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Southern England.

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Road builders dig
foundations for a new highway.

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Cutting through the chalk,

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excavators make a shocking
discovery.

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In a shallow grave is a tangled
mass of headless skeletons...

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..and, to one side,
a pile of severed skulls.

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Who are these victims?

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Why were they killed?

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Who committed this brutal atrocity?

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To find out, investigators must
solve an ancient murder mystery...

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..piecing together ancient texts...

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HE SPEAKS OLD ENGLISH

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..heroic sagas...

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I would rather face the blow,
so strike me in the face.

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..and using cutting-edge
forensic science,

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will lead them to a story of greed
betrayal and revenge.

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Dorset, the south coast of England.

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On a hill, at a junction of a Roman
road and an ancient track,

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known as the Ridgeway,
lies the burial pit.

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It's clear that this is not
a recent burial,

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so it's a case for archaeologists
rather than the police.

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There's a large pile of skulls here.
They are piled up.

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Dr Tal Simmons is a forensic
anthropologist

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and war grave specialist.

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I've not seen
anything like this before.

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I think it's rare to see
mass-scale decapitations.

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I've only seen one other, sort of,
modern forensic decapitation,

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which was in Bosnia.

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The challenge is as macabre as any
modern murder.

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It really is chilling. I'm finding
it very difficult to take in.

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It's just this mass of bodies.

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And then that separate pile of
heads! I mean, it's...

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Clearly, it's an atrocity.

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This is a really terrible moment in
human history.

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Something really,
really bad happened here.

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We need to know, who were these
people? Mm-hm.

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Well, that's always the first
question, yeah.

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Who are they? What is
their identity?

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The trouble with this site is that
they're not buried with anything.

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There are no artefacts. There are no
things that give us a date

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or give us any idea of who they were
as specific individuals.

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Strangely, the burial contains only
bones.

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We would expect to perhaps pick up
a few brooches,

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something like that, so we could
perhaps begin to...

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..to consider the possibility
that... They were stripped. ..they
were stripped.

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Which makes you think it's an even
more horrific atrocity. Mm-hm.

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Angela Boyle and the team from
Oxford Archaeology

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are lifting every bone to take back
to their laboratory for analysis.

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But clues are already emerging.

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This is a fragment that I have
just literally

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lifted from the ground.

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And look at that!

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So what do you think about that one?
That's amazing.

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What we have there is part of the
right temporal,

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which is just round about here. Yep.

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It has a very visible, well-defined
cut mark.

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That is so clean, isn't it? It is.

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Yep. Yes.

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I mean, you'd think sword, wouldn't
you? That would be my first
thought... Yes. Yes.

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..because of the flatness of it and
the cleanness of it.

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But I don't think you can cut
somebody's head off -

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a living person's head off with a
sword -

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unless you tie their hands up.
Mm-hm.

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You see, if I kneel down to be
executed...

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..I'm going to be like that,
cowering and my whole shoulders
are...

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You can't get at my neck.

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But if you give me a good push,
Tal, I can't help but do this

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to stop myself falling on my face!
Uh-huh. Yeah.

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I'll throw my shoulders back and
lift my head up.

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It's a grim thought. Yeah.

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So I don't believe you can execute
somebody unless their hands are
tied.

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Only one problem. Yes? None of
these have their hands tied.

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Was it an execution?

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Or were they decapitated postmortem?
That's the big question!

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The site already presents some key
pieces of evidence.

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There are 54 skeletons,

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but just 51 skulls.

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They were naked.
Their hands were not tied,

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and their bodies were thrown into
the pit.

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Is this the aftermath of a battle,

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a massacre, or some
violent sacrifice?

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Hidden in the skeletons are vital
clues

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that could unravel the mystery
of this atrocity.

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For centuries, England was wracked

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with violence, invasions and civil
war.

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So there are many possible
explanations for our mass grave.

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Before the investigation can make
progress,

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we need to know exactly when the
victims died.

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Depending on the date, they could be
anything from Celts to Romans,

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Saxons or Vikings.

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Every skeleton contains a hidden
clock.

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When a person dies,

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carbon-14 isotopes in their
bones begin to decay.

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Radiocarbon dating measures this
level of decay,

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zoning in on the date.

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The answer comes back from the lab.

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The victims almost certainly died
between 980 and 1030 AD,

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one of the most turbulent times in
British history.

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A thousand years ago,

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Anglo-Saxon England was under attack
from pagan warriors.

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Vikings...

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..sailing from Scandinavia
in search of riches.

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Archaeologist
Dr Britt Baillie was raised

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in a country with Viking heritage,

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modern-day Denmark.

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She has a lifelong fascination with
her ancestors

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and the destruction they wrought.

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She has come to Britain's south
coast,

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to the very place where the
Viking age had its violent
beginning.

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Just over there is the site of our
mass grave.

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But here, on the Isle of Portland,
this is where the first

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recorded Viking raid on England took
place.

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Three ships sailed here in 789,

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The King's reeve rode down
from Dorchester

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to meet them,
thinking that they were traders,

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but, instead, they killed him.

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And this marked the beginning of the
Viking age in Britain.

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And wave after wave of raids
followed on

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from that first, initial attack.

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After 100 years of conflict, a
treaty was finally signed.

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Vikings settled in Britain

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and established their own, separate
kingdom, Danelaw...

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..alongside the Anglo-Saxons to the
south...

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..and west.

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For a century, they lived in
relative peace

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and the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom prospered.

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England, at the turn of the
millennium,

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is the most precociously
organised state

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in the whole of Western Europe.

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It has a single language.

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It has a single religion.

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It has a single
chain of authority,

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descending from a king,

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which reaches to almost every
corner of the kingdom.

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Not only is England incredibly
efficient as a state,

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it is also very rich.

