- 5 hours ago
- #realitytvdeep
#RealityTVDeep
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I'm here at Cambridge University with dreams of becoming a great archaeologist.
00:06With a degree in archaeology and anthropology in hand, my career path seemed set.
00:12Some of you may realise I got a little sidetracked, but I have never lost my passion for the secrets and treasures which lie buried beneath our feet.
00:21So now, some years later, I'm dusting off my trowel and embarking on an epic archaeological adventure across Britain.
00:33Do you know what the Latin for hangover is?
00:36What?
00:36Crapula.
00:38I'll be joined by my friend and expert in the field, Raksha Dave.
00:42I'm so, so happy for you.
00:44Together, we'll work alongside the teams of experts and volunteers at some of the nation's most fascinating dig sites.
00:52Raksha, look at this. It's like the moon.
00:55Welcome to the Iron Age.
00:56Oh, I've got a shiver. I've got a proper shiver.
00:59On a mission to reveal hidden wonders that could rewrite our history.
01:04Oh, look. Oh, my God.
01:06Hey, look at this.
01:07This week, we're in Northumberland to uncover the secrets of life in Roman Britain.
01:16Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:18As we join the first modern dig inside the ancient walls of Magna Fort.
01:24What have we got?
01:25What is it?
01:26I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack.
01:30To unearth 2,000 years of history.
01:33No way, Romulus and Remus.
01:35That is iconic.
01:36Beside an incredible feat of early engineering.
01:40Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
01:42It's blowing my mind.
01:43I could sit on the loo and look at Hadrian's wall.
01:46Oh, look.
01:47Ho, ho, ho, ho.
01:48I'm king of the world.
01:50Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
02:00Look at the vista from here.
02:03Oh, what about that?
02:05Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
02:07I mean, that is so perfect.
02:11The straight Roman road.
02:13Some of the finest countryside in the whole of Britain.
02:18You know how exciting.
02:19I'm like a child.
02:20What have you got to store for me today?
02:21Come on.
02:21What's going to happen?
02:22I mean, we're driving on this road.
02:23This could be a little bit of a clue.
02:26Straight Roman.
02:28Yep.
02:29Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
02:30Quite near Hadrian's wall.
02:32We are going to a fort alongside Hadrian's wall that has never been properly excavated before.
02:39And it's called Magna Fort.
02:41OK, I'm just going to give you a quick confession.
02:44Never seen Hadrian's wall in my life.
02:46What?
02:47I know.
02:47There's 73 miles of this thing.
02:50I've read about it.
02:51I know a bit about the history.
02:52But I've never seen it.
02:54And to think I'm about to dig beside it.
02:59We're driving to Greenhead in Northumberland, back to the time of Roman occupation in Britain.
03:04We have exclusive access to a brand new dig at the site of Magna Fort, halfway along Hadrian's wall, which runs from the Solway Firth in the west to Wall's End in the east.
03:17This symbol of power and control, ordered by Emperor Hadrian himself in AD 122, took six years to construct at the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire.
03:29Only 5% of Hadrian's wall has been excavated.
03:33Oh, my goodness.
03:34And the fort's alongside it, because it's a scheduled ancient monument.
03:38So, the protections around Hadrian's wall are quite tight, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get hands-on.
03:47I mean, you're just the gift that keeps on giving.
03:49Well, I'd like to surprise you.
03:51It's working.
03:52The girls are back in town.
03:55Whee!
03:59Oh, you can really, you can see from up here when your enemy are coming, couldn't you?
04:03I know, you really can.
04:04It's a great vantage point.
04:05Wow, that is staggeringly beautiful.
04:11Look at this!
04:16Magnafort predates Hadrian's wall and would have commanded this landscape for over 300 years.
04:22Built and rebuilt multiple times, at its peak, it was approximately as long as a football pitch and almost as wide again,
04:30garrisoning over 500 soldiers and their commanders.
04:33We're going to be excavating a 27 by 14 metre area in the southwest corner, hoping to find evidence of all the soldiers, their families and the slaves that would have lived in the fort.
04:45Welcome to the edge of the Roman frontier.
04:49Oh, my God.
04:49I'm so excited.
04:50Honestly, my heart's pounding.
04:53OK, so what I think is, what I've understood about archaeology, you need a bit of luck as well, don't you?
04:58I think that's what we need to do.
04:58We need to find something amazing.
05:00Well, may the gods smile down upon you.
05:02Mind you, I would have brought you a good luck charm as well.
05:05What would that have been for the Romans?
05:07Phallus.
05:09It's twice the very thing that's been missing in my life.
05:13So I'm glad you didn't give that to me because I'm already a little bit worried about being blonde.
05:16Oh, why?
05:17Well, so the Romans were mostly dark-haired and the barbarian, the Gauls, were blonde.
05:22So prostitution, totally fine, but you had to legally dye your hair blonde.
05:27So I think already I look a bit available.
05:29Lady of the nightish.
05:30Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
05:32OK.
05:33Well, now you've mentioned that, I could give the jobs up appropriately.
05:37Like what?
05:38So I've got dark hair.
05:40Yeah, high status.
05:41Yeah, so I'm going to do the commanding officer's quarters.
05:44Right, and...
05:45And you...
05:46I don't like where this is going.
05:47The drains and the toilets.
05:48Go on.
05:49OK, let's get going.
05:50Let's go and find Andrew.
05:52Andrew Burley is the director of the Vindalander Trust and the third generation of archaeologists
05:58to excavate along the wall, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
06:03Andrew!
06:04How are you?
06:06So excited.
06:07Welcome to Magna.
06:08Thank you, darling.
06:08So we're standing in the heart here of Magna Fort.
06:11Hopefully, underneath our feet, it's a commanding officer's residence, a house.
06:15Yes.
