The Time Team guide to the archaeological sites of Britain & Ireland

320 Pages·2005·0.41 MB·English

by  Taylor

4
THE Books
TIME TEAM
GUIDE
TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
OF BRITAIN & IRELAND
TIM TAYLOR
Great Britain and Ireland are home to
some of the most famous archaeological
sites in the world. Stonehenge, Hadrian’s
Wall and Ironbridge are familiar to us
all, and each year thousands of us flock
to witness their spectacular beauty.
But what can these fascinating sites
teach us about the lives and times of
our ancestors?
Here, in this beautifully illustrated
and impeccably researched book, Tim
Taylor and the experts behind Channel
4’s much-loved Time Team select
Britain and Ireland’s most interesting
archaeological sites and use their specialist
knowledge to reveal the people behind
the monuments - their ways of life, their
religious beliefs and their impressive
skills, strength, technology and ingenuity.
Split into regional chapters, the book
features a range of unmissable locations
from each area, and also focuses on the
Time Team’s see-before-you-die sites,
explaining just why they are so important
to our understanding of the past. There
is a guide to key points to watch out for
at each major site, as well as often-missed
fascinating facts from the archaeological
reports, beautiful photographs and
stunning reconstruction drawings from
the show’s illustrator, Victor Ambrus.
Encompassing sites from hillforts and
motte-and-bailey castles to Roman villas
and Neolithic graves, this comprehensive
guide provides a fresh, illuminating and
invigorating insight into the human
history behind the landscapes of Britain
and Ireland.
1905 026013
£20.00
THE
TIME TEAM
GUIDE
TO THE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
OF BRITAIN & IRELAND
with
Professor Mick Aston
DrTadhg O’Keeffe
Guy de la Bédoyère
Phil Harding
Francis Pryor
Helen Geake
Dr David Caldwell
Carenza Lewis
TIME TEAM
GUIDE
TO THE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
OF BRITAIN & IRELAND
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
61—63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA
a division ofThe Random House Group Ltd
RANDOM HOUSE AUSTRALIA (PTY) LTD
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New South Wales 2061, Australia
RANDOM HOUSE NEW ZEALAND LTD
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RANDOM HOUSE SOUTH AFRICA (PTY) LTD
Endulini, 5a Jubilee Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa
Published 2005 by Channel 4 Books
a division of Transworld Publishers
This book is published to accompany the Time Team television series
produced by Videotext Communications Ltd in association with
Picture House.
Copyright ©Videotext 2005
The right of Tim Taylor to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
Illustrations copyright ©Victor Ambrus 2005
Design by Martin Hendry
Maps by Hardlines Ltd
Picture research by Louise Thomas
Index by Christine Shuttleworth
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 1 9050 2601 3
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the publishers.
Printed by Appl Druck, Wemding, Germany
13579 10 8642
Papers used by Transworld Publishers are natural, recyclable products made
from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes
conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
Contents
Foreword 180
by Tony Robinson 7 North-west England
Introduction
196
by Tim Taylor and
Yorkshire
the Time Team 8
1O 214
South-west England North of England
36 236
Southern England Southern Scotland
58 252
Greater London Scottish Highland and Islands
78 268
South-east England Northern Ireland
96 280
Wales Republic of Ireland
118
Top Ten sites
Heart of England
by the Time Team 312
What happened when? 315
142
East of England
Index 316
164
East Midlands Acknowledgements 319
6
Foreword
At some time in 2005 we will be going to Roman legionaries must have made of it, and
our 150th site. Over the last 13 years or experiencing the extraordinary richness of
so, Time Team has travelled all over the country. Orkney’s archaeology and the beauty of some
Each site we’ve visited, and spent our usual three of Ireland’s early Christian sites. Some of the
days excavating, has given us the chance to get sites that most surprised me were the industrial
together some of the most knowledgeable sites. People don’t always associate these with
archaeologists in the country. During this archaeology, but I was particularly impressed by
process we’ve often referred in our discussions Ironbridge, because it seems that this really was
to the nearest ‘great and good’ sites, and it has the start, in Britain, of the world’s industrial
been fascinating to hear our experts talking revolution.
about them and how they relate to the places This book reflects something else which
we’ve been digging. doing 13 years ofTime Team has made clear to
During the discussions, I’ve not only felt that me — the fantastic variety of Britain and Ireland’s
it would be great to visit these sites with some archaeology. Not only the sites themselves,
of our experts, but also that many of these sites but the amazing objects archaeologists have
have new insights and new perceptions to be uncovered. It is also exciting and somehow
experienced. What you might end up reading in encouraging to realize that on many of the
the booklets and on the presentation boards is sites we hope you will get to visit, secrets are
not necessarily the end of the story. still waiting to be uncovered. Many of these
Time Team has always tried to get beyond places were excavated generations ago, and
the surface story and see what was really going new discoveries are still to be made. These sites
on, and ask the sort of questions the viewer and their amazing stories are alive and changing,
wants answered. In this book, Tim and the rest and hopefully waiting for today’s generation
of the team have tried to apply this approach of archaeologists to continue the story.
and to give you a Time Team-style introduction I hope you enjoy having Time Team take you
to some of the sites we find the most round Britain and Ireland, and that this guide
interesting. inspires you to get out and look at some of the
My own favourites relate to locations visited world’s best archaeology. It is never that far from
as part ofTime Team’s digs. I remember digging your own doorstep, and you might even bump
on Hadrian’s Wall and thinking just what the into Time Team along the way.
8
Introduction
HIS BOOK IS Time Team’s guide to great Our intention has been to give the reader a
British and Irish archaeology. It tells the story selection of the archaeological sites that we
of how archaeological sites have changed the way believe matter. For example, hillforts, henge
we think about the past and about how people monuments, passage graves, Roman villas, motte-
used to live. And, in some cases, how we are now and-bailey castles: these are an important part of
changing the way we think about the classic sites. our archaeological past, but how much do we
The book explores in depth more than 50 understand them? When we wander round these
classic archaeological sites, representing those the sites, gazing up at the lumps of stone or
Time Team believe are the most important and magnificent fortifications that are thousands of
interesting in Britain and Ireland. Some of the years old, or even just looking at lumps and bumps
choices are surprising, and others will make you in the ground, are we really aware of what they
take a second look at some of our greatest tell us about how people lived in the past?
archaeological sites. In addition to these major We’ve tried to approach each site as though we
sites, we also include more than 225 fascinating, were undertaking a typical Time Team piece of
revealing, typical and/or enigmatic places. research. In the cases where we have dug on or