What Can Archaeologists Discover In This Abandoned Tudor Copper Mine?

[@kaptkrunchfpv]

Time Team is the Top Gear of Archeology. I LOVE IT!

[@SecondSince]

Time Team, Top Gear, Myth Busters. Best tv ever made!

[@thfield2417]

Kudos to the graphics team for bringing that Elizabethan image to life! Actually, there isn’t any part of Time Team that doesn’t deserve kudos.

[@havredave]

A channel is good in my opinion when I can click 'like' in the first 5 seconds and not regret it by the end. :)

[@hunibear6789]

Another great episode! Lovely to have a look at a different part of the country. Well done Team!

[@alfredmolison7134]

I'm glad the government was funding this. If my source of water was next to an abandoned mine I'd be interested in the archeology of the area too.

[@YABBAHEY1]

Arsenic around heavy metals. I would be too

[@davidmatthews3093]

Sibblyback reservoir on Bodmin moor was built on the site of an old arsenic mine. The water was always within allowed limits.

[@YABBAHEY1]

@@davidmatthews3093 Allowed by whom ? By what committee guidelines written in which century ? Water quality has always a hot bed of political subversion here in the US. Some states hang on to 100+yr old standards for a reason in other words.

[@stephenmanning1553]

Things do not change a lot. I have been a miner in the Murchison Goldfield of Western Australia for nearly 50 years. I was the last miner to use Mount Magnet stamp mill, known as batteries here and the unique sound will be in my mind till the end. I live in Cue and the first miners came here and used picks and shovels at the surface. Then as things got deeper things became more mechanized. I ended up as the Underground Manager of the Golden Crown Mine (500M deep) and subsequently alternate RM of the Big Bell Mine. And a supervisor in the open pit at the Great Fingall Mine. Of course I am getting older and watch the latest MASSIVE equipment being transported up the Great Northern Highway. Thank goodness these early miners did not have the equipment we have today otherwise I might have ended up being a rag and bone man!!

[@kalgaramerinos7085]

Golden Crown was a very profitable gold mine with grades of greater than 30g/t when I was there. Prior to that we lived across the flat from the Meekatharra State Battery and the rhythm would lull you to sleep! Was underground at Ingliston and Nannine and also for a short spell on the Morning Star shaft. Then plant operator, gold room and lab at Haveluck just as Whim Creek Consolidated got it going. Hats off to the miners at Conniston, I always marvel at the mining that was done before explosives and proper steel. I would question some of Time Teams assumptions though - Although its likely that they were onto a stamp mill, the evidence for it being Tudor seems sketchy to me. On the balance of probability it could have been much later and it seemed to me that if the buildings at site 1 were Tudor (and again the evidence seems slim) then it would have made more sense to have the stamp mill immediately downhill on the adjacent water course not over the ridge on another water course. A golden rule of mining is to minimise rehandle of material and for the Tudors without access to machinery even more important.

[@kernowboy137]

Many of the early West Australian mines were opened up by Cornish mine captains, including Samuel Mitchell, William Oats and brothers Martin and John Hosken, to name a few.

[@smontone]

Always nice to find an episode I haven’t seen of time team. At a special guest Suzanna Lipscomb! I do love her podcast Not Just the Tudors.

[@melissacoulter708]

Susie is one of my favs! Her, Dan, Tony, & Phil are ones that I’ll watch anything they do

[@Sk8Bettty]

What a strange and beautiful place!

[@warwarneverchanges4937]

Like a fantasy movie

[@bod3102]

England?

[@jacobbevers8171]

19:40 gawwwww she was sooo young here. She definitely been workin in the field to go from this to the main person in the current time team episodes.

[@moonschildren]

Phil and Tony, great chemistry together.

[@williamfindspeople4341]

This was a good one. Reminds me of my working days.

[@AncyllaWijkstra]

Fantastic video 📹

[@GallifreyanGunner]

It's interesting that Coniston, Ontario, Canada, near the city of Sudbury, is also a mining town. Huge deposits of copper and nickel were found there, and the smelting damaged the landscape so badly that the Apollo astronauts trained for the moon landings there.

