Good morning!  Today is the last day of the Thirty-One Days of the Time Team.  This time I am going to be doing an episode from series ten.  This episode comes from the Unearth History – Archeology YouTube Channel.  Today the Time Team is heading to the Shetland Islands to learn more about the Vikings.  This episode is called the Giant’s Grave.  The run time for this episode is 48:37.

On the island of Fetlar, a remote Shetland Island, there is a local legend surrounding the “Giant’s Grave.”  The Time Team dives into this legend.  As they investigate, the Time Team discovers Viking Pottery in a local garden.  This leads to a potentially legendary discovery that may change the history of Fetlar.  What was this discovery?  Is there a Viking Boat burial in this area?  What else will the Time Team find in three days?

Fetlar is the easternmost of the Shetland Islands.  There are two sites on this site: a local garden and the Giant’s Grave.  Val Turner talks about what is known about the Vikings in the Shetland Islands.  However, there was little evidence that the Vikings were in Fetlar.  Trench one goes into the garden of Nick Boxall, he was the one who made the initial discovery about the Vikings.  He had been digging a vegetable patch when he made the discovery.  Playground equipment is removed and Tony says that they will take Nick at his word and they take apart the garden.

Geophysics works in the garden.  In the meantime, attention is turned to the giant’s grave.  Boat burials are very rare so the Time Team will take its time to do this dig.  Two small trenches are opened in the mound.  However, Mick is not convinced that this is a boat burial.  Tony points out that the mound is not shaped like the boat graves in Scandinavia.  Tony and Mick look over the rivets that were discovered earlier.  These rivets could have come off a shipwreck.  So the Time Team will have to allay his fears.  Trench One is turning up empty however in Trench Two, Phil is getting excited.  Phil is finding more rivets.  There are some rivets attached to the wood.  However, it does not prove that this is a Viking boat burial.  Do these rivets have an order or are they scattered like they were tossed away?  The discovered rivets are plotted on a computer to see if they are in a line.  Will Mick’s pessimism turn out to be justified?

Tony then talks about the Vikings' arrival and why they would come to Shetland.  The land would have been desolate at the time.  It would have been bleak.  What would have been the attraction for the Vikings?

Back in Nick’s Garden, there is plenty of noise to be found.  However, the trench the Time Team put in was huge.  There was a large burnt patch in the middle of the trench.  Was this a longhouse with a hearth in the center of the house?  There was a Viking pot found on the site.  There were additional Viking finds, made from the local soapstone.  Phil tries to carve the local soapstone with mixed results.  Eventually, the trench is extended further in hopes of locating a wall.

Mick goes and catches up with Phil on the boat trench and they have a good debate on what is being revealed about this trench.  Eventually Mick has Phil expand the trench and Mick goes off to the back garden where there is stonework discovered.  There is a lot of progress made by the Time Team on Day One.  Will the Time Team find a boat burial on this island?  Will the Time Team be able to keep Mick’s pessimism at bay?  What will the Time Team find in the garden trench?  What will the Time Team learn about the Vikings in Shetland?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

I love Uncle Mick’s pessimism throughout the episode about the boat burial.  Phil was also particularly funny during this episode too and I liked to see him in his element carving up the soapstone.  This would be a good episode to show to a history class.

Good morning!  Two more days and I will be done with the 2024 edition of the Thirty-One Days of the Time Team.  I keep peaking at my document with all the Time Team episodes and it is very cool to see the boxes being marked off as I finish an episode of the Time Team.  I just have three more episodes to do to finish up series four and series five.  Today I am going to do an episode from series fifteen.  The episode is called Fort of the Earls and it has a run time of 48:44.

The Time Team visits Northern Ireland.  They are examining one of the most important sites in Anglo-Irish History.  It is a hilltop castle above Dungannon, and it was the home of the powerful O’Neill dynasty.  It was a castle seized by English Forces.  The Time Team has been given three days to excavate a castle that has changed the course of Irish History, no pressure right?  The Time Team is joined by Colm Donnelly, Hiram Morgan, Paul Logue, and Jim O’Neill.

A local council was given the site and wanted to turn the castle hill into a park.  Tony catches up with Mick and they look at an image of the castle as it looked like after the English defeated the Irish.  There were some clues as to where the castle was on this hill.  Day one begins with a geophysics challenge and ripping up concrete.

