0:00:03 > 0:00:06Nothing in our landscape is here by accident.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09It's all part of the incredible story of how people have
0:00:09 > 0:00:12shaped our country over thousands of years.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15Every ridge, every bump, has a meaning.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20I'm Ben Robinson, and as an archaeologist it's my job to
0:00:20 > 0:00:23unpick the great story we've inherited.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26From my perspective, the best way to do that is up here in the air.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31I'm flying around Stonehenge, over one of the most intensively
0:00:31 > 0:00:34researched landscapes in the UK.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Aerial archaeology is transforming our thinking about these iconic monuments.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41We're looking beyond the great hilltop monuments
0:00:41 > 0:00:42to the river below,
0:00:42 > 0:00:47and it is water that's led us to a very exciting prehistoric site.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Is this proof that people occupied this landscape
0:00:50 > 0:00:52thousands of years before Stonehenge was built?
0:01:06 > 0:01:11We're flying over Stonehenge in Wiltshire. It's an iconic site,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14probably the best-known prehistoric site in Britain,
0:01:14 > 0:01:16probably in the world, actually.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21The aerial perspective is giving us a whole new
0:01:21 > 0:01:24view of the landscape in which it sits.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28It's not an isolated monument, it's not on its own - it's in a great
0:01:28 > 0:01:32prehistoric landscape, and I can see traces of that all around me.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38This is where archaeology from the air really began.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41In 1906, Second Lieutenant Philip Henry Sharpe took
0:01:41 > 0:01:46a photograph from a tethered balloon - this photograph.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49I'm in about the same position that he was in,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52and it's a real privilege to share the same airspace.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56His photographs caused a sensation in the archaeological world.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59People were amazed by what you could see from the air,
0:01:59 > 0:02:00but since those days,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03aerial archaeology has discovered more than
0:02:03 > 0:02:04even he could have dreamt of.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Those early pictures revealed
0:02:08 > 0:02:11other ancient earthworks, exciting in itself,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14but since then, English Heritage has been building a library
0:02:14 > 0:02:18of photographs that show the landscape in ever-greater detail.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21We can now see how these individual monuments are linked.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23We're realising that there's a difference
0:02:23 > 0:02:29between our ancestors' use of the hilltops and the valleys.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Many of the sites on the hillsides relate to burial.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36Aerial photography has recently revealed a previously unknown
0:02:36 > 0:02:42long barrow, more than 5,000 years old at Damerham, 20 miles south of Stonehenge.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Different colours in the crops hinted that one patch of land
0:02:45 > 0:02:49was just a bit drier than the surrounding field.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53This site is an interesting case study in aerial archaeology
0:02:53 > 0:02:56because on one particular occasion there was a vague,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59more enigmatic crop mark.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02It didn't fit the usual pattern, but there was enough there to
0:03:02 > 0:03:06suggest that something interesting was going on in that field.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09You're standing on a massive mound.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12A mound that's 80 metres long over there,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14and it finishes just where the break of slope is down there.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18Helen Wickstead is co-director of the Damerham Archaeological Project,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21which aims to investigate this Neolithic burial mound.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24It was probably built over 5,000 years ago,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28about the time Stonehenge was first created.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30And we're still nowhere near the bottom of it.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32And imagine all the chalk in a huge ditch
0:03:32 > 0:03:34stretching 80 metres over there,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37another huge ditch 80 metres over there,
0:03:37 > 0:03:41piled up by people using antler picks and baskets, most probably.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Cos we're in the middle of a whole landscape,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47an invisible landscape, a kind of hidden landscape of crop marks,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51only visible from the air now, and most of those are in that state
0:03:51 > 0:03:56because they've been ploughed and they've been flattened by the plough.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59It's very unusual today to be able to excavate a barrow that
0:03:59 > 0:04:03hasn't been plundered by treasure hunters in the past.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05I'm really looking forward to this.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Neolithic long barrows are really, really rare,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11and it's even rarer to find one that hasn't been dug into by
0:04:11 > 0:04:14antiquarians, or has been totally plough-levelled.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17What we've got here is an opportunity to understand
0:04:17 > 0:04:20one of these monuments in a modern, scientific way.