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But if you have great wealth, it can
also lead to great vulnerability, as
well.

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This is the England the victims in
the pit would have known.

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Now their bones are out
of the ground,

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they are digitally mapped to
record where every victim lay.

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Archaeologist Angela Boyle begins
her analysis of each skeleton.

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It's a unique find.

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There's nothing to parallel this.

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And that makes it very, very
exciting. Also quite...

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..sad. Quite moving, and emotional,
as well, because

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clearly, all of these individuals
met a very unhappy end.

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All 54 victims are male

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so, given the times in which they
lived,

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they are most likely a band of
warriors.

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Angela's analysis of their bones

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starts right at the bottom of the
pit, with the first man to go in.

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The development of the skeleton's
not entirely complete.

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The fusion of the long bone ends is
still happening,

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which you can see, indicated by this
line here.

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This gives Angela a good idea of his
age.

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He's quite a young male.

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Probably about 19 or 20.

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The length of his thighbone gives
his height.

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This particular individual was about
5 ft 9.

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The bones are quite big and robust.

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What's interesting is the fact that
his...

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..upper body seems rather more
well-built.

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And there's one other striking
discovery.

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The head of his femur is smaller
than the head of his humerus.

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And that suggests to me that
perhaps, some sort of...

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..activity, which involved the upper
body, was being regularly
undertaken.

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In 980, after a century of peace...

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..Viking raiders returned to plunder
the riches of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom.

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Many believed it was the beginning
of the end.

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There was a feeling in the shadow of
the year 1000

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that the order and prosperity that
the English had previously enjoyed

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seems to be breaking down.

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That all these, maybe, calamities

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that are serving to herald that
ultimate breakdown,

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which will be represented by
the Day of Judgment.

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One of the greatest pieces of
ancient literature

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is the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,

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a record of events written by monks,
begun around 890 AD.

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HE SPEAKS OLD ENGLISH

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In 979,

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it documents the crowning of an
unpopular king

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who would fuel fear of
the apocalypse...

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..Ethelred the Unready.

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In this year, Ethelred was
consecrated king

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on the Sunday 14 days after Easter.

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And in this same year, was seen a
bloody cloud,

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many times,

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in the likeness of fire.

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This is particularly
unnerving because

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it is well-known that clouds
of blood appearing on the sky

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will be a marker that the end days
are approaching.

192
00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,520
So, right from the beginning, there
is this sense

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that Ethelred is a king who is
marked by looming calamity.

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The carbon dates show the 54 men in
the pit

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00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,640
could have died during the
troubled reign of Ethelred.

196
00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,800
But whose side were they on?

197
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:45,040
The Vikings returned to Dorset
again and again.

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00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,600
It was from here that they
could drive deep into that kingdom.

199
00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,040
And therefore, it's likely that the
bodies

200
00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:53,760
that we find in the mass grave

201
00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:55,320
are probably Anglo-Saxons,

202
00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,280
defending themselves from these
raiding sea pirates.

203
00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,680
But no objects of any description
were found in the pit.

204
00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:14,000
So far, the burial offers no clear
answer to the men's identity.

205
00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,240
The investigators must dig deeper...
..by turning to science.

206
00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,320
The victims' life story is locked in
their teeth.

207
00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,480
Professor Jane Evans of the British
Geological Survey

208
00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:34,200
has taken one of
them for analysis.

209
00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:38,760
I think if you start to think what
one tooth can tell you,

210
00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:40,760
it's absolutely fantastic.

211
00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,160
And what we can build up about a
person's past

212
00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:46,040
and their childhood,
and their subsequent movement,

213
00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:47,440
just out of a tooth.

214
00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:51,960
We're going to separate
strontium and oxygen

215
00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:54,360
out of the tooth enamel of
this individual,

216
00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,080
and we're going to
look at the isotope composition.

217
00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,320
The strontium isotopes tell us about
the type of area the person grew

218
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:05,600
up in, geographically,
and the oxygen isotopes will tell us

219
00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:09,760
something about the type of climate
in which they spent their childhood.

220
00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:16,480
Tooth enamel is
created during childhood

221
00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,760
and its composition remains
unchanged throughout life.

222
00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:25,440
During its formation, strontium
and oxygen are incorporated from

223
00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,320
the local food and drink,

224
00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,480
fixing the isotope signature
of that place into the teeth.

225
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,520
So, what this machine is
doing at the moment is measuring

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00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:41,320
the isotope composition
of the strontium that's in this

227
00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:43,520
machine, that comes from a tooth.

228
00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:45,800
And when it's
completed its analysis,

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00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:50,160
we will get a ratio that we will be
able to use to diagnose where

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00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:51,840
that person spent his childhood.

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00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,080
It's absolutely fantastic
when you're sitting at the mass

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00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,320
spectrometer and the answer
comes out and you sit there

233
00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,000
and you think, "Oh! Yeah!"
The only person that knows that -

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00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,560
you want to run down the corridor
and tell somebody.

235
00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:09,960
But you usually check
with your calculations first,

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00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:11,560
before you do that.

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00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,520
The most likely scenario is that
the victims in the pit are local

238
00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,080
Anglo-Saxons,
killed by Viking raiders.

239
00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,160
If this is true,
their teeth should show

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00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,360
they grew up in Southern Britain.

241
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,280
This is the field that we would
expect them to plot in,

242
00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,320
if they had spent their childhood
in Britain, and all the individuals

243
00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:36,400
plot to the left-hand side,
which is the colder climate side.

244
00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:40,080
So all these individuals spent
their childhood in a colder climate.

245
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:50,400
This is Britt's first opportunity
to analyse Jane's isotope data.

246
00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,200
The results are totally unexpected.

247
00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:59,560
What's immediately apparent
is that the victims in the mass

248
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:01,760
grave are not from England.

