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00:00This land we call home has a rich and varied history stretching back thousands of years.
00:14But hidden below the surface are some amazing treasures just waiting to be found.
00:22So each year across the country archaeologists dig underground and dive underwater searching for fresh discoveries.
00:38The most amazing thing in British archaeology.
00:41Uncovering traces of ancient lives.
00:44Somebody's played in joy I'm sure.
00:46And finding fascinating objects.
00:49Such exquisite detail.
00:51This year I'll be meeting the archaeologists and looking at some of their most incredible finds.
00:59I mean that is stunning.
01:02While Dr. Tori Herridge is travelling the length of the country to some spectacular locations.
01:09Or I'll be dropping in on some of this year's most fascinating digs.
01:14Oh my gosh, can you see that?
01:17It's just brilliant.
01:19Oh my goodness.
01:21Every dig provides a new piece in the puzzle of Britain's forgotten past.
01:27This is the epic and unfolding story of our islands.
01:33Welcome to Digging for Britain.
01:47In this episode, archaeologists go searching for the fabled ancient tin isles.
01:54Oh my gosh.
01:55Oh my gosh.
01:56That is a Bronze Age fingerprint.
01:57Yeah.
01:58Shining a light on the crucial role Cornwall played in the Bronze Age.
02:02It's just destroyed the thing completely.
02:06Two huge Roman swords.
02:08What's the chances of me on the second time detective to find such a wonderful item?
02:13Wow.
02:14Give us a new insight into life in Roman Gloucestershire.
02:18What incredible objects.
02:20And an ancient fort surprises the archaeologists.
02:24What seems obvious often isn't and there's truth is lying in the soil.
02:31The West has some of our most dramatic stretches of life.
02:59Some of our most dramatic stretches of coastline.
03:04Places that were once connected into ancient trade routes.
03:10Linking Britain across the seas with the wider world.
03:18For our first dig, Torrey heads to the Cornish coast to St. Michael's Mount.
03:24Three miles east of Penzance.
03:31This island has been a medieval monastery.
03:35A Norman fortress and the site of a civil war siege.
03:39But long before it became a symbol of faith or power, some archaeologists think it may have played a very different role.
03:52As a vital hub in an ancient trading network of tin.
03:57A resource that fuelled the Bronze Age.
04:04Tin ore is the crucial material ancient metal workers refined to create tin.
04:12Which, when mixed with soft copper, creates bronze.
04:15A harder, more durable alloy that shaped daily life in the ancient world.
04:20Cornwall was once home to some of the richest tin ore deposits in Europe.
04:26And Cornish ore was in demand across the Mediterranean.
04:30But the true location of one of the main centres where this ore was processed and traded remains a mystery.
04:37For years, people have claimed that St. Michael's Mount is the lost island Ictis.
04:45The legendary trading hub for tin in the ancient world.
04:49It all hinges on the writings of Pythias.
04:52An ancient Greek explorer who visited Britain in around 320 BC.
04:57He wrote of locals carting tin across to an island called Ictis.
05:03Over a sand bar that appeared at low tide.
05:06And the similarities with this island are uncanny.
05:20Now, in the first research excavation ever carried out on the island.
05:24A team from Durham University and the National Trust is investigating what role St. Michael's Mount may have played in the Cornish tin trade.
05:34In particular, they're looking for evidence that tin ore was processed, refined into tin ingots and then traded here during the Bronze Age.
05:43Leading the dig is archaeologist Ben Roberts.
05:47What was it that was so special about Cornish tin?
05:50Cornish tin was prized because of its purity.
05:53And this would have been valued by bronze smiths all over Europe.
05:57The time we're talking about when there's a huge boom in bronze use.
06:01Where everyone has apparently got access to as much bronze as they want.
06:05That seems to have been driven by these incredibly rich tin sources that we're getting in Cornwall and Devon.
06:12The archaeologists think tin ore mined on the mainland was hauled across to the island at low tide when the causeway was exposed.
06:22Why on St. Michael's Mount and not on the mainland where all of the tin ore deposits are?
06:29You can get tin ore almost anywhere in Cornwall.
06:33And so there's no central production, but the distribution points have to be central because your traders had to find the place to trade.
06:41And this is easily the most visible place from the sea to reach.
06:45Here you've got the ideal mooring place for your boats.
06:49And the fact that we're on a tidal island is going to make everyone feel a bit safer.
06:53When the tide has gone out, you can bring the tin across the land to St. Michael's Mount in quantity.
06:59And then when the tide came in again, everyone is feeling that little bit safer.
07:04Negotiations can begin and then the boats can be loaded up with tin and sail off.
07:12Ben's theory is strengthened by a discovery made in 2009 when head gardener Darren Little uncovered a remarkable horde of Bronze Age artefacts.
07:23Darren, along with Jim Parry from the National Trust, has brought some of those finds to show me.
07:32Look at this.
07:33This is some really rather beautiful Bronze Age metalwork, what's called a Meldrift socketed axe.
07:39Darren did an amazing job in finding.
07:41But this piece here in particular is what really stumped us and stumped some of the other metalwork professionals
07:47because there's nothing that we know like this.
07:50Well, it's obviously a buckle and it looks modern.
07:52Exactly.
07:53So considering we're on St. Michael's Mount, the thinking was that could this be a Civil War buckle?
07:57But hang on, why is it with something that's so clearly Bronze Age?
08:01So with a bit more research in other hordes, they've found small bits of something very similar,
08:08but nothing with these beautifully pin in size decoration lines that run around the edges.
08:14So really rather special piece.
08:17How did you feel?
08:18I mean, my heart would have been racing.
