Of how our land, and its people,

00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,560

This is the story of

how Britain came to be.

00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:16,520

Of how our land, and its people,

were forged over thousands

of years of ancient history.

00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:23,720

This Britain is a

strange and alien world...

00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:30,280

A world that contains

the hidden story

of our distant pre-historic past.

00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:42,080

The occupation of Britain began

with hunters, battling

for survival through the Ice Age...

00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:49,760

It's fantastic, after 14,000 years,

to get a glimpse of the way at

least one individual was thinking.

00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:54,120

..and continued into a new age

that came after the ice.

00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,600

Instead of hunting mammoth

and reindeer in the snow,

00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:05,240

he hunted red deer

in the wild wood.

00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,120

Now the journey continues...

00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,360

..with the next chapter

in our epic story...

00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:19,320

Nothing like this

had ever been seen in Britain.

00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:27,120

..the invention of farming

and the massive social

revolution that came with it.

00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:33,200

A brave new world that shaped our

land and the way we lived...

00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:35,920

..forever.

00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:58,120

I'm going back 10,000 years,

to a wild and untamed Britain.

00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:05,640

The Ice Age was over

and a new Britain had emerged

00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:12,960

blanketed with trees -

birch, alder, hazel and finally oak.

00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:15,920

Across the whole of our land,

00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:18,840

perhaps no more than

a few thousand nomadic hunters

00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:23,320

lived by drawing everything

they needed from that landscape.

00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:25,560

They had flint for tools.

00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:32,840

Red deer provided meat, antlers for

picks and harpoons and needles,

00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,240

hides for shelters and clothes.

00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:41,720

These people didn't

just live close to nature,

they were part of nature.

00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,800

Ten thousand years ago Britain was

still attached to mainland Europe,

00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,240

as it had been

throughout the Ice Age.

00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:58,280

Now though, sea levels were rising

and a new Britain was emerging.

00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,400

Gradually,

Britain was becoming an island.

00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:09,400

Much of the land that

had been home to nomadic hunters

for thousands of years

00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,840

was disappearing beneath the waves.

00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,440

Here on the south coast,

just off the Isle of Wight,

00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:24,680

there's a relic of that

ancient world.

00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,760

Evidence of people who lived here

just as all this was becoming sea.

00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,120

10,000 years ago there

was no Isle of Wight.

00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,720

It was part of the

English mainland to the North

00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,800

and still joined to Northern Europe

and France to the South.

00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:46,560

And all of that out there,

the Solent, was dry land.

00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,080

Which should mean

out there, underneath the water,

00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:56,960

are the relics of a lost world

and of the people who lived on it.

00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,520

It's a world that's being explored

by archaeologist Gary Momber.

00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,280

And I'm going to join him.

00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:31,240

'I'm about to go back to a time

when rising sea levels

were turning land into tidal marsh,

00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:33,960

'when Britain

was an island in the making.'

00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:41,760

The site is 8,000 years old, a time

archaeologists call the Mesolithic,

00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:45,160

or middle stone age.

00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,640

It's opening a picture

of the Mesolithic period

00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,560

that we're not

getting from sites on land.

00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,920

So when the sea level was lower,

we're further back in time,

00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,240

and we're finding

the well-preserved remains.

00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,400

So it's actually the sea that's

going to make it awkward for us

00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,880

is what has preserved

what we're going to see..

00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:03,360

If it wasn't for the sea,

it wouldn't be there.

00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,760

We're doing a final diver check.

00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:12,440

Diver's ready for the water.

00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:27,120

Once this was home to a coastal

community of hunter gatherers

00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:31,440

living a way of life that had barely

changed for thousands of years.

00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,600

What's been discovered here is

more than an ancient hunting camp.

00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,520

It's the oldest boat

building yard in the world.

00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:42,480

And it contains fragile evidence

of the sophistication of

the people who once lived here.

00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:58,000

That was fantastic.

