Digging for Britain (2010) s04e03 Episode Script
North
1
Britain has an epic history.
But within it there's a wealth
of untold secrets
still to uncover.
It's a really key find.
Find of the week.
So, every year,
hundreds of archeologists
set out hunting for clues
to solve the mystery
of who we are
and where we've come from.
I've just found
this amazing pendant.
Over the past year,
their discoveries have been
more exciting than ever.
This series will explore
the best of them.
I just found a coin.
Oh, marvelous.
Brought to you from the field
in a very special way.
Each excavation has been
filmed for us as it happened
by the archeologists themselves.
It looks absolutely fantastic.
I bet he had a bad day
when he never
brought these back.
Their dig diaries mean
that we can be there
for every crucial
moment of discovery.
- Oh, wow!
- Oh, wow!
Do we have a winner here?
I think it's stunning.
Incredible.
Our archeologists
will be joining us here
in our special lab to take
a closer look at their finds
and to figure out
what they really mean.
This is so exciting.
Welcome to "Digging
For Britain."
In this episode we are
exploring the discoveries
from the north of Britain
that change what we know
about this island's story.
We scramble to uncover
the earliest origins
of Scotland's first kingdoms.
I think I got it.
We are there
for the find of a lifetime
that reveals the true
extent of Viking power.
Oh, and we have a winner here!
And a new housing development
reveals the mass graveyard
of warriors whose people
may have marched from Europe
to settle in Yorkshire.
It looks absolutely fantastic.
These discoveries are
rewriting our history.
To find out how, archeologist
Matt Williams and I
have been given special
access to Yorkshire Museum.
Its collection tells
the story of the north
and the people who settled here.
The Gilling Sword.
And we're going
behind-the-scenes
to the back rooms
that ordinary visitors
just don't get to see.
You could get lost
in here for days.
Star Carr is an archeological
site of world importance.
Excavations began here in 1948
and have revealed a Stone Age
settlement 11,000 years old.
The whole site
covers five acres.
Discoveries at Star
Carr include the remains
of Britain's oldest house,
ancient tools and the
earliest carpentry in Europe.
Finds like these have shown
how our Stone Age
ancestors lived.
"Digging For Britain" first
visited the site in 2011,
when I discovered
that the team's work
had become a race against time.
The soil at Star Carr
was becoming acidic
and destroying the evidence.
So that's some antler from
the original excavation site,
That's right, yeah.
So when would
that been excavated?
This antler has been preserved
in almost perfect condition
but the items being pulled
from the ground 60 years later
have deteriorated drastically.
It's like a piece of rubber.
It's basically because
the water table
has fallen dramatically.
That's let oxygen
into the deposits
and that's created
a chemical reaction.
We've been told
by our specialist
it's a bit like
car battery acid.
It is shocking to see how
the acid is attacking Star Carr
and it shows just how
urgent the work carried out
by Nicky and her team really is.
But now they are finally
running out of time
as six decades of research
at Star Carr come to an end.
They are hoping to
solve one last mystery
and reveal the true
significance of this site
to our Stone Age ancestors.
Was Star Carr just a settlement
or do the clues show that
it was something much more?
This is their dig diary.
From day one, it was clear
that the soil had
become even more acidic.
It's actually very fragile.
This is one of the
problems that we have,
and this bit is actually
turning to jelly.
The chances of finding
any well-preserved
artifacts seem slim.
Then, a couple of weeks in,
the archeologists
dug another trench
where, remarkably, the soil
conditions were very different
and the preservation
outstanding.
Just cleaning off
this area behind me
and it's incredibly exciting.
Here we've got an
absolutely jam-packed area
of bone and flint and wood
that we've not seen
anywhere else on the site.
And in the rest of the trenches,
we've had a real problem.
We've had very acid conditions
which has meant that the bone
and antler have disappeared.
So this is a really
amazing insight
into what people were doing
on the edge of the lake here.
People are placing bone and
antler and wood in this area.
But why would people have been
deliberately placing these
materials here 11,000 years ago?
A few days later,
another remarkable
discovery could be a clue.
It's a deer.
It is a deer, yeah.
It's a cluster of deer skulls.
It's a really amazing example.
There are lots from this site,
but this one is very robust.
You can see the antlers here
coming off the main skull
and it's also in association
with a couple of
roe deer skulls,
one here, and one here,
so we're just cleaning
it up some more
and then we'll be
lifting it very carefully
and taking it to the
conservation labs.
117 to 103.
This discovery is new evidence
to support a growing theory
that explains the wealth of
deer skulls at Star Carr.
These have been made into
headdresses from red deer skulls
and we think that they were
possibly used by shamans
wearing them on their heads
as part of ritual practices.
It's just amazing to
think 11,000 years ago
someone might have had one
of these on their heads.
In the final few days,
even more of these partial
deer skulls are uncovered.
But can they really
be ritual headdresses?
I'm in the vaults of York Museum
to see the evidence for myself.
Can we open it up
- We can.
- And have a look?
It's like Christmas.
So this is the latest one?
So it is just the top of
the skull essentially.
We've lost all of the nose
and the upper jaw down here.
We have.
So it is just
this uppermost part
with the antlers attached.
And that's one
of the first clues
that tells us that this
probably isn't just a piece
of deer skull that's
been found in the ground.
It's been worked by human
hands for a particular purpose.
If this is a deer in
its prime, a large deer,
it would have very big antlers
and they've been trimmed back
and what that does is
effectively makes this a lot lighter.
An almost cap-type shape
if you think of a
hollowed out skull.
It's almost a cap-type
shape going on there.
So one of the other
features that we see
and we certainly see
on other frontlets
that have been found
are these piercings,
these circular piercings that
you see through the skull.
Now these piercings
could be for sinew
or for cord to pass through.
It suggests that this
might be something
that's been worked by human
hands to be worn on the head.
And it's really
important, as well,
that this isn't a unique object,
that it's one of many that
have been found at Star Carr.
Just over 20 similar objects
have been found at Star Carr,
so this is not a one-off
and they all seem to be
treated in the same way.
So perhaps it's a group of
objects that are being used
for very specific purpose and
made in a very specific way.
The archeologists
think it's likely
that these skulls really were
worn as ritual headdresses.
Together with the wealth
of votive offerings
of antler and bone,
the finds suggest
that Star Carr was more
than just a settlement.
Back at the dig on day 40, the
team makes another remarkable
and exceptionally rare discovery
which also hints at the ritual
significance of Star Carr.
We have actually just
found this amazing pendant
which actually
has artwork on it.
It's so rare to find
something like this.
There's only a few pieces
of artwork from this country
and very few from
the whole of Europe.
It's very classic Mesolithic.
It has geometric lines on it.
An 11,000-year-old pendant,
piles of bone and antler.
Nicky believes that
this could be evidence
that Star Carr held
sacred significance.
And we are really
beginning to think
that these things
weren't just lost.
They were perhaps some
kind of votive offerings
that were placed in
this particular spot.
A piece of Mesolithic artwork
is an extraordinary
find anywhere in Europe.
I can't wait to hear
what this one can tell
us about Star Carr.
This is so exciting.
When I heard that
you had found this,
I didn't quite believe
it, Nicky, I must say.
You must have been thrilled
to find that on your site?
The more we've looked at it
and the more we've analyzed it,
the more excited we're
getting about it, really,
because Mesolithic art
is incredibly rare,
particularly for this country,
and so to find something like
this is really spectacular.
I can certainly see
quite a bit of detail here
but also you've got this
enlarged image of it,
which really brings
it out, doesn't it?
You've got these longer
incised grooves on it
but lots of little
tiny grooves as well.
An awful lot of detail here.
One interpretation I
quite like at the moment
is that we might
have a tree on here,
so that's the trunk and these
are the branches coming off it
and I think I'm
interested in that
because again, for shamans,
sometimes trees can be holy,
they link different
parts of the spirit world
and so possibly there's
something like that to it.
The interpretation of
pendants in Denmark,
where they are
usually made of amber,
is that they might be amulets
and so they are protecting
the person who wears them.
So, over the six decade or so
that excavations have been
going on at Star Carr,
what has that added
to our knowledge
of the Mesolithic in Britain?
Because we've opened
up such a large area,
we have a much
better understanding
of how people were living there.
We have houses, huts
on the dry land.
We have great big platforms
made out of timbers
on the lake edge
with all these bones and
headdresses and so on around them.
And we think that
this actually might be
quite a special place
in the landscape.
It's the mouth of the lake.
And when people
were coming upriver,
it's the first place they come
to as they reach the lake,
so perhaps it's kind
of like an entranceway
where certain interesting ritual
and activities are happening.
The modified deer
skulls votive offerings
and now this
exceptionally rare piece
of Stone Age art provide us
with extraordinary insights
into life in Britain
11,000 years ago.
The clues from Star Carr tell us
not only about survival
on a day-to-day basis,
but allow us a precious glimpse
into the spiritual and artistic
aspects of Mesolithic life.
