The Incredible Neolithic Finds At The Ness Of Brodgar | Digging For Britain

In this episode of Digging For Britain, Professor Alice Roberts is at the National Museum of Scotland to unravel the mysteries behind Britain's past. Venture to Orkney, where the Ness of Brodgar emerges as a pivotal Neolithic site, shedding light on ancient rituals and trade routes. Discover the remnants of a sacred temple complex and delve into the significance of broken artifacts, hinting at ceremonial practices. From Roman forts to Viking boat burials, witness the captivating tales unearthed by dedicated archaeologists.
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.
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Пікірлер: 265

  • @kevinquist
    @kevinquist11 күн бұрын

    I love it when kids get to help out with digs. such an amazing learning experience for them.

  • @marthawolfsen5809
    @marthawolfsen58093 ай бұрын

    My husband and I spent a week on Orkney. Not only is the archaeology amazing but the living people are wonderful and welcoming!

  • @user-nm9hw6sw4m

    @user-nm9hw6sw4m

    3 ай бұрын

    sad thing is most of those people are english

  • @coreyjudd4676
    @coreyjudd46763 ай бұрын

    Wait a minute, that's Matt!! Look at you out of the dig, all respectable and whatnot!! So happy to see you!

  • @estherlwhittle7568

    @estherlwhittle7568

    3 ай бұрын

    😂😂😂

  • @thomasbernecky2078
    @thomasbernecky20783 ай бұрын

    Fetch the Spikey Point! Hiya Matt! It's like seeing an old friend by surprise. Matt's a great addition to an already good series. Glad to see all those years cheerfully doing the work paid off.

  • @animerlon

    @animerlon

    3 ай бұрын

    I watched another episode before this & was crafting, so not keeping my eyes on the screen & got a pleasant surprise to look up & see the guy i was listening to was Matt. As you say, it was like unexpectedly running into an old friend. I just wish they had given him more face time. He barely said anything & he had actually worked at one (at least) site they talk about.

  • @Watcher1852
    @Watcher18523 ай бұрын

    GOOD TO SEE U MATT, GREAT VIDEO, SHARE, SHARE THANK U BOTH

  • @animerlon
    @animerlon3 ай бұрын

    I'm disappointed Matt didn't get to participate more in the presentation. It was just a token presence & involvement. I'm sure Time Team did an episode at Johnathan's cave, cause i seem to remember Phil & Raksha being there, so it's likely Matt was too. Even if he wasn't, the producers could have had him mention their time there. (gonna have to try to find the episode to see if my old brain remembered correctly 😄) It's great to see him anyway, even if it was a token appearance. EDIT: So i went looking & am pleased to say my memory didn't fail me. Matt was there, but didn't work in Johnathan's cave itself, Phil & Raksha did, he worked in what is called the Well cave. Interestingly, he had to wait till they finished the laser scan before he could start, so he was probably there when the clip they showed of it was filmed. I don't see why they couldn't give Matt a minute, or even 30 seconds to talk about it. 😞

  • @harrybruijs2614

    @harrybruijs2614

    2 ай бұрын

    Probably edited out

  • @animerlon

    @animerlon

    2 ай бұрын

    @@harrybruijs2614 If they did, that's even worse, & sadder than not filming him in the first place. 😞

  • @doncook2054
    @doncook20543 ай бұрын

    Brilliant show; love all the new (for use) history being unearthed. And; all of it showing us again, that the Victorian view of "Cavemen" - that was requited verbatim for so many years - was as solidly true as their actual morality.

  • @fiendlybrds
    @fiendlybrds3 ай бұрын

    Hey look it’s that young guy from time team!

  • @catofthecastle1681

    @catofthecastle1681

    3 ай бұрын

    I love Matt!

  • @morganowen875
    @morganowen8753 ай бұрын

    What a great job people!! Thank you for your invaluable great work.

  • @deanmc178
    @deanmc1783 ай бұрын

    fantastic viewing alice and mathew , keep digging

  • @lovelyskull3483
    @lovelyskull34833 ай бұрын

    I adore these videos, thank you.

