Lost Relics Of The Knights Templar (2021) Season 2 Episode 2: Celtic Gold
Treasure hunters investigate an extraordinary collection of Celtic gold.
#adventure
Treasure hunters investigate an extraordinary collection of Celtic gold.
#adventure
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TVTranscript
00:00Obsessive antiquities hunter, Hamilton White,
00:04has built a world-class collection
00:06of rare and historic objects.
00:11Working with fellow collector and friend, Carl Cookson,
00:14he investigated a group of artifacts
00:16that may be linked to the Knights Templar.
00:20Now, they're exploring the history
00:22behind some of the most important objects
00:24in Hamilton's collection.
00:25♪
00:29Assembled over a lifetime,
00:31Hamilton's prized pieces include ancient Celtic gold.
00:35I'm holding something there that's beyond priceless.
00:38A sword and helmet from the Crusades,
00:41and a mysterious white marble chalice
00:44from the Knights Templar treasure trove.
00:47It really is the best of the best.
00:51To solve the mysteries behind these artifacts,
00:54they're traveling across Europe and to the Middle East,
00:57seeking answers, and making stunning new discoveries.
01:02They were heading for a purpose.
01:06It's changing history.
01:08The lost relic hunters are back on the trail,
01:10and what they uncover could rewrite history as we know it.
01:16♪
01:22Carl and Hamilton are investigating
01:24a mysterious collection of Celtic gold and stonework.
01:35This glittering treasure is locked away
01:38behind a two-inch steel door.
01:41If authentic, these items, dating back thousands of years,
01:45could be worth a fortune.
01:47♪
01:59It's gorgeous, isn't it?
02:00Fabulous. I mean, look at the size of that for a piece of ancient gold.
02:03It's absolutely beautiful already.
02:05It's great quality, isn't it? Yes.
02:07Are we talking about 3,000, 4,000 years or what it is?
02:10Yes, maybe even a little bit older than that.
02:13That's pure Celtic.
02:15It's got a little hole in it. Was it a pendant, was it?
02:18A pendant, yeah.
02:19But very recognisable as a bull's head,
02:21which is one of the sort of typical things
02:24that Celtic art right across Europe tends to feature.
02:31Little is known about how the Celtic people
02:33emerged thousands of years ago
02:35and came to dominate most of Europe.
02:41Can their success be attributed to their technological advances,
02:45as seen in this intricate metalwork?
02:49Or is there a darker, more disturbing truth?
02:53That their success was the result of violence,
02:55brutality and even blood sacrifice?
02:59One of the Celtic artefacts in Hamilton's collection
03:02is a stone altar dedicated to the god Endovelichus.
03:07These marks on the top are these sacrificial blood Latin blots.
03:11All of them that it seemed to have survived
03:14have some kind of recess to take an offering on it.
03:18The blood's going to come down onto the face, isn't it?
03:22Hamilton's collection might hold clues
03:24that explain some of the enduring mysteries of the Celts.
03:31Jonti Tocli Perry has been working with Hamilton
03:34to restore his Celtic gold work.
03:37I'm said to be one of the best restorers in the world.
03:41Jonti has decades of experience in restoring antiquities.
03:47I've seen more pieces in more places than anybody else I know,
03:53and that gives me the edge.
03:57Today, he's meeting Hamilton to pick up some pieces for restoration.
04:04Of the various bits that you're going to be looking at
04:06that you haven't seen today,
04:07I think that is possibly the most interesting.
04:11You're going to have to decide
04:13to what level of conservation you want to take that to.
04:17It's beautiful.
04:17Fantastic, isn't it?
04:18I mean, I think it's some kind of diadem.
04:21I can imagine it going across the front of somebody's head.
04:25Well, I don't know what else you could do with it.
04:26It's the wrong shape to be any form of necklace.
04:29It's too fragile to wear on a wrist.
04:31Yeah.
04:36Well, you have possibly the finest collection
04:39of Phoenician-Celtic mixed culture.
04:42Of the Iberian areas.
