What, pray tell, is "Time Team"?

WDYAT12 could speak to the issue of Fort Saint George better than I can but he hasn't checked in lately. Something about being a newlywed.

The head archaeologist on the dig, Professor Brain, ran across mention of the lost fort on the coast of Maine many years ago. It interested him and he began to research it. He determined, through work in both the library and the field, and leaning heavily on his education, where the fort might be. He then talked some wealthy organizations into funding a dig. The first year (with only two weeks on site) were frustrating though they found a few bits and pieces that seemed to indicate they MIGHT be on the right track. The second year they found a post hole as well as some other artifacts (some of which were metal.

Now, consider. Most (note I did not say "all") people with a metal detector scan an area and dig up their hits. They don't necessarily know where they are or what might have happened at the site or when it might have happened. If such a person had stumbled on the Fort St. George site they might have disturbed that posthole and removed the metal objects.

That would be a shame for in the following years they confirmed the site, found the location of at least two buildings, and have confirmed the only known map of the area.

It might have been lost if the wrong metal detectorist had stumbled on the scene.

That's why the academics shy away from praising the metal detectorists. Marine archaeology has the same problem with sport divers.