249
00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:05,240
They're not Anglo-Saxons.
They're from Scandinavia.

250
00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,680
And that must mean
that they're Vikings.

251
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:10,520
Argh!

252
00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:14,000
Rargh!

253
00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:18,640
We usually think of the Anglo-Saxons
as victims of the Vikings,

254
00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:20,480
and not the other way round.

255
00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,760
So this changes the way that we need
to approach this grave, entirely.

256
00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,000
Surprisingly,
the victims are Scandinavian.

257
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,760
Now, Britt must work out
why 54 Vikings were beheaded.

258
00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,320
It's likely a mass Viking
execution would have been

259
00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,560
recorded in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

260
00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:46,320
Just nine copies remain.

261
00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,920
The oldest is held
here at the University of Cambridge.

262
00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:56,880
Not only is it written
by Anglo-Saxons in the period

263
00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:01,120
that we're looking at, but it's also
written in their own language,

264
00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:02,720
in Old English or Anglo-Saxon.

265
00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,880
MAN SPEAKS IN OLD ENGLISH

266
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:13,880
It very much gives us

267
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:19,240
a year-by-year account of the major
salient episodes of what's going on.

268
00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,520
So the text is
divided into two columns.

269
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:27,760
One lists the dates down
the side, and the other,

270
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,000
the entries for each year.

271
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,920
Hopefully, somewhere in these pages,
there'll be clues,

272
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:38,920
telling us what happened on that
day, on the Dorset Ridgeway.

273
00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,160
Britt searches for incidents
that may have resulted in Vikings

274
00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,560
being captured and killed.

275
00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:49,360
We know that this is
a period where we're seeing

276
00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:53,160
an increase in the scale
of the battles.

277
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:59,200
And in 991, we come across an entry
for the Battle of Maldon.

278
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:13,120
Olaf Tryggvason raided
Folkestone with 93 ships.

279
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,160
He then went on to Maldon in Essex.

280
00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:25,000
There, Ealdorman Byrhtnoth met him
with his army and fought.

281
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,400
The Chronicle documents that
Byrhtnoth led the Anglo-Saxon

282
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:32,200
army against the Viking horde.

283
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,800
Precise details of the battle were
recorded in an epic

284
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:38,680
Anglo-Saxon poem.

285
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:47,120
Here stands a good earl,
in the midst of his men

286
00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:51,680
Who will defend his homeland,
the kingdom of Ethelred

287
00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:57,800
You heathens shall fall in battle

288
00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,160
Byrhtnoth drew his sword
from its sheath

289
00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,480
Broad and bright-edged
and struck against the armour

290
00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,440
Warriors in conflict fell

291
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:25,640
The slain fell on earth,
they stood steadfast

292
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,560
Byrhtnoth stirred them

293
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,800
Fiercely with his sword,
he didn't restrain the blow

294
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,760
And the doomed warrior
fell at his feet.

295
00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,000
Despite their gallant fight,
ultimately,

296
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,360
Byrhtnoth's Anglo-Saxon army
lost the battle.

297
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:01,280
The poem tells us

298
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,840
both sides suffered terrible
injuries in battle.

299
00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:09,000
Could the men in the pit be captured
warriors, or prisoners of war?

300
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:19,920
If so, their bones should show
evidence of battle injuries.

301
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,960
Do we see trauma on the leg bones,
or any that would have been

302
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,080
incurred perhaps in a fracas
or some type of battle?

303
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:31,080
There's actually a surprising
lack of trauma that's not

304
00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:33,400
related to the beheadings.

305
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:38,480
There are virtually no battle scars,
just some minor injuries.

306
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:45,120
There are a coupe of examples
and it's trauma to the hand,

307
00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:46,760
to the left hand.

308
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,400
Again, with a sharp-bladed weapon.

309
00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:53,720
It's what we would
describe as a defensive wound.

310
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:55,520
The individual's put their hand up.

311
00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:59,560
With so little trauma to the bones,

312
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:01,480
it's clear the victims
aren't war dead.

313
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:11,400
If the victims in the mass grave
weren't the victims of battle, one

314
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,400
needs to look for other incidents
in which they might have died.

315
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,840
One of the things that the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

316
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,360
mentions is the massacre
on St Brice's Day.

317
00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,000
By the dawn of the first millennium,

318
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,840
it seemed the prediction
of apocalypse was coming to pass.

319
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,160
Viking raids were on the rise.

320
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,920
King Ethelred took drastic action.

321
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,680
November 13th, 1002, St Brice's Day,

322
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,680
was one of the darkest
days in Britain's history.

323
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,000
The king ordered all the Danish men
who were among the English

324
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,920
race to be killed on St Brice's Day,

325
00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:05,480
because King Ethelred was told
they wanted to ensnare his life

326
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:10,000
and all his councillors
and take his kingdom.

327
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,840
I think the St Brice's Day massacre,

328
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,880
far from illustrating a king who is
somehow losing it, is the mark of

329
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,360
someone who feels that he is getting
the kingdom back under his control.

330
00:23:31,910 --> 00:23:35,550
Are the skeletons in the
Dorset Ridgeway pit victims of this

331
00:23:35,550 --> 00:23:38,310
massacre on the 13th
of November, 1002?

332
00:23:43,270 --> 00:23:45,670
The best way to find out
is to compare them

333
00:23:45,670 --> 00:23:48,670
with other burials that are closely
linked to St Brice's Day.

334
00:23:50,510 --> 00:23:56,590
A gruesome mass grave was recently
discovered 150km away, in Oxford.

335
00:23:56,590 --> 00:23:58,390
Britt's come to see

336
00:23:58,390 --> 00:24:02,430
if they have similar injuries to the
men in the Dorset Ridgeway pit.

