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Time Team America

A British Send Off

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Time Team America's British cousins have sent a special treat to congratulate their U.S. counterparts on a great summer of discovery, exploration, finds, and adventure.  

Was it tin of shortbread? A lovely selection of teas? An decorative plate bearing a likeness of Her Majesty the Queen?

No!  Time Team sent over a two hour special!

In Time Team: Special Edition, the United Kingdom's groundbreaking archaeology series takes viewers on an expedition to Jamestown, Virginia, where a British company's commercial enterprise planted the seeds of the United States. There have been nearly a million finds from the site's trenches, but this anniversary special is far more than just an excavation. The team retrieves piles of perfectly preserved 17th-century pieces, traces the names and life stories of the early American pioneers, and learns why a third of them died within months of arrival. The colonists at Jamestown went looking for gold and silver. Instead, they found fertile soil, tough conditions and the beginnings of the world's most powerful nation.

Then, in part two, Britain's most famous archaeologists discover what secrets lie buried beneath several of the world's most famous English residences. Time Team tears into the Queen's gardens in an unprecedented opportunity to unearth the secrets of Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, where the royal finds include the foundation of a 14th-century building where Edward III honored the legendary Arthurian knights.

You can see it on Wednesday, August 19 at 8/7 Central on most PBS stations (please check your local listings).

Watch a Preview:



Enjoy!


Wrapping Up at Fort James

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We hoped you enjoyed the final episode of Time Team America. Many of the Time Team crew have commented that this was their favorite dig of the season because it was the first chance they had to start the archaeological investigation from scratch. The Team was proud to be able help get the Fort James project off the ground and begin the process of preserving this important frontier site. You can read more about the results of the dig on the Site Update page and the Fort James Archaeology Report which is available for download.

The other notable aspect of this episode was it showcased some advanced geophysics technologies that had never been used before on a U.S. archaeological site. Meg explains it all in her Fort James Dig Diary.

Do you have questions or comments about this week's episode? Get the conversation started in the form below.

News from Range Creek

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Following up on this week's Range Creek episode, climber and paleoecologist Larry Coats emailed us this week with an update and photos of his work surveying the high ridges of Range Creek Canyon. It turns out he's recently climbed up to two new sites he spotted from the helicopter during last summer's Time Team America dig. You can read more about it on the Site Update page.

Also, be sure to check out our slideshow of images made from the 3D laser scans taken at the site. It includes a very unique group photo.

Do you have questions or comments about this week's episode? Get the conversation started in the form below.

New Philly Followup

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Hope you enjoyed the New Philadelphia episode. Since the Time Team America dig in June 2009, the New Philadelphia site has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. This is a huge milestone for everyone working on the New Philadelphia Project.  To find out more, watch a video of site manager Chris Fennell describing the work that went into developing their National Registry proposal. You can also read our site update or visit the New Philadelphia Project Web site.

Do you have questions or comments about this week's episode? Get the conversation started in the form below.

Was Clovis Really First?

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Hope you enjoyed Time Team America's exploration at Topper, one of the country's most important and controversial Clovis sites. You can read more about the archaeological debate about pre-Clovis evidence in Time Team archaeologist Dr. Adrien Hannus' Dig Diary. About.com archaeology blogger Kris Hirst also discusses the controversy in her review of the Topper episode and blog post about the 50,000 year-old date.

Now that you've learned more about the research happening at Topper, what do you think? Share your comments and questions here.

Ask the Time Team

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Ft Raleigh follow up.jpgHope you enjoyed our three-day adventure in search of the Lost Colony at Roanoke Island.   

Do you have questions about the Fort Raleigh dig?  We invite you to post them here.  We'll select five viewer questions and do our best to dig up the answers.

In the meantime, you can read our site report for more info about what's happened since the Time Team Dig, visit The First Colony Foundation online or watch the episode again. If you have general comments about the series, try our Viewer Comments page.

We'll see you next Wednesday at 8/7 Central for our expedition into the swamps of Topper, South Carolina to find evidence of the first human inhabitants of North America.

Photo by Crystal Street


All Kinds of Weather

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To beam American archaeology into the comfort of your TV room, Time Team America's cast and crew endured countless occupational hazards: wind, pouring rain, searing heat, and tons of dusty, crusty, gritty dirt. But the show must go on and Time Team's three-day limit doesn't stop just because of a little rain. So the crew kept their sense of humor and forged ahead through rain, shine, and everything in between.

