0:00:04 > 0:00:05Stonehenge,
0:00:05 > 0:00:07on the plains of southern England.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Britain's most famous ancient monument.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16But over 500 miles north,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20new discoveries are being unearthed that challenge its supremacy.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22How extraordinary.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26And they're turning the Stone Age map of Britain on its head.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Could the centre of our ancient world
0:00:30 > 0:00:33have been in the remote islands of Orkney?
0:00:35 > 0:00:39A place cut off by the fastest flowing stretch of water in Europe.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46I'm investigating how these far-flung islands may have forged
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Britain's first common culture.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50This isn't human sacrifice?
0:00:52 > 0:00:55I'm joined by naturalist Chris Packham,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58who'll discover how Orkney's environment played its part.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Look at that. Orkney vole.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04This is more than an animal, it's a time traveller.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Engineer Shini Somara will uncover how the people of Orkney built the
0:01:09 > 0:01:14extraordinary structures which might have shaped those far further south.
0:01:16 > 0:01:17We tried to over engineer it!
0:01:19 > 0:01:22And archaeological adventurer Andy Torbet
0:01:22 > 0:01:25will climb its heights and plumb its depths
0:01:25 > 0:01:28to understand how the landscape helped shape
0:01:28 > 0:01:30the island's destiny.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33It's remarkable to think that no one has looked down this view
0:01:33 > 0:01:34for 3,500 years.
0:01:36 > 0:01:3712 years ago,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40a dig began that is challenging everything we know
0:01:40 > 0:01:41about Stone Age Britain.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Now, we're joining the archaeologists
0:01:44 > 0:01:47as the site yields up its secrets.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50And together, we'll discover if far-flung Orkney
0:01:50 > 0:01:53really dominated Britain for over a thousand years.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17I'm heading to one of the most important archaeological excavations
0:02:17 > 0:02:19in the world.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24But this isn't Stonehenge, Machu Picchu or a pharaoh's tomb.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27It's a small strip of land on the remote Orkney Islands.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33When someone says, how important is Orkney archaeologically,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38I struggle to find strong enough words.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42But what was going on here was extraordinary.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45There you go.
0:02:46 > 0:02:47You can see the sea,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51that is lochs Harray and Stenness, one either side.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53And the narrow isthmus of land in between,
0:02:53 > 0:02:55that's where the magic happens,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57that is the Ness of Brodgar.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Every summer, hundreds of archaeologists and volunteers
0:03:05 > 0:03:08vie for the chance to join this remarkable excavation
0:03:08 > 0:03:09in the heart of Orkney.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19And there's this season's archaeologists. Champing at the bit,
0:03:19 > 0:03:20they are. God love them.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Nick Card. 'Nick is the dig director.'
0:03:27 > 0:03:29- Pleased to see you again. - Good to see you, too.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34For ten months of the year,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37the site is protected from the harsh Orkney elements.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40It looks more like a scrapheap than one of the world's wonders.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50As the covers come off, they reveal a prehistoric marvel.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Look at it.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01As far as the eye can see, it's just structures and buildings.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03All sorts of weirdness.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10This is the 12th year of digging,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12and they've already uncovered one of
0:04:12 > 0:04:15the earliest stone building complexes in Western Europe.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Guarded at its east and west ends by stone circles,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23the dig has so far revealed the remains
0:04:23 > 0:04:25of at least 14 monumental stone buildings,
0:04:25 > 0:04:27enclosed by a massive wall.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34The Ness of Brodgar was a sophisticated feat of engineering,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37at a time when most houses across Europe were built of wood.
0:04:40 > 0:04:444,000 years before the Battle of Hastings,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47long before the invention of metalworking,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51the ancient Orcadians built this remarkable complex
0:04:51 > 0:04:55in a time known as the Neolithic, the new Stone Age,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57when Britons first learned to farm.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02It's currently dated at about 3000 BC,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05but Nick suspects its origins go back even further.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10You can look at the walls here,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13the way they're kind of taking on this wave formation,
0:05:13 > 0:05:14rising up and down.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17And this is in fact because these structures
0:05:17 > 0:05:19are collapsing and subsiding
0:05:19 > 0:05:21into earlier structures underneath.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23If we take a wander down here,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25you can get a sense of the scale of this.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29So we're walking down a slope, but you say this isn't natural,
0:05:29 > 0:05:32this is all the work of people?
0:05:32 > 0:05:33This is all man-made.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36The scale of it's sometimes difficult to comprehend
0:05:36 > 0:05:40because what you're looking at is a huge mound.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44If that's the much later stuff, because it's on top,
0:05:44 > 0:05:49how early is the first comprehensive building project?
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Well, I think that's one of the crucial questions.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54I think we know that the material we're dealing with up there
0:05:54 > 0:05:57dates from about 3000 BC onwards.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00But how much earlier it goes - that's one of the big questions,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03to see when the Ness of Brodgar started.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06What would be amazing is that definitive early date
0:06:06 > 0:06:10from when they, as it were, first put a shovel in the ground
0:06:10 > 0:06:13- and started work.- I think that is one of the kind of key questions
0:06:13 > 0:06:15for the Ness - when did it begin?
0:06:15 > 0:06:17So a radiocarbon date would be fantastic.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25If they started building at the Ness much earlier than 3000 BC,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27it would support an exciting new theory.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32That the people of these remote islands were the driving force
0:06:32 > 0:06:33of a revolution.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39A cult which swept Britain and culminated in Stonehenge.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45To investigate this theory, the rest of the team are on their way.
0:06:45 > 0:06:46Naturalist Chris Packham.
0:06:48 > 0:06:49Engineer Shini Somara.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53And archaeological adventurer Andy Torbet.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01It's the first time any of them have visited the site.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05This is incredible.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09- It's huge.- It's huge. - Hello.- Morning. Morning.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Chris. How do you do?
0:07:12 > 0:07:13- What do you think?- What a site!
0:07:13 > 0:07:15- Hi.- Astonishing.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18And is this it, or does it... Is it larger?
0:07:18 > 0:07:22It's much larger, it extends all the way from the farmhouse there right
0:07:22 > 0:07:25away back to the bridge and basically from shore to shore.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Some of the preservation is just immaculate.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30And it gives you this real sense of what these Neolithic people
0:07:30 > 0:07:33experienced. You can walk into these buildings and get a true sense of
0:07:33 > 0:07:35what they were like.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Do we know what the Neolithic people were doing here?
