0:00:16 > 0:00:183,350 years ago,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22much of East Anglia was a landscape of marshland,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25shallow waterways and ponds.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Unless you wanted to swim or wade everywhere,
0:00:28 > 0:00:30this was how you got around.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33For the people who lived on the edge of the Fens
0:00:33 > 0:00:35it must have been a mysterious landscape
0:00:35 > 0:00:39where the boundaries between sky and water and earth
0:00:39 > 0:00:41were always blurred and indistinct.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48A mysterious and spiritual place
0:00:48 > 0:00:52where the everyday world met another.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Sacred Wonders of Britain is the story of how our island
0:01:06 > 0:01:08has been shaped by belief,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11from the end of the Ice Age 13,000 years ago
0:01:11 > 0:01:16through to Henry VIII's reformation in the 16th century.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19From the heart of our cities
0:01:19 > 0:01:22to the furthest reaches of our islands.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29On my journey so far I have seen how the coming of farming led to an age
0:01:29 > 0:01:33of ancestor worship and the building of great tombs to house their bones.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36And how these tombs were then sealed and set aside
0:01:36 > 0:01:40as the new cult of the stone circle swept across the land.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43In this programme, I'm in search of the sacred sites
0:01:43 > 0:01:46of the Britons of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50How they found meaning in the landscape, the hills and valleys,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53in the sky, in the water and in the trees.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56And how their rituals and ceremonies
0:01:56 > 0:02:00brought spiritual solace in an unpredictable world.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Water - without it we die, and at the same time
0:02:23 > 0:02:26just a few inches of it are enough to drown in.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28It's the stuff of life and death.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32It seems that the ancients recognised its qualities
0:02:32 > 0:02:34but also sensed its mystery.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Saw that it was a transition between worlds.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39It's a curious element.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Objects placed within it can appear magnified or distorted.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47In deep lakes or the sea it can seem bottomless.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Perhaps to them it was a portal between worlds
0:02:51 > 0:02:56or a bridge connecting the unborn, the living and the dead.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Earth and water ebb and flow near Peterborough
0:03:05 > 0:03:08on the edge of the English Fens.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12And the sanctity of these ancient marshlands goes back millennia.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Once known as the Holy Land of the English
0:03:18 > 0:03:21because of its five medieval abbeys and cathedrals,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25the Fens are a borderland between the sacred and the profane.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32During the Bronze Age, around 1300 BC,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35the Fens covered an area much bigger than today -
0:03:35 > 0:03:38around one million acres.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42Wetlands rarely provide great archaeological discoveries,
0:03:42 > 0:03:47but in 1982 archaeologist Francis Pryor stumbled upon something
0:03:47 > 0:03:51that would transform our understanding of the Bronze Age
0:03:51 > 0:03:53and its religious practices.
0:03:53 > 0:03:59At about this point here I caught my foot on a piece of wood in the mud
0:03:59 > 0:04:02that had been dredged out by the dredger.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06- It was that simple? You tripped over it?- I literally tripped over it.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09And I scraped the mud off it
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and I could see that it hadn't been sharpened with a saw.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15More significantly, you were dealing with a piece of wood
0:04:15 > 0:04:17that was several thousand years old.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19And I could see that it was oak.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Now, oak won't grow in the fen
0:04:22 > 0:04:26so it had to have been brought here in the Bronze Age.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31There would be no other explanation for finding mature timber
0:04:31 > 0:04:35- under the peat?- No. No. It has to have been put there.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39And, I mean, it was one of the most extraordinary moments
0:04:39 > 0:04:41in my archaeological life I can remember.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45I mean, all the hair went up on the back of my neck
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and I thought, this really has to be something big.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53One piece of wood
0:04:53 > 0:04:57that turned out to be the tip of an archaeological iceberg -
0:04:57 > 0:05:02the first of hundreds of thousands of similar carved timbers.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07Flag Fen was a lost sacred wonder of Bronze Age Britain.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12So, what in fact had you found?
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Well, we didn't realise it at the time.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18It took about a week of research
0:05:18 > 0:05:23and then we realised that what we'd got was a causeway - a line of posts,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27and we realised it was something fairly substantial.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33It was running across the fen, straight, but we didn't know how far
0:05:33 > 0:05:37and then we realised that it goes from the hedge behind us,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41straight across this fen here, though the preservation hall,
0:05:41 > 0:05:45across the dyke, through the lake
0:05:45 > 0:05:49and over to the power station on the far side.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57Francis had discovered a vast ancient wooden causeway
0:05:57 > 0:06:02constructed with 250,000 horizontal planks
0:06:02 > 0:06:06and 60,000 vertical posts.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09The kilometre-long causeway, with its large posts,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11was designed to make a big impact.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Seemingly a spiritual boundary marker,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18visible from miles across the fenland countryside.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23- It's amazing to think it's down there now.- Yes.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26- Just a few feet below us.- Yeah.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Over the centuries, the causeway's ancient timbers
0:06:31 > 0:06:34sank into the fenland's damp, peaty soils
0:06:34 > 0:06:38and without light or oxygen they were well preserved.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43I think what really gets me more than anything else
0:06:43 > 0:06:47is it seems to be much bigger
0:06:47 > 0:06:50than it possibly needed to be.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54It's one of those where people are making it to be seen
0:06:54 > 0:06:57and it's the making of it that matters,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01- as much, or even more, than the finished product.- Yes.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04And I think in a very real sense
0:07:04 > 0:07:07this is a precursor to Peterborough Cathedral.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10It's a thing of wonder.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13I can remember when we were excavating here,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17you were down on your hands and knees below Bronze Age timbers.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21It was, you know... we were immersed in pre-history.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24It was an extraordinarily moving feeling, you know.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Week after week, we'd be down in the Bronze Age.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30It's awe inspiring.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44The causeway had even more secrets to reveal.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Amongst the timbers were hidden hundreds of precious objects.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54There is something very strange going on in the way that, erm,
0:07:54 > 0:08:00items are placed in the water among the posts of the causeway.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02We found swords, daggers, spears -
0:08:02 > 0:08:05items that had been offered to the waters.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Only a small part of the causeway has been excavated
0:08:11 > 0:08:15but over 300 objects have been found.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19There's no evidence that anybody actually lived on the causeway
0:08:19 > 0:08:21but they did visit it
0:08:21 > 0:08:24to carefully position valuable items amongst its timbers.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29This is a dagger.
0:08:29 > 0:08:35Now, when we excavated this, the first thing I came across was this.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40This is an antler handle, but it was lying on the top like that
0:08:40 > 0:08:44so it had been pulled out and then placed on top of the blade.