It was. I could stay down

there hours when it's like that.

00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,000

So, this piece of timber is how old?

How long is it since it was worked?

00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:04,800

It's over 8,000 years old.

00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,000

It has come up in association with

other bits and pieces,

00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,840

and one piece of timber

in particular,

00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,840

which we believe

may be part of a logboat.

00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:19,240

See those grooves,

how clearly defined they are?

00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,800

So that's woodworking?

That's not natural erosion?

No, that's woodworking.

00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:27,160

That's obviously part of something,

with the grooves either side.

00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:33,120

So someone 8000 years ago

was working with a stone tool

to create these grooves.

00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:38,520

You don't, as a general rule,

you just don't see organic material

coming out of Mesolithic sites.

00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:42,360

You get the stone tools,

but to see what those stone tools

were being used for,

00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:44,520

it's the other half of the equation.

00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,000

It's pretty unique

and pretty special.

00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:56,680

The logboat is an extraordinary

insight into the lives of

the hunters who once lived here.

00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,360

Mesolithic life

might have been nomadic,

00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,120

but it was largely carried out

00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,600

around the shorelines

of Britain's coasts and rivers.

00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:11,160

The forested land of the interior

was a dangerous, forbidding world.

00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,600

But all that was about to change.

00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,440

And all because of these -

tiny grains of barley.

00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:28,720

Like the Solent boat builders,

these are around 8,000 years old.

00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:30,800

But these aren't from

the Isle of Wight.

00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:35,480

These are from more than

2,000 miles away to the south-east,

what's now Syria.

00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:41,800

This is evidence of a new way

of living, a world not

of hunting, but of farming.

00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:43,880

When this new technology arrived

in Britain

00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,120

it would nudge us towards

a whole new era in our history,

00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:52,520

what we call the Neolithic -

the new stone age.

00:08:55,400 --> 00:09:01,960

By producing food,

farming communities could provide

for bigger families, more children.

00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:06,160

And that meant better chances

of survival for the whole group.

00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:15,880

Instead of hunting the wild herds,

now farmers had new, domesticated

breeds of cattle and sheep.

00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:23,640

Instead of gathering wild nuts and

berries, farmers could grow

most of what they needed from seed.

00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:29,840

The Neolithic revolution

was to utterly change the way we

thought about food and survival.

00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:31,800

But it was

much, much more than that.

00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:42,160

It was also to profoundly alter our

sense of ourselves as human beings,

as part of the natural world.

00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:47,760

In a sense, as well

as domesticating livestock,

00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,120

we were also

domesticating ourselves.

00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:03,120

This revolution,

when it finally reached our shores,

would change everything.

00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:08,800

It would change the land,

the things we ate.

00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:10,960

It would change our

relationship with time.

00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:17,080

It would change our beliefs

and the way we understand our

place in thee universe.

00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:23,560

This change, the jump to farming,

00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:26,960

was the single greatest

social revolution there's ever been.

00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,200

HORN BLARES

00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:43,640

To try and understand what happened

when the radical

new world of agriculture

00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:46,920

collided with the

ancient world of the hunter,

00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,360

I'm leaving England behind

and crossing the Channel to France.

00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:57,080

By 5000 BC, Neolithic culture

was spreading into Western Europe.

00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:02,720

For the hunting communities of

Northern France, the new ways must

have been completely baffling.

00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:12,360

In Brittany,

there's a unique set of monuments -

00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:16,400

line upon line

of ancient standing stones.

00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:31,280

These were not erected by Neolithic

farmers, but by Mesolithic hunters,

00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,000

just as the first farmers

started appearing on their doorstep.

00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,120

This place is just extraordinary.

00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:45,440

I've known about it for years, I've

seen photographs of it countless

times, but this is my first visit.

00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:50,000

And the impact of the stones

is just breathtaking.

00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,520

Everywhere you look

there are more of them.

00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,400

They're in every direction,

line after line of them.

