Richard Hayton

To start this section, I have chosen to begin with some words from Dr. John Dent, who in the 1980's discovered three chariot-burials in the area, and is unquestionably, one of the leading lights in this subject, he is currently the Principal Officer (Archaeology and Countryside), Planning and Economic Development, Scottish Borders Council:

"For me some of the major interest of the 1984 chariot discoveries from Wetwang Slack was not so much in their number - three chariot burials had been found in the cemetery at Arras in the 19th century - as in the fact that really for the first time the usual horse harness and vehicle fittings had been accompanied by other, special artefacts.
"These were the swords, scabbards, shield fittings and spearheads from the two male graves, and the iron mirror, bronze case - possibly a work box - found with the woman.
"The case and the scabbards were all decorated in curvilinear, so-called "Celtic" style, and embellished with red enamel. Other items had cast, engraved, or coral-inlaid decoration - in one case held in place with gold. Together they represented a unique assemblage of British Iron Age metalwork. This was because nearly all the finest Iron Age artwork lacks a clear context and relatively few pieces have been found with other contemporary objects, which reduces their archaeological usefulness. The discovery of important pieces of artwork within three adjacent burials was therefore extremely rare and not paralleled in British archaeology."

[My thanks to Dr. John Dent, exclusively for www.yorkshirehistory.com his comments are not meant as an endorsement of this site or its content.]

In 1971, after a hiatus of several decades, a chariot burial was discovered and excavated by T.C.M. Brewster [then FSA], at Garton Slack, which is of the same area as Wetwang Slack, but just across the parish boundary. The discovery was made during an extended excavation of Iron Age features of the area, which lasted several years. When first discovered it was hailed as the "Greatest archaeological find of this century" by the Times newspaper.

[Garton Slack chariot, East Riding Archaeological Research Committee, 1981; reprinted from Horse and Driving, Bradford.]

Tony Brewster too called it the "greatest single discovery of the Iron Age at Garton Slack", but for a reason I cannot think of, he then begins to dissemble about the usage of such vehicles as chariots, saying "Due to an unfortunate misunderstanding of Caesar's comments on the use of chariots under war conditions in Britain, the normal use of the vehicles has been obscured by some. Even under the threat of battle, the chariots were only used to convey warriors to the immediate front and to skirmishes on the fringes, and were not used as tanks or cavalry to break through, or directly assault the enemy ranks."

[Brewster, T C M (1976) "Garton Slack" in Current Archaeology 51 (July 1975), 104-116]

Quite where Brewster was heading with this little aside, I am not sure, other than perhaps to explain the changing view in which 'chariots' were then being held. His apparent variance with the interpretation of Caesar, is upon reflection nothing more than asking the student of Caesar to read it properly, and not to make assumptions. [See Section 1 for Caesar's remarks concerning British chariots] It is I think interesting to see how, after a hiatus of about 60 years, the discovery of another chariot was plainly not only exciting, but the cause for caution in its interpretation and recording.

However, Brewster soon returns to the matter in hand "The chariot grave contained the dismantled remains of the chariot, the charioteer, his whip and harness fittings. A pig's head split in two, was placed on the body as food for the after-life. Part of the pole-shaft, which had been broken in two pieces to fit into the grave, the spokes, the wheel rims and hubs of wood survived in the form of wood remains, or clearly defined stains."

[Ibid]

Garton Slack
Discovered during an extended exploration of some 106 acres, on the Wolds near Driffield that took in all some ten years to excavate, this chariot-burial was the first to be recovered with modern methods and under controlled conditions. The chariot was clearly of the dismantled, Arras type, and as excavation progressed it became clear that much of the wood-work survived as dark soil staining. There was enough of it to determine the existence of wheel felloes, and also that each wheel had twelve spokes. [I have personally seen the cast made by one of these wheels, the eastern one, no.2 on the plan, and there were without doubt, twelve spokes. RH] The two naves showed as columns of dark earth to the detailed extent that the east nave retained the central cavity which would have accommodated the axle. The iron tyres had traces of wood still attached on the inside, but insufficient to enable a species identification.

[Keltski Voz , 1984, Cart-burials in Britain, Ian Stead, pp 35]

I am told by a reliable source that there is, even now, not enough funding for such an identification to be made of these self same samples, it is hoped, and would be wonderful if this could one day be achieved. So much still has to be learned from these burials that can only add hugely to our understanding of the Yorkshire, and British Iron Age. Ian Stead was able later to establish a species of tree from which timber had been used, but confirmation is always necessary.

"Clearly the vehicle had been dismantled, in accordance with the custom elsewhere on the Yorkshire Wolds, but careful excavation showed that substantial wooden parts had been buried, including some pieces with metal fittings. The two wheels had been removed from the axle and set more or less flat on the floor of the grave: the corpse was buried on top of them and its weight had tilted the wheels so that both were inclined down towards the centre of the grave. Soil marks and imprints clearly showed parts of the felloes: 12 spokes of wheel no.2 [the south-eastern one] and eight of the 12 spokes of no.1….. The absence of a metal felloe-joint suggests that a composite felloe had been used: almost certainly this would have comprised six pieces each taking two spokes, the whole clamped tightly be a tyre, which would have been heated and then shrunk into position."

[Ibid]

This method of mounting an iron tyre onto a timber wheel is well known, and still in use where such is necessary today. The iron tyre is heated almost to red-hot in an open fire, and when the wheelwright is satisfied with the temperature of the tyre, it is rapidly removed from the fire with tongs - two sets generally - and positioned around the outer rim of the felloes. When in position, it is doused with cold water, which reduces the circumference of the iron tyre, fixing it very firmly round the felloes, and as said above, clamping the whole wheel together.

No linchpins were discovered at this site, Brewster suggesting at the time that it was possible they had been made of hardwood rather than metal. Stead contends that the yoke of the vehicle had been placed over wheel no.1, evidence for its inclusion demonstrated by the positioning of the discovered terret rings. He continues to suggest that the yoke had been placed in the grave after the body, citing for evidence the presence of a strap union piece discovered over the legs of the corpse. Horse & Driving magazine contends there maybe four suggestions for the apparent lack of the yoke in the burial, which are:
1/ The yoke had not been buried with the chariot and only the terrets, with the leather straps attached, had been removed from the wooden yoke.
2/ The yoke had been constructed of a soft grain-less wood which had decayed.
3/ The yoke was a composite structure of leather and wood which had perished.
4/ The ponies had been harnessed to the chariot by a system of body girths behind the forelegs, chest-bands and four traces attached to a swingle-tree* hinged to the pole-shaft at the rear of the ponies by leather straps; the terrets being fastened onto the leather body girths on the backs of the ponies by means of leather straps, traces of which still survived.

