Builders find skeleton in shallow grave during work at museum

ARCHAEOLOGISTS are attempting to establish the history of a human skeleton discovered in a shallow grave during work on a £2m revamp of one of Britain's oldest purpose-built museums.

The remains were found by builders carrying out improvements to the drainage system as part of major renovations at the Yorkshire Museum in York.

The museum's archaeologists were called in before carefully removing the bones from the grave and they are now waiting for permission to take the skeleton away for analysis.

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Curator of archaeology Andrew Morrison said: "We were very surprised to find bones here because the grave had only been dug 30cms (12 inches) deep – much shallower than you would expect to find a skeleton.

"At this stage it is very hard to work out much about him or her but they were buried east to west to suggest a Christian burial.

"Roman pottery was also found, but whether the skeleton is of the same age is not known at this stage."

Experts want to establish the age, sex and cause of death.

The archaeology curators will use maps and drawings to research where the body was buried in relation to buildings in St Mary's Abbey precinct, in which the museum was built.

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Builders also discovered a 13ft-deep well, which was three-quarters full of water, in the same area as the skeleton. According to old plans of the museum, the well is located where the old pump room was.

The skeleton was uncovered on Friday afternoon.

The Yorkshire Museum closed its doors to the public in November last year to allow the restoration project to get under way.

Managers want to ensure the attraction can hold its own in an increasingly competitive tourism market.

It opened in 1830 as the new home for the collections of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

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