- Motorway builders have unexpectedly unearthed one of
the most important Iron Age relics to be found in Britain - appropriately,
a chariot.
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- Buried for 2,500 years, the find is a complete chariot
containing the skeleton of a tribal leader, with the remains of at least
250 cattle, probably slaughtered for the funeral feast.
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- The fragile remnants of iron, bronze, and carved, delicately
spoked wheels are under guard by the A1M at Ferrybridge, in West Yorkshire,
after a visit yesterday by the local coroner to determine legal rights
of treasure trove.
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- The burial was discovered by an archaeologist after bulldozers
stripped away topsoil over a limestone chamber where the chariot had been
concealed.
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- Its position, well to the west of a similar grave at
Wetwang in East Yorkshire, will prompt a revision of theories about population
dispersal in Iron Age Britain.
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- Chariot burial at the time - between 500BC and 400BC
- was reserved for high-ranking figures in the Parisii tribe, originally
from France.
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- They had been thought to have limited their settlement
to the east coast, and Ferrybridge is 40 miles beyond previously known
boundaries.
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- Neil Redfern, English Her itage's regional inspector
of ancient monuments, said: "It could indicate an expansion of territory
we were previously unaware of, or perhaps a client tribe copying the burial
practices of a superior neighbouring people.
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- "It has tremendous national importance, posing all
sorts of questions about what was happening in our country 2,500 years
ago."
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- Tests are under way on the relics, which include iron
and bronze harness fittings, a spear head and a mysterious carved piece
of bronze. The iron "tyres" of the three foot wheels, the wood
of which has rotted but has left detailed traces in the surrounding soil,
are also intact and - curiously -do not match.
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- "It's as though a modern motorist put different
tyres on his car," said Angela Boyle of Oxford Archaeology, which
is carrying out an emergency dig ahead of the £250m motorway widening.
"So it's possible they were assembled specifically for the burial,
as a ceremonial chariot rather than one for practical use."
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- The remains will be salvaged before the site is reburied
under a bridge abutment over the A1M at its junction with the trans-Pennine
M62.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
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