Check out this video for a peek behind the scenes to see what the team endured to bring you this season's five exiting episodes.  You'll see that everything didn't always go exactly according to plan.

And next week, plan to tune in to your local PBS station for the gripping premiere episode of Time Team America: Wednesday, July 8 at 8 (7 Central).



The find of a lifetime

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At Time Team America, the most dramatic moments of archaeology often come from the process of excavation:  deciding where to dig, working together as a team, trying to beat the clock.

Still, you can't argue with the pure thrill of uncovering a very special find.  We asked some Time Team America team members about their most heart-pounding discoveries to date.

Dr. Adrien Hannus The Clovis points and bone tools associated with a mammoth kill/butchering location called the Lange/Ferguson site on a ranch within the White River Badlands of South Dakota.

Eric Deetz In 10 seasons at James Fort, the site of the 1607 English settlement I was lucky enough to dig up truly amazing artifacts such as 15th century armor, Elizabethan coins, not to mention being one of the crew that found the fort itself. But the one find that really sticks in my mind is a jeton or casting counter (jetons were used to keep count much like an abacus) made by Hans Krauwinkle at the end of the 16th century. On one side was the goddess Fortuna and the other was Fama the goddess of fame.  Fame and fortune - exactly what the colonists were seeking in 1607 and to a degree what we as archaeologists are seeking as well.

Chelsea Rose I love finding clay pipes. I am not sure why, they are not very rare or fancy, but is always exciting to find one. I think it may be because when you find a pipe, you not only found something someone owned and used, but something they put in their mouth. Now that is the kind of personal connection that makes archaeology so cool -- 200 year old spit.

Dr. Julie Schablitsky I have yet to have my best find.  Since moving to the east coast, my dream is to find a wig curler.  I am sure it is just a matter of time....I just hope I don't mistake it for a porcelain doll leg.

Dr. Meg Watters A Roman Villa in Vescovio Italy, or no, wait... a Nubian temple in Gebel Barkal, Sudan or was it the shaft tomb on the Giza Plateau??

Editors' note:  She's not kidding.

Are you on a parallel wig-curler quest?  Do clay pipes get you going, too?  Or are you simply seeking more fame and fortune?   

Post your favorite find story below or at www.facebook.com/timeteamamerica.

Photo by Meg Gaillard.



Outta-sites

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Playing favorites can get you into trouble, but Time Team America's archaeologists tossed caution to the wind to brief us on some of their pet places.

Dr. Meg Watters Let's see... was it the pig farm? No...... must have been either the Vilcabomba Inca burial survey in the Andes, where we flew up to our high-altitude camp in an old Russian helicopter, or looking for the Manilan shipwreck carrying Ming Dynasty porcelain on the Baha Peninsula, Mexico where we putt-putted out to our site, camped on the beach, and almost ran out of food.

Dr. Julie Schablitsky It has to be the Donner Party site in California. It was truly surreal to pick up broken bits of dishes and chopped bone from around their fire hearth, knowing the suffering they endured during the winter of 1846-47. 

Dr. Adrien Hannus Certainly the Lange/Ferguson site. My special focus in North American archaeology is the early peopling of the New World. Lange/Ferguson is a Clovis site at which two ice age mammoths were killed and butchered about 12,000 years ago. The site not only yielded several Clovis points, but also provided the best evidence yet recovered in the New World for a bone tool industry associated with the Clovis culture. Flaked bone tools provided the hunters with sharp and easily discarded cutting tools, thus reducing the need for stone tools.

Eric Deetz Hands down Jamestown.  I spent a fifth of my life there, I met my wife there, and had the best mentor you could ask for in Bill Kelso.  The archaeology was mind blowing and the crew became like family.  In some cases it was family.

Chelsea Rose I have to say my favorite site ever was the Time Team dig at the Fort James site in South Dakota. It was beautiful, the archaeology was interesting, and I was constantly surrounded by giggling hoards of Hutterite children. They let me practice my German, and I taught them archaeology -- it was a wonderful arrangement!

 

Have you been to a site that is forever burned into your memory (for better or worse)?  

Share your stories below!


What's that in your back pocket?

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Every trade has its extra-super-duper-top-secret-weapon. A photographer we know gets amazing lens effects with pantyhose. One makeup artist won't leave the house without a supply of toilet seat covers for blotting shiny spots.

You get the idea.

