BBC Focus Magazine

[Healerman]

It's not quite like digging up brooches, or Samian ware or ritual ( ) items, but this is damned fine archaeology.

Archaeologists have been discovering how Romans lived 2,000 years ago, by studying what they left behind in their sewers.
A team of experts has been sifting through hundreds of sacks of human excrement. They found a variety of details about their diet and their illnesses.
This unconventional journey into the past took the team down into an ancient sewer below the town of Herculaneum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13781202

There is a near endless supply of wise-cracks that could be made at this point, but I'll refrain.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Indeed, well and truly pooped out there Mr.H....

But in all honesty a truly excrement forensic analysis .................... sorry.


I think I should go to bed now.

[ChrisH]

I think this is one for Time Team to cover.

I'd love to see Phils face working through that lot.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Or indeed his faeces.......................................



Ok, sorry I'll get me coat.

[Shadowwolf]

I think this is one for Time Team to cover.

Whilst they do a fine and informative job, full and dare I say it, proper archeology needs more than a three day turbo dig. Anything of import requires more time than Time Team can devote alas.

Besides, the only thing Phil is likely to find is some flint, "Look ere Tony."

[M Paul Lloyd]

In actual fact the 'weekend' archeology portrayed on Channel 4's Time Team is often an illusion.
As with any dig there has to be considerable research done and permissions sought before anyone ever gets a trowel out, plus a lot of that 'geo-phys' is often done weeks in advance. What Channel 4 does is inject hard cash and manpower into a project that might otherwise be ignored.

[Healerman]

What Channel 4 does is inject hard cash and manpower into a project that might otherwise be ignored.

They also provide a snapshot of what is going on at a particular site, which may then provoke further in-depth and long term investigation. In a good number of cases, the archaeological interest that called "Time Team" in, have carried on the dig as soon as the cameras have left.

It may not be text-book archaeology, but I think overall, "Time Team" have had a positive effect.

[M Paul Lloyd]

It took them quite a few years to be taken seriously mind. As I recall early programmes centred around nothing more than some old pub cellars and peoples back gardens.