0:08:44 > 0:08:50This is crucially important because when we think of Bronze Age rituals,
0:08:50 > 0:08:55you imagine the sword Excalibur circling through the sky,
0:08:55 > 0:08:59landing in a splash and a crowd of a thousand people cheering.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03But actually it wasn't like that. They were far more intimate.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08Why is it all happening around that wooden causeway?
0:09:08 > 0:09:13My own feeling is that the closest parallel for this...
0:09:13 > 0:09:17for these ceremonies is a modern parish church.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20These are ceremonies to do with the family.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25You know, old man dies, old lady dies, you commemorate it.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28That event out here.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31It must have been a great comfort.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35You mention a parish church, but to live in a mindset
0:09:35 > 0:09:40where you can reach your ancestors whenever you want.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44The ancestors played an important part
0:09:44 > 0:09:47in ordinary people's ordinary daily lives.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52The temptation to steal from the many precious objects
0:09:52 > 0:09:56must have been huge, but there is no evidence of theft or plunder.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00Belief in the power of the ancestors was held in common
0:10:00 > 0:10:05by the whole community - a legacy from as far back as the Stone Age.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Even today, the Fenlands, with their bull rushes and marshes,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14have a profound hold on the people who live and work here.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17It's a landscape still shrouded in mystery and superstition.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Peter Carter's family have worked as eel fisherman for over 500 years
0:10:23 > 0:10:26with old-fashioned techniques that, I have to warn you,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30might seem harsh to modern tastes.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32I was taught by my grandfather.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37These traps have been used... well, we know for 3,000 years.
0:10:37 > 0:10:43They did find an old trap which dated back from the Bronze Age
0:10:43 > 0:10:45that actually had a water vole skull in it,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49so we reckon they used water vole at the time.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53I'm going to bait the trap up with old eel which has gone off now.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56That's what they like. They like food which has gone rotten.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58So that's good and smelly now.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03My grandfather always swore dead cat was the best option.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Nothing stinks like an old dead cat.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Archaeologists believe that Bronze Age people
0:11:15 > 0:11:18held the Fenland landscape in deep respect,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21possibly seeing it as imbued with spirits.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26And for the ancients, water in particular seemed to hold
0:11:26 > 0:11:28immense symbolic power.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32A fundamental source of both life and death.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Towards one end of the causeway
0:11:36 > 0:11:40was a large, two-acre raised wooden platform or island
0:11:40 > 0:11:42surrounded by marshland.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Its design and purpose has puzzled archaeologists.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Why create an island in the middle of it?
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Well, it's one of great mysteries of Flag Fen.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59I think myself, what they are doing is they're creating little...
0:11:59 > 0:12:02I don't know, you could almost call them shrines or chapels
0:12:02 > 0:12:06with pools of water, because we have excavated a couple of these,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09and they had big planks laid on the edge of water
0:12:09 > 0:12:14and then I think offerings and things had been made into those pools.
0:12:14 > 0:12:20It's as if they were more interested not so much in the water,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24because we've been talking a lot about water, but it wasn't that.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27It was the edge of water and dry land.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30That was what really interested them.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34- It's the boundary between wet and dry.- It's the boundary between wet and dry. Precisely that.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37The objects that they are putting into the causeway
0:12:37 > 0:12:41and distributing around the wet areas on the platform,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45what do they tell us about the people and the lives they led?
0:12:45 > 0:12:50I think we've got to avoid the sort of cliche that people in the Fens
0:12:50 > 0:12:54were these wild, bog-loving people
0:12:54 > 0:12:56with webbed feet.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00They were prosperous farmers leading prosperous lives
0:13:00 > 0:13:03in an environment that was remarkably rich.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06I mean, this was a land of, sort of, milk and honey, really.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13The offerings at Flag Fen were small scale personal affairs,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15not big ceremonies,
0:13:15 > 0:13:19akin to today's roadside shrines bedecked with the personal items
0:13:19 > 0:13:21of a lost loved one.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25Flag Fen's causeway was maintained for 400 years
0:13:25 > 0:13:27until about 1000 BC
0:13:27 > 0:13:31when it was submerged under the Fens' rising water levels.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36This place was special - magical to the ancients.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38That's irrefutable.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Long after the causeway itself had been had been largely swallowed up
0:13:42 > 0:13:45by brackish water, they kept on coming.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47They continued to revere the borderland
0:13:47 > 0:13:49between the earth and water.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59The idea of sacred borders or boundaries
0:13:59 > 0:14:04is also the key to unlocking another of England's most remarkable sites.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11It's one of Britain's hillforts, built between 500 BC and 400 BC.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17Hillforts are among the most elusive of our sacred wonders -
0:14:17 > 0:14:222,000 sleeping giants dotted across the landscape.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29A few miles inland from the Dorset coast, near Dorchester,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31lies Maiden Castle.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39But this is much more than just a hillfort.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Just as at Flag Fen, there are boundaries here,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47but this time on a monumental scale,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51inspired by a sense of fear
0:14:51 > 0:14:53that turned macabre.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07One of the problems with a site as monumentally huge as Maiden Castle
0:15:07 > 0:15:10is that once you are inside the ramparts
0:15:10 > 0:15:12there's actually very little to see.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15It's just grass-covered humps and bumps.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18In order to understand what was going on,
0:15:18 > 0:15:23you require methodical archaeological investigation.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30To help me unpick the mysteries of why the people of Maiden Castle
0:15:30 > 0:15:33felt it necessary to build such enormous barricades
0:15:33 > 0:15:36against the outside world, I'm meeting Niall Sharples
0:15:36 > 0:15:40who led an archaeological dig here in the 1980s.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46What do the ramparts and then the increasingly elaborate ramparts
0:15:46 > 0:15:50tell us about the state of mind of people in places like this?
