Review: ‘Digging for Britain’, Episode 2, BBC4

This evening’s ‘Digging for Britain’, the second in the series, moved location from Norfolk to the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester, to focus upon some of the more significant archaeological discoveries made in the West Country during 2014. One theme which ran through much of the programme was the question as to what extent the population of the region was Romanised, not only during the period of Britain’s formal incorporation into the Roman Empire, but also in the late Iron Age and after the departure of the legions in 410.

Evidence from a number of the featured digs bore testimony to the pre-conquest trade between the island and the continent, with certain goods from the Roman world being imported as luxury items. Some of these – such as chicken and wine – may not be viewed as luxuries today, but in the first century BC, they were exotic and something to be shown off. One excavation at Winterborne Kingston in Dorset, named the Durotriges Bid Dig Project, has uncovered evidence of life in a late Iron Age ‘banjo enclosure’ (an undefended farmstead), with its period of occupation running from the first century BC right through to the fifth century AD. Interestingly, the quantity of characteristically Roman finds from the first century BC to the second century AD remained relatively constant, with the imposition of Roman rule in the middle of the first century AD having no discernible impact upon the material culture of the site. It was not until the third and fourth centuries AD that there was a marked change, making the site appear more ‘Roman’.

A Roman villa had previously been discovered in a neighbouring field, and the Durotriges Dig turned up four burials dating to the middle of the fifth century AD which appear to be associated with it. Judging by the positioning of the skeletons and grave goods, it seems that Romano-British life continued after the imperial collapse. One of the most intriguing items discovered in one of the women’s graves was a Roman earthenware bowl, worn smooth by many years of use, which suggests that it may have been used for 60 or 70 years before being interred with the burial. It is reckoned that she was buried around 450 AD. Elements of Roman culture would seem therefore to have been adopted before the conquest, and retained after the withdrawal of the imperial administration, but the question regarding the depth of its penetration into wider Romano-British society remains open to debate. A further excavation undertaken by Exeter University at Ipplepen in south Devon, also suggested that Roman rule may, to a certain extent, have extended westward beyond Exeter, judging by the Romano-British burials uncovered there.

Back at the Dorchester Museum, the ever-engaging Alice Roberts put her knowledge of anatomy to good use in examining two skeletons excavated from the ‘war cemetery’ at Maiden Castle. Both bear the marks of violent death: one possessing a ballista bolt embedded in a vertebra, the other with a large hole in the top of his cranium and cut and slash marks on his jaw that indicate that someone had twice attempted to decapitate him after death. It would seem that these men fell victim to Vespasian’s campaign at some point during the period AD 43-47.

In terms of burials, the most spectacular featured in the programme were unearthed at Barrow Clump on MOD land on Salisbury Plain. The site dates back more than 5,000 years, but a decision was made to excavate before badgers destroyed the archaeology with their burrowing. After two days, a Bronze Age burial urn containing burnt human bone was discovered, with a second much larger vessel being found buried upside down, but the most interesting finds were from a more recent, although still distant, period. The latter were uncovered by armed forces veterans being introduced to archaeology as a therapeutic activity through a project named ‘Operation Nightingale.’ They discovered a collection of 75 Anglo-Saxon burials dating to the sixth century, the graves of the warriors being found alongside the Bronze Age ones. One group of a dozen bodies were found buried close together, with what appeared to be a symbolic “shield wall” lining the burial area. However, one burial stood out, for no other individual amongst the group was found with a spearhead, a shield boss, a knife and, most importantly, a sword; objects bearing testimony to his high status. X-rays revealed the sword to be pattern welded, forged from three bars of iron twisted together. When new, this would have been a visually impressive object, as well as a terrifying weapon of war.

Other sites visited included Chedworth Villa in the Cotswolds, where a re-excavation revealed a previously unsuspected large mosaic and remains of coloured plaster from the collapsed villa walls, revolutionising archaeologists’ understanding of this site. A leprosy hospital dating back to 1070 was excavated in a field at St Mary Maudlin just outside of Winchester, revealing some gruesomely disfigured skeletons. In contrast to this, in terms of visual appeal, was a horde of three pairs of gold Bronze Age bracelets discovered by metal detectorists in the Forest of Dean. One of them had been made for a young infant, which is quite unusual for such a high status object, indicating that the child’s parents must have been in possession of significant wealth.

