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00:04In early 2015, an ancient burial site was unearthed in Gloucestershire
00:10that dated back to the Roman occupation of Britain.
00:17Nearly 150 bodies, both male and female, were discovered.
00:24But what caused excitement was a name carved on a gravestone.
00:32Boudicacchia.
00:35Could this be the first reference found in archaeology of our great British heroine, Boudicca.
00:43Queen of the Iceni, a Briton, and a Celt.
00:57In Britain, we're never far from our Celtic past.
01:01The Celts seem to belong to a shadowy, wilder, more primal time than anything in more recent history.
01:10But much about their origins, beliefs, and ultimate fate remains a mystery.
01:20But a story etched in vivid colour is how these powerful tribal people battled for survival
01:30against their arch-enemy, the Roman Empire.
01:33From the first Celtic raiding parties that rampaged through ancient Italy,
01:39to Julius Caesar's campaign in Gaul,
01:43and the Celts' last stand under Britain's warrior queen, Boudicca.
01:47One of the greatest cultural conflicts that still defines our world today,
01:53and reveals Europe's most enigmatic ancient people.
02:22After centuries of conflict in Europe,
02:25the Celts were being crushed under the modern might of the Roman Empire.
02:35In 52 BC, Caesar and his legions finally defeated Vercingetorix,
02:42leader of the rebellion in Gaul.
02:47Classical Rome was now at its peak,
02:51shaping the world around its own image of civilisation.
02:55and laying down a Roman legacy.
03:04But one place that Rome had not conquered was Britain.
03:09And in 43 AD,
03:11they launched a full-scale military invasion,
03:15and much of the south and east of the island
03:18became a province of Rome.
03:23Just 17 years later,
03:26in 60 AD,
03:28the Britons rose up against their imperial rulers
03:32in a wave of terror.
03:35This is the story of the last stand of the Celts.
03:38It's a tale of righteous rebellion.
03:47But most of all,
03:48it's the story of a formidable warrior queen,
03:52the first great British hero,
03:55Boudicca.
04:03In 54 BC,
04:06Caesar had staged a short-lived invasion of Britain
04:09and seized lands in the south-east.
04:12He found a culture of extraordinary riches
04:15and sophisticated technological skills.
04:22And some of the most amazing artefacts from that period
04:25can be found in the collections of the British Museum.
04:36This wonderful treasure is just part of the Snettersham Horde,
04:40which was discovered in a ploughed field in Norfolk
04:43in the late 1940s.
04:46And Norfolk was part of the territory of the Iceni tribe,
04:51which were led later by Queen Boudicca.
04:56These are torques,
04:58ornate golden neck rings,
05:00one of the marks of elite Celtic leaders and warriors
05:04found throughout Europe.
05:08They are a sign of a shared artistic style and culture.
05:13This is the great talk of Snettersham,
05:16and it really is beautiful.
05:19It's an amazing amount of gold to look at,
05:22but also the craftsmanship that's gone into it
05:25is mind-blowing.
05:27The neck ring itself is made out of eight ropes of gold.
05:32Each of those ropes of gold
05:34is made of eight golden wires twisted together.
05:38But it's the ends of it,
05:40these terminals, that really blow me away.
05:42They are exquisite pieces of craftsmanship.
05:47Whoever owned this talk,
05:49whoever commissioned it,
05:51must have been somebody incredibly rich and powerful.
05:54This was surely worn by Celtic royalty.
05:59Producing work as complex and as detailed as this
06:02would be a formidable challenge,
06:05even for a modern goldsmith.
06:11Nigel Meeks, one of the museum's metallurgists,
06:15has been using an electron microscope
06:17to reveal the Iceni craftsman's secrets.
06:22Oh, here we go.
06:28It's just extraordinary.
06:30It's amazing detail.
06:31I thought this was fascinating
06:33because I wondered how this had been made.
06:36I looked at that and thought it was stamped,
06:38but it doesn't look like that here.
06:40It's not.
06:41It's very, very subtle.
06:43If you look at the individual components here,
06:45for example, these two here and those there,
06:48we can zoom in a little bit more.
06:50You can see little grooves of some sort.
06:53You chase the metal with a little hand,
06:55and that will give you the little ridges you see.
06:57Every time it moves a little bit,
06:59it makes a little groove there.
07:00I'm amazed at that
07:02because this is absolutely minute.
07:04I mean, if we think that this is three millimetres across here,
07:06each one of these little gouges is, what, half a millimetre?
07:11Less than half a millimetre?
07:12Yes, that's right.
07:13And you know that each of those ridges
07:15is somebody hammering that tiny little chisel.
07:19This is the magic of metalwork.
07:24The great torque reveals Celtic craftsmanship at its peak.
07:29But an even more surprising result
07:31comes from studying the broken fragments of torques
07:34also discovered in the Horde.
07:39These exposed ends reveal that this torque is actually gold-plated.
07:46So it looks as though the darker areas are the rums,
07:49the main metal that this torque is made of,
07:51and then there's something light on the surface.
07:53Right.
07:54So can we analyse that then?
07:55We can do that now.
07:57So if you'd like to scan an image on this computer...
08:00Right.
08:00And up it pops.
08:02So we're getting peaks here,
08:04which correspond to different metals.
08:06And the really big peak is gold and mercury.
08:10And mercury, see.
08:11The only way mercury and gold would be found together
08:14is if they'd been deliberately mixed.
08:20It's now believed this is an example
08:22of a technique called mercury gilding.
08:26Gold dissolves into liquid mercury,
08:29creating a paste that can be spread over the surface of the bronze.
08:35By applying heat, the mercury boils off,
08:38leaving a thin veneer of gold coating the object.
