Digging for Britain (2010) s03e01 Episode Script
East
1
Hello, and welcome to
"Digging For Britain,"
the program which
brings you this year's
most exciting new archeology.
In this show, we'll be
looking at highlights
from all the digs.
We'll get some in-depth analysis
and we'll be looking at
treasures from the past.
- Hey!
- Hey!
Once again, over the last year,
archeologists have been
unearthing our history
in hundreds of digs
across Britain.
Go on!
It's a tooth.
They've gone
to extraordinary lengths
to uncover secrets
from the past,
re-telling our story in a
way that only archeology can.
It's in perfect, mint condition.
- Yeah, amazing.
- Well done.
Woo, I was right!
And our archeologists
have been out
filming themselves,
so we have been there
for every single
moment of discovery.
And then we're coming back
here, to Norwich Museum,
and seeing if we can
really make sense
of the new discoveries.
In this series, we'll
be touring the country,
and tonight we're
in the southeast.
First, we hear about
incredible finds
at a Bronze Age
Pompeii in The Fens.
We unearth an amazing
hoard hidden in desperation
as Queen Boudica's tribe
hunted down the Romans.
And we discover weird
burial rituals revealing
the secrets of Anglo-Saxon
motherhood and childbirth.
Norwich Castle Museum,
originally a Norman fortress,
is now home to the archeological
riches of the southeast.
Norfolk is the treasure
capital of England,
and each year 20,000 finds
are reported to the museum,
more than in any other county.
Finds like the Happisburgh Axe.
Dating to half a million years
ago, it comes from what's
become one of the most important
prehistoric sites in Britain.
And the Snettisham Hoard,
the richest Iron Age treasure
ever found in this country.
Our first story takes us
70 miles away from Norwich,
right into the heart
of The Fenlands.
Must Farm in Cambridgeshire
is being called
the Pompeii of the Bronze Age.
Preserved in the wetlands
of The Fens, this site is
giving us an unparalleled
glimpse of prehistoric life,
going back over 3,000 years.
In the past, archeologists have
uncovered ancient causeways
running through
the Fenland basin,
making them think
that Bronze Age people
saw this watery landscape
as a sacred place, only visiting
it on special occasions.
But now, on the
edge of a quarry,
they're finding evidence
of industrialized fishing,
opening up a whole new
perception of life in The Fens.
It's something never seen
before, and more importantly,
they believe it could
stretch for miles.
This is archeology
on a massive scale.
Mark Knight from the
Cambridge Archeological Unit
has been analyzing some
of the most recent finds
from a lost side channel
of the River Nene.
Often we dig
sites of the sort of
Bronze Age in this region
and we find one vertebrae and
we say that that's evidence
for fish in the
diet or we say that
maybe it's a chance find.
But we're just finding
lots and lots of fish
and we're finding things
like pike and perch
and carp and smelt.
And then when we went to
excavate the channel properly,
we then found about 20
really beautifully preserved
sort of sock-shaped baskets
that are definitely fish traps.
But alongside those, we're
finding these sort of
chevron-shaped wattle
fences, forming these weirs
across the length
of the channel,
regularly spaced along the
entire area of the channel
that we excavated, and
there's a real sense here
of an industry, perhaps
rather than maybe
something sort of
ad hoc and stuff.
Remember, we've dug 300 meters
and we're looking at a channel
that we can trace for
at least 10 kilometers.
If it's typical then, you know,
we're talking about
hundreds of weirs
and thousands of fish traps
being set within its course.
Mark, what an
extraordinary site.
I mean, the preservation
there is beautiful.
It's stunning, yes.
It's one of those
sites where you don't
have to do a lot of describing
to visitors and things,
they can see for themselves
just what's there.
And it seems that
fishing was going on
on an almost
industrial scale, then?
It's a surprise, I suppose,
because we don't
normally find fish bones
in the form of sandwiches.
So there we are, finding
weirs and traps everywhere.
So we know where these
people were working,
there must have been
tens, hundreds of people,
possibly, working
in this industry.
So where did they all live?
That's a really good question.
It's my opinion that, basically,
they're living in the Fens,
they're living on the peat,
they're living on the rivers,
and we've got good
evidence of that.
And the sense that
it corresponds
to a phase within
the dry-land sites
where there is no settlement.
So it's as if they're
colonizing the wet, basically.
And the traps and the weirs
are part of that new landscape.
I think we've got some more
from this incredible site.
As the team continue
their excavations
in the side channel of the Nene,
they started to find metalwork.
So we dig 300 meters of channel
and we come up with a
whole host of swords,
spears and metal objects.
Finds like these are rare,
but some have been found
on other Bronze Age sites,
leading to theories that
they were ritual offerings
for watery deities.
But Mark believes the weapons
recovered at Must Farm
had a more practical use.
The sheer quantity
of swords and spears.
The sort of sense that
this is a landscape
that appears to be
newly colonized.
We're starting to think that
maybe the metalwork being
found in the wet places was
actually an indication of just
the scale of occupation of
the wet spaces themselves.
So they were living
on the rivers
or they were living on
the marshlands themselves.
Some of these
swords also have nicks
on the sides of the blades.
Signs of violence.
Swords like this were
used to sort of slash things
and the idea was that, if
you were hitting someone,
you'd get sort of marks on here,
but if you were defending,
then you'd get marks on here.
And we've found swords
with those consistent
signatures of conflict,
I suppose, of them
being used in anger
rather than just being
sort of symbolic objects.
You arrived being prepared
to protect yourself,
at the very least.
Or maybe even upset people
that were already
in that landscape.
So, Mark, you think
these really were weapons?
They're not just symbols.
I just find it impossible
to think that all those swords
and all those spears were just
purely there for
show, basically.
So, it seems like quite
an idyllic environment,
but perhaps not as
idyllic as all that.
Yeah, I suppose
like any landscape
that we occupy as human beings,
there is this sort of tendency
to want to hang on
to what you've got.
You get a real
sense within Fenland
that there is a territory,
the idea that this is our place.
So do you think this
really was Bronze Age
prime real estate, then?
I get the feeling that
basically this is the place to be
and essentially that
the sort of switch
has come from Stonehenge
over to the main rivers
of eastern England.
Right, we've got some
more from your amazing site.
The River Nene is an extensive
wetland which was first
created 4,000 years ago
when sea levels rose.
But the people of
Bronze Age Britain
took this climate
change in their stride.
In fact, they flourished here.
Evidence of this
resourcefulness is backed up
by a significant discovery.
Not one, not two,
but eight log boats.
And unusually, virtually intact.
The boats have been moved to
Flag Fen and are now being
conserved using the same methods
that helped save the Mary Rose.
There's a real sense here
that we're seeing the
vessels of transport,
of movement, maybe of fishing.
But also of about
the actual occupation
and the settlement of Deep Fen.
The first time we actually
step off dry land and get into
the deep sediment, we
find eight log boats
in 300 meters of channel.
So, either we've
found the one spot
in the whole of Fenland
or this is representative
of the rest of that landscape,
and if it is representative
of the rest of the landscape
then the scale is astonishing.
In the sense that there are
thousands of these boats
up and down those channels
and river courses.
And they represent that sense of
mass settlement of that wetland.
We often think
that climate change
always has a negative impact,
and that the wetlands
would have been
an inhospitable
environment for humans,
but Mark has other ideas.
What we're suggesting,
from our evidence,
was that it was the
opposite of that.
It was no longer an
impediment to settlement
and nor was it something
that made you retreat,
it was actually a landscape
that you were quite
keen to inhabit,
and the people had
the imagination
to find ways of getting
into that space.
And they maintained that
link to the channel as well,
as in the English Channel
and the continent, and I
think that's really important.
It's just extraordinary.
I mean, those are quite big
boats that you're finding there.
Yeah, one's nine
meters in length, so.
Why do you think they're
at the bottom of the river?
Is it anything to
do with the swords
and the other depositions?
You've got to remember
there's 1,500 years of history
in that channel, so,
and there are boats
throughout the sediment
so it's not necessarily
the same story for
each of the boats,
but some of the
boats are pristine
and they seem to have a
connection with the weaponry.
And it's quite often in
the Fens that you find
boats close to swords or spears.
So there seems to be
a connection there.
And at the same time, there are
fragments of human skeletons
within the channel, as well.
So, if we wanted, we could
form a sort of triangle here
of swords, boats and bodies.
And we can start maybe
thinking about an association
with maybe burial, or
something like that.
This is fascinating,
because when I think about
Bronze Age burials,
I think about
cist burials, stone-lined,
crouched burials.
I don't think of people
having burials in water.
Yeah, but I think, remember
this is the later Bronze Age
and if we try and
find the burial record
for that period, we can't.
It's conspicuous by its absence
and I like that idea that,
we're not the first
people to suggest
that people were being
buried in rivers.
The Thames is famous for
its Bronze Age skulls
and things like that
and the association
with swords and things.
Maybe some of those
boats, their pristineness,
is the fact that they had
a body attached to a sword
in its scabbard and
things and it was sunk
in that river and things.
So these are the possibilities
that we're coming across.
So you're pushing
archeological boundaries?
