Digging up History

Digging up History

Documentaries about archaeology.

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Digging up History
  • Urban Exploring: Beneath the Decay

    As an emerging art historian, Victoria Jenner asks how she can make art and architecture more accessible for everyone. This film documents her journey into the wild exploration of abandoned structures and looks at accessibility in a variety of forms. Whether that be access to derelict buildings t...

  • Ray Mears, The Bow: The History of Archery

    1 season

    The oldest known evidence of the use of the bow comes from South Africa, where microliths, believed to be arrowheads dating from around 70,000 years ago, have been found.

    Evidence of humans' use of the bow can be found all over the world, from cave art in Algeria that shows a man shooting a slig...

  • Timewatch: The Crusaders' Lost Fort

    In 1178 Christians and Muslims were on the brink of total war. The blood-drenched conquest of Jerusalem by the First Crusaders had enraged Islam, and their Kurdish warlord Saladin. This clash of titans is one of the great untold battle stories of the period, with the Muslim attackers laying siege...

  • Life and Death in Roman London

    1 season

    Dr Simon Elliott explores the rise and fall of Roman London.

  • Great Excavations! Digging Charles Dickens' Workhouse with Sir Tony Robinson

    Sir Tony Robinson comes to History Hit to present a special film about a remarkable excavation in central London, the workhouse that inspired Charles Dickens to write his famous novel, “Oliver Twist”.

    In the middle of the capital, archaeologists are digging deep to find out more about the lives ...

  • Walks Around Britain

    1 season

    Great Britain has a collection of varied landscapes and countryside to rival anywhere else in the world - and the best way to see it is to walk. Join Andrew White and his team as they discover fantastic walks between 2-8 miles with stunning views and great stories and fascinating histories from a...

  • Church Crawls in Solitude: With Diarmaid MacCulloch

    1 season

    Enjoy church crawling around a selection of beautiful parish churches with Oxford Professor, Diarmaid MacCulloch, courtesy of the Church Conservation Trust.

    The Churches Conservation Trust is the national charity responsible for caring for and protecting England's historic churches on behalf of ...

  • Auschwitz in 33 Objects

    1 season

  • Britain's Wild West: Discovering Hay Castle

    The peaceful South Wales town of Hay-on-Wye offers few clues today of its brutal past on a violent frontier. A monument to this history can be found in Hay Castle. Once right on the border between England and Wales, it sits in a region densely packed with castles that saw border skirmishes and bi...

  • Stonehenge

    Dan Snow visits one of the most recognisable historical sites on Earth. Stonehenge. Timed with the recent solving of the sarsen stones origin mystery, this documentary takes an in-depth look at what we know, and what we don't know, about this iconic Neolithic monument.

  • A Tudor Discovery - Thomas Cromwell’s Prayer Book

    History Hit digs deep into a fascinating new discovery that has grabbed the attention of historians across the world.

    Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb explores what is being called the most exciting Tudor find ‘in a generation’ as curators at Hever Castle identify a bejewelled, gilded prayer book, tuc...

  • The History of Westminster Abbey

    Sir David Cannadine shows Dan around the iconic Westminster Abbey, in the heart of London. With an unrivalled arrange of monuments - ranging from grand royal tombs to the grave of The Unknown Warrior - and spectacular architecture spanning nearly 1,000 years, join the two historians as they explo...

  • Mudlarking

    Dan joins author and mudlark expert Lara Maiklem for a spot of mudlarking.

  • Secrets of Hitler's Island Fortress

    Guernsey and its neighbouring islands have a unique distinction which sets them apart from the rest of the British Isles. Together with the rest of the Channel Islands, they were the only part of the British Isles to fall to Nazi Germany in the Second World War. In this documentary Dan Snow disco...

  • Debunking the Myths of the Titanic

    At noon on 10 April 1912, crowds gathered at Southampton to watch the maiden voyage of the World's largest ship RMS Titanic. A sleek, modern luxurious liner that was offering a safe and fast crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Titanic was said to be invincible. She cruised down Southampton waters on ...

  • Lindisfarne: Faith and Vikings

    In 793 AD, the holy island of Lindisfarne was subject to one of the most infamous Viking raids on Britain. ‘Heathen' men plundered the sacred monastery in an event that shook Christian Europe.

    Dan Snow travels across the tidal causeway to Lindisfarne to discover the rich culture of this holy pla...

  • The Welsh Romeo and Juliet: The Maid of Cefn Ydfa

    Chris Lloyd looks into the story of Ann Maddocks and Wil Hopcyn, known as the Welsh Romeo and Juliet. The 18th century story of love and heartache still echoes across the south Welsh Valleys to this day. Chris visits Llangynwyd, the village at the heart of this story, to discover what it still me...

  • In Search of the Great Viking Army

    In 865 AD, England was invaded by the Great Heathen Army. The Great Viking Army, as it was also known, was made up of a coalition of Scandinavian warriors mainly from Denmark and, legend has it, four of the five sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, including Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Irone...

  • Ancient Britain: With Ray Mears

    1 season

    Britain is an island where history is well and truly part of the landscape and an island where human feet have walked for a million years. We are constantly making groundbreaking archaeological discoveries that are helping us to better understand the way in which our distant ancestors lived.

    Joi...

  • Greatest Discoveries: Pompeii

    1 season

    Tristan Hughes visits Pompeii to discover its incredible archaeology and the invaluable information it has revealed about this Roman town. Episode one explores the vibrant cosmopolitan centre that this prosperous port town was before its destruction - delving into the lives of particular Pompeiia...

  • Hidden London

    1 season

  • The Vikings in the Vicarage

    The Viking dig in the grounds of St Wystan Church in Repton is one of the most important Viking sites of modern times. Recently new research has brought to light new information which further elevates the significance of the site and redefines our knowledge of the Great Heathen Army. The Great He...

  • Anglo-Saxon Burial at Bamburgh Castle

    A story of bloodshed, tribal rivalries and a warrior class obsessed with and defined by the battlefield has emerged from the discovery of a burial site at Bamburgh Castle. What can the latest archaeological work tell us about the history of Bamburgh, of the people who lived and fought at the cast...

  • Tutankhamun: A Century of Discovery

    On November 4th 1922 a breathless archaeologist, who had spent his life working in Egypt, wrote a hurried diary entry: “First steps of Tomb Found”. This was the very moment that Howard Carter found the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun.

    In this very special film, shot in Egypt and England, Dan...