08:46But mercury ore is not found in Britain,
08:50and it's believed to have come all the way from Spain.
08:54As well as being extremely sophisticated craftsmen,
08:58the Iceni and many tribes like them
09:00had long enjoyed ancient trading links
09:03stretching along the Atlantic coastlines of Europe
09:05and into the Mediterranean world.
09:10So, when Rome invaded in 43 AD,
09:14despite being challenged in the north and west
09:17by the Brigantes, Ordovici, and Siluri tribes,
09:21in the south and east,
09:23tribes like the Iceni and Trinovantes
09:26put up little defence.
09:29Their leaders had long enjoyed luxuries
09:31of the Mediterranean world.
09:37This is Colchester in Essex.
09:412,000 years ago, it was a Celtic stronghold,
09:45the capital of the Trinovantes tribe,
09:47who actually welcomed the Romans when they arrived.
09:53In 43 AD, the Romans invaded,
09:55and they marched through the south-east.
09:57And then, just a few weeks after that initial invasion,
10:00the Roman emperor himself, Claudius,
10:02rode into Colchester to receive the surrender
10:05of the local tribes on the back of an elephant,
10:07if you believe the folklore.
10:09From now on, the Romans were in charge,
10:11and they made this place their capital.
10:14They called it Camelodunum,
10:15after Camelos, the god of war.
10:22The Romans would turn Camelodunum
10:25into a showcase of imperial power.
10:28Roman theatres and baths were built,
10:31and where the castle stands today,
10:33there was a huge temple dedicated
10:35to the emperor Claudius.
10:38It was an advert for the exotic Mediterranean way of life
10:42that would be on offer to local tribes
10:45if they submitted to Roman rule.
10:48It showed the locals
10:50that as long as they complied with the Roman way of life,
10:53they would be allowed to prosper.
10:54They would enjoy the privileges and luxuries of Roman citizens
10:57as long as they submitted
10:59to certain economic demands from Rome,
11:01taxes, duties, customs.
11:04And crucially,
11:05the Celtic tribal leaders
11:06would become clients of Rome.
11:08They would retain some control over their kingdoms
11:11as long as they agreed to cede their territory to Rome
11:14when they died.
11:18It was this sly land grab
11:21that would trigger a sudden and unexpected uprising.
11:26It's the story of Boudicca,
11:28a powerful woman in a world dominated by emperors,
11:33kings,
11:34and sword-wielding men.
11:42Victory for Boudicca
11:44could have changed British history forever,
11:47leading to a very different heritage
11:49of the land we inhabit today.
11:54The red-headed,
11:56chariot-riding Celtic queen.
11:58Our image of Boudicca
12:00is an indelible part of our cultural history.
12:04But the story of Boudicca
12:06has grown much bigger
12:08than the brief references to her
12:10in Roman histories.
12:15Everything we know about Boudicca
12:17and her Celtic rebellion
12:19comes from just a few pages
12:20of Roman writing.
12:22This is the Annals of Tacitus,
12:24which was written in the early part
12:26of the 2nd century AD.
12:28And when Tacitus was writing,
12:30this was about 50 years after the Celtic rebellion,
12:33he was writing about events
12:35that happened within his own lifetime.
12:39And the passages take us
12:40right to the heart
12:41of one of the most dramatic showdowns
12:43in British and Roman history.
12:48Boudicca herself strides onto the scene
12:51following the death of her husband,
12:53the king of the Iceni, Prasutagus.
12:58Deep within Tacitus' annals,
13:00we read that
13:01the king of the Iceni, Prasutagus,
13:04a man renowned for long opulence,
13:07had made Nero his heir
13:08with his two daughters.
13:14According to Tacitus,
13:16Prasutagus was hedging his bets.
13:19He had acknowledged his obligation to Rome
13:21by leaving half his kingdom
13:23to the emperor Nero.
13:25But he was also keeping the rest of his lands
13:28within the family that he bore with his wife,
13:30Queen Boudicca.
13:33He was protecting the future of the Iceni.
13:38But that's not how the Romans saw it.
13:41As far as they were concerned,
13:42their deal with Prasutagus as a client king of Rome
13:45ended with his death.
13:47His kingdom would not be inherited by his family.
13:52But they hadn't reckoned on the power,
13:55influence and vengefulness of a Celtic queen.
14:12The story of Boudicca is a compelling one,
14:16and it's partly because we just haven't heard about Celtic women
14:19from the Roman historians before.
14:21It's all been about the men,
14:23the warriors, fighting and drinking.
14:26And then suddenly onto the stage strides
14:28this incredible woman with flame-red hair,
14:32prepared to take on the might of the Roman Empire.
14:35Not just a queen, but a true leader.
14:41Archaeological discoveries have revealed
14:43that powerful women have always played a part
14:46in Celtic society.
14:50The evidence for that can be found
14:52over 600 miles south of Iceni lands,
14:55near Stuttgart in Germany.
15:00In 2005, archaeologists here started excavating
15:05the remains of an Iron Age burial chamber.
15:08To protect it from looters,
15:10the entire chamber was later removed from the ground
15:13in a single 80-ton block
15:15and driven to a specially built laboratory
15:18where it could be excavated securely.
15:24Within the mud,
15:25they discovered the remains of the grave's occupant,
15:30someone who lived 2,600 years ago.
15:39Dr Nicole Ebbinger-Rest is the project director.
15:43I can immediately spot some human remains anyway.
15:47So there's teeth and a skull there.
15:50The teeth are better preserved than the bone,
15:53which is quite normal.
15:55Although even here,
15:56we can see that they've been worn down during life.