0:15:50 > 0:15:54We think of ramparts, we think of defence, but it's much more about
0:15:54 > 0:15:58creating a sense of place and a sense of community for the people
0:15:58 > 0:16:01that are living inside them that's really important.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04- You're either inside or you're outside.- Yeah.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09And I think that, to me, it indicates the kind of paranoia of the societies
0:16:09 > 0:16:12and the importance of the boundaries.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15The boundaries are not simply about defence,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18they're also about warding off bad spirits, bad vibes
0:16:18 > 0:16:20from other people - the outside world.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24So you're not defending yourself against neighbouring communities,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27- you're defending yourself against evil.- Absolutely.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33At its peak, a community of about 1,500 people lived at Maiden Castle
0:16:33 > 0:16:36and viewed both the physical and spiritual threat
0:16:36 > 0:16:39of the outside world with fear and trepidation.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Niall discovered that each summer from around 450 BC,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48up went another rampart - another defence against the real
0:16:48 > 0:16:51or imaginary terror that lay beyond its walls.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Today, Maiden Castle is the size of 50 football pitches
0:16:56 > 0:16:59with six-metre high ramparts.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03Even by modern standards, it takes your breath away.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Yeah, I mean, it's like cathedrals in the medieval period.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12It's conjuring up a different world.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14A world of giants, perhaps.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18What do people make of this ancient construction, you know?
0:17:18 > 0:17:21I can imagine quite quickly the sort of myths being spoken
0:17:21 > 0:17:24about how this was originally created and built.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29For all the world it looks like a giant serpent coiled around the outside of the hill.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Over its lifetime, the layout of the buildings within the hillfort
0:17:34 > 0:17:36constantly evolved.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40What would the settlement here have looked like
0:17:40 > 0:17:43at the height of the occupation of Maiden Castle?
0:17:43 > 0:17:45It would be very densely occupied.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49At the moment, we'd be walking along a road probably with houses...
0:17:49 > 0:17:52certainly houses down this side, maybe storage facilities
0:17:52 > 0:17:56and other houses down this side, and it would be organised like that.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01Roads with rows of houses and storage facilities neatly laid out across
0:18:01 > 0:18:05the whole of the interior - the interior would be completely covered.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10But it's at the castle's exterior boundaries that Niall found
0:18:10 > 0:18:12the most disturbing evidence
0:18:12 > 0:18:16of what look like sinister rituals buried deep in the ramparts.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21Right at this point, in this corner here, I found a grain storage pit,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23the human burial right in it - right at this point.
0:18:23 > 0:18:29So what does that say? What point is being made by that poor individual?
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Well, I don't know. I think there is people being sacrificed
0:18:32 > 0:18:35and deliberately buried here.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38So the person who was buried in that grain pit was somebody who had been
0:18:38 > 0:18:42killed to atone for a mistake that he had made?
0:18:42 > 0:18:45I think that is quite possible. He made the wrong choice
0:18:45 > 0:18:48and he was sacrificed and placed at this point,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51because the boundaries are clearly really important.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55Reinforcing the boundary of the fort with a burial
0:18:55 > 0:18:58was perhaps a way of keeping out not just other tribes
0:18:58 > 0:19:01but also bad spirits.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Nearby, the remains of a high status woman were found buried
0:19:09 > 0:19:13with a remarkable bronze mirror, suggesting the people
0:19:13 > 0:19:16living in the area had a complex and profound belief system.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Maiden Castle is a stunning place...
0:19:21 > 0:19:26..but at least as evocative, if in a more intimate way,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29are the personal objects left behind by people who,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33if they didn't live in Maiden Castle lived in its vicinity.
0:19:33 > 0:19:39These are the grave goods of the Portesham Mirror burial.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43The image would have been not quite perfect
0:19:43 > 0:19:46so a person looking into the mirrored surface,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50rather than seeing themselves, might have thought they were seeing
0:19:50 > 0:19:52a relative or an ancestor.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56That reflected world may have been a world elsewhere
0:19:56 > 0:19:58so the mirror becomes a portal,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01a glimpse through into something else.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03Are you seeing the next world?
0:20:03 > 0:20:07Part of the fascination is with coming to terms with the idea
0:20:07 > 0:20:12that in death, she wasn't seen to be going to some...
0:20:13 > 0:20:17..heaven of clouds where she would sit around playing a harp.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21She was going into the next world and so she needed all the things
0:20:21 > 0:20:25that marked her out as an important individual.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33Maiden Castle's hillfort was inhabited for hundreds of years
0:20:33 > 0:20:38but towards the end of the Iron Age, around 100 BC,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41the fear of the outside world seems to have faded
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and the manic rampart building came to an end.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Attitudes to the burial of the dead had shifted.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Now people were buried like today,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56in formal cemeteries in individual graves.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02We're standing, looking down at where the cemetery was for the later Iron Age.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05What's interesting is that they're graves with people
0:21:05 > 0:21:07who've got objects which are their possessions
0:21:07 > 0:21:11and also they've got offerings such as pots full of food
0:21:11 > 0:21:15and all that's placed in there for people in the afterlife.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18It shows a major change in religious beliefs.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22But something else was shifting too
0:21:22 > 0:21:26that has endured right through to our modern age.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29There's evidence that a new class was taking charge
0:21:29 > 0:21:31of religious ceremonies.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Priests.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41So rather than individuals taking care of their own religious ideas
0:21:41 > 0:21:43and performing their own rituals,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47it becomes the remit of a specialist minority.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Yeah, you start to see people becoming specialists.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53You have warriors who are good for warfare
0:21:53 > 0:21:55and carrying out specialised warfare.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59You have craftsmen who are good at making really good quality iron.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02And there are religious specialists
0:22:02 > 0:22:05who have the sacred knowledge, who know the right things to do.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08That is no longer a democratic process.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Religion's not something you can do yourself.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Its specialists tell you what you have got to do and you do it in special places.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17It's fascinating that always permeating life
0:22:17 > 0:22:20in one form or another is evidence
0:22:20 > 0:22:25of this pre-occupation with things sacred, things religious.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29By the 1st century AD, dark clouds were gathering.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Across Europe, tribe after tribe,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35region after region was being conquered.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Maiden Castle was under real attack,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42not from the mysterious forces of evil but from human enemies.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Wait until you see what's in here.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52It's a double burial...
0:22:53 > 0:22:56..of two Iron Age men.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00These individuals were among those frontline defenders.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05There's evidence of catastrophic injury.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Do you see this iron projectile head
0:23:08 > 0:23:12wedged into the vertebrae of his spine?
