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00:00The Roman army invades the British Isles.
00:08Those who resist the empire face total annihilation.
00:14Romans had to go on slaughtering every living thing, including dogs, until the commander
00:18said stop.
00:25In the highlands of Scotland, General Julius Agricola pursues a coalition of tribal warriors.
00:31He can hardly wait to tear the enemy to shreds.
00:37Often on the march, when mountains and rivers were wearing out your strength, did I hear
00:42our bravest men exclaim, when shall we have the enemy before us?
00:50Agricola gets his answer sooner than he thinks.
00:57It comes from the native peoples of the British Isles, known as the Britons.
01:02At a site called Mons Gropius, they confront an empire that seeks to enslave them.
01:13The Romans are outnumbered.
01:15Each soldier will have to kill three Britons to survive, but that's okay with the rank
01:20and file.
01:22Death is their business, and today, business is good.
01:50From Scotland to North Africa, Roman military strategy shared something in common with the
02:0320th century blitzkrieg.
02:07Showing mercy to the enemy was low on the wish list of generals like Agricola, but what
02:12about the Roman soldiers?
02:14Were they men or monsters, a band of brothers, or little more than well-trained stormtroopers?
02:24Archaeologists dig for the truth at a site called Vindolanda, among them, Andrew Burley.
02:33Here in northern England, he probes a jumble of stone and bog for insights into Roman conquest.
02:41The best things at working at Vindolanda on this site is the fact that it's very physically
02:46and mentally demanding, very challenging.
02:48On the other hand, Vindolanda is the sort of site which always gives you a reward and
02:52always gives you a surprise.
02:56Over decades of occupation, several garrisons were constructed here, one built on top of
03:06the other.
03:10Between the slices of this Roman sandwich lies an archaeological banquet.
03:18Aqueducts feed water to an honest-to-goodness Roman bath.
03:24There's the fort's slaughterhouse, complete with a runoff gutter for blood.
03:33Sprinkled generously through the strata of muck is an astonishing array of artifacts,
03:40jewelry that shines like new, and coins in mint condition.
03:52The word Vindolanda means shimmering lawn, a deceptive name for a desolate outpost at
03:58the edge of the known world.
04:03In the first century A.D., the mighty Roman Empire stretches from the Middle East to the
04:08British Isles.
04:19But here, in the rugged Scottish hills of Mons Graupius, the Roman advance hits the
04:25wall.
04:27Eleven tribes of Britain warriors take the high ground.
04:37Skilled at making bronze into weapons, the Britons wear blue war paint extracted from
04:42wildfire.
04:47Their leader, Calgacus, pegs Rome's intentions for what they are.
04:52We, the last free men, have been shielded till today by the very remoteness for which
04:57we are famed.
04:58But today, the boundary of Britain is exposed.
05:02Beyond lies nothing but waves and rocks and the Romans.
05:07Where they make a desert, they call it peace.
05:15Outnumbered or not, Roman General Agricola has Calgacus' warriors exactly where he wants
05:20them.
05:21He is here now, driven from his lyre, and your wishes and valour have free scope.
05:30Everything favours the conqueror.
05:50To save their skins, Roman soldiers now rely on a strict sequence of precision tactics.
06:04Maneuvers that pay off when Britain marksmen launch a barrage of javelins.
06:08No problem.
06:12The Romans create a defensive shell called the tortoise.
06:17The Britons have no such animal.
06:20They were up against a highly disciplined army, luring the enemy on.
06:35This was the Roman army's great success, winning battles out in the open.
06:51In spite of bigger swords and superior numbers, the closer the Britons get to the Romans,
06:57the further from victory the Britons fall.
07:2410,000 tribesmen are slaughtered.
07:38Those who survive lay waste to their own villages, according to this account.
07:44An awful silence reigned.
07:47The hills were deserted, houses were smoking in the distance, and our scouts did not meet
07:54a soul.
08:00The Britons despise and fear Agricola's legions more than death itself.
08:07Retreating warriors set fire to their own homes.
08:15Wives and children are killed to keep them out of Roman hands.
08:24But who are these men they fear, the heartless agents of empire, imperial robots, invincible in battle?
