Staff and students from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s Lampeter campus have found artefacts dating back to the Neolithic or ‘New Stone Age’ during an archaeological dig at Llanllyr in Talsarn.

The exercise, part of an undergraduate fieldwork module enabling participants to obtain field practice in archaeology, saw excavations on low mounds surrounded by marshland.

“These ‘islands’ of dry ground appear to have been the focus of activity in the Neolithic period between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago when people left behind traces of activity in the form of flint artefacts,” said a spokesperson.

Among the artefacts found from one trench was a ground stone axe which would have taken a considerable time to make. 

The team is also investigating the wider landscape of these earlier ancestors through boreholes to recover samples suitable for reconstructing the vegetation and providing material to date the finds.

Joining team leader Dr Martin Bates, a geo-archaeologist at the university said: “Running an excavation like this is an important part of our teaching here at Lampeter and giving our students the opportunity to gain the skills an archaeologist needs is very important.

“When we began our excavations we did not anticipate finding Neolithic artefacts so this is a bonus for the team.

“Hopefully, we can come back next year with a new group of students and continue our investigation of this important piece of Ceredigion’s history.”

Joe Neal, a second-year student in archaeology, was the lucky student who found the stone axe.

“It’s a great find for us, I couldn’t have hoped to find anything better,” he said. “This is my first dig and the first time I have found anything, so this is great.”