KEEPING mementoes of loved ones dates back at least 2,000 years in Britain, according to new research by York University.

Researchers studied Iron Age items owned by the dead which people could not bring themselves to throw away.

They studied the Scottish hill fort settlement of Broxmouth, which dates from 640BC to AD210, and discovered everyday items like quernstones, used for grinding grain, and bone spoons found between roundhouse walls could have been placed there by loved ones.

The items were kept by Iron Age people as an emotional reminder and a "continuing bond" with the deceased, say the experts.

The research focused on what they called “problematic stuff” or everyday items used or owned by a dead person that relatives might not want to reuse - but which they were unable to simply throw away.

Dr Lindsey Büster, of the University of York’s Department of Archaeology, who carried out the research, said: “It is important to recognise the raw emotional power that everyday objects can acquire at certain times and places.

“Archaeologists have tended to focus on the high material value or the quantity of objects recovered and have interpreted these as deposited for safe keeping or gifts to the gods.

“My work uses archaeology to open up discussions around death, dying and bereavement in contemporary society, demonstrating that even the most mundane objects can take on special significance if they become tangible reminders of loved ones no longer physically with us.”

The study compared Iron Age and modern day behaviour - in modern times mostly clothes and shoes are kept.

Dr Büster added: “Archaeologists tend to caution against the transplanting of modern emotions onto past societies but I suggest that the universality of certain emotions does allow for the extrapolation of modern experiences onto the past, even if the specifics vary.

“I consider the experience of grief and bereavement to be one such emotion, even if the ways in which this was processed and navigated varies between individuals and societies.

“This research helps bring us a little closer to past individuals whose experience of life (and death), was in some ways, not so different from our own.”