[Horse & Driving magazine; from East Riding Archaeological Research Committee, 1981]

* Swingletree - A crossbar pivoted in the middle, to which the traces are attached in a horse drawn cart or plough - OED

Dr. Stead, continues then with a detailed description and hypothesis concerning the possible inclusion of an axle in the burial, which is worth repeating in full. "The two main linear soil-marks in the grave (Fig. 1. A and B) have been interpreted by the excavator as two lengths of a pole. He considers that the iron cylinder, no.7, was a 'pole-cap', and that the pole was broken in two in order to accommodate it in the grave B was 6 feet 8 inches (2.03m) long, and A, 3 feet 7 inches (1.09m) - but the soil-mark at the south-western end of A faded away as if at that point the wooden pole rose slightly from the floor of the grave. Brewster suggests that it could have extended for a further 2 feet (0.6m) without leaving a trace, but admits that 3.72m is an excessive length for a cart-pole. Ignoring the assumed extension, even 3.12m seems remarkably long; furthermore a 3.12m pole could have been accommodated in the grave, so why was it broken in two? A more attractive hypothesis would be to regard A as representing the pole and B the axle, so the entire framework of the vehicle could have been there in one piece. It is surely significant that A and B are more-or-less at right-angles to one-another even though they are out of alignment with the grave. The details of the soil-marks are perhaps not so convincing - in particular the central part of B is quite slender where one would have expected the traces of a heavy squared timber - but there is no knowing how accurately the soil-marks represent the form of the original wood. The iron cylinder, no.7, could have bound the end of the axle and its two perforations would have comfortably taken a linchpin. ……….. An obvious objection to this hypothesis is that only one axle-binding was found and not two: it must be assumed either that one had been lost and not replaced (cf. a bronze nave-hoop was replaced by one of iron) or that the surviving piece, which cannot be matched in any other cart-burial, was a repair."

[Keltski Voz , 1984, Cart-burials in Britain, Ian Stead, pp 35]

In this, refer to the grave plan. It is to me curious that assumptions such as these above are so readily made. It is understandable why they are made; but that they ARE assumptions must be frequently considered. When the grave plan is consulted, it becomes easy to see the why's and how's of such an assumption, but this must by progression, lead to another. This chariot if the item was indeed an axle-binding, and was indeed a repair, or yet the single remaining of a pair, then it would be safe to assume, would it not, that this chariot was not purpose-built for the funerary-rites, but had been a working vehicle, and working hard enough to warrant repair?

Horse & Driver magazine, in their article, and as their readers would no doubt expect, goes into some detail concerning the arrangement for harnessing the horses/ponies to the vehicle. Their interpretation is, I think, worth repeating here. Referring to their four suggestions above: "While among the first three suggestions may rest the answer to the problem of the missing yoke at Garton Slack, the fourth suggestion seems highly unlikely before the introduction to Europe of the horse-collar nearly a thousand years later. In any case nearly all classical and Celtic illustrations of chariots show a breast strap, body girth and high front pole level or often above the shoulders of the horse. In most instances a yoke is clearly depicted or indicated. Without doubt the chariot must have been harnessed to the ponies by means of a pole-shaft and a solid yoke, the latter resting on the shoulders of the ponies, and secured to them by a body girth behind the forelegs and a breast band. This would have prevented movement of the yoke thrust forward or pulled back by the chariot, when going downhill or pulling up. Attached to the yoke in the same manner and placed on the animal's shoulders must have been a broad chest-band, which enabled the ponies to haul the vehicle without strangulation as the weight of the chariot cannot have been excessive."

[Horse & Driving magazine; from East Riding Archaeological Research Committee, 1981]

The article continues a while later: "The non-survival of a yoke at Garton Slack does present a problem. There can be no doubt whatsoever a yoke must have been used to harness the ponies to the chariot, otherwise controlled and adequate travel would have been impossible. Fox, in his reconstruction of the Llyn Cerrig chariot, suggests the horses were harnessed to the chariot be means of a double swingle-tree and a wooden yoke secured to the pole by lashings and a swivel-pin. …….. There is every possibility that the pole was linked to the ponies by means of a strong wooden yoke with a thicker centre, possibly a knot, secured by a wooden or metal swivel-pin fastened through the pole-cap. It is essential the swivel-pin slot would have a little larger hole to enable some vertical and horizontal play to take place when the chariot was moving over uneven ground, otherwise the coupling could have fractured as it would have been too rigid."

[Ibid]

The same article's description, and drawn representation of the juncture between the pole-head and the yoke clearly points to a "swivel pin", it should be noted, and emphasised that no evidence for such a "swivel-pin" has been found. The article then seems to wander off in a sea of assumption and theory, fitting it all very sweetly into present-day harnessing methods, allowing nothing, or little in the way of original two thousand year old technology to impinge upon and sully their ideas. At the same time, their ideas might be right on the button! There is in truth little in the way of archaeology to verify matters one way or the other, and therefore any an all such ideas have to remain just that - ideas. It is however I think, a dangerous practise to present theory as fact in the absence of evidence, but current experimental archaeological methods are beginning to provide some very convincing suggestions on all manner of things. They must be picked up on another point, the "non-survival of a yoke at Garton Slack", about which feature Dr. Stead wrote "The wooden yoke had almost certainly been placed in the grave, but it had been above wheel no.1 and the resulting height above the floor of the grave had precluded its representation by a soil-mark. The evidence for the yoke is provided by the alignment of terrets, two of which were found at the level of the tyre whilst three had fallen below. When found each terret had a patch of dark earth adjoining its iron bar - very probably traces of decomposed leather straps. …….. A set of five terrets, with the central one considerably larger than the others, comes as no surprise but the Garton Slack evidence - all five terrets more or less in a line - implies that the larger piece had been attached to the yoke, whereas hitherto a position at any point along the pole had been a possibility. The two strap-unions are positioned symmetrically in a way which suggests a direct connection with the yoke - probably on straps securing the yoke to the horses."

[Keltski Voz , 1984, Cart-burials in Britain, Ian Stead, pp 35]

Dr. Stead makes no mention of a swivel-pin, suggesting instead a connection between yoke and pole achieved by way of tying the pole by way of the larger terret ring to the yoke with leather strap lashings. This method would also provide for the necessary strength required at the joint, and also the stated flexibility of the union. This is bourn out by the replica chariot built using all the latest research for the 'Meet the Ancestors' programme, BBC2, 2002, which has the yoke strapped to the pole with raw-hide strips, which are both secure enough not to fall apart, and flexible enough so as not to break anything. [The chariot is now on permanent display at the Streetlife Museum of Transport, High Street, Hull, HU1 1PS where admission is free to all - see http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/libraries/images_of_hull/images_streetlife.php]. While there is a fifth and central terret in the replica, this has not been used, nor during 'live testing' of the machine, was it felt necessary to use the central terret for anything other than its original purpose, it does not therefore appear to have anything to do with securing the yoke to the pole. This replica will be discussed in more detail at the appropriate place.

All of this coverage about this small section of the vehicle might seem a trifle excessive, but the union between the pole and the yoke is arguably the most important junction of the entire vehicle. If there is no safe and effective means of attaching the horses/ponies to it, then it is useless, and it is I think worth the time just to ensure that it has been discussed here to the best current knowledge can provide. The subject of chariot reconstruction, and the making of the replica will be discussed in detail later.

Returning to Brewster's own narrative about this discovery, he says of the terrets, "Four of the terrets were decorated with coral, or imitation coral, beads set in a cup shaped hollow on the top of each terret and secured by a bronze pin. In one case the mounting had been lost. Much, if not all, of the imitation coral from the Iron Age graves at Arras, Danes Graves and elsewhere in East Yorkshire is apparently made of red chalk and not, as previously suggested, from a chalk paste and colouring matter. This red stone comes from the extreme lower levels of the chalk formations beneath the Wolds, just above the Speeton Clay deposits, which in turn are coloured red, or pink by the ferrous salts percolating through the chalk**."

