Extreme Archaeology

"Extreme Archeolgy" is a wonderful idea, no doubt inspired by some of the most challenging hilltop sites, cave digs and underwater excavations seen on the classic "Time Team" archeology series. I was excited to see the very special archeology found at these types of sites. I was looking forward to seeing nifty technology, clever methodology, and expert planning.

I was disappointed.

Alas, these "extreme archeologists" seemed to be amateurs lacking common sense, or at least any thoughtful preparation. There were moments when they were lucky not to get themselves killed! How could this be? Can university professors be so reckless? Or had they conspired with producers to make these expeditions seem more dangerous than they needed to be...

Maybe some people will enjoy the psuedo-dramatic "reality TV" aspect of it. There certainly are plenty of perfect moments for viewers to yell at the team's foolish behaviour being displayed on their TVs.

Others may see it as a brilliant comedy of errors.

Regardless, there is little to be learned about real archeology or expeditionary technique. So, for me, watching this was waste of time. I had expected better from Katie Hirst and Alice Roberts - capable and engaging professionals who were not well served by the way this show was executed.

All this show really did was make me miss Time Team. I enjoyed that it had more female representation then your average archeology show, but it really didn't cover enough of the actual archeology. They could have done a lot better job if they limited the amount of time they spent getting there and more time on the actual site.

Both episodes are about 55mins of them trying to reach the site and talking about how dangerous it is.....

There is definitely some brute force required, as well as expertise in other fields, so it couldn't be all women. Their approach to the site seemed unnecessarily daring-do but I am sure there were reasons not shared. Good team work. Much like "Time Team" but with less exploration of literature or simulations. Liked the input of the Geologist. Gripping initially, but slowed down as time wore on. C-14 validated the time, helping archeologists who come back another day.