All language subtitles for A.History.Of.Ancient.Britain.S02E03

This is the story of how Britain came to
be.

Of how our land and its people were
forged over thousands of years of

history.

This Britain is a strange and alien
world.

A world that contains the epic story of
our distant prehistoric path.

Sudden climate change and instability
had ended the Bronze Age and led to a

era of iron.

This was a time of broth in the north
and hillforts in the south,

marking territories in which the control
of land was everything.

What was emerging was the world of
Celtic Britain.

A society of warriors, druids and kings
of extraordinary wealth.

What events did he witness?

And what power did he wield?

Now, the journey continues with the next
chapter in our epic story.

These beaches were lined with thousands
of British warriors.

And out there, a fleet of 98 ships.

carrying two legions of Roman infantry.

A moment in history when the Celtic
tribes faced up to a power of

force.

Their heads were cut off their bodies
and their heads were stuck on spikes.

This was what would happen to you if you
got in the way of Rome.

And Britain fell to the greatest empire
the world had ever seen.

Britain, 100 B .C.

A land of Celtic tribes led by powerful
warrior kings.

No more than a hundred or so regional
leaders reigning over one to two million

people.

All vying to protect their own lands and
take that of their neighbours.

The Iron Age tribes were competitive,
they were warlike, and their leaders

be extremely wealthy.

They were also internationally
connected, and there's remarkable

how widespread those connections were
here in Edinburgh.

This is a collection of gold jewellery
found in Scotland just last year.

They were actually unearthed near
Stirling, close to where I live.

They are obviously magnificent, they're
incredibly valuable, and in fact they're

so precious I'm not allowed to lay so
much as a finger on them.

Amongst many other things, they show the
wealth and the power of some Iron Age

British tribal leaders.

These first two are typically Scottish.

They're certainly what you'd expect to
find a Celtic Scottish warlord owning.

This one, though, is a bit different.

This was made in the south of France, so
it's a luxury import from Gaul.

But the most intriguing story of all
comes from this one.

The level of craftsmanship here.

is of a different order of magnitude.

It's been made by twisting together
eight delicate golden strands.

Then there's this incredible detailed
finery on the terminals.

This one is the work of hands trained in
the classical world.

In a hundred years DC,

That meant connections to one place and
one place only.

Rome.

During the course of a century or so,
Rome's armies had begun to create an

empire extending from their
Mediterranean heartland along the coasts

and Europe.

Now, that expansion was bringing trade
to the northern Celtic tribes of Gaul

to Britain.

that separated island Britain from Gaul
in northern France and the river routes

leading south to the classical world of
the Mediterranean.

But for the Celtic kings on both sides
of the Channel, increasing contact with

Rome wasn't a military threat, but an
economic opportunity.

And here, behind those cliffs, was the
heart of Britain's international trade,

Hengistbury Head, near Christchurch on
the south coast.

2 ,000 years ago, this was the busiest
port in the whole of Britain.

Hengistbury forms a narrow peninsula,
sheltering a perfect natural harbour.

This was the gateway into ancient
Britain.

A vibrant hub of everything
international and exotic.

From around 100 BC, this vast headland
was fast becoming the most important

settlement in the whole of Britain.

It was a boomtown fuelled by
international trade.

This whole area would have been busy
with hundreds of merchants trading

There would have been people smelting
iron, making jewellery and all sorts.

There would have been shops and homes.

It would be a cosmopolitan place like
any busy port in the modern day.

So there would be people from foreign
places.

foreign accents, exotic foods and
smells.

So much of it would be instantly
recognisable to us.

Iron Age specialist Sir Barry Cunliffe
had studied Hengistbury for decades.

So what kind of things were coming
through Hengistbury?

Well, the most obvious was wine, which
came from north.

Italy in these great containers called
amphorae. It would be a tall neck with

with a big handle that would take a
couple of people to carry them

and they would stand a meter and a half
high and contain a great deal of wine.

The first wine drunk in Britain was
probably wine drunk out of these

somewhere down here.

These are rather small items, which you
see is just a chunk of glass, but it's

manganese glass.

And they would be very valuable objects
of trade. A big block of that glass

would be worth a huge amount of money.
And we've also got a little piece of

yellow glass as well.

Goodness, that glass, I haven't
realised, it looks more like a fleck of

And again, you see, people wouldn't have
seen anything like that. The most

amazing thing, I think, is this piece.

Oh, goodness, that's fantastic.

