A ROMAN dock could be unearthed on York's Hungate site if the "biggest and most significant archaeological dig in York" is allowed to take place, it has been claimed.

If archaeologists are right, the evidence buried in layers underneath the city could eclipse the Coppergate excavations of the 1980s.

It could reveal how people lived, worked, travelled and traded from 70AD to the present day.

If plans to redevelop the ten-acre site between Stonebow and the River Foss go ahead, members of the public will be able to observe and even take part in a six-year archaeological dig which forms part of the scheme.

Mike Griffiths, a consultant archaeologist heading the planned investigations, told around 100 members of the public at a meeting on Saturday that the Hungate plans were the "single biggest piece of redevelopment to take place in York since the Romans turned up" and would definitely include an archaeological dig.

Speaking at a public exhibition - being held at the former bed warehouse in Garden Place, off Stonebow, until January 21 - he said: "We will be as destructive as the Romans. Where we excavate there will be nothing left in the ground, but we hope that we'll have recorded everything with such accuracy that if they look at it in five or ten years time, they will credit us."

He said that evidence extracted from the site indicates that the River Foss once followed a different path through the Hungate site and there were at least one, but possibly three docks enabling people to travel and trade.

Updated: 12:19 Monday, January 13, 2003