1
00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:10,240
This is the story
of how Britain came to be.

2
00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:11,880
Of how our land, and its people,

3
00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,800
were forged over thousands
of years of ancient history.

4
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:23,880
This Britain

5
00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:27,800
is a strange and alien world.

6
00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:32,880
A world that contains the epic story
of our distant, prehistoric past.

7
00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,960
Sudden climate change
and instability

8
00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:39,360
had ended the Bronze Age

9
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:40,600
and led to a new era...

10
00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:42,840
of iron.

11
00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,560
'This was a time
of brochs in the north...'

12
00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,800
Everything about this place
says "keep out".

13
00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,000
'..and hillforts in the south,

14
00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,840
'marking territories in which
the control of land was everything.

15
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,080
'What was emerging

16
00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,120
'was the world of Celtic Britain -

17
00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,560
'a society of warriors,

18
00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:07,640
'druids,

19
00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,520
'and kings of extraordinary wealth.'

20
00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:12,680
What events did he witness

21
00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:17,160
and what power did he wield?

22
00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,360
'Now the journey continues

23
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:23,320
'with the next chapter

24
00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:25,720
'in our epic story.'

25
00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:29,200
These beaches were lined
with thousands of British warriors -

26
00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,200
and out there, a fleet of 98 ships

27
00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,360
carrying two legions
of Roman infantry.

28
00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,880
A moment in history

29
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:42,560
when the Celtic tribes faced up to
a power of unimaginable force.

30
00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,560
Their heads were
cut off their bodies

31
00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:46,520
and their heads
were stuck on spikes.

32
00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,880
This is what would happen to you
if you got in the way of Rome.

33
00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:52,880
And Britain fell
to the greatest empire

34
00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:54,840
the world had ever seen.

35
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,200
Britain, 100 BC.

36
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,040
A land of Celtic tribes,

37
00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:22,560
led by powerful warrior kings.

38
00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,880
No more than 100 or so
regional leaders

39
00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,600
reigning over
one to two million people...

40
00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:36,160
all vying to protect their own lands

41
00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,160
and take that of their neighbours.

42
00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,440
The Iron Age tribes
were competitive,

43
00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:46,920
they were warlike,

44
00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:49,960
and their leaders
could be extremely wealthy.

45
00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,880
They were also
internationally connected.

46
00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:58,520
There's a remarkable insight

47
00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,160
into how widespread
those connections were,

48
00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:02,720
here in Edinburgh.

49
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,160
This is a collection
of gold jewellery

50
00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,800
found in Scotland just last year.

51
00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,440
They were actually unearthed near
Stirling, close to where I live.

52
00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,680
They are obviously magnificent,

53
00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:24,320
they're incredibly valuable,

54
00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:26,240
and, in fact, they're so precious

55
00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,680
I'm not allowed to lay
so much as a finger on them.

56
00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,800
Amongst many other things,

57
00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,240
they show the wealth and the power

58
00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:40,400
of some Iron Age
British tribal leaders.

59
00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,440
These first two

60
00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,240
are typically Scottish.

61
00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,120
They're certainly
what you'd expect to find

62
00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,160
a Celtic Scottish warlord owning.

63
00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:57,400
This one though,

64
00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:58,680
is a bit different.

65
00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:02,680
This was made
in the south of France,

66
00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:04,880
so it's a luxury import from Gaul.

67
00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,160
But the most intriguing story of all

68
00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:08,600
comes from this one.

69
00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,480
The level of craftsmanship here

70
00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:15,080
is of a different order
of magnitude.

71
00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:19,360
It's been made by twisting together

72
00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:23,560
eight delicate golden strands.

73
00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,880
Then there's this incredible
detailed finery

74
00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:29,320
on the terminals.

75
00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:37,200
This one is the work of hands
trained in the classical world.

76
00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:39,640
In 100 BC,

77
00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:41,760
that meant connections to one place,

78
00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:43,520
and one place only -

79
00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:45,600
Rome.

80
00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:50,760
During the course of
a century or so,

81
00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,280
Rome's armies had begun
to create an empire,

82
00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,160
extending from
their Mediterranean heartlands

83
00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,200
along the coasts
of Africa and Europe.

84
00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,040
Now that expansion

85
00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:07,480
was bringing trade to the
northern Celtic tribes of Gaul...

86
00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:08,760
and to Britain.

87
00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:19,280
The English Channel was all
that separated island Britain

88
00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:21,440
from Gaul in northern France,

89
00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:22,640
and the river routes

90
00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,800
leading south to the classical world
of the Mediterranean.

91
00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,680
But for the Celtic kings
on both sides of the Channel,

92
00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:32,720
increasing contact with Rome

93
00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,200
wasn't a military threat,

94
00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,960
but an economic opportunity.

95
00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,840
And here, behind those cliffs,
was the heart of Britain's
international trade -

96
00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:44,880
Hengistbury Head,

97
00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,080
near Christchurch
on the south coast.

98
00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:48,160
2,000 years ago,

99
00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,200
this was the busiest port
in the whole of Britain.

100
00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,080
Hengistbury forms a narrow peninsula

101
00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:59,400
sheltering a perfect,
natural harbour.

102
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:08,440
This was the gateway
into Ancient Britain.

103
00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,960
A vibrant hub of everything
international and exotic.

104
00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:17,360
From around 100 BC,

105
00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,240
this vast headland

106
00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,720
was fast becoming
the most important settlement

107
00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:23,240
in the whole of Britain.

108
00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:24,480
It was a boomtown,

109
00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,520
fuelled by international trade.

110
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:29,400
This whole area would have been busy

111
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,240
with hundreds of merchants'
trading posts.

112
00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:36,600
There would have been people
smelting iron, making jewellery,
and all sorts.

113
00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:38,640
There would have been
shops and homes.

114
00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:40,840
It would be a cosmopolitan place,

115
00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:43,000
like any busy port
in the modern day.

116
00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,400
So, there'd be people from
foreign places, foreign accents,

117
00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,320
exotic foods and smells.

118
00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:53,200
So much of it would be
instantly recognisable to us.

119
00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:58,640
'Iron Age specialist
Sir Barry Cunliffe

120
00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,800
'has studied Hengistbury
for decades.'

121
00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,520
So what kind of things
were coming through Hengistbury?

122
00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:10,200
The most obvious was wine,

123
00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,800
which came from North Italy

124
00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,600
in these great containers

125
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:16,800
called amphorae.

126
00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,360
It would be a tall neck
with a big handle.

127
00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,120
There's the other...
They're massive, aren't they?

128
00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:23,200
Huge things.

129
00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:25,640
It would take a couple of people
to carry them.

130
00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,680
They would stand
a metre and a half high

131
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:30,640
and contain a great deal of wine.

132
00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:32,880
The first wine drunk in Britain

133
00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,800
was probably wine drunk out of these
amphorae, somewhere down here.

134
00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,640
These are rather smaller items,

135
00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,680
which you see
is just a chunk of glass.

136
00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,320
But it's manganese glass,

137
00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,360
and they would be
VERY valuable objects of trade.

138
00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,600
A big block of that glass would be
worth a huge amount of money.

