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Glyn Daniel and Sir Mortimer Wheeler discuss the well-preserved body of Tollund Man, a 2000-year-old Dane found in a peat bog.
Glyn Daniel and Magnus Magnusson present a documentary about the Vikings who colonised Greenland and allegedly discovered North America. At the Royal Library in Copenhagen, Magnus Magnusson studies the Flatey Book, a medieval Icelandic manuscript containing sagas of the Norse kings.
The extraordinary winged lions and vivid reliefs of battles and sieges from the ancient military capital of the Assyrians have been known for a century. Now, fourteen seasons of excavation have yielded yet more remarkable finds. The story of this dig is told by the man responsible for the newest discoveries, Professor Max Mallowan and by Sir Mortimer Wheeler
The suggestion that Stonehenge was a prehistoric observatory and computer of great complexity is one of the most startling in the recent history of science. Professor Gerald Hawkins of Massachusetts reports the latest developments of his theory.
Dr. John Napier and Professor Kenneth Oakley describe the finding in Hungary of a skull which is an important new link in the jigsaw of human evolution.
The uncovering at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk of an eighty-foot-long Anglo-Saxon warship with a magnificent royal treasure buried in it was brought to an abrupt close by the outbreak of war in 1939. South Cadbury hill fort in Somerset may be the site of King Arthur's Camelot. New Grange in County Meath, Ireland, is one of the largest and finest prehistoric burial mounds in Western Europe. Chronicle reports the problems, findings, and prospects of the current excavations of these three remarkable sites.
General Sir Brian Horrocks tells the story of the Battle of Dorking Gap - an invasion that never took place but which rocked complacent Victorian England.
Nine hundred years ago the Normans, under Duke William, invaded England. Chronicle cameras trace the invasion - and what led up to it - as seen in the Bayeux Tapestry.
The Great Fire of London happened 300 years ago and the story of that disaster is told in tonight's programme.
"We are weary, and since we have attained our goal and realised the great idea of our life we shall finally cease our efforts here in Troy." It was May 1873: within days of writing these words the famous millionaire archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann was to make his greatest discovery - the golden treasure he thought belonged to King Priam. Chronicle tells the story of this remarkable find and follows the treasure to its last known destination - Berlin.
Did the Irish monks of the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. reach Iceland across 800 miles of stormy North Atlantic? Magnus Magnusson examines the latest evidence for one of the most remarkable feats of seamanship in the Dark Ages.
According to classical authors the Romans got their best geese from northern France. Glyn Daniel recruits Olympic gold medal winner Ann Packer to investigate how long it would have taken to walk geese from northern Gaul in France to Rome, Italy. This march, which was described by the classic Roman writer Pliny in his 'Natural History' in the 1st Century AD, also serves as a practical demonstration of how keen the Romans were on their version of foie gras.
The Swan Jewel from Dunstable, medieval bronze from Barnard Castle, weird stone heads from Celtic Yorkshire... These treasures and many more, all acquired in the past year, are now, thanks to the efforts of the public from coal-miners to school-children, part of the national inheritance in our museums. Nicholas Thomas and Magnus Magnusson tell the story behind their discovery with the help of the finders, the curators, and the objects themselves.
At about the same time as their attack on England the Normans invaded Sicily. Tonight John Julius Norwich tells the remarkable story of their hard-fought victory over that rugged island defended by a fierce Saracen enemy. The Normans set up a great dynasty which has left dazzling achievements in marble and gold.
The ancient Greek city of Sybaris even to its contemporaries was synonymous with luxury and high living, but the actual city itself has disappeared almost without trace. Now there is fresh hope of finding it with the help of a new electronic instrument, developed in England the proton magnetometer.
How can you possibly diagnose an illness suffered 2,000 years ago? Dr. Charles Newman, Harveian Librarian of the Royal College of Physicians, can do this from one of the most remarkable finds of recent years-nearly 200 wooden carvings of the Roman period. Many show details of ill health and were brought to the source of the Seine by pilgrims in search of a cure. Lady Brogan, an authority on Roman Gaul, discusses with Magnus Magnusson what these carvings also reveal about daily life then.
This film by the Danish Television Service examines the strange case of the incredibly well-preserved bodies found in the Danish peat bogs. Why should the victims have been strangled and then thrown naked into moorland pools 2,000 years ago?
The recent announcement of the existence of 700 drawings of mechanical inventions by Leonardo Da Vinci has caused a furore among scholars. Charles Gibbs-Smith, of the Victoria and Albert Museum, examines this important discovery and the new light which this sheds on Leonardo's missing years.
In ancient legend Lake Avernus on the Bay of Naples was the site of the entrance to Hades. Could it have been the rather sinister complex of tunnels which Dr. Robert Paget has found nearby?
How much history? How much romance? How much nonsense? An enquiry into what is really known about King Arthur, what has been added through the centuries, and what the latest excavations at South Cadbury, the reputed stronghold of Camelot, have revealed.
On a hot night in July A.D. 1500 a series of savage murders decimated the Baglioni family. The story of the downfall of this handsome and ambitious Renaissance family is told tonight in the actual palaces and streets of Perugia where it happened.
No medieval dragon trailed greater clouds of misunderstanding than the great reptiles of a hundred-million years ago. Dr. Alan Charig of the Natural History Museum, London, describes to Magnus Magnusson his recent expedition to find dinosaur remains in Lesotho.
On a stormy night in October 1707, Sir Cloudesley Shovell, victorious Admiral of the Fleet and national hero, ran his flagship on to the rocks of the Scillies. For three years a naval officer has been trying to pinpoint the site of this great disaster. Magnus Magnusson investigates whether the recent finds of cannon and other trophies mean he has at last succeeded.
Since the building of the Aswan High Dam, the rising waters of the Nile have drowned forever the ancient temples of Nubia. Chronicle reports on the ingenious method used to save the most famous - Abu Simbel.
One of the most difficult recent problems facing British archaeologists was how to preserve the lines of the great Anglo-Saxon treasure-ship of Sutton Hoo. Chronicle reports on the ingenious solution finally adopted.
An American expedition to Arabia has recently been looking for archaeological evidence to verify the existence of the Queen who came to test King Solomon's wisdom.
The story of the seabed exploration by Dr. George Bass of the Pennsylvania University Museum of a rich Byzantine merchant ship which sank off the coast of Turkey 1,100 years ago and was the first underwater wreck to be excavated in a truly scientific manner.
John Julius Norwich tells the dramatic story of the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, followed by the rise of the Ottoman Turks in the 15th Century. Using monuments in Istanbul to show the formidable artistic and intellectual achievements of the Byzantines, Norwich vividly describes the last scenes of Greek Orthodox Christianity from within the Hagia Sophia. Norwich describes the calamitous scenes of the last progress of the sacred icons around Constantinople (Istanbul).
A first film report on the excavation beside the Danube which has spectacularly revealed the earliest village in Europe.
Leslie Alcock describes the latest stages of the excavation of this great hill fort in Somerset.
Was the legend of the Minotaur inspired by the worship of bulls at Knossos on Crete? Does the volcanic island of Santorini provide clues about the fabled city of Atlantis? Magnus Magnusson investigates through a detailed tour of Knossos and its archaeological finds, which date from 1700 to 1380 BC. He also explores the extraordinary life of Sir Arthur Evans, the archaeologist who discovered Knossos and the Minoan civilisation.
Silbury Hill is the largest artificial mound in western Europe. Professor Richard Atkinson and Magnus Magnusson discuss what is known about this unique and extraordinary prehistoric monument.
On the heights of the Andes there lived before the Incas a shadowy people: headhunters, maize-growers, moon-worshippers. Their faces and moods are reflected in the pottery which has survived them in the dry Peruvian sand.
The Niah Caves in Borneo tell a story of human activity which spans 40,000 years. Men lived and died in these caves before the end of the Ice Ages, and today their strange rites of burial are still observed.