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Well, I think the site was in use for well over a thousand years and
0:07:41 > 0:07:43during that thousand years, its meaning, its function,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45would have changed.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47But I think you're looking at something to do with ritual religion.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51Because here we are in the midst of all these great stone circles,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53chambered tombs, etc.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55I think this was a site of maybe pilgrimage
0:07:55 > 0:07:59where people were coming from right the way round the archipelago.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01But also from much, much further afield.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04Is there anything like this anywhere else?
0:08:04 > 0:08:06There's nothing like it in Britain
0:08:06 > 0:08:09and there's nothing really like it in northern Atlantic Europe.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10It's a one-off.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16This place is absolutely incredible.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18When you think about, it's 5,000 years old,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22the level of engineering is just immense.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26I mean, the walls are beautifully made, they're flush, they're flat,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28but it's the size, the scale of how it's been done.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33So this wall here is, I don't know, maybe ten, 12 feet thick.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35That's like a castle wall.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39It's an extraordinary privilege being here.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44It looks so fresh, it doesn't look like it's, you know,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46thousands of years old.
0:08:46 > 0:08:47I mean, look at this.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49The most exciting thing I've seen so far is this.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52It's just five little depressions
0:08:52 > 0:08:54cut into this stone as a little rosette.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56I mean, who made that?
0:08:56 > 0:08:58What were they thinking?
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I wish I knew, I so wish I knew.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06What fascinates me is the possibility
0:09:06 > 0:09:10that in these two months that we have, we might be able to show
0:09:10 > 0:09:13that ideas here might have been influencing
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and shaping the rest of Neolithic Britain.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22While the archaeologists hunt for evidence at the dig,
0:09:22 > 0:09:27we start looking for clues as to what might have made Orkney special.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Chris and wildlife cameraman Doug Allan set out to look for what was
0:09:32 > 0:09:34unique about Orkney's environment.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Andy and Shini investigate the other stone monuments
0:09:39 > 0:09:41that surround the Ness.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46And to try to understand what came before this revolution in stone
0:09:46 > 0:09:49building, I'm going to explore one of the oldest structures
0:09:49 > 0:09:50on these islands.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55I'm heading from the mainland of Orkney to the island of Rousay.
0:10:01 > 0:10:07Rousay's just a few miles long and yet on there are 160 registered
0:10:07 > 0:10:09archaeological sites.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13There's a one-mile stretch of coastline in particular
0:10:13 > 0:10:14that I'm heading for
0:10:14 > 0:10:18that has numerous chambered cairns, tombs for the dead,
0:10:18 > 0:10:19just scattered along it.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22And they've got wonderful names. Blackhammer cairn, Midhowe,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24Knowe of Yarso, and one in particular that I want to see,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27which is the Knowe of Lairo, the tomb of Lairo.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31I'm going there to meet a farmer called Bruce.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Like so many farmers on the Orkney islands,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38his land is just littered with archaeology.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46- Morning, Neil.- How're you doing?
0:10:46 > 0:10:48- I'm fine, how are you? - Lead the way, lead the way.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52This one we're going to, Lairo, have you been in it?
0:10:52 > 0:10:53I've never been in it, no.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55- In all the years, no? - Never been in it, no.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Even though it's in your back garden!
0:10:57 > 0:11:00No. You know, there's cairns all over the place.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03We look out the window and see three or four of them.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Just part of the rest of the landscape?
0:11:05 > 0:11:06Yeah.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08- Is that it there?- That's it there.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10- That's Lairo.- That's Lairo.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14'The tomb of Lairo may not look much from the outside,
0:11:14 > 0:11:19'but its interior might provide some clues to the skills and souls of
0:11:19 > 0:11:21'the first builders on Orkney.'
0:11:23 > 0:11:26There we are, there's the entrance.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Look at that! Wow.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30God, it's good. You've got to get in there!
0:11:30 > 0:11:32- In you go.- Aye!
0:11:32 > 0:11:34I might put different trousers on!
0:11:34 > 0:11:36It might be a bit dirty in there!
0:11:36 > 0:11:37There you go. OK.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Right, I'll see you on the other side.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41- Good luck.- Thank you.
0:11:45 > 0:11:46Oh, yeah.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Oh, it's amazing, these enormous capstones
0:12:00 > 0:12:02over the top of the passageway.
0:12:05 > 0:12:06Oh, my.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09Oh, it's huge.
0:12:13 > 0:12:14Oh, how extraordinary.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Look at the height of it!
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Those big lintels going across the thing,
0:12:19 > 0:12:21presumably to support the height.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28These were built by the first farmers.
0:12:28 > 0:12:34From about 4000 BC onwards, there's a desire to make a mark on
0:12:34 > 0:12:36the landscape like this.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40I mean, this is relatively simple stuff, it's big and it's heavy.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43It's not terribly sophisticated.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48'This tomb's intriguing.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51'But it's as nothing to what the ancient Orcadians at the Ness
0:12:51 > 0:12:54'created in their stone building revolution.'
0:12:56 > 0:13:01What makes Orkney special, really special, is around 3000 BC,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05for some reason that we don't yet understand, the Orcadians
0:13:05 > 0:13:11made a big change and they started building on a massive scale.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15And the burial chambers they started constructing were far more
0:13:15 > 0:13:18technologically sophisticated
0:13:18 > 0:13:20and they were much, much bigger than this.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28The biggest of them all can be found just half a mile away from the dig
0:13:28 > 0:13:29at the Ness.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31It's called Maeshowe.
0:13:35 > 0:13:36There it is.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Here it is.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40There's a lot of work has gone into that.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50Wow.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Some of these stones are absolutely massive.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00Look at this one! There's no break in this one, this one's just solid.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Oh, Andy, look at this!
0:14:11 > 0:14:14This is so impressive.
0:14:14 > 0:14:15Beautiful.
0:14:16 > 0:14:17Gorgeous.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Just how difficult would it have been to build something like this?
0:14:22 > 0:14:24What they did was this corbelling effect
0:14:24 > 0:14:26where they're basically stacking
0:14:26 > 0:14:29one on top of the other, on top of the other,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32to create this arch that you can see.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Well, they didn't make their jobs easy,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39cos these are huge pieces of stone.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42This is probably about six tonnes.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46This goes back, I don't know what, about ten, 15 feet?
0:14:46 > 0:14:47I mean, it's huge.