139
00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:54,480
And we've also got a little piece
of yellow glass as well.

140
00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,640
Goodness, that's glass!
I wouldn't have realised.

141
00:07:57,640 --> 00:07:59,880
It looks more like a fleck of paint.

142
00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:03,200
And, again, people wouldn't have seen
anything like that.

143
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,440
The most amazing thing, I think,

144
00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,880
is...this piece of bracelet.

145
00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,040
Oh, goodness, that's fantastic!

146
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:16,440
So that's that raw purple glass
and that yellow, brought together.

147
00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,640
The yellow glass
would be very, very rare

148
00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:21,720
and they've just used it
to make the trail.

149
00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,520
If you can give people
something they've never had before,

150
00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,200
like wine at a feast,

151
00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:31,360
then your status
will stay pretty high.

152
00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,160
If you can give them one of these
glass bracelets in a feast,

153
00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:36,240
as a gift,

154
00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:37,920
my word, you had power!

155
00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,560
The future came in through
this door, didn't it?

156
00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:41,960
That's absolutely right.

157
00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:45,960
'But these boom times

158
00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,320
'were about to come to
an abrupt end

159
00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:50,680
'all because of war.'

160
00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,640
All the amphorae found here
are from the same period.

161
00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:57,640
After that,

162
00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,680
the import of Roman luxuries
stopped.

163
00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:01,680
What's clear,

164
00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:04,760
is that by around 50 or 60 BC,

165
00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,600
the good times were over
at Hengistbury Head.

166
00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:09,680
And why?

167
00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:12,320
The Romans were on the march.

168
00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:14,560
Just across that narrow channel,
in Gaul,

169
00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:17,320
things had turned ugly.

170
00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,360
Nobody was thinking very much
about trade any more.

171
00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,040
Instead, all minds were preoccupied

172
00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,000
by the brutal war
that had broken out,

173
00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:29,920
as the Romans sought
to take over Celtic Gaul.

174
00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:34,800
The Roman Army was coming closer

175
00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:37,240
and as war raged in mainland Europe,

176
00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:41,280
island Britain, for all her
warrior kings and Celtic glory,

177
00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:43,720
suddenly looked vulnerable.

178
00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,480
'Britain was about to
enter a new chapter

179
00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:54,680
'because, under the Romans,

180
00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:56,480
'nothing would be the same again.'

181
00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,400
When the Romans came to Britain,
they changed everything -

182
00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:04,000
modern governance,
with laws and taxation.

183
00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,800
The idea of urban life -
towns and cities -

184
00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:10,560
connected by roads.

185
00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:13,400
Written language,

186
00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:15,840
with names for people and places,

187
00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:18,080
as well as dates.

188
00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:21,320
THIS would be the very end
of prehistory.

189
00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,280
But the arrival of Romans in Britain
wasn't going to happen overnight...

190
00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,480
and not without a series
a brutal conflicts.

191
00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:54,800
Early on the morning
of the 23rd August, 55 years BC,

192
00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:56,560
these beaches in Kent

193
00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:59,080
were lined with
thousands of British warriors.

194
00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,560
On horseback, in chariots,

195
00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:03,360
brandishing long swords -

196
00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:05,080
they were a fearsome sight.

197
00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:06,320
Just days earlier,

198
00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,640
their leaders had turned down
an invitation to surrender,

199
00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,920
opting instead to rise
to the challenge of invasion.

200
00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:16,600
Having crushed Gaul,

201
00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,880
'by 55 BC,
Rome had set its sights on Britain

202
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:22,640
'- one more prize.'

203
00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,960
Out there, a fleet of 98 ships,

204
00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:32,800
carrying two legions of Roman
infantry - 20,000 soldiers.

205
00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:34,840
And, at their head, Julius Caesar,

206
00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,320
Roman general and budding emperor,

207
00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,560
intent on demonstrating
his bravery and strength

208
00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:42,360
to the citizens of Rome.

209
00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:46,120
And what better challenge

210
00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:48,920
than to make
the treacherous Channel crossing

211
00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,480
and add Britain
to his list of triumphs.

212
00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,840
As the huge fleet of warships
approached these shores,

213
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:02,120
the British warriors
knew what was at stake.

214
00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:03,920
The mission was clear -

215
00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,160
to fight to protect
their own identity,

216
00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,960
and to defend Britain's
independence from Rome.

217
00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:13,440
As it happened,

218
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:15,000
the hostile British welcome

219
00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:16,640
AND the shallow Kent beaches

220
00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,360
were more than Caesar
had bargained for.

221
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,040
He was quickly sent off with
a bloody nose and some broken boats.

222
00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:24,800
The hardmen of Britain had won,

223
00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:26,640
at least for a while.

224
00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,120
But Caesar
wasn't about to back down.

225
00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,600
He just needed even more force,

226
00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,960
and that's something
Rome had in plenty.

227
00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,800
On the 7th of July
the following year, Caesar was back.

228
00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:44,320
This time with 800 ships,

229
00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,160
carrying 50,000
professional soldiers

230
00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:49,200
and 2,000 cavalry.

231
00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:50,600
For a glorious century,

232
00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,400
Britain had enjoyed
the finest Roman luxuries.

233
00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:56,520
Now they were to take a dose

234
00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,600
of Roman brute force.

235
00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,240
If ever there was a time when
the warring tribes of Britain

236
00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:05,440
needed to stand
shoulder to shoulder,

237
00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:06,920
this was it.

238
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:10,960
The lands of Celtic Britain

239
00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,400
were divided into fiercely
independent tribal territories.

240
00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:20,240
Those facing Caesar
were in the Southeast.

241
00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:23,920
The Cantiaci,

242
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:26,960
who gave their name to Kent.

243
00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:30,000
The Iceni, in Norfolk.

244
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:31,040
The Trinovantes,

245
00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:33,480
in Essex and Sussex.

246
00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:34,920
And, most powerful of all,

247
00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:36,520
the Catuvellauni,

248
00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:38,320
who controlled extensive lands

249
00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:39,560
north of the Thames.

250
00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,440
The trouble was that the Trinovantes
hated the Catuvellauni

251
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:52,880
even more than they hated
the Romans.

252
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:54,840
The Trinovantes were an Essex tribe

253
00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,480
locked in a war with their
belligerent neighbours,
the Catuvellauni,

254
00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:00,680
a name that meant expert warriors.

255
00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:02,480
After their king was murdered,

256
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,360
the Essex boys reasoned

257
00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:06,960
that they could get revenge
by helping Caesar.

258
00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:09,120
So they guided him across Kent,

259
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:11,440
towards Catuvellauni territory.

260
00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:21,040
The British tribes, led by
the leader of the Catuvellauni,

261
00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,720
had moved inland, hoping to
ambush Caesar as he moved north.

262
00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:29,840
Only one man was trusted
to command the force,

263
00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:34,600
the most fearsome and belligerent
leader of the most fearsome
and belligerent tribe -

264
00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:35,920
Cassivellaunus,

265
00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:38,080
king of the expert warriors,

266
00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,280
sworn enemy of
Caesar's new-found friends.

267
00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:45,320
These were tough warriors,

268
00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,600
fighting for their lives and homes

269
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,240
and armed with the very latest

270
00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,080
in Iron Age weapons.

