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The United Kingdom
has an epic history

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and a wealth of secrets
still to uncover.

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Every year, hundreds of
archaeologists dig,

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dive,

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and sieve to find clues...

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...to add to the great historical
jigsaw of our ancestors' lives.

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You know when people say, "What's
the best thing you've ever found?"

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Guys, this.

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I'm Professor Alice Roberts.

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This year, we've uncovered
some astonishing finds

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and made some truly ground-breaking
discoveries.

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Wow, look at that!

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Each team of archeologists has been
armed with a dig diary camera

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so they can record their discoveries
as they happen.

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That is brilliant.

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Dave, I love you.

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Our roving archaeologist,
Dr Naoise Mac Sweeney,

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is out on the digs.

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Who are we looking at? It's royal.

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And I'll be inviting the teams
to bring in their finds

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for closer analysis.

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That is absolutely beautiful.

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This time, we explore
Britain's west.

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I've come to the edge of Dartmoor,

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where traces of the ancient
past are all around,

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from castles to rows and circles
of Bronze Age standing stones.

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In fact, all of the west
is rich in archaeology.

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Join us to delve into
an Ice Age cave...

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We have found this beautiful
woolly rhinoceros tooth.

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...follow up on reported sightings
of unexpected human bones...

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Across the top of the cliff,

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we've got human remains
eroding out of it.

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...and bid an emotional farewell
to a very long-running site.

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It's unique to be able to tell this
story of ourselves in one place.

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Welcome to Digging for Britain.

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Our first dig takes us
to the Cotswolds,

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an area with a rich seam
of Anglo-Saxon archaeology,

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and the name itself is thought to
relate to an Anglo-Saxon chieftain

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called Cod and his control of
this territory of the high lands

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or "wolds", so "Cod's wolds".

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This dig takes us back to around
the early sixth century.

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The exact location has been
kept secret to protect it.

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A team of volunteers led by
MoD archaeologist Richard Osgood

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is following up on the discovery

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of high-status Anglo-Saxon
artefacts in a field.

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There's a chap called Chris,
who's a local metal detector.

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He's got permission from the farmer

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to come and have a look
at this field.

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No-one knew anything
about this field.

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There was nothing on the
historic environment record.

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He was pretty shocked to find,
not only a lot of Roman material,

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but he found two really,
really beautiful Saxon items.

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There was a sword pommel mount
from the top of a Saxon blade,

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which was made of silver gilt,

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and then a silver buckle as well,

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so these things are what
are called treasure.

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Treasure is legally classified

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as any piece of metal
over 300 years old

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containing over 10% gold or silver,

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and it has to be reported.

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Tell about your thoughts when
you got that out of the ground.

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I was totally stunned cos
I knew exactly what it was.

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You've not had anything
like that before?

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No, no, no. It's a detectorist's
dream, really, isn't it?

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Chris made his finds in 2016

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and reported them to
Gloucestershire Council.

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It soon became clear
that he'd stumbled on

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a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon
burial ground.

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This prompted a swift call
to Richard and his team

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to formally excavate the site.

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So we've got what we believe to
be a nice skeleton over here.

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So we've got a nice skull
coming through.

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The cranium coming up in that way,

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and then we've got the jaw
here with the individual teeth

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just poking through at this point,
jaw bone just there.

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As we come down, we've got
what is the right arm here.

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Just the top with just the humerus,

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and then we come into where
the rib section will be

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once we clean those down.

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The finds date to a time when
history and material culture

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show strong links with the
Netherlands and Scandinavia.

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Most Britons at this time
are thought to have been pagan,

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and their burial practices
involved interring the dead

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with plenty of grave goods.

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And this cemetery is starting to
yield some very intriguing finds.

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It's a nice, massive, big piece
of a rim of a bowl.

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Oh, wow. Yeah.

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What is it, Janine, pottery? Glass.
Glass?! Nice piece of glass.

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Just a few days into the dig

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and they unearth
a very rare artefact.

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Oh, wow. Well done!

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Oh, that is wonderful. Beautiful.

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You know when people say what's
the best thing you've ever found?

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Guys, this.

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The raw material for this bowl

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may well have come from
the eastern Mediterranean,

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a major focus for glass
production at this time.

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This exciting archaeological
find is unusual,

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as glass is so fragile,
it rarely survives.

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A bowl like this would
have been precious -

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another indication of high status.

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Brilliant.

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What really amazes me is that
this has been in the ground

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since the sixth century.

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It's really, really
shallow up there.

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There's not much topsoil.

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It's been ploughed for hundreds
and hundreds of years.

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And yes, OK, it's broken,

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but it still survived.

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Elsewhere on site,

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the archaeologists are making
more extraordinary finds,

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Imagine that you're holding a sword
there. You've got the handle there.

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That would sit on the handle right
there, so that's your guard. Right.

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Wow. That is fantastic.

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It looks like a bead.

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The Anglo-Saxons are well-known

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for their incredibly intricate
jewellery and decorative metalwork.

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We're thinking it could be anything
from a helmet to a drinking vessel

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to part of a scabbard.

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It is indicative of
a high-status burial.

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It's made of silver, but
it's got this gild again,

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which is why it looks like gold,
and it shines beautifully.

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After 1,500 years,

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it's still shiny when
you put it in the sun,

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and that's a really magical item.

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In early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries,

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the dead were typically
buried fully-dressed

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with other objects
included in the grave

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that still speak to us of
their identity and status.

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What have you got now?
We've got a knife!

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Yeah, I think that
we've got a knife,

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which is just sat over
the pelvis area here,

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but it's just sat on
what is the left hip,

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so probably a dagger.

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Looks too small to be a spear.

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Yeah, it's certainly
all happening here.

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I think we've got a very,
very high-status burial

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with a lot going on.

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This unassuming field has proven
an extremely rewarding site.

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Richard has joined me to delve
deeper into a couple of the burials

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which seem to challenge
our expectations.

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This is photogrammetry of
this individual, is it?

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That's right. Yeah.

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The quality's that good

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you can actually see some of
the finds in the burial itself.

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You've got the... See this
circular item just here?

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Yeah. Now, that's... that's this.

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Ah, is that a spindle whorl?
Yep, that's right.

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It's really, really
nice and tactile.

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Big solid stone spindle whorl.

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And then just further up... Yeah.
That's this thing.

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Ah, what's that?
It looks like a toggle.

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Yeah, it's what we call
an antler prong,

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but it's something we think probably
used within textile working.

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It's got a suspension loop... Yeah.

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...for wearing just round your neck
as part of the weaving process.

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And then what about those?
They're beautiful.

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Are they beads? These are
polished pieces of amethyst.

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And then you can see
they've also been pierced

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all the way through the middle
for incorporation in jewellery.

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These are objects that you would
associate with an Anglo-Saxon woman,

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but I'm a bit dubious, actually,

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whether this is a woman
that we're looking at.

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So the first thing is that
the bones are quite robust.

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There's chunky areas
of muscle attachment,

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And then the pelvis,

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it's frustrating that
it's so fragmentary,

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but we are getting, at the very top
of that great sciatic notch

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at the back of the pelvis.

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I'm saying kind of probable
male with that.

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This is what's really
interesting is the jaw,

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cos that's an incredibly
prominent chin.

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And then on the other side,

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we've got the angle of the jaw,
which is flared out.

