- 4 days ago
Dr Alice Roberts goes in search of our elusive Stone Age ancestors. Along the way she visits the Channel island of Jersey where she meets a team of archaeologists hoping to shed new light on the much-maligned Neanderthals, and embarks on a kayak survey of the coastline looking for undiscovered sites hidden in the cliffs. At the Natural history museum Alice sees the dark side of our Ice Age ancestors lives.
爱丽丝·罗伯茨（Alice Roberts）深入探究人类石器时代的祖先，并前往泽西岛（Jersey），会见一个致力于揭示尼安德特人（Neanderthals）新线索的考古团队。
• 焦点：本集节目旨在探寻英国那些难以寻觅踪迹的石器时代及冰河时代祖先。
• 泽西岛考察：罗伯茨博士前往海峡群岛中的泽西岛，会见一个研究尼安德特人历史的考古团队。
• 海岸勘察：她驾驶皮划艇沿泽西岛海岸线进行考察，搜寻隐藏在悬崖间的史前遗址。
• 自然历史博物馆：她造访自然历史博物馆，考察冰河时代人类生活的实物证据。
爱丽丝·罗伯茨（Alice Roberts）深入探究人类石器时代的祖先，并前往泽西岛（Jersey），会见一个致力于揭示尼安德特人（Neanderthals）新线索的考古团队。
• 焦点：本集节目旨在探寻英国那些难以寻觅踪迹的石器时代及冰河时代祖先。
• 泽西岛考察：罗伯茨博士前往海峡群岛中的泽西岛，会见一个研究尼安德特人历史的考古团队。
• 海岸勘察：她驾驶皮划艇沿泽西岛海岸线进行考察，搜寻隐藏在悬崖间的史前遗址。
• 自然历史博物馆：她造访自然历史博物馆，考察冰河时代人类生活的实物证据。
Category
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TVTranscript
00:20We might be a small island, but we've got a big history.
00:24Everywhere you stand, there are worlds beneath your feet.
00:27And so every year, hundreds of archaeologists across Britain go looking for more clues into our story.
00:35Who lived here, when and how?
00:38So there's a blade doing here, here.
00:40So he's being attacked from all angles.
00:43Archaeology is a complex jigsaw puzzle, drawing everything together from skeletons to swords, temples to treasure.
00:52He's biting his shield.
00:53Biting his shield, yeah.
00:56From Orkney to Devon, we're joining this year's quest on sea, land and air.
01:04We share all of the questions and find some of the answers as we join the teams in the field,
01:11digging for Britain.
01:25These islands that we call the British Isles have been inhabited on and off for hundreds of thousands of years.
01:31And for most of that time, the early communities here were living through what we now know as the Stone
01:37Age.
01:38But who were these people?
01:40What were their lives really like?
01:42And when did the foundations of our modern society emerge?
01:46With no written records to draw on, it is only through archaeology that we can hope to gain an insight
01:53into the lives of our ancient ancestors.
01:56Tonight, I'll be coming face-to-face with Stone Age people on Orkney.
02:00The wealth of secrets that we could learn from this is quite incredible.
02:05Learning some disturbing truths about Britain's Ice Age hunters.
02:09We have clear proof of cannibalism on this side.
02:13And visiting the Channel Islands on the trail of some misunderstood early humans.
02:18Nature just doesn't allow a creature that isn't perfectly fit to its environment to thrive and exist.
02:25We'll be travelling backwards in time on a journey spanning 100,000 years of human prehistory
02:31to uncover the changing story of the first inhabitants of Britain.
02:49Last summer, I visited a dig at the links of Naultland, on the small Orkney island of Westray.
02:56On a windswept beach, archaeologists were uncovering a Neolithic farmstead
03:00and what has been described as our earliest domestic goddess.
03:05The Westray wifey.
03:15This year, I'm back on Orkney to visit another Neolithic site
03:19that is revealing more important clues about these early farmers and their complex beliefs.
03:26This is Banks Farm on the island of South Ronaldsey,
03:30where just last year, some construction work up by the farmhouse
03:33revealed a previously undisturbed Neolithic tomb.
03:40This wasn't the first time an important Neolithic tomb had been found on Orkney.
03:45In 1958, a local farmer uncovered the now world-famous Tomb of the Eagles.
03:52Inside it were 16,000 human bones, as well as 725 bird bones,
03:59many of which were from white-tailed sea eagles.
04:05The unearthing of another Neolithic tomb on Orkney is enormously significant,
04:10a once-in-a-generation event.
04:14Hamish Mowat made a startling discovery right outside his front door.
04:18Hmm, there was a hole size of my fist, so...
04:21And I got the torch, and I shine in, you can see the rock face.
04:25Well, at that point, you're looking into something
04:27that hasn't seen the light of day for thousands of years, I expect,
04:30so the old heart starts to pound a bit then,
04:33and you think, well, you must...
04:34You can't leave it at that point.
04:36And then when I shine the torch,
04:38this eerie white object with two holes
04:41was sort of looking back and at me.
04:43Yeah.
04:44So I sort of sat back, I looked again,
04:46yes, that's definitely a skull.
04:48What a remarkable thing to find.
04:49I mean, it's just, you know, metres away from your house.
04:51Well, this is really basically 10 metres outside the door.
04:54Yeah.
04:55The discovery by Hamish that this mysterious mound
04:59right on his doorstep contained human remains
05:02gave archaeologists the opportunity to excavate
05:05undisturbed chambers inside a Neolithic tomb.
05:08And I'm off now to meet the archaeologist who led the excavations.
05:16Did you have to move in and dig it really quickly
05:18because it had been opened up to the elements, effectively?
05:20Yeah, well, as soon as we realised
05:22there were human remains in the cell here,
05:24obviously, the whole thing's full of water.
05:26It became apparent that we had to move fairly quickly
05:28because we weren't quite sure
05:30how the conditions had changed within the tomb.
05:34Because part of the tomb had been unwittingly damaged
05:37by previous building work, water was now seeping in
05:41and the team faced a race against time
05:43to rescue the archaeology hidden inside.
05:47Dan kept a unique video diary of the unfolding dig.
05:52Day two of the excavation is at Banks
05:54and we haven't had the weather on our side today.
05:57It's been pretty rainy.
