The BARC Collections

The Keith Manchester Lab.

The collections of human remains curated in the BARC are large, varied, and cover a considerable time span from the Neolithic to the 19^th century. It is the largest collection of human skeletal remains held within an archaeology department in the UK. Most of our collections come from England, and were excavated by different field units or research projects as a result of the planning process. Further information about some of the sites, including case studies of interesting individuals, can be found via the links.

Prehistoric:

Wetwang Slack, East Yorkshire (Bronze Age and Iron Age, c.450 individuals)*
Barton-under-Needwood (Bronze Age cremations)

Roman:

Baldock, Hertfordshire (139 individuals)
Kingsholm, Gloucester (51 individuals)**
Various Roman sites from around Gloucester, many of whom have evidence of pathology (40 individuals)**
Piccadilly, York (9 individuals)
Odiham, Hampshire (5 individuals)

Anglo-Saxon:

Eccles, Kent (7^th century and later, 171 individuals)
Raunds, Northamptonshire (10^th to 11^th centuries, 357 individuals)
Crayke, North Yorkshire (9^th to 10^th centuries, 21 individuals)
Sancton, East Yorkshire (23 cremations, 5^th to 6^th centuries)*

Medieval:

St. James and St. Mary Magdalene, Chichester, West Sussex (leprosarium and alms house, early 12^th to 17^th century, 374 individuals)***
St. Giles, Brough, North Yorkshire (rural hospital, 92 individuals)
Blackfriars, Gloucester (Dominican Friary, 1246 to 1539 AD, 192 individuals)**
Hereford Cathedral (lay cemetery including, two large plague pits, Late Saxon to Medieval, c. 1200 individuals)
Box Lane, Pontefract (lay cemetery, 88 individuals)
Towton (mass grave related to the Battle of Towton, 1461 AD, 37 individuals)

Post Medieval:

St Peter's Wolverhampton (urban, 19^th century, 150 individuals)
Hickleton, South Yorkshire (rural, medieval and post medieval, 28 individuals)
Helmsley, North Yorkshire (rural Quaker cemetery, 19^th century, 7 individuals)

International Collections:

Niah Caves, Sarawak, Malaysia (Neolithic, 56 individuals)

In addition, small numbers of skeletons or skeletal elements from many different archaeological sites are curated at the BARC. Most of these have interesting pathological conditions, and are used extensively in our teaching and research.

The skeletal collections held by the BARC are continuously added to with populations coming to the laboratory for analysis on a contractual basis, many of which are returned to archaeological contractors following analysis.

* On loan from the Hull and East Riding Museum
** On loan from Gloucester City Council Heritage and Museums Service
***On loan from Chichester District Museum

Last Updated:24 June 2011