Thousands of years of history were unearthed in a Cornish field by a team of archaeologists.The excavation site, in a farmer's field opposite St Newlyn East village hall, has revealed the site of a Neolithic henge monument which could date back to 5,000 years ago.
Henge monuments, which include Stonehenge in Wiltshire, are circular or oval-shaped areas which are enclosed by a boundary and often comprise a ditch.
The team from Cornwall Archaeology Society, led by Dr Andy Jones, also unearthed Roman relics including a pottery, weight and horse's head.
The men and women armed with trowels have spent more than a week on site trying to reveal the secrets of the past.
However, it was a modern invention, the aeroplane, which first identified the ancient feature.
Dr Jones said: "The feature was identified from the air in 2002. It was a circular dark mark in the corner of the field called a crop mark."
The mark was created by a ditch which encircles the henge where the crops have grown differently due to the extra depth.
Dr Jones said: "It was most probably used for ceremonial purposes and hopefully it will date back to 5,000 years ago.
"There is also a ring of quite large boulders forming the edge of a massive pit where we have found Roman artefacts such as pottery. We also found a horse's head. There is a second pit where we have found a really nice stone weight.
"The exciting thing about archaeology is you never know what you are going to find."
The discovery of the horse's head dating back to Roman times is unusual in Cornwall because the acidity in the soil would usually destroy it.
The team of archaeologists, most of whom are amateurs undertaking training on the site, will continue work in their trenches throughout the week hoping to uncover even more ancient finds.
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