Phil Harding

Philip Harding DL FSA (born 25 January 1950) is a British field archaeologist. He became a familiar face on the Channel 4 television series Time Team. Harding trained on various excavations with the Bristol University Extra Mural Department and other bodies from 1966; he has been a professional archaeologist since 1971. Life and career Early life Born in Oxford on 25 January 1950 and brought up in Wexcombe, Wiltshire, Harding was educated at Marlborough Royal Free Grammar School in Marlborough. As a young boy, he became fascinated with the Stone Age. He learned flint-knapping from his uncle, Fred, and in only a few months became a skilled knapper, crafting many hunting tools from pieces of flint. He made his first archaeological finds digging up his parents' garden, much to the annoyance of his mother, Elsie. In 1966, while still at school, he attended a training excavation by Bristol University Extra Mural Department in Fyfield and West Overton. Since then, he has dug every year, though at first his archaeological activities had to be fitted into holidays and any spare time.