06:15A great palatial building.
06:17So...
06:17And it's rare, isn't it, that you're being allowed to dig here?
06:20It's very rare.
06:21It's very rare.
06:21Because it's part of a World Heritage Site.
06:23And so you have to get very special permissions to excavate on these sites.
06:26But you're talking about a huge build-up of life, basically.
06:30And, you know, we could have over 40 or 50 families who would have called this their home
06:34all the way through that occupation.
06:36So we have to imagine kids running around, don't we?
06:38Have to imagine there's a whole life there.
06:39Well, I think that's the thing, is there's that perception, isn't there, of it being military
06:44and that it's a mail space.
06:47But actually, if you think about modern-day barracks...
06:50Yeah.
06:51They have their families with them.
06:52They live with them.
06:53They still go and do their training, but they come back home and have a meal with their families.
06:57That's exactly right, effectively, in terms of the size of this occupation.
07:02You have a regiment of 500 or 600 people, but a population of a couple of thousand people
07:07here who call this their home.
07:09Wow.
07:09OK, let's get started.
07:10How long have you gone?
07:11I would like to dig the commander's hat, but that's...
07:14No, no, no, no.
07:15No, toilets.
07:15Drains for you, then.
07:16Well, let's head this way and I'll find you a drain.
07:19I mean, it's the nicest thing a boy's ever said to me.
07:24We're going to focus on two main areas.
07:27Raksha will explore the commander's residence in search of a luxurious bathhouse warmed
07:32by a classic Roman hypercaust.
07:34That's underfloor heating to you and me.
07:37Hello, Rachel.
07:39Hello, welcome.
07:41I'm here to report.
07:43Well, help yourself to a matter.
07:44And I'll be tackling the Roman drains that the team believe connect to the latrines of
07:49this mighty fort.
07:51Wait, has anybody spoke to my agent about this?
07:53I'll be knee-deep in dirt.
07:57Come across this way.
07:59Watch out for the uneven surfaces.
08:01And we can introduce you to Marta.
08:02Marta, hello.
08:03Hello.
08:03This is Sunday.
08:04Marta.
08:04Hi.
08:04So what are you deep in here, Marta?
08:07Well, I am knee-deep into the main drain for Magna Roman fort.
08:13How did you know this was the drain?
08:14Is it the caps that you see in a line?
08:16Well, it's a very typical shape.
08:17You've got two stone-lined sides, sort of waterproof bottom, and it all runs in a nice slant and
08:24the capstones cover it up.
08:25Okay.
08:26And the land seems to tip that way.
08:28Yes, absolutely.
08:28The river is just at the bottom of the hill.
08:30So the Romans very cleverly designed the whole fort so that everything flushes right down.
08:35But all of these slabs that are above it now, are they going to go, or what will you...
08:39Well, you're going to help me out.
08:41Oh, absolutely.
08:42Yeah.
08:43Okay.
08:44You rode the muscles.
08:44Pass me your coat.
08:45You don't need that while you're down there.
08:46It's going to be very warm.
08:47Thank you so much.
08:49You're very welcome.
08:49Good luck.
08:50Well, let me swap out with you.
08:51Okay.
08:51Come on down.
08:52Here we go.
08:53So that's what it all comes down to.
08:55A tale of upstairs, downstairs, me in the gutter, and Raksha at the commander's luxury
09:00en suite.
09:03The commander's bathhouse would have been adorned with painted plaster, mosaics, and murals,
09:08complete with hot and cold plunge pools.
09:11It would have been very fancy indeed.
09:13I mean, all the other plebs are using, like, the public baths, aren't they?
09:17Yeah.
09:17But he's got his own special quarters.
09:19What would have that looked like then?
09:20Yeah, it's just for him and his family.
09:23Everyone in the residence would have had really beautiful, high-quality flagstone floors, or
09:27maybe even mosaic floors for them to walk around on.
09:30The underfloor heating system, keeping it all nice and warm and toasty, heating the plunge
09:35pools for them as well.
09:36Oh, toasty.
09:37You might think underfloor heating as a modern invention, but the Romans had it down to a
09:42fine art.
09:43Their hyper-courced system consisted of a raised floor with fires used to heat the air circulating
09:49beneath.
09:53I mean, we absolutely are getting down on something different, aren't we?
09:58But it's, like, so dark, packed full of charcoal.
10:02With where we're digging, we're not on the floor surface that the commanding officer would
10:07have been walking on.
10:08We're actually below that, in the underfloor heating system.
10:12It has to be one of the hotter rooms closer to that fire, stoke point, to have this much
10:17ash building up.
10:18I mean, it's pretty phenomenal, isn't it?
10:20Yeah.
10:20They were here for hundreds of years, so there's no doubt why there's, like, so much of it.
10:28Meanwhile, back in the gutter...
10:30You can also be a little bit more violent, yeah?
10:32Oh, right.
10:32Go for it.
10:33Now I'm going to add an element to this excavation thing.
10:36Are you ready?
10:38That's to put the dirt from there to here.
10:40The poo shovel?
10:41Yeah.
10:41Okay, I'm ready to do this.
10:44So how many people would be using this drain, do you think?
10:47Well, it's tricky to say, because ultimately, all of the wastewater from the fort ends up
10:53here.
10:54Whether you're the commanding officer or a humble soldier, this is where your wastewater goes.
11:00But I love that.
11:00That's how we understand that all people are the same in the end, right?
11:04Doesn't matter what your status is.
11:05You've all got to use the drain.
11:06Yeah, yeah.
11:07I'm really happy doing this.
11:08This is great.
11:09It mixes in.
11:10Let's have a look here.
11:12Oh, hang on.
11:13What's that?
11:14What is that?
11:15What is that?
11:16That's a completely different color.
