01x04 - w*r of the Ancients

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] 3d bone modeling
reveals the terrifying story

Behind europe's oldest b*ttlefield.

Men were willing to
travel thousands of miles

And risked their life to do this, but why?

[narrator] an advanced supercomputer
decodes the weather effect

That may have helped moses part the sea.

This is the moment of truth.

Is it fact or fiction?

[narrator] and microscopic
forensic analysis

Exposes the horror story of
scotland's first-ever mummified remains.

Someone has taken on the role of
dr. Frankenstein when preparing these mummies.

This type of burial is totally unique.

So how did this happen?

[narrator] in a digital
technology lab of the future,

Experts uncover clues
invisible to the naked eye.

I've never seen anything like that before.

[narrator] and solve mysteries
that have baffled for centuries.

That right there is what
scientists have been missing.

All the evidence points
to an incredible discovery.

This could be a game-changer.

[narrator] state-of-the-art digital
technology closes the toughest cases...

This mystery finally makes sense.

[narrator] ...From the
ancient unexplained files.

The tollense valley, north-east germany.

In 1996, a gruesome archaeological
discovery sparks national interest.

An amateur archaeologist
finds a human arm bone

With a flint arrowhead embedded
in it right next to a wooden club.

[narrator] a vast excavation
begins lasting two decades.

What's uncovered astounds archaeologists.

[dr. Karen] they're just finding

Bone after bone after
bone, thousands of bones.

We can estimate that roughly


This was a major, major engagement.

What could explain this giant
heap of 3,000-year-old bodies?

[narrator] the sheer carnage on display
shocks even seasoned battle experts.

It's really clear that the trauma
exercised on these bones was tremendous.

Some of these bodies show
evidence of sharp force trauma

And others of blunt force trauma.

There's evidence of flint
and bronze arrowheads.

There's a sword.

There's an axe.

There's wooden clubs.

The scale of this find
is just unparalleled.

[narrator] now, after decades of
inquiry, can a new investigation

Finally identify the trigger
point for this battle of the ages?

This actually could be our first proof

Of a battle of this size and complexity

Anywhere on the earth at this time.

[narrator] the task of
cracking the b*ttlefield mystery

Falls to scientists from the
tollense valley research project.

First, they radiocarbon date

The human remains to around 1250 bce,

The tail end of the bronze age.

We now have comprehensive evidence

That makes the tollense valley

The oldest b*ttlefield in europe, and
this is an amazing find in and of itself.

[narrator] but what drove
so many bronze age warriors

To spill blood at this
picturesque river valley?

To find the answer, investigators want
to know where the warriors came from.

They take samples of teeth from the remains

And send them for isotope analysis.

Isotopes in tooth enamel tend
to reflect the food and water

That was ingested when a person was young,

So they can show us where somebody grew up.

The signatures are really varied, which
means that many of these individuals

Were from the local region, but others
were from hundreds of miles away.

[narrator] in northern europe,
there are few major settlements.

[dr. Karen] the people lived off the
land and they learned to work metal.

They made objects out of
copper, gold and, of course, bronze.

[narrator] and the population is
scattered thinly across the region.

We're talking about less
than 13 people per square mile.

That's roughly the density of south dakota.

[narrator] the number of dead
at tollense and the breadth

Of their geographical
origins is a revelation.

Gathering this many people would have been

An amazing feat of organization
and, frankly, communication.

[narrator] the new evidence from the tollense
b*ttlefield challenges preconceptions

About europe's bronze age tribes.

Now, scientists want to understand

The battle, and the people
who fought it in more detail.

They turn to the bones themselves and send

A selection for micro ct scanning.

Our advanced digital lab allows bio
medic greg szulgit to analyze the results.

I'm looking at this guy
who's got a nasty injury,

And the top of his femur
has just snapped like a twig.

If we zoom right in, I can see
a small impression in the bone

And it looks like something
sharp has penetrated here.