08:38For one thing, they are not immune to the ravages of war.
08:44While the Romans take only 360 casualties, many are more dead than alive.
08:53Fresh recruits are shipped to the front to replace Roman casualties.
09:03One of these soldiers, ancient record show, was named Messicus.
09:09He could have been as young as 18 and most likely was unmarried.
09:23For soldiers like Messicus, the only refuge lies within garrisons like Vindolanda, just
09:28one of a series of forts along Rome's last frontier.
09:34Awaiting him inside were creature comforts, dry beds and barracks to name a few.
09:43But was there a sense of family among this band of brothers?
09:51For Andrew Burley, family has everything to do with Vindolanda.
09:57Starting in the 1930s, Burley family members have excavated the site season after season.
10:05The Burley clan is supported by a dedicated staff, volunteers and visiting experts.
10:15Conditions here require a redefinition of the term dirt archaeology.
10:21The term dirt is for wimps.
10:23Vindolanda has Frankenstein dirt and it's always sopping wet.
10:36The British climate can be a real killer.
10:38This year in particular is one of the wettest years on record.
10:41You can turn up to work in the morning and face a swim pool more often than not.
10:48In the sea of Roman mud, the spirits of the crew are kept afloat by the promise of new discoveries.
10:57Andrew's dad, Robin Burley, roots through knee-deep muck for a whiff of Roman life.
11:03You can actually smell the Romans.
11:06Ah, beautiful.
11:09It's a combination of, I don't know, old socks and body odors and things.
11:16Excavators, when they come onto the site, they can normally smell this smell of a hundred yards away
11:20and they know where we're operating.
11:22Wonderful smell. We love it.
11:29The handle from a flagon is a clue that alcohol was available,
11:33a substance that served a number of tasks.
11:38For Messickus, a big gulp of spirits helps deaden the hardships of the front lines.
11:46For others, it helps numb the pain of mangled limbs.
11:57Evidence suggests opium was mixed with alcohol to create an anesthetic cocktail,
12:02a brew as potentially lethal for the patient as the surgical procedure that followed.
12:08Among Burley's most compelling finds are medical tweezers,
12:13a silver probe to open wounds,
12:16and this bronze blade, the instrument of last resort.
12:24It was the dread of every fighting man of the empire.
12:28For somebody with serious wounds, what capacity they would have for surgery,
12:33effective surgery, I rather doubt.
12:36It would be a case of amputation, I'm sure.
12:39It was the dread of every fighting man of the empire.
12:42For somebody with serious wounds, what capacity they would have for surgery,
12:47effective surgery, I rather doubt.
12:50It would be a case of amputation, I'm sure.
13:09It would be a case of amputation, I'm sure.
13:18Severed limbs and the lives of men feed the insatiable fires of Roman ambition.
13:27This cruel reality was not lost on the average soldier.
13:31Messickus and his brothers were replaceable parts of the Roman war machine.
13:40Piece by bloody piece, its inner workings and broken cogs surface at Vindolanda.
14:04The common foot soldier is the foundation of the Roman army,
14:09and what he wore on his feet is the most common find at Vindolanda.
14:14Ah, that's a nice one, Andrew. That's a nice one.
14:18It's the posh officer's sandal.
14:22You know, that's expensive in any language, cutting all that very careful open work there.
14:28All the money is in the uppers.
14:30We always say that Vindolanda's got everything that Pompeii and Herculaneum haven't got.
14:35I think Pompeii has got three or four bits and pieces of Roman shoes,
14:39but we've got over 3,000 of them.
14:45Some 500,000 artifacts serve as archaeological pixels.
14:50Composited together, they form dim snapshots from the private lives of men like Messickus.
14:57An iron awl used to tighten the leather straps of his armor.
15:02A sewing kit to mend his tunic.
15:05A comb to part his hair.
15:09And this iron knife, its maker's name proudly stamped into the blade.
15:15All found in Vindolanda's gnarly nooks and crannies.
15:19What sort of thing are you hoping to find in this one?
15:21I'd love to find some late 4th century material for this one.
15:25Once you go down there, you're not coming back out again.
15:29Just how these treasures were found is the stuff of family folklore.
