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Digging for Britain - Season 13 - Episode 03: A Mysterious Bone Box and Admiral Nelson's Favourite Ship
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00:06This land we call home has a rich and varied history stretching back thousands of years.
00:15But hidden below the surface are some amazing treasures just waiting to be found.
00:22Oh my gosh, that's insane. That's really cool.
00:25So each year across the country, archaeologists dig underground and dive underwater.
00:35Searching 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.
00:53This 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.
01:09Where I'll be dropping in on some of this year's most fascinating digs.
01:15Oh 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.
01:34Welcome to Digging for Britain.
01:47This week on Digging for Britain.
01:50Archaeologists in the Cotswolds.
01:52Wow, it's definitely open, doesn't it?
01:54Unearth a unique find.
01:57We could see this carved bone object.
01:59I've never seen anything like it before.
02:03A dig at the University of Oxford.
02:05We've just been uncovering loads and loads of pure untouched medieval archaeology.
02:10Shows student life hasn't changed much.
02:13We have a pier and we're calling it currently Smoker's Corner.
02:16And in Kent.
02:17Wow, that is a plated gold disc brooch.
02:23Archaeologists discover spectacular Anglo-Saxon burials.
02:27A child with weapons, which is extraordinary.
02:30This is a bless and gentlemen.
02:32We have never seen the glare.
02:33We've never seen them.
02:36We've never seen it before.
02:36It was a nice day.
02:36Well, we've never seen that.
02:43What can we have seen it before?
02:46Look, you've never seen it before.
02:48That's awesome.
02:48It's just a beautiful day.
02:50It's a beautiful day.
02:50And it's a beautiful day.
03:00Over the centuries, the sea has shaped so much of the story in these islands.
03:08And it was in the shipyards of the south coast that Britain's position as a naval power was forged, as
03:16our first dig shows.
03:18We're heading to the New Forest and the village of Bucklers Hard, 12 miles south of Southampton.
03:33Bucklers Hard sits on the banks of the River Bewley, surrounded by ancient woodland.
03:41It was perfectly positioned to become a vital centre of shipbuilding.
03:47When Britain's imperial ambitions were expanding at the end of the 18th century.
03:56Tory is finding out more.
04:02This place is beautiful.
04:05These two lines of idyllic cottages run straight down to the river.
04:10But had you come here just two or three hundred years ago,
04:15and this quaint and sleepy little scene would have looked totally different.
04:19A bustling hive of activity.
04:21A centre of modern manufacturing,
04:24where some of Britain's most important and famous ships were built.
04:33By the 18th century,
04:35Bucklers Hard was a thriving shipbuilding hub.
04:39And at the centre of it all was master shipwright, Henry Adams.
04:43He and his sons oversaw the building of an incredible 55 ships.
04:49Perhaps the most famous was the HMS Agamemnon, captained by a young Horatio Nelson, early in his career.
04:58It was while on this ship that he'd lost the sight in his right eye at the Battle of Calvi.
05:06Nelson would be reunited with the Agamemnon when it formed part of his fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in
05:131805.
05:15Four years later, while on a mission in South America,
05:19the Agamemnon ran aground off the coast of Uruguay and was abandoned.
05:25Archaeologist John Adams is leading a team investigating the construction and later demise of this mighty ship.
05:31To do this, they're excavating the slipway where the HMS Agamemnon was built.
05:41They do say that to build a really big ship in the great age of sail,
05:45it needed a hundred trains and crafts to come together to produce all the components of a big warship.
05:51And so building ships here set in train a whole load of satellite industries.
05:55And of course, it needed a huge labour force.
05:57You give a hundred trains to build a ship, but how many trees do you need?
06:0030, 40 acres of mature oak forest for a 64-gram ship.
06:03And so a lot of the timber that built HMS Agamemnon, for instance, came from the new forest.
06:09So this slipway here, it's under the water now.
06:11It is.
06:12Would it have gone into the water deliberately for tidal purposes?
06:16It would.
06:16Because as you're building the ship on a slipway, you've got to then slide the ship into the water.
06:20So the slope has got to be precise so that you don't have the ship breaking away on its own
06:25halfway through building.
06:27Conversely, that it will move when you want it to at the end of the building process.
06:31And both of the things happened, so by experience they've worked out the right angle.
06:36OK, so what could this tell us that you don't already know?
06:39Well, we've got slipway structures from this period in other shipyards, but most of them are under bricks and concrete.
06:45So here we've got the entire structure that has essentially been left since the major shipbuilding finished after the end
06:52of the Napoleonic Wars.
06:54But is there anything that this can tell you that a historical document can't?
06:59Ah, well, what they proposed and what they actually did are two different things, and we see that all the
07:04time.
07:05When they actually come to do it, the real world imposes.
07:09So the archaeological reality is always slightly and interestingly different from a lot of the historical, theoretical stuff.
07:22Rodrigo Ortiz-Vasquez is part of the team excavating the slipway with the aim of working out how such vast
07:29ships could be supported in the soft clay riverbed.
07:33So one of the things that you look at this timber is that it's been really, really nicely worked underneath.
07:38It's very flat.
07:39It's been laid on top of a gravel layer that they've been digging out.
07:43So they've really thought how to keep it from sinking.
07:46It's so much more than just hacking down some massive trees and shoving it in the mud.
07:50Oh, absolutely.
07:50And if this goes wrong, if this is not laid properly, the whole ship is not going to be built
07:54correctly.
07:55So this is really important stuff.
07:57And it's still in place, you know.
07:58This is from the 1700s and it's still there.
08:04The architecture of the slipway is helping the archaeologists understand how the Agamemnon was built.
08:12And some of the smaller finds offer a tantalising connection to the ship, including copper plating that would have been
08:20used to protect wooden holes from shipworm and barnacles.
08:24Yes.
08:25Square nails would be going through.
08:26So this would be fastened to the side of the ship to basically create an anti-fowl layer.
08:32So this is definitely contemporary to all the shipbuilding.
08:34How do you know this is contemporary with the Agamemnon period?
08:37Well, this has got like a very particular way of being rolled out.
08:40And you've got marks that look like old tool marks.
08:43And also the main giveaway is these square nail holes that are those there.
08:49We've got this bundle of square nails that were found together.
08:52So it would have gone in something like that.
