Digging For Britain is a British television series focused on last and current year archaeology. The series is made by 360 Production (now Rare TV) for the BBC and is presented by Alice Roberts.[2][3] It was first aired in August 2010.
The series focuses on archaeological excavations and research in the United Kingdom, both at new sites and those already well known to science. Filming has taken place in many parts of the country.
Its 11th series, containing six episodes, was broadcast in January 2024.[4]
Production
The first series consisted of four episodes, initially broadcast on BBC Two in August and September 2010. A second series of four episodes was broadcast in September 2011. Each episodes of first two series had covered archaeology of specific period. The programme returned as a series of three episodes on BBC Four in February 2015, covering the previous summer's investigations in specific geographical region of the United Kingdom in each episode. Each episode of this series was hosted in a regional museum. The same format as in series 3 was adopted for series 4 and 5, which first aired in March and December 2016, respectively. There was also a programme Digging for Ireland linked to the series[5] which had the same format and presenters as series 5; it was broadcast in February 2015. A sixth series of the programme began airing in November 2017, returning to the four-episode format (covering three geographical regions plus one special theme). This structure was retained for series 7 and 8, which aired in November 2018 and 2019 respectively. Four episodes titled The Greatest Discoveries aired in 2020. It returned for its 9th series in January 2022.[6]
Since series 3, with exception of series 5, the programme was co-presented in various forms. Some presenters are former members of the Time Team crew (as is Roberts). The series 3 and 4 by archaeologist Matt Williams (who also presented some Time Team episodes). (Roberts and Williams also presented Digging for Ireland.) Raksha Dave (archaeologist in Time Team) series 7.[7] The archaeologist and academic Naoíse Mac Sweeney was a presenter in series 8.[8] Series 9 features historianOnyeka Nubia and archaeologists Cat Jarman and Stuart Prior in some episodes as presenters.[9]
Norman bailey earthworks in the woods of Lowther Castle dating to the Norman conquest of Cumbria
2
"Anglo-Saxon Gold and Rebellious Nuns"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
3 January 2024 (2024-01-03)
N/A
Central England
Sites and archaeology featured:
Late Roman rural site at RAF Alconbury airbase with a large number of pottery and household objects, that were deliberately buried as suspected votive offerings during a time of crisis
7th-century Anglo-Saxon grave site near New Alresford potentially marking a transition from paganism to Christianity, with the dead laid facing West as in the Christian custom, but still having limited number of grave goods, like knives or a rare gold pendant
Excavation of the ruined 12th-century Ankerwycke Priory of Benedictine nuns, showing that the surface walls are not a later folly, but remains of a refectory
Restoration of the Old Black Lion pub in Northampton, first documented as a coaching inn early in the 18th century, has uncovered remains of bread ovens from a suspected earlier bakery on the site
Dig outside Leicester Cathedral uncovers a Roman sunken room with painted wall plaster fragments and a portable altar, possibly a late 3rd-century private shrine
3
"A Norman Panic Room and a Mesolithic Fish Trap"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
4 January 2024 (2024-01-04)
N/A
Western Britain
Sites and archaeology featured:
Excavations inside the Decorated Gothic ruins of Tintern Abbey, prior to their conservation, uncover post-dissolution burials of two children in an unusual high-status area outside the abbey east wall, and a shallow grave next to the southern entrance holding a crouched woman with a congenital facial deformation, testifying to the continued use of the site even after it was deconsecrated and stripped for materials
Mesolithic footprints and 7,000-year-old stakes from a V-shaped fish trap are recorded on the Severn Estuary intertidal mudflats near Goldcliff, after they are uncovered by storms and before being lost to continued erosion
Digs near the Norman Fonmon Castle reveal a rare early medieval cemetery settlement dating to the 6th-7th century. The cemetery is enclosed by a ditched bank and shows signs of secular activity, like blacksmith slag or pottery shreds and charred animal bones from feasting, all taking place among the burials, a practice similar to sites of the same period in Ireland
Community dig in Siston finds stone foundations of an early medieval site with good metal preservation of stirrups, arrowheads and buckles due to the alkaline soil. The site was originally surrounded by a circular bank and so could have started as a monastic settlement, but later transitioned to a farmstead
An Iron Age banjo enclosure dating back 2,200 years, uncovered during work on the A417 road 5 miles south of Cheltenham, yields one central crouched burial, animal bones and pottery shards pointing to feasting, but no signs of occupation
4
"A Roman Mystery and Waterloo’s Disappearing Dead"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
9 January 2024 (2024-01-09)
N/A
Eastern England
Sites and archaeology featured:
Ermine Street Bracebridge Heath ouskirts of Lincoln
Early medieval burials in Lincolnshire wolds, Lincolnshire
Iron Age hillfort near Warham
Roman potery and dodecahedron from Norton Disney
Ruins of Elsyng Palace in grounds of Forty Hall manor house in Enfield, north London
Search dig for mass burial in the grounds of Hougoumont Farm near Waterloo, Belgium
5
"3000-Year-Old Shoes and Giant Axeheads"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
10 January 2024 (2024-01-10)
N/A
Southern England
Sites and archaeology featured:
North Kent Marshes madlock leather objects
Leather shoe reconstruction
Paleolithic handaxes Maritime Academy Med Valley Gillingham
Neolithic remnant of the ovalbarrow and the stone circle near Tenants Hill
Roman Town ruins near Exeter Cathedral
Medieval shipyard in Smallhythe
II World War artillery guns inplacements and installation Fan Bay, Dover
6
"Forgotten Fortresses and Lost Villages"
Not listed
TBA
Dominic Ozanne
11 January 2024 (2024-01-11)
N/A
Western Britain
Sites and archaeology featured:
Medieval Snodhill Castle
Early Medieval mosaic in Chedworth roman villa
Stone roundhouse in Iron Age promontory fort, Caerfai Bay near St Davids
"Oldest house" of Cardiff from Bronze Age
Modern remains and medieval roots of deserted village of Imber
