Any Time Team fans about? For the uninitiated, Time Team was a British television series which started in 1994 and ran for 20 years. Basically it broke the mould of stuffy academic archaeology by potting digs done over just three days (rather than months, which was typical) into 45 minutes for television purposes.
The team of colourful experts was fronted by ‘Everyman’ Tony Robinson who attempted to summarise what was happening in layman’s terms. Each week they’d descend on a place or site of interest. Clearly there was a fair bit of research done beforehand so that the team could crack on straightaway with the dig. Usually, before the first day was out the first trench had been opened and the trowels were at work and tentative interpretations suggested.
Tony Robinson, Phil Harding, Mick Aston, Carenza Lewis
The early episodes are presently available to view, so I’ve been sitting down and watching them in the evenings. What struck me straight away was the technology, or lack of it, in the 1990s. OK, the word ‘geophysics’ was a new word to most then, with the ‘geophys’ people marching up and down fields with their equipment, measuring differences in resistance below ground. Mighty impressive, but the output was delivered by clunky printers and first generation CAD. Cutting edge for the time but I’m looking forward to see how geophysics advanced over the 20 years.
In one of the first episodes, one of the experts explained to Robinson on-screen a new technology called Global Positioning System – GPS. ‘So,’ said Robinson, ‘you mean you send a signal to a satellite up there (he points to the sky), the satellite sends a signal back and tells you where you are?’ These days we all use GPS as standard in one form or another.
Carenza, Tony & Phil
And no Internet! The archivist checking the history of the site would triumphantly wave a dusty book containing vital background. To be fair, much of these old academic records, maps etc. are probably still not digitised, but today our first port of call is Google or a specialist website.
During its time, Time Team did huge amounts to advance archaeological research. It inevitably put noses out of joint in academic quarters but it stimulated the whole profession. And its time-limited format showed what was possible when it came to involvement with major building developments which were halted for investigation of lost historical features.
Long live Time Team. You can find the re-runs on http://www.channel4.com
Back On The Rock 
I love shows about digs. For full clarification, the Internet did exist in 1994. We were using it for email at least in 1990, and the first commercial browser, Mosaic, was launched in 1994. I used them both at that time. But it certainly wasn’t what it is now!
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You might want to watch one or two of these then Jane. They are both informative and entertaining. Yes I guessed there must have been some sort of Web at the time but clearly it wasn’t useful enough in the context of this programme.
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I’m definitely going to try to track them down. Thx, Roy.
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Link at the end of the post Jane.
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I never really watched Time Team, but it’s amazing how quickly things have changed. When I started as a librarian the Internet was in its infancy, so we still used reference books to answer enquiries – these days you don’t get the same kind of enquiries anyway because people use Google (including the librarians!).
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Yes I well remember we’d often ring the library here in Jersey to ask them to look up the facts and adjudge an office dispute, perhaps. The staff always seemed happy to do so as part of their job. I doubt they’d be so obliging these days 🙂
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We would! It’s still our job to answer anything and everything 🙂
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One of the very first Time Team episodes was at Hylton Castle in Sunderland, which might be close enough to you?
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Not far, although I’ve never actually been there….
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Never saw this series in the U.S. Sounds fascinating. I love British TV – they use “real” folks for so many of the shows. And even when watching the Brit mysteries, my guy and I always marvel at the excellent actors, who look like real people (unlike the ‘too beautiful’ actors on American TV).
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Thanks Pam. I actually never watch TV these days so I’ll take your word for it. The re-showings of Time Team though are proving irresistible. What lies everywhere, inches below our feet, unseen for many centuries, is astounding.
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I loved everything about Time Team except Tony Robinson… He just gets on my nerves with his condescending tone. We have an American program that is not dissimilar but global. My favorite part was when they reconstructed a skull into a real person – that still fascinates me. Science mixed with art.
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Having sat through a few episodes now Kerry I see what you mean about Robinson. I hadn’t noticed it originally. Still they did need a non-specialist to keep it real for a TV audience and to ask the archaeologists what the average TV viewer was probably thinking. The overall result was excellent.
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I didn’t mean to pass on my bias!!! My husband likes him perfectly well…
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