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That tends to push me
more in the direction

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of this being a male skeleton.
That's right.

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So, yeah, so the sort
of drinking vessels,

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swords, shields, spears,

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things that give you this real
kind of macho and machismo feel.

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Yes, you expect them to be
potentially male burials.

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But this one, if it's a male burial
with female grave goods,

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really does sort of tip
that on its head.

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And this is the other burial that
we saw quite clearly in your film.

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I was really intrigued
by particularly that.

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Can I pick it up? Yeah, if
you do it very carefully.

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That's really light.

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It's so thin and fine, isn't it?

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We're wondering whether
that is a Saxon dish or bowl

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or, in fact, maybe a Roman
piece of glass as an heirloom.

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Really? Wow.

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And what's this here?

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This is an iron object,
isn't it?

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That's the knife that
we were excavating.

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It looked really good
in the ground all intact,

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but it was held together by the
soil, so that is the knife,

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and it had a leather belt,

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which had a little bronze studs
and fittings that went with it

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round the waist of the individual.

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So this is what's astonishing
about these Saxon graves

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is you're looking at somebody
who's buried fully clothed,

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and then with lots of
other items around them

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which speak about their
identity and their status.

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So, yeah, all the attributes
of a warrior burial -

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sword, shields, spear and
all this extra equipment.

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And then what's amazing about that
is that this is a warrior burial.

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The individual in it
was about ten years old.

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So there's the top of the shin bone.

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And, in fact, the very top of it
is still completely separate.

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And then, eventually, when
it reaches its full length,

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it will fuse and those two bits
of bone come together.

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So, yeah, a growing individual.

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We're seeing exactly the same
when we look at the teeth.

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These are the milk teeth.

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So those are the two baby molars,

215
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and they're about to be knocked
out very soon by the premolars.

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So those two-cusped teeth.

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You have to do all this objective
archaeological science,

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but you can't help thinking
about the people

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that laid that little body to rest.

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When you're excavating, you are
the first people to see this

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since those that are grieving
are putting them into ground,

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and it's impossible not to
project your own feelings

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and emotions into this.

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An amazing pair of burials that
tell us interesting things

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about identity in this period,

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but will yield up more secrets
as we apply more science.

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The Saxons were originally pagan,

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but then they converted
to Christianity,

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and they built the first
monasteries in Britain.

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In Shaftesbury, Alfred the Great
founded an abbey

231
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with a nunnery alongside it with his
daughter Aethelgifu as the abbess.

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Archaeologist Naoise Mac Sweeney

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00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,480
went along to see the excavations
at the site.

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The market town of Shaftesbury
dominates the landscape of Dorset.

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It was once the home
of Shaftesbury Abbey,

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the first nunnery in Britain

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that became one of the most powerful
and prominent in the land.

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But the abbey,

239
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like so many during the 16th
century English Reformation,

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was plundered and destroyed
by command of Henry VIII.

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00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,576
I've come along to help
archaeologist Julian Richards

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look for any remnants of
this important historic site.

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We're trying to find out
whether what's laid out here

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is the actual truth.

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Most of what Julian
knows about the abbey

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is from the findings of
the last big excavations

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completed back in the 1930s.

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Following these,
a plan was drawn up,

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mapping what was thought to be the
footprint of the original abbey.

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Julian has pored over these plans,

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but, for him, something
just doesn't add up.

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This is a site that has been dug
before, you said, in the 1930s.

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What made you come back to it now?

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We want to see just what survived

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and whether we believed elements
of this plan, because,

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just simply from an architectural
and engineering point of view,

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you look at some elements of it,
and you think,

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"I don't believe that.
That's not in the right place."

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The original Saxon abbey was rebuilt
through the 11th and 12th centuries,

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and subsequent modifications
included a rich refurbishment

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in the 14th century.

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The cloister of the abbey was
supposedly on the southern front,

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commanding the view from
the top of the hill,

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but Julian suspects
it was never there.

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Well, this is where the cloister
wall's supposed to be,

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but when we excavated it,
we found absolutely nothing.

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The cloister is the beating
heart of an abbey,

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not just a place of
contemplation and prayer,

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but the structure around which

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an abbey's principal
buildings were arranged.

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Back in 1954,

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historian Laura Sydenham
created architectural drawings

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for her extensive study
of the abbey.

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But these drawings were based
on the 1930s excavation,

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speculating where the cloister
may have been.

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Locating the whereabouts
of the cloister is critical

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to establishing where
the rest of the abbey lay.

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So the last thing we're doing
is a couple of slots

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across the line of the cloister wall

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to try and see if that cloister
exists on the southern side.

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So, come on, I'll show you what
we're doing. Fab. Thank you!

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Unearthing the foundations
of the lost abbey

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has proved a challenge in itself.

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There's a modern rockery garden

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which needs dismantling for
the team to dig beneath.

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So this is our next little problem

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is removing a half-tonne
block of stone.

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Well, it's the end of the first week

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of digging and it's been very hot

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and we've moved enormous

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quantities of soil,

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but we're starting to get
to grips, I think,

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with the layout of the abbey

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and what survives underneath
these remains

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that were laid out in the 1930s.

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This is potentially
where the wall is.

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It's not looking promising.

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As we dig, Julian is becoming
increasingly puzzled.

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Have you found a wall?

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What does it look like?!
It doesn't look like a wall to me.

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Bizarrely, it's basically
like a shallow ditch.

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So, we've got no wall here,
no wall there. A shallow ditch.

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Three metres beyond that,
we have got a wall.

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But this isn't the continuous
structure that we were expecting

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to find here, marking the edge
of the cloister.

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It's just... a ditch!

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Trying to dig another trench
over there!

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Julian's suspicions about the plans
are becoming more compelling.

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The trenches they've dug
are not giving him the answers

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he's looking for, so he decides
to expand his initial dig outline.

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In pursuit of the cloister,

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the team have come across some
telling features along the way.

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So, these cracked and worn tiles
are part of the 14th century floor

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of this part of the church,
worn by the feet of hundreds,

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thousands of people who've
walked over them.

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And, also, you can see here,
they dip down.

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This is because they're sinking
into a grave that runs

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in this direction, because this
part of the church will be where

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important people were buried.

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The abbey, profiting from royal
patronage,

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as well as being the site of
St Edward's shrine,

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became very prosperous.
Over the centuries,

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it acquired huge estates
in the surrounding area.

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It was said that if the Abbess
of Shaftesbury married the Abbot

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of Glastonbury, they would be
richer than the King himself.

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This made it a prime target
during the dissolution

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of the monasteries, and, in 1539,
on the order of Henry VIII,

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the last abbess signed the
deed of surrender.

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The lands were sold off and this
great symbol of Roman Catholic

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power was demolished.

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Julian's keen to show me the spot
where, just the week before,

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there was a surprise find
that paints a vivid picture

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of the abbey's tragic demise.

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The end of the abbey -

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what evidence have you got for
what happened here on the ground?

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Well, this is the bit, really, that
I suppose gives you a very graphic

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idea of what happened,
because this is where one

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of the massive pillars stood
that supported the central crossing

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tower, but they've taken out every
last bit of usable stone.

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But what amazes me is that what
came out of that in this corner...

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...they didn't want that.

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This! Who we are looking at?

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We don't know who it is.

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We don't... we can't work out
which king or queen. Male, female?

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Well, we don't even work
out... Because the hairstyles

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are very similar.
It was an amazingly exciting find.