The amazing discoveries
at Star Carr
are the work of
dedicated professionals.
But sometimes, we have
to thank the devotion,
enthusiasm and luck
of a band of amateurs.
Metal detectorists
are a special breed,
spending hours scouring
the countryside
and beaches looking
for treasure.
And, very, very
occasionally they find some.
Now, a hoard of treasure
buried in the ground
away from human settlement or
other signs of human activity
on its own can only offer
us limited information.
But sometimes the objects
themselves tell a story,
as with this Viking hoard.
Dumfries in the
west of Scotland,
where a keen metal
detectorist invested months
of his own time researching
one particular field.
What Derek McLennan found was
the discovery of his lifetime
that reveals the wide
connections of the Vikings.
It's harvest time so there
were bales of hay in the field
and I began going up and down
towards one particular bale
and then I decided to change
tack and moved to another bale.
I got a signal which
was very faint,
but it sounded like
iron and I thought,
"Well, I've already dug 30 nails
"so one more nail
won't harm me."
And I put the spade into the
ground and dug out the clod
and noticed something
glinting in the hole.
Put my hand into it.
It was quite deep, and
when I pulled it out,
I saw it was silver.
I rubbed my thumb across it
and instantly seen
the saltire design
which I knew from my
research was a Viking symbol.
Derek realized
the importance of his find
so he immediately called
the local authorities.
They sent an archeologist
to help with the excavation.
What they uncovered together
was truly astounding.
A hoard of Viking arm
rings and gold ingots.
But there was more.
Oh, wow!
A large Christian cross.
We have a winner here!
Its stunning
decorations revealed
for the first time
in 1,000 years.
At that moment,
my senses erupted
and the excitement and joy
of what I discovered
really hit me.
But there was
even more treasure to come,
including this beautiful pot
still wrapped in
protective fabric.
The Viking hoard
of the decade, I think.
The Vikings were pagan invaders
who came from Scandinavia
to raid Britain and to set up
their own kingdoms
here in 793 AD.
This find could
reveal new insights
into this turbulent
chapter in British history.
So it's been handed to a team
from Historic
Scotland for analysis.
When they lifted
the lid of the pot,
even more treasure
was packed inside.
To find out what,
the team turns to modern
scanning technology.
That's got quite a density.
Yeah, and then there's
a layer of dense material
right down at the bottom here.
You can see it's
got a lattice on it.
Yeah.
I'll just see if
we can rack through,
we'll look at some
of the other objects.
The scans reveal rings, brooches
and other pieces of fine
jewelry packed inside the pot.
Excavating and conserving
them has taken months.
Now, almost a year after making
his remarkable discovery,
Derek has come to view
the treasures for himself.
It's hard to put into words.
I'm absolutely stunned by
the amount of artifacts
that came out of the pot
and textiles and everything
being so carefully
wrapped and packed.
It shows that, even
1,200 years ago,
these objects were very
coveted and cared for.
This hoard is full
of riches and mystery.
It brings the Viking world alive
and shows that there was more
to these legendary
warriors than just raiding.
Richard, I think the
appropriate response is "Wow!"
This is astonishing.
What a beautiful collection.
It's pretty remarkable
stuff, isn't it?
It is.
It's wonderful to
see it all laid out like this.
One particular
treasure has been fashioned
from a silver coin
which gives a clue
to the date and
origins of the hoard.
There's the word Rex.
Yes.
And, if you come
back around here,
you can see start
with C-O-E-N-W-U-L F.
Coenwulf.
- Coenwulf.
- Rex.
Coenwulf was the Viking king
of Murcia in the Midlands.
He ruled from 796 to 821 AD,
leading experts to believe
that this is when
the hoard dates from.
A period when Viking raids
on Britain were intensifying.
So do you think this
is Viking plunder
that's been gathered together
and buried in the ground?
You can't help but
start to speculate
that this is some form
of Viking raiding booty.
Why would someone who
was a devout Christian
bury things like
that wonderful cross?
This cross is
- Well, yes.
- Gorgeous.
This is exceptional.
The beautiful, wonderful
simple form of the Celtic cross
with what we think
are the four apostles,
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Isn't that wonderful?
Can you see the Saint's head?
Yes, I can see the halo.
Well, that's straight out
of The New Book of Kells
Manuscript, isn't it?
It is, it is, it's wonderful.
And the cross is straight out
of the wonderful St John's
Cross on Iona, for example.
It's quite something.
This cross is typical
of the treasures
plundered by Vikings
from Christian monasteries
across Britain and Europe.
But further clues in the hoard
show that the Vikings weren't
only interested in raiding.
They were motivated
by commerce as well.
This is beautiful, this pot.
At the top of this here
are eight glass beads
of various shapes and forms.
Some of them held in clasps
with metal or silver fixings.
But there seems to
be a variety of objects
and of different styles
coming from different places,
coming from France, Anglo-Saxon
styles and Viking styles.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What's this object
in here, then, Richard?
We think that what
you see between the gold
is a glass vessel
of some description.
Sitting within a very
fine leather pouch,
with this extraordinary
sumptuous silk,
a Semite silk from the Far
East, or the Middle East,
It's something very precious
and very special
wrapped in something
which was very, very exotic.
Eastern treasures
like this remind us
that there was more to the
Vikings than simple raiding.
By the 11th century,
the Vikings' vast trading
network stretched across Europe,
beyond Constantinople,
all the way to Baghdad.
They were a trading superpower
which engaged with cultures
right across the known world.
But the Vikings weren't
the first foreign power
to colonize Britain.
The Romans began their conquest
centuries earlier in 43 AD.
The story of Rome's
400-year rule is well known.
But what happened here
after the Roman Empire
fell is still a mystery.
The end of Roman rule in
Britain saw us plunged
into the Dark Ages,
several obscure centuries
for which there is
little written record
and, actually, finding
archeological evidence
from this period of
time is relatively rare.
But a team of
archeologists is hoping
to strike it lucky
with a new dig
at an abandoned Roman
military fort near Lancaster.
This is the famous Roman
fort of Ribchester,
where a team is digging
for evidence to explain
what happened in Britain
after the Roman Empire fell,
and to reveal if we really did
slip into centuries of chaos,
often thought of
as the Dark Ages.
They start by excavating
the Roman road
running through the fort
and get their first
intriguing clue.
We've just cleaned off
this Roman road surface
and we've just discovered
that it's been robbed.
It's really interesting.
The road appears
to have been dismantled
after the Roman occupation,
with the heaviest
stones taken away.
There's a really nice insight
into the operations of the fort,
pretty much after
the Romans have left
because they are destroying
the infrastructure
of it to build buildings
and taking that material
away somewhere else.
So what were these
Dark Age Britons building
with this stone, and where?
The team thinks they've
found the first clues
at the other end of the fort.
The beginning of week three
and we have large bits of tile
and that more intense
orange is the hearth
and that orange
burning element there
suggests we've got
workshop activities
taking place within
that building.
The burnt orange earth suggests
that this was the
site of a fire built
after the Roman
administration had collapsed.
But this fire does seem to
be on an industrial scale,
making it possible
evidence of manufacturing.
And further excavation reveals
what they may have been making.
That's fantastic.
That's a fantastic
piece of evidence,
a really nice thing there.
That is really good evidence
that the manufacturing
here involved glass.
There's a little bit
of a run off of glass,
probably from recycling old
vessels and stuff like that.
It's a really key find.
Finder of the week.
Thank you very much.
We sometimes
think of Dark Age Britain
as extremely backward,
but with this glass and the
signs of an industrial fire,
this dig could be revealing
something very different.
Britons converting an old
Roman fort into workshops.
It's new evidence for
an area of enterprise
and further finds
offer more clues
to this new British
post-Roman economy.
I've just found a coin.
Oh, marvelous.
It's a tiny third
or fourth century Roman coin.
Marvelous, there we go.
The team finds
over 20 more coins,
all from around the
same workshop building.
Now Duncan has brought these
and his other
finds into our lab.
We're hoping that
they can tell us
how this fort was used
after Roman rule collapsed
and shine a light on the truth
about Britain in the Dark Ages.
Okay, so we found 22 coins
when we excavated there
in those very,
very top surfaces.
And so I think this
is the very, very end
of the Roman use of the fort.
Can we look at
some of these coins?
- Yeah, absolutely.
- I'll bring this over
so that we can see them
a bit more clearly.
The head on that side
is hardly visible, isn't it?
It's almost smooth.
Hardly visible, exactly.
We're looking at a lot of wear
and use that's going on as well.
But this is a Roman coin.
- It's a Roman coin.
- Who is the Emperor
- on that, then?
- Yeah.
Valentinian is the
Emperor on that one.
It's minted between 364 and 378.
But Duncan believes
that these coins were deposited
perhaps two centuries later.
They are very heavily worn,
suggesting that they
may have been used
long after Roman rule
in Britain ended in 410.
And I think, given
that we've got all that wear,
these coins were
probably in circulation
for quite a long time.
Certainly after you
see the collapse
of Roman administration, really.
