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00:00The Druids of Celtic Britain are remembered as mystical holy men, holding the secrets of nature.
00:09But ancient sources also accuse them of human sacrifice, even cannibalism.
00:17Now, new discoveries are uncovering the secrets of these Celtic pagan priests.
00:23That's human. Thousands of pieces of bread.
00:26Revealing the truth about Druid sacrifice.
00:47In 55 BC, Julius Caesar lands on the coast of Britain at the head of two battle-hardened Roman legions.
00:57Fresh from his conquest of Gaul, Caesar has crossed the channel to establish a Roman beachhead on this distant and
01:04fertile island.
01:06He is the first Roman general in Britain.
01:09In dispatches to the Roman Senate, he describes his encounters with the barbarian tribes of Britain, a people of strange
01:17and fearsome appearance.
01:21The Britons dye their skins blue, which gives them a terrifying appearance in battle.
01:27They wear their hair long, with every part of their body shaved, except their head and upper lip.
01:36The Britons, described by Caesar, are Celts.
01:40They live in tribal communities, ruled over by warrior kings and chieftains.
01:45They fight tribal wars.
01:48But the Celts share a common culture, and they worship the same pagan gods.
01:54The Druids, presiding over the spiritual life of the tribes, are priests Caesar calls Druids.
02:01They are essentially religious practitioners.
02:04They are in charge of all religion.
02:06They're in charge of sacrifice, in charge of gift-giving, prayers, predicting the future.
02:11And they were liaison officers between the people and the gods.
02:15Caesar describes the Druids as men of great status.
02:19They are judges and counselors, advising kings and chieftains.
02:24But their power is more than just political.
02:27Only they can perform the rituals, on which the prosperity of the tribe depends.
02:33Those rituals, Caesar tells us, include human sacrifice.
02:40They believe that the gods delight in the slaughter of prisoners and criminals.
02:45And when the supply of captives runs short, they sacrifice even the innocent.
02:52They believe in times of danger, unless the life of a man be offered,
02:57the mind of the immortal gods will not favor them.
03:05But can Caesar's account of these gruesome rituals be trusted?
03:09Did the Druids perform human sacrifice?
03:13When he wrote about Britain, he was thinking at least as much about his own legacy
03:19as he was about the accuracy or truth of anything he wrote.
03:23Caesar needed to betray reasons for conquering Britain.
03:27The more barbarous, the more savage, the more terrifying the British were,
03:34the greater was Caesar as a man, as a general.
03:39The Druids themselves left no written record of their rituals or beliefs.
03:44All we have are a handful of Roman accounts
03:46describing the Druids as wise men and philosophers,
03:50as healers, as fortune tellers.
03:54Historians have looked to archaeology to confirm these accounts.
03:58But archaeology has provided few clues.
04:03Until a recent discovery on the site of a quarry in southeast England.
04:10Here, in Stanway,
04:12a cloaked man was buried almost 2,000 years ago
04:16with a rich variety of objects.
04:22Among the flagons, plates, and pots,
04:25the team uncovers a game
04:27laid out as if ready to be played
04:30and two seemingly connected clues
04:33identifying the occupant of the grave.
04:36A strainer bowl
04:37found to contain the pollen of medicinal herbs
04:40and a unique collection of surgical instruments.
04:45The archaeologists believe
04:46they've uncovered the grave of a doctor.
04:49But then more evidence emerges,
04:52linking this grave with the Druids,
04:54a collection of mysterious metal rods.
04:59We found the metal rods very puzzling.
05:02We searched the literature,
05:04asked around,
05:05couldn't find any parallels for them,
05:07we didn't know what they were.
05:08But they were strange,
05:10in that they were very symmetrical.
05:11And they actually lend themselves
05:13to dropping them on the ground.
05:15And given there was possible combinations
05:18of shape and material,
05:20whether iron or copper alloy,
05:22the obvious conclusion was
05:23that they were to do with divination.
05:27Divination is the art of predicting the future.
05:31Roman accounts describe Druids divining
05:34by casting sticks onto cloth
05:36and reading the pattern of their fall.
05:41The Druids, the Romans say,
05:44were seers and healers,
05:45skilled in the arts of both healing and prophecy.
05:50Was this the grave of a Druid?
05:55For archaeologists,
05:56Druids were primarily things
05:58that people like Caesar wrote about,
06:00but not things we dug up.
06:02So when at Stanway,
06:04we saw coming out of the ground
06:06these extraordinary burials,
06:08for the first time,
06:09we were confronted with physical remains.
06:12And if Caesar was right
06:14when he talked about Druids,
06:15then perhaps we were actually looking
06:17at at least one of them there at Stanway.
06:22If the Romans were right,
06:24and the Druids were seers and healers,
06:27the grave at Stanway
06:28is evidence of the Druids as medicine men,
06:31guardians of special knowledge,
06:33empowered by their contact
06:35with the spirit world.
06:38This man was not just a doctor.
06:41He was much more than that.
06:42And he would have been respected
06:44for his peculiar, very special skills
06:47that took him into a world of imagination
06:52and ritual,
06:53and perhaps fear for the people
06:55who relied on those skills.
07:00But what of Caesar's claims
07:01of human sacrifice?
07:03For Caesar,
07:05these blood offerings to the gods
07:06were the most terrible
07:08of the Druids' rituals.
07:10And his account of human sacrifice
07:12is backed up by other Roman authors.
