Why This English Town Is Filled With Saxon Graves | Time Team | Absolute History

The team excavate a Saxon burial ground in a Wiltshire village which is situated on a building site owned by developer, David Buckland. Until all the graves have been mapped he is unable to continue with the development. They are joined by osteoarchaeologist Margaret Cox, archaeologists Peter Cox and Helena Cave-Penney, and conservator Meg Brooks; while blacksmith Ivor Lawton forges a Saxon blade from alternate leaves of steel and iron.
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[@nospam4279]

"We don't have the money. I know he also doesn't have the money. But that's his problem. Not ours." ... what kind of law is fair when it says that you must go into debt just because some historical things have been found on your land? It's like a lottery in reverse, you hope you don't win. I'm a history fan and I really like this kind of stuff. But I say the ones who want to study and examine it are the ones who pay for it and not put some poor guy through years of financial worries and relationship troubles. And if they don't want to pay for it, then it's their loss. If that was the rule, want to bet they'd find the money somewhere ... ?

[@user-ur8ed2vl7b]

The land is for the living not the long gone dead.

[@kaarlimakela3413]

We see them uncover the very first skull ever on Time Team, and not the only one of this episode! This show is like comfort food for my nerves. It's really fun to go back and see them all there and so much younger. Lovely.

[@HollyOllyOxenfree-]

I live in Georgia, USA...and there was a farmer who found site while plowing. He contacted a University (UGA, or GASouthernU) so that the site could be investigated, and items preserved before the plow hit them. Needless to say, I think the last I heard, there was exponential cost incurred, and there were threats of the old man losing his farm. Guess he'd have been better to plow it under, sadly. It shouldn't be that way, makes people NOT want to report such sites

[@TheLittledikkins]

I would think that the Takings Clause would protect him.

[@HollyOllyOxenfree-]

@@TheLittledikkins I'm not sure of the intricacies, as it has been 20yrs or so, and I was not privy to the entirety of the situation. But it seems there were some legalities involved, If memory serves. I want to say he didn't end up losing it, but has a ton of debt as a result.

[@darleystar]

Holly , you obviously care about these things . May I recommend you watch 'DINOSAUR 13' , a film from 2014 about the finding of a T REX skeleton in South Dakota (Sue). Very sad , upsetting government persecution of scientists .

[@HollyOllyOxenfree-]

@@darleystar I greatly appreciate the recommendation! Thank you for being so thoughtful as to do so. I will give it a watch. Stay safe, stay healthy, and have a happy Holiday season!

[@darleystar]

@@HollyOllyOxenfree- Thank you , same to you and yours .

[@quickredf0x143]

From what little of these I have seen, Carenza is amazing. She always catches on to all these things that no one else sees and calls them out almost immediately.

[@JenneeB927]

How very arrogant of government and universities to tell someone you can't build on this land because of archeology and then demand that he pay for it. How arrogant of that woman to say that him going bankrupt and the possibility of divorce as not her problem. I think the government/universities should have to either pay for the archeology or buy the land. I can't believe how casual they are at ruining someone's life just because of people who died 1000 yrs ago. Just disgusting, imo.

[@uteliasmajava5210]

I feel really sad for property owner.... Edit. There should be time of production in description, I can only assume, this is very first episodes. Sharing these is nevertheless absolutely great thing to humanity.

[@resnonverba137]

Quite agree with both points.

[@bullettube9863]

Eventually the owner was reimbursed, bones and artifacts were removed and he was allowed to build on it. Just search for "Time Team" on youtube, you'll see more info that way.

[@resnonverba137]

@@bullettube9863 Thanks for info.

[@briandavidedwards5545]

I`m sorry I couldnt watch it as I was so upset about the unfairness of the costs put onto the landowner,even if those skeletons could have been my ancestors

[@quackaddict2203]

I sure hope the way these properties are handled has changed. I don't think it's right to tell someone that not only can they not develop before investigation is done but they also have to bear the financial burden of the archaeological investigation.

[@funstuff2006]

Around here we have developers that buy heritage properties and then just let them sit vacant, unmaintained, until they have deteriorated to the point where they are no longer structually sound so that they can pull them down instead of having to work with the existing façade. I feel bad for the guy on a personal level, but I don't respect property development in the slightest. Every last inch of ground is just a dollar sign to them.

[@awesomeferret]

@@funstuff2006 I see no evidence that his profession is property development though. You can be a property developer as a side business. You buy land, build a house and sell it, you're a property developer by definition.

[@antipatsy]

Tony with HAIR!

[@robinm3524]

Looks like harry potter..lol

[@skoshman1]

SKIINNY PHIL!

[@davidrichardson7221]

so if we're gonna find these stiffs, what do we do first? Tony is awesome...

