CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Examining bones of Celtic princess on BBC's Digging For ... trends now
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Digging for Britain
Rating: ****
Romantic Getaway
Rating: ****
Humans don’t change. However different technology was 2,000 years ago in the Iron Age, vain people loved a fad diet just as much as they do today.
Examining the bones of a Celtic princess, discovered by archaeologists at a village in Dorset on Digging For Britain (BBC2), Professor Alice Roberts spotted signs of malnutrition.
The noblewoman, who died at about the age of 25, was buried with her riches, including a glistening bronze mirror and a coloured glass bead. Her wealth was so conspicuous that historians believe her tribe, the Durotriges, were matriarchal — ruled by their royal ladies.
This princess was too posh for her five-a-day. Living on meat and milk, she didn’t appear to eat fruit or veg . . . and so suffered from scurvy, a Vitamin C deficiency that left her with weakened bones.
Professor Alice Roberts (pictured) takes viewers on an historic journey through the Iron Age at a village in Dorset on Digging for Britain
These days, people on low-carb, high-protein diets can also suffer from lack of Vitamin C. It’s bizarre to think that, after all these centuries of progress, we’re still capable of making ourselves ill for the sake of fashion.
Prof Alice’s sacrifices to the fashion gods are less dangerous. When she first visited the Durotriges dig, 13 years ago, she was a blonde. Now her hair is pastel pink.
She has a vivid turn of phrase that helps to bring alive history of all eras. At a Roman excavation in Bishop’s Stortford, in