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You know, not just from the point of
view of it being a beautiful object,

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but it does tell us something
about how this part of the church,

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which was the junction between
the nuns' private part of the church

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and the more public part,
looked like.

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This excavation first opened up
this year, and they thought

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they knew what they were doing.

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They were just confirming
a few things.

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And, actually, what's been really
interesting to see,

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actually, our expectations
being confounded and the whole kind

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of thing being blown wide open.

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We thought we knew where this
giant church was.

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We thought we knew where
the cloister was.

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Because of the kind of huge scale
of the demolition that went on

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with the dissolution of
the monasteries, I mean, this entire

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complex was just completely
flattened,

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almost nothing left of it.

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That's quite a sobering thought,
too, in terms

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of what that would have meant
for the wider community

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and the kind of...
They were economically dependent.

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They were socially dependent
on this place

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and it just kind of makes you think

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about the wider social effects
of this change.

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Despite digging all summer
and discovering large sections

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of the abbey, the puzzle over the
cloister is yet to be solved.

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Julian, tell me about the site
that you've been digging.

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What was the big mystery?

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Our efforts at the moment
have been concentrated

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on excavating in the abbey church.

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00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,056
So, the abbey church, I think
this is drone footage

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that you've taken this summer.
Yes, so this is the area.

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In fact, you can
see our excavation trenches here.

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But we've always had slight
doubts about elements of it

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because it just doesn't
seem quite right

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and I've always felt that there's
an element of imagination in this.

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Right. Like there really isn't room
enough for a southern

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cloister before you
go off the edge of the slope.

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00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,016
So, do you think those cloisters
are entirely imagined, then?

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I'm beginning to think that there
isn't a cloister on the south of it at all.

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00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,696
Yeah. I think it's probably on the
north. And what about the finds?

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You've brought some wonderful things in. Yes. I
mean, we found some amazingly fresh-looking tiles,

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beautiful little things, but still
with all their glaze on them,

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which implies that whatever was
there wasn't being walked

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00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:53,256
on much, so you know, the tiles
tell a story, but then this one...

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That's so lovely.
It's absolutely fantastic, isn't it?

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This was just in the demolition
period rubble.

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So, 1539, the place...
They start smashing the place up.

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00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:08,496
And clearly, this, if you
look at it, it's three-dimensional,

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00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:10,136
it's got a back to it.

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00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:15,376
Lovely! It's not a tomb figure,
it's a standing statue. Yeah.

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00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,656
And it's royal as well,
because you've got a crown and also,

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these are representing
jewels on the crown.

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00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,176
We think it's male.

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00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,136
It looks a bit like some
statues of Edward II,

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00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,856
but we need to research
this a bit more. Yeah.

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00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,336
So, that was a fantastic find.
What about this lovely bead?

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00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:37,776
One of our volunteers was digging and said,
"I've found a plastic bead."

403
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,096
And I said, "No, you haven't,

404
00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:42,656
"because you're digging
a medieval deposit."

405
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:47,096
So, is this jet? It's jet.
But it's such a big bead.

406
00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:50,936
If it was part of a rosary, to me,
the story that, you know,

407
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,776
that object might be able to tell,
you know,

408
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,816
was this a nun being
ejected from there?

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00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,176
You know, her rosary broke...? Yeah.

410
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,656
Because this obviously just
sort of fell into a corner

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and then has ended up in the rubble.

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00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,816
But, to me, it's the story that
an object like that could tell,

413
00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:08,440
you know, if only it could talk.

414
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,776
As we go right back into prehistory,

415
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,496
archaeological evidence can become
very thin on the ground.

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00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:22,816
And that's because our prehistoric
ancestors

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00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:24,536
were nomadic hunter-gatherers,

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they just didn't settle
in one place for very long at all.

419
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:32,416
Our next dig comes from a site
in North Wales which contains

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precious, tantalising glimpses of
very early modern humans in Britain.

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00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:44,016
Hidden away in a ravine
east of the Vale of Clwyd lies

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00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:46,776
the entrance to Ffynnon Beuno Cave.

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00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,616
The first excavations here
were carried

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00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,800
out by the Geologists Association
back in the 1880s.

425
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:59,736
They found stone tools
and plenty of ancient animal bones.

426
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:00,976
Over the decades,

427
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,320
this site has attracted
a lot of archaeological attention.

428
00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:09,616
This year, Dr Rob Dinnis
and a team from the University

429
00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:12,616
of Edinburgh are investigating
the cave

430
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,120
and they're filming a dig
diary along the way.

431
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,136
This is the first week we've opened
up the trenches now,

432
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,456
so we've started to work in earnest.

433
00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:27,616
And the cave's up there,
so let's take a wander up and see.

434
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,560
There are two trenches, one inside
the cave and one just outside.

435
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:36,976
What we're digging here is
a spoil heap,

436
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:40,416
so that is material that's come
from inside the cave that's been

437
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,896
re-deposited out the front, as part
of earlier excavations in the 1880s.

438
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,176
Some of the earlier
finds in the cave take us

439
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,216
right back to a time when
Neanderthals were living in Britain.

440
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:55,856
The Victorian dig found these
beautiful flint spear points,

441
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,696
characteristic of late
Northern European Neanderthals.

442
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,096
Another find was a type of stone
tool thought to have been

443
00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:06,480
made by early modern
humans around 35,000 years ago.

444
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:10,136
It's thought there is
a hiatus between Neanderthals

445
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,160
and modern humans in Britain
that spans several millennia.

446
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:19,456
As well as evidence of early humans,
that first dig also turned up animal

447
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:24,336
bones of 16 different species,
including cave lion and mammoth.

448
00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:28,256
The reason why we're digging this
is to look for material that was

449
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:32,816
missed in those earlier excavations
and that appears to be the case.

450
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,896
We've already found some
bits of Ice Age animal bones,

451
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:41,000
some animal teeth, as well as some
small bits of stone tools.

452
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,296
The team is looking in the spoil
heap outside the cave for good

453
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:51,920
reason. Early excavations
often missed key finds.

454
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:59,016
Back in 2014, a human tooth
was found in the spoil.

455
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:05,120
It was radiocarbon dated to around
2,300 BC, during the late Neolithic.

456
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:11,136
Inside the cave, Rob is
digging down through the muddy

457
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:15,816
sediment on the floor,
hoping to find untouched layers.

458
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,096
Most of the Ice Age
sediments were actually

459
00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:20,776
removed during the dig in the 1880s,

460
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:24,016
but we have been doing some work
and we found quite a lot of intact

461
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:26,896
sediments that contain Ice Age
animal bones.

462
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,936
We found a bank of intact sediments
that contain rhino,

463
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:35,256
contain hyena, contain intact
Ice Age material and fingers

464
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,800
crossed, we'll be able to find some
archaeological material in there.

465
00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:44,856
As well as Neanderthals and early
modern humans, the archaeologists

466
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,080
are searching for evidence as to
who else may have used the cave.

467
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,696
They've previously found
a coprolite, or fossilised faeces,

468
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,080
belonging to a hyena thought
to be at least 35,000 years old.

469
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,336
The 19th century researchers
also found coprolites

470
00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:05,680
and noted a number of gnawed bones.

471
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,416
They concluded that hyenas must have
been living in the cave as a den

472
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,816
and were probably
responsible for bringing

473
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,840
the bulk of the animal
bones into it.