00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:58,600

When you look at any one of them,

they weigh at least tens of tons.

00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,120

Some of them look like

they weigh even more.

00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,840

They completely dominate

the landscape, everywhere you look.

00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:18,120

We use extraordinary to describe

a lot of things, but a place

like really deserves the word.

00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,680

What we're looking at

is the result of a collision,

00:12:26,680 --> 00:12:31,680

not just of cultures, but of two

completely different belief systems.

00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:39,560

All of this might be the result

of a monumental tipping point

in human history.

00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:49,600

The hunters hauled the stones into

place to demonstrate their strength

00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:53,360

in the face of people

they didn't understand.

00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:57,520

But theirs was the "old" world.

00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:03,080

In just a few hundred years

Neolithic culture took over.

00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:12,600

And many of these great standing

stones became building material

for something new...

00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:17,520

Neolithic stone tombs.

00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:25,600

Archaeologist Serge Cassen has

studied them for over 20 years.

00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:30,920

Is there a connection between

the change from lines of stones

00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:35,080

to tombs like this,

and the change to farming?

00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:40,520

Yes. It is probably linked with this

new process, this new economy,

00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:44,560

this full Neolithic,

where life of animals,

00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:49,800

life of plants are very

important inside this life-cycle.

00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,280

Inside one tomb, excavated by Serge,

00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:04,280

this decisive fork in history is

marked by some remarkable rock art.

00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:09,120

So these are the old style

Mesolithic hunting weapons,

00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:13,400

almost like a primitive boomerang

to kill birds?

00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:17,320

Exactly. So this is the old world,

very male, very phallic. Yes.

00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:21,600

'One carving in particular

brings it all home.'

00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,760

We can observe now carvings...

00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,760

Another throwing stick.

00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:32,800

Yes, the same shape, the same weapon,

the same presentation and under,

00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:38,160

we have the arcs from the

Neolithic period, with this handle.

00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,920

So this triangular shape. Yes.

00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:46,200

So you've got

the new technology of the axe,

00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:51,440

on top of and even cutting into

the old world.

00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:53,200

Yes.

00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:58,680

This is almost the moment,

it's depicting the moment when the

00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,160

old world and the new world collide

00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:05,920

and after that collision, the new

world is dominant over the old.

00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:07,440

Exactly.

00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:13,200

We may never fully understand

a site like Carnac.

00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:19,120

We might never hear what

those hunters were

trying to say with the stones

00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:25,360

but to me, apart from anything else,

they are a statement of defiance.

00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,200

They're saying to the farmers,

00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:31,240

"Come in. Bring your crops,

bring your animals,

00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:35,960

"but be aware that we are here,

that we've always been here.

00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,320

"We're part of this

landscape and we belong to it."

00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:41,440

They're saying,

00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,000

"We may not last forever.

00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:50,000

"Our way of life may not last

forever, but we will be remembered.

00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,560

"Not just for now but for all time."

00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:02,160

The age of the Mesolithic

was coming to an end.

00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:08,440

By 4500 BC, the Neolithic revolution

had conquered almost all of Europe.

00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:13,080

But around here, it came to a halt

because of that.

00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,200

Farming might have swept

across the land mass of Europe

00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:20,520

but the last few watery miles

presented a different challenge.

00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:28,440

It would take hundreds of years but

that final leap across the Channel

and into Britain was inevitable.

00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:39,520

Exactly how the new stone age

came to Britain and what

the local hunters made of it

00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:43,320

remains one of the greatest

mysteries in all of our prehistory.

00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:53,720

The first farmers must have come

to Britain by boat, bringing their

families, domestic cattle and grain.

00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:03,280

These were pioneers,

undertaking a perilous journey

to a new and unknown land.

00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:13,920

And direct evidence of some of those

first farmers can be found here

in Kent.

00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:25,960

Wait till you see what's up here.

00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,200

Nothing like this had

ever been seen before in Britain.

