One man's rubbish.....

.....is an archaeologists dream! Beside All Saints Church in North Street, York, a small area has been cleared ready for new building, but inevitably the archaeologists are having a look before new building begins.

The ground was badly disturbed, because at one time the area was a graveyard, so the normal layers of finds getting older as the digging gets deeper doesn't apply here - in fact a Roman coin was found just below the surface, with Victorian and medieval finds lower down.

The archaeologists held an open day on Saturday to show some of what they have found. The items above are the contents of one tray from one level in one trench, so it is a very rich site - there were dozens of such trays.

They are planning to dig for 15 weeks through the summer before the results are reviewed and decisions are made about a possible further dig next summer. A further open day is planned for October this year, so it will be interesting to see what further discoveries are made before then.

Ian

[Sarah Bremner]

Fascinating! And every piece would have its own story! What an interesting book if we were able to read it!

[gloria jones]

Interesting shot of shapes, textures and interesting narrative

[Lynne Hart]

Like all the textures and the randomness of this composition.

[Camille Bisson]

interesting shot, and as you say, what one person throws away, another will treasure

[Graham Thresher]

Super shot.

[Margaret Obey]

Goodness gracious, that definitely is a rich site, great shot.

[Fisher Family]

@sarah19 @seattlite @lhart @catsmeowb @thresheg @ceilidh

Thank you all for your kind thoughts, they are much appreciated. Lucy and I went to the Yorkshire Museum yesterday, and saw many items on display discovered when the ground in York, or elsewhere, has been disturbed, either by archaeologists, or more often by building work or by people using metal detectors.

Ian

[Tony]

Treasures indeed, no such ancient artifacts here other than some primitive stone tools. Interesting story too.

[Julia]

That is so interesting!

[Fisher Family]

@tonydebont @juliac

Thank you Tony and Julia. It was fascinating to talk to some of the archaeologists, and the number of trays of finds was very impressive - a huge amount of work needed to investigate all the finds!

Ian

[bruni]

Interesting find and history.

[Fisher Family]

@bruni

Thank you Bruni - it was interesting to hear what the archaeologists had to say.

Ian

[Sylvia du Toit]

Thanks for sharing.