337
00:24:02,430 --> 00:24:06,670
In terms of cause of death, what do
we know about these individuals?

338
00:24:06,670 --> 00:24:11,710
This guy here's a good example.
He's actually got multiple injuries.

339
00:24:11,710 --> 00:24:15,910
He's got some sword cuts to the back

340
00:24:15,910 --> 00:24:19,590
of his spine. This is a leg bone.

341
00:24:19,590 --> 00:24:23,910
It's quite a clear blade cut,
either from a sword or an axe.

342
00:24:25,030 --> 00:24:30,470
So this guy's actually had
a cut to the back of the leg there.

343
00:24:30,470 --> 00:24:34,190
This skull seems to show some
quite clear traces of trauma.

344
00:24:34,190 --> 00:24:35,950
What happened to this individual?

345
00:24:35,950 --> 00:24:40,190
This chap has actually been
hit by a bladed weapon,

346
00:24:40,190 --> 00:24:42,750
either a sword or an
axe, several times,

347
00:24:42,750 --> 00:24:48,030
so we've got two clear scars
on the front of the skull and then,

348
00:24:48,030 --> 00:24:52,270
there's further marks on the top
of the skull and the back.

349
00:24:52,270 --> 00:24:56,150
In addition to that, we believe
he's also been speared twice

350
00:24:56,150 --> 00:25:00,110
because there's two triangular holes
in the top of his skull.

351
00:25:00,110 --> 00:25:02,670
Clearly they wanted him quite dead.

352
00:25:02,670 --> 00:25:06,910
Yeah, and by the looks of it, he
might have put up quite a fight. Mm.

353
00:25:06,910 --> 00:25:10,870
These individuals from the Oxford
burial seem to have been killed

354
00:25:10,870 --> 00:25:13,390
in some kind of frenzied massacre

355
00:25:13,390 --> 00:25:15,350
by perhaps even a mob.

356
00:25:18,670 --> 00:25:22,630
Whereas our bones
from the Ridgeway site,

357
00:25:22,630 --> 00:25:26,390
appear to have been killed in
a much more orderly fashion,

358
00:25:26,390 --> 00:25:28,310
perhaps even an execution.

359
00:25:31,150 --> 00:25:35,390
Most of the skeletons from the
Dorset Ridgeway have just one wound.

360
00:25:35,390 --> 00:25:37,430
The beheading.

361
00:25:37,430 --> 00:25:40,550
It's very different to the multiple
injuries of those killed

362
00:25:40,550 --> 00:25:42,270
in the Oxford massacre.

363
00:25:44,230 --> 00:25:48,390
But do the Dorset bones reveal
any more about the way they died?

364
00:25:56,150 --> 00:25:59,790
This is the second
cervical vertebrae.

365
00:25:59,790 --> 00:26:02,910
So from around about here. Mm.

366
00:26:02,910 --> 00:26:07,150
And part of that bone has something
called an odontoid... Mm-hm.

367
00:26:07,150 --> 00:26:10,430
..which is a little peg-shaped
area of bone. Mm.

368
00:26:10,430 --> 00:26:13,110
You can see here, it has been
sliced.

369
00:26:13,110 --> 00:26:15,110
Clean through. Clean through.

370
00:26:15,110 --> 00:26:16,430
Mm.

371
00:26:16,430 --> 00:26:19,350
It's a very, very good example
of a clean cut.

372
00:26:20,430 --> 00:26:24,830
This tiny clue could speak volumes
about how they died.

373
00:26:24,830 --> 00:26:27,110
Do we have any indication
of what angle

374
00:26:27,110 --> 00:26:29,230
they were being decapitated from?

375
00:26:30,230 --> 00:26:32,990
It would appear that the majority
are from the front.

376
00:26:32,990 --> 00:26:35,310
So they were facing
their executioners?

377
00:26:35,310 --> 00:26:37,590
They were facing their executioner,
yes.

378
00:26:39,030 --> 00:26:41,030
CHEERING AND LAUGHTER

379
00:26:44,150 --> 00:26:47,350
And were all the executions
executed so cleanly?

380
00:26:48,390 --> 00:26:51,070
The majority, yes.

381
00:26:51,070 --> 00:26:54,150
There are a small number of...

382
00:26:54,150 --> 00:27:01,070
..examples where maybe two or three
blows have been inflicted.

383
00:27:01,070 --> 00:27:02,910
SCREAMS

384
00:27:02,910 --> 00:27:06,590
This has probably occurred where
the first blow to the vertebrae

385
00:27:06,590 --> 00:27:11,230
hasn't been sufficient to kill
the individual, remove the head.

386
00:27:11,230 --> 00:27:15,430
Evidence shows the weapon used
was brutally efficient.

387
00:27:15,430 --> 00:27:17,750
That's the left ear hole. Mm-hm.

388
00:27:17,750 --> 00:27:20,910
Now, this area here,
which has been removed,

389
00:27:20,910 --> 00:27:23,630
again you can see -
very, very clean cut,

390
00:27:23,630 --> 00:27:26,550
this is the mastoid process,

391
00:27:26,550 --> 00:27:30,110
which is the knobbly bit
just behind your ear hole.

392
00:27:30,110 --> 00:27:32,230
Now, that's one of the thickest...

393
00:27:33,190 --> 00:27:35,430
..parts of the skull... Mm-hm.

394
00:27:35,430 --> 00:27:39,470
..and the blade has sliced
completely and very cleanly

395
00:27:39,470 --> 00:27:41,590
through that part of the skull.

396
00:27:43,470 --> 00:27:49,150
Most of the skeletons in the pit
show just one cut, to the throat,

397
00:27:49,150 --> 00:27:52,590
and they must have been alive
at the moment of beheading.