Other than the last artefacts mentioned, there were no recently discovered items of high visual appeal, but in the absence of a written record, the bones and remains of everyday life nonetheless have their own interesting tales to tell. The Durotriges and the Romans are gone. Are the English going the same way?

Review: Digging For Britain, BBC4

Alice Roberts and Matt Williams co-hosted the latest instalment in BBC4’s ‘Digging for Britain’ series, providing viewers with the first of four regional updates relating to significant British archaeological finds made during 2014. Tonight’s episode focused upon East Anglia and the Southeast, taking in a wide variety of sites spanning from the Bronze Age to the Civil War. Sitting in the impressive setting of Norwich Castle Museum, the duo chatted to individuals who had overseen the featured excavations, questioning them as to their significance, and any specific findings that have changed our knowledge, or perceptions, of our island forebears.

The first site to be featured, and one of the most interesting, was Must Farm in Cambridgeshire, where archaeologists have discovered evidence of fishing during the Bronze Age “on an industrial scale”, involving the widespread use of wattle wears and fish traps in the River Nene, with some twenty such traps having come to light. Furthermore, large numbers of pieces of metalwork have been found, including swords, spearheads and other items. Interestingly, many swords betray the fact that they have been used in combat, through the distinctive nicks in the sides of their blades. Eight well-preserved log boats were also found in only 300 metres of channel, suggesting that the area would have been well settled at the time of their creation. An oversized ceremonial dirk was also discovered, bent out of shape, representing, it was said the “ritual killing of the object.”

Colchester yielded some interesting finds from a Roman house in the Boudiccan destruction layer, burned down during the anti-Roman revolt in AD61. Charred foodstuffs showed that the householder in question may have been enjoying – or intending to enjoy – a meal which included figs, dates, peas and wheat when the house was levelled by fire. The mistress of the house had hidden her jewellery – earrings, armlets, chains and rings – in a hoard that had lain undisturbed from the date of its deposition to its discovery in the excavation. Human remains – parts of a mandible and tibia – were discovered just outside of the house, bearing what appeared to be slashing injuries inflicted by weaponry, such as a sword. Cassius Dio was quoted in his description of what happened to the richest female inhabitants of Britain’s early Roman towns sacked by the Boudiccan rebels; their fate was gory, for they were said to have met their end in ritual sacrifices conducted in sacred groves dedicated to the British goddess of victory (presumably Andraste, although the programme did not mention her by name), involving the sort of torments beloved by ISIS militants: skewering lengthways. Then again, was Dio’s account merely Roman propaganda? At a guess, given the barbarity with which history is replete, I suspect not.

Oakington in Cambridgeshire played host to the discovery of a significant sixth-century Anglo-Saxon cemetery containing 124 graves, 30% of which belonged to infants. A number of the burials belonged to high-status women, one, strangely, being buried with the entire carcass of a cow for throwing parties in the afterlife.

Thence the programme moved on to what was “a bustling royal centre” in seventh-century Lyminge in Kent, although discovering evidence of its royal hall involved ripping up the village green and leaving it looking rather less appealing than it had done beforehand. We were then transported through a thousand years of history to the most modern excavation site featured – Basing House – which finally fell to the Parliamentarians after a two-year siege on 14 October 1645. The remains of one of the poor devils defending the Postern Gate were discovered, with his head decapitated and a large sword mark across the top of his cranium.

The programme finished, perhaps appropriately given that 2014 marked the final year of excavations in a run of 18 successive seasons at the site, in Silchester, or Calleva Atrebatum as the Romans knew it. New discoveries in a grand house in insula 3 – specifically fragments of “Nero tiles” – took us back to the period immediately following Boudicca’s rebellion, and speculation that Nero had either channelled money into Calleva either directly or through a client king, to help shore up Roman rule in southern and western Britain.

All in all, the sites featured were interesting, although none of the artefacts matched the dazzling brilliance of some of the finds made in the Staffordshire Hoard, or indeed, in the Snettisham Hoard discovered in Norfolk. What awaits us in the next three programmes of the series? Whether they should be treasures of gold and silver, or rather more humble offerings of semi-decayed wattle and wood, they will serve to illuminate further the forgotten ages of our land, and help to bring the lives of our ancestors into more vivid relief.