00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,600

This is one of the

very earliest stone tombs.

00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:43,920

This is Neolithic behaviour.

00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:47,480

The people who built this

were amongst the first

00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:49,560

to come and farm our land

00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:53,160

and we're talking about

6,000 years ago.

00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:01,040

Today, the rich soil of Kent

is still prime farming land.

00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:05,400

And together with its

proximity to mainland Europe,

00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,080

you can see the attraction for

the earliest farmers coming over.

00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,160

You have to remember

that 6,000 years ago,

00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:16,680

when the first people arrived

with the intention of farming here,

00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:23,640

all of that would've been woodland,

so first of all they had to

clear the trees, burn them down,

00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,000

and then they had to

build their homesteads.

00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,880

You can only imagine what

the local hunters thought.

00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:41,080

Unlike the of Mesolithic hunters

who hugged the

coastline and river valleys,

00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:46,280

the first farmers began to

break into the interior of Britain.

00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,240

And what they found

was a wild and wooded place.

00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:58,680

For thousands of years, forests

of oak and birch had grown,

blanketing the landscape and grain.

00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,280

This was home to red deer and elk.

00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:07,760

In the undergrowth,

bears and wild pig.

00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,920

But this wild and ancient Britain

was about to be transformed...

00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:16,520

..forever.

00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,280

The new farmers were technologists.

00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:26,440

This wasn't living off the land

like the Mesolithic hunters

00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:32,000

but shaping it, adapting it,

making IT work for THEM.

00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,840

These people weren't simply fitting

into the world alongside nature.

00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,360

They were going to rule OVER it.

00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:52,040

Incredibly, some of those pioneers,

the very mothers and fathers of this

brave new world, have survived.

00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:06,840

Around 17 individuals were interred

in that Neolithic tomb in Kent

00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:11,160

and these are the bones

of just a few of them.

00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:17,640

There's a whole age range

represented amongst the dead.

00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:23,800

These pelvis bones, this is a baby,

and an older child through to

00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,960

older people and old people in

Neolithic terms is somebody my age.

00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,280

Somebody in their

40s would be pensionable.

00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:36,920

We often talk about the

Neolithic revolution

and the farming revolution

00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,640

and the effect it had

on Britain and on the landscape.

00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:46,440

But what you also see here,

and you have to remember all

the time, are REAL people.

00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:53,160

This is part of a man's skull.

00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:59,560

These individuals are part of the

most profoundly-affecting

00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,160

living experiment that's

ever been attempted.

00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,520

They trust their future,

00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:10,480

to planting a few seeds

in the spring in the hope

of a harvest in the autumn.

00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:12,520

They keep some animals

00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:19,000

in the hope that that meat

will be enough to sustain them

and their families.

00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:23,640

It's a gamble so whatever else

you might want to imagine

00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:27,040

about this...man,

00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:29,560

he was certainly brave.

00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,960

It's traditionally been thought

that farming gradually spread north

00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,480

and west from its first

foothold in the Southeast.

00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,440

But new evidence suggests

this could be wrong.

00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:53,040

This is a piece of a bone

from a domesticated cow -

00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,320

a classic Neolithic indicator.

00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,720

What makes this one unique, however,

is that it wasn't found in the

00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,680

southeast of England, but in

the deep southwest of Ireland.

00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:09,080

It may date from as early

as 4300 years BC.

00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:14,160

That's hundreds of years

before the first trace of the

Neolithic lifestyle in Kent.

00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:19,480

So far, no one has been able

to explain what it's doing there.

00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,280

And the unexplained cow bone isn't

the only evidence that's challenging

00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,640

the accepted story of how Neolithic

culture spread through Britain.

00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:42,360

As far north as Orkney, there's

also evidence of early farmers -

in the shape of prehistoric voles.

00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:46,360

So here's a group of skulls. You can

see characteristic skull shapes.

00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,080

This guy here is the field vole.

00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:52,400

This is the vole found most

commonly in the UK mainland.