11:18Yeah.
11:19Oh, look.
11:20Oh, my God.
11:21Do you know that?
11:22Hey, look at this.
11:23This is very good.
11:24Look at this.
11:25Yay.
11:26I think you have just found your first piece of pottery.
11:30Very nice.
11:31This is so cool.
11:32That is the moment.
11:33That is the moment.
11:34You are now addicted to archaeology.
11:36Oh, yes.
11:37Yes.
11:38It's very exciting.
11:39So that is a little bit of greyware.
11:41OK.
11:42What's going to happen now is we're going to put it in a bag with the name and the number
11:46of this area.
11:47Right.
11:48And then it's going to get washed and categorized by our pottery specialist.
11:51But well done.
11:52That's your first find.
11:53Amazing.
11:54OK.
11:55That's it.
11:56That's it.
11:57I'm never leaving.
11:58OK.
11:59Excellent.
12:00Well, let me...
12:01You can leave me here now.
12:02I've got this.
12:03This is so ridiculous.
12:04I'm sure lots of people think you're going to show business because you get to go to first
12:07nights and red carpet and things, that I got to do this.
12:11This is as happy as I get.
12:14I'm slightly filthy and I'm looking for old poo.
12:18I mean, I don't think it gets any better.
12:28It truly is a privilege to be digging inside the walls of Magna Fort at the infancy of this
12:36epic excavation.
12:38I can't help but wonder at the secret still waiting to be uncovered right here beneath
12:42our feet.
12:43And the sheer scale of it all is mind-blowing.
12:46So, I've been having a good walk round.
12:49Yep.
12:50And am I right that there's a line here that looks like it's on purpose, this bit of land?
12:53Yeah.
12:54Absolutely right.
12:55Spot on.
12:56This is the other side of the fort that we've been excavating.
12:58That far from where the excavation is?
13:00Yeah, over 100 metres away.
13:01Yeah.
13:02OK, so we just need to start digging, right?
13:05How many years have you got?
13:07Well, that's a good question.
13:08How many years have you got?
13:10Well, sadly, not as many as we'd like because climate change is really affecting what's
13:14going on under the ground on this site.
13:16The wooden buildings that are under the stone remains here, deeply buried, preserved for
13:21thousands of years, are starting to rot really quickly.
13:23Why?
13:24Because the air we're breathing is getting deeper into the soil because as things dry
13:28out, the water table's dropping and when it rains, it brings fresh water in with oxygen,
13:33minerals, bacteria, and it starts that rotting process for the first time in millennia.
13:37OK, I genuinely did not know that.
13:39That can't just be to do with this site, right?
13:41No, so all of these shrinking events because you are getting different types of weather
13:47across the UK and all of our heritage sites.
13:50We've been preserving everything in situ to save it for future generations.
13:56But I don't think it's going to last for very long.
13:59So the question is, should we start excavating now?
14:03And I think that is a real question we need to answer.
14:06Yeah, we used to say it used to be a maxim of archaeology.
14:09If it's buried, it's safe.
14:10Yeah.
14:11Well, I'm afraid we can't say that anymore.
14:13It pains me to think that climate change could have such a terrifying impact on our archaeology,
14:18affecting not just our future, but also our understanding of the past.
14:28Dig director Andrew has brought me to the Roman Vindolanda Fort, seven miles away,
14:33to show me just what's at risk of being lost at Magna.
14:37So would it be inappropriate to say that we're walking down the high street?
14:40Not at all.
14:41This is absolutely the Roman high street, 1,800 years ago.
14:46So in the third century, this place would be a form of madness at this time of day,
14:50with all the vendors and the storekeepers putting their wares out,
14:53and the sights, the smells, the noise.
14:56It would be quite overwhelming.
14:58And what are they selling?
14:59As we're walking down here, we've got a little butcher's shop on my left.
15:02Across the street here, we had a bakery with big ovens inside.
15:06And as we get down to the bottom here, we see this big, long building in the centre of town.
15:10This is the pub.
15:11Ah, I mean, I feel I've come home right now.
15:14This is marvellous.
15:15You're painting the most wonderful picture.
15:17Is this the kind of energetic life we're going to find at Magna?
15:22The short answer is yes, but on a much bigger scale than Vindolanda.
15:27No, no, no, wait. Bigger than this?
15:28Yeah, bigger than this.
15:29Like how much bigger than this?
15:30Possibly about twice the size, particularly in terms of the town.
15:33And is there going to be a posh house as well, with a bath house of its own?
15:36Is there going to be the elite quarter?
15:38Oh, yes. Absolutely.
15:39Next to the fort wall, we have the commanding officer's house.
15:43What have we got here? This is a hypocaust?
15:45This is a hypocaust.
15:46Oh, OK. Excellent.
15:47There it is. Yeah, absolutely right.
15:48Central heating.
15:49Central heating.
15:50A proper hypocaust.
15:51Lots of little columns which support a hard surface and then poured concrete on top of that
15:55so that none of the smoke and ash that builds up under the columns there gets into the room.
15:59So they're literally lighting fires underneath the floor.
16:01Yeah.
16:02I mean, what smoky work that must have been.
16:04Pretty grim.
16:05And, of course, it just fills up the underfloor system with that soot.
16:08And then they've got to send a very small person in because they're not going to smash the floor up to do it.
16:12That's my job.
16:13To send you on your hands and knees with a bucket between your teeth to empty it out.
16:18And what's the life like?
16:19So they've got this massive space compared to, well, I mean, show me, these are some rooms here.
16:24So servants' quarters on the left, the palatial entertainment rooms on the right.
16:28We've got a stable up at the top, the heated dining rooms down here.
16:31And, of course, above this we have two more stories.
16:34And then a central courtyard which is entirely private, private toilets.
