At http://m.yorkpress.co.uk/news/10212660.Remarkable_new_finds_below_York-M… … is a story that the Guardian briefly toyed with so we may assume a press release and an announcement regarding the discovery of a fresh coin dating from the Anglo Saxon period, prior to the Vikings. However, underneath the story is another, hidden tale lurking there. The coin style and attribution is known from three other examples – and they are all regarded as fakes. This is why the find was not hailed some weeks ago. It had to be checked out. The problem was the latest coin was pristine new when it was dropped and lost – which is enough by itself to cause one to pause and take a deep breath. The press release is in fact a taster of more information that will follow later in the month when we may find out the context of the find – but it appears to have a connection with the dark earth layer. This is known from many other post-Roman sites and now it has popped up at York. Was the Minster site abandoned for a while?
See also www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/06/york-minster-discoveries-romans-viking…