0:23:12 > 0:23:17That's from a missile that's been fired, possibly at close range,
0:23:17 > 0:23:22into this man's front, so he's facing the weapon that killed him.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25It's fascinating to speculate about who they were.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Perhaps they were part of a priestly class -
0:23:29 > 0:23:34men of knowledge, men of wisdom, men who remembered the law of the tribe.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37And for that reason they had to be treated with respect.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42What you have got here is the burial not just of two men,
0:23:42 > 0:23:47it's the burial of a whole way of life and a whole way of death.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52We'll never know exactly who these men were
0:23:52 > 0:23:57but the enemy they died fighting was the invading Roman army.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Iron Age Britons were being brought to heel.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Even the great defences of Maiden Castle
0:24:04 > 0:24:07were no match for the Roman legions.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Maiden Castle quickly fell
0:24:10 > 0:24:15and in the conqueror's wake came a whole new set of beliefs.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19But the hillfort's sanctity survived.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Although the Iron Age builders of Maiden Castle were driven away,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30what remained was the significance of the place,
0:24:30 > 0:24:35so that 300 years after the invasion, Romans came here
0:24:35 > 0:24:37and built this temple.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42The desire to come up onto this hilltop and worship,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46to recognise it as a sacred place, is irresistible.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55The Romans may have co-opted Iron Age sacred places
0:24:55 > 0:24:59but as they marched north to the edge of the known Roman world,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02they apparently found a belief system
0:25:02 > 0:25:04of a completely different order.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11This is Anglesey.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18With its windswept beauty, rocky outcrops
0:25:18 > 0:25:22and the dark waters of the lake at Llyn Cerrig Bach -
0:25:22 > 0:25:26the site of treasure and strange sacred offerings.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Roman chronicles suggest that when they arrived here
0:25:31 > 0:25:33in the 1st century AD,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36they saw this as a hotbed of ancient extremism.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40For them, Anglesey was the home of the druids -
0:25:40 > 0:25:45the Celtic Iron Age priests who ruled the territory
0:25:45 > 0:25:49with an iron grip based around religious intimidation,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51even human sacrifice.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54And it was here, across the Menai Strait,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57that the Roman historian and chronicler Tacitus
0:25:57 > 0:26:00described the site that faced the Roman army
0:26:00 > 0:26:03when they confronted the druids in AD 60.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07"The enemy, in a close-packed array of armed men
0:26:07 > 0:26:11"interspersed with women dressed like Furies in funeral black
0:26:11 > 0:26:14"with streaming hair and brandishing torches.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18"Round about were the druids, their hands raised to heaven,
0:26:18 > 0:26:20"pouring out dire curses."
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Even to war-hardened Roman soldiers
0:26:25 > 0:26:28the druids appeared a terrifying spectacle.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34Living across northern Europe but with a base in Anglesey,
0:26:34 > 0:26:38the druids were believed by the Romans to be malign priests
0:26:38 > 0:26:41who might wield supernatural powers.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51I'm meeting Ronald Hutton to see if he can shine some light
0:26:51 > 0:26:53on the druids' dark reputation.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57What do we know about the druids?
0:26:57 > 0:27:01What we know about them is mostly from the writings
0:27:01 > 0:27:05of Ancient Greek or Roman authors who didn't have druids themselves.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08According to some of those, druids were wise,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11compassionate, admirable people,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14versed in the natural world, humanity and the stars.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18And according to other writers they were blood-thirsty priests
0:27:18 > 0:27:21presiding over a gloomy, gory religion,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24with an especially nasty line in human sacrifice.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26So we have these vivid images of them
0:27:26 > 0:27:29but nothing actually by the druids themselves.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32What rituals and beliefs and learning
0:27:32 > 0:27:35do the Romans and Greeks write about?
0:27:35 > 0:27:38The most exciting is in one called Pliny,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41who is interested in the natural history of the world.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44It's he who says that the oak tree, like this beauty,
0:27:44 > 0:27:48is the favourite tree of the druids, and especially when mistletoe
0:27:48 > 0:27:51is found growing on it, which almost never happens.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55When it does, the druids get really excited, they hold a ritual
0:27:55 > 0:27:59on the sixth day after the next new moon after noticing the mistletoe
0:27:59 > 0:28:03in which one of them, dressed in white, climbs up into the tree
0:28:03 > 0:28:06with a golden sickle and cuts the mistletoe down
0:28:06 > 0:28:09to be made into medicine and they sacrifice white cattle.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12It's a glowing description.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17Why were the Romans in particular so upset about the druids
0:28:17 > 0:28:21and determined to crush them and drive them out?
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Well, the Romans said they were doing it because the druids
0:28:24 > 0:28:27were barbarians, especially addicted to human sacrifice
0:28:27 > 0:28:30so it's a liberation of their people to get rid of their druids.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35It may, of course, have been dark propaganda
0:28:35 > 0:28:37suiting a conquering army,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41but the picture the Romans presented was that they loathed the druids
0:28:41 > 0:28:43for their human sacrifice.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47More recently, historians and archaeologists
0:28:47 > 0:28:49have looked for evidence.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55During the late Iron Age, bogs were seen as portals to the underworld.
0:28:55 > 0:29:00Dangerous places with their eerie strange light.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06In 1984, a macabre human body, known as Lindow Man,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09was discovered not far from Anglesey.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13He was high status - well fed, trimmed beard and nails.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17Could he be evidence of human sacrifice performed by druids?
0:29:18 > 0:29:232,000 years later, the cause of death is still controversial.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26One pathologist who examined the remains
0:29:26 > 0:29:30detected evidence for a ritualised killing
0:29:30 > 0:29:36in that he'd been killed three times by a beating to the head,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39he'd been throttled with some kind of garrotte
0:29:39 > 0:29:42and his throat had been cut.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46There was mistletoe pollen in his stomach
0:29:46 > 0:29:51and he had died at a time when the druids were powerful in Britain.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56But there's an alternative interpretation.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59Another pathologist felt that it was only head wounds
0:29:59 > 0:30:01that had killed him.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04That his death was relatively straightforward
0:30:04 > 0:30:09and the mistletoe pollen had blown onto his food before he ate it.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11That it was only there accidentally.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17Some believe Lindow Man could even have been from a later period.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21The evidence for a ritual druidic killing is inconclusive.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24Indeed, the case for druids
0:30:24 > 0:30:28performing any human sacrifice at all remains unproven.
0:30:28 > 0:30:33But one thing's for sure, Anglesey's water and bogs
0:30:33 > 0:30:36were clearly a prime focus of religious activity.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41For the people who lived here, the very landscape itself was sacred.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46Spirits, even gods, resided in all aspects of the natural world.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50In trees, rocks, the sky above
0:30:50 > 0:30:53and, of course, in water.