Coins and pottery are no longer
created in the same volumes
or at all as they
were previously
but the people who
live in these forts,
and in these Roman
landscape places,
almost certainly remain there
so they continue to use
quite a lot of this
material and culture.
And certainly, I think we
shouldn't be seeing this
as an absolute cut-off point.
We shouldn't be saying,
"410 AD, the Romans left."
What is happening is part
of a continuous decline,
or chance formation is a better
way of thinking about it,
into something
completely different.
Without military
rule, post-Roman society
in Britain would undoubtedly
have been more dangerous.
But this new evidence suggests
that it may have been more
sophisticated than we thought.
So the person who dropped
this coin here, for example,
what was he doing in the fort?
What we are seeing
there is a whole series
of different
manufacturing activities,
so we've got the glass
that you can see there,
we've got the weights,
we've got coins for
trade and exchange.
We think we've got tanning pits
and we think we've got evidence
of iron-making as well.
But wouldn't you have
expected those things
to be present in a
Roman fort as well?
Not necessarily, no.
By the time you get
into the fourth century,
it becomes quite a
dangerous place to be.
If you're moving
large numbers of goods
and valuable things across
the north of Britain,
you're probably
going to be attacked.
There's probably lots
of brigands around,
that sort of stuff.
So I suspect, as we start
to see the breakdown
of that administration of the
safety networks that exist,
then you see that manufacturing
to support the fort is
starting to take place
within it itself.
These finds show
that we are wrong
to think of the Dark Ages
as a period of utter chaos
and decline in Britain.
Archeology suggests
that this was, in fact,
a new age of resourcefulness,
when Britons began their
own trades and industries,
and built a new society.
While England was being
rebuilt after the Romans,
in Scotland it was
a different story.
Here, the earliest line of
Scottish kings was reaching
the height of their power.
But today the full story
of these northern rulers
remains shrouded in mystery.
The Picts were the ancient
people of Scotland,
depicted by history as
fearsome, painted warriors
feared even by the Romans.
While southern Britain fell
to the armies from Rome,
here in the North, the Picts
were largely unconquered.
They continued to
rule across Scotland
and into northern England
right up until the 10th century
but their story is little-known.
Hard evidence of the Picts
and their kingdom has
been hard to find.
Now, though, a team of
archeologists thinks
they might just pinpointed
the seat of Pictish power.
Here's their dig diary.
Some of the very few clues
the Picts left behind
are giant symbol stones.
The most famous is
the six-foot-tall
terrifying-looking Rhynie Man.
These stones seem to be
linked with Pictish royalty.
Archeologist Gordon Noble
has spent his entire career
searching for
evidence of the Picts
and he's now digging at a site
in the east of
Scotland where some
of their mysterious symbol
stones have been found.
He's hoping to unearth the seat
of forgotten Pictish kings.
Right, here we are at Dunnicaer.
This is the site where,
in the 19th century,
six Pictish symbol
stones were found
on top of the sea stack here.
Only a few people have visited
the site in the 20th century
and didn't really
note much on top
but already, yesterday
was our first ascent,
which was quite precarious
and slightly scary.
We found remains on top.
It's a promising find.
But to fully investigate it,
they will have to make the
dangerous climb all over again.
The stack is 60 feet tall,
surrounded by jagged rocks
and the chilly north Atlantic.
A strong defensive position
for a Pictish warrior tribe
but not the easiest commute
for a team of archeologists.
However, if they have
found a Pictish fort,
it will all have been worth it.
Right, so we're on top
of the sea stack now,
where the symbol
stones were found.
We're at the lower portion
of what we think is
the fortified site.
Following the trail
of the symbol stones
pays off immediately.
The very first trial trench
reveals an area of flat stones,
possibly a hearth.
It looks like evidence of
actual occupation activities
actually on top of
the promontory here,
so that's quite exciting.
We've got lots of charcoal
with fragments of animal bone,
so hopefully this is
giving good evidence
of how people were using
the promontory in the past.
It's a promising start
and another trench
provides evidence
that this site may, in fact,
have been a dwelling
or even a fortress.
= Okay, so we're in test
pit five at the moment.
So we've just opened this up
and we've found a
series of post-holes.
We've got one that's
been fully excavated out
and then we've uncovered
another four over here in a row.
You'll see them over here.
And there's another
possible one, half of one,
sitting over in the corner here,
so this might be
part of the building,
we don't quite know yet.
But we're taking
samples from that one
so we'll wait and see what
we've got for the rest.
A line of post-holes
suggests a wooden wall.
And, by day four, the team
has uncovered hard evidence
of a substantial fortification.
So we've got some quite
exciting results here.
We've got remains of big slots
here used for timber beams
and this one here projects
all the way from the
edge of the cliff
up to this feature here,
which is a giant, very
large post-hole, here.
So it looks like we've got
both upright timber elements
and horizontal timber elements
creating this big wall,
enclosing the sea stack here.
So that's quite exciting
and great detail, really,
on the construction methods
for this rampart here.
The team have found
compelling evidence
that this was once
a fortified site
but, to be sure that it
belonged to the Picts,
they'll have to radiocarbon
date their finds.
That rock stack looked
really difficult to access.
Presumably it would
have been connected
to the mainland by a more
significant causeway, perhaps?
We think so.
We think it was probably a
promontory in the Pictish period,
which makes a lot of sense.
You wouldn't want to build
a fort on top of the
stack today, certainly.
The dating came back
with some staggering results.
This sea fort does date
to the time of the Picts,
but, incredibly, it's 200 years
older than anyone expected.
What's quite interesting,
the dates for most
Pictish forts fall
into the fifth and
sixth centuries AD,
when they really seem
to reach their height
of construction and use.
But this example here,
we just got the
radiocarbon dates back
and it's actually third
and fourth centuries AD,
which is really interesting,
so it's the earliest
example that we have so far.
What's more,
they think that this
fort was just one
of a string of coastal
defenses built by the Picts
to defend their territory.
We know that these
defending closures
were deeply implicated
in kingship,
so we perhaps have the
first glimmers, really,
of that process where
we get the emergence
of these early kingdoms
in northern Britain.
So if this is the emergence
of early Pictish kingdoms,
what's that growing out of?
Smaller scale societies
in the Iron Age, certainly,
or certainly a shift towards
more lineage-based models
where we are getting certain
individuals styling themselves
as kings and really
underlining their power
by building these forts.
So they're growing
into bigger political
units, effectively?
Really, this
period is the birth,
or the first evidence for these,
essentially what become
the early Medieval states
of northern Europe emerging,
so it's a really, really
important time period.
The discovery
of Britain's earliest
Pictish fort is huge
but it is not the seat of royal
power Gordon was hoping for,
so he's starting a new
dig at Rhynie itself,
whose place name comes from
the Celtic word for king.
This was where
Rhynie Man once stood
and the site is still marked
by other mysterious
symbol stones.
These symbol stones date
to the fifth and
sixth centuries AD
and we have this contemporary
complex of monuments,
enclosures around about
the standing stone here.
The standing stone here,
the cross theme, which
hopefully you can see,
there's a salmon here and
a Pictish beast, as well.
Big, long legs here
and the snout here
and this little mane
on the top here.
The symbol
stone marks the entrance
to a huge circular enclosure.
His hunch now is that the scale
of this site shows it
was far more significant
than the fort at Dunnicaer.
So I'm trying to
uncover a bit more
of this settlement this year.
So we've dug this
very large trench,
about 40 meters by 35 meters,
to uncover more elements
of the enclosure complex.
This new trench reveals
the circular enclosure was
defined by a deep outer ditch
and a defensive timber
wall or palisade.
All right, day 12 at Rhynie.
A lovely summer's day.
So we're down here
looking at the palisade
and post setting, which
defines the outer boundary
of the fort here.
So we're getting
some really quite exciting
architectural details down here,
beginning to find
evidence of actual planks
and post settings here.
And then, just over
to my right over here,
there's a whole
line of post-holes
and these seem to respect
this outer enclosure here.
So we've got big, wooden
plank-based wall on the outside
and then big posts
on the inside,
perhaps creating
a raised platform,
a raised walkway around the
edge of the fort around here.
Gordon's team has
found evidence of a huge fort.
It would have been
60 meters in diameter
and its defensive
wall was complex.
The team has found the remains
of a second wall
outside the first.
It begins to look like
Gordon's hunch has paid off.
His team may have discovered
a royal stronghold worthy
of the first kings of Scotland.
The reason this big
wooden wall is important is
because we know
that in this period
Pictish kings are closely
tied to these fortified sites
and that seems to be
one of the underpinnings
of their rulership.
And we have had
very few excavations
of this scale to actually reveal
this important
architectural detail
and, really, the scale
of the outer enclosure is
really quite staggering at
this relatively early phase
in the fifth and
sixth centuries AD.
The Pictish kings
are Britain's most
mysterious rulers
and now, Gordon's team
has pushed back the date
of the rise of their power
and discovered what
may have been one
of their primary strongholds.
But, incredibly, that's not all.