05:58We've had gale force winds.
05:59So we're hoping to carry on tomorrow
06:01with the idea of removing the top slab of one of the cells
06:04with the idea of excavating the human remains
06:08that may be in there.
06:09The team soon realised that this was a sizeable tomb
06:13consisting of a central passageway
06:15with five separate cells or chambers leading off it.
06:19We've been digging our section into the passage here.
06:22This is the east cell,
06:24with very restricted access into here
06:26and there's a skull sitting just there in the top.
06:29So we're trying to get access to that through here.
06:33Once the team had removed the layers of mud and clay,
06:36they were able to access the chambers
06:40and the human remains inside them.
06:44The skull just straight back.
06:48The team's first impression was that the skulls
06:50had been placed as a closing offering
06:52when the tomb was finally sealed.
06:55It's a captivating glimpse of these people's burial rituals
06:59going back some 5,000 years.
07:05As well as the skulls,
07:07there were hundreds of other human bones in the chambers
07:09all mixed together in a jumbled mass.
07:19Excavating them was a slow and delicate process.
07:23Each precious fragment was catalogued
07:25and carefully removed for further study.
07:31Can we actually get down and have a look inside the tomb itself?
07:40We can open this chamber.
07:41Yeah, we can have a look in.
07:43This is pretty similar to how it was when we first looked in here,
07:46where sort of the bits of skull were tucked in
07:48and amongst these stones
07:49as a sort of final offering
07:51before this doorway was sealed up
07:53and the tomb was sealed off for good.
07:56Dan, how amazing to have the opportunity
07:57to excavate something like this
07:59where you know that it's absolutely pristine.
08:02Yeah, it's quite an amazing experience.
08:04I mean, I worked in this cell myself
08:06and as you remove that bone,
08:08you're sort of doing that in reverse
08:09and in that sense,
08:10you kind of get the sense of how that person
08:12put that bone there in the first place
08:14sort of 5,000 years ago.
08:17The wealth of secrets that we could learn from this
08:19is quite incredible.
08:23The construction work has completely changed
08:25the environment of this tomb.
08:27It's had its entire roof taken off
08:30so it's now exposed to the elements
08:32in a way that for the last 5,000 years
08:35it never has been before.
08:37And this means that the archaeology is under threat.
08:40The human remains in here are under threat.
08:43If the archaeologists don't act fast
08:45then there may be very little left to excavate.
08:53Having recovered the bones,
08:55the team moved them to their lab in Kirkwall
08:57to begin the analysis.
09:00They would also be able to compare this new discovery
09:03with the famous Tomb of the Eagles.
09:07It lies a little over a mile from Banks' tomb
09:09and has revealed some disturbing truths
09:12about Neolithic society.
09:15Recent research has shown that around a quarter
09:17of the skulls from the Tomb of the Eagles
09:19show clear signs of violence.
09:24Dan and the team want to answer two key questions.
09:28What can they learn about burial rituals from these bones?
09:32And does comparing Banks' tomb
09:34with the Tomb of the Eagles tell us anything new?
09:40Have you got an idea of how many individuals might be represented?
09:44So far it's about 14.
09:45You know, we are looking at quite a number of bones
09:47and if you imagine there's five cells there
09:49you could times that by, well, very roughly by five.
09:52So this could be a communal burial place for a whole community.
09:55I'm really surprised at how well preserved the bones are.
09:58And there's, you know, damage on this one
10:00but, you know, still the actual skull is pretty much intact.
10:03It is, yeah, and that's quite an interesting skull in itself
10:06because that was placed as a closing offering
10:08into the East Cell
10:09before the passageway was finally sealed off.
10:12So this would have been one of the last people to be buried in the tomb.
10:16I think skulls are amazing
10:18because, you know, you are looking at somebody's face, aren't you?
10:24It's only early days
10:25but the team are starting to build up a picture
10:28of these communal burial rituals.
10:34At this stage in the analysis
10:36do you have any idea of whether these bones
10:38were placed in the grave as bones?
10:40Were they defleshed?
10:42Were they just a jumble of bones?
10:43Or do you think whole bodies were placed in there?
10:45You know, are we looking at bodies being taken in
10:48and perhaps maybe put into the central chamber
10:51or the passage and being allowed to decompose
10:53and then at some point
10:54they're then moved into various cells at certain times
10:57and then they become intermingled by later activity
10:59and become this sort of mass of bones
11:01this mass of the ancestors.
11:06Got any evidence of violence, for instance?
11:08I mean, Tomb of the Eagles
11:09there's recent research has shown
11:11that there is quite a lot of evidence
11:12for this sort of thing.
11:13There's less so here at Banks so far
11:15but we haven't actually got that many cranium fragments.
11:18Oh, that looks like it might have been
11:21a little fracture there.
11:23There's a definite dent in the top of that person's skull
11:25but it just turned over very carefully.
11:29Yeah, there's no evidence of it penetrating through
11:31to the inner surface of the skull there.
11:33Do you think the Tomb of the Eagles
11:34is an interesting comparison?
11:35Is it contemporary?
11:37I would say that they're probably broadly contemporary
11:39and obviously we await radiocarbon dates.
11:41You're certainly looking at perhaps communities in that area
11:43over several hundreds of years
11:45expressing their sort of identity in death
11:47through these monuments.
11:52The preliminary work here has thrown up some fascinating questions.
11:57Did something occur in this Neolithic society
12:01that made them abandon one tomb
12:04and construct a new one?
12:06Or were there two rival populations here
12:10each with their own competing ancestor culture?
12:15Dan and his team are in the first year
12:17of what promises to be the most thorough examination
12:20of a British Neolithic tomb ever undertaken.
12:26We're getting an amazingly detailed picture
12:28emerging of rituals and beliefs
12:31that seem very alien to us today, very strange.
12:34Just imagine how different it was back then
12:36when you would have been laying your dead to rest
12:39in a communal tomb and probably pushing aside the bones,
12:43even the rotting bodies of more distant ancestors.
12:46It seems very odd indeed, I think, to us today
12:49and it's a ritual, it's a belief system
12:52which has disappeared from memory,
12:54was never recorded in history
12:57and the only chance we have of trying to understand it
13:01is through archaeological investigation.