Well, scientists at the
university of hamburg

Have spent months digitally modeling
a variety of bronze age weapons,

And here's what they think is the best fit.

It seems that a lance has been driven

Full force into the
femur, fracturing the bone.

Then, as the attacker levers the
weapon free, it splits the femur in two.

This is astonishing because it suggests

That the tollense combatants
were not just regular farmers.

The lance is a specialized weapon
used by trained elite, but there's more.

Here is a micro ct scan
of an injury to a pelvis.

It's so detailed that you can see
the internal structure of the bone.

It also reveals this area of damage

Where something is sliced
right through the pelvis.

Computer modeling shows
us that this is most likely

An arrowhead that's hit with such force

That it's passed through
three-quarter-inch of bone.

Found near this victim
were horse skeletons.

So it's quite possible that this arrow

Could have been released
from a mounted archer.

This tollense evidence
is really eye-opening.

It reveals that this unprecedented battle

May have been far more sophisticated
than we ever thought possible

For bronze age europe.

[narrator] the presence
of highly trained soldiers

On the b*ttlefield of tollense
raises the stakes dramatically

And forces experts to
reevaluate bronze age warfare.

[dr. Karen] this was a skirmish
that involved short-range fighting

And long-range fighting. Introducing
technological advances to the b*ttlefield

Would have required new forms
of training to be more effective

In the emergence of a real warrior class.

In combination,

The presence of horses and sophisticated
metal weaponry at this b*ttlefield

Indicates that these bronze
weapon-wielding horse riders

Were some kind of officer elite, and if so,

This is classic military tactics.

[narrator] these revelations lead experts
to ask, "what could've sparked this battle?"

They consider the river close
to the epicenter of the conflict.

Divers search for clues amongst the silt.

[dr. Peter] here, there's an
unusually high concentration

Of artifacts in the water.
Many of the finds date

To the same period as the battle,
but some of them date much earlier,

Stretching back to the
neolithic, around 3000 bce.

[dr. Karen] this range of artifacts tells
us that this site was deeply significant

For some reason. People
kept coming back here.

But why?

[narrator] the answer emerges
in the gloomy depths of the river.

[dr. Peter] hidden beneath the
water surface are numerous oak posts

As well as a horizontal
and upright wooden structure

That formed some sort of bridge.

[narrator] in bronze age europe,

A reliable river crossing
would have been invaluable,

As important as the brooklyn bridge today.

But could this alone have sparked
europe's first organized battle?

[dr. Allan] this suggests
there was something

Really important about this area of land.

What other secrets
could this valley be hiding?

[narrator] investigators
are searching for clues

To explain what triggered
europe's first major battle.

The remains of a bronze age bridge
found in a river may unlock the mystery.

[dr. Karen] this was a long-standing
element in the landscape,

And it likely would have been
a really valuable strategic asset.

[narrator] but was it enough to
spark a bronze age bloodbath?

Geomagnetic surveys are
conducted in hope of further clues.

[dr. Peter] every material has
unique magnetic properties,

Even those we don't think
about as being magnetic.

Materials such as iron, brick, burnt soil,

Different types of rock can
all cause local disturbances

Within the earth's magnetic field.

[narrator] the cutting edge scan
winds the clock back thousands of years,

Revealing a series of
intriguing ancient features.

[dr. Karen] we see a
pathway over 350-feet-long

Running east to west and
flanked on either side by boulders.

[dr. Peter] there's also a smaller
path that leads off towards the river,

Which is near where the wooden
artifacts were found in the water.

These trails likely extended
up the eastern valley slope.

So when we take a step back

And we consider the
components discovered underwater

With the components discovered on land,

The picture we have is of a vital travel

And communication point spanning the river.

[narrator] evidence suggests this
bridge could have been the fulcrum

Of an extensive trade network
stretching across northern germany,

A vital intersection for bronze age traffic

Carrying goods and spreading wealth.

