I’m sure your history students get straight A’s with distinction. You are one fascinating and very cool dude. 👍🇿🇦

Grand to see Phil again. I know it is a year later but still so good to Phil. Love the neww hat.

Thanks for posting this very informative interview! Not to cast shade on a much-needed field, but, yes, it's a terrible name, sounding like digging treasure to sell commercially (yikes). In the US there is a weird "Society for Commercial Archaeology" around since 1978 dedicated to contemporary "roadside ephemera" whatever that is.

Emotionant evenimentul. Felicitări arheologilor pentru efortul depus. O lectie se poate trage din acest eveniment care a avut loc in urma cu 200 de ani. Aceea lectie ne spune ca niciodata nu trebuie sa duci o lupta pe teritoriul adversarului ca poti avea surprize neplacute precum infrangerea pe campul de lupta. Acel teritoriu poate fi Rusia s-au Anglia acelor vremuri. Si totusi istoria ramane o carte deschisa pentru vremurile actuale. Oare am invatat ceva din istoria trecuta?

Ghostly redcoats wandering the grounds? Certainly their remains are not present anymore. More than 27000 tons of human/animal bones from Napoleonic battlefields were imported through the port of Hull to be processed into fertilizer. The young soldiers still had good teeth and these were used in dentures, called "Waterloo teeth". The British were called the vampires of Europe at the time.

A find that could rewrite the history books????? More than 27000 tons of human/animal bones from Napoleonic battlefields were imported through the port of Hull to be processed into fertilizer. The young soldiers still had good teeth and these were used in dentures, called "Waterloo teeth". The British were called the vampires of Europe at the time. The absence of bones is no mystery!!!!!!!!

Great project, especially for the veterans! They will not find many bones. More than 27000 tons of human/animal bones from Napoleonic battlefields were imported through the port of Hull to be processed into fertilizer. The young soldiers still had good teeth and these were used in dentures, called "Waterloo teeth".

Great project! That barely any bones will be found should be no surprise. More than 27000 tons of human/animal bones from Napoleonic battlefields were imported through the port of Hull to be processed into fertilizer. The young soldiers still had good teeth and these were used in dentures, called "Waterloo teeth". The British were called the vampires of Europe when all this happened.

Indeed nobody was left behind. All the dead were brought to Britain including all friends and foes.

Also in Leipzig and Austerlitz you will not find mass graves. More than 27K tons of human/animal bones from the Napoleonic battlefields were imported through the port of Hull to be processed into fertilizer. The young soldiers had good teeth and these were used to make dentures, these were called "Waterloo teeth" at the time.

Nice work. Better than searching for skeletons that everybody knows were shipped out 2 centuries ago.

What is interesting is how many Irishmen served in "English" and "Scottish" units. Supposedly recruiting sergeants would avoid the law against recruiting Catholics from Ireland by taking the ferry to Manchester or Liverpool and enlisting the Irish there and hop back on to get to the regimental depot by dark. In 1862, facing a war with the US with tens of thousands of Irish and Irish-Americans in Federal blue, the question went out about the Irish in the British Army. Besides the regiments recruited on the Irish Establishment, some English regiments from the west had a third to a half of the enlisted men recruited in or from Ireland.

Wow.

The Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

So lovely to see Phil again!

Phil, you old dog you! I felt so sentimental when I saw this program. I missed you and your mates from the Time Team days. Made me go back and rewatch some of the episodes. So good to see you again. Greetings from a Danish guy in China

Aha! Now I’ve seen the rest of the video I see he addresses the issue I raised. I agree that either the French were already defeated inside - which rather spoils the story - or like I suggest perhaps there were men trapped behind the gates as they were opened who managed to push back against them after the main rush of attackers had passed through

I visited Hougomont for the first time this week. What doesn’t make sense to me, seeing the models and maps, is how the North Gate was closed in the way that is often represented. That is, that it was closed “behind” the French who got in and that THEN they were cut down. Because, with the buildings so close on either side of the gate and such a small space how could there be British soldiers to the side capable of closing the door without being in amongst the French. I could understand if the French were killed and THEN the gates were shut with, perhaps, a lull in the numbers pushing through. Or even if a group of French passed through into the courtyard but didn’t have many colleagues behind and then the defenders got behind them and closed the gates. The point is that with buildings on either side of the gate there’s no room for defenders to get around a group of attackers numbering 30-40. The only option I can think of, if the accounts are accurate, is if a few defenders were pushed back by the gates opening and trapped behind, not really seen by the French pushing in, who were engaged to their front, and then there being a gap in attackers that allowed them to get the doors closed as the attackers moved inside