08:54Exactly.
08:55Yeah.
08:55You have other big finds.
08:57This is definitely, you know, shipwright related like this.
08:59That's a big iron fastening nail.
09:02Fastening nail.
09:03Some of them would have been even longer.
09:05You know, they had to fasten two things together, two big timbers.
09:07So a double layer timber.
09:08Exactly.
09:11Other small finds are helping Rodrigo build a picture of the industry and who was working here.
09:18Other stuff that we have contemporary are these clay pipes.
09:21Yes.
09:21This was definitely being, you know, smoked by somebody who was working on a ship.
09:25Other really exciting things here is this.
09:28This is called part of an onion bottle.
09:30What was in it?
09:31Well, it could have been port.
09:32It could have been wine.
09:33This is all coming out of the mud around the slipway.
09:36Exactly.
09:37And what you're seeing here is a workforce that seems to be smoking and drinking on the job.
09:41Well, it did happen.
09:43Yes.
09:43And also, you've got to think, it was quite a big workforce.
09:46So you have hundreds of people working at the same time.
09:48So unavoidably, they would break stuff and just throw it on the side.
09:54The slipway is helping archaeologists understand the Agamemnon's origins.
09:58But they also want to learn more about her end.
10:04Her remains have lain off the coast of Uruguay since 1809.
10:08It's the only surviving wreck of a ship built at Buckler's Hard.
10:13So diving this piece of maritime heritage has been crucial to the archaeologist's research.
10:21This is the timber.
10:22This is the famous timber.
10:23And I'm touching history here.
10:26Mary Montague Scott, director of Buckler's Hard Maritime Museum, was part of the dive team.
10:34So you're on a mission to piece together the history of the Agamemnon, I guess.
10:40Absolutely.
10:41So this is to honour this incredible ship that was Nelson's favourite.
10:45And he was on it for three and a half years.
10:46It's where he lost his eye at the Battle of Calvi.
10:49And he writes about it as his favourite ship.
10:52It was the one where he had success.
10:54And then he took that success on to become our leading, you know, admiral in history.
11:06What kind of ship was the Agamemnon?
11:08She is a 64-gun ardent class ship.
11:12And they were designed by the famous designer Thomas Slade.
11:15And he produced these drawings.
11:17And they were given this same set of plans to all the shipyards to build from,
11:22which is amazing because they're not that detailed, but they just knew how to build ships.
11:26So you have this plan.
11:27This is almost like the kind of the basic blueprint, but it's not the whole story.
11:31Yeah, and that's where the archaeology comes in.
11:32Exactly where the archaeology comes in.
11:35Mary and the team were able to map out key features of the Agamemnon on the dive.
11:42This is the cannonballs.
11:43Look at those.
11:44You can see these big concentric balls.
11:46And they all concreted together by age of time.
11:54The dive was a rare chance to gather as much information about the ship as possible
12:00because the wreck is under threat.
12:03It was covered by mussels that have been recently eaten by an invasive whelp.
12:10And so that has uncovered the wood for the first time.
12:12OK, so that's exposed again.
12:14It's more exposed.
12:14And always vulnerable to bounty hunters, and over time people do take things.
12:19So recording it now, before it disappears, is the best way to do it.
12:25Mary was able to rescue some incredible artefacts from the decaying hulk,
12:30helping us understand how the Agamemnon was constructed.
12:36This is a piece of the copper plating that covered the entire hull of the ship.
12:41And there were 3,000 pieces of copper sheet that went onto the Agamemnon.
12:46These little broad arrow marks are just, they're so fresh.
12:51It was 200 years ago that was cut in there.
12:54This is sitting on the seafloor and it's still there now.
12:56It's just lovely.
13:00The finds, both on land and at sea,
13:03are certainly helping us understand the construction of this mighty gunship.
13:11But with further dives of the wreck planned,
13:14the investigation into how the Agamemnon was built is far from over.
13:46The British landscape is peppered with reminders
13:49of how our ancestors honoured their dead through the ages.
13:59Our eels are not just about death.
14:02They tell us a lot about how people lived.
14:05And now we're returning to a site that I visited last year
14:09where some incredible new finds have been discovered
14:11that cast light on people's status,
14:16their identity and even family connections.
14:23For our next dig, we're returning to rural Kent,
14:2810 miles south of Canterbury.
14:33In the centuries after the Roman army left Britain in 410 CE,
14:39new kingdoms would emerge across Britain
14:42in the early medieval period.
14:51There are so few written records from this time
14:54that historians used to call it the Dark Ages.
14:59But archaeology can illuminate this period.
15:03In Kent, a team from the University of Lancaster
15:05has been excavating this extraordinarily rich cemetery
15:09for the last three years.
15:15Hi, Alice.
15:16Hi, how are you?
15:17I'm good, yes.
15:18You've been hunting Anglo-Saxons again?
15:19We've been hunting Anglo-Saxons again,
15:21and we've found some.
15:25Last year, I joined lead archaeologist Duncan Sayre
15:28and his team as they uncovered some astonishing finds.
15:33There you go, there's a knife.
15:37Isn't this the best Anglo-Saxon sword you've ever seen?
15:40I've never seen anything like that.
15:41That's so well preserved.
15:44Wow, she's got so many objects buried with her.
15:46I can see beads.
15:48There's grass beads here.
15:54The team shone a light on the Anglo-Saxon people
15:57who lived here.
16:01It's been a bit of a black hole
16:03as far as history is concerned.
16:04It's often called the Dark Ages.
16:06It is, yeah.
16:06Yeah, exactly.
16:07Yeah, we're really getting close to these people, aren't we?
16:15This year, Duncan and the team are back at the same site,
16:19excavating an even larger area,
16:21revealing several high-status burials
16:24spanning the 5th to 7th centuries.
16:28They're starting to suspect that these graves could have contained members
16:32of one powerful Anglo-Saxon dynasty.
16:36And this extraordinary burial is the first piece of evidence.
16:40So if the size of anything is to go by this grave, it's massive.
16:45So he's an important guy.
16:50You can see that he is not much shorter than I am.
16:54He is probably around six foot in height,
16:57which is an astonishing thing for the 6th century.
17:02He is quite an old chap,
17:05and I think that's part of why he is so well-furnished with weapons.