08:19My heart was racing.
08:20My heart was racing, yeah.
08:21It was...
08:22I remember calling the wife, you know, she was saying an old teaser and I said,
08:25I can't come out at the moment.
08:26You know, I'm still working.
08:27You know, found a few things and I'll be home shortly.
08:29And yeah, so it's a one in a lifetime chance of finding something like that.
08:33It is.
08:34Found another 50 odd items of chisels, axe heads, pommels, bits of swords, ingots.
08:43While the hoard is intriguing, the archaeologists need to find more than finished bronze items
08:48to prove their theory that tin oil was processed into tin here.
08:54The team are concentrating on two areas where earlier geophysical surveys revealed features
09:00that might be ancient structures.
09:04And almost immediately the first trench begins to deliver.
09:09A little bit of pottery.
09:11The team's pottery specialist is Imogen Morris.
09:15We've got lots of Bronze Age pottery.
09:17Here we've got a rimshed.
09:18Oh, yes.
09:19I can see the rim.
09:20It's got no decoration and this sort of pottery is called plainware because it's...
09:25Because it's plain.
09:26Pretty plain.
09:27Yeah.
09:28And this would have been quite a large vessel, quite a simple vessel.
09:31So it would have been for cooking.
09:33Yeah.
09:34Everyday uses, yeah, perhaps about that high.
09:36Solid cooking pot.
09:38But not all of the pottery is plainware.
09:42We've got quite a beautiful shed.
09:44So you put your fingers in there.
09:47Oh, my gosh.
09:48Yeah.
09:49That is a Bronze Age fingerprint.
09:50And they would have gone all the way around the edge?
09:51That's it, yeah.
09:52It's quite unusual to get decoration.
09:54So we're quite lucky to get one that's got those finger pinches.
09:56That's incredible.
09:57That's so cool.
09:58It really connects you.
09:59Yes.
10:04The discovery of the pottery suggests there was considerable activity on the island during
10:09the Bronze Age.
10:10But the team still need evidence of tin ore processing.
10:14Nearby, archaeologist Alan Williams is taking a closer look at some of the finds.
10:20Wonderful stone tools.
10:22I do like the look of these.
10:24Some of the most exciting finds we've made at St Michael's Mount.
10:27Can I pick it up?
10:28Absolutely.
10:29Ah!
10:30And you can see it fits really nicely in the hand.
10:32Yes.
10:33So if this has been used for crushing tin ore, we would expect that it would be embedded
10:38in between the grains because it's really, really hard.
10:41But to show that, we need to analyse the edge of the rock and compare it to the general
10:47background in the rock.
10:49Geologist Sean Cleveland has been working on the analysis of the stone tools using a
10:55specialist X-ray machine.
10:57It can detect the amount of tin on specific parts of the stone.
11:02If they were used to crush tin ore, he should see significantly higher readings along the working
11:08edge of the stone.
11:10The result we got from the general background in this rock was what, Sean?
11:16100 to 150 ppm.
11:18OK, amazing.
11:19Where's the edge of the rock and Sean?
11:211,884 ppm.
11:23Oh, OK.
11:24So like a whole ten times more.
11:26At least.
11:27And we've seen even higher values on other stones.
11:29So it's very strong evidence that this is used for tin ore processing.
11:34You got it.
11:35Absolutely.
11:36The first evidence ever that the St Michael's Mount was processing tin ore and was part of
11:42the tin trade of the Bronze Age.
11:45It's magical that someone used this to grind tin ore on this island 3,000 years ago.
11:56The high levels of tin found on the edges of the crushing stones is evidence that tin ore
12:02was being processed here on the island.
12:09Could this spot on St Michael's Mount mark the origin of the ictus myth?
12:17Not just a name from legend, but a real place.
12:20And for Cornish tin, the gateway to the ancient world.
12:24Cornish tin helped usher in a new age, transforming tools, farming and society itself.
12:37Professor Stuart Pryor is finding out why tin was so important, with an experiment that
12:42takes us back thousands of years to reveal the knowledge and skills of the ancient metalworkers.
12:49I'm fascinated by experimental archaeology recreating how things were made in the past.
13:03So I've asked metalworking expert Mark Vivian Penny to help me cast a set of bronze axe heads
13:10to see if we can create a tool that's genuinely strong and durable.
13:15Mark, I see there's a lot of raw materials on the floor in front of you. What have we got?
13:20So this is copper.
13:22Wow.
13:23In order to make that copper stronger, because copper bends, you would need tin.
13:29So this is tin. I'll hand you some gravelly bits.
13:33So again, the search for raw materials, add a bit of tin.
13:36Tin will make good working bronze, which is what the Bronze Age people use to make all their tools and their weapons.
13:44And this is bronze.
13:46So...
13:47That's much heavier, isn't it?
13:48It is, isn't it?
13:49And obviously much stronger, right?
13:51Very strong material.
13:53And you can sharpen it up really sharp, and it will keep its edge quite a long time.
13:57So if we start with copper, and then we want to add tin, how do we know what the proportion is that they need to add to make the perfect axe?
14:07The best working tool bronze is made with 10% tin.
14:12And they would have tried and tested different ways of doing it, and you'd know when you've got it wrong because the metal becomes brittle if there's too much in it.
14:20And if it's just too little in it, it won't make any difference at all.
14:24So it's not just a case of adding copper and tin together.
14:27You've got to get those proportions right.
14:29Exactly.
14:32Hands on.
14:33Hands on.
14:38We're casting three different types of axe heads.
14:41One with too little tin, one with too much, and one with just the right amount.
14:4710%.