15:59And you can see that the incisors there
16:01have been worn at the tips
16:02and we've got the dentine exposed in a line there
16:05and exposed on the surface of the molars.
16:07So I would say that this is a young woman.
16:11Does that fit with your assessment so far?
16:13Yeah, because we know she's around 30 years old,
16:15so, yeah.
16:17And we've got some bones of the arm just here.
16:20Yeah, it's the right arm.
16:21Pretty badly preserved, actually, doesn't it?
16:24The woman became known as the Betelbull Princess.
16:31Because within the mud,
16:32Nicole and the team found more than just human remains.
16:37She was taken to her grave
16:39with an extraordinary collection of Celtic jewellery.
16:48And it's gold.
16:502,600 years old.
16:52Look at that.
16:54Beautiful.
16:54So she had a pair of these beautiful breeches,
16:58these fibulae.
16:59Laying on her shoulders,
17:00one on the right side
17:01and the other one on the left side.
17:03Now, these are my favourites.
17:06Beads.
17:09This is incredibly fine work, isn't it?
17:14Amazing to think they're doing this with no lenses, either.
17:16They haven't got magnifying glasses or anything like that.
17:18Presumably, this means that she was an incredibly important person,
17:22an extremely high-status woman.
17:26650 years before Boudicca,
17:29this burial reveals not a Celtic warrior,
17:32but a woman of power.
17:39We just tend to think about Celtic chieftains
17:42or, you know, kings.
17:43And here we're seeing that there were very important Celtic women,
17:47queens or princesses or whatever you want to call them.
17:55According to Tacitus,
17:57Rome was dismissive of the will of the dead king Prasuticus
18:00and the respect due a grieving queen.
18:06They ordered their soldiers to take immediate control
18:09of the entire Iceni kingdom.
18:28When Boudicca objected,
18:30the Romans were quick to show they were in charge.
19:00Boudicca was publicly flogged.
19:05And her daughters were raped.
19:12A dispute over inheritance had developed
19:15into a demonstration of imperial power
19:18through an act of brutal humiliation.
19:28Boudicca became determined to extract revenge
19:31for her family,
19:34her tribe,
19:35and the entire Celtic world.
19:39For years,
19:41she'd enjoyed the trappings of a Roman lifestyle.
19:46But she was a Briton,
19:48a queen,
19:50and a Celt.
19:57To restore Iceni pride
20:00and reclaim its ancestral lands,
20:03a Celtic rebel army
20:04would have to take on
20:06the most powerful military force
20:08on the planet.
20:13Our history rested on a knife edge
20:15as Britain faced the possibility
20:17the possibility of a very different,
20:19very Celtic future.
20:38Beneath a veneer of Romanisation,
20:41the beating heart of England
20:43remained Celtic.
20:45And the unique military skills
20:47and technology of the Britons
20:49were even the envy
20:50of Rome's greatest general.
20:53When Julius Caesar
20:55arrived on these shores
20:56in 55 BC,
20:58he was confronted
20:59with a type of fighting
21:00that he hadn't encountered
21:02in any of his battles
21:03on the continent.
21:04The British had devised
21:06a new form
21:07of mobile warfare.
21:23What an amazing sight.
21:25This is wonderful.
21:27I'd like to think
21:28that just over 2000 years ago
21:30there were Iron Age people
21:31doing the same thing,
21:32practising with their chariots
21:33on this beach.
21:36According to Caesar,
21:38the Britons had thousands
21:39of two-wheeled chariots,
21:41each equipped with a driver
21:42and a heavily armed warrior.
21:48The speed and versatility
21:50of these machines
21:51was enough to send fear
21:53and panic
21:53through the ranks
21:54of their enemy.
21:57This replica
21:58has been faithfully built for us
22:00based on images
22:01of war chariots
22:02and using materials
22:04we know could have been used
22:05at the time.
22:08Riding in it
22:09is Mike Lodes,
22:10an expert
22:10on ancient warfare.
22:14Caesar tells us
22:15that the first thing
22:16that happened
22:16is the warriors
22:17would bring their chariots
22:19across the Roman front line
22:21and hurl their javelins
22:23at them.
22:23Now you see,
22:24if we were galloping along,
22:26I really need to brace myself
22:27because I'm hands-free.
22:28These look like a random shape
22:32but my knee fits in here
22:34and on the opposite side
22:35of the chariot
22:36my foot is against that strut
22:38so I'm really wedged in here
22:39in quite a stable way.
22:42This is the great thing
22:42about experimental archaeology
22:44is that as soon as you
22:45actually put it together
22:45and you jump on it
22:46and start using it.
22:48How it's used,
22:49absolutely.
22:50So was this the main
22:51function of the chariot
22:52then?
22:53They're throwing spears
22:53from the chariot,
22:54that's their base?
22:55That's their first stage.
22:56That is their gesture,
22:58that's their war dance.
23:00Then what happens
23:01is the chariots
23:02come back
23:03and then they take
23:04the warrior in
23:05and the warrior
23:07dismounts
23:07for hand-to-hand fighting.
23:10Yeah.
23:10And that is draining.
23:12You can't do that
23:13for more than a few minutes.
23:15Then the charioteers
23:16would come in
23:17and you hop on
23:18like a number 37 bus
23:19and away you go
23:21to get a breather
23:22and somebody else comes
23:22and takes over the work.
23:23It shows us
23:24that the Celts
23:26really understood
23:27troop rotation.
23:28It shows us
23:29how sophisticated
23:30they were
23:31as a military organisation.
23:34I really want to go.
23:36Can I have a go?
23:37You can.
23:38You can.
23:39I think you'd better
23:41put that on.