0:14:49 > 0:14:55I don't know how Neolithic communities would have moved a stone
0:14:55 > 0:14:57this big up to these sort of heights.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00You know, 25 feet off the ground.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04It would have taken thousands and thousands of man-hours to build
0:15:04 > 0:15:07- something like this.- And what I can't believe is that they
0:15:07 > 0:15:10were able to achieve something like this just with stone tools.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13- Yeah.- That's what blows my mind about this.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Maeshowe is a truly sophisticated structure.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24It shows just what the ancient Orcadians at the Ness were capable
0:15:24 > 0:15:26of building.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28And their ambition didn't stop there.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36They also created monumental stone circles.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Just 500 metres away from the Ness are the Stones of Stenness.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Four of the original 12 stones survive.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47The tallest is four metres high.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53You know, we're 21st-century people and we're used to towering
0:15:53 > 0:15:56skyscrapers, and yet
0:15:56 > 0:16:01don't you think that just a single shard of stone erected in the grass
0:16:01 > 0:16:04like this is every bit as impressive?
0:16:08 > 0:16:10At the other end of the isthmus is the Ring of Brodgar.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Originally, there were 60 of these giant megaliths,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19quarried and somehow brought here from different corners of Orkney.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Hundreds of stone circles were built across the British Isles from around
0:16:28 > 0:16:323000 BC, including the most famous of all, Stonehenge.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39We've never come close to understanding their origin,
0:16:39 > 0:16:40until now.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46The latest evidence suggests the further north you go,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49the older these mysterious stone circles become.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55So could the stone circle revolution have begun here,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57with the people of the Ness of Brodgar?
0:17:01 > 0:17:05For this to be true, the origins of the Ness
0:17:05 > 0:17:07must be older than 3000 BC,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09the date of some of the circles further south.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Archaeologist Hugo Anderson-Whymark
0:17:14 > 0:17:17is stripping back the soil to find the very first layer
0:17:17 > 0:17:19people built on at the Ness.
0:17:23 > 0:17:24We're in a small test pit -
0:17:24 > 0:17:27it won't be that many days before we reach the layer we're really
0:17:27 > 0:17:28interested in.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32And we really hope that the charcoal with it is suitable
0:17:32 > 0:17:36for dating so that we can actually get a date for that lowest deposit,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39which should be the earliest occupation at the Ness of Brodgar.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53I've been coming here for nearly a decade and I'm not alone -
0:17:53 > 0:17:57taking part in this dig is a royal badge of honour for archaeologists
0:17:57 > 0:17:59and students who come from all over the world.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04Why did they have the need to have this here?
0:18:04 > 0:18:05This is fantastic.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07But I think what is interesting and what is eternal...
0:18:07 > 0:18:09HUBBUB OF CHAT
0:18:11 > 0:18:14A symmetrical series of five little cuts...
0:18:18 > 0:18:22I can handle midges. They're just little, little bite.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Midges kill more people in Scotland than...
0:18:25 > 0:18:28- than road traffic accidents! - You just made that up!
0:18:28 > 0:18:31You made that up! You had to think about that.
0:18:31 > 0:18:32The pause gave it away.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36So, is this your first year here?
0:18:36 > 0:18:38- Yep.- And what's the latest theory on what it is?
0:18:38 > 0:18:40I think this is about impressing people.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43And so this actual location is quite impressive,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45so you've got both the lochs either side
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and then it's pretty much you can see it from surrounding hills.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59The day dawns fair.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05In the finds hut, Chris is examining the animal bones found on the site
0:19:05 > 0:19:09because he believes they hold vital clues to Orkney's central role.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15This is only a tiny percentage of the overall assemblage,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18but there's quite a number of different species represented here.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24This is a cattle bone, isn't it?
0:19:24 > 0:19:26You can tell from the sheer size of it, it's huge.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30The team's discovered thousands of cow bones,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33evidence the Neolithic people here were cattle farmers.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38But it's one of the smallest specimens that Chris is drawn to.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Well, for me, this is the most exciting.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43This is the skull of a vole,
0:19:43 > 0:19:48and I can tell that because of the characteristic zigzag root of the
0:19:48 > 0:19:55molars there. And its large size points to Orkney vole.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59Yeah, so I've never handled an Orkney vole skull before.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Mr Buckley, my biology master, would be very envious,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03we used to be ferociously competitive about who found the best skull.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07And these are very interesting animals,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09particularly from a Neolithic perspective.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13I'd love to get to know more about them by meeting a living one rather
0:20:13 > 0:20:15than just handling the skull.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21They've discovered the bones of hundreds of these voles here.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23But it's a mystery.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25The Orkney vole has never been found anywhere else in Britain,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28so how did it get here?
0:20:35 > 0:20:36To investigate,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Chris is heading to the moors where the Orkney vole
0:20:39 > 0:20:40survives to this day.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50- Lead the way.- OK, follow me.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Zoologist Xavier Lambin has been monitoring
0:20:54 > 0:20:57the vole population by setting capture traps.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Wildlife cameraman Doug Allan has come along
0:21:02 > 0:21:03to film this brief encounter.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05That could be the wind, or a slug!
0:21:07 > 0:21:09It's a vole, yeah. Yes!
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Hold on, while I just...
0:21:12 > 0:21:13Get ready.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16- OK, go for it.- Are you ready?- Yes.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Look at that!
0:21:21 > 0:21:23It's your first Orkney vole.
0:21:23 > 0:21:24It's the first Orkney vole.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26That's the one.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Microtus arvalis orcadensis.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Wow! And this is a sub adult, because they do grow to much larger?
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Yes, 60, 80g.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36So that would be an adult-sized field vole,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38a common vole on mainland Europe.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42- Yeah. - I can hear him squeaking!
0:21:42 > 0:21:44- That's a young female. - It's a young female?
0:21:44 > 0:21:46Yeah.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48So she hasn't bred this year.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51- Do I need a glove, do you think? - This one is a little bit nippy.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54If I was you I would put a glove on, unless you are a very tough man!
0:21:54 > 0:21:55He needs the gloves.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Have you got any of these shark-proof gloves you wear underwater?!
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Maybe even safer!
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Ah, Doug, we've been friends for so many years,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08it's all coming to a horrible end!
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Look at that!
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Orkney vole in the hand.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Mammal tick for Chris.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19Oh, superb!
0:22:26 > 0:22:31Bio archaeologist Keith Dobney has been researching the Orkney vole and
0:22:31 > 0:22:33thinks he's discovered where they came from.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Hello, Keith.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Because they don't occur anywhere else in the UK or Ireland...
0:22:40 > 0:22:43- And never has.- And never has, as far as we can tell from the record.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47Only in this little northern island archipelago.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50It means they've come from somewhere, and they don't swim,
0:22:50 > 0:22:55which got archaeologists interested in using them as a proxy for
0:22:55 > 0:22:58understanding when and where people brought them.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02And carbon-14 dating has shown that the earliest voles we have in Orkney
0:23:02 > 0:23:06have been from more or less the early middle Neolithic.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Which means the earliest farmers brought them here.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12They were brought from somewhere in Europe to Orkney by people.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16So where did these people, and their voles, come from?
