Time Team Day 31 - Treasures of a Roman Field

Thirty-One Days of the Time Team has drawn to a close and we are throwing it back to season 2 and the final episode of the season.  The Time Team is investigating the treasure of a Roman field.  Tony still has his long flowing hair in this episode.
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Hundreds of Roman finds have turned up in a large field.  Broaches, pottery, coins, and a key were found on the site.  A local farmer wants to know if there was a building on the site.  A Roman key was found on the site, so where was the building that goes with the key.  Additionally, were some rectangular marks on the ground.  What were the marks on the ground?  Why were all these finds found in the area?

Tony and Mick are looking at the field from the air.  Trench One goes into the middle of the field because geophysics seems to hint at something in the ground.  This trench will allow the Time Team to test the geophysics results.  The geophysics has shown several ditches; however, Phil is only finding one ditch.  Roman pottery is showing up immediately which means the Time Team will not be short of finds on the site.  Coins have been found on the site as well.  All the finds that were initially found were exclusively Roman.

Despite these little finds, there were no substantial amounts of building materials found on the site.  Mick would be happy to find more building materials instead of the little finds.  Tony teases Mick about wanting to find bricks.  The Time Team will also use metal detectorists to help the find additional metal finds.  Tony hopes that the Time Team will find evidence of a building.  One suggestion is that the building will be timber-built instead of stone-built and that it was a farm site.  The farmers would have adopted Roman ways and would have been upwardly mobile.  The Time Team breaks for lunch to talk about the possibility of the site.

Trench One finally confirms that there were two ditches.  However, the second trench is not located where geophysics said it was located.  The dry conditions of the land are proving to be a challenge for the results.  Geophysics is showing some things but not others.  Stewart is plotting the ditches and the plot seems to hint that there were different periods of Roman occupation on the site.  The Time Team goes over the results again at the end of Day One.  Two more trenches will go in again.  The archelogy is just below the surface.

Phil spots something as Trench two goes in.  There are bits of crushed pot and charcoal in the new trench.  It is evidence of building on the site.  Was this a rubbish pit?  Or is it evidence of a house?  This second trench will be extended to try to show more of the site.  Trench three goes in to see if there is a floor level on the site.  Overnight, the trenches will be soaked in water to help make digging easier.

Robin Bush catches up with Tony at the end of Day one and shows Tony two Roman coins and talks about the history of the coins.  Robin concludes that there is the possibility of finding Iron Age finds on the site as well.  The Time Team will also perform an experiment: they will recycle glass.  Roman Glass is a rare find because it was often recycled.  So this experiment will help the Time Team understand the properties of Roman glass.  What will Time Team learn about this site?  Is this a settlement?  Or is it a farm site?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.

This would be a good episode for a fun history day in the classroom.