[dr. Peter] it's very probable
that people would have fought

To control that strategic passageway.

Men were willing to
travel hundreds of miles

To risk their lives for this.

[narrator] over 3,000 years

After bronze age warriors clashed,

This new scientific investigation
has finally revealed hard evidence

For what ignited the conflict and
created europe's first b*ttlefield.

Controlling this crossing
could have defined

The power structure of north-east germany

And the southern baltic coast at this time.

It would have been

An absolutely valuable resource
and definitely worth fighting for.

[narrator] the ancient
cemetery of phaleron, greece.

In 2016, archaeologists
uncover a series of pits

Filled with skeletons shackled together.

The skeletons' mouths are open

As if caught in a final scream of agony.

This is such a shocking sight.

Clearly, something
really dark happened here.

[narrator] at least 79
bound skeletons are found.

It's a sight witnessed in
no other greek cemetery

And leaves experts utterly baffled

Shackling the dead is not something that
the ancient greeks are known for doing.

The people in this grave must have
done something to end up in this state.

But what?

[narrator] now a new
investigation will attempt to explain

Why these victims were so cruelly treated

And reveal breakthrough
evidence for one of the most

Audacious power grabs in history.

Picking apart the bones
reveals a horrifying story.

This investigation is
not for the faint-hearted.

[narrator] 2,500 years ago,

The city state of athens is the
powerhouse of ancient greece,

A center of culture, science
and the birthplace of democracy.

Close by is phaleron, one of the largest
cemeteries ever excavated in greece.

[chelsea] this huge one-acre site is filled

With the bones from ancient athens.

There's around 1,800 bodies buried there.

[dr. Sascha] some of
the bodies were cremated.

Others have been stuffed into pots.

We even found one set of
remains that was buried with a boat.

[narrator] but the most
mysterious burial, by far,

Is the mass of skeletons shackled together.

[narrator] to try and uncover what
happened, the bones are sent for analysis.

We can tell the sex of an adult skeleton

By looking at the
characteristics of the pelvis.

The female pelvis is shorter
and wider than the male

And the foramen, the
hole in the middle, is bigger

Because she has to give birth.

The shape of the pelvis here tells us

That all 79 victims were
almost certainly male.

[narrator] next, the joints, spine and teeth
are examined to build a victim profile.

[carla] the results of
the bone analysis show

That these were men who
worked hard for a living.

But the teeth are in
generally good condition,

And this shows that they had a good diet,

So they're ranked higher
than sl*ves or commoners.

The spine, which can show
signs of where, is very useful

For giving indication
of age of the skeletons.

And these were all young adults.

[narrator] a picture is beginning to emerge

Of young, healthy men who
mysteriously died in shackles.

Now investigators want to find evidence
that could reveal how they died and why.

Analysis of the bone injuries
reveals horrifying details.

[carla] some of the skulls
show very severe skull fractures

From injuries that were caused
at or around the time of death.

And we know that because
bone does heal just like soft tissue.

If the bone hasn't had a chance
to heal, it's because it's dead.

[mark] clearly, these individuals
were shackled together

And then bludgeoned
to death and then buried.

They must have been ex*cuted.

And if we look at athenian
democracy at this time,

Execution was reserved
for very heinous crimes.

[narrator] athenian punishments could
sometimes be more lenient than other

Ancient cultures. They often
fined or imprisoned criminals.

And even murderers are given
the chance to flee into exile.

But some crimes are so serious that
death is the only possible sentence.

The death penalty in ancient
athens, would take different forms.

We know that some criminals, for example,

Were given a dose of
hemlock to ease their passing,

Almost like a form of lethal injection.

Others were given a bloodless crucifixion,
not like the one we have in the bible,

But then others were actually
brutally clubbed to death.

[narrator] but the circumstances
of the phaleron shackled skeletons

Suggests a crime of the worst kind.