[Brewster, T C M (1976) "Garton Slack" in Current Archaeology 51 (July 1975), 104-116]

** Red chalk, is a naturally occurring clayey chalk that underlies white chalk in a strata called the Hunstanton Layer [it really is RED]. This surfaces at Speeton, near Flamborough, and South Ferriby - both on the Wolds, and is also found as glacial erratics along the Holderness coast from Hornsea to Withernsea. It is I am told, unique to Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. Brewster's science on the substance however is questionable, as I have also been told that it is ferric rather than ferrous impregnation, the science of which I'm afraid to say eludes me. "The Red Chalk is an impure limestone, varying in colour from pink to brick-red, containing rounded quartz grains, numerous fossils, and grading down into the Carstone. It represents a condensed deposit, which accumulated slowly. Its colour may be due to red mud washed from a low-lying lateritised contemporary land area, or alternatively it has been suggested that the ferruginous material could have been derived from exposed Keuper Marl on rising North Sea salt intrusion." This [I think] explains how red chalk came into existence; a lot of science, there is more, much more, of the same, all for such a small item of Iron Age jewellery.

[My thanks go to John Colby; and to British Regional Geology, Eastern England; Second Ed., by Sir Peter Kent, G. D. Gaunt, and C. J. Wood, HMSO, London, 1980, pp 89-91.]

In a similar vein, red coral, as mentioned by Brewster likewise, as decoration for terrets and other items, is a naturally occurring but rare coral found in some parts of the Mediterranean Sea. Then as now, it was a very expensive 'jewel', and used only by those few who could afford to buy it. Its presence does beg the question, what was it doing in East Yorkshire during the Iron Age. It is known that trading vessels ventured from Greece, amongst other places, to Cornwall for tin, and they may well have brought with them red coral as a trading good. According to Cunliffe, "The whole of the Atlantic sea-ways were locked into a system of busy movement. The whole of the Atlantic front of Europe, from the Shetland Isles in the north, to the harbours of Tartessos and Cadiz in the south, was bound in a series of interlocking systems of trade and exchange based on easy access by sea."

[Prehistoric Europe, an Illustrated Guide; edited by Prof. Barry Cunliffe, Oxford Uni. Press, 1994, ISBN 0 19 288063 2, pp354]

Brewster concludes with the report on the skeleton, which was of an adult male, about 30 years of age, and about 5 feet 9 inched tall. There was also evidence of him having had either an abscess, or a tumour of the brain. What is more interesting perhaps is what follows in Brewster's article "Associated with the chariot barrow were three other features, the remains of a rectangular barrow, a mortuary house, and an oval pit just beyond. Other structures, a post-circle and pits, are earlier than the grave and are not part of the chariot burial complex which is completely isolated from all contemporary structures and is an entity in its self." This is something totally new as regards to chariot burials, there had up-until this point, been no indication of such complexity of ritual for these funerals.

Garton Slack Excavation Images

Very recently Peter Shorer F.I.I.C. contacted www.yorkshirehistory.com concerning the 1971 Tony Brewster chariot excavation at Garton Slack. Peter very kindly offered some of his reminiscences and personal slide images of the excavation site taken from a Cessna light aircraft on the day before day he collected the artefacts for transportation to the British Museum. Peter was then working at the British Museum as Senior Conservator, a post that he had held with distinction for several years and which he would retain until 1983 a total of some 44 years! He began his work at the BM in 1939, and was part of the team responsible for packing and storing the Sutton Hoo Saxon treasure prior to the outbreak of war. In his own words, peter explains the transportation of the chariot artefacts from Garton to London:

“I became Senior Conservation Officer and had several assistants (A.C.O.’s). Simon [Dove] was one, Ian McIntyre and Nigel Williams and about a dozen more to introduce into the ways of museums after the rarefied atmosphere of colleges.

“A few minutes prior to typing the latter paragraph I took it into me head to refer to my BM diaries, which I retained on retirement. I am surprised to read [again] that what I have referred to as a Garton Slack Burial was, on Monday 21 st June 1971 known as the Driffield, Yorks. Chariot Burial. It ties up with all the information I have offered, such as Simon [Dove] and Ian Cross being taken to Driffield on that day, in my van and return to the BM the same day. Simon and Ian remained at Driffield. They probably excavated the chariot by Thursday 24 th June as I travelled to Driffield Friday 25 th June to pack and transport the chariot to the BM. This I did in my VW van with Simon Dove on Saturday 26 th June 1971, arriving at the BM at 1630hrs and off-loaded it into the Sturge Basement to show to J.W. Brailsford for his examination on Monday the 28 th. Ian Cross had left the site on Friday afternoon. It was the run down from Yorks. to the BM [in London] that earned its reputation of ‘being the fastest Chariot in the west’. I had modified my VW as a caravan (?) to provide a central floor; two seats in the central compartment separated by the floor but between which another board (the tabletop) fitted to provide a bed four feet wide. The two seats acted also as cupboard storage to provide seatbacks and upon which I could secure a 1” thick block-board panel 4’ x 8’ to provide the support for the chariot shaft. The wheels were supported on the seat and other small finds rested on the floor. Simon and I sat on the two front seats, driver and passenger. I had used this combination of transport many times prior to that, and many since”.

The two images here, selected from a total of ten provided by Peter, show most of the Garton Slack chariot excavation site from the air. The reason they are so difficult to manipulate in order to make out features is because the excavation has taken away the top-soil, and exposed the whiteness of the chalk bed-rock beneath, and that is no friend of photography. These unique images are originally on slides, and had to be transposed to prints to enable them to be graphically enhanced sufficiently to be illustrative of the site. They have survived remarkably well for slides considering they were exposed in June 1971!

My most sincere thanks go to Peter Shorer FIIC for his generous permission for the use of these unique photographs from his personal collection. Both images remain the copyright of Peter Shorer.

Graton Slack, 1971, photographs by Dr. Simon Dove.

Upon hearing of Peter Shorer’s aerial photographs of Garton Slack, his former colleague, Dr, Simon Dove, of the British Museum, remembered he too had some from the same time, and had very kindly offered to allow www.yorkshirehistory.com to share them. As with Peter’s, Simon’s are very evocative of the time, high summer of 1971 on the Yorkshire Wolds, and portray the size and scope of the entire excavation undertaken by T.C.M. Brewster and his team. They also show to close proximity of the working gravel extractions, and how easily the chariot grave came to being lost before it was discovered.

Wetwang Slack
Another extended excavation was undertaken by the Field Archaeology Unit (County Architect's Department, Humberside County Council) supervised by [now] Dr. John Dent., in 1984 near the same site as Garton Slack. This was on the Wetwang side of the site, and is called Wetwang Slack. It was a large Iron Age area of settlement with scores of round-houses, and a cemetery of some 446 inhumations in the Arras cultural tradition, where not one, but three chariot graves were uncovered [see Dr. Dent's remarks above]. The words of John Dent's report pick up the narrative "The first grave was discovered by the quarry manager, Mick Ward, who recognised it as a cart burial (he had seen the 1971 find, as well as numerous other burials in the valley) when the dark decolourisation of the fill appeared in the quarry face and part of one tyre and the skull were exposed. He reported his discovery at once, and I visited the site the same afternoon. The part of the quarry where the find was made had been stripped of topsoil a week or two earlier. This had been done with a tractor shovel, rather than the more usual (and neater) motor scraper [For those who watch Channel 4's Time Team - this is not perhaps as unusual as it was twenty years ago.], but had not concealed the existence of four square-ditched enclosures. Three of these contained visible graves (one of which was that on the quarry edge), and the fourth was empty (a sign that the burial had been ploughed out of its shallow position).

[Three cart-burials from Wetwang, Yorkshire; John Dent, Antiquity, LIX, 1985, pp85-92]

Excavation then concentrated on the graves for the next two weeks, and the immediate surrounding area searched for any others. The second cart-burial, found intact, was located just south of the first, partial discovery. The third lay also in a small square enclosure, and was found on the 16th August, a month after work on the other two had been completed, when again, the quarry machine broke into the grave. It was not until the machine struck one of the iron tyres however, that it was recognised for what it was, and Mr. Ward, once more, called in the 'team', this time assisted by specialists, and with the aid of the East Riding Archaeological Society [ERAS] and the Royal Corps of Transport [based at RAF Leconfield, near Beverley].