474
00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:21,720
The team continue to dig
down into the untouched sediments.

475
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,216
Here we are in the pit,
having a wonderful time.

476
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:32,416
We are down to intact cave earth
here, intact deposit.

477
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,736
We have found this beautiful woolly
rhinoceros tooth.

478
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:40,856
Woolly rhinoceros went
extinct in Britain 35,000 years ago,

479
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,696
so this means that we are in
deposit that is at least that old,

480
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,216
which is significant
because around that time is

481
00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:49,736
when we think there were last
Neanderthals

482
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,016
and the earliest modern humans
in Britain, so we're in the right

483
00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,800
time period, on track
potentially for finding archaeology.

484
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,136
The assemblage from this cave
is incredibly rare.

485
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:06,696
In fact, Ffynnon Beuno Cave is only
one of three places in Britain

486
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,456
to have evidence of both late
Neanderthal

487
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,480
and early modern
humans in the same site.

488
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:21,096
It appears that this cave still
contains a rich seam of archaeology.

489
00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:23,376
Its secrets will keep
archaeologists like Rob

490
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,800
and his team coming back
here for many years into the future.

491
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,896
Most archaeological excavations
tend to take place over a single

492
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:42,576
block of time, particularly

493
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,496
if they're related to construction
and development.

494
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,496
University excavations, on the other
hand, usually take place over just

495
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,336
a few weeks in the summer,
but the archaeologists will keep

496
00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:56,176
coming back
if there's plenty to find.

497
00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,016
One such dig near Bristol has
turned into a real labour of love.

498
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,256
It's been going on for well
over a decade

499
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,720
and is now just coming to a close.

500
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,656
Just north of Bristol, close to
the mouth of the Severn Estuary,

501
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:12,800
sits beautiful Berkeley Castle.

502
00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:18,896
It's the oldest building in England
still inhabited by the same

503
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,440
family, whose ancestors began
building it in the 11th century.

504
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:30,056
In 2010, Digging For Britain
was on site with Bristol University

505
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,656
archaeologists who wanted
to understand what was happening

506
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:35,680
here before the castle was built.

507
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,496
This year, we returned to Berkeley
with Professor Mark Horton

508
00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:44,856
and Dr Stuart Prior,

509
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:49,256
who are searching for more evidence
of the origins of this site.

510
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,856
It's unique to be able to tell this
story of ourselves in one place

511
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:59,136
and here in Berkeley encapsulates
that, that idea.

512
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,656
When they first started their dig,

513
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:05,576
they suspected the site had been
home to an 8th century Saxon

514
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,296
minster, but the scale
of the monastic settlement proved

515
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,096
much greater than they imagined.

516
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,216
The amount of archaeology exceeded
expectations and has brought them

517
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,480
back year after year to explore the
minster buildings and boundaries.

518
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,736
So, this is the famous
Berkeley excavation

519
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,896
and it is a veritable slice
through history.

520
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,616
But the real interest of Berkeley

521
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,696
is the period before the conquest.

522
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:41,736
This is a time in which Berkeley
was a minster or a monastery.

523
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:46,416
We found huge quantities of material
associated with this

524
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:47,920
Anglo-Saxon monastery.

525
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,816
A minster is an important church,
often accompanied by a collection

526
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,056
of monastic buildings,
a place of prayer,

527
00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:00,496
but also a place to live
and work for monks and nuns.

528
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:04,576
Over the years, eight trenches have
been dug around the estate to

529
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,400
assess the scale of the monastery.

530
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,480
The team are currently digging in a
paddock to the north of the castle.

531
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:17,976
According to records, the Saxon
minster here was demolished in 1043.

532
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,696
After the Norman Conquest, the stone
was used to build later structures

533
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:26,336
in Berkeley, including part
of the existing church and castle.

534
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,336
As well as the monastery,

535
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,000
the team have unearthed multiple
layers of history.

536
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:38,816
We've got at least 1,000 years
of history in one trench.

537
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:44,016
Starting at the top, we had 17th
and 18th century garden features.

538
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,496
Below that, we had
burials from the 17th century.

539
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:50,656
Below that, we had
an English Civil War ditch.

540
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:54,456
Underneath that, we found
Anglo-Saxon structures

541
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,816
and that's the most
important find for us.

542
00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:02,336
One exceptionally rare piece
found at Berkeley is this exquisite

543
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:07,296
gold ring, a fine example of just
how skilled the Anglo-Saxons

544
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,416
were with intricate metalwork.

545
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:14,376
But the team has found evidence
of human activity even earlier

546
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:18,896
than the Saxons.
They haven't found buildings,

547
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:23,616
but there are definite
traces of Roman activity.

548
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,296
We've had a Roman roadway
cutting across here

549
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:30,456
and this very curious
ditch-like feature

550
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:36,096
and in the thin of that, we
found a piece of broken up silver,

551
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,096
a great big piece of what
we call hack silver.

552
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,856
Now, that's what the Romans
paid their Barbarian mercenaries

553
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:44,936
to defend their villa estates.

554
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,936
Literally,
chopping up the family silver.

555
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,096
And maybe what we've actually got is
a little bit of family silver that

556
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,280
one of those mercenaries dropped
and just left there in the ditch.

557
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,496
The Berkeley project has been
an emotional

558
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:03,200
rollercoaster of a journey,
both on and offsite.

559
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:05,976
For Stuart, there was

560
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,360
a time when he thought he wouldn't
even live to see the dig through.

561
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,816
I had a serious brain injury
three years ago.

562
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:21,576
Following an illness,
Stuart's prognosis was dire.

563
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,416
They thought I was going to die.
If I did survive,

564
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:28,136
they thought I'd be hospitalised
for the rest of my life.

565
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,696
But Stuart fought hard.

566
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:35,256
Despite the seemingly impossible
physical challenges

567
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:39,136
and against all the odds,
he was determined to get back out

568
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:43,120
into the field, to return to the job
he loved and the dig at Berkeley.

569
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:46,656
Fortunately, for me,

570
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,616
I'm a bit of a fighter
and I wasn't going to give up.

571
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:53,736
Basically, fought my way
back from being on my death bed

572
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:55,200
to being back at work again.

573
00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,896
At the end of the dig,
with heavy hearts,

574
00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:02,720
they've made the difficult
decision to call it a day.

575
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,736
Why it's ending, I'm retiring
from Bristol University and you've

576
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,880
got to draw a line somewhere and
kind of that's the end of an era.

577
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:19,256
In its closing year,
the dig here has not disappointed.

578
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,936
A find late in the day provides

579
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:25,520
yet more evidence of the lost
Berkeley minster.

580
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:31,416
So, perhaps our most important
find this season is this ditch.

581
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,536
It's not a defensive arrangement,
it's a boundary ditch.

582
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:39,800
It was a way of delimitating the
edge of the Anglo-Saxon monastery.

583
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:45,896
And we know it's Anglo-Saxon
because actually just last night,

584
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,616
this came out and it's
part of an Anglo-Saxon buckle

585
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,896
and what's remarkable, it's still
got traces of the gilding,

586
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:55,416
we haven't cleaned it up yet.

587
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,056
We're pretty happy that this
is evidence of, you know,

588
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,176
what one of those high-status
nuns would have been

589
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,280
wearing in the 8th
and early 9th centuries.