271
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,760
The British possessed a weapon
they had invented,

272
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,800
one that was desired
throughout Europe -

273
00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:07,320
the long, iron, slashing sword.

274
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:32,920
The lesson there is

275
00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:33,960
don't stand still

276
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,320
if a man on a horse
is coming at you with a sword.

277
00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:38,520
At least duck!

278
00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,680
Andy Deane is an expert
in ancient combat.

279
00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:46,560
If you're on horseback,

280
00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,560
you're coming down on
those vulnerable areas higher up.

281
00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:51,320
If we were on foot,

282
00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:53,640
then I'd be looking for
vulnerable targets,

283
00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:55,880
like the tendons at
the back of the knee.

284
00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,320
As soon as I've hit that, it's
basically an execution after that.

285
00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:01,000
So, you'd choose your targets.

286
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,560
So even on the ground,
you'd still be chopping down...
Yeah. I'd try not to chop too much.

287
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:07,920
I'd try and keep the sword moving
all the time,

288
00:16:07,920 --> 00:16:11,040
so I retained energy,
so that movement would keep it going.

289
00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:14,360
So if I was coming for your leg,
it would be cut, sliced through.

290
00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:18,320
and as you went down,
I would do the coup de grace.
Can I... Of course you may.

291
00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,440
I can see your eyes lighting up.
I want to hack at something.

292
00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:25,080
We can organise that.
We can get something big and solid
to have a play with.

293
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:26,800
I fear I might do an air shot.

294
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:28,960
Do NOT let go of the sword.

295
00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,440
I can only... It's this thing
about... I want to do that...

296
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:33,960
Honestly, if you use...

297
00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,560
Have a couple of sort of
swipes over the top.

298
00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,360
Yeah. A bit like a golf swing. Yeah.

299
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:43,600
And literally, as if you're taking
the top of a dandelion off.

300
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,200
Right.

301
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:48,080
OK.

302
00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:53,280
I think I might be a natural
backhand, actually. Really? No. OK.

303
00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:56,320
Oh!

304
00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:58,320
ANDY LAUGHS
It doesn't even slow down!

305
00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,040
No. Absolutely stunning! Wow!

306
00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:02,680
Have another go.

307
00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,480
But, for all their swords,
chariots, and spears,

308
00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,280
the British were driven back.

309
00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:18,720
Their last hope

310
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:20,440
was to mount a final defence

311
00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,400
on the north bank of the Thames.

312
00:17:24,360 --> 00:17:25,400
Over there,

313
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,280
where those trees are today,

314
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,840
the Thames opened out
into a wide, marshy ford

315
00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,440
that was just shallow enough
to walk across.

316
00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:36,400
Now only that ford

317
00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,480
stood between Rome
and the British heartlands.

318
00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:44,960
The British chief

319
00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,720
assembled his forces here
on the north shore,

320
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,000
and he lined the bank
with sharpened stakes

321
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,320
in preparation for an ambush.

322
00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:53,400
Really, though,

323
00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:56,760
the best hope was that the Romans
would never find this place,

324
00:17:56,760 --> 00:18:00,200
and the river would act as a
natural barrier, holding them back.

325
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,200
But with the help
of their new British Allies,

326
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:05,640
the invaders were here in no time

327
00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:08,280
and the end game was in sight.

328
00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,440
It's strange to think that today,

329
00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:18,480
you can relax here with a drink,

330
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:21,640
surrounded by
this very British scene.

331
00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:23,600
Because it was here,
2,000 years ago,

332
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,120
that British history
hung in the balance.

333
00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:28,880
The Roman Army just kept on coming,

334
00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,240
wave after wave of soldiers.

335
00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:32,920
The British ambush was in vain,

336
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:34,000
and once again,

337
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,760
they were forced to
abandon their position and flee.

338
00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,280
With the country laid wide open
to the invaders,

339
00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:41,760
the chiefs in the area
knew what was coming

340
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:43,920
and one by one, they defected,

341
00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,280
becoming sworn allies of Rome.

342
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:50,960
The British leader, Cassivellaunus,

343
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:52,760
and his closest followers,

344
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:54,600
put up one last stand

345
00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,080
but were massacred.

346
00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:01,320
This was more than
the end of an era,

347
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,600
it was the end of Britain's
ancient prehistory,

348
00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:08,440
unfolding in the face
of an unstoppable force -

349
00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,400
Rome and the modern world.

350
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:16,560
After such a decisive victory,

351
00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:20,400
it's tempting to imagine Britain
falling under outright Roman rule.

352
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:22,560
But that's not what happened.

353
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,840
With pledges of allegiance
from the tribes of the Southeast,

354
00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:27,560
it seemed Caesar was satisfied.

355
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,160
After just three months
in the country, he left,

356
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,000
taking his entire army with him.

357
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,440
The Britain he left behind

358
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,960
was by no means completely Roman.

359
00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:41,360
But it wasn't completely British
any more either,

360
00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:44,360
and her people
would never be the same again.

361
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,920
Britain was entering
a whole new chapter.

362
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:55,160
But, so far,

363
00:19:55,160 --> 00:20:00,440
Roman force had only touched
a small part of our land.

364
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:01,640
In the north and west,

365
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:03,640
Caesar's expedition must have seemed

366
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,080
as distant as his war with Gaul.

367
00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,000
But in the south,

368
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,040
things were different.

369
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:14,720
Some tribes hated the Romans,

370
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,680
others saw the idea
of taking on modern Roman ways

371
00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:20,640
as a bright new future.

372
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,360
It was to be the best part
of a century

373
00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:29,280
before any Roman soldier ever
set foot on British soil again.

374
00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:31,720
But in the decades after 55 BC,

375
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,800
Britain began to change
from the inside,

376
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,000
and remarkable evidence for that

377
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,000
is being found here in Hampshire.

378
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,600
Look at these massive walls

379
00:20:58,600 --> 00:20:59,840
and this gateway!

380
00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:01,160
They mark the perimeter

381
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:04,600
of one of the most important cities
in all of Roman Britain -

382
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:06,040
Calleva.

383
00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,280
We know it today as Silchester.

384
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:15,400
But the town of Silchester

385
00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:21,680
began life long before Britain
became part of the Roman Empire.

386
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,960
What archaeologists are finding
is evidence of a proper town,

387
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,920
quite unlike anything
ever found before in Britain.

388
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,400
A town founded by Britons,

389
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:30,800
built by Britons

390
00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,080
and run by Britons.

391
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:39,560
'Amanda Clarke is in charge of
one of the biggest
archaeological excavations

392
00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:42,000
'taking place in Britain today.'

393
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,160
Where we're walking now

394
00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:46,520
is the surface of a street

395
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,480
that we believe was founded
as early as 25 BC.

396
00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,560
So, in the Iron Age.

397
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,680
This isn't just random territory
we're walking across here,

398
00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:55,800
this is a street.

399
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,320
This is actually a street surface.

400
00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:02,280
It runs from the northeast
down to the southwest,

401
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:03,960
which is the Iron Age alignment.