Gold bracelets, Roman carvings, Anglo-Saxon and medieval paintings - the history of our islands from the Bronze Age to Victorian times is reflected in the most exciting finds and acquisitions of 1967. Archaeologists and museum workers who have brought these finds to the Chronicle studio talk about them to Magnus Magnusson and Patricia Connor.
More than 3,000 years ago the great monument of Stonehenge was raised by the Bronze Age warriors of Britain. Its unique and sophisticated design suggests that it may have been the work of a single architect - a priest or king who could command such a massive undertaking. Who was he? How did he live - or die? No written or spoken record has survived to tell us. Tonight's Chronicle uses the evidence of archaeology and other studies to reconstruct, in dramatic form, the story as it might have been.
The first two weeks' work on the excavation of Silbury Hill is nearly complete. The first 'live' outside broadcast from the excavation.
In a disused army camp in Co. Durham a collection of more than 10,000 items which reflect life as it was lived in the North-East in the last two centuries, from a complete colliery to a miner's kettle on the hob, await reassembly into working units in one of the most exciting new museums in Britain. Frank Atkinson, Director of the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, describes the doubts and difficulties to be overcome in creating a living museum of this kind.
Between the eighth and fourth centuries B.C. the rich Etruscans of Vulci, a town seventy miles north of Rome, were buried with their possessions - including precious metals and jewellery - in thousands of rock-cut tombs. These graves attracted the attention of tomb robbers from the period of the Roman Empire, and raiding of tombs in the Vulci area has gone on sporadically ever since. In the last few years it has turned almost into a large-scale business - and these underground riches are the subject of a complicated struggle between robbers, policemen, international middle-men, and archaeologists. This film follows the activities of two young Italian labourers who defy strict police vigilance and the risk of jail sentences by living off the proceeds from what they dig out of tombs.
The story of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife - the act which led to the outbreak of the First World War. The documentation of this fateful incident is extraordinarily detailed, and the programme has been filmed in the actual streets where it happened on that hot day in June 1914.
The Roman palace at Fishbourne opened its gates to the public this morning. This incredible gift to a local British king was worth £1 million when it was built in A.D. 75. It is also the subject of a breakthrough in museum design and site preservation. Magnus Magnusson talks about this to Professor Barry Cunliffe, the archaeologist who has excavated the palace over the past seven years.
Startling new evidence that bull-fighting may have originated in Turkey 8,000 years ago has recently been revealed at Catal Huyuk - the earliest known civilised town. A vivid red painting of a bull being baited is just one of the most astounding finds which show that this Stone Age people were not only intensely religious but had a very sophisticated way of life. James Mellaart talks to Patricia Connor about his discoveries.
Silbury is one of the largest prehistoric earthworks in Europe, possibly dating to 2400BC. In this programme, originally broadcast live, Magnus Magnusson meets the archaeologists who have uncovered a tunnel that leads into the heart of the mound. 'Chronicle' filmed excavations at the Silbury Mound from 1968 to 1970, one of the largest operations mounted by the programme.
1666 was a year of miracles... In England unprecedented hail-storms, the Great Plague, and the Fire of London were all seen as signs that the hand of God was at work. While one sect of English Puritans expected the Second Coming of Christ, and others expected the Day of Doom, the Jews found a Messiah. Tonight's film tells the strange story of Sabbati Zevi and the wave of messianic ferment he unloosed on the world of 1666.
Tomorrow the vast temples of Abu Simbel - now safe above the rising waters of the Nile - are to be opened again to the public. The threatened temples were sawn into pieces, transported up the cliff and rebuilt in a five-year operation that used the skills of an international team of archaeologists, engineers, and workmen. Magnus Magnusson, from its new site, tells the story of a unique achievement - the rebirth of Abu Simbel.
An aura of violence, treachery, and even incest surrounds the names of Pope Alexander VI and his children Caesar and Lucretia Borgia. Michael Adams tells the story of this notorious family in a film shot in the places where these dramatic events took place.
The finest period of British architecture was deeply influenced by the great palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian in modern Yugoslavia. It stands to this day as the nucleus of the city of Split, and it was this building which inspired the young Scots architect Robert Adam in much of his best work. His enthusiasm for the place was boundless: he drew it and measured its every detail. His book on The Palace was dedicated to George III, and through him the style of the late Roman Empire produced perhaps the greatest period of British architecture.
This summer, Norwegian archaeologists excavating in Orkney came upon the grave of a Viking Chieftain. Among its miraculously well-preserved contents were a small pile of female bones, the first indisputable evidence ever found for Viking human sacrifice. Chronicle cameras recorded from start to finish the delicate process which threw this dramatic new light on life in the Orkneys a thousand years ago.
Thirty years ago archaeologists came upon one of the richest finds ever made in Britain, the Sutton Hoo treasure ship. But the ship itself consisted only of rivets and stains in the sand. Now by a remarkable process technicians from the British Museum have made a ninety-foot-long cast of the vessel, bringing to life again the great Anglo-Saxon warship.
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain, but every day now buildings, machinery, and processes which made possible this crucial advance in man's history are being destroyed. Chronicle looks at some of the successes and some of the frustrations of trying to save part of Britain's great industrial heritage.
Four thousand years ago, in Western Europe, men with crude stone tools carved intricate patterns over the great stone tombs of their dead. Tonight in Chronicle two artists, Patrick Carey and Peter Rawstorne, see if it is possible with the eye of imagination to get behind the abstract forms of this art to the mind of the Stone Age men who created it. Patrick Carey's film, Mists of Time, explores the world of magic of the ancient artists. Peter Rawstorne's exhibition of tracings reflects the strange designs and patterns they used to create this world.
Hernan Cortes was the first and greatest of the Conquistadors of New Spain. His confrontation with Montezuma and the empire of the Aztecs in Mexico in 1519 was the moment when for the very first time, in all their power and might, the Old World and the New stood face to face. Cortes's achievement was extraordinary - no less than the defeat of an entire civilisation with only 400 soldiers at his command. But his victory would have been impossible but for one incredible fact - Montezuma believed that Cortes was his God, the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl. John Julius Norwich recounts the extraordinary interplay of mythology and mounted warfare, of human sacrifice and brilliant strategy which led ultimately to the creation of Mexico.
The conflict between Henry II and Thomas Becket has for centuries fascinated historians and dramatists alike. The dramatists, and indeed the majority of people, have seen Becket as a saint who stood out bravely for the freedom of the Church against the oppression of the King; but a different view is put tonight. There are nine contemporary lives of Becket, and from these and his letters Nesta Pain has constructed a dramatised documentary in which more than ninety per cent of the dialogue is known to have been spoken at the time. It traces the career of Thomas Becket from his appointment as Archbishop, through his exile in France, to his eventual murder in Canterbury Cathedral.
'Every traveller coming added to the general defacement of the statuary within his reach. It was no part of my original plan to bring away anything but my models.' It was with these words in 1816 that Lord Elgin argued his case for having removed many of the finest sculptures from the Parthenon. The controversy surrounding the 'Elgin Marbles' and whether they should be returned to Greece has raged ever since. The story of how Lord Elgin secured them, of Byron's vicious attack upon him, and of the Earl's subsequent ruin is told by Magnus Magnusson.
Outside broadcast cameras return to Silbury to see the results of the final three weeks' excavation. At the end of July's Chronicle Professor Richard Atkinson was about to investigate the pit lying in the last four feet of untouched material, between the end of the tunnel and the geometrical centre of Silbury's inner mound. Tonight's programme shows whether these closing days of skill and patience have revealed the ultimate truth about Silbury Hill and provided answers to all the questions Professor Atkinson posed before the dig began two years ago.
Professor Alexander Thom puts forward his theory that Stonehenge and other megalithic sites were used to record time and predict solar and lunar eclipses. Magnus Magnusson looks at Thom's evidence and hears what different archaeologists think of the suggestion that Stone Age Britons could make such elaborate calculations. If Thom's theory is correct, previous archaeological certainties about the knowledge and ability of people in the Stone Age would be overturned.