398
00:27:54,430 --> 00:27:58,150
Knowing what the murder weapon was
and how it was wielded

399
00:27:58,150 --> 00:28:01,070
may provide the key to
why they were killed.

400
00:28:03,150 --> 00:28:06,590
Britt turns to weapons expert
Gordon Summers.

401
00:28:06,590 --> 00:28:09,950
We now know that they were alive
when they were beheaded,

402
00:28:09,950 --> 00:28:13,430
so it's the beheading itself that
killed them. What would they have
used?

403
00:28:13,430 --> 00:28:16,150
Had you told me that the beheading
was postmortem,

404
00:28:16,150 --> 00:28:18,350
then I would have said
it was an axe.

405
00:28:18,350 --> 00:28:21,830
You've got a corpse on the ground,
just like you might cut a log,

406
00:28:21,830 --> 00:28:24,150
the axe is the tool to use.

407
00:28:24,150 --> 00:28:27,830
That has got a considerable weight.
That would shatter the vertebrae.

408
00:28:27,830 --> 00:28:30,670
So I think it's reasonable
to assume that an axe

409
00:28:30,670 --> 00:28:33,950
wasn't the weapon of choice.
What does that leave us with?

410
00:28:33,950 --> 00:28:37,830
The prime candidate for this act
is the sword.

411
00:28:37,830 --> 00:28:40,190
This is a very prized weapon
of the period,

412
00:28:40,190 --> 00:28:42,430
both for Vikings and Anglo-Saxons.

413
00:28:42,430 --> 00:28:45,910
To the outside edges of that
are forged hardened steel.

414
00:28:45,910 --> 00:28:49,110
Steel capable of taking
a very fearsome edge.

415
00:28:49,110 --> 00:28:53,070
It's a weapon that is handed down
through the generations.

416
00:28:57,910 --> 00:29:00,750
A neck of lamb is going to
help demonstrate

417
00:29:00,750 --> 00:29:04,070
the devastating power
of the Anglo-Saxon sword.

418
00:29:08,430 --> 00:29:10,910
Well, it hasn't completely
come off,

419
00:29:10,910 --> 00:29:14,270
but you can really get a sense of
how deep that cut is, can't you?

420
00:29:16,150 --> 00:29:19,430
There's no shattering
in that vertebrae at all.

421
00:29:19,430 --> 00:29:22,110
It has gone completely through
that vertebrae.

422
00:29:22,110 --> 00:29:26,550
What's holding it on
is the muscles at the back.

423
00:29:28,430 --> 00:29:32,390
Clean cuts on the skeleton
are only half the story.

424
00:29:32,390 --> 00:29:34,190
This is quite extraordinary.

425
00:29:34,190 --> 00:29:37,870
What would it have meant to these
Vikings to die by the sword,

426
00:29:37,870 --> 00:29:40,070
looking their killer in the eye?

427
00:29:40,070 --> 00:29:44,150
To use the sword against somebody
showing that degree of bravery

428
00:29:44,150 --> 00:29:47,750
is perversely showing them
a considerable degree of respect.

429
00:29:47,750 --> 00:29:51,670
They are warriors being killed
by a warrior's weapon

430
00:29:51,670 --> 00:29:54,790
and being allowed to exhibit
the qualities of a warrior,

431
00:29:54,790 --> 00:29:56,670
so valued at the time.

432
00:29:58,390 --> 00:30:00,910
So who were these brave men

433
00:30:00,910 --> 00:30:04,070
who had the courage to look
their killers in the eye?

434
00:30:05,150 --> 00:30:08,670
An ancient Viking saga
bears a striking resemblance

435
00:30:08,670 --> 00:30:11,230
to the events
on the Dorset Ridgeway.

436
00:30:11,230 --> 00:30:15,070
It's about a particularly fearsome
group - the Jomsviking.

437
00:30:17,150 --> 00:30:20,430
Though the historic accuracy
of these texts is debated,

438
00:30:20,430 --> 00:30:24,670
they provide an insight into
the world the Vikings inhabited.

439
00:30:24,670 --> 00:30:27,910
What's very curious is that
we have a description

440
00:30:27,910 --> 00:30:32,910
in the Jomsviking Saga
which seems to tell of an execution

441
00:30:32,910 --> 00:30:35,870
very similar to the type
that we see at the mass grave

442
00:30:35,870 --> 00:30:37,510
in the Dorset Ridgeway.

443
00:30:37,510 --> 00:30:41,110
This saga details a battle
which happened in Norway

444
00:30:41,110 --> 00:30:44,390
at which Vikings were taken prisoner

445
00:30:44,390 --> 00:30:47,430
and executed by another group
of Vikings.

446
00:30:47,430 --> 00:30:51,150
The Jomsviking Saga is written
in old Norse and it tells us...

447
00:30:51,150 --> 00:30:55,670
"Bior jarl nu fara eptir eim
ok taka hondum.

448
00:30:55,670 --> 00:30:59,870
"Roa nu til eira ok vorousk
eir a ekki.

449
00:30:59,870 --> 00:31:01,430
"Varu..."

450
00:31:01,430 --> 00:31:04,390
TRANSLATION: The Earl ordered men
to go after them.

451
00:31:04,390 --> 00:31:06,390
To take them prisoner.

452
00:31:07,430 --> 00:31:09,830
The Vikings put up no resistance.

453
00:31:12,110 --> 00:31:14,430
The 70 of them were brought ashore

454
00:31:14,430 --> 00:31:18,350
and the Earl had them all tied
to one piece of rope.

455
00:31:21,310 --> 00:31:25,670
Valkyrja then proceeded to
cut off their heads.

456
00:31:31,110 --> 00:31:33,390
The Viking said,

457
00:31:33,390 --> 00:31:35,910
"I am content to die,

458
00:31:35,910 --> 00:31:38,430
"as are all our comrades.

