History uncovered

MORE than two years ago archeologists, excavating a site that was to be covered by a new military road, discovered an Iron Age settlement preserved in chalk downland.

Twenty-seven months later the army has officially opened its new £12 million road.

Thousands of artefacts were discovered before the work to remove the road surface to replace it with another to take the army's heavy training traffic.

Track roads, once pounded by army tanks, had been hiding a fascinating history lesson in life, five centuries before Christ was born.

Skeletons, weaving and spinning tools, pottery and brooches were all uncovered as archeologists excavated selected areas on the route of the new concrete highway.

Commandant of the Salisbury Plain training area, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Jelf, said: During the preliminary excavation of certain areas we have found 57,500 artefacts some dating to the Iron and Bronze Age settlements.

"Since 1887 the Plain has been a training area for the Army and during that time it has become evident it is a frozen landscape, rich in history from the Iron and Bronze Ages. In construction of this road we were careful not to damage any of these historic links."

Last Wednesday contractors and their guests along with Ministry of Defence VIPs gathered in Warminster for a ceremony to mark the opening of the road.