16:37What you've got here is a townhouse from a posh Roman town plunked into the middle of a Roman fort.
16:44Is this the grandeur we're going to find at Magna?
16:46This is exactly what we're looking for at Magna. Who knows? It might be even more glorious than this.
16:51I think particularly on a site like this, there are three ways in which you really need to look at it.
17:04There's the macro. You need to see how vast this place is and see it almost from above.
17:09Then there's the middle road where you're walking through it and you're trying to get a sense of what life was like.
17:15There's also the micro level where you just need to take a breath and sit by all these stones.
17:21It's really, really tempting to think the Romans were the first people to come along and think,
17:25Oh, stone, good idea. But, of course, they weren't. So, built into this wall, there is a Celtic carving.
17:33This is Neolithic. This is thousands and thousands of years old that somebody decided to put a good luck symbol,
17:40perhaps, into a piece of stone up in the quarry. The Romans found it.
17:44They thought, well, why not put it in the wall in case it brings us good luck?
17:48And the bit I can't get my head around is that I can touch with my hand this carving that was done on purpose
17:57so many thousands of years ago and almost, almost in the stone.
18:03You feel a connection with that purpose and with that person.
18:08And I guess that's what the detailed finds of archaeology do for you.
18:13It's like a brooch somebody wore the ring. It makes you transcend all of those years
18:19and be back in touch with somebody. I love it.
18:28Still searching for that connection with the people of Magnafort, the team have made an exciting discovery.
18:34Wow, this is amazing. What is that?
18:37It's a Roman coin, first one I found. Well done.
18:40Very happy. So, literally, just out from two inches down from the top soil, from underneath the top.
18:46It's in amazing conditions and you can actually see something on it, can't you?
18:50You've got the face of the emperor, which has a helmet and a koreas.
18:54So, it's like a martial outfit.
18:57Ooh, gaggle of archaeologists. I know what this means. This means that you've actually found something.
19:02Yeah! Look at that!
19:04Oh, gosh! Look at that!
19:08Beautiful. Really good conditions.
19:10No way!
19:12How do you think? Can you venture this?
19:14No way! Romulus and Remus on the other side and the wolf!
19:16I mean, you can't get more Rome than that, can you?
19:20Yeah. That is iconic. It's beautiful. Gosh, you must be so proud of yourself.
19:25I am very happy, yes.
19:27I love the fact that it's come out of this dream.
19:29Yeah.
19:30It is a picture of Roman life on site.
19:33Sandy's going to be so gutted that she missed this.
19:36Momentarily gutted, as I'm off to meet Barbara Burley, curator at the Winderlander Trust,
19:41who's about to share an even bigger recent discovery.
19:45So, we found a collection of shoes from the ditch at Magna.
19:49A collection?
19:50A collection, yes.
19:51Okay.
19:52So, probably about 30-plus shoes and we're going to conserve some of them
19:57or start the first stage of their conservation process.
19:59Okay, I can already tell this one is huge.
20:02It is. It's a very big shoe.
20:04Oh, my. Look at the size of that thing.
20:06It is a big shoe, yeah.
20:08Wow. You can see the sort of shape of the toe and everything.
20:11And these are unusual because it's kind of this paddle shape.
20:14So, this is possibly showing us maybe a different type of soldier.
20:18We only have a couple of them here at Winderlander.
20:20Right.
20:21Out of the 5,000 shoes we have.
20:23But over at Magna, we're seeing this very interesting shape,
20:27which is telling us maybe that there's a different type of garrison there.
20:31So, this is a more traditional type of shoe.
20:34Oh, you've got your studs on the bottom there.
20:35Yeah, studs on the bottom.
20:36Where this one is really unusual.
20:38So, it's a type of sandal.
20:40But we've got to conserve them and then research them to find out more.
20:44So, this is just water.
20:45Okay.
20:46And basically, we wet them.
20:47And then we take, usually probably a toothbrush is our best instrument to start out with.
20:53Okay.
20:54And we just start to remove gently the mud.
20:58It's rather meditative, isn't it?
21:02It is.
21:03It is.
21:04We have done lots of shoes here at Winderlander.
21:08And it's so fantastic to have a comparative collection on Hadrian's Wall in the Magna shoes.
21:14So, we're being able to kind of compare the two sites and find out more about them.
21:19And as these are handmade, you do get a lot of differences.
21:23Do you wonder why would there be a collection of 30 shoes?
21:25They're from the ditch.
21:26So, I think they're the rubbish.
21:27So, maybe there was something wrong with these shoes and they were able, they just said,
21:31I can't fix these anymore.
21:33Oftentimes, we find that, you know, the studs are missing.
21:37Or as you can see from these, they don't have the uppers.
21:40There's two reasons for that.
21:42Either they could have broken in antiquity.
21:44Or, because there are thinner layers for the uppers, they might not be surviving.
21:50If this is evidence of the climate change that Andrew mentioned,
21:53it would certainly add to the urgency of the dig at Magna.
21:57So, when they've been washed and they are then available for display,
22:00what stops them, now there's all that oxygen around them,
22:03what stops them deteriorating at that point?
22:05They have to go through a chemical process.
22:07And so, we put them through chemical baths and this helps to preserve them.
22:12And then we can keep them on display, either on display or in storage,
22:17because some of them do go into storage, because not all of them are worthy of display.
22:22Sometimes, they're so fragmented, but we can still get information off of the fragmented ones,
22:28so we keep those as well.
22:29Who's got the big feet? Do we know that, like, in history?
22:31Our initial thoughts are that it could be our Dalmatian-mounted soldiers, which are Croatia.
22:36Which is Croatia, yeah.
22:37That's really interesting.
22:39And we're being able to kind of tell that through some of our kind of scientific analysis.