04:44While many aspects of Celtic culture in Central Europe remain mysterious,
04:48even less is known about the Iberian Celts of Spain and Portugal,
04:54who traded with seafaring Phoenicians
04:56from what is now Lebanon around 4,000 years ago.
05:01Some historians believe that the Celtic people originated in Iberia,
05:05but their language has never been deciphered,
05:07and very little is understood about their cultural practices
05:11or religious beliefs.
05:15I mean, that is a museum-quality piece.
05:17That's better than the one they've got in Lisbon,
05:19and I don't think the Met's got anything like that.
05:21All the rest, I mean, it's a study group.
05:24As I understand it, the Celts, they had so many local gods.
05:28Yeah.
05:32Some of these I can recognize.
05:34I mean, that is obviously a statue.
05:35That's a statue.
05:37The other thing is the Phoenician text hasn't been translated yet.
05:40All of these inscriptions, we'll never work them out because
05:44the knowledge just isn't there, is it?
05:46These items may hold cryptic but crucial clues
05:49to understand the emergence of the Celts in Europe.
05:54Oxford-educated art and cultural historian Dr. Janina Ramirez
05:59is back to examine Hamilton's Celtic artifact collection
06:02that numbers more than 200 pieces.
06:07In addition to her expertise in prehistoric objects,
06:11Janina specializes in archaeology and decoding artistic
06:14and religious symbolism.
06:23What an array!
06:25This is incredible.
06:26Oh my goodness!
06:29I don't think I've seen this much quality Celtic stuff
06:33in any museum anywhere.
06:36In terms of dating, location, where are these from?
06:42There's a whole mixture starting off with Phoenician.
06:46Uh-huh.
06:47You know, and what we would today say is the sort of Lebanon.
06:50But it's the Phoenicians travelling around the Mediterranean
06:54across North Africa and then up into what was Iberia,
06:58Spain and Portugal.
06:59And what sort of dates are we talking here then?
07:01The pure Celtic stuff, I'm putting around the sort of
07:042,000, 2,500 BC.
07:07From my academic eyes, from knowing about this stuff,
07:10I can wholeheartedly say that this fits in the picture.
07:14This is the real deal.
07:16Now, Carl and Hamilton's challenge is to try and piece
07:19together the history and the meaning of several items
07:22in the collection.
07:25Where did they come from?
07:26And what can they tell us about the Celts?
07:31What I think is the earliest is the pure Phoenician,
07:34like the Astarte, the big figure, that's pure Phoenician.
07:37This has got to be 4,500 years old.
07:40Give or take a bit.
07:41It has to be.
07:42And the style, and again, it's pierced through.
07:45That was a contemporary piercing, you think?
07:46I think so, yeah.
07:47I think that's been made as a pendant,
07:49whereas some things are votive plaques purely for burial.
07:53For me, it just, it melds so many things.
07:55It's worship, it's fashion, it's culture, it's,
07:59and again, you know, it's lovely to find women in history.
08:02Astarte was a predecessor to the Greek goddess of love,
08:06Aphrodite.
08:08But she was also sometimes associated with war.
08:12Could the cult surrounding her worship have been more violent
08:15than experts think?
08:18The metalwork's amazing, but you've also got all this stone
08:21work here, Hamilton.
08:22What are these?
08:23Well, the stonework obviously isn't as flash to look at.
08:27You can see the crossover of cultures again,
08:31from the early through to the late.
08:33Like the altar there, you've got Endovelicus,
08:35which is a purely Celtic god.
08:41That's an incredible bit of sculpture.
08:43And you've got the pure Celtic shape of the actual altar
08:47itself, which is very identifiable, but you've got DM
08:51in Roman lettering.
08:53The combination is fascinating.
08:55It's the colliding of worlds, isn't it?
08:58Would this be a site for sacrifice, possibly?
09:01Offerings.
09:02Offerings, yeah.
09:03I mean, almost as if these are either bloodletting or
09:07draining channels.
09:09And it might sound exciting to say, oh, sacrifice, but the
09:12Romans were sacrificing, you know, many, many different
09:14cultures at this time were doing sacrifices.
09:16It's not the offering up of humans.
