Richard Mortimer, senior project manager at Oxford Archaeology East reports the find of some of the earliest pottery yet unearthed on farmland next to Ormesby Broad on the Norfolk Broads (England). Neolithic flints and pottery shards dating back more than 5,000 years were found, including a loom weight for weaving cloth and a rare whetstone - something normally only found in burial grounds. The excavation also uncovered an extensive Middle Bronze Age field system dating back to about 1,500 BCE, indicating that such organised systems of farming were in use in the Broads earlier than previously thought.
     "We have not only shown that, contrary to virtually all published sources and expectations, Norfolk certainly does have Middle Bronze Age field systems, but they have a complexity that has rarely been seen elsewhere in the county. It seems man, who dug out the Broads, was living and farming here earlier than we thought. It adds a new chapter to the Middle Bronze Age story for Norfolk," Mortimer said.    
     The dig precedes the creation of 12 man-made silt lagoons that will hold sediment from the eastern arm of Ormesby Broad and are aimed at improving water quality and encouraging wildlife in a £120,000 project funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Source: BBC One Minute World News (17 June 2010)