22:44And there are very big men that come from that part of the world, historically.
22:50And so, by looking at all of these different things, that we can start to piece together.
22:54And with Magna, we're just at the starting point, and we're getting to build on that evidence,
22:59which is really, really intriguing.
23:01These stonking size 14s would have been mighty boots to fill,
23:06and continue to build the bigger picture of life here in Roman Britain.
23:10Back at Magna, I'm rejoining the team to help lift the lid on a drain
23:22that hasn't been exposed for the best part of two millennia.
23:25The mind boggles as to the secrets it could hold.
23:29Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
23:31Whoa!
23:32Hello!
23:33Look at all that stuff!
23:35So, just scraping the top surface off?
23:37Yes.
23:38Okay, so I can see something a little bit unusual there,
23:41because you see this little fleck of green.
23:44What is that?
23:45All right, gently, and then you put it on your open...
23:47Oh, you do it.
23:48No, no, you do it.
23:49Open palm.
23:50You want to put it in here?
23:52What have we got?
23:54What have we got?
23:55What have we got?
23:56What is it?
23:57Well, so, first of all, it's green, so it's made of a copper alloy.
24:02It looks like it has a little bit of an edge there.
24:04It's quite heavy.
24:05You want to feel it?
24:07There you go.
24:08Oh, yeah.
24:09It's going to need a good clean.
24:10It looks like the edge of something is quite hefty.
24:13Do you know what it almost, because of the way it curves,
24:15it's almost like it's the handle of something?
24:17Or is it a bracelet?
24:20Oh, my gosh!
24:22What do you think, sweetie?
24:26It's hard to say, isn't it?
24:27It's really hard to say.
24:28The best thing to do is to have somebody in the lab take care of this.
24:32Yes, absolutely.
24:33And x-ray and have a look at what's inside.
24:35I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack.
24:37Oh, my God!
24:38Oh, my God, Sandy, not on sight.
24:42That is so much paperwork.
24:47Keep the heart attack a day, lady.
24:51Oh, okay, just for the paperwork.
24:54And I didn't have a heart attack, but, oh, my word, it was exciting.
24:57What a wonderful day you've had!
24:59What a wonderful day you've had!
25:00What a wonderful day you've had!
25:01Action!
25:02See?
25:03I knew you were poo-poo...
25:04You were poo-pooing me!
25:06What, poo-pooing that I was in the drains right now?
25:08Yeah, exactly!
25:11Pints are on me tonight.
25:12Yoo-hoo!
25:13Oh, it's just fantastic.
25:21It's hard to explain how it feels to unearth something
25:24that was last touched by Roman hands.
25:35Sometimes, actions speak louder than words.
25:46Now, where are those beers?
25:48Here you go, love.
25:50Can you just hold both of these?
25:51OK, got this.
25:52I am going to assume the position.
25:54Is this proper archaeology now?
25:56Well, this is my favourite thing to do.
25:59There's been many, many a sight.
26:01Which one do you want, darling?
26:03It doesn't really matter, does it?
26:04We can have half and half.
26:05OK.
26:06Right.
26:07No, no, no, no, no.
26:08What?
26:09Oh, okay.
26:10Are you ready?
26:11Yeah.
26:13And then you just need to lever it up.
26:17There you go.
26:18Come on.
26:19All right.
26:22Iron.
26:23Oh!
26:24Hey!
26:26Cheers.
26:27Cheers.
26:28Do you want a glass?
26:29I've got a nice pint of glasses.
26:30You can see why some Roman would go,
26:32I want my house built here.
26:33I want this view.
26:34I mean, it's beautiful, isn't it?
26:36It's absolutely stunning.
26:38It's just the perfect end of the day.
26:39So, we should toast properly.
26:42Nunc est vivendum.
26:44It means, let's drink.
26:46Do you know what the Roman, the Latin for hangover is?
26:49What?
26:50Crapula.
26:54Which, considering I've been in a ditch, seems entirely perfect.
27:02Crapula.
27:04Best pub in the country.
27:13At Magna Fort in Northumberland, we're part of the pioneering excavation hoping to reveal the secrets of Roman life that have lain hidden for thousands of years.
27:22But as I'm bursting to understand the layout of the drains I've been digging, Raksha has brought me 16 miles away to show me the impressive lose at Chester's Roman Fort.
27:35Right, so you know that I'm digging in the commander's house, right?
27:38Yeah, I haven't forgotten the whole status thing.
27:41Well...
27:43Can I just say, it is quite right that you have high status.
27:46I'm just going to put it out there.
27:50Just a pleb.
27:51So...
27:52Right, I'm listening.
27:53These are the public baths, right?
27:56This is the changing rooms.
27:57Yes.
27:58Come and take a seat down here.
27:59Oh!
28:00That's the original floor level, just there.
28:02Oh, OK.
28:03You're going to strip off.
28:05And then, they start doing their gym exercises here.
28:07In this room?
28:08Yeah, a bit of stretching.
28:09Come on.
28:10But I'm sitting on my bench taking my clothes off.
28:13Touching your toes.
28:14Don't go mad, I've not touched those for years.
28:17Oh, hang on.
28:19There we go.
28:20There you go.
28:21I've limbered up now.
28:22Lovely.
28:23But, oh, hang on.
28:25I'm feeling some bowel movements.
28:27Oh, did you have a door mouse that was not entirely...
28:31..entirely good?
28:33It's...
28:34My tummy's gone all funny.
28:36This...
28:38Oh, this is your let's all have a poo together.
28:40That's right.
28:41OK.
28:42Here are the latrines.
28:44OK.
28:45Can I just say, I know you're going to tell me interesting things
28:47about latrines, and I actually like toilet talk.
28:50I do enjoy it.
28:52I've just had a sort of mind-blowing moment, right?
