Tyne Tees Television presenter and reporter Andy Kluz takes a journey back to Neolithic northern England to find out if our ancient ancestors soothed their arthritic joints in specially constructed saunas and looked into the night sky to find their ancient gods and spirits more than 5000 years ago. Title: Magnetic North Standing beside a section of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland presenter Andy Kluz wearing a Tyne Tees Television jacket asks the question when you think of the history of...

Tyne Tees Television presenter and reporter Andy Kluz takes a journey back to Neolithic northern England to find out if our ancient ancestors soothed their arthritic joints in specially constructed saunas and looked into the night sky to find their ancient gods and spirits more than 5000 years ago. Title: Magnetic North Standing beside a section of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland presenter Andy Kluz wearing a Tyne Tees Television jacket asks the question when you think of the history of the North East what comes to mind? The Industrial Revolution and the Romans are discussed, but Andy explains another people left their indelible mark on this landscape and to find them you need to go back to our earliest beginnings. Sunrise over a desolate rural landscape. Title: In the Beginning Following a steam up a hillside Andy explains that to explore this desolate landscape you need to be hardy, but 5000 years ago this area was a positive hive of activity. An aerial of open moorland at Teesdale in County Durham with smoke coming from part of it and Andy speaking in voiceover to explain that this is a man-made landscape that is today carefully manged, but at the time of the first farmers was open woodland of hazel and pine with grazing deer and wild pig. An illustration of a farm of that time changes to Andy walking near what he describes as a ‘bleak spot’ near Middleton-in-Teesside that 5000 years ago was a very pleasant and beautiful place. Standing with Andy is amateur archaeologist Tim Laurie who explains that this area has been controlled for livestock farming for thousands of years and that it is a significant place as it is potentially the location of a Neolithic settlement dating from around 4000 years ago. He points out a bank of stones which he explains is evidence that it was once a clearing in open woodland and the areas within the banks has almost certainly been farmed. The open landscape in front of them changes to an illustration of the settlement with a farm and building built within in. An aerial of the site which is near a steam or small river with Andy explaining that from the air it is possible to see what archaeologist describe as a ‘burnt mound’. Returning to Andy and Tim on the ground Tim provides evidence to show that these burnt mounds were a kind of communal cooking places. Moving on Andy talks about dozens of other mounds found all over the northern Dales away from settlements which have a more bizarre use. As he and Tim walk onto a mount Tim explains that he believes these other mounds could have been an early forms of sauna. Over a computer illustration of what one of these sauna’s would have looked like Tim explains how heat back in the middle Bronze Age was a luxury. High on the southern slopes of Wensleydale Andy and Tim come to stand beside a spring. As the water comes out of the ground Tim talks about the potential magical power of such places and that these burnt mounds are often found near them. An illustration again of the location they are standing in with two small structures in the shape of rounded saunas. Standing with Durham Cathedral in the background Professor Anthony Harding from Durham University talks about the importance of water with regards all these burnt mound sites and concedes these sites could be used for cooking, bathing, sauna or other ritual purposes, but since little to no specific evidence has been found for their use at these sites it would impossible to really know exactly what they were used for. Sitting on a rocky mound Andy concedes that we may never know if these locations are places of mysterious tribal rituals or the prehistoric equivalent of a working-men’s club. However, there are other places where it is more obvious magic was at work and may still be. A montage of various pieces of rock art changes to amateur archaeologist Stan Beckinsall walking across the desolate landscape near Barningham in Lower Teesdale. Stan is described as the leading authority on the mysteriously cup and circle rock carvings produced between 4500 to 3500 years ago and found on these and other lonely moorland hills across Northern England. As Stand arrives at one of these carving he begins to clean it with a brush. In voiceover he explains rock pattens like this exist all over the world, that they contain no animals or shapes of people but are purely abstract symbols. He acknowledges that symbols are around us today, but those on these rock carvings would have had a special significance to the people who made them and that they are scattered across the landscape in specific