13:05The community buried at Banks' tomb
13:07were amongst the first farmers in Britain
13:10and they've left permanent evidence of their lives behind.
13:15But moving back beyond the Neolithic,
13:17our ancestors lived a more mobile nomadic existence
13:21during what's known as the Mesolithic.
13:25Now, finding evidence of the transition
13:28from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic
13:29has proved very elusive.
13:32But a community archaeology group in Scotland
13:35may have discovered a site
13:37which could shed light on this gap in our knowledge.
13:44Over the past 20 years,
13:46a dedicated group of volunteer archaeologists
13:49have been excavating sites
13:51around the Dare Valley in Scotland
13:52and looking for evidence
13:54of a missing link in archaeology.
13:57The Dare Valley sits in an area of land
13:59between the rivers Clyde and Tweed.
14:02Hidden in this remote valley
14:04are clues about a huge leap
14:06in our ancestors' technology and lifestyles.
14:10How are we doing? Everybody okay?
14:12Leading the research is Tam Ward.
14:15The reason that we're on this site
14:17is because the hill has been ploughed up
14:19for new forest.
14:20And when that happens,
14:21the plough exposes the archaeological sites for us.
14:24So all we really need to do
14:26is walk up and down the furrows
14:27and literally find what's lying about.
14:34Dense scatters of flint
14:35are churned up by the forestry ploughs.
14:38These flints provide clues
14:40that archaeology is lurking beneath the peat.
14:43If we found one of these bags
14:45on an entire site,
14:46we would think we were lucky.
14:48And we are finding
14:50masses and masses of material in here.
14:52So exciting.
14:53Just below the peat
14:54is the original ground level,
14:56which is covered in evidence
14:58of our ancestors' lives.
15:00The style of tools
15:02suggests that this is a Mesolithic site,
15:04and so Tam and his team
15:06are the first people
15:06to touch these flints
15:08in over 6,000 years.
15:11The volunteers give up their weekends
15:13to unearth fragments
15:14of their ancient ancestors' lives.
15:18We've been doing this
15:19for a number of years now,
15:20and it sort of becomes
15:23a bit of an addiction after a while.
15:25We'll dig anywhere, anything.
15:28Any opportunity.
15:29Well, what always strikes me
15:31is this is such an unremarkable valley.
15:35You would drive past it
15:36and never give it a second thought,
15:38and yet there's 10,000 years
15:40of history here
15:41that just is still waiting
15:44for somebody to come along
15:46and ruin their knees
15:47and their back digging it up.
15:51Tam and his team
15:52have found over 250 archaeological sites
15:56in this one valley alone,
15:57and there could be many more
15:59waiting to be explored.
16:03Today the team has exposed
16:04a large area,
16:05and they work inwards
16:07from the outer edges,
16:08digging down just a few inches.
16:11The sheer volume of flint
16:13suggests that this was a campsite,
16:15an incredibly rare thing to find.
16:19Tam has been finding
16:20typically mesolithic styles of tools.
16:24We have a microlith.
16:26This is what they were manufacturing
16:27most of the time.
16:29Microliths were part of
16:30a distinctive mesolithic technology.
16:32These tiny flint blades
16:35were embedded into the shafts
16:36of arrows and harpoons
16:37to increase their effectiveness.
16:40They date to an era
16:41when people relied on hunting
16:43and gathering.
16:44They hadn't yet begun
16:46to farm the land
16:47or to husband animals.
16:49Here in the Dare Valley,
16:51Tam and his team
16:52think they've made
16:52a significant discovery,
16:54because they've found
16:55both mesolithic
16:56and later neolithic technologies
16:59on the same site.
17:01We've began to find
17:02neolithic evidence,
17:04and this is in the form
17:06of this pottery.
17:07Now this is the earliest pottery
17:09to be used anywhere in Europe,
17:11and these pots
17:12were quite large pots,
17:14and these indicate
17:15people are settled
17:16in the landscape
17:17as opposed to travelling through it,
17:19because these pots
17:20do not travel.
17:21that can only mean one thing,
17:22the very first farmers.
17:24Now the most interesting
17:26thing about that is,
17:27are these the same people
17:29who are former hunter-gatherers?
17:31The use of pottery
17:33signifies a radical change
17:34in people's lifestyles.
17:36It goes hand in hand
17:38with settlement.
17:41Tam has also found
17:43these distinctive
17:43smaller mesolithic
17:45and larger neolithic scrapers
17:47at the same sites
17:49in the same levels.
17:52As farming became
17:53more important,
17:54even simple tools
17:56like these were changing.
17:58And beautiful neolithic
18:00arrowheads like this
18:02begin to replace
18:03the mesolithic microliths.
18:05The tools of the hunt
18:07were also changing.
18:08We think this is the transition
18:11between the two earliest cultures,
18:14the mesolithic
18:15and the neolithic.
18:16And if that's correct,
18:18then that's a really
18:19major discovery.
18:21This valley is yielding clues
18:24about a crucial transition
18:25in human history.
18:27It marked the end
18:28of a nomadic culture
18:30that had been around
18:31for millennia
18:31and saw the birth
18:33of a structured society
18:34that we would recognise today.
18:39But travelling backwards
18:41to the beginning
18:42of the mesolithic,
18:43another site
18:44is yielding
18:45extraordinary evidence
18:47of life
18:48going back
18:48some 11,000 years.
18:53At the tail end
18:55of the ice age,
18:55Britain was thawing out
18:57and the climate
18:58was warming up
18:59and people were beginning
19:00to change the way
19:01they lived
19:02in this newly
19:03hospitable landscape.
19:05They were making
19:05the transition
19:06from being nomadic
19:07hunter-gatherers
19:08to becoming
19:09more settled.
19:12The most important
19:13mesolithic site
19:14in Britain
19:14was discovered
19:15just after the
19:16Second World War
19:17at Star Car
19:19in North Yorkshire.
19:21This remarkable site
19:22is still reshaping
19:24our view
19:24of people at this time.
19:27Since 2004,
19:29York and Manchester
19:30universities
19:31have been digging there.
19:33I've come to York University
19:34to meet a team
19:35who've been working
19:36on Star Car
19:36for over a decade
19:37and to find out
19:39why all is not well
19:40at Britain's
19:41most famous
19:41mesolithic site.