[@TheLittledikkins]

If he finds a 'stiff' he had better call the cops, it is skeletons and cremation burials they are looking for not someplace a murder victim has been dumped.

[@quackaddict2203]

@@TheLittledikkins Well a stiff is any deceased person. Not necessarily murder victims. It's simply a reference to rigor mortis.

[@kentpool7414]

43:15 Does anyone else notice that the markings on the barouche match the shape of the boroughs and surrounding trenches?

[@flederfox]

definitely! down to where wooden stakes might have been inserted. i think both the ring barrows and the brooch look like eyes

[@TinyEpics]

The last time I was this early the Mycenaeans hadn’t yet taken control of Knossos. Great video!

[@donnal.oglesby4806]

This episode was amazing and I really enjoyed it. Sad that the Graves HAD to be dug up and bodies removed BEFORE the man could build on his site, BUT you have to respect the people that were there thousands of yrs before this man was even thought of, and so you HAVE to remove the remains. Wondering HOW the other bodies and burials were removed and who paid for all of them to be removed..

[@dariusanderton3760]

14:22 we ruined his life and we don't care

[@Bramble451]

Oh wow, this is the episode where Tony gets "buried", that they watch in another episode many years later! (Time Team S18-E02 Saxon Death, Saxon Gold)

[@crystalwebster2005]

Wth why should the owner pay if he’s not profiting off of it

[@shariwelch8760]

He wants to develop it for profit. Which is understandable, no one wants a piece of property they can't do anything with

[@mescko]

@@shariwelch8760 Stop paying your (outdated) property tax and you'll find out if you really own your property.

[@lizard3755]

These are some interesting finds, but I think it's completely unfair to ruin this man's finances and personal life because there happened to be an archeological site that he wasn't aware of when he first started construction. If the local government thought that it was so important for an excavation to take place they should have paid for it themselves or sought a grant from a larger government body or educational institution instead of ruining this poor man's life.

[@newwavepop]

i love these shows and i am very thankful they have been uploaded on here, but man i am 10 minutes in and already on my fourth commercial break.

[@paddyodriscoll8648]

I’m science oriented and 100% pro science. Making this guy pay for the excavation is stupid, and pretty much criminal.

[@Jean-yn6ef]

"it's not personal" means you don't matter 💩 it's just evil.

[@resnonverba137]

Not evil, but something that should be rectified in my opinion.

[@8beef4u]

What a nice system the archeologists have. Just find spots where there's a developer and make them pay for the excavation. That way they never have to pay for anything. That's so ridiculous.

[@furiosa752]

"...but David's going bankrupt." "I understand that that's the case, but..." Her true answer: I don't give a f*** about the living. Then you have beautiful estates that are rotting away because no one can afford to put it back in the state they say in which it should be. They'd rather see it fall apart and decay than to have their ideas not followed to the letter.

[@vanadians3819]

Archeologists are the most arrogant, I think they stand in the way of alot of true understanding, because of their arrogance. Look how they stood in the way of the dead sea scrolls because THEY didnt find it. I think they are always mad because they are usually the Johnny Come Latelies they show up AFTER a normal person finds it, or the people of the area have always known but weren't taken seriously.

[@tonyvillamotte4339]

Geez mareez... stop spouting. Unlike in the US, David can get lots of money from the dole and live a life of peace and relaxation in publicly subsidized row houses.

[@empressmarowynn]

There are a bunch of gorgeous old churches in my city that are falling to pieces because they are listed on the national registry. The historical societies that currently own them insist they must either remain churches or if not then they can't have any changes done to the physical structure including adding interior walls. A number of private buyers have wanted to turn them into homes and several organizations wanted to make them community centers but all of that requires adjusting the interior and the societies refuse. So these buildings just sit there and rot.

[@helenotis8647]

I love your content! I’ve learned quite a bit about history

[@davekinghorn9567]

We have a saying in USA. The LAST thing that any Citizen wants to hear is: "I'm from the Government. I'm here to help."

[@componenx]

This is an early episode I haven't seen yet. There should be a notation of season/episode.

[@jesterr7133]

My great grandfather uncovered an American Civil War site on his land when he was plowing his field. He found an extremely rare anti-ship shell that he did not report. It is one of only three that are known to exist. It was a prototype that was never used in battle. It has been passed down through our family over the years, and I have it today. I would like to loan it out to a museum or something one day, but I would freak out if something happened to it.

[@YankeeBigBird]

With all the "ghost stories" out of England, why no Saxon Hauntings? Everything seems to be Middle Age to Victorian? Or are those Saxon and older ghosts, regulated to poltergeist status? I personally wouldn't want to buy a "new house" there. Regardless, I enjoyed watching this! But what year was this originally filmed? 1995?