Gordon has also
discovered evidence here
to show how the
Pictish kings lived
and he's brought
it back to our lab.
So who actually lived
at a palace like this?
I mean, A king?
What kind of area
would he have covered?
Was his family there?
Would there have
been army there?
Well, first of all, I'm not
sure I'd call it a palace.
I would call it a kind
of royal complex, really.
Okay.
It's clearly, perhaps,
at certain times of the
year, people lived there.
We have buildings inside.
But, at the same time, we
don't have any evidence
for actual grinding of grain
or some of the more
everyday tasks.
I think this is more likely a
place where kings are coming
at certain times of year and
entertaining his followers.
Some of the finds revealed
that this entertaining was done
in a lavish style using
imported luxuries.
So these things
don't look like much.
They look like bits of
toffee or something.
But this is incredibly
rare pottery in Britain
and Ireland in this time period.
Where's it actually from?
We don't know exactly,
but somewhere in the
eastern Mediterranean.
And these would have
been big storage amphora
of the sixth century AD
or late fifth century.
They're probably
for storing wine
or some other exotic foodstuff.
Do you think by the time
they got to Scotland
they still had wine in?
I hope so.
I can't imagine why else
they would come so far.
So these are the
northernmost examples found
in Britain and Ireland so far
and they are coming
really far inland.
So the Pictish kings
of Rhynie are getting
a bit of a taste for the
luxuries of the Mediterranean?
That's right, yes.
It's amazing to think, really,
that Pictish high-status
people were sitting
in Rhynie drinking Mediterranean
wine in the sixth century.
It's quite a fantastic
image, really, isn't it?
There was more going on
at Rhynie than just fine dining.
The team also found signs
of a ritual offering of
cattle bones and teeth buried
in a pit right
underneath the spot
where Gordon believes Rhynie
Man himself once stood.
It's another clue to the ritual
significance of the fort.
It's not the most
defensible location.
Most forts in this
time period are
on promontories or on hills.
So this is a more
lowland location.
And what we think
we've got here is
it's using the
language of defense,
but, actually, there's
perhaps more going on here.
So the Rhynie Man, for
example, carries this ax
and it's thought to
be a sacrificial ax
for poleaxing cattle,
so we think there's probably
cult dimensions to the site
as well as being
perhaps a residence
at certain times of the year.
The team is delving
into the mysteries of the Picts
and they've revealed
what appears
to have been a very
early royal site,
two centuries older than
anyone expected to find.
Here, perhaps, was the
seat of Pictish power,
a royal court with luxuries
from the Mediterranean.
For Gordon, it's a
satisfying conclusion
to his year-long
search for the Picts.
In archeology, some
fantastic discoveries come
only after years of
painstaking research.
Others are made by chance
and often against the clock.
Before any major construction
project gets under way,
the developers must first
call in the archeologists
to survey the site
and to save any archeology
it might contain.
Commercial digs like this
often turn up surprising
and exciting finds as
our next dig diary shows,
when archeologists
uncovered evidence
of one of the most intriguing
Iron Age cultures in Britain.
November 2014, in a
small Yorkshire village,
and a team is beginning a
dig to rescue the archeology
from a site where a
housing estate is planned.
Time is tight.
The excavation needs
to be completed
so construction
can get under way.
But, within days,
it's clear there's
more to this site
than anyone had predicted
when the archeologists
begin to unearth an array
of 2,000-year-old burial
mounds, known as barrows.
Right, it's John's.
Very exciting.
Three barrows now.
John, would you mind coming to
describe your burial, please?
We've got a crouch
burial lying on its left side,
facing east, with the
head to the north.
So you've still
got quite a lot to do?
Oh yeah, well,
that's six burials
in this one barrow alone.
There's two that are just north.
There's one definite
grave in there
and then some black patches
that are still to be explored.
Tons to do.
Brilliant.
More and more
graves are unearthed,
until it's clear that the site
for the new housing estate is
actually a large
Iron Age cemetery.
And it's such an
incredibly rare find,
the developers agree to give
the archeologists more time.
We're going to start stripping
this area this afternoon,
which we hope to
see an extension
to the square barrow cemetery.
Obviously, there's
great anticipation
because we still have no
idea what's under here.
Burial.
As burial
after burial is revealed,
the team realize
that, until now,
their excavations only
scratch the surface
of this extraordinary site.
Oh, looking good.
Extremely good.
For months, the team works
against the clock
until by day 149
they have revealed a
staggering 38 square barrows.
Within the cemetery,
we have all shapes and
sizes of square barrows.
This one's a classic
representation,
eight meters by six meters
with a central grave.
We've got a much
smaller one here
but still with a central grave.
Barrow graves like these
are usually associated with
high status individuals
like this man, who has
been carefully laid out
with his shield.
Yes.
It looks absolutely fantastic.
If we are right in saying
that this is a shield,
then that's pretty special.
Yep.
And it's one for
Pete to tick off his list.
We came here eight months ago
anticipating a couple
of square barrows
but, in fact, we've actually got
an Iron Age square
barrow cemetery.
We've excavated over 60 barrows
and 101 skeletons to date.
This vast
cemetery was a chance find,
made because of a
housing development.
But who were the mysterious
Iron Age tribe buried here?
Only now can the analysis begin,
with the skeleton of a
25-year-old man buried
with an array of weapons.
He dates to the Iron Age.
He's obviously significant
within his community.
It's highly likely
that he was a warrior.
That he was afforded more ritual
than the other burials
that we are seeing.
He's a significant
member of his community.
And is this the only
sword you've got on site?
- Yes.
- Yeah.
Yeah, this is the only example.
We've got other objects
that have been found
within the barrows,
but that's the only
sword that we've got.
We've got an iron blade
with a scabbard
still adhering to it,
made of timber, and
then the horn handle.
Are these little
bits of bronze as well?
- Yes.
- Here and here?
So quite decorative
at the top, then?
It would have been
really decorative, yes.
The fine
craftsmanship hints at a sword
that once belonged to
someone of high status
and the spearheads found
beside the body offer
further insight into
the burial afforded
to this high-ranking man.
Along with the sword,
the person had been
buried with several spears
that you can see around his body
and they haven't been placed.
They're just randomly
positioned within the grave.
Do you imagine people throwing
them into the grave, then?
That's what we thought,
as part of his ritual
that they stood at
the top of the grave
and they were placing these
spears within the grave.
This cemetery is in Yorkshire
but the style of the burials,
the contents of the graves
and the design of this sword
are distinctly continental.
It's a mysterious phenomenon
known as Arras culture
and unique in Britain
to East Yorkshire.
York Museum holds an
extraordinary collection
of Arras treasures,
showing cultural
connections with France.
And they reveal that these
Iron Age people venerated
not just their warrior men
but, more remarkably,
their women.
These beads are utterly
astonishing, aren't they.
They're beautiful.
They're one of my favorites
objects in these cemeteries
and the wonderful thing
about this necklace,
which was found in a fairly
elderly woman's barrow,
we think, is that it's composed
of lots of different
types of beads.
These are eye beads
and, cross-culturally,
we know that's quite a powerful
symbol to ward off evil.
But these beads come from
a different necklace.
These are wave beads, again
from another necklace.
These eye beads have been made
in a completely different
way to these ones.
Do these perhaps suggest
that they weren't all made
at the same time specifically
to make this necklace?
No, I think they've come
from a range of
different necklaces
and perhaps, as a woman,
as you enter your more
senior years of life,
you inherit these beads through
mothers and grandmothers,
perhaps as you
come through things
like the major rites of passage
like childbirth and survive
it, which not all women did.
And this is something
that you wear
as a senior female figure
in that community that
speaks of those connections
with your maternal forebears.
So I think that's an
extraordinary object
which speaks of a biography
of your connections
and the families of
which you are a part.
And how does the Arras
culture specifically fit within
what's going on around it?
Does it fit within the rest
of the Iron Age
culture in the area?
It's peculiar because there
are very few other people
who formally bury their
dead at this time.
So the phenomenon of the
square barrow cemeteries
is really quite unique.
It has connections
with the continent.
That's where you might expect
to see that kind of barrow
and so it's possible that that
idea has been brought over
by somebody important
or powerful.
So, for all intents
and purposes,
our locals are at least first
or second generation incomers.
The discovery
of the Arras cemetery
was unexpected
and extraordinary.
It offers us tantalizing
evidence of our links
to the continent
in the Iron Age.
And to a possible mysterious
tribe of ancient immigrants
who came from Europe to settle
in the heart of Yorkshire
2,000 years ago.
From Arras to Star Carr,
archeology can reveal
how our ancestors lived
and what they thought.
While from Scottish kings
who built a new kingdom
to Dark Age Britons who
built a new way of life,
it can illuminate worlds we
never thought we could know
to reveal the ancient
people with new ideas
who laid the foundations
for our modern Britain.
Next time it's a special show.
I'm going across to Ireland
to explore its
national treasures,
to reveal the forgotten stories
that take us beyond
the romance and myth
and show how Ireland
was really made.
