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Order Time Team Digs: A history of Britain DVD

Introduction
Why does Time Team have such great potential as a classroom resource?

Curriculum
The content of the Time Team Digs: A history of Britain DVD is mapped against the history curricula for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Location and period chart
A list of the various locations featured on the DVD by county, including details of sites and finds.

Games
How to use the games featured on the Time Team website in the classroom.

Glossary
Historical terms and potentially difficult words that arise in the Time Team series are explained here.

Careers
All sorts of specialists are involved with Time Team. Here, you can find a range of career profiles that involve working with history.

Resource sheets
A set of free, downloadable resource sheets for use in the classroom or at home.

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Time Team Digs: A History of Britain
Teachers' notes.

Introduction.

This DVD set features a selection of the 130 or so excavations that have taken place since Time Team began. The DVD format enables the series to be used as a flexible educational resource to support the history curriculum.

Since the series began in 1994, many teachers have commented on the potential for using the programmes in an educational setting. The content is well paced and engaging. Children enjoy the energy of the lively against-the-clock format. The presenter, Tony Robinson, presents the material clearly for non-historians. He does not assume that viewers have a great deal of prior historical knowledge. He often uses simple questions such as 'How do we know that?' or 'What does that tell us?' which students are able to relate to.

The curriculum

Time Team's investigative approach supports good practice in history teaching and is particularly strong on developing:

historical enquiry skills
the use of sources
a sense of chronology
interpretations of history.

This DVD set includes resources relevant to history curricula throughout the UK.

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History topic	England		Wales		Scotland		Northern Ireland
History topic	KS2	KS3	KS2	KS3	P5/6	P7/S2	KS2	KS3
Bronze Age
Iron Age			•
Roman Britain	•		•
Dark Ages	•				•	•	•
Norman Britain		•			•	•	•	•
Medieval Britain		•		•	•	•		•
Modern Britain	•	•	•	•	•	•		•

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In addition it can be used to support local history studies spanning several historical periods.

Using the Time Team DVD set

The DVD format allows the extracts to be accessed quickly and in any order. The location and period guide can be used as the starting point. This lists the various locations featured by county and gives a guide as to the content of each extract. There is a wide geographical spread across the UK so, for many schools, this will mean that there is material to support local studies directly. However, it is not essential to live near and visit these specific locations. The activities and finds at the digs can be used to inspire similar enquiries in other areas of the UK. The greatest benefit will be gained from viewing short sections of the DVD at a time. Viewing should be selective and focused on a particular topic or aspect of life in the past.

Location and period guide

Disk A: The Bronze Age

Time code	Location	Details
1.18	Kemerton, Worcestershire	Clues from aerial views, an ancient trackway
9.00	Wadden, Dorset	Remains of a henge
12.15	Norfolk coast	Excavating a sea henge, a modern reconstruction of a henge
23.18	Peterborough, Cambridgeshire	Flag Fen, a barrow on Northey Island, burial practices
28.40	Greylake, Somerset	A marshland trackway on the levels, a modern reconstruction of a trackway
37.40	Vauxhall, London	Timber remains of a bridge on the banks of the Thames

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Disk A: The Iron Age

Time code	Location	Details
1.09	Wadden, Dorset	An Iron-Age roundhouse, a graphic interior reconstruction
5.19	RAF Brockmorton, Worcestershire	An Iron-Age village, a cooking reconstruction
11.33	Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire	Geophysics reveals a banjo enclosure, reconstruction of an Iron-Age house
20.27	Mine Howe, Orkney	An underground chamber, a visit to Gurness
35.37	Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall	Gear Field and Caer Vallack reveal pottery finds including a storage jar

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Disk A: The Roman invasion

Time code	Location	Details
1.21	Lambeth Palace, London	Evidence of Watling Street, reconstructing a Roman road
7.45	Cheshunt, Hampshire	Aerial views of Ermine Street, excavating a brewery and a pub
14.00	Castleford, Yorkshire	A Roman fort and town
18.35	South Shields, Tyneside	A Roman fort and town
19.33	Papcastle, Cumbria	Roman buildings, Samian ware pottery finds
26.09	Lavenham, Suffolk	A Roman villa, finds including metal objects and coins
30.38	Whittington, Gloucestershire	Aerial evidence of a Roman town, Waltham Villa including Roman glass
36.23	Birdoswald, Hadrian's Wall	Remains of a cemetery, reconstructing a funeral pyre
42.31	Royal Park, Greenwich, London	A Roman temple and a rare monumental inscription