[@penelopesparrow]

I don't get why everyone's upset that it's costing the developer money. Perhaps the land was very cheap, but at 14:25 she says there was a condition on the planning application that he must carry out an excavation before he builds. So basically they already told him he can build as long as he gets the archies in first. And given there seems to be knowledge of it being a burial ground before then, I'd be surprised if he didn't know there'd be any kind of digs necessary. We're not getting all the story, but at this point I'd say he just didn't do his homework. Having said THAT, if you do happen across remain on land you've bought and had no way of knowing, the government should be paying for that. Otherwise you get a lot of situations where people try to build, happen on something and then cover it up and carry on like they never saw it because they don't want to fork out for a dig.

[@reginaromsey]

Drones must be a really useful, inexpensive tool for spotting crop marks.

[@resnonverba137]

As another poster commented, it would be useful to know the date of the programme's production.

[@katkimball8631]

I believe this is an older production judging by the size of the researchers computers.

[@deborahfielder4163]

Tony with long hair and glasses must go way back..

[@Fabermain]

22:50 what tony would bring into his grave is now all obsolete and on a phone... has it always moved this fast?

[@Fabermain]

@1manuscriptman glad you got my point well enough to repeat it

[@superlizrocks]

I was thinking that if we were buried with items like his, it would be amazing to see the progression of technology. What would future historians say about his cell phone vs ours? Would they all the categorized under the same time period, "cell phone age", with his as early and ours as... middle? So curious.

[@Fabermain]

@1manuscriptman well im glad you got my point well enough to repeat it. and why did you repeat it?

[@nevillemignot1681]

Drones would have been so useful back then, i can see so clearly Mick and Stewart pouring over photo's and film they would have taken of any 'Crop Marks' and 'Lumps and Bumps' of the area in question.

[@shariwelch8760]

This one has always been one of my favorite episodes.

[@awesomeferret]

Licensed by Little Dot Studios? Ah, that's the same outfit that stole the ad revenue on one of my videos a few years ago! Makes me VERY skeptical that they actually licensed Time Team.

[@mariannedavila3574]

interesting. an old episode of this wonderful series

[@johnheid9474]

Government bureaucracy at its finest!!

[@kaptainkaos1202]

Is it possible that the artifact found with circles and dots could be a representation of the barrows? Rings, dots possibly representing funerary urns and the center circle representing the barrow itself?

[@Sk8Bettty]

Why do I get so emotional whenever they excavate graves on this show? I’m a relatively new fan of this show. It doesn’t tug at my heart when I see Egyptian mummies or Native American excavations- and I’m American! Is it because I’m genetically British? These could be my ancestors. 🤷‍♀️

[@ankeuttajaespanjassa]

What year is this from? Really a blast from the past

[@Bowie_E]

This episode originally aired on Feb 5, 1995 :)

[@nkley1]

Seeing the “old-fashioned” computer screen (about 28:30) gave it away for me, as I was wondering myself. 😂

[@EllenCFarmGirl]

I love seeing Mick❤. He is missed!❤

[@jesterr7133]

It was a messed up situation that the landowner faced, but I highly doubt that he was unaware of it before purchasing the land, given that original discoveries were made long before he purchased the land. They didn't just walk up to him after he purchased the land and tell him that he couldn't build on it. It doesn't work that way. That designation would have been placed on the property long before he entered any agreement to buy it. It was clear from the condition of the property that no one had lived on it in quite some time. Situations like this are a common occurrence, and perspective owners are notified and enter into an agreement to deal with the archeology at the time of purchase.

[@ashtyncollins1818]

Whoa he is so young!

[@queencersei2644]

when was this filmed? A "portable phone" to take to Valhalla

[@ellenl.5581]

If you watch these programs out of order and occasionally by surprise. "I'll find one on Mud fossles next." Tony's hair has a mind of it's own, if he has any. Phil gets old or young but never loses his manliness. He excites me as a young man and finds my dreams as an old women. But never in indescretions. He is a gentleman. The only thing that others saw I didn't was the striped sweater.

[@davekinghorn9567]

Ry Cooder. Tony has good music taste.

[@SHAd0Eheart]

Phil looks so young!

[@spacewater7]

Tony around 24:00. ROFL m8. Seriously the face to your car stereo so nobody can nick it? Just take the car mate. Might come in handy.

[@brittracer]

There are a lot of negative comments about this situation but this is a cemetery, I think that is a bit different than the government just wanting an excavation. Think about it would you want your grave or your ancestor's grave disturbed? They are also giving this person the option to rebury remains elsewhere.

