1
00:00:05,533 --> 00:00:08,200
-In the Fenlands
of Eastern England,

2
00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:11,800
archaeologists uncover the
ancient remains of 48 people.

3
00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:13,966
-It was just an ordinary field
in Cambridgeshire.

4
00:00:13,966 --> 00:00:18,033
-Hidden among the graves is one
particularly incredible find.

5
00:00:18,033 --> 00:00:22,133
-We've got an individual
with a nail through his heel.

6
00:00:22,133 --> 00:00:25,000
-We started to realize that this
really was something special.

7
00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,433
-The best-preserved example
of Roman crucifixion

8
00:00:28,433 --> 00:00:29,633
ever unearthed.

9
00:00:29,633 --> 00:00:32,066
-This is a diamond find,
so to speak.

10
00:00:32,066 --> 00:00:34,533
-Who was this person?
How did they live?

11
00:00:34,533 --> 00:00:37,666
And why were they put to death
in such a horrific way?

12
00:00:37,666 --> 00:00:40,600
-It's such a brutal form
of execution

13
00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,233
that it's just almost impossible
to imagine.

14
00:00:44,233 --> 00:00:46,100
-Using cutting-edge techniques,

15
00:00:46,100 --> 00:00:47,766
a portrait
of Roman Britain emerges.

16
00:00:47,766 --> 00:00:50,166
-Presumably you've never seen
anything like this before.

17
00:00:50,166 --> 00:00:51,400
-Never.

18
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,166
-What kind of world
did they inhabit?

19
00:00:53,166 --> 00:00:55,633
-People died.
They were enslaved.

20
00:00:55,633 --> 00:00:58,600
The Roman conquest
was bloody and violent.

21
00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:00,466
-How brutal was it?

22
00:01:00,466 --> 00:01:02,366
-The way these nails
are inserted

23
00:01:02,366 --> 00:01:05,533
does not suggest that you had
a body on the cross

24
00:01:05,533 --> 00:01:08,333
in the position
of the standard crucifix.

25
00:01:08,333 --> 00:01:11,366
-And in a world-first,
the face of a victim

26
00:01:11,366 --> 00:01:13,533
of Roman crucifixion
is revealed.

27
00:01:13,533 --> 00:01:16,366
-This is by far
the most interesting skull

28
00:01:16,366 --> 00:01:18,533
that I've ever worked on
in my career.

29
00:01:18,533 --> 00:01:20,733
-With each discovery
and artifact,

30
00:01:20,733 --> 00:01:23,800
scientists and researchers
get closer to understanding...

31
00:01:28,066 --> 00:01:32,300
♪♪

32
00:01:34,766 --> 00:01:39,200
♪♪

33
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:41,833
-Working at Albion Archaeology,
we have the fortune --

34
00:01:41,833 --> 00:01:43,966
or although it doesn't
always feel like that --

35
00:01:43,966 --> 00:01:47,000
of working in a fantastic
Grade I listed church.

36
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,200
Dates back to the late
Anglo-Saxon period.

37
00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,400
It's a beautiful building
to work in.

38
00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,366
It's freezing-cold in the winter
and too hot in the summer.

39
00:01:55,366 --> 00:01:57,500
And the electricity, I think,

40
00:01:57,500 --> 00:02:00,933
was put in by Thomas Edison
maybe back in the 19th century.

41
00:02:00,933 --> 00:02:02,733
But it has character.

42
00:02:02,733 --> 00:02:04,200
A lot of people come in here

43
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:06,100
and don't realize
it actually is an office.

44
00:02:06,100 --> 00:02:07,800
They think
it's some sort of storeroom,

45
00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,400
a warehouse,
or junk shop possibly.

46
00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,200
-But you can build a fort
with the boxes.

47
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,233
-True.
-[ Laughs ]

48
00:02:15,233 --> 00:02:18,433
-Within this centuries-old
church in the east of England,

49
00:02:18,433 --> 00:02:22,100
there are thousands of
archaeological treasures.

50
00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:25,600
-We're a commercial
archaeology company,

51
00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,733
which means that we work where
there's going to be development.

52
00:02:28,733 --> 00:02:30,900
-Albion Archaeology
excavates sites

53
00:02:30,900 --> 00:02:33,133
of potential
archaeological interest

54
00:02:33,133 --> 00:02:36,266
before developers are allowed
to build on the land.

55
00:02:36,266 --> 00:02:38,133
They have rescued
countless items

56
00:02:38,133 --> 00:02:40,733
from thousands of years
of British history.

57
00:02:40,733 --> 00:02:42,900
But one job stands out --

58
00:02:42,900 --> 00:02:46,233
the unearthing of a gruesome
3rd-century mystery...

59
00:02:46,233 --> 00:02:48,933
and one of the rarest
discoveries of all time.

60
00:02:48,933 --> 00:02:50,600
-At the time
of the Fenstanton dig,

61
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,766
I was the site supervisor,
which means

62
00:02:52,766 --> 00:02:55,166
I'm coordinating
the digging on site.

63
00:02:55,166 --> 00:02:57,966
-Fenstanton lies northwest
of Cambridge,

64
00:02:57,966 --> 00:03:01,366
near an old Roman road
named the Via Devana.

65
00:03:01,366 --> 00:03:04,600
In 2016, Albion Archaeology
was hired

66
00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,566
to inspect a patch of land
to the south of the village.

67
00:03:08,566 --> 00:03:10,100
-There was
a housebuilding company

68
00:03:10,100 --> 00:03:13,000
that wanted to put up
85 new houses on the site.

69
00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,000
It was just an ordinary field
in Cambridgeshire.

70
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:16,866
Nothing special about it at all.

71
00:03:16,866 --> 00:03:18,833
And it was only
teasing out the story

72
00:03:18,833 --> 00:03:21,166
through the excavation
that we started to realize

73
00:03:21,166 --> 00:03:23,266
that this really
was something special.

74
00:03:23,266 --> 00:03:25,600
♪♪

75
00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:27,400
-Over two years of digging,

76
00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,666
the team found a staggering
amount of Roman pottery,

77
00:03:30,666 --> 00:03:33,433
small personal items,
and jewelry --

78
00:03:33,433 --> 00:03:38,266
evidence of a significant
Roman roadside settlement.

79
00:03:38,266 --> 00:03:41,066
And among the treasure trove
of Roman artifacts,

80
00:03:41,066 --> 00:03:44,900
they found the people
who left them behind.

81
00:03:44,900 --> 00:03:47,066
-You suddenly see these patches
in the soil.

82
00:03:47,066 --> 00:03:48,533
That's when you start to think,

83
00:03:48,533 --> 00:03:52,000
"Well, maybe we've got
some human remains here."

84
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:53,966
-On the edges of the settlement,

85
00:03:53,966 --> 00:03:56,666
five separate cemeteries
were discovered,

86
00:03:56,666 --> 00:03:59,866
containing the remains
of 48 people.

87
00:03:59,866 --> 00:04:04,233
-Every skeleton is drawn,
measured, located.

88
00:04:04,233 --> 00:04:07,566
They are all given individual
numbers within the grave.

89
00:04:07,566 --> 00:04:09,033
-Of the 48,

90
00:04:09,033 --> 00:04:11,666
one set of remains held a secret

91
00:04:11,666 --> 00:04:15,800
that was only discovered once
analysis began back at the lab.

92
00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,400
Skeleton 4926.

93
00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,766
-To be honest, on site,
there was really nothing to say

94
00:04:21,766 --> 00:04:23,933
it was any different
from any of the others.

95
00:04:23,933 --> 00:04:26,633
-He was buried alongside
five other individuals.

96
00:04:26,633 --> 00:04:28,466
It was just an ordinary grave.

97
00:04:28,466 --> 00:04:30,200
-Upon closer inspection,

98
00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:35,366
Skeleton 4926 had one
very distinctive feature.

99
00:04:35,366 --> 00:04:37,266
-We left it in the lab
for a couple of days,

100
00:04:37,266 --> 00:04:40,866
and then the person who was
washing the bones at the time

101
00:04:40,866 --> 00:04:44,133
suddenly noticed
something slightly unusual --

102
00:04:44,133 --> 00:04:46,066
a nail through the heel bone.

103
00:04:46,066 --> 00:04:48,333
♪♪

104
00:04:48,333 --> 00:04:50,333
It went a bit quiet
at that point.

105
00:04:50,333 --> 00:04:51,933
People were asking each other,

106
00:04:51,933 --> 00:04:53,366
"Have you seen
anything like this before?

107
00:04:53,366 --> 00:04:55,666
Have you heard of anything
like this before?"

108
00:04:55,666 --> 00:04:58,600
Silence. Sort of joking almost.

109
00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,800
"Oh, it must mean
he's been crucified."

110
00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:04,866
We looked up online
crucifixions,

111
00:05:04,866 --> 00:05:06,600
archaeological evidence.

112
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,466
We all assumed that there must
be lots of evidence for that

113
00:05:09,466 --> 00:05:11,866
because it's so well-known
through history, art,

114
00:05:11,866 --> 00:05:13,666
religion, literature.

115
00:05:13,666 --> 00:05:16,900
And we drew up one example
from Israel from the 1960s,

116
00:05:16,900 --> 00:05:21,133
and that was it, at which point
we started to realize

117
00:05:21,133 --> 00:05:23,133
the significance
of what we'd got.

118
00:05:23,133 --> 00:05:25,533
-A skeleton from Roman Britain

119
00:05:25,533 --> 00:05:29,166
discovered with a nail
through its right heel bone.

120
00:05:29,166 --> 00:05:31,966
If this person
really was crucified,

121
00:05:31,966 --> 00:05:33,800
it would be
one of the most significant

122
00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,966
archaeological finds in history.

123
00:05:36,966 --> 00:05:41,066
To try and solve the case,
the team gets some expert help.

124
00:05:47,333 --> 00:05:52,866
-We are in my lab,
my tiny lab, in Cambridge.

125
00:05:54,733 --> 00:05:56,066
-Dr. Corinne Duhig

126
00:05:56,066 --> 00:05:58,300
teaches at
the University of Cambridge

127
00:05:58,300 --> 00:06:01,400
and is an expert
in osteoarchaeology.

128
00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,566
-We can call ourselves
osteoarchaeologists

129
00:06:04,566 --> 00:06:07,700
or bioarchaeologists,
but it all means the same thing,

130
00:06:07,700 --> 00:06:10,833
which is that we are examining
human remains

131
00:06:10,833 --> 00:06:14,100
to record them
and tell their stories.

132
00:06:14,100 --> 00:06:17,166
And for 15 years,
I worked with the police

133
00:06:17,166 --> 00:06:20,066
doing investigations

134
00:06:20,066 --> 00:06:24,266
into crime scenes
or potential crime scenes.

135
00:06:25,766 --> 00:06:29,300
-Whether it's a forensic or
an archaeological investigation,

136
00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:33,633
Corinne unravels mysteries
by studying bones.

137
00:06:33,633 --> 00:06:35,566
-So, Albion Archaeology
called me up,

138
00:06:35,566 --> 00:06:39,800
and there was this slightly
wobbly voice on the other end,

139
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,800
saying, "We've got an individual

140
00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,700
with a nail through his heel."

141
00:06:46,700 --> 00:06:50,600
And there was a kind of pause
while we both registered that.

142
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:55,200
And then, "Could it possibly
be a crucifixion?"

143
00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:57,900
Now, I'm very skeptical,
and my immediate reaction

144
00:06:57,900 --> 00:06:59,766
to anything
that's dramatic like that

145
00:06:59,766 --> 00:07:01,633
is to say, "No, no.
It probably isn't."

146
00:07:01,633 --> 00:07:06,966
We've got one instance only
in the whole world

147
00:07:06,966 --> 00:07:10,966
of a definite
crucified individual.

148
00:07:10,966 --> 00:07:12,666
This is in Israel.

149
00:07:12,666 --> 00:07:17,133
And that is because the nail
became anchored into the bone

150
00:07:17,133 --> 00:07:20,433
because it curled, it bent
as it was going in.

151
00:07:20,433 --> 00:07:23,533
So to have something like this
appear

152
00:07:23,533 --> 00:07:26,233
with a nail
in position on the body,

153
00:07:26,233 --> 00:07:28,166
if it were a crucifixion,

154
00:07:28,166 --> 00:07:30,766
it would be the second only
that we know in the world.