590
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:12,536
Since 2005, this project has
delivered year after year,

591
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,160
but now, it's time to say goodbye.

592
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:19,096
I will be sad to leave Berkeley.

593
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:22,256
A part of me
will always remain at Berkeley

594
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:24,360
because I've loved my time
working here.

595
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:31,896
So, tell me what you've found, then.

596
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:35,136
Summarise this
kind of 15 years of digging.

597
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:36,536
So, essentially,

598
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:38,536
we were looking to
prove that there was actually

599
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,776
a minster at Berkeley,
because nobody even knew just

600
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,416
when we started that there was
actually the minster at Berkeley.

601
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:44,856
What do the finds tell you

602
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,176
and why do they make you think
that this was actually a minster?

603
00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:52,056
So, you know, we've got
evidence for maybe a scriptorium,

604
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,856
so if you were a king and you wanted
to get any writing done, you would

605
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,096
go to a monastery, a nunnery,

606
00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:00,536
and get your Anglo-Saxon
documents drawn up.

607
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,576
And so we've got evidence for that
in the finds.

608
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:07,456
So we've got this lovely little
thing here, which is the astle.

609
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:11,016
So, an astle is a pointer
for keeping your place in a book,

610
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:12,456
isn't it? That's right.

611
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:14,776
You can see there's a little
Celtic cross in there.

612
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,376
So, here it would have attached
onto a bone pin. Yeah.

613
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,856
And then when you get to the
end of your page, you use the little

614
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,416
round bit to turn over your medieval
vellum parchment, or the page.

615
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,656
So that's a beautiful object
in its own right,

616
00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,376
but it's telling us something really
important about Berkeley.

617
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,776
It's telling us that there
were people reading and writing.

618
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:34,416
Reading and writing. Yeah.

619
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:38,696
Yeah, so it's a longstanding,
powerful, religious community.

620
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:40,696
What kept you going back?

621
00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:42,576
We just didn't get to
the end of all...

622
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:45,136
I mean, you keep going down
and keep going down normally

623
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:49,296
until you run out of archaeology.
Mm. And we haven't.

624
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,776
We've got pottery, we've got
metal artefacts, we've got

625
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:56,056
all sorts of things
that are Roman in origin, we've got

626
00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:58,496
a tiny little scalpel here.

627
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,656
Oh, yeah. Can I have a look? Yeah.

628
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,976
So, would that have been used
surgically, do you think?

629
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,296
I think surgically, or at least
in some sort of bathroom kit,

630
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,936
so if you're chopping up your
make up, that sort of thing,

631
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,936
or herbs and spices. Lovely.
What about that pin? Is that a...?

632
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,496
I think that's almost certainly
a clothes pin.

633
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:21,776
But you can see under
the camera there... Mm.

634
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,936
The head of that is really ornate.

635
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:26,576
Yes, it's for holding
your clothing together.

636
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:28,256
Before buttons were invented.

637
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,936
And then you've got strap ends,
yeah? Can I have a look at that one?

638
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:35,096
That's one of my favourite finds.
It's like a little dragon set.

639
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:40,016
You can just see where the strap
would have fitted. That's amazing.

640
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:41,656
Oh, yeah. Yeah?

641
00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:45,656
The Anglo-Saxons did love hiding
little animals and faces and things.

642
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:49,496
That's it, yeah. And next is one
of my favourite finds,

643
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,456
which my students gave
the name of the Berkeley Gnome,

644
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:55,696
and if you put it under the camera,
you can see it's a little face.

645
00:36:55,720 --> 00:36:57,816
It does look like a gnome. Yeah.

646
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,256
So, imagine the cross guard
on a dagger. Yeah.

647
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,816
On either end of it, you've got
one of those little terminals.

648
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:07,016
Right. Yeah.
Then we've got an arrow head.

649
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:09,816
Yeah, that's almost
certainly 15th century, I think.

650
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,736
You can imagine being shot from
the castle walls from one of those.

651
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:16,696
Mm. So, you've got find specialists
looking at all of these,

652
00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:19,856
poring over them, trying to work
out what they all are.

653
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,936
That's it, exactly. So, we've got
15 years of research findings,

654
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:26,936
trying to work out exactly what they all
are. Yeah. You know, for our final report.

655
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:31,616
And then it brings us right up
to our 1980s builder's Casio watch,

656
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:35,256
gardener's Casio watch. A very
precious archaeological item, that.

657
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:37,816
Well, we do total collections,

658
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,016
so our students pick up
everything they find.

659
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,056
So if it's in the trench
and it's buried, it's a find. Yeah.

660
00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:47,096
It was in the ground. It was in the ground
and somebody lost their digital watch

661
00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:51,496
and one of my students found it.
Very beautiful thing, Stuart!

662
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,376
Well, you know, in 200 years' time,
when they've never seen

663
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:58,216
one before, and they're
mystified as to what it was, yeah?

664
00:37:58,240 --> 00:38:02,120
They'll be able to get it out of the
collection at Berkeley Castle. Absolutely.

665
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:08,616
It can be very difficult
to come up with

666
00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:11,136
names for groups of people
in prehistory.

667
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:14,936
We have absolutely no idea
what they called themselves.

668
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,256
Often, we look at their culture,
at the objects they made,

669
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,776
and use that as a label for them.

670
00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:24,856
On our next dig, we're joining MoD
archaeologist Richard Osgood

671
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:28,616
and his team of ex-military
personnel in Wiltshire

672
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,656
and they're excavating a Bronze Age
burial mound of a type that is

673
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:35,760
linked to the mysterious
Beaker people.

674
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:42,736
This burial mound lies just
five miles from Stonehenge,

675
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:47,096
on Salisbury Plain,
and is known as Barrow Clump.

676
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:50,216
We're now at the site of the
last of the protected burial

677
00:38:50,240 --> 00:38:52,056
mounds in this part
of Salisbury Plain.

678
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,256
What I'm hoping to find in this
trench is anything that is

679
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:59,216
put into it that will
relate to the early Bronze Age.

680
00:38:59,240 --> 00:39:02,336
This site never fails to deliver.

681
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:06,336
Each year, there's been one really
incredible story that's emerged.

682
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,336
I'm really optimistic that we
might in this instance be

683
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:11,440
privileged enough to
see a Beaker grave.

684
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:18,736
This type of burial mound is
typical of the early Bronze Age,

685
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:20,640
around 2000 BC.

686
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:26,176
This is the time when the last
stones of nearby Stonehenge

687
00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:28,056
were set in place.

688
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,776
Although there's still so much
about Stonehenge that mystifies us

689
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:36,376
to this day, we know it was
built in stages, from the Neolithic

690
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:39,840
through to the early Bronze Age,
the time of the Beaker people.

691
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,496
The Beaker people, it's a name
that's been given

692
00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:47,496
because the burials
are of a particular type.

693
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,616
They are usually accompanied with
a pot, the eponymous beaker.

694
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:54,696
It's a little drinking vessel that's
found in the grave with them,

695
00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:56,960
sometimes with other grave
goods as well.

696
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:02,416
Most of our knowledge of these
Bronze Age people

697
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:07,440
comes from their graves, which often
contain these distinctive beakers.

698
00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:13,696
Particular styles of vessels
help with dating

699
00:40:13,720 --> 00:40:16,456
and show how traditions spread.

