2of4. Age. of. Ancestors

A History of Ancient Britain - Neil Oliver examines the origins of our ancestors through the Stone Age

Episodes

Age of Ice
1/4 Life in Britain in the brutal world of the last ice age.
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Age of Ancestors
2/4 Looking at the change from hunting and gathering to farming.


Age of Cosmology
3/4 Looking at the birth of cosmology, Stone Age monuments and the very idea of Heaven itself.

Age of Bronze
4/4 Neil Oliver looks at the arrival of metals and the seismic social changes they triggered.

Orkney's Stone Age Temple
A History of Ancient Britain

Neil Oliver investigates the discovery of a 5,000-year-old temple in Orkney. Built 500 years before Stonehenge, the temple has triggered new thoughts about the beliefs of Neolithic people, turning the map of ancient Britain upside down.

The vast site lies undisturbed until now, set within one of the most important ancient landscapes in the world. There have been some incredible finds, including the first ever discovery of Neolithic painted wall decorations, and even the pigments and paint pots used by Stone Age artists.

Special effects have been used to bring this archaeological evidence to life, creating a three-dimensional model of the entire temple, allowing Neil to walk inside in a bid to understand just how it might have been used.