Good morning, we will continue with the Thirty-One Days of Time Team with In the Shadow of Tor. 
​
Time Team is in one of the most hostile environments in Great Britain in Cornwall.  However, 5,000 years ago it was the most ideal place to have a home.  Why were Prehistoric people drawn to the site?  How did they survive?  Time Team has three days to find out.  The location in Cornwall is weather-scared and a witness to 1,000’s years of human history.  Nobody can say for sure how old the ruins in Cornwall are.

The weather had scarred the landscape where the prehistoric people settled.  Did these settlements spring up at the same time?  Or were there periods of settlement?  The archeology is on the surface and is one of the best-preserved sites in Britain.  Ian Morrison, with English Heritage, inspected the site before.  He comments on the inspection of the site and believes that there were a couple of hundred people living there at one point.

Francis Pryor plans on digging the site, looking for evidence of the house, and to find dating evidence.  The site is within sight of one of the highest Tors in Cornwall.  Tony talks about the site and wonders how people lived there.  He wondered why people wanted to live there.  The site was a hive of activity in the past, however, it is only a theory.

Time Team takes their seat alongside other archeologists who have worked on the site.  One local archeologist had done some digging on the site.  Now it is up to the Time Team to put together the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.  The Time Team begins digging in the doorway.  Will they find the door?  Or are they just excavating stone?  There was an assumption that all the structures came from the Stone Age.  However, there seems to be evidence indicating that there was another earlier settlement.

A second trench will go in.  They will put it in the trench where it was dug before.  They will also look for pollen samples in the soil.  The pollen will tell the Time Team about the environment.  They will also look for signs of burning.  If there was burning it will a sign that someone was living there.  The weather is throwing everything it can at Time Team.  Despite this, they are making small finds, including a piece of flint.  So Tony goes and investigates as to why people would settle on the site.

Ian Morrison talks with Stewart Ainsworth.  They look to the landscape of the area.  The landscape may be the key as to why people settled in that landscape.  It could have been a sacred landscape.  Or it could have been a place where people could easily gather.  The light is providing dramatic views of the landscape, which would have been intriguing to ancient man.  The settlement was in the shadow of a Tor, or a mountain.  What secrets does this mountain have?

To continue to learn more about this site continue to watch this documentary.  Will the Time Team further the history of this site?  What will they find? 

The landscape was cool.  The Time Team had to battle with the weather during this dig.  I got a kick out of Phil being in his element.  I agree with Tony, how could anyone live on the site.  This is an episode that brings in environmental archeologists to discover more about the history of the landscape.  That element was pretty cool to bring in.

As for showing this in a classroom, I would restrict this to independent study students or for research purposes.

Good morning we are continuing with thirty-one days of Time Team.  This time the Time Team is having trouble with Temples.

When Julius Caesar arrived in Britain he recorded druids and their bloody sacrifices.  Years later, Romans introduced their bloody rituals to the island.  They did this through Temples.  Of course, Time Team has not had much luck in finding temples.  Will that change in this episode?  There was an intriguing photo that seems to indicate that there is are temples.

In the 1970s an ariel survey of the area showed something in the ground.  There were squares in the ground that seem to fit the footprint of a Roman Temple.  Tony immediately shares his skepticism with Francis and Phil.  Francis comments that temples have proved elusive.  Phil is hopeful because of the clarity of the photographs, showing the square within the square plan. 

Phil and Francis make plans for geophysics and putting in trenches.  The Time Team is off and running.  The photograph is 30 years old, so the Time Team will have to figure out the spot.  Tony believes that plowing may have damaged the site.  John Gater, the geophysicist goes over the results.  The results are as clear as mud in comparison to the aerial photographs.  There are hints of plow damage to the site.

Trench one goes in despite the geophysics results.  In the meantime, Tony talks about Roman religion and the local religions.  The Romans were able to meld local traditions with their gods.  However, human sacrifice was a step too far for the Romans and so that was outlawed.  While Tony is learning about Roman religion, Phil’s optimism is being rewarded.  There are hints of a wall that survived.  The archeologists go to work.  There is evidence of additional walls and tiles.