700
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,256
The earliest known bell-shaped
beaker pottery

701
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:24,896
comes from Portugal and Spain,
but then the style spreads north.

702
00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:28,160
Within 100 years,
these beakers appear in Britain.

703
00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:35,576
Two beaker burials have previously
been found at Barrow Clump,

704
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,680
but Richard thinks there
may be more.

705
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:48,520
And it's not long before the team
starts to uncover human remains.

706
00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:54,176
Well, the jumble of bones is
a jumble of bones, but it appears

707
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:59,000
quite likely that this jumble
of bones is a secondary feature.

708
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:04,136
Beaker burials are typically found
under the centre of a mound,

709
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:06,480
often surrounded by a large
ring ditch.

710
00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:10,496
This would have been dug
out by hand,

711
00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:14,856
using tools such as antler picks
and cow shoulder blade shovels,

712
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,400
tools often found
left behind in the ditches.

713
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:23,880
Some mounds would be
re-used for secondary burials.

714
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:29,096
These bones are most likely to
be from a later time,

715
00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:31,240
not a Beaker burial,
as they're so shallow.

716
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,216
That's the trouble with it, because,
ordinarily,

717
00:41:36,240 --> 00:41:38,256
if you're just dealing
with a single skeleton,

718
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:39,656
or even a couple of skeletons,

719
00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:41,736
you know what's attached to what.

720
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:45,856
So you know what you're going to
expect when you're cleaning them up.

721
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,776
With this being a total jumble,
you've just got to be very

722
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:52,520
careful because you don't know
exactly what you're going to find.

723
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:57,936
As they dig deeper into the mound,
the team find a barbed

724
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:01,616
and tanged flint,
typical of the Bronze Age.

725
00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:05,856
It's a roughout for an arrowhead,
so it's not complete, somebody's

726
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:09,536
started work on it, and they decided
not to go any further with it.

727
00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:13,400
It's a really nice find
and it's definitely Bronze Age.

728
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:19,296
Barrow Clump is officially
protected as a scheduled monument.

729
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:23,896
Despite this, it's also today
part of an agricultural landscape

730
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,400
and an area of intensive
military training.

731
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:31,816
There's loads of things that
could threaten

732
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,016
archaeology on a military training
area. A tank is 60 tonnes.

733
00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:36,736
It's a really, really heavy thing.

734
00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:39,256
That driving over a burial mound
could potentially do

735
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:41,576
a lot of damage, so what we're
looking at here is just

736
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:45,256
evaluating precisely how damaging
those entities are.

737
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:47,776
Measures have been
put in place to remind

738
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:50,176
the Army of the important
heritage here,

739
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:54,256
but there are some local residents
who are harder to control.

740
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,856
We put signs up just to make it
extra clear, big spade,

741
00:42:57,880 --> 00:42:59,776
sign saying "no digging".

742
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:02,120
What it doesn't do is tell
badgers how to read.

743
00:43:03,240 --> 00:43:06,176
The really big problems
are burrowing animals

744
00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:08,976
and over the years, we've been
finding a lot of archaeology

745
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,240
that's been brought
out from the badger setts.

746
00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:18,376
Meanwhile, the team has
worked their way down to what

747
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:20,840
they believe is
the centre of the burial mound.

748
00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:28,576
They've just come across a set
of human remains.

749
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:31,936
I can see from here the femur
and the pelvis of an individual.

750
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,016
Bones looking in really good
condition.

751
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:37,056
So we're really excited because
you've got what we've been looking

752
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:40,160
for for the whole three weeks
in one small hole in this burrow.

753
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:48,040
Archaeologist Dorothy Griffiths
was first to find the bones.

754
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:53,336
Truth be told, I was about to give
up because we kept seeing

755
00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:56,696
so much flint and so many rocks.

756
00:43:56,720 --> 00:44:01,016
I have had a chance to make
a snapshot to send and boast to

757
00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:06,376
my friends back in America and those
in Jamaica, so I'll be excited.

758
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:11,336
Having not done archaeology for over
17 years,

759
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,200
I am, as I said, overjoyed.

760
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,536
As the rest of the remains
are revealed,

761
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:23,536
the team are confident that this
is a Beaker burial,

762
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:27,536
but they have yet to find
an actual beaker.

763
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:31,416
The real hope is that there's going
to be a beaker at one end.

764
00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:34,560
That would be the real
triumph of this dig.

765
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:44,296
Now the dig has finished, the finds,
including the bones,

766
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,776
have been carefully packaged up
and taken off site

767
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:49,616
and our roving archaeologist,
Naoise Mac Sweeney, has been

768
00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:52,400
along to the labs at
Wessex Archaeology to find out more.

769
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:58,296
At the Wessex post-excavation, I'm
hoping project manager Phil Andrews

770
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:01,976
has been able to establish whether
it was a Beaker burial they found.

771
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,056
Is this beaker from the burial?
This unfortunately isn't.

772
00:45:05,080 --> 00:45:08,416
This was found probably about a
couple of hundred metres away,

773
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:11,136
but the burial we had
didn't have a vessel.

774
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:14,576
In fact, it didn't have any
grave goods with it.

775
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:18,736
And do we need to have a beaker
for it to be a Beaker period burial?

776
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:21,896
We don't, but we know from other
evidence, particularly

777
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:26,416
the size of the graves, which are
very substantial chambered graves,

778
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:30,096
with timber linings,
evidence of timber lining, that they

779
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:33,056
are of that period.

780
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:35,336
We're very certain that it
is a Beaker burial,

781
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:41,096
and we will confirm this through
radiocarbon dating in due course.

782
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:44,336
I'm curious to know what
Phil has found

783
00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:48,776
out about the impact of the military
presence at Barrow Clump.

784
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:52,016
We're investigating the site,
we've been looking at the impact of

785
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:55,416
military vehicles passing
over some of the remains

786
00:45:55,440 --> 00:46:00,696
and this is a classic example
of the weight of vehicles has just

787
00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:04,136
crushed what may have once been
a complete vessel.

788
00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:08,496
Overall, the damage being
caused by vehicles is very slight,

789
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:12,656
certainly the damage from badgers
is much more significant.

790
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:18,536
But military vehicles, they're not
causing a significant impact at all,

791
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:21,656
which is good news. Which is great
news for the archaeology, then.

792
00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:24,696
Badgers are worse than tanks.
Tanks, yeah.

793
00:46:24,720 --> 00:46:28,776
Senior osteoarchaeologist
Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy is examining

794
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:30,976
the remains for the first time.

795
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,216
So we've got a little
bit of the skull there.

796
00:46:33,240 --> 00:46:39,456
What bit of the skull is that? If I hold it
like that... Oh, is it...? Not quite, no.

797
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:44,456
It's actually this bit here. Oh,
wow! OK. Yeah. That's quite chunky.

798
00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:48,296
I mean, if I feel mine,
mine's very small.

799
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:53,576
Serious cheek bones. Yeah. So, are
we thinking "he"? I'm thinking he.

800
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:56,536
The size of this individual
and some of the traits

801
00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:00,736
and things on the skull. If we look
at some of the other bones,

802
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:04,616
the size of the head on the humerus
there, that's quite large,

803
00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:08,336
so I'm pretty happy with
this being a male.

804
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:11,376
What's exciting
about post-excavation is what it

805
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:17,296
can reveal - the age, the sex, so
much more about who this person was.

806
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:21,296
So, that's really nice,
strong muscle attachments there.

