Hunt for city's missing palace

VISITORS to York this weekend will be treated to the remarkable sight of a 30ft-long Viking (or at least Norwegian) ship moored on sand in the middle of Coppergate.

They will be able to dig for Viking finds there (with archaeologists on hand to explain what they are) and even have a chance to create their own Viking saga - with the help of performance poet Adrian Spendlow.

The Great Jorvik Dig, as bosses at York's pioneering Viking museum Jorvik have called their programme of Easter events, is an attempt to recreate some of the excitement of the original Coppergate excavation.

What archaeologists discovered during the five-year dig between 1976 and 1981 - the remains of a thriving Viking city deep beneath present-day York - helped transform our understanding of the norsemen forever.

Before, the popular image of Vikings had been a bunch of marauders raping and pillaging their way across the north of England, says Sarah Maltby, Jorvik's head of attractions.

The York dig provided an alternative picture. A race of fierce warriors, yes, but also a people who were craftsmen and traders living in a sophisticated capitol city.

During the last two decades, the Jorvik Viking Centre - which first opened on April 14, 1984 and is rapidly approaching its 21st anniversary - has helped to reinforce that alternative view. It is easy to forget now just how pioneering it was.

The museum's use of time cars to take visitors back in time to a recreated Viking city - complete with smells - deep beneath the present-day streets and on the actual site of Viking Jorvik helped York become known as the city of Vikings.

Since then archaeology has moved on. The Vikings will always remain a vital part of York's heritage. But the city has a rich history spanning 2000 years, of which the Vikings were just a brief, if colourful, part. The Romans, the Angles, the Normans - and, more recently, the industrial revolution - all left their mark. And their story is far from completely understood.

So what is going to be the next Coppergate - the next major archaeological discovery in this city of archaeology that will capture the public imagination the way Jorvik did?

John Walker, the chief executive of the York Archaeological Trust, is a big man who twitches with eagerness to get his hands on the city's history. At least twice during Roman times, York was effectively the centre of the entire Roman Empire, he points out. From 210-211AD the Emperor Septimius Severus briefly made his base here. And in the early fourth century, the Emperor Constantius 1 - father of Constantine the Great - also made York his imperial HQ.

"The Emperor was the centre of Empire," Mr Walker said. "There would have been a lot of people who came along with him. They were all here for two to three years each time. That is long enough to have demanded some kind of Imperial accommodation.

"So one of the key questions for me is, where are the Imperial palaces of York?"

He believes he may have the beginnings of an answer to that. Archaeologists have a pretty good idea of where the Roman fortress was. It would have formed a huge square centred roughly on where the Minster is now, stretching almost to King's Manor in the north and St Sampson's Square in the south.

Along the whole face of the fortress wall where it overlooks the River Ouse, archaeologists have found evidence of a series of substantial towers. The Multangular Tower in Museum Gardens - a much bigger structure than would have been needed purely for defensive purposes - is one.

All these towers were of much higher quality than would be expected for a simple legionary fortress, said Mr Walker. And in the Multangular Tower itself traces of plaster have been found. "If that has not been dumped from somewhere else, then it means the tower was beautifully painted and decorated," he added. "In fact, everything on the riverside face of the fortress is much higher quality than you might normally expect."

So could this series of rooms along the riverside face of the fortress have housed the Emperor and his retinue? Possibly - although more work will be needed before anything can be said for certain, said Mr Walker.

There are plenty of other questions he wants to find the answers to. Some relate to Roman York. Where, for example, was the Roman theatre, and the amphitheatre? York must have had them. "If it didn't, it would have been the only legionary base in Europe that didn't!"

Other questions relate to different periods of York's history. Very little physical evidence has been found of Dark Ages or Anglian York, for example. There are plenty of historical references to suggest people were living here after the Romans left. "But at the moment we cannot pin it down at all," said Mr Walker.

He would also love to find out more about York's centuries as a port city. And there is even much to learn about the city walls. "We think we know about the walls, but we don't," he said. "We don't know, for example, when and why the whole section of wall behind the Minster was built."

John Walker is a big advocate of what he calls archaeological exploration. During the last 20 years or so, many archaeologists have focused on archaeology under threat from development, he says.

Much great work has been done by the simple process of getting on site before developers, so that the archaeology can be recorded before the bulldozers move in.

"But I think sometimes we forget to keep on exploring," he said. He is keen to adopt a pro-active approach, in other words - digging down to find that lost Roman imperial palace, for example, rather than just following in the footsteps of developers.

City of York Council archaeologist John Oxley doesn't necessarily agree.

He says one of the great developments of the last 20 years has been the way archaeologists and developers have learned to work together - a process which has gradually allowed a much broader, fuller picture of York's archaeology to emerge from countless small digs at sites about to be developed.

Archaeologists have a much better picture of Iron Age York, for example - there were sophisticated farmsteads here long before the Romans ever came - and the discoveries at the Roman cemetery under The Mount are adding enormously to our understanding of Roman York. However, for Mr Oxley, the most exciting opportunity on the horizon is undoubtedly Hungate.

By the time of William 1 at the latest - and possibly even earlier - the Foss had been dammed, to create an artificial lake, the King's Pool, in the Foss basin. Gradually, during the next 1,000 years or so, it was filled in again. Generations of York people used it to dump their rubbish. Later, parts of the land were reclaimed and lived on.

Yet because the land had been flooded, the soil containing evidence of hundreds of years of occupation is waterlogged - which is good news for archeologists. "We've got this wonderful, waterlogged environment perfect for preserving wood and leather - and those are exactly the things which tell us all about the diet, social lives and economy of the people who lived there," said Mr Oxley.

The future excavation of Hungate therefore gave an unprecedented chance to trace the history of York back through time. It would enable archaeologists to start from what was already known - from oral history and the pioneering work of Seebohm Rowntree - about life in the Hungate slums at the beginning of the 20th century, and to follow it back through the archaeological evidence to the industrial period and the first gasworks and then on, deep into medieval and Norman times and possibly even beyond.

With the support of developers - who have so far been 'fantastic', said Mr Oxley, Hungate could well therefore be the next Coppergate. "It offers a wonderful snapshot through York's history," he said. "This is a very exciting time."

Community archaeology

Amateur 'Time Team' explorers are being invited to get involved in hands-on archaeology in and around York.

With the help of a £212,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the York Archaeological Trust has taken on a 'community archaeologist', Eliza Gore, whose job is to encourage local people to start investigating their own history.

Eliza, an archaeology graduate from Exeter University, said her remit did not only cover York itself but also the rural communities surrounding the city, which were part of 'Greater York'. Professional archaeologists had already unearthed vast amounts of information about York's 2,000 years of history.

"But in comparison very little has been discovered about the rural areas around the city: the outlying farms, small settlements and road networks which supported the city," she said.

Eliza plans to encourage enthusiasts to set up their own groups, and also will organise training days for budding amateur archaeologists.

It will not just be about digging holes in the ground, she said. Groups could get involved in everything from exploring mysterious humps and bumps in fields, to the siting of ancient hedgerows, researching local history through old documents, and surveying old buildings to uncover their real history.

To find out more, contact Eliza at the York Archaeological Trust on 01904 490205.

Updated: 09:40 Wednesday, March 23, 2005