The
field walking has brought up some really interesting Roman finds,
so we want to know what's going on here. |
| Tony
Robinson |
Archaeologists
from TV's Time Team arrived in Gloucestershire in 2004 to
film an episode for the new series.
Around
50 people, including camera crews, producers, and presenters were
involved in the production.
Secret
location
It
took place at a secret location not far from Stonehouse.
The
group arrived on August 24 and spent three days in total unearthing
a possible Roman site.
The
finished programme in the popular history series will be shown in
early 2005.
Fantastic
"geophys"
During
the first day of filming presenter Tony Robinson explained to BBC
Gloucestershire why they've decided to film here in the county.
| Will
Team Team unearth anything like this? |
|
"There's
been some fantastic 'geophys' in a field round here," he said.
"Lots of square lines which seem to look Roman, and lots of
round lines which seem to look Iron Age.
"And
the field walking has brought up some really interesting Roman finds,
so we want to know what's going on here.
Iron
Age chieftain
"What
it could be is that you've got an Iron Age chieftain living here
and then the Romans came along and then he became one of the puppet
rulers for the Romans, and adopted the new lifestyle, so he moved
out of his roundhouse and moved into a nice square Roman Villa.
|
We
don't know what it is but our alarm bells are telling us that
something else is going on, but what that is yet I don't know. |
| Tony
Robinson |
"That's
the theory, although it's only day one of three days.
"However
the archaeologists are saying 'There are certain things that really
don't fit in with that'. We don't know what it is but our alarm
bells are telling us that something else is going on, but what that
is yet I don't know.
Skeleton
"What
I do know is that we've already found a skeleton and when the metal
detectors ran their machines over it there seemed to be some iron
spikes around it, so it looks like we may have some finds - maybe
a broach that held a tunic together or a pin or something like that.
| Tony
in his days as Baldrick |
|
"And
we've also found a huge pot which I think is probably Iron Age,
but because it's day one we've only got to the top of the skeleton
and the top of the pot, and it will be some time before we get down
the sides.
"That's
pretty good going for us because normally we don't find anything
at all until about teatime on the third day - this looks as though
it's going to be a very fruitful site for us."
Hot
spot
Gloucestershire
seems to be real hot spot for Archaeology and for the makers of
Time Team - with them making several visits to the county over the
years.
|
Normally
we don't find anything at all until about teatime on the third
day - this looks as though it's going to be a very fruitful
site for us. |
| Tony
Robinson |
"We've
had a great time here", said Tony. "Turkdean, which was
where we found not just one but TWO huge Roman villas was one of
the best digs, and further over in Cirencester was the first time
we ever found a brand new piece of Roman tessellated floor that
no-one had found before. I have lots of fond memories."
The
new series of Time Team started in January 2005. The episode
filmed in Gloucestershire will air on Channel 4 on Sunday February
13th at 5pm.
Time Team filming near Stonehouse (9 pictures)
If
you would like to comment on this story get in touch at gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk
or have your say on our messageboard
|
An
episode of the popular TV archaeology programme Time Team was
filmed at a secret location near Stonehouse in August 2004.