07:16They describe Druids divining the future
07:18through ritual killing.
07:21They plunge a dagger into their victims
07:24and read what is to come
07:26from the twitching of their limbs
07:28and the gushing of their blood.
07:31What sense can archaeology
07:34make of these gruesome accounts?
07:38Discoveries on the island of Anglesey
07:40are revealing tantalizing clues
07:42about the Druids and their rituals.
07:45They may also provide evidence
07:47supporting Roman accounts
07:48of human sacrifice.
07:53The Romans tell us that Anglesey,
07:55off the northwest coast of Wales,
07:57is the Druids' sacred isle,
08:00the spiritual center of their religion.
08:03They claim that this is where
08:05the Celtic priests gather
08:06to worship and practice their rituals.
08:11In 1943, during World War II,
08:14a lake on Anglesey,
08:16Lynn Kerrigbach,
08:17was dredged in the building
08:19of an Air Force base.
08:21Buried in the mud,
08:23workers uncovered something unexpected,
08:25one of the richest ever collections
08:27of objects from the Celtic Iron Age.
08:31They included parts of chariots,
08:34shield buckles,
08:35weapons deliberately broken
08:36or bent out of shape,
08:38slave chains,
08:39and the bones of sacrificial animals.
08:43It is believed these objects
08:45were offerings to Celtic gods.
08:49A votive offering
08:50is a gift to the gods.
08:52It's a form of sacrifice.
08:53Not a human sacrifice,
08:55you understand,
08:55but a sacrifice involving a gift.
08:58It could be something precious to you,
08:59like a sword or a spear,
09:01or it could be an animal.
09:02The important thing is
09:03that it's a value to you
09:05when you give it up.
09:06And also,
09:07the place has to be special.
09:08And the specialness of the place
09:10means that it's acceptable to the gods.
09:14According to the Romans,
09:16the Druids didn't worship in temples,
09:18but in the open air.
09:20The Celtic gods,
09:22like Tyrannus, the god of thunder,
09:24and Isis, the god of the air,
09:26were gods associated
09:28with the natural world,
09:30with water,
09:31with the woods,
09:32and with the weather.
09:37The Druids' places of worship
09:39land were special parts
09:40of the landscape.
09:42Forest groves,
09:43mountains,
09:44springs,
09:45marshes,
09:45and lakes.
09:47The whole of the landscape
09:48would be full of spirit force.
09:50And so,
09:50people would be walking
09:51around the countryside,
09:52seeing the gods everywhere,
09:54knowing that they had
09:54to give them gifts,
09:56because otherwise,
09:56the gods would turn against them.
09:59The offerings found in the lake
10:01at Lincarigbach
10:02back up the Roman accounts
10:05of Anglesey
10:05as the Druids' sacred isle.
10:09They include the finest bronze ornaments
10:11from the shields of warriors,
10:13and the most crafted of objects,
10:16suggesting the Druids sacrificed
10:17their most valued possessions
10:19to the gods.
10:23But the Romans claimed
10:25the Druids
10:25in their sacred groves
10:26also made sacrifices
10:28of a more gruesome kind.
10:32The Romans imagined the Druids
10:33as enacting hideous rites
10:36in sacred groves.
10:37You'd come into this grove,
10:38it would be smelly,
10:39it would be stinking
10:40with human entrails,
10:41everybody would be terrified.
10:43And this is how Anglesey
10:44was imagined by the Romans,
10:46full of people wielding sickles
10:47and Druids muttering incantations
10:50and curses.
10:52Now, in the archives
10:53of the Lincarig horde,
10:55a wartime letter
10:56has been discovered,
10:58revealing these Roman tales
11:00of human sacrifice
11:01on Anglesey
11:02may be true.
11:04This is a letter
11:05from the resident engineer
11:06at the RAF Ministry
11:08of War Transport,
11:09which actually talks about
11:10the list of material found,
11:12including the gang chains
11:13and the weapons and so on,
11:14and then the tantalizing phrase,
11:16some human remains.
11:19So, we don't have them,
11:20but were they once there?
11:23Dead Druids practice
11:25human sacrifice on Anglesey.
11:28The human bones
11:29found at Lincarigbach
11:30have disappeared.
11:33But across the channel
11:34in France,
11:35an extraordinary excavation
11:37has uncovered hundreds
11:39of human skeletons,
11:40revealing a startling picture
11:42of a Celtic cult of death.
11:53in the conquest of Gaul.
11:57The Gauls he defeated
11:59in what is now France
12:01were Celts,
12:02and they,
12:03like the Britons,
12:04had Druids.
12:08In Caesar's account
12:10of his conquest of Gaul,
12:11he describes the horror
12:13of the Gaul's religious rituals.
12:16Some tribes build
12:18enormous human images
12:19with limbs of interwoven branches,
12:22which they fill
12:23with live men.
12:25The images are set alight,
12:27and the men die
12:28in a sea of flame.
12:32Whilst no archaeological evidence
12:35survives to support this account,
12:36other rituals described by Caesar
12:39have been borne out
12:40by recent finds
12:42in a field
12:42in northern France.
12:45We're inside an enclosure
12:46from the 3rd century B.C.
12:49Over there,
12:50north of the enclosure,
12:51we found a construction
12:52made of human bones,
12:54bits of arm and leg,
12:56from about 200 to 250 people.
13:01And then,
13:02beyond the enclosure,
13:04there was another
13:05large deposition
13:06of human remains,
13:07this time
13:08completely jumbled up
13:10with their weapons,
13:11their swords and shields.
