Derek Pitman is a British archaeologist, academic, and presenter, specialising in ancient metallurgy and geophysical prospection. Associate Professor in Archaeology and Anthropology at Bournemouth University.
Pitman received his bachelor's degree in Archaeology at Bournemouth University before studying a masters in Archaeomaterials at the University of Sheffield. He researched his PhD, entitled âÂÂCraft Practice and Resource Perception in the Southern Urals During the Middle Bronze Ageâ at the University of Sheffield.
Since 2018 Pitman has led Bournemouth University's excavations at Wytch Farm in Dorset, and he is the survey director of the ongoing Greek-Swedish Palamas Archaeological Project at Thessalian Vlochos, Greece. He has also worked and published on Swedish, Spanish, Russian, and New Zealand archaeology.
Pitman is a host and co-creator (together with Lawrence Shaw) of the archaeology podcast Career in Ruins.
Pitman joined the revived series of Time Team in 2022 as one of the programmeâÂÂs archaeologists and presenters. Since then, he has appeared in more than a dozen episodes, contributing field expertise on excavations across Britain. He featured prominently in the 2023 investigation of Iron Age burials at Wytch Farm in Dorset, working alongside colleague Lawrence Shaw, and has also presented studio segments in special episodes, including the Time Team 2025 preview.