00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,040

This guy here is actually

much more interesting.

00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:56,520

This is the vole that's found

00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:00,440

in Orkney, but is not found,

importantly, in the UK and Ireland.

00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:05,360

Microtus arvalis - the Orkney vole,

00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:08,480

only lives on a few islands off

the northeast tip of Scotland.

00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,320

The evidence of

ancient vole bones shows

00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:17,840

that they first appeared at least

5,500 years ago.

00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,720

The question is,

how did they arrive?

00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,840

The closest relatives that we

have genetically to the Orkney vole

00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:32,120

population are from the Rhine valley

in Germany,

00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:35,880

and maybe in Brittany.

00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:42,720

It's clear the voles aren't swimming

from Europe to Orkney on their own,

which means that humans are involved.

00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:49,920

It's thought the voles came amongst

grain carried by early farmers.

00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,920

Not from the British mainland,

but direct from France.

00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:04,320

It seems that the early settlers in

Kent might represent only one route

Neolithic culture took from Europe.

00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:12,120

There are also those earlier

Neolithic expeditions

to Southwest Ireland,

00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:16,560

and the mysterious vole-carrying

voyages direct to Orkney.

00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:24,440

What's emerging

is something much more complex

00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:28,280

and subtle than the traditional

view of the Neolithic revolution.

00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:37,120

Many people would have continued

with a nomadic

or semi-nomadic lifestyle,

00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:39,480

supported by a

few domesticated animals.

00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:43,440

And that way of life

would have continued for

hundreds of years at least.

00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:45,920

And then there were the

settled farmers themselves.

00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,360

They would have continued to hunt

to supplement their diet.

00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:56,440

However people took up the new ways,

it's now thought that

Neolithic culture

00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:00,160

in some form swept

across the whole of Britain

in just a few generations.

00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,880

But, with just a few fragments

of evidence from 6,000 years ago,

00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:11,120

exactly how it all began

might forever remain a mystery.

00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:20,280

What's more, across the whole

of Britain there's precious little

evidence of how those early farmers

00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:26,840

actually lived, which is why

I'm leaving our shores yet again,

headed this time for Ireland.

00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:02,920

Welcome to the west of Ireland,

one of the wildest, most spectacular

landscapes I've ever seen.

00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:25,280

In Britain,

00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,320

archaeologists have only discovered

fragments of early farming.

00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:33,400

But here something's been preserved

on a truly massive scale.

00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,040

What's special about this place

is the ground.

00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:44,800

This landscape is blanketed in peat

bog - slowly decaying vegetation

that builds up layer upon layer.

00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,880

It takes thousands of years.

But what has drawn me here

isn't the bog itself,

00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:54,360

but what's hidden beneath it, as

much as four metres beneath my feet.

00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:55,840

Just drive it in.

00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,200

It's like a knife through butter!

00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:06,200

Archaeologist Seamus Caulfield has

been probing this bog with simple

metal rods for over 40 years.

00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:07,960

So just about here.

00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,560

Put it in straight, vertical.

00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:17,240

'He's using them to map ancient

stone walls, made by the Neolithic

farmers who once lived here.'

00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:24,160

So that's the old ground

surface coming on and then...

00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,400

You can hear that

you are hitting stone now.

00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:28,040

It's beginning to look like it.

00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:30,040

CLUNKING

00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,240

That's amazing.

Listen to that again.

00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:34,760

Yeah, knock, knock.

00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,800

5,500 years ago,

someone lifted a stone in place

00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,520

and now we're hearing

it for the first time.

00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,240

So how much have you found?

How extensive is the wall?

00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:50,320

Something over 100

linear kilometres at this stage.

00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,760

100 kilometres?! Yeah.

00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,000

You're joking! That's jaw-dropping.

00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,720

The scale of it, 5,500 years ago.

00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,480

Yes, it's just sitting

there under the bog as it was.

