York Historic Environment Record

In winter 2005/6 York Archaeological Trust undertook an archaeological watching brief at a site at the junction of Dixon Lane and George Street, York. This turned into a full-scale excavation following the discovery of abundant human remains. The excavations uncovered the remains of activity or occupation of Roman, Anglian, Anglo-Scandinavian and medieval date, including a medieval cemetery. The site was severely truncated during the late 19th century, an event which had removed most of the later medieval and post-medieval deposits from the site. Among the unusual artefacts recovered from the site were a gold ring and a jet pendant in the shape of a bear, both of Roman date. The excavation area consisted of a trench c. 25m x 20m in size which was excavated by hand (with the exception of one arbitrary spit of soil in the north-eastern corner of the site. The excavations, the post-excavation work and the production of this web-based publication were all generously funded by the developers of the site, Evans Property Group. The excavation trench was laid out within the footprint of the proposed buildings to the north-east of an archaeologically void area c.13m wide along the Dixon Lane frontage. The archaeological trench was c. 25m by 20m in size and highly irregular in shape. The strip of land immediately adjacent to the north-eastern property boundary of the site was not excavated due to the presence of modern services in the area, including a live gas pipe and a major live sewer. Two c. 3 x 3m trenches were dug within the excavation area to assess the density of burials across the site