Iron Age settlement unearthed at Swindon building site
A small Iron Age settlement has been found during excavations at the site of a new housing development near Swindon.
A number of "round houses" with hundreds of pits for storage are among the discoveries at Ridgeway Farm, where Taylor Wimpey is building 700 homes.
Other items found include loom weights for weaving, quern stones for grinding corn and various personal items.
Andrew Manning from Wessex Archaeology, which is carrying out the work, said the find was of local significance.
He added that some evidence of Roman life, notably a large clay quarry pit, had been unearthed as well.
The archaeological digging is expected to continue for a further three weeks.
A Taylor Wimpey spokesman said: "We scheduled the archaeological investigation into our programme of work, as it is a vital step of the process.
"The work will continue until our contractors are completely satisfied that they have thoroughly investigated and recovered everything which they need for further analysis."