0:04:20 > 0:04:21It's thrilling.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27The team of amateur
0:04:27 > 0:04:31and professional archaeologists only has funding for a few weeks.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35They hope to excavate this site and find new evidence of ancient lives.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42'The project's other director, Martin Barber,
0:04:42 > 0:04:47'told me how he first recognised this almost invisible monument.'
0:04:47 > 0:04:52So you could easily mistake this as just another little natural undulation in the landscape.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56You could, and obviously the way the mound has eroded over the years has made it
0:04:56 > 0:04:58sort of look more natural than artificial,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01but once you're standing in this sort of position you can get
0:05:01 > 0:05:04a real feel for the size of the mound simply by looking
0:05:04 > 0:05:07at the way the height of the crop changes, you know.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09The mound starts at the end here, and you can just see this rise
0:05:09 > 0:05:13effectively forming a horizon, seeing it particularly
0:05:13 > 0:05:17against the backdrop of the trees and continuing past the trench over to the far side.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19So we've got a mound that's actually 80 metres long,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22two metres high, um, completely artificial,
0:05:22 > 0:05:27built 6,000 years ago, that looks like a perfectly natural piece of hillside.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31The aerial photographs that I first saw didn't give a hint of it being a Neolithic long mound at all.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34There was this sort of almost sort of shapeless splodge which was
0:05:34 > 0:05:38actually caused by the fact that the soil conditions were so dry
0:05:38 > 0:05:41that the crop on top of the mound had died, rather than
0:05:41 > 0:05:44producing the normal colour variation or height variation you would see.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48It wasn't until I actually came here and drove down the track behind us
0:05:48 > 0:05:51and saw the profile for myself that I realised I was actually dealing
0:05:51 > 0:05:55with a very large mound that looked like a Neolithic long barrow,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59but large enough to make me wonder why nobody had spotted it before.
0:05:59 > 0:06:00Because it is very big.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06The enormous size of this mound suggests it must contain
0:06:06 > 0:06:10a burial chamber, constructed to enclose the dead.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14These mounds sometimes have, say, the bones of up to 50 individuals,
0:06:14 > 0:06:19not necessarily in the mound as complete skeletons.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24Sometimes in the mound there's bits of bone that have been kept
0:06:24 > 0:06:27and left there or that have been left out in various ways.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32So in the Neolithic we're talking at that time of very interesting
0:06:32 > 0:06:36location that obviously has the dead as a significant part of it.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Alongside that, animal bone.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42We have things like head and hooves deposits,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44so probably hides,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47cos those are the bits of cows' skeleton that are left behind.
0:06:47 > 0:06:53We have other deposits of work flint and ceramics as well.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58And then, so that relatively small little area
0:06:58 > 0:07:03is in use for some time, and then this massive mound -
0:07:03 > 0:07:07far, far bigger than is necessary to close that building.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Now why, why such a huge mound?
0:07:11 > 0:07:17And perhaps one reason why is that the process of building the mound is important.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19With only days left to go, little has been found,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22but then a skeleton appears.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Unfortunately it's neither Neolithic nor human,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27just a mediaeval last sheep.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29But that's archaeology for you!