0:23:19 > 0:23:21OK, so here's a map of where they occur.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23I mean, they occur all the way from Spain, up through France,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26- into Eastern Europe.- And you can see this nice blank area,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29the whole of the UK and Ireland is absent.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31So, where do they come from?
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Well, we can look in more detail at the sequences
0:23:34 > 0:23:36that are extracted from the nuclear DNA
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and look for the subtle differences that we find in the DNA chains.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41OK, so this is modern Orkney vole?
0:23:41 > 0:23:46This is a part of the DNA sequence of an Orkney vole.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Let's look at the vole, the common voles from Denmark.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55And yes, there's a lot of similarities.
0:23:55 > 0:23:56The red, the As, the Cs.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58But you can see here and there,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00there are mutations which have occurred
0:24:00 > 0:24:04which make them differentiate from the voles from Denmark.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07So, let's look at some from the Spanish group.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Again, we can see mutations which showed quite a lot of difference.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Yes, a difference here and here.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17Exactly. OK, so not from Spain. But if we look at Belgium...
0:24:21 > 0:24:26We see that they are the closest match we have across the board.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31And Belgium is the closest living population today
0:24:31 > 0:24:34that matches almost the same, not quite identical,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37as the Orkney populations of common voles.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Do you know, I've always said that my favourite British mammals have
0:24:41 > 0:24:43been foxes. I live amongst those.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Or pine martens, because they're fantastically attractive and rare.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50But they might have both been usurped by the Orkney vole!
0:24:50 > 0:24:53Because this is more than an animal, it's a time traveller.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58It's telling us about ourselves and how we moved across Europe
0:24:58 > 0:24:59in the distant past. Fantastic.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06The time travelling voles suggest that, for some reason,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10people were drawn here from mainland Europe across hundreds of miles of
0:25:10 > 0:25:14sea and one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world,
0:25:14 > 0:25:15the Pentland Firth.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Whatever was happening here thousands of years ago
0:25:20 > 0:25:25surely meant that Orkney was a magnet, a go-to destination,
0:25:25 > 0:25:26for people from far away.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34At our base above the Ness of Brodgar,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37Chris reports back to us on his findings.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Doug and I can throw some light on the movement of people and culture
0:25:41 > 0:25:45through the most unlikely source, Doug, the Orkney vole.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47The Orkney vole, a great wee beastie, wasn't it?
0:25:47 > 0:25:48It's fantastic.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52So this animal somehow got from continental Europe to Orkney
0:25:52 > 0:25:54about 5,500 years ago.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56Without coming through...?
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Without coming up through here.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00So it somehow bypasses the whole of the island of Britain,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02but makes its first landfall here?
0:26:02 > 0:26:04It does. So they were brought,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07they were transported at that time from somewhere in Europe.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Are the voles being brought deliberately,
0:26:09 > 0:26:10or are they accidental tourists?
0:26:10 > 0:26:12Well, here's some ideas.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14They could be an accidental introduction,
0:26:14 > 0:26:16because they could have been carried in animal fodder.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19If people were bringing domestic stock here
0:26:19 > 0:26:21they would clearly need to feed them en route.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24And they might have got mixed up in the hay, some young animals,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27there's that thought. They could have been brought as food.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30The Romans ate small mammals, dormice, as we know.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Though I think if I were eating one as a snack, if I was carnivorous,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35I'd probably only need about three.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Or maybe four.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41And then the last reason, this sounds slightly absurd,
0:26:41 > 0:26:42they could have been brought as pets.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44What this potentially shows us,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47the transport of this humble little rodent,
0:26:47 > 0:26:52is that Orkney had connections to Europe which the rest of the UK
0:26:52 > 0:26:53potentially didn't have.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57How fascinating that a creature as humble as the vole
0:26:57 > 0:26:59has so much to tell us about the movement of people
0:26:59 > 0:27:03and the movement of the cultures that the people had.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06There's no doubt that Orkney was a special place.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11But why? You know, look at it, it's a little archipelago of islands
0:27:11 > 0:27:13on the edge of Britain.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Why was this the pivot point for something so special?
0:27:17 > 0:27:18Well, for me,
0:27:18 > 0:27:21you've got to look at the resources they had at their disposal.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23You know, the most impressive,
0:27:23 > 0:27:25the most obvious thing today is the architecture,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27the things they built out of the rock.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29So I'm going to take a closer look at the rock.
0:27:29 > 0:27:30And the size of the stones.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32I mean, it's baffling how people alone could have moved
0:27:32 > 0:27:35these mammoth objects.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38I think I know the reason why we sometimes perceive as Orkney
0:27:38 > 0:27:40being on the edge of the map.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45Is that these days we perceive it as a place which is cold, wet, windy.
0:27:45 > 0:27:46A place which is hard to live,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49certainly hard to live in the Neolithic.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51But was it? Was it cold, wet and windy then?
0:27:51 > 0:27:53What was the climate like?
0:27:55 > 0:27:57We head out to investigate.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02These really do look like the Stones of Stenness.
0:28:03 > 0:28:04- Gentlemen.- Hiya.
0:28:04 > 0:28:05Thank you for coming.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Doug's heading for one area of Orkney where the environment hasn't
0:28:11 > 0:28:13changed for thousands of years.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18The island of Hoy is home to
0:28:18 > 0:28:21Orkney's only surviving ancient woodland.
0:28:31 > 0:28:32HE LAUGHS
0:28:33 > 0:28:36I used to like Hoy, now I'm not so sure!
0:28:39 > 0:28:41This is more like it.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48Into Orkney's only forest.
0:28:48 > 0:28:49And you know something?
0:28:50 > 0:28:52It's great.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01It's so unlike any other part of Orkney.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03I mean, just a profusion of growth here,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06it's just absolutely remarkable.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09You know, it's like a completely different landscape.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15You get so accustomed to the big wide open vistas
0:29:15 > 0:29:17and then you just come into this valley and boomph,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20you're fighting your way through something
0:29:20 > 0:29:21that's more akin to the jungle.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25Not just with the plants, but also these biting midges!
0:29:25 > 0:29:27I'd forgotten what they were like!
0:29:29 > 0:29:32Places like this, obviously there were more of them,
0:29:32 > 0:29:35but it must have been an attraction to live near them,
0:29:35 > 0:29:38to have all these resources close at hand.