459
00:31:38,430 --> 00:31:41,710
"But I will not let you
slaughter me like a sheep.

460
00:31:42,750 --> 00:31:44,870
"I would rather face the blow.

461
00:31:45,950 --> 00:31:51,510
"So strike me in the face and watch
carefully to see if I pale at all."

462
00:31:58,150 --> 00:32:02,150
Here we have a Viking who wants
to look death in the eyes,

463
00:32:02,150 --> 00:32:04,590
he wants to look his executioner
in his eyes.

464
00:32:06,110 --> 00:32:08,830
He wants to die a brave death.

465
00:32:10,870 --> 00:32:12,590
LOUD CRY

466
00:32:12,590 --> 00:32:14,670
Perhaps what we are seeing here

467
00:32:14,670 --> 00:32:18,310
is a repeat of this execution ritual
on English soil.

468
00:32:19,390 --> 00:32:22,670
Can the skeletons reveal
an even closer tie

469
00:32:22,670 --> 00:32:26,230
between the Jomsviking Saga
and the events on the Ridgeway?

470
00:32:27,990 --> 00:32:30,590
Angela has found
some remarkable clues.

471
00:32:33,470 --> 00:32:35,670
I'm really very excited.

472
00:32:35,670 --> 00:32:39,110
These are the front teeth,
these are the first incisors.

473
00:32:39,110 --> 00:32:42,150
Now, what is interesting here

474
00:32:42,150 --> 00:32:45,590
is the fact that both
of these teeth have grooves.

475
00:32:46,630 --> 00:32:48,910
They've been filed. Right.

476
00:32:48,910 --> 00:32:52,510
There are a number
of really quite fine lines.

477
00:32:52,510 --> 00:32:55,750
And do you find this kind of
dental modification anywhere else?

478
00:32:56,830 --> 00:33:00,350
As far as I know, there are
no other examples of this,

479
00:33:00,350 --> 00:33:02,910
in the UK, certainly, to date.

480
00:33:02,910 --> 00:33:09,030
There are a small number of examples
known from Scandinavia.

481
00:33:09,030 --> 00:33:13,470
So the fact that we've got the
first example of this in the UK

482
00:33:13,470 --> 00:33:18,270
in a Viking context is extremely
exciting. It's remarkable.

483
00:33:18,270 --> 00:33:20,910
There has been one school
of thought which thinks

484
00:33:20,910 --> 00:33:24,150
that some of these grooves might
have been filled with either

485
00:33:24,150 --> 00:33:27,430
a coloured paste
or some kind of modification

486
00:33:27,430 --> 00:33:30,150
to make them even more apparent
in the mouth. Yes.

487
00:33:30,150 --> 00:33:34,670
This profound and unique discovery
provides a crucial link

488
00:33:34,670 --> 00:33:38,630
to a description of the most famous
Jomsviking warrior of all.

489
00:33:40,430 --> 00:33:44,630
One clue to this teeth-filing
phenomenon

490
00:33:44,630 --> 00:33:46,910
that we see in the mass grave

491
00:33:46,910 --> 00:33:50,870
may come from a very high-status
individual from Viking times,

492
00:33:50,870 --> 00:33:52,670
King Harald Bluetooth.

493
00:33:52,670 --> 00:33:54,670
SCREAMING

494
00:33:56,430 --> 00:33:59,990
Perhaps what they were referring to
is the fact that he filed his tooth

495
00:33:59,990 --> 00:34:02,350
and filled it with
a blue colouration.

496
00:34:03,430 --> 00:34:08,190
Medieval sources claim Harald
Bluetooth founded the Jomsviking,

497
00:34:08,190 --> 00:34:11,430
one of the most feared bands
of Viking mercenaries.

498
00:34:11,430 --> 00:34:15,590
Professional warriors who would
fight for anyone for money.

499
00:34:16,590 --> 00:34:19,150
The filed teeth of some
of the men in the pit

500
00:34:19,150 --> 00:34:22,270
could link them to
the Jomsviking mercenaries.

501
00:34:23,670 --> 00:34:28,430
With this new clue, Britt returns
to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

502
00:34:28,430 --> 00:34:32,230
to search for incidents involving
such warriors for hire.

503
00:34:33,310 --> 00:34:37,590
From 980 until the year 1000, we see
an increasing number of Viking raids

504
00:34:37,590 --> 00:34:41,750
and also battles being fought
between the Anglo-Saxons and the
Vikings.

505
00:34:44,670 --> 00:34:47,790
There was great hostility in
the land of the English race.

506
00:34:49,670 --> 00:34:52,830
The Viking ships burned
and raided everywhere.

507
00:34:53,910 --> 00:34:58,150
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us
King Ethelred paid enormous

508
00:34:58,150 --> 00:35:02,150
sums of money to the Vikings
to put an end to their attacks.

509
00:35:02,150 --> 00:35:07,110
And to stop this great terror, which
they wrought along the sea coast,

510
00:35:07,110 --> 00:35:10,150
it was decided to pay off
the Danish men.

511
00:35:11,190 --> 00:35:12,830
LAUGHTER

512
00:35:14,590 --> 00:35:18,150
This payment was £10,000.

513
00:35:18,150 --> 00:35:23,030
That's over 75 million US dollars
in today's money.

514
00:35:23,030 --> 00:35:25,190
It had little effect.

515
00:35:25,190 --> 00:35:28,110
So, Ethelred changed tack.

516
00:35:28,110 --> 00:35:31,430
He offered Viking crews
gold and silver

517
00:35:31,430 --> 00:35:34,870
to switch sides
and fight for him instead,

518
00:35:34,870 --> 00:35:36,750
as mercenaries.

519
00:35:38,430 --> 00:35:42,910
He was hiring Vikings to fight off
other Viking bands.