402
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,800
Ah, right. So, completely counter

403
00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,680
to the way the Romans subsequently
aligned their grid plan?

404
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,640
We believe it's aligned
to the midsummer sunrise

405
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:14,480
and the midwinter sunset.

406
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,760
That's what the Iron Age people

407
00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:18,960
aligned their buildings
and streets on.

408
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:22,680
Where does the road go when
it hits the corner of the trench?
What happens?

409
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,080
It turns a 90 degrees right angle,

410
00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,120
and joins with a wider street

411
00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:31,360
which runs from the northwest
to the southeast.

412
00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:34,200
Iron Age towns aren't supposed
to do that, are they?

413
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,640
They're not supposed to be regular
like that.

414
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:40,200
That's certainly what was believed
before we started working here -

415
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,640
that the Iron Age towns
were much more organically developed.

416
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,040
And it really wasn't
until two years ago

417
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:50,040
that these streets began to appear
in our excavation

418
00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:55,360
and we realised, "Hang on, this is
actually laid out on a grid system."

419
00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:57,560
It implies so many things,

420
00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,080
not least,
that somebody had to plan it,

421
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:01,800
somebody had to organise it.

422
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,880
That you had to decide
where certain buildings were.

423
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:06,640
It's a real difference.

424
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:12,080
'Iron Age Silchester

425
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,240
'is the earliest known example
of urban design

426
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,120
'anywhere in Britain.'

427
00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:20,040
So, who was having these ideas,

428
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,760
if there were no Romans here
at the time?

429
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,440
Well, Caesar had left
30 years before

430
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:28,600
and he took hostages with him -

431
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,480
sons of the elite.

432
00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:35,320
They weren't exactly captured
and taken against their will,

433
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,600
it was more as gestures of goodwill,

434
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,680
guarantees of healthy relationships
in the future.

435
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:43,400
They were schooled in Rome,

436
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,640
and then sent home,

437
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,800
full of Roman habits and ideas,
to spread the word.

438
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,440
They'd be the ones saying,
when it came time to build a city,

439
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:56,880
"If you're going to do that,
the streets and roads have to be
laid out in a grid pattern.

440
00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:58,320
"It's all got to be done right.

441
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:00,640
"It's got to be done
the way they do it in Rome."

442
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:04,160
And in Silchester,

443
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,360
it wasn't only the streets
that were becoming Romanised.

444
00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:11,320
The Roman influence is tangible in
the foods that were being consumed.

445
00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:15,160
There's evidence of the use
of coriander, dill and anchovies.

446
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:19,000
There's also evidence
of the consumption of oysters -

447
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,720
these shells here.

448
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,480
Iron Age Britons,
prior to contact with Rome,

449
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:26,960
weren't eating oysters.

450
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,560
So the fact that these
had come back into fashion

451
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:31,600
is evidence of contact with Rome,

452
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:36,000
of people acquiring Roman habits
and Roman tastes.

453
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,080
This tiny coin - excavated here -

454
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,760
is a very powerful indication

455
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,200
of just how much
the people living here

456
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,040
modelled themselves on Rome.

457
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:48,520
It's a silver minim.

458
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,280
On this face

459
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,520
it has the head of the king,

460
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,000
looking every inch
the Roman Emperor.

461
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,280
Except, on his head,
instead of a crown,

462
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:00,640
he has a Celtic torc.

463
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,120
There's even writing on it.

464
00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:06,800
On this side,
the name of the king, Verica.

465
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,720
On the other side,

466
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:11,880
there's another Celtic torc,

467
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,520
and it surrounds two letters - CF.

468
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,880
These stand for Commius Filius,

469
00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:19,680
son of Commius,

470
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:24,040
the first king
of the Atrebates tribe.

471
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,560
This is from very early in
the 1st century,

472
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,120
a time when most British people
had no idea about writing.

473
00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:35,200
So to incorporate writing
on this coin is truly radical.

474
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:38,360
This was new -

475
00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:40,800
not entirely Roman,

476
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,400
but not entirely Celtic either.

477
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:49,000
In Silchester, classical and
Celtic cultures were colliding,

478
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,960
touching not just the social elite,

479
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,920
but the lives of everyone
who lived here.

480
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,920
This is a fascinating,
exciting time to imagine -

481
00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:01,800
the coming of Rome.

482
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:08,040
I suppose it's easiest to imagine
that the British social elite

483
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,160
would have been the first
and the fastest

484
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,520
to take on Roman ways.

485
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:16,040
But here - in the building
of this town, this city -

486
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:20,200
for the first time, we see
Roman practices, the Roman way,

487
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:23,840
being embedded into
the very fabric of people's lives.

488
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,680
To such an extent
that it even determined

489
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,160
the layout of their streets
and roads and buildings.

490
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:31,360
But imagine, too,

491
00:26:31,360 --> 00:26:34,040
what all of this was like
for ordinary people,

492
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,040
coming in from the surrounding area,

493
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,360
encountering a city
for the first time.

494
00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:42,600
Walking along
regimented grids of streets,

495
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,960
smelling foreign foods,
seeing the new clothes.

496
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,080
It must have been, quite literally,

497
00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,920
like walking into an alien world.

498
00:26:54,160 --> 00:27:00,120
But Silchester and
the Roman-friendly pockets
of south-east England were rare.

499
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,000
Across most of Britain,

500
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,440
the tribal traditions of the Celtic
Iron Age continued unabated.

501
00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:24,440
Look at this slope -

502
00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:26,680
this is a rampart.

503
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,520
Now, some British tribes may have
bought into the Roman dream,

504
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:32,960
but almost a century after Caesar,

505
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:34,800
this giant fortress

506
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:36,240
was still a proud symbol

507
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:37,840
of Iron-Age Celtic identity.

508
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,960
This great hillfort

509
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,800
was the focal point of tribal life
for the Durotriges,

510
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:48,000
a powerful Dorset tribe.

511
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,680
Behind these massive ramparts,

512
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:54,480
was an obvious place of defence,

513
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,520
a safe haven in time of war.

514
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,400
But for 100 years or more,

515
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,160
there'd been relative peace
in this part of Britain.

516
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,480
By the middle of the 1st century AD,

517
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:07,960
people were living far and wide
in scattered settlements.

518
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:12,640
This fort, and others like it,
had become symbolic focal points,

519
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,040
places in which to gather
for storage, for trade,

520
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,600
for ceremony and for worship.

521
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,680
But in AD43,

522
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,800
almost 200 miles
to the east, in Kent,

523
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,280
Roman troops landed once more.

524
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,160
This time,
to go one better than Caesar,

525
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:34,400
and take all of Britain,

526
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,880
to make it part of the Empire

527
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:38,840
under total Roman rule.

528
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:43,040
Hod Hill,
and other hillforts like it,

529
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,360
were to see action once more.

530
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,040
Studies of human remains,

531
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,280
reveal the outcome
of the bloody battles

532
00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,200
for Dorset's Iron Age hillforts.

533
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,880
They appear to have been stabbed,
one person has trauma to their hand

534
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,840
so they may have actually tried
to grab the weapon.

535
00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:10,880
And on this individual,
this square aperture here

536
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,520
was probably caused by a Roman spear.