[mark] what's really alarming
about this particular site

Is the fact that so many people are
clearly being ex*cuted at one time.

[carla] it suggests that these men were up
to no good and they were caught in the act.

But what was that act?

[narrator] investigators delve
further and get a shock as they unveil

One of the bloodiest
chapters of greek history.

These people were
involved in one of the greatest

Political scandals in the ancient world.

[narrator] scientists are
investigating a mass grave

Of shackled skeletons
uncovered in phaleron, greece.

They suspect these young
males may be criminals.

Now, a new discovery,
offers an intriguing clue.

[chelsea] in east row, row three, a man
has an arrowhead lodged in his chest.

He appears to have suffered a
non-lethal but severe wound to the chest.

Another skeleton was found to be
armed with a blade resting against his leg.

This suggests that these men were
involved in some kind of recent conflict.

[narrator] with the men's final hours
now seeming increasingly violent,

Bone samples are sent
for radiocarbon dating.

Putting a date on the skeletons
could tie them to a historical event.

But there's a problem.

[mark] normally, radiocarbon
dates are really accurate,

But we have to calibrate
the dates, and in this period,

In the early part of
the first millennium bc,

The calibration curve is very flat,
which means that any date that comes

From this period is extraordinarily
difficult to make more precise.

[chelsea] the results
indicate that these burials

Date to between the fifth
and the eighth century bc,

And that is a huge
span of time to work with.

It's a needle in a haystack.

[narrator] attention turns
instead to the artifacts

Buried alongside the shackled skeletons.

These may offer a more precise
date when the men were k*lled.

One of the corpses was
buried with two vases,

Which were vessels used
by the greeks for serving wine.

Known as oinochoe,

These vessels were often
used as part of the funeral rites

To help ease the passage of
the deceased soul into the afterlife.

But to archaeologists, they're
like a date stamp for the grave.

The dating of the jugs is probably the best
date we're going to get for this grave.

So that means that these bodies
were interred sometime between



[narrator] this is critical
evidence for archaeologists.

It allows them to picture the world
these men inhabited before their death.

Perhaps the modern view of
ancient athens was that it was a lovely,

Peace-loving place with
philosophers and democracy,

When, actually, it was a deeply
unstable place in which there were tyrants

And people bidding for power,
political intrigue and all sorts

Of horrible things going on,
particularly in the seventh century.

[dr. Sascha] right around this
time, athens becomes a place

Of more or less continuous civil unrest

As various aristocratic
families vie for dominance

In the athenian political system.

[narrator] investigators now wonder if
these men were caught up in the violence.

They scour the history books

And discover an infamous power grab.

The date coincides with the men's burial.

[narrator] it's known as the coup of cylon.

Cylon was a athenian nobleman
who had rose to prominence

Through his athletic prowess,

And he found a way to kind of use

That prowess to set up an attempted coup.

[chelsea] legend said
that an oracle told cylon

That an upcoming festival
would be the perfect time

To seize control of athens
and fulfill his destiny.

[narrator] cylon draws his
support from the ranks of young,

Middle class nobleman.
Men, just like the unearthed,

Shackled skeletons.

Around 632 bce,

These rebels make their move,
they storm into the acropolis,

And cylon declares himself
the dictator of athens.

Unfortunately, his attempted
coup did not go so well.

He overestimated his popularity as it were,

And as soon as people
in the outskirts of the town

Heard that he was trying
to set himself up as dictator,

They stormed into the city in an
effort to try to defend their democracy.

[mark] the conspirators on this rebellion
were defeated by the local athenians.

The historian plutarch describes how

The conspirators came out of the acropolis,

But they tied a rope to one of the statues

In the acropolis, and as they came out,

They believed that they
still had the protection

Of the gods, and plutarch

Then recounts how the
rope miraculously breaks,

And therefore breaking their sanctuary.

And this was the gods giving a sign, a
symbol that they could be duly ex*cuted.