0:29:38 > 0:29:43And maybe even to have somewhere that you could get out of the wind.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46You know, the wind is really wearing day after day.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48You come into one of these little copses
0:29:48 > 0:29:51and you're much more comfortable, you're much warmer.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02Doug's fled the midges and returned to the hills above the Ness to
0:30:02 > 0:30:05discover what the landscape was like around here
0:30:05 > 0:30:07when the Ness was at its peak.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12Caroline, good to see you.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16Caroline Wickham Jones is an expert on the evolution of this landscape.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23You see the Peninsula down there, that's where it's all happening.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26We know that it's a slightly warmer climate, less wind,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28you'll be pleased to hear!
0:30:28 > 0:30:30So it's actually a more benign climate in those days?
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Absolutely, yes, yes.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Now, if I was standing here 5,000 years ago,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38it would have looked a lot different from today, wouldn't it?
0:30:38 > 0:30:40Yes, it would have been very different.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43To start with, the loch levels are slightly lower.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47So the neck of land on which the archaeological sites sit
0:30:47 > 0:30:51is maybe twice as wide. There is much more wetland.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55It's not this sort of big open expanse of water with clean edges.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Would there have been more woods around here at that time?
0:30:58 > 0:31:00Yes, definitely.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03I mean, Orkney at one point was covered by woodland.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05The woodland gradually goes.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10We know that's a mixture of natural causes, climate change,
0:31:10 > 0:31:14a bit more difficult for trees to grow, and the farmers opening it up.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17So when the farmers come, there's more woodland,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20by the end of the Neolithic, the woodland's more or less gone.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27So 5,000 years ago, the warmer, less windy, climate
0:31:27 > 0:31:30was an ideal environment for the people of the Ness to farm in.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Once the woodland was cleared, this became rich pasture,
0:31:37 > 0:31:38perfect for cattle.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44But without wood, the ancient Orcadians had to find an alternative
0:31:44 > 0:31:45building material.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51What they turned to matched their wealth and ambition.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53And triggered their building revolution.
0:31:54 > 0:31:55Stone.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Building in stone without metal tools is a remarkable feat.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14The geology of the island may explain how they did it.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17And give Andy a chance to test his climbing skills.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22He's heading to the island's west coast with a team of experts
0:32:22 > 0:32:23to investigate.
0:32:26 > 0:32:27I think that's about it, Andy.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29It starts to get a bit too soft there.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32- OK.- So I think this is where we grab the bags and...
0:32:32 > 0:32:34- Start walking.- Go on foot, I think. - OK.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Well, we just see the top of it.
0:32:41 > 0:32:42I can just see, that's it.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46So that, that's the mission.
0:32:46 > 0:32:51What I want to do is I want you guys to get me to the top of that.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58Orkney's famous for sea stacks.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00Including the Old Man of Hoy.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03But as far as Andy's concerned, that's for wimps!
0:33:06 > 0:33:08Only a handful have ever climbed this.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11North Gaulton Castle.
0:33:13 > 0:33:1755 metres of sheer rock, carved from the cliff face,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20laying bare the bones of Orkney.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24That's a core sample of the geology on this island.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28It looks a lot different up close than it does in pictures,
0:33:28 > 0:33:29to be fair!
0:33:29 > 0:33:31Less than ten people have ever been on that.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35And the main reason, or the main reasons are, its location.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39I mean, it's surrounded by that foaming sea.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42So the options to get onto a stack, either you get in the sea,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45- swim across...- That's what I was thinking, but look at it now.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48There's not a chance we'd go in there in that.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50The only other option is, potentially,
0:33:50 > 0:33:52is to string a rope across.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55But it's absolutely enormous.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01It's the only way to reach the stack.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04A technique known as a Tyrolean traverse.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10If you imagine the bay is basically the shape of a horseshoe
0:34:10 > 0:34:12with the sea stack right in the middle,
0:34:12 > 0:34:17the plan is to lay a rope across almost the tips of that horseshoe
0:34:17 > 0:34:19and that'll give us access to the sea stack.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23We need to get these ropes into space.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26- OK.- So, from that point to that point.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33When you're on it, it is so exposed.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37I mean, you're totally in space across a yawning sea, you know.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39So it's very dramatic.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44There's a beautiful flat ledge,
0:34:44 > 0:34:46it's about the size of a dining table, just down there.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48And that's what we're aiming for,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51that'll be our start point to then climb up the top of the sea stack.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00After three hours,
0:35:00 > 0:35:04a rope over 300 metres long has been stretched across the bay.
0:35:06 > 0:35:07But there's a problem.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12That rope is being pushed up against the cliff by the wind coming in off
0:35:12 > 0:35:15the sea. There's just no way on earth
0:35:15 > 0:35:17we'll be able to reach the sea stack.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Mark, what do you reckon to the wind conditions?
0:35:22 > 0:35:25I reckon it's blowing about 30, 35 mile an hour now.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28So we want it to drop to maybe half that.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32We can't actually get onto the ledge at the minute,
0:35:32 > 0:35:34so it's too windy right now. So it really needs to drop.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39An attempt on the stack today is impossible.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44So the team make camp on the clifftop,
0:35:44 > 0:35:46hoping tomorrow may bring a break in the weather.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53So we'll have to see what the morning brings.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07Early morning, and I've come back to see how Hugo's getting on with
0:36:07 > 0:36:10excavating down to where the first people built at the Ness.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Oh! Look at that.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18That's a wonderful find!
0:36:18 > 0:36:21That is a beautiful flint scraper.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24- My goodness. - It's a fantastic little find.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26Every once in a while, something leaps out.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29"Oh, no, that's man-made!"
0:36:29 > 0:36:32From this particular layer, I've had one other flint.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35But we've not had too many.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37And this is quite interesting, I think, this flint.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40That's more characteristic of early Neolithic scrapers.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44So, yeah, I think that's quite an important find, actually.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56Hugo is now only inches away from the earliest layer of occupation.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59It won't be long now before we can, if we're lucky,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02get a date for when this whole remarkable place began.
0:37:11 > 0:37:12After a night on the clifftop,
0:37:12 > 0:37:16Andy hopes he'll finally be able to examine up close
0:37:16 > 0:37:20the natural resource used by the builders of the Ness of Brodgar.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24It is perfect, there's only like one or two mph wind.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27It's not even touching the rope, the rope is perfectly still,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30and it's lying right on the line we want.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34There's always that feel of anticipation, excitement.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37This is proper, natural, roller-coaster ride.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40Yeah, we're sorted.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42Yeah?
0:37:42 > 0:37:43OK, Andy, you just call the shots.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48OK, here we go.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09- Fantastic stuff!- Just haul yourself across, mate.- Yeah.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20- Stunning view! - Pretty exhilarating, huh?
0:38:20 > 0:38:21Here we are. Just...
