Summary: Unearthing History – Recent Archaeological Discoveries That Rewrite the Past
This comprehensive video from History Hit explores several groundbreaking archaeological finds that have significantly reshaped our understanding of ancient civilizations and pivotal historical periods. From prehistoric art to Roman mysteries and battlefield revelations, these discoveries highlight the continuous process of uncovering the past and challenging established narratives.
Prehistoric Art & Ritual: The Burton Agnes Chalk Drum
The documentary unveils the remarkable discovery of a 5000-year-old chalk drum near Burton Agnes in East Yorkshire, hailed as the most important piece of prehistoric art found in the UK in a century. Found alongside the poignant burial of three children, its intricate carvings and motifs show deep connections to other “Folkton drums” and reveal a shared artistic language across the British Isles during the late Neolithic. This artifact, dated to the earliest phase of Stonehenge’s construction, offers crucial insights into prehistoric burial rituals, long-distance cultural connections, and the significance of art in ancient communities.
Post-Roman Britain: Anglo-Saxon Burials from the HS2 Project
The construction of the HS2 rail line in Buckinghamshire led to the extraordinary discovery of numerous early Anglo-Saxon burials from the 5th and 6th centuries A.D., the era immediately following Roman rule. These graves revealed a wealth of valuable artifacts, including elaborately decorated shields, spearheads, and seaxes, suggesting a community of wealthy individuals. This physical evidence provides a critical window into a historically sparsely documented period, offering new perspectives on the transition from Roman Britain and the early interactions between diverse cultures arriving in the region, challenging the traditional narrative of a complete Roman departure.
Unearthing the Battle of Waterloo: Human & Horse Remains
The “Waterloo Uncovered” project on the battlefield of Waterloo has made astonishing discoveries, including significant human and horse remains at the field hospital of Mons-Saint-Jean. The excavation uncovered amputated human legs—a grim testament to 19th-century battlefield medicine—and multiple horse skeletons. These finds provide visceral connections to the battle’s brutality and logistical realities. The video also highlights the emotional discovery of a D-Day paratrooper’s dog tag from WWII, illustrating how archaeology can link personal stories to major historical events and uncover previously unknown details about individuals and units involved.
Roman Britain’s Mysteries: The Ryedale Hoard
The “Ryedale Hoard,” a collection of stunning Roman bronze objects discovered in North Yorkshire, is presented as an intriguing mystery. The hoard includes a spectacular Imperial scepter head (likely a bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius), a detailed Mars figurine, a utilitarian plumb bob, and a broken key. The video explores four theories regarding who buried these objects: a priest of the Imperial cult, a soldier, a metal worker, or a farmer. The unique inclusion of a functional tool like the plumb bob makes the theory of a farmer burying the hoard as an offering to bless an active landscape particularly compelling, shedding light on the interwoven nature of religion, magic, and daily life in Roman Britain.
Final Thoughts: Archaeology’s Unending Quest
These archaeological triumphs underscore the power of digging into the earth to reveal tangible links to our ancestors. Each unearthed artifact not only adds pieces to the jigsaw puzzle of history but also prompts us to reconsider and enrich our understanding of past human experiences, beliefs, and societies.
Vocabulary Table
| Term | Pronunciation | Definition | Used in sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| prehistoric art | /ˌpriːhɪˈstɒrɪk ɑːrt/ | Art produced in preliterate cultures. | The discovery of the most important piece of prehistoric art. |
| humble | /ˈhʌmbəl/ | Having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance. | I’ve come to see something that at first sight is rather more humble. |
| poignant group | /ˈpɔɪnjənt ɡruːp/ | A group that evokes a keen sense of sadness or regret. | They discovered a poignant group of three children skeletons. |
| intricate carving | /ˈɪntrɪkət ˈkɑːrvɪŋ/ | A very detailed and complex design cut into a material. | This intricate carving was over every surface. |
| figuring out | /ˈfɪɡjərɪŋ aʊt/ | To understand or solve something. | I’m figuring out all the memories that you wouldn’t imagine. |
| microcosm | /ˈmaɪkrəʊˌkɒzəm/ | A community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristic features of something much larger. | It’s a great microcosm for understanding how connected the island of Britain was. |
| tantalizing connection | /ˈtæntəlaɪzɪŋ kəˈnɛkʃən/ | A connection that is exciting or desirable but perhaps out of reach. | There’s a tantalizing connection with the chalk drums. |
| imbued | /ɪmˈbjuːd/ | Permeated or inspired with a feeling or quality. | Wearing things that are imbued with a part of the Sun. |
| archaeological treasure | /ˌɑːrkɪəˈlɒdʒɪkəl ˈtrɛʒər/ | A valuable and important discovery made during archaeological excavation. | It’s an archaeological treasure. |
| tangible links | /ˈtændʒəbəl lɪŋks/ | Connections that can be clearly seen or touched. | Reveal tangible links to our ancestors. |
| geophysical techniques | /ˌdʒiːoʊˈfɪzɪkəl tɛkˈniːks/ | Methods used to survey the Earth’s surface and subsurface using physical properties. | The first survey used geophysical techniques to scan beneath the surface. |
| tantalizing glimpses | /ˈtæntəlaɪzɪŋ ˈɡlɪmpsɪz/ | Brief and exciting views of something desirable but not fully revealed. | Tantalizing glimpses of burials. |
| pathetically | /pəˈθɛtɪkəli/ | In a way that arouses pity, especially through vulnerability or sadness. | A rather pathetically looking plant or weed growing out of it. |
| stratigraphy | /strəˈtɪɡrəfi/ | The branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). | The lack of written records means that the physical objects in this time are incredibly useful to help interpret this little understood period. After being recorded on site the fines are being moved to archaeological headquarters for further assessment. I’ve come to this secret location in Cardiff where the objects are undergoing their initial evaluation. Let’s go inside and check them out. Assessing the fines is Johan McCarthy. All right yeah and what we got here okay. So here we have a selection of weapons from the site uh obviously here on this side we have a couple of spearheads. Vicious looking spearheads yes indeed I want a state of preservation I mean you can see that that sort of they leave nothing to the imagination can I pick this evil looking one yeah indeed yeah that’s pretty robust. And what is the what does the width mean on that is that is that is that a just to make it look nice or is that a more effective injury yeah it definitely creates more effective injuries as the blade widens obviously that’s going up in a larger wound which is going to be more bleeding it’s going to be a very very nasty injury indeed wow as well as Spears many burials male and female adult and even some children include an Anglo-Saxon style knife known as a sayax. So here we have a sayax and a sayax is essentially a really big knife now it could have been used as a weapon there are theories that it may have had more of a practical use of sort of a hunting knife as well but um in combat you can see how effective it would be if you’re in the Press of uh of close combat yeah yeah then it’s going to be a lot more effective to use a shorter weapon to get into somebody’s ribs so they’re growing some nasty area like that cause somebody some horrible damage because you can’t wave your sword around because you’re all you’re all yeah exactly you’re in a shieldable you think everything’s going fine you