14:48Using a modern furnace to speed things up, the metals are heated to over 1,000 degrees Celsius.
14:57It is unbelievably hot.
14:59It's going to get hotter.
15:01Once molten, the mix is poured into moulds.
15:05Here comes the crucible, which has melted to the bottom of the furnace.
15:10It's so hot.
15:11You can see why they thought it was magical.
15:18That is beautiful.
15:24Once the metal has hardened, the axe head can be removed from the mould.
15:29Wow.
15:30This is the bronze one.
15:32Look at that.
15:34So that's the axe, which I'm now going to put in that bucket to cool.
15:44There we go.
15:45Look at that lovely gloss.
15:46It's almost golden, isn't it?
15:48So all that heat and all that work, and you get this beautiful axe head at the end.
15:53Well done.
15:55Can't wait to see the finished product.
16:00Whilst I sharpen the bronze axe head, Mark is busy casting more.
16:07Some are just pure copper, and the others are laden with tin.
16:12We've got the axes.
16:14What's the next step?
16:15How do we test to see what's the strongest?
16:17Well, if we hit them with a hammer...
16:19Bronze Age hammer.
16:20Bronze Age hammer.
16:21We can find out how much damage they would take.
16:25So this is the copper one.
16:26We'll try that one.
16:28So...
16:33A few dents.
16:34A few dents in it, yeah.
16:36So this has almost no tin in it.
16:38That one's almost pure copper.
16:40But it does make a serviceable axe, but not a very hard-wearing, resistant one.
16:44Don't want to hit the next one.
16:46Well, this one's got just the right amount of tin in it.
16:49So, let's have a go with the hammer.
16:53You can really hear that ringing, can't you?
16:55That's a beautiful axe, that one.
16:58Virtually no dents in this.
17:00You can really see that it rings like a bell.
17:03It's a much more sturdier material.
17:05It's a beautiful golden colour.
17:07You can imagine this in the hands of the warriors at the time.
17:10Exactly.
17:11Yeah?
17:12It's amazing.
17:13We did this experiment to find out what's the right proportion of copper and tin.
17:19This one's got no tin in it, and this one's got far too much tin in it.
17:23Do the hammer test, and we'll see what happens.
17:27Oh, no!
17:29It's just destroyed the thing completely.
17:32Yeah.
17:33My God, it's incredible.
17:34It is.
17:35That is completely useless.
17:36It is.
17:37Chocolate axe.
17:38Yeah?
17:39Chocolate axe.
17:40Waste of time.
17:41You'd be very disappointed if you'd been sold that, wouldn't you?
17:45So, you've got to get that mixture right.
17:47You've got to get that 10%, or you've got something that's not functional at all.
17:51Exactly.
17:52Yeah?
17:53Can I try the other one?
17:54See how bad that one is.
17:55Yeah.
17:56We'll see if we've done a better job.
17:57Ready?
17:58Yeah?
17:59No.
18:00It's destroyed as well.
18:01Destroyed as well.
18:02That is hopeless.
18:03Yeah?
18:04It's amazing.
18:05That sounds great.
18:06So, we've done a really good job with this one.
18:08But this one, you can see, if you don't get that 10% mixture right, you get complete dross.
18:13Yeah.
18:14Yeah?
18:15It's just amazing.
18:16But I do feel like I'm a bronze smith, right?
18:18Hey!
18:19Congratulations.
18:28Throughout the west of Britain, archaeologists have long uncovered fragments of the lives
18:54that have gone before us.
18:56But the dig itself is only ever the beginning of the story.
19:03Next, we follow up on an excavation that took place in the town of Haverford West in Wales,
19:1110 miles north of Pembroke.
19:19Archaeology is an evidence-based discipline, and sometimes that evidence challenges our preconceptions.
19:25In fact, that's when I find it most exciting.
19:28Now, some years ago, I visited a medieval priory site in Haverford West, and we thought we knew what was going on there.
19:36But Professor Naomi Sykes is visiting the lab where the analysis is revealing an unexpected story.
19:43As a zoo archaeologist and scientist, I'm interested in those moments when science begins to challenge what we think archaeology is telling us.
19:56And it's in the lab during post-excavation analysis that the real story often emerges.
20:09And this one begins...
20:12..in the medieval period.
20:15When Digging for Britain visited Haverford West, an incredible story was emerging.
20:24That is beautiful. Look at that.
20:27Evidence for the long-lost Dominican friary of St Saviour's, which had been hidden for centuries.
20:34The whole building would have been impressive, indicative of a high-status monastic building.
20:41Almost 300 burials were recovered, giving us our first glimpse into the lives of the medieval friars and the local townsfolk that they serve.
20:50At the time, archaeologists thought that they were looking at a friary and its cemetery.
20:55But now, post-excavation research at Cardiff University is rewriting the story, revealing a site that may have been far more than just a burial ground.
21:11Lab analysis of the skeletons reveals that several individuals had endured serious, life-threatening injuries.
21:17That raises new questions about who they were and why they were buried in this friary cemetery.
21:27Dr. Keira O'Brien Butler is part of the investigation team.
21:34This is a male, a middle-aged male, who has suffered severe sharp force trauma that is nearly sliced off the back of the skull there.
21:42This one is a sharp force trauma as well, probably from a projectile.
21:45So they've survived these injuries for quite some time after.
21:48Wait, they survived this?
21:50Yes, yes. So this is healed. It has kind of reattached to the back of the skull there.
21:55And they've lived for possibly years after these injuries occurred.
21:59And that's not the only thing they have that's healed.
22:02They broke their jaw at some point in their life as well.