19:45Over the last 60 years,
19:48tens of thousands
19:49of artefacts
19:50have been found
19:50at Star Car.
19:52And because of the
19:53lack of oxygen
19:54in the peat,
19:55the preservation
19:55was remarkable.
19:57What emerged
19:58were not just
19:59stone tools,
20:00but organic remains.
20:04Leading the post-excavation work
20:06is Dr Nicky Milner.
20:07So these are some
20:08of your recent finds
20:09from Star Car.
20:10That's right, yeah.
20:11This is a digging stick.
20:13It's actually made of wood
20:14and it looks a bit
20:17like a normal branch
20:18of a tree,
20:19but actually when you look
20:19at it,
20:20it has actually
20:20been carefully carved
20:22and you've got
20:23this amazing point
20:24at the end
20:24which would have been
20:25used for digging.
20:26But it's incredible
20:27when you think
20:28that it's actually
20:28about 10,000 years old.
20:31It's fantastic
20:32because you can really
20:32start to build up
20:33a picture of
20:34how these people lived,
20:35how they survived,
20:36what they were doing.
20:36We've never found
20:37anything like this before.
20:39Somebody was actually
20:40holding this
20:40and digging for their food.
20:43It's amazing
20:44to have something
20:45like this surviving.
20:47But this wasn't
20:48the only remarkable thing
20:49the team discovered.
20:53The really exciting thing
20:54about our recent finds
20:55is the structure
20:57that was found.
20:58It had a big hollow
21:00in the ground
21:01and it had post holes
21:02around it
21:03and this is the earliest
21:04kind of structure,
21:06a bit like a house,
21:08I suppose,
21:08that we know of in Britain.
21:11These small holes
21:12are a hugely significant discovery.
21:15It's the earliest evidence
21:16that these people
21:17weren't just living
21:18in temporary camps
21:20but were settling down
21:21and building
21:22more permanent structures
21:23and not just houses.
21:27And then as well as that,
21:29we also have evidence
21:30of a platform
21:32made out of worked planks
21:34which goes out
21:36into the lake.
21:37So a jetty?
21:38Like a jetty
21:38but it goes about
21:4030 metres across
21:41the edge of the lake.
21:42Really?
21:43Oh, wow.
21:44Really important
21:44because it's the earliest evidence
21:45of carpentry
21:46we have in Europe.
21:50Preserved in the peat
21:51for over 10,000 years
21:53is the first evidence
21:55of our ancestors
21:56working in wood
21:57on a massive scale.
22:01If they're building
22:02structures like that,
22:03they're staying
22:04in that place
22:04for a while, aren't they?
22:05They're not just
22:05passing through.
22:06It seems to be
22:07overturning all our expectations
22:09of what people
22:09were like at this time.
22:11I think we've probably,
22:12we have to accept
22:13that they're a lot
22:13more sophisticated
22:14than we thought they were.
22:18The unique preservation
22:20at Starkar
22:21provides an astonishing
22:23wealth of detail
22:24about our ancestors'
22:26everyday lives.
22:28What about these?
22:29These are lovely.
22:30These are called
22:31barbed points
22:32and if you look
22:33at them carefully
22:33they've been carved
22:35to have these little
22:37harpoon-like points.
22:39What are they made of?
22:40They're made of
22:40red deer antler.
22:42They're really
22:42beautifully made,
22:43aren't they?
22:43They are.
22:44They're very delicate.
22:44They're quite evil-looking
22:45actually.
22:46Those little barbs.
22:47It's so lovely
22:48to have a site
22:48where you've got
22:49organic remains preserved
22:50because you start
22:51to see more of the culture
22:52and more of the technology.
22:53You're not just relying
22:54on the stone tools,
22:56you're seeing wooden tools,
22:57you're seeing antler,
22:59antler little harpoons.
23:00They're lovely.
23:05There's a whole lost world
23:07There's a whole lost world
23:08trapped beneath the peat
23:09and clear evidence
23:10of people settling
23:12in their environment
23:12in a way that hasn't
23:14been seen before.
23:17Ben Elliott,
23:18one of the team here
23:19at York,
23:20has been using
23:20some of the finds
23:21to discover more
23:22about the skills
23:24of these Mesolithic people.
23:26You're not just looking
23:28at artefacts
23:28which have been dug up,
23:29are you?
23:30No, no.
23:30As part of my own
23:31personal research,
23:32I've been conducting
23:33some experimental archaeology
23:34and having a go
23:35at recreating
23:36some of the types
23:36of artefacts we find
23:37at Star Car.
23:38So can we have a go?
23:39Yes, we can do, yes.
23:41The sort of first thing
23:41that people are doing
23:42at Star Car
23:43are making these
23:44kind of long ways grooves
23:45and they use their flint blades
23:47to sort of slowly incise
23:50and you can see
23:51the material starts
23:52to come away,
23:53especially when it's wet
23:53as a kind of soggy sawdust.
23:55Oh, yeah.
23:56Yeah, can I have a go?
23:57Yeah, of course you can.
23:57I can feel for just how soft it is.
24:00Mm-hmm.
24:02And they say this is exactly
24:03what they would have been doing,
24:04is it using flint tools like this?
24:08I have to say,
24:09I'm getting to the point
24:10where I just want a power tool.
24:15After just a few minutes,
24:17I'm really getting a sense
24:18of how Ben's research
24:19is unlocking the skill
24:20and artistry
24:21represented in the Star Car tools.
24:26It is coming off.
24:28Once you have sort of
24:29two parallel grooves
24:30defined along the length
24:31of the antler,
24:32you then have this kind of strip.
24:34So what are they doing
24:35with these strips
24:36once they've removed them?
24:37Well, once a strip is removed,
24:38yeah, they start to carve them
24:40using flint tools.
24:42And this, as you can see,
24:43again, it's quite a gradual process
24:45that you can sort of,
24:46using your kind of flint flakes,
24:47you can sort of
24:48gradually sort of sharpen off
24:50and create quite a sort of
24:51sharp point to the tips.
24:52So a pretty formidable weapon, really.
24:54Do you mind if I have a go?
24:55Is it all right?
24:58Just want to get an idea of how...
25:00You have to hold the blade
25:00in a certain way
25:01so you can get the right kind of...
