History of York

Bodies were cremated and buried in specially made ceramic vessels such as this one found at Heworth, just outside of the city centre.

Cemetery remains are one of few pieces of evidence that York was occupied in the two centuries following the end of Roman empire.

Click on the image to see the decoration in more detail.  Given that these pots were used to store people's ashes it's likely that the pattern held some special meaning.  But no one has yet come up with a convincing theory of what that might be.