[narrator] the coup of cylon

And the athenians' defense of
democracy has been written into legend,

But the conspirators final resting
place remained an enduring mystery.

Now, two and a half thousand years later,

Science may have found them here
in the ancient cemetery of phaleron

And helped close a bloody
chapter of athenian history.

The dating of the bodies
and the way they were buried

Is compelling evidence
that these shackled skeletons

Could have been ex*cuted
for their role in the coup of cylon.

[dr. Sascha] perhaps this is a chance
to think about the price of ambition,

Especially the price of political ambition,

That, you know, you're taking a great risk,

And if it turns out poorly, it
can turn out poorly indeed.

[narrator] north-eastern egypt...

Scene of one of the bible's

Most legendary tales,
moses parting the red sea.

Ancient historians are
known to mix fact and fiction

And to exaggerate historical events,

But often, these accounts
start out as real occurrences.

[narrator] now, can a new
investigation use super-computing

To bring the past to life...

One of the world's fastest supercomputers

Has simulated an ancient miracle.

[narrator]... And reveal
the scientific explanation

For one of the bible's greatest legends?

There's a great debate as to
the authenticity of these accounts.

[chelsea] is this a fanciful story designed

To illustrate the power of god
or is it based on real events?

[narrator] experts are searching
for a scientific explanation

To the ancient bible story in
which moses parts the red sea.

Moses is the leader of the hebrews who
are enslaved by the egyptian pharaohs,

And he is commanded by god to go
forth and free his people from bondage.

[narrator] moses attempts to
lead his people out of egypt,

But with the pharaoh's army
of 600 chariots in hot pursuit,

He finds his escape blocked by the red sea.

[dr. Karen] moses is stuck.

So what does moses do?

He asks god for intervention,
and god parted the red sea,

And through they went.

The water crashed back
down on pharaoh's army

Just as they tried to pursue.

Now this is a powerful and visceral image.

But did it really happen?

And if so, how?

[narrator] scientists at the national
center for atmospheric research

In colorado are determined to find out.

First, they need to know where
moses might have crossed.

This was long believed
to be at the gulf of suez,

But there is a possible
alternative location.

The hebrew bible refers to a body of water

Known as yam suph, which
translates roughly into sea of reeds.

It implies a much shallower setting

Where plants would grow in the water,

And perhaps that's the body
of water that moses crossed

Rather than the red sea.

[narrator] now, scientists
ask where a sea of reeds

Could have been
located and fix their sights

On another biblical region, the nile delta.

Geo archaeologists take
sediment core samples

From the delta to
reveal the river's history.

The core samples show that the
nile delta is a very dynamic place.

It actually changes shape as silt
is deposited across this huge area.

In the time of moses, the
nile delta had seven branches,

And on the eastern side
was the pelusiac branch.

We see that the pelusiac branch
of the nile emptied into lake tanis,

A brackish coastal lake
constrained by barrier islands

Bordering the mediterranean.

The lake of tanis could be the
body of water that moses crosses.

[narrator] this salty, shallow
lake is the perfect habitat

For a sea of reeds to grow.

To decipher whether the
lake of tanis was moses'

True escape route, experts
build a 3d computer model

Recreating this ancient terrain.

This offers a window into biblical egypt

And immediately throws
up an interesting feature.

There are two fingers of land reaching out,

As if trying to touch each
other, making a land bridge.

Is this where moses parted the water?

And if so, how did he do it?

[narrator] experts search
for a scientific explanation

And find a clue thousands of
miles from egypt's nile delta.

[dr. Sian] there's something
we see in the united states

Called wind setdown, and one
place that gets it bad is lake erie.

[narrator] straddling the border
between canada and the us,

Lake erie is frequently battered by
storm force winds that press down

On the surface of the
water, pushing it eastward.

[dr. Sian] you end up with shallow
water at the east end of the lake

And high waves battering the west end.