0:38:21 > 0:38:23All right?
0:38:23 > 0:38:25Yes. Two seconds.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30If anything,
0:38:30 > 0:38:34you know, it would be quite nice to stop just halfway across and just
0:38:34 > 0:38:36enjoy the view! Beautiful.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38It's quite an impressive place to be, isn't it?
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Oh, yes, it's unique.
0:38:41 > 0:38:42So, picture the scene.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44It's 390 million years ago,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47and we're actually stood at the bottom of this massive lake
0:38:47 > 0:38:48that covers this entire area.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53And actually, where Scotland at that point was almost at the equator.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55And all the rock here is sediment that was laid down at the bottom of
0:38:55 > 0:38:58that lake. And that builds up and builds up over millennia.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01And that's why you can see on the sea stack these different coloured
0:39:01 > 0:39:06bands, sort of grey bands, of that sort of slow, fine-grained,
0:39:06 > 0:39:08almost mud sediment.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10And then the reddy brown ones are the sand sediment.
0:39:12 > 0:39:13Climbing!
0:39:15 > 0:39:16Here we go!
0:39:20 > 0:39:23The stack is a core through one million years
0:39:23 > 0:39:26of accumulated layers of sand and silt.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29Compressed over hundreds of millions of years,
0:39:29 > 0:39:33different types of sediment form into distinct slabs of rock.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43We've hit a layer that is quite brittle, actually.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Which is a bit less pleasant to climb on.
0:39:54 > 0:39:55Oh!
0:39:58 > 0:39:59OK, that's...
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Just goes to show how fragile the rock is in places.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07Got to be a little bit careful.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09It's mostly solid, but clearly this band here is...
0:40:11 > 0:40:13..not quite as solid!
0:40:15 > 0:40:19It's the way these sedimentary bands are laid down that made them such
0:40:19 > 0:40:22an extraordinary resource for the ancient Orcadians.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25Now, look at this. This is a perfect example of the sort of building
0:40:25 > 0:40:27material they would have used.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30You've got this sort of obvious big thick band here.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33But there's vertical sort of fractures as well.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37They'd have kind of exploited these natural cracks to chip away
0:40:37 > 0:40:38and quarry this stuff out.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41I mean, that is a Neolithic building block right there,
0:40:41 > 0:40:44just waiting to be plucked out and used in something.
0:40:51 > 0:40:52Oh, beautiful!
0:40:56 > 0:40:57That was awesome.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01- Nice one.- Thank you very much.
0:41:01 > 0:41:02Cheers, fellas, that was awesome.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Orkney's unique geology created an amazing raw material
0:41:11 > 0:41:13for this building revolution.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17But it was before metal tools,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20so how did they extract these natural slabs?
0:41:26 > 0:41:28Shini's at a modern Orkney quarry
0:41:28 > 0:41:31with owner Roy Brown and archaeologist Hugo.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Here, the sandstone pavement has been exposed.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37It's amazing. You can see the straight lines.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39Yeah, that's all naturally occurring.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43There'll be just a little bit of clay or silt in the lines.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46What I really want to know is how did they get the stone
0:41:46 > 0:41:47out of the ground?
0:41:47 > 0:41:49We can give it a shot, see how we get on?
0:41:49 > 0:41:51- We're going to have a go? - We're going to have a go, yes.
0:41:51 > 0:41:52Let's do it!
0:41:56 > 0:41:57They're starting to go in.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00It's starting to split already, I can see it breaking apart.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04I think it is starting to move slightly.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08They wouldn't have used a metal hammer, though?
0:42:08 > 0:42:10- Oh, not at all, no. - No, no, in the Neolithic,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12you'd have had a piece of deer antler.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14That would have been your hammer. Or a stone pebble -
0:42:14 > 0:42:16to drive the wedges in.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18- Can I use that?- Yeah.
0:42:18 > 0:42:19Give each one a...
0:42:20 > 0:42:22Yeah, go to the next one now.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24Maybe that one. It's starting to lift there.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27- See the difference there, it's starting to rise up.- Yes!
0:42:31 > 0:42:34I'm amazed at how easily this is lifting off the ground.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41It looks like a standing stone is just rising.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43It's a very prehistoric experience!
0:42:43 > 0:42:46Yeah, especially using this!
0:42:46 > 0:42:50I think we're going to get an incredibly big
0:42:50 > 0:42:51slab of stone.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53It'll be as big as any standing stone on Orkney.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55Yeah.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57We've got quite a kind of pressure line here.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Oh, yeah. It's cracked along there, indeed.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02- Yeah.- We're not going to get our standing stone out today.
0:43:02 > 0:43:03- No.- Let's try something else here,
0:43:03 > 0:43:06maybe what they would have done in the past.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08Let's try this, see if we can...
0:43:08 > 0:43:09Ah, a bit of levering!
0:43:09 > 0:43:10A bit of leverage, yeah.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17There we go, that's it out.
0:43:17 > 0:43:18- It's free.- Gosh!
0:43:18 > 0:43:19Can I stand on that?
0:43:19 > 0:43:21Oh, yes, go on.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24Gosh, that really gives you a sense of just how heavy it really is.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29Right, now I want to know exactly how they would have actually
0:43:29 > 0:43:32transported something like this. I mean, this is a small piece,
0:43:32 > 0:43:35imagine transporting a gigantic standing stone!
0:43:39 > 0:43:44Geological analysis of Orkney's stone circles suggests that some of
0:43:44 > 0:43:46the vast monoliths were moved seven miles.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51The only way to understand how ancient Orcadians achieved such
0:43:51 > 0:43:53a mammoth task is to try it.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59Shini's assembled a team of archaeologists and locals to attempt
0:43:59 > 0:44:01to move this stone a few hundred metres.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04Hi, everyone.
0:44:04 > 0:44:05Thank you so much for coming.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09So, there's wood over there, there's rope.
0:44:09 > 0:44:10I'm pretty confident we can do it.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14So this piece of stone, being three metres,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18probably weighs about 1.5 tonnes, maybe more than that.
0:44:18 > 0:44:19So it's a gigantic piece,
0:44:19 > 0:44:24we're really going to need a lot of, you know, manpower to move it.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Anyone got any suggestions of how we start?
0:44:27 > 0:44:29Could we create a sledge and then pull it?
0:44:29 > 0:44:31You've got to elevate it from there to get the thing,
0:44:31 > 0:44:33to put a sledge underneath it in the first place.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38You need to slide it off onto the grass with a lever onto rollers,
0:44:38 > 0:44:40- on the flat grass. - On the flat grass.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43Back end levered up, one underneath, put the others in, roll it.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50Turn it round the corner and then go in sideways.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52- No fingers underneath!- They're not.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55- No hands underneath!- They're not!