23:57Oh, you can't help
23:58but think of Boudicca
23:59when you're on a chariot
24:00like this.
24:01It's fantastic.
24:03Riding into battle
24:04against the Romans.
24:07The creak of the harness,
24:09the ringing of the bronze.
24:12This was the sound
24:13of the Celts
24:14going to war.
24:30Caesar's account
24:31of his early invasion
24:32into Britannia
24:33makes specific note
24:35of the use of chariots.
24:36But the Britons
24:38were also famed
24:39for another
24:40deadly battle tool.
24:44Celtic longswords
24:45and their scabbards
24:46patterned with
24:47intricate symbolic designs
24:49were the prized possessions
24:51of elite warriors.
24:54And in the hands
24:55of an expert,
24:57this is a fearsome weapon.
25:07Andy Dean
25:08from the Royal Armouries
25:10has been practising
25:11for decades.
25:19That does look like
25:20a great deal of hard work.
25:22It is, yeah.
25:23It takes a lot of practice
25:24and it strains on the arm
25:26a little bit
25:26with all the weight
25:27in the blade there.
25:29It's always trying
25:29to escape your grip.
25:31Is it heavy anyway?
25:32Have a hold.
25:33I mean, three and three
25:34and a bit pounds
25:34but a lot of that weight
25:35is at this end.
25:36There's no counterbalance
25:37with these early swords.
25:38Right.
25:39So that's why
25:40it's wonderful
25:41to have these small grips.
25:42I think we've both
25:42got Celtic marvellous
25:44small hands
25:44and so it sits
25:45in there nicely.
25:47In practice hands then,
25:49what kind of damage
25:50does this do?
25:51I mean...
25:52And I will hand it to you.
25:54Well, I mean,
25:55this is a good facsimile.
25:56A pig carcass
25:57is very similar
25:58to an adult human being.
26:00Now, this sword
26:00may well be able
26:01to slice through
26:03the whole carcass
26:04certainly if you start
26:05with the spine
26:05and come through.
26:06But you've still got
26:07that thrust
26:07that would come through
26:08and out the other side
26:09fairly, fairly easily.
26:11And that's all she wrote?
26:12I mean, that wasn't
26:13any effort at all.
26:14And of course,
26:14if with the cuts
26:15I come down at an angle
26:17the sword drawing through
26:19as it leaves.
26:20So it's not like a...
26:22It's not an axe.
26:23No.
26:23Chopping.
26:23Not at all.
26:24It's slicing.
26:25Yeah.
26:25You don't use it
26:26like a rounder's bat.
26:27You use it
26:28in a sort of drawing motion.
26:43Good night, Vienna.
26:45The end.
26:46It is horrific.
26:48That is awful.
26:48Minus the blood as well.
26:49You've got to keep
26:50telling yourself
26:50that's minus blood.
26:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:52You think of the impact
26:53on friends and colleagues
26:55of someone who's been
26:56wounded in that way
26:56and would be just...
26:57And agonising as well.
26:59Yeah.
27:00And you've known him
27:01all your life
27:02and he's just been cut down.
27:04Yes.
27:04So, yeah,
27:05the psychological effect
27:07of a sword slice
27:08through meat and bone like that
27:09as well as the physical pain.
27:12Yeah.
27:12For the one man you knock down
27:13you're going to terrify
27:14ten either side.
27:15Yeah.
27:19We learn from Tacitus
27:21that in 60 AD
27:23the Iceni uprising
27:24was quickly gaining momentum.
27:28Mustering 100,000 warriors
27:30Boudicca headed south
27:32to Camula Dunum
27:33the peaceful
27:34and prosperous capital
27:36of Roman Britain.
27:37A potent symbol
27:39of enemy occupation.
27:43The rebel numbers
27:45were swelled
27:45by members
27:46of the Trinovantes tribe
27:48Rome's old allies
27:50who were inspired
27:51by the resistance movement
27:52to retake
27:54their Celtic city.
28:02Boudicca waited
28:03until nightfall
28:04before attacking.
28:13Showing no mercy
28:15the Celts
28:16slaughtered
28:17the Roman inhabitants
28:17and laid it to waste.
28:20Boudicca!
28:24Boudicca!
28:28Boudicca!
28:29Boudicca!
28:31Boudicca!
28:32Boudicca!
28:33Boudicca!
28:34Boudicca!
28:35Boudicca!
28:36Boudicca!
28:44Boudicca!
28:46Boudicca!
28:47Boudicca!
28:48Boudicca!
28:49Boudicca!
28:50Boudicca!
28:51Boudicca!
28:53Boudicca!
28:53Now 2,000 years later
28:55archaeology
28:56is revealing
28:57the true extent
28:58of that attack
29:00and the widespread destruction as Camulodunum was razed to the ground.
29:07One set of recent finds is being conserved by Emma Hogarth.
29:14What exactly are we dealing with here?
29:17What we've got here is an assemblage of jewellery and coins.
29:21First of all, and most obviously, we have a pair of matching armlets.
29:27Fantastic.
29:28Stylistically, they're Roman.
29:30We're very lucky to actually have this small surviving earring,
29:36one of a pair with pearls on.
29:38Now, you say jewellery. Is it all for a woman?
29:41No, we have gold jewellery and then there's the silver jewellery.
29:44And the silver jewellery, which consists of two matching armlets
29:47and this larger armlet and medallion,
29:50are the sort associated with the Roman military.
29:53This one has got a sort of hunt scene of panthers and a chase,
29:57and then with a central medallion showing Roman gods.
30:01The panther motif on it sort of suggests an award for valour.
30:05So are we talking about a soldier or a fighting man?
30:07At the time of the Badecan revolt, Colchester had become a town where Roman legions were retired to.