155
00:07:30,766 --> 00:07:33,300
It would be the first
in Britain.

156
00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:35,700
-Corinne searches
for another explanation

157
00:07:35,700 --> 00:07:37,533
for the nail
through the heel bone.

158
00:07:37,533 --> 00:07:39,500
There is evidence
that some cultures

159
00:07:39,500 --> 00:07:41,366
nailed down the deceased

160
00:07:41,366 --> 00:07:43,800
to prevent their spirit
from wandering.

161
00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,400
-But when we examine
the literature

162
00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:48,433
from the Roman period,

163
00:07:48,433 --> 00:07:51,266
we never find
this kind of example

164
00:07:51,266 --> 00:07:54,400
of a foot bone
actually being pierced

165
00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:58,400
in order to stop that spirit
from moving about.

166
00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,200
-She also wonders if the nail

167
00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:02,800
could have been accidentally
hammered into the bone,

168
00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:06,200
while a coffin was being built
around the corpse.

169
00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,200
-It's a bit unlikely, isn't it?

170
00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:12,933
Because you would think,
if you put nails through it,

171
00:08:12,933 --> 00:08:18,666
you would surely stop
if you met the bone.

172
00:08:18,666 --> 00:08:22,000
-But only one explanation
makes sense.

173
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,000
-I'm beginning to get
the awful thought

174
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,800
that it could well be
a real crucifixion.

175
00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,733
♪♪

176
00:08:31,733 --> 00:08:35,966
-Crucifixion was a punishment
that the Romans developed.

177
00:08:35,966 --> 00:08:38,766
It's a suspension punishment
in which a person

178
00:08:38,766 --> 00:08:41,166
is suspended on a vertical post

179
00:08:41,166 --> 00:08:45,166
or a post that has a vertical
and a horizontal component.

180
00:08:45,166 --> 00:08:47,433
-The crucifixion
of Jesus of Nazareth

181
00:08:47,433 --> 00:08:51,633
is undoubtedly the best-known
example of Roman crucifixion,

182
00:08:51,633 --> 00:08:54,966
but this brutal punishment
was used for hundreds of years

183
00:08:54,966 --> 00:08:57,166
before Christ's execution

184
00:08:57,166 --> 00:08:59,800
and continued
for hundreds of years after.

185
00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,066
-I think the first
reliable references

186
00:09:02,066 --> 00:09:04,200
occur in Roman sources

187
00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,000
at the end
of the 3rd century BC,

188
00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,400
and this brutal punishment
was still being used

189
00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,000
all the way till 300 AD.

190
00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,766
That's 500 years of brutality.

191
00:09:15,766 --> 00:09:17,433
-Crucifixion was mostly used

192
00:09:17,433 --> 00:09:20,166
against those
deemed lowest in society --

193
00:09:20,166 --> 00:09:23,066
like slaves
and traitors to the state.

194
00:09:23,066 --> 00:09:25,300
It was meant
to degrade the victims

195
00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:27,466
and serve as a warning
to others.

196
00:09:27,466 --> 00:09:32,833
-A passage mentions crucifying
bandits on a crossroads

197
00:09:32,833 --> 00:09:35,800
so that people would see that

198
00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:40,100
and be warned against
banditry and robbery.

199
00:09:40,100 --> 00:09:43,066
I think it was also used
against slaves

200
00:09:43,066 --> 00:09:45,966
to warn them off
of slave rebellions.

201
00:09:45,966 --> 00:09:47,800
During the Spartacus Revolt,

202
00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,766
the sources say that thousands
of people were crucified

203
00:09:51,766 --> 00:09:54,700
along the Appian Way into Rome.

204
00:09:54,700 --> 00:09:57,200
According to
the Jewish historian Josephus,

205
00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,566
the Roman general Titus
was crucifying

206
00:09:59,566 --> 00:10:04,000
as many as 500 people a day
outside the gates of Jerusalem.

207
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,766
So you start adding up
these numbers,

208
00:10:06,766 --> 00:10:09,700
it sounds like an awful lot.

209
00:10:09,700 --> 00:10:11,733
-Despite being widely used,

210
00:10:11,733 --> 00:10:15,200
crucifixion is rarely mentioned
in Roman sources.

211
00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,666
-The Romans were reluctant
to discuss crucifixion.

212
00:10:18,666 --> 00:10:21,333
Cicero says
even the word "cross"

213
00:10:21,333 --> 00:10:24,366
should be far
from a citizen's ear.

214
00:10:24,366 --> 00:10:28,066
Gospel accounts
of the crucifixion of Jesus

215
00:10:28,066 --> 00:10:30,333
are the most detailed account

216
00:10:30,333 --> 00:10:33,033
of any crucifixion
in the Roman world,

217
00:10:33,033 --> 00:10:34,900
but it's also a bit frustrating

218
00:10:34,900 --> 00:10:37,000
because they don't tell
a whole lot.

219
00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,600
-Even rarer than written
evidence is physical evidence.

220
00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,033
Only one confirmed
crucifixion case,

221
00:10:43,033 --> 00:10:46,400
also with a nail through a bone,
has ever been found.

222
00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,100
-If they did crucify at least
100,000 people or more --

223
00:10:50,100 --> 00:10:51,866
and I'm convinced
that they did --

224
00:10:51,866 --> 00:10:54,100
then where are all those nails?

225
00:10:54,100 --> 00:10:56,566
-One explanation could be
that victims

226
00:10:56,566 --> 00:11:00,166
were more often simply tied
to the cross using ropes.

227
00:11:00,166 --> 00:11:01,833
And if nails were used --

228
00:11:01,833 --> 00:11:05,633
either to secure the body
or to inflict greater pain --

229
00:11:05,633 --> 00:11:08,266
it seems Romans
didn't let them go to waste

230
00:11:08,266 --> 00:11:09,833
after the victim was dead.

231
00:11:09,833 --> 00:11:11,666
-They simply removed the nails

232
00:11:11,666 --> 00:11:13,666
and used them
for other purposes --

233
00:11:13,666 --> 00:11:17,466
for other crucifixions
or to build a house.

234
00:11:17,466 --> 00:11:19,866
-Uncovering a nail
still in the heel bone

235
00:11:19,866 --> 00:11:22,500
of a crucifixion victim
from Roman Britain

236
00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:25,533
is a truly remarkable discovery.

237
00:11:25,533 --> 00:11:28,500
And there is something else
that makes 4926

238
00:11:28,500 --> 00:11:32,066
not just special,
but one of a kind.

239
00:11:32,066 --> 00:11:34,666
-One of the wonderful aspects
of this discovery

240
00:11:34,666 --> 00:11:36,700
is that you have
a complete skeleton.

241
00:11:36,700 --> 00:11:39,633
This is a diamond find,
so to speak.

242
00:11:41,133 --> 00:11:44,333
-With the best-preserved example
of Roman crucifixion

243
00:11:44,333 --> 00:11:47,000
ever uncovered,
it's possible to analyze

244
00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,366
not only this person's death,
but also their life.

245
00:11:51,366 --> 00:11:54,233
Who were they?
Where were they from?

246
00:11:54,233 --> 00:11:57,333
Rich or poor? Slave or free?

247
00:11:57,333 --> 00:12:00,333
And why did they meet
such a brutal end?

248
00:12:02,266 --> 00:12:04,366
In order to answer
these questions,

249
00:12:04,366 --> 00:12:09,666
Corinne is taking Skeleton 4926
for a very thorough analysis...

250
00:12:10,966 --> 00:12:13,933
-Go, and we tuck him in there.

251
00:12:13,933 --> 00:12:16,766
-...a state-of-the-art CT scan.

252
00:12:16,766 --> 00:12:17,966
-Try 1-4-8.

253
00:12:17,966 --> 00:12:21,600
[ Beeping ]

254
00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:23,333
-My name is Alan.
I'm the imaging manager here

255
00:12:23,333 --> 00:12:25,300
at the Spire Cambridge
Lea Hospital.

256
00:12:25,300 --> 00:12:27,500
-And I'm Iacopo.
I'm one of the radiographers

257
00:12:27,500 --> 00:12:29,933
at Spire Cambridge Lea Hospital.

258
00:12:29,933 --> 00:12:32,933
-Normally speaking,
we scan patients that are alive

259
00:12:32,933 --> 00:12:34,533
and can talk back to you.

260
00:12:34,533 --> 00:12:35,900
-Take a breath in.

261
00:12:35,900 --> 00:12:37,000
-Or don't.

262
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,300
[ Beeping ]

263
00:12:39,300 --> 00:12:41,366
-But this is something
that I thought was going to be

264
00:12:41,366 --> 00:12:44,533
interesting for me
and my colleagues to do.

265
00:12:44,533 --> 00:12:46,700
-This type of scanning
enables Corinne

266
00:12:46,700 --> 00:12:50,200
to study the remains
in more detail than ever before.

267
00:12:51,866 --> 00:12:56,900
-There is the nail
going back into the nail hole.

268
00:12:56,900 --> 00:12:58,300
Yeah, that's a good spot.

269
00:12:58,300 --> 00:13:01,233
It's a nice logical division,
isn't it?

270
00:13:01,233 --> 00:13:03,333
Okay. Right.
-So, can we start that?

271
00:13:03,333 --> 00:13:05,000
-Start that. Okay.

272
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,300
-We take some pictures
with an advanced machine

273
00:13:08,300 --> 00:13:10,966
which still uses
X-rays technology,

274
00:13:10,966 --> 00:13:12,633
but we take so many X-rays

275
00:13:12,633 --> 00:13:16,966
that we should be able
to see axial slices of it.

276
00:13:16,966 --> 00:13:20,433
Instead of just a flat picture,
we can take some 3-D volumes

277
00:13:20,433 --> 00:13:22,900
and then do all sorts
of cool stuff with them.

278
00:13:22,900 --> 00:13:25,166
-The image quality
that we got today was superb.

279
00:13:25,166 --> 00:13:27,400
We've created some great images

280
00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:29,266
for the scientists
to have a look at

281
00:13:29,266 --> 00:13:32,333
and try and dig a bit deeper
into who this person was

282
00:13:32,333 --> 00:13:36,433
and what actually
happened to them.

283
00:13:36,433 --> 00:13:37,933
-The scans are handed over

284
00:13:37,933 --> 00:13:41,133
to digital imaging company
Interspectral,

285
00:13:41,133 --> 00:13:45,400
which uses them to create
a 3-D virtual model of 4926.

286
00:13:47,300 --> 00:13:48,966
Now Corinne can perform

287
00:13:48,966 --> 00:13:52,033
a groundbreaking
virtual autopsy,

288
00:13:52,033 --> 00:13:54,900
and an old friend
is helping her out.

289
00:13:54,900 --> 00:13:57,600
-I first met Corinne
when I was an undergraduate,

290
00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,200
over 20 years ago now.

291
00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,266
And I still remember
the first time we met.

292
00:14:02,266 --> 00:14:05,133
-Ben Garrod is now
a professor of biology

293
00:14:05,133 --> 00:14:07,166
and an expert in anatomy.

294
00:14:07,166 --> 00:14:09,100
He credits
his former lecturer Corinne

295
00:14:09,100 --> 00:14:10,900
with first inspiring him.

296
00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:12,766
-Corinne helped me understand
that the study of bones

297
00:14:12,766 --> 00:14:15,100
has a really strong
and integral place

298
00:14:15,100 --> 00:14:17,033
within the study of science.

299
00:14:17,033 --> 00:14:20,100
It's great to come together
again to look at what can

300
00:14:20,100 --> 00:14:23,166
only be described
as a very important discovery.

301
00:14:23,166 --> 00:14:26,366
And having a set of remains
like this

302
00:14:26,366 --> 00:14:27,833
can give us a snapshot in time,

303
00:14:27,833 --> 00:14:31,366
showing us what his
or maybe her life was like

304
00:14:31,366 --> 00:14:33,866
and ultimately
how that life ended.

305
00:14:33,866 --> 00:14:36,733
-Ben and Corinne begin
by looking at the basics --

306
00:14:36,733 --> 00:14:40,233
the biological sex and age
of 4926.