Dr. Dent then provides a concise description of the burials, commencing with number 1 [see plan].
" The grave lay inside a ditched enclosure c.6.5 - 7.0m wide internally, but both the northern and eastern ditches had been removed by machine, as had the northern end and much of the eastern side of the grave. This had been sub-triangular in plan with its south side forming the base. The grave reached a maximum depth of 0.85m. At the level of the cleared gravel surface it had measured 2.83m east/west by 2.6m north/south (this assumes that there had been no northward extension to contain the pole). On the floor of the grave the dimensions had reduced to 2.25m by c.2.0m. Damage caused by collapse into the quarry was confined to the back of the skull and any wooded parts of the east wheel, where for about 30% of its circumference the tyre was left in suspension over the quarry edge.
"The burial was that of a young male adult lying on the right side with knees drawn up towards waist level and head to the north. Over the body, between the head and knees, were bones representing a fore-quarter of a pig.
"In addition to the bones the grave also contained evidence of wooden parts of a dismantled cart (preserved as soil changes) as well as other objects, some of which were chariot fittings or horse harness. Structural remains represented two wheels laid side by side (east and west) on the floor of the grave, an axle close to the south side, and a rectilinear structure laid over these and traceable at higher level in the fill……….
"The coffin/body structure measured c.1.51m by c.0.94m and the southern end projected little beyond the line of the axle. The sides could have been up to 0.07m thick. The upper part of this structure was truncated by former ploughing and quarry stripping, but a depth of at least 0.57m could be established in the remaining grave fill.
"The metal fittings which were once attached to the wooden components were two iron tyres, and four nave hoops (two to each hub). Two iron dogs or clamps were found where they had been in place on the hub of the east wheel, and a third clamp lay on the line of the felloe of the west wheel. There were two antler lynch pins in the grave, one resting on the lower nave of the west wheel, the other to the east of the east wheel hub. The line of the yoke was represented by five ribbed bronze terrets which were laid parallel to the line of the body on its west side; these were arranged symmetrically over a length of 1.04m with a large terret in the centre. Two two-link horse bits lay to the south-east of the east wheel hub."

[Ibid]

So far then, this burial seems little dissimilar from most of the others discovered by that time, there are however some minor differences, possibly of ritual. What comes next, is, I think, very special, and at this time, unique with regard to chariot-burials. "Lying parallel with the body axis and stretching from the neck to the left hip was an iron sword in a scabbard with a bronze front plate and iron chape [the pointed end of a scabbard] and back plate. On either side of the suspension loop, and below the sword were two bronze discs. To the west of the sword but parallel to it two iron half cylinders lay in a line, the more northerly broken in two pieces, and these appear to represent spine covers of a wooden shield which was once laid boss downwards in the grave. Around the body and over it were seven iron spearheads, which from the angles at which they lay looked as though their shafts must have been broken before they were put into the grave." Photographs of these swords have not been forthcoming due to the decayed nature of the items, such images as there are reveal little other than profile. John Dent however, has provided the following drawings of these weapons, as published in "Changes in the later iron age of East Yorkshire", in Duval, A et al. (Eds.) 1990, Les Gaulois d'Armorique: Revue Archeologique de l'Ouest, supplement no.3 (1990), 223-231." My sincere thanks go to John for allowing the inclusion of the drawings of both swords here. In concluding the report on this burial, John Dent wrote, "As the wheels and axle had been present it seems likely that the superstructure of the vehicle was also included and this is perhaps the most likely interpretation of the box structure found at a higher level. The body, yoke, sword and shield were all laid out parallel with this and inside the area, which it covered. The spearheads too were contained by it with the exception of one, which extended under the south end. If indeed this structure was part of the cart the back might have been open, although there were signs of an end piece which with a covering to complete the burial chamber, would have to be added during the burial; alternatively the bodywork may have been detached and inverted over the deceased." [Three cart-burials from Wetwang, Yorkshire; John Dent, Antiquity, LIX, 1985, pp85-92]

Chariot-burial number 2 at Wetwang Slack, 1984, was contained inside a square-ditched enclosure about 9.6m across, internal measurement. The grave its self was sub-rectangular with a northerly extension emanating from the mid-northern face of the grave, which measured 3.69m, of which the extension accounted for 1.05m. The top width of the grave was 2.57m, while at the bottom, some 0.73m beneath the surface, it measured 2.34m, while in the other plane it measured 3.58m. John Dent then wrote the following:
"In the centre was a flexed skeleton of a young adult female with head to the north and resting on the left side. The arms were outstretched in front of the body and between them and the thighs were two fore-quarters of a pig. The bones of the left foot were extended uncomfortably in line with the shin - which may have some relevance to the positions of the body and the vehicle axle.
"Soil differences showed that two wheels, an axle, a central pole and a rectangular box like structure had existed in the grave. The wheels, represented principally by two iron tyres, two pairs of nave hoops, an iron clamp (from the felloe of the east wheel) and an iron 'nail' from the hub of the west wheel, also survived as mineral replacement close to the metal fittings. Traces of four spokes of the east wheel suggest that there had been twelve originally. The soil stains which indicate the line of the axle suggest a length of 1.95m. Two iron nails about 1m apart along the length suggest a method of attachment to additional members, possibly to a superstructure. At the west end the thickness of the stain tapered to as little as c0.04m. At right angles to this but preserved only at the northern end of the grave was the mark left by the central pole where it occupied a special slot cut beyond the body of the grave." The thumb-nailed photograph, please click to see full size image [opens a new window], was kindly sent to me by John Dent, this more than anything else clearly shows all the afore mentioned features, it is a wonderful image, and my special thanks go to Dr. Dent for allowing me to reproduce it here.

.

"The wooden yoke was represented as a line of terret rings 0.95m long on the west side of the body and parallel with it. The terrets were made of bronze cast on to an iron core and were decorated with engraving and beads of coral. Three sizes were represented with the single, largest terret in the middle and two pairs arranged symmetrically from it. A single ring of iron coated with bronze was not an obvious component of a yoke but was found on its line, as were, at the northern end, two pieces of sheet bronze. The lynchpins were laid together next to the line of the yoke. They are of iron with cast bronze heads and tails, the former decorated with engraved or punched designs now very worn through polishing."

[Ibid]

click on the image for a larger version

Other grave goods found included a pain iron mirror, two horse bits of the three-link type, and most intriguing of all perhaps, a small cylindrical canister of bronze with a diameter of 90mm, which was christened the 'bean tin'. This canister had its two ends crimped into position around the rims, and at the centre of each end a roundel of red enamel, while the rest of the surfaces were decorated with incised curvilinear ornamentation. Connections, and an attached length of chain were fixed to the outer perimeter of the 'lid' and on the outer circumference. Even today, this artefact is still known as the 'bean tin', its purpose is remains unknown. One other item was found, the head of a broken iron and gold pin, decorated with what appeared to be coral.