Tony catches up about the history of Dungannon and the O’Neill Dynasty.  He meets with Hiram Morgan and learns about the O’Neill family.  They claimed one of the oldest lineages in European History.  One O’Neill wrote to the pope complaining about English Rule.  They would have been a prominent Irish family and did not like English rule.  It would have been a tempting target for the English.  O’Neill hated the English so much that he destroyed his castle to stop it from being used as a garrison in 1602.  1602 would have begun English dominance in Ulster.

Trenches go in several areas, one over the wall, another in a rampart section, and the last going in over an Irish settlement.  The main trench over where some medieval walls are are proving to be a challenge.  The British Army has left behind a meter-deep concrete slab.  The Time Team has to pick a different spot to dig for the wall.  The area they pick has softer ground and Phil makes his way to working on the trench.  Will the remains of the wall be discovered in this trench?

Eventually, Phil makes two discoveries dating back to the O’Neill era.  A flagon was discovered dating back to the late 16th Century.  The flagon would have been important from Germany.  The English were concerned that the Irish could be used as a launching point for a potential invasion.  The English would try to persuade the Irish to become more English.  However, the O’Neill Family were resistant to these changes.  The English would invade and would bring an end to the traditional Irish way of life in this settlement.

There are more challenges along the way.  Dungannon would have been burned down several times throughout history and the landscape would have changed.  However, John Gater has discovered areas of burning in the ground.  So what will a trench reveal about the burning? 

Back in Phil’s trench, there are some difficulties in discovering the castle wall.  Based on where the moat is the Castle may be in a different area on the site.  Even though Phil has made evidence dating back to the Sixteenth Century, he does not think the chunk of the wall belongs to the castle.  Phil’s trench will have to be enlarged to see if the castle was where it theorized was.  So where was this castle?  What will the Time Team learn about this castle?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

Phil was very snappy and sarcastic with Tony in this episode, which is funny.  The archeology was very interesting and better throughout the episode.  This would be an episode I would include on a potential Time to show to a history class list.
 

Good morning!  I hope that you are doing very well.  I cannot believe that time has flown by.  The Thirty-One Days of the Time Team is winding down.  Then November will be here.   Anyway, this is an episode from season nine, after this episode, I will be down to six more episodes to find in season nine. The episode is called Iron-Age Market and has a run time of 49:49.

The Time Team is going to be examining a large field that is surrounded by a bank and ditch.  An antiquarian thought it was the remains of an Iron Age City.  Next door to the field is another massive hill with another bank and ditch enclosure.  Was this a fort where prehistoric people ran to under attack?  What will the Time Team find out about these hills in just three days?  This is one of Time Team’s more ambitious digs.

Geophysics gets to work on the site right away while Tony and Mick catch up with each other about the dig.  The field has been plowed up and the field walkers are out on the site to make finds.  A GPS survey is also done on the site to help the Time Team make a 3D Model of the area.  This is the first time there will be work done on these monuments.  Two trenches have also already been made.  What was going on in the site?

Phil and Mick talk with the farmer who owns the land.  Over the years this farmer had made his discoveries in the fields.  There were plenty of finds that were discovered just in the field.  Phil is over the moon with all the flint that was discovered.  There was also an arrowhead discovered too.  The finds demonstrate that people were living on the site for thousands of years.  There was pottery discovered.  The finds show that the area was busy during the Iron Age.

The geophysics results come back and show an Iron Age roundhouse.  A trench goes in over the roundhouse site to test the results.  Phil discusses the trench placement with someone from English Heritage.  The Trench is immediately expanded and Phil has even more to shout about.  He has discovered a piece of Iron Age pot.  Could there be a complete pot in this roundhouse?  That is cool to see if it is true that there is an Iron Age pot in the roundhouse.

Phil talks with the member of English Heritage about digging the site.  There seems to be a conception among some of the community that sites like these should not be touched.  However, by excavating these sites, historians can further the story.  This dig has revealed several different pots that help date the area back to the Iron Age.  Even more finds were made as a result of the field walks.  Day One concludes with Phil up to his neck in archeology and some very good geophysics results.

