Student supports Time Team's Sutton Hoo project
A University of Bradford student has taken part in archaeological fieldwork which has been broadcast online.
Lucy Benoit was part of the group who appeared in Time Team’s dig at Sutton Hoo, an Anglo-Saxon burial site in Suffolk. She featured in Time Team’s live broadcast on YouTube, helping with the geophysical survey at the site.
She said: “It was a great opportunity. I loved it. Some of the people on Time Team at Sutton Hoo were involved when it was on TV. I learned a lot. Everybody was nice and welcoming.
“The programme was a big part of popularising archaeology with the public. Time Team shows the broader public what archaeology is.
“A big part of archaeology is being able to communicate it, as the past belongs to everyone and should be accessible to all.”
What Lucy did at Sutton Hoo?
Lucy has just completed her second year studying BA Heritage and Archaeology at the University of Bradford.
During her four-day participation in the Time Team work at Sutton Hoo, Lucy used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology, which uses equipment to image the subsurface to map out an area of interest to archaeologists without the need to dig into the ground at that stage.
Lucy also got hands on experience with a new MALA Mira Ground Penetrating Radar which was funded by a grant from the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to the University of Bradford.
From September 2025, Lucy will be a research assistant for the geophysics team at the University, before returning to complete her final year of studying afterwards.
Dr Cathy Batt, Head of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences at the University of Bradford, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for Lucy to work with a commercial geophysics company at one of the most significant Anglo-Saxon sites in Britain and be part of the iconic Time Team programme.
“At Bradford we pride ourselves on offering lots of hands-on experience and Lucy's work exemplifies this.”
More on Sutton Hoo
Billed as one of the most important archaeological sites in the world, Sutton Hoo is a 245-acre national park in Suffolk.
It is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the sixth to seventh centuries, which archaeologists have been excavating since June 1939, following the discovery of an undisturbed ship burial with a host of Anglo-Saxon artefacts. Other unearthed items include the Sutton Hoo helmet, which had been broken into more than 100 fragments.
What is Time Team?
Initially broadcast on Channel 4 between 1994 and 2014 and presented by actor, Sir Tony Robinson, the programme returned as an online format in 2022.
The TV programme helped to popularise archaeology with the public and has been viewed in more than 50 countries.
What was uncovered in the YouTube episode?
During the 35-minute episode, ‘Time Team Live – Sutton Hoo Series 2’, broadcast on YouTube on May 23, Sir Tony and Dr Helen Geake, the show’s Anglo-Saxon expert, found out what the Time Team group had found during the first week of their month-long return to Sutton Hoo, the second successive year they have worked on the site.
The programme featured the Bromeswell Bucket, which Time Team discovered fragments of at Sutton Hoo in 2024. Traces of cremated human and animal bone were found inside the sixth century bucket.
The team found two pieces of Anglo-Saxon pottery during the programme – a cremation vessel and a plough-damaged vessel with specks of cremated bone found inside.
Completed documentaries on the 2025 digs at Sutton Hoo will be released on Time Team’s YouTube channel in the next year.