Chariot burial Number 3
As said earlier, the quarrying machine had removed the northern part of the burial designated Number 3, together with the corresponding section of the square enclosure ditch. Further damage had been done also the skill of the skeleton contained in the grave, and it was thanks only to perhaps the quick thinking of Mick Ward, that prevented the loss of this burial completely. This grave contained the skeletal remains of a young adult lying with its head northwards, on its left side, with thighs drawn up at right angles to the torso. Quarrying had removed a large section of the cranium, and the east wheel likewise was damaged. Any grave goods from the northern end of the grave were lost. John Dent then says:
"Soil marks indicated the presence in the grave of an axle and rectangular structure around the central area. The two wheels survived as iron tyres, nave hoops and a dog used in the hub of the eastern wheel; also as soils marks or mineral deposits where the felloes, hubs, and spokes had been. The axle had been at least 1.83m long and 0.15m thick in the middle section. It lay beneath, but slightly forward of, the back of the sub-rectangular box structure and parallel to it. The box was c1.00 - 1.05m wide at the south end but tapered to a width of c0.90 - 0.95m, one metre to the north. The northern end had been removed by machine and the length could not have been established, but must have been at least c1.50m to have contained all the artefacts. Both wheels must once have had twelve spokes. The western wheel was tilted towards the body with the rim of the tyre resting on the floor of the grave on the east. The eastern wheel was far closer to the horizontal but had been broken by the machine.
"Of the other fittings the yoke, linchpins, and horse bits relate to the structure and traction. The line of the yoke was clearly represented by a line of terrets. The most easterly terret was lost but the remainder were bronze cast over iron with a ribbed decoration. The largest terret had been in the centre and between the outer pairs the yoke had been decorated or reinforced by narrow fillets of sheet bronze tacked onto the wood. At the north end a single strip 0.21m long was curved to reflect the shape of the yoke where it would sit over the horse's shoulders, while at the south end three pieces were used, one of them small and kidney shaped.
"Only one linchpin was recovered; this was made of iron and followed a basic curved pattern similar to those from burial 2. it was upright when found in the quarry face which suggests that it was leaning against the wooden side of the burial chamber. [Dr. Dent is I think, a little ambiguous here. I believe he means that the linchpin had been resting on the side of the box structure, not some so far unmentioned grave wall, a cist if you will, with timber facings.]
"Both the horse bits were of iron and were found among the structural elements of the east wheel, that is, below the level of the central wooden structure."

[Ibid]

Dr Dent then continues in the most prosaic manner to describe the remaining artefacts, which he says constituted weaponry. Primary amongst these was yet another sword, in an iron scabbard, it had a decorated bronze front plate and a 'knobbed hilt', which lay at the shoulder of the skeleton. The blade of the sword lay across the body with the chape down by the right knee. A pair of cast bronze rings, or wheels, decorated with central studs of coral were located on either side of the suspension loop, and says Dent, must have fitted onto the sword belt, similar to the discs from burial number 1. An iron item found over the thighs, it was suggested, was reinforcement for a wooden shield boss, which if the case, would have been laid in the ground boss downwards. Dr Dent then, in conclusion, offers some revealing thoughts concerning these three quite obviously linked graves.

"The three cart burials together and in line cannot be coincidence, and living memory must have linked the two later burials to their predecessor(s). past experience of radio-carbon dating obtained from bones gives little cause to hope for accurate absolute dates for this group, and a closer dating for the recent finds is more likely to be indicated by the swords and their scabbards from burials 1 and 3. Scabbards with circular open chapes were in use during the earlier La Tene period, although in Britain there is no evidence of how long these remained in fashion. The Wetwang finds are important because they link art styles with scabbard typology, not only through the scabbards themselves but, by implication, through the decorated objects from burial 2 also.
"There three latest finds, with that from Garton Slack, embody virtually identical grave arrangement. The axis of the grave was north-south, in keeping with the vast majority of Arras burials, the wheels were laid flat on the floor of the grave, east and west, and a wooden structure containing a flexed inhumation (with head to the north) was placed over them, with an axle on the south and (in two examples) a pole extending northwards from it. A yoke was represented by terrets in line, was laid on the west side of the body……"

Dr. Dent theorises that it should be soon possible for a reconstruction of a chariot to be made, which would re-assess that made by Brewster. It was in fact, another 18 years before such a project was undertaken, and the results were, fascinating, but more of that later. In concluding Dent's three chariots, and with reference to his opening remarks to this section, he wrote: "These burials must be regarded as a find of exceptional archaeological importance and it might be appropriate to consider them as the culmination of 20 years' excavations, were it not for the disquieting fact that crop response to buried features in the valley gives little or no warning of buried features, and with several hundred metres of valley remaining to be quarried who knows what will turn up in the next decade."

[Three cart-burials from Wetwang, Yorkshire; John Dent, Antiquity, LIX, 1985, pp85-92]

Bryan Sitch, recently appointed Keeper of Archaeology at Hull and East Riding Museum, in Hull, has very kindly provided some thoughts on these discoveries especially for www.yorkshirehistory.com they are not meant as an endorsement of this site, or any of the site's content. My sincere thanks to him for the following:
"The finds from the Wetwang Slack chariot burials represent one of the most spectacular Iron Age burial assemblages from East Yorkshire. Though Iron Age square barrow burials are relatively common in the region, chariot or cart burials have been discovered far less frequently (20 or so chariot or cart burials compared to 3-4000 square barrows over the last few hundred years). Most of the chariot burial discoveries have consisted of a single grave but at Wetwang Slack in 1984 no less than three chariot burials - those of a woman and two men - were discovered during gravel extraction. The grave goods - the mysterious "bean tin", swords in scabbards decorated with Celtic designs, terret rings, bridle bits, iron tyres, nave hops and other high status metalwork - make this one of the great Iron Age discoveries in the region. We can only speculate as to the relationship between the three individuals but they appear to have been people of some importance going by the quality of the material buried with them. Hull Museums is grateful to Clifford Watts for lending these finds so that they can be displayed to the public.
Bryan Sitch,
Keeper of Archaeology,
Monday, 21 March 2005"
The BP Award, sponsored by British Petroleum for the best non-archaeologist who, in the course of normal employment, makes archaeological finds and reports them to the appropriate authorities, was introduced in 1986. To quote the award citation, "Our overall winner in this category, however, is Mick Ward of Malton, Yorkshire (winner in 1986), whose commendable alertness led him to make the particularly important discovery of two Iron Age chariot burials in the gravel quarry at Wetwang Slack. Both graves (one male, the other female), which were subsequently excavated by North Humberside Field Archaeology Unit, contained exceptionally rich assemblages of objects, including weapons, horse-harness and personal items. These discoveries, now displayed in Hull Museum, subsequently led to the uncovering of a third chariot burial at the same site. They also prompted the search for another, 3 miles away at Garton Slack [sic], by the British Museum where the burial is now displayed together with finds from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Mick Ward has made other archaeological discoveries over many years as a quarry worker and deserves many congratulations for his efforts. Unfortunately, Mr Ward died this year soon after retiring, and the award was presented to his son, Mr Timothy Ward."
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/awards/baa98.html

Garton Station
It was about the same time as the above discoveries were being excavated, when new technology was gradually being made available to archaeologists in the way of geophysical surveying. Dr. Ian Stead who was then Deputy Keeper of the Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities at the British Museum, was the next to excavate a chariot-burial. This was at Garton Station, not far from the previous four burials, but close enough to Garton's redundant railway station for it to be used to enable a distinction in the site's name. Dr. Stead was hoping to discover a chariot-burial that the British Museum could acquire for a then forthcoming exhibition the BM was intending to hold on the subject, as all previous chariot finds had gone to the Hull and East Riding Museum. Since all earlier chariot-burials hade either been discovered by chance as in the cases of Stillingfleet and Mortimer, or by the carpet excavation of sites that might have held them, such as Brewster and Dent, Dr. Stead needed a "short cut", this was provided by A. L. Pacitto, who was familiar with the then modern technique of 'magnetic surveying'. In the same year as Dr. Dent was excavating Wetwang Slack, Pacitto was surveying the Garton Station area by fluxgate gradiometer**, and upon analysing the results, two major anomalies were successfully identified. Both sites had associated crop marks, making life a little easier for the survey team, upon investigation however, one of them turned out to be an Anglo-Saxon site, with enclosed burials, which were also considered to be exciting finds. The other was a chariot-burial, as hoped for, and in 1985, Dr. Stead led a team to excavate it.

