0:00:03 > 0:00:04Right across Britain,
0:00:04 > 0:00:07archaeologists are unearthing the relics of ancient lives.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13But so much of modern archaeology is what happens after excavation.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Today, forensic analysis and cutting-edge science,
0:00:19 > 0:00:23as well as brand-new finds, are overturning what we once thought
0:00:23 > 0:00:26about entire eras of our ancient history.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31I'm Julian Richards and over the years, I've been lucky enough
0:00:31 > 0:00:35to have taken part in some of our most important digs.
0:00:35 > 0:00:36You've not?
0:00:36 > 0:00:38A lead coffin?!
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Now, I'm going back to some of my favourites to discover
0:00:44 > 0:00:48the very latest stories of our most ancient ancestors.
0:01:05 > 0:01:11The Neolithic, the new Stone Age, is an ancient and mysterious time.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17An era that in Britain began more than 6,000 years ago.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27It marked a change from hunting and gathering to farming.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33And gave rise to some of the greatest monuments of our ancient past.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39But for all these highly visible monuments,
0:01:39 > 0:01:43new discoveries from this time, especially burials, are rare.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47So when they do turn up, archaeologists like me get very excited
0:01:47 > 0:01:51because the tiniest of clues, the smallest bit of evidence,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54can change our understanding of an entire age.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Two discoveries made over a decade ago
0:02:00 > 0:02:02were windows into this remarkable time.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09One dig in Dorset unearthed remains so well preserved
0:02:09 > 0:02:13that we were able to reveal the lives of an entire Stone Age family.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Now, more than a decade after the dig,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21neuroscience is helping us to understand their world
0:02:21 > 0:02:23in unprecedented detail.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28They can start talking about who she would have known,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31what politics was going on in the area when she was alive.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35A second burial in the far north, on Orkney,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37presented a far greater challenge.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42Here, only decayed fragments of bone had survived.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49But now, a brand-new study of ancient human remains found right across Orkney
0:02:49 > 0:02:53has changed how we think people were treating their dead.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57These are just a couple of the more unusual things that we found.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59- So has that been drilled? - Quite possibly.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05What's clear from both these burials is that archaeology doesn't end
0:03:05 > 0:03:07when we put away our travels.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09In fact, it's just the beginning.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13Over the last 10 years, how we view the position of these sites
0:03:13 > 0:03:16and the history of the Neolithic has changed quite radically.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19And the key has been new science.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20Put quite simply,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24there's been a revolution in our understanding of Neolithic Britain.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35The counties of Wiltshire and Dorset
0:03:35 > 0:03:38are fabulously rich in Neolithic monuments.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44This landscape is unique in the world.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And this is where I both live and study.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51But having worked here for over 30 years,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54I know that any new burials from this time are rare.
0:03:54 > 0:04:00So when, in 1997, a new site came up in Dorset, I was pretty excited.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03But what I didn't know at the time was that this discovery
0:04:03 > 0:04:07was going to influence archaeology for the whole of the next decade.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14Let me take you back nearly 16 years to the burial of an ancient family.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17One of my most special digs.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Back in 1997, I got to the excavations when they were well under way.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26The site was discovered by Martin Green,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29a local farmer turned archaeologist.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34I started trowelling away, removing small, loose chalk
0:04:34 > 0:04:37until I got down to this level and this is much larger, blocky chalk
0:04:37 > 0:04:39that you can see there now.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44And then I decided to lift this loose block here
0:04:44 > 0:04:48and it revealed a hole underneath and I looked in there
0:04:48 > 0:04:51and, "Wow! There's a skill in there."
0:04:51 > 0:04:55- Does it look pretty well preserved? - It looks very well preserved.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58- Do you think this might be a family grave?- It's possible.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01We've obviously got two individuals here but the question at this
0:05:01 > 0:05:05stage is, are these just skulls or are they parts of complete skeletons?
0:05:05 > 0:05:08We are yet to discover that.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15At the centre of the site was a huge circular hollow
0:05:15 > 0:05:17in which the burials were hidden.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Surrounding it was an outer ring of large pits.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26And the wider setting made it even more fascinating.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33From the air, I could see that the burial site lay right on the edge
0:05:33 > 0:05:37of an important Neolithic monument, the Dorset Cursus,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41a strange, elongated earthwork that runs for six miles
0:05:41 > 0:05:43right across the landscape.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Today, the Cursus can only just been made out, stretching into the
0:05:49 > 0:05:53distance, barely visible against the backdrop of ploughed fields.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00But in the Neolithic, it would have looked quite different.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03The chalk embankments that marked out its edges,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06cutting white lines across the landscape.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13A new discovery within sight of this enigmatic construction
0:06:13 > 0:06:15was a very significant find.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18And this one was wonderfully well preserved.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22As more chalk was removed,
0:06:22 > 0:06:27it became obvious that the pit contained more than just skulls.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30- Cripes!- Well, here they are. I mean, this is...
0:06:30 > 0:06:32I've never seen anything like this before.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35- They are crammed in, aren't they? - Yes.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38By the time bone specialist Jackie McKinlay arrived,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Martin had uncovered four complete skeletons.
0:06:46 > 0:06:52One was an adult woman. But three were young children.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54They've still got some of their milk teeth.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57These are still deciduous teeth along here.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00This is one of the permanent teeth.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05The first one to erupt is the first permanent molar.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08That's just about starting to erupt there.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13So he's a bit younger than I thought at first. Yeah.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20It's very odd seeing graves emptied.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25This seems a bit stranger because we know so little
0:07:25 > 0:07:28of the circumstances in which the bodies were put in the pit.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32The fact that it's turned out to be three children,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35I find quite disturbing really.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39When you see the first milk teeth
0:07:39 > 0:07:43and things like that, it really brings it home how old they were.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47It makes you wonder how they died.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55Samples of bone were taken to the Oxford radiocarbon dating lab,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57where Paul Petitt was able to determine
0:07:57 > 0:08:00just when these people lived.
0:08:00 > 0:08:07What we have first is a range that is going to be the age Cranborne Woman
0:08:07 > 0:08:12and that age is roughly 3,500 to 3,100 BC.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Within this range, what age is she most likely to be?