look down and someone just stuck one of those into your thigh. One remarkable discovery on site brings home the potential for violence in the early Anglo-Saxon world. Well this is an exciting Barrel the 30th so far. Um much like the other barrels it’s the lines to a specific set of cardinal points. This one is northwest southeast and like all our other burials its head is either in a southern part or the western part. However unusually the burial is flexed. Now most of our barrels are supine extended on their back with their legs sticking out down to the bottom of the burial these legs are a bent slightly flexed you’ll notice that there is a lovely copper alloy disc brooch down there and if you see the staining on the bone just towards me that also was the location of another copper Isle object which is degraded completely and left a staining on the bone so much like the other burials we’ve got these two disc roaches probably forming class for a cloak. But what makes this burial very very interesting you’ll notice towards the base of the spine an iron object if you look at it it’s actually embedded in the spine a notch in the spine so when we remove it you’ll see the notch in it whether it was cause of death we don’t know for certain yet although the chart is over it is. This is the most curious of the burial so far not the richest in grave Goods but this particular event this is a singular event that we’ve actually got in the archaeological record. It’s day five at the dig site of operation Nightingale and old born and the team’s search for traces of the real Band of Brothers was well underway. As the foundations of one of the Nissan Hut shelters used by Easy Company were now clearly visible Vines were emerging left right and Center. But not all historic items in sight had just been dug up members of the public had flocked to the site with a myriad of artifacts relating to the 101st Airborne Division. Including one local military historian Roger day. Now what do you have here Rogers looks like an American gi’s helmet that’s exactly what it is an absolute genuine World War II American paratroopers helmet it belonged to uh um American called Gilbert Morton he was in the headquarters company 506 parachute inventional regiment he was stationed about three miles from here a place called ramsbury and this this was the tin hat he was wearing on D-Day now it came into my possession when I was about 13 years old and I had started to get interested in the military history of this area of course I’m talking to my father and he said I think there’s an old tin hat in your aunt’s Garden this was in ramsbury so we had to go down there immediately obviously I remember it very clearly it was a it was a Saturday morning it was pouring of rain and this was in the garden it was upside down like this with some soil in the bottom of it and sort of rather a pathetic looking plant or weed growing out of it I was a bit disappointed to say the least I was expecting something far more pristine anyway my my aunt gave it to me I put it in my father’s shed let it dry out and gradually removed the surface rust and marking started to appear there’s a marking on the side another one on the back and another one on this side now at the time remember I was only 13 or 14. no idea what these represented and it was only about five years later I decided to do some proper serious research. My thoughts in my heart were still alive went back and saw her and she said this how it belonged to a Gilbert Morton who was billeted with her during the war okay um and so she knew his name yeah and from that I was able to contact the 101st Airborne Division Association who said oh he’s still alive I wrote to him he sent back a letter explaining all about why the helmet was in my aunt’s garden and why intriguingly it had this large dent in the side of it so you can see it’s got a very significant Dent now do we know where that’s come from we do yep tell me Gilbert wrote back and I specifically asked him about the dent yeah he’s this was the helmet he jumped with when he jumped into Normandy they landed a short distance from a village called sancom de Mont which is some distance from their objective so they had to make their way to the objective they came to a Crossroads as they approached the crossroads of German shouted halt and I think Gilbert fired and turned and started a runoff and then another German fired and that bullet hit the helmet and it said it gave him a bit of a headache I can imagine but it saved his life but so it must have just glanced off the house a real bullet if it had gone directly that would be in the end that would have been the end so he’s just got very lucky there and he still kept it and you can see the markings here yeah you can see there’s still the Spade that’s right well again I didn’t know what these were yeah um but research showed that the 506 there um recognition flash was a spade and there you can see a spade on on both sides yeah um he was a sergeant so he had an ncos rank bar on the back officers War vertical bars and and also there’s a little dot here this rosette represents the the Battalion he was in Third Battalion and you can still see some of the green but if you can see that just some of the original color is still there it’s still there and of course he after he survived inside the war but he went after D-Day they uh they came back to regroup here in the UK and he was sent back to my aunt’s house and was quartered there again for about another six weeks brought the helmet with him stuck in on the post in her garden and that’s where it stayed until I came along one very wet Saturday morning about 1968. well what an incredible story thank you for bringing this object to us amazing [Music] a truly unique find and an equally remarkable story to accompany it yet as well as learning more about the individual accounts of D-Day from those who took part in the battle for Normandy I was equally intrigued by the production and filming of the hit TV series that had reunited so many people in oldborn luckily two members of the cast of Band of Brothers were on hand to share their experiences we’re lucky enough to be joined by one of the cast of the hit TV series Banner Brothers Rick joins me how are you Rick yeah I’m good I’m hot but I’m good now you were in equipment from eight episodes of the uh of the hit TV series yeah I was in Eight Episodes of Vander Brothers I played Lieutenant Harry Welsh and Harry was from wilkesbury Pennsylvania and he was actually with 82nd Airborne initially and then joined 101st and he was Dick Winters well one of his closest friends really and went through the ranks with him and survived the war fortunately and was stationed with him just at the cafe in town you can see the window where Winter’s um State and you can see where Harry stayed in the window next door and there was a PT field here a training field where they did all of their calisthenics and stuff I’m sure Harry did push-ups a lot more than I could have done uh just over there um it’s I’m not necessarily a big person for believing in ghosts or anything like that but I certainly can feel easy company around here and what was the process of filming like um for across those eight episodes that you were well we didn’t come to Old born to film we I think I’m writing saying although I joined in the first episode typically we made our own old born you know we didn’t film in the vast Dome we made alvastone and similarly old born I think the exteriors were shot in a village called Hamilton and buckinghamshire we did a boot camp that lasted 11 days at Longmore training camp down the M3 and I had um we all had a tough time I I I had a time I’m still processing actually Tim Matthews is is the same who’s here with me today for a bit of context the guy who headed it up and maybe Rick mentioned this a guy called Dale Dye he began these intensive boot camps for military series and films I think years before that the idea was that when they began