Britain has an epic history.
But within it there's a wealth
of untold secrets
still to uncover.
It's a really key find.
Find of the week.
So, every year,
hundreds of archeologists
set out hunting for clues
to solve the mystery
of who we are
and where we've come from.
I've just found
this amazing pendant.
Over the past year,
their discoveries have been
more exciting than ever.
This series will explore
the best of them.
I just found a coin.
Oh, marvelous.
Brought to you from the field
in a very special way.
Each excavation has been
filmed for us as it happened
by the archeologists themselves.
It looks absolutely fantastic.
I bet he had a bad day
when he never
brought these back.
Their dig diaries mean
that we can be there
for every crucial
moment of discovery.
- Oh, wow!
- Oh, wow!
Do we have a winner here?
I think it's stunning.
Incredible.
Our archeologists
will be joining us here
in our special lab to take
a closer look at their finds
and to figure out
what they really mean.
This is so exciting.
Welcome to "Digging
For Britain."
In this episode we are
exploring the discoveries
from the north of Britain
that change what we know
about this island's story.
We scramble to uncover
the earliest origins
of Scotland's first kingdoms.
I think I got it.
We are there
for the find of a lifetime
that reveals the true
extent of Viking power.
Oh, and we have a winner here!
And a new housing development
reveals the mass graveyard
of warriors whose people
may have marched from Europe
to settle in Yorkshire.
It looks absolutely fantastic.
These discoveries are
rewriting our history.
To find out how, archeologist
Matt Williams and I
have been given special
access to Yorkshire Museum.
Its collection tells
the story of the north
and the people who settled here.
The Gilling Sword.
And we're going
behind-the-scenes
to the back rooms
that ordinary visitors
just don't get to see.
You could get lost
in here for days.
Star Carr is an archeological
site of world importance.
Excavations began here in 1948
and have revealed a Stone Age
settlement 11,000 years old.
The whole site
covers five acres.
Discoveries at Star
Carr include the remains
of Britain's oldest house,
ancient tools and the
earliest carpentry in Europe.
Finds like these have shown
how our Stone Age
ancestors lived.
"Digging For Britain" first
visited the site in 2011,
when I discovered
that the team's work
had become a race against time.
The soil at Star Carr
was becoming acidic
and destroying the evidence.
So that's some antler from
the original excavation site,
That's right, yeah.
So when would
that been excavated?
This antler has been preserved
in almost perfect condition
but the items being pulled
from the ground 60 years later
have deteriorated drastically.
It's like a piece of rubber.
It's basically because
the water table
has fallen dramatically.
That's let oxygen
into the deposits
and that's created
a chemical reaction.
We've been told
by our specialist
it's a bit like
car battery acid.
It is shocking to see how
the acid is attacking Star Carr
and it shows just how
urgent the work carried out
by Nicky and her team really is.
But now they are finally
running out of time
as six decades of research
at Star Carr come to an end.
They are hoping to
solve one last mystery
and reveal the true
significance of this site
to our Stone Age ancestors.
Was Star Carr just a settlement
or do the clues show that
it was something much more?
This is their dig diary.
From day one, it was clear
that the soil had
become even more acidic.
It's actually very fragile.
This is one of the
problems that we have,
and this bit is actually
turning to jelly.
The chances of finding
any well-preserved
artifacts seem slim.
Then, a couple of weeks in,
the archeologists
dug another trench
where, remarkably, the soil
conditions were very different
and the preservation
outstanding.
Just cleaning off
this area behind me
and it's incredibly exciting.
Here we've got an
absolutely jam-packed area
of bone and flint and wood
that we've not seen
anywhere else on the site.
And in the rest of the trenches,
we've had a real problem.
We've had very acid conditions
which has meant that the bone
and antler have disappeared.
So this is a really
amazing insight
into what people were doing
on the edge of the lake here.
People are placing bone and
antler and wood in this area.
But why would people have been
deliberately placing these
materials here 11,000 years ago?
A few days later,
another remarkable
discovery could be a clue.
It's a deer.
It is a deer, yeah.
It's a cluster of deer skulls.
It's a really amazing example.
There are lots from this site,
but this one is very robust.
You can see the antlers here
coming off the main skull
and it's also in association
with a couple of
roe deer skulls,
one here, and one here,
so we're just cleaning
it up some more
and then we'll be
lifting it very carefully
and taking it to the
conservation labs.
117 to 103.
This discovery is new evidence
to support a growing theory
that explains the wealth of
deer skulls at Star Carr.
These have been made into
headdresses from red deer skulls
and we think that they were
possibly used by shamans
wearing them on their heads
as part of ritual practices.
It's just amazing to
think 11,000 years ago
someone might have had one
of these on their heads.
In the final few days,
even more of these partial
deer skulls are uncovered.
But can they really
be ritual headdresses?
I'm in the vaults of York Museum
to see the evidence for myself.
Can we open it up
- We can.
- And have a look?
It's like Christmas.
So this is the latest one?
So it is just the top of
the skull essentially.
We've lost all of the nose
and the upper jaw down here.
We have.
So it is just
this uppermost part
with the antlers attached.
And that's one
of the first clues
that tells us that this
probably isn't just a piece
of deer skull that's
been found in the ground.
It's been worked by human
hands for a particular purpose.
If this is a deer in
its prime, a large deer,
it would have very big antlers
and they've been trimmed back
and what that does is
effectively makes this a lot lighter.
An almost cap-type shape
if you think of a
hollowed out skull.
It's almost a cap-type
shape going on there.
So one of the other
features that we see
and we certainly see
on other frontlets
that have been found
are these piercings,
these circular piercings that
you see through the skull.
Now these piercings
could be for sinew
or for cord to pass through.
It suggests that this
might be something
that's been worked by human
hands to be worn on the head.
And it's really
important, as well,
that this isn't a unique object,
that it's one of many that
have been found at Star Carr.
Just over 20 similar objects
have been found at Star Carr,
so this is not a one-off
and they all seem to be
treated in the same way.
So perhaps it's a group of
objects that are being used
for very specific purpose and
made in a very specific way.
The archeologists
think it's likely
that these skulls really were
worn as ritual headdresses.
Together with the wealth
of votive offerings
of antler and bone,
the finds suggest
that Star Carr was more
than just a settlement.
Back at the dig on day 40, the
team makes another remarkable
and exceptionally rare discovery
which also hints at the ritual
significance of Star Carr.
We have actually just
found this amazing pendant
which actually
has artwork on it.
It's so rare to find
something like this.
There's only a few pieces
of artwork from this country
and very few from
the whole of Europe.
It's very classic Mesolithic.
It has geometric lines on it.
An 11,000-year-old pendant,
piles of bone and antler.
Nicky believes that
this could be evidence
that Star Carr held
sacred significance.
And we are really
beginning to think
that these things
weren't just lost.
They were perhaps some
kind of votive offerings
that were placed in
this particular spot.
A piece of Mesolithic artwork
is an extraordinary
find anywhere in Europe.
I can't wait to hear
what this one can tell
us about Star Carr.
This is so exciting.
When I heard that
you had found this,
I didn't quite believe
it, Nicky, I must say.
You must have been thrilled
to find that on your site?
The more we've looked at it
and the more we've analyzed it,
the more excited we're
getting about it, really,
because Mesolithic art
is incredibly rare,
particularly for this country,
and so to find something like
this is really spectacular.
I can certainly see
quite a bit of detail here
but also you've got this
enlarged image of it,
which really brings
it out, doesn't it?
You've got these longer
incised grooves on it
but lots of little
tiny grooves as well.
An awful lot of detail here.
One interpretation I
quite like at the moment
is that we might
have a tree on here,
so that's the trunk and these
are the branches coming off it
and I think I'm
interested in that
because again, for shamans,
sometimes trees can be holy,
they link different
parts of the spirit world
and so possibly there's
something like that to it.
The interpretation of
pendants in Denmark,
where they are
usually made of amber,
is that they might be amulets
and so they are protecting
the person who wears them.
So, over the six decade or so
that excavations have been
going on at Star Carr,
what has that added
to our knowledge
of the Mesolithic in Britain?
Because we've opened
up such a large area,
we have a much
better understanding
of how people were living there.
We have houses, huts
on the dry land.
We have great big platforms
made out of timbers
on the lake edge
with all these bones and
headdresses and so on around them.
And we think that
this actually might be
quite a special place
in the landscape.
It's the mouth of the lake.
And when people
were coming upriver,
it's the first place they come
to as they reach the lake,
so perhaps it's kind
of like an entranceway
where certain interesting ritual
and activities are happening.
The modified deer
skulls votive offerings
and now this
exceptionally rare piece
of Stone Age art provide us
with extraordinary insights
into life in Britain
11,000 years ago.
The clues from Star Carr tell us
not only about survival
on a day-to-day basis,
but allow us a precious glimpse
into the spiritual and artistic
aspects of Mesolithic life.
The amazing discoveries
at Star Carr
are the work of
dedicated professionals.