25:03That's the stuff.
25:03There you go.
25:04It makes a nice sound as well
25:05when you get it right.
25:06So doing this experimental archaeology,
25:08is that helping you
25:09to then interpret
25:10the material that you're finding on site?
25:12Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
25:12Doing these experiments
25:13has given me a sense
25:15of the kind of experience
25:16of what life might have been like
25:17at the site.
25:18Nearly 200 of these
25:20barbed antler points
25:21have been found at Star Car,
25:2397% of those found
25:25in the whole of Britain.
25:27Star Car is one of the most important
25:28Stain Age sites in Britain
25:30and it's given archaeologists
25:31an amazing opportunity
25:32to try to understand
25:33what was happening here
25:34in the Mesolithic.
25:36But when they were excavating recently,
25:38they started to make finds
25:40which were worrying,
25:41not because of the deep past,
25:44but because of what might happen
25:45at Star Car in the future.
25:49Something drastic has happened
25:51and it's threatening
25:52the very existence
25:54of this incredibly important site.
25:57So although things
25:58were preserved in the ground
25:59for 10,000 years,
26:01over the last 60 years or so,
26:03it's taken a turn for the worse.
26:05So this is actually something
26:06that was excavated in 1985.
26:08And what is it?
26:09It's the skull of a large animal.
26:11Yeah, so the base of the skull
26:12is here.
26:13It's been completely,
26:14well, almost pancaked.
26:15Yeah.
26:15So this was excavated
26:16about 25 years ago.
26:18But in the last few years,
26:20we've got some really serious problems.
26:22These we excavated in 2007.
26:24So that's some antler
26:25from the original excavations
26:26on the site.
26:27So when would that
26:28have been excavated?
26:301950.
26:311950.
26:33So sort of 60 years on.
26:36It's just like leather.
26:37Oh my goodness.
26:38It hasn't actually been conserved,
26:39but it's...
26:39Isn't that strange?
26:41It's like an old leathery banana skin.
26:43And in fact,
26:43we have very little antler
26:45and bone compared
26:46with the 1950s.
26:48I can show you
26:48what those look like.
26:49I think you're going
26:50to be quite shocked.
26:52Oh my goodness,
26:53it's completely soft.
26:55It's like a piece of rubber.
26:59And this is a...
27:00That is so strange.
27:02Another piece here.
27:04So this is bone.
27:05That's almost jelly, isn't it?
27:07I mean, this is bone
27:08that has been
27:08completely demineralised.
27:10It was when we found this
27:12that we started doing
27:12all the tests
27:13and realised that
27:14it's extremely acidic.
27:15It's basically...
27:17We've been told by our specialists
27:18it's a bit like
27:19carbatory acid.
27:20So why is it so acidic?
27:22I mean, that's worse
27:23than it just being a peat bog.
27:24It's basically because
27:25the water table
27:26has fallen dramatically.
27:29Right.
27:29That's let oxygen
27:30into the deposits
27:30and that's created
27:32a chemical reaction
27:33and created sulfuric acid.
27:35So what does the future
27:37hold for this site?
27:38Well, luckily we have.
27:39We have got
27:39five more years funding
27:41from the European Research Council
27:42so we will be going back.
27:45I was quite taken aback
27:47to see the state
27:47of preservation
27:48of that bone and antler
27:49from the recent excavations
27:51at Starcar.
27:52And if that level
27:53of deterioration
27:54continues at the site
27:56then much of the precious
27:57evidence there
27:58will be lost forever.
28:00So that means
28:00it's fantastic news
28:02that the archaeologists
28:02have secured funding
28:04to go back
28:05and excavate
28:06and rescue
28:07this archaeology
28:08from one of Britain's
28:09most important
28:10Mesolithic sites.
28:19Stepping back
28:20even further in time
28:21whilst Britain
28:22was still in the grip
28:24of the Ice Age
28:25we arrive
28:26in the Paleolithic
28:27or Old Stone Age.
28:30Around 14,000 years ago
28:32as Britain began to thaw
28:34modern humans
28:35started to colonise
28:36this newly hospitable
28:38landscape.
28:46Paleolithic ancestors
28:47left only very subtle
28:49traces of their lives
28:50behind.
28:51They didn't live in houses
28:52so what they're trying
28:54to spot is evidence
28:55of their campsites.
28:57Imagine trying to find
28:58a camp that's thousands
28:59of years old.
29:01It takes a keen eye
29:02and a fair bit
29:03of detective work.
29:04At the end
29:05of the Ice Age
29:06the expanse of land
29:08between Britain
29:09and France
29:09was a vast
29:10and rich hunting ground
29:12known as the
29:13Le Manche Plain.
29:14As the ice melted away
29:16and the sea level rose
29:18the English Channel
29:19swallowed up this land
29:20but there are a few areas
29:23of this lost landscape
29:24still with us
29:25and the Channel Island
29:26of Jersey
29:27is one of them.
29:31I'm on my way to a site
29:32that is so new
29:33that you won't find
29:34any mention of it
29:35in archaeological
29:36textbooks or journals.
29:38It's been called
29:39Les Varenes
29:40after the road
29:41that leads there.
29:44This discovery
29:45was made by local man
29:47Peter Bowie.
29:48Peter, you found this site.
29:50How on earth
29:50did you come across it?
29:51Well it was purely
29:53an accidental find.
29:54I was running
29:55through this field
29:57one evening.
29:57Fortunately the field
29:59had just been lifted
30:01of its Jersey New potatoes
30:03so it was all nice
30:04fresh soil
30:05and lying on the surface
30:07I just found
30:08a flint core.
30:09So did you know
30:10what it was
30:10or did you just think
30:11well that looks like
30:12it might be prehistoric
30:13and it looks like
30:14perhaps a stone tool?
30:15I knew it was prehistoric.
30:16I know what a piece
30:18of work flint looks like.
30:19Yeah.
30:19And I got home
30:20and spoke to my wife
30:21who is curator of archaeology.
30:23She confirmed
30:24it was a flint core.
30:26Very useful
30:26to have an archaeologist
30:28at home
30:28when you find
30:29things out running.
30:29Oh it certainly is.
30:31Last year
30:32following up
30:33on Peter's discovery
30:34a team of archaeologists
30:35excavated a few
30:37small test pits
30:38which seemed to indicate
30:39that this might be
30:40an ancient
30:41paleolithic site.
