'Time Team' - an archaeological TV program - arrived
at the end of March 1995, drawn by the presence of CAER's fogou and the possibility
of some exciting Iron Age finds. They weren't disappointed.
The site was invaded, with military precision, by over sixty people, including TV crew, archaeologists, researchers, computer operators and presenters, along with cameras, lights, walkie-talkies, computers, a sixty foot crane and a helicopter.
Within an hour of arriving, a geophysics team had laid out an electronic grid on the lawn and produced a computer printout of what lay underneath it. The printout showed something resembling a long tunnel curving under the lawn. The archaeologists dug two trenches and found... a water pipe. Another trench across a probable rampart nearer the fogou revealed a pile of rubble. At the end the day, it seemed as if the site was remarkable for its archaeological sterility.
That night I had a dream in which the fogou said 'if you want to find more
then dig closer to me'. Next morning it turned out that that was what the
team had decided to do. As they extended their original trench near the fogou,
their finds later led them to describe the program as fantastic'.
Time Team's excavations revealed a section of an Iron Age house 
enclosed
by a single oval defensive wall. Within one of the rooms' they found over
sixty pieces of pottery, mostly Iron Age and some with patterning. They also
found Bronze Age flint, and a quern stone - an implement for grinding corn.
It seems that this has been a desirable spot since neolithic times.
The site is special in that it only has room for one or two houses together with the fogou. This makes it resemble a vicarage and its church, or the local healer or priestess's residence, set apart from, yet serving the local community.
Personally, I am convinced that for the Iron Age Celts, the fogou was their
place for initiation, ceremony and healing. The Celts venerated the Underworld,
so what would be more natural than for them to construct their sacred sites
in the body of Mother Earth?
The fogou still has a stillness, presence and power, and many people have had extraordinary experiences there. Much of this is documented in my book: Fogou - A journey into the Underworld (Gothic Image Publications).
The Time Team program was shown on Channel 4 TV in January 1996 and was repeated in July 1997.
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