One of the great engineering masterpieces created by Isambard Kingdom Brunel had been left to rot in the South Atlantic since 1937. This is the story of how SS Great Britain was rescued from the icy shores of the Falkland Islands and why it is so important to 19th-Century maritime and engineering history. The 'Chronicle' film crew are on hand to record the breathtaking efforts of the rescuers, who remove the enormous hulk from the South Atlantic and transport her on a final journey that ends with her passing under the Clifton Suspension Bridge into Bristol.
The Lost Treasure of Jerusalem? In 1891 an impoverished French priest, Berenger Sauniere , discovered four parchments containing a series of ciphered messages hidden beneath the altar of his church in the tiny village of Rennes-le-Chateau. These led him, apparently, to an incredible fortune. Had he found a great treasure? Did it even contain relics of the lost treasure of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem? Chronicle tells the story of the clues that he left behind him, and examines some of the attempts that have been made to follow them up.
Eric Thompson, who has spent his life studying the ancient Maya and living with their descendants, guides Magnus Magnusson around Mayan sites and meanings. The golden age of the Maya was from 300 to 900AD and this programme takes a look at their stone artefacts, buildings, system of writing and religious rites, including human sacrifice. It also addresses contemporary problems, such as the looting of archaeological sites.
Chronicle reports on the controversy surrounding the bones found in Piltdown, Sussex some 70 years ago that some claimed were the "missing link" between man and ape.
Chronicle tells of the events in Spain in the war against Napoleon - a war that gave us the word 'guerrilla' and the works of the artist Goya.
This month Chronicle, introduced by Kenneth Hudson, shows the contrast between urban and rural archaeology. At Stone Age Skara Brae and Roman Vindolanda, where the finds are of whalebone tools and Roman writing tablets, the pressures and problems are not created by developers wanting the land. At Dunwich the threat is from the sea. But in Bath, Lincoln and London it's not only archaeology but the whole fabric of our historic cities which is being destroyed.
Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum were destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The houses, temples and theatres were buried and remained hidden for nearly 2,000 years until excavations revealed the wonderfully preserved buildings of Roman times. Professor Barry Cunliffe takes us through these uniquely complete streets and tells us how the people lived then - and how little life has changed in the bay of Naples. Re-aired 21 November 1976
TV documentary on the unsolved archaeological mystery at Glozel, France.
The treasure trail 'is the murder of man's history and it's a tragedy.' History is murdered in the search for buried treasure, not just gold and silver, but fractured pots and broken statues, the highly saleable relics of past civilisations. Meet curators, smugglers, dealers and indignant archaeologists anxious to preserve intact the evidence of the past. Controversy continued with the announcement by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, of the million dollar purchase of the Euphronios Vase - the so-called 'hot pot'. The trail leads from New York to the Etruscan hills in Italy, to meet tomb robbers, policemen and a man who fakes pots for a living. Re-aired 15 December 1975, 3 September 1987
Cheops coming to reign over them plunged into every kind of wickedness. He ordered all the Egyptians to work for himself. And they worked to the number of a hundred thousand men at a time, each party during three months. Were the pyramids of Egypt built by slave labour, as Herodotus suggests? Is Von Daniken right in believing that the Ancient Egyptians could not have erected the 2,300,000 blocks of the Great Pyramid in less than 600 years? Some of the myths are destroyed and some of the mysteries still remain in this month's programme.
When two gleaming bronze guns, bearing the arms of England and Spain and the date 1556, emerged from the sea in February 1971, the City of Derry Sub-Aqua Club knew for certain that they had rediscovered La Trinidad Valencera after a silence of 400 years. This massive Venetian merchant ship, hi-jacked in Sicily and forced to join the ill-fated Spanish Armada, had limped, battered and sinking, into a remote bay in Donegal on 12 September 1588. Magnus Magnusson tells the story of the club's trials, tribulations and triumphs over the last three years as a group of enthusiastic amateur divers came to terms with one of the most important wrecks in the British Isles and a momentous historical discovery. Re-aired 26 December 1975
In 1837 two Romanian peasants stumbled upon an ancient hoard of gold and jewels on a bleak hill-side near their village. Within three years the peasants were dead, the treasure smashed to pieces and several of the pieces had disappeared without trace. The damaged objects were reconstituted by experts and then stolen in a Rififi-type burglary. Recovered once more they were given to Russia for safekeeping a year or so before the October Revolution of 1917. They were returned to Romania only in 1956. This dramatised story of the treasure is based in exact detail on the files of 19th-century criminal trials of the principal characters involved, who are played by members of the ROMANIAN NATIONAL THEATRE COMPANY.
Who were the Celts? They grew rich in 'Salt-City,' the great rock-salt deposits near Salzburg in Austria. They were famous throughout the Roman world for their thirst for wine, their lust for human sacrifice and their astronomer druids. They rode moustachioed and naked into battle in chariots and their art was one of the great achievements of prehistoric Europe. David Parry-Jones describes the archaeologists' search for a culture which ranges across 28 centuries, and from Anatolia to Ireland, and is often as mysterious and ambiguous as its art.
For 50 years the strange, mysterious script discovered on baked clay tablets at Knossos in Crete remained undeciphered. Scholars and classicists were baffled. Then, in 1952, Michael Ventris, a young architect, cracked Linear B and electrified the archaeological world. René Cutforth tells the story of the decipherment and of its effect on a long-standing dispute between the grand old man of British archaeology, Sir Arthur Evans, and a young Englishman, Alan Wace, who claimed that Evans's theories about Greece 3,500 years ago were wrong - and who was made to suffer for his heresy. Re-aired 15 December 1977
The Thracians gave the ancient Greeks their belief in life after death, the legend of Orpheus, and the god Dionysus. In return the Greeks called them barbarians. Today, as a result of 30 years' work by Bulgarian archaeologists, we can judge for ourselves what one of the greatest barbarian civilisations of the ancient world was really like. Magnus Magnusson traces the history of Thrace from Neolithic to Roman times and tells the story of the horse-riding tribal aristocracy whose rich burials and treasure troves have been found all over Bulgaria and were brought to the British Museum for a special display in 1976. Re-aired 3 May 1977
Some 60 years after the Roman Emperor Titus destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem in AD 70, the Jews revolted again. Their leader was a man called Bar Kokhba, which means 'Son of a Star.' Eventually he was defeated and killed in the siege at Bethar. Though he was a great hero, he remained a purely legendary figure to the Jews, until 1960. In that year an archaeological expedition under GENERAL YADIN explored a desert cave in a sheer cliff face, and there discovered scrolls hidden by two of Bar Kokhba's commanders. They were actually written by Bar Kokhba himself: appeals for help and food and instructions about the revolt. Over the centuries they give a vivid picture of the 'King Messiah' and of his revolt. This programme tells the story of the search for, and finding of, these unique historical documents.
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of American Independence, Chronicle went to Williamsburg in Virginia to see one of the most remarkable contributions of archaeology to America's past. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has not only succeeded in rebuilding an 18th-century English colonial town but, thanks to archaeological research, they have made the everyday life of the town come alive with meticulous accuracy.
The wheel was invented about 5,000 years ago and one of its first uses was in warfare. Last summer two archaeologists with teachers and pupils at St John's Comprehensive School, Epping, built and tested a full-size reproduction of a solid-wheeled Sumerian battle waggon, to try to answer the many questions about its effectiveness as a war-machine - questions which no amount of theorising could solve.
As a holiday, 'A Fortnight in the Iron Age' may not be everyone's idea of fun. But that is exactly what the Danish family Bjornholt decided to do. Father, mother and three children volunteered to live the arduous, uncomfortable and eventually smelly life of an Iron Age family at the Danish Museum of Lejre. Magnus Magnusson records their trials and tribulations as the family contend with the 'luxuries' of two small cows, some chickens, a pile of raw grain and nothing but contemporary pots and implements to help them survive. No one was more surprised than the family at their unconscious reactions to life in the Iron Age.