09:18It's the offering up of animals, of birds, of beasts that
09:21are gifts to the gods.
09:23And then that face, it is so Celtic, isn't it?
09:27Endovelicus is one of the best-known pre-Roman
09:29Celtiberian gods.
09:33He is associated with nature, health, and the afterlife.
09:38But why were the Romans so quick to adopt him?
09:41And was there a dark side to his worship involving blood
09:44sacrifice?
09:47Most of Hamilton's pieces came from old collections and
09:50weren't found in controlled archaeological digs, making it
09:54difficult to establish their origin and cultural context.
09:58The one question I suppose people will be asking is, if I
10:01asked you, for example, where that came from, when it came
10:04out of the ground, what else was around it?
10:07Not a clue because it was over a hundred years ago.
10:10Certain things you can trace back, yes, to the family who
10:14owned them and where they've been.
10:17Farmers were pulling stuff out of the land.
10:19You sold it to the local lord.
10:21That's how it worked.
10:22That's how collections were put together.
10:24You know, stuff doesn't cease to exist once it's passed from
10:28one owner.
10:29It still exists there.
10:30Well, it can dissipate, can't it?
10:32It can be dissipated and it's the art of, well, tracking it
10:34down, where is it?
10:35Pulling it back together.
10:37Now, see, this is detective work because the archives exist,
10:40the photographs exist.
10:41You have records of these things coming out of the ground
10:44and then you're then chasing them up, finding them, bringing
10:47them back together.
10:48To begin that detective work and unravel the worship of
10:54Astarte and Endivellicus, Carl and Hamilton are traveling to
10:58one of Britain's most ancient sites.
11:02There, they'll meet someone who can shed more light on the
11:05nature of the gods and goddesses depicted in the gold artifacts.
11:12Usually, she's seen as a goddess.
11:15It's got to do with sex and war as well.
11:35To investigate the mysterious Celtic gold, Carl and Hamilton
11:39are on their way to the Rollright Stones.
11:41Dating back more than 6,000 years, this is one of Britain's
11:45most famous Neolithic and Celtic sites.
11:48They are meeting up with Susan Laybourne, an expert on
11:51prehistoric religions.
12:03She may be able to tell them more about some of the religious
12:06figures depicted on the Celtic gold work.
12:10People are still using these stone circles as meeting places
12:13and ritual sites.
12:14This is late Neolithic, touching into the Bronze Age.
12:17People would come to places like this and they would commune
12:21with the spirits of the place.
12:23This idea of the spirits of the place being still alive.
12:30Well, I mean, I brought a couple of the bits of the gold,
12:32if you want to have a look at it.
12:33Yeah, OK.
12:39I mean, that's the Astarte.
12:41These are interesting.
12:43So what do you know about these?
12:45It's all Iberian.
12:47Some of it is Phoenician.
12:48Then it goes up to the sort of Romano-Celtic period.
12:52A bit like the stones here.
12:53I mean, it's a spread of thousands of years.
12:55There are many, many Near Eastern goddesses that are overlaps,
12:58such as Annat, Atagatis, Astarte.
13:05They're all of a type.
13:07They're really powerful deities and they have their own cult.
13:11Usually, she's seen as a goddess.
13:14That's to do with sex and procreation, war as well.
13:21Because both of these things seem to go together,
13:24you know, in a kind of Phoenician understanding.
13:29Right, OK, well, that's a votive piece,
13:32whereas the other one was a piece of jewellery.
13:34I mean, she's got some kind of interesting staff here,
13:38which I would say that this is more of a ceremonial piece.
13:42It's not a weapon.
13:44It's more of a staff of power or a staff of office.
13:48Except she's very slim.
13:50She's not like a Venus figure that's got big hips and big breasts.
13:56In the Celtic times, there seems to be a lot of priestesses.
14:01What was their actual role within their community?
14:04Things that women needed.
14:06So things to do with childbirth, things to do with wellbeing,
14:10health, healing, those sorts of areas.
14:16The priestess craft was more to do with veneration,
14:21but also having results, appeasing gods, appeasing ancestors,
14:26so that things would go well.