0:44:55 > 0:44:59After having broken a piece of stone off myself, and, you know,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02thinking that that was impossible, and managing it,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05I'm really confident that we're going to be able to move this.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09So now we're just securing the braking system,
0:45:09 > 0:45:12because we need to have control over this.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15Cos once it starts sliding over the timbers,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17we don't know how fast it's going to travel.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Is everybody ready?
0:45:22 > 0:45:24One, two, three!
0:45:26 > 0:45:27Stop!
0:45:27 > 0:45:29The system of rollers works...
0:45:29 > 0:45:31One, two, three!
0:45:31 > 0:45:33..when gravity is on your side.
0:45:33 > 0:45:34- Stop!- Stop!
0:45:35 > 0:45:37But it's all a bit stop start.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40One, two, three!
0:45:40 > 0:45:42Ancient Orcadians needed to drag their stones
0:45:42 > 0:45:46over much rougher terrain, and far longer distances.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49One, two, three!
0:45:52 > 0:45:55- Stop!- They wouldn't have been doing this on a green field, would they?
0:45:55 > 0:45:58- No, absolutely.- So what was the surface going to be?
0:45:58 > 0:46:00A pasture! A bit rocky, a bit dodgy.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02A bit rocky, a bit heathery.
0:46:02 > 0:46:03Yeah, yeah.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08But modern Orcadian ingenuity comes up with an unlikely solution.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11My great uncle back in the day used to tell stories of when they used to
0:46:11 > 0:46:14move all these things, they used to use seaweed as a lubricant.
0:46:14 > 0:46:15- Seaweed?- Yes.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17It's greasy, made of fat, so less friction.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19So hopefully make pulling a bit easier.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21Yeah, we'll try it.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24So what was your uncle trying to move with this?
0:46:24 > 0:46:25- Flagstones.- Flagstones?
0:46:25 > 0:46:29Yeah. Not so thick, but same size, much thinner.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33It actually seems like a really obvious solution because seaweed has
0:46:33 > 0:46:37alginates in it which makes it very gelatinous and slippery.
0:46:38 > 0:46:39But at the same time, it's strong.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43Andy, do you want to call us in on this?
0:46:43 > 0:46:44Give us a count down?
0:46:44 > 0:46:45Everybody ready?
0:46:48 > 0:46:51All right. On three.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53One, two, three!
0:47:09 > 0:47:14Ultimately it boiled down to just dragging a stone along seaweed.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16That's all it was. We tried to over engineer it!
0:47:17 > 0:47:20Ready, jump! Jump! Jump!
0:47:29 > 0:47:33Well, we tried many methods and, amazingly,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36it was this stuff that actually proved to be the most effective.
0:47:36 > 0:47:39- No way!- And, you know, just kelp.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42Do you mean because it's like a naturally slippy,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44slimy lubricant material?
0:47:44 > 0:47:47- Yes.- It's designed so that when it's being, you know,
0:47:47 > 0:47:49thrown around in the currents,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53these leaves effectively don't abrade one another.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55And if you've got the people,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58if you can inspire the people to come together,
0:47:58 > 0:47:59you've got the manpower,
0:47:59 > 0:48:01you know, here at that time.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04You have to allow for the possibility that what mattered more
0:48:04 > 0:48:08than completing the task was the act of bringing people together
0:48:08 > 0:48:11in large numbers to do something.
0:48:11 > 0:48:12Because while the people are together,
0:48:12 > 0:48:14you can achieve other things.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17You know, you can find wives for your sons,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20you can find husbands for your daughters, you can trade tools.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24That can all happen because all the people have been gathered together
0:48:24 > 0:48:27- in one place.- And that was the most endearing part of the day.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31Because we started out trying to move a stone.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34You know, 1.7 tonnes, we'll all get together and do that.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36By the end of the day, it became our stone.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45At the Ness, Hugo is back in his test pit.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47And close to the earliest layer.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49It's a crucial moment.
0:48:50 > 0:48:54If the team can prove people were building at the Ness much earlier
0:48:54 > 0:48:55than 3000 BC,
0:48:55 > 0:48:59it's strong evidence that the stone circle revolution that swept Britain
0:48:59 > 0:49:04and produced Stonehenge started here in Orkney.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07But to get a date, Hugo needs organic material.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10We're finally just about two centimetres from the very bottom.
0:49:10 > 0:49:15And yeah, we've got an incredibly rich deposit of,
0:49:15 > 0:49:18very dark sort of deposit here, full of charcoal.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Occasional bits of very degraded bone in it as well.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26And a few flints coming up as well.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30It certainly seems we're in some quite early archaeology down here.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35Yeah, this certainly is the one we want to sample.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38You can see all the black flecks in the surface there.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43It's going to be a very good material for dating, potentially,
0:49:43 > 0:49:45if we can get a big enough piece.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49The black flecks of charcoal are what Hugo has been looking for.
0:49:49 > 0:49:51They contain carbon -
0:49:51 > 0:49:56the archaeologist's golden ticket to nailing down a definitive date for
0:49:56 > 0:49:58the origin of the Ness.
0:49:59 > 0:50:05This will go back to Kirkwall, to our environmental team, who will
0:50:05 > 0:50:10put it through a flotation machine which basically is full of water and
0:50:10 > 0:50:11all the soil will drop to the bottom,
0:50:11 > 0:50:13all the charcoal will float to the top.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16And then they'll skim that off and dry it out.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18And that should give us the material that we want to date.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29Another recent discovery suggests Orkney may have been not just the
0:50:29 > 0:50:34originator of this culture, but the centre of its whole way of life.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42I'm heading to one of Orkney's most remarkable settlements.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50Skara Brae is a Neolithic village, and it is rightly world famous.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54And when you see it, it's breathtaking.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56I'll be honest, don't tell anyone,
0:50:56 > 0:51:00but there's always been a sort of 1% of me that thinks it's so good that
0:51:00 > 0:51:03somebody actually did it as a stunt!
0:51:03 > 0:51:06I've always felt it looks so perfect that somebody had to have made it
0:51:06 > 0:51:08almost like a film set.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14It's like the Shire, it's like Tolkien's Hobbiton.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17It's an extraordinary place.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33- You first. - You go.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37'Mike Parker Pearson oversaw recent excavations that revolutionised our
0:51:37 > 0:51:41'understanding of ancient Britain's most famous monument,
0:51:41 > 0:51:43'over 500 miles south.
0:51:43 > 0:51:44'Stonehenge.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49'His findings there have led him here.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54That's right, it's this way, isn't it? That's a good start!