Spirits are high on this dig, there is an Iron Age pot next to burning and this pot was found in a round house.  Day two starts with a careful examination of the Iron Age pot that was discovered in the roundhouse.  Strangely, the archeology is close to the surface.  The plow did not go very deep into the ground, which is very lucky for the Time Team.  Geophysics results continue to show more targets in the area.  What was going on in this area?  Also on the site was a variety of stones, which would have been used for slingshots.  Phil talks with a reenactor to talk about how effective a weapon a slingshot was.  Phil takes part in the demonstration.  What else does the Time Team find?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

This was another dig where you felt like the Time Team may have bitten off more than they could chew in three days.  Some hard decisions had to be made about where to put in the trenches.  There was a lot of activity at this site, it was almost impossible to determine where the Time Team was going to dig.  The removal of the pot operation was very well done.  This would be a good episode to show a history and a science class.

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you are reading this!  The Thirty-One Days of the Time Team is winding down and this time I am going to do a newer episode from the Time Team expedition crew.  The Time Team Expedition Crew is going to be exploring a Medieval shipwreck.  The run time for this episode is 25:44 and because this is a shorter episode, I will be doing a shorter blog review.  It is called the Mortar Wreck.

A shipwreck was discovered off the south coast of England off Poole Quay.  It was laden with fascinating cargo and is one of the best-preserved wrecks off the British Coast.  Derek Pittman and Lawrence Shaw spend the day with a dive team to learn more about the shipwreck.  Who were the crew?  How did it meet its watery grave?  What was it carrying?  This expedition crew looks to learn more about the ship.

The wreck site is off what is known as the Jurassic Coast, an area rich in fossils.  The team approaches the wreck site and prepares to make the dive.  The wreck is one of the oldest wrecks in the channel and it is incredibly well-preserved.  It dates back to the mid-thirteenth century.  Impressive castles were being built at this time.  England was ruled by King Henry III.  The ship would have been carrying stone.  The Isle of Purbeck, a nearby island, was famous for its marble.  The Haysom family runs a quarrying and have recently identified some medieval stone.  In the Medieval period, the marble would have been hand-harvested.

So where would this ship be heading with its cargo of Purbeck Marble?  Many cathedrals in Britain are made from this stone.  However, it could have made its way to the continent as well.  When Edward I’s wife died, he erected fourteen stone crosses in her memory.  So what type of cargo was this ship carrying?  Trevor Small was a ship captain who discovered the wreck.  He asked Bournemouth University to take a look at the site. 

The dive proceeds and the team from Bournemouth University.  The wreck is scanned and examined carefully to map it out.  The 3d Model of the site is very well done.  On the bottom, there are a variety of carved stones found.  One of those stones was an altar stone.  Artifacts are eventually brought up from the site.  To learn more about the more about Mortar wreck continue to watch the episode.

I still do not know how I really feel about this expedition crew.  I feel like a smaller crew going back to examine an area of a previous expedition over two days is much better.  Or the episode could have been longer.  As far as showing this episode to a history class or a science class, I would give this one a skip.  It is just way too short for the class to learn more about history or how to apply the scientific method.  If this was longer, I may have changed my mind.

Good morning, October is nearly done, and then onto November.  This time the Time Team is exploring a mysterious moat which may be one of the easiest places Time Team has excavated.  The run time for this episode is 47:53 and it is called the Mystery of the Manor Moat.

The historic Llanciah manor house is an archeologist’s dream.  It is a grand manor house on a lovely landscape.  An ancient moat was discovered and no one knows what it was protected.  There are many theories such as a Welsh chapel, a Roman fort, a fortified cattle enclosure, or the ancestral home of an important Welsh family.  Or did it just protect a fancy cattle enclosure?  The Time Team has three days to find out.

The powerful Pritchard Family, built a grand manor on the site and the family would host King Charles I.  The house is a museum, but is this the original house on the site?  The property manager is intrigued by the moat and would like to know what it is protecting.  Earlier commissions believed that the moat was protecting a Roman fort.  In fact, the Royal Commission had dug in the same area as Time Team and made that conclusion.  However, the moat could have been protecting an earlier house.

Trench one goes in immediately without waiting for geophysics results.  Immediately the earthworks are discovered.  Was this earthwork part of a larger feature that was protecting something special?  A moat can be a dry ditch or a water-filled ditch that is protective.  Tony learns more about the manor and the Pritchard family.  He talks with her about the theories about the moat and what it could have protected.  Could this moat be protecting the ancestral home of the Pritchard family?  The grand house could have replaced a less grand house.