17:09We've got a shield boss,
17:11but what's astonishing about this shield boss
17:14is that we've got a series of rivets here and here.
17:18So these go through the shield board.
17:20We don't see those.
17:21They're not very common at all.
17:22So it's a decorated shield.
17:28And next to him,
17:30with his arm over the top of it,
17:32all the way across here,
17:33we can see this sword.
17:38Anglo-Saxon swords are quite rare
17:40and considered to be a marker of status.
17:44But Duncan is also interested
17:46in the placement of the weapons in the grave.
17:53The spear across that line of his body
17:56all the way down here
17:57and that emotive almost hugging of the sword there
18:01is a real characteristic of these 6th century burials.
18:04I think it shows how important that object was to him
18:08and to the community.
18:14So we're probably looking at an elder,
18:17a leader,
18:17a significant member of this other elite family
18:20that are buried here.
18:20And of course in this cemetery
18:22we've got probably 6, 7, even 8 generations.
18:31Not far from this grave
18:33of what seems to be a significant individual,
18:36the team find a smaller burial.
18:39It's a young person,
18:41it's a child.
18:43But we can age it quite specifically
18:45because we've got these unfused ends here
18:48to the long bones.
18:49So we can suggest that this probably boy
18:52is aged between about 12 and 14.
18:55So a child with weapons,
18:56which is extraordinary.
18:58Is this about rites of passage
19:00or is he buried as the man
19:02that he would have become?
19:10Most of the individuals in this cemetery are male,
19:13but in one grave,
19:15the skeleton of a young woman
19:16is found with impressive grave goods.
19:19The archaeologists are wondering
19:21if all of these people
19:22could have belonged to the same prominent family.
19:25student River Busby
19:27and archaeologist Andrew Richardson
19:29are just lifting an object
19:32that looks very special.
19:38That is a plated disc roach.
19:41That is stunning.
19:43That is going to be
19:44very late 6th century
19:46or very early 7th century,
19:48around about 600.
19:49It's just incredible to see
19:51and to get the chance to excavate
19:54and it's just truly incredible.
19:56You were the first person
19:57to see the front of that
19:58for 1,400 years.
19:59Yeah, that is phenomenal
20:02to get to experience that.
20:03It's once in a lifetime.
20:08So they're using exotic raw materials,
20:11garnets,
20:11which might come from
20:12as far afield as Sri Lanka,
20:14gold, silver.
20:15None of this can be
20:16naturally sourced in Kent,
20:18but they're making
20:19a distinctively Kentish object
20:21and almost certainly
20:23they're being distributed as gifts
20:25by the Kentish royal dynasty.
20:27So her wearing that
20:29is a symbol of her connection
20:31to that dynasty.
20:32twenty-four.
20:34Oh, wow.
20:36That's amazing.
20:38You've got all the little gold
20:39circles in there.
20:40Yeah.
20:41And you've got the three garnets.
20:43Wow.
20:46What a magnificent find.
20:48First skeleton.
20:49Yeah.
20:49First ever dig.
20:51Yeah.
20:53Yeah, it's all downhill from there.
20:56LAUGHTER
21:02Duncan and site supervisor
21:04Gemma Sweeney
21:05have brought some of this year's
21:06remarkable finds
21:07to the tent.
21:10What have we got here?
21:11We've got a child's burial.
21:13Yeah, he's between six
21:15to eight years old
21:16and he's still got
21:16a lot of baby teeth.
21:17What, by the look of the size?
21:18Yeah, he's absolutely
21:19turned.
21:20This individual is turning.
21:21But what he's got
21:21or what they have got here
21:23is this absolutely massive...
21:24That's a buckle?
21:25That is a belt buckle.
21:25Can I hold that?
21:26You can, absolutely.
21:27What's it made of?
21:28It's made of silver.
21:30It's a solid silver belt buckle.
21:32So it's not only a big buckle
21:33for a small child,
21:35it's got a precious metal artefact.
21:37And you can see this is decorated.
21:39Yeah.
21:39There's little ring and dots
21:40all the way around
21:41the interior placement
21:42of that enamel,
21:43which is lovely.
21:44So it's really unusual
21:45to get grave goods
21:47and status grave goods.
21:49Absolutely.
21:50Precious metal artefacts
21:51like that with a child
21:52is really interesting.
21:53And it's part of the same story
21:54that we have with this child.
21:56How old is this individual
21:58to begin with?
21:58Between 10 to 12.
22:00Okay.
22:01Yeah.
22:01And you've got weaponry.
22:03We've got weaponry.
22:04So we've got a shield boss
22:05with studs.
22:06It's a decorated shield boss.
22:08So it's the kind of grave goods
22:09that you would expect
22:10with an adult male burial.
22:12Exactly.
22:13Yeah.
22:13So this is going to have
22:15to be the question.
22:16Were these people buried
22:17with the artefacts
22:18of the families
22:19they're associated with
22:20or the people
22:22that they were going to become
22:22if they became adults?
22:24Yeah, this is...
22:25So there's a symbolic role here
22:26to these decorated weapons.
22:28And you've got three swords.
22:29We also have three swords.
22:30So one last year.
22:32Three this year.
22:32From last year to shame.
22:34So this here
22:36is the scabbard mouth
22:38effectively,
22:39the scabbard opening.
22:40Oh, is it?
22:40Okay.
22:40Yeah.
22:41That's made of copper
22:42and it's gilt.
22:44So it's got this gold
22:45over the top of it.
22:46Yeah, just gleaming through.
22:47Exactly.
22:48So what's interesting about this,
22:51we've got objects
22:52with different dates.
22:53Cool.
22:54So probably something
22:55that is 6th century
22:56and something that's a bit earlier,
22:58maybe late 5th or early 6th century,
22:59coming together
23:00to make one composite object
23:02that is a sword.
23:03So an old sword
23:04with a new scabbard, maybe?
23:05They really like old swords.
23:06So do you think
23:07the blade of the sword
23:08would have been new
23:08and then it's got
23:09old decoration on it?
23:11I wouldn't be surprised
23:12if they wanted to make it
23:13look like it was Grandad's sword
23:15because Grandad's sword
23:15was given down
23:16through that line.
23:18Maybe Grandad's sword
23:19is with him in the grave.
23:20Oh, okay.