So that's that raw purple glass and that
yellow brought together. The yellow

glass would be very, very rare, and
they've just used it to make the trail.

If you can give people something they've
never had before, like wine at a feast,

then your status will stay pretty high
if you can give them one of these glass

bracelets in a feast as a gift.

My word, you had power.

The future came in through this door,
didn't it?

Absolutely right.

But these boom times were about to come
to an abrupt end.

All because of war.

All the amphorae found here are from the
same period.

After that, the import of Roman luxuries
stopped.

What's clear is that by around 50 or 60
BC...

The good times were over at Hengistbury
Head.

And why?

The Romans were on the march.

Just across that narrow channel in Gaul,
things had turned ugly.

Nobody was thinking very much about
trade anymore.

Instead, all minds were preoccupied by
the brutal war that had broken out as

Romans sought to take over Celtic Gaul.

The Roman army was coming closer.

And as war raged in mainland Europe,
island Britain, for all her warrior

and Celtic glory, suddenly looked
vulnerable.

Britain was about to enter a new
chapter, because under the Romans,

would be the same again.

When the Romans came to Britain, they
changed everything.

Modern governance, with laws and
taxation.

The idea of urban life, towns and cities
connected by roads.

Written language with names for people
and places as well as date.

This would be the very end of
prehistory.

But the arrival of Romans in Britain
wasn't going to happen overnight.

And not without a series of brutal
conflicts.

on the morning of the 23rd of August 55
years BC these beaches in Kent were

lined with thousands of British warriors
on horseback in chariots brandishing

long swords they were at fearsome sight
just days earlier their leaders had

turned down the invitation to surrender
opting instead to rise to the challenge

of invasion having crushed Gaul by 55 BP
Rome

had set its sights on Britain.

One more pride.

Out there, a fleet of 98 ships carrying
two legions of Roman infantry, 20 ,000

soldiers. And at their head, Julius
Caesar, Roman general and budding

intent on demonstrating his bravery and
strength to the citizens of Rome.

And what better challenge than to make
the treacherous Channel crossing?

and add Britain to his list of triumphs.

As the huge fleet of warships approached
these shores, the British warriors knew

what was at stake.

The mission was clear, to fight to
protect their own identity and to defend

Britain's independence from Rome.

As it happened, the hostile British
welcome and the shallow Kent beaches

more than Caesar had bargained for.

He was quickly sent off with a bloody
nose and some broken boats. The hard men

of Britain had won, at least for a
while.

But Caesar wasn't about to back down.

He just needed even more force.

And that's something Rome had in plenty.

On the 7th of July the following year,
Caesar was back.

This time with 800 ships.

carrying 50 ,000 professional soldiers
and 2 ,000 cavalry.

For a glorious century, Britain had
enjoyed the finest Roman luxuries.

Now they were to take a dose of Roman
brute force.

If ever there was a time when the
warring tribes of Britain needed to

shoulder to shoulder, this was it.

The lands of Celtic Britain were divided
into fiercely independent tribal

territories.

Those facing Caesar were in the South
East.

The Cantiaci, who gave their name to
Kent.

The Iceni in Norfolk.

The Trinovanti in Essex and Sussex.

And most powerful of all, the
Catuvaloni.

who controlled extensive lands north of
the Thames.

The trouble was that the Trinovantes
hated the Catu Valoni even more than

hated the Romans.

The Trinovantes were an ethics tribe,
locked in a war with their belligerent

neighbours, the Catu Valoni, a name that
meant expert warriors.

After their king was murdered, the Essex
boys reasoned that they could get

revenge by helping Caesar, so they
guided him across Kent towards

territory.

The British tribe, led by the leader of
the Catuvaloni, had moved inland, hoping

to ambush Caesar as he moved north.

Only one man was trusted to command the
force.

The most fearsome and belligerent leader
of the most fearsome and belligerent

tribe.

Cassivellaunus, king of the expert
warriors.

Sworn enemy of Caesar's newfound
friends.

These were tough warriors, fighting for
their lives and homes.

And armed with the very latest in Iron
Age weapons.

The British possessed a weapon they had
invented.

One that was desired throughout Europe.

The long iron slashing sword.

The lesson there is don't stand still if
a man on a horse is coming at you with

a sword.

Or at least duck.

Andy Dean is an expert in ancient
combat.

