Digging up History

Digging up History

Documentaries about archaeology.

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Digging up History
  • 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...

  • Inside Windsor Castle: The State Rooms

    Windsor Castle has a legendary connection to the British monarchy: the longest-serving royal palace in the whole of Europe. Ever since the days of William the Conqueror, the Castle has dominated this strategic point on the banks of the Thames, overlooking west London. Over the next 1,000 years ki...

  • Mysteries of Prehistoric Scotland

    1 season

  • The Man Who Discovered Egypt

    Chris Naunton investigates the Victorian maverick who pioneered modern field archaeology.

    Most of us have never heard of Flinders Petrie, but this maverick genius undertook a scientific survey of the pyramids, discovered the oldest portraits in the world, unearthed Egypt's prehistoric roots - an...

  • 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...

  • The Pursuit of Endurance: On the Shoulders of Shackleton

    In the heart of the Antarctic, nine adventurers are about to live an extraordinary story. They come from very different backgrounds, but one thing brings them together: a passion for adventure and testing the limits.

    Their goal: to follow in the footsteps of one of the greatest legends of the go...

  • Lost Worlds: Hands on Prehistory

    1 season

    Prehistory, the longest period in humanity's past - but the one we know least about.

    Archaeology can help give us a glimpse into what life might have been like for the people living during this period. But the artefacts and other evidence of past human activity often throw up more questions than...

  • The Sharp End: Testing Front Line Weapons

    1 season

  • Into the Valley of the Kings

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

  • The Story of Egyptology

    Egyptologist Dr Chris Naunton explores the story of how Ancient Egypt was rediscovered, and how its incredible sites and treasures were gradually decoded. Starting with the earliest travelers who ventured inside the pyramids, Chris traces how this curiosity exploded into Egyptomania in the 18th ...

  • 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 Rollright Stones: Mind, Myre and Magic

    The Rollright Stones are some of Britain’s most remarkable and mysterious ancient monuments. They consist of three separate sites - a looming funerary monument built to contain dismembered corpses, a venerated stone circle, and a single monolith with an innominate purpose. Alice Loxton traces six...

  • Archaeologist Spies of World War One

    Archaeologists excavated the ancient past during peacetime, but in war they had a different mission - to play a vital role in modern military intelligence. Historian of archaeology Dr Amara Thornton explores a network of archaeologist-spies, codebreaking, mapping and running agents, and with expe...

  • Waterloo Uncovered: The Bones of the Battlefield

    A major breaking story filmed by History Hit.

    Incredibly rare bones of men and horses have been discovered in July 2022 at the Waterloo Battlefield - and History Hit has been there to record the excavations as they unfold.

    The veterans support charity 'Waterloo Uncovered' returned to the Water...

  • Mudlarking

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

  • Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt

    2022 isn't just 100 years since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. It's also exactly 200 years since one of history's greatest linguistic puzzles was cracked: when Jean-Francois Champollion made the ultimate breakthrough and deciphered the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic code. To mark this very s...

  • The Copper Scroll: Dead Sea Scrolls Mystery

    The Dead Sea Scrolls regularly rank amongst the most significant archaeological discoveries of recent decades. Over 900 papyrus documents, discovered in caves near the site of Qumran, that date to the century before Jesus and include the oldest surviving manuscripts from the Hebrew Bible.

    But am...

  • 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...

  • Digging up the 'Dark Ages'

    Join Dan Snow as he explores this stunning set of discoveries in our brand new documentary ‘Digging Up the Dark Ages’ on History Hit TV.

    While working on the HS2 high speed railway project in the UK, archaeologists made discoveries of national significance, uncovering a large Anglo-Saxon burial...

  • 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...

  • Paestum: A Tale of Three Cities

    The story of ancient Italy is so much more than just Rome. Tristan Hughes visits the extraordinary site of Paestum in southern Italy, home to some of the greatest ancient Greek temples from anywhere in the world.

    From majestic temples to pristine wall paintings more that 2,500 years old, he exp...

  • 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.

  • Hidden London

    1 season

  • 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...