The discoveries – which include pottery, personal artefacts, tools, barrows and roundhouses – revealed that Sherford was once home to historic communities dating back over 6,000 years.

The Sherford Consortium funded the work, which was carried out by Wessex Archaeology alongside Devon County Council and consultants AECOM.

The investigations have been taking place at the location of the new development for the past two years and have included trial trench evaluations, excavations and site-wide geophysical surveys.

The Sherford community development will see Linden Homes, Bovis Homes and Taylor Wimpey provide 5,500 new homes, over 80,000m² of employment and retail space and new community facilities, including a town hall.

“We are proud to be funding this work and delighted that the creation of a new community here at Sherford has offered a unique opportunity to find out more about previous communities here,” said Emma Smith of the Sherford Consortium.

•   Excavations begin at the site of Henry VIII's Hull fortress
•   Crossrail completes largest archaeology programme in the UK
•   Ancient artefacts found on £380m A1 upgrade scheme

“As 2018 sees more new residents moving in, this is becoming a thriving, modern place to live, which has a rich and emerging heritage of its own.

“It is fantastic to be able to share these findings and encourage more people to learn more about Devon’s rich history and how families and communities lived over 6,000 years ago.”

Wessex Archaeology is continuing to work with the Sherford Consortium, Devon County Council and AECOM to ensure that the archaeological remains on the site are dealt with in an appropriate way.

"The archaeological work has revealed [the] deep roots of a community in the area of Sherford,” said John Hart, leader of Devon County Council.

“It highlights how rich and diverse the heritage of Devon’s prehistoric and Roman archaeology is in the landscape of rural, lowland Devon.

“It's been encouraging to see so many people turning up to see archaeology in practice in order to find out more about the history of the area, and the cutting-edge recording techniques used by the consortium’s archaeological consultants have really brought the results to life."