30:44Many other famous sites
30:45from this era
30:46have been found
30:47in caves
30:47but this
30:48is an open field
30:50so it is
30:51an incredibly rare find.
30:54These people
30:55certainly weren't
30:56the caricature cavemen
30:57of popular culture.
31:01Leading the dig
31:02here at Leverine
31:03is Dr. Chantal Connola.
31:06What we've got here
31:07is a campsite
31:08that dates
31:09to about 14,000 years ago.
31:11We don't know
31:11the scale of it yet.
31:13There seems to be
31:13huge amounts of material
31:14coming out
31:15from the plough soil.
31:16So it may be
31:17people who live
31:18by hunting and gathering
31:18who moved across
31:20quite large areas
31:22but camped here
31:23in this very spot.
31:25A paleolithic site
31:26looks very different
31:27from later archaeology
31:28where there are walls
31:30and other features
31:30to follow.
31:31This means Chantal
31:32and her students
31:33need to meticulously
31:34plot every stone tool
31:36that they find
31:37and the soil here
31:38is rock hard
31:40so the going is tough.
31:47So have you found
31:49anything of interest yet
31:51or is this very early stages?
31:53We've been going
31:54for nearly two weeks now
31:55but now we're getting
31:56quite dense scatters
31:57so all these little flags
31:58show a single bit of flint
32:01and we're also getting
32:02quite a few tools
32:03so this little piece
32:04of flint here
32:05we think is a part
32:07of a scraping tool
32:08probably for working hide
32:10but sometimes they're used
32:10for working wood as well
32:12so we have
32:12maybe people
32:14gearing up
32:14for hunting expeditions
32:15or repairing
32:16their weapons
32:18but also other activities
32:19going on as well
32:20involving the processing
32:21of animal hormones.
32:26Last year I visited
32:27a site of a similar age
32:29at Creswell Crags
32:31Here other Ice Age hunters
32:33were making beautiful art
32:38It's clear from this site
32:40that these people
32:41weren't just cavemen
32:43perhaps they're better
32:44described as tent people
32:46They might have used caves
32:48for art and ritual
32:49but above all
32:50they were nomadic hunters
32:52ranging over large areas
32:54The tools found at Leverine
32:56are the real treasure
32:58of the Stone Age
32:59and they're all the archaeologists
33:01have to go on
33:03From these simple bits of flint
33:05they can build a compelling
33:06picture of life here
33:0814,000 years ago
33:11Shall I wash that?
33:13Yeah
33:13Very technologically advanced
33:16washing equipment
33:17Hmm, that's very nice
33:19What is it?
33:20This is actually
33:21a little tool called
33:23a burin
33:23or an engraver
33:24You see this triangular
33:25point here
33:26Yeah
33:27And these were used
33:28for working bone
33:29and antler
33:29So for kind of
33:31digging in
33:31for making an incision
33:33into those materials
33:34Yes, yes
33:35Those little indentations
33:36each of those
33:36represents an act
33:38of resharpening
33:39So people are obviously
33:39using this tool
33:40for quite a time
33:42so they used it
33:43it became blunt
33:43and then they resharpened it
33:44So they're taking off
33:46little slivers of flint
33:47Yeah
33:47And what's this larger one
33:49that you washed?
33:49This is part of a blade
33:52You can feel that edge there
33:53is very sharp
33:54so it would easily
33:55cut through reindeer hide
33:57or reindeer skim
33:58These stone tools
34:00are very different
34:00from those found
34:01at later sites
34:02like Star Car
34:03and the Dare Valley
34:04This paleolithic technology
34:06was designed
34:07for the specialised hunting
34:08of migrating animals
34:10like reindeer
34:10or horse
34:14I think when you start
34:15actually understanding
34:16how all these
34:18little tiny bits of stone
34:19might have been used
34:20you're looking at
34:20quite a sophisticated technology
34:22and you start to think
34:24well actually these people
34:24were very much like us
34:26But also they seem to have
34:27a very different world view
34:28from us
34:29so the way they treat
34:30their dead
34:30as at Gough's Cave
34:31the way they decorate caves
34:33and some of their tools
34:34where these animals
34:35obviously have great meaning
34:36to them
34:36so though in some ways
34:38they seem like us
34:39in other ways
34:40I think they would have
34:40seemed very alien
34:41It's amazing to be finding
34:43these little traces of them
34:44isn't it?
34:45It's very exciting
34:45just because it's so old
34:46and it's really nice
34:47to be the first person
34:49for 14,000 years
34:50to be touching
34:51these tools
34:53This is an incredibly
34:55exciting sight
34:56because it seems
34:56that underneath
34:57the plough soil
34:58we have intact archaeology
35:00and the remains
35:02of a hunter-gatherer camp
35:03from the very end
35:05of the ice age
35:05This is such
35:07an ephemeral thing
35:08to find
35:09something that
35:10is much more likely
35:11to disappear
35:12than be preserved
35:13So we have the opportunity
35:15here to gain
35:16some precious insights
35:17into the world
35:18of those pioneering
35:20hunter-gatherers
35:21who were recolonising
35:23northern Europe
35:23after the ice sheets
35:25receded
35:30But as well as
35:31finding clues
35:32about these ice age
35:33hunters' everyday lives
35:35archaeologists
35:36have also uncovered
35:37evidence
35:37that shows
35:38that these people
35:39were very different
35:40from us
35:42Finds from a cave
35:43in Cheddar Gorge
35:44are now held
35:45in London's
35:46Natural History Museum
35:49Rescue excavations
35:50at Gough's Cave
35:51between 1987
35:52and 1992
35:53revealed evidence
35:54of hunter-gatherers
35:55using the cave
35:56and human remains
35:58Last year
35:59a team of experts
36:00from the Natural History Museum
36:02re-examined
36:03some of those bones
36:04and what they found
36:05was truly gruesome
36:1120 years ago
36:13clues emerged
36:14that seemed to be
36:15evidence
36:16for cannibalism
36:17The new analysis
36:19strengthens this theory
36:21This jawbone
36:22has been deliberately broken
36:23to extract bone marrow
36:25These people
36:26were eating
36:27their own kind
36:28And a closer inspection
36:31of the bones
36:31has revealed
36:32something new
36:33and extraordinary
36:34We had
36:36the vault
36:38of the skull
36:39of three skulls
36:40which was absolutely
36:41perfectly preserved
36:42and there was
36:43a sort of
36:44why they were saving it
36:46We have clear proof
36:48of cannibalism
36:49in this site
36:49so if they were going
36:51to modify the skull
36:53it was probably
36:54to extract brain
36:55but the way
36:57they modified it
36:58is not just
36:58to extract brain
36:59because they would
37:00break it
37:01in a much easier way
37:02to extract it
37:02but here
37:03we observe
37:04a very clear process
37:06of complete defleshing
37:07I mean you can always
37:08imagine somebody
37:08peeling off the tissues
37:10and then cutting down
37:11underneath
37:12Exactly
37:12It's a classic example
37:14of scalping
37:15You're peeling like this
37:16and then cut
37:17cut
37:17cut
37:17all across
37:18When we analyse
37:19the face
37:21and other parts
37:22they are
37:23clear sign
37:24that they were
37:24going much more
37:25in detail
37:26so they were
37:27cutting the eyes
37:29they were cutting
37:30the cheek
37:31they were cutting
37:31the lips
37:32Why would they
37:33want to do that?