15:34My wife was writing a thesis on Roman spoons and,
15:37blow me down, she finds the best spoon here.
15:40I mean, cynics would say she planted it herself.
15:43Some people say I've got a golden touch,
15:45but really, you know, it's a question of how much work you do.
15:49Andrew Burley sees a kind of archaeological voodoo at work.
15:54The site will only seem to reward one member of the family at a time.
15:59So if all four of us are working on the site at the same time,
16:02we won't find anything.
16:04As soon as three of us go somewhere else and leave one alone,
16:07then that person will make a sensational find.
16:10But that's just the way it goes.
16:15And that's just how it went for Andrew's dad one sensational day.
16:20A find that literally spoke volumes on life at Vindolanda,
16:24a discovery that turned Roman archaeology on its head.
16:28If I have to spend the rest of my life working in dirty, waterlogged trenches,
16:33I will never again experience the thrill that I experienced that memorable day.
16:39Freed from the clammy grip of the bog came messages from vanished men.
16:46I noticed some rather slimy bits of wood,
16:49some very thin sheets of wood, rather slimy.
16:52I thought, well, that's odd for carpenters' shavings,
16:55and just quietly peeled them apart.
16:57I couldn't believe my eyes.
17:03Hidden beneath a cover of mud were written words
17:07lost to the world for 2,000 years.
17:11Mesachus and his brothers had broken ranks with the past
17:15and delivered to archaeologists messages from a lost world.
17:27The priceless Roman letters discovered by the Burleys
17:30were rushed to an expert in ancient inscriptions some 40 miles away.
17:35But the journey to the past was not easy.
17:39But the journey to the past had ended before it began.
17:44When the shavings were unpacked, the words had vanished.
17:54All the writing had gone. It was just absolutely blank.
18:00It was an archaeologist's forced nightmare.
18:03But the Burleys didn't give up.
18:05A closer examination of the shavings
18:07revealed microscopic traces of carbon-based ink,
18:11a substance the Burleys could see through infrared photography.
18:21Ancient histories of the Roman invasion of Britain
18:24mention only a few generals and governors.
18:29Now, written in their own hand,
18:31came the names and origins of some 600 Romans at Vindolanda.
18:46Virtually everybody, as far as we can tell,
18:48in that early period up here, are literate.
18:55We know there was a doctor here called Marcus.
19:01And opium is one of many substances
19:04which we have got mentioned on a writing tablet.
19:10Even the soldier Messicus is heard from.
19:13I, Messicus, ask my lord that you consider me a worthy person
19:18to whom to grant leave at Coria.
19:21Writing on a thin wooden shaving with a metal stylus,
19:24Messicus begs his commanding officer for a breather.
19:28The odds are he had a brother or a close friend
19:31in another regiment that he wanted to visit
19:34and sort of go to the pub with for a few days.
19:43Today, the remains of the fort Messicus longed to escape
19:47are excavated with help from volunteers.
19:52Urging them on is a family hooked on the past.
19:58I've got five children.
20:00I tried to persuade all five that there were
20:02various honest ways of earning money,
20:05and one of them wasn't archaeology.
20:07The Burley family has been excavating the site on and off
20:10for, well, 70 or 80 years, really.
20:16It started with Andrew's grandfather, Eric,
20:19who bought the site in 1929.
20:23The rest is family history.
20:26I was born and brought up here.
20:28When I was born, my father was excavating the headquarters building.
20:31And I just loved the place, and I was always fascinated
20:34to know what was actually going on here.
20:37It certainly is a tremendous experience to find something
20:41and know that you're the first person to have touched it
20:44for the best part of 2,000 years.
20:47It's wonderful to be able to handle all of these things,
20:50the excitement when the excavation's going on.
20:53Andy better have a look at this.
20:55Here you go.
20:57Oh, now that is definitely an ink writing tablet that you've got there.
21:02See how thin it is? And it's got a slightly oily sheen to it.
21:06And just in the corner here, there's a little notch in the wood,
21:09and that's where they string the different leaves together.
21:12There aren't very many about.
21:14And that little thing there could rewrite history.
21:16Fantastic.