The locals call these waves seiches.

[narrator] meteorological
records from November 2019

Show powerful winds blasting lake erie,

Forcing a difference in water
level in excess of ten feet

From one side of the lake to the other.

[chelsea] never underestimate
the power of wind.

It is incredible to think
that sustained wind

Can reshape water across
thousands of square miles.

[narrator] now, investigators
look for evidence

Of wind setdown around egypt's nile delta

And discover an account
in british military records.

The obscure report describes lake manzala

Located close to the lake of tanis.

A major general of the british
army wrote that a strong wind

Blew in from the east. The following day,

The lake, around six feet deep,

Had totally disappeared.

This is a modern account of wind
setdown blowing the water away.

To the locals, this would
seem like a miracle.

[narrator] scientists now ask if wind setdown
could explain moses' parting of the waters.

To test their theory,
they use a supercomputer

To model the effects of
powerful winds on lake tanis.

[chelsea] modeling fluid dynamic
systems such as this with accuracy

Requires a lot of computer power.

They used the bluefire supercomputer
over 4,000 water-cooled processors

To simulate the complex atmospheric
conditions over the whole world.

[narrator] it takes almost three
hours to crunch the numbers.

In the forensic tech lab,
historian sascha auerbach

Has been given privileged
access to the end result.

This is the moment of truth.

The phenomenon of
wind setdown on lake tanis,

Is it fact or fiction?

Let's get this started.

Here's our model. Over
here, the mediterranean.

This area here, lake tanis.
The bluefire supercomputer

Is simulating a 60-mile-an-hour
wind blasting lake tanis

From the east for 12 hours.

You can already see the
waves starting to build up.

What happens when we scroll time forward?

All right. We're at the three-hour mark,

And things are getting pretty
wild out there on lake tanis.

Up here, the eastern seaboard
is starting to be exposed

By the blowing winds, but down here,

This dry finger of land
is growing by the minute.

It's extraordinary.

The storm force winds are
blowing so much water westwards

That the shallowest parts of lake tanis

Are being exposed.

The entire lake is steadily
sloshing westwards.

And boom,

There you have it, a
fully-formed land causeway

Nine hours into the simulation.

Let's pause it here and
there is your crossing point,

And if we measure it, it's two-miles-long

And it's going to last
for about four hours.

That's plenty of time for people
who are running for their lives to cross.

Then, as the wind dies,

The water reclaims the land
and things return to normal.

And there you have it,

One of the world's fastest supercomputers

Has simulated an ancient miracle,

And it's telling us it's possible

That the wind parted lake tanis.

[narrator] after 2,000
years of mystery, geology,

Fluid dynamics, meteorology,
and supercomputing

Finally offer a scientific theory
to explain a biblical legend.

In this case, we have a great
example of religion and science

Working hand in hand
to try to solve a mystery.

[narrator] but questions still
remain, and many scientists

Are holding out for more evidence.

The model shows us what's possible,
but we still lack the physical evidence

Of what actually happened.

[dr. Sian] if an entire
egyptian army was wiped out

By these churning waves,
we'd expect to find evidence.

So far, none has been found.

[narrator] south uist, scotland.

In 2001, archaeologists
excavating a prehistoric settlement

Are astonished when they unearth
four ancient mummified skeletons.

Mummifying bodies in
scotland, it doesn't make sense.

[dr. Karen] we've never
seen a shred of evidence

For this kind of ancient
practice in scotland before.

[narrator] now, groundbreaking
science is revealing the secrets

Of these unprecedented mummified bones.

Even though these mummies
are preserved as individual bodies,

They're each made up of the
remains of three different people.

[narrator] forcing experts
to ask new questions

About one of history's
most enigmatic peoples,

The druids.

This is our first glimpse

Into a new cultural
practice that we're aware of

In the ancient cultures of britain.

[dr. Karen] how did this even happen?

