9.1/1027 votesLoading...#1 - A Saintly Site - Isle of Mull, Inner Hebrides
Season 17 Episode 2 - Aired 4/25/2010
Time Team descend on the Isle of Mull at the invitation of two local amateur archaeologists to investigate a mysterious set of earthworks in a forest near Tobermory. Could they be the remains of a chapel from the time of St Columba?
Director: N/A
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9.0/1018 votesLoading...#2 - The Trouble with Temples - Friars Wash, Hertfordshire
Season 16 Episode 1 - Aired 1/4/2009
Time Team has never found a Roman temple. But a 30-year-old photograph clearly shows double square cropmarks in a field. Surely this time they will strike lucky? The trouble is, the site may have suffered plough damage. Francis takes charge. Though initial excavations are encouraging, John and Stewart are puzzled by a geophysical anomaly. Including a tessellated pavement and a coin hoard, a picture gradually emerges of not one but four temples - in fact a whole complex of buildings. It proves to be one of the most important excavations in Time Team history.
Director: N/A
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8.9/1037 votesLoading...#3 - The Celtic Spring - Llygadwy, Powys
Season 8 Episode 3 - Aired 1/21/2001
In deepest Wales lies an extraordinary site, with a Megalith, a Neolithic tomb, a Norman watchtower, early Christian symbols, and a natural spring. From this spring, the landowner has recovered an astonishing variety of coins, sculptures and jewelry. It is almost too good to be true, rather like an ancient theme park. So begins one of Time Team's most remarkable digs. Geophysics shows no structure anywhere on the site. The megalith is far too shallow to have stayed upright for thousands of years. And when the team unearth a sword, they start to get suspicious. They are joined by Celtic ritual expert Miranda Green, architectural historian Will Hughes, and Iron Age specialist Ian Stead. Results show that the site has been 'salted' and the finds have all been placed or build between the 19th century and as late as the 1980s. More info can be found at Llygadwy.
Director: N/A
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8.9/1018 votesLoading...#4 - Warriors - Figheldean, Wiltshire
Season 20 Episode 5 - Aired 1/27/2013
Tony and the team work with veterans of the war in Afghanistan, investigating the ancient Barrow Clump on Salisbury Plain, where they discover burials from 2000BC and rare Saxon finds.
Director: N/A
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8.8/1020 votesLoading...#5 - The Roman's Panic - Ancaster, Lincolnshire
Season 9 Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/2002
Ancaster has yielded numerous Roman finds as well as a large cemetery with several sarcophagi from the period. In addition, the church is known in British archaeology for a Roman inscription dedicated to the deity Viridius. Phil finds the cemetery level, while Carenza discovers a layer filled with jumbled up human remains mixed with other bones. In the cemetery, Phil eventually uncovers the lid of a possible sarcophagus, and its excavation could thus require certain precautions due to the potential for lead poisoning and presence of biological hazards. However, the object proves to be a cist burial, as well as hazard-free. Incredibly, one of the cist slabs also turns out to contain yet another inscription to the god Viridius. In the end, the archaeologists suggest that the massive defences were ordered to be put up by the Roman central administration in Britain, and completely disrupted the original town layout.
Director: N/A
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8.8/1022 votesLoading...#6 - The Puzzle Of Picket's Farm - South Perrott, Dorset
Season 12 Episode 10 - Aired 3/6/2005
Time Team heads to South Perrott in Dorset, inspired by the intriguing discovery of Roman brooches and coins in a hilltop field. The Team are pretty sure they're going to uncover a Roman Temple, but the search gets off to a bad start when all the pottery turns out to be medieval and there's no sign of any buildings. Something has clearly been going on in this field, but it's not what they thought. The trenches gradually reveal their contents, painting a very different picture from a very different period. Have the Team stumbled across a Stone Age burial site that had, extraordinarily, been honoured for thousands of years right into Roman times? Prehistory specialist Miles Russell explains some aspects of Bronze Age features.
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8.7/1020 votesLoading...#7 - An Ermine Street Pub - Cheshunt, Hertfordshire
Season 9 Episode 6 - Aired 2/10/2002
It is 40 years since amateur archaeologists dug up Roman remains near Ermine Street, now hidden beneath Cheshunt Park. Time Team tell the story of the original excavation, using the detailed plan to conduct their own investigation. They believe the site's proximity to the road is the key to this dig. With some brilliant work by Stewart and John, they soon locate part of the road. Though frustratingly they cannot find any trace of it beneath the surface, they do find a brewery and possibly a pub. The brewing process is described by ancient technology expert Peter J. Reynolds. They conduct a mini-experiment comparing Roman surveying techniques with Henry's modern equipment. They are also joined by Roman experts Rosalind Niblett and Harvey Sheldon.
