Ref. 25725-25A flint tool dating back more than 6,000 years has been discovered at Swindon's buried Roman complex.

The 13-strong team of English Heritage experts uncovered the Neolithic tool during a five-week investigation at the Groundwell Ridge site.

Experts believe the flint, which has been fashioned into a scraping tool, was created some time between 4,500BC and 2,500BC.

Project director Pete Wilson, whose five-week investigation is due to finish tomorrow, said: "The flint looks like it has been shaped into a tool. One edge has been sharpened.

"Although it's not quite a blade, it would have been sharp enough to cut things such as meat. It was found about halfway up the slope.

"We also uncovered Roman coins and brooches dating from up to 1,800 years ago."

The recent haul also includes Roman and medieval pottery and Roman tiles, and has determined the positions of buried pits, post holes, ditches, gullies and hearths which belonged to the Roman settlement.

Mr Wilson said the investigation also established that the council's proposed site for a cycle track would not damage any archaeology.

The finds will be displayed this weekend between 10am and 5pm at Groundwell Ridge, as part of the National Archae-ology Days event.

People will have the chance to learn how to dig a pit, participate in pot washing and hear about Swindon's Roman history.

Channel 4's Time Team carried out its own investigation at the site, alongside English Heritage, during the Big Dig weekend three weeks ago.

Some of its findings included a cobbled stone floor dating from the Iron Age, and a deep deposit of Roman soil, which corroborates the theory that there was a bustling kitchen within the Roman complex.

After the site was discovered in 1997, Swindon archaeologists Bryn Walters and Bernard Philips found it comprised complex buildings, a hypocaust a system of under-floor heating, usually part of a Roman bathhouse and a managed water supply.

Dr Walters, who will attend the weekend's event, said: "The presence of so much water indicates that the site has to be a religious sanctuary of some sort and not a Roman villa."

Anyone interested in attending the free event should book first by calling 07889 808139. They should park at the North Swindon District Centre, near Asda Wal-Mart.

www.english-heritage.org.uk

Neolithic fact file

In southern England the Neolithic period dates from the development of the first farming communities around 4000BC to the start of bronze technology in 2000BC.

Stonehenge is an example of a Neolithic structure.

Some 6,000 years ago inhabitants from the Mediterranean region moved to England, bringing with them the idea of agriculture.

Neolithic farmers settled in stable communities, cleared land, planted wheat and barley, and raised herds of domesticated sheep, cattle, and pigs.

They settled on the easily drained soils of the upland hills and on the coastal plains.

This meant that the areas of heaviest settlement were the chalk hills of the South and West of England.

The Neolithic person would have died at about 35 years old.