00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,560

By probing every inch of this land,

Seamus and teams of helpers

00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,240

have revealed far more

than some buried walls.

00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:20,360

What they've found is the

biggest Neolithic field system

in the entire world -

00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:24,520

cattle enclosures that stretch

almost as far as the eye can see.

00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,240

What are the fields for?

00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,480

It's a dairy economy.

They have to wean the calves

00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:39,880

from the milk cows, separate the

dry stock from the milking animals.

00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,120

There's herd management...

00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,160

is what is involved.

00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:50,800

So they need lots of separate

areas to keep bull calves and

milking cows and all the rest? Yes.

00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:01,000

Typically in Ireland,

the weather turns foul.

00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,600

But I'm determined to uncover

some of this wall for myself.

00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,400

And here on the bog

there's only one way to do it.

00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,760

Clean the blade.

00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,920

Is this all just used locally?

00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,880

This is just for folk to burn?

00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:24,880

That's 90% water at the moment,

but it dries out and that is the

fuel we use all the time.

00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:26,440

So this is all for fuel?

00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:34,960

All I can say is,

don't give up the day job.

00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:36,480

You're right!

00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,840

There it is! Look at that.

00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,880

That is the wall.

00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,440

That's amazing.

00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,760

Come here. Look at this. Look.

00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,960

That's the top of a wall

which is about a metre high.

00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,920

It extends down about a

metre beneath my feet.

00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:06,600

The sun has risen and set

two million times since these stones

last saw the light of day.

00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,800

The last hands

to touch these before mine

00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,160

were those of a Neolithic farmer

5,500 years ago.

00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:18,920

Even on a foul day like today -

and this is truly foul -

00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,920

the sight of these, the touch

of these, makes it worthwhile.

00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:24,520

Doesn't it? Just about!

00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,560

It does. It still does.

00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,360

Amazing.

00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:42,320

The Ceide field structures

are a hidden wonder of the world.

00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,080

But the walls aren't

the only secret,

00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:49,440

because the peat itself can

reveal just what this world was like

00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:54,480

5,000 years ago,

and even what was being farmed.

00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,240

OK, you've got the top. Yeah.

00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,600

The peat is preserving the record

of human activity,

00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:11,400

vegetation etc through time,

00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:17,200

so it is like a history book

of thousands of years.

00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:21,720

By studying pollen grains preserved

in the peat, Michael O'Connell

00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,000

can identify what was growing

in the ancient landscape.

00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,200

This particular pollen

grain comes from pine,

00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,760

and pine was the dominant tree in

Ceide Fields before farmers came.

00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:43,840

At the early part of the Neolithic,

the pollen totally changed

00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:48,320

from being tree pollen-dominated

to being herb and grass-dominated.

00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:54,400

The change to grassland pollen

shows that the trees were cut down

00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,600

and replaced with pasture

for grazing cattle.

00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:04,280

But in amongst the grassland pollen,

Michael has made an even

more startling discovery.

00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,000

We were really excited

about these results.

00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,920

This particular sample

has quite a number

00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:15,640

of cereal pollen, and of

course this is really important

00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,560

because it shows wheat

and maybe also barley were grown.

00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:24,680

So this was a really

interesting and significant find.

00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:33,040

Cereals and domestic animals

transformed society,

00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,760

but there was also a third

Neolithic invention...

00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:38,920

pottery.

00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:44,600

Together, all three

created a completely new diet,

00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,520

a feature of Neolithic life

studied by Jacqui Wood.

00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:53,400

This is actually just wheat,

just boiled - another new

thing for the Neolithic.

00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:57,120

Some bread. A flat bread.

00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,840

That is so flavoursome.

This is a bit of prehistoric stew.

00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,520

Slow cooking?

Slow cooking, absolutely.

00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,160

Butter was a big thing

in the Neolithic.

00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:10,800

Bread and butter - what could

be more quintessentially British?

00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,120

I tell you what, absolutely

everything is so substantial!

