Time Team - Friars Wash & Other Digs (DVD, 2009, 4-Disc) All Regions

Time Team travels the country to investigate a wide range of archaeological sites : including the amazing discovery in a Hertfordshire field when they unearth a complex of Roman temples. At each location they give themselves just 3 days to unearth the hidden treasures of the past.

1. Friars Wash : Hertfordshire : The Trouble with Temples : Period: Roman
2. Scargill Castle: County Durham : The Wedding Present : Period: Medieval
3. Heroes Hill : Knockdhu, Co Antrim : Period: Roman
4. Toga Town : Caerwent, South Wales : Period: Roman
5. Blood, Sweat and Beers : Rise Hill, Cumbria : Period: Industrial Britain
6. Buried Bishops and Belfries : Salisbury Cathedral : Period: Medieval
7. Anarchy in the UK : Radcot, Oxfordshire : Period: Medieval and Civil War
8. Mystery of the Ice Cream Villa : Colworth, Bedfordshire : Period: Roman
9. Hermit Harbour : Looe Island, Cornwall : Period: Medieval
10. Called to the Bar : Lincolns Inn, London : Period: Anglo Saxon, Medieval
11. Beacon of the Fens : Warboys, Cambridgeshire : Period: Medieval, Prehistoric
12. The Hollow Way : Ulnaby, Co. Durham : Period: Medieval
13. Skeltons in the Shed : Blythburgh, Suffolk : Period: Medieval, Prehistoric

The eras explored:
THE ROMAN OCCUPATION 43AD to C410AD
For about 400 years, Britain was part of the Roman Empire after being invaded by the Roman army.

Much of the information about Roman Britain comes to us through archaeological work carried out on the actual sites of Roman occupation; the epigraphic evidence recovered in the field forms a fundamental part of understanding each individual site.

The villas of Roman Britain were built close to towns and even closer to the main Roman roads : of which more than 600 have been excavated. These were normally working farms or sometimes had industrial activities such as pottery or metalworking going on as well.

One of the reasons why we are able to date Roman archaeology with such accuracy in the abundance of coins produced during this period. A coin mislaid by a Roman legionary 2,000 years ago can thus help us to date other finds made in association with it.

ANGLO : SAXONS C410 to 1066AD
The Term Anglo Saxon is a relatively modern one. It refers to settlers from the German regions of Angeln and Saxony, who made their way over to Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around 410AD.

The Anglo Saxon period causes difficulty for the archaeologist. The very nature of their primitive agricultural lifestyle, including simple timber dwellings with thatched rooves, means that little has been left in the archaeological record. The weather of Britain, unlike that of Egypt or the Middle East, is unlikely to preserve many artefacts. Timber, whether in buildings or used for tools or bridges has mostly rotted away and iron items such as nails, agricultural tools, weapons and so forth have mostly rusted into oblivion.

Today the term Anglo Saxon is most widely used to describe the period, which historians divided into: Early Anglo Saxon (450AD to 650AD), Middle Anglo Saxon (650AD to 800AD), Late Anglo Saxon (800AD to 1066AD).

THE MEDIEVAL ERA 1066AD 1485AD
The Middle Ages are so called as the middle period between the decline of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. The early Middle Ages are often referred to as the Dark Ages. The Middle Ages are also referred to as the Medieval era.

The archaeological sites from the Medieval and the Renaissance period often include documentary resources as evidence along with structural and archaeological materials.

Perhaps the most famous date in British history is 1066AD, when William the First (William the Conqueror) invaded England with an army of soldiers from Normandy (in North West France). The Normans were originally Vikings, who had moved to north France in about 900AD. William defeated the Saxon King (Harold) at the Battle of Hastings: Hastings is a town on the south coast of England. The story of the invasion is told in pictures in the Bayeux Tapestry. This was the last time that England was successfully invaded by a foreign army.