23:21So he could be buried
23:22with a sword
23:22and take the bits of it off
23:24and put it on a new sword.
23:26So a sword almost has two lives,
23:28one in the afterlife
23:29in the grave
23:30and one of them
23:30in the above-ground community
23:32as well.
23:33I mean, you start to think
23:34about dynasties, don't you?
23:36You start to wonder
23:36whether you've got
23:37an extended family
23:38through time
23:39in that cemetery.
23:40We often forget that, don't we?
23:41We accidentally call it
23:42the Dark Ages
23:43a generation or two ago.
23:44Yeah.
23:45But there's nothing dark
23:46about any of this.
23:47It's dark historically,
23:48but not archaeologically.
23:50It's amazing.
23:51Yeah.
23:52Yeah.
23:59I dreamt I flew
24:02with the saints last night
24:05I know them all
24:08by wingsides
24:10And up there
24:11it just doesn't count for long
24:15Whether you're clever
24:21From historic cathedral cities
24:24to spa and university towns
24:28the South has plenty
24:29of historic urban centres
24:33And beneath their streets
24:35are traces of the people
24:37who once lived there
24:42Our next dig
24:43is a really unusual one
24:45taking place
24:46in an Oxford college
24:47and the archaeologists
24:49were really limited
24:51in terms of
24:52where they could dig
24:53and how big
24:55the trenches could be
24:56It was a bit like
24:57keyhole surgery
24:58but
24:59they got an astonishing
25:01glimpse
25:02of student life
25:03through the centuries
25:07This dig takes us
25:09right into the heart
25:10of Oxford's
25:11dreaming spires
25:14Today
25:15Trinity College
25:16is part of the university
25:18a thriving centre
25:19of learning
25:20just as it was
25:22700 years ago
25:27in the medieval period
25:35When it was first established
25:37in the late 13th century
25:39this site was known
25:40as Durham College
25:41and was a place of learning
25:43for Benedictine monks
25:47The college's heating system
25:49is being updated
25:50which involves
25:51drilling boreholes
25:52into its iconic lawns
25:55But before they can make changes
25:57to these historic grounds
25:58archaeologist Jamie Williams
26:00has been given
26:01a rare opportunity
26:02to find out
26:04how student life
26:05has changed
26:06over the centuries
26:09In the last few weeks
26:10we've just been uncovering
26:11loads and loads of
26:12pure, untouched
26:13medieval archaeology
26:14in the centre of Oxford
26:15which is pretty rare
26:16pretty cool
26:21Jamie filmed
26:22his discovery
26:23of medieval finds
26:24including
26:25thimbles
26:27clasps
26:27used to protect
26:28the pages
26:29of valuable books
26:30pottery
26:31and even some jewellery
26:34The medieval ring
26:35was just amazing
26:38It's very personal
26:39The ring is such
26:40a personal
26:40piece of history
26:42I'm sure
26:42they were gutted
26:43that they lost it
26:44but I'm very happy
26:44that I found it
26:51But the peaceful order
26:53of Oxford's religious colleges
26:55would eventually
26:56be disrupted
26:56The Reformation
26:58saw the closure
26:59of this Benedictine monastery
27:01in 1538
27:04Then in 1555
27:06wealthy landowner
27:08Thomas Pope
27:08established Trinity College
27:10on the same site
27:13Jamie wants to find out
27:15how daily life
27:17might have changed
27:17for Trinity's
27:18new students
27:22With the gap
27:23of the Reformation
27:23the college went
27:24from being
27:24almost like
27:25closed off place
27:26for monks
27:26to a place of learning
27:28with Trinity College
27:29and the finds
27:30and the finds
27:30kind of represent that
27:31because you can
27:32have these
27:32imported wares
27:33and students
27:34coming in
27:34from all over Europe
27:35and you start
27:36to feel like
27:37this closed off world
27:38has just become
27:39an open place
27:40for learning
27:40than it was before
27:42when it was a monastery
27:48And Jamie's finding
27:49plenty of evidence
27:50that the students
27:51of 17th century Oxford
27:53were quick
27:54to jump on
27:55a new trend
27:58Some of the finds
27:59we're finding
27:59in huge quantities
28:00are some of the
28:01clay tobacco pipes
28:02which basically
28:03are like
28:04single use vapes
28:04now
28:05they would have
28:05put the pipe
28:06broken off
28:07the length
28:07they wanted
28:07thrown that
28:08on the floor
28:08We actually have
28:09a pier
28:10which is just
28:10outside the college gates
28:12and it is just
28:13completely filled
28:14and we're calling it
28:15currently Smoker's Corner
28:16because it's
28:17the closest point
28:17you can get to the grass
28:18where you would just
28:19chuck your
28:20which are effectively
28:21single use vapes
28:22just into the
28:22into the orchard pit
28:23so that probably
28:23would have been
28:24where they were doing
28:24a lot of the smoking
28:25back in the day
28:32Now that he's carried out
28:33some post-excavation
28:34research
28:35Jamie has brought
28:36his finds
28:37to the tent
28:38to tell me more
28:39about Trinity College's
28:40past residence
28:44We had a lot of layers
28:45Yeah
28:46It was kind of like
28:46an urban archaeology dig
28:48on a rural site
28:49but in the centre
28:50of Oxford
28:50so it was kind of a
28:51it was kind of an odd one
28:52but it was really
28:53really fun to untangle
28:54Yeah
28:54and you've got some
28:55amazing objects
28:56so take me through them
28:58then
28:58what have we got here
28:59are these the earliest ones
28:59We've got some
29:01lovely little book clasps
29:03That is so sweet
29:04Might still have some remnants
29:06of some wood
29:07in this one as well
29:08Wow that was amazing
29:09Which is really cool
29:10Do you know when
29:11within the medieval period
29:12these might date to?
29:1313th century
29:14but obviously
29:14the book could have
29:15deteriorated
29:16or they could have
29:17fallen off years later
29:17Yeah
29:18I know so
29:18It's just this amazing
29:19history of learning
29:20at Oxford
29:21Yeah
29:22I love it
29:22I love it
29:23So do you think
29:24that was a fairly
29:24smooth transition then
29:25from it being
29:26a Benedictine college
29:28you know
29:28a place of learning
29:29to then being
29:31re-founded
29:32Well there's a ten year
29:33gap between when it
29:34was re-founded
29:34but it's definitely
29:35gone from this
29:36sort of ecclesiastical
29:37closed off space
29:38where monks would have
29:38learned
29:39and then you have
29:39Trinity College
29:41which would be more
29:41open to the public
29:42What's that?