00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:17,120

You wouldn't need much

of anything, would you?

00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,000

It sticks to your ribs -

and everything else!

00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,600

The new food might have seemed good,

but human remains show evidence

00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:29,760

of farmers being less healthy

than hunters, with their diet

of fresh fish and red deer.

00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,080

No more, I beg of you!

00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:36,560

And there was another price to pay.

00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,880

This is actually a real quern -

a Neolithic quern.

00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:41,480

This is the genuine article?

00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:43,120

This is the genuine article.

00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,080

Put some grain on first.

00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,480

So this is some thousand years old?

That's right.

00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:49,360

What's the action?

00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,640

Spread up and down, like that.

00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:56,040

That sound is the sound

00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,600

of the Stone Age, basically.

00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,760

I'm doing this for a minute, but

if you were put to work like this

00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:07,640

on a daily basis, what kind of

a toll, physical toll, would this

have had on people?

00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,000

We can actually see

that it did have a toll.

00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,840

In the archaeology, we find some

skeletons where the parts of the

00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:18,720

vertebrae are quite worn because

of repeatedly doing this grinding.

00:34:18,720 --> 00:34:25,400

You need to grind for a good hour

every day to make enough bread

for a family - every day.

00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:29,080

So the daily grind, basically.

00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:40,760

Despite all the individual hardships

it brought, it was the

sheer productivity

00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,800

of farming that made it irresistible

as a survival strategy.

00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,720

'This is where

our working lives began -

00:34:55,720 --> 00:34:59,720

'invented by the first farmers

of the Neolithic.'

00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:02,240

This was a point of no return.

00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:06,400

Farming was productive,

so people could have more children

00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,480

and open up more land

and the population increased.

00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,640

And there quickly came a day when

they couldn't go back to hunting

00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:17,640

even if they wanted to because there

were simply too many people around.

00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,440

And it wasn't just the daily grind.

00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:30,760

This new age would usher in the idea

of land ownership - and conflict.

00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:38,240

The Neolithic would

completely change how we

thought about ourselves -

00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:41,880

in this life and the next.

00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,960

The Neolithic revolution

changed our mindset.

00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:58,960

Not only towards work,

but the idea of the land

and our relationship to it.

00:36:01,720 --> 00:36:03,720

It changed our beliefs,

00:36:03,720 --> 00:36:09,440

and evidence of these new beliefs

can be found in massive stone tombs,

00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:14,000

some of which mark our countryside

even today.

00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,680

One of the most impressive

is in Wiltshire.

00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:35,920

This great long mound was created by

digging thousands of tons of chalk

rubble from ditches on either side.

00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:42,200

Some of the stones

weigh 40 tonnes and they were hauled

here from as much as a mile away.

00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,680

This is the work of a whole

community, not just one family,

00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,800

and its people, for whom the

creation of this mattered as much

00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,240

if not more

than anything else they were doing.

00:36:51,240 --> 00:36:53,720

And they were busy farmers.

00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:55,880

This isn't just a tomb.

00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,960

This isn't simply about

remembering a loved one.

00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,000

This is about creating an

entire world - one built

00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,560

by the community of the living

for the community of the dead.

00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:07,400

And wait till you see what's inside.

00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:14,320

About 40 people were buried here

00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:19,560

around 3600 BC over a period

00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:22,280

of maybe just 25 years or so.

00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:26,640

What we think happened was,

when someone died, if it was

00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:33,120

deemed appropriate that they

become part of this place,

their body would be laid out,

00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:38,120

maybe nearby, maybe even in here in

the passageway, and then

the natural process

00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:44,040

of decomposition would begin

and animals and birds would remove

the flesh over a period of time.

00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:50,840

And then,

once there was little remaining,

but the skeleton, the bones,

00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:54,400

they would be gathered up

and placed in the chambers.

00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,320

There was a particular logic

to this place.

