A History of Ancient Britain
Neil Oliver tells the epic story of how Britain and its people came to be over thousands of years of ancient history—the beginnings of our world forged in ice, stone, and bronze
Seasons
1. Age of Ice
Air Date: 2011-02-09
Neil Oliver travels back to ice age Britain as he begins the epic story of the evolution of the land and its occupants over thousands of years of ancient history. In this episode he describes a struggle for survival in a brutal world of climate change and environmental catastrophe.
2. Age of Ancestors
Air Date: 2011-02-16
Neil Oliver continues the story of how today's Britain and its people were forged over thousands of years of ancient history. It's 4,000 BC and the first farmers arrive from Europe, with seismic consequences for the local hunter-gatherers.
3. Age of Cosmology
Air Date: 2011-02-23
Neil Oliver continues his journey through the world of Ancient Britain as he encounters an age of cosmological priests and some of the greatest monuments of the Stone Age, including Stonehenge itself. This is a time of elite travellers, who were inventing the very idea of Heaven itself.
4. Age of Bronze
Air Date: 2011-03-02
Neil Oliver continues his epic tour of Britain's most distant past with the arrival of metals and the social revolution that ushered in a new age of social mobility, international trade, and village life.
1. Age of Iron
Air Date: 2011-04-07
Neil Oliver continues his epic story of how Britain and its people came to be. Diving for 3,000-year-old treasure and pot-holing through an ancient copper mine, he discovers how a golden age of bronze collapsed into social and economic crisis set against a period of sharp climate change and would eventually be replaced by a new era, of iron.
2. Age of Warriors
Air Date: 2011-04-14
Neil encounters a celebrated warrior from 300 BC, owner of the finest Iron Age sword ever discovered. He tries his hand at divination in an effort to discover the power of Celtic priests and searches into his own DNA for clues to Celtic identity.
3. Age of Invasion
Air Date: 2011-04-21
Continuing his epic story, Neil Oliver explores the remains of brutal Iron Age battles and Celtic rebellion as he reaches the moment when Celtic Britain was ripped apart by the world's great empire - Rome.
4. Age of Romans
Air Date: 2011-04-26
Neil Oliver completes his epic journey through thousands of years of ancient history with the modern marvels of Rome. He digs beneath a London tower block, discovers building work from a massive stadium, and encounters the remains of an African woman who lived in York 1800 years ago - all evidence of the extraordinary multicultural modern world of Rome.
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Rating
10.0/10
Release Date
2011-02-09
Episodes
8 (2 seasons)
Status
Ended
Cast
Production Companies
BBC Productions