29:43Is that a glass?
29:44Yeah so this is just
29:44an example of some
29:45of the high status glass
29:46that you had on site
29:47that probably would have
29:48been somewhere around
29:4917, 18, 19th century
29:50There's some fine dining
29:51going on
29:52It's a lot of fine dining
29:53Yeah
29:55Some of the artefacts
29:56Jamie found
29:57shone a light
29:58on Trinity College's
29:59enterprising neighbours
30:02These are glass
30:03bottle sills
30:04so they would have
30:05been stamped
30:06onto the bottle
30:07when the bottle
30:08was made
30:08and they have
30:09some initials in
30:09so this is WMA
30:11it's William and
30:12Anne Morrell
30:12and the crown
30:14represents the crown
30:15tavern which is the
30:15pub it actually came
30:16from
30:16How do you know
30:17these names?
30:18Because well
30:19they are documented
30:20on licences
30:21so Anne Morrell
30:22she actually
30:23applied for a
30:24ten year licence
30:25to sell wine
30:26in Oxford
30:26in
30:281659
30:29So you've matched
30:30this up
30:30with historical records
30:31Yes because
30:32she took out
30:33a liquor licence
30:34in her own name
30:35she was a widow
30:35at the time
30:36and then she married
30:37William Morrell
30:38and in 1660
30:39with the restoration
30:40of the monarchy
30:41they changed the name
30:41to the crown tavern
30:4219 years after
30:44so in 1679
30:46Anne was widowed again
30:47she ended up
30:48this is lovely
30:49this is a glass seal
30:50this is from when
30:51she was widowed
30:52for the second time
30:53Oh my goodness
30:54so we're getting
30:54these snapshots
30:55of her life here
30:56Yeah so she's still
30:57running the pub
30:57this is 1687
30:59she died in either
31:011695 or 96
31:02and she ended up
31:03handing the pub
31:04down to her
31:06daughter-in-law
31:07I love this sort of stuff
31:08I love the history
31:09it's something
31:10that you can actually
31:11like grasp
31:12and go home
31:12and look at
31:13and it's just
31:14yeah
31:14Amazing to have
31:15so many beautiful finds
31:16that give us
31:17a little wind day
31:18into this history
31:19of the Oxford colleges
31:20yeah
31:21yeah
31:26let blisters
31:28be teachers
31:30with blessings
31:33bestow
31:34let the darkness
31:36restore us
31:39as if
31:42I'll make these pathways
31:46my companion
31:50be witness
31:52by what cannot be seen
31:59be peregrine
32:02be pasture
32:03be tiny
32:05be vasta
32:10be as soft as
32:14green moss
32:17and be free
32:26I am fascinated
32:28by burial archaeology
32:31by what
32:31human remains
32:32human bones
32:33can tell us
32:34about people in the past
32:35and then the objects
32:37that are buried
32:38with individuals
32:39as well
32:39they can tell us
32:40about culture
32:41community
32:42and individuals
32:44and at this next dig
32:46one person
32:48was buried
32:49with an object
32:50that is so special
32:51that at this point
32:53in the investigation
32:53we think it's
32:55completely unique
33:01our next dig
33:02takes us
33:03to the village
33:04of Broadway
33:04in the Cotswolds
33:0520 miles south
33:08of Worcester
33:11Broadway
33:12is often called
33:13the Jewel
33:14of the Cotswolds
33:15and it was in
33:16this idyllic village
33:17that just over
33:18a century ago
33:19pioneering female
33:21archaeologist
33:22Nancy Smith
33:23led the discovery
33:25of the remains
33:25of ancient ditches
33:27buildings
33:28and burials
33:29thought to date
33:31to the Roman period
33:38the site excavated
33:39by Nancy Smith
33:40is now earmarked
33:42for development
33:43but before construction
33:44can begin
33:45a team
33:46from Worcester
33:47archaeology
33:47are investigating
33:48what may still
33:49be hidden underground
33:54initial surveys
33:56suggested
33:57that they might
33:58find a handful
33:59of isolated burials
34:00but the archaeologists
34:02soon realised
34:03that they were
34:04dealing with
34:05a vast Roman cemetery
34:07Jamie Wilkins
34:08has been leading
34:09the investigation
34:10in total
34:11we've had
34:1276 graves
34:13but most of them
34:15have been localised
34:16to this area here
34:17and as you can see
34:18some of the grave cuts
34:19around us
34:26this is really
34:27really significant
34:28to have such
34:29a dense cemetery
34:30nothing has been seen
34:32in the county
34:33before like this
34:38to find such
34:39a large cemetery
34:40on this site
34:41is really interesting
34:42because it gives us
34:44quite a large
34:44population sample
34:46of the people
34:47who were living
34:47and working
34:48in this settlement
34:51some of these burials
34:52seemed very unusual
34:55we've also had
34:56a really high number
34:57of what we'd class
34:58as deviant burials
34:59some of our
35:00deviant burials
35:01have been decapitations
35:02and we might have
35:04seen the skull
35:04placed by the feet
35:05or by the knees
35:06and some
35:07where the skull
35:08hasn't been
35:08in the grave
35:09at all
35:15deviant or irregular
35:16burials
35:16are simply those
35:18considered
35:18to be unusual
35:20that might include
35:21decapitated remains
35:23or a body
35:24buried face down
35:25it's easy
35:27to assume
35:28this relates
35:28to punishment
35:29in some way
35:31but some of these
35:33graves suggest
35:34that something
35:34different may have
35:35been happening here
35:36and one particular
35:38burial has grabbed
35:39Jamie's attention
35:42when we first
35:43started excavating
35:44that grave
35:45we could see
35:46this sort of
35:47carved bone object
35:48underneath the skull
35:52this is the grave
35:54of a female
35:54individual
35:55buried face down
35:58and there's an
35:59artefact
36:00under her skull
36:02the archaeologists
36:04filmed the moment
36:05this remarkable
36:06item
36:07was recovered
36:08and we could see
36:09this circle dot
36:10pattern
36:11and it was really
36:12quite exciting
36:13to find an object
36:19like that
36:19does not happen
36:20every day
36:20I've never seen
36:21anything like it
36:22before
36:23what we could see
36:24on site
36:25was that this box
36:25was still sealed
36:26and so we weren't
36:28prepared to open
36:28the box
36:29on site
36:31Jamie knew
36:32this mysterious box
36:34was something
36:34very special
36:36and in fact
36:37it's unique
36:38nothing like it
36:40has been seen
36:41in British archaeology
36:42before
36:44and in the lab
36:45it was finally
36:46time to open it
36:48and look inside
36:54Jamie and his
36:55colleague Laura
36:56Griffin
36:57have brought in
36:58that extraordinary
36:59find
37:00and a few others
37:04where should we
37:05start
37:06do you think