0:08:15 > 0:08:19I suppose if I was a gambling man, I would put my money on her real age
0:08:19 > 0:08:23being somewhere around 3,300 to 3,400 BC.
0:08:25 > 0:08:32- So she's something between 5,300 5,400 years old.- She is.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37- So she's definitely Neolithic. - Definitely Neolithic.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Radiocarbon dating revealed that these people
0:08:41 > 0:08:43lived in the early Neolithic.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50An era that gave rise to some of the greatest monuments of our ancient past.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Today, nearly 16 years after the discovery of Cranborne Woman and the three children,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07they still remain in the care of farmer Martin Green.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13Martin has his own private museum, housed in an old chicken shed
0:09:13 > 0:09:16just a couple of miles from the burial site.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19- Hello, Martin.- Hi, Julian. - Rubber gloves. How unpleasant!
0:09:19 > 0:09:23I know you found some amazing stuff on your farm but do you think
0:09:23 > 0:09:26this was one of the most exciting sites that you ever found?
0:09:26 > 0:09:28By far the most exciting.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32When I first saw the site from an aerial photograph, it was a Eureka moment, really.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36I thought, this is an extraordinary Neolithic site of some kind.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39- Have you got all of the burials here then?- Yes, they are all here.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43- They're boxes just behind us on these shelves.- Right.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47That was the thing that really got to me about this burial group
0:09:47 > 0:09:51was the fact that we had these tiny bones of children in the pit.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54That's right. It is a very poignant discovery.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56There is part of the skull
0:09:56 > 0:10:01and I think in here there are some of the teeth, the milk teeth in fact.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05We know that in a subsistence farming economy like in the Neolithic,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08there were going to be a lot of infants deaths,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11but to actually find them like this is very poignant.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15So you look after all these burials here.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18How do you feel about having them here, having them close to you?
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Obviously, it's quite a responsibility but I'm a farmer.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24I have farmed here all my life. My family did before me.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26These Neolithic people were farmers.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28So I think it is a way of understanding the landscape
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and how people I've used it over thousands of years.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36I think it's a continuation of telling that story.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44The excavation site has been returned to agriculture.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50But of course, without the human remains that our ancestors intended to rest here.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Well, according to the GPS,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00I am right in the middle of the site now.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Nothing to see.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06It's all rather featureless but then one field in Dorset
0:11:06 > 0:11:08can look very much like another field in Dorset.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13There is no trace of the drama of the dig
0:11:13 > 0:11:17and certainly nothing to suggest that this was once a family grave.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22I know some people really get quite uneasy about the whole idea of digging up human remains.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24I don't have a problem with it, personally,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27provided it's done with great care and respect.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31What I do feel very strongly about is that once we've excavated these remains,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34then we ought to be able to keep them.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36We ought to be able to look after them
0:11:36 > 0:11:38so that we can study them in the future
0:11:38 > 0:11:42because science is developing all the time and there are things we can do now
0:11:42 > 0:11:45that we couldn't do 10 years ago and it's always going to develop.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47If we rebury those remains,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50then we've actually denied ourselves the opportunity of doing that.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55We've actually denied the possibility of those ancestors telling their story.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Back in 1997, with the remains conserved,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06bone expert Jackie McKinlay was able to assess them properly.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10And then we've got the other two juveniles.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13This is the youngest one, which was the one that was curled up on its back.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16The woman was about 30-years-old.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19And the children aged about 10, nine and five,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22all shared the same medical condition.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26There is a condition called cribra orbitalia.
0:12:26 > 0:12:32Now, this is something you get in the eye sockets.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Can you see in there? It's not easy to see.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42- Just in the top of the orbit there, there is pitting.- Oh, yes.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Can you see the little pits that are in there?
0:12:46 > 0:12:49All three of the juveniles have that condition.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54That is believed to be due to iron deficiency, anaemia.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58But this was not something that would have killed them.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03So with no hint of how they died, attention turned to their identity.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Christine Flaherty extracted ancient DNA to determine
0:13:09 > 0:13:13the sex of the children and to investigate if they were related.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22So here I've got the sexing results. Now, we knew the adult was a female.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25She was around 30 years of age.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29I found out that the oldest child was a girl.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31She was around 10-years-old.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36The middle child, the nine-year-old, turned out to be a boy.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42And the youngest child, the five-year-old, was another girl.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45So there were two girls and a boy.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Now, having worked out what sex they are,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53what I want to know is are any of them hers? Is she the mother?
0:13:53 > 0:13:57OK, here we've got the DNA kinship results for the burials.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Up here, we've got the adult, the woman.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03Next, we've got the oldest child, the girl.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05The middle child is the boy.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08And the youngest child, who is the little girl.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11This graph shows the DNA markers for each of them
0:14:11 > 0:14:15and if any of the markers match, there's a good chance of kinship.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18So here we see that the youngest child, the little girl,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21shares one of the markers with the adult.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27So this little girl could certainly be the child of the woman.
0:14:27 > 0:14:32Now, the other two children don't share any of the markers with the woman
0:14:32 > 0:14:34and certainly the boy could not be her son
0:14:34 > 0:14:38because neither of these match either of her markers.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41But it's interesting because the boy and the oldest girl
0:14:41 > 0:14:45share the same marker and they could possibly be siblings.
0:14:45 > 0:14:46That's incredible.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49What had emerged was completely unexpected.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55It appeared that only one of the children belonged to the woman.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58The other two might have been related to each other
0:14:58 > 0:15:01but not to our mother or her daughter.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10By scanning the skull of Cranborne Woman,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13facial reconstruction experts were able to show us
0:15:13 > 0:15:16what the leader of this unusual family might have looked like.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Here at last, was our mysterious woman.
0:15:27 > 0:15:28But in 1997,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32all our discoveries had only lead to more intriguing questions.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Just what was she doing with the three children?
0:15:38 > 0:15:40And how did they all come to be buried
0:15:40 > 0:15:42in one of Britain's most sacred places...
