Part extreme adventure, part hard science, and part reality show, the new PBS program "Time Team America" takes viewers deep into the trenches of America's most intriguing archaeological sites.
Lead Digger is Chelsea Rose, who is finishing her graduate degree in Cultural Resources Management at Sonoma State University. She is a major part of the series which premieres 8-9 p.m. on Wednesdays, July 8-August 5 on local PBS stations.
In each episode, the show's team of top scientists has just three days to uncover the buried secrets of their assigned dig. Every hour counts as they piece together the past using the latest technology, decades of combined experience and their own sharp wits.
Far from the comfort of a science lab, "Time Team America" faces searing heat, driving rain, alligator-infested swamps, frayed nerves and the inevitable technical setbacks.
Through it all, the audience peers over the shoulders of diggers at work, eavesdrops on intense conversations between experts and shares the rush of discovery as artifacts emerge from the ground.
"Time Team America" descends on a new site each Wednesday, traveling to Roanoke Island, North Carolina, the swamps of South Carolina, the fields of rural Illinois, the canyons of Utah and the South Dakota prairie in search of America's roots.
Born and raised in Northern California, Chelsea Rose is an historical archaeologist who lives in Southern Oregon. Consumed with a love of history and archaeology from an early age, Chelsea's passion is researching the Frontier Gold Rushes of the nineteenth century, where her interests include Chinatowns and multi-ethnic mining camps in California and Oregon.
Her current research project is focused on a mid-nineteenth century mining camp in Southern Oregon that was established by native Hawaiians - a population that has been little studied in archaeology.
Rose received her undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon, and is finishing her graduate degree in Cultural Resources Management at Sonoma State University.
She is currently an archaeologist with Southern Oregon University's Laboratory of Anthropology. When she's not in school or on an archaeological dig, Rose is either traveling or raising chickens, garlic and raspberries on her farm.
"Time Team America" is based on the popular long-running British "Time Team" series, which also has served to educate the general public about preserving the United Kingdom's archaeological record.
Rose is blogging now at http://pbs.org/timeteam.
Her interview with Sexy Archaeology is at http://sexyarchaeology.org/?tag=chelsea-rose
See the first episode online at http://www.pbs.org/video/program/1100231536/
Become a fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/timeteamamerica