So we asked some Time Team America members about their extra-super-duper-top-secret-dig kit weapon. Here's what they said:

Chelsea Rose, Digging Team Leader: A little "leaf trowel" from Scotland. If a pointy trowel and a square trowel had a baby, it would be a leaf trowel.

Julie Schablitsky, Archaeologist : A bamboo chopstick lifted from my favorite Thai restaurant and sharpened in a pencil sharpener.  Bamboo won't scratch bone or other easily damaged artifacts. 

Joe Watkins, Archaeologist: A trusty 4-inch rectangular trowel to create square corners, slice through deposits, and flick centipedes out of dig units.

Meg Watters, Geophysicist: Duct tape and my soldering iron.

Eric Deetz, Excavation Strategist: Atomic fire balls. Nothing raises the crew's moral on cold days more than handing out these little hot jawbreakers. (Hey Eric--FYI it works for TV crews, too!)

Do you have a secret tool of the trade? Inquiring minds want to know!

photo credit Thomas Hawk / flickr / Creative Commons


Backhoe Peels Banana

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A backhoe on an archaeology dig? Is that really a good idea?

It's no problem when you have a master operator like Time Team America's Ian Barclay. With his  steady hands at the controls, he can quickly remove layers of topsoil while preserving the delicate archaeology underneath -- saving the team countless hours of digging.

To show off his skills, Ian performed a number of backhoe tricks for the crew at the Fort Raleigh site, including this fancy maneuver with a banana.




If you like this video, checkout The Great Trowel Debate. There is also more to explore at our Facebook page.

Chelsea Rose at New PhiladelphiaWhen transitioning from citizen to archaeologist, there is a right of passage that we each must go through: fieldschool. Here we learn how to most effectively wield a trowel, how to use fancy words like dendrochronology and microblade in casual conversation, and most importantly how to excavate.
 
I did my University of Oregon fieldschool at Thompson Mills State Heritage Site, under the watchful eye of Dr. Julie Schablitsky. We excavated amongst peacocks and blackberries, alongside Oregon's oldest water-powered grist mill. While I witnessed many wondrous things at fieldschool (such as an abundance of worms tied in knots in my unit, and my dig partner Danny doing the human centipede dance at lunch), I also learned a few things. Here are some key lessons about excavation I've picked up over the years.
 
Archaeology is a team-sport.
If you don't have a sense of humor or are not willing to cram into a 1x1 meter unit with another sweaty person wielding a sharp trowel, archaeology may not be for you. Fieldwork requires communication, cooperation, and collaboration in order to function smoothly.  
 
The Three R's of Archaeology: Reading, Recording, and wRiting.
  • Reading: A lot of work goes into all stages of a project, but most archaeologists would agree that the better prepared you are before you step foot on the site, the better you will be able to get the most out of your time in the field. So read up and do your research!
  • Recording: Trust me, you will not remember where that bit of clay pipe came from next week, or even by the end of a long day. Write down everything, make lots of sketches, and artifact doodles are good too.
  • wRiting: An important part of the archaeologists job is writing reports, articles, or books on their research. An archaeological project is not truly done until the results are written up and available for other researchers or interested parties to read.
The Hypotenuse of a 1x1 meter (or 5x5 foot) square.
I'll be the first to admit it. I was one of those, "when am I ever going to need geometry in the real world?" people. And, who'd have thought, people actually use this stuff!?
Don't be scared, other than the odd statistical calculation, you mostly just do a lot of measuring (which, by the way, is often done using that wacky metric system). So go ahead, ask any archaeologist what the hypotenuse is -- they will know! (or they have been digging very crooked squares...)
     
Stratigraphy: it's not just for chocolate cake.
Archaeologists are always fretting about their sidewalls. Keeping your excavation unit tidy is more than just a source of pride, it is also useful for getting a clean profile view of the soil stratigraphy. Soil and other material accumulates over time on the ground, and by observing and identifying the different strata, or layers, you can start to piece together information about the site. Dark organic layers can indicate human occupation, ash can be left from a fire event, sediment from a flood, etc. So keep those walls nice and straight!
 
Provenience is where its at!
Almost more important than the artifact itself is its context, or is where an artifact is located in space and time. Context can be established by recording the 3-dimensional placement, or provenience, of the artifact (usually depth, and horizontal measurements), and how it is associated with the other archaeological finds in the deposit. By establishing the context of archaeological material, you can figure out events or activities that led to the placement of the artifact in the archaeological record. So when your trowel hits upon that amazing projectile point, take a deep breath, grab your tape, and measure that darn thing before you pull it out!

