I was just going to post this as a comment on Old Nick's site, but this show really pissed me off with its use of conjecture and renactment to sensationalise our past.
My biggest gripe is that none of the evidence put forward actually proved that the Druids carried out human sacrifice or cannibalism despite it being pro-activly presented in that way.
The gruesome trophy sites were battle casualties and there is nothing unusual in cultures taking heads as trophies. In fact it still happens today. The one instance of a body being decapitated with a sword is not proof of a sacrifice it could have been a battle casualty or a judicial killing.
Similarly there was no evidence to suggest that the bones dug out of the cave in Gloucestershire were victims of sacrifice at the time of the Roman advance into Britain, we have seen in recent times mass graves that are the results of ethnic cleansing in both Africa and the Balkans, and the Romans themselves were not above putting the entire populations of conquored cities to the sword. I also think that the one split bone offered up as evidence of cannibalsim from this site is not sufficient, there should be far more butchered bones from more sites for a safe conviction.
The memo about the human remains from the lake of votive offerings in Anglesey (that had vanished anyway!) offered no proof of anything.
Again Lindow Man, was he a sacrifice or a judicial killing? We don't know but up until 300 years ago elaborate rituals like hanging, drawing and quartering were practiced for crimes like treason in the UK.
Now I'm not trying to suggest that the Druids were all cuddly white haired grandads who spent thaeir days cuddling oak trees, these were violent times and we don't have much reliable evidence either way, but history programmes like this offer a very biased and inaccurate view of history.
It should also be remembered that the Roman's had a well documented penchant for cruelty and violence both in conquest and their public entertainment and so presenting the ancient Celts as savages on the basis of a trophy site and a bone pit is about as silly as basing such an assertion on the Romans having a tidy haircut.