[Current Archaeology, 103, January 1987. and Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, I.M. Stead, English Heritage Archaeological Report no. 22, 1991, pp 29]

**More necessary science, this to more fully explain some aspects of -"Magnetometry is the technique of measuring and mapping patterns of magnetism in the soil. Ancient activity, particularly burning, leaves magnetic traces that show up even today when detected with the right equipment. Buried features such as ditches or pits, when they are filled with burnt or partly burnt materials, can show up clearly and give us an image of sub-surface archaeology.
Soil is a complex build-up of material that is affected by many types of past activity. One of the most common is burning: this can take place for a variety of reasons - deliberately or accidentally; in one location or spread across an area of crop or woodland. Burning permanently changes the magnetic properties of the surrounding soil by altering the magnetism of tiny iron particles. After this soil or stone has been moved, such as by ploughing, earthwork construction or ditch infill, this activity can be traced by looking for variations in soil magnetism against the general background of the earth's magnetic field. An area in which the soil has a slightly different magnetic orientation to the surrounding earth can indicate the presence of sub-surface archaeology. Archaeological features show up as higher or lower readings: deposits containing much burnt material (such as ditch fills) are usually higher; stone walls usually lower. Magnetometry can normally penetrate up to one to two metres in depth.
An instrument known as a 'magnetometer' is required to measure and map traces of soil magnetism. There are various types of magnetometer, 'proton' magnetometers were the first to be widely used, 'fluxgate gradiometers' are most common at present; the latest 'caesium vapour' magnetometers are now making an impact.
The survey area is laid out in a regular grid, with each metre point marked on string lines. To avoid contaminating the readings, surveyors must be free of magnetic materials, so watches, rings and credit cards must be left away from the survey area. Their clothing must not contain metallic zips, buttons, studs or other such fastenings. Readings are usually taken every metre or half-metre and then down-loaded from the magnetometer onto a computer and plotted using a special graphics programme. The results are usually plotted in squares representing the survey grid, with magnetic variations being represented by darker or lighter colours. When all the grid squares are joined together, they give a full area picture of patterns of magnetism, which can then be interpreted archaeologically."

[http://www.pastperfect.org.uk/archaeology/magneto.html ]

"This 'smaller' barrow is as big as any other square ditched enclosure known, and the pit at its centre is the largest recorded. The chariot-burial was different from the rite recorded in the chariots found two years earlier 3 miles up the slack in Wetwang parish. As at Wetwang the chariot had been dismantled, but instead of the two wheels being laid flat on the floor of the grave, they were stacked together, leaning up against the wall of the grave. The grave filling was compact, and quite damp, due no doubt to the proximity of the Gypsey Race**, and thus as the wood rotted, it was replaced by clay, which was presumably washed into the cavities. Thus the outline of the naves of the wheels, and all the spokes, survived as masses of clay, and in the same way, parts of the line of the pole and axle of the vehicle could be distinguished."

**Gypsey Race: "Throughout human history, 'Gypsey' springs and streams have fascinated and beguiled many who have come into contact with them. Found all over the Wolds area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, they are watercourses, which have the property of being intermittent and irregular. This is believed to be due to a siphon action occurring in underground reservoirs. It is supposed that the water builds up gradually until a rainstorm, perhaps miles away from the stream bed, triggers a siphon action and releases a deluge. This unexpected gift of water must have made a considerable impression upon any witness in a region where free-flowing water is otherwise rare.
The best known of these Gypsey streams is the Gypsey Race, which winds its way through the Great Wolds Valley to the North Sea at Bridlington. During the Neolithic period, this stream was the focus of an extensive ritual landscape.
"The source of the legend haunted watercourse is a quiet but numinous spring surrounded by a thicket of bushes and nettles. It is located at the side of a ploughed field near the edge of the tranquil Wolds village of Wharram-le Street. The gentle stream then flows east towards the modern village of Duggleby and past the ancient burial mound of Duggleby Howe. This is the first of a number of important Neolithic monuments along the valley of the Gypsey race.

[ http://www.northernearth.co.uk/perm/gypsey.htm ]

It is not however the Gypsey Race that runs through the Garton area. The Gypsey Race does not encroach within seven miles of the site but which eventually outfalls into Bridlington harbour. It must therefore be another gypsey stream, not that it makes much of a difference, in the long run, but clarification is I think, needed.

To pick up Dr. Stead's report:
"The line of the pole was central to the grave and at right angles to the axle, suggesting a 'T' plan frame had been buried as a single piece; the axle was represented by two lengths of clay, 0.7 and 0.3m long, with their ends 2.2m apart; the line indicating the pole was almost 1.3m long (with a single interruption), its front end being about 3m from the line of the axle. At the south end of the grave the two corners had been cut back to receive the ends of the axle, but interestingly this axle/pole frame had been suspended above the floor…….
"It seems that the corpse, orientated north-south and flexed on its left side, had been placed in the grave first, and then the framework of the vehicle had been lowered on top of it. The two wheels had been detached and set vertically in the north-west corner, between the pole and the side of the grave, a position without parallel in a Yorkshire cart-burial."

[Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, I.M. Stead, English Heritage Archaeological Report no. 22, 1991, pp 29]

"The remains of the two wheels - the iron tyres, the clay, and the gravel between the spokes - were lifted in a single block, encased in a mass of expanding polyurethane foam. The block was then transported to the museum where its excavation was completed; the clay parts were moulded in plaster and replaced by fibreglass suitable for display. Meanwhile, the sides of the grave were carefully recorded and a full-scale reconstruction of the burial was built, faced with gravel from the original site. The reconstruction was displayed in 'Archaeology in Britain since 1945' at the British Museum (1986) and then in 'Treasures of Yorkshire and Humberside' at the Yorkshire Museum.

"The felloes were also represented by slight traces of mineral preserved wood (Fraxinux sp. Ash)** on the inside of the tyres; in one place on tyre 1 there was a clear straight line, apparently indicating a butt-joint in the felloe. Mineral preserved wood from the naves has also been identified as Fraxinus sp. Ash."

[Ibid]

**This is the first time any identification of the timber used in chariot construction has been made in the entire history of their discovery to my knowledge. The Common Ash (UK) - Fraxinus excelsior, is, according to one source "an important timber tree, its light coloured wood being strong and hard-wearing, and useful for furniture, house-hold interiors and many wooden implements." It seems amazing that such information was so long in coming in these days of all manner of spectral analysis, and other wonderful technical innovations, that Ian Stead's team were able to make their identification, some 20 years ago, is a credit to them.

