SIX skeletons discovered on a housing development site have been found to date from the Iron Age.

Last summer six skeletons were unearthed on a disused garage site on the High Street in Gargrave.

The site was being excavated by archaeologists under terms of the planning approval given to Procter Homes by Craven District Council.

Two skeletons were found in July and four more were found in September.

The six skeletons were sent to Miami for carbon dating and scientists there found the bodies to date from between 340 BC and 100 AD. This would make them late Iron Age, early Roman.

The scientists revealed that the bodies comprised three females and two males. They were unable to determine the sex of the sixth skeleton.

One of the males is thought to have been 36 years old and the undetermined skeleton is believed to be aged six to nine.

The age of the other victims are estimated at between 26 to 35.

The Heritage Unit of North Yorkshire County Council advised the district council that a scheme of archaeological evaluation was necessary prior to the development of the site to establish the nature and extent of any archaeological remains in the area.

As a result Procter Homes employed a team from the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service (WYAS) to evaluate the site.

They opened three trenches at a depth of one-and-a-half metres.

The team initially had difficulty dating the remains because two of the skeletons had been bound with their legs pulled tightly into their chests.

Director of Procter Homes, Gary Procter explained that no one from the team had seen a burial like that before.

The remains were believed to have been those of manual workers due to the stresses found on certain parts of the bones.

No disease was found in the bones so it is assumed that all deaths were natural.

The report written by WYAS suggests that the site was a cemetery, which was later settled on in the 13th century.

A number of historical sites have been unearthed in Gargrave over the years. It is believed to have once housed two Anglo-Saxon manors, one on each side of the river, which merged into one when the Normans invaded.

Remains of a manor house dating back to the 12th or 13th century have been found on West Street.

The village is also situated above an underground lake and was home to a large Roman settlement. And coins are regularly found in nearby fields.