But sometimes, we have
to thank the devotion,
enthusiasm and luck
of a band of amateurs.
Metal detectorists
are a special breed,
spending hours scouring
the countryside
and beaches looking
for treasure.
And, very, very
occasionally they find some.
Now, a hoard of treasure
buried in the ground
away from human settlement or
other signs of human activity
on its own can only offer
us limited information.
But sometimes the objects
themselves tell a story,
as with this Viking hoard.
Dumfries in the
west of Scotland,
where a keen metal
detectorist invested months
of his own time researching
one particular field.
What Derek McLennan found was
the discovery of his lifetime
that reveals the wide
connections of the Vikings.
It's harvest time so there
were bales of hay in the field
and I began going up and down
towards one particular bale
and then I decided to change
tack and moved to another bale.
I got a signal which
was very faint,
but it sounded like
iron and I thought,
"Well, I've already dug 30 nails
"so one more nail
won't harm me."
And I put the spade into the
ground and dug out the clod
and noticed something
glinting in the hole.
Put my hand into it.
It was quite deep, and
when I pulled it out,
I saw it was silver.
I rubbed my thumb across it
and instantly seen
the saltire design
which I knew from my
research was a Viking symbol.
Derek realized
the importance of his find
so he immediately called
the local authorities.
They sent an archeologist
to help with the excavation.
What they uncovered together
was truly astounding.
A hoard of Viking arm
rings and gold ingots.
But there was more.
Oh, wow!
A large Christian cross.
We have a winner here!
Its stunning
decorations revealed
for the first time
in 1,000 years.
At that moment,
my senses erupted
and the excitement and joy
of what I discovered
really hit me.
But there was
even more treasure to come,
including this beautiful pot
still wrapped in
protective fabric.
The Viking hoard
of the decade, I think.
The Vikings were pagan invaders
who came from Scandinavia
to raid Britain and to set up
their own kingdoms
here in 793 AD.
This find could
reveal new insights
into this turbulent
chapter in British history.
So it's been handed to a team
from Historic
Scotland for analysis.
When they lifted
the lid of the pot,
even more treasure
was packed inside.
To find out what,
the team turns to modern
scanning technology.
That's got quite a density.
Yeah, and then there's
a layer of dense material
right down at the bottom here.
You can see it's
got a lattice on it.
Yeah.
I'll just see if
we can rack through,
we'll look at some
of the other objects.
The scans reveal rings, brooches
and other pieces of fine
jewelry packed inside the pot.
Excavating and conserving
them has taken months.
Now, almost a year after making
his remarkable discovery,
Derek has come to view
the treasures for himself.
It's hard to put into words.
I'm absolutely stunned by
the amount of artifacts
that came out of the pot
and textiles and everything
being so carefully
wrapped and packed.
It shows that, even
1,200 years ago,
these objects were very
coveted and cared for.
This hoard is full
of riches and mystery.
It brings the Viking world alive
and shows that there was more
to these legendary
warriors than just raiding.
Richard, I think the
appropriate response is "Wow!"
This is astonishing.
What a beautiful collection.
It's pretty remarkable
stuff, isn't it?
It is.
It's wonderful to
see it all laid out like this.
One particular
treasure has been fashioned
from a silver coin
which gives a clue
to the date and
origins of the hoard.
There's the word Rex.
Yes.
And, if you come
back around here,
you can see start
with C-O-E-N-W-U-L F.
Coenwulf.
- Coenwulf.
- Rex.
Coenwulf was the Viking king
of Murcia in the Midlands.
He ruled from 796 to 821 AD,
leading experts to believe
that this is when
the hoard dates from.
A period when Viking raids
on Britain were intensifying.
So do you think this
is Viking plunder
that's been gathered together
and buried in the ground?
You can't help but
start to speculate
that this is some form
of Viking raiding booty.
Why would someone who
was a devout Christian
bury things like
that wonderful cross?
This cross is
- Well, yes.
- Gorgeous.
This is exceptional.
The beautiful, wonderful
simple form of the Celtic cross
with what we think
are the four apostles,
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Isn't that wonderful?
Can you see the Saint's head?
Yes, I can see the halo.
Well, that's straight out
of The New Book of Kells
Manuscript, isn't it?
It is, it is, it's wonderful.
And the cross is straight out
of the wonderful St John's
Cross on Iona, for example.
It's quite something.
This cross is typical
of the treasures
plundered by Vikings
from Christian monasteries
across Britain and Europe.
But further clues in the hoard
show that the Vikings weren't
only interested in raiding.
They were motivated
by commerce as well.
This is beautiful, this pot.
At the top of this here
are eight glass beads
of various shapes and forms.
Some of them held in clasps
with metal or silver fixings.
But there seems to
be a variety of objects
and of different styles
coming from different places,
coming from France, Anglo-Saxon
styles and Viking styles.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What's this object
in here, then, Richard?
We think that what
you see between the gold
is a glass vessel
of some description.
Sitting within a very
fine leather pouch,
with this extraordinary
sumptuous silk,
a Semite silk from the Far
East, or the Middle East,
It's something very precious
and very special
wrapped in something
which was very, very exotic.
Eastern treasures
like this remind us
that there was more to the
Vikings than simple raiding.
By the 11th century,
the Vikings' vast trading
network stretched across Europe,
beyond Constantinople,
all the way to Baghdad.
They were a trading superpower
which engaged with cultures
right across the known world.
But the Vikings weren't
the first foreign power
to colonize Britain.
The Romans began their conquest
centuries earlier in 43 AD.
The story of Rome's
400-year rule is well known.
But what happened here
after the Roman Empire
fell is still a mystery.
The end of Roman rule in
Britain saw us plunged
into the Dark Ages,
several obscure centuries
for which there is
little written record
and, actually, finding
archeological evidence
from this period of
time is relatively rare.
But a team of
archeologists is hoping
to strike it lucky
with a new dig
at an abandoned Roman
military fort near Lancaster.
This is the famous Roman
fort of Ribchester,
where a team is digging
for evidence to explain
what happened in Britain
after the Roman Empire fell,
and to reveal if we really did
slip into centuries of chaos,
often thought of
as the Dark Ages.
They start by excavating
the Roman road
running through the fort
and get their first
intriguing clue.
We've just cleaned off
this Roman road surface
and we've just discovered
that it's been robbed.
It's really interesting.
The road appears
to have been dismantled
after the Roman occupation,
with the heaviest
stones taken away.
There's a really nice insight
into the operations of the fort,
pretty much after
the Romans have left
because they are destroying
the infrastructure
of it to build buildings
and taking that material
away somewhere else.
So what were these
Dark Age Britons building
with this stone, and where?
The team thinks they've
found the first clues
at the other end of the fort.
The beginning of week three
and we have large bits of tile
and that more intense
orange is the hearth
and that orange
burning element there
suggests we've got
workshop activities
taking place within
that building.
The burnt orange earth suggests
that this was the
site of a fire built
after the Roman
administration had collapsed.
But this fire does seem to
be on an industrial scale,
making it possible
evidence of manufacturing.
And further excavation reveals
what they may have been making.
That's fantastic.
That's a fantastic
piece of evidence,
a really nice thing there.
That is really good evidence
that the manufacturing
here involved glass.
There's a little bit
of a run off of glass,
probably from recycling old
vessels and stuff like that.
It's a really key find.
Finder of the week.
Thank you very much.
We sometimes
think of Dark Age Britain
as extremely backward,
but with this glass and the
signs of an industrial fire,
this dig could be revealing
something very different.
Britons converting an old
Roman fort into workshops.
It's new evidence for
an area of enterprise
and further finds
offer more clues
to this new British
post-Roman economy.
I've just found a coin.
Oh, marvelous.
It's a tiny third
or fourth century Roman coin.
Marvelous, there we go.
The team finds
over 20 more coins,
all from around the
same workshop building.
Now Duncan has brought these
and his other
finds into our lab.
We're hoping that
they can tell us
how this fort was used
after Roman rule collapsed
and shine a light on the truth
about Britain in the Dark Ages.
Okay, so we found 22 coins
when we excavated there
in those very,
very top surfaces.
And so I think this
is the very, very end
of the Roman use of the fort.
Can we look at
some of these coins?
- Yeah, absolutely.
- I'll bring this over
so that we can see them
a bit more clearly.
The head on that side
is hardly visible, isn't it?
It's almost smooth.
Hardly visible, exactly.
We're looking at a lot of wear
and use that's going on as well.
But this is a Roman coin.
- It's a Roman coin.
- Who is the Emperor
- on that, then?
- Yeah.
Valentinian is the
Emperor on that one.
It's minted between 364 and 378.
But Duncan believes
that these coins were deposited
perhaps two centuries later.
They are very heavily worn,
suggesting that they
may have been used
long after Roman rule
in Britain ended in 410.
And I think, given
that we've got all that wear,
these coins were
probably in circulation
for quite a long time.
Certainly after you
see the collapse
of Roman administration, really.
