Archaeologist happens upon Roman bone fragments – at the end of his road

Mike Heyworth with the bone fragments found in a mound of excavated soil.

Mike Heyworth says discovery in trench dug in York by utilities company demonstrates 'black holes' in archaeological planning

Mike Heyworth, president of the Council for British Archaeology, was trudging home after a long, hot day in the office when he was startled to find fragments of Roman bone and pottery lying on a heap of soil at the end of his road.

The trench dug by a utilities company in York, which had sliced through an ancient cemetery, was on the corner of a residential street near the city's racecourse.

But it was also just across the road from a site that made headlines worldwide:, a pit under suburban back gardens where more than 80 skeletons of young gladiators – including one with bite marks from a lion, and decapitated skulls with the marks of hammer blows – were excavated.

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