Wakefield Museums and Castles

When the A1(M) upgrade passed through Fryston Park, archaeologists watched very closely. They stepped in after the remains of human activity were found. Their excavations revealed human graves and old earth monuments.

The most significant find was a man's body carefully buried in a chariot. The burial dates from around 200BC during the Iron Age.

Iron Age chariot burials are rare. This one is especially important. It was found a long way from most of the other known British chariot burials, which are on the Wolds in the East Riding.

It was also very unusual because the chariot was buried whole. They were normally taken to pieces before being buried. 

Even more surprisingly, when the archaeologists looked closely, they could see that the parts of the chariot did not match. The two wheels had different diameters and the nave hoops were also not pairs. It seems that the chariot was made up from spare parts reused from other vehicles.

Scientific examination of the skeleton also revealed interesting details. The man whose body was buried with the chariot was not from the local area. He may have come from the Wolds in East Yorkshire, or from as far away as Scotland or even Scandinavia.

After burial the grave site was covered with a raised mound inside a square ditch. Archaeologists found lots cattle bones in the ditch. They are the remains of people feasting as they remembered and celebrated.

Scientific analysis of these bones has shown that the cattle were not local either. They must have been brought to the feast site from elsewhere.