And what were these people
trying to accomplish by doing it?

[narrator] scientists are
trying to explain the discovery

Of scotland's first-ever
mummified skeletons.

They're found on the hebridean island

Of south uist, a historic chunk of rock

That's been inhabited for 10,000 years.

The hebridean islands are not everyone's

Idea of a perfect vacation,
but they're covered

With amazing archaeological remains.

[narrator] vikings, celts,
and ancient scottish lords

Have all left a mark in the
archaeological landscape.

But excavations of a bronze age settlement

At the south end of the
island reveal human remains

Unlike anything seen in scotland before.

[chelsea] these bodies
appear to be mummified.

This type of burial isn't
just unusual for britain,

It's totally unique.

[narrator] unlike the mummies in ancient
egypt, kept dry in tombs or sarcophagi,

The mummies of scotland
are buried underground.

Damp conditions in the soil
have allowed hair and skin

To break down and disappear over time.

But the fetal position
of the remaining bones

Is evidence of preservation.

With nothing left to hold them together,

Bones often shift as the
earth moves around them,

Which leaves archaeologists to
have to piece them back together.

But these bodies aren't
the usual jumble of bones,

They're articulated and well-ordered.

This is clear evidence that
these bodies went through

Some sort of preservation
shortly after their death.

[narrator] to test this theory,

Some bones are sent to be ct-scanned.

The results will confirm if the
bodies were intentionally preserved.

Buried bones show signs of
something called tunneling,

Which is the bacteria tunneling
in and eroding the bones away.

[narrator] ct scans of unpreserved bones

Reveal a labyrinth of
branching bacterial tunnels.

These show up as dark, marbled
regions throughout the eroded bones,

But the south uist mummies
are strikingly different.

In the case of the remains here,

We do see the beginning
of the process of tunneling.

But then the remains have been subjected

To something that
essentially halts that process.

This is clear evidence
of an intentional strategy

To halt the process of decomposition.

What we have here is
obviously mummification.

[chelsea] there's no history of mummification
in this part of the world whatsoever.

It's like finding a corvette
in the middle of the amazon,

It does not make sense.

[narrator] the bones are
studied for further clues,

Revealing evidence that
their chemical structure

Has been changed through
contact with an acidic environment.

[dr. Karen] now, the nearest acidic
environment during the bronze age

Would have been a series of peat
bogs, and that's a really compelling clue.

[carla] bronze age scots used to use
peat bogs to preserve some types of food,

But could they have used them to
preserve and mummify human bodies?

[narrator] there is no history

Of peat bog mummification
anywhere in scotland,

But in mainland europe,
it's a different story.

Hundreds of these bog
bodies have been found

Throughout mainland
europe, mainly in the iron age.

Walkers in scandinavia in 1950

Stumbled upon a frozen
body that looked so realistic

With its wrinkles and
his three-day-old beard

That they thought he was a m*rder victim.

But in actual fact, it was a bog mummy.

[narrator] but there is no trace of skin
or flesh left on the south uist skeletons,

So to test whether they were
actually preserved in a bog,

Bio archaeologists study
the surface of the bones.

When a body is placed into a peat bog,
the bones inside become de-mineralized

To some degree, and the bones in
south uist were found to be de-mineralized

Just to the measurement of .08 inches.

[narrator] the shallow demineralization
is evidence the bodies were submerged

In a peat bog, but not permanently.

Tests reveal the bodies were left
between six and eighteen months,

Just long enough to preserve the bones.

But then, in a twist not seen in other bog

Body discoveries, they
were removed and re-buried.

This is a bizarre chain of events.

It doesn't make any sense,
and it still doesn't tell us

Why these bodies were mummified.

[narrator] the unprecedented
scottish mummies

Keep getting stranger, and
as scientists delve deeper,

They make a horrifying discovery.

What's really crazy about the female mummy

Is that she has a woman's
torso, but she has a man's head.

