Time Team

This is the show to watch and it had to be a dream job for the professionals working on this show for 20 years. All the different sites they got to dig that would take most archaeologists several lifetimes to visit. Don't let Phil Harding's happy go lucky attitude fool you, he's as smart as anyone in his field, possibly smarter. Mick Aston is another incredibly knowledgeable part of the team and the team leader who got the shaft later in the series by Channel 4 causing him to quit when they brought in some spokeswoman former model - on an archaeology show, I don't blame him. There are several other professionals that are regulars on the show who are also very well versed in their fields of expertise and they occasionally bring in specialists like pottery or weapons specialists and an osteoarchaeologist on occasion. The end of one episode a man said he learned 3 things in the 3 days the Time Team was there and the 3rd and final thing he learned was Phil Harding could really put back the beer, which is hilarious and not surprising. He's my favorite person on the show, and he will be yours too. Almost the entire series is available on Amazon Prime video.

Can you say binge watching? I've been watching all 20 seasons from start to finish and absolutely love it! For anyone interested in Archaeology and especially British archaeology this show is a treasure trove! Most seasons can be found on Amazon Prime and YouTube. Highly recommended! The characters who make up the team are quite amusing as well! Start with season 1 and watch the archeologists age and some go grey or lose their hair as you move through the seasons lol.

Now in it's 12th series, Time Team is a programme I have grown up with and come to know the 'team' as almost part of the family. Now as an adult I can fully appreciate the historical value of the show as well as the entertainment value. Tony Robinson is a great host with an 'ordinary joe' approach to Archaeology that neither excludes nor patronizes the viewer. Mick Aston is the go-between professory type whose novel outlook on a 'stuffy' profession is fresh and appreciated. The diggers are obviously the crux of the show with Carenza Lewis, Mick Worthington and the irrepressible Phil Harding on hand to uncover (or sometimes not) the secrets that lay buried. And then there is landscape archaeologist, Stewart Ainsworth, whose insight and knowledge of the areas is amazing to watch and, after finding hidden evidence in maps and photographs is often the star of the show.

So well done to all who are involved in Time Team and I hope this continues to be a long and happy friendship.

An archeological dig in your back yard, as you discover what happened in your back yard 350 or 3500 years ago, if you live in England, where your history didn't begin 400 years ago. The dig begins today, and they fill the whole thing back in, after they've been at it for three days. The excitement of the discoveries uncovered as they occur, the involvement of the property owners and the neighbors as they find the history around them.

The uses of computer animation to show how things used to look (or might have looked!) and the technology that allows the scientists to 'look' into the ground even before the first shovel full of earth is turned over.

The show is seen in the US on the History Channel International channel, and is well worth looking up.

Each show covers one archaeological dig - start to finish - incorporating the expertise of historians, anthropologists, paleontologists, area locals, geo-physicists, cartographers and area surveyors to name but a few. The team use artists to both sketch out archaic scenes as well as design computer graphics to show 3 dimensional perspectives of once existing structures. Adding re-enactments, experiments and the rebuilding of artifacts by modern experts only adds to the diversity of the show.

The holistic approach to the dig-site provides a fascinating, multi-tiered study that is accessible to the viewer, regardless of their background.