How does a festival begin and why? What are the ideas behind the creation of a whole series of national exhibitions, lectures and concerts? How do these ideals survive when faced with the reality of co-ordinating dozens of institutions and acquiring hundreds of priceless objects from over 250 museums in 30 different countries? Is it possible to convey a new interpretation of a totally different civilisation? These are the questions posed by the World of Islam Festival, which opened in various centres in this country in April. The answers are given by the Festival Director, Paul Keeler, and the individual creators of the exhibitions.
On 23 October 1952, a television quiz called 'Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?' made its first modest appearance. It was an instant success. Archaeology suddenly became entertainment. The long line of television programmes dealing with archaeology, of which this was the first, were all the creation of one man - Paul Johnstone. Until his death earlier this year he was Executive Producer of Chronicle and head of BBC Television's Archaeology and History Unit. Tonight Chronicle looks back at nearly 25 years of archaeology on television, culminating in an account of the excavation of the Graveney Boat , Paul Johnstone's last venture in an area in which he was recognised throughout the academic world as an expert - the archaeology of ships.
The Olympic ideals of amateurism, participation and international unity - foundation stones of the modern games - are nothing more than a series of myths. The ancient Greeks had no such aims in their games - and no sacred torch or marathon race either. Where did the modern games get such ideas? What were the games of the ancient Greeks really like? How could they have continued for 1,000 years without a single interruption? Tonight, M. I. Finley, Professor of Ancient History at Cambridge University, tells the story of the first Olympic Games from their beginnings near a tiny altar on a flat plain in Western Greece more than 700 years before Christ.
Did a Welsh Prince, Madoc ap Owain Gwynedd, discover America 300 years before Columbus? Queen Elizabeth I used the legend to justify her claim to America over that of Philip II of Spain. And even as late as the 18th century at least 15 Indian tribes were identified as Welsh - descendants of the Madoc expedition. John Evans, a young Welsh minister, in quest of Welsh Indians in 1796, became the first white man to reach the Mandans, whose descendants believe the tribe was brought across the Great Water by Lone Man - who was white! In this programme, filmed in America, Professor Gwyn Williams of University College, Cardiff, examines the Madoc legend.
Tribes of headhunters, primitive negritos, Chinese, Muslims and fanatical Christians are the diverse cultures which, dating from the Stone-Age to the 20th Century, co-exist, and help make the Philippines unique. Chronicle investigates the recent work of the archaeologists in the remote Tabon Cave; finds evidence that ritual head-hunting amongst the Ifugao is not a thing of the distant past and discovers a Christian village where at Easter, men actually submit to a form of crucifixion.
The greatest mystery of the Americas, the Nasca Lines have intrigued both scientists and the public ever since their existence became known to the Western World only 30 years ago. Straight lines running for miles, others outlining huge birds and mysterious figures are drawn inexplicably on the surface of a baked and arid landscape. Now Chronicle mounts its own investigation into the mystery of 'the largest astronomy book in the world' guided by English explorer Tony Morrison. His journey takes him across inhospitable deserts and high into the freezing isolation of the Andes. The result is a startlingly new theory involving historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and, most importantly of all, the people of the Andes themselves.
The Jewish people have suffered torment, persecution and degradation for their forefathers' alleged part in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. In a recently published book, Dr Haim Cohn, expert in Jewish and Roman law, analysed and questioned the Gospels' charges against the Jews and threw new light on the Passion story. What really could have taken place that night during the arrest; in the house of the High Priest; and before Pilate in the morning? Who, in fact, crucified Jesus?
Our language, our monarchy, even the name of England itself, come from the Anglo-Saxons. They ruled here for 600 years, but who were these people? Until recently, very little has been known about our ancestors' day-to-day existence. Now, thanks to current archaeology, we are learning a great deal more and from all parts of the country. An early settlement on the Thames estuary; a complete Anglo-Saxon village site in Hampshire; the Venerable Bede's monastery at Jarrow and the Viking settlement in the centre of York. But perhaps most exciting of all is the discovery on the Yorkshire Pennines of the first known Viking farmstead in this country.
The discovery of the Rosetta Stone in Egypt by Napoleon's team of French scholars was key to the translation of hieroglyphics. This programme reveals how the stone came to the British Museum and its importance for understanding both the ancient Egyptian language and Egypt's culture. Re-aired 25 November 1979
Threat of the mummy's curse failed to deter the scholars in Manchester who unwrapped Mummy No. 1770 - the first ancient Egyptian mummy to be scientifically investigated in this country since the turn of the century. But what exactly is a mummy? Why did the ancient Egyptians preserve their dead in this way? And why was the Manchester mummy buried with gold nipples and a false phallus? Chronicle records how modern science can tell us much that is new about ancient Egyptian society and shows how the 2,000-year-old mummy was brought back to life. Re-aired 25 May 1979
Buried in The Histories of Herodotus is a single passage describing the Imperial Highway of the Persian Kings. Herodotus calls it the Royal Road. This ancient highway, built in the sixth century BC, has intrigued scholars for over a century, but because of the sparseness of Herodotus's description, the route of the Royal Road has remained a mystery. Chronicle's archaeological story follows American explorer Victor von Hagen on a two-year expedition through Turkey, Iraq and Iran to test the accuracy of Herodotus's account. By piecing together the clues of geography, anthropology and archaeology, VON HAGEN was able to solve the riddle of the Royal Road.
The astonishing story of Renaissance Rome. John R. Hale looks at the lives of the four Popes who possessed, as Machiavelli said all rulers must, ' the strength of the Lion and the cunning of the Fox'. Men who, from 1450 to 1550, commissioned the greatest painters and architects of the Renaissance to transform Rome from a squalid market town into the 'capital of the world'.
In May, 'The Sale of the Century' took place amidst a blaze of controversy. The entire contents of Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire went under the hammer. How was the collection formed? Who amassed the treasures? 'The Acquisitors' takes a sometimes amusing, sometimes sad look at a Rothschild fantasy come true. Forty years in the making and two weeks in the breaking, the Mentmore collection is a subject which still rankles among conservationists, antiquarians and simple patriots.
A dazzling exhibition of gold and silver, 'The Wealth of the Roman World' opened last week at the British Museum. One of the 'stars' of the exhibition is a silver treasure found in this country only two years ago. Known as the Water Newton hoard, it was found near Peter-borough by an amateur archaeologist and pop singer Alan Holmes. Magnus Magnusson investigates this story of the 'Silver in the Furrow', the earliest Christian sacramental plate, now restored to its former glory.
In 1724, a Dutch merchant ship sank off the Madeiras. A year later, an English diver, John Lethbridge, performed amazing feats of salvage. But how? Belgian diver Robert Stenuit reconstructed Lethbridge's 'diving engine' to produce an intriguing historical detective story and a new development in underwater archaeology. Re-aired 28 October 1979
The Order of St John is our last direct link with the Crusades. For over nine centuries the Order has cared for the sick - from the earliest times of the pilgrims to our own day, when that ideal is still carried on by the members of the St John Ambulance. John Julius Norwich tells the extraordinary story of the Knights of St John, filmed on the island of Rhodes and in Malta where the great confrontation with the Turks was to reach its climax when the Order held off the huge armies of Suleiman the Magnificent in the siege of 1565, and saved Western Europe for Christianity. Re-aired 9 December 1979
The Parthenon of Athens, one of the world's greatest monuments, is on the verge of collapse. It is certainly unique - but what is it really worth? How much are we prepared to sacrifice in order that future generations can enjoy the treasures we take for granted? Twentieth-century life is rapidly destroying the fragile remains of the world's ancient civilisations. A year ago Unesco appealed for funds to save the monuments of the Acropolis - to save them from damage from tramping tourists and from a corroding network of ancient steel slowly expanding inside the historic marble which has turned the buildings into potential time-bombs. Chronicle reveals how the Greeks are using gamma rays, space rocket technology and their finest brains to tackle problems which are beginning to affect historic buildings in every industrial country in the world. Will the Greeks be successful or is the Acropolis doomed? Re-aired 2 December 1979
A place called Glozel in France is the setting for what must be either the most extraordinary discovery in the history of archaeology - or a monstrous fraud. Weird pots and phallic idols and magic writings are the bones of contention between archaeologists who have declared for more than 40 years that Glozel is a modern fake and some physicists who have been saying for the past four years that everything they have tested with their 'glow-curve' dating method is at least 2,000 years old. Chronicle has been following the case since 1974 and reports tonight with a round-up of all the latest evidence on the unsolved mystery that still surrounds Glozel.