There is a hint that the Time Team may have found an outer wall.  Eventually, an inner wall emerges.  For the first time in fifteen years, the Time Team may have found a wall.  However, the geophysics and aerial photographs are proving too confusing.  Even Stewart is confused with the results.  He walks the fields and goes landscape archeology the old school way.  Francis is still optimistic that there is a Roman Temple in the ground.

Tony sums up the activities of day one and is cautiously optimistic on day two.  The next day, the Time Team finally clears up some confusion over the location of the temple.  Henry, the surveyor may have miss-plotted where the temple was when he did the original survey.  With Stewart’s help, the temple has temple location has shifted a bit and the site is surveyed again.  Phil jokes with Henry over his mistake.

Tony continues to learn more about temples and what went on in the temple.  Some excellent finds are going on during this dig.  They are finding floor tiles and Roman coins.  The Time Team excavates the center of the temple where people would have left their offerings.  A broach is found in the middle of the Temple.  Questions are being answered and there are more questions about the Temple site.  Stewart investigates the landscape to see if those questions can be answered.  There is a river system next to the temple as well as being next to a Roman Road.

What else will the Time Team find on this site?  Did the Time Team finally find a Roman Temple?  Continue to watch this episode to find out.
​
This particular Time Team would be a good episode for research into the Roman Religion in Britain.  It is an exciting episode to watch.  If you need a filler for a substitute teacher, then they could show this episode in a class too.

 Thirty-one days of Time Team continues with the Time Team going to Jersey Island, one of the British Channel Islands to explore Hitler’s Island Fortress. 

Time Team explores Jersey Island and Hitler’s Island Fortress.  The island castle is the oldest on the island and was where the British could defend their Channel Island.  The terrain will prove to be a challenge for the Time Team and geophysics.  The steep sloops will prove to be a challenge.  The castle was important strategically.  However, there are some mysteries about the castle that needs to be resolved.

Warwick Rodwell has worked on the castle for thirty years and still understands that some mysteries need to be resolved.  The castle grounds are relatively unexplored.  There are lumps and bumps in the ground that indicate something.  There may have been earlier structures on the site as well.  The Castle was built in the 13th Century and it was on the frontline of the power struggles between Britain and France.

The sloops are a challenge to climb and for geophysics.  Phil finds a visible section of the wall and immediately puts in a trench.  Does the Tudor Wall sit on an earlier wall?  Phil is hoping that it is the 13th Century Wall.  There are plenty of health and safety issues in regards to geophysics in the castle area.  John, the geophysicist will concentrate on the lower level as well.  Mick is interested in the earlier history, in a time where the castle was not built.  Will they find earlier history? 

John and Tony go over the geophysics results.  They are not getting clear results due to the bedrock.  However, there is something in the ground, and that a second trench will go into the area.  They are looking for a ditch that helped the castle defenses.  If they are lucky then that ditch could date back to the time of King John.  The Islanders sided with the English and so would need a castle to defend itself. 

The landscape archeologist looked around the castle and discovered an earlier tower to the castle.  Phil in the meantime is struggling with finding dating evidence.  He found a water pipe and it was a possible relic from the German occupation.  He talks about how the locals are always finding relics from the German occupation of Jersey.

In trench two, there is no evidence of the 13th Century either.  Stewart thinks he may have found another ditch.  So after the weeds are cut back, they geophysics the site.  He talks with Mick about his reasons for why there is a second ditch.  It may have been part of the 13th Century defenses.  It was the weakest part of the castle.  Trench number three goes in.  Stewart climbs up the castle wall to see if he can find the 13th Century wall.

This is a ditch-crazy episode.  However, as Mick points out, ditches were an important part of the castle defense as well.  They are also finding a lot of World War II finds.  Phil and Mick give Tony a hard time over Tony’s insistence on finding 13th Century items.  It was a challenging dig for the Time Team and it was fascinating to see them overcome those challenges.
​
This would be a good episode to show in both a history class and an agricultural class on landscaping.  Stewart took the lead on discovering new things about this castle by studying the landscape of the area in the castle.  You could show this class in a technology class too as the Time Team heavily relies on technology to record their finds.  This would be a good episode to show as part of Early English History.