14:29So if you imagine a group of women sitting together
14:32and going into an altered state,
14:34and the priestess describing another reality
14:38that she's interacting with,
14:40so very mediumistic, actually, or shamanic.
14:48To continue their investigation,
14:50Carl and Hamilton are travelling to Palmela, Portugal,
14:54about 30 miles south of Lisbon.
15:03They're hoping this historic town holds clues to the origin
15:07of some of Hamilton's most precious Celtic gold work.
15:17Just outside of town, they meet guide and local historian
15:21Just outside of town, they meet guide and local historian
15:24Jao Fiandero at an ancient settlement site.
15:39This is where Hamilton believes many of the Celtic pieces
15:42in his collection were discovered in the 19th century.
15:46The location could provide important clues
15:48to their origin and history.
15:51We are here in the period of the Bronze Age,
15:56probably 5,000, 4,000 years ago.
16:00And it's very curious, the occupation of this area,
16:05that have been evoluted then to the Iron Age
16:08and to the Roman Republic period.
16:12But the story of this site in Portugal goes back even earlier.
16:17I can remember being here a few years ago,
16:20and I can remember being shown a stone
16:22that was actually still sticking out of the path
16:25that I'm sure was somewhere around here.
16:27What type of stone?
16:28It was pointed out to me as being Neolithic,
16:31as, like, unrecognised.
16:34But it's... There it is, that.
16:38I've been here recently and...
16:40Didn't see it?
16:41Didn't see it.
16:42Well, you wouldn't, would you?
16:43Is that handmade, is it?
16:44Yeah.
16:45Is it hand carved?
16:46Yeah, that's half a Neolithic cornstone
16:47for, like, grinding grain or wheat or cereals or something.
16:50Yeah, you have a kind of a cut there.
16:52That's a non-indigenous stone to here.
16:54That's obviously been worked somewhere else
16:56and been bought here 6,000, 8,000 years ago.
17:01Neolithic people were the predecessors of the Celts,
17:04who settled here several thousand years later.
17:08This was obviously a very established community in the day
17:11because the proper structures aren't,
17:13they're not temporary.
17:15We're no longer moving to a place to another
17:18and so this was not being just wooden establishment,
17:22it was stone made in the houses.
17:24Hamilton, Karl, and historian Jao Fiandero
17:27are at an ancient Celtic site outside of Palmela, Portugal.
17:31Palmela was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century CE.
17:35So, what's the story here?
17:37Well, the story is that in the early 1st century,
17:40the Romans were conquering the city of Palmela
17:43and in the early 2nd century,
17:45the Romans were conquering the city of Palmela
17:48and in the early 2nd century,
17:50the Romans were conquering the city of Palmela
17:54So, as we came from the other side,
17:56we were like a hundred yards away.
18:00This is the transition already
18:02from the Bronze Age to the Roman occupation.
18:05It's like walking through time, isn't it?
18:07A little bit, yeah.
18:12Back in London, Dr. Janina Ramirez
18:14has been conducting research
18:16into the archaeological history of this important site.
18:19This site, you can really get a sense
18:21of the historical periods of telescoping together.
18:252000 BC, you have a Neolithic organisation here.
18:29They're settling, they're not nomadic anymore.
18:32And then this term we use when we talk about the Celtic,
18:35what we're really talking about
18:37is the emergence of metalwork,
18:39the Bronze Age going into the Iron Age.
18:41This idea that instead of having to work the land
18:44just with hands, tools, and tools,
18:47like it's made of stone,
18:49they can use metal.
18:51And there we're moving forward
18:53another thousand years.
19:03At the very top of the site
19:05is a Celtic hillfort
19:07known as Castro de Cibanes.
19:09It was here that the Celts worshipped their gods.
19:11So, we are in the highest peak
19:14of the hill
19:16that was used, no doubt,
19:18for being closer to God,
19:20closer to the sky.
19:22This is a ritualistic altar.
19:24Yep.
19:26If you look at that slab there,
19:28around it you've got
19:30all these bloodletting channels.