The Greek Goddess Aphrodite - 'Venus' to the Romans - was born out of the sea off Cyprus but her famous statue, the Venus de Milo, was discovered on the island of Melos. It was made about 2,500 years ago when civilisation on Melos was already 2,000 years old. Professor Colin Renfrew's ten-year excavation reveals the social mechanism whereby the island became a thriving commercial power and relates this mechanism to the development of Greek civilisation as a whole. Re-aired 18 November 1979
One of the most remarkable revolutions in the world of art took place in Florence in the early 1400s. It was primarily the work of three men: the architect Brunelleschi, the painter Masaccio and the sculptor Donatello. Across the gulf of 500 years their work still speaks to three contemporary British artists who, in the light of their own work, discuss the significance of their predecessors. Featured in the programme are many of the three artists' surviving works in Florence, and two which can be seen in Britain.
The Golden Isle is Galveston, Texas. A remarkable city with a remarkable history. During the mid-19th century as the English cotton trade boomed, so did the port of Galveston. Almost overnight the city became one of the richest in the United States. Yet in its very expansion were sown the seeds of its great decline. Today, because of that decline, Galveston possesses a range of Victorian buildings unique in the United States. Buildings that are being restored to their original splendour and grandeur as a working monument to the opulent past. King Vidor, doyen of the movie directors and resident of the city, helps tell its story.
Every year on sites and fields all over Britain enthusiasts brave winter mud and summer flies to excavate and record aspects of our heritage which might otherwise be destroyed. Tonight the Prince of Wales sees the films of the work of the six amateur groups selected for this year's final and presents the Chronicle Archaeology Award for 1978 to the winner. The subjects for the films range from the discovery by a former RAF pilot of a vast series of prehistoric tribal boundaries in the East Midlands to a lecturer and his wife who spend their holidays and weekends recording ancient cider-making equipment in the West of England. Magnus Magnusson introduces the programme which will also present the winners of other awards organised by RESCUE, the British Trust for Archaeology.
Magnus Magnusson introduces a new Chronicle award. It is being given to amateur archaeology groups for local rescue projects which have saved threatened sites or buildings, and which have contributed to a greater understanding of the community heritage. More people are becoming aware of the threat to our archaeological heritage and their interest has led them to preserve a Roman Bath House under a motorway, locate Neolithic sites before they disappear into gravel pits, survey the 14th-century houses of East Sussex and chart the length of the largest Anglo-Saxon monument in this country - Offa's Dyke on the Welsh border. Twenty-two groups entered for the award and Chronicle shows the work of the six finalists. The award is presented by HRH The Duke of Gloucester in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Joan of Arc, a village girl from the Vosges, was born about 1412, burnt as a heretic in 1431 and made a saint in 1920. Why did it take the Roman Catholic Church nearly 500 years to change its mind about her? What were her voices? Why do some believe she was not burnt at all? Why did she fascinate de Gaulle? Because of the detailed records kept at her trials, we know a great deal about Joan's life and personality, the very words she spoke and what her friends thought about her. But subsequent generations have ignored this information, created new images of her and turned her into one of the most potent myths of the 20th century.
Cleopatra's Needle finally came to rest on the Thames Embankment 100 years ago. Presented to the British Nation in 1819 by the Viceroy of Egypt, Muhammed Ali (no relation), it took 50 years to get here. In the process, six men were drowned and the needle temporarily abandoned in a storin in the Bay of Biscay. Needles exist throughout the world: New York, Paris, Rome, Istanbul. And only five are left in Egypt. But why were they built? What is the significance of their shape? What do the hieroglyphs on their sides say? And why, for 2,000 years, has every aspiring empire felt the need to possess one as some kind of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval? Chronicle tells the story of their erection in the service of the Egyptian sun god and their removal by pharaohs, emperors, popes and Victorian engineers. Re-aired 13 July 1983
Go behind the scenes with archaeologist Manolis Andronikos to explore an unlooted royal tomb discovered in Vergina. The background to the growth of the Macedonian Empire under Philip II is explored as speculation grows about the identity of the skeleton found in a gold casket. Is it Philip II? And was he murdered under orders from Alexander the Great? Re-aired 14 June 1994
In the summer of 1879 the much-loved son of the Emperor Napoleon III went out with the British army to fight against the Zulus. Ambushed outside a Zulu kraal, the Prince Imperial, heir to the throne of France, was hacked to death by Zulu assegai. The man court-martialled for allowing this atrocity was a Lieutenant Carey. Victorian England was shocked by the death and even more so by the establishment's attempt to make Carey a scapegoat. The precise events leading up to that fatal day are re-told at the very place in Zululand and the transcript of the court martial, only recently available to the public, is used to dramatise extracts from the trial - and reveal the dramatic outcome. Re-aired 10 December 1980
The Trinidad Valencera, fourth largest ship of the Spanish Armada, grounded and sank off the Donegal coast on 14 September 1588. Chronicle has followed the seven years' progress of archaeological work underwater which has revealed not the Trinidad Valencera herself, as yet, but the remains of a mighty army siege-train which was intended to batter down the gates of London. But who owns the Trinidad? The Venetians who built her, the Spanish who hi-jacked her, the English who sank her, the Irish in whose waters she lies, or the archaeologists from the City of Derry Sub-Aqua Club who found the wreck? And is the site a protected monument or a wreck? Andrew Faulds tells the story of this ship and its recovery, and the law, or lack of it, which puts at risk all historic wrecks round the coast of Britain and Ireland.
Documentary about the use of aerial photography to survey archaeological sites in Britain. The technique has helped build a better picture of life in prehistoric and Roman Britain.
Santorini is a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea whose heart was torn out by a violent eruption around 1500 BC. Volcanic ash buried, almost intact, the First Pompeii-a Minoan city at a site called Akrotiri. Sixty miles to the south of Santorini lies the island of Crete where the Minoan civilisation came to an abrupt end around the time of the great explosion. Was it the eruption on Santorini that caused the end of that brilliant Minoan civilisation on Crete? New discoveries on Santorini provide a clue to one of the greatest riddles of Aegean archaeology. Magnus Magnusson investigates.
Professor Colin Renfrew examines the forgotten city of Hatra. The programme shows how this stone metropolis retained its buildings, unlike the mud-bricked city of Nineveh, which is now just a large mound or 'tell'. Renfrew visits the reconstructed gates and figures of winged bull-men that are all that is left of Nineveh, before illustrating the extraordinary society that existed at Hatra, which was influenced by the Romans yet remained independent.
For Henry Lincoln six years have passed since he completed The Priest, the Painter and the Devil. That strange story of an obscure French priest who was led to immense wealth by ancient parchments has drawn Henry Lincoln deep into a mysterious historical underworld. In France, England and Jerusalem, he has unearthed a strange story of secret societies and a medieval ecclesiastical mania which began at the time of the Crusades and which seems to have conceived and reared to maturity the enigmatic Order of Knights Templar.
Until their conquest by the Spanish in the 16th century, the Incas built up a 2,000-mile empire, with cities perched on mountaintops, irrigated terraces clinging to the sides, and a network of roads carved through some of the most difficult terrain in the world - all in less than a century. Today archaeologists are digging behind the myths and legends that surround the Incas to discover how their enormous empire was actually run. Dr John Hyslop is studying the road system, probably the most extensive ancient road system in the world. Dr Craig Morris is studying the administrative centres and Dr Ann Kendall is excavating near the most spectacular of all Inca sites - Machu Pichu. But can their research do more than tell us about the Incas, can they also help to re-populate areas of Peru which once flourished, but where now only a few families live in extreme poverty? Re-aired 31 March 1982
Where did the first Americans, the ancestors of today's Indians, come from? From Asia - according to most archaeologists today - across the landbridge of ice that then linked Siberia to Alaska. But when? And how long did it take these people, hunting on foot with Stone Age weapons, to people the new continent? Dennis Stanford, of the Smithsonian institution, and Vance Haynes, of the University of Arizona, have been in the forefront of the debate on these questions which have been rumbling on in American archaeology. Though great personal friends, they disagree violently in their interpretation of the evidence of early man's presence in America. In the 1979 season they hoped to bring together clues from sites all over America and finally settle the debate.