Thirty-one days of the Time Team continues and this time the Time Team investigates an Ancient Trading Post in Cornwall.  What will the Time Team discover?  Tune in to find out!
​
Time Team goes to Cornwall to investigate Cornwall’s role in international trade.  Cornwall was where the world got tin.  In exchange, the Cornish got manufactured goods.  Pottery from Africa and Turkey has been found in Cornwall.  Is there an ancient trading post in Cornwall?  Time Team goes in and investigates.

The Cornish Coast is notoriously dangerous for sailors.  However, there are little havens where a sailor can pull in and shelter safely.  The manager of the site flew over the area of the trading post and found crop marks in the landscape.  There may have been houses on the site.  What were these houses doing on this site?  Was it a trading port?  The Time Team opens up two trenches on the site.  One trench is over a large anomaly in the ground.  The second trench will be opened over an old Iron Age roundhouse.

The Time Team could be looking at over one thousand years of activity.  The finds that were found can only hint at the date of the site.  However, the Time Team will look for their finds that were safely tucked away in the trenches.  Although the size and shape hint about a roundhouse’s age, they will still need to have found to provide concrete evidence of a home’s age. 

The first finds are Roman coins.  They would not be used in the Iron Age.  Tony brings over a coin to a Roman Coin expert.  He dates the coin back to Emperor Hadrian.  This means that the particular site was used during the Roman Age.  Can this site get dated back to an earlier period?  The Time Team is determined to find out.
As the Time Team digs, Tony is worried about the assertion that the site was a trading port.  They will need more evidence to convince Tony.  The site would not be a good one for sailors to pull into port since the waters around the area are shallow.  So why would this site be linked to the Middle East?  The Time Team will continue to explore why.

A third trench is open on a site where a second roundhouse could be.  They are finding evidence of ditches around the house.  Ditches were used to help drive the rain away from the house.  In the first trench, they are finding small finds.  One of these finds comes from the Mediterranean area.  This is the first link in the chain to prove that the area was a trading post. 

Day two ushers in more questions and possibly more answers.  The evidence suggests that there is a gap between the two sites.  One site could be ancient and the other site could be Roman.  Additionally, the evidence suggests that this spot on the Cornish coast welcomed traders from the Middle East.  Tony takes a trip with a Cornish fisherman.  He talks about the challenges of sailing these waters.  Although the seas could be calm, there were hidden dangers underneath that could wreck the sailors.  Even the modern navigation maps hint that the waters were treacherous.  However, the landscape archaeologist seems to hint that a harbor in that location would not be completely crazy.

To find out why there was a port there continue to watch this episode of the Time Team.

This one is an excellent episode to show in a history class.  The Time Team explores international trade and how the Cornish contributed to that trade.  They also discuss the importance of the finds and the provenance of those finds to accurately date a site.  So if you are a teacher or a substitute teacher in the classroom, then show this episode in the class.  If you have an independent study student, then put this episode on their list.

Welcome to March and 31 days of Time Team.  Time Team is searching for Henry VIII in this episode.
​
This Time the Time Team is exploring Henry VIII’s lost jousting grounds.  Henry VIII had inherited Greenwich Palace from his father and he made it a place for jousting.  The jousting grounds and the buildings around them have disappeared.  Time Team has three days to find them.  Nobody had excavated these sites and nobody knows what they looked like.   Will the Time Team succeed in their quest?

Henry VIII looms large over history.  He was a man who loved tournaments, jousting, and spending money.  Unfortunately, this dig will prove to be a challenge.  Geophysics did not work on the site.  There were no Tudor-Era maps of the site.  Mick Astin points out that it is back to basics: they will have to dig a trench.  The site manager warns that the Tudor layer could be as much as six feet down.  The Time Team wastes no time in putting in the trench. 

There are less than a handful of images of Greenwich Palace, the Tiltyard, and the Armory.  Stuart Ainsworth looks over the remaining images to determine what they should be looking for.  Tony is skeptical that they will find something remaining from the Tudor period.  The Time Team keeps digging in the armory site.

In the meantime, another team digs their first trench.  This area was the location of the tilting yard.  This was where the knights prepared for jousting.  Tony again is skeptical about finding evidence of the tiltyard.  However, an expert in Tudor Jousting creates an image of what a Tudor tilting yard looks like.  It was an elaborate set of the building where the knights would change into their armor, where people would fight, and where people would party.  There was a series of great halls linked together by galleries.  The team is finding evidence of rubble.