19:32And it's earlier, isn't it?
19:34This is really going back
19:36to the Bronze Age.
19:38This is way pre-Roman, isn't it?
19:40It is, it is.
19:42So, it's totally different.
19:44It's entirely Celtic pagan beliefs
19:46at that point.
19:48If you were to measure that,
19:50given the fact that the people
19:52were probably a little bit smaller
19:54than we were,
19:56it would be a perfect size
19:58for a human to be laid across,
20:00wouldn't it?
20:02Okay, well, I'll tell you what.
20:04Why don't you lie to me?
20:07We'll get an idea
20:09of the size and ergonomics
20:11of that platform.
20:13What am I, about 5'8"?
20:155'9"? Am I something like that?
20:17That period in history,
20:19people were shorter.
20:21They were more like 5'2"-ish.
20:23So, if you imagine
20:25a Roman or Celtic-era person
20:27who's a little bit smaller than me,
20:29it would actually fit them relatively well.
20:31You're not going to get
20:33a bull or a cow on it,
20:35possibly.
20:37And a chicken. It'd look ridiculous, wouldn't it?
20:39After exploring
20:41the Celtic ritual site,
20:43Carl and Hamilton are heading
20:45to Palmella's historic castle.
20:49This fortification may hold the key
20:51to unlock the lost history
20:53of Hamilton's Celtic gold artifacts.
21:05Carl, Hamilton,
21:07and historian Jao Fiandero
21:09are exploring Palmella's historic
21:11castle in Portugal.
21:23Originally an 8th-century
21:25Moorish fortress,
21:27the castle was taken over
21:29by the Moorish nobles
21:31in the 12th century.
21:33It later became the ancestral
21:35seat of the Dukes of Palmella.
21:40Hamilton believes that the Dukes
21:42might be the missing link
21:44in the chain of custody
21:46of the Celtic gold
21:48after it was excavated.
21:50This is one of those
21:52oldest Moorish castles
21:54in its most
21:56original shape.
21:58Yeah, it's a very,
22:00very old castle.
22:02Yeah, it's a very,
22:04very interesting area to come to.
22:06And what is this connected
22:08with everything you have?
22:10Well, it's the lands
22:12of the Dukes of Palmella.
22:14What's connected really
22:16is the Celtic gold.
22:20We've traced quite a bit
22:22of stuff back to the Dukes'
22:24collection before it was split
22:26up at the dissolution
22:28of the monarchy,
22:30in 1910.
22:321910, was it?
22:34The title Duke of Palmella
22:36was created in 850
22:38by Queen Maria II of Portugal.
22:40The Duke was part
22:42of a wealthy aristocratic family
22:44that owned all the land
22:46as far as the eye can see,
22:48including the Neolithic
22:50and Celtic settlement site
22:52just outside of town.
22:54It seems that when they were
22:56at the height of the collecting
22:59Portuguese history,
23:01a lot of the farmers who were
23:03operating on the Duke's lands,
23:05everything they were finding,
23:07I think they were rewarded
23:09for by the Duke.
23:11And around here, there are several spots
23:13that I know were dug in the 1870s
23:15or earlier, where some fabulous
23:17bits of gold came out of.
23:19Celtic era, but the early period,
23:21the Bronze Age-y Celtic period.
23:23But fabulous decoration,
23:25balls, all of the Celtic
23:27symbolism you would expect.
23:29It's almost like a textbook
23:31of Celtic symbolism.
23:33Even though many of the pieces
23:35in Hamilton's collection
23:37may have been dug up on this land
23:39and added to the Duke's collection,
23:41without proper archaeological context
23:43from the site, the history
23:45of the culture that created it
23:47remains a mystery.
23:49On October 5, 1910,
23:51a Republican revolution
23:53overthrew the Portuguese monarchy.
23:55The Dukes of Palmela were forced
23:57to flee into exile along with the
23:59royal family.
24:01Hamilton believes it was during this period
24:03of revolutionary upheaval
24:05that many of the items in his collection
24:07were sold off.
24:11Back in Lisbon, Carl,
24:13Hamilton, and Zhao are investigating
24:15the stone altar to the Celtic god
24:17Endavelicus.