Coins and pottery are no longer
created in the same volumes
or at all as they
were previously
but the people who
live in these forts,
and in these Roman
landscape places,
almost certainly remain there
so they continue to use
quite a lot of this
material and culture.
And certainly, I think we
shouldn't be seeing this
as an absolute cut-off point.
We shouldn't be saying,
"410 AD, the Romans left."
What is happening is part
of a continuous decline,
or chance formation is a better
way of thinking about it,
into something
completely different.
Without military
rule, post-Roman society
in Britain would undoubtedly
have been more dangerous.
But this new evidence suggests
that it may have been more
sophisticated than we thought.
So the person who dropped
this coin here, for example,
what was he doing in the fort?
What we are seeing
there is a whole series
of different
manufacturing activities,
so we've got the glass
that you can see there,
we've got the weights,
we've got coins for
trade and exchange.
We think we've got tanning pits
and we think we've got evidence
of iron-making as well.
But wouldn't you have
expected those things
to be present in a
Roman fort as well?
Not necessarily, no.
By the time you get
into the fourth century,
it becomes quite a
dangerous place to be.
If you're moving
large numbers of goods
and valuable things across
the north of Britain,
you're probably
going to be attacked.
There's probably lots
of brigands around,
that sort of stuff.
So I suspect, as we start
to see the breakdown
of that administration of the
safety networks that exist,
then you see that manufacturing
to support the fort is
starting to take place
within it itself.
These finds show
that we are wrong
to think of the Dark Ages
as a period of utter chaos
and decline in Britain.
Archeology suggests
that this was, in fact,
a new age of resourcefulness,
when Britons began their
own trades and industries,
and built a new society.
While England was being
rebuilt after the Romans,
in Scotland it was
a different story.
Here, the earliest line of
Scottish kings was reaching
the height of their power.
But today the full story
of these northern rulers
remains shrouded in mystery.
The Picts were the ancient
people of Scotland,
depicted by history as
fearsome, painted warriors
feared even by the Romans.
While southern Britain fell
to the armies from Rome,
here in the North, the Picts
were largely unconquered.
They continued to
rule across Scotland
and into northern England
right up until the 10th century
but their story is little-known.
Hard evidence of the Picts
and their kingdom has
been hard to find.
Now, though, a team of
archeologists thinks
they might just pinpointed
the seat of Pictish power.
Here's their dig diary.
Some of the very few clues
the Picts left behind
are giant symbol stones.
The most famous is
the six-foot-tall
terrifying-looking Rhynie Man.
These stones seem to be
linked with Pictish royalty.
Archeologist Gordon Noble
has spent his entire career
searching for
evidence of the Picts
and he's now digging at a site
in the east of
Scotland where some
of their mysterious symbol
stones have been found.
He's hoping to unearth the seat
of forgotten Pictish kings.
Right, here we are at Dunnicaer.
This is the site where,
in the 19th century,
six Pictish symbol
stones were found
on top of the sea stack here.
Only a few people have visited
the site in the 20th century
and didn't really
note much on top
but already, yesterday
was our first ascent,
which was quite precarious
and slightly scary.
We found remains on top.
It's a promising find.
But to fully investigate it,
they will have to make the
dangerous climb all over again.
The stack is 60 feet tall,
surrounded by jagged rocks
and the chilly north Atlantic.
A strong defensive position
for a Pictish warrior tribe
but not the easiest commute
for a team of archeologists.
However, if they have
found a Pictish fort,
it will all have been worth it.
Right, so we're on top
of the sea stack now,
where the symbol
stones were found.
We're at the lower portion
of what we think is
the fortified site.
Following the trail
of the symbol stones
pays off immediately.
The very first trial trench
reveals an area of flat stones,
possibly a hearth.
It looks like evidence of
actual occupation activities
actually on top of
the promontory here,
so that's quite exciting.
We've got lots of charcoal
with fragments of animal bone,
so hopefully this is
giving good evidence
of how people were using
the promontory in the past.
It's a promising start
and another trench
provides evidence
that this site may, in fact,
have been a dwelling
or even a fortress.
= Okay, so we're in test
pit five at the moment.
So we've just opened this up
and we've found a
series of post-holes.
We've got one that's
been fully excavated out
and then we've uncovered
another four over here in a row.
You'll see them over here.
And there's another
possible one, half of one,
sitting over in the corner here,
so this might be
part of the building,
we don't quite know yet.
But we're taking
samples from that one
so we'll wait and see what
we've got for the rest.
A line of post-holes
suggests a wooden wall.
And, by day four, the team
has uncovered hard evidence
of a substantial fortification.
So we've got some quite
exciting results here.
We've got remains of big slots
here used for timber beams
and this one here projects
all the way from the
edge of the cliff
up to this feature here,
which is a giant, very
large post-hole, here.
So it looks like we've got
both upright timber elements
and horizontal timber elements
creating this big wall,
enclosing the sea stack here.
So that's quite exciting
and great detail, really,
on the construction methods
for this rampart here.
The team have found
compelling evidence
that this was once
a fortified site
but, to be sure that it
belonged to the Picts,
they'll have to radiocarbon
date their finds.
That rock stack looked
really difficult to access.
Presumably it would
have been connected
to the mainland by a more
significant causeway, perhaps?
We think so.
We think it was probably a
promontory in the Pictish period,
which makes a lot of sense.
You wouldn't want to build
a fort on top of the
stack today, certainly.
The dating came back
with some staggering results.
This sea fort does date
to the time of the Picts,
but, incredibly, it's 200 years
older than anyone expected.
What's quite interesting,
the dates for most
Pictish forts fall
into the fifth and
sixth centuries AD,
when they really seem
to reach their height
of construction and use.
But this example here,
we just got the
radiocarbon dates back
and it's actually third
and fourth centuries AD,
which is really interesting,
so it's the earliest
example that we have so far.
What's more,
they think that this
fort was just one
of a string of coastal
defenses built by the Picts
to defend their territory.
We know that these
defending closures
were deeply implicated
in kingship,
so we perhaps have the
first glimmers, really,
of that process where
we get the emergence
of these early kingdoms
in northern Britain.
So if this is the emergence
of early Pictish kingdoms,
what's that growing out of?
Smaller scale societies
in the Iron Age, certainly,
or certainly a shift towards
more lineage-based models
where we are getting certain
individuals styling themselves
as kings and really
underlining their power
by building these forts.
So they're growing
into bigger political
units, effectively?
Really, this
period is the birth,
or the first evidence for these,
essentially what become
the early Medieval states
of northern Europe emerging,
so it's a really, really
important time period.
The discovery
of Britain's earliest
Pictish fort is huge
but it is not the seat of royal
power Gordon was hoping for,
so he's starting a new
dig at Rhynie itself,
whose place name comes from
the Celtic word for king.
This was where
Rhynie Man once stood
and the site is still marked
by other mysterious
symbol stones.
These symbol stones date
to the fifth and
sixth centuries AD
and we have this contemporary
complex of monuments,
enclosures around about
the standing stone here.
The standing stone here,
the cross theme, which
hopefully you can see,
there's a salmon here and
a Pictish beast, as well.
Big, long legs here
and the snout here
and this little mane
on the top here.
The symbol
stone marks the entrance
to a huge circular enclosure.
His hunch now is that the scale
of this site shows it
was far more significant
than the fort at Dunnicaer.
So I'm trying to
uncover a bit more
of this settlement this year.
So we've dug this
very large trench,
about 40 meters by 35 meters,
to uncover more elements
of the enclosure complex.
This new trench reveals
the circular enclosure was
defined by a deep outer ditch
and a defensive timber
wall or palisade.
All right, day 12 at Rhynie.
A lovely summer's day.
So we're down here
looking at the palisade
and post setting, which
defines the outer boundary
of the fort here.
So we're getting
some really quite exciting
architectural details down here,
beginning to find
evidence of actual planks
and post settings here.
And then, just over
to my right over here,
there's a whole
line of post-holes
and these seem to respect
this outer enclosure here.
So we've got big, wooden
plank-based wall on the outside
and then big posts
on the inside,
perhaps creating
a raised platform,
a raised walkway around the
edge of the fort around here.
Gordon's team has
found evidence of a huge fort.
It would have been
60 meters in diameter
and its defensive
wall was complex.
The team has found the remains
of a second wall
outside the first.
It begins to look like
Gordon's hunch has paid off.
His team may have discovered
a royal stronghold worthy
of the first kings of Scotland.
The reason this big
wooden wall is important is
because we know
that in this period
Pictish kings are closely
tied to these fortified sites
and that seems to be
one of the underpinnings
of their rulership.
And we have had
very few excavations
of this scale to actually reveal
this important
architectural detail
and, really, the scale
of the outer enclosure is
really quite staggering at
this relatively early phase
in the fifth and
sixth centuries AD.
The Pictish kings
are Britain's most
mysterious rulers
and now, Gordon's team
has pushed back the date
of the rise of their power
and discovered what
may have been one
of their primary strongholds.
But, incredibly, that's not all.