37:34We think that
37:35it was to produce
37:36a container
37:37and I think that
37:39the simple movement
37:40of an anatomical position
37:42to put it upside down
37:44it just tells you
37:45what it was
37:45and it was a cup
37:48Even as an anatomist
37:50as someone who has
37:51dissected human cadavers
37:52I find it extraordinary
37:54the lengths they were
37:55going to
37:55to scrupulously
37:57clean up a skull
37:58to transform it
38:00into a cup
38:01and this new research
38:03shows us
38:04how they were doing it
38:05but why
38:06is another question
38:08entirely
38:08Were they driven
38:09by hunger
38:10or by their beliefs?
38:12Was this just
38:13an elaborate
38:14funerary ritual?
38:17And whom were they eating?
38:18Their enemies
38:19or their friends
38:20and relatives?
38:23It seems strange
38:25to our modern sensibilities
38:26that our ancient ancestors
38:28would make such macabre objects
38:30and as is so often the case
38:33archaeology can provide us
38:35with the evidence
38:36but not the reasons why
38:48Before we modern humans
38:51arrived on these shores
38:52there were other
38:53different humans
38:54who roamed the British Isles
38:56and there is evidence
38:58of their lives here
38:59on the Channel Island
39:00of Jersey
39:05During colder periods
39:06of the Ice Age
39:07the sea levels
39:08around Britain
39:09would have been
39:10significantly lower
39:11than today
39:12the English Channel
39:13and much of the North Sea
39:15would have been dry land
39:16and the Channel Islands
39:18would have stood out
39:19as areas of high ground
39:21in a flat landscape
39:23I'm here to meet
39:24a team of archaeologists
39:25who are hoping
39:26to shed light
39:27on a much maligned
39:29human species
39:30the Neanderthals
39:31Neanderthals survived
39:33and thrived in Europe
39:35for hundreds of thousands
39:37of years
39:37through periods
39:38of major climate change
39:40as glaciations
39:41repeatedly brought
39:42ice sheets down
39:43over northern Europe
39:45and they were here
39:47long before
39:48we modern humans
39:49arrived on the scene
39:51The Neanderthals
39:53were a distinct
39:54and separate branch
39:55of the human
39:55evolutionary tree
39:56I've arranged to meet
39:58Dr Matt Pope
39:59of University College London
40:00who's one of the
40:01co-directors
40:02of the project here
40:03Hello Alice
40:04Hello
40:04I'm Matt
40:05Matt, hello
40:06Nice to meet you
40:07This is Kevin, our guide
40:08So we're going to go
40:09and have a look
40:10at La Cotte from the sea
40:11So we've got a beautiful bay
40:12lovely blue sky
40:13and round the corner
40:14some good archaeology
40:26What a fantastic way
40:27to do archaeology
40:28I could get used to this
40:31La Cotte de Saint-Brelard
40:33is of international
40:34significance
40:34because it's one of
40:35the few places
40:36that Neanderthal remains
40:37have been discovered
40:38in northwest Atlantic Europe
40:41This is a fantastic way
40:43to view from the sea
40:44I mean most people
40:46when they look at La Cotte
40:47they're looking at it
40:48either from the site
40:49or from the headland above
40:50We're trying to give
40:51a different perspective here
40:52What we're able to do here
40:54looking at these stacks
40:56these bit of granite
40:56sticking out
40:57they're the remains
40:58of an entire valley system
40:59and it's within these valley systems
41:01that the Neanderthal
41:02is almost certainly hunting
41:02and moving
41:03following herds of mammoth
41:05rhinoceros
41:06and other animals
41:12we're actually paddling
41:13over the top of a
41:15submerged ice age landscape
41:17and the sea is fairly calm today
41:19but just occasionally
41:20we get hit by
41:20the bow wave of a ferry
41:24and then you have to be
41:25really careful
41:26about being close to reefs
41:27as white water
41:28starts breaking over them
41:30Matt is using kayaks
41:32to map every part
41:33of the Jersey coastline
41:34looking for new caves
41:36and with them
41:36new archaeology
41:42So La Cotte really
41:43is just the beginning
41:44I don't think
41:45we'll equal the size
41:46and the importance
41:48of La Cotte
41:48but what we can do
41:49is start to fill in the gaps
41:50and try and create
41:52an entire history
41:53of occupation
41:54and periods of abandonment
41:55this side of the
41:57English Channel River
41:58for the past
41:58half million years
42:10Travelling around the coast
42:11by kayak
42:12is a fantastic way
42:13to survey it
42:14you can get really close
42:15and it's great
42:17to go along with Matt
42:18and see that he's
42:19not just looking
42:20at the modern landscape
42:21of today
42:22but imagining
42:23in his mind's eye
42:24the ancient coastline
42:26La Cotte
42:27is such a famous site
42:28but there may be
42:29other important
42:30archaeological sites
42:31as yet undiscovered
42:32around this coast
42:33but for now
42:34I want to get over there
42:35and see it up close
42:40La Cotte
42:40has provided us
42:42with a wealth of information
42:43about the lives
42:44of Neanderthals
42:48Archaeologists
42:49Archaeologists
42:49have been digging here
42:50for over a hundred years
42:54and in the 1960s
42:56even Prince Charles
42:57took part in the excavations
43:05Matt and his team
43:06suspected that La Cotte
43:07might have more to reveal
43:09so this year
43:10they're trying to establish
43:11if there's any untouched
43:13archaeology here
43:15they're clearing away
43:16backfill debris
43:17from previous excavations
43:19to expose the original sediments
43:23because of the tides
43:24they can only work here
43:25for a few hours at a time
43:26and it's a dangerous environment
43:29hence the hardhats
43:31hello
43:32what an amazing site
43:34yeah it's great isn't it
43:35now how much of this
43:37is original archaeology
43:39and how much of this
43:40is the backfill
43:41from previous excavations
43:42well when we first came here
43:45we were under the impression
43:46that most of this
43:47was material left over
43:48from previous excavations
43:50the picture that we're
43:51starting to build up
43:51and from Martin Bates'
43:53excavations here
43:53is in fact large parts
43:55of this site remain
43:57unexcavated and intact
44:00it's really exciting
44:01that there is
44:02pristine archaeology here
44:05and a few tantalising
44:07fragments have been
44:08emerging from the
44:09exploratory dig
44:12see Becky
44:13these are some of the
44:14finds that you've been
44:14coming out today
44:15yeah there's a couple
44:16of bits
44:17bullies just pulled out
44:18it's here
44:19oh that's nice
44:20is that flint?