If you're on horseback, obviously you're
coming down into those vulnerable areas

higher up. If we were on foot, then I'd
be looking for vulnerable targets, say,

down by your knee, the tendons of the
back of the knee. As soon as I've hit

that... It's basically an execution
after that. So you'd choose your target.

even on the ground, you'd still be
chopping down, slashing? Yeah, I would

not to chop too much. I would try and
keep the sword moving all the time so

I retained energy so that that movement
would keep it going. So if I was coming

for your leg, it would be cut, sliced
through, and then as you went down, then

would do the coup de grace. Can I hold
it? Of course you may.

I can see your eyes lighting up. I want
to hack at something.

Well, we can organize that. We can get
something big and solid for you to have

play with. I fear I might do an air
shot.

Do not let go of the sword.

And I can only... It's the thing
about... I want to do that.

Honestly, if you use... Have a couple of
swipes over the top. Yeah.

A bit like a golf swing.

Yeah. And then, and literally as you're
taking the top of a dandelion off.

Right.

Okay.

I think I might be an actual backhand,
actually. Here we go, then.

No.

Okay.

Oh!

Actually, it doesn't even slow down. No.

Absolutely stunning.

Wow. Have another go.

But for all the swords, chariots and
spears, the British were driven back.

Their last hope was to mount a final
defence on the north bank of the Thames.

Over there, where those trees are today,
the Thames opened out into a wide

marshy ford that was just shallow enough
to walk across.

Now, only that ford stood between Rome
and the British heartlands.

The British chief assembled his forces
here.

on the North Shore, and he lined the
bank with sharpened stakes, preparation

an ambush.

Really, though, the best hope was that
the Romans would never find this place,

and the river would act as a natural
barrier, holding them back.

But, with the help of their new British
allies, the invaders were here in no

time, and the endgame was in sight.

It's strange to think that today you can
relax here with a drink, surrounded by

this very British scene.

Because it was here, 2 ,000 years ago,
that British history hung in the

The Roman army just kept on coming, wave
after wave of soldiers.

The British ambush was in vain, and once
again they were forced to abandon their

position and flee.

With the country laid wide open to the
invaders, the chiefs in the surrounding

area knew what was coming, and one by
one they defected.

becoming sworn allies of Rome.

The British leader Cassivellaunus and
his closest followers put up one last

stand, but were massacred.

This was more than the end of an era.

It was the end of Britain's ancient
prehistory, unfolding in the face of an

unstoppable force.

Rome and the modern world.

After such a decisive victory, it's
tempting to imagine Britain falling

outright Roman rule.

But that's not what happened.

With pledges of allegiance from the
tribes of the South East, it seems

was satisfied.

And after just three months in the
country, he left, taking his entire army

him.

The Britain he left behind was by no
means completely Roman.

But it wasn't completely British anymore
either.

And her people...

would never be the same again.

Britain was entering a whole new
chapter.

But so far, Roman force had only touched
a small part of our land.

In the north and west, Caesar's
expedition must have seemed as distant

war with Gaul.

But in the south, Things were different.

Some tribes hated the Romans.

Others saw the idea of taking on modern
Roman ways as a bright new future.

It was to be the best part of a century
before any Roman soldier ever set foot

on British soil again.

But in the decades after 55 BC, Britain
began to change from the inside.

And remarkable evidence for that is
being found here in Hampshire.

Look at these massive walls and this
gateway.

They mark the perimeter of one of the
most important cities in all of Roman

Britain, Caleva.

We know it today as Silchester.

But the town of Silchester began life
long before Britain became part of the

Roman Empire.

What archaeologists are finding here is
evidence of a proper town.

quite unlike anything ever found before
in Britain.

A town founded by Britain, built by
Britain and run by Britain.

Amanda Clarke is in charge of one of the
biggest archaeological excavations

taking place in Britain today.

Where we're walking now is the surface
of the street that we believe was

as early as 25 BC.

Right.

in the iron age this isn't just random
territory we're walking across here this

is a street this is actually a street
surface um and it runs from the

down to the southwest which is the iron
age alignment all right so completely

counter to the way the the romans
subsequently aligned their grid plan we

believe that it aligned to the midsummer
sunrise and the midwinter sunset.

And that's what the Iron Age people
aligned their buildings and streets on.

Where does the road go when it hits the
corner of the trench here? What happens?

It turns a 90 degree right angle and
joins with a wider street which runs

from the northwest to the southeast.

Iron Age towns aren't supposed to do
that, are they? They're not supposed to

regular like that.

That's certainly what was believed
before we started working here, that the

age towns were much more organically
developed.