13:15Caesar describes
13:16how the warrior tribes
13:17of Gaul,
13:18after a battle,
13:20gather together
13:20the bodies and weapons
13:21of their defeated enemies
13:23and display them
13:24in sacred sites.
13:28What they have conquered,
13:30they collect into one place.
13:33In many states,
13:34you may see piles
13:35of these things
13:36heaped up in their holy places.
13:41It is just such a trophy site
13:43that archaeologist
13:44Gerard Fercarc de Lesley
13:46believes has been uncovered
13:48at Ribemont-sur-Anque.
13:52A trophy site
13:55is a symbol of victory.
13:57They gathered together
13:58the weapons of the enemy
14:00to create a vast
14:01and terrifying display.
14:03And the Celts gathered
14:05not just the weapons
14:06of the vanquished,
14:07but also their bodies.
14:11The thousands of bones
14:13found on the outer perimeter
14:14of the enclosure
14:15are believed to be
14:16the remains of bodies
14:17once suspended
14:18on the wooden palisades
14:20along with their weapons
14:22and battle armor.
14:24These corpses,
14:25left to rot
14:26in the open air,
14:28were intended
14:29as a sign of domination
14:30and as a warning
14:32to other tribes.
14:34All,
14:34without exception,
14:36had their heads cut off.
14:38We have evidence
14:39from classical writers
14:40that people actually
14:40brought heads home
14:41from battle.
14:42They would decapitate
14:43the enemy on the battlefield,
14:44sling the heads
14:45onto their saddles,
14:46bring them home,
14:47and display them
14:48in their houses.
14:49The heads were regarded
14:50as the kind of epitome
14:51of the whole human.
14:52And they also had
14:53a sacred force.
14:55The heads of your enemies
14:56put up on your own temples
14:58would empower that temple.
15:02Inside the enclosure
15:04at Ribemont,
15:05ashes were found.
15:06The remains of cremations,
15:08a high-status form of burial.
15:11These, it is believed,
15:13are the remains of warriors
15:14from the victorious tribe,
15:17cremated with due honor,
15:19then placed within altars
15:20made from the bones
15:22of the dishonored enemy.
15:24Thousands of arms and leg bones
15:26were found,
15:27piled up to form walls
15:29six feet square.
15:31Forensic osteographer,
15:33Yannick Ricard,
15:34investigates how enemy warriors
15:37were dismembered
15:38to make these grisly altars.
15:40Grâce au scanner 3D,
15:42on a pure with the help
15:43of a 3D scanner,
15:45we can reconstruct this bone
15:48and reconstruct the object
15:50or weapon
15:51that caused this cut.
15:54And this reconstruction
15:56allows us to conclude
15:58that the weapon
15:59had a point
16:00of 48 degrees.
16:05And that
16:06corresponds
16:07with numerous weapons
16:09in our collection
16:09of metal arms
16:11from this period of combat.
16:18Ribemont shows evidence
16:20of a tribal cult of death,
16:22but it's not evidence
16:23of ritual killing.
16:24These warriors,
16:25it's believed,
16:27died in battle.
16:30But at least one skeleton
16:32at Ribemont
16:33reveals something more.
16:35It was found
16:36set apart from the others.
16:38And unlike the others,
16:39it was not dismembered.
16:43He was found
16:44in two parts.
16:46And the weapon
16:47used to cut off his head
16:48was quite different
16:49from any other on the site.
16:51Elsewhere,
16:52all the skulls
16:53were removed with daggers,
16:55which suggests
16:56the individuals
16:56were already dead.
16:58But here,
16:59the decapitation
17:00was with a sword,
17:02which begs the question,
17:03was he dead
17:04or was he still alive?
17:07It's the one suggestion
17:08we have
17:09of human sacrifice
17:10here at Ribemont
17:11sur Ancre.
17:16Roman accounts
17:17describe the treatment
17:18of enemy warriors
17:19taken alive
17:20in tribal wars.
17:23According to these
17:24Roman accounts,
17:25the Celts sacrificed
17:27prisoners of war
17:28at sword point
17:29to gain the favor
17:30of their gods.
17:34This may have been
17:35the fate of the warrior
17:36found at Ribemont.
17:46If human sacrifice
17:47took place here,
17:48it was the exception,
17:50not the rule.
17:52but the fearsome appearance
17:53of Celtic ritual sites
17:55made a profound impression
17:57on the Romans.
17:59Caesar's troops
18:00marched within 12 miles
18:01of Ribemont sur Ancre.
18:05Roman soldiers
18:06would certainly
18:07have heard stories
18:08of violence
18:09and sacrifice,
18:10and they would have seen
18:11at least
18:13the results of this,
18:14of heads on poles,
18:16of arrangements
18:18of human remains
18:19set up
18:20to terrify people
18:22and perhaps
18:23even for the very benefit
18:24of frightening
18:25these soldiers.
18:28The Romans
18:29saw themselves
18:30as a civilizing force,
18:32pushing back
18:33the borders
18:33of barbarism.
18:36By 51 B.C.,
18:37Gaul was conquered
18:38and absorbed
18:39into the Roman Empire.
18:42But despite Caesar's efforts,
18:44Britain remained
18:45undefeated
18:46and for a century,
18:48the English Channel
18:48marked a boundary,
18:50the edge
18:51of the Roman world.