In the past 250 years, many of Britain's archaeological treasures have simply been lost. Where is the Witham Bowl, Britain's finest Anglo-Saxon hanging bowl, last seen in 1848? Or the Witham Dagger or the Sark Hoard, the most important collection of Gaulish harness decorations ever found in Western Europe? Also on Chronicle's missing list are a gold Iron Age ring, bronze Roman Bacchus, a medieval hunting pot and fine manuscripts. Professor Stuart Piggott discusses the missing treasures, traces where they were last seen and assesses the chance of rediscovering them. It is likely that they still exist, unrecognised, in some ducal stable, suburban cellar or even in a viewer's attic.
The study of the pill-box defences of England, built in the early 1940s for 'Dad's Army', is one of six projects chosen as finalists in this year's Chronicle Archaeology Awards. Other projects include the excavation of a Romano-British cemetery near Dunstable with its detailed analysis of skeletons and diseases; the clearing of the complex of caves that run under the streets of Nottingham; the unearthing of a Roman settlement at Kingscote in Gloucestershire; a study of the architectural history of farmhouses just north of Bristol; and a prehistoric settlement in the Test Valley in Hampshire. During the summer, all the finalists were visited by a Chronicle film team and a panel of 'Rescue' judges. Magnus Magnusson announces the judges' verdict and presents the prizes at a special ceremony in the British Museum.
The Tasmanian Aborigines were totally exterminated last century. It is the only case on record of a genocide so complete and so swift. The British colonists in Tasmania wiped out the whole race within the lifetime of Truganini, who was the last to die in 1876. This programme follows the painstaking search of archaeologist Dr Rhys Jones to uncover the full story.
The world's first iron bridge was erected 200 years ago by the Quaker iron-master Abraham Darby. It still spans the River Severn, near Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. It was the culmination of 70 years work by the remarkable Darby family which included the invention of coke smelting, the development of the first iron railways, and building some of the earliest steam engines. The Darbys' surprisingly modern approach to their problems lives again as Chronicle shows tub-boats moving along their canal, trolleys climbing their hillside railway, and part of the bridge being specially re-cast in the iron-works that has been on the same site since 1709.
Not many people develop a new art or science in their own lifetime - but Cecil Hewett has done it. He is the controversial teacher and prophet of a way of identifying and dating historic buildings. In Essex, Hewett finds the earliest-known half-timbered cottage in the country. In a Sussex church he identifies a wooden helm made in the days of the Anglo-Saxon kings. And at Salisbury he shows how the Christmas tree of woodwork inside the cathedral spire has kept it standing for over 600 years. Even ancient church doors take on a new aura when one of them is proved to have been covered with the skin of a human being. Hardly anyone believed that pre-Norman structural woodwork could have survived in this country. But Hewett now claims he has made the first discovery of a pre-Norman post that still holds up a standing building. Chronicle's specially commissioned radio-carbon dating reveals if he is right. Re-aired 28 May 1980
This programme tells the story of Henry Ford who, in 1911, built Highland Park, Detroit - the largest factory in the world. The man who introduced the production line and who set out with the humanitarian ideal of producing cheap cars for the people and ended up defying his own striking workers. Ford seemed to embody the American dream but bequeathed to the world, in many people's opinion, a nightmare legacy. A NOVA WGBHFilm production.
The first black republic in the world Haiti, was born in 1804 from a slave rebellion. The man who led that revolt was himself a former slave - Toussaint L'Ouverture. The revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality were immensely powerful in their impact on blacks and whites alike. Once they had tasted freedom, the blacks fought desperately to retain it. Napoleon Bonaparte, however, was determined to reduce Toussaint, 'this gilded African' as he called him, to submission. After a long and bitter struggle the victory over slavery was won, though Toussaint's own end was to be tragic. This extraordinary history of colonial warfare and foreign intervention is full of echoes for our own time. It is told by JOHN JULIUS NORWICH in the exotic plantations, fortresses and villas where the story unfolded.
Treasure hunting is suddenly big news, with the discovery in Ireland of the Derrynaflan Chalice. But despite the importance of the find, archaeologists have viewed the discovery with mixed feelings because it was found by a man using a metal detector. While treasure hunters 'prospect', archaeologists believe that irresponsible metal-detector users are destroying valuable evidence of the nation's archaeological past and profiting from the proceeds. Next month the Government plans to introduce new penalties for metal-detector users who go on scheduled sites. They also propose to put rescue archaeology on a statutory basis and declare new archaeological areas out-of-bounds for treasure hunters. Chronicle investigates whether metal-detector users really are a threat to archaeology.
Almost 5,000 years ago, at Avebury, hundreds of people struggled for decades to build the great stone circles. In Scotland, centuries later, small family groups banded together to build a circle each. Stone circles are monuments to a lost religion, born of fear, in times of hardship and pestilence. Human bones and objects of value were buried within them, to placate the underworld. Traces of fire are found, as if from a pyre, and the builders of the circles watched the sun and the moon rise and set above the stones as part of their worship. AUBREY BURL has spent his life studying stone circles and their meaning. This film shows him at work in Aberdeenshire excavating the site where a small circle once stood and contrasts the evidence there with that found at Avebury in Wiltshire, one of the greatest prehistoric monuments in the world. Stone circles will always remain mysterious. But, if all the evidence is taken into account, they need no longer be mystifying as well.
In 1974, near Xian, the ancient capital of China, a group of peasants digging a well came upon an entire army of 6,000 soldiers, officers, men, horses and chariots - all sculpted in terracotta. This extraordinary find proved to be the battle array of the first Emperor of China, the man who built the Great Wall and died in 210 BC. Colin Renfrew traces the reasons for this amazing burial and, with exclusive film acquired from China, Chronicle looks in detail at the Emperor's army, now being excavated and displayed 22 centuries later to an astonished world.
It was a hot day in July 1545. As Henry VIII's great battleship, the Mary Rose, set sail with the rest of the English fleet, she fired her first broadside, heeled violently to starboard, capsized and sank. All efforts to raise the hull failed. The glutinous mud at the bottom of the Solent held her down, covered her up and, in the end, preserved her. But for more than 400 years the site of the wreck was forgotten and the Mary Rose was believed lost. Now, in 1980, prior to raising the hull in 1982, the Mary Rose Trust are conducting the largest exercise in underwater archaeology that Great Britain has ever seen. Chronicle cameras were with the divers when the site was first yielding its secrets, ten years ago. Now Chronicle brings you the story of the ship, the men who went down with her and an up-to-date report on the people who are excavating the site. Re-aired 21st Apr 1982.
China is now once again raising its bamboo curtain. For centuries this vast civilisation has fascinated the West. Using the actual accounts of travellers who observed China at first hand, and beginning with the most famous of them all, Marco Polo, the programme reveals the strange and shifting relationship between East and West.
Blaenavon is a small town in South Wales which for 200 years has existed by mining. It was one of the first Welsh iron towns. It shared in the great coal boom before World War I. And like most of South Wales it has lived through the long and painful process of industrial decline and change. Now Blaenavon is marketing its past by turning to tourism. Big Pit in Blaenavon will be the only Welsh colliery to be preserved as an underground museum. This film sketches in the history of Blaenavon against the background of the rise and long decline of the South Wales coal field and helps explain something of the miners' attitudes today.
Chaco Canyon in New Mexico contains the spectacular ruins of a vanished civilisation. Great masonry buildings, built in a near-desert, bear witness to an American people who have now vanished without trace. They left behind elaborate walled cities, complete with living quarters, vast storage rooms and large round underground chambers called 'kivas', in which they worshipped. Between their towns they constructed roads; they also had a long-distance signalling system. At the height of their power the people of Chaco controlled an area of some 40,000 square miles. But why did the civilisation fall? Is there a message for us today in what happened 600 years ago? Recent archaeological excavation provides us with some of the answers.