And it really wasn't until two years ago
that these streets began to appear in

our exploration and we realised, hang
on, this is actually laid out on a grid

system.

It implies so many things, not least
that somebody had to plan it, somebody

to organise it, that you had to decide
where certain buildings were.

It's a real difference.

Iron Age Silchester is the earliest
known example of urban design anywhere

Britain.

So who was having these ideas if there
were no Romans here at the time?

Well... Caesar had left 30 years before
and he took hostages with him, sons of

the elite.

They weren't exactly captured and taken
against their will.

It was more as gestures of goodwill,
guarantees of healthy relationships in

future. They were schooled in Rome and
then sent home full of Roman habits and

ideas to spread the word.

They'd be the ones saying when it came
time to build a city.

Well, if you're going to do that, the
streets and roads have to be laid out on

grid pattern.

It's all got to be done right.

It's got to be done the way they do it
in Rome.

And in Filchester, it wasn't only the
streets that were becoming Romanised.

The Roman influence was tangible in the
foods that were being consumed. There's

evidence of the use of coriander, dill,
anchovies.

There's also evidence of the consumption
of oysters, these shells here.

Iron Age Britons.

prior to contact with Rome, weren't
eating oysters.

So the fact that these had come back
into fashion is evidence of contact with

Rome, of people acquiring Roman habits
and Roman tastes.

This tiny coin excavated here is a very
powerful indication of just how much

the people living here modelled
themselves on Rome.

It's a silver minim.

On this face, it has the head,

Of the king. Looking every inch. The
Roman emperor.

Except. On his head. Instead of a crown.

He has a Celtic torque.

There's even writing on it. On this
side. The name of the king.

Verica.

On the other side.

There's another Celtic torque.

And it surrounds.

Two letters. CF.

These stand for. Commius Filius. Son of
Commius.

The first king.

of the Atrabatir tribe.

This is from very early in the first
century, a time when most British people

had no idea about writing. So to
incorporate writing on this coin is

radical.

This was new.

Not entirely Roman, but not entirely
Celtic either.

In Silchester, classical and Celtic
cultures were colliding.

touching not just the social elite, but
the lives of everyone who lived here.

This is a fascinating, exciting time to
imagine.

The coming of Rome.

I suppose it's easiest to imagine that
the British social elite would have been

the first and the fastest to take on
Roman ways.

But here in the building of this town,
this city, for the first time we see...

Roman practices, the Roman way being
embedded into the very fabric of

lives to such an extent that it even
determined the layout of their streets

roads and buildings.

But imagine too what all of this was
like for ordinary people coming in from

surrounding area, encountering a city
for the first time, walking along

regimented grids of streets, smelling
foreign foods, seeing the new clothes.

It must have been quite literally like
walking into an alien world.

But Silchester and the Roman -friendly
pockets of South East England were rare.

Across most of Britain, the tribal
traditions of the Celtic Iron Age

unabated.

Look at this slope.

This is a rampart. Now, some British
tribes may have bought into the Roman

dream, but almost a century after
Caesar, this giant fortress was still a

symbol of Iron Age Celtic identity.

This great hill fort was the focal point
of tribal life for the Durogerges, a

powerful Dorset tribe.

Behind these massive ramparts, was an
obvious place of defence, a safe haven

time of war.

But for a hundred years or more, there'd
been relative peace in this part of

Britain.

By the middle of the first century AD,
people were living far and wide in

scattered settlements.

This fort, and others like it, had
become symbolic focal points, places in

to gather for storage, for trade, for
ceremony, and for worship.

But in AD 43, almost 200 miles to the
east in Kent, Roman troops landed once

more.

This time to go one better than Caesar
and take all of Britain.

To make it part of the empire under
total Roman rule.

Hod Hill and other hill forts like it
were to see action once more.

Studies of human remains reveal the
outcome of the bloody battles for

Iron Age hillforts.

They appear to have been stabbed.

One person has got trauma to their
hands. They may have actually tried to

the weapon.

And on this individual, this square
aperture here was probably caused by a

spear.

There are multiple chalk marks, so they
were disfiguring these people.

They're more than necessary to kill them
and they're quite violent and

aggressive injured.

It wasn't only male warriors who were on
the receiving end of the Roman swords.

We have one woman where she has a chalk
mark to the back of her leg and then she

has a further two big chalk marks to the
back of her head and that's quite

commonly seen in where people are trying
to run away.

As well as hand -to -hand combat...

The full might of Rome was being
launched in a wave of shock and awe.

