Archaeology on our doorstep

Members of the Department work all over the world, from the North Atlantic to the South Pacific, under the Red Sea and above the Arctic Circle. We also work closer to home, and right now, we couldn’t get much closer.

Fieldwork on campus

Over the next few years, the University campus is being significantly expanded, increasing access and extending the range of courses and resources that are offered at York.

A coin of unknown origin.

As part of the process, the University has encouraged the Department to investigate the archaeological remains that lie scattered across the development area. It’s an ambitious project. Working closely with the York Archaeological Trust, we’ve been surveying and excavating on the southern margins of the City, tracing patterns across the landscape on a scale that is rarely possible in York.

A fantastic context for the teaching of field skills, work on the new campus site – Heslington East – is bringing a rich crop of material to the surface. So far, our work ‘close to home’ is revealing a fascinating story of prehistoric occupation and ritual, of farms and villas on the hinterlands of Roman York and a legacy of land division from that time that extends right through to at least the Medieval period.

You can read more about the results of this fieldwork on our Campus Development pages.

Heslington east site map