18:54Beyond Rome's reach,
18:56stirring up Celtic pride
18:58and opposition
18:59to the Romans,
19:00were the Druids
19:01of Celtic Britain.
19:04In the century
19:05after Julius Caesar's
19:07failed invasion
19:07of Britain,
19:09Druidry
19:10in Gaul
19:11in France
19:11was suppressed.
19:14Over here,
19:15Druidry flourished.
19:17And when
19:18in France,
19:20in Gaul,
19:21native insurrection
19:22bubbled up,
19:24there were stories
19:25circulating
19:26amongst the soldiers
19:27that people
19:29had crossed
19:29over the channel
19:30from Britain
19:31to assist
19:33in the fight
19:34against Rome
19:35and perhaps
19:35behind that
19:36lay the British
19:37Druidic force.
19:39and so one
19:40of the reasons
19:41Rome wanted
19:42to come into
19:42Britain
19:42was to stamp
19:44out this final
19:45outpost
19:45of pagan,
19:47native,
19:48mysterious,
19:49terrifying Druidry.
19:53In 43 AD,
19:56a century
19:56after Julius Caesar's
19:58withdrawal
19:58from Britain,
20:00the Emperor
20:01Claudius
20:01launches a full-scale
20:03invasion
20:03of the island.
20:06It is the beginning
20:07of a showdown
20:08between Roman
20:09and Celt
20:11and between
20:12the Romans
20:13and the Druids.
20:15when Rome
20:16came into Britain
20:17it did so
20:19with a massive
20:19military force.
20:21Four legions,
20:22maybe as many
20:22as 40,000 men
20:24came into Britain
20:26that was used
20:26to fighting
20:27in dozens
20:28and hundreds
20:29and this force
20:31marched
20:32through the country
20:33trampling crops,
20:36laying tracks
20:36out as it went
20:37through fields,
20:39through villages,
20:41killing anybody
20:41who got in the way.
20:42Rome was saying
20:44we are here,
20:45this is now
20:46our land.
20:48In the southeast,
20:49the Romans
20:50take rapid control,
20:51making alliances
20:52with local tribes
20:53who see the benefits
20:55of collaboration.
20:56But in the north,
20:57in the west,
20:58in Wales,
20:59resistance
21:00is fierce.
21:03The Druids
21:04have much to lose
21:05from the Roman assault.
21:07They encourage
21:08tribal chiefs
21:09to stand and fight
21:10and perform
21:11sacred rites
21:12in hope of victory.
21:14There are a number
21:15of ways of resisting.
21:17One of these
21:18by whipping up resistance,
21:19by talking to the kings
21:20and encouraging them.
21:21The other way
21:22is by ritual.
21:23There may be
21:24at times of crisis
21:25so-called
21:26aversion rituals
21:27which are designed
21:28to get the gods
21:30on the Britain's side
21:31or on the Gaul's side
21:32against the Romans.
21:33So you've almost
21:34got a kind of pitting
21:35of God against God
21:36whipped up
21:37by the Druids.
21:43In the west of England,
21:45two cavers
21:46have discovered
21:46what may be
21:47chilling evidence
21:48of one of these rites
21:49performed by the Druids
21:51to resist the Roman advance.
21:59We broke into the cave
22:00and on that first day
22:02we went into the chamber.
22:03It was really eerie.
22:05There was all sorts
22:06of strange atmosphere
22:08in there,
22:08particularly because
22:08you could actually see
22:09bones lying on the surface.
22:11We thought they were
22:12probably cow bones.
22:14But then we went back
22:15in a few days later
22:16and we started to dig
22:18and we were digging
22:18and the bones
22:19were becoming
22:19more and more familiar
22:20in shape
22:21and then I spotted
22:23something that I noticed
22:25and said,
22:25Jack, what's that over there?
22:27And I sort of moved over
22:29and moved some mud
22:30out of the way
22:30and there's a skull.
22:33Now, an excavation
22:35inside the cave
22:36is uncovering hundreds
22:38of human bones
22:39dating to the years
22:40of the Roman conquest.
22:43To the archaeologists,
22:44they suggest human sacrifice
22:46on a massive scale.
22:57In 43 AD,
22:59Roman legions
23:00marched through Britain
23:01seeking out resistance.
23:05They've come under orders
23:06from the Emperor Claudius
23:07himself to wipe out
23:09the barbarous
23:10and inhuman religion
23:11of Britain's Celtic priests
23:13the Druids.
23:16The Romans claim
23:17the Druids
23:18perform human sacrifices
23:19in sacred groves
23:21and here in the heartland
23:23of Druidry,
23:24Roman soldiers fear
23:26what they might encounter.
23:28Such lurid stories
23:30have long been dismissed
23:31as Roman propaganda
23:33but now,
23:35the discovery of hundreds
23:36of human bones
23:37in a cave at Albiston
23:38in the west of England
23:39in the west of England
23:40is revealing gruesome evidence
23:42that Roman claims
23:43of Druid sacrifice
23:44may be true.
23:47Mark Horton
23:48from the University of Bristol
23:49is leading the excavation.
23:51This is the bone-bearing deposit
23:53that we're just coming down to now.
23:55You can see the level here.
23:57It's a lot more rubbly
23:59being mashed up here
24:00whereas down here
24:01it's sort of dewy.
24:04There's a bit of bone.
24:05Yeah, there you are.
24:06An edge.
24:07The cave is accessed
24:08through a narrow vertical shaft
24:10at the base of a limestone sinkhole
24:12known as a swallet.