30:15So the population was Roman legionaries and their wives
30:19who were hopefully wanting to enjoy a slightly quieter retirement after their military service.
30:23So it's veterans rather than active fighting men?
30:27That's what we assume, yes.
30:28Right.
30:29So potentially this is a legionary and his wife.
30:34This jewellery takes us back to a frightening reality.
30:40It's a unique window into what happened in one house to one Roman family almost 2,000 years ago.
30:51It seems that the jewellery had been hidden in a hastily dug hole in the kitchen.
30:57From charred pottery and carbonised figs and dates, we also know that the kitchen was set ablaze.
31:06What we're witnessing is a moment of sheer terror.
31:12It's such a vivid image, that idea of a couple or a family trying to find somewhere to hide valuables,
31:20perhaps while their home was already on fire around them.
31:24Yes, and it was done, obviously, in the expectation that they'd be able to retrieve them later.
31:29But unfortunately, we know clearly they didn't.
31:46This assemblage of material, the hidden jewellery and coins,
31:52it tells such a vivid human story of a traumatic and violent event.
31:59It's physical evidence, real forensic evidence, of Boudicca's attack on Kamala Dunham.
32:07And as well as bringing history to life,
32:11it also verifies the account of the attack that was recorded by Tacitus.
32:31The reason Boudicca had faced so little resistance in Colchester
32:35was because the bulk of the Roman army was busy extending its empire
32:40in the remote and hostile lands of North and West Britannia.
32:54According to Tacitus, the Roman governor of Britain,
32:58Gaius Suetonius Paulinus,
33:01had led his own legions on a special mission to the remote island of Mona,
33:04modern-day Anglesey.
33:11He was there to destroy the stronghold of the priests
33:14and powerbrokers of Celtic society, the Druids.
33:22The Romans saw the Druids as a dangerous element in Celtic society.
33:30They were extremely powerful priests,
33:34the keepers of sacred knowledge, wisdom and history,
33:37and they were kingmakers.
33:45The Druids were the spiritual glue
33:48that bound Celtic tribes together in shared belief.
34:02The Druids are perhaps the single most evocative
34:06and mysterious element of Celtic society.
34:10Everybody's heard of them, but they remain remarkably elusive.
34:14The fact is, we know next to nothing about Celtic religion or belief.
34:18But if you know where to look,
34:20there are tantalising glimpses to be had
34:22of how the Celts understood the cosmos
34:25and their place within it.
34:30One thing we know was important
34:32was the annual cycle of Celtic feasts.
34:36This one is a modern version,
34:38a revival of the ancient May Day custom.
34:41The Festival of Fire is held in Edinburgh every year,
34:44starting on the last day of April.
34:47This is Beltane.
34:49It's a Celtic word.
34:51I've always understood it to mean something like bright fire.
34:54Something like this has been happening at this time of year
34:57for a very, very long time.
35:00There are mentions of it
35:01in the Irish records and chronicles of the 10th century,
35:04but the chances are
35:06people were coming together
35:07to do something like this
35:09hundreds, if not thousands of years before that.
35:17In this dance of the passage of the seasons,
35:21the May Queen, representing summer,
35:24confronts and defeats the green man of winter,
35:27using the power of fire to reinvigorate the year.
35:40Beltane was just one of a number of festivals
35:43spread throughout the year.
35:46In order to plan these,
35:48the Celts needed an intimate knowledge of the seasons
35:52and astronomy.
35:59Thanks to a unique discovery made in France a century ago,
36:04we now know far more about how the Celts understood
36:07and marked the passing of the year.
36:15These are fragments of a tablet
36:17that some experts believe was created in Roman Gaul
36:21in the 2nd century AD
36:22to record ancient Druidic traditions
36:25banned by Rome.
36:27And this is a reproduction,
36:30a photograph of all that remains.
36:34The original was 1.5 metres across
36:36and a metre high.
36:37It was carved into a single panel of bronze.
36:40But all that survives are these fragments.
36:45It's a calendar, but it's not just any calendar.
36:49Each of the large words is the name of a lunar month
36:53in the Gaulish language,
36:54but spelt out in Latin letters.
36:58It represents a cycle of five years,
37:01broken into 16 columns.
37:05What we're seeing is the way in which the Celts
37:07made sense of their year
37:09and punctuated it with feasts
37:11because close by the names of the months
37:14is the little word Evos,
37:16which means feast.
37:17We think that this calendar starts its year
37:20around here,
37:21where you see the word Midsam.
37:23It's probably around the month of November.
37:26Soon after, you've got Evos,
37:28which means the feast at the end of summer.
37:30It's called Samhain in the Celtic world.
37:32We still celebrate it today,
37:34but we call it Halloween.
37:37Halloween has become a modern
37:39Day of the Dead festival
37:40and the association with the macabre
37:43may go back deep into prehistory.
37:472,000 years ago,
37:49the Romans wrote about Celtic death rituals,
37:52including headhunting
37:54and human sacrifices performed by Druids.
38:03One place where evidence
38:05for such gruesome practices has emerged
38:07is a Celtic land that Rome never subdued.
38:13Hibernia, Ireland.
38:17Wetlands like these were once sacred
38:21and it's here that we still find
38:23the remains of ancient Iron Age beliefs
38:25and human sacrifice.
38:35It's quite astonishing to look at his face.
38:38This is the face of an Irish Celt.
38:40This is the face of somebody from the Iron Age.
38:50It seems that he was hit in the face
38:53with a blunt instrument,
38:54an injury which could have knocked him out,
38:57could even have killed him.
38:59But there are more injuries to the back of his head,
39:03injuries that look as though
39:04they've been created by an axe.
