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Why Time Team came to Hampshire Time Team Live 2001 took the Team back to the ‘Dark Ages’ in search of clues about the lives of our early Anglo-Saxon ancestors. In the middle of a field, somewhere in Hampshire, the usual crew of regulars and experts was called in to investigate a barrow, or burial mound, now almost flattened by centuries of ploughing. A number of Saxon graves had been identified, probably forming part of a cemetery serving the scattered ‘Dark Age’ settlements in the area, and the surrounding landscape is full of features dating from pre-Roman times through to the present day. The barrow itself was thought to be Bronze Age. Time Team was first alerted to the site as a result of a remarkable discovery by metal detectorist Steve Bolger. Two years ago he found one of the rarest objects ever shown on Time Team – a sixth-century Byzantine 'situla', or bucket, which would have formed part of the grave goods in a Saxon burial. Made from a single sheet of brass and plated with tin, the bucket is decorated with a beautiful frieze of leopards, mythical beasts and naked hunters. It is inscribed with the words: ‘Use this lady for many happy years.’ The style of manufacture, the shape of the bucket and its decorations and inscription all suggest that it came from the eastern Byzantine empire. The best guess for its origin is Antioch, in modern-day Syria. At any rate, when it was buried with its Anglo-Saxon owner in a Hampshire field 1,500 years ago, it had already travelled several thousand miles. It would have been an extremely valuable and highly prestigious item in sixth-century Anglo-Saxon England. Unlike ‘night hawk’ metal detectorists, who have looted this and other archaeological sites without reporting their finds, Steve Bolger immediately reported his discovery to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a voluntary scheme for recording finds made by non-professional archaeologists. In response, Berkshire Archaeological Services conducted some test excavations, finding four burials in the immediate area where the bucket was found and confirming that the site was an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Other finds, discovered in the test excavation and by metal detecting, include Frankish weights, shield bosses and brooches. Unfortunately the site has been subject to major activity by unscrupulous metal detectorists. Time Team’s objective, then, to find out as much as possible about the cemetery before the archaeological evidence destroyed. The Team also worked to place the cemetery in its wider context as part of the Anglo-Saxon landscape, looking at how people lived at this time, their beliefs and burial practices, and investigating the trading links that led to a rare and beautiful Byzantine bucket being found in a Hampshire field. The coming of the Anglo-Saxons >>
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 This sixth-century Byzantine 'situla', or bucket, was found on the site of this year's Time Team Live by metal detectorist Steve Bolger |
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