24:21There it is. That's it.
24:23Wow.
24:25This is really
24:27unique, fantastic.
24:29With the face, the crawly hair,
24:31and the mouth here,
24:33and the nose, and the eyes,
24:35and the cheeks, it seems
24:37really someone.
24:39Well, it's meant to be Endavelicus.
24:41These marks on the top of his
24:43sacrificial bloodletting gloves.
24:45It might be.
24:47The other ones that I've seen
24:49have all got some permutation
24:51on the top of groove or cup
24:53shape indentation to receive
24:55something. The blood's going to come down
24:57onto the face, isn't it?
24:59What period
25:01did you put this on? It's right
25:03on the cusp of the Celtic
25:05Roman influence,
25:07where they're absorbing each other's gods
25:09as the Roman text had been
25:11added at a later date.
25:13It's not Greek. It's not the
25:15undecipherable Celtic language.
25:17It's pure Roman, DM.
25:19Do we know what the actual
25:21Latin or the Roman inscription
25:23actually says?
25:25DM? Yeah.
25:27We don't know because it's open to
25:29interpretation, because like a lot of these things,
25:31there's no written records.
25:33D seems to represent
25:35Deus, God. Which is God.
25:37M could be
25:39any word that they chose.
25:41Well, this all reminds
25:43me something that
25:45I think you would like
25:47to see. And I have
25:49here some photographs.
25:51It's from a museum.
25:53And it's
25:55very, very similar.
25:57This is from Carmel Museum.
25:59It's a scroll again.
26:01Yep. You see that?
26:03Yeah, it's the same scroll, isn't it? The same scroll
26:05as you say. And if you look
26:07on there, this is also
26:09Roman lettering of the same form.
26:11You can see there
26:13the actual construction itself,
26:15the methods of that. It's gross.
26:17That's pure Celtic, I would say.
26:19Identified as Celtic
26:21and from those times.
26:23So looking at these two altars,
26:25Hamilton, how does this fit in with that?
26:27Time frame-wise, you've got
26:29a several thousand year time span
26:31between those two pieces, although
26:33they look very similar. That's
26:35100% Iberian Celtic.
26:37That is almost
26:39pure Roman work.
26:41And I would put that absolutely
26:43bang in the middle. It's Iron Age,
26:45which is kind of putting it...
26:47550? Well,
26:491,020
26:51AD.
26:57To continue their investigation
26:59of Endivellicus, Carl and Hamilton
27:01are heading to one of the only known
27:03sites in the world that is dedicated
27:05to the god and once used
27:07by his cult to worship him.
27:13It's obviously where the offering
27:15is received. It's the focal point
27:17of whatever the ceremony is.
27:19...
27:35Carl and Hamilton are on their way
27:37to one of the only known sites in the world
27:39dedicated to the Celtic god
27:41Endivellicus.
27:45Do we know where we're going?
27:47Not really.
27:49They're reuniting with guide
27:51and local historian Jao Fiandero
27:53at Santuário do Rocha da Mina.
27:57The site was excavated in the late 19th
27:59century by Portugal's most famous
28:01and influential archaeologist
28:03José Leté de Vasconcelos.
28:07He found extensive
28:09archaeological evidence of the worship
28:11of Endivellicus here in both Celtic
28:13and Roman times.
28:17...
28:21We are in the top
28:23of this formation
28:25in Rocha da Mina
28:27where in those times
28:29was the worship
28:31of Endivellicus.
28:33It's a very mystical area.
28:35You can see that
28:37exactly in the stone
28:39where they could
28:41cut to level it
28:43to be
28:45three probably
28:47and having a priest
28:49a druid doing
28:51worshipping and evocations
28:53the Endivellic way.
28:59If you look here
29:01this is like an auditorium.
29:03It's a perfect viewing point.
29:05We're in a bowl.
29:07You can see it's been hewn by tools
29:09made and flattened but also
29:11over there you've got some steps.
29:13Those steps are
29:15man-made for sure
29:17to reach the highest point
29:19because everything is to get to God
29:21to be in contact with God.