to portray something when the director said you’re exhausted the director said you’re frightened they would have something that could reach back and touch some sort of understanding of what exhaustion means to a soldier What Fear means to a soldier I wanted them to know that sort of thing and there’s just no way to do it without putting them in that position I think Saving Private Ryan was when bielberg and Hanks kind of decided we need to give you a lot of a lot of rain here free reign to take these actors as far as you can take them and I think it became quite an integral part of the preparation for the whole film really so that gives you an idea of how intensive our training was meant to be so that on screen you weren’t just pointing a camera an actor who was pretending to know how to use a weapon you were pointing at someone who was part of a maneuver that we we understood the machinations [Music] around the side as well okay we have somebody in here on the left-hand side yeah and and the the series is still one of the most popular series it’s so highly acclaimed but what do you think that is and why do you think it still captures the popular imagination to this day what is it about brander Brothers yeah that’s a mat that’s the sixty four thousand dollar question it’s got to be a combination of things I mean the original the stories themselves obviously of those men and the overall trajectory that they had through the war is pretty incredible um and I know they weren’t the only bunch of people who did that during the war but they exemplify it quite well I think and then I suppose this the the camaraderie that’s portrayed in the book and then in the film because of the amount of research that was done and knitted together I think makes for a pretty compelling story and then you have Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks putting it into something uh huge it’s huge [Music] with the Dig now nearing its conclusion it was finally time to catch up with Richard to see what he and his team had discovered Richard we were here on the first day of this dig and within about half an hour we were already finding bullet cartridges now when we heard about some of the objects that you were finding we raced down here tell us about some of the stuff that you found well Luke to be honest it’s been extraordinary so exciting because we start off with a structure which is brilliant but then it was tantalizing each each minute we’d get a new find it would become more exciting You start off with something like this and I like this because it’s a very human thing you think of soldiers in their downtime in their board moments in the Huts any ideas what you think well that might be I really couldn’t tell you something for some sort of instrument I’m not sure no no you are right that’s part of a harmonica okay so you imagine the guy sitting in the barracks just whirling away the time playing playing mouth organ um just a nice nice human story I think yeah so we start off with that and then we seem to be upgrading all the time the paratroopers came uh from Toccoa that’s where they did their their jump school and that’s in Georgia this is another nice link you see what it says there what do you say good for one fan good for one fan it’s a token and if you flip it it’s from a bus company this is the Howard bus line yeah and that is based in Atlanta Georgia and you think Toccoa Georgia like is this from a soldier who’s had a leave pass gone around and he’s got a couple of tokens to go on the bus route and just come back with him so it links you straight back to those training days before they do these final bits of training just before D-Day you know it’s them you know it’s them well you know it’s them it’s it’s palpably American and then if we continue on the theme of being demonstratively American do you know that just we talk about screaming eagles that screams that Americano isn’t it that’s credible you see that behind the president whenever they they speak now it’s the coat of arms of the United States the eagle um yeah really really clear dress uniform one one up here so this is an American button so you can see how we’re getting really excited now why we’re recording better it can’t get better than that surely what what would to you would speak D-Day what sorts of things that you think of on on that day of days oh gosh so many things let me show you this what do you think yeah so that’s going to be one of the uh one of the clickers to signify whether it’s an Allied Soldier it’s a cricket yeah and it’s one of those things they click to each other for recognition um issued on D-Day so this is a D-Day artifact yeah I don’t think they were used after D-Day by the paratroops the 101st certainly have them and it’s in the longest day it’s in bander Brothers all these things nowadays there you go there’s a replica go on let’s just show you so if you were you were in in some bushes somewhere and you didn’t know if it was you could hear some rustling you do was it one clip one click response of two clicks two clicks so [Music] it’s an item that you know if you want you want to express D-Day yeah that’s something so I think we could you know we got that and I was happy we could go home didn’t need to do any more we’ve got D-Day we’ve got the Americans we’ve got the camp perfect and then you see someone doing a little dance by the metal detectors over the lines of Foxconn and you think that’s that’s probably a good sign yeah and they shout dog tag what’s up now that’s this is you know Goldust you’re not going to get these things it’s the rarest gold rare as hens teeth this um so you get the dog tag sign and in such remarkable you know I was I was suspicious I thought this looks it looks fake should we get it out come on look at that and it is Richard a Blake and a service number and then can you see it says t4344 so he said a tetanus jab tetanus jab okay before and then after that it says hey hey this is blood type and underneath see that would be he’s a Catholic religion yeah he’s a Catholic so that um is related to and I you know I wonder how people existed before the internet because within minutes the team here has identified him there he is as Richard Blake uh he’s he is a paratrooper he’s from the 506th parachute Infantry Regiment but he’s from Able company yeah so he’s part of that whole unit of paratroopers able companies he’s a technician so he’s regard as a Corporal um he goes in on D-Day so he’s in the first wave jumps out of a Dakota he’s there before The Landings yeah so he’s a he’s a jumper on DJ this this item you know it links you to D-Day itself he jumps in on D-Day and then he comes back to to oborn and then jumps again on operation Market Garden where he gets wounded in the hand and that for him is his War over so he survives the war he’s 20 and this Photograph it’s incredible he dies 10 years ago but the ones of the internet we’re hoping to trace his family and make these make these connections with people and I love this it connect America with the village in in wheelchair and making all those stories so again you know if we could have stopped at the clicker we really could stop at this point yeah until the second dance happens nice and uh believe it or not there’s you know we seem to upgrading the story this is another another one is almost impossible to do is just incredible so this is a much more German sounding thing oh yeah Carl Fenster wow number and he’s got his tetanus 42 to 43 so it’s probably out today he’s a Protestant he’s a Protestant his blood type is O it’s been bent I think also his middle name has been mistyped so I think he may have even bent it and chucked it also it might be an out-of-date tag because it says 42 to 40 well so 42 to 43 for his his tetanus well you always wonder why they’re why you found them and perhaps it could be that it’s just now down we’ve got a new one yeah now fence to marker however is really gnarly he is a member of easy company so he is friends with