520
00:35:42,910 --> 00:35:46,910
And we particularly hear of one
Viking mercenary called Pallig.

521
00:35:47,990 --> 00:35:49,910
Pallig and his mercenary crews

522
00:35:49,910 --> 00:35:52,910
were paid by Ethelred
to protect his kingdom.

523
00:35:52,910 --> 00:35:55,390
But as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
records,

524
00:35:55,390 --> 00:35:57,350
he betrayed the King.

525
00:35:59,430 --> 00:36:02,470
These are soldiers who will fight
on behalf of the lord

526
00:36:02,470 --> 00:36:04,670
who's willing to pay them the most.

527
00:36:04,670 --> 00:36:07,990
But these mercenaries are quite
fickle and they will often switch

528
00:36:07,990 --> 00:36:11,270
their allegiance to whichever lord
is willing to pay them more.

529
00:36:12,310 --> 00:36:15,310
Pallig deserted King Ethelred,

530
00:36:15,310 --> 00:36:19,830
despite the gifts of gold and
silver that he had given him,

531
00:36:19,830 --> 00:36:23,710
and he joined the Vikings
with all the ships he could muster.

532
00:36:29,350 --> 00:36:33,350
The evidence points to the bodies
in the pit being Viking mercenaries.

533
00:36:37,430 --> 00:36:41,110
They may have paid the ultimate
price for their treachery.

534
00:36:50,670 --> 00:36:52,830
But one mystery still remains.

535
00:36:56,430 --> 00:37:01,350
Why was an exposed hilltop location
chosen as an execution site?

536
00:37:03,150 --> 00:37:06,630
Britt is taking landscape
archaeologist Alex Langlands

537
00:37:06,630 --> 00:37:08,350
to the crime scene.

538
00:37:11,630 --> 00:37:15,110
Are you nervous, Britt? About
flying? No. I know you are, though.

539
00:37:15,110 --> 00:37:17,470
You'll be all right. I'm terrified.

540
00:37:17,470 --> 00:37:21,110
I'm just hoping, once we get up
there, we get to see some fantastic
things

541
00:37:21,110 --> 00:37:23,830
and it'll take my mind off this.

542
00:37:28,910 --> 00:37:31,830
The landscape really comes alive
from up here, doesn't it?

543
00:37:31,830 --> 00:37:33,870
Yes, it really does.

544
00:37:33,870 --> 00:37:36,910
To the south of us, we can already
start to see Portland.

545
00:37:36,910 --> 00:37:41,470
It is here that the Viking period
really starts in England, isn't it?

546
00:37:41,470 --> 00:37:44,670
Right there, that's where we have
the first raid in 789.

547
00:37:44,670 --> 00:37:47,150
That's right, and that's
what's so tantalising

548
00:37:47,150 --> 00:37:50,030
about where you've got
your execution cemetery.

549
00:37:51,670 --> 00:37:54,350
Now, this is the site
of our execution here.

550
00:37:56,430 --> 00:38:00,150
It's at this location,
this really important crossroads,

551
00:38:00,150 --> 00:38:04,110
we've got Dorchester to the north,
we've got our beach to the south,

552
00:38:04,110 --> 00:38:06,910
you've got the Roman road
connecting them,

553
00:38:06,910 --> 00:38:09,670
but they would also be using
the Ridgeway as well

554
00:38:09,670 --> 00:38:12,270
so you've got this really
important crossroads,

555
00:38:12,270 --> 00:38:15,750
probably one of the most important
crossroads in the county, actually.
Right.

556
00:38:19,230 --> 00:38:22,070
Here's our Ridgeway here,
just down here.

557
00:38:24,430 --> 00:38:27,670
This would have come into being
in the prehistoric period,

558
00:38:27,670 --> 00:38:30,390
but of course, by the time
we get to our period,

559
00:38:30,390 --> 00:38:32,750
it's forming a major highway.

560
00:38:32,750 --> 00:38:38,110
All along the Ridgeway are ancient
burial mounds known as barrows.

561
00:38:38,110 --> 00:38:40,070
Look at that barrow there.

562
00:38:40,070 --> 00:38:41,510
Spectacular.

563
00:38:41,510 --> 00:38:44,150
And they're peppered
all along this Ridgeway.

564
00:38:44,150 --> 00:38:47,150
Obviously these barrows
predate the Saxon period.

565
00:38:47,150 --> 00:38:49,910
How would they have been
interpreted and viewed

566
00:38:49,910 --> 00:38:53,430
by the people at that time? They
still had a ritual significance.

567
00:38:53,430 --> 00:38:56,710
It's just that that significance
is changing

568
00:38:56,710 --> 00:39:00,950
in a more Christianised landscape,
and they're becoming associated

569
00:39:00,950 --> 00:39:05,910
more with sinister, demonic
and devious aspects of society.

570
00:39:05,910 --> 00:39:09,150
You know, if you're going to kill
someone who has committed crimes

571
00:39:09,150 --> 00:39:12,830
against this kingdom, what you're
going to want to do is kill them

572
00:39:12,830 --> 00:39:16,670
in a place that's going to take that
death and, if you like, magnify it

573
00:39:16,670 --> 00:39:22,150
a thousand times, so to kill someone
on or near one of these barrows

574
00:39:22,150 --> 00:39:25,630
would have been very profound,
actually, for both the Anglo-Saxons

575
00:39:25,630 --> 00:39:28,630
and the Vikings at the time.

576
00:39:29,150 --> 00:39:33,430
Standing at the execution site,
Alex thinks there's another reason

577
00:39:33,430 --> 00:39:38,590
why 54 skeletons and 51 heads
were discovered right here.

578
00:39:38,590 --> 00:39:41,070
This is a highly, highly
visible place.