[Trees in Britain, Europe and North America, by Roger Philips, first published by Pan Books Ltd. London, 1978, pp 119]

In attempting to date this burial, Dr. Stead had as evidence the five terrets, arranged in the grave as a line with four outer and smaller terrets, and one larger central terret. The central one was highly decorated in a 'Celtic art style'. The best illustration of this terret is contained as a line drawing in Iron Age cemeteries in East Yorkshire, English Heritage Archaeological Report No. 22 (English Heritage in association with The British Museum Press, 1991) pp48, by Ian Stead, as shown below. However, the terret set Dr. Stead a conundrum because the size of the barrow indicated an early burial date, but the style of the terret suggested a date similar to that of the Snettisham hoard, which is generally accepted as the 1st century BC. There is, in the same volume, scientific analysis pertaining to the dates of these and other local burials, presented by Janet Ambers, pp169-70. Radio carbon dating techniques were then in their infancy, and the method of such sampling was prone to error, there is much scientific explanation in the above presentation, which needs to be viewed in the original for those who might have a direct interest.

In the grave, were also found a pair of iron linchpins, they were corroded together, each having a head-ring with long curving shanks, and each shank had a perforation through it just below the head-ring. The dimensions of these linchpins were 140mm and 154mm maximum length, and 43mm and 50mm respectively for the diameters of the head-rings. There were mineralised traces remaining suggestive that a leather thong had been attached. Dr. Stead stated that these linchpins "are unlike any others from Yorkshire, but can be matched by a pair from a cart-burial group at Jonchery-sur-Suippe, Marne", in France. As is the manner of such things, this would change. Also in the grave were two iron horse-bits, described as "loop link snaffles", these too were of a rare type, the only others similar being discovered at the Llyn Cerrig Bach burial site**. The dimensions of these items, I here quote from Dr. Stead "1 (GW/JL) rein-rings 89mm diam. and 94x85mm; rein-rings and loops length 124 and 119mm; central link length 72mm; overall length c280mm; 2 (GW/JP) rein-rings c92mm diam. and 93x87mm; rein-rings and loops length 125 and 124mm; central link length 82mm; overall length c290mm." Regarding other features of the grave, Dr. Stead wrote "Above the skeleton patterns of darker filling suggested that a rectangular box-like object had been buried (Fig. 26). The first hint of this, a dark shape seen at a depth of about 0.55m into the grave (Fig. 26, A), was carefully plotted and similar outlines were recorded at intervals down to about 1m. Throughout, the darker filling within the shape contrasted with the lighter gravel surrounding it. There was no precise correspondence between the successively recorded shapes, although several had quite sharp angles. Initially a strong north-west corner was identified, and was repeated (but 0.55m further south) at 0.75m deep (Fig. 26, B). At 0.8m four corners were clear, giving a rectangular shape 1.65m long by 1-1.1m wide, stopping on the line of the axle and placed centrally over the pole (Fig, 26, C). Within the next 0.15m this had shrunk and its outlines had assumed a more rounded kidney-like shape (Fig. 26, D). By 1m (when the caly representing the axles was revealed) a much smaller rectangle was defined, 1.4m by up to 0.85m, set slightly askew to the pole (Fig. 26, E). Below that no clear shapes could be distinguished."

[Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, I.M. Stead, English Heritage Archaeological Report no. 22, 1991, pp 30]

** The Llyn Cerrig Bach burial site, on the island of Anglesey [ym Môn], North Wales is explained more fully at http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba53/ba53feat.html and at the National Museum of Wales - see: http://www.nmgw.ac.uk/www.php/295/?search=Llyn+Cerrig+Bach+

Of the skeleton in the grave, there was no trace of associated weaponry, the corpse was in a north-south orientation with the head to the north, in what has by now become the familiar foetal position. In all, some 246 burials were excavated at this time by Dr. Stead's team, and the scientific results and analysis of all the human and animal bones can be viewed in 'Iron Age Cemeteries', pp 126 - 135. The effect of the gypsey stream on the bones of the chariot burial however had the consequence of filling all cavities within the bones with clay, rendering them very fragile. The skull had be extracted by an application of 'Quentglaze (a plastic sealer produced by Quentplass Ltd.)', the over use of which could have glued all the bones together. However, the procedure was very successful, and the skull, almost transparently thin in places, was lifted from the grave.

Kirkburn
This was to prove an amazing grave; it was located away from the gypsey stream at Garton [see plan], on slightly higher ground. Dr. Stead wrote "The main grave was excavated in shallow pits, roughly 0.05m deep, and when each spit was finished the surface was photographed and, when necessary, planned. By 0.4m deep a curved filling line was noticed just within the north side of the grave, and at 0,5m it had developed into the northern side of a huge pear-shape that covered much of the grave: broad and rounded at the north, sharply defined along the east side and less so on the west side, but losing definition at the narrower south end. By 0.6m this south end was clear, with fairly sharp right-angles at the south-east and south-west corners, and the same broad shape continued at the north end. Inside the rectangle was mainly dirty gravel; outside was relatively clean gravel. The whole grave-filling was extremely soft……."
The discovered box-like structure measured about 1.9m by 1.2m, with its back end aligned with the possible soil mark for the axle, and provided both ends of the axle were represented by soil marks, then the length of the axle was about 1.8m. Using the Garton Station burial as a guide, it was estimated that the length of the pole in this case, at Kirkburn, was 3.8m. Unlike Garton Station, the wheels at Kirkburn were laid flat on the floor of the grave, almost touching each other, and supported by their hubs. In one sector of the east tyre, a considerable amount of the wooden felloe had survived, as had the position of three spokes while the hint of three more spokes were also found. Ian Stead once more takes up the narrative "Each wheel had two broad copper-alloy nave bands. The corpse had been laid over the junction of the two wheels, orientated north-south, on its back, with the legs flexed on the east side and the head facing east. The right arm was fully extended by the side, the left arm folded across the chest.
"The corpse had been covered by a coat of iron mail, upside down and inverted, so that the hem was across the chest and the shoulders over the legs. There was a copper-alloy toggle under the south-east corner of the mail, and two others beyond it to the south-west. Two groups of pig bones were found, one over the centre of the mail and the other to the north and north-west of the human skull."

[Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, I.M. Stead, English Heritage Archaeological Report no. 22, 1991, pp 30]

The chain-mail tunic is described in detail further along in Dr. Stead's work, "As it had corroded some areas had fragmented, while others had formed a solid layer over the skeleton, in places delicately bridging voids where the body and clothing had decomposed. The fragility of the remains, and the voids, were hazards enough, but another problem faced the excavators and conservators. In such a rich grave there might well have been other artefacts masked by the mail; the warrior would surely have a sword, perhaps even a shield, and it was possible that the corpse had been speared (p. 33). The gradiometer and metal detectors were regularly used to give forewarning of metal artefacts, but here the response of the mail and the tyres rendered them useless. Field radiography was impossible in such a complex situation, even if it had been available. A Malton veterinary practice generously lent and operated a portable Ultrasound Scanner, but the results were negative. Block-lifting was out of the question: there were too many voids, complicated by the underlying skeleton and tyres, and the possibility of other artefacts as yet undiscovered. Instead, it was decided to consolidate and lift the mail, leaving the skeleton and any other artefacts in the ground (for a full account of the conservation and lifting see Dove and Goldstraw [then] forthcoming)"

[Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, I.M. Stead, English Heritage Archaeological Report no. 22, 1991, pp 54]

The then forthcoming paper by Simon Dove and Ruth Goldstraw [and other sources kindly provided by Simon Dove] was a presentation given at a summer school course in 1992 on "On-Site Conservation Techniques" and can now be herein quoted from, my thanks go to Simon Dove for his permission to use his words. "As the skeleton was being revealed during excavation a brown stain was observed covering the body from the shoulders down to the legs. On closer examination this proved to be the very corroded remains of a garment of chain mail. Indications were that it had been placed over the corpse rather than being worn at the time of burial, with the shoulder pieces over the legs. The displacement of the skeleton was probably due both to the weight of more than one metre of grave fill on top of the burial and the layer of corroded mail preventing the soil from packing around the body, holding it in its position. During excavation and lifting hollow voids were observed under the mail.
"This was an exciting discovery because mail of this period, especially in such quantity, is exceedingly rare. Its presence, however, did prove frustrating. It obscured a large portion of the skeleton in an area in which any additional grave goods would have been deposited.
"The use of X-radiography was ruled out as it would have involved undercutting the burial to put X-ray plates beneath the mail. The hire of field X-ray equipment and the attending safety precautions would be expensive. Gradiometers, magnetometers and metal detectors were tried but the extent and thickness of the iron masked out other signals, which may have come from other metals.
"On the advice of the School of Archaeological Science at Bradford University a portable Ultrasound Scanner was also used in an attempt to investigate the area under the mail. The Regional Veterinary Centre at Malton loaned a unit together with two Veterinary Surgeons to operate it. Unfortunately no conclusive results were obtained.
"It became obvious that the only way to reveal anything beneath the mail was to remove the tunic its self."