307
00:14:40,233 --> 00:14:42,900
But when dealing with
a centuries-old skeleton,

308
00:14:42,900 --> 00:14:44,333
nothing is straightforward.

309
00:14:44,333 --> 00:14:46,266
-I think the big question
for me, first of all, is,

310
00:14:46,266 --> 00:14:47,700
male or female?

311
00:14:47,700 --> 00:14:50,066
And it's not always easy.
-It's not always easy.

312
00:14:50,066 --> 00:14:52,666
We've got to do it
by lots of different features

313
00:14:52,666 --> 00:14:54,100
around the body.

314
00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:56,800
And we're looking primarily
at the pelvis

315
00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:58,966
because that's primary
sexual dimorphism.

316
00:14:58,966 --> 00:15:01,566
In other words,
that's what changes at puberty.

317
00:15:01,566 --> 00:15:04,266
So, this area here, this is
called the sciatic notch,

318
00:15:04,266 --> 00:15:07,266
because this is where the
sciatic nerve passes through.

319
00:15:07,266 --> 00:15:11,833
In a male, it will stay
in that narrow form,

320
00:15:11,833 --> 00:15:13,366
as you would find in a child.

321
00:15:13,366 --> 00:15:15,966
But in the female,
it grows at puberty.

322
00:15:15,966 --> 00:15:17,700
It opens out
to make the pelvis bigger.

323
00:15:17,700 --> 00:15:19,400
-I remember you teaching me
years ago.

324
00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:21,366
There's something to do
with the actual angle,

325
00:15:21,366 --> 00:15:23,233
and you can measure it
against your fingers

326
00:15:23,233 --> 00:15:25,300
as a very loose estimation.

327
00:15:25,300 --> 00:15:26,900
If it's a certain angle,
it's male.

328
00:15:26,900 --> 00:15:28,566
If it's slightly bigger,
it's female.

329
00:15:28,566 --> 00:15:32,266
-In females, the angle
will be more than 90 degrees

330
00:15:32,266 --> 00:15:34,766
and can be
very, very large indeed.

331
00:15:34,766 --> 00:15:36,200
What we're seeing here

332
00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,033
is a little bit smaller
than a right angle.

333
00:15:40,033 --> 00:15:42,066
Only just a bit smaller.
-Hm.

334
00:15:42,066 --> 00:15:46,133
-It is slightly more
in the male area of his pelvis.

335
00:15:46,133 --> 00:15:48,700
-Okay.
-So that's a good start for us.

336
00:15:48,700 --> 00:15:50,500
-But that's not
the whole picture, as you say.

337
00:15:50,500 --> 00:15:51,833
The skull is very important

338
00:15:51,833 --> 00:15:54,500
for helping determine
male or female.

339
00:15:54,500 --> 00:15:56,700
-So, first of all,
let's look at his frontal bone,

340
00:15:56,700 --> 00:15:58,466
immediately above
the root of the nose.

341
00:15:58,466 --> 00:16:02,133
And you can see that
you've got this heavy bulge

342
00:16:02,133 --> 00:16:04,000
on the frontal bone,
so this is the real

343
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,200
sort of Arnold Schwarzenegger
brow ridge.

344
00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:08,900
-So I would typically
have a brow ridge,

345
00:16:08,900 --> 00:16:10,633
being a big, dominant,
strapping...male.

346
00:16:10,633 --> 00:16:12,500
-Dominant primate.
[ Laughter ]

347
00:16:12,500 --> 00:16:15,133
-And you wouldn't typically
see one as accentuated

348
00:16:15,133 --> 00:16:17,166
or even present in yourself,
for example.

349
00:16:17,166 --> 00:16:18,866
-Yeah, that's absolutely true.

350
00:16:18,866 --> 00:16:20,966
And, in fact,
I have no brow ridge,

351
00:16:20,966 --> 00:16:22,700
having seen my own X-rays.

352
00:16:22,700 --> 00:16:26,100
-You've said male a few times.
Are you confident this is a man?

353
00:16:26,100 --> 00:16:27,800
-Absolutely confident.

354
00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,133
He's coming out as male
or probably male

355
00:16:31,133 --> 00:16:34,900
in every one of the features
that we can score.

356
00:16:34,900 --> 00:16:39,166
-Corinne and Ben are confident
4926 was male.

357
00:16:39,166 --> 00:16:41,800
But can they determine
how old he was?

358
00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:43,866
-Can we tell approximately

359
00:16:43,866 --> 00:16:46,033
how old this person was
when he died?

360
00:16:46,033 --> 00:16:49,100
-All his bones have stopped
growing and are fused together.

361
00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:52,066
So we say he is
"skeletally adult."

362
00:16:52,066 --> 00:16:53,866
-Mm-hmm.
-So, from then on,

363
00:16:53,866 --> 00:16:56,266
everything that we look at

364
00:16:56,266 --> 00:16:58,966
is about deterioration.
-[ Chuckles ]

365
00:16:58,966 --> 00:17:02,000
I can see, I think,
some signs of wear and tear

366
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:03,600
around his lower back here.

367
00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,833
-So, you can see it very,
very well in this image here.

368
00:17:06,833 --> 00:17:08,533
So, these little nodules here.

369
00:17:08,533 --> 00:17:12,033
This backside of the vertebra
should be smooth.

370
00:17:12,033 --> 00:17:14,800
When we get past
about 35 years old,

371
00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:16,800
we start getting these
little nodules developing.

372
00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:18,800
Because the discs
are deteriorating,

373
00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:20,600
and it prompts this bone growth.

374
00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:22,700
In this case, this guy

375
00:17:22,700 --> 00:17:27,133
has got just a little bit
of this new bone growth.

376
00:17:27,133 --> 00:17:29,433
So we're saying he's over 35.

377
00:17:29,433 --> 00:17:34,166
Narrow it down,
he's probably 35 to 40-ish.

378
00:17:34,166 --> 00:17:36,933
-Skeleton 4926 was a male,

379
00:17:36,933 --> 00:17:41,233
aged mid-to-late-thirties
at the time of death.

380
00:17:41,233 --> 00:17:44,833
But there are more complex
questions still to answer.

381
00:17:44,833 --> 00:17:46,933
Where was he from?

382
00:17:46,933 --> 00:17:49,166
When and how did he live?

383
00:17:49,166 --> 00:17:51,066
Radiocarbon dating
of the remains

384
00:17:51,066 --> 00:17:56,066
provides a range of time
when 4926 lived and died.

385
00:17:56,066 --> 00:17:58,066
Taking the midpoint
of that range

386
00:17:58,066 --> 00:18:01,600
and cross-referencing it with
artifacts found on the site

387
00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:06,366
suggests he most likely lived
sometime around 250 CE.

388
00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:12,266
What was life like
in 3rd-century Roman Britain?

389
00:18:12,266 --> 00:18:13,866
By the turn of the millennium,

390
00:18:13,866 --> 00:18:17,833
Rome had evolved from a republic
into an empire.

391
00:18:17,833 --> 00:18:20,233
It controlled
the entire Mediterranean,

392
00:18:20,233 --> 00:18:23,066
in some places for centuries.

393
00:18:23,066 --> 00:18:27,466
It was the unquestioned
state power of its day.

394
00:18:27,466 --> 00:18:32,033
But Britain remained unconquered
until the early 1st century.

395
00:18:32,033 --> 00:18:34,700
-Britain in terms of
the wider Roman Empire

396
00:18:34,700 --> 00:18:36,666
is, of course, at the border.

397
00:18:36,666 --> 00:18:38,933
-In the Mediterranean mind-set,

398
00:18:38,933 --> 00:18:42,333
Britain is a distant,
barbarous wild land.

399
00:18:42,333 --> 00:18:44,633
-We get a sense
that Britain is something

400
00:18:44,633 --> 00:18:46,333
that is difficult to encounter

401
00:18:46,333 --> 00:18:49,566
because the channel
is conceptualized as an ocean.

402
00:18:49,566 --> 00:18:52,033
-The ocean is the limit
of the known world.

403
00:18:52,033 --> 00:18:54,266
To go beyond the ocean
is to expand

404
00:18:54,266 --> 00:18:57,066
the limits of empire
beyond the known world.

405
00:18:57,066 --> 00:18:59,033
-The people of Britain
had been in contact

406
00:18:59,033 --> 00:19:01,533
with the Mediterranean world
for centuries,

407
00:19:01,533 --> 00:19:06,066
trading with the Carthaginians,
Greeks, and Romans.

408
00:19:06,066 --> 00:19:10,600
But they only came
under Roman rule in 43 CE.

409
00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:11,966
-Britain is conquered

410
00:19:11,966 --> 00:19:15,200
because Claudius needs
military prestige.

411
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,133
-So, for an emperor
like Claudius to do that

412
00:19:18,133 --> 00:19:19,966
is a powerful part of

413
00:19:19,966 --> 00:19:22,233
how you frame yourself
as an emperor.

414
00:19:22,233 --> 00:19:24,033
-Before the Roman invasion,

415
00:19:24,033 --> 00:19:26,466
Britons were still living
in the Iron Age.

416
00:19:26,466 --> 00:19:29,866
Most of the indigenous
population lived in tribes,

417
00:19:29,866 --> 00:19:32,833
in simple homes,
surviving off the land.

418
00:19:32,833 --> 00:19:35,100
But Roman rule brought changes.

419
00:19:35,100 --> 00:19:37,300
-It became a province
of the Roman Empire

420
00:19:37,300 --> 00:19:40,300
with towns and temples
and forts and industry

421
00:19:40,300 --> 00:19:42,033
and all the rest of it,

422
00:19:42,033 --> 00:19:46,266
a province in which indigenous
and Roman operated side by side,

423
00:19:46,266 --> 00:19:48,000
not always comfortably.

424
00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,400
But as the period progresses,

425
00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:54,000
you see different elements
become more and more important.

426
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,433
So there are large numbers
of Britons

427
00:19:56,433 --> 00:20:00,200
who serve in the Roman army
on the Rhine and the Danube.

428
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,233
-The Romans ruled over Britain
for more than 350 years,

429
00:20:04,233 --> 00:20:06,100
and remnants of their occupation

430
00:20:06,100 --> 00:20:08,366
can still be found
throughout the land.

431
00:20:08,366 --> 00:20:11,533
♪♪

432
00:20:11,533 --> 00:20:15,933
4926 lived during
the later Roman period,

433
00:20:15,933 --> 00:20:18,333
but what was his place
in this world?

434
00:20:18,333 --> 00:20:20,833
Was he a wealthy,
invading Roman...

435
00:20:20,833 --> 00:20:24,366
or a poor, lowly worker
native to Britain?

436
00:20:24,366 --> 00:20:27,666
Corinne and Ben want to
establish this man's origins

437
00:20:27,666 --> 00:20:29,333
and his social status.

438
00:20:29,333 --> 00:20:32,033
-We're talking about a time when
people were working on the land,

439
00:20:32,033 --> 00:20:35,000
people had a much more
physically demanding lifestyle.

440
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,266
-We know people of the area
of the time

441
00:20:38,266 --> 00:20:42,766
must have been working hard,
if only on agricultural work.

442
00:20:42,766 --> 00:20:44,966
-Looking at 4926's limbs,

443
00:20:44,966 --> 00:20:48,900
Corinne and Ben can see some
signs of physical exertion

444
00:20:48,900 --> 00:20:52,233
and, analyzing his skull,
evidence of both tooth loss

445
00:20:52,233 --> 00:20:55,700
and painful infections
throughout his life.

446
00:20:55,700 --> 00:20:57,500
This is typical
of all the skeletons

447
00:20:57,500 --> 00:20:59,266
uncovered at Fenstanton.

448
00:20:59,266 --> 00:21:02,566
The bones also showed
high levels of physical injury,

449
00:21:02,566 --> 00:21:05,400
arthritis, and disease.

450
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:09,200
-They were showing some signs
of environmental stress,

451
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:11,900
which might have been
iron deficiency anemia

452
00:21:11,900 --> 00:21:14,566
or it might have been
possibly malaria.

453
00:21:14,566 --> 00:21:18,133
-All of this implies
that 4926 and his peers

454
00:21:18,133 --> 00:21:21,700
were poor, lower-class workers.

455
00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:24,866
What was this community
at Fenstanton like?