Never been here, but was at our Gettysburg and standing there, reading Lincoln's address, I was moved to tears, very unusual for me. But the sense of history and lives lost was profound

What amazes me is that this has to rely on charity !!!! The state should be paying for this !!!!!these men changed the course of western history and they have to rely on charities honoring them !!!! Pathetic !!!!

Didn’t they use the teeth from the dead to make false teeth and ground bones up for fertilizer !!!!!!! So much for Val our

Maybe one day they will get him some nose trimmers

Oh god pig tails and nasel hair !!!!!!

Better the sir bloody bald Rick !!!!! Tony Robinson Who is a hypocrite !!!! Anti monarchist who accepted a knighthood

It's not only Phil's passion for archeology that sets him apart. It's his passion for the people who created and lived the archeology. Archeology for Phil is a living, breathing entity and his gift to us is connecting us with those real, live people.

irish soldiers were also the backbone of the highland regiments that were raised gordons, seafotths argyls, etc etc at the outbreak of ww1 nearly 1/3rd a third of the british army were irishmen,

Thank you very much. 👏🏼👏🏼🌹🌹🌹💕

Pathetic BS

Whines on about British neglect of Dutch contribution, mentions casually something about German contribution ... Totally neglects to mention Belgians in the army 😂 ...

Those mutton chops and nose hairs are about to knit each other together!

Great Britain vs French Empire 🤔🤔

In regard to the model being made of the battle. At what time in the battle will it represent?

As a reenactor (79th Cameron Highlanders) I love the work you do. 2022 we were camped in Hougoumont. Damn it was hot.

People like general Vandeleur you never hear from but have a very impressive and long military career fighting all over the empire. Must have been men like him who were the backbone of Wellington's army.

Phil. My favorite pirate 😊

Brilliant video. Thanks.

Phil is brilliant!

Have a question about what Phil carriers in his hip pouch. I been wondering that for years. I love watching him. He is a great broke

It was not unusual for servants to be able to read and write during this time period. The literacy rate in England in the 18th C was estimated at 70%. That is at a time when 50% of the population was going hungry on a regular basis.

Sounds like a lot of metal detectorists have had a go on a lot of it, over the years.

Hi Ben, is the book to be released in English?

"There's LOADS of archaeology there, look...... " ;)

Having seen the tragic end of horses, put down after breaking their legs on a racetrack, this is exactly how these equine remains show they would collapse. Forensic examination will likely also find butcher marks on the bones. Food was in especially short supply after this battle due to mud and road congestion. Meat was a prize commodity and it's very unlikely that fresh horse meat would be discarded.

Please do more Phil Harding documentaries, this guy inspires generations of kids across the world, get him some funding BBC Australia an NZ loves you Phil please make more

I really wish you had turned more often. I want to see more.

I was part of the Royal Irish Rangers Honor Guard when the Bishop of Armagh (I think it was Armagh?) consecrated that stone at Waterloo. I remember there may have been six of us? Hard to find men 6 feet or over in the Rangers back then.

Superb video. I can't believe that they have to pre warn snowflakes about skeletal remains. FFS.

@tony pollard - so Ridley Scott may not have been wrong that there were TRENCHES at Waterloo?

How can a man wake each day and have that hair in his nose !!!!!! Revolting I can’t watch him really revolting

I find it typical for the British to claim this victory even if 75% of his army was Germanic origin and even saved the day. It has been a historical cliche for Brits to vehemently hate Germans and this extends to the Dutch for being basically Swamp Germans. The Dutch were 17000 men, the Germans 26000, the Prussians 50000 and the Brits only had 24000 men. Ofcourse all the honor went to the British, the Prussians got at least some credit because the Brits would've been annihilated without their reinforcement, the Germans get no mention and the Dutch, who actually saved the day twice get no mention either. It's stuff like this why I don't like the British.