Yeah, I think so, I think so.
You feel like we're on a slope
to the bottom of the North Sea
and on the way down
there, we're gonna dig,
explore the whole of
the British prehistory,
and I think that's the
excitement about it.
Must Farm, with
its amazing wealth of finds,
is the perfect example of how
new archeological discoveries
can completely change
our ideas about the past.
And while Bronze Age people
rose to the challenge
of The Fenlands, creating
a highly productive
fishing industry, it
seems that they were also
respecting the watery landscape
with ritual offerings
of swords to the gods.
Like this stunning
Bronze Age dirk,
or long dagger back
here in the museum.
So, Tim, what have you
brought in for us today?
What I really want to show you
is something that the museum has
just acquired and is
an absolute star object
for showing you
something like ritual
- from the Middle Bronze Age.
- Wow, incredible.
It's huge.
And that's the blade along
there, is it, that edge?
It is.
It's the blade edge, but one
that's never been sharpened,
so it's deliberately made,
but not with the intention
of ever using as a weapon.
And the same goes
for the hilt here,
it's never actually
been hafted on.
Why's it so large?
Well, it is because
it's purely for ceremony.
We don't quite understand why,
but it's one of
only six in Europe.
There are two from
England, two from France,
and two from Holland
that are now known.
Something that suggests
there's a North Sea
trade link, perhaps.
So it's real
proof that in the Bronze Age
there really was a proper,
organized trade
network across Europe?
Absolutely.
The interesting thing
about this is in being
the second from England, both
of them are from Norfolk.
I mean, it looks
like a very sturdy object.
How come it's been bent?
Well, we often find
with Bronze Age weapons
that they seem to be bent
or deliberately destroyed
before they're
placed in the ground
and that seems to be part
of the ritual killing
of the object itself.
So, again, it's putting
it out of commission
and again it's part of
presumably the ritual involved
in why you have them
in the first place.
And just 50 miles
from our museum,
Colchester was once the
beating heart of Roman Britain
until an uprising led by
a British warrior queen.
In various eras, Boudica has
been described by historians
as a blood-thirsty
savage, a freedom fighter,
and even a feminist icon.
But it's archeology
that's revealed
the harsh realities of
the Boudican revolt.
In AD 61, Colchester
was the first town
to feel the full wrath
of the Queen and
her Iceni tribe.
Archeologists digging
behind a Fenwick store
in the town center
are unearthing a story
of one Roman woman
whose house was
burned down in the fighting.
It's quite amazing when
you stand at the excavation
and you can almost feel you're
standing on the burnt-out
remains of her house,
because the floors are all
scorched red and black and
the walls are all reddened.
Big lumps of clay, block
wall lying on the floors.
The team are trying to trace
the last moments of this
house and its owner.
Back at the Colchester
Archeological Trust,
project officer Adam Wightman
has taken up the trail.
This is the remains
of charred foodstuffs.
We found one or two
wooden planks which either
came from some
shelves or a table.
And spread over the top
of those were foodstuffs
that have been preserved
as they've been carbonized.
Here we have, these
are burnt figs,
you can see all the
little seeds in those.
These are burnt dates.
And this selection here
has been hand-picked
out of this soil sample
and these are a selection
of peas and small wheat grains
and possibly some various
other sorts of legumes.
Were these blackened foodstuffs
the interrupted last meal
prepared by the
lady of the house?
It's very touching to see
it lying there, scattered,
blackened on the floor.
And just outside
the incinerated home,
what appears to be evidence
of a violent death.
These were discovered actually
on the edge of a Roman street.
These two bones appear
to exhibit injuries.
This mandible here is missing
a slice of bone, there.
And this tibia is also
missing a piece, there.
The cuts appear
to be quite clean.
They look like they've
been done by a sharp blade.
It's more comparable to a
butchery mark on an animal bone
rather than, you know, the
mark of a shovel or a spade
from the clearance
of the building.
So the chances are, these bones
actually tell us even more
of a gruesome tale than
just having been spread
on the side of the road.
Behind all this
violence was Boudica.
Originally, she was an
ally of the Roman invaders,
but they annexed her lands,
flogged her and
raped her daughters.
In 61 AD, a revolt
swept across the East.
The Romans who weren't
murdered fled for their lives.
The team believes
that this house
was right in the
path of the rebels,
and that the woman
who lived here
hid something before she left.
What we found in this
excavation was an extraordinary
discovery of this
desperation act.
This well-off lady had taken
all her precious jewelry
and buried it in this
tiny little hole,
just big enough for her to
stuff it all in and cover it.
In the hope, I suppose,
that she was gonna be able
to go back and recover it after
the big emergency was over.
But, of course,
that never happened.
Carefully unpicked
in the lab, the jewelry,
now known as the Fenwick hoard,
had lain hidden from the Iceni
and for almost 2,000
years after that.
Earrings.
Armlets.
Chains.
And rings.
One woman's treasures.
A poignant memento.
But history suggests a grim fate
for the owner of this hoard.
Dio Cassius is the
one that tells us
what happened in
Colchester to the women.
The noblest, for which
we can read the richest,
and that would be
this lady, surely,
were rounded up and
taken to sacred groves.
Groves which were dedicated
to the British
goddess of victory
and there they were
horribly sacrificed.
"They hung up naked the noblest
"and most distinguished women,
"and then cut off their breasts
"and sewed them to their mouths,
"in order to make the victims
appear to be eating them.
"Afterwards they impaled
the women on sharp skewers
"run lengthwise through
the entire body."
Tim, that sounds horrendous,
but this could just
be Roman propaganda.
But the archeology is telling
us something unequivocal,
that there was a revolt here.
The archeology is certainly
telling us that there's
a destruction layer that
occurred at exactly the time
that it's documented
the revolt took place.
So it's not unreasonable
to assume that that
destruction layer is associated
with the documented historical
revolt, that's right.
Why have you brought
these particular artifacts?
Well, this is
exactly the reason.
If we look at these, they're
two very interesting artifacts.
One of which is from
the Castle Museum
and it's a fragment
of a horse statue.
And the head, here,
is on loan to us from
Colchester and Ipswich Museums
and it's actually a copy of
a head, the original of which
is now in the British Museum.
And it's the head of Claudius,
the Emperor who undertook
the invasion of Britain,
and they seem to be
from the same statue of
the Emperor Claudius,
an equestrian statue.
Were they found
in the same place?
They weren't.
The head was found
in the River Alde,
Rendham in Suffolk
in 1907 by a boy
splashing around in the river.
Right.
And the part of the
horse was found by
a metal detectorist
in Norfolk in 1979.
So 37 miles apart.
So how can you tell they're
from the same statue, then?
That's a good question.
We can't be absolutely
sure, but metal analysis
shows that there's a
very low lead content
in both of the bronzes,
and it suggests
that they are one and the same.
It should also be
added that there are no
other fragments of statue
like this in East Anglia.
So they're a rare
bird to start with.
Do you think this
statue had been
deliberately destroyed, then?
Smashed up after
the Boudican revolt?
Almost certainly.
The head has been wrenched off
and the leg also seems
to have been torn up.
And I think it's interesting
that they haven't been
melted down and reused.
They've actually been
deposited, and with the head
in the river it could
easily be something
like a sacrificial
offering to a river.
What happened after the revolt?
Well, unfortunately it
doesn't have a very happy ending
for the Icenian people.
Because after burning
Colchester and going on
to London and Verulamium,
they're defeated in
the West Midlands
and Roman rule is imposed.
In particular it's
probably imposed
very severely in East Anglia,
which were considered very
dangerous and rebellious areas.
From the story
of treasure hidden
by one desperate woman
swept up in a bloody revolt,
we move to a dig in
Oakington that gives us
amazing insight into
the place of women
in Anglo-Saxon society.
Even today, childbirth can
be a risky and worrying time,
but it was far riskier
for our ancestors.
A team from the University
Of Central Lancashire
has spent the last five years
investigating life and death
in an Anglo-Saxon community.
They returned this year
and made some truly
remarkable discoveries.
Here's their dig diary.
So we are in Oakington,
and this is the 2014 excavation,
this is our main trench.
We have a significant
early Anglo-Saxon cemetery
which includes 124 graves.
They date to pretty much
the sixth century AD.
But what's
unusual about this cemetery
is the number of infant burials.
We appear to have little
clusters of infants' graves
around the edges of the
site, and we found something
earlier on this
week that I think
demonstrates that very nicely.
These are fragments of an
infant's legs and skull.
Out of our population
of 124 individuals,
about 30% are infants.
This is extraordinarily high,
so it's really
interesting to have that.
And we had to start
questioning why.
What's also
unusual about this site
is that the team has been
finding a large number of
high-status female burials.
In this space, here in
2011, we excavated grave 57.
This is an adult woman
and one of the first ones
that we found that year.
She was a wealthy burial,
buried with a large
cruciform brooch at her neck,
two smaller ones
at her shoulders
and a full set of
beads and purse.
What was really
interesting about her
is that in her pelvic area
we found a whole series
of very, very small bones.
It turns out that
these were an infant.
She was pregnant
when she was buried.
And this is probably
the cause of death.
