Raksha Dave

Oh, my goodness.

While archaeologist Raksha Dave looks into the analysis that goes on long after a dig is finished,

Somebody stabbed her in the

back of the head.

Once finds and samples are retrieved, they're sent off to labs for conservation and analysis, a process that can take weeks, months, sometimes even years.

And for this next dig in Chichester, it is only when the samples arrive in the lab that the real details begin to emerge.

Field archaeologist Raksha Dave is travelling to Port Slade to find out how post-excavation work following a Chichester dig is making sense of Britain's lost landscapes.

For the last two years, Southern Water have been laying a 10-kilometre pipeline, cutting through town and country, and they paid archaeologists south-east to monitor their work.

I'll be in the lab where archaeologists will bring in everything from metalwork to human remains.

And archaeologist Raksha Dave will use the latest scientific techniques to examine these finds and unlock the secrets of pre-Roman Britain.

This is absolutely

extraordinary.

The ancient lanes criss-crossing the Yorkshire wolds make us question that old assumption that the Romans were the first to introduce roads to Britain.

These lanes are evidence that this area was already home to a well-connected society well before the Roman invasion.

But how far did these people travel? To find out, archaeologist Raksha Dave is joining Richard Madrick, an archaeological scientist from Cardiff University.

We've got rather a large array of human remains here.

Oh, my goodness.

While archaeologist Raksha Dave looks into the analysis... ...that goes on long after a dig is finished...

Somebody stabbed her in the back

of the head.

And it's all down to the anaerobic conditions in this soil.

Behind the scenes, post-excavation work is transforming our knowledge of one of the most turbulent times in the history of Vindolanda, the second century civil war.

Archaeologist Raksha Dave is getting a privileged look at the conservation work taking place during this year's digging season.

Every archaeologist dreams of working on a site like Vindolanda.

Oh, my goodness.

While archaeologist Raksha Dave looks into the analysis that goes on long after a dig has finished, Somebody

stabbed her in

the back of the head.

In the 19th century, this was where the poorest would have been buried, so it's an exciting discovery.

These skeletons have to be exhumed, ready for reburial, but this gives us a precious opportunity to look at life and death for some of the poorest people in 19th century Britain, just as cities were becoming utterly transformed by industrialisation.

To find out what the post-excavation work can tell us about these individuals, archaeologist Raksha Dave is visiting the Wessex labs and meeting osteoarchaeologist Kirsten Dinwiddie.

I want to find out how months of forensic work is building up a detailed picture of the lives of each individual.

I'll be in the lab where archeologists will bring in everything from metalwork to human remains.

And archeologist Raksha Dave will use the latest scientific techniques to examine these finds and unlock the secrets of pre-Roman Britain.

This is absolutely extraordinary.

This is helping us to tell a very different story of life in the Iron Age.

[pensive music] The ancient lanes crisscrossing the Yorkshire Wolds make us question that old assumption that the Romans were the first to introduce roads to Britain.

These lanes are evidence that this area was already home to a well-connected society well before the Roman invasion.

But how far did these people travel? To find out, archeologist Raksha Dave is joining Richard Madgwick, an archeological scientist from Cardiff University.

You've got a rather, a large array of human remains here.