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Disk A: Roman Britain

Time code	Location	Details
1.10	Cirencester, Gloucestershire	Remains of Corinium, a lost road, a Roman mosaic
7.44	Cirencester, Gloucestershire	Geophysics and aerials showing a Roman villa and bath house at Turkdean
15.08	Netheravon, Wiltshire	Cooking a Roman-style meal
17.53	Papcastle, Cumbria	Samian pottery ware, making a replica bowl
21.30	Isle of Wight	Roman jewellery, recreating an enamel hare brooch
25.41	Ancaster, Lincolnshire	A Roman temple and burial site at Ermine street
35.01	St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex	A Roman iron works at Beauport Park Golf Course, building a replica furnace
41.24	Isle of Wight	A metal working and trading area at Brading Villa

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Disk B: The Dark Ages

Time code	Location	Details
1.13	Fetlar, Shetland Islands	A boat burial at the Giant’s Grave, a Viking house, bronze brooch
12.35	New Forest, Hampshire	Double graves containing skeletons, buckets and weapons
20.20	Kings Lynn, Norfolk	Remains of an Anglo-Saxon religious community at Bawsey
26.32	Hartlepool, Northumbria	An Anglo-Saxon monastery and cemetery, Princess Hilde, making a Saxon book
36.13	York, Yorkshire	Viking houses at Walmgate
41.49	Ely, East Anglia	Anglo-Saxon buildings

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Disk B: The Norman Conquest

Time code	Location	Details
1.12	Alderton, Northamptonshire	An early Norman ringwork castle
7.41	Bridgnorth, Shropshire	Remains of a Norman castle, a leaning tower explained
20.55	Thetford, East Anglia	An unsuccessful search for the remains of a Norman cathedral
13.50	Chicksands, Bedfordshire	Remains of a Gilbertine monastery, living for 24 hours as a nun
27.33	Winchester, Hampshire	St Mary Magdalene lepers’ hospital and cemetery, re-creating a leper’s skull
36.23	Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire	The missing castle of Beaudesert
41.05	Templecombe, Somerset	The Knights Templar where knights trained for the crusades

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Disk B: Medieval England

Time code	Location	Details
1.10	Canterbury, Kent	Tyler Hill, remains of a medieval tile-making industry, including a large kiln
6.19	Smallhythe, Kent	A dockyard building large ships in the time of Henry V
12.17	Much Wenlock, Shropshire	Tracing the development of the market town and Wenlock Priory
17.03	Plympton, Devon	Present day houses reveal remains of the original town
24.00	Middlesbrough, Cleveland	Effects of the bubonic plague, graphic reconstruction of the old village at High Worsall
31.02	Aston Ayre, Shropshire	Remains of a medieval manor house at a Shropshire farm, effects of the Black Death
35.42	St Leonards Hospital, York	The largest hospital in England, a graphic reconstruction
39.57	Coventry, West Midlands	Remains of St Mary’s Cathedral, compared with features at Lichfield Cathedral

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Disk B: The Modern Age

Time code	Location	Details
1.17	Richmond Park, London	A Tudor royal palace
10.58	Kinlochbervie, Sutherland	Diving for remains of the Spanish Armada off the north-west coast of Scotland, pottery finds including an Italian jar
17.11	Basingstoke, Hampshire	Excavating Basing House and searching for a later house
26.55	Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire	The Ivy House Wedgwood pottery works at Burslem, a visit to Gladstone Pottery Museum
35.40	Birmingham, West Midlands	Evidence of a mint in the Soho area
41.45	Blaenafon, Torfaen	Searching for a viaduct at the iron works

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Disk C: Christmas Special 1997

Time code	Location	Details
4.19	Much Wenlock, Shropshire	Remains of a Norman hall, dendrodating techniques
10.00	Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire	Bones of mammoth, bison and lion in the old course of the River Thames
18.46	Winterbourne Gunner, Wiltshire	Saxon graves prevent the building of a modern bungalow
25.14	Hylton Dene, Sunderland	Tudor buildings and gardens made into a community leisure facility
30.38	Maryland, USA	Making a gun flint to use in a seventeenth-century musket
31.14	Malton, Yorkshire	Making a medieval-style sword
31.51	Lamorna, Cornwall	Tin smelting
32.36	Llangorse, Powys	Re-creating a Dark-Ages boat
35.46	Islay, Scotland	Remains of prehistoric burials at Finlaggan, underwater excavation
42.09	Winterbourne Gunner, Wiltshire	A Bronze-Age urn, the work of a conservator and an osteoarchaeologist

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Disk C: Christmas Special 1999

Time code	Location	Details
2.14	York, Yorkshire	A Viking shoe at Walmgate, a Roman skeleton
8.11	Reedham Marshes	A tragic World War II flying accident
15.20	Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire	Pottery finds and a kiln base at Burslem
23.15	Smallhythe, Kent	Discovering a large ship at a medieval shipyard
28.26	various	The work of a Time Team digger
33.20	Kings Lynn, Norfolk	A postmortem on a skeleton found at Bawsey, evidence from dentistry and DNA
6.31 13.41 20.40 32.35 45.04	A medieval-style Christmas feast in York	Food ingredients Evergreen decorations Food preparation The Wassail bowl The Boars Head carol and the feast

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Suggested activities:
There are several possibilities for viewing activities involving large and small groups or individuals.