0:30:54 > 0:30:59Not only was water the source of all life, it was also dangerous
0:30:59 > 0:31:04and capricious, able to destroy as well as to promote life
0:31:04 > 0:31:09by flooding crops and homes and by drowning animals and people.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Here at Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18in the shadow of these jets at RAF Valley,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21one of the most extraordinary discoveries was made in this lake.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27During World War II, when the RAF runway was extended,
0:31:27 > 0:31:32a strange collection of Iron Age artefacts was discovered here
0:31:32 > 0:31:34by Eflyn Owen Jones' father.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40My father remembered that during the morning he had seen
0:31:40 > 0:31:45an old chain lying in the mud and he decided to have it investigated.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48And it turned out, when a gentleman from Cardiff came up,
0:31:48 > 0:31:52that it was 2,000 years old gang chain
0:31:52 > 0:31:57and he was asked to be taken to show where he'd found it
0:31:57 > 0:32:00and sure enough there were swords and currency bars
0:32:00 > 0:32:03and various other important objects that came to light
0:32:03 > 0:32:05in the same position.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10The precious objects deposited at Llyn Cerrig Bach
0:32:10 > 0:32:14were of high status and belonged to individuals who enjoyed a top rank.
0:32:15 > 0:32:21These are just three of the vast collection of objects
0:32:21 > 0:32:24that were offered up to the water at Llyn Cerrig Bach.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29This first one here, it's considered to be one of the finest examples
0:32:29 > 0:32:32of Iron Age art to come from anywhere in Britain.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36It's made of very fine sheet bronze.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39What it was for? Difficult to say.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42There are rivet holes so it seems to have been pinned on a piece of wood.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45It might have been decoration on a chariot.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48It could have been part of the decoration on a shield.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52This item here is an iron sword.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55It hasn't ended up bent double by accident.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59There are many examples both in Britain and on the Continent
0:32:59 > 0:33:03of weapons and other items being put beyond the use of humankind,
0:33:03 > 0:33:07bent and broken, to demonstrate that they are now leaving
0:33:07 > 0:33:10the world of people and they're entering the world of the gods.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15This final piece is of a different atmosphere,
0:33:15 > 0:33:17a different feel.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19It's a slave chain.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22You know, when you feel the links in your hands,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25there's a real weight to them and you get a sense of the burden
0:33:25 > 0:33:28and the suffering that would have been endured by the people
0:33:28 > 0:33:30who were forced to wear this.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33Probably in most cases it would have fitted very tightly
0:33:33 > 0:33:36around the neck so that it rubbed and chaffed.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40Part of the process of crushing the spirit and making the person
0:33:40 > 0:33:45realise they were no longer free - they were now captive and a slave.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52I suppose the big question is why these objects went into the water
0:33:52 > 0:33:54in the first place?
0:33:54 > 0:33:57I would say you have to ask yourself why people go into a church
0:33:57 > 0:33:59or a temple or a mosque.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02The people went to the water of Llyn Cerrig Bach
0:34:02 > 0:34:04because it was a sacred place
0:34:04 > 0:34:07and because they had questions they want answered
0:34:07 > 0:34:11or they wanted to give thanks, wanted to ask for help and support.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14Maybe in the event of a catastrophe
0:34:14 > 0:34:17a whole community might come together as one
0:34:17 > 0:34:20and as many as possible of the individuals in that group
0:34:20 > 0:34:24might try to make an offering so that there's this collective
0:34:24 > 0:34:28appeal to the powers of the world beyond.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35Archaeologist Frances Lynch has no doubt about the importance
0:34:35 > 0:34:39of Anglesey's place as a sacred Iron Age site.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Who were the people who were conducting these services...
0:34:44 > 0:34:47officiating at this kind of performance?
0:34:47 > 0:34:53Well, presumably they would have been a sort of priestly cast
0:34:53 > 0:34:58and there were various, erm, levels
0:34:58 > 0:35:01of importance amongst the priestly cast,
0:35:01 > 0:35:04of which the highest were those who were called druids.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09Perhaps the ritual placing of objects in this lake
0:35:09 > 0:35:13was a religious ceremony made by priests, even druids,
0:35:13 > 0:35:17as they faced the might of the Roman army.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21Whoever it was had a reason to leave something of value here.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25But in victory or in defeat, you know, triumph or disaster,
0:35:25 > 0:35:29people might be drawn to a place that they think
0:35:29 > 0:35:31leads to other worlds.
0:35:31 > 0:35:36Yes. And I think victory or defeat equally.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40You know, so that you can take either explanation
0:35:40 > 0:35:46for these broken and damaged swords and such like.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51Like the druids' reputation for human sacrifice,
0:35:51 > 0:35:54the truth as to why these objects were deposited
0:35:54 > 0:35:57will probably never be known.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01All we really know is that the druids were reported in Roman times
0:36:01 > 0:36:04as a challenge to the Empire's authority.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09Crossing the Menai Strait, the Roman legions destroyed
0:36:09 > 0:36:14not only those they called druids but also their oak groves,
0:36:14 > 0:36:17breaking forever their sacred link with Anglesey.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22What should we make of the druids? How should we see them?
0:36:22 > 0:36:27Here on Anglesey, some of the sacred sites seem innocent,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30faintly magical.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Then you have to consider the Roman point of view.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38The Romans seem to have seen them as some sort of religious extremists.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43At the very least it's fair to say the druids remain mysterious,
0:36:43 > 0:36:45elusive to the last.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52As the Romans consolidated their political power in Britain
0:36:52 > 0:36:56other spiritual beliefs and sacred places weren't attacked
0:36:56 > 0:36:58but embraced.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01The Romans found they had a lot in common with the native
0:37:01 > 0:37:04Iron Age people who become known as the Celts.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Both were Pagans who believed in numerous gods and goddesses
0:37:08 > 0:37:12and saw water as having sacred properties.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15There's a famous view of Bath.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18The crescents and circuses built with honey-coloured stone.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21But imagine if you were here 2,500 years ago
0:37:21 > 0:37:24when this was just a wooded valley.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29And somewhere down at the bottom, shrouded in mist, was a spring
0:37:29 > 0:37:33that gave forth millions of gallons of constantly hot water.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35To the Ancients in this area
0:37:35 > 0:37:38it must have been nothing less than a wonder.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Bath's natural spring bubbled out of the earth,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46creating dark green pools tinged by red iron salts
0:37:46 > 0:37:49still visible in Bath today,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53but to the Celts, possibly evoking the appearance of blood.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57For the Iron Age people who lived around here,
0:37:57 > 0:38:02this steam enshrouded swamp must have been a magical place,
0:38:02 > 0:38:04a mysterious place,
0:38:04 > 0:38:06even forbidding.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Before the Romans arrived in the fist century AD,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15the Dobunni tribe lived in this area.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe was director
0:38:18 > 0:38:21of a major archaeological dig in the early 1960s
0:38:21 > 0:38:25and found evidence the Dobuuni treated the waters with reverence.