0:15:44 > 0:15:46..next, to the Dorset Cursus?
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Without carbon dating or DNA analysis,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00we would still have been making guesses about our group's identity.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05But there was one more scientific technique we wanted to use.
0:16:05 > 0:16:11A technique that was back then brand-new and largely untested,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14but that had the potential to uncover the story
0:16:14 > 0:16:16of how our group came together.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22As an archaeologist, I am staggered by what we can discover today
0:16:22 > 0:16:25that we wouldn't have thought was possible a generation ago.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28But to me, one particular analytical technique
0:16:28 > 0:16:31has got a very special place - isotope analysis.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Because it's a technique that make the ancestors promoted
0:16:34 > 0:16:36and in some ways pioneered.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39It has since gone on to be hugely important in discovering
0:16:39 > 0:16:42the movement and migration of ancient peoples.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Isotope analysis begins with thin slices of teeth.
0:16:52 > 0:16:53Within the enamel,
0:16:53 > 0:16:57there's an atomic signature that can be linked to specific parts
0:16:57 > 0:17:01of the country, allowing us to track a person's movements over time.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04So which tooth are you going to take?
0:17:06 > 0:17:12In 1997, the scientist we turned to was a PhD student called Janet Montgomery.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16There was nobody in Britain that had done this before.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19The lab where I did it had done it on rocks, for example, metals,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23which was what you would use strontium and lead to provenance.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27You could do with that but they had never done teeth,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29so we had to develop the method and get it to work.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33When you started though, did you know where you were going
0:17:33 > 0:17:36to get the samples from that you needed to carry out this analysis?
0:17:36 > 0:17:38It was actually difficult.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44I approached several places and requested samples
0:17:44 > 0:17:50and I was turned down because they said we don't believe this works.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Prove it works and come back and show us some data and evidence
0:17:53 > 0:17:57and we might think again. So I was a bit stuck, really.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59I was having difficulty.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04But then you came along with Meet The Ancestors, with samples.
0:18:04 > 0:18:10At last, in 1997, Janet was able to test her new technique.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14This is a level you would expect from the chalk.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18- The signature you would expect from the chalk down here.- Yes.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Now, the adult female has a very different signature
0:18:22 > 0:18:24from the chalk geology.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28It's a signature which corresponds to what we would find in the Mendips,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32which is about 80 kilometres to the north.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38The isotope analysis revealed a surprising series of journeys.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43Our woman had not been born on the Dorset chalk, but in the Mendips.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46As an adult, she moved 80 kilometres south to Cranborne,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50where she picked up two children, neither hers,
0:18:50 > 0:18:52and returned to the Mendips.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Here, she had a daughter of her own and later all four of them
0:18:56 > 0:19:01returned to Cranborne, where they died and were buried together.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Janet's work had an immediate impact.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08As soon as it went out on the television, I had people
0:19:08 > 0:19:10e-mailing me, ringing up, saying,
0:19:10 > 0:19:14"Would you like to do this on my site or my cemetery?"
0:19:14 > 0:19:16So then it was fine.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19I had a choice of sites.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23- I feel quite proud.- You should.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Meet The Ancestors was an important part of this.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Now, it has become a fairly routine application in a lot
0:19:30 > 0:19:34of archaeology case studies and on the television.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39But yes, Meet The Ancestors was instrumental in helping me
0:19:39 > 0:19:41get the technique established in Britain.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47At last, we had a clear picture.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51From their origin in the Mendips, our woman,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54the group's leader, travelled more than once to what would
0:19:54 > 0:19:58become her final resting place, next to the Dorset Cursus.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05But it wasn't only people who were drawn to this place.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Back in 1997, Martin showed me a collection of objects
0:20:12 > 0:20:14from all over the country.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18This area here, close to the farm,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21we get exotic items, like these stone axes for instance.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25These are made of rocks which have been imported a considerable distance.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28That one, for instance, is from North Wales.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31- What about this one? - That one is from Cornwall.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33The other one is from South Wales.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36These must have been prized possessions for somebody,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39- if the rocks have been brought all that distance.- Very much so, yes.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44We often find them in pits in the ground where they have been very deposited with other objects.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46- Decorated pottery and fine flint tools.- That's right.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50It's all close to this great monument which we know is the Dorset Cursus,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52which we can see on this plan.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56It crosses this area for a distance of six miles and all these exotic
0:20:56 > 0:21:01materials are found very close to it, either within it or just outside.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06- So that's the magnet, is it? That's what's drawn all of these objects? - Yes, that is the focal point.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14Ever since that dig nearly 16 years ago, I've been intrigued.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16What sort of a world did this woman live in?
0:21:16 > 0:21:19And to what extent was her burial connected with that massive
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Neolithic earthwork that we call the Dorset Cursus?
0:21:24 > 0:21:27It's always been clear to me that to understand more about her,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30we need to get to grips with this place.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33And the challenge has always been that Cursus monuments are amongst
0:21:33 > 0:21:37the most enigmatic structures in the whole of prehistory.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Environmental archaeologist, Mike Allen, has spent years taking
0:21:47 > 0:21:51hundreds of soil samples from sites around the Dorset Curses.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03The results of his analysis have shattered what we used to believe about the ancient landscape
0:22:03 > 0:22:06and perhaps the function of the Cursus itself.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15The key to all of this groundbreaking work is the humble snail.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24What we are trying to do is, amongst all this mess of small chalk pieces,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27is to tease out the hundreds of thousands of fragments of shell
0:22:27 > 0:22:32and amongst them there are elements that are identifiable and quantifiable.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37And by looking at them carefully, their shape and their morphology
0:22:37 > 0:22:39and the way they curl and twist,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41we can actually identify them to species.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43Then we can quantify them and count them.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Each individual snail lives in a different habitat.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Some of them like moist conditions.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Some like loose leaf litter where they can burrow into it and they might have food in there.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Some are more tolerant of open and very dry conditions
0:22:57 > 0:22:59and their shell stops them from drying out.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04So we can actually start teasing out what type of environment they might have lived in.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08Hundreds of thousands of ancient snail shells later,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Mike is able to reach a remarkable conclusion about our burial site.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16A decade ago, we thought the landscape in the Neolithic
0:23:16 > 0:23:18was one of dense, heavy woodland.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Now, we understand that actually the woodland never really existed there.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24It was always a natural open landscape.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Admittedly, there would have been trees in it but it wasn't a dense woodland.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Because it was an open landscape, it encouraged animals,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35fresh fruits and berries, and that's why people came to it.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38People found it as a magical landscape, a special place.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41That's why Cranborne site is where it is.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47The Neolithic landscape we had imagined almost 16 years ago has now changed.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53And with it, the site of our burial, right next to the Dorset Cursus.
