The Mysterious Bronze Age Mummies Made Up Of Multiple Skeletons | Digging For Britain

A team of archeologists investigate the mysterious Cladh Hallan site in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland and discover skeletons that challenge previous notions about Bronze Age Britain. Find out all about the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Age, as well as Roman influences on Iron Age settlements in this episode of Digging for Britain.

Welcome to Unearthed History -- the home for all things archaeological! From ancient Roman ruins to buried medieval mysteries, we'll be bringing you award-winning documentaries that explore the remnants of long lost civilizations.

Subscribe so you don't miss out.

#UnearthedHistory #Archaeology #Documentary

[MrTorleon]

Well, another outstanding and rewarding episode, and presented by the equally outstanding and brilliant Prof Alice Roberts. I feel some genuine regret that I am retired to the far side of the planet, but through the internet I can remain fully informed regarding the important archeological finds, and keep up to date with the latest research, with the consequent adjustments to our understanding of pre-history Britain.
Amusingly, I recall one or two of these discoveries being made, as one of my past colleagues and ardent archeologist would hurtle into my rooms, excited to share the news of the absolute latest find from some very muddy dig :)
We are very fortunate indeed that this fabulous series continues to be uploaded to YouTube - thank you

[tassia]

My grandmother had such a flour grinder the handle of the upper piece was wooden .I remember my mother grinding flour and rice.Although we had mills for a large quantity in the area people still used the stone mills in their house.Now all those items are in the traditional museum.In old times people kept their tools and utensils!And use them!I come from Greece and I am 68 !Thanks for your work and reminding me of my grandmother!

[jamesbingham]

Dr. Henry Chapman! Congratulations Sir

[tommyc]

Henry Chapman sounding a bit like Francis Pryor…love it👍😊

[elizabethfairlie]

Yes. I think she is wonderful and really inteligent. So much respect for her and all she does. She has a knack of taking complex information and making it accessible

[GlennJ]

Alice could talk about stamp collecting and I'd still watch it.

[carolefreeman]

Such a beautiful necklace that Alice is wearing! I would love to have one so Celtic!

[iamauntmeem]

So much information to absorb and reify, I had to watch it twice. I love Dr. Alice Robert's sheer enthusiasm and how she presents the findings. She makes the information personal as well as exciting. Great jam-packed show!

[jennytheratbry]

Our Henry! Good to see another TT alum.

[ronbyers]

While bones, swords and pottery are wonderful, I want to hear the stories of the lives of the ordinary people. How did they use those pots? What did they eat? How did they educate themselves? They were mostly farmers. What was life like on a farmstead? How did they live through the seasons?

[stephengent]

We seldom hear about the large animals still present at this time, like wolves, bears, aurochs, wild boar lynx and others, making it a more dangerous place to be.

[theeddorian]

Burying the bodies in peat is no explanation of peculiar assembling. If the buried bones were, indeed, in a tightly flexed position, then there is an enormous problem with why they were, in fact, mixed up. Assuming the archaeological crew are not the ones who scrambled the bones around, then interments were constructed - by the people who buried the bones, to appear as single skeletons, laid in an individual grave. That raises a lot of questions. I have worked at interment sites where burials were taking place more rapidly than previous interments decaying, and the earlier fragments were simply dropped into the grave pit after the new occupant was placed and any ceremony conducted. The older bones, sometimes still partially articulated, were dropped into the grave pit fill. That can create puzzles as you try to reassemble skeletons - _and_ serious acculturation problems for descendants monitoring the work encounter a reality their oral histories have never included. This is an entirely different class of strange, even compared to some Tibetan customs, or Native American platform burials employed by some Rocky Mountain societies. The mussel shells may also have been an instrument like a rattle, which were widely used in prehistory all over the globe.

The Iron Age posts might, in addition, or in addition to "making a statement", have marked a safe path through a wet land, even when the track submerged by flooding. It is a curious reality of archaeology that nearly all actions that people take, individually or collectively, "make sense" in several different dimensions, often ritually, socially, and economically, all at one time. The inclusion of "grave goods" in a burial, in addition to sentimentally sending gear and valuables along to the afterlife with the dead, also maintains or enhances the economic value of examples remaining above ground, regardless of whether we are finding tools, weapons, decorative items, or even evidence of storeable foods.

[Summerrose]

Brilliant series by amazing archaeologists and professors. Well done

[maeve]

I think the iron punch (spike) could have been used for making horseshoes as well. The end of it looks proper for making holes for nails for application.

[marthafenimore]

Always surprises and learning from these documentaries. A fan of TimeTeam and today my surprise was Henry, now Dr Henry Clapton. Congratulations Dr. Clapton.

[wandapease-giyo]

The work put into making that walkway is huge. People working together, having time and foodstuffs so they could take the days and hours from hunting and herding, and growing food to down tools and work felling and tiding the stakes, shaping the points and then driving them into the mud. That done they had to create the walking surface! The effort equivalent to Stonehenge! I’d be fascinated if one of the Archeologists could do a video on how all this was done and how long it took. How much upkeep had to be done?

[scooby]

Great to see Time Team alumni together again!😊

[lincruise]

I'm so glad I found you🤗 wonderful! Will follow🙏 xx

[frankanddanasnyder]

How do they know the bronze age Wavenly river posts extended meters above ground..and were not just the foundations for a wooden walkway across the wetlands?

[EmbraceTheJourney]

another fantastic journey in time. Dr. Roberts and her team are the best.