some of the big names of easy company and we’ve got a picture of forest goof um outside the Hut we’ve excavated really good friends as Forrest Gump there’s a picture of him with dick Winters the biggest name of easy company course and this is him and there he is there now he’s a fresh face he’s in his early 20s again he doesn’t just do one jump on D-Day he doesn’t just do Market Garden he does a third jump really unusual Lou Nixon um with Easy Company also doesn’t three three jumps three Styles yeah so he does three jumps jumps into Bastone so he survives all this and then upgrades if you can possibly think of that from Easy Company becomes a Pathfinder wow so he’s one of the two Pathfinders of Easy Company marking out the routes that these paratroopers are going to go for and he too survives the war and you know archeology is about people yeah it could be Romans it could be Saxons it could be about paratroopers but when you’ve got an artifact in any of those time periods that links you to a person you’re touching history and that’s that’s what I love about it this is a hold it again this is touching history even the rust on it it’s still you’re linking to the guy who took part in some of the most formative amazing events in world history he would have touched this and he might he may have been a member of easy company and he lived in this field in the 1940s and for me that’s a real hairs on the back of neck moment because you’re linking through to history through the items in the ground and you know what a story what a story and it’s weird when you think you’re watching Band of Brothers you’re actually touching something from someone of and he’s mentioned in the book he’s mentioned in the book Band of Brothers as well so you know this is one of the names and you know I’ve been we’ve been talk joking about this all week that we’re hoping to add Brothers to the band of brothers and I think with these two men who possibly have a remarkable end to our week here in oldborn but the story was not yet over a few days later Dan an archaeologist Giselle corali caught up with Andrew fenstermacker grandson of Carl to reveal the news about the truly breathtaking find we have a very special personal connection that we found to this remarkable man that we were all incredibly excited I have to tell you we found his dog tag with his name on it oh wow that’s awesome that that’s incredible so also with this Andrew you can see that it says Carl F fenstermacher which that’s not actually his middle initial so this actually gives a lot of information but the fact that it’s a bit um it the information skewed it’s got the wrong middle initial and it’s kind of misprinted and it’s folded in half means that it might actually have just been something he got a bit frustrated about since it wasn’t the right it wasn’t really his dog tag it was something misprinted and he folded it in half and just tucked it to the side and then Here Comes us years later on a veteran um or one of our team is metal detecting and ends up finding it yeah that’s that’s crazy we know that his plane was shot down uh on the way to D-Day he never never made it by plane but um he was actually transported then to the Infantry so he he did make it but wound up with the Infantry instead of uh by playing in the Airborne that’s exactly right that’s what we’ve got um so he did jump sort of the plane started to go down um at D-Day and he ended up jumping into the channel and um he was recovered by the HMS torto which is a boat out there um but he yelled out in German um for safety reasons uh and they ended up holding him and his crew hostage until they could confirm their identities he was an incredible guy and he was friends with some of the key players as well he was one of the key players in the 101st but he was friends with a lot of influential guys himself um did D-Day he was part of the Pathfinders and so those are the guys who went out first and put the Eureka signals out and they’re kind of those were the um the guys who they volunteered for basically a life-threatening Mission every single time which is an incredible humbling thing for us to learn he jumped at Market Garden so that was in in September middle of September in 1944 after D-Day and it was very successful for all the other paratroopers not really a successful experience but for the Pathfinders it was a hugely successful and then he was also one of only two planes of Pathfinders who jumped in for Battle of the Bulge for bastogne for that critical resupply Mission so he was one of 20 men to to make Bastone um resupply Mission successful yeah you guys have really uh inspired me to dive back in and learn more about his story this is something that you know he may have wore around his neck he may you know he may have thrown away he may have he may have handled that that’s is that a pretty cool connection with your with your grandpa yeah I mean it’s something that I’m excited to to definitely share with my dad and my aunt and uncles uh all of his kids are still alive um and I know that that several of them have taken a lot of interest in this and they’ll be very excited to find find this out [Music] foreign [Music] rich in Roman history it’s a history that stretches several centuries it’s a history that includes famous Emperors such as this figure Constantine the first Constantine the Great who has proclaimed emperor in York in 306 A.D when this city was this great Center in the north of Roman Britannia by the time of Constantine York had already been around for more than 200 years and it’s a story from the city’s more distant past that I’m interested in today an intriguing mystery has stolen the Limelight over the past couple of months a mystery surrounding a group of recently Unearthed stunning bronze objects that are now subject to a new Exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum the Rydell horde but what are these objects what do we know about them and what’s this great mystery surrounding the horde well today I’ve received special access to come and see these objects and to find out how they fit into the story of Roman Yorkshire foreign [Music] a remarkable Discovery was made in a field near ampleforth in Rydell North Yorkshire the discovery was a group of four objects that have since been labeled some of yorkshire’s most significant Roman fines fast forward two years from the discovery and these stunning objects are now center stage of the Yorkshire Museum’s newest exhibition I’m meeting Yorkshire Museum’s curator Dr Lucy Crichton for a special up close viewing of the objects so Lucy you’ve taken out these artifacts for us today they’re quite small when you look at them but they’re incredibly stunning aren’t they they’re absolutely spectacular Tech we have well let’s have a look at these four objects now what is this head the object make up the Rydell horde are very different each one’s got a very different story to tell this is perhaps the main event this spectacular Imperial septor head bust probably of the emperor Marcus Aurelius who reigned from ad161 to 180 and this would have been a bus that would have sat atop a scepter or Priestly staff and used during religious rituals associated with the Imperial cult the worship of the Emperor as a god looking at it closer now I mean first of all you mentioned how second century could be an antonine emperor but how can we tell this is potentially a depiction of an emperor from that period so one of the most striking features of this SEPTA head is the incredibly detailed hair each strand being individually picked out and it’s the hair as well as the facial features which give us the most probable subject for this portrait Marcus Aurelius especially that forked beard which is shown as a characteristic feature of Marcus on other statues and coins Marcus auridius ruled the Roman Empire for almost 20 years between 161 and 180 A.D renowned for histoic thinking he has been nicknamed the philosopher Emperor and was known as the last of the