28:54And tell me if I'm right, but that's Hadrian's Wall right there.
28:57Yeah, it is.
29:00That's Hadrian's Wall.
29:02This is the North Tyne.
29:03And this is the best toilet view in the world.
29:06It's blowing my mind.
29:07I could sit on the loo and look at Hadrian's Wall.
29:12So, I can't poo from here.
29:14Right, no.
29:15So, this is actually the inside of the latrine.
29:18Oh, so this is the wall here?
29:19This is the wall.
29:20Yep.
29:21I know.
29:22I'd much rather be looking at the other wall, too.
29:24But this is what the lav would have looked like.
29:28A bench where lots of burly Romans would have sat and shared the experience together.
29:34Just don't make eye contact, I imagine.
29:36It'll be fine.
29:37Sat here, doing my business.
29:39Mm-hmm.
29:40And there's these lovely little kind of keyhole-shaped holes on the top, so you know where to put your bottom.
29:46Just gonna say, you're not looking very high status at this moment.
29:50Does anybody look high status when they're doing their business?
29:53No.
29:54No.
29:55And it would have stunk to high heaven.
29:57It would have been so messy and disgusting.
29:59You've just got to imagine it.
30:00Ugh.
30:01You know, accommodating for, what, 500 sweaty blokes.
30:04Come on.
30:05Okay.
30:06And no loo roll.
30:07No loo roll, but nature's loo roll.
30:10Next to you.
30:12Bit of moss?
30:13Yep.
30:14Passes a bit.
30:16That, my friend, is some absorbent toilet paper.
30:20But I love that biodegradable, stick it back in with all the stuff and off it's gone.
30:23Yeah.
30:24Exactly.
30:25You'd have gone down here and then flowed out to the river.
30:29As I say, you do not want to be the person sitting that end, really.
30:32With me, right?
30:33There's loads more coming your way than if you were this end.
30:36Disgusting.
30:37Yeah.
30:38I feel we've lowered the tone.
30:40It's Hadrian's Wall!
30:41Why are we talking about toilets?
30:42Look at that thing!
30:45After a Roman comfort break and an unexpected glimpse of Hadrian's Wall,
30:49it's straight back to the drains at Magna for me.
30:56Raksha, meanwhile, is on a more elite mission to find evidence of the commander's private bathhouse.
31:03Well, I think this trench has changed considerably, hasn't it?
31:08What I do know is that there seems to be a lot of burning in here.
31:13As you go towards this end, it is super, super bright, isn't it?
31:20So it's been scorched.
31:21Something's been fired on top of it.
31:23You got any suggestions, Andy?
31:25Yeah.
31:26Well, looking at it, I mean, first of all, it's been excavated beautifully, so well done.
31:29But this is a prifermium.
31:31Raksha has hit the jackpot.
31:32The prifermium is the main fire pit that would have been fuelled and stoked to create the hot air within the underfloor heating system and also boil the commander's bathing water.
31:43This sort of bank of clay, multi-layered and sort of deposited on top of each other, is the various different resurfacing of that, remaking of that oven through probably two or three centuries of use.
31:56So this is brilliant.
31:57Congratulations.
31:58You've found a positive bit of the bathhouse.
32:00You've found where the fuel goes in and the heat comes out.
32:03And above Rachel there, that's where you'd put the great big metal canister full of water to boil and then you'd pipe that into the bathhouse to get all the hot water you need.
32:13So, yeah, you're in the heart of the bath suite.
32:15And then further down, all of the waste water is being flushed out, subsidiary drain, and running into that main one that runs down sites.
32:24And it's quite a good fun to think about because when they pull the plug, it will be hot water.
32:29If you're sitting on the toilet down there, you're going to get a steam bottom, so you have to time it just right, depending on where you go to the loo and what sort of experience you want to have.
32:41Well, it's a great little insight, isn't it?
32:44Yeah.
32:45Into life on the fort.
32:46Starting to come together.
32:47Yeah.
32:48Which is really good.
32:49All of these discoveries are helping me to understand what life was like at the edge of the Roman Empire.
32:55But what I really want to find out is who were the people that called this place home.
33:00OK, Andrew, what kind of life is here for me?
33:03Well, you've turned up to a big Roman fort on top of a hill where we're sitting here today, dominating the landscape all around us.
33:10So exciting.
33:11Wow.
33:12And who's here?
33:13Who's turned up?
33:14Well, before Hadrian's Wall was even built, when the Romans first roll in, we've got Tungrans and Batavians from the modern day Netherlands and Belgian border.
33:21So our near continental colleagues.
33:23Then they're swapped out by Syrian archers, Hamian soldiers from far, far eastern part of the Empire.
33:29It's got to be nippy for them.
33:30I know.
33:31Yeah, and they've taken quite a journey to get here.
33:33And then they're swapped out by Dalmatians.
33:36They see us out to the very end of Roman Britain.
33:39Those are the people who are garnering the wall.
33:40You've got a lot of people who are armed and dangerous.
33:42So they're guarding the frontier of Rome, which is only a few hundred meters to the north of us where we're sitting here today.
33:48That's the edge of the Empire.
33:50On the other side of that wall, very different universe.
33:53You hear that, sheep?
33:54You be careful out there.
33:55Barbarians.
34:01If the sheep aren't frightened, neither am I.
34:04I need to experience Hadrian's wall up close and personal for the first time in my life.
34:12I'm honestly slightly overwhelmed by it.
34:19Oh, look at this.
34:23I just love the setting it's in as well, like all the nature around it.
34:28That's the thing you wish you could capture.
34:30The freshness of the air and the beautiful flowers.
34:34See that?
34:35Nature determined to come back.
34:37Oh, look!
34:39Look!
34:40I'm king of the world!