Tony is rather teasing about what could go wrong with the geophysics results.  John Gater goes over the results and they are as clear as mud.  John cannot see anything that resembles an enclosure or even an earlier house.  It soon became clear that there was no moat on the site.  However, another feature is noted in the results.  Trench two goes in over this feature.

The house is going to be dated as well and a team goes in to get some data from the wood beams of the house.  This transitions into learning about the Pritchard family and their ties to the land and the house.  The records are slim in regard to this family.  Stewart continues to examine the landscape and he is looking for evidence of an earlier house.  He believes that there was a house on the other side of the field in the woods.  An area south of the house may have contained an older settlement.  Geophysics works on geophysics on this new suggestion.  What could possibly go wrong?  However, John can once again see no evidence of structures.  If there was an earlier house on site, where was it?  I am starting to think that this is a cattle enclosure.

Things are not smooth sailing for the Time Team.  You would think with such flat fields the Time Team would find something.  The manager of the museum believes the house would not have been built in that place for no reason.  She believes that the land had some special meaning in order for the Pritchard family to build on it.  What was the meaning?  Does the Time Team find something on this dig?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

I know I say this often, but Tony was particularly funny in this episode.  I still wish for a Tony-Gus jointly hosted Time Team, it can just happen one time, as long as it happens.  The dig seemed straightforward, but throughout the episode, it has proved anything but straightforward.  Theories were brought forward and then dismissed when the evidence did not demonstrate that theory.  It was interesting to see how the Time Team struggled to find dating evidence on the site as well.  The geophysics team was also a bit snarky towards Stewart.  Anyway, this was a good episode with everything that was going on and would be something I would show to a history class.

Good morning, the journey into the Thirty-One Days of the Time Team is sadly winding down for 2024.  Today’s episode is going to come from Series Eight.  This time the Time Team is on a dig that may be too good to be true.  The episode is called The Celtic Spring and it has a run time of 48:29.

It is a dig like no other.  In a garden, there is a Neolithic tomb, as well as a Norman Tower, and a sacred spring.  Why are there so many finds in this area?  What is the significance of this place?  The Time Team is on a mission to work out whether or not the artifacts at Llygadwy are genuine.  Or are they part of an elaborate crime against archaeology?  What is going on here?  The Time Team has three days to find out.

Llygadwy was often described as an archeological theme park.  Others described it as a hoax.  The local archeologists did not want to touch the site.  So the Time Team is going to be working on its own and subject the site to a variety of tests.  There will be a variety of experts that will help the Time Team make sense of the site.  Tony and Mick catch up with the finds that were discovered by the landowner of the site.  However, there was not much context to the site.

Trench one goes in near the spring where many of the finds were discovered.  People would have thrown things into the spring as a sacrifice.  The son-in-law of the landowner talks about what was found in the spring.  They talk about what was found in the spring.  The landowner has declined to be interviewed for this Time Team.  The Time Team learned that the area has been extensively landscaped over the years.  Tony catches up with Phil to learn more about the Neolithic tomb.  You can sense that the Time Team feels that there is something off about the site.  Of course, Phil teases John about not needing geophysics results.

Not much progress is being made in the spring, however, Phil has made some discoveries around the Neolithic tombs.  This calls into question the theory that the tomb is fake when there was intact archaeology around the stone.  Eventually, Carenza finds a piece of a Roman brooch.  The other finds that were made over the years are cataloged and organized until the time period.  However, does this lead to the conclusion that the Spring was a ritual spring?

What was going on at this site?  Day one concludes and Day Two progresses.  The work continues in the spring and work begins on the Roman tower.  The experts are not agreeing with the conclusion that the spring was holy.  Robin Bush discovered a vicar who was very interested in Druids and Bards.  He was very good at woodworking and decided to create some additional features in his garden.  He traveled through Europe and collected antiquities.  Did he salt the field with the items he collected on his journeys?

Then there is a discovery that causes a great deal of debate amongst the Time Team archeologists. There emerge two camps about the discovery.  It seems that everything that was found at the site is out of context.  So what is really going on at this site?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

Yeah, from the introduction to the end of the episode, you have the feeling that this was all too good to be true.  Throughout the episode, there was something off about this site.  I watched this episode years ago, and I remember the sword discovery, to learn about how the sword was excavated, you will have to watch this discovery.  Everything was bizarre about this site and it just got more bizarre over the episode.  Mick was his lovely curmudgeonly and skeptical self throughout the episode.  Tony is also outraged towards the end of the episode as well.  I would show this episode to a history and a science class because of all the theories that were going on with this site.  For a history class, I would show this towards the beginning of the year because how out of context everything was with this site.