22:04So look at this. There's quite severe trauma there as well that's totally changed the angle of the jaw.
22:09Would this have affected their ability to eat?
22:11Yes, definitely, I think. But interestingly, despite this, we still have some evidence for quite a rich diet in this individual.
22:18So we have some pathology of the vertebrae there called DISH, where these two vertebrae have fused and it happened all up the spine as well.
22:26This is associated in modern clinical practice with diabetes and obesity and in the past we associate it with monastic diets.
22:34So quite rich, fatty foods, alcohol consumption, red meat.
22:38They could have been at the site and enjoying a similar diet being looked after by the monks.
22:42OK, so is this an isolated instance amongst the population that you've been looking at?
22:45No. So we have a lot of evidence for traumatic injuries and care in this population.
22:50This individual has a bit of iron embedded in the back of their femur, so the back of their upper thigh.
22:56That likely is from a projectile and we can see the bone is healing.
23:00They also had lots of healed fractures throughout the rest of their skeleton, so healed fractures of the feet, ribs and also of the hands.
23:07So evidence for quite rough lives, but some healing as well.
23:15Kira believes the fact that these people survived such severe injuries and showed signs of a rich, fatty diet suggests they were being cared for and supported within the community.
23:28But who were they? Where had they come from? And how had they ended up in a friary cemetery?
23:33To find more answers, the team at Cardiff University is using isotope analysis.
23:40The technique examines chemical traces in bones and teeth to reveal clues about a person's origins and movements.
23:48Leading the work is archaeological scientist, Professor Richard Madgwick.
23:52The isotope analysis can tell us a whole range of aspects about human lives.
24:00Whilst the science behind it can be a bit complex, the principles are really very simple.
24:06You are what you eat, you are where you eat and to some degree you are how you eat.
24:10So every time humans consume food and drink, chemical signals from those products enter the body, enter our skin, our hair, our nails and handily for archaeologists, our bones and our teeth.
24:20So by analysing tiny fragments we can reconstruct all sorts of aspects about movement, diet and health in the past.
24:31Different chemical elements preserved in bones and teeth can reveal detailed clues about past lives.
24:36In particular, strontium and oxygen can be analysed together to show where a person was born and grew up.
24:48Strontium gives us a geological signal for where individuals were during the development of their teeth.
24:54And oxygen gives us a climatic signal relating to temperature and rainfall.
24:59So they work together well in terms of looking at origins.
25:02We've boxed the approximate local range here for not just Haverford West but probably more broadly Wales.
25:10And we can see the diversity within that local range hints that they're not all directly from Pembrokeshire.
25:15We've got quite a few individuals that sit outside of that local range and they must have come from further afield.
25:23So do we have any idea where they might have come from?
25:25The fact that these oxygen values are really very high, they're beyond what we would think could be achieved in Wales,
25:34hints that they come from a more westerly zone like Ireland.
25:38And we know historically that there are some strong links between Pembrokeshire and Ireland.
25:43So, I mean, it's tantalising but I think it's highly likely these individuals have come from there originally.
25:47The lab has transformed the story of the Dominican friary of St Saviars.
25:58The bones, once thought to tell a simple monastic tale, now reveal lives touched by trauma, care and resilience.
26:06Far from just a cemetery, the evidence suggests that this was a place where Dominican friars treated the sick and injured,
26:13welcoming people from across Britain and beyond.
26:17And it's only due to the power of science, by combining osteology, isotopes and history,
26:23that we can build a more complete picture of a medieval community.
26:28Dreams of stories reeled me in
26:33Cocked my ear and hooked my chin
26:37A Friday dinner
26:40A fish-struck sinner
26:42Pull me down, Lord, put me in
26:53Every year, seasoned archaeologists across Britain unearth objects that tell stories of the past.
26:59But some remarkable discoveries are made by enthusiastic amateurs.
27:10Now we're catching up with a spectacular discovery, a chance find that turned out to be something of national importance.
27:17The story began in 2023, in a quiet field on the edge of the village of Willisey, 30 miles northeast of Gloucester.
27:36Novice metal detectorist Glenn Manning was looking forward to his day.
27:40As he began his afternoon sweep, he had no idea he was about to make a discovery that would offer a rare glimpse into the Roman period.
27:56Just after lunch, I came up here and I remember the organiser shouting to me,
28:01people have already done that.
28:03You need to go over to that part of the field and have a look.
28:06But something just told me, just carry on doing what you're doing.
28:10The metal detector all of a sudden picked up a signal, but it was a little bit jumpy.
28:15So I dug down into the ground, probably about eight to ten inches.
28:19And using my handheld pin pointer, I came across what just looked like old metal that had a slight point to it.
28:27But the patina on it told me that it was something like copper.
28:32I thought this looks like a sword, but what's the chances of me on my second time detecting to find such a wonderful item?
28:41And in fact, Glenn had uncovered not one, but two ancient swords.
28:47Far longer than the gladius, the short stabbing sword usually associated with Roman soldiers, Glenn had found something remarkable.
28:58I didn't know how to feel. That's the funny thing. I was quite calm.
29:04My feelings obviously have changed now because I understand how rare it is to find something like that.
29:09There's a lot of historic value. There's a lot of learning to be done in relation to these swords.
29:13When Glenn first discovered the swords, they were so muddied and corroded, it was impossible to tell much about them.
29:22But now, after being carefully conserved and x-rayed, the weapons are finally giving up their story.
29:29Historic England conservator Carla Graham and Carinian Museum director Emma Stewart have brought them to the Digging for Britain tent.
29:42Oh, Carla! Hello! Hello! Hello!