five good emperors there’s so much detail in this piece and a huge amount of skill has gone into its creation we know that this wasn’t made in Rome it’s very much a provincial style it was most likely made in Britain the person that made this had most likely never seen Marcus Aurelius In the Flesh we don’t think Marcus Aurelius ever visited Britannia but they would have known their portrait from coins and perhaps even sculpture from Rome why does this statue have such vacant eyes so although the eyes are Hollow now it may have been the case that originally they were inlaid with a different material perhaps a gemstone enamel or colored glass to create a really piercing stare so there may well have been a gem a precious Jewel on this statue in its Heyday when it was perhaps part of this religious item quite possibly indeed and there are other similar examples that do have inlaid eyes so let’s talk about some more of the detail what else have we got on this small figurine possibly of the emperor Marcus Aurelius so the front of Marcus is definitely his best side but if I turn him over you can see how this object functioned he’s actually Hollow at the back and that would be to take on this staff for which this scepter head would have sat atop you can see here three rivet holes one of them broken we think that that’s how this object would have been attached to that staff and it’s only when we look at the back that we start to appreciate how this object may have been used before it was buried so let’s have a look at this next one this Mars figure well this beautiful little duet is a figure of the god Mars Mars Horse and Rider as he often is in Britain and Gaul the statue is incredibly detailed we have a look here we can see that Mars is wearing an impressive crested helmet a pleated tunic and the horse harness is fashioned in incredible detail with these decorative discs and Reigns [Music] Mars was the Roman God of War and depictions of him were sure to emphasize this [Music] the object is actually incomplete Mars would have originally been holding a shield in his left hand and brandishing a spear in his right and really he’s shown as riding into battle Mars was particularly popular in Roman Britain especially with the Army he was the god of war and was seen as a protective Spirit who would protect soldiers in battle Britain of course and especially Northern Britain was a highly militarized area with many thousands of soldiers based here so we have lots of dedication statuettes to an evidence for the worship of Mars across the province it’s absolutely stunning the amount of detail they’ve packed into this really quite small object indeed and when this object was new it would have been even more detailed and Magnificent the statue would have stood upright on a small base and in fact if we look closely at the horse’s Hooves you can see that one of those pegs still survived that would have slotted into that base and Lucy let’s talk about this very very different object in the horde the plumb bob so it might seem strange after we’ve looked at the beautiful statues in the hood to focus in on this slightly less beautiful object but actually this is one of the most interesting objects in The Horde for me Plumb barbs were used for building projects for measuring straight lines and they could also be used in multiples as part of a Roman tool called a gromer which would have been used for larger Landscape Management projects the laying out of a new landscape Plumb Bob’s as a tool are fairly standardized in their form they’re functional so they’re made as a weight that’s suspended but this example is a particularly large and elaborate one and also there’s very little evidence of where it may have only been used once or twice if we look at the top of this object we can see how it worked the holes here were used to suspend the object using twine on a long line and the hole on the side that would also be linked up to the hole on the top to link it all together as a sort of knot to it yes absolutely this object is quite heavy so you would need to be able to secure it fairly strongly the inclusion of this plumb a functional tool in a horde of the type is exceedingly rare it makes the Rydell horde very very interesting could these objects have been buried as a blessing to Aid in the success of one of these projects and could this little plumb bob have been included as an object that was used during the project to give a certain potency to the blessing I mean Lucy is absolutely fascinating because sometimes when you’re looking at ancient Rome you focus on religion worship and you focus on farming as two completely different things so it’s wonderful to be talking about these two things and seeing links through how the fact that these items have been buried together we know that many and most aspects of Roman Life were filled with religious practice magic and ritual but it’s rare that we actually get to see the evidence of it especially in the rural parts of our County [Music] foreign [Music] beliefs and practices were interwoven with religion and life in the Roman period sometimes it’s quite difficult to definitively find magical practice in the archaeological record that there might have been Magical elements to the burial of this horde the final object in the horde this little broken key may have been believed to have magical properties and may have been included in the horde for Magical reasons we don’t know whether the object the key was broken before it went in the ground or whether it corroded as iron often does within the ground if we look at this edge here you can see the broken locking bit of the key it may have been broken before it was buried and was included in the horde as a broken object which would be really interesting and hints at magical practice the decoration in itself was once again stunning and it’s interesting how we’ve got a second horse in this horde isn’t it can really see this Rich detail in the main you can see the eyes the teeth the mouth the Hooves everything it’s stunning once again absolutely this key handle as with all of the objects in The Horde shows a real Pinnacle of craftspersonship these are some of the finest art objects from Roman Yorkshire and it’s very interesting that they’ve been buried all together fitting Leaf was such a stunning set of objects is the extraordinary story of their discovery I’m meeting Avid meta detectorist Mark didlik who along with his friend James spark uncovered The Horde two years ago [Music] so Mark talk me through the discovery of this incredible set of objects that are now on display at the Yorkshire Museum it was a real strange day we’ve sort of beat out most of the day and fans wise was not a lot and within 10 minutes I’ve been in that field them items were getting discovered and it was just surreal I mean we couldn’t even find anything similar on the internet so what was the first object which you and James uncovered it was the Horse and Rider James had found it and just looking at it I didn’t think it was Roman last thought maybe a thousand years old not 1800. and when you’re unearthing these following artifacts that say the heads of potentially Marcus Aurelius was that head staring up at you in the ground from the earth or how did it look like initially when you got that particular artifact out of the ground we actually thought it was going to be a bronze there Jack said because a lot of you have noticed the bottom of the bust it’s sort of rounded yes and the socket accents are similar similar in shape a sort of gradually just sort of picking away at the dirt just trying to release it just about to see what it was really then all of a sudden the bus just sort of fell and looked at both of us and it just had mud clumps of mud in its eyes and it was amazing it was sort of hypnotized us really the fines themselves dates the late 2nd Century A.D roughly a century after York was first founded by the Roman ninth Legion in around 70 A.D although still quite