0:38:26 > 0:38:31They had built a gravel causeway out towards the main spring,
0:38:31 > 0:38:33which is in the centre where you see it bubbling up now
0:38:33 > 0:38:36and people walking out on this causeway
0:38:36 > 0:38:39and getting as close to the heart of the spring -
0:38:39 > 0:38:42as close to the presence of the deity.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45This is a very, very sacred place where the idea is
0:38:45 > 0:38:48that this is the fissure that leads down into the underworld.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53The goddesses who presided here were down there.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57I love the idea of there being a place that people would have come to
0:38:57 > 0:38:59from a time before memory
0:38:59 > 0:39:04where something was coming up from the depths coloured red
0:39:04 > 0:39:08and was hot and inexplicable and therefore magical.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Yes, the idea of water coming out of the ground
0:39:12 > 0:39:14is in itself magical, I think,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17particularly when it bubbles out like this,
0:39:17 > 0:39:21but the fact that it comes out hot was stunning to people.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24And the Romans, much, much later,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27it was one of the wonders of the world that they wrote about,
0:39:27 > 0:39:28these Bath springs.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32And it's one of those lovely elements that that reminds you
0:39:32 > 0:39:36that some places make even the Romans Johnny-come-lately.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41This place was hugely important and always had been.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Hundreds of Celtic objects have been found in or near
0:39:45 > 0:39:48Bath's bubbling spring waters.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53Once the Romans had consolidated their power
0:39:53 > 0:39:56they began to adopt local Celtic deities,
0:39:56 > 0:39:58often out of superstition
0:39:58 > 0:40:02and to prevent getting on the wrong side of powerful gods and goddesses
0:40:02 > 0:40:05like these ones found near Bath.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12These are Roman sculptures made by Romans and worshipped by Romans.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16What's fascinating is that although they are made by Romans
0:40:16 > 0:40:20they feature elements of the older Celtic Iron Age religion.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24These are the three mother goddesses.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26It's all about the Celtic power of three,
0:40:26 > 0:40:30which is an idea that goes right across Celtic Europe.
0:40:30 > 0:40:34These ones are even more interesting in a way
0:40:34 > 0:40:40in that you've got Mercury, a Roman god, beside a female deity,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43who is probably Celtic.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Possibly Rosmerta, possibly Nemetona.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49It's as though the older Iron Age religion,
0:40:49 > 0:40:54like the water here, welled up through the Roman thinking
0:40:54 > 0:40:57so that within the Roman iconography
0:40:57 > 0:41:01you've got Celtic religion still surviving.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05Unlike the Celts who kept the spring natural,
0:41:05 > 0:41:09the Romans built a stone structure around the sacred pool,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12controlling the water for their own ends,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14and built a temple next door.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19No coincidence Bath's medieval abbey was built nearby too.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24Today, Bath's famous Georgian pump room
0:41:24 > 0:41:26with its neoclassical Doric columns
0:41:26 > 0:41:30sits at the entrance of the long lost Roman temple.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37Barry, if we were here when the Romans had just finished
0:41:37 > 0:41:40their building work, what would they be looking at?
0:41:40 > 0:41:44Well, we are just on the edge of the precinct of the Roman temple.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47The temple itself would have been behind us,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50across where the street now is.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52What was the scale of the building? Was it large?
0:41:52 > 0:41:54Really quite small.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58The temple housed the cult objects and all sacred objects were there.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02Very few people would be allowed actually into the temple itself.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04The priest and one or two special people.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08Everyone around would have known about the spring
0:42:08 > 0:42:10and would have been in fear of the spring
0:42:10 > 0:42:13and the Romans must have picked up that
0:42:13 > 0:42:17and simply went with the magic of the place.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22The Romans spotted similarities between the Celtic goddess
0:42:22 > 0:42:26of the hot spring, Sulis, and their own goddess, Minerva,
0:42:26 > 0:42:28and conflated the two.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31A life-size gilded bronze head of Sulis Minerva
0:42:31 > 0:42:34was placed inside the hallowed temple,
0:42:34 > 0:42:37surrounded by flames and tended by priests.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42The Romans' reverence of the Bath spring didn't stop there.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45Positioned above the temple's entrance
0:42:45 > 0:42:47was a mysterious carved head of a Gorgon.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50What is a Gorgon?
0:42:50 > 0:42:55It's Medusa from the classical story of the fearsome monster
0:42:55 > 0:42:57that can turn you to stone.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02What you've got, in fact, is a male with those billowing moustaches
0:43:02 > 0:43:06and the serpents in the hair.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09OK, it looks like a Gorgon, but it's a male Gorgon.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13It's conflation almost certainly between the idea of the Gorgon
0:43:13 > 0:43:17in classical mythology and some sort of river or water God.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21So, again, you've got this flavour of the water
0:43:21 > 0:43:25and the flavour of the Romans merging their beliefs
0:43:25 > 0:43:27with the Celtic beliefs.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30So their religion and the religion of the people that they found
0:43:30 > 0:43:33themselves among are flowing together in that head.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36That's exactly right.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42In worship and ritual, the Romans had a lot in common with the Celts.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44They may have banned human sacrifice
0:43:44 > 0:43:49but here on an altar outside the temple, a Roman priest known as
0:43:49 > 0:43:53an augur would conduct religious ceremonies by sacrificing animals.
0:43:54 > 0:43:59It was on that flat surface that the animals brought in for sacrifice
0:43:59 > 0:44:01were actually sacrificed.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05Would the people have performed the sacrifices themselves
0:44:05 > 0:44:08or was that done for you by a priestly class?
0:44:08 > 0:44:11It would have been done by priests on their behalf.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13They would have paid the money for the beasts
0:44:13 > 0:44:15and it might be a goat or a sheep
0:44:15 > 0:44:19or if you were really wealthy it would be a cow of some sort
0:44:19 > 0:44:22and the animal would be sliced up there,
0:44:22 > 0:44:28probably its liver taken out and then the augur would look at the liver
0:44:28 > 0:44:30and foretell the future.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32You would be making the sacrifice
0:44:32 > 0:44:35because you are asking the god a question.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39"Is it propitious for me to go on a trading journey?"