0:07:29 > 0:07:32Still, this Neolithic site is another piece of evidence to add
0:07:32 > 0:07:36to our understanding of why early people placed their monuments
0:07:36 > 0:07:37where they did.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43There's a magnificent white horse down there.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45it looks as though it could be prehistoric, but it's not.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47It was built in about 1812,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51and it's really just the whim of a local landowner that put it there.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58But there's some very interesting archaeological sites down there.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01This is an intriguing landscape.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03The horse is perched right on the edge of the downs,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05it's visible for miles around.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07But there are other features - I can see other,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12more subtle, but more interesting, features surrounding it.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17All these prehistoric sites occupy the same ridge-top position.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20When first constructed, the burial mounds, the barrows,
0:08:20 > 0:08:21would have been stark white chalk.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24They would have been highly visible, as visible as the white horse
0:08:24 > 0:08:30to the prehistoric people that lived on the low lands.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Of course, the view from above is not one the ancients ever saw.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36They got their views from the hilltops.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38And that's the key to why they chose this dry,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42chalky escarpment as the burial crowd for their dead.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45I'm here on the edge of the downs.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49There's Salisbury plain over there. Knap Hill, with its Neolithic enclosure
0:08:49 > 0:08:53is just over there, and right in front of me, Adam's Grave,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56great Neolithic long barrow.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00This is a really dramatic place, a fantastic landscape.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Very exposed, and that's the idea.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05These monuments were meant to be seen,
0:09:05 > 0:09:10and they offer great surveillance over the surrounding countryside.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13But it's not just up here on the high land where interesting
0:09:13 > 0:09:16things can be found, but also down there in the vale,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20where perhaps things were a little bit more hidden.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23In fact, we're beginning to realise that the valley and especially
0:09:23 > 0:09:29the river is every bit as important as the monuments on the hilltops.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30Down there is a hidden spring,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34and a local man has discovered something very interesting about it.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40- So you've got a map to show me.- I have, yes. This is a 1900 edition.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44'David Carson's family has farmed the land here for generations.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46'He's found an old map that shows the spring,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49'and David thinks it might have been deliberately dug out
0:09:49 > 0:09:52'into the shape of a curious three-legged animal.'
0:09:52 > 0:09:55So you've already been up in the air, I think,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and seen... There's Adam's Grave there.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02That's right, yes, saw that from the air, and also Knap Hill as well.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04- So this is on the ridge. - That's right.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07And we've got over here the spring head which we're going to be
0:10:07 > 0:10:11looking at shortly, which has been cut into quite an interesting shape,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15um, with bits coming off, sticking out,
0:10:15 > 0:10:19another bit sticking out there, and then the tail, if you like,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22it's almost the shape of an animal leading off down to the south,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25which is the source of the River Avon.
0:10:25 > 0:10:26And it's not easily seen now
0:10:26 > 0:10:32because the trees have grown up all around it. Even from the air you wouldn't be able to see that clearly.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35It's a strong indication that the water source was really
0:10:35 > 0:10:38important to our early ancestors.
0:10:38 > 0:10:39This hidden spring is in fact
0:10:39 > 0:10:43the birthplace of the Wiltshire River Avon.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48- You can see the water's bubbling even now.- Oh, yes!
0:10:48 > 0:10:51- Right in the centre there. - There it comes.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55So we're just in one corner of the spring complex,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59and to our right and to our left, a lot more, so the whole thing
0:10:59 > 0:11:03- as you saw from the map, builds up into quite an interesting shape.- Yes.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07- We're just in one arm of it, basically, aren't we?- That's right, yeah.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10We're just in one arm or one leg, or one part of it - whatever you want to call it.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14But it's...you know, it's difficult to see in its entirety
0:11:14 > 0:11:18from any one spot because of all the trees that are here.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Let's have a look.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Ugh! Still going down.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Still going down...it's stopped.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31I've stopped sinking, mercifully with only a few inches to go
0:11:31 > 0:11:35to the top of the wellies, but I'm actually standing on quite firm chalk.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40And every so often a little bubble comes up...from the ground,
0:11:40 > 0:11:45and it is mystical, it is magical, it's incredible.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49But the water's so pure, it's so clean, it's wonderful.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51And pure, clean water,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55would've been tremendously attractive to prehistoric people.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59You can see, as well as a practical purpose, that there could well
0:11:59 > 0:12:00be symbolism here as well.