456
00:21:24,866 --> 00:21:26,566
Was it made up of locals?

457
00:21:26,566 --> 00:21:30,266
Or were workers shipped in
from other parts of the empire?

458
00:21:30,266 --> 00:21:31,866
To solve this mystery,

459
00:21:31,866 --> 00:21:35,500
analysis of ancient DNA
will provide the clues.

460
00:21:36,966 --> 00:21:40,766
♪♪

461
00:21:40,766 --> 00:21:42,533
-My name is
Dr. Christiana Scheib.

462
00:21:42,533 --> 00:21:45,333
I am a research fellow
at the University of Cambridge.

463
00:21:45,333 --> 00:21:47,366
I study ancient human DNA,

464
00:21:47,366 --> 00:21:50,200
so particularly people
from the medieval ages,

465
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,766
but also looking
at the Roman period,

466
00:21:52,766 --> 00:21:54,400
the Bronze Age, Neolithic.

467
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,866
-As a leading expert
in the study of ancient DNA,

468
00:21:57,866 --> 00:22:00,333
Christiana Scheib
is the perfect person

469
00:22:00,333 --> 00:22:03,933
to analyze the population
uncovered at Fenstanton.

470
00:22:03,933 --> 00:22:07,000
She tests 20 individuals
from the site.

471
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,166
But when dealing
with ancient bones,

472
00:22:09,166 --> 00:22:10,666
there's little room for error.

473
00:22:10,666 --> 00:22:12,333
-With ancient DNA, you have this

474
00:22:12,333 --> 00:22:14,800
timestamped window
into the past.

475
00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:18,166
However, it comes with caveats.
Over time, DNA degrades.

476
00:22:18,166 --> 00:22:20,200
And so if we want
to find something

477
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,366
that's authentically ancient,
you need to have

478
00:22:22,366 --> 00:22:25,733
really strict contamination
prevention measures.

479
00:22:25,733 --> 00:22:27,233
People who go
into the ancient DNA lab

480
00:22:27,233 --> 00:22:30,033
have to cover their hair,
their skin, wear masks.

481
00:22:30,033 --> 00:22:31,966
They wear specialized suits

482
00:22:31,966 --> 00:22:35,700
to prevent
getting their modern DNA

483
00:22:35,700 --> 00:22:38,733
into our ancient sample
that we want to look at.

484
00:22:38,733 --> 00:22:42,733
Every time I work on a new
individual or a population,

485
00:22:42,733 --> 00:22:45,766
I always think about this sample
as a person.

486
00:22:45,766 --> 00:22:47,766
You know, who was this person?

487
00:22:47,766 --> 00:22:50,766
How did they live their life?
What did they experience?

488
00:22:50,766 --> 00:22:53,433
-After processing the samples
from Fenstanton,

489
00:22:53,433 --> 00:22:55,400
Christiana is able to compare

490
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,200
the genetic makeup
of its population

491
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,566
with other samples
from the same time period.

492
00:23:01,566 --> 00:23:03,766
Her conclusions are revealing.

493
00:23:03,766 --> 00:23:05,566
-So, the population
of Fenstanton

494
00:23:05,566 --> 00:23:07,000
from a genetic perspective

495
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,466
looked a lot more like
other individuals

496
00:23:09,466 --> 00:23:12,400
that we've sequenced from the UK
from that time period,

497
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:14,900
so you could say
they were probably local.

498
00:23:14,900 --> 00:23:18,200
We didn't find any individuals
who looked more genetically

499
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:20,466
like somebody from North Africa
or the Middle East,

500
00:23:20,466 --> 00:23:22,666
as has been found
in some of the other sites

501
00:23:22,666 --> 00:23:24,033
from this time period.

502
00:23:24,033 --> 00:23:26,066
-The ancient DNA indicates

503
00:23:26,066 --> 00:23:29,633
the people found at Fenstanton
were local to the area.

504
00:23:29,633 --> 00:23:31,600
[ Thunder rumbles ]

505
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,200
But to confirm these results,

506
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:37,266
additional tests
are now performed on 4926,

507
00:23:37,266 --> 00:23:40,133
tests that will not only show
where he's from,

508
00:23:40,133 --> 00:23:44,600
but also reveal details about
how he lived and what he ate.

509
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,966
-My name's Jane Evans.
I'm a geologist.

510
00:23:46,966 --> 00:23:49,666
And my particular responsibility
is, in fact,

511
00:23:49,666 --> 00:23:52,766
to look at collaborating
with archaeologists.

512
00:23:52,766 --> 00:23:54,600
-70 miles north of Cambridge

513
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:57,633
at the British Geological Survey
in Nottinghamshire,

514
00:23:57,633 --> 00:24:02,133
Professor Jane Evans
is a leading expert in isotopes.

515
00:24:02,133 --> 00:24:04,866
-Most people will be familiar
with the idea of elements --

516
00:24:04,866 --> 00:24:07,100
calcium, iron, and oxygen.

517
00:24:07,100 --> 00:24:10,933
But those elements sometimes
have slightly different forms

518
00:24:10,933 --> 00:24:13,900
caused by having
different weights, or masses.

519
00:24:13,900 --> 00:24:16,200
And so an isotope
is the name we give

520
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,200
to the different types
of a particular element.

521
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,166
When you get a situation where
you've excavated an individual

522
00:24:22,166 --> 00:24:24,000
and you know nothing about them,

523
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,000
isotopes can really start
to give you

524
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,000
some constraints and control

525
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,633
on who they were
and where they come from.

526
00:24:31,633 --> 00:24:35,200
-By taking tiny samples
from ancient teeth and bones

527
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:38,000
and analyzing
the isotopes within,

528
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:42,400
Jane can re-create the lives
of long-dead people.

529
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,833
She's worked on
some unique cases,

530
00:24:44,833 --> 00:24:49,066
including analyzing a tooth
of King Richard III.

531
00:24:49,066 --> 00:24:53,000
-We can, with a single tooth,
do analysis for carbon,

532
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,466
nitrogen, sulfur, lead,
strontium, and oxygen,

533
00:24:56,466 --> 00:24:59,366
which can tell us
about a person's diet,

534
00:24:59,366 --> 00:25:01,000
where they lived,

535
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,233
the levels of pollution
they were exposed to.

536
00:25:03,233 --> 00:25:05,033
Strontium is
an interesting element

537
00:25:05,033 --> 00:25:07,100
because its isotope composition

538
00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:09,733
is related
to ultimately the rocks

539
00:25:09,733 --> 00:25:12,433
on which our food supply
was grown,

540
00:25:12,433 --> 00:25:15,733
and we can map those variations
across Britain.

541
00:25:15,733 --> 00:25:18,133
Oxygen isotopes are derived,
or picked up,

542
00:25:18,133 --> 00:25:19,866
from the water you drink.

543
00:25:19,866 --> 00:25:23,400
Sulfur is an interesting and
quite new element to be used.

544
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,533
If you're living in an area
of swampy land

545
00:25:26,533 --> 00:25:28,633
where the conditions
are very wet,

546
00:25:28,633 --> 00:25:31,833
the plants pick up
an interesting sulfur signature.

547
00:25:31,833 --> 00:25:34,000
-Strontium, oxygen,
and sulfur levels

548
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,066
can pinpoint
where a person lived,

549
00:25:37,066 --> 00:25:40,400
but nitrogen levels
tell more abouthowthey lived.

550
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:42,300
-Nitrogen basically tells you

551
00:25:42,300 --> 00:25:44,400
how high up the food chain
you are.

552
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:48,933
So people with a high meat diet
will have higher nitrogen values

553
00:25:48,933 --> 00:25:52,466
than, say, vegans or herbivores.

554
00:25:52,466 --> 00:25:56,766
-What will 4926's isotopes
reveal about his life?

555
00:25:56,766 --> 00:25:58,733
-Well, he had a fairly elevated
nitrogen value,

556
00:25:58,733 --> 00:26:01,466
which suggests that there was
a significant component

557
00:26:01,466 --> 00:26:03,700
of meat in his diet,

558
00:26:03,700 --> 00:26:06,700
and the carbon isotopes show
that also there was

559
00:26:06,700 --> 00:26:10,100
a slight shift over
towards a marine component.

560
00:26:10,100 --> 00:26:13,600
This, again, is quite typical
of the Roman populations

561
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,633
who make use of fish sauces
and this kind of thing.

562
00:26:16,633 --> 00:26:18,233
-A typical Roman diet.

563
00:26:18,233 --> 00:26:21,033
And when it comes
to where 4926 lived,

564
00:26:21,033 --> 00:26:23,533
the isotopes suggest
something striking.

565
00:26:23,533 --> 00:26:26,200
-This map enables us
to enter the isotope data

566
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,466
and to reject any areas
in Britain that don't match it.

567
00:26:29,466 --> 00:26:32,400
So, I've marked Fenstanton,
where the individual was found,

568
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,300
on the map here,
and if we start with the oxygen,

569
00:26:35,300 --> 00:26:38,133
you'll see that we exclude
the western area of Britain

570
00:26:38,133 --> 00:26:40,200
as a place where he could
have spent his childhood.

571
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,600
If we add to that the strontium,

572
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,966
this further reduces
the possible childhood origins

573
00:26:45,966 --> 00:26:48,800
of the individual into
the southeast area of Britain.

574
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,800
But if I then add
the sulfur isotopes,

575
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,033
this really reduces it
to a very small area.

576
00:26:55,033 --> 00:26:56,433
This is where he was found.

577
00:26:56,433 --> 00:26:58,500
And these orange areas
represent the areas

578
00:26:58,500 --> 00:27:00,533
where he could have
spent his childhood

579
00:27:00,533 --> 00:27:03,333
based on the isotope
composition of his teeth.

580
00:27:03,333 --> 00:27:07,466
-Clear evidence that 4926
was from Cambridgeshire.

581
00:27:07,466 --> 00:27:09,400
-I've done a lot
of these studies,

582
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:11,366
and this study
is particularly interesting

583
00:27:11,366 --> 00:27:14,033
because of how well
we've been able to pinpoint it.

584
00:27:14,033 --> 00:27:17,300
This is by far and away
the best location

585
00:27:17,300 --> 00:27:19,900
of an individual
that we've achieved.

586
00:27:19,900 --> 00:27:24,100
-Jane's analysis also shows
that 4926's isotope levels

587
00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:27,100
barely changed
over the course of his life.

588
00:27:27,100 --> 00:27:28,700
-I would say this guy

589
00:27:28,700 --> 00:27:32,566
is really quite sedentary,
quite static.

590
00:27:32,566 --> 00:27:35,566
-4926 was a local
Cambridgeshire man

591
00:27:35,566 --> 00:27:37,566
who never left the area,

592
00:27:37,566 --> 00:27:39,000
but it's clear his diet

593
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,733
was affected
by the presence of Romans.

594
00:27:41,733 --> 00:27:44,966
How else did the empire
shape his life?

595
00:27:44,966 --> 00:27:48,800
Did it affect his home,
his lifestyle, his work?

596
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,666
And what exactly
might that work have been?

597
00:27:51,666 --> 00:27:56,200
The virtual autopsy offers Ben
and Corinne a tantalizing clue.

598
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,633
-You've got red for
the really heavily dense areas,

599
00:27:59,633 --> 00:28:02,266
and then greens
into less dense bone.

600
00:28:02,266 --> 00:28:04,433
And you're seeing
a distribution of density

601
00:28:04,433 --> 00:28:05,900
across the skeleton here.

602
00:28:05,900 --> 00:28:08,000
-We could look at his arms

603
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,966
and see whether there's
any substantial changes there.

604
00:28:11,966 --> 00:28:14,266
-There is here.
-He's got greater density

605
00:28:14,266 --> 00:28:16,833
in his right forearm
than his left.

606
00:28:16,833 --> 00:28:18,433
-Hmm.
-So that suggests

607
00:28:18,433 --> 00:28:21,300
there might have been
some kind of specialist activity

608
00:28:21,300 --> 00:28:23,466
that he was constantly doing.

609
00:28:23,466 --> 00:28:26,233
We've seen this in medieval
and later times rope-makers

610
00:28:26,233 --> 00:28:29,266
who are constantly making
the same twisting movement

611
00:28:29,266 --> 00:28:31,500
over and over again
with their forearms.