39:08Iron Age bodies discovered in the bogs
39:11reveal ritualistic activity.
39:14Not wanton violence,
39:16but something calculated and symbolic.
39:21Holes cut in arms,
39:23containing twigs of hazel.
39:26Nipples that have been
39:28almost completely sliced off.
39:32And there are clues which suggest
39:34that these victims weren't ordinary Celts.
39:37They were special.
39:40We can tell that he was probably
39:42somebody of high social standing.
39:44And the reason that the archaeologists believe this
39:47is that when we look at his hands,
39:49they're very smooth.
39:50There's no callous or roughness here.
39:53He didn't use his hands to make a living.
39:56His fingernails are beautifully trimmed.
40:06Archaeologist Ned Kelly
40:07has been studying bog bodies for 12 years,
40:10seeking out clues to Celtic ritual and beliefs.
40:16So this is the remains of Cashel Man.
40:19Cashel Man from Count Elish, yeah.
40:21We think it's in fact
40:22the earliest fleshed bog body
40:25from anywhere in Europe.
40:26Why are they not
40:28just the bodies of murder victims
40:30who have been disposed of in the bog?
40:32Well, first of all,
40:33in ancient Ireland,
40:34bogs were sacred places.
40:36They were places where
40:38ritual practices took place.
40:40And we know
40:41that there was a form of ritual killing
40:44which was appropriate
40:45to the killing of a king.
40:48And I think the type of multiple injuries
40:51which occur on these bodies
40:53reflect that tradition.
41:01Decapitated,
41:02then sliced right through,
41:04killed,
41:05and then symbolically killed again.
41:08This was a Celtic sacrifice
41:10of a chief or a king.
41:15And forensic archaeology
41:17is suggesting
41:18that such ancient rites
41:19were seasonal.
41:25Rolly Reid,
41:27head of conservation
41:28at the National Museum of Ireland,
41:30has been investigating
41:31Moidrum Man,
41:32a newly discovered bog body.
41:42So, Rolly,
41:43what is this object
41:44that you have so carefully extracted
41:46from the innards
41:47of this bog body?
41:48We think that it's probably
41:49a slow stone.
41:52And it's just come
41:53from this area here
41:55of the bog body.
41:56You can see
41:57there's a line of them.
41:58So all those little ovals
42:00are little slow stones?
42:01Yes, that's right.
42:02And they seem to be following
42:03roughly the line
42:05of the large intestine.
42:06I mean, that's hundreds of slows.
42:08Hundreds and hundreds.
42:09I've actually done a count
42:11of the x-ray.
42:12There's at least 300 there.
42:14Now, this is a bit peculiar,
42:15isn't it?
42:16Because I've tasted a slow
42:17and it wasn't very nice.
42:19I mean, they're bitter,
42:20sour little plums,
42:22aren't they?
42:22They are, yeah.
42:23So what is happening here?
42:24Why is somebody eating
42:25a meal of hundreds of slows?
42:27Nobody's going to
42:28ingest 300 slows
42:31no matter how hungry they are.
42:33I think we can say
42:34this is a ritual meal.
42:36First of all,
42:37the slow ripens
42:38at the end of October,
42:40the beginning of November,
42:41that is the festival of Samhain.
42:43Halloween.
42:44Modern Halloween.
42:45And that is the time of year
42:47which, according to
42:48the early Irish written material,
42:51kings were killed.
42:52Really?
42:52Almost every reference
42:53to the ritual killing
42:55of a king,
42:55it takes place at Samhain.
43:04Scientific evidence
43:06from Irish bog bodies
43:07suggests that the Romans
43:09were right to be wary
43:10of the untamed lands
43:11to the west.
43:14Roman histories
43:15are full of lurid stories
43:17of bloodthirsty Celtic rites
43:19and human sacrifice,
43:20overseen by Druids.
43:24The Druids,
43:26they believed,
43:26were the embodiment
43:27of a brutal culture,
43:29people who encouraged
43:30insurrection
43:31and desired Celtic independence.
43:36No wonder
43:37Paulinus felt compelled
43:39to march to Mona,
43:40the island of Anglesey,
43:42to put an end to them.
43:46And he did
43:47with ruthless efficiency.
43:55The destruction
43:56of the Druid stronghold
43:57of Mona
43:58was part of an end game
44:00in the Romans' quest
44:01to annihilate
44:02an ancient culture.
44:04They wanted no one
44:06to be in doubt
44:06as to who was in charge
44:08or that the Roman view
44:10of civilisation
44:11had triumphed
44:13over the barbarian Celt.
44:16It had been less
44:17than 20 years
44:18since the Roman invasion
44:20of Britain.
44:21In that time,
44:22they had built cities
44:23proclaiming their imperial might,
44:27cities that still exist today.
44:32But in leading
44:33his armies north
44:34to destroy the Druids,
44:36Paulinus had left
44:37these cities
44:38largely undefended.
44:43After Camulodunum
44:44had been raised
44:44to the ground,
44:45Boudicca's army
44:47continued its rampage
44:49in the Roman port
44:50and commercial centre
44:51of Londinium.
44:55After London,
44:57it was the turn
44:57of the municipal town
44:59of Verulamium,
45:00now St Albans.
45:03Throughout the south
45:04and east,
45:05Romans were terrorised,
45:07ritually mutilated
45:08and their cities burned.
45:11Tacitus estimates
45:12that 70,000 people
45:14lay dead.
45:15According to the
45:16traditional history,
45:18all this was triggered
45:20by the Romans'
45:21brutal treatment
45:21of the Iceni queen
45:23and her daughters.
