THE mystery over the stone Elvis look-alike found on the North York Moors was solved at the stone festival held at Lastingham village hall at the weekend.

Neil Davidson, chairman of The Friends of Lastingham Church, who organised the event, said archaeological experts brought in to study the range of stones some dating back over a thousand years believed it was the head from a grotto and dated back to either the 17th or 18th Century.

The Antiques Roadshow type afternoon saw residents from Lastingham and surrounding villages take along more than 70 carved stones, many of which had been dug up years ago and used as garden features, said Mr Davidson.

"We had some very interesting exhibits and it was a brilliant success. The village hall was packed and I'm sure it generated a lot of enthusiasm for archaeology." All the stones were photographed and recorded before their owners took them home, including fragments of flint from an Iron Age Fort at Sutton Bank.

A panel of eminent historians and archaeologists shared their expertise to date stones found in old field walls and gardens.

One of the discoveries, said Mr Davidson, was a stone pillar which turned out to be a Roman incense burner. The team later toured gardens in Lastingham where stones were too big to carry to the village hall, and also studied the historic St Mary's Church, famous for its crypt of St Cedd where they identified two items as Roman altars which they believed had been re-worked in Saxon times.