00:00 Exteriors
- University of Birmingham
Dr
Vincent Gaffney walking along a corridor
Dr
David Smith sat at a microscope
Map
of Dalmation Region, Croatia
Still
of Cetina Valley
Guide Voice: Staff at the Institute for
Archaeology and Antiquity, at the University of Birmingham in the
United Kingdom, have made what may be one of the most significant
archaeological finds of the last 50 years. Supported by the British
and Slovene Academies, Dr Vincent Gaffney and Dr David Smith have
identified the Valley of the River Cetina, in Croatia, as one of
the most important archaeological wetlands in Europe.
00:25 SOT: Dr Vincent Gaffney -
"The - the material we're finding at the River Cetina is
probably amongst the most remarkable that I personally have been
involved in. What we're looking at is a river valley that has
nearly 8,000 years of settlement, virtually all of which is
preserved, along with the environmental evidence and a remarkable
collection of metal and stone finds which appear to have been
thrown into the river at various times over this very long
period."
01:02 Researcher
at Microscope
c.u.
Researcher at Microscope
Plant
material in petri dish
Guide Voice: The scientists are particularly
excited by the exceptional preservation on the site, giving them a
major opportunity to map the early history of everyday life within
the region.
01:12 SOT: Dr David Smith, Environmental Archaeologist
- "The area we're working in, the Balkans, has
almost no environmental archaeology done from it. In particular
there are almost no waterlogged deposits such as the ones we've
seen in the Cetina Valley, really from the area south of the Alps
down to northern Greece. So this is very much for us a one-off
opportunity. We're expecting to produce some of the best
environmental reconstructions, some of the best in reconstructions
of how people grew their crops, how they tended their animals, from
this site than from anywhere else within the
Balkans."
01:52 Archive
footage - amateur video
Camera
goes underwater - showing preserved timbers
c.u.
preserved timber post
Pottery
shard on river bed
Diver
pulling short sword from river bed
Diver
pulling spear head from river bed - holds up to camera
c.u.
Museum image of finds on computer screen
Guide Voice: The valley shows signs of a series
of preserved wooden dwellings that may be comparable to the famous
Swiss lake settlements. Early investigations have also found a
remarkable variety of objects which appear to have been thrown into
the river deliberately, including swords, helmets, axes, and a
variety of stone and metal objects.
02:19 SOT: Dr Vincent Gaffney - "One
should say that objects like this are not so rare in their own
right - in some cases within Europe you can literally find hundreds
of them together in large hoards.But to find such a collection
coming from a river of the size of the Cetina is remarkable. And
again the connection with the settlements and the general
environmental data makes it certainly unique in this region and
significant across a much larger area of Europe."
02:49 SOT: Dr David Smith - "Our
intention is to go back, hopefully this summer, and begin to take
very, very detailed pollen cores through peats within the basin.
Try and those use - use those to not only reconstruct how the
environment changed through time, but also to try and develop a
sort of three-dimensional model of the environments within the
basin across time."
03:12 Archive
footage - amateur video
Diver
picking up stone axe head from river bed
River
bed
Diver
with metal detector
River
bed
Diver
showing Bronze Age sword to camera
Guide Voice: Local archaeologists have long
been aware of the remains in the Cetina Valley carrying out
valuable work on the landscape - but the team from the University
of Birmingham have been able to bring their experience to this
investigation and demonstrate the wider context of the finds. Quite
simply, Dr Gaffney believes it to be one of the most important
landscapes in Europe.
03:33 SOT: Dr Vince Gaffney - "We know
the area's strategic in a number of point in times because it's a
border, it was an important border between the Venetian and Turkish
Empires, for instance. We know that it was a border between the
Roman Empire in its later forms, and the Slavic kingdoms as they
gradually mo- moved to the west to take over this region. So it was
always, always important. And one I think is - is that this is
reflected in earlier periods, and we're seeing it in - in - in -
with respect to this remarkable collection of metal and stone
objects which are being deposited within the river".
04:10 Ends