0:51:58 > 0:51:59Oh, I do love ignoring a no admittance sign!
0:51:59 > 0:52:01- That's it.- Makes my heart beat faster!
0:52:01 > 0:52:02Yeah.
0:52:04 > 0:52:06It's just the cosiest place on earth, isn't it?
0:52:06 > 0:52:07It's amazing.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19It's certainly not the easiest place to get in and out of.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21No, but they were a little slighter of build!
0:52:23 > 0:52:25It's quite extraordinary, isn't it?
0:52:25 > 0:52:27It never fails to impress, does it?
0:52:27 > 0:52:30Look at this, these stone beds, these box beds.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32There's an element of the bizarre about it.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34- Yeah.- The very idea of a stone bed!
0:52:34 > 0:52:37I know. I know, cos you would have to pack it with something nice
0:52:37 > 0:52:39- and soft and springy. - That massive hearth, huge fire.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44Yes, they must have been fairly toasty in here, even in the winter.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47And then this huge display case!
0:52:47 > 0:52:48I mean, we call these dressers.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52- Yeah.- Until recently we thought this was the only place where you would
0:52:52 > 0:52:54find such things.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56Have you ever seen anything like it?
0:52:56 > 0:52:59Well, we've seen something very similar, but in different materials,
0:52:59 > 0:53:01near Stonehenge. You can see in this plan.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03Oh, yeah.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06So we have the central hearth and then the slot for each of
0:53:06 > 0:53:08the beds on either side.
0:53:08 > 0:53:09- Yeah.- And here,
0:53:09 > 0:53:14three holes within this slot for a dresser made out of timber,
0:53:14 > 0:53:15we reckon.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18So it's the same, except the building material in your house
0:53:18 > 0:53:22is timber, and other organics, and here, it's stone.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Yeah. And they've even gone for the rounded corners
0:53:25 > 0:53:28in what's an otherwise square building.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33We're fairly sure that this idea has been transplanted from here,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36not just to Stonehenge, but the whole of Britain.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40That's amazing. So that's, how many hundreds of miles is that from here?
0:53:40 > 0:53:42Exactly. Yes,
0:53:42 > 0:53:43it's over 500 miles away
0:53:43 > 0:53:47and what's really interesting is that this is
0:53:47 > 0:53:51the place that this particular style of architecture started.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55And this is the first time that we see in Britain, in prehistory,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58that there is a shared common culture.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01So it's a really important moment.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10What Mike's saying is that everyone's getting their furniture
0:54:10 > 0:54:11from IKEA, but 5,000 years ago.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16There's an awareness of what you're supposed to have,
0:54:16 > 0:54:17how you're supposed to live,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20what shape your house should be and what the furniture in your house
0:54:20 > 0:54:22should look like.
0:54:22 > 0:54:27And that that idea presumably seems to have started here
0:54:27 > 0:54:29on Orkney, is breathtaking.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40These islands were the origin of the first united culture of Britain,
0:54:40 > 0:54:44thousands of years before the United Kingdom came into being.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51Well, I've just been with Mike Parker Pearson visiting Skara Brae.
0:54:51 > 0:54:57It's so clear that there is a communication of ideas between
0:54:57 > 0:55:00north and south. The stone circles that are scattered across
0:55:00 > 0:55:04the length of Britain, the earliest of them seem to be up here.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07That idea began in Orkney and spread.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09This time I've spent with Mike today
0:55:09 > 0:55:11suggests that the house plans from places
0:55:11 > 0:55:16like Skara Brae also began here and then travelled south.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19You know, Orkney is radiating ideas.
0:55:19 > 0:55:21So, Orkney is the cultural centre of Britain?
0:55:23 > 0:55:26It's beyond speculation that in the Neolithic,
0:55:26 > 0:55:29Orkney was the centre of something.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32An idea or a series of ideas, a way of living,
0:55:32 > 0:55:34evolved here and its influence
0:55:34 > 0:55:37spread the length of the long island of Britain.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44If Orkney was the source of that civilisation,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47was the Ness of Brodgar its epicentre?
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Currently, the 3000 BC date for the Ness
0:55:52 > 0:55:53is not early enough to prove
0:55:53 > 0:55:58this remarkable complex could have been the driving force behind
0:55:58 > 0:56:00the stone circle revolution.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03But that was before Hugo's radiocarbon sample
0:56:03 > 0:56:04was delivered to the lab.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10I've had an e-mail of the results of the radiocarbon sample that we took
0:56:10 > 0:56:12from the sondage, the deep trench.
0:56:12 > 0:56:14I think they're interesting,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16I'm just going to go and see what Nick and Dave think.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25Nick, Dave.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27This may be of interest to you.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29It's the radiocarbon dates from there.
0:56:29 > 0:56:30- The dates?- Yeah.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32- And?- So, there we go,
0:56:32 > 0:56:37the earliest possible date for Neolithic activity here at the Ness
0:56:37 > 0:56:38is 3512 years BC.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Very early, isn't it?
0:56:40 > 0:56:45- Yeah.- Wow.- So those dates are almost exactly what we were looking for.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47- And that's early.- That is early.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56We've always said that the buildings up there on the Ness dated from
0:56:56 > 0:57:00around 3000 years BC, that's 5,000 years old.
0:57:00 > 0:57:02That's fantastically old.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06But now, because of the radiocarbon dates that have come up this summer,
0:57:06 > 0:57:11we know absolutely that there was serious business going on here,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14serious building, 500 years before that.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18Now, archaeologists bandy time periods like 500 years
0:57:18 > 0:57:21as though they don't count for much.
0:57:21 > 0:57:22But think what that means.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24That means we've gone back from the present-day
0:57:24 > 0:57:26to the time of the Tudors.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31That's the significance of going back a further 500 years.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37It pushes back the foundation of the Ness of Brodgar
0:57:37 > 0:57:39to way before Stonehenge.
0:57:40 > 0:57:45It gives weight to the idea that the Ness was the beating heart,
0:57:45 > 0:57:49the beginning, the capital,
0:57:49 > 0:57:54the wellspring of Britain's very first common culture.
0:57:59 > 0:58:04- Next time...- We've got to try and build and design a Neolithic boat.
0:58:04 > 0:58:09The team investigate how the ancient Orcadians navigated across
0:58:09 > 0:58:11the dangerous Pentland Firth.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15A huge volume of water is being squeezed into a tiny space.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17How they used the surrounding resources.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21This whole beach is a great big natural larder.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24And we uncover human remains.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28It's great, isn't it? That they're sending us, you know,
0:58:28 > 0:58:30a message from their present to our present.