00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:05,400

Old people and young people

in separate chambers

on either side of the passageway.

00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:12,840

And then, further in, maybe adult

males and females, again separated

on either side of the passageway.

00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,120

And then, all the way at the back,

00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,960

just the remains of adult males.

00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:24,520

They weren't laid out

as individuals, as intact skeletons.

00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:27,120

You would have a pile of skulls,

00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:33,360

then a separate neat pile

of vertebrae,

then another pile of long bones.

00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:38,640

That was important, because what

is going on is a process by which

00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:45,000

the loved ones

cease to be just individuals,

members of the community.

00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:51,720

They become part of one collective

presence, the ancestors.

00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:59,720

Strangely, though, tombs like

this weren't sealed, but left open.

00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:02,960

In some ways

they were more akin to temples

00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:07,280

which you could enter to commune

with the spirits of the dead.

00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:09,280

And imagine what that felt like

00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:13,640

for people who truly believed

that their loved ones,

00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:17,720

as well as the ancient dead,

were somehow in here,

00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:23,320

that their will was in here

and that they were watching them

and that they were aware.

00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:25,600

So you would come in here

00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:30,560

with great reverence and great

respect, with the hairs going up

on the back of your neck

00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:35,680

and all over your body, as you

wondered what would happen next.

00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:47,480

But these great structures

also had an earthly function.

00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:53,640

All around us is rich and fertile

farmland, highly valued.

00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:58,200

By building this here,

the people are laying claim to it.

00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:02,640

This long barrow forged a permanent

link between the community,

00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:07,000

their ancestors, and the fields

they had farmed for generations.

00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:14,080

This is about the arrival of

something new in our history,

the concept of ownership.

00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:21,600

But the notion of ownership,

the idea that a place, a territory,

00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:26,680

belonged to the tribe and their

ancestors was to have consequences.

00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:39,440

Up on top of this hill

00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:46,360

is the site of one

of the earliest examples of a great

watershed in British history -

00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:48,040

armed conflict.

00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:51,960

SHOUTS AND BATTLE CRIES

00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,680

Look at that for a view.

00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:13,280

That's the Severn Valley down there.

00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:18,000

Over there, ghostly in the mist,

the Malvern Hills.

00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:21,120

Over in that direction,

the Forest of Dean.

00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:24,480

Beyond that the Black Mountains

and onwards into Wales.

00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,520

That's modern day Gloucester

down there.

00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:31,080

But of course, 5,500 years ago

00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:34,360

that landscape would have

been predominantly woodland

00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:38,240

with the occasional

farmstead and cleared field.

00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:45,560

And in a sense,

whoever controlled this high ground,

controlled the landscape below.

00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:53,320

So if you wanted to lay claim to all

of that valuable land, you had to

take this, the top of Crickley Hill.

00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:57,040

And what's been found up here

is testament to that.

00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:03,360

Look at these.

00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:05,840

These are

half a dozen flint arrowheads

00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:07,440

and they're from a collection

00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,720

of around 450 complete arrowheads

or fragments

00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:15,040

that were found scattered

all across the top of Crickley Hill.

00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,280

To my eye,

00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,240

these are just the most

beautiful things.

00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:24,760

They're so symmetrical,

00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:26,560

so beautifully shaped.

00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,840

Look at the profile of that.

00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:31,360

Look how fine it is.

00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:35,920

How much effort has gone into taking

off infinite numbers of tiny flakes

00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:40,160

to produce that tear-shape

arrowhead.

00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:44,600

But as well as appreciating

the beauty of them,

00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:48,080

and some of these could be

jewellery,

00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:49,640

as well as appreciating that,

00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:52,280

you have to appreciate that this is

00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:56,240

also evidence of the

cruel intention to kill.

00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:11,520

5,000 years ago, the longbow

was state-of-the-art technology.

00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:15,360

What we've got here

is a Neolithic longbow.

00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:18,040

This particular piece of wood is ash.

00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:19,840

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