ARCHAEOLOGISTS discovered the true meaning of life on the edge yesterday, as an emergency effort to salvage buried treasure was launched.

English Heritage experts began a rescue operation at Whitby Abbey, in North Yorkshire, where a stretch of the headland rich in archaeological deposits is in danger of crumbling into the North Sea.

It is feared the cliff edge is likely to retreat by up to 30 metres in the next 20 years after several landslips confirmed the unstable nature of the area's geology.

One of the most immediate concerns for archaeologists is a stretch of the headland near St Hilda's Abbey, which is known to hold vital clues about the earliest period of the monastery, founded in 657AD by King Oswy of Northumbria.

In a pioneering salvage operation, English Heritage is using a 15-tonne long-armed caterpillar digger to claw back soil and rocks within ten metres of the cliff edge.

Work along the 148-metre zone, which is closed to the public, because of the imminent danger of collapse, will take six days.

After sifting through their findings, conservationists will dig several trenches further back from the threatened zone, which it is hoped will provide more clues about human occupation on the headland.

Project manager Pete Busby said: "Not only is Whitby Abbey Headland one of the most important archaeological sites in the North, but it's also one of the most puzzling.

"Everywhere we look, we see signs of a large-scale urban complex dating back to the Saxon period, but contemporaries such as the Venerable Bede offer only tantalising glimpses.

"Unfortunately, the clock is not on our side and a significant slice of the headland will be lost before the geology stabilises."

The salvage operation will also give English Heritage a chance to test methods for coping with other historic sites threatened by erosion.

Last year's devastating floods wreaked havoc along the North Yorkshire coastline, with several areas left off-bounds to walkers and tourists.

The 110-mile Cleveland Way was badly affected and gravestones at St Mary's Church in Whitby, immortalised in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, were left teetering on the edge of a cliff face.