612
00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:33,466
-We're not seeing it
in the humerus here.

613
00:28:33,466 --> 00:28:36,766
So we're not seeing manual --
He's not chopping with an ax.

614
00:28:36,766 --> 00:28:38,800
-It's rather nice seeing
that disproportion, isn't it?

615
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:40,600
-It's amazing that
we're starting to re-create

616
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,000
not only his age and his sex,

617
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,533
but suddenly
maybe what job he did.

618
00:28:45,533 --> 00:28:47,233
-The remains from Fenstanton

619
00:28:47,233 --> 00:28:50,200
showed signs of degeneration
and disease,

620
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:54,000
implying the people there
were physical laborers.

621
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:59,433
Skeleton 4926 likely did
some kind of manual job.

622
00:28:59,433 --> 00:29:03,333
Finding out where he lived
will help determine what he did.

623
00:29:03,333 --> 00:29:05,500
♪♪

624
00:29:05,500 --> 00:29:08,733
What kind of settlement
was uncovered at Fenstanton?

625
00:29:08,733 --> 00:29:11,833
A grand Roman town?
A humble farm?

626
00:29:11,833 --> 00:29:14,366
Or something else entirely?

627
00:29:14,366 --> 00:29:17,533
To help visualize what the
settlement may have looked like,

628
00:29:17,533 --> 00:29:22,233
David from Albion Archaeology
has come to Butser Ancient Farm,

629
00:29:22,233 --> 00:29:24,633
near England's South Coast.

630
00:29:24,633 --> 00:29:27,166
Here, re-creations
of ancient homes

631
00:29:27,166 --> 00:29:31,000
have been painstakingly built
by a team of experts.

632
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,100
-We think that the settlement
at Fenstanton

633
00:29:34,100 --> 00:29:38,033
started off in the Roman period,
in probably the 1st century AD.

634
00:29:38,033 --> 00:29:40,300
Fenstanton was
a roadside settlement,

635
00:29:40,300 --> 00:29:42,266
a specific type
of Roman settlement.

636
00:29:42,266 --> 00:29:44,133
It would have been
like a village.

637
00:29:44,133 --> 00:29:45,533
The site that we excavated

638
00:29:45,533 --> 00:29:47,500
was on the southern edge
of the village.

639
00:29:47,500 --> 00:29:49,966
But at the northern edge,
there are bits and pieces

640
00:29:49,966 --> 00:29:51,800
that have been excavated
in the past

641
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,100
suggesting that there's
a Roman villa there.

642
00:29:54,100 --> 00:29:55,833
The building
that I'm standing next to

643
00:29:55,833 --> 00:29:58,133
is the sort of building
that you might have seen

644
00:29:58,133 --> 00:30:00,066
at the northern edge
of Fenstanton.

645
00:30:00,066 --> 00:30:02,966
Villas, although they were
quite grand to us,

646
00:30:02,966 --> 00:30:04,766
they were essentially farms.

647
00:30:04,766 --> 00:30:06,900
You got clusters of them
around some of the larger

648
00:30:06,900 --> 00:30:10,366
Roman towns and Roman cities
where they needed to supply

649
00:30:10,366 --> 00:30:14,500
the cities with food,
grain, meat, and so on.

650
00:30:14,500 --> 00:30:16,533
At somewhere like Fenstanton,
it would have been

651
00:30:16,533 --> 00:30:18,266
a local aristocrat living there

652
00:30:18,266 --> 00:30:20,666
who would have looked after
the local countryside.

653
00:30:20,666 --> 00:30:23,500
-It's probable
that 4926's settlement

654
00:30:23,500 --> 00:30:27,266
was overseen by a wealthy
landlord or custodian.

655
00:30:27,266 --> 00:30:29,766
And as Butser's replica
suggests,

656
00:30:29,766 --> 00:30:32,500
a villa would have been
a statement of power.

657
00:30:32,500 --> 00:30:34,633
-Roman villas
were very much luxurious,

658
00:30:34,633 --> 00:30:37,033
opulent, lavishly decorated.

659
00:30:37,033 --> 00:30:38,966
It was to display your wealth.

660
00:30:38,966 --> 00:30:42,133
They'd have invited other
local aristocrats around,

661
00:30:42,133 --> 00:30:44,400
public officials, to demonstrate

662
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,700
how well they'd adopted
the Roman lifestyle.

663
00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:50,000
Britain was one of the furthest
outposts of the Roman Empire,

664
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,233
but Roman villas
would have been a reminder

665
00:30:52,233 --> 00:30:54,133
to anyone living
in Roman Britain

666
00:30:54,133 --> 00:30:56,333
that they were still
part of this empire.

667
00:30:56,333 --> 00:30:58,933
-Villas became
increasingly popular in Britain

668
00:30:58,933 --> 00:31:00,633
in the 3rd century,

669
00:31:00,633 --> 00:31:03,300
but the average native,
like 4926,

670
00:31:03,300 --> 00:31:05,533
wouldn't have experienced
their comforts.

671
00:31:05,533 --> 00:31:08,200
Most Britons were probably
still living in houses

672
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:11,000
similar to the ones
their ancestors had lived in

673
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,000
before the Roman occupation.

674
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:14,600
-Somewhere like Fenstanton,
even though we know

675
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:16,700
there's a villa on the northern
edge of the village,

676
00:31:16,700 --> 00:31:18,333
most of the buildings
around there

677
00:31:18,333 --> 00:31:21,133
would have been peasant
structures, native structures,

678
00:31:21,133 --> 00:31:23,233
possibly still the roundhouses.

679
00:31:23,233 --> 00:31:25,066
-And Butser's Iron Age village

680
00:31:25,066 --> 00:31:27,633
helps bring to life
the broader settlement

681
00:31:27,633 --> 00:31:31,400
and the kind of house that this
crucified man may have lived in.

682
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:33,533
-We think the Roman population
of Britain

683
00:31:33,533 --> 00:31:36,066
had 'round about 80% to 90%
of people

684
00:31:36,066 --> 00:31:39,700
living in rural, low-level,
low-status houses

685
00:31:39,700 --> 00:31:41,933
where people
would have also worked,

686
00:31:41,933 --> 00:31:44,233
carried out their business,
slept,

687
00:31:44,233 --> 00:31:46,400
done everything
all under one roof.

688
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,133
-A picture of 4926's existence

689
00:31:49,133 --> 00:31:51,266
is beginning to take shape.

690
00:31:51,266 --> 00:31:53,766
He lived in a large
roadside village,

691
00:31:53,766 --> 00:31:58,033
probably in a humble dwelling
such as an Iron Age roundhouse.

692
00:31:58,033 --> 00:32:01,566
And, in the shadow of a nearby
luxurious Roman villa,

693
00:32:01,566 --> 00:32:04,166
his home would have been
far less comfortable.

694
00:32:04,166 --> 00:32:05,733
-It would have been a hard life
for them,

695
00:32:05,733 --> 00:32:07,433
there's no two ways about that.

696
00:32:07,433 --> 00:32:10,600
We found lots of signs
of illnesses and injury

697
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,600
on the population of the
cemeteries that we excavated.

698
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:17,066
It was a very physical life.
You had to work for a living.

699
00:32:17,066 --> 00:32:18,433
You were there to produce

700
00:32:18,433 --> 00:32:20,900
the sort of profits, surpluses

701
00:32:20,900 --> 00:32:24,733
for whoever owns the settlement
or for the state.

702
00:32:24,733 --> 00:32:29,033
-If 4926 and his peers were
working for a wealthy landlord,

703
00:32:29,033 --> 00:32:31,433
what work were they doing?

704
00:32:31,433 --> 00:32:35,366
The answer lies in animal bones
uncovered at the site.

705
00:32:35,366 --> 00:32:36,966
-One fascinating snapshot

706
00:32:36,966 --> 00:32:39,100
that we did have
of industrial life there

707
00:32:39,100 --> 00:32:41,933
is that we had a huge number
of cattle bones

708
00:32:41,933 --> 00:32:43,566
coming out of the excavations,

709
00:32:43,566 --> 00:32:46,200
and a very high percentage
of those had been split.

710
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:49,566
We think they were doing this
to extract marrow, grease, fat,

711
00:32:49,566 --> 00:32:51,533
that sort of material,
out of the bones,

712
00:32:51,533 --> 00:32:53,633
specifically to process that

713
00:32:53,633 --> 00:32:57,266
for making cosmetics, soap,
possibly tallow for candles.

714
00:32:57,266 --> 00:33:00,566
We think they might even
have been importing carcasses

715
00:33:00,566 --> 00:33:04,266
of pre-processed beef
from nearby Roman towns,

716
00:33:04,266 --> 00:33:06,533
perhaps such as
Godmanchester, Cambridge.

717
00:33:06,533 --> 00:33:08,866
So it's not
a self-sufficient settlement.

718
00:33:08,866 --> 00:33:12,166
It's part of
a much bigger network.

719
00:33:12,166 --> 00:33:14,600
-4926 may have spent his days

720
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:17,400
doing specialized
industrial work,

721
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:21,266
extracting marrow from bones
for processing,

722
00:33:21,266 --> 00:33:23,200
which might explain
the increased density

723
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:27,300
in his right forearm
that Corinne and Ben spotted.

724
00:33:27,300 --> 00:33:32,033
A simple man, worked to the bone
as part of a vast empire.

725
00:33:32,033 --> 00:33:36,100
♪♪

726
00:33:36,100 --> 00:33:38,300
But other items
found at Fenstanton

727
00:33:38,300 --> 00:33:40,900
complicate the image
of a working village.

728
00:33:40,900 --> 00:33:43,466
♪♪

729
00:33:43,466 --> 00:33:46,400
Kathy from Albion Archaeology
has assembled

730
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:50,500
some of the artifacts
uncovered at Fenstanton.

731
00:33:50,500 --> 00:33:51,966
Dr. James Gerrard,

732
00:33:51,966 --> 00:33:54,533
an expert in Roman
material culture,

733
00:33:54,533 --> 00:33:56,333
is analyzing the items

734
00:33:56,333 --> 00:34:00,500
to better understand
the place where 4926 lived.

735
00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:02,800
-I've worked on a lot
of rural sites,

736
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,266
and certainly
this is fancier, nicer,

737
00:34:05,266 --> 00:34:07,100
a greater quantity
of metal work

738
00:34:07,100 --> 00:34:10,500
than we would find on
a standard Romano-British site.

739
00:34:10,500 --> 00:34:12,700
-It's a really nice
little assemblage, isn't it?

740
00:34:12,700 --> 00:34:14,333
I love these objects.

741
00:34:14,333 --> 00:34:16,866
Let's start with this one.
I think this is beautiful.

742
00:34:16,866 --> 00:34:19,566
We call these toilet spoons,
which sounds a bit grim,

743
00:34:19,566 --> 00:34:21,566
but they're really sort of
cosmetic instruments.

744
00:34:21,566 --> 00:34:24,266
You've got a little scoop there,
perhaps for makeup or medicine,

745
00:34:24,266 --> 00:34:25,833
and a little pointy thing there

746
00:34:25,833 --> 00:34:28,000
for doing a bit
of scraping and poking.

747
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,033
And that's a real change
we see from the Iron Age,

748
00:34:30,033 --> 00:34:32,433
this interest
in personal grooming

749
00:34:32,433 --> 00:34:34,066
that comes with the Roman
period, and that seems to go

750
00:34:34,066 --> 00:34:37,100
quite a long way down
the social hierarchy.

751
00:34:37,100 --> 00:34:39,300
And this is part
of that package, isn't it?

752
00:34:39,300 --> 00:34:41,266
Even on a little rural site
like this,

753
00:34:41,266 --> 00:34:43,800
people are taking care
of their appearance.

754
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:44,966
-Yeah, definitely.

755
00:34:44,966 --> 00:34:46,566
-It's a very tactile object,
as well.

756
00:34:46,566 --> 00:34:48,466
-Yeah, it's lovely.
-You can...

757
00:34:48,466 --> 00:34:50,166
It's that sense, isn't there,

758
00:34:50,166 --> 00:34:52,266
that this is an object
that people used.

759
00:34:52,266 --> 00:34:54,133
-Even if it was for
scooping out their ears.