0:12:03 > 0:12:09This is the very source of the Avon, and the very start of the river.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13And if I was to turn around, and walk in that direction,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15I'd end up on the south coast.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19I'm not going to do it, because this welly has a leak on it,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21and it's already going cold and wet,
0:12:21 > 0:12:23and it's a very long way in that direction!
0:12:25 > 0:12:30So what part might the river have played for our ancestors 5,000 or more years ago?
0:12:31 > 0:12:35The vale and the downs seem like two different worlds to me.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39And I'm sure that difference would have been even more marked to
0:12:39 > 0:12:41prehistoric people.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45The vale feels like it's a nurturing place, it's about life.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50The downs and plains - well, I think they can be quite unforgiving.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54I think they're more about death and commemoration.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57It's not too fanciful to imagine early man having
0:12:57 > 0:13:01a connection to the river as a mystical force.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03And so many of the new sites we're discovering,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07many of them from the air, are close to the River Avon.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12One of the most exciting is far, far larger than Stonehenge.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15I'm looking for traces of another large prehistoric site,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18a massive henge at Marden.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23It's basically a great, big enclosed area of bank and a ditch.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26It's massive. It's actually quite difficult to spot,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28but I think I've just seen it down there.
0:13:30 > 0:13:31Yes, there it is. There it is.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34I can see a curving line of houses, and there's some interesting
0:13:34 > 0:13:36earthworks in the field next door, that's got to be it.
0:13:40 > 0:13:46The excavation of Marden Henge in 2010 made world news.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49The dig unearthed one of the earliest buildings ever found in Britain.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53It was constructed at least 4,000 years ago.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56The archaeologists speculate that they found a very early
0:13:56 > 0:14:00version of a sauna, complete with a large fire hearth.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02With a big hearth like that, one wonders
0:14:02 > 0:14:06whether it's perhaps a sweat lodge, a purification ceremony,
0:14:06 > 0:14:11before they go into the henge and conduct their ceremonies.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14The concept of a sweat lodge or sauna could explain why
0:14:14 > 0:14:18a relatively small building would contain such a large hearth.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20It's far too big for cooking.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24The theory suggests a low wooden hut would've been covered over
0:14:24 > 0:14:28with animal skins to contain the heat.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30The excavation has ended,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33but Jim Leary is still working on interpreting life
0:14:33 > 0:14:36in the henge 4,000 years ago.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41This is a huge monument. I mean, it's difficult to understand
0:14:41 > 0:14:44- how you'd go about constructing this in the Neolithic.- That's right.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47It almost beggars belief, doesn't it, the sheer size of this.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51You have to remember that this is 10 times the size of Stonehenge,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and the ditches, although they appear shallow now, of course,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58that's 4,500 years of erosion into them,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02so you have to imagine them three, perhaps even four metres deep,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05and then that material you need to put on the bank,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08so the banks were much bigger, the ditches were much deeper,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11and that really makes it a very monumental site.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16What we do know is that these are ritual, or if you like,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18religious centres.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22Religious enclosures. Something that was going on here
0:15:22 > 0:15:26involved ritual or religion in some way.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30We then have the magnificent stone settings of Stonehenge,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33but we have something so much more vital.
0:15:33 > 0:15:40We have evidence for feasting, and buildings, and people living.
0:15:40 > 0:15:47Stonehenge is very much a monument where cremation burials were placed.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49It's about the dead. This is about living.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51This is the living, breathing people.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53These our ancestors, and they created this.