34:45That is quite a climb.
34:50It is.
34:51I might have to pause for a moment.
34:54Well, take a perch here and take it all in because look, when you get to the top.
35:01Oh, my goodness.
35:03That is breathtaking.
35:04I think I might join you, actually.
35:05I think I might join you, actually.
35:06Breathtaking.
35:07Oh!
35:09You made my flowers there, this.
35:10Oh!
35:11Look at those there.
35:12Nice harebells.
35:13Oh!
35:15Ah!
35:16That is unbelievable.
35:25I'm very glad to sit down.
35:26It's still, I was going to say solid as a rock, but I mean...
35:29They knew what they were doing.
35:30Absolutely.
35:31So, if you actually look at the construction of the wall, it's really interesting.
35:35Can you see there's that middle layer?
35:38All those rocks, they're like core, which means that they're all roughly hewn.
35:44There's no, you know, lovely, nice faces to them.
35:47That's like the solid, chunky bit.
35:49So, do you think you build two walls like that and then fill it up in the middle?
35:51Yes.
35:52And you only do the fancy posh stone with the lovely faces on the outside.
35:57And it's less work.
35:58I just...
35:59It's the organisation of it, right?
36:00So, Hadrian turns up and goes, I want a wall.
36:02And then he goes home again, right?
36:04Yeah.
36:05And they're left here.
36:06So, what, 15,000 or so people building over six years to make this happen?
36:10That's right.
36:11But I just think about the sweat and the labour.
36:13So, you've got the quarry, which is almost three miles away.
36:16They've got to bring the stones here.
36:18They must have been so strong.
36:19I have just climbed up that hill and I'm only carrying myself.
36:22You carry one of those rocks from the...
36:24Even if the quarry is quite close, it's still a thing, isn't it?
36:27It is.
36:28Contrary to what you might think, it wasn't slaves that built the wall,
36:33but teams of skilled legionary masons with labour provided by thousands of soldiers.
36:4173 miles long, at points five metres high and three metres wide,
36:45parts of the wall were diminished in early modern times
36:48when stone was pilfered for building roads and farmhouses.
36:51Now a British cultural icon, Hadrian's Wall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
37:00But whatever your feelings about how and why it's here,
37:03you can't help but admire this astonishing feat of Roman engineering.
37:07There's no doubt this is one of the most awe-inspiring places I've ever been.
37:14It is magnificent.
37:16But there's also something that gives me a slight inner shudder
37:19and that is because it is such a statement of aggression.
37:23And that is so not my thing.
37:25But what's wonderful is when you come to it now,
37:27all that warring here is over and nature has triumphed.
37:32You just have to look down amongst the stones
37:35and there's a tiny little harebell, a kind of bluebell,
37:38growing amongst the rocks.
37:40And it really tells you everything you need to know about,
37:43I don't know, the transience of human endeavour.
37:46We're in Northumberland, up to our elbows in filth
37:59and coming to the end of our adventure at Magnafort.
38:02But not before a few final finds in the Roman drain.
38:07Raksha?
38:08Yes?
38:09Found some wood, something.
38:11Oh, what?
38:13It's bone.
38:20It's bone?
38:21Yeah.
38:22That's animal bone.
38:24I think.
38:26Cattle ribs?
38:28I was right, then, to stop, yeah?
38:31Yeah.
38:32That's a find.
38:34It's very fragile, actually.
38:37Yes.
38:38Found fragile bones, yes!
38:42Cue digging.
38:43Cue digging.
38:44I'm so excited.
38:45It's ridiculous, a bit of old bone.
38:48Somebody's had a rib and gone...
38:50OK, so in the bone excitement, I forgot to tell you about the drain.
38:53Where I'm standing, right, drain coming down the hill from behind me,
38:58going that way.
38:59But then there's a spur going this way, which is directly to you.
39:05I do like that.
39:06You do like that?
39:07I do.
39:08Do you think that's right?
39:09Yes, because I'm digging where the bathhouse should be.
39:14I think we've got it.
39:16That's running from the commander's private bathhouse,
39:21flushing through into what you are standing in.
39:25Which is more of a communal drain.
39:27Well, this is the main drain.
39:29And then washing down here and running off down the hill.
39:33And you remember when we went to Chester's and they were using exactly the same principle?
39:39That's what you have discovered.
39:42Well, I haven't discovered it, but it is here.
39:45Well, you're digging there, aren't you?
39:47I am digging here.
39:48It's so exciting.
39:50Well, I'm really pleased.
39:52Who knew I'd be this excited by poo?
39:56I'm not sure who I am anymore.
39:59And maybe that's what archaeology and immersing yourself in the past,
40:02if not Roman poo, does to you.
40:04It changes your understanding of history.
40:09It's been an incredible start to this excavation.
40:12And Andrew is keen to show me even more astonishing artefacts that have been uncovered.
40:18Already there's stuff coming out and we're learning something,
40:21I mean, seems to me like hourly.
40:23Yeah, there's stuff coming out all the time, which is great.
40:25And I've got a little selection of things that have just come out the last couple of days.
40:28Okay, let's have a look.
40:29Everything from the extraordinary to the wonderful.
40:31So this little thing here is a lady's fingering.
40:34Okay, and we can touch them because they haven't been processed, is that right?
40:37They haven't been processed by the lab yet, so effectively we're still archaeologists.
40:40Right, because I've certainly got the fingernails for it.
40:42Exactly, with our naked hands we're going to pop this out.
40:44So I'll put this on my little hand here and then I'll pass it to you.
40:47This is a silver fingering with a gemstone.
40:50And if you look that carefully you might see a little hair.
40:55Oh, you really can see that.
40:57Yeah.
40:58Wow, that's sort of been scratched into the stone there.