Henry VIII was born in Greenwich and held a fondness for the palace.  When he was a young king, he was a sportsman and was proud to show off his skills.  He used Greenwich Palace to try to win over the French.  He wanted to secure an alliance.

After three hours of digging at the armory site, Phil may have found something.  He calls Mick over.  It may have been a set of loos.   The armory will prove to be elusive.  The tiltyard may be easier to find.  The geophysics look at the site and have some good results.  There may have been a tower on the site.  However, it may be an air-raid shelter.  The only way to find out is to dig a third trench.

Stuart continues to work to discover where the armory is.  Slowly new documents are being discovered about the site.  He goes over what he finds with Mick.  They will look more towards the river to discover the armory.  The tiltyard trenches are turning up Tudor evidence.  Buckles, glass, and pieces of pottery are being found.  There is also no air raid shelter in the third trench.  There is evidence of walls.  Is this evidence of a Tudor Structure?  The Time Team will have to continue their investigation.

Tony gets fitted for Tudor Armor.  An armor-making expert measures Tony up and discusses how armor was an investment for the Tudor knight.  Tony is measured up and the armor maker gets to work.  To continue to learn more about the Tudors, watch this episode.

This episode is cool because it shows Henry VIII as the sportsman and shatters the story of the fat overweight king.  Henry VIII was a sporting king.  This would be a good episode for both history and independent study students to watch.

We continue our 31 days of Time Team with Day 16.  This time, the Time Team finds themselves in Spain where they are exploring a Spanish Port.  Time Team again explores the shores beyond England to foster a deeper understanding of history.

Over nine hundred years ago Denia was a thriving Islamic town in Spain.  Time Team makes their way to Spain to discover more about Denia.  Mick before the dig explores the coastline and takes in the landscape.  He points out that you only really know what goes on in town after a building is taken down.  Mick also talks about the impact of ports on Britain.  So what will Time Team find exploring this site?

Present Day Denia is undergoing a serious upgrade and redevelopment.  So a lot of the archelogy that is being performed is rescue archeology.  The Spanish archeologists have discovered significant walls that would have protected the city.  The Time Team artist is drawing what the town would have looked like with the walls surrounding it.  The Time Team also planned on exploring the burial area to help learn more about the people of Denia.

The Time Team will work on the cemetery and that will be where their main area of expertise is.  One of the Time Team experts looks at a grave.  It is buried in a usual matter, this shows it was done following Islamic tradition.  They were buried within twenty-four hours of death and pointing to Mecca.

Tony learns more about the Muslim invasion of Spain.  He learns who invaded, where they settled, and how the locals were treated.  He examines a Spanish map to see where each settlement was.  Time Team was given a rare opportunity to explore a piece of European history.

No osteoarchaeology has been done on the cemetery site, so any new information will be a boon to the Spanish archeologists.  Phil explores more of the cemetery and discovers a bit of the history.  The archelogy seems to indicate there were building on site.  Those buildings were taken down and bodies were put in.  There was a building with a body in it.  Phil is excited about what he is finding.  Phil wants to see the relationship of the body to the buildings and the road.  Phil and his partner Jenny will put in a trench. 

Time Team is also sent to an additional site in the heart of Industrial Denia.  Muslim pottery was discovered at the site.  There is also evidence of kilns at the site.  The Time Team will have to hand dig the site before they can get a machine in it.  They geophysics the site.  Finding a kiln on the site will tell more about the history of Denia.

Additional trenches will be put in the cemetery site.  The Time Team will try to discover more about the people who are buried.  Did they suffer from disease?  How many people are buried there?  Are these people are of high status?  Why are they buried on their sides?  Day One is proving to be a success for the Time Team.

To learn more about this site and what the Time Team discovers continue to watch this episode.  Will they find a kiln on the industrial site?  Will they sort the street plan of the site?  What can Denia tell us about the history of Spain?

I would show this episode during a history class when students are learning about Spain.  The finds are intriguing.  Phil is in his element working in the cemetery.  Tony is narration perfection.  If you have an independent study student, then you can recommend this episode.