0:44:39 > 0:44:43The augur would take out the liver and understand it,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47read it, look at the spots on it, and say, "Yeah, it's OK.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51"You can go in the next three days but then don't go after that", or something like that.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53And then that is one part of it.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56The other part would be, of course, they would cut up the beast
0:44:56 > 0:45:00and there would be a feast, so there is a party as well.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03Was there a comeback? Supposing you paid all that money,
0:45:03 > 0:45:06sacrificed your bull, gone and had a disastrous trip,
0:45:06 > 0:45:10lost everything, could you come back and say, "What was that about?"
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Well, you could... then the answer would be,
0:45:13 > 0:45:17"You didn't pay proper respects to the goddess when you were here
0:45:17 > 0:45:21"and she is getting her own back", so there is no answer to that.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26The Romans brought their own religious practices to Bath
0:45:26 > 0:45:29but it was always the hot water from the sacred spring
0:45:29 > 0:45:34and the complex of bathing pools they built which were the main focus of attention.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41For Romans, this was a place to be seen,
0:45:41 > 0:45:46where you came to be exfoliated and scraped clean, socialise,
0:45:46 > 0:45:51strike business deals, play games, eat and drink.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53Entertainers would put on shows,
0:45:53 > 0:45:57healers would come and apply their lotions and ointments.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01Bath's sacred spring - a gift from Sulis Minerva,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04was where you came to be rejuvenated,
0:46:04 > 0:46:08to have your life enhanced, and all of that power was based upon
0:46:08 > 0:46:13a constant flow of hot water from the beating heart of a goddess.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17The spring was a place to seek divine intervention
0:46:17 > 0:46:20by giving gifts to the goddess.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22Silver dishes, jewellery and hundreds of coins
0:46:22 > 0:46:25were recovered from the baths.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Throwing coins into water for good luck is universal,
0:46:28 > 0:46:30shared by religions across the world,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33but here it had a sting in the tail.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35One of the ways in which Romano-British people
0:46:35 > 0:46:40sought to communicate with their goddess was by sending her messages
0:46:40 > 0:46:42written on little sheets of led like this one.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46What's fascinating about them is that they generally show
0:46:46 > 0:46:49a real vindictive streak on the behalf of the population
0:46:49 > 0:46:52because the crimes they're reporting are often very trivial
0:46:52 > 0:46:55like the theft of a piece of clothing,
0:46:55 > 0:46:59but the punishments they're calling down are truly draconian.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02We're talking about the goddess being asked to turn the wrong-doer
0:47:02 > 0:47:06into liquid or to make him impotent and then bleed to death.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11Having written it all out, you would fold the lead in half
0:47:11 > 0:47:15so that nobody else could read it, only the goddess, and then it was thrown in.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18This is the kind of religion that I can get my head around.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20It's about asking for direct action.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23It's the goddess as the ultimate deterrent.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34Bath's sacred spring has likely always mattered to people,
0:47:34 > 0:47:38ever since the first of them caught sight of its bubbling waters
0:47:38 > 0:47:40tens of thousands of years ago.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45The Romans revered it. So did the Iron Age people before them.
0:47:46 > 0:47:50And still today, thousands come to taste the water.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56English water, Scotch whisky - now that's life enhancing.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06The Romans' readiness to include gods, goddesses and sacred sites
0:48:06 > 0:48:10from other peoples was not to last.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13A new movement was ushering in a religion that would ultimately
0:48:13 > 0:48:15overtake the old beliefs.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18Despite the momentous change it would bring,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22it first took hold in the most humble of places -
0:48:22 > 0:48:26under cover, in the intimacy of people's everyday homes.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30All you can see is a tranquil river
0:48:30 > 0:48:34meandering through fertile grassland.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38You've entered the estate of a wealthy landowner.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45I'm at Lullingstone in Kent, just south of London,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48where a prosperous Roman took a large country estate,
0:48:48 > 0:48:51building himself a luxurious villa -
0:48:51 > 0:48:54perfect seclusion for private worship.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00When he was a schoolboy in the 1950s, archaeologist Brian Philp
0:49:00 > 0:49:03spent his summers working as a volunteer on the site
0:49:03 > 0:49:06and remembers the excitement of unearthing
0:49:06 > 0:49:08Lullingstone Villa's secrets.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13I suppose what I want to hear about is what it felt like to be here
0:49:13 > 0:49:16during the period of discovery and unearthing.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19Probably in the third or fourth year
0:49:19 > 0:49:23we realised were not just dealing with a large Roman villa
0:49:23 > 0:49:26perhaps typical of several, but this site had special religious
0:49:26 > 0:49:29and ritual significance of outstanding importance.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36The removal of over 2,000 tonnes of soil was to reveal
0:49:36 > 0:49:41fascinating clues in this one home and how during the Roman occupation
0:49:41 > 0:49:44of Britain, generation after generation marked the changes
0:49:44 > 0:49:47in their religious beliefs.
0:49:48 > 0:49:54The villa was vast, covering about 600 square metres with 20 rooms.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Brian is taking me to the villa's cellar,
0:49:58 > 0:50:02used for Pagan worship and known as a cult room.
0:50:02 > 0:50:07It contains sacred images painted in the 1st century AD.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Right, Neil, follow me and we'll have a look
0:50:12 > 0:50:16at the main walls of the villa.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18Goodness.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22It's a genuinely substantial building built to last.
0:50:22 > 0:50:23That's right.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26So it's luxury accommodation for someone wealthy?
0:50:26 > 0:50:29Here's something rather special here.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35- And now we're looking at a very large and deep room...- Right.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39- ..cellar-like in proportions. - Is that a well?- That's right.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43For clean water for drinking and so many other things
0:50:43 > 0:50:47and it's opposite the niche paintings of three water nymphs.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51So there's clearly a relationship between water deities
0:50:51 > 0:50:54- and the water supply. - That's not accidental, yes.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56Symmetrically placed opposite each other.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00So you keep the deities happy and they purify the water?
0:51:00 > 0:51:02That's right, yes.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06You appease the deities and make offerings at intervals, perhaps,
0:51:06 > 0:51:11and you'll get constant fresh, good, clear water.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15So when this room was in use, the occupants of the villa were Pagan?