Gordon has also
discovered evidence here
to show how the
Pictish kings lived
and he's brought
it back to our lab.
So who actually lived
at a palace like this?
I mean, A king?
What kind of area
would he have covered?
Was his family there?
Would there have
been army there?
Well, first of all, I'm not
sure I'd call it a palace.
I would call it a kind
of royal complex, really.
Okay.
It's clearly, perhaps,
at certain times of the
year, people lived there.
We have buildings inside.
But, at the same time, we
don't have any evidence
for actual grinding of grain
or some of the more
everyday tasks.
I think this is more likely a
place where kings are coming
at certain times of year and
entertaining his followers.
Some of the finds revealed
that this entertaining was done
in a lavish style using
imported luxuries.
So these things
don't look like much.
They look like bits of
toffee or something.
But this is incredibly
rare pottery in Britain
and Ireland in this time period.
Where's it actually from?
We don't know exactly,
but somewhere in the
eastern Mediterranean.
And these would have
been big storage amphora
of the sixth century AD
or late fifth century.
They're probably
for storing wine
or some other exotic foodstuff.
Do you think by the time
they got to Scotland
they still had wine in?
I hope so.
I can't imagine why else
they would come so far.
So these are the
northernmost examples found
in Britain and Ireland so far
and they are coming
really far inland.
So the Pictish kings
of Rhynie are getting
a bit of a taste for the
luxuries of the Mediterranean?
That's right, yes.
It's amazing to think, really,
that Pictish high-status
people were sitting
in Rhynie drinking Mediterranean
wine in the sixth century.
It's quite a fantastic
image, really, isn't it?
There was more going on
at Rhynie than just fine dining.
The team also found signs
of a ritual offering of
cattle bones and teeth buried
in a pit right
underneath the spot
where Gordon believes Rhynie
Man himself once stood.
It's another clue to the ritual
significance of the fort.
It's not the most
defensible location.
Most forts in this
time period are
on promontories or on hills.
So this is a more
lowland location.
And what we think
we've got here is
it's using the
language of defense,
but, actually, there's
perhaps more going on here.
So the Rhynie Man, for
example, carries this ax
and it's thought to
be a sacrificial ax
for poleaxing cattle,
so we think there's probably
cult dimensions to the site
as well as being
perhaps a residence
at certain times of the year.
The team is delving
into the mysteries of the Picts
and they've revealed
what appears
to have been a very
early royal site,
two centuries older than
anyone expected to find.
Here, perhaps, was the
seat of Pictish power,
a royal court with luxuries
from the Mediterranean.
For Gordon, it's a
satisfying conclusion
to his year-long
search for the Picts.
In archeology, some
fantastic discoveries come
only after years of
painstaking research.
Others are made by chance
and often against the clock.
Before any major construction
project gets under way,
the developers must first
call in the archeologists
to survey the site
and to save any archeology
it might contain.
Commercial digs like this
often turn up surprising
and exciting finds as
our next dig diary shows,
when archeologists
uncovered evidence
of one of the most intriguing
Iron Age cultures in Britain.
November 2014, in a
small Yorkshire village,
and a team is beginning a
dig to rescue the archeology
from a site where a
housing estate is planned.
Time is tight.
The excavation needs
to be completed
so construction
can get under way.
But, within days,
it's clear there's
more to this site
than anyone had predicted
when the archeologists
begin to unearth an array
of 2,000-year-old burial
mounds, known as barrows.
Right, it's John's.
Very exciting.
Three barrows now.
John, would you mind coming to
describe your burial, please?
We've got a crouch
burial lying on its left side,
facing east, with the
head to the north.
So you've still
got quite a lot to do?
Oh yeah, well,
that's six burials
in this one barrow alone.
There's two that are just north.
There's one definite
grave in there
and then some black patches
that are still to be explored.
Tons to do.
Brilliant.
More and more
graves are unearthed,
until it's clear that the site
for the new housing estate is
actually a large
Iron Age cemetery.
And it's such an
incredibly rare find,
the developers agree to give
the archeologists more time.
We're going to start stripping
this area this afternoon,
which we hope to
see an extension
to the square barrow cemetery.
Obviously, there's
great anticipation
because we still have no
idea what's under here.
Burial.
As burial
after burial is revealed,
the team realize
that, until now,
their excavations only
scratch the surface
of this extraordinary site.
Oh, looking good.
Extremely good.
For months, the team works
against the clock
until by day 149
they have revealed a
staggering 38 square barrows.
Within the cemetery,
we have all shapes and
sizes of square barrows.
This one's a classic
representation,
eight meters by six meters
with a central grave.
We've got a much
smaller one here
but still with a central grave.
Barrow graves like these
are usually associated with
high status individuals
like this man, who has
been carefully laid out
with his shield.
Yes.
It looks absolutely fantastic.
If we are right in saying
that this is a shield,
then that's pretty special.
Yep.
And it's one for
Pete to tick off his list.
We came here eight months ago
anticipating a couple
of square barrows
but, in fact, we've actually got
an Iron Age square
barrow cemetery.
We've excavated over 60 barrows
and 101 skeletons to date.
This vast
cemetery was a chance find,
made because of a
housing development.
But who were the mysterious
Iron Age tribe buried here?
Only now can the analysis begin,
with the skeleton of a
25-year-old man buried
with an array of weapons.
He dates to the Iron Age.
He's obviously significant
within his community.
It's highly likely
that he was a warrior.
That he was afforded more ritual
than the other burials
that we are seeing.
He's a significant
member of his community.
And is this the only
sword you've got on site?
- Yes.
- Yeah.
Yeah, this is the only example.
We've got other objects
that have been found
within the barrows,
but that's the only
sword that we've got.
We've got an iron blade
with a scabbard
still adhering to it,
made of timber, and
then the horn handle.
Are these little
bits of bronze as well?
- Yes.
- Here and here?
So quite decorative
at the top, then?
It would have been
really decorative, yes.
The fine
craftsmanship hints at a sword
that once belonged to
someone of high status
and the spearheads found
beside the body offer
further insight into
the burial afforded
to this high-ranking man.
Along with the sword,
the person had been
buried with several spears
that you can see around his body
and they haven't been placed.
They're just randomly
positioned within the grave.
Do you imagine people throwing
them into the grave, then?
That's what we thought,
as part of his ritual
that they stood at
the top of the grave
and they were placing these
spears within the grave.
This cemetery is in Yorkshire
but the style of the burials,
the contents of the graves
and the design of this sword
are distinctly continental.
It's a mysterious phenomenon
known as Arras culture
and unique in Britain
to East Yorkshire.
York Museum holds an
extraordinary collection
of Arras treasures,
showing cultural
connections with France.
And they reveal that these
Iron Age people venerated
not just their warrior men
but, more remarkably,
their women.
These beads are utterly
astonishing, aren't they.
They're beautiful.
They're one of my favorites
objects in these cemeteries
and the wonderful thing
about this necklace,
which was found in a fairly
elderly woman's barrow,
we think, is that it's composed
of lots of different
types of beads.
These are eye beads
and, cross-culturally,
we know that's quite a powerful
symbol to ward off evil.
But these beads come from
a different necklace.
These are wave beads, again
from another necklace.
These eye beads have been made
in a completely different
way to these ones.
Do these perhaps suggest
that they weren't all made
at the same time specifically
to make this necklace?
No, I think they've come
from a range of
different necklaces
and perhaps, as a woman,
as you enter your more
senior years of life,
you inherit these beads through
mothers and grandmothers,
perhaps as you
come through things
like the major rites of passage
like childbirth and survive
it, which not all women did.
And this is something
that you wear
as a senior female figure
in that community that
speaks of those connections
with your maternal forebears.
So I think that's an
extraordinary object
which speaks of a biography
of your connections
and the families of
which you are a part.
And how does the Arras
culture specifically fit within
what's going on around it?
Does it fit within the rest
of the Iron Age
culture in the area?
It's peculiar because there
are very few other people
who formally bury their
dead at this time.
So the phenomenon of the
square barrow cemeteries
is really quite unique.
It has connections
with the continent.
That's where you might expect
to see that kind of barrow
and so it's possible that that
idea has been brought over
by somebody important
or powerful.
So, for all intents
and purposes,
our locals are at least first
or second generation incomers.
The discovery
of the Arras cemetery
was unexpected
and extraordinary.
It offers us tantalizing
evidence of our links
to the continent
in the Iron Age.
And to a possible mysterious
tribe of ancient immigrants
who came from Europe to settle
in the heart of Yorkshire
2,000 years ago.
From Arras to Star Carr,
archeology can reveal
how our ancestors lived
and what they thought.
While from Scottish kings
who built a new kingdom
to Dark Age Britons who
built a new way of life,
it can illuminate worlds we
never thought we could know
to reveal the ancient
people with new ideas
who laid the foundations
for our modern Britain.
Next time it's a special show.
I'm going across to Ireland
to explore its
national treasures,
to reveal the forgotten stories
that take us beyond
the romance and myth
and show how Ireland
was really made.