[@davidbamford4721]

In the early days of powered flight, there were very primitive float planes using some of the larger lakes as airfields.

[@Patrick_Cooper]

Kudo's on the Range Rover not falling apart during Tony's high speed drive up a road most cars would die on.

[@soaringeagle5418]

Tony wasn't driving.

[@kwakagreg]

It's a land rover. Not the same thing

[@Patrick_Cooper]

@@kwakagreg Thanks. I only really know what car I own. Which is a truck...

[@iainburgess8577]

Britain and several other commonwealth nations drive on the left, driver on the right.

[@merqury5]

Der.Suzannah Lipscomb looks like a straight up moviestar historian fit for Hollywood.

[@seosamh7486]

I’m here for Suzannah

[@cschleiger1991]

Let me tell ya, the sound, and quality is so much better now ;) Keep em coming ye're chaps!

[@davidbamford4721]

If the orebody reaches to the surface, there could be native copper, which means proper metallic copper. There might also be the cuprous minerals malachite (green) and azurite (bright blue), which could extend further down.

[@karenlocke7650]

Ohmygosh, I'm familiar with restored or preserved gold ore stamp mills in Eastern California. What we don't have in Eastern California, at least in "normal" years, is that amazing flow of water. The miners of the 1850s would have been overjoyed to see streams run like that. Water power meant everything then. Now we have overpriced geothermal electricity.

[@gailmaree7719]

Nope..you wouldnt get me up that road for Quids. Not even in the sunny weather ..in the rain..total madness!

[@jeanpeuplu5570]

Is the expression "for quids" BE ? Heard it'd be solely used down under... love it though!

[@gailmaree7719]

@@jeanpeuplu5570 yes im Aussie lol.. Quids being slang for money…originally pounds but now we have dollars..yes im old enough to remember using pounds shillings and pence lol.

[@kwakagreg]

Obviously haven't done much off tarmac driving. All gravel and no mud: no problem.

[@gailmaree7719]

@@kwakagreg its not the gravel / dirt road..its the unfenced drop on the side. Im Aussie.. dirt roads are common where we live. Just not on sides of cliffs.

[@a.p.5906]

Excellent episode although lacking the Really Ancient discoveries I long for.

[@AnvilHammer-br1xp]

At the 14 minute mark the find a two part room. To me, the lintel, and alcove under it, was where the miners would put clay pots of copper to smelt. The other area is where they stoked big fires and kept feeding the hot coals from there into the smelting alcove.

[@rockbutcher]

His first shot shown with the PXRF showed 0.9% Cu which he stated was no good. Considering it has sat there since Elizabethan times, I'd say that was originally pretty high grade ore. In the 1800's miners could handle >2%. I've mined really old waste tips in Chile and made profit doing it. Open pit operations today can run at 0.5% if there is enough of it.

[@williamcross210]

The average copper ore at US mines runs about 0.43%

[@topspeed250k5]

Yep, I worked at a copper mine in 2016 which was processing 0.4%

[@keithsadler5260]

There is a lot of history we will never find.

[@ericneilson1198]

At 1:50, Tony's chortle is absolutely sadistic. I assume he was driving. Why wouldn't they hire a skycrane to ferry a mini- excavator in?

[@soaringeagle5418]

Tony's not driving. Its a British ranger rover. The driver is in the right front seat.

[@kwakagreg]

​@@soaringeagle5418it's a LAND Rover it's printed above the radiator!!!

[@soaringeagle5418]

@@kwakagreg My vision isn't good enough to see that but thats not the point its a vehicle made for driving in the UK. The driver's seat is on the right.

[@iainburgess8577]

​@kwakagreg nearly All makes and modelsof vehicles are available in right-side diver nations. Land Rover was started and spun/sold off by British companies.

[@ericneilson1198]

@@iainburgess8577 So British Leyland is no more?

[@alfredmolison7134]

Last time I checked an XRF gun for measuring mineral percentages cost on average $12,500 US.

[@kimpulsipher647]

Probably bought by the university he teaches at.