29:23And that leads to what you
29:25described as an altar.
29:27Yes, there I have no doubt
29:29it's also cut like this
29:31here and it was to make
29:33a small platform like a table
29:35to make any
29:37kind of worship.
29:39Or sacrifice.
29:41Yes.
29:51While they continue to explore the site
29:53Dr. Janina Ramirez has been
29:55researching the archaeological surveys
29:57carried out there by Vasconcellos
29:59in the 19th century.
30:05I've got one of Vasconcellos' main texts
30:07translated into English.
30:09It was first published in 1897.
30:11He gives such interesting
30:13observations on the site
30:15particularly of Roca de Mina.
30:17He says here,
30:19in the municipality of Alhanderola
30:21on top of a hill
30:23I explored the ruins
30:25of the phantom of the god
30:27Endervelicus and collected many
30:29dozens of monuments with which
30:31the cult of that god
30:33is restored in its general lines.
30:35He's saying we can
30:37post something even bigger on this site.
30:39We can start to think about this god
30:41Endervelicus and the way
30:43that he was worshipped and the way that the space
30:45was used.
30:47Carl and Jao are examining the altar
30:49at the top of the stone steps
30:51to see how it compares to the one they saw
30:53at Castro de Cibanes.
30:55This is completely
30:57flat and this is
30:59the top of the altar.
31:03Meanwhile, Hamilton has discovered
31:05a well behind the altar
31:07which may offer clues revealing
31:09what this site was used for.
31:11I wonder how deep that is.
31:13You can see from the colouring on the stones
31:15that even now the water does come up
31:17quite a few feet at some point.
31:19It's obviously where the
31:21offering is received.
31:23That's it. It's the focal point
31:25of whatever the ceremony is.
31:29But what was the ceremony?
31:31What could have been sacrificed here
31:331,000 years ago?
31:35In the 19th century, Vasconcellos
31:37found archaeological evidence of
31:39animal sacrifice at this site.
31:43What he notes is there are loads
31:45of images of pigs.
31:47That's quite interesting that
31:49it's one animal repeated over
31:51and over and over. This is the quote that he says,
31:53I spoke of Endervelico's
31:55animal sacrifices and
31:57among them I especially cited
31:59the pig which is featured
32:01in many monuments more than once.
32:03Sacrifices were so common
32:05in all sanctuaries and in all
32:07gods that a notable exception
32:09would be if they were not
32:11celebrated also in honour
32:13of Endervelico.
32:15Vasconcellos also found the ruins
32:17of a later Roman temple dedicated
32:19to Endervelicus just two miles
32:21away in the valley below
32:23Rocha da Mina.
32:27Here he came across evidence
32:29of a blending of Celtic and Roman culture
32:31much like Hamilton's altar.
32:33He's finding
32:35inscriptions and
32:37on these inscriptions there are initials
32:39DES.
32:41Now this is an abbreviation
32:43of a Latin phrase
32:45Deo Endervelico
32:47Sacrum. So the idea
32:49that this is a sanctuary
32:51to the god Endervelicus.
32:55This is all so interesting
32:57because it relates directly
32:59to Carl and Hamilton's altar
33:01in the sense that you've got
33:03Celtic imagery combined
33:05with Latin alphabet D
33:07and M. It so
33:09encapsulates the
33:11really clever strategy that the Romans
33:13rolled out across the empire
33:15across centuries. This idea
33:17that wherever they went, yes
33:19they were the military overlords, yes
33:21they would demand taxes, but they'd often
33:23try and adapt whatever they
33:25found to their own ends.
33:29The team's findings not only helped
33:31to date the altar to the Roman occupation
33:33period between the 1st and 3rd
33:35centuries CE,
33:37but also to place
33:39the piece in a broader historical context,
33:41showing the way
33:43in which Celtic and Roman beliefs
33:45mingled during this crossover period.
33:49Now, Carl and
33:51Hamilton want to find out more about
33:53who Endervelicus was and
33:55how he was actually worshipped.