Director: N/A
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8.7/1021 votesLoading...#8 - Seven Buckets and a Buckle - Breamore, Hampshire
Season 9 Episode 13 - Aired 3/31/2002
A Byzantine brass bucket was found during a 3-day live dig in a Saxon cemetery a year ago. Time Team returns to find out more about the people who lived and died here. Metal detectorists are called in to find non-ferrous metals, to complement Geophysics' magnetometer survey. They are joined by Anglo-Saxon specialist Andrew Reynolds, paleopathologist Alice Roberts and celebrity Sandi Toksvig. Sandi's ancestors were from Jutland, and Robin Bush argues that this whole area of Hampshire was actually occupied by Jutes before they were defeated by the Saxons under King Cadwalla in 686 AD. Ray Walton replicates a brass bucket, complete with inscriptions and silvering, from scratch. Osteoarchaeologist Margaret Cox tries to make sense of the burials including rare double burials – one of which uniquely has a child placed between two men. Finds include weapons and an exquisite enamelled belt buckle; and three more of the mysterious buckets, which all fit one inside the other.
Director: N/A
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8.6/1026 votesLoading...#9 - A Roman Temple in Sight of the Millennium Dome - Greenwich Park, London
Season 7 Episode 11 - Aired 3/12/2000
The team dig for Roman remains in Greenwich Park, London. They are joined by Hedley Swain from the Museum of London, Harvey Sheldon from the University of London and Mark Hassel from University College, London. Chris Owen (reconstructor) demonstrates Roman plastering techniques and ingredients, and paints a fresco with Victor. A remarkable find creates much excitement, boosting their hopes of identifying a Roman temple. Stewart suggests that Watling Street may have run through the park. For results and reconstruction see https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/greenwich-park/things-to-see-and-do/ancient-greenwich/roman-remains
Director: N/A
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8.6/1017 votesLoading...#10 - The Bombers in the Marsh - Warton near Preston, Lancashire
Season 12 Episode 3 - Aired 1/16/2005
On 29 November 1944, two US Douglas A-26 Invader bombers crashed in Warton Marsh. Both planes, along with a number of others, had left Warton Airbase in formation, en route to join forces in the preparations for the Battle of the Bulge. Only one minute off the runway and 1,000 feet into the air, the aircraft collided and came to rest in the marsh. All the crew died. Their bodies were recovered from the planes, but an investigation into the causes of the crash was inconclusive. For this programme, Time Team enlisted a veteran air crash investigator, along with the RAF's 'crash and smash' team and other experts to try to find out what caused the crash. Each of the planes, including the engines, was believed to be relatively intact and, it was hoped, would provide the necessary information to determine why these two planes collided.
Director: N/A
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8.6/1017 votesLoading...#11 - Skeletons in the Shed - Blythburgh, Suffolk
Season 16 Episode 13 - Aired 3/29/2009
Tony Robinson and the Team travel to the picturesque expanses of the Suffolk coast to investigate a very special back garden. When the new owners of a house in Blythburgh explored their potting shed they were shocked to discover a cupboard full of human skulls.
Director: N/A
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8.6/1021 votesLoading...#12 - In the Halls of a Saxon King - Drayton, Oxfordshire
Season 17 Episode 4 - Aired 5/9/2010
In Sutton Courtenay Tony Robinson and the Team investigate a set of buildings once occupied by Anglo Saxon royalty. It's the rarest of archaeological sites and uncovers the biggest Saxon building ever discovered in Britain. Aerial photography of an apparently featureless Oxfordshire field revealed crop marks that suggested to archaeologists it was once the site of an impressive collection of 1,400-year-old buildings; but Time Team's digging expertise was needed to verify this. The trenches are big and the archaeology complicated but slowly the Team begin to build up a picture of life here over 1,000 years ago, with the help of heroic Saxon poetry. As well as stunning finds and the perplexing possibility that they have uncovered an Anglo Saxon totem pole, the archaeologists also discover a culture where heroism, story telling and drinking go hand in hand, and learn the finer points of how to insult your colleagues in Old English.