24:16Often you find
24:18in these
24:19a whole range
24:19of archaeological finds
24:21ranging from
24:22the very modern
24:23right to the ancient
24:24but what's extraordinary
24:26about this swallet
24:27is that
24:28mixed in
24:29with all that
24:30modern rubbish
24:31we find
24:31all these human bones.
24:34Well, that's human.
24:35Nice human long bone,
24:36isn't it?
24:37Yeah, I think so.
24:37So far
24:38we've found
24:39around half a dozen
24:40remains about
24:41half a dozen individuals
24:42but we've just
24:42literally touched
24:43the edge of the iceberg
24:45or the cone of deposit
24:47and we think
24:47there's possibly
24:47up to 150
24:49individuals down there.
24:51Now, you can't
24:52explain that
24:53just simply
24:54as stuff being
24:55washed in
24:56from the fields.
24:57There must have been
24:58a deliberate deposition
24:59of these people.
25:01A little bit of pain
25:01of some kind.
25:02Very small.
25:03Could be a bit of finger
25:04or something.
25:05The team is trying
25:06to establish
25:07who these 150 people were,
25:09how they died
25:11and why this mass
25:12of bodies
25:13was placed
25:14inside the cave.
25:17Oh, I remember
25:18that one coming out.
25:19Yeah, that's a tibia.
25:20Yeah, that's a tibia, yes.
25:22And over here
25:23is where we've got a tooth.
25:24Gosh, that's human.
25:25Yes.
25:26Tiny.
25:28Is it a child
25:29or something?
25:30No, it's from an adult
25:30and it's from the front,
25:32front teeth
25:33but it's just been
25:34heavily worn down.
25:35You can see here.
25:36That's fantastic news.
25:38Of course,
25:38we can do a strontium test
25:39on that
25:39to see whether it's
25:41a local
25:42from this part of Gloucestershire
25:43or actually comes
25:44from further afield.
25:44Yeah, absolutely.
25:45But there's all...
25:46Radio carbon dating
25:47of the bones
25:48reveals the victims died
25:49within a short period of time
25:51in the mid-first century AD
25:53perhaps as a result
25:55of a single event.
25:59Strontium tests
26:00on the tooth
26:00found in the cave
26:01matched the minerals
26:03in the dentine
26:03with the local geology
26:05confirming the victims
26:07were local.
26:12Meanwhile,
26:13forensic analysis shows
26:15they met
26:15very violent deaths.
26:18Basically,
26:19the skull
26:19belonged to
26:20a young adult female.
26:22It was found
26:23in the swallet
26:24at Alverston
26:25in a number of pieces
26:26and the miracle is
26:28that we found
26:28enough pieces
26:29that actually fit together
26:31to try and make some sense
26:32of what's actually happening
26:33with this individual.
26:35And you'll see
26:36that when you fit them together
26:38there's an area of trauma
26:40just here
26:41along these suture lines
26:43where the sutures meet.
26:44And initially,
26:45I thought she'd been
26:46hit on the head
26:46by something
26:47that had caused
26:48irradiating fractures
26:49including this one
26:50running down
26:51right down the middle
26:51of the forehead.
26:53But this, I think,
26:55is too smooth
26:56and too linear
26:56to be irradiating fracture.
26:58And when you look
26:59at the inside of the bone
27:00you can see
27:01that actually this
27:02is almost certainly
27:04caused by being hit
27:05very hard
27:06with a sharp blade
27:07such as a sword
27:08or maybe with an axe.
27:11In late 43 AD
27:13the future emperor
27:15Vespasian
27:16marched against
27:17the western tribes
27:18of Britain.
27:20The carbon dating
27:21of the bones
27:22and the violence
27:23they exhibit
27:24could link the slaughter
27:25of these 150 people
27:27to the Roman invasion.
27:30If they are associated
27:31with the Roman invasion
27:32the question is
27:33is how
27:34were they local
27:36Celts being
27:37as it were
27:37thrown down
27:38their swallet
27:39were they
27:40victims of some
27:41engagement
27:41were they possibly
27:42even sacrifices?
27:45Among the human bones
27:46Horton discovers
27:47a clue.
27:49Aha, what's that?
27:50Whoa!
27:53I love that moment.
27:55Out it comes.
27:57I think that's
27:58that's not human
27:59I think that's
28:00probably dog.
28:02Do you know that?
28:03Numerous dog bones
28:04are found mixed in
28:05with the human remains.
28:07This one here
28:08is a dog bone.
28:09That's fantastic.
28:11These dog bones
28:13may prove
28:13that this was
28:14not just a massacre
28:15but a mass sacrifice.
28:19Local Celts
28:20worshipped a god
28:21Nodans
28:22who was associated
28:23with hunting dogs.
28:25At Lidney
28:26a few miles
28:27from Alveston
28:28the Romans
28:29built a temple
28:30to Nodans
28:30absorbing this
28:32local cult
28:32into the Roman
28:33pantheon.
28:35When this
28:36particular temple
28:37was excavated
28:37this magnificent
28:39figurine
28:40of one of these
28:42hunting dogs
28:42was found
28:44and it seems
28:45that just over
28:47the river there
28:47at Alveston
28:48one of the reasons
28:51why so many
28:52dog bones
28:53were found
28:54along with the humans
28:55suggests that
28:56it was to Nodans
28:58that the Celts
28:59were giving
29:00these sacrifices.
