Digital Archive from an Archaeological Strip, Investigation and Sample at York Station Gateway, Queen Street, York, January - March 2022

This collection comprises images, finds spreadsheets, specialist and final reports from an archaeological evaluation at York Station Gateway, Queen Street, York. Work was carried out by York Archaeology from January to March 2022. Two trenches were excavated on Queen Street for the installation of telecommunication maintenance chambers, positioned approximately 200m apart. Trench 1 was southwest of the medieval city wall close to the junction of Queen Street, Micklegate, Nunnery Lane and Blossom Street, while Trench 2 was located northwest of the medieval defences opposite York Railway Station. Trench 1 revealed deposits containing artefacts indicative of high status activity on or near the site during the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, and which may have continued into the 4th century CE. The earliest features investigated were 2nd century CE pits, later sealed below dumps that may have been linked with the disposal of material generated as a result of development in the colonia during the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. The dumping also served to raise ground level to a point where ground conditions were drier. Following the elevation of ground level pit digging and rubbish disposal returned to the site, hinting at occupation close-by in the mid-3rd to 4th century CE. In the late 3rd to 4th century CE a fairly crude surface was laid down, this largely comprised of cobbles but also incorporated other hard wearing material such as brick, roofing tile and fragments of amphora. A significant change to the character of activity at the site then occurred in the 4th century CE, with what appears to be an accumulation of agricultural soil. Pit digging for refuse disposal resumed in the 11th/13th century, hinting at a return to activity of a more urban character at the site. Trench 2 was situated on the south-eastern periphery of the Railway Station cemetery. Some evidence for Roman period funerary activity was found, including disarticulated human bone and Roman pottery. However, the remains appear disturbed or redeposited during construction of the railway station in the 19th century.