School children to help unearth clues from York’s past
Posted on 6 April 2010
It is part of a major new initiative to increase public participation in archaeological investigation of the site which has been the scene of a number of significant finds from the late prehistoric and Roman periods.The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded a grant of £27,600 to Cath Neal and Steve Roskams, of the University’s Department of Archaeology, to support the project.
This award will enable us to work closely with local people
Dr Cath Neal
Apart from the school excavation, the money will be used to increase local knowledge about the historic environment through a website, information boards and a popular publication focusing on the archaeological work on the site.
Dr Neal, who is Fieldwork Officer at Heslington East, said: “This award will enable us to work closely with local people but it will also allow us to develop an important aspect of the project which is the increased participation of local people in the content and design of the materials that we produce about the site.”
Archaeological investigations on Heslington East have already unearthed a series of major finds including four sets of human remains. The most striking is an Iron Age skull discovered by a team from York Archaeological Trust employed by the University. It is thought to contain the oldest surviving brain material in Britain.
Meanwhile, the University’s own archaeological teams have discovered three skeletons, in an area close to a Roman building and a series of boundary ditches. The first is thought to be one of Britain’s first ever victims of tuberculosis, while the latest skeleton to be discovered last year was unearthed by a University team working with a group of community archaeologists.
Notes to editors:
- More about the University’s campus development at http://www.york.ac.uk/campusdevelopment/.
- More about the University’s Department of Archaeology at http://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/.
- Using money raised through the National Lottery, since 1994 the Heritage Lottery Fund has not only revitalised hundreds of museums, parks, historic buildings, landscapes and wildlife sites, but has also given new meaning to heritage itself. People from every walk of life are now involved with the heritage that inspires them, making choices about what they want to keep and share from the past, for future generations. HLF has supported more than 33,900 projects, allocating over £4.4billion across the UK, including £341million to more than 2,500 projects across the Yorkshire and the Humber region alone.
Contact details
Keep up to date
Subscribe to news feeds