37:06should we start
37:08with the centrepiece
37:08with this incredible
37:10artefact
37:11I've never seen
37:12a box like this
37:13before
37:13I can't find
37:14any other
37:15examples that
37:16look similar
37:17at all
37:17really
37:18you get wooden
37:19boxes that have
37:20bone veneer strips
37:21on them that are
37:22decorated with ring
37:23and dot decoration
37:23but we haven't found
37:24any examples of a
37:25solid bone box
37:27it comes really
37:29quite smoothly
37:29yeah it slides backwards
37:31it's really got a
37:31smooth action on it
37:32isn't that amazing
37:33yeah
37:33I mean it's so
37:35beautifully made
37:36was there anything in it
37:37we had it x-rayed
37:38yeah
37:39and it looked like
37:39there might be
37:40something in it
37:40but it turned out
37:41just to be soil
37:42I mean you imagine
37:43there must have been
37:44something that meant
37:45something to somebody
37:46just something special
37:46yeah absolutely
37:47and what's really
37:48interesting about the box
37:50is it was deposited
37:50as a grave good
37:52it has meaning then
37:53doesn't it
37:53absolutely
37:54it was definitely
37:54special to that
37:55individual
37:56and we believe
37:57that they were
37:57a young female
37:5825 to 30
38:00right
38:00and the pathology
38:02on the skeleton
38:03indicated that
38:04this female
38:05had some
38:06inflammatory reactions
38:07on the arm
38:08and the leg
38:08okay
38:09so it's tempting
38:10to think that
38:11maybe this box
38:12contained like an
38:13ointment or something
38:14that maybe they would
38:15have been using
38:16on themselves
38:17I mean we can only
38:17speculate in the
38:18absence of evidence
38:19from the box itself
38:20absolutely
38:21but it's a good
38:22suggestion
38:23if she's got
38:24inflammatory changes
38:25in the bones
38:25absolutely
38:26and because the box
38:27was empty
38:27and the soil
38:29was described
38:30as being quite
38:30greasy
38:31you know we're not
38:32sure whether there
38:32might be a link
38:33there
38:33oh who knows
38:35it's so curious
38:36isn't it
38:36and it's a beautiful
38:37thing and then
38:38you've always got
38:38more questions
38:39and you can't
38:40answer them
38:40can I pick it up
38:42yeah
38:43so it is actually
38:44really robust
38:45and robustly made
38:47yeah
38:47out of a single bone
38:49so I can see that
38:49actually it's not
38:50panels joined together
38:51is it
38:52no it's a single
38:52and do we know
38:53what kind of bone it is
38:54we've had it tested
38:55it's come back
38:56as roe deer
38:56oh it's absolutely
38:58gorgeous
38:58let's have a look
38:59at some of the
39:00other artefacts
39:00I mean it
39:01it does look
39:02stylistically connected
39:03with things like
39:05bone combs
39:05this comb was also
39:06from the cemetery
39:07we think it's
39:08a similar date
39:09to the box
39:10these bone combs
39:11I absolutely love them
39:11and they do go
39:12through time
39:13but this one is
39:14actually quite ornate
39:15isn't it
39:15compared with others
39:16it's got stylised
39:17horse heads
39:17on the end plates
39:18and do we know
39:20when that dates to
39:21from the sort of
39:23later 4th century
39:24so late Roman
39:25yeah
39:25yeah
39:26and then you've got
39:27some copper alloy
39:29objects as well
39:30this brooch was
39:31from a grave
39:32next to the grave
39:33that this one was in
39:33and there's some idea
39:34that they're associated
39:35with each other
39:36right
39:36but brooch is
39:37much earlier in date
39:38okay
39:39so the brooch is
39:401st to 2nd century
39:41oh wow
39:42in a 4th century cemetery
39:43which would suggest
39:44that it's a treasured item
39:46again that has passed down
39:47it's an antique
39:48it's an heirloom
39:49yeah
39:49over generations
39:50now the cemetery
39:52has already
39:52thrown up some surprises
39:53but you've got
39:54some unusual burials
39:56too
39:56around 20%
39:58of our burials
39:59in the cemetery
39:59are what we might call
40:01alternative burials
40:02yeah
40:02and this includes
40:03decapitations
40:04but also prone burials
40:07where the individual
40:08has been buried
40:08lying face down
40:09it's very easy
40:10to assume
40:11that there's something
40:12about those burials
40:13which is odd
40:14and perhaps even sinister
40:15absolutely
40:16but actually
40:17we're seeing a lot
40:18of these alternative burials
40:19with grave goods
40:21which might indicate
40:22that it's not a punishment
40:23it's just a practice
40:25yeah
40:25so for example
40:26the grave which contained
40:28the box here
40:29this was a prone burial
40:30that young woman
40:31was buried face down
40:32and that box
40:33had been deliberately
40:34placed under her right cheek
40:36underneath the skull
40:37yeah
40:37burial which contained
40:39that lovely bone comb
40:40this was a decapitation burial
40:42the comb had been placed
40:44at the top of the vertebrae
40:45where the skull should be
40:46it seems to be
40:48that it's part of
40:48a respectful way
40:49of burying somebody
40:50if you've got grave goods
40:52in there as well
40:52potentially yeah
40:54and what's interesting
40:55is that whilst it's not
40:56exclusive to Britain
40:58it does seem to be
40:59something that
41:01characterises
41:02Romano-British
41:03cemeteries
41:04yeah
41:04which is really interesting
41:05it's absolutely fascinating
41:08and there will be
41:09more fascinating details
41:10to emerge
41:20and indeed
41:21more details
41:23did emerge
41:24when Worcester archaeology
41:25expanded their dig
41:29right next to the cemetery
41:30they uncovered
41:32a vast Roman settlement
41:36it covers quite a large area
41:38over four football pitches
41:40in total
41:41the sheer density
41:42and quantity
41:43of the archaeology
41:44was massively unexpected
41:49and another mysterious bone object
41:52has appeared from the ground
41:55a couple of days ago
41:57we made this really exciting find
41:59this was caked in mud
42:00and we couldn't really see anything
42:02other than it's just been
42:03another fragment of animal bone
42:05but then as it started to dry out
42:07the holes were revealed
42:08and what we actually think this is
42:10is a carved bone flute
42:13I've never discovered
42:15a musical instrument
42:16on site before
42:17it's really quite special
42:18and it gives us
42:19that human connection
42:20perhaps this was played
42:22more in leisure
42:23and for fun
42:24rather than
42:25what we see across
42:26the rest of the site
42:27which is just work
42:34with just a fragment
42:36of this ancient instrument surviving