In August 1980 a party of 15 American volunteers arrived at Repton, Derbyshire, to join an archaeological excavation. They included businessmen, housewives, students and retired professors, most of whom had never done any archaeology before. All had paid for the privilege of working hard in a muddy trench in a wet English summer. Chronicle follows their three-week progress. Do the rain, the Repton mud and the school dormitories get them down? How is a site excavated from the cabbages downwards? Is the mound in the vicar's garden just a Victorian garden feature or a Viking burial?
Magnus Magnusson presents a report on the fourth year of the annual Chronicle competition for amateur archaeologists. This year's finalists presented work on neolithic bog oaks and Saxon fish weirs, the rediscovery of Welsh carved slates and a study of early domestic architecture, the lost Roman defences of the Cumberland coast, and a study of an ancient landscape from the air. MAGNUS MAGNUSSON follows the judges as they scrutinise the finalists' work and finally choose the winner of this year's competition and the Chronicle crystal goblet.
The Elissa was a square-rigged sailing ship built in Aberdeen in 1877 at a time when sailing ships still commanded the seas. Her home port was Liverpool and she had 20 years as a successful trader before being badly damaged in a storm off the coast of Ireland. She was sold, and over the years her appearance was completely transformed. Her masts were cut down, an engine installed, and in the 1960s the shape of her sleek bow was altered to camouflage her activities as contraband smuggler in the Aegean. The Elissa had twice put into the port of Galveston in Texas in the 1880s. This historical connection provided the necessary excuse for the Galveston Historical Foundation to spend nearly two million dollars on her rescue and her restoration. When the Elissa is finally restored she will be the oldest operational iron sailing ship in the world. This film is the story of the Elissa, her history, her restoration in Greece and her journey to Galveston.
Omm Seti means 'mother of Seti.' This is how Dorothy Eady, born in London in 1904, described herself to the tourists who visited her at the temple of the great Pharaoh Seti I at Abydos. Convinced that she led a previous existence as a priestess in ancient Egypt, Omm Seti tells the story of how she became obsessed with the famous temple, in the shadow of which she lived. She died shortly before the film was shown for the first time in May 1981. Re-aired 13 July 1990
Submerged beneath sand, sponges and sea grass are the wrecks of thousands of ships. During the past decade three of these ships have been carefully excavated, discovering a fascinating evolution in shipbuilding technology. They date from 300 BC, AD 625 and AD 1000, and lie off the coasts of Greece, Cyprus and Turkey. Archaeologists have discovered exquisite artefacts of glass, bronze and pottery. As a result of meticulous restoration, these artefacts are providing new insights into an ancient world of ships and commerce - a world not dissimilar to our own. An Odyssey film presented for Chronicle by Catherine Collis
Amelia B. Edwards was in the great tradition of Victorian travelling ladies. Her Egyptian holiday was to change not just her life, but the whole course of British excavation in Egypt.
'Great Britain has riots', say some social historians, 'while the Continent has revolutions'. Rioting has certainly played an important part in the development of our parliamentary democracy but was the summer violence of 1981 exceptional? Were there historical precedents? SIMON WINCHESTER investigates the role of the riot in Britain since the passing of the last Riot Act in 1714. He traces the different reasons why people have rioted and finds a strong underlying pattern in both the motive of the rioters and the reaction of government. But if there is a lesson from the past, have today's politicians learnt it?
Little is known of the earliest English settlements in America. But archaeologist Ivor Noel Hume, exploring an 18th-century tobacco plantation in Virginia, accidentally discovered a site that seemed to date from a century earlier. Was this the short-lived settlement of Wolstenholme? Were the mutilated skeletons victims of the great Indian attack of 1622? This film is a record of Hume's search for a century and reveals how he pieces together his archaeological evidence to produce an astonishingly vivid picture of the way the first English colonists lived, with all the trappings of European civilisation transplanted into a hostile environment.
The rags-to-riches life story of German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann was as glamorous as the magnificent treasures he discovered at Troy and Mycenae. The wonders of his exploits in Turkey and Greece are so strong a part of archaeological folklore that they are still repeated by scholars exactly as Schliemann wrote them down 100 years ago. But those stories are about to change for ever. For when two American professors took a new look at the life of Schliemann they were staggered by their discoveries, particularly since their investigation even calls into question the discovery of 'The Treasure of King Priam' at Troy - scene of Schliemann's greatest triumph. Re-aired 31 July 1984
Nearly 5,000 years ago along the banks of the River Indus, now in Pakistan, a great city arose at Mohenjo-daro. Discovered early this century, it has proved to be the centre of one of the great civilisations of the world, which spread throughout much of the Indian sub-continent, and influenced how people live there today. This mysterious culture disappeared before 1800 bc, leaving only traces of how the people had lived. They had an apparently well organised system with straight roads and sophisticated drainage. They left behind small sealstones with still undeciphered writing. Professor Colin Renfrew takes the Chronicle cameras round the site. looks at the clues that have been excavated and tells the story of what has so far been discovered of this enigmatic society. Also aired: 21st Aug 1984
During 1981 the archaeologists' work on the Mary Rose reached a new climax and the Mary Rose Trust's plans to raise the hull were finalised at last. The Trust is responsible for a part of our national heritage, in bringing to the surface what is left of the oldest English battleship. Chronicle reports on the Trust's progress from January 1981 until now. The Chronicle team will be back in the Solent for the lifting in September. Re-aired 9 October 1982
In 1880 Flinders Petrie carried out the first thorough survey of the pyramids. His aim was to test the current theory that the Great Pyramid was divinely inspired. While disproving the theory, he became aware of the wholesale plundering of the ancient monuments of Egypt. He determined that something should be done and joined the newly-formed Egypt Exploration Fund to introduce proper scientific excavation. Nobody before him had recognised the significance of the small things, the potsherds and everyday domestic objects. Here, he saw, lay the true history of a country. For 70 years Petrie devoted himself passionately and untiringly to the study of the civilisations of Egypt and Palestine, laying the foundations of their archaeology. Re-aired 15 June 1983
Flood, desolation, ruin-these have all been predicted as the fate of the world's most beautiful city. But a vast international rescue attempt is already under way. The British alone have restored the Church of San Nicolo dei Mendicoli to its original glittering brilliance, cleaned the principal entrance to the Doge's Palace and are contributing to the renewal of the marvellous Cathedral of Torcello. The Venetians themselves are tackling the problems of water and air pollution, renovating houses in the oldest parts of the city and taking measures to prevent the city sinking any further. But the greatest menace still remains - flooding from the sea. Can the Italians solve the problem? Can they learn from the Thames Barrier? How much have the city's chances of survival improved in the last decade?
A simple Victorian cottage, half-thatched, half-covered with corrugated iron, stands in the hamlet of Walderton in the Sussex Weald. This small, traditional English building tells us more about the lives of ordinary people than large buildings designed by important architects. For two years "Chronicle" followed the story of the cottage as it was dismantled, carefully investigated, restored and re-erected in the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum as a prime example of traditional English building. Re-aired 21 August 1990
Jerash, the most spectacular Roman city in the East, lies high in the hills of Gilead in Jordan. Destroyed by earthquakes in the eighth century it has remained forgotten for many centuries. Among the city's most celebrated features are its great central colonnaded street which runs for over half a mile, its unique Oval Piazza and its theatres, temples and 15 churches. A five-year plan is already under way to uncover more of the city and restore it to its former glory. Every day teams of international architects and archaeologists reveal some new clues to the past.