[Retrieval of Objects from Archaeological Sites; Chapter 4, Lifting the Kirkburn Mail Tunic" edited by Robert Payton, published by Archetype Publications 1992, pp 51-59]

Returning to Stead's account, "the operation was successful and the mail was moved to the [British] museum for further conservation. In the event, the only artefact under it [the tunic] was a small copper-alloy toggle….
"Although complete when buried, the mail tunic is now badly corroded and partly fragmented; it can never be restored to its original state, but conservation and radiography have revealed full details of its construction. Each link is a ring 8.2 - 9.2mm in external diameter, constructed from iron wire 1.5 - 1.9mm thick; each is butt-jointed and linked with four other rings (Fig. 45, d.). As found, the tunic comprised two superimposed layers of mail, the front and the back with a single layer for the shoulder-flaps extending from the back. There was no hint of leather or fabric between the two layers, and no indication of organic binding at the collar, hem, or sleeve. Some mineralised fabric on the underside was all that remained of the covering or clothing of the corpse."

[Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, I.M. Stead, English Heritage Archaeological Report no. 22, 1991, pp 54]

Efforts to provide here a photographic image of the tunic have proved fruitless, Dr. J. D. Hill, Curator, British and European Iron Age Collections at the British Museum, in which collection the tunic is housed, has told me that the remains of the tunic "are not very photogenic" and that "there are no high quality images of the shirt." So, I must return to Simon Dove's written account of the lifting of the tunic, which does include a few useable images. "In some areas of the garment individual links could be distinguished but most of the mail had fused together into a mass of corrosion products. Unfortunately this had no intrinsic strength and crumbled easily, so before any lifting could be attempted the mail had to be consolidated to prevent any further damage." The narrative from hence becomes rather technical, but no apologies, as this is a vital process and needs to be presented in full.
"A solution of 50% Texicryl 13-002, an acrylic co-polymer, in water was applied using pipettes and syringes, to avoid any physical damage that brushing might have caused. An emulsion was chosen as consolidant because the ground was damp and it was feared that the use of a solvent-based solution, for example Paraloid B72 in acetone, would have merely formed a white film on the surface and not acted as a consolidant at all. Texicryl had been used satisfactorily as an on-site consolidant on previous excavations. Although it was sunny for most of the excavation period, cold north-east winds lowered the temperature. This, combined with the dampness in the ground, affected the curing time of the Texicryl. It took over 24 hours before hardening was complete. There is rarely time for prolonged procedures on site and in this case there was less than a week left. The delay was not only frustrating but highly inconvenient."
A decision then had to be made about how to lift the tunic, two main options seemed to be available, but each had its own drawbacks. The choice was made after due consideration to use a variation of the method used to lift mosaics and wall-paintings. "After the initial application of consolidant had hardened a layer of scrim and bandage was applied to cover the mail. Texicryl was used again with the resulting delay in hardening. Even when completely cured Texicryl retains some flexibility so if the original contours of the mail tunic were to be preserved a rigid support would be needed.

"The making of a support mount using 'Scotchcast' tape was considered. This product is a resin impregnated glass fibre bandage, which cures when exposed to moisture or water. Preliminary trials, however, showed that the Scotchcast did not possess enough rigidity to retain the original contours of such a large flat area unless applied in many layers and with reinforcing strips. Plaster of Paris was chosen as a simple and readily available alternative.
"A layer of cling film was laid over the faced up mail to provide a separating layer and Plaster of Paris was applied on top of this, with scrim reinforcement to form the rigid support mount.
"When the plaster hardened enough for handling it was lifted from the mail and turned over and placed next to the object, ready to receive the tunic when it was lifted."

The initial lifting went according to plan with only slight damage to some of the outer parts of the tunic, which had been expected. The tunic was then cut into three pieces and the two lager section came away well, but the last required further treatment due to the extremely delicate nature of it. Consideration was given to the fact that the main bulk of the tunic had been lifted using a reversible method, as described, but by then, the pressing factor was time. It was agreed that a new approach was required. The friable bones on site were being treated with 'Quentglaze' as a consolidant; it is a pre-polymer containing di-isocynates that form a polyurethane coating and cured on contact with moisture. Its principal uses are in the civil and marine construction industries, as the manufacturers, Quentsplass, claim that the drying time is about four hours at 18C degrees, at a relative humidity of 70%. An accelerator can however be added, but none was available on site. The use of this material on the mail had to be very carefully considered, as it was known to be irreversible, there would in other words, be no way of removing any mail from the consolidant once it had been applied. Time constrains however as good as demanded the use of this material to lift the last section of tunic. "A 50% solution of Quentaglaze Sealer 531/1 and Quentaglaze thinner 402/1 was applied to the remaining area using pipettes. …… The curing time was slow, due to the cold, but it could be handled in 12 hours. Penetration had been so good that some of the underlying bones had been attached to the lifted piece. As many of these as possible were removed using spatulas."
Concluding, Simon Dove remarks that once the tunic had arrived at the British Museum it was fully X-rayed revealing clear pictures of the links, and that preparations were underway to replace the plaster support with one made of glass fibre reinforced polyester resin.

[Retrieval of Objects from Archaeological Sites; Chapter 4, Lifting the Kirkburn Mail Tunic" edited by Robert Payton, published by Archetype Publications 1992, pp 51-59]

Further research was still at that time, pending. I have not discovered what, if anything, more has been done in this regard. The above account of the consolidation and lifting of the tunic is, as said, highly technical, but it is hoped that by including so much of it, it goes a long way to explain how such delicate archaeological procedures are carried out, and the precision, care and consideration required to preserve what, in this case, is an exceptional discovery.

The discovery of a chain-mail tunic in the grave at Kirkburn, while not unique, was none-the-less very rare. As regarding Yorkshire, there has been only one other, which was part of the Stanwick hoard, credited with a date of the middle first century AD, in other words, about the time of the Claudian arrival in 43 AD. [MacGregor 1962, 28 and numbers 117 - 120]. However, although such items can be counted on the finger of one hand virtually, they are all of a date equating to that of the late stage of the La Tene III period - Kirkburn is two centuries earlier! [My italics]

[Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, I.M. Stead, English Heritage Archaeological Report no. 22, 1991, pp 54]

"In construction, Kirkburn uses the simplest technique - butted links. The Stanwick mail (examined by Spratling 1981, 14; note 21) was also made of butted links, but the others had rows of riveted links alternating with whole links (at Lexden and Woodeaton, examined by Jope 1957) or butted links (Baldock). Presumably the inclusion of whole or rive