29:09Horton believes
29:10this mass sacrifice
29:11by a Celtic tribe
29:12may have been
29:14a direct response
29:14to the arrival
29:16of the Roman legions
29:17in the west of England
29:18in 43 AD.
29:22The evidence
29:24for the cave
29:24at Alveston
29:25suggests
29:26that the Celts
29:27here
29:28savagely resisted
29:29the Roman invasion.
29:32There are obviously
29:33lots of ways
29:34in which you can
29:34oppose
29:35an invading army.
29:37You can line
29:37your troops up
29:38and fight them
29:39in open battle
29:40but if you're faced
29:41with overwhelming
29:42force
29:43there may be
29:44other ways
29:45ritual ways
29:46that you actually
29:47oppose the Romans
29:48and that is
29:50what I think
29:50happens at Alveston.
29:57Maybe
29:58the whole thing
29:59is a gigantic
30:00sacrifice
30:01a ritual sacrifice
30:03presumably involving
30:05the Druids
30:05as a way
30:07of somehow
30:08creating
30:09an appeasement
30:10to the gods
30:11in order
30:13that they will get
30:14ultimate victory
30:14against the Romans.
30:16Maybe even
30:17that Celtic notion
30:18of exchange
30:18is happening here
30:20that if somehow
30:21you can sacrifice
30:22hundreds of people
30:23to your Celtic god
30:25then in exchange
30:26you'll then
30:28be able to kill
30:28a hundred Romans.
30:32But one of the
30:33human bones
30:34found at Alveston
30:35a thigh bone
30:36suggests an even
30:38more gruesome
30:39aspect
30:39to this mass
30:41sacrifice.
30:47what we have here
30:48is something
30:49that I have never
30:50seen
30:50on another
30:51archaeological site
30:52either in Britain
30:53or anywhere else
30:55and when I first
30:56saw it
30:57at Alveston
30:58I was
30:59I went quiet
31:01because
31:02it's
31:02one of those
31:04things
31:04that cannot happen
31:06to a bone
31:06accidentally
31:07it has to have
31:08happened deliberately
31:08and it has to be
31:10part of a process
31:11that involves
31:13taking the ends
31:14off of a bone
31:14and then splitting
31:15that bone in half.
31:17Now
31:17why would you do that?
31:19Well if it was
31:20an animal bone
31:20everyone would
31:21have no problem
31:22with their response
31:24it's because you
31:24want to eat the marrow.
31:26So
31:27we have to assume
31:28that to deliberately
31:29split open a human
31:30long bone
31:31is for the same reason
31:32it's about cannibalism.
31:37Only one surviving
31:38Roman account
31:39by Pliny the Elder
31:41suggests the Celts
31:43and their Druids
31:43practice ritual cannibalism.
31:46Pliny claims
31:47the Druids believe
31:48not only that
31:49human sacrifice
31:50pleases the gods
31:52but that to consume
31:53the victim
31:54confers strength
31:55and vigor
31:56on the living.
31:59But the cannibalism
32:00at Alveston suggests
32:02not a common practice
32:03but instead
32:05a desperate
32:06ritual reaction
32:07by the Druids
32:08in the west of Britain
32:08to the Roman threat.
32:13Such extreme
32:14ritual responses
32:15have been witnessed
32:16in cultures
32:17throughout the world.
32:20Cannibalism of course
32:21is often a response
32:23to extreme stress
32:25when societies
32:27are facing extermination
32:29and indeed
32:30anthropological studies
32:32in New Guinea
32:33and the South Seas
32:34show that exactly
32:35that happened
32:36when colonial powers
32:38were intervening
32:39in local affairs
32:40and it must have been
32:41the same here
32:42in the Iron Age
32:43with this huge force
32:45the Roman army
32:46unstoppable.
32:47The only way
32:48that the Celts
32:50thought they could
32:50actually survive
32:52was by resorting
32:53to cannibalism.
32:59within ten years
33:00of the events
33:01at Alveston
33:02most of southern Britain
33:03is firmly
33:04under Roman control.
33:06Celtic civilization
33:08is being crushed
33:09and with it
33:10the political
33:11and spiritual authority
33:13of the Druids.
33:16The Romans
33:16are bringing with them
33:17not only government
33:18and power
33:19and colonialism
33:21but they're also bringing
33:22a whole new set
33:22of religious material
33:23with them.
33:24That is all going to threaten
33:25the Druids
33:26and the Druid's power
33:27so the Druids
33:29have to make sure
33:29that they
33:30in a sense
33:31act as resistance fighters
33:33they become agitators
33:34freedom fighters
33:35focuses for resistance
33:36that the Romans
33:37have to come up against
33:39and therefore
33:40some people
33:41some of the Romans
33:42were very anti-Druid
33:43because they regarded them
33:45as not only barbaric
33:47but also because
33:48they were focuses
33:49of resistance
33:50so it was very important
33:51that the Druids
33:52were smashed.
33:55Now
33:56human remains
33:57from the time of Christ
33:58may demonstrate
33:59how the Druids
34:00of northern Britain
34:01tried to resist
34:03the Roman threat.
34:05They may provide
34:06the most vivid
34:07and detailed evidence yet
34:08of how the Druids
34:10sacrificed their victims.
34:20In 60 AD
34:21a new Roman governor
34:23Gaius Suetonius Paulinus
34:25determines to complete
34:27the conquest of Britain.
