I am so happy to continue with my Thirty-One Days of Time Team with a brand-new episode of the Time Team!  This first new episode is divided into three episodes the first episode has a run time of 27:39. The second part of the episode has a run time of 30:34 and episode three has a run time of 32.12.  Each episode is broken up according to Day One, Day Two, and Day Three.

The Time Team kicks off this episode in Cornwall.  New and old faces have come together for this first episode.  This site was voted on by the fans and it is a Fogou.  This Fogou was rediscovered twenty-five years ago by a local farmer.  A Fogou is a series of underground tunnels and chambers.  The fogou was believed to have been built in the Iron Age. What will the Time Team find out about this fogou?  Watch this episode to find out more.

New hosts Gus Casely-Hayford and Natalie Haynes come together to host the new Time Team.  The fogou is one of fourteen discovered in Cornwall.  It is located at the heart of the Cornish tin industry.  Since its discovery, more tunnels and passages have been discovered.  John Gater is already on the site.  There was evidence of occupation discovered.  Did the occupiers use the fogou for storage purposes?  Gater goes over the results with the team and has found additional tunnels.

Trench One will go in over one of the side passages.  There is evidence of an enclosure ditch.  As the trench goes in there is an edge of a passageway.  Matt comments that they are going deeper than anticipated in this first trench.  A metal cover is removed so that the Time Team can scan a chamber to see if it compares to the other discovered fogou.

Trench Two is being discussed.  Will the Time Team put it over an Iron Age roundhouse?  John and Carenza talk about the potential location of the trench and whether or not there was a roundhouse on the site.  Before trench two goes in, metal detectors go in and make a find.  A copper coin was found and Helen talks about the coin with Gus.  This coin will provide the first dating evidence for the site. 

Did this site hold a spiritual significance to the people?  It is in a high place and connected with both land and sea.  Was this why people built on the site?  Natalie goes into one of the passages with the site manager and they talk about the fogou.  The site manager does not believe that the fogou was used for storage.  He notes that there was time and care taken with building the fogou. 

In trench one, there is exciting news from that trench.  There seems to be a void in the ground.  Is this another to the fogou?  How big is this void?  Matt will have to investigate more.  What will the Time Team continue to learn about Fogou?  Tune in to all three episodes to find out more!

Wow, wow, wow, I am shocked by the latest technology that is used to explore archeological sites.  I also thoroughly enjoyed Gus’ narration throughout the episode.  Natalie just seemed so extra to the series.  I wondered why she was there.  My imagination runs wild with the thought of paring Gus with Tony.  They could make an interesting pairing for a future Time Team episode!  In fact, I demand that there be at least one Time Team episode with Gus and Tony co-hosting!

Would I recommend showing the new Time Team to a classroom?  Definitely, I would also show it in a STEM class because of the new technology implemented to further archeology!

We are continuing with our Thirty-One Days of Time Team and we are throwing it back to the past with an episode from Season 3 and a prehistoric Fogou.

Tony is roaming a tunnel under a garden, what was it doing there?  Who built it?  What was it used for?  The Tunnel is a feature in the center of a garden.  The Garden belongs to Jo and Tony meets up with him and Robin.  They talk about the feature and a map of the garden.  This map was drawn up by an antiquarian.  The trio walks around the site.  There seems to hint at another tunnel.  What will the Time Team discover about this feature?

Can the Time Team find the other tunnel?  Can they find the site of the Iron Age settlement associated with the fogou?  The site is now home to the 19th Century.  The Time Team will not be able to dig at the fogou itself because it is a protected site.  Jo had dowsers on the property and they said that there was a second tunnel.  Mick is skeptical and will wait for the geophysics results.

The geophysics results hint at something curving that joins up with the fogou.  What was the purpose of the fogou, that remains a mystery?  Were they a place of refuge?  A tunnel to escape warring armies?  Or were they just used for storage?  Mick and Tony explore the fogou and examine the tunnel carefully.  There were ten fogous discovered in Cornwall and they were near rivers.  There were more fogous discovered in Brittany and they are even more numerous in numbers.  In Ireland, there were 1,000 fogous discovered.

However, the big question looming over Time Team, will they find more of a fogou.  Trench One goes in and immediately a water pipe is discovered.  Mick and Phil give the geophysics team a hard time about discovering a pipe.  Tony catches up with Mick and Phil.  He brings out a map that the water dowsers drew.  The water dowser hints at a different location for the tunnel extension.  Mick is skeptical about water dousing.  Phil recommends that the water dowser goes over the land again.  Tony tries out water dousing.  Mick agrees to put in a “new age trench” in the ground.

Victor works on a drawing of the enclosed settlement and Robin, Jo, Carenza, and a local archeologist work with him on the drawing.  The Time Team is hoping to find evidence of settlement.  The dowsers’ trench is coming up empty as well.  Mick makes the call to put in another test trench to see if any additional evidence can be discovered.  The Time Team plans on looking at the landscape to see where they can look for the fogou extension. Is the extension under the house?

At night, the Time Team gets together for a sum up and the only trench that seems to show promise is Carenza’s trench which was dug over the wall of a potential enclosure.  It was the one area of the property that was not disturbed when the house was built.  So her trench is an extension and an Iron Age pot piece is discovered.  Will this pot hint at an Iron Age settlement?  What would a settlement look like during this period?  What would the people have done? 

Will Time Team find additional hints of settlement?  Is another fogou on the verge of being discovered?  Will Mick get over his feelings against water dowsing?  Will Phil be turned into a tin miner?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.
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As frustrating as it was at the start of the episode, the Time Team turned it around and managed to find additional evidence about the history of the fogou.  The section on Tin Making was fascinating and Phil was delighted with his efforts in making tin.  This would be a good episode to show for a fun day.