Time Team leaves England’s shores and does a dig in the Netherlands.  So we continue our 31 Days of Time Team exploring the Rhine Region in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Tony Robinson kicks off our episode climbing a reconstruction of a Roman Tower.  At the time, the Netherlands was the main supply route to Britain.  This outpost sent food, soldiers, and supplies to Britain.  In Utrecht, archeologists have been making discoveries.  These digs are revealing what it took to keep the Empire going in Britain.  One of those discoveries included a book.  What else will the Time Team find in three days?

Erik Graasfalt and several Dutch archeologists invited the Time Team to do some investigating.  Several amateur archeologists have discovered finds that would indicate a military site.  The other question revolves around two ships.  There is an intact Roman boat in the ground.  Mick is skeptical that it is as well preserved as the archeologists believe due to the dry ground.  However, the water table is high in that area.  The Time Team will sort out how old this boat is.

The Time Team goes further up the Rhine river to see what is beneath the ground.  There seems to indicate a Roman fort.  Caligula was the emperor who fortified the supply route, even though it was Claudius who conquered Britain.  Claudius was well prepared for the invasion of Britain because of these forts.  Proving a case for the fort will not be easy.

Mick goes over the site plans and talks about the plan for the plans.  However, they are only allowed to dig one trench.  Tony checks in on Phil locating the Roman boat.  The Dutch Archeologists laid a plastic sheet over what they originally excavated to keep the moisture in the ground, thus protecting the boat.  This would be the second boat found on the site.  These boats were flat bottomed and used to transport the army and goods.

The boat they are currently working on maybe even be older which thrills everyone.  Mick explores a museum.  The Dutch landscape seems to have a preserving effect on wood.  In this museum, there is a piece of wood from a watchtower.  Mick examines one-thousand-year-old eel traps.

In the meantime, Phil continues to excavate the boat.  They find out that it is not a complete boat because of the way it is laying in the ground.  They will hit the new archeology within the hour.  There are rocks in the boat and the Romans had to ship rocks into the Netherlands because there are no rocks in the Netherlands.

Upriver, in the one trench, they are allowed, they are finding modern rubbish.  In the trench that is outside the scheduled area, they are finding pottery similar to what they have found earlier.  They find a pot with a word on it.  What else will the Time Team find in this area?  At the end of Day One, Tony’s attention is focused on the boat.  Continue to watch to find out more.

When students studied the Roman Empire, the Netherlands is never mentioned as having an impact on the empire.  It was always Rome, Britain, and maybe Germany.  So this was a fascinating episode to watch.  I enjoyed them uncovering the boat.  It was also really nice to see the Time Team go beyond Great Britain to explore more sites.

As a substitute teacher, I would show this episode to a class studying Roman history.  It was a fascinating episode and told the story of how the Romans invaded Britain.  Regular teachers could also show this episode to a class.  I would also recommend this episode for independent study students.

We are continuing our 31 Days of Time Team and a look at King Henry V’s reign.  This was a highly technical dig from Time Team and a fascinating episode from start to finish.

Time Team searches for Henry V’s Flagship the Grace Dieu.  They are searching on the River Hamble.  It was Henry V’s huge flagship.  She had only one voyage and was eventually abandoned.  The story was that it was struck by lightning and burned to the waterline.  There is evidence of a ship on the bottom of the river.  Was she too big to sail?  Was she a failure?  What will the Time Team find? 

The Time Team will be doing some underwater archeology.  Phil and Francis are wondering how they will handle this dig.  How did this big ship end up in the river?  The marine archeologist on site discusses his excavation plan.  The Time Team will be using some new techniques to learn more about the wreck of the ship.  Tony is skeptical of the assertion that the shipwreck is the Grace Dieu.  Another historian makes the case for the wreck to be the Grace Dieu.

The size of the ship is forty meters from stem to stern, it was a sizable ship.  The Grace Dieu was an enormous ship.  The Time Team will have to determine the size of the ship.  They will also have to conduct safety checks on the equipment they will use to dive into the wreck.  They will also have to take precautions against the silt obscuring visibility.  Tony is worried about all the time that the setup and checks are taking.

Late in the afternoon, the first diver takes to the water.  He goes to the stern of the wreck and stars setting the anchors for the sea curtain float.  Tony is disappointed at the pace of everything.  Phil is bucking Tony up.  Everything about the site will be experimental. 