  • @az956
    @az9563 ай бұрын

    ❤️Still crushing on Matt❤️

  • @crouchingsmartass
    @crouchingsmartass3 ай бұрын

    I love seeing them still doing shows for the public. Time Team will always be one of my all-time favorite shows. I've seen every episode probably 20 times or more!

  • @wiretamer5710
    @wiretamer57103 ай бұрын

    Here is a cat to put among the pigeons. Instead of the discarded mace heads being a ritual cache. They are simply a collection of broken tools collected by a child. Just as kids collected shrapnel during WW2.

  • @davidelder756
    @davidelder7563 ай бұрын

    Ah, Matt; Time Team's go to lad for living experiments. Remember his rivetting performance as a Roman slave?

  • @williscopeland7114
    @williscopeland71143 ай бұрын

    6:05 Perhaps to make Occam happy, a simpler explanation for the broken mace heads is that they simply broke during use. Most mace heads do. Further, it’s reasonable to believe that the craftsman who lovingly used it for many years would want to discard or “bury” it in some respectful way.

  • @fghjjjk

    @fghjjjk

    3 ай бұрын

    However in the Bronze age and Iron age items such as swords were ritually broken and deposited mainly in water. An example being Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey. So it stands to reason, and Occam's razor that this also happened in times previous to the Bronze age!

  • @angelafoxmusic7265
    @angelafoxmusic72652 ай бұрын

    Great show. Thankyou.

  • @macgonzo
    @macgonzo3 ай бұрын

    @unearthed history - Thank you for sharing these. It would be great if you could put a note, even if only in the description, to say when these episodes were first broadcast.

  • @judithmacfadzen9516
    @judithmacfadzen95163 ай бұрын

    Love this!

  • @tomjenkins1405
    @tomjenkins140518 күн бұрын

    Great program. Thanks. Good job to the lady narrator too.

  • @maeve4686
    @maeve4686Күн бұрын

    Phil Harding found those Pict carvings in that cave during Time Team. Glad locals came in to preserve it.

  • @user-do5ft8rr6s
    @user-do5ft8rr6s3 ай бұрын

    Wonderful. Deserving of more subscribers. Cheers.

  • @markperrault5678
    @markperrault56783 ай бұрын

    FANTASTIC

  • @czgator9000
    @czgator90003 ай бұрын

    Matt from Time Team is one of the presenters. Could have gone a bit more in depth on the sites.

  • @fester73666
    @fester736662 ай бұрын

    A very interesting video Alice and Matt 👍👍

  • @ginnygin7141
    @ginnygin71413 ай бұрын

    I really enjoy the mix of women and men in this field. Men seem to have more of the director positions but its refreshing to see so many intelligent and adventurous women doing this important and fascinating work. Side note: Those ponies must have been bummed when the ice was gone and they realized they were stuck on a fuckin island with a bunch of people coming over all the time for a lovely day of hunting and picnicking

  • @killeresk
    @killeresk2 ай бұрын

    Great show.

  • @richiephillips1541
    @richiephillips15412 ай бұрын

    Excellent!

  • @havingalook2
    @havingalook23 ай бұрын

    Excellent as always, and love to see Matt.

  • @belwynne1386
    @belwynne13863 ай бұрын

    I love Alice, but yes, more Matt.

  • @ironcladranchandforge7292
    @ironcladranchandforge72922 ай бұрын

    Hey, it's Matt!! Great to see you, 😁.

  • @glendamears3618
    @glendamears36183 ай бұрын

    WOW Amazing

  • @kenhart6330
    @kenhart63302 ай бұрын

    Just watched you when you were in Modbury Matt working for the Time Team program. I do like my obsession with history which began with TT. Watching and reading about the history of Britain has been something that I've liked doing since I was at school during the sixties. This is something that I would have liked to have done, but circumstances didn't allow that.

  • @RoseCarroll-pk6mt
    @RoseCarroll-pk6mt3 ай бұрын

    Thank you

  • @Acc3ssd3n13d4
    @Acc3ssd3n13d42 ай бұрын

    Deep respect.

