BBC Focus Magazine

[M Paul Lloyd]

Part 2 of 4 of the second series. 9.00 pm BBC Two June 30th.
(missed part 1 sorry)

The Skeletons of Windy Pits.
For decades, experts have remained baffled by a jumble of human bones found in a network of caves known as the Windy Pits on the North Yorkshire Moors. Here, Professor Sue Black and her forensic anthropology team examine these skeletal remains including a particular tangle of bones which may belong to a family from 2,000 years ago. As the team look for answers as to who these people were and how they lived and died, they uncover what appears to be a world of ritual sacrifice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0129smh

[M Paul Lloyd]

Here's the i Player link for anyone that missed it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... indy_Pits/

[Healerman]

Ritual reared it's ugly head once more, but quite rightly, I think in this case. Fascinating piece of detective work.

I knew it could be a bit rough upt' north (my nephew just got mugged in Bradford), but scalped?

[M Paul Lloyd]

Well you only have to look at our more recent history to get some idea of how cruel humans can be, especially when survival is the name of the game.

I do sometimes think that the rose tinted spectacles should be put away more often.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Oh dear, falling behind here sorry.
The York 113
which was broadcast at 21:00 hrs on BBC Two today July 27 2011.

In 2008, construction workers just beyond York's city walls uncovered 113 bodies in a mass grave. The History Cold Case team spots an incredibly rare genetic peculiarity in two of the skeletons among the 113 and wonder whether they have stumbled on a pair of brothers, one of whom was severely disabled.

The trail to find out who these two men could have been and how they ended up dead in a mass grave outside York opens up a new personalised vantage point on the events surrounding the English Civil War and also gives us a perspective on disability which can perhaps teach us something about so-called modern attitudes today.

It was a quite fascinating programme not least because one individual had a serious congenital condition yet was still an active member of a military community.

This will be available on the iplayer thing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... _York_113/

[M Paul Lloyd]

Next on:
Thursday, 21:00 on BBC Two (except Northern Ireland (Analogue), Wales (Analogue))

Professor Sue Black and her team use forensic science to shed light on the past.
When the remains of 17 people - men, women and 11 children, one as young as two years old - were discovered in a dry well shaft in Norwich city centre, the local community were keen for answers about who these people were and what happened to them.
Thought to date from the early 1200s, this becomes a case of suspected medieval murder but the final reveal of the identity of these people is an even bigger shock to all involved.

You know, I recall when Caroline Wilkinson was just starting out with her facial reconstruction work using modelling clay and little pegs. I also recall that her work was not that well received by some experts at the time with it being treated as nothing more than a novelty, her technique however has proved pivotal in the world of forensics ever since and she deserves due recognition for her efforts.

[Healerman]

You know, I recall when Caroline Wilkinson was just starting out with her facial reconstruction work using modelling clay and little pegs. I also recall that her work was not that well received by some experts at the time with it being treated as nothing more than a novelty, her technique however has proved pivotal in the world of forensics ever since and she deserves due recognition for her efforts.

Yes. Enjoyed the work she did on the old C4 series, "Meet the Ancestors", with Julian Richards I think it was.

Just finished watching episode 4, and I must say I've enjoyed the series overall, I just wish they'd back off rom the modern trend for "OMG, shock-horror" sensationalism, and present the whole thing in a slightly more grounded manner.
That I suppose, is a problem in science reporting generally. Just watch a back issue of "Horizon" from the eighties and compare it to the modern version and the difference is quite marked.