29:47I've been looking forward to this. I mean, what incredible objects.
29:52These are very long swords, aren't they? I mean, obviously Romans had lots of different types of swords.
29:56The gladius was a short one, wasn't it? Yes. This isn't a gladius.
29:58No, so these are spather, so they're kind of much longer. They would be carried by cavalrymen on horseback.
30:04OK. And what we still have, which you can see on the surface here, is that we've got the remains of the wooden scabbard.
30:12The wood's decayed away, but the rust has preserved the wood grain, so we've got it on here and on the hills as well.
30:19And on this particular sword, the very bright orange, that's the remains of the wood there as well.
30:24And we've also got, at the ends here, these beautiful shapes that were attached to the wooden scabbards
30:29and would have protected the soldiers from getting stabbed by their own.
30:33It's very lethal when you're on a horse. Yes. You don't want that, do you?
30:37So, yes. So, these are obviously copper alloy. They'd have been bright and shiny, wouldn't they?
30:41Very bright and shiny, and they're decorated. And the swords themselves, the Carinian Museum asked us if we could x-ray them.
30:48And what was really exciting about the x-rays is it shows that they're quite different.
30:52Have you got the x-rays? I have got the x-rays. Can you look at them? Yes, you certainly can.
30:57So, we did a little bit of enhancement. So, there are some lines coming through here.
31:01Yes, you can see some lines going down, a bit like a herringbone pattern. Yeah.
31:06And that shows that this one is pattern welded. It would have looked amazing.
31:12It's basically lots of either strips or rods of metal, which were woven, hammered together, and then a cutting edge put on the outside.
31:20And the reason that we're seeing it in the x-ray is because there's a differential corrosion, which is fantastic because it shows up this pattern very well.
31:27Isn't that amazing? Because, I mean, you cannot see that, can you?
31:29There's nothing to see that. You really can't see it. I mean, you've got the grooving down the centre, but that's not the pattern.
31:34The only way you can see it is in this x-ray. And what's interesting is one is pattern welded and the other one isn't. So, it's higher status, this one.
31:43Are we looking at objects that seem to have gone into the ground in a fairly pristine condition?
31:49Yes. They've been deliberately buried. They're very carefully placed so they've not been lost. They haven't been bent and destroyed.
31:57You can see some potential textile remains, so we're not quite sure if they were bound together.
32:01Could have been wrapped in fabric as well. Could have been wrapped in fabric, could have been part of the scabbard.
32:06In the ground they were lying one on top of the other, next to the fragments of a bowl here.
32:12Tell me about this bowl, because, I mean, this is part of the same group of objects. What does this tell us?
32:18This is quite high status in the same way as the pattern welded sword. It's really beautifully decorated.
32:23It's obviously quite fragmentary now because this was slightly above the swords, so this suffered the damage first.
32:29Some of the pieces were ploughed out, unfortunately. But you can see some beautiful decoration in this deliberate circular pattern.
32:36There's no need to do this for functionality. Can I handle these things?
32:40You are more than welcome to, yes. Thank you very much.
32:43So it looks like it would have had quite high sides.
32:45Yes. This is a fragment of the rim, so you can see that lovely lip around the edge there.
32:50And it's got some pattern or some ghost of something here.
32:53Yes, that's right. This was revealed at conservation and the conservators had to clean off the mud and the earth and everything.
32:59And it would appear that this piece, which we originally thought was part of the scabbard, actually fits perfectly in that piece there.
33:07So I saw that and I thought it was a coin. It's not a coin then?
33:10It's not a coin. It's a piece of decoration by the looks of things around this rim area.
33:15Given that it's decorated and you can tell a certain amount about its style, does that help you to date it as well?
33:20It's probably contemporary with the swords, so late 3rd century around 290.
33:25And then what's that?
33:27So this piece, it's a different type of metal. So you've just felt the rim. If you have a feel of that, you can feel it's thicker.
33:33Oh, it's thicker and heavier. It's not as beautifully polished. This would have been a lidded bowl with something inside it, deposited inside it.
33:41It may have been sort of ceremonial deposit with these being deliberately buried. That's a possibility.
33:47Yeah. You've got to think about all the possibilities, haven't you? And you've got a find like this where you don't know the wider context.
33:53It's kind of delightfully mysterious. I really want to know. I really want to know why these objects are buried together.
34:00And wonderfully well-preserved. And even though they look like rusty objects, there's quite a lot of metal still in there.
34:06And you can tell by the weight. I can let you feel the weight of this sword here.
34:14That is heavier than I expected. That actually is quite a lot heavier.
34:19And that's this beautiful pattern-melded sword, isn't it? It is. Yeah.
34:23Nearly 2,000 years old.
34:26It is curious because they are objects on their own. They don't have a context. I mean, do we even know if there was any Roman cavalry in the area?
34:32There were. There was a Roman cavalry base just outside of Carinium, which is Simon Sester, which is not too far away.
34:38OK. Later in the Roman period, there is evidence of Roman military.
34:42But there is an interesting shift because there was quite a lot of banditry along the Foss Way.
34:47And civilians were known to carry cavalry swords. It's possible that two soldiers may have been killed.
34:53And this is the wares that were dumped. Because if civilians were found with this type of material and there were two soldiers dead, then you can trace it to them.
35:02They're hiding the evidence? That's a possibility.
35:05But it's looking like, in terms of the whole context, you've clearly got Roman military kit here.
35:11There was something special about these swords, something special about this bowl, for somebody to deposit them all together.
35:17Yeah. Why did they do it? I mean, we'll never know, will we? But what we do know is that they never came back.
35:23They never came back.
35:24They never came back.
