Time Team Podcast - Episode Guide

Welcome to the first episode of a new-look Time Team podcast. Archaeologist Dr Helen Geake and co-host Martyn Williams bring the past to life with the help of the Time Team family.

You'll discover the stage, hidden for hundreds of years, where William Shakespeare performed; Time Team's creator, Tim Taylor, tells you where he originally got the idea for the hit Channel 4 programme in 1994; ancestry and genealogy expert Dr Sophie Kay has great advice on how you can be the historian of your own family tree and Stewart Ainsworth reveals the importance of maps in uncovering the secrets of a landscape.

In the second episode of the all-new Time Team podcast archaeologist Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams speak to Francesca Giarelli from Red River Archaeology about a Roman villa hidden under a new housing development in Oxfordshire!

Also, you'll hear how Martyn got on when he met up with digger driver Jon Beaver to have a go in his "big yellow trowel" and Time Team's creator, Tim Taylor tells you how he managed to persuade Channel 4 to take the risk to broadcast the programme in 1994.

In this episode of the Time Team podcast Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams hear about the latest discoveries at a site dubbed England's Pompeii. You'll find out how the Bronze Age settlement, home to around 60 people, burned down in 850BC but has been almost-perfectly preserved, giving a snapshot of what life in Cambridgeshire was like around 3,000 years ago. Mark Knight, from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, tells you everything you need to know.

Also on the podcast, Time Team's Stewart Ainsworth is out in a muddy field with Martyn, explaining how LiDAR can be used to reveal hidden secrets about a landscape; the creator of Time Team, Tim Taylor, tells you what happened when Sir Tony Robinson became involved with the programme and Helen will be answering more of the questions you've submitted on Patreon.

Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams bring you a special episode of the Time Team podcast from an archaeological dig at Norton Disney in Lincolnshire, the ancestral home of Walt Disney himself!

This episode is your chance to find out what it's like to be at a Time Team dig, as Helen and Martyn record the podcast from the very heart of the excavation. You'll hear from plenty of archaeologists in the Time Team family who've been working on site as well as the volunteers who've been digging test pits in the front gardens of bungalows in the village.

Both Helen and Time Team's Carenza Lewis will be sharing their memories of the first ever episode of Time Team and answering your questions.

For the full daily behind-the-scenes coverage during the filming of the Norton Disney episode, check out Dig Watch on Patreon.

The Time Team podcast returns with big news. We're going back to dig at Sutton Hoo in 2025! Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams hear from Prof. Martin Carver who carried out major excavations of the site in the 1980s. Finding out more about the burial mounds, the buried Anglo-Saxon ship and the exotic byzantine bucket. He explains why it's such an important place archaeologically and how it still holds secrets to this day.

Also on the podcast; Time Team's Stewart Ainsworth puts Martyn through his paces as he undergoes the final bit of his basic training as a landscape archaeologist, the show's creator, Tim Taylor, tells you about the biggest challenges faced by the crew when putting together a programme and there's more of your questions, this time with an added surprise.

Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams take you deeper into the world of archaeology with the help of Time Team.

In this episode Keith Wescott demonstrates how to use a metal detector to unearth rare finds, Giselle Király updates you on a rare folded dog tag, found whilst digging a site where the famous Band of Brothers had trained during the Second World War and you'll meet the technical wizard behind Time Team's lifelike 3D graphics.

Also, Helen answers more of your questions on archaeology and the show itself.

Archaeologist Dr Helen Geake and co-host Martyn Williams talk about the discovery of an ancient Roman knife handle found at Hadrian's Wall. You'll find out why it's not as recent a discovery as news reports might suggest.

There's news from China where analysis of over one-thousand artefacts are only just starting to reveal new secrets about the people of Sanxingdui, in the western Sichuan province. Ling Xin from Archaeology Magazine explains what life might've been like in this hidden Chinese kingdom.

You'll also learn the perfect trowelling technique from Time Team's Matt Williams and the show's creator, Tim Taylor, lets you in on his hopes and plans for Time Team's future.

All that plus an excellent question about stairs in Roman villas.

In this episode you'll find out about the discovery of a medieval moat around an ancient farm site near Tewkesbury with Jon Hart from Cotswold Archaeology.

You'll meet Time Team's buildings archaeologist, Richard Parker. He explains how analysing architecture can shed light on the way people used to live.

Harry Manley demonstrates how getting up high above the landscape with a drone can benefit the archaeology being done on the ground.

Plus, your archaeology questions, submitted on our Patreon site, get answers.

Time Team's Helen Geake and Derek Pitman go head to head in this Christmas edition of the podcast. Members of the Time Team family provide the questions to find out if they really know their stuff.

Also, co-host Martyn Williams has a special festive surprise for Helen and Derek as they perform Twas The Night Before Time Team.

The first episode of the Time Team podcast for 2025 is a little different. Archaeologists Dr Helen Geake and Dr Derek Pitman answer questions you've been asking on Patreon.

From how new technology might change the way archaeologists make discoveries to what happens after the diggers have left a site, Helen and Derek give you their thoughts on what you've been wondering.

Archaeologist Dr Helen Geake and co-host Martyn Williams take you to Sutton Hoo, where Time Team will be returning later this year.

Find out more about a new theory - put forward by Dr Helen Gittos from the University of Oxford - which casts doubt on the current understanding of how opulent Byzantine treasures, found in some of the burial mounds, came to be there. Could it be that Anglo-Saxons were fighting in the Byzantine army?