[@markthomas919]

Thats why time team members weren't allowed to handle it!

[@williamcross210]

That's pretty inexpensive for scientific equipment

[@realryder2626]

Nar, about $1000 from China. 10 years ago, they were 3k+.. maybe 20 years ago they cost that much?

[@167curly]

What are you whining about? Those Elizabethan copper miners didn't have Landrovers!

[@robertmoye7565]

"Copper mining as an industry was virtually nonexistent until Tudor times." Really, what about the major Bronze Age mine sites like the Great Orme? Do your research.

[@williamdovey9971]

Talk of an amazing story of the common folk past all shacking as there leader ST PHIL made a Manager what the world coming too ! Cheers .

[@warwarneverchanges4937]

19:45 thats shurley for pipeweed. Also the flying helmet must be from the piilot taking cover there after crashing

[@davidwoods304]

Wow ❤❤

[@quetzalflight5790]

FOR A 😮 MOMENT I THOUGHT THAT WAS RAY COMFORT...SOUNDS JUST LIKE RAY COMFORT.

[@SirWulfrick]

You can't fool me. I can tell by the road that this was filmed in Illinois.

[@zak-a-roo264]

Like parts of California, you look around and realize EVERYTHING you see has been sorted and shifted by man into piles looking for the ore.

[@Ponto-zv9vf]

It might have helped to have a miner with some expertise in copper mining to assist the team. Some ancient mines have a lot of broken and discarded items in them. That mine looks so clean. They didn't achieve much. Miners need lamps or torches, their clothing, shoes would wear out, those German miners were so tidy.

[@jh1859]

"...And they call it a mine!"

[@J70a.m-zg6gi_wha0]

regardless, Yes, historically, copper has generally been considered more valuable than iron, especially in ancient times, as it was easier to work with and more readily available in smaller quantities, making it a key material for tools and weapons before the widespread use of iron in the Iron Age; therefore, copper often held a higher value compared to iron throughout much of human history. IT IS EVEN MORE VALUABLE THAN IRON TODAY.

[@GeorgeF-c4m]

ST.PHIL=The Patron Saint of digbums!

[@J70a.m-zg6gi_wha0]

*thats* because the mines were full of treacle

[@AlfieGoodrich]

Bonus points to Suzannah for the keffiyeh. 👍

[@thedrunkenelf]

I’m mining copper in the game “medieval dynasty” whilst watching this lol

[@KAZSANable]

Yes

[@wiesawpyc7370]

Baldrick is great!

[@samael335]

Lol, I think the hammers and picks those miners were swinging probably had a little more weight behind them than the ones Cassie was attempting it with.

[@springcreekfarmer]

Wow, Phil cut his fingernails!

[@BryonLape]

I miss the old Time Team.

[@thecapedgremlin0001]

12:55 the hard rock has to be baked so it can be crushed!

[@ryanbuckley3314]

I wonder if there's any trout in there?

[@kelliv2995]

❤❤❤

[@justin8894]

Copper is neat.

[@josephkarl2061]

I wonder if they’ve ever fixed the A303 in Wiltshire 😂 It sounds pretty rubbish 😜

[@neilfleming2787]

what baffles me about this one is why nobody did the logistics and set them up to stay up there. A few decent tents, sleeping bags, stoves and food and they could have stayed over night for two nights to complete the three day excavation. To keep trekking up and down for things is ludicrous.......And YES I would have stayed up there to help, it's only two nights anyone can deal with that

[@thedrunkenelf]

Keep in mind the “three days” aren’t always consecutive days. There’s a bit of TV magic going on. Most of these people work every weekday and only did time team on Saturdays or Sundays.

[@workingguy-OU812]

@@thedrunkenelf Wow, I had never thought of that. I did think that the original Time Team's 'three days' were, generally, three consecutive days unless they mentioned otherwise. Good point.

[@Munguy-i8j]

When you melt copper arsenic poisoning is possible.😊

[@mutualbeard]

I am still a fan of Time Team but what has always bugged me is Tony Robinson's disappointment when the finds don't meet his agenda. In science a negative or unexpected result has value too.