760
00:34:54,133 --> 00:34:57,133
-Well indeed.
[ Both laugh ]

761
00:34:57,133 --> 00:34:58,966
This is a lovely object,
isn't it?

762
00:34:58,966 --> 00:35:01,300
Maybe you can tell me
a bit more about this,

763
00:35:01,300 --> 00:35:04,100
because I've never seen
one of these before.

764
00:35:04,100 --> 00:35:06,800
-As I understand it,
it's a little votive object.

765
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,800
So I think one of the theories
is you would put a candle in it.

766
00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:12,033
-And you'd have that
in your household shrine

767
00:35:12,033 --> 00:35:13,533
for your household gods
or whatever.

768
00:35:13,533 --> 00:35:15,433
Beautifully decorated
with that enamel.

769
00:35:15,433 --> 00:35:17,066
Just really nice objects.

770
00:35:17,066 --> 00:35:20,400
-Even among simple British
communities like Fenstanton,

771
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,500
Roman culture seems to
have had a strong influence,

772
00:35:23,500 --> 00:35:25,400
adding flourishes
to the Britons'

773
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,833
personal appearance
and to their homes.

774
00:35:27,833 --> 00:35:31,033
-So, I've brought a selection
of some of the nicer,

775
00:35:31,033 --> 00:35:34,133
more whole bits of pottery
that we had from the site.

776
00:35:34,133 --> 00:35:36,000
-These are lovely.
I love a good pot.

777
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:37,666
And, as you say,
it's really nice

778
00:35:37,666 --> 00:35:39,266
to see almost intact vessels.

779
00:35:39,266 --> 00:35:41,233
And if you look
really carefully,

780
00:35:41,233 --> 00:35:43,466
you can see
the potter's fingermarks.

781
00:35:43,466 --> 00:35:47,266
-Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's amazing.

782
00:35:47,266 --> 00:35:50,533
-So there are the fingerprints
of a Roman potter.

783
00:35:50,533 --> 00:35:52,700
I would think this one's
probably a 3rd-century

784
00:35:52,700 --> 00:35:54,266
drinking vessel.

785
00:35:54,266 --> 00:35:57,866
Hold it in your hands.
Probably for wine or beer.

786
00:35:57,866 --> 00:36:01,266
The beer could have been made
locally, but the wine probably,

787
00:36:01,266 --> 00:36:03,666
in the 3rd century,
more likely from the Rhineland.

788
00:36:03,666 --> 00:36:06,066
Perhaps German white wine.
-Hm.

789
00:36:06,066 --> 00:36:08,266
-Beautiful object.

790
00:36:08,266 --> 00:36:11,133
-Even an apparently rural
community like this one

791
00:36:11,133 --> 00:36:13,066
would have had access
to food and goods

792
00:36:13,066 --> 00:36:16,333
from across the Roman Empire.

793
00:36:16,333 --> 00:36:18,700
-This is one of the differences
between the Iron Age

794
00:36:18,700 --> 00:36:20,366
and the Roman period,

795
00:36:20,366 --> 00:36:22,700
is these Roman populations
just had access to more stuff.

796
00:36:22,700 --> 00:36:26,133
-But the cattle bones found on
site serve as a stark reminder

797
00:36:26,133 --> 00:36:29,500
that a life spent at Fenstanton
would have been a hard one.

798
00:36:29,500 --> 00:36:31,566
-The idea that these animals
were being slaughtered

799
00:36:31,566 --> 00:36:33,166
somewhere else
and then the limb bones

800
00:36:33,166 --> 00:36:35,333
transported to the site
to be processed.

801
00:36:35,333 --> 00:36:36,566
It must just have been

802
00:36:36,566 --> 00:36:38,433
a pretty grim experience.
-Yeah.

803
00:36:38,433 --> 00:36:40,433
-What you're looking at
is animals being processed

804
00:36:40,433 --> 00:36:42,833
for the last scraps
of everything.

805
00:36:42,833 --> 00:36:45,566
And this is typical
of the Roman world,

806
00:36:45,566 --> 00:36:47,833
this intensive exploitation.

807
00:36:49,500 --> 00:36:53,700
-4926's life
has come into clearer focus.

808
00:36:53,700 --> 00:36:57,666
He was probably a laborer
who never left Cambridgeshire

809
00:36:57,666 --> 00:37:01,333
and spent his days
engaged in manual work --

810
00:37:01,333 --> 00:37:06,200
a tiny cog
in Rome's vast machine.

811
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:08,733
That's how 4926 lived.

812
00:37:08,733 --> 00:37:11,166
But what about his death?

813
00:37:11,166 --> 00:37:14,366
How and why
was this man crucified?

814
00:37:16,033 --> 00:37:19,300
♪♪

815
00:37:19,300 --> 00:37:20,733
-Every part of the skeleton

816
00:37:20,733 --> 00:37:23,300
tells its own chapter
of a story,

817
00:37:23,300 --> 00:37:26,566
but I think
this particular skeleton

818
00:37:26,566 --> 00:37:28,300
had an unexpected twist.

819
00:37:28,300 --> 00:37:29,866
And it's with this.

820
00:37:29,866 --> 00:37:32,566
It's this huge nail
that was driven into the heel,

821
00:37:32,566 --> 00:37:35,333
which, for you,
the first time you saw it,

822
00:37:35,333 --> 00:37:36,566
must have been incredible,
right?

823
00:37:36,566 --> 00:37:38,000
-It was incredible.

824
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,533
I spent a couple of years
trying not to believe it.

825
00:37:41,533 --> 00:37:43,700
-So presumably you've never seen
anything like this before.

826
00:37:43,700 --> 00:37:45,533
-Never.
-This is the heel.

827
00:37:45,533 --> 00:37:47,666
This is taking a lot
of the bounce when we walk.

828
00:37:47,666 --> 00:37:50,233
So, back of the heel.
Back of the foot there.

829
00:37:50,233 --> 00:37:52,266
Incredibly, weirdly shaped.

830
00:37:52,266 --> 00:37:54,966
Quite a solid bone
in some respects, isn't it?

831
00:37:54,966 --> 00:37:58,066
-It is, but it actually has

832
00:37:58,066 --> 00:38:00,133
a very interesting composition.
-Mm-hmm.

833
00:38:00,133 --> 00:38:04,900
-So, it's got a thin but dense
outer coating.

834
00:38:04,900 --> 00:38:08,000
And so in order to
put anything through it,

835
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,233
because it's very soft inside,

836
00:38:10,233 --> 00:38:14,133
you'd have to send something in
with a lot of energy.

837
00:38:14,133 --> 00:38:16,733
Otherwise, you would
simply crush the bone.

838
00:38:16,733 --> 00:38:18,433
Whereas, in this case,

839
00:38:18,433 --> 00:38:23,233
it looks as though there's been
one swift, hard blow

840
00:38:23,233 --> 00:38:26,866
which has taken it through
in one moment.

841
00:38:26,866 --> 00:38:28,533
-There is a little notch
in here, though,

842
00:38:28,533 --> 00:38:30,800
which isn't part of the bone
typically.

843
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:32,733
Do we know
what's happening here?

844
00:38:32,733 --> 00:38:36,166
-I can only guess
that this was a misfire.

845
00:38:36,166 --> 00:38:39,166
So, somebody
who's not so experienced

846
00:38:39,166 --> 00:38:43,066
starts driving the nail through,
and it's the wrong angle

847
00:38:43,066 --> 00:38:46,533
or it's a bit more difficult,
so they have another go.

848
00:38:46,533 --> 00:38:48,166
-Hm.

849
00:38:48,166 --> 00:38:51,233
Which is really indicating
that this isn't accidental.

850
00:38:51,233 --> 00:38:54,800
This is a very intentional
heavy blow.

851
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:59,766
♪♪

852
00:38:59,766 --> 00:39:02,166
I'm feeling quite reverential,

853
00:39:02,166 --> 00:39:04,566
quite respectful
to a digital image right now

854
00:39:04,566 --> 00:39:07,200
because of something
that someone has gone through

855
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:08,933
that is unimaginable to me.

856
00:39:08,933 --> 00:39:13,366
-So, we always respect

857
00:39:13,366 --> 00:39:15,300
the remains that we work with.

858
00:39:15,300 --> 00:39:18,866
And particularly when I started
researching crucifixion

859
00:39:18,866 --> 00:39:21,766
and thinking harder
about what it was like

860
00:39:21,766 --> 00:39:25,566
as a torture
as well as a mode of death.

861
00:39:25,566 --> 00:39:26,966
♪♪

862
00:39:26,966 --> 00:39:29,200
Yes, your word "reverential."

863
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:33,333
I give him more reverence
because of what he went through.

864
00:39:33,333 --> 00:39:37,033
-I think that word "torture"
is very apt here.

865
00:39:37,033 --> 00:39:39,100
This isn't just a man
who was killed.

866
00:39:39,100 --> 00:39:40,966
This is a man who was tortured.

867
00:39:40,966 --> 00:39:42,866
[ Crows cawing ]

868
00:39:45,966 --> 00:39:48,333
-Christian iconography
has established

869
00:39:48,333 --> 00:39:50,900
a particular understanding
of how crucifixion

870
00:39:50,900 --> 00:39:53,533
may have taken place.

871
00:39:53,533 --> 00:39:55,400
But the brutal truth is

872
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,866
this punishment
took many dreadful forms.

873
00:39:58,866 --> 00:40:01,233
-Josephus does mention
the Romans

874
00:40:01,233 --> 00:40:03,866
using different forms
of crucifixion.

875
00:40:03,866 --> 00:40:06,100
There's a very famous legend

876
00:40:06,100 --> 00:40:08,433
that Peter,
one of the disciples,

877
00:40:08,433 --> 00:40:10,566
was crucified upside down.

878
00:40:10,566 --> 00:40:12,300
-There are reports
of Roman soldiers

879
00:40:12,300 --> 00:40:15,733
crucifying victims
in a variety of positions

880
00:40:15,733 --> 00:40:17,833
to amuse themselves.

881
00:40:17,833 --> 00:40:20,633
Can Skeleton 4926's bones

882
00:40:20,633 --> 00:40:24,233
reveal the specific way
he was put to death?

883
00:40:24,233 --> 00:40:27,133
To help shed some light on this,
Corinne and Ben

884
00:40:27,133 --> 00:40:29,466
are joined
by Dr. Piers Mitchell.

885
00:40:29,466 --> 00:40:31,833
He is the only person
in the world

886
00:40:31,833 --> 00:40:35,033
to have physically examined
both 4926

887
00:40:35,033 --> 00:40:38,200
and the remains of the other
confirmed crucifixion victim.

888
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:39,933
-So, yes, I was very fortunate

889
00:40:39,933 --> 00:40:42,600
that when I was
a young researcher in my 20s,

890
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:44,200
when I was out in Jerusalem,

891
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,233
I had the good fortune
to see the original remains.

892
00:40:47,233 --> 00:40:51,300
-The crucifixion case from
Israel was uncovered in 1968

893
00:40:51,300 --> 00:40:55,000
when a collection of bones was
found in a 1st-century ossuary,

894
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,066
a box for preserving
skeletal remains.

895
00:40:58,066 --> 00:41:01,833
As with 4926, a nail
was found through a heel bone.

896
00:41:01,833 --> 00:41:04,666
-When I heard that we found one

897
00:41:04,666 --> 00:41:06,566
from Roman period
Cambridgeshire,

898
00:41:06,566 --> 00:41:08,033
I thought, "Wow."

899
00:41:08,033 --> 00:41:10,566
A long way away,
different century,

900
00:41:10,566 --> 00:41:13,800
but they still seem to be doing
it in an extremely similar way.

901
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:16,433
The actual alignment
of the nail --

902
00:41:16,433 --> 00:41:20,100
the one we find here
enters and crosses

903
00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:23,333
from the outer side of the heel
to the medial side of the heel

904
00:41:23,333 --> 00:41:27,100
in just the same way that we see
in the example from Jerusalem.

905
00:41:27,100 --> 00:41:31,166
-The way these nails
are inserted does not suggest

906
00:41:31,166 --> 00:41:33,000
that you had a body
on the cross

907
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,133
in the position
of the standard crucifix.