What we've got here is this embedded
projector.

So you can see that it's come in at a
slight angle and has removed portions of

the bone.

These projectiles are actually fired.
They're kind of like artillery weapons.

If the sheer weight of numbers and
military organisation weren't enough...

The Roman army also brought a new
machinery of war.

This is your missile, the West. You
might call it an arrow, we call it a

Just weeks after landing, Rome had taken
control of the South East.

But it wasn't until about a year later
that they began their campaign for the

Celtic heartlands of the West.

Over the top.

Can you imagine these things coming out
of the sky? If you were the enemy, you

wouldn't see them coming.

And imagine a whole battery of these.

What range are we talking about then?

The ancient writers tell us they could
go something like 300 metres, which is

way... This could go 300 metres? Yeah,
which is way, way beyond what a bowman

could do.

From the surrounding area, the
tribespeople gathered behind the

with sharpened stakes.

They faced a dreadful choice.

Should they risk their identity and
accept the so -called civilization of

Roman Empire or risk their lives and
fight to retain their independence?

But even the defenses of the giant
hillforts were no match for the Romans

army stormed into the southwest.

Right, same guy.

Yes, up on the left.

Third on the left, headshot.

Yes!

So if that was flesh and bone, that
would have gone through and out the

side. Sticking out your backbone, yeah.

Wow.

The continuing invasion, though, was
much more than a series of battles and

route marches.

It was a colossal logistical exercise.

A master plan the Romans knew would take
decades to complete.

It's tempting to imagine the Romans
sweeping across Britain in a great wave.

But it wasn't like that.

In fact, it was more of a slow, steady
creep.

Decade by decade, fighting all the way,
building roads, building forts.

Everywhere they went, they had to create
an entire infrastructure.

Years of construction created a whole
network of roads that linked military

garrisons, strategically spaced to
control southern England.

This is a Roman military road, part of a
network that eventually stretched for 2

,000 miles throughout the whole country.

These were the motorways of the Roman
occupation.

Express routes to help them keep the
locals under control.

But for the native Britons, the
psychological impact of their presence

bit as much as disturbing as their
practical function.

Each road, a monument to the Roman army.
In places, this bank is as much as six

feet high and 50 feet wide.

That's some statement to make to the
locals.

A constant, impressive reminder of the
might of Rome.

With a military infrastructure in place,
the Romans then began to build towns.

Colchester, London and St Albans in the
comparatively safe south -east.

Exeter, Gloucester and Lincoln on the
frontier.

But it would take decades to expand this
frontier, first into Wales, and then to

the north.

York was founded in AD 71, and the far
reaches of Carlisle in

AD 79.

After 35 years of Roman campaigns, much
of the template of modern Britain had

been carved from its ancient landscapes.

One of the very first Roman towns was
Colchester, or Camulodunum, founded in

49, just six years after the start of
the invasion.

This gate, known as the Balcombe Gate,
is the oldest surviving, most complete

Roman gateway in Britain.

It was once part of an enormous
triumphal arch built to honour the Roman

Claudius. Now, if you lived in an Iron
Age village, in a roundhouse, You

wouldn't really need to feel the sharp
edge of a Roman sword to know that the

people who were building these were the
people in control.

A Roman soldier returning here from the
front, or a civilian bureaucrat counting

taxes, would have found a place little
different to any other town anywhere in

the empire.

These towns were built in the image of
Rome for Romans.

The most important started out as
colonies for retired soldiers, so

were here to stay.

If the Roman army was the cutting edge,
then these towns were the beating heart.

These were the nerve centres of Roman
rule and administration.

And you can imagine the impact on the
local population as people were press

-ganged into actually building these
towns.

These skulls were found in the 1970s.
They were excavated from within the fill

of a ditch that was originally cut soon
after the Roman invasion began.

Apart from one small piece of arm bone,
there were no other human remains with

them. So these weren't burials. These
were skulls that had been thrown away,

discarded like rubbish.

These men, and they are native British
men,

lived around 50 years AD, soon after the
Roman invasion and precisely when the

bright, shiny new city of Camerodunum
was being built.

But what's more fascinating about them
is the fact that they didn't die of

natural causes.

This is a depressed fracture.

It shows no signs of healing, so it
probably caused this man's death. It's

the result of him having been struck.

very forcibly, with something blunt but
heavy.

He's been bludgeoned to death.

There's even more graphic violence on
the skull, though.

Towards the base of the back of the
skull, you can see a notch of bone has

hacked away.

