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Arts & Culture

Time Team Special Edition

A 17th-century artifact emerges from the bottom of a well at the site of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
courtesy of David Givens, Preservation Virginia
A 17th-century artifact emerges from the bottom of a well at the site of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.

Airs Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV

In this special two-hour presentation from the United Kingdom’s groundbreaking archaeology series, "Time Team" takes viewers on an expedition to Jamestown, where a British company’s commercial enterprise planted the seeds of the United States. There have been nearly a million finds from the site’s trenches, but this anniversary special is far more than just an excavation. The team retrieves piles of perfectly preserved 17th-century pieces, traces the names and life stories of the early American pioneers, and learns why a third of them died within months of arrival. The colonists at Jamestown went looking for gold and silver. Instead, they found fertile soil, tough conditions and the beginnings of the world’s most powerful nation.

Then, in part two, Britain’s most famous archaeologists discover what secrets lie buried beneath several of the world’s most famous English residences. "Time Team" tears into the queen’s gardens in an unprecedented opportunity to unearth the secrets of Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, where the royal finds include the foundation of a 14th-century building where Edward III honored the legendary Arthurian knights.

Field School:

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Field school is a rite of passage for most archaeologists. Every summer, archeological sites around the world are filled with students digging, documenting and learning how to do the science of archaeology. In "Time Team America's" online version of field school you can learn more about the basics of archaeology and the tools and techniques used in the series.