As popular archaeology TV series Time Team begins filming its 20th series, the long-awaited second season of the American version is also getting ready to launch, with the first episode to be shot in June.
While fans of the UK Time Team might be more familiar with the likes of Tony Robinson, Mick Aston, and Phil Harding, the American series will be led by Justine Shapiro, best known as the presenter of travel/adventure series Globe Trekker. It has just been announced that she will be joined by Dr Allan Maca, Director of the Copan Urban Planning Archaeology Project in Honduras. Specialising in the study of ancient cities, he has conducted excavations in Israel, Africa and the USA.
The first site visited by Time Team America will be Crow Canyon, just outside Cortez, Colorado – thought to have once been home to one of the largest Basketmaker (pre-ceramic Pueblo Native Americans) communities known in the Mesa Verde region. Some 120 pit houses dating back c.1500 years have already been excavated in the canyon, but recent investigations suggest that there could be as many as ten times more than this waiting to be uncovered.
Time Team America first premiered in 2009. The four-hour second series is scheduled to air on PBS in 2013.