A really tragic story,
but a very interesting
piece of the puzzle.
A surprising find.
But this was only the
tip of the iceberg
for Duncan and his team.
In 2012, we had a large trench
just where I'm standing now.
And excavating just
here, we found a woman
buried with a complete cow.
Now, that's a
completely unique find.
We haven't found
anything like that
in the whole of
north-western Europe
for the sixth century AD.
It's really interesting,
because the cow
has cut marks across
its lower feet
which suggests that
it was skinned.
It also had no
tail bones at all.
So this is not a romantic
bovine burial with a furry,
cozy animal in there, a pet,
but rather it's a
sacrificial offering.
A meat gift placed in the grave
so that she could host
parties in the next world.
Wow, what an incredible find.
What did you make
of that, Duncan?
Oh, it was incredible.
We didn't expect it at all.
We got very excited,
because you don't find
large animals with women.
I don't know of another
example in England.
I don't know of another example
from the early Middle
Ages in Europe at all.
So it's unique at this point.
So how does that burial
there fit in with all the other
female burials that you
have in the cemetery?
Okay, so that one
is mid-sixth century
and it's probably got a little
mound over the top of it.
A whole load of burials
all the way around it.
And it becomes a
central focus point.
And we have a number of other
similar burials like that,
without the cow,
of quite important
female burials which seem
to be focal points
throughout the cemetery.
And so it's a succession
of important women
that were part of that
sixth-century
community at Oakington.
So, what did you find this year?
Let's take a look.
This is an adult female.
You can tell from the
shape of the pelvis here.
But also from the
skull shape as well.
What's sort of
interesting about this one
is that this yellow pipe here
has been drilled through the
grave from a different position
and the people that put
it here never saw it.
This is part of the services
for Oakington village
as we're right up
against the road.
So this is often where lots and
lots of services go through.
And it's amazingly lucky that
when they put this through,
they missed all of the objects
that she's been buried with
and did very little damage
really to the skeleton.
They really couldn't
have done that better,
even if it was
completely accidental.
What's even more
intriguing about this grave
are the objects
buried with the woman.
She seems to be of high status.
We have here a small long
brooch that would have been
worn on her shoulder
and there's another one
on her shoulder, just
here, to hold up her dress.
And then this large one would
have been on a large cloak
and this is face down so it
would have almost certainly
have been wrapped up in a
cloak and then rolled over
the top of the burial.
So it's really interesting that
the positions of the objects
there can tell us
how she was dressed.
And almost certainly, she
was wrapped up in a cloak
before the soil was
placed in the grave.
So what you've got is
an Anglo-Saxon cemetery
with a large proportion of women
and a large proportion
of women who appear to be
very high status, and a
lot of infants as well,
compared with other cemeteries.
- What's going on?
- That's right.
Well, okay.
Proportionally, we have almost
all of our female burials
are furnished, whereas
only a small handful
of our male burials
are furnished.
So they are signifying, making
a point of the female burials
much more than they are
of the male burials.
Meaning that all the females
were buried with combs, beads.
Exactly, and the
brooches on the shoulders
and the neck there as well.
But there are all those
infants buried in groups
around the female burials or
on the edge of the cemetery.
The population is too
high, and so what we're
thinking at the moment is that
we have a female dominated
matriarchal group
and their daughters
are going out and marrying
other communities,
but potentially, that's
quite a scary thing.
You're going to a new
place, a masculine place,
and it's a bit
scary to give birth.
So they're maybe traveling back
and they are bringing
their children back
to their mother's hall,
to their sister's hall, and
they're giving birth there.
Now, I don't know whether we
can see that archeologically.
But certainly what we can
see is those connections,
those relationships.
And that's why this
is a central place
in the Cambridgeshire landscape.
So cemeteries like
this are not just
telling us about individuals,
they're giving us
information about
the structure of
society at the time?
Absolutely, the structure
of societies, organization,
the movement of people across
quite wide areas as well.
We're not talking about
walking around the corner.
We're talking about
traveling for some miles
to come to this community
for this sort of activity.
And the first cow in
an Anglo-Saxon grave.
And have you finished
the cemetery now?
Is that it?
We've excavated as much
as we possibly can, yeah.
So that's the end,
now, of the excavation.
All of it is now post-excavation
and we hope to understand more
and really question
some of these things
in much more detail.
To get a sense of
the wealth and high status
of these Anglo-Saxon women,
there's no place better
than Norwich Castle Museum.
It's a treasure trove of
bronze, silver and gold.
Like this Anglo-Saxon
bracteate, or pendant.
The particularly important
thing about bracteates is that
when they've been
found in Britain,
they've only been
found in female graves
or as single, stray finds.
But the particular focus
of this is as a hoard.
It's the first time this has
ever been seen in Britain,
whereas, normally,
in Scandinavia,
where these bracteates
are typically found,
they're buried in hoards.
I mean, the workmanship on
these is absolutely incredible.
But what do these show us?
Well, bracteates are ultimately
derived from coin designs,
Roman coin designs.
Because coins would have been
worn as pendants themselves.
And, ultimately, the
design became copied
and the copy became copied
and so on, until you end up
with a very basic design.
And on this bracteate, you
can see a warrior with a sword
raised behind his back,
fighting off two animals.
So what kind of women
would have worn
these bracteates?
They're solid gold, they
look pretty expensive to me.
They are expensive,
and therefore it's a sign
that the person wearing them
is of high status themselves.
And from another point of view,
it also says something about
the person or people that
were able to bury an entire
hoard of these in the ground,
to give them up and
not come back for them.
This summer, archeologists
have been digging in Kent,
looking at what they suspect
is a royal palace complex,
just the sort of place where
people would have been wearing
all of that Anglo-Saxon finery.
Lyminge in southern Kent is
now a peaceful English village.
But in Anglo-Saxon times, this
was a bustling Royal Center.
For the last three years,
right in the heart
of the village green,
dig director Gabor
Thomas and his team
have uncovered evidence
of medieval life
and Bronze Age burials.
But what they really want are
signs of Anglo-Saxon royalty.
Right, it's a
lovely rim fragment.
And they're
beginning to find clues
to personal wealth and status.
So this is a bit of metalwork
that came up yesterday.
It's a small piece
of copper alloy,
and it's in the
shape of the bird.
It's decorated on both sides,
which is quite interesting.
This is just a hint of
what's likely to come,
once we start excavating
into the features.
I thought it was modern,
and then I was like,
"No, wait, what?"
Like the top
of a Carlsberg bottle!
Yeah!
I don't think
we've ever had a bit
so recognizable as that.
We don't get a lot of
bases at all, of a vase.
It's a quite large fragment,
anyway, for a piece of glass.
We usually get rims
and bits of the body,
but not the bases, really.
The team believes
these glass fragments were once
part of elaborate drinking
vessels, like these replicas.
But, more importantly,
they were used
by high status Anglo-Saxons.
Possibly even Kentish kings.
And what they're uncovering
now could be the proof
they need that kings were here.
We've had a really
good breakthrough today,
in this particular trench,
where we're looking at
an exposure of around
about 20 meters,
so this building is about,
probably in excess of
20 meters in length.
We've also got a width for it.
Somewhere around
10 meters in width.
That's a super-sized hall
for the Anglo-Saxon period.
You only get these scale halls
on royal palace complexes.
So, Gabor, you really
think you have found
an Anglo-Saxon royal hall?
Without doubt.
I mean, the structural evidence
says that very clearly.
You only get buildings on this
scale, on this type of site.
And it's worth saying that it's
incredibly rare archeology.
Only two other
sites of this period
and this importance have
previously been excavated,
including the iconic sight
of Yeavering in Northumbria.
It was the first place
that open-area excavations
were undertaken in the 1950s.
But normally these
sites are found
through aerial photography.
They show up as crop marks.
But on this site, it didn't
even show up on the geophysics.
It required open-area excavation
from the start and, really,
some small clues that
there might be something
of this magnitude, just
under the village green.
So what were the clues
that made you dig there?
Well, there was a documentary
reference that describes
Lyminge as a royal ville
or a royal complex.
But none of the archeology
relating to that earlier period
have ever been found before.
And that's what we
hoped we would find
under the village green,
and we hit the jackpot.
It was amazing.
And as well as this
amazing royal hall,
you found an extraordinary
rubbish dump.
Right next to the
seventh-century royal hall,
the team opened up another
area, after geophys
revealed a mysterious blob.
This turned out to be a
midden, or rubbish dump,
with incredibly rare
finds deep within it.
Archeologist Alex Knox explains.
Today, we have begun
excavating what we called
the dark blob in trench one,
which is full of
Anglo-Saxon artifacts.
And we're also hoping
just to find out
if there's anything lying
underneath this dump of rubbish.
As the team dig into the midden,
high-status finds start
coming thick and fast.
They uncover
decorative brooches.
Yeah, it's in
perfect, mint condition.
- Yeah, amazing.
- Well done.
Bronze hair pins.
It is an absolute monster.
- Is that the end?
- That is the point, yeah.
And a copper alloy mount.
Probably would have
been attached to,
perhaps a leather belt,
around the second half
of the sixth century.