The average ancient Egyptian - what did he expect from life? What were his clothes and food? What illnesses did he suffer and die from? Four thousand years later, how do you find out? Chronicle, six years ago, filmed Dr Rosalie David and her team as they unwrapped an Egyptian mummy. Now their researches have extended to the rest of the Manchester Museum collection and beyond to Egypt itself - in a skull-filled hut in the shadow of the Pyramids, in previously unfilmed tombs at Giza, and in the workmen's village of Deir el-Medina near the Valley of the Kings at Luxor. By using the most up-to-date scientific techniques the team are discovering both the pleasant and the not-so-pleasant realities of life and death in Ancient Egypt. Re-aired 26 February 1987, 5 July 1990
During the Cultural Revolution immense effort was put into archaeological excavations. The finds that resulted were of world importance. Chronicle has obtained from Peking extraordinary film that charts the discoveries made in China between 1966 and 1972.
Eleven years ago Chronicle began recording the rescue of the last and most important Egyptian temple from the swirling waters of the Aswan High Dam. The first of the monuments rescued was the celebrated Abu Simbel. The Ptolemaic temples of Isis and Trajan's Kiosk, dating from 350 BC, and built on the now submerged island of Philae, are the last. Each stone has been catalogued and moved to dry land for renovation. Now they have been reassembled on an exact replica of their original site. The British people contributed to the venture through the proceeds of the Tutankhamun exhibition, and Royal Navy divers helped dismantle the stonework. The task is now complete and the temples can be seen as intended - as the 'Pearl of Egypt.'
Bath is going to be a spa again, and the people who first made it a spa were the Romans. The extensive engineering works which have been undertaken at Bath since 1979 to modernise and improve the thermal water supply for the new spa development gave Professor Cunliffe a unique opportunity to discover how the Roman engineers tackled the problems of controlling the hot springs nearly 2,000 years ago. In the five years since Chronicle first reported, continued excavations under the Pump Room have revealed the remains of a great Roman temple precinct dedicated to the goddess of the spring, Sulis Minerva.
In this edition of 'Chronicle', David Drew and his team cross inhospitable terrain in search of the last refuge of the Incas. Though they follow in the footsteps of explorer Hiram Bingham III, who attempted this quest in 1911, the team reach very different conclusions as to where this lost city might have been located.
The old Billingsgate Fish Market closed in January 1982, and the most important waterfront site in Europe was available for examination by the Museum of London. Would they find traces of the Great Fire? Of the medieval church that once stood there? Of the Norman, Saxon, even Roman waterfronts? The site has been occupied for nearly 2,000 years - but was it continuous? Did the Saxons take over as soon as the Romans left? Chronicle followed the excavation for two years to produce an unprecedented Diary of a Dig and recorded the archaeologists' work against time to rescue historical evidence before the foundations of an office block destroyed the site for ever.
A broken handle from an ancient amphora and three old photographs in a London House were enough to put Oxford archaeologist Mensun Bound on the trail of an Etruscan ship wrecked off the coast of Italy 2,600 years ago. But Reg Vallintine, one of Britain's most experienced divers, had last seen the site 20 years before. Could he find it again 140 feet down on the sea-bed off the island of Giglio? And if he succeeded, how risky would it be for archaeologists to work at the very limits of safety for air-breathing sub-aqua divers - risks which were to be compounded by ruthless underwater pirates? In this month's Chronicle, Andrew Faulds narrates the story of MENSUN BOUND'S quest for an invaluable wreck whose unique cargo could throw new light on the mysterious Etruscans and the patterns of trade which existed in the Mediterranean 600 years BC. Re-aired 12 July 1990
Chronicle looks back at its own past. It has dug into the archives to find highlights from the last 18 years and these are shown in the company of three distinguished archaeologists.
The hull of the Mary Rose was raised on 11 October 1982. Millions of television viewers and thousands of spectators watched spellbound. Now, near Nelson's flagship The Victory, the flagship of Henry VIII rests in dry dock. 'Dry' apart from the constant spray of water that's poured on the timbers to keep them from drying out and breaking. In this fourth report on the greatest underwater excavation that Great Britain has ever seen, Chronicle re-examines the hull and talks to the research groups advising on conservation, reconstruction and display. It also looks at the work being done on the ship's artefacts; the boots and jerkins worn by the men, the tools and weapons they used, the bones of the cattle they ate and, prior to their interment this summer, at their own bones which provide remarkable information about their age, strength and state of health.
The prehistoric cave paintings of Europe were discovered by accident in 1881. But at 40,000 years old they remain a mystery. What do they mean? Are they simple decoration or Stone Age hunting magic? How can we possibly find out? David Drew reveals how the Bushmen of the Kalahari and American neurologists have begun to cast a new and unexpected light on the world of trance and medicine men.
Who is skeleton number 2,309? How old was she when she died? What did she do in life? In a unique excavation, 1,000 bodies buried as recently as 1800 have been removed from a London crypt. By analysing how and why these people died, dentists, doctors and archaeologists are helping current forensic and medical research, as well as uncovering an extraordinary record of life in early 19th-century London.
Cleopatra had one. The Emperor Augustus had this one - probably the finest example of Roman glass in the world. It was made in c.30 BC - 30 years after the invention of glass blowing. During its long life 'the vase' has inspired Rubens, Blake and Darwin; Wedgwood founded an entire industry on it. Then it was smashed by a drunk in 1845. It was immediately restored by the British Museum, who are restoring it again in a nine month project to reduce the vase to its original 230 broken fragments, add the odd pieces discovered in a drawer, and make it safe for the next 200 years. Value on completion? Actually priceless, but 30 million pounds might do.
Forty years before Raleigh discovered Virginia, groups of fishermen from the Basque region of Spain were making dangerous crossings of the Atlantic in search of whales. They were the first Europeans to stay and exploit the marine resources of North America. Archaeologists have now discovered the remains of their daily lives on both sand and sea. The wreck of the ship, the San Juan, gives a fascinating insight into the development of boat-building, while the vats for extracting blubber mark the start of an industry that today has almost led to the whales' extinction.
A new excavation project explores Saxon mounds in Suffolk to find out more about this part of 7th-Century England. As well as revealing some of the latest discoveries, this edition shows how more modern excavations are conducted, supported by film footage of Basil Brown's original dig at Sutton Hoo in the 1930s. As the project uncovers more about royal ship burial, an attempt at experimental archaeology has surprising consequences.
This programme provides an overview of recent excavations in North Carolina and Virginia that have attempted to uncover slave quarters on plantations. These digs have shown that the slaves brought agricultural techniques and traditional crafts from West Africa, some of which are still practised today. The finds reveal how innovative the African slaves were and highlight the ways in which they coped with the horrors of captivity.
'It will be like shopping in Chester in Roman times,' says the private developer; 'a Roman EastEnders,' says the designer; 'hamburger heritage,' says the local civic trust. Plans for the Deva Roman Heritage Centre are well advanced. 'Heritage' is booming. The past is in fashion as never before. But if it is privatised, who becomes its guardian? Filmed at the Jorvic Viking Centre in York, at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum and in Chester, Leeds and London.
Queen Nefertari, wife of the famous Egyptian pharaoh, Ramesses II, died more than 3,000 years ago. Her tomb, just south of the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, was discovered in 1904. It revealed some of the most beautiful wall paintings in Egypt, but so badly damaged that they have never been on show to visitors. A team of specialists is now engaged in restoration. 'Our aim', says its Italian director, Paolo Mora, 'is maximum conservation, minimum intervention', confident that in the near future Nefertari's tomb will be open to the public.
Far away from Athens, in the northern Greek province of Macedonia, archaeologist Manolis Andronicos has worked for 50 years uncovering a lost city. David Drew tells the story of how in 1977 he unearthed the most spectacular treasure found in Europe this century. It was the burial regalia of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. Now cameras follow Andronicos as he enters other newly discovered burial chambers uncovering a wealth of new treasures which tell of the glories of this lost civilisation.
In 1986, archaeologist Geoffrey Martin stumbled upon the last tomb of Maya, Treasurer to the boy King Tutankhamun. In 1988, a Frenchman, Alain Zivie discovered the tomb of Apurel, Vizier to Amenophis III. These two spectacular finds are only part of the archaeological riches surrounding nearby Memphis which, for some 3,000 years, was the principal city of Egypt.
