Time Team Excavation Site Green Island

This is Poole Harbour in Dorset, one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Today it’s a haven for waterborne pleasure seekers, but archaeologists believe that 2000 years ago this was a very different place.

An international port that traded as far as the Mediterranean and at its hub this apparently insignificant island tucked away in a corner. Why? Because Green Island where I am now, has produced some remarkable archaeological finds. Coins, masses of pottery including high status foreign-ware and evidence of iron smelting and shale working.

So far, so good. But this island has never been thoroughly excavated and if we’re gonna prove that it was the Dover of it’s day, we’re gonna have to come up with something much more substantial. And as usual, we’ve got just three days to do it.