These Anglo-Saxon
fashion accessories predate
the royal hall by
a full century.
A very early insight into the
culture of this settlement.
But the next finds
begin to reveal
something quite different.
I've seen metalworking residues,
iron tools and implements.
It looks
relatively modern, actually.
It does.
It probably
isn't that modern at all.
And as the metal finds grow,
the team begins to suspect
there's more to this
dump than meets the eye.
So they dig a trench
right through the
middle to investigate.
What's appeared at this
level, very clearly for us,
is an area of burning,
or what archeologists
would call a hearth.
We've also got consolidated
lumps of what's likely to be
the superstructure of a dome
over a furnace or a kiln
showing up nicely on
this side of the trench.
This evidence here fits very
nicely with the materials
that have been dumped
in above this level.
We've recovered a
lot of smelting slag.
So we have an early Anglo-Saxon
version, if you like,
of a metalworking installation,
of which we've only got
one other example, really,
from Anglo-Saxon England,
which is two centuries later.
So this is hugely
significant archeology.
Now, we've got to try and refine
our understanding of what's
going on in here a bit better,
by the end of the season.
So, Gabor, this is some
of the earliest evidence
we have for metalworking
in Anglo-Saxon Britain.
That's right, and
it's different types
of metalworking as well.
So we've got iron working
represented, but also,
in front of us here, is
a selection of objects
associated with bronze casting.
We've got a fragment of a
two-piece mold just here.
What object do you
think that would have been?
Probably a piece of jewelry.
It may have been something
like a bronze buckle,
or perhaps even a brooch.
So they're really churning out
this really high-status, bling
jewelry, if you like, here?
That's right.
But that's not all you
had from the midden, is it?
Alex, what have
you got over there?
We're just washing
some of the animal bone
that's come out of the midden.
Just endless amounts
of feasting debris,
cattle, sheep, pig.
Enormous amounts of animal
bone to go along with
all this metalworking.
So we've got these myriad
finds from the midden.
What does it all mean?
Well, we have a really
interesting association
here between feasting
on the one hand,
as represented by
our animal bone
and all of our glass vessels.
I think what this
represents is a period
when specialized manufacture
of high-status objects
is happening within the
sphere of elite residencies.
And we haven't previously
seen that on other sites.
This is very new.
So it's really adding,
as well, to our knowledge
of the whole of Anglo-Saxon
Britain, really?
Absolutely, it's telling
us what elite culture
was like in this period and
its intimate relationship
with the production
of luxury items.
So, once again, archeology
reveals an unexpected twist.
A beautiful royal residence,
and right next door,
making their very
own luxury goods,
a very early
Anglo-Saxon factory.
Next, we head to Basing House,
a place synonymous with
battle and bloodshed.
Basing House in Hampshire was
a key site in the Civil War.
It was a royalist stronghold
and the parliamentarians
were keen to take it.
And this year, archeologists
have been digging up evidence
of the house's bloody history,
bringing us face-to-face with
one of English history's most
controversial characters.
In the 16th century,
Basing House was one of
the most impressive Tudor
complexes in the country.
It was built on a Norman
fort, known as The Old House.
And right next to it used
to sit a huge mansion,
known as The New House.
This is where the team
have put in a large trench.
Such a fantastic
archeological site to work on.
We took off the
topsoil and the walls
started to emerge
almost immediately.
Documents of the
time tell of a final battle
that took place here in 1645.
And the team are looking
for hard evidence
as to just how this
mighty fortress fell.
Heading up the dig
is Chris Elmer.
So we're midway through the dig
and we're finding quite
a lot of evidence now
of the Tudor range
that lies behind us.
What we're interested
in is thinking
about what happened
in the Civil War,
with the destruction
of the house.
And, in fact,
recently we've found
some pretty
interesting evidence,
because we've got really nice
sort of lead musket balls,
showing us balls that
obviously were available
as the ammunition of the day.
But, more intriguingly, we're
also finding the evidence
for musket balls
that have impacted.
They've obviously hit
something or someone,
because they've splatted
and they've gone into
this very strange shape.
So we've got a theory that
what we're looking at is
the evidence of the
conflict that was occurring,
the battle that was occurring,
and we're finding
the real evidence
of that with these musket balls
and with the end
product you see here.
Two years
before Basing House fell,
it was placed under siege
by the parliamentarians,
as they fought the Royalists,
led by John Paulet,
the Marquess of Winchester.
Over two years of digging,
Chris and his team
have mapped out
the defensive lines of the
now-vanished great house.
As we're walking round
the site of Basing House,
we've just come to
the gun platform.
And there were
several gun platforms
erected during the Civil War.
This one, we've got a
replica of a Civil War saker,
a cannon, which
would be pointing out
towards the parliamentary
lines on the other side.
There were several gun platforms
all the way around
the ring work area,
and in a sense, this was
the first line of defense
during the Civil War
for Basing House.
By surveying
the surviving buildings
of the great Tudor complex,
the team has also
identified battle damage.
We've now come
inside the great barn,
I think the most amazing
example of destruction,
if you like, that we can see,
where there would have
been cannonballs coming
through the roof
and then actually
hitting the inside of the walls.
So we can see there's
a great big scar
in the wall at the top there.
There is another
one further along.
With Charles I
supplying men and money
for the house's fortification,
it seemed invincible.
And after two years of
trying to batter Basing House
into submission,
the parliamentarians were getting nowhere.
So, Alan, who did they turn to?
Well, the Lord General Fairfax
sent down his second in command,
a man who you might be
quite familiar with.
Here he is, Lieutenant
General Oliver Cromwell.
Ah, the man himself.
This is a life mask
of Oliver that was done
a few years after the
siege of Basing House.
As you can see, he
is somewhat plumper
than a serving soldier would
have been in those days.
But it does give you a
really good impression
of what he looked like.
So if this is a life mask,
this is a mold of
his actual face?
Indeed, that's Oliver.
See, the eyes are rather odd
because they were
applied afterwards,
because obviously he
would've had his eyes shut.
It's extraordinary
and slightly weird.
I still don't think that
Oliver Cromwell on his own
could have conquered
Basing House,
so what did he bring with him?
He had a bit of help.
He had three regiments of foot,
several regiments of cavalry,
about 5,000 or 6,000
men in actual fact,
and some really big guns,
including an incredibly
big piece of artillery,
a Cannon Royal.
That fires a 64-pound ball,
and here is an illustration
which gives you some idea
of the size of the thing.
Because of the
condition of the roads,
sometimes it would
take up to 60 horses
to pull these down
the road, or 60 oxen.
Once this was applied
against a castle,
it doesn't really
stand a chance.
So this is bigger
than any of the cannon
that were actually
in Basing House.
Oh, yes, much bigger, yes.
I would not like to
have been a royalist,
facing up against that cannon.
So how did they fare?
Well, I think that's
what the archeologists
are about to find out.
The new house
guarded the entrance
to the postern gate,
the way into the
citadel of Basing House.
The team believed that
this was the weak point
for Cromwell to exploit
and he would have
thrown everything he
had at the Tudor range,
including the firing power
of his massive Cannon Royal.
In the last week of the dig,
they find evidence to
support their theory
when they uncover the remains
of a bridge which connected
the new house to the old.
The postern gate that
led into the old house
is directly behind us and this
area that we're excavating
is part of the entry
point for the Old House.
What we're thinking is
this is a point where,
in the Civil War,
the parliamentarians broke
through into the old house.
So, can we see anything
there that tells us
about that final battle?
Can we see anything that
tells us about their entry
to the old house, as well?
Previously on this same site,
archeologists uncovered
several skeletons
around Basing House
which they believe were
defenders from the Civil War.
But the most significant
discovery was the remains
of one particular soldier,
found by the postern gate,
who seems to have died
defending this weak spot
in the final siege.
To our surprise, after
we'd finished excavating
the gateway and had
a narrow passageway,
we saw there was a ditch
which we sectioned.
In that ditch, we found a skull
which had been decapitated,
there were some of the
vertebrae were there in sit
And there was also a great
sword cut on top of the cranium.
And so that had to be, really,
the head of one of the
defenders of Basing,
and as such, really,
must have got there
during that final assault
on 14th of October, 1645.
And it's so rare for an
archeologist to be able
to find something and say,
"This happened on
this particular day."
But we feel confident that
that was the case there.
Of the 400 loyalists
defending Basing House,
100 were slain, and the
rest taken prisoner,
while the great Tudor mansion
itself was set on fire.
People could hear the cries
of those who had taken refuge
in the cellars,
screaming to be let out.
But there was no-one
to let them out,
there was no way
of reaching them,
so a good number must
have perished in that way.
Finally,
Cromwell's brutal attack
had led to a decisive victory
and he quickly sent
word back to London.
"I thank God, I can give you
a good account of Basing.
"We have had little
loss, many of the enemy
"our men put to the sword.
"Most of the rest
we have prisoners,
"amongst whom the Marquis
of Winchester himself.
"Your most humble
servant, Oliver Cromwell."
Archeology is a
complex jigsaw puzzle,
drawing together everything
from skeletons to swords,
and from riches to royalty.