early in York’s Roman history this was an exciting time in the development of this Northern Bastion so Lucy the Rydell horde how does it fit into the whole story the whole chronology of Roman York because York in the second century it’s so much more than just a military Fortress isn’t it absolutely the second century is almost Roman yorkshire’s golden age the preceding first century it’s all about the military establishments establishing the major Fortress here at eberakim however in the second century we start to see the civilian Town grow and Thrive the major Rich suburbs to the south of the U’s begin to develop and we see the establishment of stone buildings Elite dwellings and public institutions we know that in this period it’s where a lot of our collections here at the Yorkshire Museum come from we see a peak in local production so production of pottery dress accessories and jewelry and we also see a peak in trade and exchange ebarakum is the center of an empire-wide network with materials and goods coming in from France from Italy from all the Empire we find evidence of them here in ibarakan [Music] York was really starting to grow by the late second century and it was also well connected to the surrounding Countryside to places such as Rydell where the horde was discovered we don’t know of any of the countryside however the Romans stamped their infrastructure across this whole region through a network of Roads Forts and portlets and it really meant that nowhere was that far from Roman culture and influence and we know that in the rural areas of North Yorkshire especially in the second century major land reorganization was occurring farming Estates were developing some owned by Roman veterans some owned by wealthy locals were being changed to incorporate new farming practices and new styles of building and Technologies of estate making so even though the fine spot of the Rydell horde was very much in the countryside we can imagine it in a Countryside that was bustling and full of activity [Music] therefore begs the big All In important question who buried this horde of objects deep in the countryside of second century Roman Yorkshire the Yorkshire museum has put forward four potential theories the first is that it was a priest of the Imperial cult inspired by the sector head of Marcus Aurelius [Music] focus of worship and religious ceremonies which honored the Emperor as a God and those ceremonies would have been carried out and overseen by specific people Priests of the Imperial Court an official role known as a severe August Starlight and we know that these priests were living and working in York and in Northern Britain this impressive Stone plaque is an inscription that was raised to commemorate the building of a new Temple in ibarakum and it records in stone the person who sponsored its building and we can see that the inscription includes dedications to the divinities of the emperor and the goddess Duke a Jew is a hither to unknown local goddess the stone of course is broken on the right hand side so we don’t have her name but you can see j-o-u-g Duke another possibility is that it was a soldier that Buried The Horde an idea inspired by the Mars figurine [Music] started its life as a major Fortress home to some 5 000 Roman legionaries and the whole region is dotted with smaller military infrastructure there would have been literally tens of thousands of soldiers in this area and we have a wealth of archaeological evidence for soldiers living here the stamped tiles and pottery that they produced in official Workshops the hordes of coins that were buried by soldiers burying their precious wages for safe keeping whilst they perhaps March North on a campaign Beyond the Wall it’s quite possible that perhaps this horde the Rydell horde was buried by a soldier perhaps as a dedication to his favorite God Mars to keep him safe this is the finest example of religious sculpture from Roman York quite different to the Mars in The Horde more classical would have stood as a centerpiece of an elaborate Temple to Mars would it have been colored do you think yeah yeah we think it would have been um painted in bright colors and in fact we’ve had some scientific analysis of the sculpture suggests that the the fleshy bits of Mars would have been in a flesh tone and then the rest of him would have been in bright colors and much like our Mars why are these objects are very special to us now there is a chance that these items were collected purely for their material worth and the third candidate for who buried this horde is a metal worker who had intended on melting down the horde for repurposing the materials we have on display in the exhibition objects from the largest metalworkers horde from Rome and Britain Bound in nairsborough now 27 bronze vessels survive but it originally included many many more and this shows the practice of hoarding metal objects which could of course be recycled and melted down it shows that it was happening in Roman Yorkshire so perhaps that can be an interpretation for this horde this is a metal worker this is fantastic actually this inscription records a goldsmiths shop in molten it draws upon the spirit of the place so the genius Loki and ask the spirit of the place to bless this Goldsmith shop with good luck [Music] the last theory proposes that The Horde was buried by a farmer due to the inclusion of the plumb bob this Theory asks the question why was a functional tool found alongside such different types of items could The Horde have been buried to bless an area of Farmland an offering to the gods so that the farmer might produce a good harvest the Rydell horde is a fantastic reminder religion and ritual practice was absolutely embedded into every aspect of everyday life and work for Roman people and giving them an offering such as a votive burial of a horde is perhaps one way that a farmer may get the Gods on their size so this is the case that explores the the theme of The Farmer we have a fragment of an official document called a military diploma that soldiers upon their retirement were given this was a diploma that was awarded to somebody specifically in the cohort’s second Galore so you can get quite a lot of detail from a tiny fragment foreign that we lay out in the exhibition are just the starting point we want visitors to explore the objects explore the horde and come up with their own theories if I had to put my money on who buried the horde I would urge towards that story of a farmer burying The Horde to bless an active Landscape Management the reason for that is just that inclusion of the plumb bob in The Horde it answers that question and it’s that question that makes the truly unique these small bronze objects had rested in the ground for almost 2 000 years now they sit center stage at the Yorkshire Museum on display for people to visit and to make up their own minds as to who buried this mysterious horde deservedly they rest among yorkshire’s most significant Roman objects [Music] and how does it feel now to have these objects with Hugh and James uncovered in a field not too long ago center stage on display at the Yorkshire Museum we both wanted them to end up in York and they’ve had a hell of a journey to be honest they’re going to be there for a very long time now and it lets everyone see them don’t it it’s a lot more to learn from the items as well I think well you said there’s much more to learn so let’s see what’s going to happen in the future this feels like the end of one chapter but the beginning of a completely new chapter so let’s see [Music] rich in detail varied in purpose and linked to an intriguing mystery these objects might be small but they tell an amazing story in the history of Roman Yorkshire last week an archaeological team from Waterloo uncovered made an extraordinary find on the battlefield of Waterloo itself it’s a find that could rewrite the history books I’m very pleased to say that history hits very own James Rogers was there as the story