42:38Professor Stuart Pryor
42:40is investigating
42:41how it would have been made
42:43and how it might have sounded
42:50I'm interested in experimental archaeology
42:52recreating how artifacts
42:54might have been made
42:55in the past
42:57it's amazing
42:59and I've got plenty of experts
43:01to call upon
43:02to lend a hand
43:06Dr Simon Wyatt
43:07an expert in ancient music
43:09is going to help me explore
43:10how this piece of bone
43:11was turned into an instrument
43:18with this end missing
43:20we cannot be sure
43:21how it was sounded at all
43:23but we can do some experiments
43:25with the bones we have with us
43:26and we can demonstrate
43:28several different methods
43:29of using it as an instrument
43:31so we can actually hear
43:33what it may have sounded like
43:34absolutely
43:35for the first time in
43:371500 years maybe
43:38amazing
43:42the find is made
43:44from a metacarpal
43:45the foot bone of a sheep
43:46and Simon has pre-boiled a leg
43:48from the butchers
43:49to soften the sinews
43:51allowing him to cut off the meat
43:56this end should come off easier
43:57and it will demonstrate
43:58that hole at the end
43:59which is part of the
44:01artifact
44:02and so
44:03that hole in the end
44:04is actually part of the structure
44:05of the bone
44:06rather than anything to do with
44:08so that happens naturally
44:09as part of the growth
44:10of the animal
44:10absolutely
44:11rather than it being
44:12something that's been drilled
44:13as part of the manufacture process
44:15absolutely
44:15I guess it makes the job
44:17a bit easier
44:18it does yeah
44:21next we will need to drill
44:22our finger holes
44:23employing the same technology
44:25that was available
44:26at the time
44:28working on the premise
44:29that this is
44:30either late roman
44:31or anglo-saxon
44:32and so we're going to
44:35try and do it
44:36with a bow drill
44:42it's not too difficult
44:43actually
44:43it's quite easy to do
44:45isn't it
44:46as long as you've got
44:47the technique
44:47and the technology
44:50yep
44:50oh yes
44:52and then you have
44:53a little look
44:55cool look at that
44:59now that we have
45:00our finger holes
45:01we need to investigate
45:02how the flute
45:03may have sounded
45:05one way to create a note
45:07is by blowing
45:08across the top
45:09the most simple
45:11form of wind instrument
45:12is known as
45:13an end blowing flute
45:14where you are
45:15blowing against
45:17the edge
45:18what a bit like
45:19blowing across the top
45:19of a milk bottle
45:20or a bottle
45:21absolutely
45:21yes yes yes
45:22it's easy to make
45:23but hard to play
45:27oh
45:29so that's it
45:30right
45:31that is now
45:32potentially an instrument
45:33as the simplest version
45:35yes
45:35go for it
45:36let's do this in action
45:40almost there
45:41it hadn't got a proper tone
45:42but what I could do
45:44is show you it
45:45with one that is
45:45almost the same
45:46except slightly larger bone
45:48yep
45:54the end blown flute
45:56does make a sound
45:57but it isn't very loud
45:59so Simon is going to show me
46:01some other ways
46:02this bone flute
46:03may have been played
46:04in the late Roman period
46:05they could have had
46:06a little duct
46:08like a modern day recorder
46:10which would look like this
46:12that's more familiar
46:12you've got a piece of wood
46:13that is cut at an angle
46:16so it directs your breath
46:17exactly where you want
46:19so it's not as hard to play
46:30the duct flute certainly produces
46:32a clearer sound
46:33but there's one last way
46:34this instrument might have been played
46:36and it involves
46:38inserting a reed
46:40okay
46:40I've cut
46:41a tiny notch
46:42and if you look
46:44it lifts up
46:45and when you put it in your mouth
46:47it vibrates
46:49so it's like a clarinet reed
46:51held in place there
46:52just simply with a little bit of beeswax
46:54so
46:55you're going to encapsulate the reed
46:58and seal your lips
46:59yep
46:59and then blow
47:00hard
47:04lift your finger
47:07once you've lifted
47:09yes
47:09you can feel the vibration
47:11in your mouth
47:11yeah yeah I can feel the vibration
47:12I can see how it works
47:13it's just amazing
47:25that was an amazing experiment
47:27I'm amazed at how
47:29versatile this piece of bone
47:30could be
47:31I can just imagine a shepherd
47:33playing music to his sheep
47:34in the late roman
47:35or early saxon period
47:37using a bone flute
47:38just like this
47:53field archaeology brings evidence to light
47:57excavations reveal the physical traces
48:00of ancient lives
48:05but then analysis using the latest scientific techniques
48:10can help build an even more vivid picture of the past
48:20modern archaeological sciences and conservation
48:24allow us to extract so much more information from sites now than we could in the past
48:31we can see details that would have been overlooked sometimes even destroyed
48:35so when archaeologists came across a very high status iron age burial with a strange lump in it that clearly
48:45contained metal they knew that these precision techniques would be essential to untangling the mystery
48:57our next story takes us to her
49:00just 10 miles north of canterbury
49:04where archaeologists were excavating a site
49:08where archaeologists were excavating a site before work could begin on a new housing development in this seaside town
49:13they discovered a settlement and cemetery that dated all the way back to the iron age
49:22back in 2024
49:24back in 2024 the archaeologists were using metal detectors on site and picked up strong signals from one grave
49:32so it was clear that metal grave goods were present alongside these pots and the archaeologists decided to block lift
49:41a whole segment and carried out an x-ray
49:44the images revealed an incredible knot of metal items mingled with cremated human remains
49:55now conservationist dana goodburn brown is carrying out a detailed micro excavation
50:04this process is like taking apart a very complicated puzzle and dana's keeping her eye out for tiny clues as
50:12she works on the block
50:14like here there is a structure like that
50:16well dana and her colleague marie lasso work for hours every day peeling off layers of soil
50:24deciphering this archaeological riddle
50:31after two weeks the grave goods are exposed for the first time in 2000 years
50:42this is a big copper alloy scabbard in the iron age they had bronze scabbards for their iron swords and
50:52we can
50:52see it sort of bends back here and comes up bends down comes around here and out to the other