Amazing stories which are
helping to rewrite our history.
Hello, and welcome to
"Digging For Britain,"
the program which
brings you this year's
most exciting new archeology.
In this show, we'll be
looking at highlights
from all the digs.
We'll get some in-depth analysis
and we'll be looking at
treasures from the past.
- Hey!
- Hey!
Once again, over the last year,
archeologists have been
unearthing our history
in hundreds of digs
across Britain.
Go on!
It's a tooth.
They've gone
to extraordinary lengths
to uncover secrets
from the past,
re-telling our story in a
way that only archeology can.
It's in perfect, mint condition.
- Yeah, amazing.
- Well done.
Woo, I was right!
And our archeologists
have been out
filming themselves,
so we have been there
for every single
moment of discovery.
And then we're coming back
here, to Norwich Museum,
and seeing if we can
really make sense
of the new discoveries.
In this series, we'll
be touring the country,
and tonight we're
in the southeast.
First, we hear about
incredible finds
at a Bronze Age
Pompeii in The Fens.
We unearth an amazing
hoard hidden in desperation
as Queen Boudica's tribe
hunted down the Romans.
And we discover weird
burial rituals revealing
the secrets of Anglo-Saxon
motherhood and childbirth.
Norwich Castle Museum,
originally a Norman fortress,
is now home to the archeological
riches of the southeast.
Norfolk is the treasure
capital of England,
and each year 20,000 finds
are reported to the museum,
more than in any other county.
Finds like the Happisburgh Axe.
Dating to half a million years
ago, it comes from what's
become one of the most important
prehistoric sites in Britain.
And the Snettisham Hoard,
the richest Iron Age treasure
ever found in this country.
Our first story takes us
70 miles away from Norwich,
right into the heart
of The Fenlands.
Must Farm in Cambridgeshire
is being called
the Pompeii of the Bronze Age.
Preserved in the wetlands
of The Fens, this site is
giving us an unparalleled
glimpse of prehistoric life,
going back over 3,000 years.
In the past, archeologists have
uncovered ancient causeways
running through
the Fenland basin,
making them think
that Bronze Age people
saw this watery landscape
as a sacred place, only visiting
it on special occasions.
But now, on the
edge of a quarry,
they're finding evidence
of industrialized fishing,
opening up a whole new
perception of life in The Fens.
It's something never seen
before, and more importantly,
they believe it could
stretch for miles.
This is archeology
on a massive scale.
Mark Knight from the
Cambridge Archeological Unit
has been analyzing some
of the most recent finds
from a lost side channel
of the River Nene.
Often we dig
sites of the sort of
Bronze Age in this region
and we find one vertebrae and
we say that that's evidence
for fish in the
diet or we say that
maybe it's a chance find.
But we're just finding
lots and lots of fish
and we're finding things
like pike and perch
and carp and smelt.
And then when we went to
excavate the channel properly,
we then found about 20
really beautifully preserved
sort of sock-shaped baskets
that are definitely fish traps.
But alongside those, we're
finding these sort of
chevron-shaped wattle
fences, forming these weirs
across the length
of the channel,
regularly spaced along the
entire area of the channel
that we excavated, and
there's a real sense here
of an industry, perhaps
rather than maybe
something sort of
ad hoc and stuff.
Remember, we've dug 300 meters
and we're looking at a channel
that we can trace for
at least 10 kilometers.
If it's typical then, you know,
we're talking about
hundreds of weirs
and thousands of fish traps
being set within its course.
Mark, what an
extraordinary site.
I mean, the preservation
there is beautiful.
It's stunning, yes.
It's one of those
sites where you don't
have to do a lot of describing
to visitors and things,
they can see for themselves
just what's there.
And it seems that
fishing was going on
on an almost
industrial scale, then?
It's a surprise, I suppose,
because we don't
normally find fish bones
in the form of sandwiches.
So there we are, finding
weirs and traps everywhere.
So we know where these
people were working,
there must have been
tens, hundreds of people,
possibly, working
in this industry.
So where did they all live?
That's a really good question.
It's my opinion that, basically,
they're living in the Fens,
they're living on the peat,
they're living on the rivers,
and we've got good
evidence of that.
And the sense that
it corresponds
to a phase within
the dry-land sites
where there is no settlement.
So it's as if they're
colonizing the wet, basically.
And the traps and the weirs
are part of that new landscape.
I think we've got some more
from this incredible site.
As the team continue
their excavations
in the side channel of the Nene,
they started to find metalwork.
So we dig 300 meters of channel
and we come up with a
whole host of swords,
spears and metal objects.
Finds like these are rare,
but some have been found
on other Bronze Age sites,
leading to theories that
they were ritual offerings
for watery deities.
But Mark believes the weapons
recovered at Must Farm
had a more practical use.
The sheer quantity
of swords and spears.
The sort of sense that
this is a landscape
that appears to be
newly colonized.
We're starting to think that
maybe the metalwork being
found in the wet places was
actually an indication of just
the scale of occupation of
the wet spaces themselves.
So they were living
on the rivers
or they were living on
the marshlands themselves.
Some of these
swords also have nicks
on the sides of the blades.
Signs of violence.
Swords like this were
used to sort of slash things
and the idea was that, if
you were hitting someone,
you'd get sort of marks on here,
but if you were defending,
then you'd get marks on here.
And we've found swords
with those consistent
signatures of conflict,
I suppose, of them
being used in anger
rather than just being
sort of symbolic objects.
You arrived being prepared
to protect yourself,
at the very least.
Or maybe even upset people
that were already
in that landscape.
So, Mark, you think
these really were weapons?
They're not just symbols.
I just find it impossible
to think that all those swords
and all those spears were just
purely there for
show, basically.
So, it seems like quite
an idyllic environment,
but perhaps not as
idyllic as all that.
Yeah, I suppose
like any landscape
that we occupy as human beings,
there is this sort of tendency
to want to hang on
to what you've got.
You get a real
sense within Fenland
that there is a territory,
the idea that this is our place.
So do you think this
really was Bronze Age
prime real estate, then?
I get the feeling that
basically this is the place to be
and essentially that
the sort of switch
has come from Stonehenge
over to the main rivers
of eastern England.
Right, we've got some
more from your amazing site.
The River Nene is an extensive
wetland which was first
created 4,000 years ago
when sea levels rose.
But the people of
Bronze Age Britain
took this climate
change in their stride.
In fact, they flourished here.
Evidence of this
resourcefulness is backed up
by a significant discovery.
Not one, not two,
but eight log boats.
And unusually, virtually intact.
The boats have been moved to
Flag Fen and are now being
conserved using the same methods
that helped save the Mary Rose.
There's a real sense here
that we're seeing the
vessels of transport,
of movement, maybe of fishing.
But also of about
the actual occupation
and the settlement of Deep Fen.
The first time we actually
step off dry land and get into
the deep sediment, we
find eight log boats
in 300 meters of channel.
So, either we've
found the one spot
in the whole of Fenland
or this is representative
of the rest of that landscape,
and if it is representative
of the rest of the landscape
then the scale is astonishing.
In the sense that there are
thousands of these boats
up and down those channels
and river courses.
And they represent that sense of
mass settlement of that wetland.
We often think
that climate change
always has a negative impact,
and that the wetlands
would have been
an inhospitable
environment for humans,
but Mark has other ideas.
What we're suggesting,
from our evidence,
was that it was the
opposite of that.
It was no longer an
impediment to settlement
and nor was it something
that made you retreat,
it was actually a landscape
that you were quite
keen to inhabit,
and the people had
the imagination
to find ways of getting
into that space.
And they maintained that
link to the channel as well,
as in the English Channel
and the continent, and I
think that's really important.
It's just extraordinary.
I mean, those are quite big
boats that you're finding there.
Yeah, one's nine
meters in length, so.
Why do you think they're
at the bottom of the river?
Is it anything to
do with the swords
and the other depositions?
You've got to remember
there's 1,500 years of history
in that channel, so,
and there are boats
throughout the sediment
so it's not necessarily
the same story for
each of the boats,
but some of the
boats are pristine
and they seem to have a
connection with the weaponry.
And it's quite often in
the Fens that you find
boats close to swords or spears.
So there seems to be
a connection there.
And at the same time, there are
fragments of human skeletons
within the channel, as well.
So, if we wanted, we could
form a sort of triangle here
of swords, boats and bodies.
And we can start maybe
thinking about an association
with maybe burial, or
something like that.
This is fascinating,
because when I think about
Bronze Age burials,
I think about
cist burials, stone-lined,
crouched burials.
I don't think of people
having burials in water.
Yeah, but I think, remember
this is the later Bronze Age
and if we try and
find the burial record
for that period, we can't.
It's conspicuous by its absence
and I like that idea that,
we're not the first
people to suggest
that people were being
buried in rivers.
The Thames is famous for
its Bronze Age skulls
and things like that
and the association
with swords and things.
Maybe some of those
boats, their pristineness,
is the fact that they had
a body attached to a sword
in its scabbard and
things and it was sunk
in that river and things.
So these are the possibilities
that we're coming across.
So you're pushing
archeological boundaries?
Yeah, I think so, I think so.