Time Team crew at Fort Raleigh, NCAs a group of fairly educated public television viewers, the Time Team America production crew had certainly heard of the Lost Colony at Roanoke Island. Some of us even knew enough to whisper "Croatoan" ala Citizen Kane when we heard our first shoot was at Fort Raleigh.

But after spending a few days steeped in the mystery of Roanoke, we learned about a few new pieces of the puzzle:

  • Metallurgy.  Excavations at Fort Raleigh in 1991 unearthed the remains of a science center.  Archaeologists believe the first colonists were testing various metal ores at the site. (However, that dig still didn't turn up any domestic artifacts that would point to the location of the colonists' homes.)
  • The sign. The Roanoke colonists sent their leader, John White, back to England for supplies. Before White left, the settlers had agreed to leave a sign if they decided to move their camp.  Further, they would use the mark of a cross if they were in danger.  When White returned to the deserted colony he found the word Croatoan carved onto a post, but no cross.
  • The techniques of discovery. Archaeology isn't just about finding artifacts. Subtle differences in the color and texture of the soil can provide a great deal of information, such as the location of decayed wooden support posts from centuries-old structures.
There is still a lot to explore about the first English colony in America. It's a fascinating story and a terrific way to launch the series. Want to learn more?  Watch the first episode at the PBS Video Portal. Or visit the First Colony Foundation, our hosts for the dig.

Digging into the War of 1812 at Bladensburg, MD

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Magruder House excavationThis summer I am excavating two 18th-20th century archaeological sites in Bladensburg, Maryland.  Bladensburg played a pivotal role in the War of 1812 and, as part of the upcoming bicentennial celebration, the Maryland State Highway Administration is studying the historic buildings, archaeological sites, history of transportation, and the Bladensburg battlefield located along our highway right of way.

Right now we are in the middle of an archaeological excavation at the Magruder House.  This home allegedly served as a hospital after the Battle of Bladensburg so we are trying to find evidence of American and British troops such as munitions, uniform accouterments and buttons.

Like the excavations I worked on for Time Team America last summer, our team here at Bladensburg has a limited time to investigate the site. We are half-way through our two week excavation and have only one week of digging left to confirm that the house played a role in the battle.  The good news is that we have found a late 18th century British Coin. It is not the smoking gun we were looking for, but it's a start!

Next month we begin a dig at the Market Master's House.  This is the home that sat on the edge of the town's market square where enslaved people of African descent were bought and sold.  Here we will gather archaeological information that will enable us to reconstruct the lives of the people who lived in this house since the 1760s.

As part of our public outreach efforts for the project, the field staff is publishing a Bladensburg blog. You can visit the web site to read more about the excavation and see what we find new each day.

Dr. Julie Schablitsky is a lead archaeologists for Time Team America. As an archaeologist with the University of Oregon and Maryland State Highway Administration, Dr. Schablitsky  conducts research and publishes on historic-period archaeology sites in both the United States and the UK. 

Archaeology on the Fast Track

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Excavating a unit at Range Creek, UTTime Team America takes a group of archeologists and scientists and puts them in a tough situation: they have just 72 hours to investigate a site and report back on their findings. Archaeology is both time and labor intensive. Some sites can take months or even years to excavate properly. With only three days to work with, Time Team brings on specialists and experts in order to hone in on key aspects of a site that we can focus a lot of attention on in little time. This allows us to get  results without sacrificing the science.

Time Team America uses the same processes and techniques as other archaeologists. So how do they expect to learn anything useful in three days? Some scientists express skepticism about the three-day format.  How can you fast-track real science?  Isn't speed the enemy of truth? Time Team's archaeologists feel the pressure more than anyone, yet they're able to stand behind all of the archaeology that happens in that busy three-day window. 

It's a matter of focus.  Time Team's goal is not to make sensationalistic case-closing pronouncements about complex archaeological matters.  Instead, they try to uncover new leads that will help archaeologists in their future excavations and research.  

The team also brings in technology, additional experts, and crew that most digs couldn't otherwise afford.  With these additional resources they can quickly analyze and investigate a few key questions about the site.  When the cameras stop rolling, the team leaves behind an archaeologist to close out any outstanding work and complete the documentation.  

It's a win-win situation.  The archaeologists at the sites Time Team America visits get some extra muscle and critical data to help them advance their research.  The audience gets to experience archaeology as it happens, minus the sore knees and blisters.