807
00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:24,256
Not massively long,
so not necessarily a very, you know,

808
00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:28,176
hugely tall person,
but certainly quite robust.

809
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:31,296
And, again, these slightly strange
muscle attachments there.

810
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:35,536
An anchoring point for your muscles
and attachments.

811
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:38,056
Bigger muscles need bigger
anchoring points. Yeah.

812
00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:40,376
What about the age, then? OK.

813
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:44,056
So we've got the ends of the bones
are completely fused on.

814
00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:47,216
Not only is it fused, it's started
to get these osteophytes,

815
00:47:47,240 --> 00:47:50,896
these boney growths at the edges,
which is a sign of wear and tear.

816
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:54,856
It's not just an adult, then. It's an adult
who's then lived longer and seen wear and tear.

817
00:47:54,880 --> 00:48:00,360
Yes, certainly into the 40s,
possibly up to mid-50s.

818
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:05,176
So, does Kirsten think
the environment at Barrow Clump

819
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:07,856
is causing any damage
to these bones?

820
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:09,376
You can see that's quite eroded.

821
00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:12,136
You've lost most of
the surface there.

822
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:15,616
What would have done that? Could be
water flowing through the grave.

823
00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:19,376
There are many, many things that
affect the burial environment.

824
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:21,616
Even putting fertiliser on the soil,

825
00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:25,816
that can leach in and change
the chemical make-up of the soil

826
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:30,080
and the burial environment,
which may adversely affect the bone.

827
00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:35,776
Meeting Phil and Kirsten today
has given me a real insight

828
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:40,136
into the research that is being done
into the preservation on this site.

829
00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:42,800
And it seems as
though their findings are positive.

830
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:48,496
Military vehicles, tanks,
rolling over these graves,

831
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:53,176
actually it's been really good to
see that's not so much of a problem.

832
00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:57,816
That actually, it's funny, it's
the badgers, it's the soil chemistry

833
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:01,880
and those more natural things,
so that's quite good to know.

834
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:08,216
Our next dig takes us to the
coast of South Wales,

835
00:49:08,240 --> 00:49:12,480
where strange things are afoot -
quite literally, in this case.

836
00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:17,216
Around 20 miles west of Cardiff,
along the coast, near the

837
00:49:17,240 --> 00:49:21,640
village of Monknash, there's a cliff
proving to be a cause for concern.

838
00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:28,856
After public reaction to what
appeared to be human bones sticking

839
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:31,960
out of the cliff face, the police
were called in to investigate.

840
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:40,136
The bones were identified as
archaeological remains and Professor

841
00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:44,320
Jacqui Mulville from Cardiff
University was drafted in to help.

842
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:49,496
In this case, this is what
we call rescue archaeology.

843
00:49:49,520 --> 00:49:52,656
We get reports from the public
and obviously, people are slightly

844
00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:56,080
concerned at the idea you can see
bits of legs eroding out.

845
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:01,016
Previously rescued bones
from this site have been

846
00:50:01,040 --> 00:50:04,720
dated to the 15th century,
during the early Tudor period.

847
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:07,496
On this occasion,

848
00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:10,720
there's been a report of a skeleton
in urgent need of attention.

849
00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:15,376
It sits right next to the
coastal footpath,

850
00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:17,320
a popular walk for
the general public.

851
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:22,056
A bit of human bone here.

852
00:50:22,080 --> 00:50:25,416
This sort of flat section here
and there's a human bone here,

853
00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:28,640
which you can't...
It's very hard to see.

854
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:32,736
As the excavation progresses,

855
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:35,560
it's clear the lower
part of the skeleton is missing.

856
00:50:37,160 --> 00:50:38,776
Half the pelvis has gone,

857
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:42,016
so we don't actually have it with
us today, and the bit we've got

858
00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:44,680
left, probably,
isn't as diagnostic as it should be.

859
00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:50,016
With storm swells from the Atlantic
often battering the coastline,

860
00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:52,040
the cliff face is eroding backwards.

861
00:50:53,840 --> 00:50:57,216
Coastal officer Paul Huckfield works
closely with the police

862
00:50:57,240 --> 00:50:59,056
and Cardiff University.

863
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:01,760
He's very familiar with
this stretch of coast.

864
00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:07,456
Across the top of the cliff,
as you can see now, we've got one,

865
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:10,336
two, three, maybe four grave cuts,

866
00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:13,416
with human remains
eroding out of it.

867
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:16,056
Over time, as the cliffs have
eroded more and more,

868
00:51:16,080 --> 00:51:20,376
burials have just been exposed
by natural erosion of the cliff

869
00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:22,976
face, as it moves backwards.

870
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:25,736
The team know that the cliff
is full of bones

871
00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:29,536
and eventually plan to excavate
the other visible remains,

872
00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:33,816
but, for the moment, their focus has
to be on the ones they can reach.

873
00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:37,856
Jacqui hopes these will divulge
more of the wider story.

874
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:40,496
We'll be able to work out more
accurately who they were,

875
00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:43,576
what age they were, what sex
they were, and bits about their life

876
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:48,536
histories and by reuniting them and
then reinterring them, we're

877
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:51,536
actually treating them, I suppose,
in a much better way than them

878
00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:53,720
sort of falling piecemeal
out of the cliff.

879
00:51:56,120 --> 00:51:59,600
As the team dig on,
there's an unanticipated twist.

880
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:07,456
So far,
we have the elbow joint right here,

881
00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:10,536
the humerus pointing that way,
which is the opposite way to what

882
00:52:10,560 --> 00:52:13,216
we'd expect it,
given that the legs are down there.

883
00:52:13,240 --> 00:52:16,256
And then you have the ulna,
so that's the lower arm,

884
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:19,056
coming this way,
so we think maybe something...

885
00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:20,936
The hand's behind the head.

886
00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:22,680
So, we're all a bit perplexed.

887
00:52:26,240 --> 00:52:29,680
Jacqui's unsure why the body is
contorted in the way it is.

888
00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:36,816
The burial has thrown up
a few surprises.

889
00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:39,656
What we appear to have here is
somebody who's been

890
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:42,376
buried in a slightly
sort of haphazard manner

891
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:46,376
and this suggests that possibly
they were buried in a hurry,

892
00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:49,376
or by somebody who didn't
actually care.

893
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:52,216
It could be that they're actually
compressed in a grave that's

894
00:52:52,240 --> 00:52:56,856
too small because the person didn't
have time, or perhaps didn't want to

895
00:52:56,880 --> 00:53:00,816
make the investment to make a grave
that was the right size for them.

896
00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:02,776
So it is unusual.

897
00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:06,976
The coastal location and unorthodox
positioning of the bodies has

898
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:11,536
given rise to a number of theories,
as to who these people might be.

899
00:53:11,560 --> 00:53:14,936
One theory suggests they could have
been victims of shipwrecks

900
00:53:14,960 --> 00:53:17,696
and local legends tell of wreckers.

901
00:53:17,720 --> 00:53:20,456
These people would put
lights around the necks of sheep,

902
00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:24,416
walking them along the clifftop,
to lure ships onto the rocks.

903
00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:29,240
For centuries, wrecking ships to
loot cargo was a very profitable activity.

904
00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:32,536
Over the course of the day,

905
00:53:32,560 --> 00:53:35,720
the archaeologists begin to reveal
the rest of the skeleton.