This man, soon after death, was the
victim of a fairly crude, brutal...

It seems likely that these men were
executed by the Romans.

Their heads were cut from their bodies
and then their heads were impaled on

spikes. These were an example.

This was to show passers -by what
happened to transgressors, opponents of

Whoever these men were, whatever they
were doing, they had become victims of

oppressive, often violent regime that
was extending.

its control over the newly acquired
colony of Britannia.

Rome was transforming Britain and its
efforts were all for one purpose to

plunder our land of its natural
resources.

Copper and tin had been central to
Britain's economy right back into the

Age.

But Britain also had other minerals that
were prized by the Romans.

These scars are the remains of Roman
lead mining.

In some places, these trenches, or rake
as they're called, are 100 metres long

and 10 metres wide.

It took the Roman army just six years to
get the fort established and to get the

lead mining up and running at full tilt.

And it must have been some operation,
because very quickly these hills were

established as the single biggest lead
mine in the whole of the Roman Empire.

Spanish lead producers felt so
threatened by what was going on, they

demand a cut in production here.

Some hope.

The scale of lead mining here in the
Mendip wouldn't be seen again for a

thousand years.

This is an ingot of Roman lead mined
from these hills 2 ,000 or so years ago.

Now, lead had long been used by the
native Britons as a constituent of

as a constituent of pewter.

But the Romans had found more practical
applications for the metal.

They'd used it for plumbing.

Obviously, they'd used it for lead pipes
and as parts of aqueducts.

They had also, more worryingly, given
that lead is toxic, used it to line

cooking vessels.

They'd even used lead within some
recipes.

The lead was smelted behind the walls of
the Roman fort, and the fort was kept

heavily guarded.

This is an incredibly heavy object.

It weighs about as much as a grown man.

It would be around 90 kilograms in this
one.

This ingot is stamped.

The property of the Emperor Vespasian
Augustus.

Now the reason this material mattered so
much that it could bear the name of an

emperor is because of what's contained
within it.

By processing lead,

Roman metallurgists could extract
another metal that lay at the very heart

the Roman economy.

Silver.

This is the starting point of all of
this. This is just a piece of galena,

sulfide, which is the lead mineral for
which everyone would be mining here in

the Mendic. That's naturally occurring.

Yeah, exactly. This is galena. It's a
mineral, not a metal.

That's actually too hot to sit in front
of. Well, that's a very good sign.

What scale would the Roman smelters have
been working on?

They would normally work at a scale at
least 10 times larger than this.

The lead has already melted, and as soon
as we're exposing it to oxygen, as you

can see, it's tarnishing up the surface,
it's becoming yellow, and all of this

yellowness is the lead oxide. That's
precisely what we want to happen. We

progressively to oxidise all of this
lead until eventually we are left with a

smaller bill of the silver.

There it is.

Indeed. There's something shining in the
bottom. Yes.

That's our silver.

Wow.

And that, at the end of it, is the
justification for this scarred

It was natural resources that made the
conquest of Western Britain a priority.

And above all, whales.

because out here the Romans knew there
was the most valuable prize of all.

They were 30 years into their invasion
of Britain before Wales was finally

subdued and this was a major prize
because here in these hills there was

In typical Roman style, the technology
they used was staggering.

This was gold mining on a truly
industrial scale.

Here, they built aqueducts along that
hillside to bring water directly into

mine workings from seven miles away in
that direction and from five miles away

over there.

The water was channeled into great
tanks, each the size of a tennis court.

is one of them, or the remains of it.
And if you look, you can see rising up,

The remains of the retaining walls,
massively built to contain as much as a

million gallons of water.

You see, the Romans weren't interested
in just collecting flecks of gold from

the rivers and streams.

Instead, they would open flue gates.

This is the remains of one here.

And then all those millions of gallons
of water would flood down the hillside,

dripping away trees, plants, the very
soil, to expose the veins of quartzite

that contained the gold.

And that was only the beginning.

Once they'd found the gold, they needed
to dig it out.

In the past, this would have been a hive
of activity.

Soldiers, miners, the movement of
material, processing, all sorts of

Archaeologist Barry Burnham had studied
one of the grimmest jobs in the empire.

Where was the gold going? What was it
used for by the Romans?

I think at this date it would have been,
the bulk of it would have been going

straight into the exchequer and being
turned into coins.

And who would they have been, the
miners? Were they locals?

Were they slaves?

Well, my guess would be that some of
them would be slaves.