Good morning!  The Thirty-One Days of the Time Team continues, October is flying by quickly!  Today I am going to do a Time Team special.  This will not be your typical Time Team.  It is called Secrets of the Stately Garden and has a run time of 49:39.
 
The Time Team is going to be examining the Enlightenment fad for landscape gardens.  One garden in particular was designed by Capability Brown.  To get the feel of this garden design, Tony Robinson travels to Prior Park built by Ralph Allen and inspired by Alexander Pope.  A water cascade feature was restored by the National Trust.  Tony then explores the explosion of interest in natural sciences at the Royal Society in London.  Robinson learns about the classical symbolism that was heavily featured in the gardens. 

The beautiful English countryside, however for some of that countryside appearances can be deceiving.  Tony tours one of the tunnels that landscape gardener Capability Brown did to help create vast gardens.  At Crum Park, the owner would have spent thousands of pounds to create his garden.  These gardens would have been Britain’s best features, the height of architectural achievement, and would have been developed during the Age of Enlightenment. 

Crum Park has one of England’s finest landscape gardens and it is possible to experience it the way it would have been experienced in the 18th Century.  It would have been signed to be taken in from the carriage.  The landscape was carefully crafted to have the maximum impact on the viewer.  Capability Brown would have created 107 landscape gardens during his lifetime and his legacy is still seen today.

Prior Park in Bath was another of Capability Brown’s features and the National Trust is working on a restoration.  The house is now a school, and the garden has been neglected.  They are going to use the opportunity to learn about how the landscape garden was made.  Tony continues to learn more about the people who would have had landscape gardens built in Bath.  The rule book was ripped up during the Age of Enlightenment.  Men of humble origins could eventually rub shoulders with the nobility.  With their newly acquired money, they could show off that wealth in grand houses and landscape gardens.  Nature would dictate how the gardens were crafted.

Tony tours the Hampton Court Palace gardens, and they were more formal in comparison to what was to come.  The gardens at Hampton Court were the last of the formal gardens.  These gardens were closed off forcing nature to conform to their wants.  However, a new generation was rising and the gardens would reflect these changes.  The landscape was going to be liberated.

Back at Prior Park, the waterfall feature has been rediscovered after shifting a lot of earth and the archeologists are learning about how it was made.  It would have been made from Bath Stone, and Stewart Ainsworth goes on a tour of a quarry from where the stone would have come from.  In the meantime, Tony learns about how the waterfall may have been made and what the plans are for the future of the waterfall.

Sciences were changing, discoveries were being made, and the microscope became a valuable tool during this time.  Nature could be examined like it had never been done before this time.  Tony looks at an older microscope from this period.  These examinations would have changed how people would have viewed nature.   Where else does Tony go to learn about the secrets of the landscape gardens?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more.

You know, as I started watching this, I had the feeling that Tony never really ages.  I am also disappointed that Tony did not make an appearance during the Expedition Unknown episode about the Hellfire Club.  This was a good change of pace for the Time Team.  I am sure that my readers have checked out Pride and Prejudice, Secrets of a Stately Home, and Downton Abbey.  Now you know how the owners would have created their beautiful landscapes.  I would have thought that these gardens were natural, I would have never dreamed that they would have been manmade.  This would be a good episode for a landscape class rather than a history class.

Good morning, good afternoon or good evening!  I hope you, my readers are doing well depending on when you are reading this.  The Thirty-One Days of the Time Team continues to press on with an episode from season 12.  Today the Time Team is going to be investigating some earthworks in Nether Poppleton.  This episode is called The Monastery and the Mansion.  The run time for this episode is 49:58.

Nether Poppleton villagers has called the Time Team to investigate some mysterious mounds that surround a Yorkshire village.  The villagers have bought the land to protect them.  English Heritage thinks that this mound came from the Medieval Times.  However, the villagers believe that the mound dates back even earlier.  Could these be the remains of an Anglo-Saxon nunnery?  Or could these be part of an Anglo-Saxon Village?  The Time Team have three days to investigate.