[@TheDysgraphiaStudyJourney]

The lady in 31:52 pink needs a new scarf

[@rhondaenglish4022]

Power prayers for buried historic truth. Love to see what's under my families property !!! Precious prayers all NATIONS children. Remnates of our buried truth. Thankyou. Please. ❤.

[@dawngriffin3550]

❤

[@Patrick_Cooper]

That pipe. I wonder how the minors would have felt after smoking a little of the green. Grass, I mean, Pot, Cannabis. You get he picture.

[@thebigdog2295]

Some of them probably did. It's a weed that has been around for a long time. And it's one that has been useful for many different things.

[@Patrick_Cooper]

@@thebigdog2295 I guess it would have gotten there by then. Yes good ole devils weed has more going for it then just getting high.

[@soaringeagle5418]

The Chinese were growing hemp for clothing, rope, and paper as far back as 105 AD.

[@BG-tf8bo]

It is a good theory, I believe that a person has to test a theory to have conclusive decisions. I wonder if they had something a bit more happier than cannabis and we do not know of it?

[@stevenhigby3512]

I’m glad I don’t live there the weather stinks.

[@alfredmolison7134]

And when someone from Britain says the weather is bad I suspect that it's really bad.

[@seraphale]

Where's your sense of adventure?! 🤣 Imagine a woman with a sword in the lake!

[@nathandean1687]

u mean a sleeping ancient volcano.

[@VK6AB-]

This was mined well into the 1800s and its well understood. There are endless maps and cross sections. Acknowledge the work of others. More middle-class welfare. For third rate universities.

[@kalgaramerinos7085]

Yes it would have added some context if they had shown some of that info, particularly the cross sections. Presumably they used it to determine there were no voids in the backfilled stope before they sent the Geophys team to "prove" there were no voids.....But its TV....

[@waxore1142]

they sure loved there alcohol.

[@KeithLuttrell-fj7tu]

Why shouldn't the government foot the bill, they got fat on taxes 400yrs ago. Real fat.

[@kenc3288]

Thumbs down, I don’t like the rushed time limited concept, your heading says nothing about a quick frantic dig type program.

[@JamesBingham-p6k]

repeat from many years ago....

[@babbalonian2]

What the Archaeologists and scientists discovered in the Lake Superior Copper minds, is so shocking, its censored from all us sheep.

[@jrmckim]

Why would they censor that?

[@babbalonian2]

@@jrmckim Lots of things are covered up, when it comes to ancient sites in North America.. "They" write history, not us. Some sites in Ontario will not allow photo's to be taken, of petroglyphs that depict viking, or Egyptian ships. Seriously, they will tackle you, if you get your camera out. At one site, they built a building around a rock outcropping, and have security watching every person. Its unbelievable. Many of these sites are protected under National or Provincial parks, so no investigation can happen with out permission. In 2024, they use racism to cover up these sites. Every site in North America, is deemed to be indigenous (sacred). Hope that answers your question.

[@user-jn5ux1ct4r]

This reads like random Internet low-brow clickbait. 😂

[@babbalonian2]

@@user-jn5ux1ct4r This reads like random Internet eye-brow chickbait 🤣

[@user-jn5ux1ct4r]

@@babbalonian2Google is the friend of low-brows too.

[@HaHa-gy5vg]

Weak

[@TheOldseaview]

First problem... Land rover! Should be in Toyota landcruiser!

[@Jazzersize]

I don’t like this host. Time to retire dude!

[@justdoingitjim7095]

I was head of a maintenance utility and was told the same thing you just said. So, I retired. After several late night "emergency" phone calls from the facility's new boss, I finally told him I wasn't going to answer any more questions unless I was put back on the payroll. He consulted his superiors and the maintenance staff and then he asked me to come back. It seems the "young guns" didn't have the 50+ years of experience that I had, between all of them! So just settle down there junior!

[@kwakagreg]

You'd be one in a million. Tony's dulcet tones are like music played by an angel on a harp. Or are U just a plain old troll?