Wolfson Foundation grant will help Jorvik Viking Centre put baffling remains on show (From York Press)
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Wolfson Foundation grant will help Jorvik Viking Centre put baffling remains on show
9:17am Thursday 11th March 2010 in
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- By Richard Catton » richard.catton@thepress.co.uk
THE Jorvik Viking Centre is celebrating a huge cash boost only weeks after the completion of a £1million upgrade.
Bosses at York Archaeological Trust said they hoped the £150,000 grant from the Wolfson Foundation would enable them to find a home at Coppergate for some of the region’s most significant archaeological finds of recent years.
John Walker, head of the trust, said he would like to bring to Jorvik the ancient remains of ten Roman York residents which were unearthed at a dig in The Mount area in 2004.
The Roman-era find has divided experts, with some believing the decapitated bodies were those of gladiators while others believe they were criminals brought to York for execution.
Mr Walker said: “The puzzle will never be solved as to who these people were so I would maybe like to do some kind of CSI thing and visitors to the centre can make up their own minds.”
The upgrade of three galleries will concentrate on the increasingly popular scientific side of archaeology and the museum may also look into finding a home for an Iron Age brain fragment, the oldest ever found in the UK.
Sarah Maltby, director of attractions at Jorvic, said: “We did the front end with our Discover Coppergate glass floor and our animatronics.
“This money allows us to do what we call the ‘back end’, after you get off the train ride. This will be phase two of our development. We found the science side to be very popular and we are going to take elements of the popular things we know.”
Mrs Maltby said she hoped work on galleries one, two and three could begin this year.
“We have to plan when we do changes,” she said. “But we are looking at the end of the year.”
The Wolfson Foundation supports work in the fields of science and medicine, health, education and the arts and humanities.
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Jorvic “Vikings” celebrate news of the Wolfson Foundation grant.
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Garrowby Turnoff says...
9:34am Thu 11 Mar 10
Impressive?
Lost in the wealth of the nation's other magnificent historic finds, in the World's finest museum, the York helmet was the best of the Yorkshire exhibits. But it was not unique in its stardom there.
Back in York the pieces will recover their proper significance and importance. The Mount objects mentioned above will be best displayed at Jorvik, where they don't have to compete with all the rest of England's treasures.