places. Returning to Professor Harding he concedes that it is nearly impossible to know what these cup and ring marking are and quotes a leading authority of the subject who published a book with 101 possible explanations. However, some consider them today as markers in the landscape, turning it into an identifiable place and something with a human imprint stamped on it by means of this art. Kneeling beside another rock carving Stan points out some of the methods used to produce these pattens as well as the significance of the shapes that have been made. Over an artistic interpretation of the landscape during this era he talks about how he believes it shows the importance of the area for hunters watching the migration of game. Over a montage of relevant images Stan talks about finding similar carved stones in burial cairns meaning they had a magical significance and that looked on today he believes that the everyday life of these ancient people seems to us to be magical. Returning again to Professor Harding he comments that circle don’t appear a lot in nature but can be seen around us in the heavens. Taking the programme into a commercial break Andy explains that for us to appreciate our ancient ancestors’ gods and spirits he needs to travel to the Vale of York and out into deep space. Title: End of Part One Part Two A helicopter flying overhead and aerials of the southern most part of Thornborough Henges in North Yorkshire near the River Nidd. Walking beside a field of Rapeseed Andy explains the lumps and bumps behind him were once a great place of pilgrimage where thousands would gather each year at the greatest and most important site in all Northern England. An archaeological dig at the henges taking place in September 1997 with Dr Jan Harding from Newcastle University providing details on the dig which is taking place around the entranceway to the southern henge. He talks about its features and what they have found including a channel through which people would have come describing the embankments around it being like a cathedral of the past, a way of enclosing the users inside like the walls of a church. Artistic impressions of how of what it would have looked like are shown as Dr Harding talks about how he believes the site would have been used. Describing the site as being the most importance and extraordinary in the whole of Europe, Andy explains there is inescapable evidence that these ancient people were star worshippers. On a computer screen at Newcastle University a 3D recreation of the southern henge’s double-timbered alignment running through the landscape. Sitting nearby is Dr Harding who explains how this processional route through the henge is in the same alignment to what would have been the constellation of Orion at ending on timber fences built where the three stars of Orion’s Belt would have been seen rising above the horizon for the first time in March. Andy then points out another astonishment that has also been discovered in that proportional distance between the three stars in Orion’s Belt are the same as the three henges at Thornborough. Dr Harding explains that for many societies around the world even today stars have associations with their gods and spirits, and so believes the site is a place of worship or celebration of a god. Laid out on a piece of cloth examples of flint gathered during field walking with Dr Harding talking about seeing the complex acting like a cult centre. Over more artistic impressions he sees the Thornborough Henges as like Mecca for Islamic societies today, a place of pilgrimage. Over more aerials of the site Dr Harding talks about the lack of settlements within the complex as well as the surrounding vicinity, and that when settlements have been discovered over a kilometre a way, they are of a temporary or non-permanent construction. In conclusion he sees the landscape as a place where people visited for a few weeks or a month for acts of ceremony and worship at the henge complex before dispersing and moving elsewhere beginning around the time where Orion becomes visible in the night sky. Following more of the archaeologist on site at Thornborough a map showing the ritual sites mark a map near to Ripon from Thornborough in the north to the Devil’s Arrow’s near Boroughbridge in the south. Talking in voiceover Professor Harding again from Durham University explains that this was an extensive area of ritual significance, they were big sites that need lots of people to construct them. Over artistic impressions of said time he explains how these were places where people could assemble and take part in communal activities. Bringing the programme to an end Andy talks about the significance of March beings the start of spring, could our ancient ancestors have seen Orion as a bringer of new life and if so is that such a fantastic idea? Credit: Camera Steve Falvey Sound Ken Cox, Richard Lawton Graphics David Richardson Editor David Middleton Sound Mixer John Cook Executive Producer Jane Bolesworth Producer Andy Kluz End title: A Tyne Tees Television production. © Tyne Tees Television MCMXCVIII