You feel like we're on a slope
to the bottom of the North Sea
and on the way down
there, we're gonna dig,
explore the whole of
the British prehistory,
and I think that's the
excitement about it.
Must Farm, with
its amazing wealth of finds,
is the perfect example of how
new archeological discoveries
can completely change
our ideas about the past.
And while Bronze Age people
rose to the challenge
of The Fenlands, creating
a highly productive
fishing industry, it
seems that they were also
respecting the watery landscape
with ritual offerings
of swords to the gods.
Like this stunning
Bronze Age dirk,
or long dagger back
here in the museum.
So, Tim, what have you
brought in for us today?
What I really want to show you
is something that the museum has
just acquired and is
an absolute star object
for showing you
something like ritual
- from the Middle Bronze Age.
- Wow, incredible.
It's huge.
And that's the blade along
there, is it, that edge?
It is.
It's the blade edge, but one
that's never been sharpened,
so it's deliberately made,
but not with the intention
of ever using as a weapon.
And the same goes
for the hilt here,
it's never actually
been hafted on.
Why's it so large?
Well, it is because
it's purely for ceremony.
We don't quite understand why,
but it's one of
only six in Europe.
There are two from
England, two from France,
and two from Holland
that are now known.
Something that suggests
there's a North Sea
trade link, perhaps.
So it's real
proof that in the Bronze Age
there really was a proper,
organized trade
network across Europe?
Absolutely.
The interesting thing
about this is in being
the second from England, both
of them are from Norfolk.
I mean, it looks
like a very sturdy object.
How come it's been bent?
Well, we often find
with Bronze Age weapons
that they seem to be bent
or deliberately destroyed
before they're
placed in the ground
and that seems to be part
of the ritual killing
of the object itself.
So, again, it's putting
it out of commission
and again it's part of
presumably the ritual involved
in why you have them
in the first place.
And just 50 miles
from our museum,
Colchester was once the
beating heart of Roman Britain
until an uprising led by
a British warrior queen.
In various eras, Boudica has
been described by historians
as a blood-thirsty
savage, a freedom fighter,
and even a feminist icon.
But it's archeology
that's revealed
the harsh realities of
the Boudican revolt.
In AD 61, Colchester
was the first town
to feel the full wrath
of the Queen and
her Iceni tribe.
Archeologists digging
behind a Fenwick store
in the town center
are unearthing a story
of one Roman woman
whose house was
burned down in the fighting.
It's quite amazing when
you stand at the excavation
and you can almost feel you're
standing on the burnt-out
remains of her house,
because the floors are all
scorched red and black and
the walls are all reddened.
Big lumps of clay, block
wall lying on the floors.
The team are trying to trace
the last moments of this
house and its owner.
Back at the Colchester
Archeological Trust,
project officer Adam Wightman
has taken up the trail.
This is the remains
of charred foodstuffs.
We found one or two
wooden planks which either
came from some
shelves or a table.
And spread over the top
of those were foodstuffs
that have been preserved
as they've been carbonized.
Here we have, these
are burnt figs,
you can see all the
little seeds in those.
These are burnt dates.
And this selection here
has been hand-picked
out of this soil sample
and these are a selection
of peas and small wheat grains
and possibly some various
other sorts of legumes.
Were these blackened foodstuffs
the interrupted last meal
prepared by the
lady of the house?
It's very touching to see
it lying there, scattered,
blackened on the floor.
And just outside
the incinerated home,
what appears to be evidence
of a violent death.
These were discovered actually
on the edge of a Roman street.
These two bones appear
to exhibit injuries.
This mandible here is missing
a slice of bone, there.
And this tibia is also
missing a piece, there.
The cuts appear
to be quite clean.
They look like they've
been done by a sharp blade.
It's more comparable to a
butchery mark on an animal bone
rather than, you know, the
mark of a shovel or a spade
from the clearance
of the building.
So the chances are, these bones
actually tell us even more
of a gruesome tale than
just having been spread
on the side of the road.
Behind all this
violence was Boudica.
Originally, she was an
ally of the Roman invaders,
but they annexed her lands,
flogged her and
raped her daughters.
In 61 AD, a revolt
swept across the East.
The Romans who weren't
murdered fled for their lives.
The team believes
that this house
was right in the
path of the rebels,
and that the woman
who lived here
hid something before she left.
What we found in this
excavation was an extraordinary
discovery of this
desperation act.
This well-off lady had taken
all her precious jewelry
and buried it in this
tiny little hole,
just big enough for her to
stuff it all in and cover it.
In the hope, I suppose,
that she was gonna be able
to go back and recover it after
the big emergency was over.
But, of course,
that never happened.
Carefully unpicked
in the lab, the jewelry,
now known as the Fenwick hoard,
had lain hidden from the Iceni
and for almost 2,000
years after that.
Earrings.
Armlets.
Chains.
And rings.
One woman's treasures.
A poignant memento.
But history suggests a grim fate
for the owner of this hoard.
Dio Cassius is the
one that tells us
what happened in
Colchester to the women.
The noblest, for which
we can read the richest,
and that would be
this lady, surely,
were rounded up and
taken to sacred groves.
Groves which were dedicated
to the British
goddess of victory
and there they were
horribly sacrificed.
"They hung up naked the noblest
"and most distinguished women,
"and then cut off their breasts
"and sewed them to their mouths,
"in order to make the victims
appear to be eating them.
"Afterwards they impaled
the women on sharp skewers
"run lengthwise through
the entire body."
Tim, that sounds horrendous,
but this could just
be Roman propaganda.
But the archeology is telling
us something unequivocal,
that there was a revolt here.
The archeology is certainly
telling us that there's
a destruction layer that
occurred at exactly the time
that it's documented
the revolt took place.
So it's not unreasonable
to assume that that
destruction layer is associated
with the documented historical
revolt, that's right.
Why have you brought
these particular artifacts?
Well, this is
exactly the reason.
If we look at these, they're
two very interesting artifacts.
One of which is from
the Castle Museum
and it's a fragment
of a horse statue.
And the head, here,
is on loan to us from
Colchester and Ipswich Museums
and it's actually a copy of
a head, the original of which
is now in the British Museum.
And it's the head of Claudius,
the Emperor who undertook
the invasion of Britain,
and they seem to be
from the same statue of
the Emperor Claudius,
an equestrian statue.
Were they found
in the same place?
They weren't.
The head was found
in the River Alde,
Rendham in Suffolk
in 1907 by a boy
splashing around in the river.
Right.
And the part of the
horse was found by
a metal detectorist
in Norfolk in 1979.
So 37 miles apart.
So how can you tell they're
from the same statue, then?
That's a good question.
We can't be absolutely
sure, but metal analysis
shows that there's a
very low lead content
in both of the bronzes,
and it suggests
that they are one and the same.
It should also be
added that there are no
other fragments of statue
like this in East Anglia.
So they're a rare
bird to start with.
Do you think this
statue had been
deliberately destroyed, then?
Smashed up after
the Boudican revolt?
Almost certainly.
The head has been wrenched off
and the leg also seems
to have been torn up.
And I think it's interesting
that they haven't been
melted down and reused.
They've actually been
deposited, and with the head
in the river it could
easily be something
like a sacrificial
offering to a river.
What happened after the revolt?
Well, unfortunately it
doesn't have a very happy ending
for the Icenian people.
Because after burning
Colchester and going on
to London and Verulamium,
they're defeated in
the West Midlands
and Roman rule is imposed.
In particular it's
probably imposed
very severely in East Anglia,
which were considered very
dangerous and rebellious areas.
From the story
of treasure hidden
by one desperate woman
swept up in a bloody revolt,
we move to a dig in
Oakington that gives us
amazing insight into
the place of women
in Anglo-Saxon society.
Even today, childbirth can
be a risky and worrying time,
but it was far riskier
for our ancestors.
A team from the University
Of Central Lancashire
has spent the last five years
investigating life and death
in an Anglo-Saxon community.
They returned this year
and made some truly
remarkable discoveries.
Here's their dig diary.
So we are in Oakington,
and this is the 2014 excavation,
this is our main trench.
We have a significant
early Anglo-Saxon cemetery
which includes 124 graves.
They date to pretty much
the sixth century AD.
But what's
unusual about this cemetery
is the number of infant burials.
We appear to have little
clusters of infants' graves
around the edges of the
site, and we found something
earlier on this
week that I think
demonstrates that very nicely.
These are fragments of an
infant's legs and skull.
Out of our population
of 124 individuals,
about 30% are infants.
This is extraordinarily high,
so it's really
interesting to have that.
And we had to start
questioning why.
What's also
unusual about this site
is that the team has been
finding a large number of
high-status female burials.
In this space, here in
2011, we excavated grave 57.
This is an adult woman
and one of the first ones
that we found that year.
She was a wealthy burial,
buried with a large
cruciform brooch at her neck,
two smaller ones
at her shoulders
and a full set of
beads and purse.
What was really
interesting about her
is that in her pelvic area
we found a whole series
of very, very small bones.
It turns out that
these were an infant.
She was pregnant
when she was buried.
And this is probably
the cause of death.