0:23:53 > 0:23:59Previously, we'd assumed it was a monument crashing across the landscape,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02crashing across an open landscape and was perhaps a processional way.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Looking at the snails from a number of different points on there,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09it now looks like one side of it faced an open landscape
0:24:09 > 0:24:12and the west side faced a more wooded landscape.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16So perhaps it wasn't a processional way but more of a boundary
0:24:16 > 0:24:20between a dark wooded landscape and an open, natural landscape.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23An open, grazed and lived in landscape.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26So we might almost be seeing it as a boundary between life and death.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Between a lived in landscape and a landscape of death
0:24:30 > 0:24:32and a landscape of the ancestors.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38This is the Dorset Cursus today.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40Its old earthworks barely visible
0:24:40 > 0:24:42after more than 5,000 years of erosion.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46But it still staggers me the scale of this monument
0:24:46 > 0:24:49because it extends way beyond the horizon up there to the north
0:24:49 > 0:24:52and then stretches across this lovely rolling landscape
0:24:52 > 0:24:54way beyond the horizon to the south.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58But of course, it wouldn't have looked like this when it was first built
0:24:58 > 0:25:01and the clue is down here in this chalk pit.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Chalk, it's white.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06So when it was first built, these banks and ditches would have gleamed,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09luminous streaks across the landscape,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12and of course, highly visible from our burial site,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14which is only a few hundred yards in that direction.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Way back, nearly 16 years ago, when we excavated Cranborne Woman,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26we knew that there had to be some connection
0:25:26 > 0:25:28to this great Neolithic monument.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32But what the Cursus looked like, the landscape that it ran through,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35the very environment that was inhabited by Cranborne Woman
0:25:35 > 0:25:39and her rather unusual family, frustratingly,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42all this remained almost a complete unknown.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44But today, thanks to a meticulous study
0:25:44 > 0:25:47of vast numbers of tiny snail shells like these,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52we are beginning to paint a vivid picture of this landscape over 5,000 years ago.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57On one side there was dark, forbidding woodland.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59On the other, there was open space.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03It had always been an open landscape.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06So maybe the Cursus acted as a boundary
0:26:06 > 0:26:11between a dark and dangerous world and one that was lighter and safer.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17And as well as snails, the very latest scientific work
0:26:17 > 0:26:21is tying our Cranborne group even more closely to this great monument.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Not just in distance but also in time.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41This is Hambledon Hill,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45just a few miles from the Dorset Cursus and our burial site.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47During the Neolithic,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50it was one of the most significant settlements in the area.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54- Hi, Julian.- Hello, Alex. How nice to see you.- Nice to see you too.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57For Alex Bayliss, from English Heritage,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00new carbon dating techniques can now paint a detailed
0:27:00 > 0:27:04picture of how our Cranborne group fitted in,
0:27:04 > 0:27:07not just to a landscape, but to a society.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Now, look, when we looked at that burial,
0:27:11 > 0:27:16the Neolithic chronology was reasonable, wasn't it? Or was it?
0:27:16 > 0:27:19It was in the phase of the splodge.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22It was really rather vague.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24If you think of Cranborne Lady,
0:27:24 > 0:27:29she's got a radiocarbon date of between 3,500 and 3,100 BC.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33So that's an era of 400 years.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36So it was very vague.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40The whole of the chronology of the Neolithic was like that.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43So what's changed now then? What's changed over the last 10 years?
0:27:43 > 0:27:47Well, we have got much more precision.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50We have got new mathematical techniques that allow us to
0:27:50 > 0:27:54put the radiocarbon dating together with the archaeological information.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57So if you have the radiocarbon on its own, it's really vague.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00But if you can refine it with the archaeological information,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02A is earlier than B, something like that,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06then you can get much more precision and I can start
0:28:06 > 0:28:09talking about what happened in Cranborne Lady's lifetime.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Hambledon Hill lies 12 miles west of our burial site.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Years of excavations have unearthed evidence that the people
0:28:20 > 0:28:24who lived here in the Neolithic built huge defences,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28seemingly, to protect themselves against the people from Cranborne.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33That rampart, it's all facing this way,
0:28:33 > 0:28:38it's all about dominating, keeping out the folks over there,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42keeping out Cranbourne Lady.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Cranborne Lady has a 35% chance
0:28:46 > 0:28:50of having witnessed this construction event.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56But it's not very friendly towards the people from Cranborne, is it?
0:28:56 > 0:28:59- No. She probably didn't build it. - A barrier across here.
0:28:59 > 0:29:05- Having closed off Hambledon, they now build the Dorset Cursus.- Right.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09So our woman from Cranborne, she knows about the Dorset Cursus.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13Probably. She has a 45% chance of having witnessed
0:29:13 > 0:29:16the construction of the Dorset Cursus.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19- That's fascinating. - This is her world.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23That precision. I'm very impressed with all this.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27This level of accuracy offers a completely new perspective
0:29:27 > 0:29:29to an age before writing.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33- The 'pre' might have to come out of prehistory.- Oh, no.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36- I still like being a pre-historian. - Oh, well.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40- You'll let me be one, will you? - For a few more years. - That's very kind of you!
0:29:48 > 0:29:51Up until quite recently, our woman and the children
0:29:51 > 0:29:55had actually lain buried in a chalk field in Dorset for thousands of years
0:29:55 > 0:29:58and there are some who would argue they should still be there
0:29:58 > 0:30:02or at least if they were excavated that they should have been reburied.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05But just think what these rare remains have given us -
0:30:05 > 0:30:10insights into the lives they lead, glimpses into their ancient world.