537
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,600
There are multiple chop marks,

538
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,240
so they were disfiguring
these people.

539
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:21,960
They're more than necessary
to kill them

540
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,520
and they're quite violent and
aggressive injuries.

541
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:31,200
It wasn't only male warriors
who were on the receiving
end of the Roman swords.

542
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,520
We have one woman where she has
a chop mark to the back of her leg,

543
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:41,680
and she has a further two big
chop marks to the back of her head.

544
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:45,560
And that's quite commonly seen
where people are trying to run away.

545
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:49,360
As well as hand-to-hand combat,

546
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:54,280
the full might of Rome was being
launched in a wave of shock and awe.

547
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,440
What we've got here is this
embedded projectile.

548
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,280
So you can see that
it's come in at a slight angle

549
00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,920
and has removed portions
of the bone.

550
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,360
These projectiles are actually fired,
kind of like artillery weapons.

551
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,880
If the sheer weight of numbers
and military organisation
weren't enough...

552
00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:21,160
..the Roman army also brought
a new machinery of war.

553
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,480
This is your missile...
This is the weapon?

554
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:26,440
You might call it an arrow,
we call it a bolt.

555
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:32,560
'Just weeks after landing, Rome had
taken control of the South East -

556
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:36,200
'but it wasn't until about a year
later that they began their campaign

557
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:38,680
'for the Celtic heartlands
of the west.'

558
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,040
Ohhh! Over the top.

559
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,360
You can imagine these things
coming out of the sky -

560
00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:47,800
if you were the enemy
you wouldn't see them coming -

561
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,240
and imagine a whole
battery of these.

562
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:53,600
What range are we talking about,
then, with one of these?

563
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,120
The ancient writers tell us they
could go something like 300 metres.

564
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:58,760
This could go 300 metres?

565
00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:03,160
Yeah, which is way, way beyond
what a bowman could do.

566
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,920
From the surrounding area,
the tribespeople gathered

567
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,760
behind the ramparts
lined with sharpened stakes.

568
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,200
They faced a dreadful choice -
should they risk their identity

569
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,880
and accept the so-called
civilisation of the Roman Empire,

570
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:23,120
or risk their lives, and fight
to retain their independence?

571
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:28,840
'But even the defences of the giant
hill forts were no match

572
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:32,880
'for the Romans, as its armies
stormed into the South West.'

573
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,040
Right, same guy,
third on the left...

574
00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,120
Third on the left.
Head shot.

575
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:50,520
BOLT HITS TARGET
Yes!

576
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:56,040
So if that was flesh and bone,
that would have gone through and
out the other side?

577
00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,440
It would have been sticking out
your backbone, yes. Wow...

578
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:05,720
'The continuing invasion, though,

579
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,840
'was much more than a series of
battles and route marches.

580
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,440
'It was a colossal
logistical exercise -

581
00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,080
'a masterplan the Romans knew
would take decades to complete.'

582
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,160
It's tempting to imagine the Romans

583
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:23,000
sweeping across Britain
in a great wave,

584
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:24,920
but it wasn't like that.

585
00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:29,560
In fact, it was more of a slow,
steady creep, decade by decade,

586
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:33,280
fighting all the way -
building roads, building forts.

587
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:37,360
Everywhere they went, they had to
create an entire infrastructure.

588
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,720
Years of construction created
a whole network of roads

589
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,600
that linked military garrisons,

590
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,760
strategically spaced to control
Southern England.

591
00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:04,080
This is a Roman military road -
part of a network that eventually

592
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:08,160
stretched for 2,000 miles
throughout the whole country.

593
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:14,080
These were the motorways
of the Roman occupation -

594
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:18,280
express routes to help them
keep the natives under control.

595
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:24,000
But for the native Britons,
the psychological impact
of their presence

596
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,680
was every bit as much as disturbing
as their practical function.

597
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,560
Each road, a monument
to the Roman army.

598
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:36,400
In places, this bank is as much as
six feet high and 50 feet wide.

599
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,360
That's some statement to make
to the locals -

600
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,800
a constant, impressive reminder
of the might of Rome.

601
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:53,720
With a military
infrastructure in place,

602
00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:57,280
the Romans then began
to build towns -

603
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:01,320
Colchester, London and St Albans -

604
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,240
in the comparatively safe
South East.

605
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,960
Exeter, Gloucester, and Lincoln
on the frontier.

606
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:12,120
But it would take decades to
expand this frontier -

607
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:13,920
first into Wales...

608
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,160
..and then to the North.

609
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:21,280
York was founded in AD71,

610
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:25,320
and the far reaches
of Carlisle in AD79.

611
00:34:29,720 --> 00:34:34,480
After 35 years of Roman campaigns,
much of the template
of modern Britain

612
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,560
had been carved
from its ancient landscapes.

613
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:45,360
One of the very first Roman towns
was Colchester, or Camulodunum,

614
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:50,320
founded in AD49, just six years
after the start of the invasion.

615
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,200
This gate, known as
the Balkerne gate,

616
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:59,480
is the oldest surviving, most
complete Roman gateway in Britain.

617
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:01,720
It was once part of
an enormous triumphal arch,

618
00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:05,360
built to honour
the Roman emperor Claudius.

619
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,400
Now, if you lived in an iron age
village, in a roundhouse,

620
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:12,680
you wouldn't really need to
feel the sharp edge of a Roman sword

621
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,520
to know that the people
who were building these

622
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,720
were the people in control.

623
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,240
A Roman soldier returning
here from the front,

624
00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:25,680
or a civilian bureaucrat
counting taxes,

625
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,880
would have found a place
little different to any other town

626
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:31,960
anywhere in the empire.

627
00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:38,320
These towns were built
in the image of Rome, for Romans.

628
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:42,120
The most important started out
as colonies for retired soldiers -

629
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,120
so clearly, they were here to stay.

630
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,720
If the Roman army was the
cutting edge,

631
00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:51,160
then these towns
were the beating heart.

632
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,920
These were the nerve centres of
Roman rule and administration,

633
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:58,360
and you can imagine the impact on
the local population

634
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:02,800
as people were press-ganged
into actually BUILDING these towns!

635
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,320
These skulls were found
in the 1970s.

636
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,360
They were excavated from within
the fill of a ditch,

637
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:23,400
that was originally cut
soon after the Roman invasion began.

638
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,040
Apart from one small piece
of arm bone,

639
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:28,840
there were no other
human remains with them.

640
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:32,280
So these weren't burials -
these were skulls that had been

641
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,600
thrown away, discarded like rubbish.

642
00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,800
These men -
and they are native British men -

643
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:46,320
lived around 50AD,
soon after the Roman invasion,

644
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,800
and precisely when the bright,
shiny new city

645
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,000
of Camulodunum was being built.

646
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,280
But what's more fascinating
about them

647
00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:59,920
is the fact that they
didn't die of natural causes.

648
00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:02,560
This is a depressed fracture.

649
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:07,040
It shows no signs of healing, so
it probably caused this man's death.

650
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:12,200
It's been the result of him
having been struck very forcibly

651
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:15,360
with something blunt, but heavy -

652
00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:18,280
he's been bludgeoned to death.