  • @ForrestAnna
    @ForrestAnna3 ай бұрын

    Lovely

  • @EmbraceTheJourney
    @EmbraceTheJourney3 ай бұрын

    thank you for another great video filled with historic artifacts and history

  • @paulpaul246
    @paulpaul2463 ай бұрын

    I'm getting ready to watch the show and I appreciate the warning because loud commercials wherever they're at are obnoxious

  • @timmatheny-lo9ze
    @timmatheny-lo9zeАй бұрын

    Cool content. Thank you! The lady showing the items 6:54 looks like she’s wearing a swatch style watch! Retro/cool.

  • @MrTorleon
    @MrTorleon3 ай бұрын

    Another very well presented episode - always interesting and informative, if as inevitably somewhat dated, and with a number of these digs a fair percentage of new evidential discoveries have been found, both skeletal and artifacts since this episode was recorded. I felt slightly uncomfortable and unhappy with the structures at The Ness of Brodgar being called a Neolithic Cathedral - the term ( for me ) simply doesn`t sit right, and rather unimaginative I would have thought. However, still enjoyable to watch - but I would like to see a bit more medieval archeology - a period which is often overlooked :(

  • @maeve4686
    @maeve46863 ай бұрын

    Is this at the house featured on Time Team where they did a 3 day dig, with great finds ,one being a huge soap stone shallow bowl, broken on one side? There was a lot more to find, but TT had that 3 day limit...

  • @seantice
    @seantice2 ай бұрын

    on point

  • @colinvannurden3090
    @colinvannurden30902 ай бұрын

    That well is impressive.

  • @MarlaBlair-ys2zu
    @MarlaBlair-ys2zu3 ай бұрын

    Don't complain about a few seconds of commercial; that's one way to pay for this program. Sit down and enjoy the show.

  • @slavaukraini404
    @slavaukraini4042 ай бұрын

    Eivor must sing at the location to make it even more awesome. She is an authentic Viking Princess. Anything Viking and Eivor comes into my head. Has much Archaeology been done on the Faroe Islands I wonder? Must look.

  • @peterjorgensen1086
    @peterjorgensen10863 ай бұрын

    If anyone's interested I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's langskip video

  • @mikefule330
    @mikefule3302 ай бұрын

    Unusual to see a longship with a gaff rig in the thumbnail. The longship, in common with other ships of the era and region, had a square rig.

  • @Luddite1
    @Luddite12 ай бұрын

    Great to see Matt the timeteam mascot doing well ! And no sign of a slave outfit in sight ! Superb especially the goodnight from 😂😂

  • @Mondegreen2020
    @Mondegreen20202 ай бұрын

    I had no idea the vikings played cricket! 🏏 5:40

  • @patrickoshea-el9fu
    @patrickoshea-el9fu3 ай бұрын

    The stone mace heads the grooves are for fixing with leather straps they are soaked wraped then dryed to contract i beleive my theory is sound

  • @mattantonelli4273
    @mattantonelli42732 ай бұрын

    Just brilliant work and research

  • @craigdutton6072
    @craigdutton60723 ай бұрын

    Any type of digging for anything old or ancient is exciting as I could want lol 😂 I only dig old bottles up ⬆️ but I still get to study 📖 it keep it and show it to others 😂

  • @SamtheIrishexan
    @SamtheIrishexan3 ай бұрын

    That Neolithic site shows us they were much more advanced than we thought. Those flat stones are not naturally that flat. Those mace heads would have required a harder rock, and that broken one has a perfectly drilled circle in it. How?

  • @terryyakamoto3488

    @terryyakamoto3488

    Ай бұрын

    With a drill

  • @fcwt101
    @fcwt1012 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the respectful, reasonable length commercial. I'm going to the break room to buy a Reese's.

  • @catherinenewman6516
    @catherinenewman65163 ай бұрын

    When my now adult children were small we spent a week on Harris huge fantastic beaches on which to play . Lots of sheep and teedweavers in Nissen huts lots of abandoned cars by the roadside

  • @LotsofWhatever
    @LotsofWhatever27 күн бұрын

    Tony Wilmott was on Time Team a few times. And I think Time Team was at those caves for ine episode.

  • @gregedmand9939
    @gregedmand99393 ай бұрын

    If you think these are new digs: bear in mind this is a ten-year-old episode.

  • @Andy_Babb

    @Andy_Babb

    3 ай бұрын

    I do wish they’d put the episode numbers in the description. Fortunately, Alice’s voice is ageless lol but I do prefer the style of the first couple seasons and the recent change back to that style in the most recent season. I’m from Massachusetts so we RARELY get the newest episodes of you Brits’s history and archeology series until a year or two later. I’m always looking online for what new series are out over there so I can try my best to find a way to watch lol

  • @themysteryofbluebirdboulevard

    @themysteryofbluebirdboulevard

    3 ай бұрын

    @@Andy_Babb hey (as a Mainer) I just searched the Alice Roberts playlist. It's there!

  • @bryanphillips1432

    @bryanphillips1432

    2 ай бұрын

    Which is why i prefer when educational shows include dates alongside events likes digs and discovery

  • @Andy_Babb

    @Andy_Babb

    2 ай бұрын

    @@bryanphillips1432 I agree. It’s not like the end of the world, but it is nice to have some context as to when the dig happened.

  • @s3xyt874

    @s3xyt874

    2 ай бұрын

    yea...it doesn't matter though because it takes em 5-10 years to remove a couple of shovel fulls of dirt...; milking the public purse ya know.

  • @KernowekTim
    @KernowekTim3 ай бұрын

    Excellent as always. The un-molested V boat burial is superb! For me, the true archaeologist of the past went as far as they knew was feasible, with all means at their disposal. And then they back-filled their work; re-instating soil layers in order of excavation, in the sure knowledge that the scientific advancements of the future would lead to better analysis of these sites. These heroes are to be thanked and applauded, just as the teams that rescue endangered historically significant locales are. No, "I see wonderful things", and then pushing on regardless, just to claim status amongst their peers; or an entry in the 'Magazine of the day'..

  • @tomjenkins1405
    @tomjenkins140518 күн бұрын

    Could use some art of what the site looked like in its day. Is the drawing guy from time team still around?

  • @frederickgent1918
    @frederickgent19182 ай бұрын

    Can we say that some of these markings are signatures of the builder/designer as it is with the Thatcher's with their reed roof 🤔

  • @deangriffith6862
    @deangriffith68622 ай бұрын

    I think it was abandoned over night because the occupiers were routed and quite literally drove into the sea and the victors enjoyed the spoils of war, they feasted for many months in celebration of their victory

  • @dianeknight4839
    @dianeknight4839Ай бұрын

    I remember when you were student archaeologists on time team. If I remember rightly Alice had pink hair.

  • @SamtheIrishexan
    @SamtheIrishexan3 ай бұрын

    Most ancient sites for sure are on the parts of the continental shelf that is already underwater. The water rose drastically and most paleo sites would have been near the sea and thats where the flood comes from

  • @birdshenanigans8506
    @birdshenanigans8506Ай бұрын

    Dr Alison Sheridan ❤❤❤

  • @avysark2034
    @avysark2034Ай бұрын

    This woman doesn't age. 51 years old and as stunning as ever.

  • @keikairin2038
    @keikairin20382 ай бұрын

    I always thought the Vikings buried the things that they wanted to 'return to the earth' or that they couldn't agree on who would inherit it...after its owner died. Maybe it was ceremonial. They didn't intend to need it to go back to where they were born.

  • @alistairriggs5911
    @alistairriggs59112 ай бұрын

    i was told once that when a archaeologist says it ritual what they are saying is they don;t have a clue what it is or what it was used for

  • @resourcedragon
    @resourcedragon3 ай бұрын

    That Neolithic material from Orkney is fascinating and it's got a lot of stories behind it that are still untold. If I wanted a rock to bash people on the noggin I'd look around for a suitably sized stone and pretty much use it as is. If I were gong to do a lot of noggin bashing I might work some indentations into the stone so that I'd be less likely to drop it during a busy session. The amount of work on the stone with the almost grenade-like working on it suggests to me that it was not a regular weapon. Even the fist-enhancer doesn't strike me as a practical regular weapon. In both cases (and with many of the other artifacts that were shown) someone put a _lot_ of work into making them, work that, at least in some cases, didn't add to the functionality. That suggests that those people had means of feeding and clothing themselves that left them enough time that they could build astonishing structures and also put huge amounts of time and work into working stone into fine, decorative objects. And that raises some very interesting questions regarding Neolithic economies and means of production. Regarding the "altar" stone in the remains of the temple or "cathedral", I suddenly thought that it and a number of other standing stones from that period are not pillar or spike shaped but rather door shaped. The tops of those "doors" tend to be a bit skew-whiff these days but they may have been more rectilinear when they were made - or perhaps the oblique tops had a meaning for the people who erected them. Doors in turn might represent a passage from one reality into another. I'm just speculating here but I'd be interested to know if the experts have speculated on this question.

  • @ElizaPurest
    @ElizaPurest3 ай бұрын

    ❤😊❤

  • @jeffreychristopher5953
    @jeffreychristopher59533 ай бұрын

    I remember in the animated film " Beowulf " the lead character voiced by actor Ray Winstone tells a tale of fighting a tribe of Giants from Orkney, l know Hollywood films tend to take a lot of poetic license but is there any truth in terms of mythological significance to that claim in the film ? Were there giants supposedly living on Orkney ?

  • @rachelhenderson2688

    @rachelhenderson2688

    3 ай бұрын

    Not that I have ever heard; and we have been there several times. Sounds like the well-known Hollywood poetic licence!

  • @jeffreychristopher5953

    @jeffreychristopher5953

    3 ай бұрын

    @@rachelhenderson2688 Thank you for clearing that up, lm only 6 foot 2 inches l don't think l could deal with a giant LOL 😂

  • @paulpaul246
    @paulpaul2463 ай бұрын

    I also dislike loud commercials whether they be KZread or TV.

  • @AsFewFalseThingsAsPossible
    @AsFewFalseThingsAsPossibleАй бұрын

    This is Series 3 "North"

  • @annoyed707
    @annoyed7073 ай бұрын

    Is this a re-upload?

  • @naricewoolon3248
    @naricewoolon32483 ай бұрын

    Could it be a Courthouse things belonging being smashed, size of building to have room for the clans

  • @kentlatimer3706
    @kentlatimer3706Ай бұрын

    Ah, Matt. Still just *so* cute! And I do love the archaeology, particularly the prehistoric stuff.

  • @michelleg7
    @michelleg72 ай бұрын

    Speaking of Orkney I somehow share 1 segment of dna with an Iron age Pict from the island and I am clueless as to how that happened cause one I have absolutely no british or scottish ancestry but I do have viking dna and I don't even know how that happened either! 🤷‍♀

  • @Hitsystem
    @Hitsystem3 ай бұрын

    I couldn't find anything about the 'only fully intact Viking boat burial in mainland Britain'; however what I did enjoy was an interesting account of neolithic archaeology finds on the isle of Orkney, which is NOT on mainland Britain.

  • @ProcyonAlpha

    @ProcyonAlpha

    2 ай бұрын

    Bet you're fun at parties...🙄🙄

  • @harbourdogNL
    @harbourdogNL3 ай бұрын

    7:34 I don't know why archaeologists assume every artifact had to have a function...maybe these are just nic-nacs, tchotchkes, or small sculptures for the sake of it. Clearly these people were highly advanced, so why not some 'fun' objects just because?

  • @cherylkurucz8852
    @cherylkurucz88523 ай бұрын

    ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  • @KAZSANable
    @KAZSANable3 ай бұрын

    💙⚔

  • @1peterk
    @1peterk3 ай бұрын

    They must have fixed it seems ok now. Time team did a program about the Orkney dig seems really familiar anyway.

  • @buckynick

    @buckynick

    2 ай бұрын

    Stone rows on Dartmoor look to me like rope walks, places to make rope or twine.

  • @AsFewFalseThingsAsPossible
    @AsFewFalseThingsAsPossibleАй бұрын

    Viking boat burial at 38.00

  • @mattskustomkreations
    @mattskustomkreationsСағат бұрын

    What if the little scratches in the stone walls represent a family name, or the name of a “business”?

  • @pcka12
    @pcka123 ай бұрын

    What on earth has Stonehenge got to do with London? Stonehenge & Avebury are miles away in Wiltshire!

  • @tonyjohnson8752
    @tonyjohnson875210 күн бұрын

    The last ice age never ended. We're still in it. That's why we have ice caps.

  • @classicambo9781
    @classicambo978117 күн бұрын

    11:00

  • @ianmatthews6299
    @ianmatthews62992 ай бұрын

    10 years was yesterday

  • @SamtheIrishexan
    @SamtheIrishexan3 ай бұрын

    For the feast they must of had some level of animal husbandry in the Neolithic

  • @julianolan2860
    @julianolan28602 ай бұрын

    Why do you not speculate that many of the very carved stones were used for textile manufacture? Making twine, flensing rushes or flaxes. All pre metal people made textiles.

  • @ubute
    @ubute2 ай бұрын

    What is it with digging up PEOPLE who have been laid to REST?

  • @SecretSquirrelFun
    @SecretSquirrelFun12 күн бұрын

    Almost everything is deemed a “ritual” site or “ritual” complex.

  • @maeve4686
    @maeve46863 ай бұрын

    Weren't the Shetland Island ponies native to Scotland at least 4,000 plus years ago? Size of bones may indicate this. Maybe this was a single herd isolated on the island & easy to hunt...

  • @marksmith334
    @marksmith3342 ай бұрын

    Can’t beat a slice of Alice, even if it is quite a few years old

  • @beth03616
    @beth036162 ай бұрын

    A double disk LOL LOL

  • @dl7596

    @dl7596

    Ай бұрын

    " A double disk". 34:45 I also chuckled at that. It was probably a Time Team episode that showed several of those carvings and went on about them having no idea what the significance was. Here it was just passed over quickly. (The shows would probably rather call it some kind of ritual depiction, but perhaps it was more like some inventor making plans for a wheeled cart or bicycle/scooter? 😉)

  • @molecatcher3383
    @molecatcher33833 ай бұрын

    Oh dear, the archaeologist lady narrator needs to brush up on her history about The Battle of Culloden. Bonnie Prince Charlie was not fighting against "The English" at this battle like some re-run of the much earlier Scottish Wars of Independence. The battle, in 1746, was between a Jacobite British army (mostly made up of Scots, English, Irish and French) and a Hanovarian British army (mostly made up of Scots, English, Welsh and Germans). Bonnie Prince Charlie was fighting to try and restore his Stuart Royal Dynasty to the throne of Great Britain.

  • @user-vn2kn6ew9r

    @user-vn2kn6ew9r

    2 ай бұрын

    I doubt that she was not right because she is only reading this

  • @skyhigh1154

    @skyhigh1154

    Ай бұрын

    Shes hot though, that counts for something.

  • @carl5652

    @carl5652

    Ай бұрын

    Who cares she looks good

  • @PortmanRd

    @PortmanRd

    Ай бұрын

    I was somewhat surprised to find out that there was an actual contingent of government Irish troops at the Battle

  • @helenhunter4540

    @helenhunter4540

    Ай бұрын

    Molecatcher. Oh dear, I think she knows her own history, GENTLEMAN molecatcher!

  • @liannebennett2856
    @liannebennett2856Ай бұрын

    Why cant archeological sites that find pots , skeleton or artefacts from digs like well preserved walls bath houses or pits bring in psychic mediums, surely energy is still with these artifacts?

  • @iandoughty7142
    @iandoughty71422 ай бұрын

    Janina Raminese the one for Vikings. Alice not her.

  • @terrancetexan5805
    @terrancetexan58053 ай бұрын

    Well , are you not the lucky one.

  • @fabiodeoliveiraribeiro1602
    @fabiodeoliveiraribeiro160216 күн бұрын

    There is a sacred object that the English lost and archaeologists need to find. The tip of the arrow that mortally wounded King Richard the Lionheart. This object did what no weapon in the Islamic armies of the Holy Land could do for a peculiar reason. That arrow tip was made from a fragment of Lancelot du Lac's sword. You know... only a powerful weapon can truly kill a king, but this lost object has not yet been found. Perhaps it is buried on the outskirts of the castle besieged by Richard the Lionheart before he was wounded, perhaps it is not even in England. A medieval Portuguese chronicler said it was smuggled to Portugal and acquired by the Portuguese royal family. This object may ended up being forgotten in Brazil when D. João VI was forced to return to Portugal.

  • @janetsanders5356
    @janetsanders53563 ай бұрын

    Not near enough from Matt

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