Complete neolithic pot found in Didcot

The neolithic pot found in Didcot is thought to be about 5,500 years old

Archaeologists working on a housing development in Oxfordshire claim to have found one of the oldest complete pots in the country.

The neolithic find was discovered on a housing development in Didcot and is thought to be about 5,500 years old.

Archaeologist Rob Masefield said they could determine its age by the nature of the pot.

He said: "Pots change shape and form, and in the Neolithic, this is the first farmers, they had round based pottery.

"That was because they carried it around in baskets, they didn't have any flat surfaces to put it on."

The change from a hunter-gatherer to farming way of life is what defines the start of the neolithic age.

The concept of farming reached Britain between about 5000 BC and 4500 BC.

Archaeologists have also discovered the remains of a later Iron Age village which consists of a number of round houses defined by post holes in the ground.

Each has a porch facing east towards the sunrise.

Mr Masefield said: "They're very rare in terms of the number and the quality of the preservation of these things so we are quite excited about that too."