Digging up History

Digging up History

Documentaries about archaeology.

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Digging up History
  • The Lost Wrecks of Jutland

    The Battle of Jutland was the decisive naval clash of the First World War, pitting the German High Seas Fleet against the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet in an all or nothing battle for supremacy and survival. At the end of the war, the defeated German fleet was scuttled at Scapa Flow. Or so we thought....

  • 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...

  • Pompeii: The Discovery

    Dan Snow tells the incredible story of how Pompeii was discovered.

  • The Treasure in the Tin Cup: Artefacts and Archive from Auschwitz

    In the Holocaust, also referred to as the Shoah, Nazis systematically murdered some 6 million European Jews. Between 1941 and 1945, around two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe were killed. Jews were part of a larger group that included anyone the Nazis considered to be ‘Untermenschen’, o...

  • Life and Death in Late Iron Age Britain

    Roman connections with Britain stretch back to (at least) the mid 1st century BC, but what has archaeology revealed about the Late Iron Age British societies they interacted with? Do we have any concrete evidence for the druids? Was human sacrifice a thing? Sit back and enjoy as experts provide a...

  • Access All Areas

    1 season

    History Hit gets AAA permission to head behind the scenes at top history locations!

  • Tutankhamun: Life Not Death

    Renowned Egyptologist Prof. Joann Fletcher explores the most famous pharaoh of them all - Tutankhamun. Jo has curated a very special exhibition in her hometown, Barnsley, not only to celebrate the world of Tutankhamun, but also the people from northern England who played an important role in his...

  • Shipwreck! Northumberland and the Great Storm

    History Hit's Dan Snow has been given exclusive access to the incredibly well-preserved remains of the 18th-century warship Northumberland.

    Complete with cannons, muskets and coils of rope, it's a discovery that's rewriting our understanding of the evolution of the Royal Navy.

    The special fil...

  • 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...

  • Rome’s Disaster: The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

    2 seasons

    Tristan Hughes investigates one of Rome’s greatest disasters, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

    The Battle of the Teutoburg forest stopped Roman expansion in its tracks. It’s a story of betrayal, of one man’s vehement desire to liberate his people from Roman rule and the brutal, bloody length...

  • Dover Castle at War

    Peter Snow explores the part Dover Castle played in Operation Dynamo in 1940, the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk.

  • 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...

  • The Traces of War

    1 season

    Dr James Rogers, Assistant Professor of War Studies, is fascinated by these remains and exactly what they can tell us about not just the changing nature of war through time - but the stories of the people who lived through those events.

  • The World of Stonehenge Revealed: Decoding the Find of the Century

    Described as the "most important piece of prehistoric art to be found in Britain in the last 100 years", an elaborately decorated 5000 year-old chalk cylinder, discovered buried with 3 child skeletons in Yorkshire and as old as the first phase of Stonehenge, is going on display at the British Mus...

  • The Military Maps of George III

    Though perhaps better-remembered today for his late-reign madness and the slight issue of losing the Thirteen Colonies, King George III was also one of the world's greatest collectors of military maps. Preserved in excellent condition within Windsor Castle, these highly-detailed maps cover a rang...

  • Endurance: Rediscovered

    It was one of the last great lost shipwrecks of history - Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance. But now, incredibly, it has been rediscovered - over a century after it sank beneath the ice in freezing Antarctic waters.

    Organised by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, the expedition to locate the...

  • Prehistoric Ireland

    1 season

    Tristan Hughes travels to Ireland to delve into the mysteries and myths of prehistoric Ireland.

    In the first episode, History Hit’s Ancients expert Tristan Hughes travels to Ireland to delve into the mysteries of Newgrange and its surrounding tombs — exploring the secrets of Stone Age Ireland. A...

  • The First Britons

    If the words British history conjure up images of Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Boudica, Mary Seacole, The Beatles and the Blitz, you’re squinting at a small spec of the history of humanity of these Isles. Even if you go back to the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, or even further to the Iron Age ...

  • The Uniform of the British Army

    The British Army is one of the world’s most experienced fighting forces. From Blenheim to Waterloo, from Balaclava to the Somme, it has played its part in the history’s most bloody conflicts. But as these troops executed Herculean tasks in the worlds harshest terrains, what were they wearing? How...

  • The Welsh Romeo and Juliet: The Maid of Cefn Ydfa | HH Community

    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...

  • Swordfish: World War II's Surprising Aircraft and the Raid that Changed History

    Dan Snow flies on a mission to explore one of the most daring and dangerous aerial attacks of World War 2

    On 11th November 1940, 21 antiquated Swordfish aircraft took off from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. They were embarking on one of the most extraordinary raids of the Second World Wa...

  • Finding the Lost Battlefield of Brunanburh

    The Battle of Brunanburh was one of the bloodiest and biggest battles of early medieval history. Fought 1100 years ago, Athelstan - the king of the English - opposed a coalition of Irish, Scots, Northumbrians and Vikings and won a decisive victory. The enemy shield wall was penetrated. Their troo...

  • The Wall: Rome's Great Northern Frontier

    Hadrian’s Wall is celebrating its 1900th birthday… the perfect time for History Hit to investigate this potent embodiment of Roman dominance.

    Dan Snow explores the physical remains of Hadrian’s vast project of 122AD - over 80 Roman miles of wall, turrets and forts, stretching from coast to coast...

  • Into the Valley of the Kings

    Dan Snow ventures into Egypt's Valley of the Kings to explore its rediscovery.