The Victorians were the first to explore the wreck.  They noted that the ship was made of three planks of oak kept together with the ship’s nails.  Would this cause problems for Grace Dieu later?  An expert in ancient boat-building techniques is experimenting with how the ship was built.

Carenza is looking at the records to discover the staggering amount of materials it took to build the ship.  There were plenty of records about the ship.  Carenza is shocked at the scale of the ship.  After all the set up there is some work done in excavating the ship.  Everyone is chopping at the bit to start digging.  On day two, the Team is ready to go. 

They dig into the silt to look at the wreck.  The Time Team has to work between the tides.  In the meantime, Tony does some more exploring about Grace Dieu’s history.  The ship had only sailed once and nobody liked sailing on her.  So after that one voyage, she was laid up at the mouth of the River Hamble.  Eventually, she was brought further up and that was where she remained.  What will the Time Team find out about the ship?  To learn more about Grace Dieu continue to watch this episode of Time Team.

Tony is particularly funny in this episode and it was a highly technical dig for the Time Team.  Will Phil dive on the ship?  What will the historical experimenting in shipbuilding show the Time Team?  It was an interesting episode to watch.  The Time Team did not know whether or not they would get to dig on the sight.  There were new technologies that were involved.  The Grace Dieu was one giant experiment in archeology.  Highly recommended for a science or history independent study student.

Thirty-One Days of Time Team continues with The Druid’s Last Stand.  This episode is from season 14.
In 2006 an aircraft flew over Anglesey.  She was surveying the island and taking photos.  He found something unusual in the landscape: it was made of earthwork.  Anglesey is rich in archelogy and the site that was discovered may have had had something to do with the Druids.  However, there was no clear documentation on the earth's works in Anglesey history.  As usual, Time Team has three days to explore this site.

They are in Wales on the island of Anglesey.  It will prove to be a tough site.  The site is windy.  The site also has never been excavated before.  The site is visible in the photos.  Nobody knew that it existed.  The Time Team pours over the ariel photo of the site.  It is a puzzle that nobody had dug it before.  Even a survey was done on the island only noted that it was just a ditch, mainly destroyed.  The photo proves otherwise.

The Time Team speculates about the site.  The initial thought that it is Roman.  Another suggestion that it is Iron Age.  Dating the massive earthwork will be a challenge.  If it is from the Roman Period, it will tell the history of Anglesey.  A Roman army invaded the island and massacred the Druids who lived there.  They destroyed the oak groves.  Is this the site of the massacre of the Druids?  What will the Time Team find out about this period in history?  The possibilities of this site are unlimited.

Geophysics had gotten to work before the Time Team arrived in the area.  They put in three trenches.  One trench goes in over the entrance.  Another goes in to find evidence of settlement.  The third goes in over what could be a stone rampart.  The Ground is bone dry so digging will be a challenge.  Then it starts to rain which makes the digging even tougher.

Ian, the digger, has a keen eye for looking for features in the ground.  He points out something Phil.  He notices a different color in the ground.  Phil examines the different colors of dirt.  They may have found the entrance to the enclosure.  Is it Roman?  Is it Iron Age?  Does it open to the last refuge of the Druids?

Tony talks with someone from the Welsh museum.  He questions the possibility of Druids.  The Welsh Museum director explains that there were remains and artifacts found on Anglesey on the other side of the island.  There was ritual throwing away of items.  Tony comments that it must be frustrating to not find a Druid temple, something tangible.  The museum director comments that it is a challenge because the sacred Oaks would have rotted away after burning.

The Time Team examines what was thought to have been a rampart.  However, it turns out not to be a rampart.  It was outside the structure.  It was a later stone structure built on the site.  Stewart Ainsworth points out additional earthworks that hint at a complex.  Mick believes that Stewart is right, and Tony jokes about it being hard for Mick to admit.

The trenches are turning up empty.  Will the Time Team find something linking the site to the Druids?  Will they find the dating evidence they need?  To continue to learn more about this site and the Druid’s Last Stand watch this episode. 

This would be a good episode to show when a class is learning about the Romans and how they treated the locals.  This would also be a good episode for an independent study student studying Roman history in Britain.