41:00It's carved into the little gemstone.
41:02That's right.
41:03And what is the stone?
41:04A little bit of an amber stone.
41:05So at that time, a hare, that's Diana, is it?
41:10That's right.
41:11So anything to do with sort of hunting.
41:12So the hare, the hounds, typical sort of figures which would be associated with the goddess Diana.
41:17And that's wonderful because that's what commanding officers and their families do.
41:21They spend a lot of time hunting, fishing, basically doing everything but the job they're being paid for in that regard.
41:27Not necessarily just the men, the women had to occupy themselves as well.
41:31Absolutely.
41:32It's a whole family endeavour.
41:33I mean, that's a very valuable piece.
41:35So something like that is quite special for the person who had it, which makes it special for us to find it.
41:41And actually, you know, that's one of the finest rings I've seen from any of the sites we've worked on at Adrian's War.
41:47It's really lovely.
41:48Well, it's not only exquisite, it's complete.
41:51It's in perfect condition and when that's been through the lab, the silver will come back out and it'll look absolutely amazing.
41:57That will go on display in the museum.
41:59Knockout stuff.
42:00Is this one of knockout stuff?
42:01This is another knockout thing, yes.
42:03So open up your hand again, I'll pass you the body of a goddess.
42:07The statue of the goddess Venus.
42:09Oh my word.
42:11Isn't that fabulous?
42:13Wow.
42:14I mean, what's extraordinary at first impression is that it looks both ancient and modern.
42:19Yeah.
42:20Because the female form hasn't really changed.
42:22No.
42:23But you can see her fingers, you can see the shape of her hip.
42:27Mm-hmm.
42:28And she, oh yes, I mean.
42:29Oh yes, from behind.
42:30Definitely she's naked there.
42:32She certainly is.
42:33And of course this deity is normally associated with fertility and of course, you know, family values in the Roman Empire.
42:39And so this is exactly the sort of thing one might expect to see in a family home.
42:43But also the size and the shape of it, you want to hold it in your hand.
42:46You do.
42:47It's as if somebody would clutch it to them and make a wish to Venus.
42:51It doesn't feel distant.
42:53No, it's supposed to be held.
42:55The curves, the way it's shaped, it fits in your hand beautifully and it's supposed to be held.
43:00It's supposed to feel warm.
43:01Roman religion has that connection to your god or your goddess and you've got it there.
43:06I love it.
43:07I mean, I don't know why it's moving, but it is, isn't it?
43:09It is, it's lovely.
43:10It's a lovely thing.
43:11Beautiful.
43:12Those are the sort of things that are coming out.
43:13And of course, you had your own discovery.
43:15It was very exciting, but maybe it's like, I don't know, a bit of old pipe or something.
43:19Well, let's have a little look.
43:20It's very green because it's copper alloy, but it's, so it's, a lot of oxygen's hit it unfortunately, because it's fairly high up in the drain.
43:26What you've actually got there is the rim of a little copper alloy cup or a beacon.
43:32Oh, wow.
43:33It's a beautiful little thing.
43:34Well, it's exquisitely made, isn't it?
43:35There's a lot of effort gone into that.
43:37Yeah.
43:38And again, it's, it's quite a high valuable status thing to have that.
43:41And we can learn a lot from this by having the metal analyzed to see where it's, where it was made, perhaps what component parts were in there.
43:48Has it been repaired through its life?
43:50Little things like this, they sometimes don't look like much, but they can give us a lot.
43:54And are you feeling celebratory about where you are with Magna?
43:57I mean, you have only just started.
43:59We have just started.
44:00We've got a long road ahead in the next couple of years, but already it's, it's producing a lot of information.
44:05We're getting a lot of data and we're getting a sense of feel for this place.
44:09It's very exciting.
44:11These are magnificent finds.
44:14And yes, I'm thrilled to have played a tiny part in a very big story.
44:18It's incredible to think that nearly 2,000 years ago, this landscape would have been alive with the sights, sounds and smells of the Roman occupation.
44:28A defensive army, their families, traders and slaves, making the best lives they could, beside this epic monument.
44:39Do you think the builders came along and went, so who's put this wall in here then?
44:43Pure idea.
44:46Brilliant.
44:48So you spent quite some time by Hadrian's Wall.
44:51What do you think?
44:52I just, I love it.
44:53What's incredible, I've never been here before, even though I've lived in Britain forever and ever.
44:59I'm thrilled.
45:00It will stay with me always.
45:01It's a magnificent thing.
45:03And life on Magnafort, how's that?
45:06I have learnt such a lot.
45:07I honestly had this image of the soldier with his breastplate and standing there, you know, come from Rome.
45:12And now I know he didn't just come from Rome.
45:14It wasn't just him.
45:15There was all the women and the children.
45:16It was a whole community.
45:18It really was.
45:19And I think the brilliant thing about it is we're just in that top phase, the last phase before it was abandoned.
45:26Oh, there's so much still to find.
45:28There are metres and metres of different phases of that fort underneath.
45:32OK, if you can't find me in the future, I will be digging.
45:35I will be digging at Magna.
45:37What I also love about it is it's humanised it for me.
45:40I can see they were drinking beer.
45:42They were human beings making food, having relationships.
45:46And I would be one of those people who's living here sending a postcard home.
45:49Right.
45:50So, if you were stationed here, what would you write home for?
45:54I mean, washing machine.
45:55Have you seen how dirty I am?
45:58Filthy.
45:59I have one more question.
46:00How are we going to get down?
46:01How are we going to get down?
46:02HE LAUGHS
46:03HE LAUGHS
Recommended
46:25
|
Up next
46:40
46:54
36:50
43:17
41:26
1:00:23
51:32
19:23
41:51
54:42
26:32
54:47
25:09
Be the first to comment