Steve Thompson

Still around on Day Four
When the three days of a Time Team dig are over, at least one person can be relied upon to still be around on Day Four. This is Steve Thompson from Wessex Archaeology, which is responsible for writing the full archaeological reports on every Time Team excavation. Starting with the 2004 series, Steve has been responsible for coordinating the recording of all trenches and what is found in them. From the 2005 series onwards, he has also been responsible for processing finds. So although he only usually appears on camera in the background, he is one of the key members of the Team, with more than enough to keep him busy throughout each dig and beyond.

Here Steve tells the website a little about how he became involved in Time Team and what he does.

Writing and recording
'I currently work as a supervisor for Wessex Archaeology and have been involved with Time Team for the last two years. This followed Time Team's invitation for Wessex to write the final report for their sites,' says Steve.

'Beginning with the 2004 series, I was responsible for coordinating the recording of all trenches and the archaeology in them after they had been dug by Matt, Raksha, Dan, Kerry, Ian, Brigid, Phil and the dozens of local archaeologists involved (see Meet the Team for profiles). Basically, once all the hard digging had been done I would hop into the trenches and draw the sections and plans, take the photos and write the written descriptions of all the archaeology uncovered. So I do the standard but essential archaeological recording while the others open new trenches and excavate new features. Doing recording – drawing sections and writing context sheets and so on – doesn't make riveting TV, so, like many of the people on Time Team, I tend to lurk in the background, jumping from trench to trench.'

Drastic measures
Often the recording goes on late into the evening – especially on Day Four, when the Team has to pack up and leave the site. 'Things do get very hectic,' says Steve, 'with drastic measures having to be taken at times, like using the headlights of the 4x4 to illuminate the context sheets to finish the recording. This happened at the Standish site, for example, just because so much was revealed.'

Finds processing
Starting with the 2005 series, Steve has also been involved with the finds processing. His role is that of finds coordinator, overseeing all of the finds from the excavations. It's not a simple task, as Time Team unearths many thousands of finds each year and every single one of them has to be cleaned, stabilised, catalogued and stored.

'It's a great job really, though,' he says. 'When you're a digger on a Time Team site you can be stuck in a trench all day while there are 15 other trenches uncovering material and a whole story emerging, which as an archaeologist working on one specific area you just wouldn't be aware of. As finds coordinator I get to see absolutely everything that comes out of the ground and have a good idea about how everything is going.'

Many of the finds are cleaned on site by helpers from local archaeology and history societies or interested youth groups. 'You get to meet some really nice people,' Steve continues. 'They all help us out a lot. After everything has been cleaned it's bagged up and marked so that we know exactly where it came from. Then, after all the filming has been done, we take it back to Wessex Archaeology where further research is done and people like pottery and bone specialists can look at the material. All this work goes towards making a proper report for the site. The finds are then stored in an archive, which is usually held by the local museum to the dig or by the landowner.'

Raider of the Lost Ark
Steve remembers that: 'I'd always wanted to be an archaeologist after watching Raiders of the Lost Ark on my seventh birthday, but never realised you could actually do it as a job. Getting paid to travel and work on such varied sites as Pictish settlements in the Western Isles and Roman cities in eastern Turkey have been some of the highlights of my digging career.'

Favourite Time Team
Steve's favourite Time Team? 'This has to be Loch Migdale, as it's not often you get to plan a whole henge by yourself, or get to drink Glenmorangie on site at the end of the day.'

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