21:17Very, very, very carefully pop that into water,
21:20and then we'll get that down to the lab
21:22in a couple of hours' time, and it can start its conservation.
21:32Andrew's mother, Patricia Burley, takes over from there.
21:36To free the tablets from the sticky bog
21:39requires the patience of a saint and the touch of a surgeon.
21:44When something's been in the ground for as long as 2,000 years,
21:48it's very, very fragile indeed.
21:50You can feel the brush going through the tablet
21:53and onto your fingers beneath.
21:55It's also been burnt in antiquity, so it's very, very black indeed.
22:02The writing tablets are conserved using methylated spirits,
22:07and the ink is preserved beautifully.
22:10It really is a handshake with the past.
22:13You can start to relate to people and think about their daily lives.
22:21But how did these fragile handshakes,
22:23these letters to and from the Roman front,
22:26get here in the first place?
22:29Archaeological surveys reveal the Romans are rhodoholics.
22:3450,000 miles of paved thoroughfares
22:37link the far edges of the empire
22:39to the officers and grunts of Vindolanda.
22:45Here, Messicus and his mates
22:47appeal to faraway friends and family
22:49for what amount to care packages.
22:53One man begs for clothing,
22:55not for himself, but for his men.
22:58I greet you and ask that you send the things
23:01which I need for the use of my boys.
23:03Six tunics, which you well know
23:05I cannot properly get hold of here.
23:09Another soldier vents his disappointment
23:11when his letters home have gone unanswered.
23:15Very many greetings.
23:17I want you to know I am in very good health,
23:20as I hope you are, you neglectful man
23:23who has sent me not one letter.
23:31Needless to say,
23:32even the smallest of mail deliveries are major deals.
23:39The letters from Vindolanda have helped historians
23:41peek into some mysterious corners of Roman life,
23:44whether they wanted to or not.
23:46For instance, have you ever wondered
23:49whether Roman soldiers wore anything under those tunics?
23:52Well, you're in luck.
23:59And now a letter from home
24:00answers the question once and for all.
24:03It reads as follows.
24:05Greet Tetricus and all your messmates,
24:07with whom I pray that you live in the greatest of good fortune.
24:11I have sent you socks from Satua,
24:13two pairs of sandals, and two pairs of underpants.
24:24And when you get down to socks and underpants,
24:26you're getting pretty close to the nitty gritty.
24:34Along with the mail comes the occasional retailer.
24:39In most cases, these traders are Romans
24:42who have followed the army here from Europe.
24:46Letters found at Vindolanda
24:47show that foot soldiers had major cash flow problems.
24:52They only get paid twice a year or three times a year at the most,
24:56and the sort of coins they're getting paid in
24:58are the sort of coins I've got in my hand right here,
25:01beautiful little copper alloy coins.
25:03According to one letter, without cold cash,
25:06Messicus and his brothers are plum out of luck.
25:10Unless you send me some cash, at least 500 denarii,
25:14the result will be that I shall lose what I have laid out on deposit
25:18and I shall be embarrassed.
25:23While Messicus struggles to make ends meet,
25:26his commanding officer, Flavius Serialis,
25:29earns about 50 times more.
25:32We know an awful lot about him.
25:33We've got 80 or 90 of his letters now,
25:35and I can tell you his wife, his children,
25:37names of his wife, his children, his friends.
25:40Like a soap opera, this letter we've ever found.
25:43Letters found at Vindolanda
25:44reveal that Flavius and his men were not from Rome.
25:48In fact, they weren't even Roman.
25:51They hailed from Batavia,
25:53what is called the Netherlands today.
25:57A Roman historian said,
25:58the Batavians were like weapons and armor,
26:02only to be used in war.
26:05They had some tremendous skills which the Romans valued,
26:08like they could swim across rivers fully armed,
26:12leading their horses with them.
26:15The Romans also used them to win the Battle of Mons Graupus.
26:29When he's not stalking Britons,
26:31Commander Flavius Serialis hunts while game.
26:34A letter tells just how.
26:37Greetings.
26:38If you love me, brother,
26:40I ask that you send me some hunting nets.
26:43You should make the pieces very strong.