34:29He marches
34:30the legions north.
34:32His target
34:34is the Druid stronghold
34:35Anglesey.
34:37His route
34:38will take him
34:39through Cheshire
34:39past Lindo Moss
34:42the scene of the most
34:43famous murder mystery
34:44in ancient Britain.
34:49Archaeologist
34:50Miranda Aldhouse Green
34:51believes this murder
34:52is evidence
34:53of Druid sacrifice
34:54preserved
34:56in forensic detail.
35:02So this is where
35:03this man was found
35:0420 years ago
35:06and he was found
35:07quite by accident
35:08during peat cutting.
35:09In August 1984
35:12the peat cutter
35:13suddenly found
35:14what he thought
35:14was a branch
35:15of a tree
35:16went down
35:17to look at it
35:17found it was a limb.
35:19He thought it looked
35:20suspicious
35:21and the police
35:22were called.
35:23It was clearly
35:24part of a human body.
35:30Now known as
35:31Lindoman
35:31the body found
35:33in the bog
35:33was carbon dated
35:35to the mid-first century
35:36AD
35:36the time of the
35:38Roman conquest.
35:41Mummified in the peat
35:42his entire upper body
35:44is extraordinarily
35:45well preserved
35:46from his skin
35:48which still shows
35:49visible prints
35:50on his fingers
35:51to his internal organs.
35:54Who Lindoman was
35:56and exactly how
35:58and why he died
35:59has long been a puzzle.
36:03Well this person
36:04could accidentally
36:05have fallen into the bog.
36:06He might have been
36:07the victim of a mugging.
36:08But the forensic evidence
36:12suggests to me
36:13that he was a victim
36:14of a systematic killing.
36:16We've got blows
36:17to the head
36:18we've got
36:19a throat cutting
36:21and
36:21to top it off
36:23we've got a
36:24garrote.
36:26So
36:26this poor person
36:27seems to have been
36:28hit at least twice
36:29on the head
36:29hard enough
36:30to shatter the skull
36:31but not to kill him
36:32outright.
36:34Then you've got a rope
36:35tightened round his neck
36:38and at the moment
36:39where
36:39the neck was
36:41constricted
36:42the throat was cut
36:43which would cause
36:44an enormous fountain
36:45of blood
36:46to rise up
36:47from the cut throat
36:48all adding to the
36:49performance
36:49the theater of the thing.
36:54Was the death
36:55of Lindoman
36:55a ritual sacrifice
36:57at the hands
36:58of Druids?
36:59If so
37:00his threefold murder
37:02bludgeoned
37:03strangled
37:04and slashed
37:05across the throat
37:05is the most
37:07detailed evidence yet
37:08of how a Druid
37:09human sacrifice
37:10may have taken place
37:13and another clue
37:14was found in Lindoman's gut
37:17mistletoe pollen.
37:19There were four pollen grains
37:21of mistletoe
37:22and we know that mistletoe
37:23is highly significant
37:24for the Druids
37:25because we have
37:26Pliny's testimony
37:27saying that
37:28the Druids
37:29cut down mistletoe
37:30using a golden sickle
37:32from a sacred oak tree.
37:34so we can nail mistletoe
37:36and associate mistletoe
37:37with Lindo
37:38and therefore
37:39with the Druids.
37:42Aldhouse Green
37:43believes that Lindoman
37:44may have been sacrificed
37:45to persuade the gods
37:46to halt the Roman advance.
37:49We think that Lindoman
37:50died in the mid
37:51first century AD
37:52and the Romans
37:53are pushing northwest
37:55from the southeast
37:56in order to smash Anglesey.
37:58It's a time
37:59of great crisis
38:00and yet again
38:01we have the idea
38:02of a sacrificial killing
38:03when people's backs
38:05are up against the wall
38:06when it is essential
38:08that the Romans
38:09are stopped
38:10from smashing
38:10this holy of holies
38:11of the Druids.
38:13For this sacrifice
38:14the Druids select
38:15a special victim
38:18a young Celtic aristocrat.
38:21We know
38:22from the forensic evidence
38:23studying the body
38:25of Lindoman
38:25that he was
38:26of high status
38:27his fingernails
38:28were manicured
38:29he was uniquely shaved
38:30he was in the prime
38:32of life
38:32he'd been groomed
38:33for this.
38:38There would have been
38:38scouts in the southeast
38:39warning people
38:40in the northwest
38:41that this was coming
38:42the legions were coming
38:43something had to be done
38:44to stop them
38:44in their tracks
38:45and what better way
38:46than sacrificing
38:47a high status nobleman.
39:07if the sacrifice
39:08of a nobleman
39:09is meant to hold back
39:10the Roman advance
39:11the gesture fails
39:14the legions push on
39:16through Cheshire
39:17and North Wales
39:18to Anglesey
39:19where the Druid resistance
39:21will make one final stand.
39:2960 AD
39:30a Roman army
39:32under Governor
39:32Suetonius Paulinus
39:34crosses the mountains
39:35of northwest Wales
39:36and reaches the
39:38Menai Straits
39:39the treacherous waters
39:40separating mainland Britain
39:42from the sacred isle.
39:46the Romans were determined
39:48to exterminate
39:50the last pockets
39:51of resistance
39:52which were being egged on
39:54by the Druidic priesthood.
39:57This was out
39:59in northern Wales
40:00a little island
40:01known as Mona
40:02or what we now know
40:03as Anglesey.