What's going on here?

[narrator] on an island off
scotland, archaeologists have found

The first-ever examples of
mummified remains in britain.

Tests reveal they were preserved

In a local peat bog, but the
motives remain unknown.

[chelsea] these mummies
are a groundbreaking discovery.

What is going on here?

[narrator] bone experts study the
remains for further clues and notice

The jaw of the female mummy
seems too large for her skull.

They send two mummies for dna analysis

And the results take everyone by surprise.

Even though these mummies

Are preserved as
individual bodies, they are

Each made up of the remains
of three different people.

[narrator] the male mummy
has the body of one man,

The head of another,
and the jaw of a third.

But the female mummy is even more bizarre.

[dr. Sheila] what's really crazy
is that she has a woman's torso,

But she has an entirely
different woman's arm.

She's completely missing one
of her knees, and weirdest of all,

She has a man's head.

[chelsea] someone has taken
on the role of dr. Frankenstein

When preparing these
mummies, taking different parts

And creating single hybrid mummies.

[narrator] to try and explain

This gruesome arrangement of bones,

Samples from the mummies and their
graves are sent for radiocarbon dating.

[dr. Allan] often, archaeologists will do

Radiocarbon dating on the bones in a burial

And also on organic remains in the burial,

And typically, they tend
to be about the same date.

In this case, the dates are very different.

[narrator] tests reveal that the bones of
the male hybrid mummy are from 1600 bce.

The female mummy is younger, from 1300 bce,

But both date to the time of an
ancient people known as the druids.

[sheila] now, the druids served as
the wisemen, the brain trust of the celts.

They were adjudicators.

They were political advisors.

They were even magicians and shamans.

So they had a view into the other world

Through their magic.

The great roman general, julius caesar,
was somewhat in awe of the druids.

In 54 bc, he spoke of their
hunger for human sacrifice,

Their worship of the dead
and their belief in immortality.

[narrator] further radiocarbon
dating reveals another surprise.

The druids did not bury these
mummies until around 1000 bce,

Hundreds of years after they died.

[dr. Karen] the people in this
particular scottish community

Seem to have kept their dead close
at hand for an extended period of time.

And this is actually a practice which
we see across many ancient civilizations.

[narrator] but there is little known
evidence of this type of ritual treatment

Of the dead in ancient scotland.

The discovery offers a new theory
about the rituals of the mysterious druids.

The evidence seems to suggest
that the druids created these mummies

As a means or a link for direct
communication with divine ancestors,

And it's possible that they
may have kept these mummies

In their own mummy houses
for as long as several centuries.

[narrator] but just as
the ideas gain traction,

Archaeologists make a discovery
that forces them to think again.

They find the female
mummy's missing kneecap.

Not in the burial pit under the house,

But in an older grave dating to the time

Of her mummification, around 1300 bce.

This tells us something
about the sequence of events,

That these individuals were
buried and then their bodies

Were taken out of the burial
pit and then put in the ground

Under the construction
of a new druid house.

Typically, that's done for
purposes of ancestor worship.

The idea of a hybrid mummy in this case

May have been to combine the
bones of an array of different ancestors.

[dr. Shelia] it may not have mattered whose
arm was whose or even whose head was whose.

The really important thing was that you had

A full and complete ancestor skeleton

To serve as the symbol for you,

Especially if you're going to put it

In a place like underneath a resident.

[narrator] 3000 years after
these mummies were assembled,

Science has finally revealed how and why.

Now, archeologists are
re-evaluating other remains

From the same period of british history.

[chelsea] bronze age bones from
kent, dorset, and cambridgeshire

All show similar signs of
preservation as the scottish mummies.

And that suggests that these bones
could have been mummified, too.

[dr. Karen] these grave sites that we typically
would think were run-of-the-mill areas

Might actually turn out to be
the sites of mummification as well,

And we have our findings at
the south uist site to thank for that.