26:46I mean, our commanding officer
26:47has four different kinds of special nets
26:50for catching small birds, medium-sized birds, swans even.
26:56After a long day on the hunting grounds,
26:58Flavius lives the high life.
27:00Shopping lists discovered at Vindolanda
27:02show he dined on fresh oysters and vintage wines.
27:06Cheers.
27:09Flavius is allowed to bring his family to the frontier.
27:12His wife, named Lepidina, dresses fashionably.
27:18His children have a private tutor to school them
27:21in a classical Roman education.
27:23The Burleys unearthed a fragment
27:25of Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid,
27:28written in a child's hand.
27:31When they saw the translation,
27:32they were astonished to find something more
27:35than just a Latin lesson.
27:36...the normal capital, inter aer,
27:38pavidam, volitem, spinata,
27:40then it should have said per urbem,
27:42then someone in totally different handwriting.
27:44You see here, S-E-G, short for segnata, sloppy work.
27:49He's done pretty well, poor chap,
27:51but then he's gone wrong,
27:52and no doubt he got a crack over the head
27:54from the teacher who wrote sloppy on it.
27:59While Flavius enjoys the good life,
28:02his soldiers at the fort take time off for bad behavior.
28:13Discoveries at the fort open a steamy new chapter
28:16on the fast life at the Roman front.
28:21At Vindolanda, hanky-panky and personal hygiene
28:25coexist at the bathhouse.
28:28Every Roman fort worth its salt had a bathhouse.
28:32Now, bathhouses are two things.
28:35They're obviously for bathing,
28:37but it's also where you go in your off-duty hours
28:41to let off steam.
28:44And after a hot dip,
28:46nothing hits the spot better than a brewski.
28:50An officer's letter confirms that Mesichus and his pals
28:53have a powerful thirst for beer.
28:56Be well disposed toward me.
28:59My fellow soldiers have no beer.
29:01Please order some to be sent.
29:06But somewhere along the line,
29:07Vindolanda's party animals get fed up with making beer runs.
29:12A brewery is built just outside the fort.
29:15The Burleys even found inventory lists
29:18of the grains used to make beer
29:20and the name of the brewer, Atractus.
29:24British beer is supposed to smell absolutely disgusting,
29:27but I suppose once you've drank nine or ten pints,
29:30it doesn't really matter.
29:32Roman soldiers also find ways to satisfy their libidos
29:36while stationed here.
29:38At Vindolanda, it's quite clear that
29:40there were times during the day
29:42when those bars were thrown open to the civilians.
29:45There is evidence for prostitution,
29:48although they didn't call it that.
29:51Instead of calling these working girls prostitutes,
29:54Romans politely refer to them as actresses.
30:02While casual sex is tolerated on the frontier,
30:05at least one Roman emperor tries to keep the lid on things.
30:10He decrees that no place of entertainment
30:12may be built too close to garrison walls.
30:16The fact that he issued the edict so many times
30:18shows that no one was paying any attention to him whatsoever.
30:21I don't think they were obsessed with sex.
30:23I think they were actually very much open about sex.
30:30Artifacts discovered at Vindolanda bear this out.
30:34This figurine celebrates the female form.
30:39And these small phallic-shaped pendants
30:41leave nothing to the imagination
30:43of perhaps who wore them and where.
30:47This item has nothing to do with sex,
30:49but everything to do with fun and games in the bathhouse.
30:54The Roman soldiers are notorious for their gambling.
30:57We find traces of that in parts of gaming boards
31:01and, of course, dice.
31:02And it's one of those objects from the Roman period
31:04that you could pick up and use in exactly the same way today.
31:10Along with beer and actresses
31:12came the occasional game of Roman craps.
31:18One pair of ancient dice proves
31:19that some players made their own luck.
31:22It's very evident on a few that they have got
31:24little lead plugs and little lead fills,
31:26which means that they roll five or six
31:29practically every time.
31:30So there's obviously a bit of cheating going on.
31:36On the frontier, rip-offs are common.
31:40We often get weights and measures
31:42which say they're one thing and definitely are not.
31:46Whether it's spoiled wine or a tipped scale,
31:49getting caught cheating is not taken lightly.