908
00:41:35,133 --> 00:41:36,566
-You're right.
Both these cases

909
00:41:36,566 --> 00:41:40,233
do have the heels
on the outer side of the post

910
00:41:40,233 --> 00:41:43,833
with a nail coming from lateral
to medial into the post.

911
00:41:43,833 --> 00:41:45,600
-The evidence shows that,

912
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:49,033
whether as additional torture
or to ensure he didn't escape,

913
00:41:49,033 --> 00:41:53,233
4926's foot was nailed
to the side of the crucifix.

914
00:41:54,500 --> 00:41:57,600
The rest of his limbs were
probably fastened with ropes.

915
00:41:57,600 --> 00:41:59,266
And, exposed to the elements,

916
00:41:59,266 --> 00:42:03,366
he would have been left
to die slowly.

917
00:42:03,366 --> 00:42:07,600
-I think the greatest
misconception of crucifixion

918
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,000
was that it was a quick death.

919
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:12,833
It's such a brutal form
of execution

920
00:42:12,833 --> 00:42:17,633
that it's just almost impossible
to imagine.

921
00:42:17,633 --> 00:42:20,000
-What could 4926 have done

922
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,000
to warrant this cruel
and degrading punishment?

923
00:42:25,500 --> 00:42:28,733
What was his crime?

924
00:42:28,733 --> 00:42:30,733
-Crucifixion is
a terrible way to die.

925
00:42:30,733 --> 00:42:34,066
It's a form of torture
and execution rolled into one,

926
00:42:34,066 --> 00:42:35,666
and it's very public.

927
00:42:35,666 --> 00:42:38,333
One of the reasons
to crucify somebody

928
00:42:38,333 --> 00:42:40,133
is to instill terror.

929
00:42:40,133 --> 00:42:43,333
-The public nature
of crucifixion was crucial.

930
00:42:43,333 --> 00:42:46,433
The Romans used it to deter
lower members of society

931
00:42:46,433 --> 00:42:49,233
from rebelling
against their masters' rule.

932
00:42:49,233 --> 00:42:50,833
-They're particularly intolerant

933
00:42:50,833 --> 00:42:53,366
of any form
of treason, sedition.

934
00:42:53,366 --> 00:42:55,333
That's punishable
with crucifixion.

935
00:42:55,333 --> 00:42:58,066
-If 4926 was
some sort of rebel,

936
00:42:58,066 --> 00:43:01,566
fighting with or plotting
against his Roman masters,

937
00:43:01,566 --> 00:43:03,966
it would have been grounds
for crucifixion.

938
00:43:03,966 --> 00:43:06,366
And there is evidence
that uprisings were common

939
00:43:06,366 --> 00:43:08,366
throughout the Roman
occupation of Britain.

940
00:43:08,366 --> 00:43:10,066
-There were a number
of rebellions.

941
00:43:10,066 --> 00:43:11,966
Boudica is a good example.
There are others.

942
00:43:11,966 --> 00:43:13,900
-The Brigantes in the north.

943
00:43:13,900 --> 00:43:16,366
People died. They were enslaved.

944
00:43:16,366 --> 00:43:20,000
The Roman conquest
was bloody and violent.

945
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:23,933
-Unrest in Britain
continued into the 3rd century.

946
00:43:23,933 --> 00:43:27,066
Could 4926 have been part
of a failed uprising

947
00:43:27,066 --> 00:43:30,366
in Cambridgeshire
that led to his crucifixion?

948
00:43:30,366 --> 00:43:32,266
-At the beginning
of the 3rd century,

949
00:43:32,266 --> 00:43:35,933
there had been a series of
military problems in the north,

950
00:43:35,933 --> 00:43:38,533
so with the Caledonians
in what's now Scotland,

951
00:43:38,533 --> 00:43:42,466
and they were crushed more
or less by Septimius Severus.

952
00:43:42,466 --> 00:43:44,366
For the rest
of the 3rd century,

953
00:43:44,366 --> 00:43:48,000
we tend actually to think
of Britain as being quite quiet.

954
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,100
-There is no strong evidence
to suggest an insurrection

955
00:43:51,100 --> 00:43:54,366
around Fenstanton
in the 3rd century.

956
00:43:54,366 --> 00:43:56,733
If 4926 wasn't a rebel,

957
00:43:56,733 --> 00:44:00,600
what are some other possible
reasons for his crucifixion?

958
00:44:00,600 --> 00:44:04,666
-In Latin, they call crucifixion
the "servile supplicium,"

959
00:44:04,666 --> 00:44:06,866
the servile punishment.

960
00:44:06,866 --> 00:44:10,333
So it's a punishment used
particularly for slaves.

961
00:44:10,333 --> 00:44:12,800
So if he was a slave,
then he could have been

962
00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:15,166
crucified for nearly any reason.

963
00:44:15,166 --> 00:44:19,366
-Unlike citizens,
slaves had no legal protection.

964
00:44:19,366 --> 00:44:21,000
Their masters could, in theory,

965
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:24,433
crucify them
for even small infractions.

966
00:44:24,433 --> 00:44:26,233
4926 might have been a slave

967
00:44:26,233 --> 00:44:28,833
who somehow displeased
his master.

968
00:44:28,833 --> 00:44:32,566
But in the Roman world,
things were not that simple.

969
00:44:32,566 --> 00:44:34,000
-In the 1st century AD,

970
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:36,366
Roman citizenship
was really important legally.

971
00:44:36,366 --> 00:44:38,433
So certain things
couldn't happen to you

972
00:44:38,433 --> 00:44:40,033
if you're a Roman citizen.

973
00:44:40,033 --> 00:44:43,100
In normal circumstances,
you wouldn't be crucified.

974
00:44:43,100 --> 00:44:45,633
-Before the 3rd century,
only a minority

975
00:44:45,633 --> 00:44:48,866
of the empire's population
qualified for citizenship.

976
00:44:48,866 --> 00:44:52,200
Such status guaranteed
privileges and protections.

977
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:54,366
But that all changed.

978
00:44:54,366 --> 00:44:57,766
-So, the date usually given
is 212 AD.

979
00:44:57,766 --> 00:45:00,766
We have something called
the Constitutio Antoniniana,

980
00:45:00,766 --> 00:45:04,366
or the Edict of Caracalla,
which gave citizenship

981
00:45:04,366 --> 00:45:08,000
to the majority of people
in the Roman Empire.

982
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:10,133
-No one knows
why Emperor Caracalla

983
00:45:10,133 --> 00:45:11,833
expanded Roman citizenship.

984
00:45:11,833 --> 00:45:14,100
-Some ancient authors
say that Caracalla

985
00:45:14,100 --> 00:45:15,933
only gave
everybody citizenship

986
00:45:15,933 --> 00:45:18,766
because it increased
the number of taxpayers.

987
00:45:18,766 --> 00:45:21,466
-Whatever his reasons,
Caracalla made more people

988
00:45:21,466 --> 00:45:23,900
citizens than ever before.

989
00:45:23,900 --> 00:45:27,766
But that did not mean that life
became better or safer

990
00:45:27,766 --> 00:45:29,566
for the poorest in society.

991
00:45:29,566 --> 00:45:33,566
-We start to see this really
important legal distinction

992
00:45:33,566 --> 00:45:36,566
between so-called "honestiores,"
the honest men,

993
00:45:36,566 --> 00:45:39,766
and the "humiliores,"
the humble men.

994
00:45:39,766 --> 00:45:41,100
-People of a higher status

995
00:45:41,100 --> 00:45:42,600
and people who are
"more humble,"

996
00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:44,900
to give a sort of
literal translation.

997
00:45:44,900 --> 00:45:46,833
-We have accounts of people

998
00:45:46,833 --> 00:45:50,066
undergoing examination
in Roman courts.

999
00:45:50,066 --> 00:45:52,333
And often those examinations
will start with,

1000
00:45:52,333 --> 00:45:53,966
"What is your status?"

1001
00:45:53,966 --> 00:45:57,333
And the humiliores --
almost all of their punishments

1002
00:45:57,333 --> 00:45:59,566
are unpleasant and physical.

1003
00:45:59,566 --> 00:46:03,400
-And now actually humiliores,
who could be citizens,

1004
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:07,600
can also suffer
something like crucifixion.

1005
00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:10,200
-By the 3rd century,
both slaves

1006
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:13,500
and citizens of low status
could be crucified,

1007
00:46:13,500 --> 00:46:17,800
and no evidence survives
to tell which 4926 was.

1008
00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:19,966
♪♪

1009
00:46:19,966 --> 00:46:21,833
But in the later Roman period,

1010
00:46:21,833 --> 00:46:26,200
the number of executions
across the empire increased.

1011
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,066
-As we go through
the Roman period,

1012
00:46:28,066 --> 00:46:30,066
the empire becomes
increasingly autocratic

1013
00:46:30,066 --> 00:46:32,800
and judicial punishments
become increasingly savage.

1014
00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:36,100
And that's probably
the sign of an empire

1015
00:46:36,100 --> 00:46:39,200
that is struggling
to enforce its will.

1016
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:41,766
-Evidence suggests
the 3rd century in Britain

1017
00:46:41,766 --> 00:46:43,666
was relatively peaceful,

1018
00:46:43,666 --> 00:46:47,366
and, yet, more executions
were taking place.

1019
00:46:47,366 --> 00:46:50,366
The empire was becoming
increasingly brutal,

1020
00:46:50,366 --> 00:46:53,533
with far more crimes
punishable by death.

1021
00:46:53,533 --> 00:46:58,433
So, whether free or enslaved,
a low-status man like 4926

1022
00:46:58,433 --> 00:47:01,400
could have been executed
for even a minor crime.

1023
00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:03,100
-You have a legal system,

1024
00:47:03,100 --> 00:47:05,600
but who has access
to that legal system?

1025
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:07,366
And is the legal system fair?

1026
00:47:07,366 --> 00:47:11,400
It's a legal system in which
confessions are only admissible

1027
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:14,400
if they have been achieved
through torture.

1028
00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:18,233
Governors can make decisions
in arbitrary fashions.

1029
00:47:18,233 --> 00:47:21,033
They can choose to execute
people even if the law says

1030
00:47:21,033 --> 00:47:23,800
they shouldn't.
Who's going to stop them?

1031
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:28,866
-4926 lived on a wild edge
of empire.

1032
00:47:28,866 --> 00:47:31,466
He could have been crucified
for being a rebel

1033
00:47:31,466 --> 00:47:36,500
or he could have simply
displeased a sadistic master.

1034
00:47:36,500 --> 00:47:39,500
The real reason for his death
remains unknown.

1035
00:47:39,500 --> 00:47:44,500
♪♪

1036
00:47:44,500 --> 00:47:48,533
Though 4926 met a horrible
and tragic end,

1037
00:47:48,533 --> 00:47:53,033
there is one final mystery that
suggests something more hopeful.

1038
00:47:53,033 --> 00:47:58,333
-Something I find
very intriguing about this is,

1039
00:47:58,333 --> 00:47:59,933
this man has been subjected

1040
00:47:59,933 --> 00:48:02,966
to this horrendous death
and torture,

1041
00:48:02,966 --> 00:48:06,033
and, yet,
he was obviously given over

1042
00:48:06,033 --> 00:48:08,133
to his population afterwards

1043
00:48:08,133 --> 00:48:11,133
to have
an absolutely normal burial.

1044
00:48:11,133 --> 00:48:13,633
-Some texts imply
that after crucifixion,

1045
00:48:13,633 --> 00:48:17,966
victims were left to rot
or dumped in a common grave,

1046
00:48:17,966 --> 00:48:21,200
but that does not seem
to be the case with 4926.

1047
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:24,266
-Some part of the community
was interested

1048
00:48:24,266 --> 00:48:26,600
in giving this man
a respectful burial.

1049
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:30,600
We know that you could petition
the person in power

1050
00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:32,700
who ordered the execution
to collect the corpse

1051
00:48:32,700 --> 00:48:34,633
of your loved one
or friend or whoever.

1052
00:48:34,633 --> 00:48:36,966
You know, the most famous
example of crucifixion,

1053
00:48:36,966 --> 00:48:40,133
the crucifixion of Jesus,
Joseph of Arimathea petitions

1054
00:48:40,133 --> 00:48:42,366
Pontius Pilate
and collects the body

1055
00:48:42,366 --> 00:48:44,100
and gives the body
a formal burial.