50:59side of this
50:59and then the iron sword seems to be beneath it
51:07dana suspects the sword and scabbard might have been deliberately bent as part of an iron age funeral rite
51:14where weapons would have been decommissioned or killed before being buried
51:19this decoration is on this on the scabbard on the outer portion of the top bit here of the scabbard
51:26doesn't seem to follow all the way around but it's just ever so beautiful and special
51:31and and this is on a weapon so but it's obviously
51:35they cherished this and it was felt to be worthy of high status decoration
51:44dana and marie record every layer that they excavate and they keep samples for analysis
51:50each tiny piece of information will tell us more about the items in this burial
52:00say if i'm preserved textile or preserved leather that's telling us that this person was laid to rest
52:07with either folded textiles or a leather bag perhaps that held the cremated remains
52:16that's why it's so important why we're saving and labeling every little bit as we go down because
52:21the scientists and other teammates might be able to help piece together the jigsaw from their specialism
52:30other people will maybe say something different about the soil and and the plant and pull out seeds
52:36that flowers were involved or something like that so yeah it's from that moment in time where the cremated
52:41bones are interred with objects that was felt important to go to the afterlife with this person
52:52marie has found some delicate fragments of wood which could have been part of a scabbard
52:57taking them into this tissue acid-free tissue paper and then we will be able to bring it to the
53:03lab and
53:03look at it under the microscope so fingers crossed these tiny fragments i collected can tell us a lot more
53:14if that's really wood grain preserved in the corrosion it could tell us about the way the scabbard was built
53:23it's like a untold story that is slowly being revealed under your eyes and is
53:30uh yeah like a dialogue a discussion with the past and that's really the beauty of this work
53:40as dana and marie continue working they encounter a problem the scabbard can't be lifted without
53:47damaging the iron sword and cremated bone there's bones over here and bone there
53:53but it's coming under oh but again as the sword and discover the bent it could be that there was
54:02a gap
54:02under and the bones have slid under they can't risk excavating down any further so they try a different
54:12approach rather than trying to lift out the scabbard and the sword i'm going to use polyurethane foam
54:22that expands that people use in buildings sometimes as installation so we're going to spray that all
54:27over and then put a board on top of that we're going to put ratchet tape all around this is
54:33the scary
54:33bit we're going to flip it and then we're going to excavate it from the other side
54:42by flipping over the block it will be possible to safely unearth more of the artifacts
54:53we've been days at this and really i don't feel very much closer to it so if we turn it
54:58over
54:59i'm hoping we can maybe find some of the missing elements that help us understand what was here
55:06the plan works they can now excavate from the other side safely revealing more precious items and
55:15preserving the bone fragments
55:23dana and dan worsley who originally found the burial deposit have brought the block into the tent to show
55:31me what they've discovered so far
55:37dan dana do we know when this dates to we've got an idea we're thinking at the moment about 30
55:43bc
55:44through to 60 ad late iron age into when actually the romans arrive and we become part of the roman
55:49empire yeah so you obviously came across this and decided to block lift it so it was part of a
55:57a larger cremation so there's eight vessels that are surrounding this in the center of it and so
56:01once we'd excavated everything down to what we were comfortable dealing with in the field we then
56:07decided to block lift well it's so complicated as well because everything's lying one on top of another
56:12and you know if you were to move something you might damage the thing it's lying next to
56:17so what can we see here then we've got a vessel here so this is flipped okay we're under the
56:22grave
56:22imagine we're underneath looking up yeah yeah we've done one side and then we've flipped it over
56:27we've got a picture of the actual pit so dan show us what it looked like an excavation then
56:32so so yes lots of vessels yeah so that's the vessel that's still um attached to the block lift
56:38so that was in the center of a cremation cemetery with 14 other cremations but they were all either
56:44unearned or single or two vessels per grade nothing compared to this so this is the richest one do you
56:51think it's a founder grave you know sometimes you get these kind of founder burials and then other
56:56burials placed around them it's certainly a high status grave in that cemetery and all the others
57:02were centered around it yeah so this is the sword we're looking at is it the handle of the hilt
57:08is
57:08here yeah and it comes this way and then it comes around there and then it bends back here then
57:14it bends
57:14down there so that's been deliberately bent yeah yeah it's the killing of the sword yeah killing the
57:19sword but that's as far as they've bent it around they've bent it around again and then back on itself
57:23yeah so the sword is iron or steel then what about this copper alloy what's that it's a scabbard
57:32that's the scabbard so the sword is out of the scabbard as well so it's been taken out and both
57:37of them
57:40really strange but fascinating
57:51next time on digging for britain a forgotten royal estate yields hidden treasures never seen anything
57:58like it in my 30 years of digging in fife a pictish stronghold the best thing i've ever found on
58:04a dig
58:05i've never found anything this cool reveals a chapter lost to history this site is incredible
58:11and tory finds that sunderland's industrial heritage we've officially got our very first roman point
58:18goes back further than anyone thought the romans were here
58:22come and search for we who search and looking for us
58:30i dig for those whose stories lie in very parts of the future's one
58:40and dig for us as we have done to lay the dead out in the sun to lay us dead
58:51out in the sun
58:52in the moon
58:53in
58:54You
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