The Viking who lay it down probably gave his faeces little thought but more than a millennium later it was, in its hardened form, a York museum's most treasured excrement.
School parties visiting the Archaeological Resource Centre would admire the artefact in a way that only children could. And all was well until two weeks ago when its display stand collapsed in the hands of an unfortunate teacher and, crashing to the floor, the rock-like lump broke into three pieces.
A reconstruction job is now under way to glue the Viking faeces back together again. Named the Lloyds Bank Turd after its discovery on a 1972 dig on the land now occupied by a Lloyds TSB bank in York, it is considered to be the largest complete example of preserved human excrement ever found.
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