Chronicle (1966)

The prehistoric cave paintings of Europe were discovered by accident in 1881. But at 40,000 years old they remain a mystery. What do they mean? Are they simple decoration or Stone Age hunting magic? How can we possibly find out? David Drew reveals how the Bushmen of the Kalahari and American neurologists have begun to cast a new and unexpected light on the world of trance and medicine men.

Who is skeleton number 2,309? How old was she when she died? What did she do in life? In a unique excavation, 1,000 bodies buried as recently as 1800 have been removed from a London crypt. By analysing how and why these people died, dentists, doctors and archaeologists are helping current forensic and medical research, as well as uncovering an extraordinary record of life in early 19th-century London.

Cleopatra had one. The Emperor Augustus had this one - probably the finest example of Roman glass in the world. It was made in c.30 BC - 30 years after the invention of glass blowing. During its long life 'the vase' has inspired Rubens, Blake and Darwin; Wedgwood founded an entire industry on it. Then it was smashed by a drunk in 1845. It was immediately restored by the British Museum, who are restoring it again in a nine month project to reduce the vase to its original 230 broken fragments, add the odd pieces discovered in a drawer, and make it safe for the next 200 years. Value on completion? Actually priceless, but 30 million pounds might do.

Forty years before Raleigh discovered Virginia, groups of fishermen from the Basque region of Spain were making dangerous crossings of the Atlantic in search of whales. They were the first Europeans to stay and exploit the marine resources of North America. Archaeologists have now discovered the remains of their daily lives on both sand and sea. The wreck of the ship, the San Juan, gives a fascinating insight into the development of boat-building, while the vats for extracting blubber mark the start of an industry that today has almost led to the whales' extinction.

A new excavation project explores Saxon mounds in Suffolk to find out more about this part of 7th-Century England. As well as revealing some of the latest discoveries, this edition shows how more modern excavations are conducted, supported by film footage of Basil Brown's original dig at Sutton Hoo in the 1930s. As the project uncovers more about royal ship burial, an attempt at experimental archaeology has surprising consequences.

This programme provides an overview of recent excavations in North Carolina and Virginia that have attempted to uncover slave quarters on plantations. These digs have shown that the slaves brought agricultural techniques and traditional crafts from West Africa, some of which are still practised today. The finds reveal how innovative the African slaves were and highlight the ways in which they coped with the horrors of captivity.

'It will be like shopping in Chester in Roman times,' says the private developer; 'a Roman EastEnders,' says the designer; 'hamburger heritage,' says the local civic trust. Plans for the Deva Roman Heritage Centre are well advanced. 'Heritage' is booming. The past is in fashion as never before. But if it is privatised, who becomes its guardian? Filmed at the Jorvic Viking Centre in York, at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum and in Chester, Leeds and London.

Queen Nefertari, wife of the famous Egyptian pharaoh, Ramesses II, died more than 3,000 years ago. Her tomb, just south of the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, was discovered in 1904. It revealed some of the most beautiful wall paintings in Egypt, but so badly damaged that they have never been on show to visitors. A team of specialists is now engaged in restoration. 'Our aim', says its Italian director, Paolo Mora, 'is maximum conservation, minimum intervention', confident that in the near future Nefertari's tomb will be open to the public.