Time Team Special: House In the Loch | Classic Special (Full Episode) - 2004 (Loch Tay, Perthshire)

They are definitely secondary. So initially I think Barry and I will go today. Now they will dig deeper into specific woods, including the mysterious large oak tree. One thing Nick is sure of is that the deeper they dig, the better the preservation will be. Then he won't cross your lines. No, we will not cross our lines, no. But if we do, forget it anyway, because we know we've crossed them. With no students to teach, it's good to get on with the task of digging underwater. And now that the weather has returned to its best, they hope to make great progress.

There are some crossed lines and small hiccups, like forgetting to remove the camera lens cap, but as the excavation deepens, there are also many finds. A mysterious large twisted hazelnut knot. Interesting shaped pieces of wood and also things that look more recognizable, like this notched dowel. There is also a lot of sheep droppings, suggesting that animals were kept in this part of the

house

. But the most significant of all is that another enormous oak wood is discovered. An important structural timber, part of yet another layer, and perhaps even belonging to the earliest phase of crannog. And if you look at those big radials on the outside, that's exactly the kind of thing we're digging right now.

That, I'm sure, is part of the substructure that we come across at the end of this excavation, and that is part of this excavation. and that's the main type of wood we're looking at in the late 2003 dig. As Nick takes his turn on the platform, Victoria gets her reward for sticking around making an important discovery on her last dive. I found what I thought was a hole, and it was broken, and I was very disappointed, and then I dug some more and I could see there were marks there. It had tool marks on it, it was sort of pointed in shape, and it was a life-sized piece of wood.

I think it's going to be a really important piece of wood. This is the most sophisticated venue we have discovered in Oakbank Crannog. There are very few joints around this place and getting one like that at this stage is very exciting. But for now, the actual function of this unusual joint will have to remain a mystery, because with only a few days left, there is no

time

for more excavations. All new tests must be recorded. And all of this has to come down to a scale of 1 to 10 again. And this

time

, only Nick and Barry can do it.

In fact, they have only dug 50 centimeters deeper into this part of the crack. And as this year's dig comes to a close, Nick has mixed feelings. They always like to continue digging and discover more, but they are also very tired. So it would be nice to have a bigger

team

and work, well, keep working. Maybe four months of the year, something like that. - Whether we like it or not, mastering this crannog is becoming a lifetime's work, just like numbering, measuring and recording pile angles. Samples should also be taken for dating purposes. All this information that one day can help solve the different phases of this structure.

You would think it would be much easier to sandbag it. surround the site and drain it, but that's not an option, as Nick demonstrates. You're looking at a type of site with this mass of organic materials that if you drained that site, for example, the compressive forces of all the waterlogged material would crush all the delicate artifacts and everything. It's 29 pounds. Now it is 30 times more. People think we should drain these sites and excavate them above the water. You would destroy absolutely all delicate artifacts. The stratigraphy would be completely destroyed and I think that shows very clearly what is happening.

It's a lot of compression. There is always an incentive to keep going and this year it is the discovery of important structural timbers. These broken piles are also an important discovery. With the bark still intact and not eroded, it suggests that they were covered very quickly. They look as fresh as the day they collapsed thousands of years ago and bodes well for more structural evidence surviving intact. This area collapsed and I think that's pretty obvious, it doesn't mean the whole

house

fell down, but a little bit here. Well, and it also contributes to that point that we have learned from the reconstruction how strong a building really is and that although there may be a weakness in one part, it does not necessarily affect the other.

But it will take time to nail down the

full

story of Oakbank Crannog. So far, excavation suggests that it originally looked like this around 500 BC. C., with a simple drawbridge and a wooden wall in front of it. It is clear that the crannog collapsed several times over a period of about 200 years. Furthermore, it was probably abandoned at times before being rebuilt in a slightly different position. A sequence of construction and repair that included placing large stones around the piles to support them, eventually creating a stone island. But only time will tell how much more will be discovered.

As Nick tries to piece together this Iron Age mega puzzle here in the shallow waters of Loch Tay. But this year there is one last job to do underwater. After spending weeks care

full

y exposing the archaeology, it now has to be covered in slime. silt to protect it against erosion for when excavation resumes. So far it has taken twenty years to excavate. How much more does Nick think he'll take? I think I can say with confidence that he will be done in ten years. Do you think he could say that with confidence? I could say you'll finish in 10 years.

Well, I mean, it's either me or this site. You know, there are over 30,000

loch

s here in Scotland, and experts estimate that there were crannogs like that on a large number of them, which makes the kind of painstaking work carried out here at Loch Tay even more important. because it not only describes Iron Age life in this area, but gives us a detailed picture of a lifestyle that was once common throughout Scotland. With only half the site excavated so far and a further 17 crannogs in this lake alone, there is no doubt that there are still many more interesting discoveries to be made.

Well, that's it for one more year. 24 years. Come back next year and find out what it's all about. Get it done. Again.