Whole school ideas
The Time Team DVDs could be used in school assemblies to support personal and social education topics. Examples are:

Ancient beliefs and festivals – the Bronze-Age section (9.00, 12.15) could be used to explain henges and examine ancient belief systems; the Roman temple excavation in Greenwich (42.31) could be linked with tales of the Roman gods.
Burial rites – the excavations of graves in the Bronze Age (23.18) and Dark Ages (1.13, 12.35) sections could be linked to an assembly about death and the way in which societies remember their families and friends.
Religious communities – the monastic way of life is featured in the Dark-Ages (20.20, 26.32) and the Norman-Conquest sections (20.55). Children could be encouraged to empathise with the experience of living for 24 hours as a nun as in the Norman excerpt.
Health – The Norman Conquest (27.33) and Medieval England (24.00) sections look at diseases and how they were treated in the past. The extracts examine leprosy and the bubonic plague. Ancient customs often regarded illness as a sign that people had done something bad. Comparisons could be made with stigmas about modern diseases such as AIDS.

Whole class
For whole class viewing sessions, use of the interactive whiteboard will facilitate a large viewing area. This makes it possible to look closely at artefacts and study them in detail. After viewing tasks could include:

Creative writing based on daily life in an Iron-Age village linked to the extracts from Wadden and RAF Brockmorton (1.09, 5.19)
Writing a recipe for an Iron-Age meal (5.19) or a medieval style feast linked to the Christmas Special 1999
Art work designing Roman jewellery based on the enamel hare brooch in the Roman Britain section (21.30)
Designing Norman castle defences, using paper or the computer, based on the Norman extracts (1.12, 7.41, 36.23)
A walk around the locality to look for clues to the past after viewing the Medieval England extracts (12.17, 17.03)
Artwork based on Tudor stone friezes using the designs in the Modern Age extract (1.17)
Researching and designing a webpage advertising Wedgwood pottery linked to the finds at Stoke on Trent in the Modern Age section (26.55)
Research about World War II aviation linked to the Christmas Special 1999 (8.11)

Individuals and small groups
Several of the above suggestions could be set as specific viewing tasks for individuals or small groups. Groups could investigate, organise and present their findings to the rest of the class. Additional tasks could include:

Experimenting with Roman road building materials using the resource sheet and Lambeth Palace excerpt (1.21) from the Roman invasion section
Recreating a Viking boat in wood, card or other material using the Christmas Special 1997 as a stimulus (32.36)
Role play re-enacting working conditions in the Industrial Revolution after viewing the Modern Age extracts (26.55, 35.40, 41.45).

Glossary
In general the level of vocabulary used on the DVDs is accessible to upper primary school students and above. Potentially difficult words and historical terms are explained in the glossary.

History careers
People with a range of artistic and technical skills are involved in finding out how events in the past have shaped the modern environment. This section gives information about the history careers of individuals seen working on the Time Team digs. It demonstrates that history is not only about the past but also about the present.

Resource sheets
The downloadable resource sheets are designed to support the use of the DVD set in the classroom. Each sheet is closely linked to the content of specific extracts as in the table.

Resource sheet	Disk	Extract	Time code
Make a roundhouse	A	The Iron Age: reconstruction of a roundhouse	1.09 & 11.33
An Iron-Age meal	A	The Iron Age: cooking an Iron-Age meal	5.19
Build a Roman road	A	The Roman invasion: reconstruction of a Roman road	1.21
Roman bird mosaic	A	Roman Britain: finding a Roman mosaic	1.10
Messages from the grave	B	The Dark Ages: a Viking burial site	12.35
Place names in England	B	The Dark Ages: all sections
Capture the castle	B	The Norman Conquest: Norman castle defences	1.12, 7.41 & 36.23
Norman churches	B	The Norman Conquest: features of Norman churches	13.50 & 20.55
A medieval town	B	Medieval England: medieval houses	12.17 & 17.03
The Black Death	B	Medieval England: effects of the plague	24.00 & 31.02
The Spanish Armada	B	The Modern Age: diving for remains of an Armada ship	10.58
The Industrial Revolution	B	The Modern Age: evidence of pottery works, a mint and iron works	26.55, 35.40 & 41.45

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For schools.

Time Team Digs: A History of Britain Teachers' notes.

Introduction.

Time Team Digs: A History of Britain
Teachers' notes.