45:25But there may be
45:26much more
45:27to the Celtic rebellion
45:28than this popular story
45:30of personal vengeance.
45:34It seems too much
45:36of a coincidence
45:37that these two events
45:38in British history,
45:40Boudicca's revolt
45:41and the slaughter
45:42of the Druids
45:43by Paulinus,
45:44should happen
45:45at exactly the same time.
45:48The Boudiccan revolt
45:50involved an alliance
45:51of tribes,
45:52but it might not
45:53just have been about
45:54the treatment
45:55of the Iceni
45:56and their queen.
45:57It may have been about
45:58something much more important.
46:01Paulinus' assault
46:02on the Druids
46:03was an attack
46:04on everything
46:05the Celts believed,
46:06everything they understood.
46:07So when Boudicca
46:09stood up to the Romans
46:10and said no,
46:11the other British tribes
46:12stood up alongside her
46:14to defend
46:14their entire way of life.
46:21It wasn't until
46:23the Celtic insurrection
46:24was well underway
46:25that news reached Anglesey.
46:34Paulinus understood
46:35he had to act
46:36and fast.
46:41From Anglesey,
46:43it was a long march south.
46:45The two armies
46:47advanced towards one another
46:48from opposite ends
46:49of Wartling Street.
46:51Paulinus was at the head
46:52of two legions,
46:5310,000 highly trained,
46:55battle-hardened troops.
46:57But according
46:58to the ancient sources,
46:59Boudicca's force
47:00might have outnumbered
47:01his force
47:02by as much
47:03as 20 to 1.
47:15The scene was set
47:16for one of the most
47:18important battles
47:19in the history
47:20of our islands.
47:21At stake
47:22was the fate
47:23of Britain
47:24and the future
47:25of Roman rule
47:27in this outpost
47:28of their empire.
47:29The two powers
47:31met
47:31for a final showdown
47:33that today
47:34is known
47:34as the Battle
47:36of Wartling Street.
47:39No-one knows
47:41the precise location
47:42of the Battle
47:42of Wartling Street,
47:43but one favourite
47:44location is here
47:45on the slopes
47:46above Mansetter,
47:47north-east of Birmingham.
47:51Ancient military expert
47:52Mike Lodes
47:53has been studying
47:54the tactics
47:55of the battle.
47:56The only way
47:58Paulinus could stand
47:59a chance
48:00of facing
48:01a big army
48:02is in terrain
48:04like this.
48:05If he's got
48:05the smaller army,
48:06then his big fear
48:08is being outflanked
48:10and being attacked
48:11in the rear.
48:12Here,
48:13he's surrounded
48:14by trees.
48:16Woodland
48:16with thick bramble.
48:18Men cannot move
48:19quickly through there.
48:20Horses cannot move
48:21quickly through there.
48:22And we're told
48:24he was at the top
48:25of a slope,
48:25so he's got
48:26the advantage
48:27of height.
48:27The attacking army
48:28has got to work
48:29to come up the slope.
48:30It's much easier
48:31to repel them
48:32down the slopes.
48:35Tacitus tells us
48:36the Britons
48:37entered the battleground
48:38full of confidence.
48:40They massively
48:42outnumbered
48:42their enemy
48:43and knew
48:44that this
48:45was their chance
48:46to finally defeat
48:47the Romans
48:47for good.
48:51If beaten,
48:53the Romans knew
48:54they had little chance
48:55of escape.
49:01If they had lost,
49:03none of them
49:04could have expected
49:05to live
49:06and they could have
49:06expected to die
49:07horribly and gruesomely
49:08as they would have heard
49:10had happened in
49:11Colchester
49:11and London
49:12and St. Albans.
49:14So they would have
49:15known what was at stake
49:16and they'd never
49:17faced the Celts
49:19in pitched battle
49:20like this.
49:22400 years of conflict
49:24between the Celts
49:25and the Romans
49:25were about to come
49:27to a head.
49:29Paulinus knew
49:29that if the Romans
49:30were to survive
49:31the onslaught
49:32they had to hold
49:33their lines
49:34or every last man
49:36would be slaughtered.
49:53There's a wave
49:54of angry men.
49:56Angry big men.
49:57OK.
49:57That shields
49:58a Celtic warrior
49:59and that will have
50:00a similar momentum
50:01of a Celtic warrior
50:02rushing at you
50:03and you get to kill him.
50:05I'm promising nothing.
50:07OK, Andy,
50:08bring it on.
50:18Look at that.
50:19He's down.
50:20The man's down.
50:21He is.
50:22And look what's happening.
50:23This is the interesting bit.
50:24It won't come out
50:25because of that head disaster.
50:28It's got kind of a barb.
50:29It's got a barb.
50:30Now, if I'm holding
50:31this shield,
50:32it could have gone through
50:33enough to kill me.
50:34Yes.
50:34If you were strong.
50:36But if not,
50:37I've got this.
50:38I can't get it out.
50:39That's stuck in the ground.
50:41What am I going to do?
50:42You throw away the shield.
50:44So you're now
50:45half the man you used to be.
50:46I am now
50:46half the man
50:47I used to be.
50:49The speed of Boudicca's chariots
50:52might have been
50:52highly effective
50:53on open ground,
50:54but here
50:55they were useless.
50:57And the Celtic swordsmen
50:59faced a solid wall
51:01of Roman shields.
51:04You must not
51:05step out of line.
51:07So in unison
51:08to a rhythmic beat,
51:10they used the shield
51:11to barge
51:13the person opposite them,
51:14but then stab
51:15at the person diagonally.
51:18And it doesn't matter
51:18if you don't kill them.