A really tragic story,
but a very interesting
piece of the puzzle.
A surprising find.
But this was only the
tip of the iceberg
for Duncan and his team.
In 2012, we had a large trench
just where I'm standing now.
And excavating just
here, we found a woman
buried with a complete cow.
Now, that's a
completely unique find.
We haven't found
anything like that
in the whole of
north-western Europe
for the sixth century AD.
It's really interesting,
because the cow
has cut marks across
its lower feet
which suggests that
it was skinned.
It also had no
tail bones at all.
So this is not a romantic
bovine burial with a furry,
cozy animal in there, a pet,
but rather it's a
sacrificial offering.
A meat gift placed in the grave
so that she could host
parties in the next world.
Wow, what an incredible find.
What did you make
of that, Duncan?
Oh, it was incredible.
We didn't expect it at all.
We got very excited,
because you don't find
large animals with women.
I don't know of another
example in England.
I don't know of another example
from the early Middle
Ages in Europe at all.
So it's unique at this point.
So how does that burial
there fit in with all the other
female burials that you
have in the cemetery?
Okay, so that one
is mid-sixth century
and it's probably got a little
mound over the top of it.
A whole load of burials
all the way around it.
And it becomes a
central focus point.
And we have a number of other
similar burials like that,
without the cow,
of quite important
female burials which seem
to be focal points
throughout the cemetery.
And so it's a succession
of important women
that were part of that
sixth-century
community at Oakington.
So, what did you find this year?
Let's take a look.
This is an adult female.
You can tell from the
shape of the pelvis here.
But also from the
skull shape as well.
What's sort of
interesting about this one
is that this yellow pipe here
has been drilled through the
grave from a different position
and the people that put
it here never saw it.
This is part of the services
for Oakington village
as we're right up
against the road.
So this is often where lots and
lots of services go through.
And it's amazingly lucky that
when they put this through,
they missed all of the objects
that she's been buried with
and did very little damage
really to the skeleton.
They really couldn't
have done that better,
even if it was
completely accidental.
What's even more
intriguing about this grave
are the objects
buried with the woman.
She seems to be of high status.
We have here a small long
brooch that would have been
worn on her shoulder
and there's another one
on her shoulder, just
here, to hold up her dress.
And then this large one would
have been on a large cloak
and this is face down so it
would have almost certainly
have been wrapped up in a
cloak and then rolled over
the top of the burial.
So it's really interesting that
the positions of the objects
there can tell us
how she was dressed.
And almost certainly, she
was wrapped up in a cloak
before the soil was
placed in the grave.
So what you've got is
an Anglo-Saxon cemetery
with a large proportion of women
and a large proportion
of women who appear to be
very high status, and a
lot of infants as well,
compared with other cemeteries.
- What's going on?
- That's right.
Well, okay.
Proportionally, we have almost
all of our female burials
are furnished, whereas
only a small handful
of our male burials
are furnished.
So they are signifying, making
a point of the female burials
much more than they are
of the male burials.
Meaning that all the females
were buried with combs, beads.
Exactly, and the
brooches on the shoulders
and the neck there as well.
But there are all those
infants buried in groups
around the female burials or
on the edge of the cemetery.
The population is too
high, and so what we're
thinking at the moment is that
we have a female dominated
matriarchal group
and their daughters
are going out and marrying
other communities,
but potentially, that's
quite a scary thing.
You're going to a new
place, a masculine place,
and it's a bit
scary to give birth.
So they're maybe traveling back
and they are bringing
their children back
to their mother's hall,
to their sister's hall, and
they're giving birth there.
Now, I don't know whether we
can see that archeologically.
But certainly what we can
see is those connections,
those relationships.
And that's why this
is a central place
in the Cambridgeshire landscape.
So cemeteries like
this are not just
telling us about individuals,
they're giving us
information about
the structure of
society at the time?
Absolutely, the structure
of societies, organization,
the movement of people across
quite wide areas as well.
We're not talking about
walking around the corner.
We're talking about
traveling for some miles
to come to this community
for this sort of activity.
And the first cow in
an Anglo-Saxon grave.
And have you finished
the cemetery now?
Is that it?
We've excavated as much
as we possibly can, yeah.
So that's the end,
now, of the excavation.
All of it is now post-excavation
and we hope to understand more
and really question
some of these things
in much more detail.
To get a sense of
the wealth and high status
of these Anglo-Saxon women,
there's no place better
than Norwich Castle Museum.
It's a treasure trove of
bronze, silver and gold.
Like this Anglo-Saxon
bracteate, or pendant.
The particularly important
thing about bracteates is that
when they've been
found in Britain,
they've only been
found in female graves
or as single, stray finds.
But the particular focus
of this is as a hoard.
It's the first time this has
ever been seen in Britain,
whereas, normally,
in Scandinavia,
where these bracteates
are typically found,
they're buried in hoards.
I mean, the workmanship on
these is absolutely incredible.
But what do these show us?
Well, bracteates are ultimately
derived from coin designs,
Roman coin designs.
Because coins would have been
worn as pendants themselves.
And, ultimately, the
design became copied
and the copy became copied
and so on, until you end up
with a very basic design.
And on this bracteate, you
can see a warrior with a sword
raised behind his back,
fighting off two animals.
So what kind of women
would have worn
these bracteates?
They're solid gold, they
look pretty expensive to me.
They are expensive,
and therefore it's a sign
that the person wearing them
is of high status themselves.
And from another point of view,
it also says something about
the person or people that
were able to bury an entire
hoard of these in the ground,
to give them up and
not come back for them.
This summer, archeologists
have been digging in Kent,
looking at what they suspect
is a royal palace complex,
just the sort of place where
people would have been wearing
all of that Anglo-Saxon finery.
Lyminge in southern Kent is
now a peaceful English village.
But in Anglo-Saxon times, this
was a bustling Royal Center.
For the last three years,
right in the heart
of the village green,
dig director Gabor
Thomas and his team
have uncovered evidence
of medieval life
and Bronze Age burials.
But what they really want are
signs of Anglo-Saxon royalty.
Right, it's a
lovely rim fragment.
And they're
beginning to find clues
to personal wealth and status.
So this is a bit of metalwork
that came up yesterday.
It's a small piece
of copper alloy,
and it's in the
shape of the bird.
It's decorated on both sides,
which is quite interesting.
This is just a hint of
what's likely to come,
once we start excavating
into the features.
I thought it was modern,
and then I was like,
"No, wait, what?"
Like the top
of a Carlsberg bottle!
Yeah!
I don't think
we've ever had a bit
so recognizable as that.
We don't get a lot of
bases at all, of a vase.
It's a quite large fragment,
anyway, for a piece of glass.
We usually get rims
and bits of the body,
but not the bases, really.
The team believes
these glass fragments were once
part of elaborate drinking
vessels, like these replicas.
But, more importantly,
they were used
by high status Anglo-Saxons.
Possibly even Kentish kings.
And what they're uncovering
now could be the proof
they need that kings were here.
We've had a really
good breakthrough today,
in this particular trench,
where we're looking at
an exposure of around
about 20 meters,
so this building is about,
probably in excess of
20 meters in length.
We've also got a width for it.
Somewhere around
10 meters in width.
That's a super-sized hall
for the Anglo-Saxon period.
You only get these scale halls
on royal palace complexes.
So, Gabor, you really
think you have found
an Anglo-Saxon royal hall?
Without doubt.
I mean, the structural evidence
says that very clearly.
You only get buildings on this
scale, on this type of site.
And it's worth saying that it's
incredibly rare archeology.
Only two other
sites of this period
and this importance have
previously been excavated,
including the iconic sight
of Yeavering in Northumbria.
It was the first place
that open-area excavations
were undertaken in the 1950s.
But normally these
sites are found
through aerial photography.
They show up as crop marks.
But on this site, it didn't
even show up on the geophysics.
It required open-area excavation
from the start and, really,
some small clues that
there might be something
of this magnitude, just
under the village green.
So what were the clues
that made you dig there?
Well, there was a documentary
reference that describes
Lyminge as a royal ville
or a royal complex.
But none of the archeology
relating to that earlier period
have ever been found before.
And that's what we
hoped we would find
under the village green,
and we hit the jackpot.
It was amazing.
And as well as this
amazing royal hall,
you found an extraordinary
rubbish dump.
Right next to the
seventh-century royal hall,
the team opened up another
area, after geophys
revealed a mysterious blob.
This turned out to be a
midden, or rubbish dump,
with incredibly rare
finds deep within it.
Archeologist Alex Knox explains.
Today, we have begun
excavating what we called
the dark blob in trench one,
which is full of
Anglo-Saxon artifacts.
And we're also hoping
just to find out
if there's anything lying
underneath this dump of rubbish.
As the team dig into the midden,
high-status finds start
coming thick and fast.
They uncover
decorative brooches.
Yeah, it's in
perfect, mint condition.
- Yeah, amazing.
- Well done.
Bronze hair pins.
It is an absolute monster.
- Is that the end?
- That is the point, yeah.
And a copper alloy mount.
Probably would have
been attached to,
perhaps a leather belt,
around the second half
of the sixth century.
