Time Team no more

[Unitof1]

I kind of imagin that timeteam was taken off because it isnt making any money any more. It would be interesting to find out who made the money and where it went as well as whats happened to the site archieves and if anybody is doing any further research on them, obviously funded by timeteam. The tim taylor letter seems to think that three million pounds was spent on archaeology but does not say in what way. Three million does not seem that much.

[Dinosaur]

Give 'em a motorway project to do? }

[poodash]

I think Time Team did a lot of good in terms of raising the profile of the field profession. But I also feel that was its downfall. It was too concerned with fairly immediate results and less interested in the ideas and debate that the best of us try to feed into what we are interpreting at the trowel's edge.

So, it did us a great service in the sense that, in commercial archaeology, we were instantly recognisable and valued amongst construction teams on site because they had an idea of what we might discover and how it fitted into the structure of British material culture. That we have been accepted amongst construction companies and groundworker crews, has been substantially facilitated by Time Team as a TV phenomenon, along with other factors. In short, I think it made everybody within construction think about what just might be there and how cool it might be. The corporate client will always look to the PR (as is natural) but the construction workers on site are prepared to fit in around you because what you do has been demonstrated to be intrinsically (non-commercially) valuable (certain archaeological contractors please take note!)

But, without new ideas of interpretation, and because it contained a cosy parochialism, it was always destined to thrive and die within "the alternative to Songs of Praise" slot, to be savoured in the company of grandchildren and Viscount biscuits. Personally, I wd have liked Time Team to branch out abroad and demonstrate how archaeology can challenge preconceptions of the past by simply digging deeper and seeing where the evidence can take you. I wd love to have seen, for instance, a Time Team special on the West Bank (or, more riskily, Israel itself) to see how Israeli and Palestinian archaeologists go about confronting their respective and shared pasts and dealing with it. You never know, it might demonstrate that we are all fundamentally decent people!

[poodash]

Having just read what I last posted, I have obviously been an idealistic idiot. If C4 had followed my last advice, they wd undoubtedly have started several nasty internecine ethnic conflicts around the world. And I don't want another Rwanda on my conscience (not that I was in any way involved in the last one....)

[kevin wooldridge]

Having just read what I last posted, I have obviously been an idealistic idiot. If C4 had followed my last advice, they wd undoubtedly have started several nasty internecine ethnic conflicts around the world.

You obviously haven't heard the tales of Time Teams ventures into Scotland then....

[John Wells]

Doing away with the short-of-time team, three day approach may help.
Why not visit professional and amateur on-going excavations, taking along supportive specialists if necessary to help with specific queries or techniques.
This would give access to a continuous stream of new people and points of view, rather than relying on a predictable in-house banter.

My impression is that Time Team is not over fond of travel to Scotland - outside their comfort zone ;o)
Even Alice Roberts did not make it to Scotland in her own programme when it featured Biggar Archaeology.

[BAJR]

Aye... Scotchland be a dark place where we eat southern archaeology types for breakfast.

[video=youtube;rdChs1CSs2E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdChs1CSs2E[/video]


Seriously though... it would be nice to see a whole series on a particular subject.. gathering evidence through the whole series, excavating sites across a country ( or world) which culminates in a collecting and assessing the results for a final programme. one that looks at all aspects of archaeology - could even highlight a particular branch per episode... enviro - osteo - GIS/Survey - Excavation - Research - etc...

Series one... Palaeolithic Britain. ( 8 episodes )

[BAJR]

watch online at 4od:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/time-team/4od

I am on Series 2 Episode 1 by the way

May not work in the USA, but you might be able to find a way round that using a proxy website.

[Dinosaur]

Series one... Palaeolithic Britain. ( 8 episodes )

Episodes 2-8 may get a tad boring, the two or three possibly Latest/Ultimate/checking-yer-watch-to-be-certain-they-ain't-early-Meso Palaeolithic flints around here should fill in several seconds though, if that helps? Anything from under the Scottish Ice Sheets? :face-kiss:

[TLF]

A lot of younger new archs. were massively influenced/inspired by Time Team, it's one of thee only mainstream routes to learn about the field.
Terrible shame it's been dropped.

In my opinion TT is a victim of the new digital age. TV can only afford profiteering programmes now, TT has been essentially dropped to More4 due to it's niche characteristic, a channel full of reruns, and now with online TV (4OD), it doesn't make financial sense to keep producing a programme that can't contend with the X Factor or Dancing On Ice