44:22it is
44:22it is
44:23they're both flints
44:23they're quite heavily
44:25damaged around these
44:26edges here
44:26oh so that's not
44:27that's not something
44:29somebody's done to them
44:30no if it was freshly
44:31struck you'd expect to
44:32see you know a really
44:33sharp feather edge
44:35must be incredibly
44:36exciting to realise
44:37that you have actually
44:38got in situ pristine
44:40archaeology here
44:41fantastic especially
44:42when we had no idea
44:44that there was this much
44:45here
44:46there's never a time
44:47you walk up here
44:47where it doesn't
44:48strike you
44:49it's always exciting
44:53this site is so iconic
44:55and famous
44:55but I think in some ways
44:56that distracts from
44:58its real importance
44:59which is that the
45:00Neanderthals were coming
45:01back here to this cave
45:03over tens of thousands
45:05of years
45:06it holds out the promise
45:08of really understanding
45:09how Neanderthals adapted
45:11to this changing climate
45:13in Europe
45:14during the ice age
45:15but back to the present
45:17and the tide is rising
45:19really rapidly
45:20so if we don't get out
45:21of here
45:21we're going to get stuck
45:25over 250,000 individual
45:28stone tools
45:28have been found
45:29at Lakot
45:30more than all the other
45:31Neanderthal sites
45:32in Britain
45:33combined
45:34Becky and Matt
45:36have arranged
45:36for some of the best
45:37to be brought down
45:38to the beach
45:38they can demonstrate
45:40just how sophisticated
45:42the Neanderthals
45:43really were
45:44you've got artefacts here
45:46from a very long
45:47period of time
45:48what do they tell us
45:49about the Neanderthals?
45:51what's interesting
45:51about this collection
45:52as a whole
45:53is there's a lot
45:54of flint in it
45:55which these artefacts
45:57are here
45:57and there's no flint
45:58on the island
45:59the nearest source
46:00of flint
46:01is perhaps
46:0120 kilometres away
46:03they're probably
46:03following animals here
46:05and they're arriving
46:07in a place
46:07where there's not
46:08brilliant stone
46:09for making stone tools
46:10so they're having
46:11to bring that in
46:12from elsewhere
46:12there is flint
46:13around here
46:14it is in the beaches
46:15but it's useless
46:15they're discriminating
46:17they're not touching that
46:17they know where the good
46:18raw material sources are
46:20the Neanderthals
46:20certainly weren't
46:21primitive brutes
46:22these tools
46:23show real sophistication
46:25and intelligence
46:26this one is
46:27particularly beautiful
46:28yeah this is actually
46:29part of a much
46:31bigger piece
46:31but I don't recognise
46:33the raw material at all
46:34so this is something
46:35very exotic
46:36I mean that's beautiful
46:38it's been really
46:39carefully manufactured
46:40what's also interesting
46:41about this piece
46:42is it comes from
46:43the very early excavations
46:44that took place
46:45in the upper part
46:46of the cave
46:46and these may have been
46:47some of the last
46:48Neanderthals in this landscape
46:50that to me suggests
46:51somebody who's not only
46:52good at making something
46:52that's very functional
46:53but they've got an eye
46:54for beauty as well
46:55it doesn't look like
46:55a technology of people
46:56on the edge
46:57and that's another thing
46:59we need to really focus on
47:00Neanderthals
47:01if they compared to humans
47:03lacked ability
47:04if they lacked the ability
47:05to make tools
47:06lacked the ability to think
47:08they would have been extinct
47:09before they'd even started
47:10nature just doesn't allow
47:11a creature that isn't
47:13perfectly fit to its environment
47:14to thrive and exist
47:17my 100,000 year long journey
47:20ends here
47:21with these surprising truths
47:23about the sophistication
47:24and achievements
47:25of the Neanderthals
47:27along the way
47:28I've seen so much
47:30fresh evidence
47:30of ingenuity
47:32and invention
47:35I've also seen
47:37exciting new discoveries
47:38being made
47:39and tiny clues
47:41uncovered
47:41that are all adding
47:43to the complex
47:44jigsaw puzzle
47:44that is
47:45ancient Britain
47:48in many ways
47:49the stay in age
47:50seems unimaginably
47:51distant from us
47:52and the voices
47:53of our ancient ancestors
47:54have long since
47:56faded into silence
47:57but archaeology
47:58helps us
47:59to piece their stories
48:00together
48:01revealing how they lived
48:03how they viewed
48:04their world
48:05and showing us
48:06how the foundations
48:07of our modern society
48:09emerged
48:10and so
48:11with many questions
48:13still unanswered
48:14the digging continues
48:16and so
48:45we'll see you next time
48:46we'll see you next time