Gateway excavations reveal ancient bones

ANCIENT bones of a red deer potentially more than 5,000 years old have been discovered in the Mersey Estuary by workers constructing the Mersey Gateway Bridge.

The bones were uncovered at an area of the saltmarsh on the Widnes side of the estuary.

A Mersey Gateway spokesman said the bones are thought to have been deposited in the silt at the base of the Mersey and have been sent to a laboratory to be carbondated.

They were located close to where timbers from the late Mesolithic period were discovered last summer.

Archeologists believe the bones are most likely to have come from a single red deer.

Merseylink environment manager, Victoria Pollard, said: “A small quantity of vertebrate remains were recovered during the excavation of two bridge piers on the northern saltmarsh.

“The vertebrate remains were all of red deer and comprised four bones – metacarpal, metatarsal, radius and tibia – and a single fragment of a naturally shed antler, indicating a large adult male deer.”

Ms Pollard said that all of the bones may be from a single individual because they showed a similar degree of preservation.

She added: “As the bones were found close to timbers from the Late Mesolithic period it is assumed that the bones are of a similar age, around 3,000 years BC.”