Lets stop knocking Time Team

[trowelhead]

Come on chaps Time Team aint Horizon, Accent of man or any other fact based documentary of how real archaeologists live and work and we all know it. It was never supposed to be anything other than what it is. Time Team is a reflection of public interest in archaeology and that public interest is reflected in how the Time Team is reflected on our screens. Ok I know it dosnt reflect the real world but does the Bill reflect modern policing does Jamies Dinners reflect the catering industry at large and indeed does Handy Andy adaquatly reflect the building industry?

Dispite what we all say about the Time Team there seems an awful lot of us willing to appear on it OA HIVI`s spotted in trench 3 I note on Sunday. There is absolultly no question it has raised the profile of archaeology and led to a significant rise in University applications and a renewed interest in the past that, and lets be honest, was wholey missing before.

In addition we all know that those featured on it have respected jobs in the archaeological industry and many of us have worked with them.

So ok its not science but it dosnt want to be its entertainment and an easy target for our own self inflated opionion of ourselves as archaeologists.

If Time Team were to coming knocking on our door and say "hey we would really like you to become a full time new face of our team" I bet 8 out of 10 would jump at the chance.

So could it be jealousy on our part after all.

Close enough for a country job!

[Cautionary Tale]

Fair enough point, but I think there is a uncertainly drawn line at the boundary between increasing public accessability and poor archaeological programming. Whether this programme specifically crossed it I don't know, I had been trying to be fairly positive regarding Time Team based on their increasingly 'realistic' presentation of the issues of what could reasonably be done in three days and the occasional episode which demonstrated largely negative results. This made the programme a little more 'edgey' (or I might venture entertaining) in some cases with more uncertainty about the results.

As for whether I'd join a TT project, last time the opportunity arose I couldn't afford to take part....:face-huh:

Desiderate le fritture con quello?

[tom wilson]

I very much doubt that 8 out of 10 archaeologists would appear on Time Team. The vast majority of those I have discussed the matter with wouldn't, and the vast majority of those I know that have done so would never do it again.

I fail to see how having diggers jumping up and down about how a single sherd of Kingston ware (or was it?) equals high status feasting activity does anything for the profession. It doesn't help when trying to get a developer to take you seriously does it?

Come to think of it, most coppers cringe at the mention of the Bill. No doubt there are hard working interior design professionals out there who fight to justify their existence every time they meet someone new. Do we want to be like that? Well if not, it's best that we aren't depicted on TV as muppets.

What Time Team needs is the courage to tell complex stories, the prudence to stick with techniques and sites guaranteed to produce presentable results, and the sense not to sensationalise when they haven't found much.

Personally I would like to see more programmes monitoring and adding to existing projects like the ones in Canterbury and Roman London. They were fantastic.

[getatrowel]

quote:Originally posted by tom wilson
What Time Team needs is the courage to tell complex stories, the prudence to stick with techniques and sites guaranteed to produce presentable results...

...only problem is, at 9pm on Ch4 - ratings count. The producers are not looking to impress or satisfy the professional archaeology world, but to entice the average viewer.

Ian

http://www.getatrowel.co.uk - trowels for archaeological excavators

[troll]

Greetings trowelly. I can`t stop myself knocking Time Team- it is simply crap. Reducing what we do to nothing short of middle class coffee morning drivvle does not help.Have seen snippets of their last offering and feel that the programme should be replaced with something more interesting and less fatuous.. exploration of the nations belly-buttons for instance.

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[Tim]

Surely that would mean we would have Blue Fluff Bluffers



"Freedom of ideas is one thing, freedom of the purse is quite another". Edward Harris

[simon73]

Greetings trowelly. I can`t stop myself knocking Time Team- it is simply crap. Well said. TT is for the armature who wishes to find out what archaeology is all about carried out by both the professional archaeologists and armatures who can join in. I have never seen the point of trying to inform the public of what a building was just from a few small trenches if archaeology was that easy then we would be out of a job. Time Team brought professionals some of which I like others are just know it all, who think that what they have to say is gospel truth and we all should sit up and take note. Such people should be shot and carry on becoming a pen pusher as this is the archaeology world that we have come to believe.

What TT has brought is archaeology to the public which is a good thing. Apart from that I can't see what else TT has brought apart from armature archaeologists which some now call themselves archaeologists. I mean how many of us dug on rain days how many of us had BB to bed down and just how man of the public think that archaeology is great and easy life. Those are the questions TT should bring out in the programme not the crap that they have come out with. The ending is so made up.
If in doubt its ritual

[I F Lostmetrowel]

Sorry for a bit late on this but have just returned from holiday and am getting round to checking the threads [:I]I agree TT is getting worse. Picking up on threads in the other TT discussion on the Royal dig, it seems to me there was much more archaeological totty that usual. I also found the so called updates cringe worthy. In one epsiode they had a 'live' update where it was still sunny. I was in Cornwall and it was dark!! allowing for variations in global position this seemed a bit extreme I am sure if I watched earlier TT then I would find them equally cringe worthy but if rose tinted memory is anything to by they were more 'factual/believable' back then. Considering the TV listings in one paper described it as an archaeological challenge show I begin to wonder what TT is marketed as! On Britarch people questioned who Tess Daly was- apparently an Oxford educated history graduate according to her own homepage but she pleaded ignorance over history more than once. I appreciate that they have to get discussion but this is surely blatabt dumbing down!!


Here there and everywhere, but still no trowel