40:06Anglesey is the homeland
40:07and stronghold
40:09of the Druids.
40:10Here, the Romans believe
40:12is the location
40:13of the Druid's
40:14sacred groves
40:16places of horror
40:17and mystery.
40:19As far as the Romans
40:20were concerned
40:21Anglesey was
40:22off the edge of the world.
40:23Britain was an island
40:24already over the edge
40:26of empire
40:26and Anglesey was an island
40:28off an island
40:28so even edgier
40:30even more dangerous.
40:31This is where the Druids
40:32lurked in the Roman imagination
40:33all part of this mystical
40:34dangerous place.
40:37Paulinus pitches camp
40:39with a force
40:39of 10,000 legionaries.
40:42When the soldiers
40:43are sitting around
40:44their campfires
40:45contemplating what
40:46they're going to find
40:47when they cross
40:48these dangerous waters
40:49what are they thinking?
40:51They know the Druids
40:53are supposed to be
40:54the leaders
40:55in the Celtic world.
40:57They certainly
40:57would have heard stories
40:58of bloody torture
41:00and violence
41:01of sacrifice.
41:03As darkness settled
41:04over their camp
41:05and they looked out
41:06across the water
41:07so they must have
41:08bedded down
41:08in fear.
41:12On the sacred isle
41:14the Druids prepare
41:16for the Roman assault.
41:18Anglesey by now
41:19is a refuge
41:20for fugitives
41:21dispossessed Celtic
41:23chieftains and warriors
41:24leaders of the
41:25British resistance.
41:28The Druids must have
41:29gathered people
41:30not just from Anglesey
41:32because Anglesey
41:32would not have been
41:33very densely populated.
41:34So the whole area
41:35around sort of North Wales
41:36the word would have
41:37gone out
41:38that people needed
41:39to mass on Anglesey
41:40to present a wall
41:41of resistance
41:41against the Romans
41:42when they were
41:42coming over
41:43in their boats.
41:46Paulinus ferries
41:47his infantry
41:48across the straits
41:49in a fleet of boats
41:50specially built
41:51for the purpose.
41:54The cavalry swim
41:55alongside their horses.
41:58The Roman historian
41:59Tacitus
41:59describes the sight
42:01that awaited them.
42:04On the shore
42:05stood the opposing army
42:07with its dense array
42:08of armed warriors.
42:11Between them
42:12dashed women
42:13with hair disheveled
42:14and waving
42:15burning brands
42:17and Druids
42:18lifting their hands
42:19to heaven
42:20and cursing
42:21filling our soldiers
42:22with horror
42:23at the unfamiliar sight.
42:28The soldiers
42:30Tacitus describes
42:31stood spellbound
42:32in terror
42:33but then
42:34encouraged
42:35not to quail
42:36before a troop
42:37of frenzied women
42:38they bore
42:39their standards
42:40onwards
42:40and smote down
42:42all resistance.
42:46The Celts
42:47are massacred
42:54One fascinating detail
42:56that Tacitus
42:58tells us
42:58is that
42:59the flaming
43:00brands
43:01being carried
43:03by the Celtic warriors
43:04were taken
43:06by the Romans
43:06and used
43:08against the Celts
43:09to burn
43:10the dead bodies
43:10from the massacre.
43:11after that
43:13the Romans
43:15then marched
43:16across the island
43:17to the sacred groves
43:18where they found
43:20the last remnants
43:21of the Druids
43:22and their altars
43:23and they
43:24cut them down
43:26and exterminated
43:28the last traces
43:29of this Druid-y religion.
43:43It was the destruction
43:44of the Druidic groves
43:45on Anglesey
43:46that really sounded
43:47the death knell
43:47for British freedom.
43:49Rome had her way
43:50and after that
43:51there'd be no
43:52free Britain left.
43:53The Romans
43:53would hold sway
43:54in Britain
43:55for over 400 years.
43:59For the Romans
44:00the slaughter
44:01of Britain's Druids
44:02was justified
44:03by their
44:04bloodthirsty rituals.
44:07And now
44:08archaeology
44:09has confirmed
44:10some of the truths
44:11behind Roman propaganda
44:13extraordinary finds
44:15revealing the warrior
44:16Celts
44:17gruesome culture
44:18of death
44:18and evidence
44:20across Britain
44:21suggesting the Druids
44:23were responsible
44:24for human sacrifice.
44:26even cannibalism.
44:30But much of what
44:31the Romans witnessed
44:32may have been
44:33the desperate response
44:34of a people in crisis.
44:40People do extreme things,
44:42perform extreme rituals
44:43at times of huge crisis
44:44when the back
44:45is up against the wall.
44:46So you're going to do
44:47the hugely extreme rituals
44:49such as human sacrifice
44:50or ritual cannibalism
44:51at a time
44:53when there is
44:53an enormous threat
44:55against your very being.
45:00The Druids
45:01were the guardians
45:02of Celtic identity
45:03and the heart
45:05of Celtic resistance.
45:07For the Romans
45:08the massacre
45:09on Anglesey
45:10was more than
45:11a military victory.
45:13It was a symbol
45:14of the triumph
45:15of Rome
45:15over barbarism.
45:19But with the Druids
45:21centuries of knowledge
45:23and tradition
45:23were lost.
45:25A thousand-year-old culture
45:27washed away
45:29with the blood
45:30of their people.
45:31of the Romans
45:47in the Middle East
45:47and the Librar
45:47You can find
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