emerged from the ground at sunset on the 18th of June 1815 the guns on the fields of Waterloo fell silent Napoleon had suffered his final defeat at the hands of Wellington blusher and their Allied armies the curtain fell on the Napoleonic era and history was made but over 200 years later a dedicated team of world-class archaeologists students and Veterans from the charity Waterloo uncovered are determined to not only read about history but to unearth it as well and I’ve been invited along too since 2015 Waterloo uncovered have been coming to the Waterloo Battlefield and have made some astonishing discoveries discoveries that have not just supported the accepted story of the battle but have also changed it but this year 2022 they made a discovery that no one could have expected a discovery that will put Waterloo uncovered into the history books themselves I’ve been doing archeology for nion 25 years and I have never seen anything like this possibly you know one of the best finds we’ve had because you just don’t find bones at Waterloo foreign the Battle of Waterloo took place here about 16 kilometers south of Brussels just south of the village of Waterloo in fact Napoleon never called it Waterloo instead he called it the battle of monsenjon the name of a farm just north of the battlefield and Belusha well he called it the Bell Alliance after the name of an inn that he and Wellington met in after hostilities had finished the battlefield itself was small only a few miles wide but despite this it was a messy Affair some 200 000 troops from across Europe French British prussians and Dutch were packed into this rolling landscape the air was thick with smoke from Guns communication between positions was a nightmare and Waterloo descended into battles within battles like the famous struggle at hugamon or Lahey Sant as Wellington said himself Waterloo was like a ball everyone would come away from it with their own very different experience hundreds of traditional histories have been written about the battle but surprisingly very little modern archeology had taken place and so in 2015 a team from Waterloo uncovered decided to get boots on the ground and start to explore the battlefield for the next four years they dug across the battlefield making exciting finds like an intact French how it’s a shell and several British uniform buttons which helped retell the story of the defense of hugamon now in 2022 and after having missed two years because of the covid pandemic the team were itching to get Excavating again the ground was broken on the 4th of July 2022 with a number of sites earmarked for field work the two most exciting are the farm at monsenjon where it is hope the team can continue the work they started in 2019 and metal detectorists have got permission to work on Wellington’s famous reverse Sloop the site of some of the Grimace fighting during the battle I’m going to start up at Monson John the site that the Waterloo uncovered team started Excavating in 2019 to find out more about the importance of the site I spoke with one of the founders of Waterloo uncovered Charlie fowinette so here we are at more San Juan Mo San Juan is a farm that sits behind the ridge that was the Allied line during the Battle of Waterloo and this place is interesting because it was the field Hospital during the battle um and it’s perfectly sited because it’s just far enough back not to be directly involved in most of the fighting but it’s close enough to be a covered location to which you can easily and fairly rapidly concentrate casualties and what went on here during the battle was pretty ghastly an awful lot of amputations hundreds of amputations as we know surgery was a pretty rudimentary business in 1815 um what we’ve got here is the orchard of Monster Jam which is a really interesting archaeological context because this has never been plowed it’s always been posture and all Orchard which means that the archeology sits at a relatively shallow level undisturbed and last time we were here back in 2019 we did quite a lot of surveying metal detecting started opening trenches to see what the metal detecting sources were providing us and in this particular location we hit upon an assemblage of metal objects that we think are some sort of ammunition container ammunition box not sure what but interestingly when we started Excavating it what we found um was an assemblage of human legs amputated legs I think three of them came up in 2019 um and really very clear you had amputation cut marks high on the femur you had obvious damage to the bones and in one case a musket ball still within the within the the bone assemblage the lead archaeologist on site is Professor Tony Pollard it wasn’t just the human bone we encountered a few meters that way we found animal bone protruding through the side of the section of the trench and it was teeth huge teeth we thought right that’s either a horse or a cow but the problem was we were running out of time so we we had specialists in so the bones were lifted and taken to the lab in Brussels and they underwent analysis and we covered the rest of the trench over and we thought right we’ll come back in 2020. little did we know that would be hit by the pandemic and so 2020 passes 2021 and we’re now 2022 so this is the first time we’ve been back since then within hours of that three-year Hiatus being over the monsenjon trench is revealing some of its secrets and not just the teeth of a horse begin to appear but an entire skeleton we amassed just beneath the surface what we thought uh at that stage they just looked like teeth and then as the days have progressed as you can see now we are developing what we think is a whole skeleton so these are teeth and this is the jaw and we’re coming to the four limbs here and of course this is the rib cage following the spine and we’re hoping where Jim is to find hind legs we think there are three horses so there’s some remnants of horse bone in this right hand uh part of our trench there of some horse bones over there and we’ve now found some horse bones in a trench over there exactly why these horse remains are being found next to a hospital for human casualties is still not clear all the team can do now is continue to clean up the remains for further analysis later in the week but before that question can be answered even more Bones start to reveal themselves so um started here I think three days ago and this was the only thing exposed which I thought potentially was no it was bone but not sure you know maybe a sort of part of a leg or something like that um started to start to excavate and then found what we thought was a kneecap um and then initially we thought this was sort of where they um you know had an amputation or something like that but then with a knee and then I found this bone going this way um and then we carried on digging and the more and more is coming out it’s sort of what they call articulation um and they um so we think potentially there could be a full skeleton so from just that one little bit you know managed to oh no so yeah I’m just I’m really excited I want to just you know keep cracking on you know what we thought might be human remains are in fact more remains of a horse the trench at Monson John is posing more questions than it’s answering at the moment and so to better understand the site a decision was made at the end of day three to extend the trench further to the West it’s a decision that will turn the Dig upside down veronique Moolah a Belgian archaeologist working for the balloon Heritage agency oversaw the trench extension and was on the spot when a truly astonishing Discovery was made yes [Music] I mean um [Music] after spending an anxious night the team arrive on site to start the careful excavation around where the teeth were found what they find shocks everyone |
Vocabulary Flashcards
Lexical Focus: Collocations & Chunks
Don’t just learn isolated words—learn chunks of language. These patterns will help you speak more naturally.