0:15:53 > 0:15:59This monument is the archaeologist's, er, dream.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04The investigation continues across Marden Henge.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09This is a geophysical survey which uses a powerful magnetometer to map
0:16:09 > 0:16:12traces of human activity beneath the soil.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16We're looking at relatively small areas,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19compared to the very huge areas that the aerial photography can
0:16:19 > 0:16:24cover, but we are looking at them in great detail, hopefully.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27And over this sort of geology we should be able to find something.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32And we keep our fingers crossed, we'll have some good results.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36Their computer instantly conjures up a ghostly impression
0:16:36 > 0:16:38of what lies underground.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42The most prominent feature of this plot is obviously the large white circle.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45You can see it in the middle here. Now that's a henge monument.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48This is the huge ditch. Circling henge.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52And that was spotted as a crop mark by our aerial photography
0:16:52 > 0:16:55colleagues, but what we think we've got that they hadn't
0:16:55 > 0:16:56spotted from the air
0:16:56 > 0:17:00is a circle of very subtle post pits within the henge.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02And then what was a surprise was,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05I don't know if you can see these white straight lines,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08they're almost certainly much later Roman ditches, perhaps
0:17:08 > 0:17:13enclosures marking out paddocks and that sort of field around a farm.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16We'd need to do more investigation to really confirm that.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19That's just speculation at the moment,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21but it's promising - very promising.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26The incredible array of finds included pig bones,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29very early pottery, flint tools and arrowheads,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32all indicating this site was an important central meeting
0:17:32 > 0:17:37place for Neolithic people, and therefore of huge significance.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40But I'm especially curious about its links to the river.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44What about the connection of this place with water?
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Well, there's an absolutely integral link between the henge monument
0:17:49 > 0:17:53and the River Avon. The monument itself is actually only D-shaped,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57it's not a complete enclosure, and in fact
0:17:57 > 0:18:01the whole of the southern side is formed by the River Avon -
0:18:01 > 0:18:04a great big meander in the River Avon.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08So there's an absolutely integral link with this river, and in
0:18:08 > 0:18:12fact there are a number of springs in the middle of the henge as well,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14so this is all about water.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22This is Hengistbury Head, where the Avon flows into the sea.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27Dave Field is the guru of the archaeology along the river.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31He's developed a theory that it held powerful magical symbolism,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35and that our prehistoric ancestors had a mystical relationship with it.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Can you imagine people gaping at one of these bubbling springs
0:18:39 > 0:18:42wondering where the source of life comes from,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45and it must be very magical, very magical.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49- Well, it seems to come from the centre of the earth. - It does, it does indeed.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52So these things must have been revered in some way.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55And I think that's probably why we often find
0:18:55 > 0:18:59accumulations of archaeological material around springs.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02There would have been some sacredness attached to the water,
0:19:02 > 0:19:06perhaps in the same way as we see sacred rivers around the world, the best-known one being the Ganges.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08But there are others, South America, all over the place.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12And it's very probable, I think, that our rivers were sacred in the
0:19:12 > 0:19:16same sort of way, and that people in different parts of the landscape,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20along the route of them, celebrated the river in different ways.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23You can perhaps imagine that the earlier part of the river
0:19:23 > 0:19:25reflects life's journey.
0:19:25 > 0:19:26It's youthful, it's young.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31Then it grows into middle age, in our sense, around Downton and so on.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34And then, down here at Christchurch, it's almost an old person, you know.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38It's slow and sluggish, and as it passes into the sea,
0:19:38 > 0:19:39it's a different world.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42The sea is a different world. And this might be...
0:19:42 > 0:19:47might reflect beliefs in society, your passage through life and so on.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52So it's easy to see how the river will become a symbolic artefact.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56And very, very important for life as well as death.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00So if water is central to prehistoric life,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04there'll be many more undiscovered sites down in the valleys,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08which takes us back to the place where we started - Stonehenge,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11but to a time long before it was built.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15The site of an excavation in the valley, barely a mile away,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18takes us to one of the most important recent discoveries.