You'll also hear from the volunteers who are attempting to recreate the 27 metre-long longship which has made Sutton Hoo famous. How close are they to completing the project?

Plus, you'll meet the Patreon volunteer who's excited to return to the Sutton Hoo site and Time Team's Derek Pitman returns with news of a brand new offering over on YouTube.

Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams discover Pompeii like you've never seen it before. New excavations at the site have been unearthing perfectly-preserved bathhouses, skeletons and jewellery which allow us to learn even more about life in the ancient city before it was destroyed by a volcano. Dr Sophie Hay was heavily involved in the dig and takes us through the most breathtaking discoveries.

Also, Martyn revisits the site of an old Time Team dig in The Cotswolds where an exciting new discovery has been made. Plus, Time Team's Meg Russell tells us how archaeology is a family affair with three generations involved in the discipline and Helen answers more of your questions submitted on Patreon.

In this episode Rachel Pope from The University of Liverpool explains how new research is lifting the veil on the lives of women in Iron Age Britain.

Martyn Williams tries out one of the most back-breaking archaeological techniques, as Prof. Henry Chapman demonstrates coring.

There's a trip down memory lane as former Time Team Principal Conservation Expert, Brigid Gallagher, and former Time Team 3D graphic artist, Raysan al-Kubaisi, share their stories of life on Time Team in our Channel 4 days.

And Dr Helen Geake answers more of your questions from Patreon.

Join Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams for the Time Team podcast. In this episode Dr Duncan Wright from Newcastle University explains how an 11th century royal toilet has allowed researchers to prove the location of King Harold's residence, solving a mystery of the famous Bayeux Tapestry.
Also joining Dr Helen Geake and co-host Martyn Williams is Dani Wootton who'll bring you this month's Time Team News. Meg Russell explains the science behind the mental health benefits of archaeology and there'll be more of your Patreon questions answered.

On this episode of the Time Team podcast; landscape archaeologist Stewart Ainsworth takes Martyn Williams to Bodbury Ring in Shropshire where he's made an astonishing new discovery which could completely change the way we think about the Iron Age site.

Dr Helen Geake's delving deeper into witchcraft as she investigates curious witch bottles with Nigel Jeffries from Museum of London Archaeology and Dani Wootton is back with the latest Time Team news.

All that plus answers to the questions you've been asking on Patreon.
 

Time Team visits Francis Pryor at Flag Fen to find out why time is running out to save its world-renowned archaeology.

Also on the Time Team podcast, Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams speak to etymology YouTuber RobWords about how the languages we speak can inform our understanding of the past. Dani Wootton is back with another edition of Time Team News and Helen will answer more archaeology questions from our Patreon supporters.
 

Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams bring you this episode of the Time Team podcast from Sutton Hoo where the team's second year on site is underway.

John Gater explains how he hopes new geophysics technology might shed some light on mysterious signals detected last year and Jackie McKinley takes you through her analysis of the missing piece of the Bromeswell bucket.

The Team will also take you on a trip to Woodbridge where The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company are reconstructing the Anglo-Saxon ship, discovered in one of the mounds in 1939.

It's Time Team's final week digging at Sutton Hoo and it still has secrets to reveal. Dr Helen Geake and Martyn Williams brave the wind and rain to take you to a new trench that's been opened on the bank of the river. Could work there uncover another Anglo-Saxon ship?

Helen's been squelching in the mud on the side of river at low tide where Carenza Lewis and her team are looking for evidence of human activity from thousands of years ago. You'll also meet the volunteers who've been given the chance to excavate test pits thanks to their support for Time Team on Patreon.

As usual Helen will be answering more of your questions at the end of the episode.

Searching for treasure in the mud on the banks of the river Thames, or mudlarking as it's known, dates back generations. Now specially licenced mudlarks comb the foreshore looking for clues to the city's past. You'll meet Tom Coghlan who discovered something truly remarkable, now on display at a new exhibition at London Museum focusing on mudlarking.

Also on the podcast, archaeologist Dr Helen Geake and co-host Martyn Williams speak to Time Team's creator Tim Taylor who's been awarded an MBE in the King's birthday honours.
Community archaeology project 1722 Waggonway gears up for another dig to understand the country's first wooden railway.
Plus, Dani Wootton is back with Time Team News.

Time Team's Giselle Király is in the Italian Dolomites discovering human remains left frozen in the ice for 5,000 years. She comes face to face with Ötzi the Iceman, whose body is on display at South Tyrol Archaeology Museum.

The Festival of Archaeology is in full swing at venues across the UK. Derek Pitman and Lawrence Shaw have been at the festival's launch.

You'll meet Louise Bedford, the archaeology student who's created her own video game which gives you the opportunity to explore a real dig.

Helen answers more questions from Patreon supporters and Dani Wootton has this month's edition of Time Team News.

Time Team archaeologist Dr Helen Geake and co-host Martyn Williams are at Flag Fen in Cambridgeshire to see how useful science can be done on a replica roundhouse that's recently burnt down.

Jacq Barnard from The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company has an update on the work that's underway to reconstruct the Anglo-Saxon ship buried in the mounds at Sutton Hoo.

With the Bayeux Tapestry coming to the UK, Helen and Martyn speak to Dr Alexandra Makin, a medieval embroidery expert.

Dani Wootton has Time Team News and Helen's answering more questions from Time Team members.