Director: N/A
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8.6/1020 votesLoading...#13 - Reservoir Rituals - Tottiford Reservoir, Devon
Season 18 Episode 1 - Aired 2/6/2011
Tony Robinson and his team celebrate their 200th dig. Jane Marchand from Dartmoor National Park Authority was alerted by a walker to standing stones peering out of an East Devon reservoir at low level. This is Francis Pryor's dream site, but Mick has also been interested in Dartmoor for some time. They have stone circles, stone rows and cairns apparently dating from 3000 to 1500 BC. There is a central mound which interests Francis, and which Phil thinks is Stone Age, thus pre-dating the other monuments. But the cairns may be recent, throwing into doubt the dating of the other features. This is cultivated farmland, atypical of Dartmoor's usual bleak landscapes. John is dubious about getting any meaningful geophysics results, but proposes nevertheless to wheel his trolley through the mud. Stewart and Henry create a 3D image of the prehistoric landscape. Phil teaches Matt his favourite activity, flint-knapping.
Director: N/A
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8.6/1019 votesLoading...#14 - Romans on the Range - High Ham, Somerset
Season 18 Episode 3 - Aired 2/20/2011
Tony and the Team get a unique opportunity to dig at an army firing range at High Ham in Somerset and investigate a series of mosaics first discovered 150 years ago. Everything indicates a Roman villa, though perhaps not on such a grand scale. The inhabitants may have been Romanised Britons, living from the 2nd to the early 5th century. Matt volunteers as a slave for the day. When the cold east wind sets in, Phil and the other diggers temporarily "down tools". They are joined by Martin Brown from the Defence Estates and Roman finds specialist Philippa Walton.
Director: N/A
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8.6/109 votesLoading...#15 - Time Team's Greatest Discoveries
Season 19 Episode 13 - Aired 5/13/2012
Revisiting digs that produced rare and fine jewellery, gold coins, huge and intricate mosaics - and some extraordinary archaeological fakery - Mick Aston, Phil Harding and Helen Geake defend and debate their choices for Time Team's greatest discoveries.
Director: N/A
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8.5/1031 votesLoading...#16 - The Mosaic at the Bottom of the Garden - Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Season 7 Episode 2 - Aired 1/9/2000
In 300 A.D. Corinium Dobunnorum was England's wealthiest city next to Londinium. Now it's the pleasant Gloucestershire town of Cirencester, and Time Team are visiting the leafy suburban Chester Street, where they hope the back gardens will yield clues about the bustling Roman city and its main highway, Ermine Street. Could a Roman temple have occupied this site - or even rarer, an early Christian church? They need to knock on a few doors to ask about digging up their plots. There is a bottle of champagne for anybody who can find a tessellated pavement. They are joined by Roman architectural historian Tom Blagg, coin expert Richard Reece and mosaic expert David Neal. The Ermine Street Guard offer Tony venison stew, and use a wooden crane to erect a stone column, fashioned by mason Giles MacDonald. In the public presentation, Stewart outlines a picture of the whole city, ably assisted by Victor's drawing. Among many Roman finds are coins, a brooch, a spoon and a bone die.
Director: N/A
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8.5/1026 votesLoading...#17 - A Bronze-Age Barrow and Walkway - Flag Fenn, Cambridgeshire
Season 7 Episode 9 - Aired 2/27/2000
The team have their work cut out in the Cambridgeshire fenland, looking for remnants of an ancient culture in the flat landscape. The long wooden track would function as a barrier, defence and ritual passage where votive offerings were placed in the water. At the end of it they hope to find a barrow - a circular Bronze Age burial mound. Dave Chapman constructs a bronze axe in a primitive furnace; while wood expert Maisie Taylor looks for a suitable handle in nearby woodland.
Director: N/A
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8.5/1020 votesLoading...#18 - A Lost Roman City - Castleford, Yorkshire
Season 9 Episode 10 - Aired 3/10/2002
The medieval castle of Beaudesert in Henley-in-Arden suddenly vanished without trace, leaving a single stone on top of a mound. The people want to know what it looked like. "The Mount" as it's called by the locals, is a popular beauty spot and has suffered from erosion. Also, as it's a scheduled monument, there are limits to what digging can take place. The castle was built by the de Montforts in the early 12th century. Henry and Stewart create a simple 3D clay model of the building, which follows the natural contours of the hill. It looks as if the castle was demolished and the pieces sold off in the 15th century. Using authentic tools, bowyer Steve Ralphs makes a medieval longbow, which is tested against a crossbow of a similar period. Castles expert Sarah Speight describes daily life in the castle. Finds include a section of carved pestle and mortar.