[@yvonneemmert9185]

There had got to be piles of money somewhere to pay for that dig. Who grys to keep any ancient antiquities?

[@maddog2771]

Was here November 2020

[@JanneRanta]

Google maps shows that one giant parch mark really clearly in the satellite photos.

[@ellenl.5581]

Seeing the twirl going on atop Stewerts head.

[@jos9485]

May we please see the house that was built there? It must be 20+ years old now.

[@christophers.8553]

Here you go: www.google.com/maps/place/51%C2%B006'57.1%22N+1%C2%B044'26.3%22W/@51.1159688,-1.7409026,165m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d51.1159123!4d-1.7406362?hl=en

[@eunicestone838]

Tony with brown hair...I like him better grey.

[@blairfleming5861]

i genuinely hope that this video cost that lady her position in office its nothing personal but she clearly doesn't care about the people she works for

[@AppalachiaRRlover]

Wow Stuart looks so young not a gray hair on him lol

[@johnrogers2826]

Wow I'm really surprised Tony referred to the remains as "stiffs". Shocking! Oh Tony, do behave!

[@chronicawareness9986]

when was this filmed the 90s?

[@nkley1]

Check out the dinosaur-like computer screen at about 28:30. Answered my question. Looks very 90’s.

[@chronicawareness9986]

@@nkley1 haha yeah i commented before i saw that and his cell phone

[@bethbartlett5692]

I wonder: if Tony did his DNA would it show he is a cousin to Paul McCartney? They have such a similar look.

[@joakimblomqvist7229]

A bad dig for Phil. No flint. 😐 LOL

[@BG322]

Wouldn't Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) be much faster and less expensive than excavating the entire site?

[@OldDunollieman]

Watch the fucking show and you'll get the answer to your question.

[@vividplanet3715]

How old is this? 80s?

[@dallasalice8906]

They said they excavated graves on the neighboring property in ‘92, so I’m thinking this is sometime in the mid 90’s. Just a guess.

[@quackaddict2203]

95

[@chrisbassett8996]

it looks like a grave yard for rubbish

[@blairedecker1492]

Is it just me or does karanza not let people get a word in edgewise? Lol great episode though! Except the political crap. 🙄

[@robroy6804]

20 yrs later she still talks over people ignoramus

[@janetritchie7499]

No, its not just you. Carenza tends to be intrusive and more than a little bossy. She is my least favorite of the Time Team members.

[@rchristie5401]

was posted years ago

[@20greeneyes20]

Why is it alright to dig up these graves, studying them or not, if they were resent graves it would be against the law. Why is it not still against the law? No matter what they are still a resting place isn't that considered sacred ?

[@acm4bass]

4000 years.....and because of wars, conquests, famine and plagues entire cultures have gone with only brief mentions in written works. Maybe science honors them by remembering. Also consider this... this entire show is dedicated to learning history, so how else is that going to happen?

[@Georgiaredfern]

There's no peace even in death.

[@20greeneyes20]

@@acm4bass I understand that and I enjoyed history to no end. I love it!!! But when it comes down to it, it's still wrong. Would I care if they dug up me ? I don't care..... We go too far. But it is still interesting. That's why they call the Dead putting them to rest. Hmmmm.

[@20greeneyes20]

@@Georgiaredfern Sad and so true.....

[@8beef4u]

Because then archelogy as a field wouldn't exist at all lol. Is it really worth the absolute loss of knowledge because some randos from thousands of years ago thought it was sacred?

[@hclaireaux]

,,,,,

[@momof2momof2]

I enjoy watching these videos, but there always seems to be a lot of wasted time, and not enough of the people actually doing the dirty work

[@redemmaxyz]

I for one don't feel bad for the guy, he chose to buy land in an area where archaeologists had been turning up significant finds since the 1960s. Either he didn't realize he needed to finance a dig before he bought (in which case he's an idiot) or he didn't do his homework of what a dig would mean (in which case he's reckless). He got himself into this mess, he's lucky Time Team bailed him out.

[@dariusanderton3760]

rude jew

[@redemmaxyz]

@@dariusanderton3760 Not a jew, but nice try at a creative insult there.

[@tonyvillamotte4339]

"Yesterdy we oid a gud toime." How far below underclass can you get?

[@fetus2280]

How the hell can you even Sell or Buy land you cant develop ? That makes Zero sense . The UK gov should pay for this, after all it is England's Heritage and should be investigated Long before the property could even be sold . Send in the "ologists, phds and students and do what needs to be done . Rinse and Repeat . Saying the "cant afford it" is utter Bullshit, If you can Take in Migrants from other countries the lest you can do is Something for Your country too . Then you can allow the country to Prosper, develop and actually have the Housing you so desperately Need ! Fucking Governments everywhere are a joke .