0:20:20 > 0:20:21We're over Stonehenge,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and I'm looking at the town of Amesbury off in the distance.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28There's some parkland on its western fringe and some woodland.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30There's a very interesting archaeological site in there,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34but there's also some very interesting excavations going on,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37and they may be extending the history of this landscape back
0:20:37 > 0:20:41thousands of years before Stonehenge was built.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45Thinking that water was important led archaeologist David Jacques to
0:20:45 > 0:20:49look at an area near a site called Vespasian's Camp.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51In 1999, a group of student friends
0:20:51 > 0:20:55and myself started to survey this area of Amesbury.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59The whole landscape is full of prehistoric monuments,
0:20:59 > 0:21:03and it is sort of extraordinary in a way that this has been such
0:21:03 > 0:21:06a blind spot for so long, archaeologically.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08This is the aerial photographic picture
0:21:08 > 0:21:12of a crop mark which really was the trigger for the whole project.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15We're very close to the River Avon here.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Vespasian's Camp is just to the other side of it.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20In fact, it actually comes all the way down to the river,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23but if we have a look at this Ordnance Survey picture,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25maybe get a better sense of things.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29And you can see just how close Stonehenge is to it.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Works out to be about, um, just over a kilometre away.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39In this landscape, you can see why archaeologists and antiquarians,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42over the last 200 years, have basically homed in on the monuments.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44There is so much to look at and explore.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47I suppose, what my team did, which was a slightly sort of fresher
0:21:47 > 0:21:50version of that, was look at natural places.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52So where were there places in the landscape where you would
0:21:52 > 0:21:56imagine animals might have gone to, to have a drink?
0:21:56 > 0:21:59You know, my thinking was where you find wild animals,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02you tend to find people, certainly hunter-gatherer groups,
0:22:02 > 0:22:04coming pretty much afterwards.
0:22:04 > 0:22:10What we found, essentially, is the nearest, secure watering hole
0:22:10 > 0:22:14for animals and people - a type of all-year-round fresh water source.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18It's the nearest one to this place. And I think it's pivotal.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27The dig is hidden in a wood which has been in private hands for 400 years.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30So it's totally protected from treasure hunters.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35Vespasian's Camp was imaginatively named after a Roman emperor.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37There's so much coming out of this strata.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41But the finds are all suggesting there was regular human activity
0:22:41 > 0:22:44here since the Mesolithic period,
0:22:44 > 0:22:48several thousand years before the Roman occupation.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Open University students and local volunteers have been washing
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and sorting the vast quantity of flint tools and wild
0:22:54 > 0:22:57animal bones being unearthed.
0:23:00 > 0:23:06Being in a spring at the bottom of the valley means that David's trenches soon fill up with water.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11We've got about 12 centimetres packed full of Mesolithic tools,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15work flints, um, over 300 animal bones.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19But certainly, Ben, what is sort of pretty much from the waterline
0:23:19 > 0:23:22down, from my point of view, I think we're all thinking it -
0:23:22 > 0:23:24is sensational archaeology.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27I think I can see just a little flake or something,
0:23:27 > 0:23:29poking out of that section there.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Well, yes. You've got a little flake and, of course, you've got this nice...
0:23:32 > 0:23:36something that's very typical of Mesolithic flint where they've
0:23:36 > 0:23:40retained the cortex here, so you've actually got a natural grip,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43- you know. You've actually got some real purchase on it.- Perfect!
0:23:43 > 0:23:47- They really do stand out amongst the natural stones, don't they?- Yes.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50I mean, people just say, "Oh, look. That's just any other old bit of stone."
0:23:50 > 0:23:55- But once you know what you're looking for, they really stand out. - No. Well, what a thrill for us!
0:23:55 > 0:23:57You know, this is the first time in, let's say,
0:23:57 > 0:24:018,000 to 9,000 years that anybody's touched that, you know.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04The last person, bar two, that held that
0:24:04 > 0:24:08and put that in there was a Mesolithic person.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11'Even while we're filming, a huge wild boar tusk is found.'
0:24:12 > 0:24:13That's a really big one.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17You look at the gradient on that, how big that tusk is going to be.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20- Oh, excellent! - And was that from the same layer?
0:24:20 > 0:24:2271.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24- It's the important 71 there. - Right, right, right.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29It's just what we've been talking about. It's basically just below this flint horizon,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32where you've got this 12-14 centimetres' worth.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34I mean, that is an incredible find!