31:53In Roman cities, committing robbery
31:55could bring a sentence of crucifixion.
31:58Even offenses like bribery or slander could result in death.
32:04Out on the frontier,
32:06justice was dispensed by local garrison commanders.
32:12Roman army punishment is usually very straightforward.
32:14Your company commanders all have as their basic badge of office
32:19a vine stick, and they use it.
32:26Punishments for even the smallest crimes are severe,
32:29both for soldiers and civilians.
32:33One letter discovered at Vindolanda
32:35is a personal appeal from a merchant.
32:39For the crime of cheating his customers,
32:41he faces a brutal whipping.
32:50As befits an honest man,
32:51I implore your mercifulness not to allow me,
32:54a man from overseas and an innocent one,
32:57about whose good faith you may inquire,
32:59to have been bloodied by rods as if I had committed a crime.
33:05The plea for mercy is denied.
33:11The Burleys are intrigued by a single phrase within the letter
33:14where the merchant refers to himself as a man from overseas.
33:19I'm a man from overseas.
33:21That's a very interesting statement, that,
33:23because what he's saying is, look, I'm a proper Roman.
33:27Beatings are for Brits, not for people like me.
33:31Roman oppression of native people
33:33may well have included atrocities far worse than whippings.
33:40Recently, new and chilling evidence emerged from the bog.
33:46Staring excavators in the face
33:48was the skull of a decapitated man.
33:56A small set of almost panic swept across my face
33:59because I really wasn't expecting anything of that sort to be there.
34:17In spite of their defeat at Mons Graupius,
34:20the Britons remain a constant threat to the Romans
34:23since the end of the first century.
34:27All hope for peace has been shattered,
34:29and we now know the soldiers here
34:31had more to worry about than just their own lives.
34:37When archaeologists excavate a barracks,
34:40they discover the men of Vindolanda
34:42had made yet another adaptation to the frontier.
34:45You'd expect a squad of eight men in each of these rooms,
34:48but when we analyzed the finds from these rooms,
34:51another expert analyzed the finds.
34:54She reported that in two of the rooms,
34:57most of the footwear belonged to women and children.
35:02Roman soldiers had taken common-law wives and started families.
35:08And that really knocks on the head
35:10the idea of this poor old Roman soldier
35:13having to do his own mending and washing and everything.
35:16They gave word of it.
35:25Queen of them all was Vindolanda's fashion diva,
35:28the commander's wife, Sulpicia Lepidina.
35:35We know quite a bit about Lepidina from the writing tablets.
35:40She's just a little bit vain, I think.
35:42She's got a very nice, neat foot.
35:45She has her shoes imported from a very expensive shoemaker in Gaul.
35:52Lepidina led an active social life and had close friends.
35:56A party invitation sent by the wife of the commander of a nearby fort
36:01is both sophisticated and deeply felt.
36:04Greetings.
36:05I send you a warm invitation to come to us on September 11th
36:09for my birthday celebrations
36:11to make my day more enjoyable by your presence.
36:14Farewell, sister, my dearest soul.
36:18While Lepidina fills her social calendar,
36:22Mesachus and his brothers hone their survival skills.
36:27To find the enemy's weak points,
36:29they practice with wooden mock-ups of the long-britain swords.
36:34Javelin practice is also a must.
36:38Fixed with sharp-tempered points, their shafts bend on impact,
36:43making them difficult to pull out of a wound.
36:53This ancient target attests to the deadly aim of Roman javelin jockeys.
36:58They would get something like an ox skull like this,
37:01stick it on a pole, cut all sorts of little holes,
37:05bang straight into it.
37:08Javelins may have also played a role
37:10in early attempts at psychological warfare.
37:14One javelin, found at Vindolanda,
37:16has a mysterious hole in the point.
37:21When this is really thrown hard,
37:25the head will rotate,
37:27and it'll probably give off a little whistling noise,
37:30which I suppose adds to the effect of terror.
37:38For enemies of Rome, terror extends beyond death itself.
37:46The Batavians practice a gruesome tradition on the battlefield,
37:50taking heads for souvenirs.
37:54At the dig site, the Burleys find possible confirmation
37:57of this savage ritual.
38:00Well, you've got half a skull. Where's the other half?
38:02We're going to have it analyzed,
38:04we're going to test to see whether the person has been
38:07scalped alive and then killed,
38:10or has had the hair removed after death.
38:15Such atrocities only stiffen Britain's resistance
38:18to the Roman invaders.
38:22But in 117 A.D., the Britons finally get some good news.
38:28Ironically, it comes from the heart of Rome itself.
38:34Emperor Trajan, the architect of imperial domination, has died.
38:42Rome had seemed as hard and invincible
38:44as its canyons of marble and stone.
38:48Now the death of Trajan runs like a crack through the foundation.
38:53All around the frontiers, all the people on the fringes
38:56rose against Rome or rose in rebellion,
38:59and this included the Britons.
39:05Near Vindolanda, tribal leaders do their best
39:08to tarnish the gleam of Roman might in the eyes of their warriors.
39:13The gods have delivered them into our hands.
39:15Be not frightened of the idle display,
39:18the glitter of gold and of silver,
39:20which can neither protect nor wound.
39:27As the Britons' resistance intensifies,
39:30more complex weapons are issued to the men of Vindolanda.
39:34One of the most effective is the ballista,
39:37a lethal anti-personnel weapon originally developed by the Greeks.
39:44Cocked like a giant crossbow,
39:46it fires iron-tipped bolts through the air
39:48at speeds of 150 feet per second.
39:52The impact is so powerful, the missiles pierce heavy armor.
39:57But for Messicus and his mates,
39:59finding human targets will be the problem.
40:05The Britons now avoid the open battlefield.
40:09They fight a hit-and-run war,
40:11picking off the Romans one by one.
40:16Native tactics so incensed the Romans,
40:19one soldier vents his disgust in a letter found at Vindolanda.
40:23Their cavalry do not use swords,
40:25nor do the wretched Britunculi take up fixed positions
40:28in order to throw javelins.
40:32There's this extraordinary expression,
40:34a previously unknown word, Britunculi,
40:37which you have to regard as either pathetic little Brits
40:40or nasty little Brits.
40:42And then it says the little Brits
40:44can't sit up properly to hurl their javelins.
40:49The Britons have found the fatal flaw in Roman strategy.
40:57Now, Messicus and his brothers face a new enemy, themselves.
41:03Where they couldn't cope
41:05is exactly the same as where modern armies can't cope.
41:09They can't defend themselves.
41:11They can't defend themselves.
41:13They can't defend themselves.
41:16It's exactly the same as where modern armies can't cope,
41:19and that is guerrilla warfare in mountainous, forested regions.
41:26The Britons have become invisible.
41:29To find them, Messicus and his brothers
41:31are forced to leave the open battlefield.
41:34In this new realm, the element of superior force
41:37comes in a poor second to the element of surprise.
41:46Ah!
41:54The Romans are thrown off guard by the fury of their enemy.
42:04Death with honor is their only solace,
42:07a code defined by the Roman general Agricola.
42:11There is no greater and honorable death
42:13than a life of shame and safety,
42:15and it would be no inglorious end
42:17to perish on the extreme confines of earth and nature.
42:34Guerrilla warfare takes its toll on Messicus and his comrades.
42:39It's also had a brutalizing impact
42:41on life inside Vindolanda itself.
42:44You've just got the head thrown in a ditch
42:46with the domestic rubbish,
42:48which, quite frankly, is appalling.
42:51Additional finds lead the Burleys
42:53to rethink the grisly mystery of the severed head.
42:57They begin to wonder whether the skull belongs to a Roman
43:00murdered by one of his own.
43:03We can see the horrific injuries
43:05that this person has sustained in the last moments of it.
43:08This person's life, in particular,
43:10is this fairly clean cut to the right-hand side of the skull,
43:15but also very visible.
43:17The other side of the head was repeatedly attacked
43:20with a blunt instrument while the person was falling.
43:24At the scene of the crime, another lead emerges.
43:29Excavators find a second set of bones,
43:32the skeleton of a small dog
43:35found lying right next to the human skull.
43:39Britons owned dogs,
43:40but they didn't take mascots into battle.
43:44Also worth noting,
43:45this animal did not die a natural death.
43:47And if we look in particular at this side of the skull,
43:50you can see that the animal's been polaxed
43:52in a very similar fashion to the human next door.
43:55It's quite possible that this animal
43:58died in the defense of the owner.
44:02Violence within the fort
44:03reflects the growing threat beyond its walls.
44:08Over the decades,
44:09the body count from this endless guerrilla war
44:12grinds down Rome's determination
44:14to push further north into the highlands.
44:22A new emperor wants to cut Rome's losses
44:24without losing face, but his colossal solution
44:27drives the men of Vindolanda up the wall.
44:39Almost 40 years after the Battle of Mons Rupius,
44:43Emperor Hadrian has a brainstorming.
44:46Replace a wall of Roman soldiers with a wall of stone.
44:58Roman casualties along the Britain front
45:01continue to escalate,
45:02so Hadrian makes an executive decision.
45:05Instead of hoisting beers on their time off,
45:07the boys from Vindolanda will be lifting construction blocks.
45:14Military units are ordered to construct a great wall,
45:18nine feet thick and 15 feet tall.
45:23To make it all happen,
45:24the man himself personally designs
45:26and supervises the job on site.
45:29And Hadrian's message, I think,
45:30by building the wall to the people at home was,
45:32look, boys, there's going to be no more wars of expansion.
45:36That's it.
45:37Hadrian's creation includes defensive ditches and berms.
45:42To compound the challenge,
45:43he keeps changing the plans,
45:46even after his return to Rome.
45:49People must have been going absolutely mad,
45:52particularly the soldiers who had to do the work.
45:54That work remains in place some 2,000 years after the fact.
46:03Hadrian's wall runs 73 miles,
46:06from the Irish Sea to the North Sea.
46:10Today, it's a World Heritage Site
46:12and a mecca for cross-country hikers.
46:15But for those who built it,
46:16the wall was a great scar of stone,
46:19a monument to the lowered expectations of imperial Rome.
46:26Carved into the walls at Vindolanda
46:28is a more earthy symbol of Roman arrogance.
46:31We find an astonishing specimen 12 inches long,
46:34so pointing at the enemy, as it were,
46:36more or less meaning up yours.
46:39So rich are the finds at Vindolanda,
46:42it will take an estimated 200 years
46:44to complete the excavation.
46:46On their watch, the Burleys are more than happy
46:49to take things a day at a time.
46:52I love everything that we find,
46:55whether it's buildings or ovens or utensils,
47:00weapons, jewelry, fixtures, fittings, the whole lot.
47:04And you just wonder what's going to appear tomorrow.
47:07I think of Vindolanda as almost a person in its own right.
47:12It's like someone stepping out
47:14and shaking your hand from the past.
47:19In the end, the same delivery service
47:21that linked Lepidina to the outside world
47:24will bring the world of Vindolanda to an end.
47:29In 105 A.D., the men of the garrison
47:32are ordered to ship out.
47:35The garrison and all unnecessary items
47:38must be destroyed to keep them from falling into enemy hands.
47:44The Burleys believe the men were rushed to the Danube
47:47to suppress a rebellion
47:49in what is today the country of Romania.
47:52They'd chuck out stuff they didn't need,
47:54including their waste paper.
47:56You could tell they'd gone in a hurry
47:58because in some of the rooms
48:00there were piles of junk left on the floor.
48:03And along with this priceless junk were the letters,
48:07too numerous to take along,
48:10too sensitive to leave behind.
48:15But as the fires of Vindoli
48:17begin to consume the diary of a Roman garrison,
48:21Vindolanda's cruddy, miserable, and notorious wedding
48:25to the bane of future archaeologists intercedes.
48:37Blown free of the flames,
48:39the letters are saved from oblivion
48:41by the cold North Country rains.
48:48Ultimately, a new fort is built
48:50on the same site by replacement troops.
48:56Sealed by accident beneath its peat foundations
48:59are messages from lonely warriors,
49:02desperate men,
49:05and survivors.
49:12Letters from the Roman front.
49:15Words, feelings, and hopes
49:17written not by heroes or monsters,
49:20but by human beings.