653
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,800
There's even more graphic
violence on this skull, though.

654
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,440
Towards the base
of the back of the skull,

655
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:29,320
you can see a notch of bone
has been hacked away.

656
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:34,960
This man, soon after death,

657
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:40,720
was the victim of a fairly crude,
brutal decapitation.

658
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,680
It seems likely that these men
were executed by the Romans -

659
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:51,520
their heads were cut from their
bodies, and then impaled on spikes.

660
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,560
These were an example -
this was to show passers-by

661
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,240
what happened to transgressors,
opponents of Rome.

662
00:37:58,240 --> 00:38:01,280
Whoever these men were,
whatever they were doing,

663
00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:06,880
they had become victims of an
oppressive, often violent regime,

664
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:13,920
that was extending its control
over the newly acquired
colony of Britannia.

665
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,280
Rome was transforming Britain,

666
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,320
and its efforts were
all for one purpose -

667
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:29,480
to plunder our land
of its natural resources.

668
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,440
Copper and tin had been central
to Britain's economy

669
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,000
right back into the Bronze Age.

670
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:43,480
But Britain also had other minerals
that were prized by the Romans.

671
00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:56,200
These scars are the remains
of Roman lead mining.

672
00:38:56,200 --> 00:39:00,160
In some places, these trenches -
or rakes, as they're called -

673
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,440
are 100m long and 10m wide.

674
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:07,480
It took the Roman army just six
years to get their fort established,

675
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:11,120
and to get the lead mining
up and running at full tilt.

676
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:14,520
And it must have been some
operation,

677
00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,440
because very quickly these hills
were established

678
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:20,640
as the single biggest lead mine in
the whole of the Roman Empire.

679
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:24,160
Spanish lead producers felt
so threatened by what was going on,

680
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,960
they tried to demand a cut
in production here - some hope!

681
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:35,040
The scale of lead mining
here in the Mendips

682
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,080
wouldn't be seen again
for a thousand years.

683
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,040
This is an ingot of Roman lead,

684
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:48,120
mined from these hills
2,000 or so years ago.

685
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:51,760
Now, lead had long been used
by the native Britons

686
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:55,800
as a constituent of bronze,
as a constituent of pewter -

687
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:57,520
but the Romans had found

688
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,800
more practical applications
for the metal.

689
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:03,320
They'd used it for plumbing,
obviously,

690
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:08,320
they'd used it for lead pipes,
and as parts of aqueducts...

691
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:13,280
They had also, more worryingly
given that lead is toxic,

692
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,960
used it to line cooking vessels.

693
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,560
They'd even used lead
within some recipes.

694
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:23,240
The lead was smelted
behind the walls of the Roman fort,

695
00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:26,480
and the fort
was kept heavily guarded.

696
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:28,520
This is an incredibly heavy object -

697
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:30,720
it weighs about as much
as a grown man.

698
00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:33,400
There'd be around 90kg in this one.

699
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:37,040
This ingot is stamped

700
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,720
'The Property Of The
Emperor Vespasian Augustus'.

701
00:40:40,720 --> 00:40:46,000
Now, the reason this material
mattered so much that it could bear

702
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:51,480
the name of an emperor, is because
of what's contained within it.

703
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:58,400
By processing lead,
Roman metallurgists could extract

704
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:02,440
another metal that lay at the very
heart of the Roman economy...

705
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:06,040
..silver.

706
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:08,400
This is the starting point of
all of this.

707
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:10,960
This is just a piece of galena -
lead sulfide,

708
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:12,480
which is the lead mineral for which

709
00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:14,400
everyone would be mining
here in the Mendips.

710
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:16,440
So that's naturally occurring?

711
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:19,080
Yeah. Exactly. This is galena.
It's a mineral, not a metal.

712
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:26,680
That's actually too hot
to sit in front of.
Well, that's a very good sign...

713
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:35,200
What scale would the Roman smelters
have been working on?

714
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:39,800
They would normally work at a scale
at least ten times larger than this.

715
00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:44,480
The lead has already melted,
and as soon as we're exposing

716
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:49,400
it to oxygen, as you can see,
it's tarnishing at the surface,
it's becoming yellow -

717
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:53,440
and all of this yellowness
is the lead oxide. That's
precisely what we want to happen.

718
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,920
We want progressively to oxidise
all of this lead, until eventually

719
00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,720
we're left with the silver...

720
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:06,880
There it is! Indeed. Well, there's
SOMETHING shining in the bottom...

721
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:09,040
Yes. That's our silver.

722
00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:10,560
Wow!

723
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:14,800
And that, at the end of it,

724
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,920
is the justification
for this scarred landscape.

725
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:29,240
It was natural resources that made
the conquest of western Britain
a priority - and above all, Wales -

726
00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:34,240
because out here
the Romans knew there was the
most valuable prize of all.

727
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:40,040
They were 30 years into
their invasion of Britain
before Wales was finally subdued,

728
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:45,400
and this was a major prize - because
here in these hills, there was gold.

729
00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:59,880
In typical Roman style, the
technology they used was staggering.

730
00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:03,080
This was gold mining on
a truly industrial scale.

731
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:11,680
Here, they built aqueducts
along that hillside, to bring water
directly into the mine workings

732
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:16,360
from seven miles away
in that direction, and from
five miles away over there.

733
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:21,200
The water was channelled
into great tanks,
each the size of a tennis court.

734
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:23,960
This is one of them -
or the remains of it -

735
00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:29,160
and if you look
you can see rising up
the remains of the retaining walls.

736
00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:33,680
Massively built to contain as
much as a million gallons of water.

737
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:38,640
You see, the Romans weren't
interested in just collecting flecks
of gold from the rivers and streams.

738
00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:41,160
Instead,
they would open sluice gates -

739
00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:44,240
this is the remains of
one here - and then all

740
00:43:44,240 --> 00:43:49,800
those millions of gallons of water
would flood down the hillside,
stripping away trees, plants,

741
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:51,120
the very soil,

742
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,960
to expose the veins of quartzite
that contained the gold.

743
00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:00,920
And that was only the beginning.

744
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:04,200
Once they'd found the gold,
they needed to dig it out.

745
00:44:07,720 --> 00:44:14,400
In the past, this would have been
a hive of activity for soldiers,
miners...

746
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:17,840
The movement of material,
processing, all sorts of things.

747
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:25,960
'Archaeologist Barry Burnham
has studied one of the
grimmest jobs in the Empire.'

748
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:28,400
Where was the gold going?

749
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,440
What was it used for by the Romans?

750
00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:33,080
I think that this date it
would've been, the bulk of it

751
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:36,720
would've been going straight into the
Exchequer and being turned into coin.

752
00:44:37,720 --> 00:44:41,280
And who would they have been,
the miners -

753
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:44,200
were they locals,
were they slaves...?

754
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:49,160
Well, my guess would be
that some of them would be slaves.

755
00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:53,360
Some of them, I think would be
convicts - people who were condemned
to the mines.

756
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:56,880
It was quite normal to be sentenced..

757
00:44:56,880 --> 00:45:00,560
to be condemned to the mines
for the rest of your life.

758
00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:04,800
Every one of these is the mark
of 2000-year-old hard labour.
It is indeed.