0:24:34 > 0:24:37I mean, doesn't it just underline, Ben,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39the sensational quality of the archaeology here?
0:24:39 > 0:24:40Yeah.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Wild boars were once common in Britain
0:24:44 > 0:24:46and always a delicious source of food.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51But Mesolithic hunters also regularly hunted and butchered the aurochs,
0:24:51 > 0:24:57the original, gigantic wild cattle, almost twice the size of modern cows.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Alas, the poor aurochs were later driven to extinction.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08- Are you visualising the beast that this belonged to?- I am.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11And since we knew that some of them were being cooked, you're then
0:25:11 > 0:25:13thinking about how people would have cooked it,
0:25:13 > 0:25:15what techniques they used, you know.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19They didn't have pots at that time, so presumably, roasting, and...
0:25:19 > 0:25:23- It does set your imagination going. - These are huge animals, aren't they?
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Massive and quite ferocious. How do you think they brought something like that down?
0:25:27 > 0:25:30There must have been an awful lot of teamwork involved.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32But it's hard for us to imagine, isn't it?
0:25:32 > 0:25:35David is very excited because all the evidence
0:25:35 > 0:25:39so far points to this place having been occupied by our ancestors
0:25:39 > 0:25:44at least 3,000 years before Stonehenge was built.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Samples of the animal bones have been sent to the laboratory to be carbon dated.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51If David is right, it will prove his theory of continuous
0:25:51 > 0:25:56occupation at this site, long before Stonehenge was even thought of.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59- I mean, this must have been a special place.- That's right.
0:25:59 > 0:26:032,000 years of activity are coming back again and again and again.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Right. I mean, you know, it blows your brain.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09You just think, well, that's sort of how long London's been settled for.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11It's just on that scale, you know.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Most of the oldest cities in Great Britain, you know,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18can't go back that far, and yet, here we are, in this little nook
0:26:18 > 0:26:22at the bottom of a hill with a river running round it, and it probably had more people
0:26:22 > 0:26:26coming to it in the Mesolithic than it's had people coming ever since.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30This type of thing throws up far more questions than it answers,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33but the very few answers that we've got are incredibly significant.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Some sort of seed or plant of some sort.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Then David gets the latest results from the carbon-dating laboratory.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45Well, we all know that we've been really struggling to be able to fund...
0:26:45 > 0:26:47to get the funds for carbon dates.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49So we've had two so far that are Mesolithic,
0:26:49 > 0:26:54so they're between 6,250 BC and 4,700 BC.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Um, I mean, those dates are brilliant,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00but definitely it's a case of three being a lot more than two.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01So I can now give you the results.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04I've just come off the phone from the Glasgow lab.
0:27:04 > 0:27:09And the date is 5,400 BC,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11which is a fantastic date!
0:27:11 > 0:27:14It's a fantastic date. It means that we've got...
0:27:14 > 0:27:20You know, that we've got people here 6,250 BC, 8,000-plus years ago,
0:27:20 > 0:27:27we've got people now living here 5,400 BC, so that's 7,500 years ago.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32And we've still got people living here 4,700 BC,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35so 6,000, nearly 7,000 years ago.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37So people have been settling,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41residing around that spring area for nearly 2,000 years.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43It's just absolutely superb!
0:27:43 > 0:27:45So thank you, everybody, so much. Thank you!
0:27:45 > 0:27:49- Thank you! Thank you!- Well done! - Oh, thanks a lot, Richard. Thank you.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53David has now proved what archaeologists have long suspected,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57that people knew this place is special 8,000 years ago.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Today, the great prehistoric monuments still hold
0:28:08 > 0:28:10their mysterious attraction,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13and I think that to recognise the significance
0:28:13 > 0:28:17of our ancient surroundings needs imagination as well as science.
0:28:19 > 0:28:20We're getting a deeper understanding
0:28:20 > 0:28:23of how our earliest ancestors lived
0:28:23 > 0:28:25and of what they might have believed.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30The history of human progress is written in our landscape.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd