Suspected medieval alehouse unearthed in east Yorkshire

One of the UK's best-preserved deserted medieval villages is thought to have been discovered by archaeologists.

A key motivation of the project is to get new people involved in heritage projects.

Organisers say that they also want to find things.

Surveys show that the field contains more than a dozen buried dwellings.

The assistant site manager at the dig said that medieval villages were poorly understood.

She said that it is rare to find one that has not been replanted. It gives us the chance to look at an archaeological site.

The main street of a medieval village that has not been excavated is a rare sight. It is in excellent condition. We still have a lot to learn from it.

A big building the archaeologists worked on was thought to be an inn. Samuel said that the pottery they were getting didn't fit a domestic dwelling. There were a lot of jug handles.

Window lead, roof tile, floor tile, and some worked stone were found. It was a large building. It's possible that it was a place where people were staying.

Samuel said volunteers found a surprising number of knives, lots of pottery dating from the 12th to 15th centuries, several pins, numerous animal bones and a good number of objects they do not know anything about.

Many images of these have been uploaded to social media. Someone will usually say, "Oh yes, I dug one of those up back in 1993!"

Samuel said that the owner of the field was interested in having it looked at. She had specific ideas about the type of project she wanted.

The main aim of Ethos Heritage is to encourage the involvement of people who have not previously been involved with archaeology and heritage.

Samuel said that most of the volunteers had never been to an excavation.

Pupils from a special educational needs school earned their archaeology badges at the site.

The project was designed to help tackle the isolation many still feel after a lockdown.

Samuel said that most of the people on the site had never done archaeological work before. They said they would have a go and ended up staying for two weeks.

People were making friends and they were making connections and that was the joy of it. It was enjoyable.

The perfect location for a settlement is the field, with its views up to Flamborough and Filey, across the Holderness coast and down to the Humber.

Samuel said that it was likely used throughout human habitation. It is an interesting spot and it probably has a very deep history. There is something about it that makes it very special.