Some of them, I think, would be
convicts, people who were condemned to

mines. It was quite normal to be
sentenced.

damnatio ad metallar, to be condemned to
the mines for the rest of your life.

But every one of these scores is the
mark of 2 ,000 -year -old hard labour.

It is indeed.

And how important was the gold to the
Romans?

Well, it's absolutely fundamental for
the coinage, obviously.

The coinage system of gold, silver and
bronze is such that minerals, mineral

gold, was one of the big things they
sought for. Remember that Tacitus, the

writer in the late 1st century, actually
said one of the rewards of victory from

Britain was gold.

British resources, wheat, gold, lead,
silver, slaves, these helped to feed

the Roman Empire.

Many Britons got into gear with the
Roman machine.

They followed the rules, they played the
game.

Many of them got rich on the back of it.

But there was also a quandary.

Was it possible to acquire this new
Roman civilization and remain faithful

your Celtic roots at the same time?

For some.

It was all too much.

The Romans might have invaded.

They might have spread north and west,
but they certainly hadn't won the battle

for hearts and minds yet.

Celtic resistance wreaked havoc in the
new Roman towns.

The southern Britons quickly learnt not
to take on the Roman army.

But increasing numbers of civilian
Romans populating new undefended towns

much easier target.

It all began in 60 AD, just 17 years
after the invasion began, with the death

an East Anglian king, chief of the Iceni
tribe.

The Romans took advantage of his death
by appropriating his wealth and his

ancestral land.

To make matters worse, they disarmed the
tribe.

For Celtic warriors, this was the
ultimate insult.

They wore their swords as symbols of
strength and identity.

To be stripped of their swords was to be
stripped of their honour.

When the dead chief incensed widow,
Queen Boudica, protested at the way they

were being treated, the Roman soldiers
flogged her publicly and raped her

daughters. It was too much.

There was no way that Boudicca could put
up with such disrespect.

So she raised an army from the
neighbouring tribes and went on the

She turned her murderous attentions
first on the greatest symbol of Roman

authority she could lay hands on, the
Roman city here at Camulodunum.

Archaeologist Philip Crummy has spent
decades piecing together what happened

next.

What do you think would have been the
reaction?

of the romans once they realized that
the british were coming they would have

been absolutely terrified because after
all here they were stuck in an island of

mainland europe in a town which was
completely undefended there was no bank

ditch around the town no wall completely
open at the mercy of the british army

on the march with much of the roman army
fighting in wales the civilians of

colchester had to take refuge

Today, Colchester Castle stands on the
site of the Roman Temple of Claudius,

once a vast symbol of colonial power.

Right,

so this was a massive foundation.

What finally happened to the people who
were in the room above us?

Well, they were standing three,

four feet above the apex of this vault.

And it would have been absolutely
terrifying for those poor people. Just

imagine, women, children.

surrounded by thousands of British, all
shouting and presumably lobbing missiles

and trying to bash the door down.

But it would be very difficult for the
British to get in.

And that would maybe explain why it took
two days for the British eventually to

get in. And when they get in?

Well, when they get in, I'm afraid it's
cancer for everybody in sight.

So the British went to all possible
lengths to wipe this place off the map.

The archaeological evidence tells us
that everywhere in Colchester, bar

this place, was burnt to the ground.

These are just a few of the thousands of
artefacts that were recovered from the

destruction of Roman Colchester.

These are fragments of semen ware,
beautifully decorated.

It's a luxury import from Gaul.

This is the kind of tableware that the
best Romans would want to have in their

homes. Now, Samian ware should be a rich
orangey -red colour, but these pieces

are charred black because these were in
the fire, and they were found by the

thousands, so it looks as though this
was a shop somewhere that was providing

the citizens of Colchester with fine
tableware.

These are the remains of dates, another
luxury import.

Because of the way they've been burned
in the fire, they've actually turned

something a little bit like charcoal.

But most poignant of all are these human
remains. A few fragments of bone, some

jawbone, charred black.

This person died possibly in the fire or
just before it.

We don't know if it's a man or a woman,
but it looks as though it's a young

adult.

So although we have the written record
of tens of thousands of people dying in

the revolt, this is the only actual
evidence.

This person, whoever he or she was, knew
the truth of it.

Boudicca wasn't content just to
slaughter the citizens of Camulodunum.

Before the Roman army could return from
Wales, she led her own forces on a

campaign of terror.

that destroyed the Roman cities of
London and St Albans.