0:30:12 > 0:30:1516 years ago, the stunning preservation of the Cranborne remains
0:30:15 > 0:30:18allowed us to use cutting-edge science
0:30:18 > 0:30:21to tell a story of a woman and three small children.
0:30:24 > 0:30:30Their lives, their relationships and even details of their travels.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37But in the time since the dig, science has discovered
0:30:37 > 0:30:39far more about the environment of the Dorset Cursus.
0:30:42 > 0:30:43And incredibly,
0:30:43 > 0:30:47how Cranborne Woman might even have been involved in its construction.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57But Wiltshire and Dorset don't contain
0:30:57 > 0:31:00the only famous Neolithic landscapes in Britain.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06In the far north,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10Orkney is home to a dazzling array of Stone Age monuments.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18And in 1998, I was called out to a site where a local dairy farmer
0:31:18 > 0:31:21had stumbled across an untouched Neolithic tomb
0:31:21 > 0:31:24just outside the main town of Kirkwall.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36The discovery of a new sealed burial site was big news.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43And the team of archaeologists were joined by experts from across the country.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Even two members of the Strathclyde Police forensic team.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59What's the tent for?
0:31:59 > 0:32:03We're used to using this type of tent at outdoor crime scenes.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06It protects the body and the surroundings from the elements
0:32:06 > 0:32:10and I think in this area it's going to be very important
0:32:10 > 0:32:12to protect the tomb as soon as it's open.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18With the tent in place, it was finally time to take the covers off the tomb.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Lean it up against that.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23But unlike the Dorset dig,
0:32:23 > 0:32:26this was one excavation that didn't go smoothly.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29Oh, no!
0:32:29 > 0:32:32An archaeologist's worst nightmare.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Modern soil and water contaminating the once sealed chamber.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42It was going to take a bit of ingenuity to see past the blockage.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45But fortunately, I'd come prepared.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49As I manoeuvred the camera into the tomb,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53Jennette and lead archaeologist, Beverly Ballin Smith,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55watched for any signs of human remains.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01The tomb had laid undisturbed
0:33:01 > 0:33:05ever since it was sealed over 5,000 years ago.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07There's a bone! There's a human bone!
0:33:11 > 0:33:14In fact, there was more than one,
0:33:14 > 0:33:17as we all found out that evening when Beverley showed us
0:33:17 > 0:33:19what had excited her so much.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22You can clearly see we've got one skull here.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27It's got a little dent in the top, hasn't it? And the brow ridges.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32We've got a second skull which seems to be lying on its side
0:33:32 > 0:33:35because there is an eye socket. We've got a nose bone.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40It looks to be in good condition but we can't tell really here
0:33:40 > 0:33:43whether that's a male or female skeleton or skull.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47No, not from here. It's not lying as a skeleton, is it?
0:33:48 > 0:33:51- Or two skeletons. It's a collection of bones.- Yes.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55The camera had also revealed the structure of the tomb.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59There were still some dark recesses we hadn't seen
0:33:59 > 0:34:01but we knew that the tomb was circular
0:34:01 > 0:34:04and divided into three compartments.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07One had bone in, one was empty
0:34:07 > 0:34:11and the third, full of soil from the collapse, was an unknown quantity.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21Every time I return to Orkney, I get a real buzz of excitement.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24Just like home in Dorset,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27the Neolithic is written all over its landscape.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38This is a World Heritage Site and the preservation of Neolithic
0:34:38 > 0:34:42monuments in such an unspoiled setting is simply stunning.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46The Stones of Stenness,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49the Ring of Brodgar
0:34:49 > 0:34:51and Maeshowe.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56All breathtaking relics of our distant past.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02This is though the first time in over 15 years
0:35:02 > 0:35:06that I've been back to the dig site, to the Crantit tomb.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09So there's a special air of anticipation.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19Coming back here really does bring back the excitement of that original
0:35:19 > 0:35:22discovery but actually, it still doesn't look like very much, does it?
0:35:22 > 0:35:26This is the thing. When you compare it to all the other monuments in Orkney,
0:35:26 > 0:35:30their are great standing stones and everything you can see, this is hidden.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32But I think that is why it was so exciting
0:35:32 > 0:35:36because of the promise of what might lie under the ground.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39What we hoped for in here were remains that had been hidden away
0:35:39 > 0:35:41and buried for thousands of years.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44But actually, getting to those remains
0:35:44 > 0:35:47proved a bit more difficult than we thought.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53A few days into the dig,
0:35:53 > 0:35:56and the archaeologists were still struggling.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Don't stand there.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03If the slab fell in, it would crush any bones beneath it.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15The tomb needed shoring up to prevent it collapsing completely.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Sometimes, stones are resin, that's all.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23Fortunately, Joffy Hill, one of the diggers, was also a builder.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30There is a wonderful structure of a wooden tape. What is it doing?
0:36:30 > 0:36:31This is insurance.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34If it decides to suddenly collapse,
0:36:34 > 0:36:39we will catch it before it goes down on what is our primary deposit.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41The skulls on the bottom.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45Wooden supports in place,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48it was time to get those precious bones out.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50- Feet first.- Feet first.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58Overalls weren't just to keep clothes clean
0:36:58 > 0:37:03but were intended to prevent any further contamination of the ancient bones.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10With the rickety structure holding up the tomb, Beverly went in.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23I suppose this is the moment we've all been waiting for.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26We're getting our first glimpse of the bones as they come out of the tomb.
0:37:26 > 0:37:31It has to be said, from what I've seen so far, they are not in very good condition.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Each fragment was examined and recorded.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37The left lambdoid... Well, both lambdoid sutures.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42Compared to the incredibly preserved Dorset remains,
0:37:42 > 0:37:44these had suffered badly in the soil.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50- Very close to each other. - This is just like sponge cake.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54In fact, it's worse. It's worse than sponge cake.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58The remaining bones were literally falling to bits
0:37:58 > 0:38:00as soon as they were touched.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08The larger pieces, two skulls,
0:38:08 > 0:38:13were so soft that Beverly had to make every move slowly and gently.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34I think I would have the shovel back once Julie has processed.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45- How do you feel now they're out? - I want to find out a bit more now.
