0:00:02 > 0:00:04BIRDS TWEET
0:01:30 > 0:01:31BIRDS TWEET
0:11:25 > 0:11:30The horn was modelled on a cow's horn and deliberately sold
0:11:30 > 0:11:36because the bull was a cult animal in ancient Ireland.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40And of course one of the great tales that's associated,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43especially with the north of Ireland,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46the Cattle Raid of Cooley, Tain Bo Cuailnge,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50centres on the Brown Bull of Cooley
0:11:50 > 0:11:53and the White Bull of Connacht.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55And these are magical bulls.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05The metalworkers here actually made this horn. How good were they?
0:12:05 > 0:12:08They were of the very, very highest order.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14These objects have been replicated in modern times by metalsmiths
0:12:14 > 0:12:18and they have found them extremely challenging.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21The metalsmiths who made these objects were absolutely
0:12:21 > 0:12:28among the best bronze casters of their time and indeed of any time.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37First of all, in terms of the technical difficulties
0:12:37 > 0:12:42in making this object, there are considerable problems to be overcome.
0:12:42 > 0:12:49You have to align a central clay core and two outside clay moulds.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52They have to be positioned exactly right,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56the temperature of the mould has to be kept at a certain standard
0:12:56 > 0:12:59during the pouring. There's a hundred things can go wrong.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04So these smiths knew exactly what they were at.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08How valuable an object is this?
0:13:10 > 0:13:12I think these objects,
0:13:12 > 0:13:19in terms of the technical mastery that they display,
0:13:19 > 0:13:26and indeed their artistic merits, really places them
0:13:26 > 0:13:31at the very, very forefront of the later Bronze Age in Ireland.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33They are true masterpieces.
0:14:09 > 0:14:15We have to think of the late Bronze Age as a very international period.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19The higher echelons of society across Europe or across much of Europe
0:14:19 > 0:14:23seem to have been in close contact.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Warfare on the one hand, feasting on the other.
0:14:50 > 0:14:57Both of these important significant pursuits of the higher echelons
0:14:57 > 0:15:00of late Bronze Age society.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Tell me about these objects and why they're of particular significance.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07The main significance of this find is the combination of
0:15:07 > 0:15:14a locally-manufactured sword with an imported bronze bowl or bronze cup
0:15:14 > 0:15:20of a type that was quite common in central Europe.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25Having this imported metal vessel, metal drinking cup,
0:15:25 > 0:15:29which clearly is not an every day item but a piece of
0:15:29 > 0:15:33feasting equipment here in Northern Ireland,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35that is something really significant.
0:15:38 > 0:15:43So the bowl is European and the sword is of Irish design?
0:15:43 > 0:15:48Ireland received a lot of ideas from the rest of Europe
0:15:48 > 0:15:53which were taken up and used to manufacture objects
0:15:53 > 0:15:59with a specifically Irish twist to them, like this sword.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05The basic design idea though, that is very much pan-European,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07first introduced in central Europe
0:16:07 > 0:16:12a couple of centuries before this particular piece was manufactured,
0:16:12 > 0:16:18so in a way this is an Irish variation on a pan-European theme.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Eileen, I'm conscious of the fact I'm looking here at an individual
0:19:22 > 0:19:26whose life experience was very, very different from my life experience.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28What do we know about him?
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Well, we know we've got an adult male.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33He's about 4,000 years old,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37so he dates to about 2,000 BC which is the early Bronze Age,
0:19:37 > 0:19:41and he comes from Rathlin Island, so it's a part of the island called
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Church Bay which is where most of the modern islanders would
0:19:43 > 0:19:45still live today.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48So he would've been about 5'11" in height and he would've been a fairly
0:19:48 > 0:19:52imposing person, he's quite well built, his bones are quite robust.
0:19:52 > 0:19:58So he's about 40 to 60 years of age. So a big sturdy, elderly man.
0:19:58 > 0:19:59His teeth...