The Great Trowel Debate

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When we started asking archaeologists on the Time Team America digs about their favorite tools, an unexpected debate emerged: pointy or square.

It seemed trivial at first, but as we spent more time in the field, it became clear that this is the archeological equivalent of Mac vs. PC.

Does an archaeologist's choice of trowel reveal something fundamental about his or her personality? We're not sure yet, but watch this video and judge for yourself.



Want to weigh-in on the debate? Post your comment at our Facebook page.


Meet The Time Team

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Time Team America membersWhile filming our first season, Time Team America visited sites that ranged from 13,000 year old chert quarries to a late 19th century U.S. Army fortress. Good thing we had team that could handle any challenge. 

Our Time Team America archaeologists represent decades of experience working on sites all over the world. Each brings a unique set of skills and experience to the Team.  They all share a belief in the importance of exploring our past and a desire to show the public how fun and exciting archaeology can be.




Colin CampbellColin Campbell
The Team's only non-archaeologist, host Colin Campbell is also the team artist. Putting pen to paper, he helps us imagine the past. When Colin isn't traveling with Time Team America, he works as an environmental artist at video game studio Big Huge Games outside of Baltimore, Maryland.





Dr. Adrien HannusDr. Adrien Hannus
Our Chief Investigator, Dr. Hannus guides the team's on-site research. He has devoted his talents to working in the Great Plains region for almost 30 years. Fascinated by the theory of migration into the Americas across the Bering Strait, Adrien has researched and written extensively about Early Man in the New World.




Eric DeetzEric Deetz
With thirty years experience in the field, Eric can decipher the past like few others. Known as an adept teacher and excavation director, Eric believes public involvement in archaeology is paramount, and his innovative approach to speaking about history wins audiences over.





Dr. Julie SchablitskyDr. Julie Schablitsky
Dr. Schablitsky is an archaeologist with the University of Oregon.  She also works as head of the Cultural Resources Section for the Maryland State Highway Administration.  Her current research focuses on the Donner Party of California, 18th and 19th century sites in Maryland, and John Paul Jones' birthplace in Scotland.




Dr. Joe WatkinsDr. Joe Watkins
Dr. Watkins has a passion for preserving sacred sites of the American West. He's an expert in Native American archaeology and a member of the Choctaw tribe. Joe also has a keen interest in experimental archaeology, which uses replica tools to discover how people of the past went about the activities of daily life.





Dr. Meg WattersDr. Meg Watters
Our geophysics expert, Dr. Watters helps the team see what lies underground before the shovels even hit the dirt. Her technical expertise has taken her to archaeological sites around the world including Native American, Inca and historic sites in North and South America to Nubian settlements in Sudan and Roman, Greek, and Islamic sites throughout the Mediterranean.


Chelsea RoseChelsea Rose
As head of Time Team's excavation crews, Chelsea directs the troweling and shoveling. Born and raised in Northern California, Chelsea's passion is researching the California Gold Rush of the 1850's, including nineteenth century Chinatowns and multi-ethnic mining camps.


From the Mountains to the Prairies

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The term New World has been drilled into our heads since grade school, so I think Americans have somewhat of an inferiority complex, archaeologically speaking.  One thing I learned traveling with Time Team America, however, is that archaeology is all around us in America. Everywhere.  
 
In shooting the episodes we went all over the country navigating the historical time line.  Here's where we went and what we were looking for:

FR-Trench01_CS.jpgEpisode 1:  Fort Raleigh, Roanoke Island, NC (July 8)
By the beach:  America's 16th century mystery: the lost colony of Roanoke








Al Goodyear at TopperEpisode 2: Topper, SC (July 15)
Deep in the swamps of South Carolina: North America's first human inhabitants from 13,000, or maybe even 50,000 years ago 








NewPhilly Screening.jpgEpisode 3:  New Philadelphia, IL (July 22)
Farm country: The schoolhouse of the first town founded by former slaves before the Civil War.








RC_cliffs.jpgEpisode 4: Range Creek, UT (July 29)
Beautiful, remote canyons:  The 1,000 year old story of the Fremont Indians - we had to literally camp out for this one.








Fort James Trench.jpgEpisode 5:  Fort James, South Dakota (August 5)
The prairie: The remains of a Wild West frontier fort from the 1800s








So start looking for all of the archaeology around you.  And plan to come with us Wednesdays starting this summer.