0:38:45 > 0:38:46I'm keen.
0:38:46 > 0:38:51It would seem that the skulls were placed on top of the pile of bones.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54Or in this case, slightly to one side.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57But why two skulls and only, what would appear to me
0:38:57 > 0:39:00to be only one lot of bones, I don't know?
0:39:04 > 0:39:06Today, more than 15 years after the dig,
0:39:06 > 0:39:10the Crantit remains are kept in the Orkney Museum.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13Sometimes, it can be quite an emotional moment
0:39:13 > 0:39:17coming face-to-face with remains that you helped dig up years ago
0:39:17 > 0:39:21and that awareness that it's people, your ancestors from the past.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24But it's quite difficult to do it
0:39:24 > 0:39:28when all that's left of an individual is this.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30This is a person.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33This is a person's life but it's just a few fragments of bone
0:39:33 > 0:39:36that were squashed into the floor of the tomb.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41Our sense of disappointment was increased by the fact that
0:39:41 > 0:39:46the best preserved bone of all
0:39:46 > 0:39:48was this skull.
0:39:51 > 0:39:53The bones of the face,
0:39:53 > 0:39:56which are really what gives somebody that sense of being human
0:39:56 > 0:40:01and provide the clues to the person, they're all gone.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04They are fragile bones and they've disappeared completely.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08So that was the best that we can expect from the tomb.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10That was the best that came out of it.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15So, as I say, that just compounded
0:40:15 > 0:40:18our sense of disappointment, I suppose.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24Our two Neolithic burials could not have been more contrasting.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29The perfectly preserved skeletons from Cranborne.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35And the soft, unpromising fragments of bone from Orkney.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42While science had revealed the lives of the Dorset burials,
0:40:42 > 0:40:48and given us an entirely new picture of Neolithic life in the South,
0:40:48 > 0:40:52on Orkney, it seemed that scientists would need to draw on every
0:40:52 > 0:40:56ounce of ingenuity to be able to say anything at all about these remains.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01But even in this case, with such terrible bone preservation,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04science has been able to paint a detailed picture of the people
0:41:04 > 0:41:06who were buried in that tomb.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Over the last decade, this study and others like it
0:41:09 > 0:41:13have changed our thinking about the way the dead were treated,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17not only at Crantit, but right the way across Neolithic Orkney.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24In 1998, just a few weeks after the excavation, bone specialist
0:41:24 > 0:41:28Julia Roberts took her first proper look at the Orkney remains.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31That has been compressed by the wet soil.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33The fragments of four separate skulls revealed,
0:41:33 > 0:41:38like Cranborne, a mixed group of adults and children.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40Fortunately, we have some teeth.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45We've got these two developing first and second molars here.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50We can tell they are developing crowns, not just teeth,
0:41:50 > 0:41:52where the root has rotted away.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55The actual surface of the crown hasn't developed properly yet.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59This gives us an age of somewhere between four and six years.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03- Four to six? - Yes. So it's quite young.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07We've also got here... This is actually a wisdom tooth.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11This is likely to go with the other individual,
0:42:11 > 0:42:16giving it an age of probably around 15.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18This is the best preserved of all of them.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21How much can you tell about that?
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Judging from the bit of skull that we have here,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27the top of the skull and forehead looks quite female in shape.
0:42:27 > 0:42:33Many of the remains were missing, including most of the larger bones.
0:42:33 > 0:42:39We've got the left hand and foot, left kneecap, right leg,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42left pelvis and right arm.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45So we've actually got bits from all over the body.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47We also have part of the pelvis.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51The fragment of pelvis confirmed we were dealing with a woman
0:42:51 > 0:42:53and the teeth suggested her age.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56We have got some of the teeth surviving,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59although they are in very poor condition and also they've got wear on the bottom.
0:42:59 > 0:43:06They've got quite heavy wear, so that suggests that she was probably aged over 30.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10So in the one chamber, you've got an adult woman,
0:43:10 > 0:43:15an adolescent child and a child of about four to six years old.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18Yes. That seems to be the case.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22- You wonder whether it's her children, don't you? - It's a possibility.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24As they were buried in the same chamber.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30DNA analysis proved impossible on such decayed bone.
0:43:30 > 0:43:31But science was able to tell
0:43:31 > 0:43:35whether the two had ever contained more than these four bodies.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42Chemist John Duncan analysed tiny samples of soil from the tomb floor
0:43:42 > 0:43:46in order to determine how much bone had rotted away.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50You've got a nice range of colours here, John, anyway!
0:43:50 > 0:43:56- These are the samples from the tomb at Crantit, are they?- Yes. They are from the floor, the soil.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00- I've been looking at chemical composition.- What does the dark blue and the lighter blue mean?
0:44:00 > 0:44:04The darker the colour, the more phosphorus in the soil.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08Bone contains a lot of phosphate so if there is highly phosphate
0:44:08 > 0:44:11values in the soil, we can say that bone has been placed there.
0:44:12 > 0:44:17As expected, the dark colour indicates a high amount of phosphate,
0:44:17 > 0:44:24which this back row are from beneath where we found the bone during the excavation.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26The light blue, not much bone.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32- So would you expect that the high levels were going to be where the ball was?- Yes.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34We did expect that and that is what we found.
0:44:34 > 0:44:39What about that chamber at the back where there weren't any bones at all? What has that shown up?
0:44:39 > 0:44:42From the samples, there were no bones present.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45- So you think that was a completely empty chamber?- Yes.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47That's really interesting, isn't it?
0:44:47 > 0:44:51And what about the other chamber where the soil had collapsed in on it?
0:44:51 > 0:44:57- The floor of the tomb still showed that there was no other bone present.- Right.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02- So they really are just restricted to those two side chambers.- Yes.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05Nothing in the passage, nothing in the middle and nothing at the back.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07No.
