Week 13 2 September- 6 September 2001

The last trainees, photographed with the site staff

This week the team said their final goodbyes to the site. The excavation has been a huge success. In all, 240 participants from around the world took part in the various training modules, led by site director Kurt Hunter-Mann and his dedicated and talented team of archaeologists. Over 11,000 people visited the site in person, while still more followed the excavation via our weekly web diary, and press, radio and television.

This week, though, the experience was more melancholy, as the site was restored to its pre-excavation state, back-filling in moments what had been so painstakingly excavated. YAT photographer Mike Andrews concluded his excellent photographic record of the excavation with this final set of pictures.

Soil in Trench 2 is levelled off after back-filling Archaeologists Toby Kendall and Ben Reeves take a last look before covering the drain for re-burial
Trench 1 is back-filled, with covered medieval drain in the foreground
The air-raid shelter and infirmary repose again after back-filling

Pictorial record of the excavation unfolding from the roof of the adjacent library! Please click on any of the images below for a full-sized picture.

Before the excavation Week 2 Week 4
Week 7 Week 10 Week 13

So what did the team and trainees actually excavate during the 12-week dig?

They

  • excavated the Second World War air-raid shelter (Weeks 3-4)
  • uncovered the Victorian archaeological garden (Weeks 2-5)
  • found considerable quantities of post-medieval material (Week 6 onwards)
  • found a spectacular, hitherto unknown, medieval drain (Week 4 onwards)
  • learned more about St. Leonard's Hospital infirmary, uncovering floors, columns and foundations (Week 2 onwards)
  • located possibly pre-13th century buildings (Week 10 onwards)
  • uncovered a wall of one of the interval towers of the Roman legionary fortress (Week 7), and Roman ramparts (Week 11)

Did they find many artefacts?

They certainly did!

Finds, from Roman to modern, included fine pieces of medieval stained glass (Week 1), glazed floor tiles, a finial roof tile with chicken and eye indentation which may be associated with the family of Sir Arthur Ingram (Week 11 - research on this will be reported later), considerable quantities of Roman and medieval pottery and artefacts from Roman times to the Second World War, many of which were recorded in the web diary. A remarkably varied collection!

What happens next?

As well as artefacts and environmental samples, the excavation produced hundreds of records including plans, context cards and sample sheets. Post-excavation analysis must now begin. Field staff will continue to check and digitise the site records. Other specialists, including conservators, finds and pottery, brick and tile and environmental experts will make their contributions. You will be able to follow this on our monthly web up-date on the site. Eventually a report about the site will be published. The finds and site records will be available at YAT for consultation by those interested, and they will be recorded on YAT's Archive Gazetteer.

How can you become involved with YAT?

You can follow up your interest in archaeology by visiting the ARC, a hands-on archaeology centre, the famous Viking reconstruction at JORVIK, and Barley Hall, a restored medieval town house. You can join the Friends of York Archaeological Trust, and read about our work by purchasing copies of our archaeological publications. It is hoped to run another training excavation next year so keep logging on to our web page for details, and to follow progress of our post-excavation work (update - we are now accepting bookings for 2002, see menu on left-hand side for more details).

Goodbye for now!