51:19Your job is just simply
51:21to create a wound
51:22because you've got
51:23ten men behind you
51:24who can mop up
51:25and dispatch them
51:26as your hobnail boots
51:28grind over their faces
51:29as you move forward.
51:32That's great.
51:33Stepping in with your shoulder.
51:34Now do not make another step
51:36or you'll break line.
51:37Okay.
51:37All of you have stepped
51:38that one step.
51:39Okay.
51:40Good.
51:41Let's now
51:42see if you can drive us
51:43back down the field.
51:45Boom.
51:45Stab.
51:46Crash.
51:48Stab.
51:48Smash.
51:50Stab.
51:51Barge.
51:51Stab.
51:52Crash.
51:53Stab.
51:54Come on, man.
51:56Relentless.
51:57Yeah.
51:58Relentless.
52:08Tacitus tells us
52:09what happened next.
52:10The rest of the Britons
52:12turned tail
52:13but their escape
52:14was blocked
52:14by their own wagons
52:15and the Roman troops
52:17didn't refrain
52:18even from the slaughter
52:19of women
52:19while pack animals
52:21that had been run through
52:22with spears
52:22increased the pile
52:24of corpses.
52:34The triumph
52:35of mechanised discipline
52:38over individual warriors
52:41who in those circumstances
52:43had no opportunity
52:44and no prospect
52:45of doing what they had spent
52:46their lives training to do
52:47which was be
52:48individual fighters.
52:49The defeat
52:52was total.
52:55Boudicca's
52:55entire army
52:57was wiped out.
52:59According to Tacitus
53:01only 400 Romans
53:03were killed that day
53:04compared with
53:0680,000 Celts.
53:09the last great
53:11Celtic rebellion
53:13was over.
53:17We're told
53:18Boudicca survived
53:19the battle
53:20but poisoned herself
53:22shortly after
53:23and with her
53:25died any hope
53:26of another Celtic uprising
53:28and an end
53:29to Roman rule
53:30in Britannia.
53:32Boudicca disappeared
53:33from history
53:34and entered
53:35international mythology
53:37a martyr
53:38to the idea
53:39of a free Britain.
53:41But while the Celtic rebellion
53:43was certainly real
53:44can we be
53:45absolutely sure
53:46that Boudicca
53:47played a part in it
53:48or even existed?
53:51No archaeological evidence
53:53for Boudicca herself
53:54has been found.
53:58Then
53:59in the spring of 2015
54:01in Gloucestershire
54:02an ancient gravesite
54:03was discovered
54:04dating to the Roman
54:05occupation of Britain.
54:09in amongst
54:10the human remains
54:11was a gravestone
54:12and on it
54:14was carved
54:14the name
54:15Boudicca
54:21of Boudicca.
54:22under the stone
54:22lay a skeleton
54:24could this
54:25finally be evidence
54:27of Britain's
54:27great warrior queen?
54:32But the bones
54:33belonged
54:34to a man
54:36and the myth
54:37of Boudicca
54:38continues to this day.
54:43After centuries
54:44of conflict
54:45the military
54:46might of Rome
54:47prevailed
54:47and almost
54:48all of the Celtic
54:49lands of Europe
54:50were swept up
54:51into the vast empire
54:52crushed
54:54under the iron rule
54:55of the conquerors.
55:01But Rome
55:02didn't conquer
55:03all of Europe
55:03and Celtic society
55:05wasn't completely
55:07obliterated.
55:37This is Spiddle
55:38on the west coast
55:38of Ireland
55:39it's part of the
55:40Gaelca
55:40where 2000 years
55:42after Boudicca
55:43the first language
55:44is still a Celtic
55:45language
55:46it's Gaelic
55:47here
55:47you can hear
55:48the past
55:49you can feel it.
56:00across the fringes
56:02of Europe
56:02in Ireland
56:04Scotland
56:04Wales
56:05Brittany
56:05and Cornwall
56:06the language
56:08of the Celts
56:08their most important
56:10legacy
56:10lived on.
56:26we've travelled
56:27thousands of miles
56:28from Turkey
56:29to Portugal
56:30in search of the roots
56:32of an incredible
56:32ancient culture
56:34they were subterranean
56:35yeah
56:35oh yeah
56:36going back
56:373000 years
56:38we've uncovered
56:38the story
56:39of these Iron Age
56:40tribes
56:40looking right
56:42into his face
56:43look there
56:44he's holding a spear
56:45and then
56:46to be a man's
56:47severed head
56:48who built
56:49the first great
56:50city
56:50north of the Alps
56:52and created
56:53astonishing wonders
56:55fabricated in the
56:56most intricate
56:57artwork
56:57it's incredibly
56:59fine work
56:59isn't it
57:01who were at the
57:02forefront of
57:03military innovation
57:04it's a cutting
57:05weapon
57:06it's a thrusting
57:07weapon
57:07from swords
57:09to battle
57:10chariots
57:11this was the
57:12sound of the
57:12Celts going to
57:13war
57:14but if it
57:15wasn't for the
57:16classical historians
57:17we might never
57:18have known who
57:19the Celtic
57:19people were
57:20and what their
57:22leaders achieved
57:23how Brennus
57:25defeated Rome
57:26how Vercingetorix
57:29defied Julius Caesar
57:32and how Boudicca
57:34reignited the
57:35spirit of Celtic
57:36rebellion
57:38together we've
57:40discovered a
57:40remarkable story
57:42of our Celtic
57:42past
57:44a culture that
57:46remains very much
57:47alive to this
57:48day
57:49a Celtic
57:50spirit
57:51that burns
57:52deep within us
57:53as part
57:54of our
57:55world
58:25a Celtic
58:25country
58:25and how
58:28You