0:45:07 > 0:45:12Even more surprising, these results also showed that natural decay
0:45:12 > 0:45:15couldn't account for all of the missing bone.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19It still seems incredible that our bone expert was able to tell
0:45:19 > 0:45:22so much about these bones, that this for example was
0:45:22 > 0:45:28part of the pelvis of a woman and that these teeth were children's
0:45:28 > 0:45:32and even down to the fact that we can tell what age the children were.
0:45:33 > 0:45:38But John's phosphate analysis had provided us with even more information.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42What it told us was that we couldn't explain away the missing bones
0:45:42 > 0:45:44by suggesting they had all simply rotted away.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48Of course, we knew that the skeletons were incomplete
0:45:48 > 0:45:52but now we knew that either some bones had been taken out of the tomb
0:45:52 > 0:45:56or that those people weren't whole when they were put in.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58We had a real mystery on our hands.
0:46:02 > 0:46:055,000 years is a huge span of time.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10The sophisticated planning of Neolithic tombs in Orkney
0:46:10 > 0:46:13bears testament to the existence of a complex system of beliefs.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21But at times, understanding those beliefs seems almost impossible.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29When we find evidence of ancient people, it's very natural
0:46:29 > 0:46:32to speculate about how they might have lived their lives,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35and if we have their burials, on what they might have believed in.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39But this is where it gets a little bit tricky for archaeologists
0:46:39 > 0:46:43because given the nature of the scientific evidence that we are working with,
0:46:43 > 0:46:48how much can we say with certainty and how much is speculation?
0:46:48 > 0:46:50No more than informed guesswork.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58How much could future archaeologists say about our lives today
0:46:58 > 0:47:02by looking at our remains thousands of years in the future?
0:47:04 > 0:47:06If you look at a Christian churchyard,
0:47:06 > 0:47:09there are some things that are immediately obvious.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11All the graves face in the same direction.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15They are in nice, orderly rows. There's a neatness here.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18All things that point to a unified system of belief
0:47:18 > 0:47:22and the hope perhaps that the dead would be allowed to rest in peace.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27But life and death in the Neolithic were very different.
0:47:27 > 0:47:28Things changed quite radically,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32not only from place to place, but also through time.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37Ever since 1998, the missing skulls
0:47:37 > 0:47:41and long bones from the Crantit tomb have intrigued me.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49In the years since the dig, however, archaeologists Rebecca Crozier and Dave Lawrence
0:47:49 > 0:47:51have carried out major re-examinations
0:47:51 > 0:47:55of the remains found at two other important Orkney tombs -
0:47:55 > 0:47:58Quanterness and the Tomb of the Eagles.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07Between 2006 and 2008, they set out to determine
0:48:07 > 0:48:11whether excarnation was taking place -
0:48:11 > 0:48:14the practice of leaving the dead out to decay before burial.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Now, I've brought Rebecca and Dave to Crantit to see whether this
0:48:19 > 0:48:23could explain why so many bones were missing from our tomb.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28The remains in here, if you remember, were really fragmentary.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31I think if I was back in Dorset one explanation for there being
0:48:31 > 0:48:36so little in here would probably be something to do with excarnation.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39You take a corpse and lay it out somewhere,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42maybe on a platform, and the elements,
0:48:42 > 0:48:46which you've got plenty of up here, and carrion birds and things come and carry bits off
0:48:46 > 0:48:51and then eventually the body has turned into a nice clean skeleton
0:48:51 > 0:48:54and you take the bones and place them into a tomb.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58But I'm not sure you think that this is what's going on here. Is that right, Dave?
0:48:58 > 0:49:01The Tomb of the Eagles is one of these iconic sites
0:49:01 > 0:49:04because it produced such a huge quantity of human remains
0:49:04 > 0:49:06and it was always said that excarnation had been
0:49:06 > 0:49:10practised on that site because the bones exhibited
0:49:10 > 0:49:13signs of weathering from exposure to the elements, just as you've said.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16But it turns out that almost all these signs of weathering
0:49:16 > 0:49:20are actually pathological legions from the diseases that these people had.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23Variously - cancer, periodontal disease
0:49:23 > 0:49:28or even trauma where they've had blows to the head.
0:49:28 > 0:49:33All these things were misinterpreted when the first study was done as signs of weathering.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35That was used to support this idea of excarnation.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39- So there isn't any evidence for that at all?- There is no evidence for it whatsoever.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43That whole idea of excarnation for that site is totally undermined.
0:49:43 > 0:49:49And Rebecca, you have looked at Quanterness, which is another big assemblage.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Is there any evidence for this right of excarnation?
0:49:52 > 0:49:56Again, if something has been excarnated, you expect
0:49:56 > 0:50:00just to find long bones and skulls because those are the easy ones.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02- They are the big, recognisable bits.- Yes.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05They are the easy ones to recover and it's quite obvious
0:50:05 > 0:50:08and we know of sites where that happens in the other parts of the world.
0:50:08 > 0:50:14But at Quanterness, what you find is a huge number of very small bones like your fingertips
0:50:14 > 0:50:21and that strongly suggests that bodies were complete inside the tomb.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25I suppose if you left the body out and it rotted away, then those are
0:50:25 > 0:50:29the tiny bones that would be missing if you collected the bigger bits.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31That's really interesting
0:50:31 > 0:50:35because I remember that even though the bones here were very badly preserved,
0:50:35 > 0:50:37we did have one or two of those tiny bones.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41The fact they are in the tomb would strongly suggest that's where they started.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49So it now seems likely that the remains were complete
0:50:49 > 0:50:52when they were placed in the tomb,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55which left one last possibility -
0:50:55 > 0:50:58that some of the bones had been taken away.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02And Rebecca has found startling new evidence that the dead might
0:51:02 > 0:51:04not have been left in peace.
0:51:07 > 0:51:13These are just a couple of the more unusual things that we've found.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16So, this is an ulna.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19This is a left ulna bone, so it's your forearm.
0:51:19 > 0:51:20That's not a natural hole.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23That's not a natural hole, no.
0:51:23 > 0:51:24So has that been drilled?
0:51:24 > 0:51:28Quite possibly. I'll show you another one.
0:51:28 > 0:51:32So you might think one in 10,500.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34This is from your chest bone.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38So your sternum.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40And this is another drill hole.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45So this one is actually the same size as the one I just showed you.
0:51:45 > 0:51:46Right.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48OK, so that's just it very close up.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51So they're drilling holes in human bones.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54Some people suggested, you know, this could be excavation damage,
0:51:54 > 0:51:57so when we look at it under the microscope, you can
0:51:57 > 0:51:59see the colouration in the bone is all the same,
0:51:59 > 0:52:02which suggests it's all weathered down in the same way.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06New damage would show up as white and be very obvious.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10So I've also done some experimental work with pig bones,
0:52:10 > 0:52:13which I rotted down, in my garden.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16- As you do.- As you do.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19And I drilled it with a replica flint tool
0:52:19 > 0:52:23and it produces the most amazing drill hole
0:52:23 > 0:52:26very, very quickly and it's actually quite easy to do.
0:52:26 > 0:52:31Why they were doing that or what that means, I don't know, but
0:52:31 > 0:52:36it certainly suggests people have been in there and modified bone.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39The way the Neolithic people treated their dead,
0:52:39 > 0:52:41it's all a bit strange, isn't it?
0:52:41 > 0:52:44It's a very far cry from the way we treat the dead today,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47because it's all very sanitised today, isn't it?
0:52:47 > 0:52:51Somebody dies and they're taken away and they're removed from us,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55whereas these people seem to have had the dead in amongst them as part
0:52:55 > 0:52:57of their community and to have been doing
0:52:57 > 0:52:59some very strange things with them.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01Not something that would be attractive to us now
0:53:01 > 0:53:05and not something that we can even really relate to at the moment,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08just because we're so distant from everything.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13The new evidence suggests that people might have removed
0:53:13 > 0:53:16bones for ritual use.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24It's almost impossible to imagine what it must have been like
0:53:24 > 0:53:26to climb into these cramped tombs
0:53:26 > 0:53:28and commune with the ancestors in this way.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35Especially since the dead remained a powerful
0:53:35 > 0:53:38force in the world of the living.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54The Orkney story is still developing.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57In fact, despite the wealth of monuments here,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00still more are being discovered.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06Up here in Orkney, the Holy Grail is to find a tomb that is
0:54:06 > 0:54:09so well preserved that it can provide us with all of the tiny,
0:54:09 > 0:54:13little details about life and death in the Neolithic.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16It looks as if that might finally have happened.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25In 2010, Hamish Mowatt discovered a 5,000-year-old Neolithic
0:54:25 > 0:54:29burial site in his car park.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32It's come to be known as the Banks Tomb.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37So I basically just dug a hole and found that there was a space,
0:54:37 > 0:54:42six foot wide. Pushed the wire in and it was six foot wide, six foot long.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45And then I pushed the wire down and it was three foot deep.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49So when I pulled the stones and rocks out,
0:54:49 > 0:54:52I could shine the torch in and I could see the rock face,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55straight rock face, just like concrete, it was.
0:54:55 > 0:54:56Cut straight as a die.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Then I got the camera shoved in this hole and then
0:54:59 > 0:55:03when I panned the camera down into the water,
0:55:03 > 0:55:06I could see that there was a white object with two little holes,
0:55:06 > 0:55:10which I presumed was a human skull looking at me.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14So, when I looked again - I briefly looked away from the monitor
0:55:14 > 0:55:16at that point, because I was quite,
0:55:16 > 0:55:18- "Am I seeing..." - Not what you expected.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21You know, "Is this what I think it is?" And I looked again,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25it was in about ten, 12 inches of water and the water was murky,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28so you couldn't really see the object, but it was white.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30So I got a little pump that afternoon,
0:55:30 > 0:55:33pumped the water out, got the camera in again.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36And yes, there was a human skull.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38What's the condition of the bone like?
0:55:38 > 0:55:41They're not broken or nothing, they're black in colour,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44but they're really pristine condition.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48In 2011, the first chamber yielded human remains.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51And with the damp conditions inside the tomb,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54the hope was that soft tissue might have survived.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59Unfortunately, only bones were discovered.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04But there are still another five chambers to be explored.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08So the Banks Tomb could be the one that ends debate on Neolithic
0:56:08 > 0:56:11burial ritual once and for all.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15Or, it might just present us with yet more mysteries.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17One thing is certain -
0:56:17 > 0:56:21science will play a major part in unlocking
0:56:21 > 0:56:24whatever secrets it does hold.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27It's tantalising to think what science will give us,
0:56:27 > 0:56:30because, like all Neolithic sites,
0:56:30 > 0:56:33the revelations will continue long after the dig is over.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38Those remains that have been recovered
0:56:38 > 0:56:41so far are just beginning to be analysed.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45Each ounce of soil is sieved with painstaking care,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47because the smallest fragments
0:56:47 > 0:56:50can yield the most significant clues.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57We've seen that the tiniest bones can unravel
0:56:57 > 0:57:00the mysteries of burial practice,
0:57:00 > 0:57:04that teeth can tell us the story of an individual's life
0:57:04 > 0:57:06and that fragments of snail shell can
0:57:06 > 0:57:10transform our understanding of entire landscapes.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Exploring the Neolithic can be incredibly challenging,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18trying to understand the lives and beliefs of such a remote time,
0:57:18 > 0:57:23but when the results do come, then the rewards can be fantastic.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26We still excavate the same remains - the flints, the bones,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30the pottery - that archaeologists have dug up for centuries.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32But today, science has opened up
0:57:32 > 0:57:35so many new windows into the Neolithic world.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37So much has changed in the last ten years.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42That's why it's been so fascinating to return to these two burial sites,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45because, through them, we've been able to paint a far more
0:57:45 > 0:57:48vivid picture of life and death in the Neolithic,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52of a world where these two weren't as separate as they are today,
0:57:52 > 0:57:56where the ancestors were a constant presence.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58And just think how much will have changed
0:57:58 > 0:58:00if I come back in another ten years.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd