NORTHERN ENGLAND (BobZaguy) – British archaeologists at the University of York in the city of York, have found quite the rare surprise — an unusually well-preserved children’s alphabet block. It is pictured in the bottom right hand corner of the photo at left. Next to what at first glance seems to be a human skull.
Scientists said Friday that the small wooden letter block was easily more than 2,000 years old. It appears to have been manufactured somewhere outside the country and possibly brought in as long ago as the Roman conquest. The unearthed block was called “a freak of preservation.”
The wood block was found buried next to the old human skull which was said to have some kind of tissue inside (the dark mass in the photo of the skull). The skull was also brought in for a quick look-over by the scientists.
According to Richard Cuthbertson, director of the York Archaeological Trust, “The rare block will be carbon-dated and then our team of scientists will pore over it to determine not only where it originated, but how it came to be buried in this muddy pit. It is jaw-droppingly the finest example of an advanced high degree of wood carving and letter painting that we have ever discovered anywhere, especially when you consider this was just a few kilometers from our fine seat of knowledge. We are surprised to note too that this block has three Latin letters A, C and H painted on the visible sides of the block. When we are able to turn the block over we hopefully expect to find three more, and different, letters of the yet-to-be-determined alphabet. A number of world language experts have been notified to clear their calendars for the month of January,” he said. More research will be needed.
Cuthbertson noted that the underside of the block could have possibly been compromised. “It is sadly possible that the rest of the block might be destroyed or severely deteriorated in some manner. We won’t know until we turn it over. This Yorkshire dirt is quite aggressive when it comes to buried treasure. We have seen substances much more hearty than wood – iron, granite, plastic – that have been completely decimated to the point of non-recognition in some of our digs. Just a month ago, we found some strange substance in an area that seemed like it could be some form of circular metal – it turned out to be just a toilet tissue roll, much to our embarrassment.” He said, slightly smiling.
“This block is exciting to us as scientists because it is so well preserved. We think it is the oldest recorded find of this type in the U.K., and one of the earliest worldwide,” he said. He noted that far older blocks, some as old as 8,000 years, were found in 1986 when dozens of them were found buried in a peat bog in the southern United States. “That find,” laughed Cuthbertson, “turned out to be an impossible jumble of letters with no apparent attempt of communicaton.” He said that no scientific study was made in that case and the blocks were simply given to a charity for resale.
“It’s a real freak of preservation to find just a single block and nothing else,” Cuthbertson said. “Usually you find at the least a word or two, sometimes a complete phrase, and every now and then the occasional complete sentence.”
Cuthbertson said the block was being kept in an environmentally controlled storage facility for further study. The skull is on the Director Cuthbertson’s desk mainly as a curiosity. Anyone can pick it up and try to emote, in their best Shakespearean actor’s voice, Hamlet’s line, “Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio.”