35:25They never came back.
35:30they never came back.
35:33They never came back.
35:35Something you echoed
35:42You've excused my love
35:52I am sold
35:56And the story will grow old
36:00That you'll make us from gone
36:07Each new artefact can be a source of insights into ancient lives and technologies.
36:19But sometimes researchers face a challenge with objects that are so fragile that they're actually impossible to handle.
36:29Archaeology isn't just about making new discoveries. We can employ technology now to study, recreate and even handle objects that were dug up a long time ago.
36:44Archaeologist Meg Russell is looking at how cutting edge techniques are helping to unlock secrets about Roman surgery.
36:52I'm fascinated by objects from the past and it's only natural to want to pick them up.
37:02But some artefacts are so fragile that even the lightest touch can cause damage.
37:07And when you can't handle them safely, it becomes much harder to understand how they worked or what they were used for.
37:14125 years ago, a remarkable set of Roman surgical tools was pulled from a river.
37:22After spending centuries submerged, the bronze instruments are now so corroded and fragile that touching them risks further deterioration.
37:34At the University of Exeter, researchers are pioneering techniques that let them peer beneath those corroded layers to reveal the metalwork underneath.
37:43Clues that could transform our understanding of how these tools were designed, manufactured and used.
37:52Professor Rebecca Fleming is on hand to explain.
37:57These Roman surgical instruments were found in the river Walbrook in London and we've got a scalpel handle, we've got two needles and we've got two very thin probes and a slightly larger spoon as well.
38:13Wow, some of these are so delicate and tiny.
38:16Yeah.
38:17I'm starting to see a few little details.
38:19How difficult is it to work with artefacts that you can't touch yourself?
38:24I think it's particularly difficult in this case because these are tools that we use for surgical operations and if we can't get the feel of them and try them out in various ways and really get a sense of exactly how they were constructed, that limits our possibilities in terms of understanding them in various ways.
38:40What methods can we use to understand them better?
38:43The technique that we use more particularly here is 3D scanning, like a CT scan, a sort of 3D x-ray for objects, which really gives you a very detailed picture of the surface, all of its different imperfections, any details of crafting, which is invaluable for us.
39:01And is there anything that you specifically hope the CT scans might show us today?
39:05Yes, definitely.
39:06So as you can see, this scalpel handle would have originally been an iron or steel blade and clearly that is replaced pretty regularly.
39:15So a lot of attention would have gone into thinking about how to make the holder.
39:19And then thinking about these two needles, this looks very straightforward.
39:24This one has something quite different going on in terms of where it might have been threaded.
39:29So it would be interesting to look at that.
39:33Curator Megan Woolley from the Devon and Exeter Medical Heritage Trust is the only person permitted to handle these fragile instruments.
39:42She is securing each one in inert foam and covering with acid free tissue to create a custom support so it can be scanned safely.
39:58Placed on a rotating platform, this high resolution scanner will capture every tiny detail.
40:04It's a painstaking process with each scan taking more than seven and a half hours.
40:15These look fantastic, Rebecca.
40:17This is a full on grayscale image containing all of the data.
40:22You can already start to see some of the detail in terms of the scoop of the spoon and the different sort of eyes of the needle.
40:29Things that are darker are denser and we can visualise that much more clearly in different colours.
40:36Look at that! That's fantastic!
40:39The blue is the densest and then green and then going less dense orange and yellow.
40:45There are two things that are of significance, one of which is about the object in its original form.
40:51And maybe it was actually intentional that parts of it were less dense, parts of it were more dense in terms of strength or in terms of balance.
41:01Particularly for scalpels, balance is very important.
41:04And then the other thing is conservation and looking after these objects now.
41:08You can see if there's a particular area of weakness.
41:11So it's obviously valuable information for the curators.
41:14And that's not all. These scans are so data rich that they can be sent straight to the engineering lab.
41:23Oh my gosh, look at these!
41:26Where 3D printers machine precise replicas.
41:30Allowing us to finally get hands on with incredibly detailed copies.
41:34It's really fascinating to see the processes at work and even more interesting to see the results in various ways.
41:42This is that complex needle that we talked about.
41:45Now you can get really to grips with the complexities of it.
41:48So it's got a sizeable hole there which you could thread in various different ways.
41:52And then it's also got a hole here.
41:54That second hole is a surprise.
41:57You couldn't see it in the actual artefact itself at all.
41:59We haven't been able to find anything that looks exactly the same.
42:05There's clearly more to that than just sewing up bandages.
42:09I love that now you can tell a little bit more potentially about function of these objects.
42:14I mean this must just lift a lot of limitations for you with what you can and can't see with the real thing.
42:20Yeah, exactly. And you can start to think about the scalpel handle.
42:24You can see the sort of thought that's gone into this.
42:25You have the flatten and then you have something that you can hold.
42:28The blades would have been put there.
42:30This would have opened and you'd use this to pull it apart and then it would snap back together.
42:35And this is obviously very practical.
42:37So this is in a resin but you can do 3D printing in metal.
42:42So you could try and print it in bronze and then get a nice scalpel blade.
42:48Put it in the hand of a surgeon practicing today and see what they made of it.
42:51We've got the texts that talk about different sorts of operations.
42:55So do the tools seem to be appropriate for the kind of practices that are being described?
43:02The more I handle these tools, the more I see how technology is bridging the gap between the past and present.
43:10And it's not just medical instruments. This technology can be applied to all kinds of items.
43:20By recreating them and putting them to use, we bring multiple disciplines together, opening up endless possibilities to explore and understand ancient artifacts in entirely new ways.