759
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:09,680
How important
was the gold to the Romans?

760
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:12,040
It's absolutely fundamental
to the coinage.

761
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:16,440
The coinage system
of gold, silver and bronze is such
that minerals - mineral gold -

762
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:18,400
was one of the big things
they sought for.

763
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:21,280
Remember that Tacitus -
the writer in the last 1st century -

764
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:24,240
actually said one reward
of victory for Britain was gold.

765
00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:32,240
British resources -
wheat, gold, lead, silver, slaves.

766
00:45:32,240 --> 00:45:35,440
These helped to feed
the Roman Empire.

767
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:38,920
Many Britons got into gear
with the Roman machine.

768
00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:41,800
They followed their rules,
played the game,

769
00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,360
many of them got rich
on the back of it.

770
00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:46,760
But there was also a quandary.

771
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:51,200
Was it possible to acquire
this new Roman civilisation

772
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,680
and remain faithful to
your Celtic roots at the same time?

773
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:59,120
For some, it was all too much.

774
00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:03,080
The Romans might have invaded, they
might have spread North and West

775
00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:06,960
but they certainly hadn't won
the battle for hearts and minds yet.

776
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:12,200
Celtic resistance wreaked havoc
in the new Roman towns.

777
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:19,640
The Southern Britons quickly learnt
not to take on the Roman Army.

778
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:29,360
Increasing numbers of civilian
Romans populating new, undefended
towns were a much easier target.

779
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:35,360
It all began in 60 AD, just
17 years after the invasion began,

780
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:40,240
with the death of an East Anglian
King, chief of the Iceni tribe.

781
00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:42,360
The Romans took advantage
of his death,

782
00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:46,640
by appropriating his wealth
and his ancestral lands.

783
00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:50,600
To make matters worse,
they disarmed the tribe.

784
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:53,640
For Celtic warriors,
this was the ultimate insult.

785
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:57,920
They wore their swords
as symbols of strength and identity.

786
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:01,560
To be stripped of their swords
was to be stripped of their honour.

787
00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:12,400
When the dead chief's
incensed widow, Queen Boudica,
protested at their treatment

788
00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:15,920
the Roman soldiers flogged her
publicly and raped her daughters.

789
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:17,840
It was too much.

790
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:21,480
There was no way Boudica
could put up with such disrespect.

791
00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:25,040
She raised an Army from neighbouring
tribes, and went on the rampage.

792
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:27,520
She turned
her murderous attentions first

793
00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:30,520
on the greatest symbol of Roman
authority she could lay hands on -

794
00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:34,840
the Roman city, here at Camulodunum.

795
00:47:37,240 --> 00:47:40,280
Archaeologist Philip Crummy
has spent decades

796
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:42,400
piecing together what happened next.

797
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:46,280
What do you think
would have been the reaction

798
00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:50,000
of the Romans once they realised
that the British were coming?

799
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,080
They would have been terrified.

800
00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:56,840
After all, here they were, stuck
in an island off mainland Europe,

801
00:47:56,840 --> 00:47:59,200
in a town
which was completely undefended -

802
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:03,320
no bank, no ditch round the town,
no wall, completely open -

803
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:07,360
at the mercy of the British Army
on the march.

804
00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:11,240
With much of the Roman
Army fighting in Wales,

805
00:48:11,240 --> 00:48:14,920
the civilians of Colchester
had to take refuge.

806
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:18,520
Today, Colchester Castle
stands on the site

807
00:48:18,520 --> 00:48:21,040
of the Roman Temple of Claudius

808
00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:24,960
once a vast symbol
of colonial power.

809
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:29,680
Well,
this is a most extraordinary space.

810
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:34,000
We're actually underneath
the platform that supported
the Temple of Claudius.

811
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:37,920
Right, so this was
a massive foundation?

812
00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:41,800
This is a foundation, yes.
This is all Roman.

813
00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:51,120
What finally happened to the people
who were in the room above us?

814
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:58,560
They were standing perhaps 3 or 4 ft
above the apex of this vault.

815
00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:02,040
It would have been absolutely
terrifying for those poor people.

816
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:05,880
Just imagine, women and children,
surrounded by thousands of British

817
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:10,560
all shouting and presumably
lobbing missiles
and trying to bash the door down.

818
00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:13,200
It would have been difficult
for the British to get in,

819
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:17,280
and that would explain
why it took two days
for the British eventually to get in.

820
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:20,920
And when they get in?
When they get in,
it's curtains for everyone inside.

821
00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:23,320
So, the British went
to all possible lengths

822
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:25,520
to wipe this place off the map.

823
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:29,200
The archaeological evidence tells us

824
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:32,440
that everywhere in Colchester -
bar probably this place -

825
00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:34,600
was burned to the ground.

826
00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:46,520
These are just a few
of the thousands of artefacts

827
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:51,400
that were recovered from the
destruction of Roman Colchester.

828
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:58,080
These are fragments of Samian ware,
beautifully decorated.

829
00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:00,120
It's a luxury import from Gaul.

830
00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:03,600
This is the kind of tableware
that the best Romans would want to

831
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:05,400
have in their homes.

832
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:10,680
Now, Samian ware should be a rich,
orangey red colour,

833
00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:15,240
but these pieces are charred black,
because these were in the fire.

834
00:50:15,240 --> 00:50:17,400
And they were
found by the thousands,

835
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:19,920
so it looks as though this was
a shop somewhere that was

836
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:24,680
providing the citizens of Colchester
with fine tableware.

837
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:31,240
These are the remains of dates,
another luxury import.

838
00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:34,160
Because of the way they've been
burned in the fire, they've

839
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:37,920
actually turned into something
and little bit like charcoal.

840
00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:41,760
But most poignant of all,
are these human remains.

841
00:50:41,760 --> 00:50:45,440
A few fragments of bone,
some jawbone, charred black.

842
00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:53,760
This person died possibly
in the fire, or just before it.

843
00:50:53,760 --> 00:50:56,280
We don't know
if it's a man or a woman,

844
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:59,400
but it looks as
though it's a young adult.

845
00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,280
So although we have the written
records of tens of thousands

846
00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:08,560
of people dying in the revolt,
this is the only actual evidence.

847
00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:15,240
This person, whoever he or she was,
knew the truth of it.

848
00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:21,200
Boudica wasn't content
just to slaughter

849
00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:23,800
the citizens of Camulodunum.

850
00:51:23,800 --> 00:51:26,160
Before the Roman army
could return from Wales,

851
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:29,680
she led her own forces on a campaign
of terror that destroyed

852
00:51:29,680 --> 00:51:32,720
the Roman cities of London
and St Albans.

853
00:51:32,720 --> 00:51:36,600
As many as 70,000 Roman
citizens were murdered.

854
00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:39,440
Noble women were treated
especially crucially.

855
00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:42,120
Their breasts cut off
and sewn to their mouths,

856
00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:45,720
their bodies impaled on stakes.
But Boudica couldn't go on.

857
00:51:45,720 --> 00:51:48,960
Eventually, the Roman army would
return and when it did,

858
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:51,720
her forces would stand
little chance.