34:13Carl and Hamilton are traveling to the Cotswolds
34:15in southwest England to meet
34:17up with longtime collaborator Roger
34:19Box. Roger is a guide
34:21at a local National Trust property,
34:23Chedworth, one of the largest
34:25Romano-British villas in the country.
34:29The site is home to the remains of a Roman
34:31temple, built over the site
34:33of a pre-existing Celtic water shrine.
34:35They're hoping that Roger's knowledge
34:37might help shed light on the altar.
34:51Straight.
34:53That's fine.
34:55That is heavy.
34:57I'll move this.
34:59Okay.
35:05So it's a bearded,
35:07long, droopy moustache, is it?
35:09Almost like a Jesus-y type
35:11crude image, but it's Endervelicus.
35:13Yeah, Endervelicus
35:15is associated with the pig.
35:21They would have been
35:23sacrificed to him.
35:25That altar shape,
35:27the carving, the top, it is
35:29altar-like, and so who knows
35:31how that sort of works into it.
35:39But yes, he is associated
35:41with the pig, and they would have
35:43been sacrificed to him.
35:45The worship of the pig.
35:47Well, the worship of the pig, yeah.
35:49Seems quite appropriate being
35:51here, doesn't it, in this
35:53holy water spring?
35:55Well, I'm not saying you've brought it home,
35:57but this is the context that we're familiar with,
35:59and if we were here in this location
36:01in the pre-Roman times, literally
36:03where we are now, you'd see multiple
36:05carvings of that type of
36:07figure all around the wall behind us.
36:09So we're saying that the actual
36:11pool here is something
36:13that the Celts would have been
36:15kind of venerating,
36:17that he then has been
36:19given a second generation
36:21by the Romans.
36:23So there's an assimilation between
36:25sort of the pagan beliefs
36:27into the Roman system, is there?
36:29Yes. In pre-Roman times,
36:31this would not look as grand as this.
36:33It would have just been the brook
36:35or the spring coming out, and they may
36:37have had a range of stones around here.
36:39They certainly had these curious carvings
36:41all around. We know in Roman times
36:43it was a covered space. This sort of
36:45apse, this area here, there's evidence
36:47here of plaster. What you would have had
36:49here in Roman times are multiple
36:51altars to multiple gods. They'd all be
36:53here, Jupiter in the middle, Venus, Mars,
36:55Saturn, all the gods would be here.
36:57A lot of the much earlier religions
36:59seem to have been adopted
37:01or in some way kind of
37:03converted by the Romans into their
37:05own beliefs. So, I mean, has
37:07endovelicus been absorbed into the Roman
37:09system? Yes.
37:12The Romans were
37:14very tolerant of other religions.
37:16They had multiple gods.
37:18Other cultures
37:20have multiple gods. Sun, moon, stars,
37:22springs, you name it.
37:24You know, harvest, gods of this, gods of that.
37:26The Romans just basically said to people,
37:28look, let's agree, we have different
37:30names for the same people. Endovelicus
37:32becomes Asclepius.
37:34Eventually,
37:36Endovelicus, the bearded Celtic
37:38god of nature and health, morphs
37:41into Asclepius, the bearded Greco-Roman
37:43god of health and hygiene.
37:47Just like his Celtic predecessor,
37:49Asclepius was associated
37:51with prophecy. The sick
37:53would sleep in his temple, hoping
37:55to have dreams that would predict their
37:57cure.
38:04Carl and Hamilton head home,
38:06having uncovered new evidence
38:08of the Phoenician influence on early
38:10Celtic culture in Iberia,
38:12and how Celtic practices
38:14were later assimilated into Romano-
38:16British culture.
38:21Next time, on Lost
38:23Relics of the Knights Templar,
38:25Carl and Hamilton investigate
38:27a white marble chalice from
38:29the Templar treasure trove.
38:31They will travel to the
38:33stunning Chartres Cathedral in
38:35France to decode its secret
38:37symbolism.
38:39And on to Scotland, to find out more
38:41about what happened to the Templars when the
38:43order was outlawed and went underground.
38:45This actually disguises
38:47a Templar cross.