Handling ancient artefacts links us with past human endeavour with an immediacy unsurpassed by any other means of interaction. They link us with the aspirations, discoveries and daily life of countless past generations. When placed in context, as they are in DIG, the potential to inspire and stimulate enquiry is immense. The curatorial staff were very much involved in the enjoyable task of transforming ARC to DIG, providing content and finds and working closely with the production team throughout. New artefact cases have allowed us to display fabulous finds from the collection - some quite rare - illustrating all periods in York’s development and including some very recently unearthed.

Christmas bells rang out in York Minster as evening work at Jorvik got under way to install Artefacts Alive, a new contextual interpretation in the Artefact Gallery. Along with four 'ghosts' of Viking craftspeople providing accounts of their daily life, finds on display are fleshed out via interactive learning posts which explain more about the artefacts, their discovery and their conservation.

Were they gladiators? Were they a military elite? Is this a burial ritual? Were they executed criminals or political opponents? Fascinating questions about geographical origin and status, health and occupation, ritual and punishment are posed in 'Recently unearthed: Cemetery of Secrets'. This new addition to the Unearthed exhibition in JORVIK explores both the science behind the Trust’s own research on the decapitated Roman burials from the Mount and the hypotheses aired in a BBC Timewatch programme, 'The mystery of the headless Romans'.

Indeed, this year proved yet again to be a year of the human skeleton – old and new. A project undertaken for York Minster involved many months of curatorial care for the medieval skeletons recovered during the 1970s excavations. Then, after the mysterious headless Romans, intensive activity focused on over one hundred medieval inhumations from the “lost” church of St Stephens of Dixon’s Lane York. Development in research techniques require that all must be very carefully washed, handled and marked if evidence is not to be lost. Much of this hard work was undertaken by members of the volunteer team - some of them, by now, past masters in the art.

Close association with visiting researchers from UK universities and institutions world-wide allows the Trust to benefit from up-to-the-minute study and scientific development. The disruption created by the mammoth collection move has curtailed some of this activity but that external research we have been able to accommodate remains fascinating. This includes Helen Leaf’s PhD work on medieval bone flutes and Sue Archer’s doctoral research in animal husbandry. Perhaps, however, the most macabre of all the new facts to emerge from the collection was the discovery, in the medieval Coppergate skeletal assemblage, of a female, severely disabled by septic arthritis, joint tuberculosis and possible osteomyelitis. She appears to have suffered for a number of years but this is not what she died of – she was murdered, killed by a hefty blow across her eye from a small axe or sword. What a story she has to tell!

As well as our work underpinning and empowering discovery, learning and enjoyment through display, publication, training workshops and other educational means, we also have the task of keeping York’s rich heritage safe for future generations to enjoy. Re-housing a collection as large as the Trust’s is no small task and we are most grateful to the soil and CBM processing team who did so much of the ground work at the collection store to facilitate the move from the ARC in August 2005. Following the move – a combined effort of conservation, research and curatorial teams – emphasis has been on the logistics of storage and documentation and the new storage areas are starting to shape up nicely.

During an extremely busy year the important contribution made by volunteer staff and placement students cannot be underestimated, especially as work has been particularly pressured, dirty and with extremes of hot and cold. Volunteers come from a wide range of backgrounds, ages and professional experience but they have in common dedication, enthusiasm and hard work. Many of our volunteers are wishing to gain experience between their first degree and a Masters qualification in museums or heritage studies. This year we have hosted two German student placements, a Taiwanese student from the University of Durham and a Canadian student from Bradford. Each contributed greatly, especially to the collection move, Unearthed and DIG. Jessica Grant undertook a comprehensive overview of our important human bone, highlighting potential work for the future.

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