Guided tours of Iron Age hill fort

Free guided tours of the excavation of an Iron Age hillfort in the North York Moors National Park are on offer on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 May 2011.

Archaeologists are currently carrying out a dig at Boltby Scar near Sutton Bank and people are invited to tour the site and hear from the team about what they’ve found.

Excavations have taken place on Boltby Scar on at least two occasions in the past, but virtually no information from these activities survives and in 1961 the hillfort was levelled by bulldozer.

[pullquote]The open day is a great opportunity for people to find out more about who lived in the area 2,500 years ago
Project Officer Jennifer Smith[/pullquote]

The current dig is seeking to look at the condition of the site (including the extent of the 1961 damage) as well as to recover dating and environmental evidence which should help in interpreting the hillfort’s context in the wider landscape.

The area around Sutton Bank was an important site for Iron Age man, with defensive earthworks and another hillfort at Roulston Scar.

Information from the excavation will be used to inform the public about the archaeology of the area as well as considering how best to manage and protect the site in the future.

The dig is being led by archaeologists from the Landscape Research Centre with help from volunteers and undergraduate archaeology students from York University.

A blog about the dig can be found at boltbyscar.wordpress.com

The excavation is part of the Lime & Ice Project, a partnership of several organisations that received a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund to carry out access, interpretation and conservation initiatives.

Project Officer Jennifer Smith, said: “The current excavation is building on our findings and knowledge from a smaller dig that took place at Boltby Scar in 2009. The open day is a great opportunity for people to find out more about who lived in the area 2,500 years ago and to take a rare glimpse behind the scenes of a working archaeological dig.”

Tours run at various times throughout the two days but people are advised to book in advance to guarantee a place by calling 01439 772738.