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Last time I saw my teeth they weren't in as good a state as that
0:20:02 > 0:20:04and he's comparable in age to me.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Teeth are another way that we can tell the age of a skeleton,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10and just from looking at his teeth they would suggest he's in his 20s.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13But the more reliable indicators in his bones definitely tell us
0:20:13 > 0:20:14he was an older man.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17He probably had quite an active life cos he had bits of arthritis
0:20:17 > 0:20:21on his spine and he also had some arthritis around his shoulder joint.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24So you can see the little bits of bone growth, the little lips.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26Oh, yes, I see.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30I suppose the most obvious injury that he had was down in his ankle.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33So you can see in this bone it's quite depressed
0:20:33 > 0:20:35and sort of uneven in appearance.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37And then if I show you the opposite bone...
0:20:37 > 0:20:39It's quite clear when you see them like that.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41When you see them together.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44So erm, this is the back of your foot, you know, your heel.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46So we think he must have had some sort of soft tissue injury
0:20:46 > 0:20:50maybe to his Achilles tendon at some stage during his life.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53When he was found was he laid out like this?
0:20:53 > 0:20:55No, he was buried in what's called a cist.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58A very typical funerary monument for that time.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00It's basically like a stone box with a big lid on top of it.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04You can imagine he had to be sort of squeezed inside the box
0:21:04 > 0:21:08and in a crouched position with his legs drawn up towards his chest
0:21:08 > 0:21:10and his arms up towards his chest.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13And then they would've put this pot in beside him at his head.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15So this would've been like a funerary gift
0:21:15 > 0:21:17that was put into the cist with him.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23There are fingernail marks here and I can... Good lord.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26I can actually put my fingernail into the fingernail marks
0:21:26 > 0:21:31of somebody who did that 4,000 years ago.
0:21:31 > 0:21:32It's wonderful.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Just looking at their funerary context
0:21:38 > 0:21:40and the associated grave goods,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42you can empathise with the people in the past
0:21:42 > 0:21:45and you can imagine they were part of a community.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48And you can sort of imagine that people looked after them
0:21:48 > 0:21:52and there was a degree of care and support in their life.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Because he was laid out carefully in a particular position
0:21:55 > 0:21:59and then they gave him a grave good, a gift, you know, for the afterlife.
0:22:00 > 0:22:01He was part of a community.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Maybe he was a father, a brother, maybe he had children.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08It's only natural to empathise and imagine and wonder
0:22:08 > 0:22:12what life would've been like for this person 4,000 years ago.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21We have to remember that in the Bronze Age
0:24:21 > 0:24:24rituals were very important.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28People wanted to make sure that the crops would grow, to prevent evil,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30to bring good luck.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33And perhaps what we can imagine is that the chieftain
0:24:33 > 0:24:36or leaders at Haughey's Fort perhaps under pressure
0:24:36 > 0:24:39from the local population were forced into making a series of
0:24:39 > 0:24:40ritual sacrifices.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46And what we imagine might have happened is that on occasions
0:24:46 > 0:24:50sacrifices and offerings were placed into watery pools
0:24:50 > 0:24:54and on occasions they might have even been human sacrifice.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41This is the skull of the young man who was found at the King's Stables.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44How old is he?
0:25:44 > 0:25:47He would've lived in Armagh some time around 3,000 years ago.
0:25:49 > 0:25:50And if we look at this skull,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53what does it tell us about the way he died?
0:25:53 > 0:25:54One of the most obvious things
0:25:54 > 0:25:57when you look at the skull is it's not intact.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00In fact, most of the back of the head seemed to have been removed.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04I suppose there is a slight chance that this happened accidentally,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07but there is an alternative explanation that this was
0:26:07 > 0:26:10a deliberate cut mark perhaps made by a Bronze Age sword,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14and I'd be pretty certain that a sword or an axe would've had
0:26:14 > 0:26:16the power to cleave off part of the skull.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20I think we're looking at a human sacrifice.