines

0:49:310:49:33

of Bacchus in the town at the time, from inscriptions.

0:49:330:49:35

And Bacchic symbolism is found in a lot of everyday items

0:49:350:49:42

throughout the Roman occupation of London.

0:49:420:49:44

So, if you had to, sort of, suggest what either this woman

0:49:440:49:49

or her immediate family believed in,

0:49:490:49:51

is that the direction you'd head in?

0:49:510:49:53

Yes. Well, I would like to perhaps think that she may have belonged

0:49:530:49:57

to a mystery cult and perhaps my preference would be for Bacchus.

0:49:570:49:59

Mystery cults involved initiations, rites and rituals.

0:50:020:50:07

In fourth century London,

0:50:090:50:10

the fastest-growing of all was an odd Eastern cult,

0:50:100:50:14

called Christianity(!)

0:50:140:50:16

Christianity preached equality before a single God,

0:50:180:50:22

even for slaves, hence its widespread appeal.

0:50:220:50:25

But it's no surprise that upper-class Roman society took to

0:50:270:50:31

another mystery cult, to Bacchus, which was far, far more exclusive.

0:50:310:50:36

It's 21st-century London,

0:50:420:50:44

the heart of the city surrounded by a massive building site.

0:50:440:50:49

This is one of the strangest Roman temples that I've ever come to,

0:50:490:50:53

but if I'd been here over 1,600 years ago,

0:50:530:50:56

and 16 feet below ground, I'd have been standing in front of an entire

0:50:560:51:01

Roman temple, originally built for the god Mithras,

0:51:010:51:04

but rededicated in around 350 to the god Bacchus.

0:51:040:51:08

Now, what Bacchus offered people were a lot of the advantages

0:51:080:51:11

of Christianity - the idea of everlasting life

0:51:110:51:15

and resurrection - but without the nasty bits that some people

0:51:150:51:18

found a bit unpalatable,

0:51:180:51:19

like the idea that everybody was equal in the sight of God.

0:51:190:51:23

And it was also something that was rather aristocratic

0:51:230:51:26

and exclusive, with invitation-only feasts.

0:51:260:51:30

Now, we know that our woman was around at that time of change.

0:51:300:51:34

Maybe she was involved in it and perhaps she even brought

0:51:340:51:38

this new religion with her from somewhere else in the Empire.

0:51:380:51:42

One thing I'm absolutely convinced about,

0:51:420:51:44

it was probably a lot quieter back then in Roman London.

0:51:440:51:47

So, just where did our lady come from?

0:51:530:51:56

And might she really have brought new beliefs with her from overseas?

0:51:560:52:00

14 years ago, isotope science told us that our lady

0:52:010:52:05

probably wasn't from Britain,

0:52:050:52:07

but from somewhere warmer in southern Europe.

0:52:070:52:10

But it's only now that we've been able to solve

0:52:120:52:15

the mystery of exactly where she grew up.

0:52:150:52:17

I'm heading off up to Durham, to talk to the scientists, who,

0:52:200:52:22

until quite recently, had all but given up on trying to solve

0:52:220:52:26

the mystery of exactly where our lady came from.

0:52:260:52:28

But then, about a year ago, she had a chance telephone call -

0:52:290:52:33

a call that has led to a profound change in how we understand our lady

0:52:330:52:37

and the world that she lived in.

0:52:370:52:39

Janet Montgomery was involved in the original isotope research

0:52:460:52:50

done on the Spitalfields lady.

0:52:500:52:52

One of the tests she pioneered was analysing lead isotopes

0:52:520:52:56

found in tooth enamel.

0:52:560:52:57

She believed it could unlock the secrets of our lady's origins.

0:52:590:53:03

Janet, do you remember when we first looked at the woman

0:53:060:53:09

from Spitalfields and tried to find out where she was from?

0:53:090:53:11

I think we looked at oxygen isotopes

0:53:110:53:14

which said that she was from somewhere warmer,

0:53:140:53:17

but it was all a bit vague.

0:53:170:53:19

-Have you got any closer to where she might have come from?

-Yes.

0:53:190:53:22

We did strontium and lead isotopes at the same time,

0:53:220:53:27

but the strontium wasn't particularly diagnostic.

0:53:270:53:30

It was something you could get from almost anywhere.

0:53:300:53:32

But the lead was very odd,

0:53:320:53:35

because it was completely different to anything else we've had since

0:53:350:53:41

from burials in England. And these are all individuals from England.

0:53:410:53:47

They have English ore lead, which is mainly Pennines.

0:53:470:53:50

But the Spitalfields lady is completely different.

0:53:500:53:54

She's sitting up there on her own

0:53:540:53:56

and we couldn't find any sources that could explain that value

0:53:560:54:01

and explain where she came from. We knew it wasn't from England.

0:54:010:54:05

We knew she wasn't from England, because she would be here,

0:54:050:54:09

but what it was, we couldn't say.

0:54:090:54:12

-So, all that says is that she's not from Britain?

-Yes. I know.

0:54:120:54:15

Yes, we're certain that she's not from Britain.

0:54:150:54:18

She couldn't have grown up in Britain and had that lead isotope value.

0:54:180:54:22

So, that fits with your...

0:54:220:54:23

'So we knew that she was foreign,

0:54:230:54:25

'but brand-new data has brought with it a revelation.'

0:54:250:54:29

Last year, I had a student contact me

0:54:290:54:33

from America, who was working on two sites in Rome,

0:54:330:54:36

dating from the Roman period,

0:54:360:54:38

and she wanted to do some isotope analysis and I said,

0:54:380:54:40

-"Are you doing lead?" She said, "No." I said, "Could I do it?" "Yes."

-Yes.

0:54:400:54:46

And so we looked at the lead isotopes in some of the individuals

0:54:460:54:50

-who were from the cemeteries in Rome.

-In Rome?

-From the Roman period.

0:54:500:54:54

-From Imperial Rome.

-Where's this leading?

0:54:540:54:57

Well, we got the data and I put it on the plot.

0:54:570:55:01

She's from Rome. He's from Rome. He's from Rome.

0:55:010:55:05

And the Spitalfields lady just sits there right in the middle of them.

0:55:050:55:08

At this point, this is a point in your career where you go, you know,

0:55:080:55:13

"Yes!" It was just so exciting. I was dancing around the room,

0:55:130:55:16

much the amusement of the builders who were on the opposite roof.

0:55:160:55:21

-That must been quite a moment, then?

-Yes, it was. It was.

0:55:210:55:24

Archaeology doesn't get much better than that.

0:55:240:55:26

So, she is from Rome?

0:55:260:55:28

Well, yes. I think there isn't really any other rational explanation.

0:55:280:55:35

When you get values like that, that are so distinct, I think, yes.

0:55:350:55:38

I think she's the first Roman person that we've found in Britain.

0:55:380:55:43

-The first one?!

-Yes. Yes.

0:55:430:55:46

Yeah. She's somebody who moved to London from Rome.

0:55:460:55:50

From that moment, 14 years ago,

0:55:550:55:58

when I first saw the Spitalfields' sarcophagus,

0:55:580:56:00

I knew that we'd discovered something very, very special.

0:56:000:56:04

Today however, we know that of all the Roman discoveries

0:56:050:56:10

ever made in Britain, our lady is utterly unique.

0:56:100:56:14

It's impossible to exaggerate the importance of this

0:56:170:56:19

new isotope research, because what it shows is

0:56:190:56:22

that she came not from France or from Spain, but from Rome itself.

0:56:220:56:27

So she is now the only person from Roman Britain who can be

0:56:270:56:31

proved to have come from Rome, the Imperial city.

0:56:310:56:34

And what's even more surprising is that she chose to come here

0:56:340:56:38

at a time when a lot of Romans in Britain might have been

0:56:380:56:41

thinking about buying a one-way ticket back home.

0:56:410:56:43

So, did she bring with her her new beliefs,

0:56:450:56:47

perhaps an involvement with the cult of Bacchus?

0:56:470:56:51

That's a very intriguing possibility.

0:56:510:56:53

And her presence here does lead us to a wider understanding,

0:56:550:56:58

because London in the middle of the fourth century

0:56:580:57:00

may have been in decline, as far as population was concerned,

0:57:000:57:04

but it was still attracting people in

0:57:040:57:06

from the very heart of the Roman Empire.

0:57:060:57:08

Both of these people lived in Britain during the fourth century.

0:57:210:57:25

The last century of Roman rule.

0:57:250:57:27

One, a man from Winchester, was a Brit,

0:57:270:57:30

but one who'd well and truly bought into Roman ways.

0:57:300:57:34

The other, our fabulously wealthy lady,

0:57:340:57:37

was a newcomer from Rome, the Imperial City, bringing new gods

0:57:370:57:41

and new blood to Britain - that incredible cultural melting pot.

0:57:410:57:45

But did either of them realise that, within a few generations,

0:57:510:57:54

their ordered world of Roman Britain would start to crumble,

0:57:540:57:58

that its great cities would decay and fall,

0:57:580:58:01

until, 1,600 years later,

0:58:010:58:04

the rebuilding of those very cities would bring our man

0:58:040:58:07

and our woman into the modern world,

0:58:070:58:10

where they could start to tell their amazing stories?

0:58:100:58:13

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