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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.
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:
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!
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
Do you have questions or comments about this week's episode? Get the conversation started in the form below.
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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.
Now that you've learned more about the research happening at Topper, what do you think? Share your comments and questions here.
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As 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.
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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.
Episode 1: Fort Raleigh, Roanoke Island, NC (July 8)
Episode 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
Episode 3: New Philadelphia, IL (July 22)
Episode 4: Range Creek, UT (July 29)
Episode 5: Fort James, South Dakota (August 5)
So start looking for all of the archaeology around you. And plan to come with us Wednesdays starting this summer.
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:
Episode 1: Fort Raleigh, Roanoke Island, NC (July 8)By the beach: America's 16th century mystery: the lost colony of Roanoke
Episode 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
Episode 3: New Philadelphia, IL (July 22)Farm country: The schoolhouse of the first town founded by former slaves before the Civil War.
Episode 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.
Episode 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.
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By 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.
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