Tony takes to the air and looks at the village of Nether Poppleton.  It looks like a traditional Medieval Village or is it?  On day one the villagers of Nether Poppleton have gathered for a briefing.  The villagers are going to be digging test pits to see what sort of activity.  Mick humorously suggests that it is not a “respectable search strategy to bulldoze the town.”  The towns people are going to be digging test pits around the village under the watchful eye of the archeologists.  In Tony’s mind that runs contrary to archelogy.  Uncle Mick is good at allaying Uncle Tony’s fears.

The race is on for the villagers to find the oldest part of the village.  Uncle Phil and Aunt Carenza take the time to teach the villagers how do properly dig.  In the meantime, Uncle Mick and Uncle Tony are looking at the church.  The church was dedicated to St. Everilda, one of two in England dedicated to this Anglo-Saxon Saint.  She would have lived in this area and may have started a nunnery on the site.  Geophysics work on this site and Stewart is studying the landscape of the area.

The villagers are surprised at what is coming out of the test trenches.  Phil goes up to the church to work on a trench.  He has found a child burial.   In the meantime in the incident room, Carenza and Paul are worried about not getting as many finds to the incident room.  Soon, after a mad dash by Carenza, the finds come in fast and furious.  Both Carenza and Paul are being overwhelmed, because it takes time to identify those finds and get them sorted out.  The test pits are closed at the end of day one.  The finds are sorted and plotted out on a map of the village.

Carenza and Paul manage to finish in time.  The locals gather in front of the incident room to learn about what their finds were.  Many of the finds that date back to the Saxon period are on the opposite end of the village from where the church is.  Carenza meets with the villagers to tell them what was going on with the find.  Test pit number 20 is widened to become trench one.  Then there will be several test pits opened up near the church.  More geophysics is done to see if there are other targets.  Mick is getting excited because he believes that there is a monastery on the site.  Uncle Tony tries to test that theory with Uncle Mick.

What will the Time Team learn about this site?  Will Uncle Mick be right about there being a monastery on the site?  What will the trenches turn up?  Tune in the rest of the episode to find out more.

It was awesome to see how the village came together to learn about their village.  Carenza is put through her paces to gather up the finds that were discovered in the test pits.  Tony is funny, particularly with Mick’s Pollyanna attitude.   Even Uncle Phil and John were squabbling about who does more work.   This was a very good episode, particularly since the villagers were so happy to help the Time Team learn about the village.  This would be an episode I would HIGHLY recommend showing to a history class it was very well done and the story was very good.

Good morning!  The Thirty One Days of the Time Team continues and October is quickly winding down.  After a couple of episodes from the new Time Team, I am going to throw it back to an older Time Team.  Today’s episode is coming from Season 9.  This episode is called Every Castle Needs a Lord and it has a run time of 49:47.

In the village of Henly-in-Arden, there used to be a castle.  It was as grand and important as Warwick Castle.  However, all that remains now is a large hill and a large stone.  The local town has called the Time Team to investigate.  What did this castle look like?  Why did this castle disappear?  The challenge for the Time Team is to dig a scheduled Ancient Monument, so will they overcome the challenges that English Heritage throws their way?

For more than three hundreds year a castle stood on this hill.  Eventually the castle disappeared without much of a trace.  There are very few records about the castle, particularly records as to what it looked like in its heyday.  English Heritage declared this a scheduled monument in the 1930s and is very interested in what the Time Team can learn about the site.  Mick and Tony go over the targets that the Time Team would like to get. 

The hill is divided into several distinct areas.  The Geophysics is working on the highest point on the hill.  Trench one goes in over a lower part of this hill.  There is masonry discovered in this trench, but is this part of a wall?  Stewart is going to learn about the landscape in the area.  Tony is disappointed with the geophysics results.  However, John points out that there seems to be a big block of buildings on the site.

Another trench goes in and Phil discovers some masonry.  Eventually Tony makes a call to the owner of the hill.  The owner is an American, who bought the title to go with the castle.  He has visited the area many times and has donated money to the town.  The Time Team has also organized the locals to bring what they had found over the years.

Phil continues to make his way through the demolition rubble.  Robin has been digging into what remains of the records to see what he could find about the castle.  The earliest reference that mentioned the castle was from the time of Empress Matilda.  It would have been built between 1086 and 1100.  The original owners were the sidekicks of the Earls of Warwick.  This family would have been an important player in county politics.

