GET INVOLVED! 5 EASY WAYS to enjoy archaeology | Time Team

People often ask us how they can get involved in archaeology. Obviously, the very first thing you should do is subscribe to Time Team's YouTube channels and, if you can, sign up to Patreon! 

But there are many other steps you can take to get more actively involved, so we've put together five easy ways to do just that. Join Time Team's resident community archaeologist, Dani Wootton, to find out more...

To discover more about the local history and archaeology in your area, check out our book, 'Time Team's Dig Village', available now in the official shop:

Some useful websites for researching local archaeology:

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[jimgore]

Good ideas. Have to do some research first to have an idea of what to look for in my area.

I'm Ontario, Canada. A friend decided to check out a spot on a local island he'd seen while kayaking and thought might be a good seasonal camp in times long past. He found an arrow head that he took to the local university... 3000 years old. The next week he went out and found another, this time closer to 4500 years old. Trying to get local archaeologists to do a preliminary dig, if he can get permission from the landowner. (He had permission to look around on his own.) I'd love to be involved if he ever gets it going.

[printedwit]

i live in a USA town that's halfway between washington, dc and george washington's home in mt vernon. i've made good friends with the local archaeology group, and have brought a few finds to them - mainly those i find on the surface when i go running on less-traveled animal trails and mudlarking in a few lesser-traveled places in what we call "low-low tides". i've found magnesium glass, delft tile, stoneware, and even a few prehistoric sherds from the native americans who lived in area. next week, i'm volunteering with a group to uproot several invasive plant species from an area i've researched historically and know had been an eighteenth century farmstead. i admit that i volunteered for this area because a) said invasive species would have been planted a few hundred years ago but b) i may be lucky enough to find a few things while i'm out and about, and the group i'm with is also aware of and looking for these things.

[kahport]

Thanks for mentioning Australia! I'm off to research any websites that will help me look back at the history and archaeology of my local area.

[susanmacdonald]

I would love to get hold of some of those books.

[notpublic]

I think the late Mick was a Baboon like us... We are big Mick fans round here.

[adriaank]

Dear Time Team, I've been a Patreon for over a year now and I have a question and request. Question: Why aren't you posting more old episodes anymore? Request: Please post more old episodes. I've become patreon to support future digs but also because I want to see old episodes. Right now I'm obliged to watch other channels, like from Reijer Zaaijer's channel who posted many old episodes 8 years ago. The problem with his episodes is that the quality is quite bad. I will send the same message through Patreon aswell. Thanks, Adriaan (Netherlands)

[emmanueldenizon]

i would like to be the first to found a romain fireplace, cause we do not found them anywhere,

[AnnaAnna-ucff]

I did archaeology for 40 years. Now I'm retired.

[MsShabti]

What about for those of us across the pond? Any suggestions?

[WiteFlame]

Eh...why were there russian library on video...curious

[cathrynbagley]

Sorry - yet again I cannot watch due to diabolical sound quality - Why can you not improve this is beyond me when even the smallest You Tube channel can manage to get crisp, clear sound. It just sounds like you are talking into a tin can.

[robertwise]

Here’s to going for walks …. And old photos!
Walks are wonderful … and when walking the same route more than once I often notice features I’d missed on the previous 30 hikes.  
I did a mild Stewart one time, out at the park with my daughter one day, I glanced up at the mountain ridge and, because the light was just so, I noticed a shelf way up on the mountainside, and thought, “I bet there was a cabin up there." Eventually hiked up there and found the remnants of an old log cabin.
This tiny town I live in is high in the Rocky Mountains, USA. Back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s there was so much mining activity here that the old photos show treeless hills and ridges … every single tree gone.
Welsh miners were brought in for their hard rock mining knowledge and experience.  Besides the many old mine tunnels, those miners left some very well built dry stone walls (no mortar). My favorite old wall is about 50 feet long and 30 feet tall. Built on a sloping rock face, it supports a section of the old road used in the mining days to carry freight in to the many mines up Bard Creek Valley.
Nowadays the road is still in use, the rock wall still holding it in place. Most people drive across that bit of road unaware of the wall and the history. I savor the beauty of that stone wall, and respect the skill it took to build a supporting dry rock wall that has held its perfect shape for more than 100 years!



I occasionally find arrow heads, photograph them and leave them in place. My favorite find was two pieces of the same arrowhead about 150 yards apart … one higher up a mountain slope. Could have been separated by runoff I suppose, but the story I favor is the arrow was released, hit some hard surface, the tip broke off, and the shaft flew on up the hill.