43:32ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
43:38Oh, raisin' the dead, raisin' the dead, raisin' the dead.
43:47Oh, raisin' the dead, raisin' the dead, raisin' the dead.
44:01Every year, across the West, archaeologists embark on new digs.
44:08Sometimes they set out with a good idea of what they might find.
44:15But when the digging starts, they have to be ready for their theories to be turned on their heads.
44:23For our next dig, Torrey is heading to the wild south-west coast of Wales, to Buckspool in Pembrokeshire.
44:38This has to be one of the most spectacular and precarious sights I've ever filmed at.
44:49This whole area is an active military training zone, and because it's off the midst of the public, the archaeology here has stayed remarkably intact.
44:57Perched on a headland jutting into the Celtic Sea, a team of archaeologists and military veterans are investigating two circular structures.
45:11From the air, the site shows all the hallmarks of a promontory fort dating back over 2,000 years to the Iron Age.
45:26This stretch of coastline was once dotted with promontory forts, remote and exposed to the elements.
45:41But what were they for, and who might have lived in a place like this?
45:49Archaeologist Richard Osgood is leading the dig.
45:53Richard, this is properly spectacular. This is just gorgeous.
46:00It's such an elemental place, isn't it? Really, really beautiful. This is Buckspool Promontory Fort.
46:05That has an awful lot of information in the name. On a promontory, we can't argue with that.
46:11That's true. Is it a fort?
46:13Good question. I think it's more about impressing your neighbours, having big ditches and ramparts for sure, but this is a showy thing, so I think it's much more than defensive and military.
46:23So this is the way in?
46:24It is the way in. You can see the big ditch here and the embankment behind it.
46:28It would have been, I think, quite a bit deeper, and you would have had a higher rampart behind with a big timber palisade.
46:34And the massive timber gateway that we're standing under at the moment. So this would have been hugely impressive.
46:39When you paint that picture there, you just realise, you know, not only how monumental that would have felt, but coming in from this coming in relatively flat land to dramatic deep-sided ditches.
46:49Yeah.
46:50Towering gates. Great wall in front. You wouldn't be able to see anything ahead of you. You have no idea what's coming next.
46:56Everything from this point onwards is a surprise when you get into the settlement.
47:04Because of its location, the archaeology here has remained largely unexplored.
47:13But early surveys and aerial imagery suggest that this is the footprint of two Iron Age roundhouses.
47:21We're now within the settlement area. We've come through these Iron Age defences and we're into the excavation proper of these structures.
47:30So you've got this circle defined by these blocks of limestone, but it cuts through a little acidway into a second one.
47:35So you're looking at a figure of eight of these two circular structures.
47:39They seem big. Is that big for a roundhouse?
47:41Not especially big for a roundhouse.
47:43There are two courses, at least, going around there, sat on top of the bedrock and forming this arc, presumably once of a circle.
47:50There's a big tumble of rock there. That's bedrock.
47:51So this is where it gets confusing because if this is a roundhouse, the last thing you want is that as your floor.
47:58So I'm not entirely convinced, even if there's a scree of earth put over it, that that is a floor.
48:03Iron Age roundhouses typically had a single entrance and a stone half in the centre for cooking and heating.
48:16We've not got those elements that would just scream roundhouse at you.
48:19I think it's more than that because you've got this arc of stones in a couple of courses, but I've not got that half.
48:25The entranceway is probably there, but is it actually connecting you with a third structure,
48:29in which case you've got three cells connected to another, but is that the sort of thing you get in the living structure?
48:35I don't think it is.
48:39And the mystery deepens as none of the small finds appear to have any connection to the Iron Age.
48:49What have you been finding, then?
48:51Coins. Lots of coins here today. It's unbelievable.
48:54I found nine this morning. Found a couple around here and some over there.
48:58It's just odd that they're, like, around here.
49:01It's really odd, isn't it?
49:02If this is some kind of roundhouse, this would be where the door would be, roughly, isn't it?
49:08Sort of coming in here.
49:09Yeah, that way, yeah.
49:10Yeah, coming in that way. So it's a bit of a mystery.
49:12I mean, it does feel like this place is turning up unexpected things.
49:18And even more unexpected is that these coins all date from the Roman occupation of Britain.
49:23It's a twist that changes the story.
49:30Archaeologist Fran Murphy is trying to piece together the puzzle.
49:35Oh, wow. OK.
49:37It's just, like, bag after bag of coins.
49:39So those are just some of the selections that have been found.
49:42And this coin is Emperor Constantine, and he is 4th century.
49:49Also, we've had coins of Corrosius.
49:51OK, and when's Corrosius?
49:53Late third.
49:55This is a lovely coin. You can really see the profile of the head there.
49:58And is that one next to it also?
50:00Well, this is a little minim.
50:02What's a minim?
50:02This is the smallest denomination, just a few millimeters in diameter.
50:09What is interesting is that we don't normally find these coins when they're difficult to find.
50:13But equally, the numbers that we're finding them.
50:16So if you were coming here to ask the gods to help you in something, you use your lowest denomination coin.
50:23It's like throwing a penny or a 2p into a wishing well.
50:26Is that what they're doing?
50:27Is that why we're getting this big concentration of coins?
50:32Alongside the coins, the team is unearthing a considerable amount of pottery.
50:41We have probably now got one of the biggest assemblages of Roman pot from southwest Wales, from this small site.
50:48The quantity itself is gobsmacking.
50:51The number of rim sherds.
50:52A lot of it is black burnished ware.
50:55Some of the wares we just don't see around here.
50:59One thing that's really interesting is all these objects are broken.
