Iron Age tools and Roman jewellery among finds from Angmering development

The objects were discovered at the housebuilder’s Ecclesden Park development in Water Lane and protected to help young people learn more about the history of their area.

Items including tools used for crops or cattle farming, a neolithic flint axe, Roman jewellery and various examples of Roman pottery were shown to year-seven students during an interactive assembly detailing the discovery and subsequent excavation process.

Odile Rouard, project officer at TVAS, said: “For the archaeology community, these finds are extremely important. They will help us to further our understanding of this complex jigsaw puzzle that is our past.

“Both the objects and the layout of the site have contributed to our knowledge of this previous community’s work-life patterns and will be compared with other excavations both locally and more broadly across the UK to aid archaeologists and local historians work on the area.”

Archaeologists from TVAS presented the discoveries to students, explaining how the objects were uncovered, what archaeology looks like on the ground and their significance to local history.

Kimberley Benson, sales and marketing director for David Wilson Southern Counties, said: “We are proud to work with the team at TVAS to safely extract and identify these ancient finds and showcase them to local students.

“As a housebuilder creating new communities where history once lived, we believe it is important for local residents to learn about their past, and discover the ancient objects that have been sitting under our feet for so long.”

History teacher Peter Gibbons said the items found highlighted the diverse history of Angmering and they had really helped to inspire a group of new budding archaeologists in school.

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