From the shocking revelation that Phil Harding was once voted Time Team’s sexiest man; to the ‘home goal’ discovery of an apsidal ended villa that turned out to be a football penalty spot.
When John spoke at our first crowdfunded dig at Flag Fen, it was a toss up for what made us laugh most. But surreptitiously buried between the laughs, his lecture Geofizz from Down Under explained the complex science behind some of our most useful techniques – resistivity, magnetometry and ground penetrating radar.
With only ‘three days to find out,’ Geophysics has been the secret to the success of many a Time Team dig, helping the archaeologists home in on features that would otherwise require a much longer timeframe.
For any of our lucky Venturers on site that weekend (or at least, those who’d survived the infamous GSB Disco Disco!) John followed up with a Geofizz master class, demonstrating the kit itself in the fields at Flag Fen – you can see the team in action in the video below.
It was a joy to listen to some of the many tales about Time Team from someone who’d been right at the heart of things for the best part of 20 years, and although this lecture happened before Channel Four decommissioned the show, it already felt like the end of an era. Perhaps that’s why John was also keen to stress the wider contribution of Time Team – yes we all know it was great for archaeology – but it was probably even better for the public understanding of science as a whole.
This quote from one of John’s slides, published in the New Scientist soon after Time Team first aired, hits it right on the head:
‘Time Team takes a very different approach to televising science – it tells us a story, but actually does science. By drawing us in, setting us problems, we the audience do science too. And joy of joys, they sometimes get it wrong. In one episode, team leader Mick Aston convinces the geophysics team to spend the whole day mapping a field to find a Dark Age settlement. He explains his theory: “ditches are dug, maps are made.” The result? A total blank.’
Enjoy John’s talk (at the top) – and remember… don’t worry so much if you draw a total blank!
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Written by Brendon Wilkins
As Founder and Co-CEO of DigVentures, Brendon brings together two decades of commercial archaeology experience with his expertise in digital innovation for archaeological fieldwork, public participation, and social impact evaluation. With a consistent research and publication record, his PhD (‘Digging the Crowd: the future of archaeology in the digital and collaborative economy’) explores new business and social impact models that position citizen science as a response to economic and climatic challenges facing humanity. Brendon steers the ship of DV’s fieldwork, evaluation and ‘Deep Time’, our crowdscience platform training citizens to search Earth Observation Data for cultural and natural heritage. Brendon’s signature laugh lights up every room, especially when he sneaks onto the turntables for a cheeky DJ set!
Comments (1)
Excellent work with these projects, I am in Normandy France, ( 20 minutes from Caen ferry )
I am here for therapy from war, however, this is Normandy best kept secret, it’s a benedictine monastery privately owned never dug, never considered, it was a template secret location look up priory of St Anne, aunay abbey has very little about it because it was their bank, and a secret obviously they did not want anyone to know of its whereabouts and it worked the location chosen was as always perfect.
My colleague who Researched this place while he was here, he would read to me every week he uncovered another surprise about the monks, here he was so passionate about the templar presence here, we had never heard of them so he got a lot of stick from the lads, sadly he passed due to diabetes. He left his notes and I have been reading them, and I think the 100 years war escape routes here need finding, I also now believe he was onto something, the place where we stay was the Bishops home and there was a tunnel to the mother church at the abbey. This place was sold and farmed, the French farmer lives for today, not Interested in history. I have spoken to the land owners sue n Steve Clark, who told me to fill my boots, I asked if I could write to you and they are very excited, this is right up your street, you will need a geophysical machine,
If your up for it, they r outside working on farm which is unspoilt, you will find lots of Wall stuff here the panzer were based on the farm.
I hope it’s of use to you.
Yours jackie
C