579
00:39:41,070 --> 00:39:44,230
From where we're stood now,
we can see the island of Portland,

580
00:39:44,230 --> 00:39:46,830
we can see Weymouth,
we can see Dorchester as well,

581
00:39:46,830 --> 00:39:49,430
and all that traffic
using the road there,

582
00:39:49,430 --> 00:39:52,390
they would have known,
there's that execution site.

583
00:39:52,390 --> 00:39:54,430
If you've got heads missing,

584
00:39:54,430 --> 00:39:58,430
we often get referred to in
documents concerning the landscape,

585
00:39:58,430 --> 00:40:02,430
we get reference to "hofud stakur",
which means heads on stakes. Right.

586
00:40:02,430 --> 00:40:05,430
So if you've got missing heads...
We are missing some heads.

587
00:40:05,430 --> 00:40:08,670
You think they might have taken
those heads and put them on stakes,

588
00:40:08,670 --> 00:40:11,910
to make it visible as people came
up over that roadway? Absolutely.

589
00:40:11,910 --> 00:40:13,910
JEERING

590
00:40:16,430 --> 00:40:21,150
This is a statement not just to
passing Vikings and other raiders,

591
00:40:21,150 --> 00:40:24,190
it's also a statement
to the local people.

592
00:40:24,190 --> 00:40:27,070
It's the King saying,
"Look, I'm in charge here."

593
00:40:34,830 --> 00:40:38,910
Here we have a piece
of English history

594
00:40:38,910 --> 00:40:43,430
which had been completely forgotten
for a thousand years,

595
00:40:43,430 --> 00:40:47,590
and suddenly, we've been able
to piece it back together.

596
00:40:54,910 --> 00:40:59,310
A vivid picture
of a dark episode emerges.

597
00:40:59,310 --> 00:41:02,670
It's clear from the skeletal
evidence that these people

598
00:41:02,670 --> 00:41:05,150
were probably not killed
during battle

599
00:41:05,150 --> 00:41:08,350
and therefore it's almost certain
that they were ambushed.

600
00:41:14,870 --> 00:41:17,150
Now! Arrgh!

601
00:41:20,430 --> 00:41:23,510
Outnumbered, surrounded
and disarmed,

602
00:41:23,510 --> 00:41:26,910
the men who were ambushed were
led from the site of their ambush

603
00:41:26,910 --> 00:41:30,910
to a very significant site,
the Ridgeway on the crossroads

604
00:41:30,910 --> 00:41:35,070
between a major Roman road
and the Ridgeway line itself.

605
00:41:41,630 --> 00:41:45,910
The Vikings were led by their
captors up the Ridgeway

606
00:41:45,910 --> 00:41:50,670
to a site next to a burial mound,
with its dark, pagan associations.

607
00:41:53,390 --> 00:41:56,350
54 dead bodies in the pit.

608
00:41:57,390 --> 00:41:59,630
This number must be significant.

609
00:41:59,630 --> 00:42:02,430
We know that Viking longships
at this time

610
00:42:02,430 --> 00:42:04,830
could carry a crew of 60 men
quite easily.

611
00:42:06,430 --> 00:42:10,430
So perhaps what we are looking at
is a crew from a ship.

612
00:42:13,390 --> 00:42:15,350
The skeletons back this up.

613
00:42:16,430 --> 00:42:19,830
The head of the hip bone was smaller
than the head of the shoulder bone.

614
00:42:21,430 --> 00:42:24,670
Several of the skeletons
had well-developed upper bodies.

615
00:42:26,790 --> 00:42:30,350
And that's consistent with the
physique that one would expect of a
rower.

616
00:42:34,870 --> 00:42:36,910
These men were a band of brothers

617
00:42:36,910 --> 00:42:39,870
who would have lived together
and fought together.

618
00:42:40,950 --> 00:42:44,350
And the skeletons held another clue
to how they died.

619
00:42:47,590 --> 00:42:51,670
One expects to see people
beheaded from behind

620
00:42:51,670 --> 00:42:54,190
but here we have
a very unusual case.

621
00:42:54,190 --> 00:42:56,910
These men were beheaded
from the front.

622
00:42:56,910 --> 00:43:01,590
Vikings went into battle
looking for honour and glory.

623
00:43:01,590 --> 00:43:04,910
These men wanted to show that they
weren't afraid to look their

624
00:43:04,910 --> 00:43:08,870
executioners in the eye, they wanted
to die with their honour intact.

625
00:43:10,390 --> 00:43:12,510
CHEERING

626
00:43:15,110 --> 00:43:17,430
At the turn of the first millennium,

627
00:43:17,430 --> 00:43:21,350
the Jomsviking Saga would have been
known throughout the Viking world.

628
00:43:22,430 --> 00:43:26,910
Perhaps what we're seeing here is a
group of men who wanted to emulate

629
00:43:26,910 --> 00:43:30,310
the deaths of these great
Viking heroes from the sagas.

630
00:43:31,910 --> 00:43:35,670
Not only do these men live together
and fight together,

631
00:43:35,670 --> 00:43:38,150
they went to their deaths together.

632
00:43:55,430 --> 00:43:58,830
Ultimately, the mass execution
was in vain.

633
00:43:59,870 --> 00:44:02,350
Anglo-Saxon England was doomed.

634
00:44:03,390 --> 00:44:05,750
King Ethelred's kingdom collapsed

635
00:44:05,750 --> 00:44:09,070
and Vikings took over
the whole of England.

636
00:44:13,430 --> 00:44:16,390
The beheaded Vikings
lay in the shallow grave

637
00:44:16,390 --> 00:44:18,390
for a thousand years.

638
00:44:18,390 --> 00:44:20,110
Only now,

639
00:44:20,110 --> 00:44:22,350
can their story be told.

640
00:44:42,150 --> 00:44:43,950
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