The remains of approximately 50 'roundhouses' in an enclosed two-hectare area were found at Banks Mining's Delhi surface mine on the Blagdon Estate near Seaton Burn.

A team from Tyne & Wear Museums Archaeology has just completed a five-month archaeological excavation at the site, unearthing and recording a large amount of information which will improve experts' understanding of the region during this period of history.

A number of similar settlements have been found in different part of the north east in recent years, including on the site of the nearby Newcastle Great Park, but this is one of the first settlements to be discovered and excavated so completely within its landscape context.

It is thought to have been occupied for up to 500 years, with a number of features showing how it evolved over that time.

Northumberland County Council Archaeologist, Nick Best, says: "Whilst this site was not visible above ground and didn't have many artefacts to give up, it is unusual for us to be able to obtain so much information from a single location.

"Details such as where houses and ditches overlap clearly illustrate how the community evolved over time.

"The relatively undisturbed nature of the site makes interpretation of what we've found there much easier, and being able to examine and record it all in such detail over many months has enabled us to gather a great deal of useful information on how people lived around 2,500 years ago."

On completion of the dig, the land has been returned to Banks for operational use, as sites of this type are not generally preserved by archaeologists once all the available data has been recorded.

Steven Harrison, Managing Director of Banks Mining, adds: "Close cooperation between Banks and the County Archaeologist's team has ensured that this important site has been assessed without compromising either our mining operations or the full investigation of the settlement.

"We're now looking at undertaking similar operations at the site of the Shotton mine, where coaling will begin in the near future, and hope to be able to report similarly exciting discoveries in due course."