1056
00:48:44,100 --> 00:48:46,200
We're probably seeing
something similar here.

1057
00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:48,700
Friends and family
have collected this body

1058
00:48:48,700 --> 00:48:51,633
and given it
a respectful burial.

1059
00:48:51,633 --> 00:48:53,166
-His burial suggests that,

1060
00:48:53,166 --> 00:48:56,233
despite his awful
and humiliating execution,

1061
00:48:56,233 --> 00:48:59,666
there were still people
in 4926's community

1062
00:48:59,666 --> 00:49:02,866
who cared about him.

1063
00:49:02,866 --> 00:49:05,900
DNA analysis from
other Fenstanton graves

1064
00:49:05,900 --> 00:49:08,133
could provide more insight.

1065
00:49:08,133 --> 00:49:11,200
-In the 20 individuals that
we looked at from Fenstanton,

1066
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:15,300
we found evidence of two
close genetic relationships.

1067
00:49:15,300 --> 00:49:16,933
One was a first-degree
relationship,

1068
00:49:16,933 --> 00:49:18,966
and the other was
a second-degree relationship.

1069
00:49:18,966 --> 00:49:20,800
First-degree relationships
are a parent

1070
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:22,466
or an offspring
or full siblings.

1071
00:49:22,466 --> 00:49:25,433
Second-degree relationships
are maybe a grandparent

1072
00:49:25,433 --> 00:49:29,300
and their grand offspring
or an aunt, uncle.

1073
00:49:29,300 --> 00:49:31,466
-The evidence shows
the people of Fenstanton

1074
00:49:31,466 --> 00:49:35,800
spent their entire lives there,
and some were related.

1075
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:38,500
This suggests
a tight-knit community,

1076
00:49:38,500 --> 00:49:42,466
one that cared for 4926
after his dreadful end.

1077
00:49:42,466 --> 00:49:46,533
-Whatever he did in life
and whoever punished him,

1078
00:49:46,533 --> 00:49:49,100
he was accepted in death.

1079
00:49:49,100 --> 00:49:52,433
He sort of went back
into his community after death.

1080
00:49:52,433 --> 00:49:55,200
So I think
that's quite moving, really.

1081
00:49:55,200 --> 00:50:00,766
♪♪

1082
00:50:04,733 --> 00:50:07,666
-Joe Mullins is
a forensic artist and professor

1083
00:50:07,666 --> 00:50:10,666
at George Mason University
in Virginia.

1084
00:50:10,666 --> 00:50:13,033
-As a forensic artist,
most of my work

1085
00:50:13,033 --> 00:50:14,900
comes from law enforcement.

1086
00:50:14,900 --> 00:50:17,500
That is, these are
active investigations

1087
00:50:17,500 --> 00:50:21,133
of unidentified
skeletal remains.

1088
00:50:21,133 --> 00:50:22,933
-Joe has worked
with law enforcement

1089
00:50:22,933 --> 00:50:24,733
for nearly three decades,

1090
00:50:24,733 --> 00:50:27,733
reconstructing faces
from skulls,

1091
00:50:27,733 --> 00:50:31,133
which helps to identify
victims of crime.

1092
00:50:31,133 --> 00:50:33,433
-Over the course of my 24 years,

1093
00:50:33,433 --> 00:50:36,600
there's been, you know,
hundreds and hundreds of skulls

1094
00:50:36,600 --> 00:50:38,533
that I've helped
law enforcement with.

1095
00:50:38,533 --> 00:50:42,400
-But now Joe is taking part
in a world-first --

1096
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,366
reconstructing the face
of a victim of crucifixion.

1097
00:50:45,366 --> 00:50:47,800
-I think I've got
the coolest job in the world,

1098
00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:51,166
and this is by far
the most interesting skull

1099
00:50:51,166 --> 00:50:53,700
that I've ever worked on
in my career.

1100
00:50:53,700 --> 00:50:55,100
For a forensic identification,

1101
00:50:55,100 --> 00:50:57,000
I want to get
crime-scene photos,

1102
00:50:57,000 --> 00:50:58,533
clothing that was found
with the victim,

1103
00:50:58,533 --> 00:51:00,200
as much information
that I can get

1104
00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:02,233
to paint that picture
of what this individual

1105
00:51:02,233 --> 00:51:03,733
looked like in life.

1106
00:51:03,733 --> 00:51:06,266
That same process applies
to historical cases.

1107
00:51:06,266 --> 00:51:08,200
I want to get as much
information as I can

1108
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:09,633
on the front end.

1109
00:51:09,633 --> 00:51:11,800
If there's DNA,
isotopes, phenotypes

1110
00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:13,766
to give me information
on hair color,

1111
00:51:13,766 --> 00:51:15,433
eye colors, you know, skin tone.

1112
00:51:15,433 --> 00:51:17,800
-Joe is given the data
Corinne collected,

1113
00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:20,033
isotopic details
from Jane Evans,

1114
00:51:20,033 --> 00:51:22,533
and insights
from Christiana Scheib,

1115
00:51:22,533 --> 00:51:24,066
whose DNA sampling determined

1116
00:51:24,066 --> 00:51:28,533
4926 most likely had
brown hair and brown eyes.

1117
00:51:28,533 --> 00:51:31,233
-As far as the information that
I got for this particular case,

1118
00:51:31,233 --> 00:51:33,266
it really is fascinating to me

1119
00:51:33,266 --> 00:51:35,733
'cause I was
basically able to get

1120
00:51:35,733 --> 00:51:37,966
just as much or more information

1121
00:51:37,966 --> 00:51:40,566
for this case
that's thousands of years old

1122
00:51:40,566 --> 00:51:42,200
than I would for an active case

1123
00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:44,133
that I've been working
for law enforcement.

1124
00:51:44,133 --> 00:51:46,266
Now, the problem was this skull
was -- it was fragmented.

1125
00:51:46,266 --> 00:51:47,966
There's no other way
to explain it.

1126
00:51:47,966 --> 00:51:51,900
It is putting together a couple
thousand-year-old puzzle.

1127
00:51:51,900 --> 00:51:54,900
Your skull is the foundation
that your face is built on.

1128
00:51:54,900 --> 00:51:57,400
Doesn't matter
how old the skull is.

1129
00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:00,266
All that information is gonna
be laid out in front of us.

1130
00:52:00,266 --> 00:52:02,266
When the pieces
are all together,

1131
00:52:02,266 --> 00:52:04,000
here's what we come up with.

1132
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:07,000
So I have the foundation
to start building the face.

1133
00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:09,400
Now we've gone
from our 3-D software

1134
00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:10,933
into, really, applying

1135
00:52:10,933 --> 00:52:13,966
the photographic elements
to the face,

1136
00:52:13,966 --> 00:52:16,333
based on all that information
we got --

1137
00:52:16,333 --> 00:52:19,266
mid-thirties,
brown hair, brown eyes.

1138
00:52:19,266 --> 00:52:21,366
Not exactly
a healthy individual.

1139
00:52:21,366 --> 00:52:23,600
Now we have indication
for where his lips are,

1140
00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:27,100
the corners of the mouth,
his irises, his eyebrows,

1141
00:52:27,100 --> 00:52:29,800
the hairline, the brow ridge,
all those details.

1142
00:52:29,800 --> 00:52:31,933
It's like a digital
Mr. Potato Head.

1143
00:52:31,933 --> 00:52:33,933
So as I'm clicking through
the layers,

1144
00:52:33,933 --> 00:52:36,066
you'll see some decisions
that were made

1145
00:52:36,066 --> 00:52:37,300
like, you know, hairstyles.

1146
00:52:37,300 --> 00:52:39,400
Now, as we add some more
graphic elements,

1147
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:41,100
we're applying that.

1148
00:52:41,100 --> 00:52:43,366
The sunken cheeks,
all those things that would've

1149
00:52:43,366 --> 00:52:48,333
naturally taken place
under these harsh conditions.

1150
00:52:48,333 --> 00:52:51,900
-Piece by piece, Joe is able
to give this particular victim

1151
00:52:51,900 --> 00:52:55,233
of crucifixion
a kind of second life.

1152
00:52:55,233 --> 00:52:57,133
-It's not just a skull anymore.

1153
00:52:57,133 --> 00:53:00,333
I'm staring at a face
from thousands of years ago.

1154
00:53:00,333 --> 00:53:05,466
And staring at this face
is something I'll never forget.

1155
00:53:11,300 --> 00:53:14,233
-More than five years
after the dig at Fenstanton,

1156
00:53:14,233 --> 00:53:16,966
Corinne and David
are in Northamptonshire,

1157
00:53:16,966 --> 00:53:19,200
ready to tell 4926's story

1158
00:53:19,200 --> 00:53:22,400
to a room full of
fellow archaeologists.

1159
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:25,033
But before they do,
there's a final piece

1160
00:53:25,033 --> 00:53:29,200
to add to their presentation --
Joe's reconstruction,

1161
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:32,533
which they're about to see
for the first time.

1162
00:53:32,533 --> 00:53:35,000
-Isn't this wonderful,
seeing it develop?

1163
00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:36,400
[ Gasps ]

1164
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:38,200
-That's never
what I'd have guessed.

1165
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:40,966
[ Both laugh ]

1166
00:53:40,966 --> 00:53:42,533
That's really impressive.

1167
00:53:42,533 --> 00:53:45,333
-It is such a brilliant
reconstruction, isn't it?

1168
00:53:45,333 --> 00:53:48,100
It's just so living.

1169
00:53:48,100 --> 00:53:50,133
Those details are wonderful.

1170
00:53:50,133 --> 00:53:52,133
-It really marks him out
as an individual,

1171
00:53:52,133 --> 00:53:56,700
not just "Skeleton 4926,"
as he's been up until now.

1172
00:53:56,700 --> 00:53:59,733
-He just looks like someone
that I used to work with

1173
00:53:59,733 --> 00:54:01,300
in the Health Service years ago.

1174
00:54:01,300 --> 00:54:03,233
Ancient people
and modern people.

1175
00:54:03,233 --> 00:54:06,233
There's no taking us apart,
is there?

1176
00:54:06,233 --> 00:54:07,900
-No. Exactly.

1177
00:54:07,900 --> 00:54:09,666
This looks like someone
you could meet

1178
00:54:09,666 --> 00:54:12,566
on the streets
of Fenstanton today.

1179
00:54:12,566 --> 00:54:16,600
-This man had such
a particularly awful

1180
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:19,100
end of life

1181
00:54:19,100 --> 00:54:21,733
that it feels as though
seeing his face,

1182
00:54:21,733 --> 00:54:23,433
we can give more respect to him.

1183
00:54:23,433 --> 00:54:25,800
-It's fantastic
that we've been able to use

1184
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:28,200
the DNA evidence
and the osteological analysis

1185
00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:31,333
that you've done, Corinne,
and build this picture together.

1186
00:54:31,333 --> 00:54:35,366
We can bring him back to life
almost nearly 2,000 years on.

1187
00:54:35,366 --> 00:54:39,333
-It's always a real joy to work
with other osteoarchaeologists,

1188
00:54:39,333 --> 00:54:41,466
just to start with,
but I love it

1189
00:54:41,466 --> 00:54:45,266
when we can have
multidisciplinary feedback,

1190
00:54:45,266 --> 00:54:46,666
to and fro.

1191
00:54:46,666 --> 00:54:48,900
So it's been
a wonderful opportunity

1192
00:54:48,900 --> 00:54:50,366
to put a lot more time in

1193
00:54:50,366 --> 00:54:52,600
and talk to people
all over the place.

1194
00:54:52,600 --> 00:54:57,166
So it's just been
tremendously enriching for me.

1195
00:54:57,166 --> 00:54:59,800
-Whenever you see archaeology
portrayed on the screen,

1196
00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:02,300
it's always exciting,
world-shattering events.

1197
00:55:02,300 --> 00:55:04,233
Most of what we do
is very prosaic.

1198
00:55:04,233 --> 00:55:06,866
And this is just something
that you don't find.

1199
00:55:06,866 --> 00:55:09,033
It's the sort of
find of a lifetime.

1200
00:55:09,033 --> 00:55:12,633
♪♪