Digging in at Fort Raleigh, Roanoke Island

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Eric Deetz at Ft RaleighBy now you may have checked out some of our first episode.  As someone who spent years excavating at Jamestown and who has studied this period since I was a kid, it was awesome to spend our first Time Team dig at Fort Raleigh with the folks from the First Colony Foundation.  It was also fitting that Time Team America's first show was about one of American history's greatest puzzles.

More than twenty years before the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, adventurous English colonists built Fort Raleigh at the northern end of Roanoke Island.  You've heard the story - when Governor John White returned from his supply mission in 1590, the colonists were gone.

Scholars have been studying the same records for more than a hundred years and have not been able to fill in a complete picture of the first colony. But archaeology can uncover new information about where and how the colonists lived and maybe even some clues to what happened to them.

One thing to remember is that the colonists aren't the whole story.  The English saw America as a virgin land, but that wasn't the case.  Native Americans lived here for more than ten thousand years before Europeans arrived.  The key to knowing our true history is knowing how these two groups interacted.  They left clues behind, and archaeology can find them.

But archaeology takes a lot of time, labor, and money.  Enter Time Team America.  With modern technology and added crew, the team was able in just three days to uncover the first new information in years.  Work will continue at the site to figure out exactly what we uncovered and hopefully find more of what remains.
 
So did we find the lost colony?  Too early to tell.  But hopefully we did find a whole new group of explorers who want to travel the country uncovering the past.  If you liked the first episode, tell your friends.  They can come with us, too.

Eric Deetz is Time Team America's excavation strategist.  He has thirty years of experience in the field as an archaeologist and educator, including more than a decade designing and leading tours at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the new world.


Meet the Time Team: Colin Campbell

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Time Team America host Colin Campbell

Now, I want to be clear from the start -- I'm a pretty unlikely person to be hosting a PBS series about archaeology. To be honest with you before I arrived at our first site on Roanoke Island last May, I had never set foot on a dig site in my life.

As it turned out, however, not knowing much about archaeology was actually a job qualification.

On Time Team America we have some of the top scientists and historians in their fields. They are the ones doing the research. As a newcomer to the world of archaeology, my job is a little different.

I try to help make the archeology come to life for the audience. As host, I guide viewers through Time Team's intensive three-day digs by explaining what's happening and getting the experts to talk about what they are doing. As the artist, I get to imagine what life might have been like on the sites we visit, drawing the structures and tools people would have used.

The biggest challenge for me as an artist was figuring out how to translate a few bits of pottery or obscure patterns in the sand into an illustration that was as historically accurate as possible. I quickly discovered that the best way to get a lively discussion going was to get some details wrong (usually not a problem on my first drafts). Our team of archaeologists was never shy about correcting my mistakes. I ended up doing a lot of erasing and redrawing but it was a great way to uncover details I never would have known on my own.

I hope you'll join me on Time Team America and discover archaeology like I did, looking over the shoulders of top archaeologists as they investigate some of the most fascinating sites in the country.

To see the Time Team in action you can watch the full episode from Fort Raleigh on the new PBS Video Portal. And be sure to visit our Facebook page to tell us what you think about the program.

Colin Campbell is Time Team America's host and team artist. He is a 2004 graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) where he studied painting, ceramics, and computer animation. Colin works as freelance artist in Baltimore, MD, as well as an environment artist for video game studio, Big Huge Games.


What is Time Team America?

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Time Team America Excavator Luke PecoraroIf you've visited the U.K. in the past fifteen years or so, you may have been shocked at how much the general population knows about the science of archaeology.  Why are the ladies at the tea shop chatting about ground penetrating radar?  You could assume it's because the Brits are just more interested in their history, but we think it's because of a certain very entertaining TV series on Channel 4.

This summer, Time Team is launching an invasion onto (actually under) American soil.  We've found the smartest, most adventurous archaeologists in the U.S. and sent them out to five of the most fascinating archaeological sites in the lower forty-eight.  Just like the Brits, we gave them three days at each location to map it out, dig it up, get dirty, and show us what we've got on this side of the pond.  

What did they find?  Wild West relics, 1,000 year old native villages, stories of freed slaves, Paleo-Indian tools, and maybe even the lost colony at Roanoke.  It was an unbelievable summer.  We can't wait to share it with you.

Stay tuned for all the dirt!  And tell your friends, Time Team is coming to America.