906
00:53:36,880 --> 00:53:39,056
We're making really good progress,

907
00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:42,576
we can now see most of the head,
we've got the mandible exposed.

908
00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:46,256
We can also see sort of the ribs,
the pelvis and the lower back, so we

909
00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:48,696
can see we've got the full
torso of an individual who's

910
00:53:48,720 --> 00:53:50,120
sort of slightly twisted.

911
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:55,656
Just before the bones are lifted
for further examination,

912
00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:57,880
the team gather some final evidence.

913
00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:03,456
By taking a number of images,
we can stitch them together,

914
00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:06,136
using a photographic programme,
and then that will allow us

915
00:54:06,160 --> 00:54:09,176
to actually have accurate record
of the articulation of the bones

916
00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:10,560
when we get back to the lab.

917
00:54:15,600 --> 00:54:18,976
These burials seem to be
part of an unknown graveyard,

918
00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:22,216
or at least there are no marked
graves up on the top of the cliff.

919
00:54:22,240 --> 00:54:24,256
No, so there's no marked graves,

920
00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:27,456
but people have been
found for decades, really. OK.

921
00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:31,136
Since the 1980s,
and some of the graves are aligned.

922
00:54:31,160 --> 00:54:34,416
There's even some graves which have
sort of disarticulated human

923
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:37,056
remains and are a little bit
further back from the cliff.

924
00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:39,896
So we're kind of like, who are they?
Why are they there?

925
00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:43,696
And you've got a lovely 3-D
photogrammetry of the skeleton

926
00:54:43,720 --> 00:54:45,616
as you were excavating it. Yeah.

927
00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:49,016
What you've got is somebody whose
arms appear to be above their head. Yeah.

928
00:54:49,040 --> 00:54:52,256
And then their head is turned
sort of to one side,

929
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:55,976
so the other burials that have been
found further along the cliff,

930
00:54:56,000 --> 00:55:00,256
they're all interred with their
hands sort of down their sides.

931
00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:02,976
So this is an anomaly.
Right. OK.

932
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:06,096
And then we're missing the entire
bottom half of this individual.

933
00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:08,496
Presumably, that has just
eroded out of the cliff.

934
00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:12,376
Well, we know it was there
because a member of the public

935
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:15,376
sent in a photo and you could see
sort of the bottom of the legs.

936
00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:18,856
Yeah. Ethically, you kind of want to
reassemble them. Yeah, you do.

937
00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:22,136
So you think this is a young
individual, isn't it? Yeah.

938
00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:26,536
The top of the humerus here,
the epiphysis is completely unfused.

939
00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:28,016
So that was still growing.

940
00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:31,256
And then if I look at the teeth,
first molar's through,

941
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:33,616
that comes through on average
age six.

942
00:55:33,640 --> 00:55:36,256
Second molar come through,
around 12.

943
00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:37,616
And I can see down in there,

944
00:55:37,640 --> 00:55:40,040
the wisdom teeth still
nestled in their crypts.

945
00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:45,336
So you are probably looking
at somebody who is a young teenager.

946
00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:48,616
Yeah, but around that time,
young teenagers,

947
00:55:48,640 --> 00:55:50,936
you could be treated as an adult,
really. Yeah.

948
00:55:50,960 --> 00:55:53,776
You would have been in employment
around that time.

949
00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:58,096
Yeah, it is tricky, isn't it?
Because with young men, or boys,

950
00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:01,296
they haven't developed
the kind of robusticity

951
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:03,736
of the skull that we see later on,
but that is quite

952
00:56:03,760 --> 00:56:07,456
a squared-off chin,
but this is quite a feminine face.

953
00:56:07,480 --> 00:56:09,536
Yes. Sort of smooth.

954
00:56:09,560 --> 00:56:11,816
With the forehead
coming down to the nose there.

955
00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:14,776
We think it's a teenage boy,

956
00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:18,096
who's been inserted rather
strangely in a grave.

957
00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:20,176
He's at a different level
to all of the others.

958
00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:22,696
Yeah. The others are all male. Yeah.

959
00:56:22,720 --> 00:56:26,376
So, who are they?
And why are they all male?

960
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:31,016
So, there's obviously some fantastic
stories about smugglers

961
00:56:31,040 --> 00:56:33,736
and pirates and things and, in fact,

962
00:56:33,760 --> 00:56:36,856
there's a fantastic story that
the pub, which is

963
00:56:36,880 --> 00:56:39,536
actually now built of part of the
sort of monastic range,

964
00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:44,216
used to be a mortuary for
shipwrecked sailors. Really? Yes.

965
00:56:44,240 --> 00:56:46,816
And we know there were
shipwrecks around that point.

966
00:56:46,840 --> 00:56:48,856
Whether they were
caused by the wreckers,

967
00:56:48,880 --> 00:56:51,376
or whether they were just natural
shipwrecks, we don't know.

968
00:56:51,400 --> 00:56:54,256
I mean, there's quite a lot of,
I suppose,

969
00:56:54,280 --> 00:56:57,176
accounts of shipwrecked people not
being buried in consecrated

970
00:56:57,200 --> 00:57:00,096
ground, but actually being buried
quite close to the edge of the...

971
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:03,936
Close to where they're found, by the sea. It's
tricky cos it's all kind of circumstantial

972
00:57:03,960 --> 00:57:05,736
evidence at the moment, isn't it?
It is.

973
00:57:05,760 --> 00:57:07,536
We know there were shipwrecks there.

974
00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:11,496
We've got this intriguing story
about the pub being a mortuary.

975
00:57:11,520 --> 00:57:14,856
Yeah. So, what about further
analyses on this skeleton?

976
00:57:14,880 --> 00:57:18,736
What are you going to try? So, we're going
to try and find out sort of where they lived

977
00:57:18,760 --> 00:57:20,496
and sort of what they ate, really.

978
00:57:20,520 --> 00:57:22,976
Essentially,
the more sort of analyses you do,

979
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:26,816
the more sort of a complex picture
you build up of somebody's life.

980
00:57:26,840 --> 00:57:28,056
Yeah. So you don't know.

981
00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:31,096
I mean, Britain's an island
full of rich archaeology.

982
00:57:31,120 --> 00:57:34,576
We will continue to find more
and more coastal archaeology

983
00:57:34,600 --> 00:57:36,776
because of climate change,
storminess,

984
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:38,176
and all of those things,

985
00:57:38,200 --> 00:57:40,656
so it's important that we
have good mechanisms

986
00:57:40,680 --> 00:57:43,536
and we get the public onside
actually, cos, you know,

987
00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:48,176
I always think there's these sort of lost
souls. We should be bringing them back together.

988
00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:51,256
And if anyone does know
where his legs are, bring them

989
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:54,480
to Cardiff University.
Please bring them back. Yeah.

990
00:57:58,520 --> 00:58:02,360
It's been a fantastic year of
exploration in the west of Britain.

991
00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:10,776
From the discovery of Anglo-Saxon
treasure, to hunting for a lost

992
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:15,600
abbey and digging to the depths
of a Bronze Age burial mound.

993
00:58:17,680 --> 00:58:20,056
We've shown there's still
so much to discover to

994
00:58:20,080 --> 00:58:22,560
further our knowledge
and shed light on our past.

995
00:58:23,960 --> 00:58:27,200
Join us next time,
as we continue Digging For Britain.