Thursday, February 7, 2013

YORK, ENGLAND—A test pit dug beneath the cathedral known as York Minster has yielded human bones from the age of the Vikings, Norman foundations, and a silver Anglo-Saxon coin dating to the early ninth century. The coin is in excellent condition, suggesting that it was never in circulation and may have been minted at a nearby location. “The presence of a mint confirms York’s position of power and authority in the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria and indeed, the country, during what has been thought of as a period of decline,” said Ian Milsted of the York Archaeological Trust. The presence of human bones also indicates that the land had been used as a burial ground by generations of different ethnic groups.