These Anglo-Saxon
fashion accessories predate
the royal hall by
a full century.
A very early insight into the
culture of this settlement.
But the next finds
begin to reveal
something quite different.
I've seen metalworking residues,
iron tools and implements.
It looks
relatively modern, actually.
It does.
It probably
isn't that modern at all.
And as the metal finds grow,
the team begins to suspect
there's more to this
dump than meets the eye.
So they dig a trench
right through the
middle to investigate.
What's appeared at this
level, very clearly for us,
is an area of burning,
or what archeologists
would call a hearth.
We've also got consolidated
lumps of what's likely to be
the superstructure of a dome
over a furnace or a kiln
showing up nicely on
this side of the trench.
This evidence here fits very
nicely with the materials
that have been dumped
in above this level.
We've recovered a
lot of smelting slag.
So we have an early Anglo-Saxon
version, if you like,
of a metalworking installation,
of which we've only got
one other example, really,
from Anglo-Saxon England,
which is two centuries later.
So this is hugely
significant archeology.
Now, we've got to try and refine
our understanding of what's
going on in here a bit better,
by the end of the season.
So, Gabor, this is some
of the earliest evidence
we have for metalworking
in Anglo-Saxon Britain.
That's right, and
it's different types
of metalworking as well.
So we've got iron working
represented, but also,
in front of us here, is
a selection of objects
associated with bronze casting.
We've got a fragment of a
two-piece mold just here.
What object do you
think that would have been?
Probably a piece of jewelry.
It may have been something
like a bronze buckle,
or perhaps even a brooch.
So they're really churning out
this really high-status, bling
jewelry, if you like, here?
That's right.
But that's not all you
had from the midden, is it?
Alex, what have
you got over there?
We're just washing
some of the animal bone
that's come out of the midden.
Just endless amounts
of feasting debris,
cattle, sheep, pig.
Enormous amounts of animal
bone to go along with
all this metalworking.
So we've got these myriad
finds from the midden.
What does it all mean?
Well, we have a really
interesting association
here between feasting
on the one hand,
as represented by
our animal bone
and all of our glass vessels.
I think what this
represents is a period
when specialized manufacture
of high-status objects
is happening within the
sphere of elite residencies.
And we haven't previously
seen that on other sites.
This is very new.
So it's really adding,
as well, to our knowledge
of the whole of Anglo-Saxon
Britain, really?
Absolutely, it's telling
us what elite culture
was like in this period and
its intimate relationship
with the production
of luxury items.
So, once again, archeology
reveals an unexpected twist.
A beautiful royal residence,
and right next door,
making their very
own luxury goods,
a very early
Anglo-Saxon factory.
Next, we head to Basing House,
a place synonymous with
battle and bloodshed.
Basing House in Hampshire was
a key site in the Civil War.
It was a royalist stronghold
and the parliamentarians
were keen to take it.
And this year, archeologists
have been digging up evidence
of the house's bloody history,
bringing us face-to-face with
one of English history's most
controversial characters.
In the 16th century,
Basing House was one of
the most impressive Tudor
complexes in the country.
It was built on a Norman
fort, known as The Old House.
And right next to it used
to sit a huge mansion,
known as The New House.
This is where the team
have put in a large trench.
Such a fantastic
archeological site to work on.
We took off the
topsoil and the walls
started to emerge
almost immediately.
Documents of the
time tell of a final battle
that took place here in 1645.
And the team are looking
for hard evidence
as to just how this
mighty fortress fell.
Heading up the dig
is Chris Elmer.
So we're midway through the dig
and we're finding quite
a lot of evidence now
of the Tudor range
that lies behind us.
What we're interested
in is thinking
about what happened
in the Civil War,
with the destruction
of the house.
And, in fact,
recently we've found
some pretty
interesting evidence,
because we've got really nice
sort of lead musket balls,
showing us balls that
obviously were available
as the ammunition of the day.
But, more intriguingly, we're
also finding the evidence
for musket balls
that have impacted.
They've obviously hit
something or someone,
because they've splatted
and they've gone into
this very strange shape.
So we've got a theory that
what we're looking at is
the evidence of the
conflict that was occurring,
the battle that was occurring,
and we're finding
the real evidence
of that with these musket balls
and with the end
product you see here.
Two years
before Basing House fell,
it was placed under siege
by the parliamentarians,
as they fought the Royalists,
led by John Paulet,
the Marquess of Winchester.
Over two years of digging,
Chris and his team
have mapped out
the defensive lines of the
now-vanished great house.
As we're walking round
the site of Basing House,
we've just come to
the gun platform.
And there were
several gun platforms
erected during the Civil War.
This one, we've got a
replica of a Civil War saker,
a cannon, which
would be pointing out
towards the parliamentary
lines on the other side.
There were several gun platforms
all the way around
the ring work area,
and in a sense, this was
the first line of defense
during the Civil War
for Basing House.
By surveying
the surviving buildings
of the great Tudor complex,
the team has also
identified battle damage.
We've now come
inside the great barn,
I think the most amazing
example of destruction,
if you like, that we can see,
where there would have
been cannonballs coming
through the roof
and then actually
hitting the inside of the walls.
So we can see there's
a great big scar
in the wall at the top there.
There is another
one further along.
With Charles I
supplying men and money
for the house's fortification,
it seemed invincible.
And after two years of
trying to batter Basing House
into submission,
the parliamentarians were getting nowhere.
So, Alan, who did they turn to?
Well, the Lord General Fairfax
sent down his second in command,
a man who you might be
quite familiar with.
Here he is, Lieutenant
General Oliver Cromwell.
Ah, the man himself.
This is a life mask
of Oliver that was done
a few years after the
siege of Basing House.
As you can see, he
is somewhat plumper
than a serving soldier would
have been in those days.
But it does give you a
really good impression
of what he looked like.
So if this is a life mask,
this is a mold of
his actual face?
Indeed, that's Oliver.
See, the eyes are rather odd
because they were
applied afterwards,
because obviously he
would've had his eyes shut.
It's extraordinary
and slightly weird.
I still don't think that
Oliver Cromwell on his own
could have conquered
Basing House,
so what did he bring with him?
He had a bit of help.
He had three regiments of foot,
several regiments of cavalry,
about 5,000 or 6,000
men in actual fact,
and some really big guns,
including an incredibly
big piece of artillery,
a Cannon Royal.
That fires a 64-pound ball,
and here is an illustration
which gives you some idea
of the size of the thing.
Because of the
condition of the roads,
sometimes it would
take up to 60 horses
to pull these down
the road, or 60 oxen.
Once this was applied
against a castle,
it doesn't really
stand a chance.
So this is bigger
than any of the cannon
that were actually
in Basing House.
Oh, yes, much bigger, yes.
I would not like to
have been a royalist,
facing up against that cannon.
So how did they fare?
Well, I think that's
what the archeologists
are about to find out.
The new house
guarded the entrance
to the postern gate,
the way into the
citadel of Basing House.
The team believed that
this was the weak point
for Cromwell to exploit
and he would have
thrown everything he
had at the Tudor range,
including the firing power
of his massive Cannon Royal.
In the last week of the dig,
they find evidence to
support their theory
when they uncover the remains
of a bridge which connected
the new house to the old.
The postern gate that
led into the old house
is directly behind us and this
area that we're excavating
is part of the entry
point for the Old House.
What we're thinking is
this is a point where,
in the Civil War,
the parliamentarians broke
through into the old house.
So, can we see anything
there that tells us
about that final battle?
Can we see anything that
tells us about their entry
to the old house, as well?
Previously on this same site,
archeologists uncovered
several skeletons
around Basing House
which they believe were
defenders from the Civil War.
But the most significant
discovery was the remains
of one particular soldier,
found by the postern gate,
who seems to have died
defending this weak spot
in the final siege.
To our surprise, after
we'd finished excavating
the gateway and had
a narrow passageway,
we saw there was a ditch
which we sectioned.
In that ditch, we found a skull
which had been decapitated,
there were some of the
vertebrae were there in sit
And there was also a great
sword cut on top of the cranium.
And so that had to be, really,
the head of one of the
defenders of Basing,
and as such, really,
must have got there
during that final assault
on 14th of October, 1645.
And it's so rare for an
archeologist to be able
to find something and say,
"This happened on
this particular day."
But we feel confident that
that was the case there.
Of the 400 loyalists
defending Basing House,
100 were slain, and the
rest taken prisoner,
while the great Tudor mansion
itself was set on fire.
People could hear the cries
of those who had taken refuge
in the cellars,
screaming to be let out.
But there was no-one
to let them out,
there was no way
of reaching them,
so a good number must
have perished in that way.
Finally,
Cromwell's brutal attack
had led to a decisive victory
and he quickly sent
word back to London.
"I thank God, I can give you
a good account of Basing.
"We have had little
loss, many of the enemy
"our men put to the sword.
"Most of the rest
we have prisoners,
"amongst whom the Marquis
of Winchester himself.
"Your most humble
servant, Oliver Cromwell."
Archeology is a
complex jigsaw puzzle,
drawing together everything
from skeletons to swords,
and from riches to royalty.
Amazing stories which are
helping to rewrite our history.