Director: N/A
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8.5/1017 votesLoading...#19 - Steptoe Et Filius - Yaverland, Isle of Wight
Season 9 Episode 12 - Aired 3/24/2002
Two years ago, local archaeologist Kevin Trott discovered Roman remains in a trench being dug for a water pipe. Unfortunately the trench had to be closed, and now Time Team are having trouble finding it. While Phil and the diggers look for the original trench, a full-scale field-walking exercise reveals many finds, both Roman and Iron Age; including a lot of bronze jewellery, seeming to show industrial activity. There are hints that enamelling was carried out here, so they decide to make their own enamelled hare brooch. Mick and Tony visit a nearby Roman villa with a detailed mosaic floor. On day three, Stewart spots some potential earthworks in a neighbouring field; so they decide to dig some exploratory trenches there. They end up with examples of activity from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman occupation, and Anglo-Saxon period. To cap it all, at the end of day three they find a rare Iron Age burial. The team are joined for the first of many digs by Anglo-Saxon expert Helen Geake.
Director: N/A
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8.5/1024 votesLoading...#20 - Mosaics, Mosaics, Mosaics - Dinnington, Somerset
Season 10 Episode 2 - Aired 1/12/2003
Time Team travels to Somerset to investigate the discovery of an exquisite Roman mosaic in a field. The geophysical survey clearly indicates the presence of a substantial and well-preserved villa on the site. One of the main problems they tackle is the development of the building complex through time. By targeted examination of the structural remains, the archaeologists uncover evidence of several phases from a more humble early timber building to a two-story grand villa with two large ranges and a courtyard gate structure. In the end, the site turns out to contain one of the largest Roman villas in the UK.
Director: N/A
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8.5/1023 votesLoading...#21 - Back-Garden Archaeology: Revisiting a Roman Villa - Ipswich, Suffolk
Season 11 Episode 11 - Aired 3/14/2004
As renowned Suffolk archaeologist Basil Brown discovered, Castle Hill near Ipswich is named, not after a castle, but a substantial Roman villa. Brown was unable to complete his excavation, and Time Team have been called in by local schoolchildren to find out more. However, they will need to dig up a few back gardens to do so. Very soon it becomes clear that Brown's measurements were out of kilter. Halfway through day two, Phil makes a breakthrough. But not until 11 trenches are dug in 8 gardens does a full picture emerge. The team are joined by Roman specialist David Neale and site director Miles Russe
Director: N/A
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8.5/1024 votesLoading...#22 - The Monastery and the Mansion - Nether Poppleton, Yorkshire
Season 12 Episode 2 - Aired 1/9/2005
The villagers of Nether Poppleton, near York, join Tony Robinson and the team for some extensive digging as they try to determine the exact age of their village. The current layout follows a typical medieval pattern but a reference to the village in the Domesday Book has the experts thinking that it could date back to Saxon times at least.
Director: N/A
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8.5/1020 votesLoading...#23 - The First Tudor Palace? - Esher, Surrey
Season 13 Episode 4 - Aired 2/12/2006
The team visit Wayneflete Tower which is all that remains of a palace. Over three days they piece together the story of a site that evolved into one of the most stunning buildings of early Tudor times. They are joined by historic buildings expert Jonathan Foyle, John Guy (historian) and dendrochronologist Mick Worthington.
Director: N/A
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8.5/1026 votesLoading...#24 - Finds on the Fairway - Isle of Man
Season 14 Episode 1 - Aired 1/14/2007
The team battle the tail end of Hurricane Gordon to investigate the last keeill standing, preserved beneath a golf course on the Isle of Man. A thousand years ago the island was dotted with these keeills, or small stone chapels, most of which have completely disappeared. Mick, an avowed enthusiast for early Christian buildings, is in his element. Sensational finds keep coming, including perfectly preserved plaited human hair, and a specimen of Ogham script. The team are joined by local archaeologist Andy Johnson, keeill expert Nick Johnson, and Viking specialist Dawn Hadley
Director: N/A
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8.5/1020 votesLoading...#25 - Something for the Weekend - Tregruk Castle, Llangybi, Monmouthshire
Season 17 Episode 8 - Aired 10/10/2010
Tony Robinson and the Team find themselves lost in the mists of a Welsh forest as they investigate one of the biggest castles in Britain. Their task is to investigate the castle's mysterious interior and find out how this impressive structure fitted into a network of fortresses built by powerful English barons 700 years ago.
Director: N/A
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The Best Episodes of Time Team
Every episode of Time Team ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Time Team!
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on British Channel 4 from 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented...
Genres:DocumentaryMystery
Best Episodes Summary
"A Saintly Site - Isle of Mull, Inner Hebrides" is the best rated episode of "Time Team". It scored 9.1/10 based on 27 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 4/25/2010. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Trouble with Temples - Friars Wash, Hertfordshire".