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Phil Harding (archaeologist)
Encyclopedia
Philip Harding (born 25 January 1950) is a British field archaeologist. He has become a familiar face on the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
television series Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
. Trained on excavations with the Bristol University Extra Mural Department and other bodies from 1966, he has been a professional archaeologist since 1971.
Early Life
Born in OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, but brought up in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, he was educated at Marlborough Royal Free Grammar School
St John's School and Community College
St John's School and Community College is an age 11–18 mixed comprehensive school in the town of Marlborough, Wiltshire in England.-Admissions:...
in Marlborough. In 1966, while still at school, he attended a training excavation by Bristol University Extra Mural Department in Fyfield
Fyfield, Wiltshire
Fyfield is a village in the English county of Wiltshire.-Local government:Fyfield forms part of the civil parish of Fyfield and West Overton, which has an elected parish council...
and West Overton
West Overton
-Local government:West Overton forms part of the civil parish of Fyfield and West Overton, which has an elected parish council. It also falls within the area of Wiltshire Council. Both councils are responsible for different aspects of local government....
. Since then he has dug every year, though at first his archaeological activities had to be fitted into holidays and any spare time. As a young boy, Harding became fascinated with the Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
period, and it was then he learned flint-knapping from his uncle Fred, and within only a few months became a very skilled knapper, crafting many different hunting tools from pieces of flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
. He also made his first archaeological finds digging up his parents' garden, much to the annoyance of his mother Elsie.
Personal Life
Harding lives in SalisburySalisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. Also a keen guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, he regularly jams with other musicians in the Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
area. He speaks in a West Country accent. He always wears a hat with a feather in it.
Career
After he left school, he worked in a puppet factory in Marlborough, until he became a full-time archaeologist in 1971. He worked initially for the Southampton City Council Archaeology Unit, combining this with five seasons of excavations run by the British MuseumBritish Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
at the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
flint mines of Grimes Graves
Grimes Graves
Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex near Brandon in England close to the border between Norfolk and Suffolk. It was worked between around circa 3000 BC and circa 1900 BC, although production may have continued well into the Bronze and Iron Ages owing to the low cost of flint...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. He has since become an acknowledged expert on flint-knapping and is fairly skilled on another crafting technique called 'pressure flaking
Lithic reduction
Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer precursor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator , or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core . As flakes are detached in sequence, the original mass of stone is reduced; hence the...
' where instead of striking the flint with blows, pressure is exerted on the edges to shape the tool. In 1981 Phil was rushed to hospital when a chip of flint ended up in his left eye when he was working on a flint axe
Flint axe
A flint axe was a Flint tool used during prehistoric times to perform a variety of tasks. These were at first just a cut piece of flint stone used as a hand axe but later wooden handles were attached to these axe heads. The stone exhibits a glass-like fracture similar to obsidian, and can be...
. Surgeons managed to remove the small sliver of flint and he was allowed back home two days later.
From the mid-1970s he worked on excavations in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
for the Department of the Environment
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...
. In 1979 the archaeological section of the DOE for the region became Wessex Archaeology
Wessex Archaeology
Wessex Archaeology is one of the largest private archaeological organisations operating in the United Kingdom, based near Salisbury in Wiltshire.-Background:...
, a non-profit organisation which is one of the biggest archaeological practices in the country. He continues to work for Wessex Archaeology when not filming.
He has been a member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists
Institute of Field Archaeologists
The Institute for Archaeologists is a professional organisation for archaeologists working in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1982 to represent the profession and currently has over 2,500 members drawn from all areas of the archaeological community....
since 1985, and in 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
. On 24 July 2008, he received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
.
Television
In 1991 Harding took part in the series Time SignsTime Signs
Time Signs is a British television series that aired on Channel 4 in 1991. Presented by Mick Aston, the series tells the story of a Devon valley throughout history. Phil Harding does some reconstruction archaeology....
, which was produced by Tim Taylor
Tim Taylor (producer)
Professor Timothy 'Tim' Taylor is a British television producer best known for his work as the originator and producer of Channel 4's popular archaeology series Time Team...
, who went on to create Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's popular archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
series Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
. Harding has been a regular on Time Team from the first series in 1994 to the present, also taking part in the various 'spin-off' series such as Time Team Extra
Time Team Extra
Time Team Extra is a British television series that aired on Channel 4 in 1998. Presented by Robin Bush, it is a companion programme to the archaeology series Time Team, that first aired on Channel 4 in 1994....
(1998), Time Team Digs
Time Team Digs
Time Team Digs is a British television series that aired on Channel 4 in 2002. Presented by the actor Tony Robinson, the show is a spin-off of the archaeology series Time Team, that first aired on Channel 4 in 1994...
(2002) and Time Team Live
Time Team Live
Time Team Live is a British television series that airs on Channel 4. The first programme was shown in 1997 and the most recent was in 2006...
. In addition, he has appeared in episodes of Meet the Ancestors
Meet the Ancestors
Meet the Ancestors aka Ancestors was a BBC Television documentary series that documents the archaeological excavation and scientific reconstruction of human remains.-Series one :-Series two :...
(2003) and Chris Moyles' Quiz Night
Chris Moyles' Quiz Night
Chris Moyles' Quiz Night is a British television comedy game show, presented by Chris Moyles. It was first broadcast on 22 March 2009 and is in its fifth series....
(2009).