A YELVERTON teenager was head-hunted by the popular Channel 4 television programme Time Team to join them on a recent archaeological dig.
Briony Jones from Yelverton, became the youngest person in the country to pass a GCSE in Archaeology last year, at the age of just 13.
Time Team were so impressed with Briony's achievement they arranged for her to travel to North Yorkshire, where they were filming the discovery of a medieval village at Castle Howard.
Not only was she presented with a Time Team trowel but she was allowed into the trenches to dig, uncovering pieces of pottery and an unusually shaped piece of metal which has been sent away to be x-rayed.
'All the team were really friendly and were happy to have me join in,' said Briony.
'Time Team programmes were extremely helpful in my revision because I could experience archaeology in places like Hadrian's Wall when it was impossible for me to travel there.'
Briony was also asked to help plan the 'Young Peoples' section of the Time Team magazine and website.
Briony's first task as a reporter was to interview presenter Carenza Lewis, who said she found it hard to believe she was now a role model for archaeology on television.
She told Briony her interest in archaeology was sparked by fossil hunting at the age of seven, and she still remembers the thrill of finding a large dinosaur vertebra in perfect condition.
Briony began her own interest in archaeology at a young age too, as a pupil at Kelly College Junior School.
Followers of Time Team won't see the Castle Howard programme until early next year.