51:02And there is a theory that you're planting materials in pits as an offering for future prosperity.
51:09Depositing bits of everything they need for life as an offering with a coin.
51:15Bringing goods which they want to deposit in this area because it has some significance.
51:19Having uncovered the pottery and more than 160 coins, the team is beginning to think this place may have held a special spiritual significance long after the Iron Age, during the later Roman period.
51:35And the landscape itself may help explain why this spot held such power.
51:42Archaeologist Toby Driver is a specialist in Welsh hillforts.
51:51It's just so dramatically vertical on either side.
51:55It's a different life you have here, it's a cultural phenomenon, living on the coast in prehistory and Roman times here.
52:04We know Celts saw their gods residing in remote, dangerous places, and nowhere is that more dramatic than at the coast.
52:13We have antiquarian writers describing this, the slam of waves into these coastal chasms being like gunshots, and these enormous sprays of foam with rainbows being cast.
52:26Now, we understand what a rainbow is today, but 2,000 years ago, what on earth do they think about that?
52:31Were the gods angry at particular times of year, particular seasons?
52:38In most of the ancient world, people are chucking stuff into chasms, sacrifices, offerings as well.
52:44And that may have been a very important part of what Buxpool was 2,000 years ago.
52:50Imagine walking over that rock arch.
52:54The waves are booming, the spray is coming up and catching the lights.
52:59It would feel like you're passing into a different world here.
53:02Yeah.
53:03We've just learned more about Buxpool in the last two weeks than we have in decades.
53:07But all that new knowledge, we've got to process it, we've got to think of new ways to understand this life at the edge of the coast.
53:15So what seemed like quite a simple story is actually turning out to be far more complicated, mysterious.
53:28Absolutely.
53:29And that is why you dig.
53:31Because it looked really logical.
53:33You've got a promontory fort, you've got geophysics, you've got LiDAR, motor circles, roundhouses, people living in here in the Iron Age, job done.
53:39And it's not like that.
53:41There's so much more complexity here.
53:43That's what really excites about archaeology, isn't it?
53:45Because what seems obvious often isn't, and there's truth, is lying in the soil.
53:50While the promontory fort may still have its roots in the Iron Age, Richard now thinks that by the Roman period, this place was evolving into something different.
54:10A place where offerings may have been made to the gods, all perched on the very edge between the known world and the spiritual realm.
54:20The promontory fort at Buckspool is a great example of how archaeology can challenge our expectations and our ideas about the past.
54:37Turning a simple story into something more complex and compelling.
54:42Richard went in with an idea.
54:51He thought he was going to be excavating Iron Age roundhouses.
54:54In this promontory fort, and it would help them understand the nature of what was going on there.
54:59And then they started digging, and the finds are Roman.
55:04Overwhelmingly Roman.
55:05Nothing that could be definitively tied to the Iron Age.
55:08I always enjoy it when archaeologists find something they're not expecting.
55:12The richness of this site astounded all of the archaeologists working there.
55:19All of these Roman coins, a really huge number of them, including really small denominations.
55:24This is not like a wealthy hoard that has been stashed somewhere.
55:28It's small change stuff.
55:29But of course, that Roman date doesn't mean that that site didn't exist and wasn't occupied in the Iron Age.
55:36So the crucial thing here will be all of the post-excavation analysis that Richard and his team will do.
55:42And then we'll get a much bigger picture and we'll know how long that settlement lasted,
55:46how far back in time it goes, whether it does extend right back into the Iron Age as well.
55:50Yeah, and what it was.
55:51I mean, I think that's the big overwhelming question is like, still, what was it?
55:55Definitely a watch this space situation, I think, with this promontory fort.
55:59Here on Digging for Britain, we're not accustomed to blowing our own trumpet.
56:14It's more tuneful than I thought it would be.
56:18But what a year it's been.
56:21The most amazing thing in British archaeology.
56:23We've seen evidence of life here stretching back further than ever before.
56:30This stuff was already fossilised by the time dinosaurs were walking around.
56:33Some finds were a privilege to uncover.
56:36You were the first person to see that for 1,400 years.
56:39That is phenomenal.
56:40Others were best left alone.
56:42This is a bottle of 85-year-old beer.
56:45Yeah, I think that can stay in there.
56:46But each one sheds new light on the stories of people who lived and died on these shores.
56:51It really brings back a lot of humanity to what we're studying, thinking about how they may have lived, how they may have died.
57:08It's a child buried with weapons as the man that he would have become.
57:13He's been subjected to surgery.
57:15Yes.
57:15I wonder who he was.
57:16It's amazing to touch the past in such a personal way.
57:35We've discovered that our ancient ancestors weren't all that dissimilar to us.
57:40They liked to kick back and relax.
57:42In their leisure time, they're sitting beside the hearth, they're playing games.
57:47They had a sense of the aesthetic.
57:49Such a poignant connection to this person.
57:51All that's surviving in the grave of them is their incredible style.
57:55And they entrusted their legacy to those who followed them.
57:59It's a treasured item that has passed down through the generations.
58:02It's an heirloom.
58:03Yeah.
58:03All across Britain, archaeologists continue to dig for clues to past lives.
58:12Who knows what treasures are waiting to be unearthed next year.
58:16To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:46To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:47To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:47To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:48To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:49To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:50To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:51To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:52To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:53To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:54To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:55To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:56To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:57To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:58To lay us dead out in the sun.
58:59To lay us dead out in the sun.
59:00To lay us dead out in the sun.
59:01To lay us dead out in the sun.
59:02To lay us dead out in the sun.
59:03To lay us dead out in the sun.
59:04To lay us dead out in the sun.
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