Bronze Age Cremation Urn Burial Found in Yorkshire Quarry –

Excavations were conducted at Leyburn Quarry in Breedon, North Yorkshire, and a high-status Bronze Age crematorium was discovered. Its history dates from 2000 to 1700 BC

The limestone quarry is located in the Yorkshire Valley region and is famous for its Bronze Age. There were found metal hoards, as well as traces of burial and settlement. Teams from Archaeological Research Services (ARS) were involved in exploring part of a previously unused quarry. A five-week excavation found a set of prehistoric features consisting of pits and two ditches that meet at the T-junction.

A pit at the southern end of the group had fragments of cremated bones on the ground. Pit archaeologists have discovered more deeply that cremated bones have a larger weight, compacted sediment. People who were buried in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages still exist in such pits. The radiocarbon age will clarify the date of the funeral.

A second cremation burial was performed on the east side. This is an inverted pottery. The blood vessel is of scarf type and is known for being used as cremation urn during the Bronze Age. It is 16 inches tall, 12 inches wide, and the widest. Even if the base is damaged by agriculture, archaeologists cannot see its contents because it is full of soil. They were able to remove the entire ship to the ARS research laboratory and excavate safely there.

They did indeed find cremation, but they also found an unexpected artifact: a stone axe hammer with a perforated center. It is about four inches long and is carved from volcanic rocks that are not locally available, probably from Scotland. It is carved and honed by expert craftsmen and must be a precious object. Its inclusion in the ashes shows that it is the personal property of the dead, who must be people with wealth and social status to access the trade network that transports this carefully crafted object.

Now, these findings will be performed on the date of radiocarbon and will analyze the bones.

This will give researchers an idea of ​​the growth and gender of cremated people.

Mr Wadington said: “We should be able to expand this story and connect it to the wider region because the larger background at the time was that Britain was largely the cradle of the Bronze Age of Europe.”

“Britain has become very rich, and it is not limited to the southwest where tin is located.

“Yorkshire dales are very rich. So another source of wealth for these people may have been achieved through major exploitation, which allowed them to be part of this enormous trade in the early metallurgical industry, not only British trade, but it stretched all the way to Europe and all the way to the Middle East.”