In trench two, Phil continues to make some finds including roof tiles and stones.  The signs are encouraging for Phil and the Time Team.  Another tile was discovered, which was similar to what the locals were discovering.  Now Phil wants to find some more.  In Trench One there is something more substantial being found.  Eventually, this trench is shut down, much to Tony’s disappointment.  Trench three has gone in on this site as well and Carenza is also making some interesting discoveries.  One of those finds was a piece of window glass.  Phil is also discovering some “splendid rubble.”

On day two, Tony catches up with Mick.  He is increasingly frustrated that the Time Team has not made any finds for a building on the site.  However, there have been discoveries along the side of the hill of tiles.  Trench four goes in on this hill, perhaps this is the site of a gatehouse.  Trench One shows signs of a building, while Trench Two and Trench Three.  The signs are good for trench four.  What was going on with this castle site?  Why did it disappear?  What will the Time Team continue to find on this site?  Tune into the rest of the episode to find out.

There was a mystery on this site and the Time Team navigated this mystery very well.  I was pleased to see that English Heritage was gung-ho with the dig.  The archeology was very good and there was a good discussion on what was going on at this site.  I would show this to a history classroom.

Good morning!  The Thirty One Days of the Time Team are winding down and next it will be World War I and World War II documentaries for November.  I cannot believe how time has flown by.  I also cannot believe that I have completed Season One, Season Two, Season Three and Season Thirteen for the Time Team.  Today I am going to do a newer Time Team.  This is two part episode with the Time Team Expedition Crew about a Roman Sarcophagus that the Time Team rediscovered.  The first episode has a runtime of 17:21.  The second episode has a run time of 18:22.

The Time Team has returned to the Broughton Villa in Oxfordshire.  In a previous dig they had discovered a stone sarcophagus, but had left some unfinished business.  The Expedition Crew was sent back to the site to get some more answers about this mysterious sarcophagus.  They will be carefully examining the sarcophagus and the ground in which was buried.  Who would have been buried here?  Why would they have been buried her?

This was a sarcophagus that was discovered in the 1960’s and documented.  The bones were examined and reburied.  However the location of this grave was lost at least until Time Team came in to examine the nearby villa.  It was then rediscovered.

There is a summary about how the Roman sarcophagus was found and rediscovered by the Time Team.  The first challenge for the expedition crew is to find the sarcophagus in a field of barley.  Eventually the sarcophagus was discovered once again and the trench goes in.  Helen catches up with John Pearce, who is an expert in Roman burial practices.  She learns more about what would have been planned for the woman’s funeral.  The family would have gathered and there would have been party.  The deceased would have been talked about as well as professional mourners.  It is here that a picture that Victor Ambrus has done is shown.

Eventually, the team gets to the layer where the sarcophagus.  The sarcophagus is relatively undisturbed which is a rare find for the Time Team.  It is tough going, however, the expedition crew is making quick work of the trench.  The trench is extended and a plan is formed as to how to proceed with the dig.  They will have to work fast in order to get the dig in.  Naomi wants to get a decent soil sample to learn about the Roman soil.

With the heat, to protect the diggers and the dig, a tent is erected over the trench.  The first human remains are brought up.  Would the coffin been prepared ahead of time and then the woman lowered in it?  Perhaps there would have been work done before.  What grave goods would have been put in the grave?  A 3D-printed replica of the only grave good that was found is presented.  This model shocks Helen and shows how 3D Printing has come a long way and it is awesome that the Time Team was able to recreate at least one grave good.  What will the Time Team find in episode one?  Tune into the rest of that episode to find out.

Day Two begins with more and more excavation on the site.  This is a shorter two-day dig to learn more about the sarcophagus.  The dig continues to progress.  In this episode, you can see Helen’s spirit leave her when she learns that the lid of the sarcophagus was chucked out.  How she managed to keep her composure I will never know.  So what does the Time Team expedition team continue to learn about the sarcophagus?  Continue to watch episode two to find out.

This episode was a whole lot better than the Greece episode.  Helen is a good narrator too and I felt bad for her when she learned that the sarcophagus lid was destroyed.  It was cool to see the new technology that was involved with the dig.  Time Team has come a long way and the recreation of the sarcophagus was very well done.  Honestly, I could hear Tony in his episode quipping about the lost location of the sarcophagus.  I would put this episode on my potential to show list for both a history and science classroom.