As many as 70 ,000 Roman citizens were
murdered.

Noble women were treated especially
brutally.

Their breasts cut off and sewn to their
mouths, their bodies impaled on stakes.

But Boudicca couldn't go on.

Eventually the Roman army would return,
and when it did, her forces would stand

little chance.

And in a small valley just north of St
Albans...

The last British stand against Roman
oppression in the South was wiped out in

single gruesome massacre.

A new Britain emerged from the bloody
clashes of 60 AD.

For the tribes of the South, there was
no longer any choice but to accept Roman

authority.

But the Romans too had learned a lesson,
that they ignored British heritage and

pride at their peril.

By the end of the 1st century AD, Rome
had southern Britain firmly under

control.

But in the north, the country became
wilder, and so did the people.

In particular, the land of Caledonia and
its fiercely Celtic Pictish tribes

stubbornly refused to bow to the will of
the empire.

If much of southern Britain had
eventually got used to the idea of Roman

The same couldn't be said up here in the
north.

Almost 80 years after the invasion, the
Picts were still slugging out with the

Roman army.

They were just as tempted as anyone else
by the possibility of Roman wealth.

They simply weren't prepared to trade
their independence for it.

So in a way, they were responsible for
one of the most famous constructions in

the whole of the ancient world.

74 miles long and stretching from coast
to coast, Hadrian's Wall was built

between 122 and 136 AD.

But having come so far, the Roman army
wasn't about to stop here.

Because Hadrian's Wall It wasn't the
only great wall they built in the far

north.

Just 20 years after Hadrian's Wall was
built, the Romans actually built another

wall about 100 miles to the north, right
through the heart of Pictish territory.

These banks in Falkirk are the remains
of that wall.

It stretched for 39 miles from the Firth
of Clyde in the west to the Firth of

Forth in the east, right across modern
Scotland. So this is as far north as the

Empire ever reached.

This wall, the Antonine Wall, didn't
last long though.

This far into hostile territory, the
Romans could not defend the border.

Despite building 17 forts, one every two
miles along the entire length of the

wall, this was a land that simply
wouldn't fall to Rome.

With little to be gained by battling for
a wild and mountainous land, Rome at

last retreated.

And so it was Hadrian's Wall that became
the enduring northern boundary of the

Roman Empire.

This was where Caledonian pride forced
the Romans to say, enough is enough.

If the northern tribes wouldn't join the
Roman party, they would be excluded at

all costs.

Here, the Romans drew their line in the
sand.

This was a symbol of Roman power, the
most northerly frontier of the most

powerful empire on the planet.

This was the most heavily defended
frontier of the entire empire.

Outside the wall, native tribes so
vehemently opposed to the occupation

took 10 ,000 Roman auxiliaries to keep
them at bay.

Over here, inside the wall, enveloping
the fort, an entire British town with

people taking full advantage of those
same Roman soldiers providing all the

services and entertainment required by
the garrison.

Over hundreds of years, the Iron Age
tribes of Britain had established

territories within a shared Celtic
culture.

But now, all that had changed.

In less than a hundred years, Rome had
cleaved Britain in two.

Britannia and Caledonia.

By the middle of the 2nd century AD, the
Romans had been in Britain for almost

200 years.

Cedar and the invasions were distant
memories.

To be a Roman was to be more than just
an invader. It was to be part of that

cultural exchange.

Britain adopting Roman ways and vice
versa, especially in the north.

In the south, Britain was emerging from
an era of turbulence with a new Romano

-British culture.

Up there in the north, it was clear. You
were either in or you were out.

the Roman version of civilisation simply
wasn't wanted.

This wall, this moment that divided the
Celtic tribes of Britain would shape our

land and our futures. It would alter our
cultures, our languages and our

identities forever.

Next time, my journey continues.

It shows the way in which the Romans
quite literally brought the modern

they brought the future with them.

As I encounter the final chapter in our
epic story, their eyes would have been

drawn all the time to these topless lady
dancers.

Maybe if it was a really special
occasion, I would have laid on real

topless dancers.

The time of the Romano -British.

She was buried with... Fantastic. Well,
anyone who saw this woman wearing it

would have identified her as someone of
status.

When socially, technologically and
spiritually.

Whoever wore this was obviously a
Christian, a believer.

We finally left our distant prehistory
behind for good.

If you want to follow in the footsteps
of our ancestors, then go to the website

bbc .co .uk slash history.

to find out how to connect with ancient
Britons in your area.