A large extraction pit, containing a large amount of prehistoric pottery, was also uncovered in this area. The haul included the complete base of a pottery vessel.

Carbonised remains in the pit may include seeds which will give archaeologists an idea about what prehistoric farmers were growing and eating.

On the future primary school site, remains of a later landscape were revealed.

These comprised several unusual flat-bottomed ditches of Roman date that may have been field boundaries.

A flint arrow head – at least 4,000 years old – also came from this site. It would have been used by early farmers or hunters before the use of metal in Britain.

Much of the Sussex coastal plain at that time would have been 'wild' waste and woodland.

Future studies will compare the alignments of the ancient field boundaries with the 18th and 19th century landscape that existed before the schools were built.

The archaeological excavations were carried out last August during the early stages of work on the campus.



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