History Cold Case

The fascinating work of the world-renowned Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification in Dundee, UK, comes under the spotlight for a new series. Analysing the skeletons of everyday people from across the ages the team can unearth in staggering detail how each person lived his or her life; opening new windows on the history of our forebears by literally revealing the person behind the skeleton. Much more than just historical remains, the History Cold Case team work on answering three big questions from the skeleton: who were they? Why did they die? What does their life story tell us that we didn't know before? Remarkable stories of everyday people are painstakingly reconstructed, along with their faces, which haven't been seen for hundreds of years. Skeletons unearthed in a range of circumstances will get the "history cold case treatment," such as a bizarre mummy, found by accident in the cellar of a Victorian house. The trail will take us across the ages, unravelling some personal stories from Roman times through to the early 1900s.

Production company: Shine TV
Commissioned by: BBC Two
Genre: Documentary

Episodes available: Season 1: 4 X 60
Format available: Yes