Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard

Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard is an exciting new BBC One documentary exploring Britain’s biggest Ice Age discovery in nearly 20 years. DigVentures is the archaeological team that led the excavations.

When two enthusiastic fossil hunters uncovered an extraordinary cache of mammoth remains in the West Country in 2017, they sparked an unexpected journey of discovery. Originally hoping to find Jurassic marine fossils, they had instead chanced upon the find of a lifetime: mammoth skeletons, and lots of them.

DigVentures was called out to assess the site with evolutionary biologist Prof. Ben Garrod. The team found ribs, tusks, leg bones, teeth, vertebrae, and perhaps most excitingly of all, a stone axe made by a Neanderthal. It was immediately clear that this was no ordinary accumulation of jumbled remains: it is a snapshot of an ancient habitat dating back over 200,000 years, a window into a period of time for which there are very few surviving sites.

Why were there so many mammoths there, and of varying ages when they died? How did they die? Could Neanderthals have killed these Ice Age giants? And would this site be able to unlock new clues into Neanderthal behaviour, mammoth evolution, and even show us a picture of life in Ice Age Britain?

Recognising the national and international significance of this site, DV assembled a team of experts who to help us unpick the complex layers of sediment, and to bring with them the latest scientific techniques to recover even the most fragile pieces of evidence. Understanding the enormous public interest in what we were about to uncover, before we had even broken ground the BBC committed to a documentary and invited Sir David Attenborough to film the discoveris as they happened.

What followed was an incredible collaboration between enthusiasts, documentary-makers, museums, academic institutions, scientists, and experimental archaeologists.

Creating a BBC One documentary makes what is already an exciting discovery even more exciting. Through the filming process, we’ve not only been able to reveal the finds themselves; we’ve been able to make the science, the ideas, and the discussions behind them, accessible to all.