0:51:15 > 0:51:17There can be no doubt of that.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22Two stone busts dating from the 2nd century AD were found
0:51:22 > 0:51:26on the cellar steps, believed to be of dead relatives
0:51:26 > 0:51:30or even a Roman emperor who may have once lived in the villa,
0:51:30 > 0:51:33indicating by this time religious practice in the cellar
0:51:33 > 0:51:36had most likely changed to ancestor worship.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38Like the water deities,
0:51:38 > 0:51:42they may also have been revered to keep the water clean.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48But Pagan worship of water deities or ancestors wasn't to last.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Now a new religion was sweeping through the Roman world
0:51:51 > 0:51:54but with dangerous consequences for believers.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Secret messages hidden in the mosaics
0:51:58 > 0:52:00illustrate the fear worshippers faced.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03This tells the story of Bellerophon,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07a mythical hero who rode the winged horse Pegasus,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10killing the Chimera - a fire-breathing she-monster.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13But there's more to it than meets the eye.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19There's a suggestion that the Bellerophon may be the success
0:52:19 > 0:52:22of good over evil, which is a good theme,
0:52:22 > 0:52:27and it's possible here that you can juggle with some of these letters
0:52:27 > 0:52:29in that second line.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32By selecting certain letters at regular intervals
0:52:32 > 0:52:34you can get the word Jesu out of that.
0:52:34 > 0:52:40You begin with the first letter there, you've got 'IUSTIUS', That's I, but of course it's a J.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44There's the E, there's the S, there's the V - Jesu.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47Codes like this are known to have been in use
0:52:47 > 0:52:50in other parts of the world at the time.
0:52:50 > 0:52:52It seems a regular pattern.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55It's been suggested that the owners who put this floor in
0:52:55 > 0:52:58just might have been covert Christians.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02- Goodness.- You know, there's a covert operation in here.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04So this is people with a classical education
0:53:04 > 0:53:07understanding the old gods
0:53:07 > 0:53:10but they are aware of the new religion coming in
0:53:10 > 0:53:14and they are seeking to represent it and honour it,
0:53:14 > 0:53:18- but in a very subtle, almost invisible way.- A covert way.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23The importance of the Lullingstone mosaics cannot be overestimated.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28They show a pivotal moment in spiritual belief in Britain
0:53:28 > 0:53:31before Christianity swept across the country.
0:53:32 > 0:53:37Although they are 1,700 years old, the hidden meanings are not lost
0:53:37 > 0:53:40on local mosaic artist Oliver Budd.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44The mosaics shine out of the gloom
0:53:44 > 0:53:49and are so wonderful and, sort of, time transcending.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53As an artist, I mean, I'm putting little symbolisms into all my work.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56You might not see them or you might see them, that's the beauty of it.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00And we have a bit of fun with it as well, you know.
0:54:00 > 0:54:02We put in hidden meanings and things
0:54:02 > 0:54:05and there are hidden meanings in those Lullingstone mosaics.
0:54:05 > 0:54:10I often think about those ancient mosaic artists because they were
0:54:10 > 0:54:12people just like me.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16They'd come into their studio every day, they'd be working on mosaics,
0:54:16 > 0:54:20they would probably be having trouble getting paid.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23There would be all the detritus of life, basically,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26that they'd have to deal with but at the same time
0:54:26 > 0:54:31they're creating these wonderful things that will last forever.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37In 313 AD, and after nearly 300 years of oppression,
0:54:37 > 0:54:41Christianity was legalised across the Roman empire.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Lullingstone's covert Christians could now, for the first time,
0:54:45 > 0:54:47worship openly.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50If we come across to this end of the building,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53there's something even more interesting.
0:54:53 > 0:54:5630 years later, after the floors were laid,
0:54:56 > 0:54:58this end of the building was converted.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02The room above our deep basement became a Christian church.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05- When you say converted, you really mean converted.- Oh, yes.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08Converted from the old religions to the new.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11So they built a church on top of the old cult centre?
0:55:11 > 0:55:15Yes, they created it within northern end of the building.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18- This became a house church. - A house church.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22And that's where we found all the burnt planks from the floor
0:55:22 > 0:55:25and in it thousands of pieces of broken wall plaster.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30The broken bits of plaster have been meticulously restored
0:55:30 > 0:55:34and this time there is little doubt who the figures are worshipping.
0:55:36 > 0:55:39The wall paintings from Lullingstone Villa are the only evidence
0:55:39 > 0:55:42of Christian belief in that building.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46Without their survival and discovery it would have been any other Roman villa.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49Here they are. What you have are six standing figures
0:55:49 > 0:55:51with crosses on their robes.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54They also have their arms raised in the attitude of prayer.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57That was the posture adopted by early Christians
0:55:57 > 0:56:02and it's still used by priests today preaching to the congregation.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06Here in a separate artwork from Lullingstone is a Chi-Rho symbol.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Chi-Rho was essentially a secret symbol
0:56:09 > 0:56:12by which early Christians identified one another.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15It's the first two letters of the word Christ
0:56:15 > 0:56:17using the Greek alphabet.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20The first is a letter that looks like an X - that's Chi.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23And the second is a letter like an elongated P - that's Rho.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25Chi-Rho.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27And you also have alpha and omega.
0:56:27 > 0:56:32First and last - from creation to the apocalypse.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40Lullingstone's paintings are the earliest known examples
0:56:40 > 0:56:43of Christian worship in Britain and signal the beginning
0:56:43 > 0:56:47of the end of Paganism, which had prevailed for thousands of years.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51But even though the villa's owners had built their own house church
0:56:51 > 0:56:54in this transition to the new religion, it seems they preferred
0:56:54 > 0:56:58not to completely turn their backs on the old gods.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Finally they become confident that Christianity is safe
0:57:02 > 0:57:05- and they build a church. - Absolutely correct.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10There is a suggestion that even while the church was in use,
0:57:10 > 0:57:14the busts in the bottom... the marble busts in the bottom,
0:57:14 > 0:57:17were still being venerated because they survived.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21They weren't moved and they survived throughout the history of the site.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24In fact, when the floor collapsed, it landed on top of them.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27So they really do like to hedge their bets in here.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30- Keep backing all the gods just in case.- Good idea.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35The Roman religion had aspects in common with that of the Pagans,
0:57:35 > 0:57:38including belief in many gods and goddesses.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41But they found much here that was abhorrent to them,
0:57:41 > 0:57:43including human sacrifice.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47The coming of Christianity, the belief in one god and one god only,
0:57:47 > 0:57:49brought further change
0:57:49 > 0:57:53and many Pagan sites were swept away or replaced with churches.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57The old beliefs could not and did not survive,
0:57:57 > 0:58:00but the sacred places that mattered then,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03that had always mattered, still matter now.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09Next time, I'll be discovering how the early church
0:58:09 > 0:58:12created its saints and its martyrs...
0:58:13 > 0:58:17..and how their shrines evolved to become some of our greatest
0:58:17 > 0:58:19sacred wonders.
0:58:21 > 0:58:24The mighty cathedrals of the medieval age.