-
prehistoric art
Collocation
The most important piece of prehistoric art. -
poignant group
Collocation
They discovered a poignant group of three children skeletons. -
intricate carving
Collocation
This intricate carving was over every surface. -
outpouring of love
Collocation
You get a sense that there’s an outpouring of love. -
shared artistic language
Collocation
There’s a kind of shared artistic language. -
tantalizing connection
Collocation
There’s a tantalizing connection with the chalk drums. -
imbued with a part of the Sun
Fixed Expression
Wearing things that are imbued with a part of the Sun. -
archaeological treasure
Collocation
It’s an archaeological treasure. -
physical objects
Collocation
The lack of written records means that the physical objects in this time are incredibly useful. -
singular event
Collocation
This is a singular event that we’ve actually got in the archaeological record.
De-Chunking: Complete the Expressions
Select the correct phrase from the box below to complete the sentences.
prehistoric art
poignant group
intricate carving
outpouring of love
shared artistic language
poignant group
intricate carving
outpouring of love
shared artistic language
1. The discovery of the most important piece of .
2. They discovered a of three children skeletons.
3. This was over every surface.
4. You get a sense that there’s an .
5. There’s a kind of .
While-viewing Tasks
Complete these tasks while watching the video to enhance your comprehension and focus:
Guided Notes: Recent Archaeological Finds
Fill in the key information as you watch, focusing on the main themes presented:
- Significance of the Burton Agnes chalk drum:
- Details about the Anglo-Saxon burials (HS2 project):
- Discoveries at the Battle of Waterloo battlefield:
- The items composing the Ryedale Hoard:
- The “dog tag” find and its connection to a D-Day paratrooper:
- One of the key lessons learned from these archaeological discoveries:
- The four main theories about who buried the Ryedale Hoard:
Questions to Answer
- True/False: The chalk drum found near Burton Agnes is approximately 1000 years old.
- Short Answer: What does the “figure eight butterfly” motif on the chalk drum suggest about cultural connections?
- Multiple Choice: Which Roman Emperor is likely depicted on the scepter head from the Ryedale Hoard?
- True/False: The remains of an entire skeleton of a horse were found at the Mons-Saint-Jean field hospital at Waterloo.
- Short Answer: What unique item in the Ryedale Hoard makes the “farmer” theory particularly compelling?
Watch For:
- The number of children buried with the chalk drum.
- The name of the archaeologists involved in uncovering the chalk drum.
- Examples of weaponry found in the Anglo-Saxon burials.
- The personal story behind the D-Day paratrooper’s helmet.
- The reason why the dog tag of Carl Fenstermacher might have been bent and discarded.
Embedded Video:
Fill in the Blanks Exercise
1. The British museum announced the discovery of the most important piece of art.
2. This drum has never been shown in public before.
3. They discovered a group of three children skeletons.
4. This intricate was over every surface.
5. The earliest ring which is the blue stones dates from the same period of time.
6. The British Isles were an world with cultural connections running across land and sea.
7. The HS2 Rail Project is cutting a line through England from London to .
8. The first survey used techniques to scan beneath the surface.
9. More burials are emerging all in early Anglo-Saxon and many of them are revealing Weaponry.
10. The lack of written records means that the objects in this time are incredibly useful.
11. The fines themselves dates the late 2nd Century A.D roughly a century after York was first by the Roman ninth Legion.
12. The Yorkshire museum has put forward four potential .
13. This impressive Stone is an inscription that was raised to commemorate the building of a new Temple.
14. The last theory proposes that The Horde was buried by a due to the inclusion of the plumb bob.
15. Waterloo uncovered are determined to not only read about history but to it as well.
Vocabulary Quiz
Fact or Fiction Quiz
Extension Activities
Choose from these activities to extend your learning and further explore the world of archaeology and history:
Research Project: Archaeological Ethics
Research ethical considerations in archaeology, particularly concerning human remains, cultural artifacts, and the role of metal detectorists. Write a short report (250-300 words) discussing best practices and challenges.
Difficulty:
Medium
Medium
Reflective Essay: Rewriting History
Write an essay discussing how new archaeological finds can challenge or confirm existing historical narratives. Use at least two examples from the video (e.g., Anglo-Saxon burials, Waterloo finds) to illustrate your points.
Difficulty:
Hard
Hard
Discussion: Public vs. Private Ownership of Artifacts
With a partner, discuss the debate surrounding the ownership and display of archaeological finds. Should all discoveries be housed in public museums, or do private landowners/finders have rights? Consider the case of the Ryedale Hoard.
Difficulty:
Medium
Medium
Debate: The Role of Technology in Archaeology
Prepare a short debate with a partner on the topic: "Has modern technology (e.g., geophysics, metal detectors, eDNA) made archaeology more accessible and efficient, or has it devalued traditional archaeological methods?"
Difficulty:
Medium
Medium
Presentation: Ancient Cultural Connections
In a small group, research and present on the evidence for long-distance cultural connections in prehistoric Europe, using the chalk drums and their shared motifs as a starting point. Include other examples of trade, migration, or shared artistic styles.
Difficulty:
Hard
Hard
Mock Dig Plan: A Local Site
Imagine your group has identified a potential archaeological site in your local area. Develop a basic plan for a mock archaeological dig, including proposed methods (e.g., survey, excavation techniques), tools, and what kind of historical questions you hope to answer.
Difficulty:
Hard
Hard