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The Wetwang Chariot Burial
The Wetwang Chariot Burial
In March 2001 an Iron Age grave was discovered
in the village of Wetwang in East Yorkshire, England. It was found
during the construction of a small housing development by Hogg the
Builders of York. The grave was then excavated by a team of
archaeologists from The Guildhouse Consultancy and the British
Museum, and funded by English
Heritage.
The excavation
showed that the grave was that of a woman who had died over 2,300
years ago and was buried with a chariot. Since the completion of
the excavation, Hogg the Builders generously donated the finds to
the British Museum, where they are being carefully conserved and
studied. This is leading to new, and sometimes controversial,
evidence of life in the Iron
Age.
The BBC filmed
throughout the excavation and subsequently, and funded a
reconstruction of the chariot for Meet the
Ancestors. This tour offers an introduction
to what the archaeologists and conservators have so far discovered
about the woman and her chariot.