859
00:51:51,720 --> 00:51:55,120
And in a small valley,
just north of St Albans,

860
00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:59,160
the last British stand against Roman
oppression in the South was

861
00:51:59,160 --> 00:52:02,360
wiped out in a single,
gruesome massacre.

862
00:52:05,240 --> 00:52:09,520
A new Britain emerged
from the bloody clashes of 60 AD.

863
00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:12,000
For the tribes of the south,
there was no longer any choice

864
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:14,600
but to accept Roman authority.

865
00:52:14,600 --> 00:52:17,040
But the Romans too had learned
a lesson, that they

866
00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:20,880
ignored British heritage
and pride at their peril.

867
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:30,600
By the end of the first century
AD, Rome had southern Britain

868
00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:32,440
firmly under control.

869
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:36,920
But in the north, the country became
wilder, and so did the people.

870
00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:43,440
In particular, the land of
Caledonia, and its fiercely Celtic,

871
00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:47,440
Pictish tribes, stubbornly refused
to bow to the will of the empire.

872
00:52:49,520 --> 00:52:52,600
If much of southern Britain had
eventually got used to the idea

873
00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:56,600
of Roman rule, the same couldn't be
said up here in the north.

874
00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:59,080
Almost 80 years after the invasion,

875
00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:03,040
the Picts were still slugging
it out with the Roman army.

876
00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:06,800
They were just as tempted as anyone
else by the possibility of Roman

877
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:10,560
wealth, they simply weren't prepared
to trade their independence for it.

878
00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:14,120
So in a way, they were responsible
for one of the most famous

879
00:53:14,120 --> 00:53:17,960
constructions in the whole
of the ancient world.

880
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:22,640
74 miles long,
and stretching from coast to coast,

881
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:27,360
Hadrian's Wall was built between 122
and 136 AD.

882
00:53:41,360 --> 00:53:46,560
But having come so far, the Roman
army wasn't about to stop here.

883
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:52,440
Because Hadrian's Wall wasn't
the only great wall

884
00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:55,480
they built in the far north.

885
00:53:56,760 --> 00:53:59,200
Just 20 years after
Hadrian's Wall was built,

886
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:01,440
the Romans actually
built another wall.

887
00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:02,960
About 100 miles to the north,

888
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:05,480
right through
the heart of Pictish territory.

889
00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:09,160
These banks in Falkirk
are the remains of that wall.

890
00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:12,800
It stretched for 39 miles,
from the Firth of Clyde in the West,

891
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:16,640
to the Firth of Forth in the east,
right across modern Scotland

892
00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:18,440
Right across modern Scotland.

893
00:54:18,440 --> 00:54:21,280
So this was as far north
as the Enpire ever reached.

894
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:27,560
This wall, the Antonine Wall,
didn't last long, though.

895
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:30,240
This far into hostile territory,

896
00:54:30,240 --> 00:54:35,160
the Romans could not defend the
border, despite building 17 forts,

897
00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:39,320
one every two miles
along the entire length of the wall.

898
00:54:39,320 --> 00:54:42,640
This was a land
that simply wouldn't fall to Rome.

899
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:47,720
With little to be gained by battling
for a wild and mountainous land,

900
00:54:47,720 --> 00:54:50,240
Rome at last retreated.

901
00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:54,560
And so it was Hadrian's Wall

902
00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:59,720
that became the enduring northern
boundary of the Roman Empire.

903
00:54:59,720 --> 00:55:05,400
This was where Caledonian pride
forced the Romans to say,
enough is enough.

904
00:55:05,400 --> 00:55:08,640
If the northern tribes
wouldn't join the Roman party,

905
00:55:08,640 --> 00:55:10,720
they would be excluded
at all costs.

906
00:55:12,120 --> 00:55:16,360
Here, the Romans drew their line
in the sand.

907
00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:18,720
This was a symbol of Roman power,

908
00:55:18,720 --> 00:55:22,880
the most northerly frontier of the
most powerful empire on the planet.

909
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:27,520
This was the most heavily defended
frontier of the entire empire.

910
00:55:29,040 --> 00:55:33,840
Outside the wall, native tribes
so vehemently opposed
to the occupation

911
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:38,320
that it took 10,000 Roman
auxiliaries to keep them at bay.

912
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:41,960
Over here, inside the wall,
enveloping the fort,

913
00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:43,400
an entire British town,

914
00:55:43,400 --> 00:55:47,080
with people taking full advantage
of those same Roman soldiers,

915
00:55:47,080 --> 00:55:51,080
providing all the services
and entertainment
required by the garrison.

916
00:55:54,040 --> 00:55:57,440
Over hundreds of years,
the Iron Age tribes of Britain

917
00:55:57,440 --> 00:56:02,040
had established regional territories
within a shared Celtic culture.

918
00:56:02,040 --> 00:56:04,360
But now, all that had changed.

919
00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:13,440
In less than 100 years,
Rome had cleaved Britain in two.

920
00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:15,440
Britannia and Caledonia.

921
00:56:17,520 --> 00:56:20,560
By the middle of
the second century AD,

922
00:56:20,560 --> 00:56:24,640
the Romans had been in Britain
for almost 200 years.

923
00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:29,000
Caesar and the invasions
were distant memories.

924
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:32,560
To be a Roman was to be more
than just an invader.

925
00:56:32,560 --> 00:56:36,000
It was to be part of that
cultural exchange,

926
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:41,880
Britons adopting Roman ways and
vice versa, especially in the north.

927
00:56:41,880 --> 00:56:48,800
In the south, Britain was emerging
from an era of turbulence
with a new Romano-British culture.

928
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:53,080
Up there in the north, it was clear
you were either in or you were out.

929
00:56:53,080 --> 00:56:59,240
The Roman version of civilisation
simply wasn't wanted.

930
00:56:59,240 --> 00:57:03,400
This wall, this moment that divided
the Celtic tribes of Britain,

931
00:57:03,400 --> 00:57:06,280
would shape our land
and our futures.

932
00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:12,120
It would alter our cultures, our
languages and identities, forever.

933
00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:20,360
Next time, my journey continues...

934
00:57:21,720 --> 00:57:25,040
It shows the way in which
the Romans quite literally

935
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:28,120
brought the modern world,
the future with them.

936
00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:32,240
..as I encounter the final chapter
in our epic story...

937
00:57:33,600 --> 00:57:36,800
Their eyes would have been
drawn all the time

938
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:39,680
to these topless lady dancers.

939
00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:42,040
If it was a really
special occasion,

940
00:57:42,040 --> 00:57:45,200
I would have laid on
real-life topless dancers.

941
00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:49,120
The time of the Romano-British...

942
00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:53,160
She was buried
with fantastic wealth.

943
00:57:53,160 --> 00:57:57,680
Anyone who saw this woman
wearing it would have
identified her as someone of status.

944
00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:01,800
..when socially, technologically,
and spiritually...

945
00:58:03,560 --> 00:58:08,120
Whoever wore this was obviously
a Christian, a believer.

946
00:58:08,120 --> 00:58:13,200
..we finally left our distant
pre-history behind, for good.

947
00:58:29,720 --> 00:58:32,760
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

948
00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:35,720
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk