All language subtitles for stonehenge.the.discovery.with.dan.snow.2024.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_track3_[eng]

DAN SNOW:
'Deep in the English countryside

'lies one of the most famous
ancient monuments...

'..Stonehenge.'

Stonehenge is totally unique.

There's nothing like this ring
of colossal stone arches

anywhere else in the world.

It's as old as the Pyramids.

It's one of the world's
greatest archaeological sites.

But who built it and why?

'How did ancient builders construct
this extraordinary stone circle?

'For centuries, there have been
so many unanswered questions

'about these stones.

'In this programme,
I'm joining the investigations

'that are still unlocking
the mysteries of Stonehenge.

'I'll be following
the most recent hunt

'for where the biggest stones
came from...'

There's some big ones up ahead.

Oh, yeah.
Fantastic.

'..and exploring
how they were moved.'

Well done, everyone.
Give yourself a round of applause.

'I'll come face to face with
the ancient people of Stonehenge

'and their beautiful treasures.'

Look at that. That's fabulous.

'And reveal
the unbelievable sophistication

'of Stonehenge's builders.'

They knew their maths,
they knew their astronomy.

That's why Stonehenge is unique.

And we'll never find anything
like this.

This is the story of Stonehenge.

One of the things I love about
Stonehenge is that one minute,

you're just driving
through typical English countryside,

with its hills and its valleys
and its fields.

The next minute, without warning,

boom,
there's Stonehenge right there!

One of the world's
greatest prehistoric sites.

'Built 2,500 years

'before Britain's first-ever
towns or cities even existed,

'Stonehenge sits in the heart
of the Wiltshire landscape

'on Salisbury Plain,

'three miles
from the town of Amesbury.

'And once you're off-road,

'it still feels as wild as ever.'

When I was a kid
visiting Stonehenge,

you used to drive your car
right up and park next to it

and then clamber
all over the stones.

And thankfully, that's changed now.
It's much more special.

Much better
for the local environment.

You park some distance away,

and then you walk
across these beautiful downlands,

past these ancient, mysterious
humps and bumps in the landscape,

evidence of a rich prehistoric past,

building your anticipation

that you're about to reach
somewhere very special.

And then you arrive and see this.

Wow. You just don't get a sense
of the scale of this place

until you walk inside these stones.

'You don't get a feel for its power,
its intensity,

'until you're standing in here,
right up next to them.

'And they dwarf you.
Look at them, seven metres high.

'Each one of those weighs 20 tonnes.

'It just feels so ancient.'

And there's just nowhere else
in the world like this.

Literally, there is nowhere else
where we have stone circles

with these big stones placed on top,
these lintels forming arches.

It's unique.

'These giant stones are just part
of this awe-inspiring monument.

'Within this incredible ring
of huge stones called sarsens,

'there are smaller stones,

'and these are known
as the bluestones.

'And every one of the stones,
big and small,

'have been carefully placed
in position,

'and the entire stone circle

'is then surrounded by a huge bank
and outer ditch.

'But unlike
other great ancient discoveries,

'Stonehenge is different,
because it was never lost.

'For thousands of years,
it stood here,

'but people forgot
what it was built for.

'And it became
a magnificent mystery.'

The whole place is phenomenal,

and you find yourself thinking,
"Who built it?

"Why did they build it?
When did they build it?"

But above all, you think,
"How did they build it

"with the technology
they had available?

"How did they transport
these enormous stones

"some distance to this place?

"How did they turn them
on their end,

"sink them in the ground,
anchor them?"

It's just mind-blowing.

'And all this happened
thousands of years ago,

'before the wheel had
even been introduced to Britain.

'So, 900 years ago,

'when people first began
to speculate

'about how Stonehenge was created,

'they simply could not believe

'that the giant stones could've
been put here by ordinary people.

'And they came up
with a pretty wacky theory.'

This is an illustration
of one particular popular account

of just how Stonehenge came to be,

and this account
is literally magical.

You can see
the stones being laid here

into the stone circle by a giant,

and it's not being built right here.

It's being built in Ireland

before being magicked here
by the wizard Merlin.

'This fantastical tale
may sound ludicrous today,

'but it shows how people
have been grappling for centuries

'with the puzzle
of how the stones got here.

'And it's still a hot topic
of research today.

'I'm heading to the Ancient
Technology Centre in Dorset,

'where they're testing out
a possible theory.

'The weather is grim today,

'but that wouldn't have stopped
our Stone Age ancestors.'

That's a pretty big chunk of rock,
isn't it?

It is, yeah.
It's about a tonne and a half.

Tonne and a half. OK.

'Antony Whitlock
is an experimental archaeologist

'at the centre.'

It's sort of equivalent
to some of the smaller bluestones

that we find at Stonehenge.

Scary to think this would be
one of the smaller stones

today at Stonehenge, that's amazing.

What is it? A sort of sledge, is it?

Is this the latest thinking
on how they were moved?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

So it's based on stone carvings
from Assyria and Ancient Egypt,

which are showing big statues
being moved on sort of skis,

on runners,
like we've got on the ground.

The old theory,
which goes back to the 1500s,

was Stone Age people,
prehistoric people,

moved stones on rollers,
and that...

It works on flat, level ground.

But experiments since the 1950s
have proven that big lumps of rock,

if they're being attempted

to move sort of uphill or downhill
on rollers,

you lose control very easily, yeah.

'Once on the move, a sledge proved
easier to control than rollers,

'although a little bit
more difficult

'to get moving in the first place.'

So, you need a lot of force.
You need a lot of force.

More than just D Snow can provide.
Unfortunately, yes.

We're gonna need a little help.
Mighty as you are.

'Luckily, we got an army
of 50 volunteers on hand

'to flex their muscles.'

Grab a bit of rope.
Let's divide in half.

Hope you're feeling strong.

'You can imagine the whole
Stone Age community coming together,

'a bit like this,
to help move the rocks

'to an important place
like Stonehenge,

'with someone taking charge
of the stone shifting.

'Today, that's me.'

Everyone feeling good? Here we go.

Ready?

Three, two,

one... go!

Going again, ready? OK, we're
gonna try for another one here.

Ready? OK, everyone.
Three, two, one... go!

Whoa! Look at that. It's moving.

'The wet, muddy ground
certainly helps the sled

'slip along fairly easily.

'And Stone Age people
might well have used the weather

'to their advantage
in just the same way.'

DAN GRUNTS

OK. Stop, stop, stop!
That was brilliant!

You're so strong.
Well done, everyone.

Give yourself a round of applause.
Look at that.

Well, that was
a really interesting experiment.

It shows that it is possible
to move a big stone

over some distance
using this set-up,

provided you have
a lot of people to help.

'With 50 people,

'we moved our stone a few metres
quite easily,

'and archaeologists
are now pretty certain

'that this is
how Stonehenge's ancient builders

'moved the stones 4,500 years ago.

'But our stone weighed
just one and a half tonnes.

'Stonehenge's biggest stones
weigh 20 tonnes

'and were transported many miles.

'It's just incredible to think
of the scale of that operation,

'the number of people needed to move
one of the massive 20-tonne stones.

'The organisation needed to arrange
them all here on the plain.

'Four hundred years ago,

'when the first person
to really scrutinise the stones

'arrived on the scene,
he was certainly impressed.

'Inigo Jones, the most famous
architect of the time

'and a man who knew
all about putting up stones.'

Jones was enthralled.

He was convinced this site
had been put together

by very skilled master craftsman.

'He noticed that some of the stones

'had large chunks
gouged out of them.'

This, he realised, fit neatly,

snugly on top
of those knobs on the uprights.

'Someone had skilfully
put these arches together

'like a huge ancient Lego model.'

There's only one people
in his mind who it could be -

the Romans.

'Jones came up with a theory
about what on earth Stonehenge was,

'that it was a Roman temple
built around 2,000 years ago.

'He began to measure
and survey every single stone

'to produce a plan
to prove his theory.'

He knew that Romans built
with a keen eye

for symmetry and proportion.

And this is the plan of the monument
that he came up with.

Just look at it here.
It's very intricate.

And it's perfect.
A little bit too perfect.

Look, he's turned Stonehenge
into an absolute circle.

All the stones smooth.

Exactly the same size,
almost interchangeable.

And as you can see, the reality
is a little bit more messy.

'In fact, if you overlay his plan
over the stone circle,

'it's clear that Jones ignored
the actual position

'of any standing stone
that didn't fit the symmetry.'

Essentially,
Jones's Roman theory only worked

because he... well, made it up.

'Jones had manipulated the evidence,

'but he had revealed Stonehenge's
complexity and sophistication

'for the first time.

'It was now clear that these stones
had been skilfully shaped

'and positioned,
and people were captivated.'

Anybody who was anybody
now came to look at these stones,

and that included
the world-famous architect,

Sir Christopher Wren -
and look, he left his mark here.

That is graffiti of his name.

A cross for "Christopher",

and then "Wren" here
in this mighty stone.

'As more and more people
came to Stonehenge,

'more theories were put forward
about its origins.

'It was a royal Viking camp

'or perhaps a temple built
by an ancient British priesthood,

'the Druids.

'No-one could agree,
and no-one could find any proof

'to unlock the truth.

'But that was about to change.

'Three hundred years ago,
the discovery of a buried clue

'would finally reveal
the true purpose

'of these ancient stones.'

DAN SNOW: 'Stonehenge.

'For millennia,
it stood isolated and ignored...

'..magnificent but forgotten.

'But then, 300 years ago,
people were clambering all over it,

'as the best brains in the land
tried to work out its secrets.

'So far, no-one had come close
to solving any of the mystery.

'But that was about to change.

'In the summer of 1721,

'one man began to explore
beyond the stones,

'in the land around the monument.

'His name was William Stukeley.

'He started to roam
the surrounding landscape,

'eyes to the ground,
searching for something,

'anything to help him understand
Stonehenge's ancient past.'

As he was exploring this field,

Stukeley stumbled across
something that felt familiar.

There was a depression,
almost like a ditch

in the landscape,
very difficult to see.

But with his practised eye,
it was clear,

and there was some higher ground
here on the other side.

It reminded him of the ditch
and bank

that circled Stonehenge itself.

But the difference was
this wasn't circular -

this was straight.

'It didn't make much sense.

'But then he noticed something
even more intriguing.'

He walked across this field
for another 30 metres

until he found another ditch,
another bank.

You can see the line of it here.

And this one seemed to be parallel
to the one he just discovered.

Could it be that they were
marking out some kind of route

through this landscape?

And excitingly, that route seemed
to be leading up to Stonehenge.

'Intrigued, Stukeley followed
the course of the path.

'He was determined to find out
how it was connected to Stonehenge.'

Stukeley quickly realised
that the path was leading him up

to this big, prominent stone here.

And as he reached this stone
and continued on the same line,

he realised that it was drawing him
through that arch there,

right into the centre of Stonehenge.

Stukeley was ecstatic.
That couldn't have been an accident.

Whoever laid out this route
wanted people

to move right up
into the heart of the monument.

'Stukeley was fascinated,
and he had a convincing theory.

'He believed that he had found
a sacred avenue

'leading right into Stonehenge.

'But what were
those ancient people doing

'when they reach their destination
inside the stones?

'He was now obsessed

'and spent days and nights
in and around the stones.

'It was then, as he watched the sun
rise and fall through its arches,

'he unlocked one of Stonehenge's
most incredible secrets.'

Stukeley noticed
something spectacular.

On the summer solstice,

the longest day of the year
when the sun is highest in the sky,

the sun rose right above that stone,
there, along the line of the avenue

and right through the middle
of Stonehenge.

This couldn't be an accident.
It had to be deliberate.

And that meant
Stonehenge was designed

around the movements of the sun.

'Today, Skyscape archaeologist
Fabio Silva is mapping the skies

'that our ancestors
would have seen at Stonehenge

'to find out the precise
astronomical alignments.'

OK, so, Fabio,
what is a skyscape archaeologist?

It sounds like the coolest job
in the world.

It is a little bit. We can use
equipment like this to come here

and take the measurements ourself.

Put them on a computer.

Open up a planetarium software

that shows us what the sky
looked like 5,000 years ago,

and put the stones against that sky.

'The alignment of the stars relative
to the Earth is shifted slightly

'over the millennia since
Stonehenge was first built.

'Fabio's finding out what the
Stone Age sky looked like

'right here back then.'

So you can actually see the stars
as they would have seen them?

That's right.
Yeah, we can, we can.

It's close to what they would have
seen it as we as we can today.

Stukeley suggested this place is
solar aligned. He was right, was he?

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.
He was right.

So, he mentioned
the midsummer sunrise alignment,

which is where the avenue
joins up with the henge,

right where the heel stone is.

Cut Stonehenge in half,
two exactly equal parts,

and this line exactly matches
the midsummer sunrise on one end

and the midwinter sunset
on the other.

These were master builders.
They knew their maths.

They knew their astronomy.

They encoded everything they knew
into this one place.

That's why Stonehenge is unique and
we'll never find anything like this.

'All of this
was over 4,000 years ago.

'That's just incredible
to think about.

'Well, it's a bit cloudy,
but it is winter solstice today.

'So to prove just how skilled those
ancient Stonehenge builders were,

'as we approach a gloomy sunset,

'Fabio has asked me to help
him take some measurements.'

All right, Fabio. What have we got?
Hey. Show me the results.

Let's look at this.

Oh. So, what you're seeing is
winter solstice around 2,500 BC.

That's fantastic.

Just as people would have seen it.

That is cool.
So this is 4,500 years ago?

This line here is the sun, is it?

Yes. That's the that's the line the
sun does on the day of the solstice.

OK.
So we can see where it rises.

And then it's going to set right
in the middle of that window

in the middle of Stonehenge.

So cool. You can imagine
being here 4,500 years ago.

People coming up this...
this processional route here,

and it would have just been
in perfect alignment.

Yeah. That's right.

It's just the most extraordinary
monument, isn't it?

The sophistication of that excellent
visitor experience marching up here

on the shortest day of the year
and seeing that alignment.

Absolutely. It's unique.

There's nothing like this
in the world.

'Three hundred years ago,

'Stonehenge's solar alignment
captivated people's imagination.

'As more and more visitors
came and inspected the site,

'there was a real hope

'that more of Stonehenge's ancient
secrets would be unlocked.

'But there was a problem
with its popularity.'

Tourists were now beginning to put
the stones themselves in danger.

They were coming here
and clambering on them.

They were digging little holes
around the place.

They were even chipping
little pieces of the stones off

and taking them home as souvenirs.

'Then, on the third of January,
1797, disaster struck.'

A group of travellers
was camping among the stones.

For some reason they dug a big hole
at the base of one of them.

It was already looking
a bit precarious.

As the sun came up, it thawed,
the ground, soil became moist,

and with a great crash
one of the stones fell over,

bringing down the ring of stones
like dominoes.

'Luckily, many
of the stones remained standing,

'but people worried the collapse
of some of the stone circle

'might be the beginning of the end.

'Many feared that just
as the secrets of Stonehenge

'were finally being rediscovered,

'the ancient monument was
in danger of total collapse.

'The future looked bleak.'

DAN SNOW: '230 years ago.

'After investigations had
revealed Stonehenge was designed

'to celebrate the movements
of the sun, moon and stars...

'..disaster had struck.

'Some of the stones had collapsed.

'Stonehenge's future now hung
in the balance.'

Many despaired.

Was this the beginning of the end
of Stonehenge?

But others were more optimistic.

What if, in this tragedy, there was
the opportunity for discovery?

All that was needed was someone
who had money and vision.

Luckily,
such a person was available,

living quite nearby in one of
the poshest houses in Britain.

'Stourhead lies
just 24 miles from Stonehenge.

'This palatial, stately home
was owned by one of the wealthiest

'and most passionate
treasure hunters in Britain,

'a fantastically rich banker,
Sir Richard Colt-Hoare.'

This is Colt-Hoare's library,
his study,

his masterpiece, one of
the most magnificent in Britain

that he had added to the side
of his great stately home.

In this room,
he filled it with his books,

but also images and statues of
ancient philosophers and thinkers

who would inspire him
and his guests to emulate,

to channel the wisdom
of the ancient world,

Colt-Hoare was determined
to carry out the most detailed

and extensive survey
of Stonehenge ever.

But this English gentleman
was not get his hands dirty himself.

Luckily, he had just the man
to do the hard graft.

'A local amateur archaeologist
had been digging at Stonehenge

'around the recently fallen stones.

'Like Hoare, he had big ambitions,
and together, they decided to launch

'the biggest investigation
of Stonehenge there had ever been.

'And that meant investigating
this entire area.'

When you visit Stonehenge,

you realise that
the stone circle itself is actually

just a small part of a much larger,
ancient, more mysterious landscape.

Dotted all around the hills
that surround Stonehenge

are mounds like these ones here.

You can see three, and there's
many more on the hills around me.

These are all a little bit different
in shape and size,

but they all have the same purpose.

They're all burial mounds.

'They're called barrows.

'These had been found right
across the British Isles,

'and treasure hunters had been
looting them for centuries,

'so it was well known
that they were used for burials.'

But nowhere had as many barrows
of Stonehenge.

And so Colt-Hoare thought

that if some of these barrows
were undisturbed,

he could excavate them
and learn from the skeletons

and the goods within them

more about Stonehenge
and unlock its secrets.

'Wasting no time,

'Hoare's team began
their archaeological assault

'on Stonehenge's barrows.

'Their investigation was carried out
with the speed and efficiency

'of a military operation.

'Sometimes, they would power through
a whole barrow in a single day.

'After five years of
slightly disappointing results,

'they turn their attention
to this spot just half a mile away,

'overlooking
the magnificent stone circle.

'Today, it's private land,
but I've been given special access.'

Still feels so magic,
so full of possibilities.

And it was in this mound here,
right on top of the hill,

that they would make
the most extraordinary discoveries.

'They called it Bush Barrow
thanks to a small tree on its side.

'But there was nothing else
particularly remarkable

'about this mound.'

I imagine they approached it
with trepidation, with excitement,

as they always did when they started
excavating a new burial mound.

But they couldn't have had
high hopes,

given their previous experience.

How wrong they would be.

'With hundreds of excavated
barrows under their belts,

'the team tore through the soil.

'After days of solid digging,
they reached the bottom.

'And then at that moment, they made
the discovery of their lives.'

At the base of this burial mound,

they found
an undisturbed human grave.

A tall, stout man
laid out north to south,

and the team gasped,
because around him was

the most remarkable array of
artefacts they had ever discovered.

Finally, they had struck gold.

'Today, the Bush Barrows skeleton
and his magnificent treasures

'are held at the Wiltshire Museum
in Devizes.'

So, this gives you an impression
of what they found.

Yeah. This is a reconstruction
of his burial.

'David Dawson has spent years
unlocking the secrets

'of this incredible burial.'

You can see he's laid out
in a crouched position.

He's got everything he needs.

Everything that shows
how important he is.

So clearly someone of great wealth
and probably of prestige and power.

Absolutely.
And what do we know about him?

I mean, was he was he a tall man?
Do we know how he died?

All we know is
what the excavator said.

That he's a stout and tall man.

And he also gives the length
of his femur.

So he knows he's a six-footer.
He's a big chap. He's tall.

'The body is laid out with replicas
of his personal items

'exactly as it was found
200 years ago.

'And those treasured goods
reveal a person

'of incredible wealth and power.

'And the crown jewel
in this collection

'is this extraordinary
piece of gold.

'This decorative diamond shape

'that would probably
have been worn on a cloak.

'It's not just beautifully crafted.

'Archaeologists have discovered
something remarkable about it.

'They've worked out
that the angles of the diamond

'inscribed on the surface

'precisely match the angle
of the movements of the sun

'at the summer and winter solstice.

'They discovered
that if you place the diamond

'in the centre of Stonehenge
at the winter solstice,

'you can use it like a compass.

'If you align one side
with the setting sun,

'you can work out
where the sun would set

'during the summer solstice.'

It's 81 degrees.
Wow.

So it shows an understanding
of astronomy.

And then you see the zigzag lines
around the outside.

Those are laid out to an accuracy
of less than half a millimetre.

What that means is they understood
geometry and mathematics,

accurate measurement.

To be able to construct that,

they had to understand those
4,000 years ago.

That is astonishing, isn't it?

For the first time,
they were uncovering things

which showed the sophistication
of people at the time.

'With the discovery
of the bush barrow burial,

'we now had a glimpse of someone
who'd actually known Stonehenge.

'His golden jewel suggests
he was a sun worshipper,

'maybe even the person who oversaw
Stonehenge's solstice celebrations.

'This man lived 4,000 years ago,

'at the same time
as the Pharaohs ruled Egypt.

'And he was more magnificent,
more wealthy,

'and more sophisticated
than anyone had ever imagined

'Ancient Britons could be.

'With such remarkable finds,

'Stonehenge became more and more
famous throughout the 19th century,

'and so, too, did the visitors.

'From Queen Victoria
to Charles Dickens,

'Arthur Conan Doyle
to Charles Darwin.

'But then disaster struck
once again.

'In 1900,
another of the giant stones

'fell during a violent storm.'

Enough was enough.

Stonehenge might be privately owned,
but it was a national treasure.

It needed to be protected,

and that meant putting up
the stones that had fallen down

and protecting those
that remain standing.

They poured concrete
around the bases.

They kept the lintels -

those horizontal arches -
fixed on top of the uprights,

using lead taken from the roof
of Hampton Court Palace.

'But the repairs gave archaeologists
the chance to move in, too.'

They were determined to extract
every piece of evidence they could

by digging in and around the holes

that had been left at the base
of the stones that had fallen over.

They were gonna sift
through the soil,

layer by layer, methodically,

and they didn't find treasure -

at least not gold
or other precious metals -

but they did find antlers,
charred wood,

and stone tools.

'The archaeologists concluded
these were the ancient tools

'used to dig the ditch
and shape the stones.

'But there was
a much bigger revelation.

'Although metal had been found
in the burials around Stonehenge,

'there was no evidence of any
metal tools buried in the monument.

'Stonehenge had to have been built
in the Stone Age.

'It was an incredible breakthrough,

'and the first step
in solving the great mystery

'of when Stonehenge was built.

'Now, 100 years later, we can chart
every phase of its construction

'from beginning to end.'

So, this is the, I guess,
the first Stonehenge, if you like.

What's this?
This is 5,000 years ago.

Yes, absolutely.

What it's showing us is the first
things that happened in the space.

'Heather Sebire is
the head curator at Stonehenge.'

They've dug out a ditch
and threw up a bank,

with the contents of the ditch,

slightly higher on the inside
and lower on the outside.

So, associated with the bank
and ditch around the same period

are 56 pits.

And we know
they hold cremation burials.

But as well as that,

the tops of the cremation burials
were quite compressed

so, we're fairly sure
they held posts of some sort. OK.

A lot of the academics
who've done recent research

really do think
they were probably bluestones.

So, these could be
the famous bluestones

that are still on the site today.
Absolutely.

So, more stones come in,
but they're much bigger this time.

Quite the change.
So, yes, absolutely.

And what they did was they
erected five in a horseshoe shape.

Then, they form a circle,
an arch, or circle,

enclosing that horseshoe shape.

So, it really is
a feat of engineering.

So, all of these stones or posts

around the edge have gone,
haven't they? Yes, they have.

Do you think they've taken
the circle of bluestones

and put them inside there somewhere?
Yes. Yes,

I'm sure they would have used
the same stones.

So, it now feels it's all very much
orientated towards the sunrise.

Yes, very much so.

So, it's been a bit remodelled.
I can see that.

These bluestones
have been moved around a bit.

So the bluestones
get put into a circle,

and, really, an oval.

There's not major reconstruction
at this time.

Nothing has changed

that will actually
interfere with the solstice axis.

So, we're fairly sure
that that's still very important.

So it's 4,200 years ago.

And the avenues here.

So, has this...
Has this just been put in now?

Yes, indeed.
So, really, this avenue, you know,

if you imagine
a procession all the way,

like The Mall, you know,
going up to Buckingham Palace,

it's connected
Stonehenge with the river.

All the elements
seem to have come together.

You've got
the big stones being built,

you've got the solar alignment,

you've got the avenue
joining it to other things.

This feels like its peak.
Yes, it is.

'This precise dating of each phase,

'from simple bank and ditch

'to the big stones arriving.

'And then the construction of
the avenue has only been possible

'to work out recently
because of modern science.

'Back at the beginning
of the 20th century,

'investigators were still beginning
to feel more positive than ever

'about solving
Stonehenge's mysteries.

'Until suddenly, 100 years ago,

'Stonehenge's future was suddenly
thrown into doubt once again

'as it came into the firing line

'of the most devastating war
the world had ever seen.'

DAN SNOW: 'Today, Stonehenge stands
peacefully and protected

'at the centre of a vast
6,500-acre World Heritage Site.

'But every now and again,
that peace is shattered.'

It may seem incredible,
but one of the most precious

and important ancient monuments
in the world

shares its home with the biggest

and busiest military
training facility in the UK.

It's where the British Army
has been coming

to prepare for battle
for over a century.

Today, luckily,
the helicopters and tanks

are kept to a safe distance.

But 100 years ago,
it was a very different story.

'In 1914,
Britain entered World War One.

'Suddenly, the vast training ground
around Stonehenge

'was home to thousands of troops
preparing for combat.'

Stonehenge found itself

almost literally
at the centre of a battlefield.

This whole area was given over
to training artillery, big guns,

as you can see from this dramatic
front page of a newspaper from 1915.

You can see here the King himself

inspecting a troop
of horse artillery,

as their guns are dragged
right past the stones,

each of them weighing tonnes.

And then when those guns fired,

they might not have been aiming
at the ancient structures,

but the reverberations, the shock,
would have carried for miles.

'And the big guns weren't
the only threat to the stones.

'Stonehenge was now also at
the centre of a military airfield,

'with aircraft buzzing above it.

'It was said that
as the pilots trained,

'they'd show off by trying
to brush the tops of the stones

'with their undercarriages.

'Stonehenge had a turbulent time.

'But after the war, investigations
picked up like never before.

'Now archaeologists
and military pilots

'began to work together,

'taking and sharing
aerial photographs

'over this landscape in the hunt
to understand Stonehenge.

'And in 1926, that would result
in an incredible discovery

'near to the monument.'

Look here, just in this field here,

you can see this circular shape
with lots of black dots.

There was something hidden,
buried in the ground.

'Analysing the photo in the 1920s,
the archaeologists were astonished.

'The circle was almost exactly
the same size as Stonehenge,

'and the dots seem
to be symmetrically placed,

'just like the stones
at the monument.'

Just imagine how excited
the archaeologists must have been

when they entered this field.

Were they about to discover

the foundations
of another Stonehenge

just beneath their feet?

'They started digging
outside the main circle.'

It soon became clear -

the dark, circular impression
was the remains of a ditch

like the one at Stonehenge.

And next to it was a circular bank.

I'm standing on it now.

This was almost exactly
the same size

as the one at Stonehenge,
360 feet in diameter.

'But it was when they started
to dig inside the circle

'that they found something
even more intriguing.'

Fairly soon, they found a pit,

which was exciting
because they knew from Stonehenge

that the stones didn't just sit
on top of the ground,

they were sunk into them, in pits,
to make them far more solid.

So a pit here suggested
a similar structure,

but this pit was smaller,

and there were residues of wood
in it.

So archaeologists assumed that,

unlike Stonehenge,
this was made out of wood.

Huge wooden posts
stretching up out of the ground,

perhaps 20 metres high -

twice as high as the biggest stones
in Stonehenge.

Today, this marks the site of a pit,

but I should say pits,

because after finding
that first one,

they went on to find pit
after pit after pit,

until they realised
that this was a whole landscape

covered in 168 tall, wooden columns,

soaring up to the sky,
visible for miles around.

'And when the archaeologists looked
at the layout of the monument,

'they noticed something
very familiar.

'The columns were aligned
with the movements of the sun.

'So how was this Woodhenge
connected to Stonehenge?

'Was it an early wooden prototype?

'For 80 years,
no-one had the answer.

'Until, in 2004,

'a new investigation
finally revealed the truth,

'and it would revolutionise
our understanding of Stonehenge.

'A team from Sheffield University
set up base here by Woodhenge

'and began to dig.

'As they dug, they revealed
that there was a physical link

'between here and Stonehenge.

'The avenue at Stonehenge
was connected to the river.

'As it passed near Woodhenge,
the avenue then picked up again.

'This was clearly a route
between the two monuments.

'Stonehenge and Woodhenge
were linked in the Stone Age.

'But this amazing discovery

'was just the start
of their breakthroughs.

'What they found next
in the area by Woodhenge,

'called Durrington Walls,
was totally unexpected,

'and it was the real game-changer.'

As they dug their trenches
right across this site,

they found layers of clay,
and on them, burn marks.

It looked like people
had been gathering around fires.

To the trained eye
of an archaeologist,

it seemed likely
that these were hearths

and that they had found
Stone Age houses.

But as they realised
the true extent of the finds,

it became clear that this was
a whole Stone Age village.

'To see
how our ancient ancestors lived,

'a replica of one corner
of this rare discovery

'has been recreated
near Stonehenge.'

Look, I love how picturesque
and cosy the little hamlet feels.

Very different
to the stark stone of Stonehenge.

Mm. Well, these are
your classic wattle and daub houses.

This is the way
that most people in Britain lived

up until about 500 years ago.

'Mike Parker Pearson led the team
who discovered the houses.'

Well, what we've got
is very simple construction,

that you have a screen of wood
and then plaster against it,

wattle and daub,

and then you have reeds
to build the roof.

That's amazing.
They're all different, aren't they?

They're not all built
to one particular almost...

No.
Why is that?

What was really interesting is that

they actually form a module,
a group.

Although each of them
was a habitation with beds,

they had
slightly different purposes.

That's the main house.

The storehouse round the corner.

We're standing
just behind the cook house. OK.

And that's the workshop.

So, they're all working together
as a single unit.

'Mike believes
that each cluster of buildings

'was probably home
to 15 to 20 people,

'all working together,

'possibly extended families.

'He believes
that the whole Stone Age site

'would've been densely packed
with groups like this.'

We have maybe a thousand houses.

A thousand houses?!
Yes.

So this would've been perhaps

the biggest settlement
in the whole of Britain.

Wow.

And do you think
that's because of Stonehenge?

Undoubtedly.

The date for the occupation
of this great settlement

is the same as the second stage
of Stonehenge,

when the really big sarsens went up.

So, my guess is
that this would've been

where the building crew
were actually living.

That's almost a Stone Age city.
Mm.

'As a result of the excavations,

'Mike has come up
with an exciting new theory.

'The houses were found next
to Woodhenge.

'Could that mean that together,
they were a place for the living,

'and Stonehenge was a ceremonial
site for the dead?'

It all seems to fit together
quite nicely.

Stonehenge was the place
where the people living

down at Woodhenge could come
and commemorate their ancestors.

'At the summer and winter solstice,
people would begin to gather

'at the Durrington Walls town
next to the Woodhenge,

'before making their way up
the sacred avenue to Stonehenge,

'where they would celebrate
their ancestors

'at special times in the year.

'But then the surprise discovery
of an ancient skeleton

'would reveal an even bigger story,

'putting Stonehenge at the centre
of the ancient world.'

DAN SNOW: 'Stonehenge -

'By the 21st century,
we were in the digital age,

'and science was revealing
Stonehenge's lost secrets

'like never before.

'The sophistication
of its solar alignment

'and the precise dating
of the monument

'were finally becoming clear.

'And when the homes
of Stonehenge's ancient inhabitants

'were discovered in 2004...

'..archaeologists found evidence
of scraps of food,

'perfect for scientific analysis.

'And it revealed
something incredible.

'There were traces of hazelnuts,

'fruit, honey,

'even a sort of ancient cheese,
a bit like mozzarella.

'But there was one thing
that dominated the menu.'

There are tens of thousands
of pig bones from the site.

About 90% of all the bones
that were found there are from pigs,

so they really like their pork.

'Archaeologist Richard Madgwick
analysed the food

'and was fascinated by
the amount of pig being consumed.'

'In his experience,

'this didn't look
like an everyday menu.'

These were huge feasting events,
in my opinion,

not only because of the volume
of material,

but also because
of the volume of pigs.

Cos pigs are good feasting animals.

You can kill large numbers

without harming what we call
a secondary-product economy.

So, if you rely on milk,
if you rely on wool,

you don't want to kill
large quantities of cattle and sheep

in one go because you'll have
nothing to live on afterwards.

But pigs don't have those products,

and therefore, they're
very well suited to feasting.

Wow, so we can imagine
the people at Durrington Walls,

they're there for a party,

and there's just a huge pig base,
like the end of an Asterix book.

Yeah, I think you can think of it
a bit like that.

'Richard now began analysing

'chemicals in the pig bones
called isotopes.

'These would help him work out
where the pigs had come from.'

So, if we're prepared to sacrifice
a tiny fragment of a pig tooth,

20mg of an animal.
Yeah.

Can you see that cut there?
They took that half, yeah.

Exactly. That is an archive
of lots of important information

about where the animal came from,

what its diet was like
and how it lived.

So, every time
we consume food and drink,

and animals consume food and drink,

chemical signals from those products
enter the body,

and ultimately,
and thankfully for archaeologists,

end up in our bones and teeth.

So what, so you can kind of identify
where these animals are from?

To some degree, we can.

So, if I can show you a graph,

so we can see this square down here

is the chalkland
and the greensand of Wessex

around the area of Durrington Walls.

And these blue diamonds here
are the Durrington Walls pigs.

So lots of them
are coming from fairly nearby.

Lots of them are coming
from fairly nearby.

These that are below the 709 line
and just above the 709 line,

they're consistent with being local.

'But the science also shows

'that pigs were being brought here
from further away.'

But you can see we have got
large numbers that are higher,

much higher up in the map, 710, 711,

all the way up to 717.

Now, these are really high values,
and it clearly points to the animals

having come from a wide range
of different locations,

different geological zones.

Certainly Wales,

certainly South West England

and certainly
the eastern seaboard as well.

So people were coming from
a long, long way,

and they're bringing their pigs
with them. Wow.

'The pig bones revealed that
Stonehenge was not only celebrated

'with a massive communal feast,

'but was the heart
of a vast prehistoric network,

'drawing crowds
from right across the land.

'But what about the origins
of the actual people

'who were coming here at that time,
3,500 years ago?

'In 2002, a chance discovery

'was about to reveal
an extraordinary clue.

'Just three miles from Stonehenge
lies the town of Amesbury.

'Twenty years ago,

'a brand-new school
was being built here.

'But just as construction started,
work was suddenly halted.'

Any time that anyone tries
to build something new around here,

they have to be very careful,
indeed,

because we're so close to Stonehenge

that there is very likely
to be precious archaeology

just beneath the surface.

So, when they were building
this school 20 years ago,

archaeologists were on hand
for every single moment.

And it's lucky they were,

because just over there
where that playing field now is

they discovered
one of the most important,

one of the richest burials
ever found in Britain -

the Amesbury Archer.

'I've come to Salisbury,

'where the skeleton
and his extraordinary grave goods

'are on display.'

This is one of the most
significant prehistoric finds

ever made in Europe.

It's an adult male, around 35 to 45.

He was five-foot-eight tall,
missing a kneecap,

so he'd have walked with a limp.

He's buried with his beakers there
he might've drank beer out of

and an extraordinary rich array of
other objects laid out around him.

He's got arrowheads,

and he's got a wrist protector
just here

so that the string from the bow
doesn't graze him as he releases it.

And he's been named
as the Amesbury Archer as a result.

'But the archer had something else
buried alongside him,

'and it's what makes this individual
truly exciting.'

Alongside the archery equipment,

very unusually, is this.

Might not look like much,
but it is a portable anvil,

a stone which he would've used
to shape metal.

You can see examples of the sort of
work he might have done just here,

these golden ornaments,

possibly used in hair,
to tie up braids.

And also, you've got copper knives.

These gold and bronze objects

are the oldest ever found
in Britain,

which means the Amesbury Archer

could be one
of our first metal workers.

'The other finds in the grave
are equally intriguing.

'Lying around him were
five pottery cups

'called bell beakers
because of their bell-like shape.

'This style wasn't local,
it came from the continent.'

Archaeologists were very keen
to find out

where this trailblazing individual
might have come from,

and luckily,
they now had the scientific tools

to do just that.

'I'm heading to the
Natural History Museum in London,

'where scientists have been
analysing the Amesbury Archer

'in extraordinary detail.'

So, Selina, you've got
this mysterious character.

He's absolutely dripping with all
the new technology and cool stuff.

Who is he? What have you boffins
been able to unlock about him?

So, yeah, we actually know
quite a lot about this individual.

He is a really interesting chap.

'Selina Brace is an expert

'in discovering the secrets
of our ancient ancestors

'from minute information
stored in their bones and teeth.

'The Amesbury Archer
is full of a wealth of data

'about where he came from.'

Well, there's lots of
different lines of evidence

that we can use to explain more
about who the Amesbury Archer was.

One of the lines of evidence
that we look at is isotope analysis.

So they looked at the isotopes
in his teeth.

'It's the same science
that showed us earlier

'that the slaughtered pigs
came from all over Britain.

'By looking at chemicals
in human teeth,

'you can also find out
where someone grew up.'

So what's all that telling us?

So what this actually tells us
is that his...

The signature that we see
in his teeth

is not what you would expect
from Britain. Ah!

So...
Where's he from?

Well, it looks like
sort of Central Europe. Wow.

Germany, Hungary, Austria,
but he probably grew up in the Alps.

So he's migrated from the Alps
to be buried in Amesbury.

Wow, much nicer climate.
That's right.

I don't blame him.

Well, we think that
he must have just migrated here.

Probably with a community,
a whole group of people.

Because this is a time point

when we see a lot of migration
happening in Europe

and a lot of people migrating
into Britain at this time.

Wow, so even...

We think of the modern world,
we're travelling around,

lots of migration going on,

but actually, this was people
moving across Europe

even thousands of years ago.

Yeah, I mean, this was...
Well, so he died 3200BC.

And yeah, there are huge swathes
of people moving around Europe,

bringing different cultures,
exchanging ideas.

Yeah,
it's a pretty active time point.

'With the discovery
of the archer's continental origins,

'his extraordinary burial goods
made much more sense.

'Metalworking developed in Europe
before arriving in Britain.

'Those jars, called bell beakers,
were also a continental style.'

The idea of travelling
many hundreds of miles to come here

is just remarkable.

And if people were making
that big trek,

it implies that news of Stonehenge

must have spread far and wide.

'Modern science has transformed
our understanding

'of Britain's most iconic monument.

'But until very recently, there was
still one very big question

'that had never been answered.

'Where did the biggest stones
themselves come from?

'In 2017,

'that mystery was finally
about to be solved.'

DAN SNOW: '2017. Stonehenge.

'After hundreds of years
of investigation and speculation,

'modern science was finally
unlocking the secrets of the stones.

'But one of the greatest mysteries
still remain.

'Where did the biggest stones,

'the sarsens that form these
iconic arches, actually come from?

'Investigators had never got close
to revealing the truth...

'until now...

'..when a lost piece
of evidence emerged.

'Archaeologist Sue Greaney
was part of the team

'given this incredible opportunity
to identify the exact spot

'where Stonehenge's
largest sarsen stones came from.'

So, Sue, how on earth do you
work out where a stone is from?

Well, actually, sarsens
are really, really tricky

to tell where they're from...
I'm not surprised.

..because
if you look at sarsen inside,

it's just like sand.

It just looks like solidified sand.
OK.

That's because
it's more than 99% silica.

So, actually,
you have to use geochemistry.

You have to take a sample,

and you have to look at
the trace elements,

everything that's not silica,
in order to be able to match it.

It's sort of like a fingerprint
or a signature.

So you're just looking at the
chemical composition of the stone

using very whizzy technology.

'By matching the chemical signature
of these mammoth stones

'with the identical fingerprint

'of ones found naturally
in the landscape,

'scientists hoped
they could work out

'where these stones
originally came from

'before they were set up
at Stonehenge.

'But they had a big problem.

'They really needed a stone sample,

'and that would mean
hacking out a piece

'and destroying
a bit of this precious monument.'

The "destroy" bit I can imagine
is tricky with Stonehenge. Yes.

We don't want to be drilling
into the stones here at Stonehenge.

'But back in the 1950s,
engineers had done exactly that.

'To stop this stone from cracking,

'they drilled a hole
and pinned it together.

'The core they removed
was taken away to the United States

'by one of the team

'and forgotten until 2017,

'when it was returned
out of the blue.'

Oh, wow, look at this!
And here...

Wow! I love it.
..in this Perspex tube is the core.

So it's about a metre-long section,

complete cross section
through the stone.

And if you look at it, you can see
it's kind of like layers of sand.

It's a bit like one of those things
you buy as a souvenir...

On the beach.
..at the beach, yeah.

That's perfect, isn't it?

And this bit here
is where a little piece of it

was sent away
for destructive analysis

so that we could look at
the chemistry

of this particular stone in detail.

And you don't feel like
you're desecrating an ancient site.

No, exactly.
Cos it's already been taken out.

'Finally, Sue and the team

'had something
they'd only ever dreamed of,

'a sample they could send to the lab
and analyse its chemical signature.

'But now came the difficult part.

'They were gonna have to scour
the countryside to find a match.

'They started searching within
a ten-mile radius of Stonehenge.

'Susan is taking me
on a trip through Wiltshire

'to retrace their steps.

'It's soon clear
why this was such a mammoth task.

'The area is littered
with natural sarsen stones.'

So, these are stones. Are they
the sarsen stones we're here to see?

They're not.

This is a natural sarsen spread,
sometimes called a sarsen river.

And this is exactly how it occurs.

Here, they're quite small,

but this would have been
a common sight

across lots of bits
of this part of Wiltshire.

'But when these stones were sampled,

'their chemical signatures
didn't quite match Stonehenge's

'precisely enough.

'The hunt was still on
for a better match.'

Wow. Right, let's keep going.

Just up here?
Yep, up to the right here.

'The investigation
now took the archaeologists

'deep into West Woods,
eight miles from Stonehenge.

'This is where
they'd make their breakthrough.'

So, I'm starting to see stones
poking up through the surface.

Yeah, we've got
just a few of them here.

There's a few, aren't there?
There's some big ones up ahead.

Oh, yeah.
Fantastic.

That's good.
There's some of good size.

I mean, that one you could almost
make a lintel out of, couldn't you?

'These stones
were around the right size

'to be candidates
for the ones chosen for Stonehenge.

'The archaeologists began
to analyse them.

'Could this be the exact spot

'where Stonehenge's mighty stones
originally came from

'around 4,500 years ago?

'The archaeologists carried out
preliminary field tests.

'This is a machine
that scans beneath the surface

'to identify the chemical
composition of any material.

'Metal, wood, or stone.'

And it basically
is an X-ray machine.

We just turn it on,

and we place it near to the surface
that we want to analyse

and fire it away.

And then we just place it
against the rock,

and... we just take the reading.

MACHINE BEEPS
And it's done.

And we can look at that back
in the lab and download the data.

And, yeah,
you can just see here a little graph

of the reading we've just taken.

And so we've got that graph
for the stones at Stonehenge? Yes.

And if it's the same graph,

then the stones
are from the same place. Yes.

'When the archaeologists first
analysed everything in the lab,

'the results were remarkable.'

So the sample that was taken from
West Woods, which is where we are,

was the closest match
to that signature,

that wiggle matching
of all the chemical composition

of the sarsen stones at Stonehenge.

And so the scientists were happy
that the sarsens from Stonehenge

came from here.

'It's an amazing discovery,

'proving that 4,500 years ago,

'the builders of Stonehenge
came right here

'to this exact spot in West Wood

'to choose the biggest and best
stones for their great creation.

'Sue's team could now work out the
route they travelled to Stonehenge.

'These 20-tonne stones were dragged
from West Wood

'over eight miles of rough terrain,

'out of this wood,

'down hills alongside the river,

'then uphill to their final
destination on Salisbury Plain.

'The scale of the operation
was incredible.'

It's just extraordinary to think
that over 4,500 years ago,

our Stone Age ancestors
were foraging in some woodland,

when they came across
these mighty stones.

They decided to shape them and
dig them up and transport them here

and then erect them
into this huge monument.

And then for centuries afterwards,
people from across Britain,

and as far afield as Europe perhaps,
came here to visit.

And even now, millennia later,

it's drawing bigger crowds
than ever.

'Stonehenge's discoveries
are remarkable.

'They've revealed
when it was built - 4,500 years ago.

'They've revealed the extraordinary
story of how it was built -

'dragging those mighty stones here,

'carefully shaping and erecting them
to align precisely

'with the movements of the sun.

'Then creating that avenue,
linking it to Woodhenge

'and that vast Stone age village.

'And discovering
what it was used for -

'thousands came here to celebrate
the summer and winter solstice

'for over 1,000 years,

'journeying across the seas
and the country...

'..burying their dead around it.'

It's taken three centuries,

armies of archaeologists,

investigations from the sky
and looking under the ground.

It's taken the latest
scientific techniques.

And yet now finally,
it feels like we've unlocked

some of Stonehenge's
most important secrets.

It's still one of the greatest,

one of the most magical
archaeological sites on Earth.

But it's no longer
quite as much of a mystery.