Students uncover the 2000-year-old remains of five bodies near Blandford in Dorset

The historic burial ground which dates to around 100BC, was discovered by university undergraduates on farm land at Winterborne Kingston, near Blandford.

The site is thought to have been an outcrop of the prehistoric town of Duropolis, named after the local Iron Age tribe the Durotriges.

The town, which was discovered in 2008, was older than Colchester and Silchester, which had been regarded as Britain's earliest towns.

Archaeology students at site near Blandford. Pictures BNPS

The oval shaped settlement of four roundhouses on the outskirts of Duropolis was later abandoned by the group of 40 people who lived there.

Decades later their descendants returned and ceremoniously laid to rest their dead.

The bodies were interned in ditches, originally used to store grain, along with sacrificial animals given as an offering to their pagan gods.

The one acre burial ground was found by students of Bournemouth University last September.

After months of planning and research, excavations began three weeks ago.

So far they have found the remains of three women and two men buried on the site consisting of around 75 ditches, between 3ft and 8ft deep.

2000-year-old remains of five bodies found in field. Photos by BNPS

They will help to build a 'unique and unparalleled picture' of life for the Iron Age people.

Dr Miles Russell, an archaeologist at Bournemouth University, said: "Iron Age settlements have been found across the country before but finding the people who lived there is really very unique.

"This is such an unusual site because Iron Age people did not tend to bury their dead but here in Dorset it was very different.

"We can see that people in Dorset buried their dead but we have no idea why. These skeletons are providing a whole range of information that you would not find anywhere else in the country.

"Along with the 50 other skeletons we have found in the area over the last decade, they help us to build an unparalleled data set."

Remains found in Dorset. Photos BNPS

The oval shaped settlement was built around 100 years before the Roman invasion of Britain.

The pits were originally used to store grain but repurposed as burial units after the farmstead was abandoned in around 30BC.

The discovery sheds new light on the unique burial rites of Iron Age settlers in Dorset.

As an offering to their pagan gods, relatives of the dead placed animal sacrifices beneath their bodies at the bottom of the ditches.

Dr Russell said: "The bodies we found here were buried after the site was abandoned between 30AD and 10AD - the eve of the Roman invasion.

"They were probably descendents of the people who used to live at the farmstead and were taken there to be close to their ancestors. "The pits were originally used to store grain or as cold stores for food. We think they are just a sample of what's beneath the surface and we hope to find more bodies in the coming weeks.

Work on the site near Blandford. Photos BNPS

"This would have been quite a small settlement, effectively a prehistoric suburb of the larger Duropolis. We'll do DNA analysis of the skeletons to see how closely related they were to bodies we have found elsewhere in the area.

"We're hoping to slice through time to establish lines of descent, interpersonal relationships, and common ancestry.

"One we're finished, we'll rebury them back in the landscape they would have known.

"This work will give us a vital understanding of ordinary people and their everyday lives and religious practices.

"At the bottom of the pits are sacrificed horses and cows. They were cut into sections and a torso of a cow would have the head of a horse attached to it.

"It is a strange macabre jigsaw of sacred animals offered to their gods. This is information we just would not find anywhere else."

First discovered in 2008, Duropolis was a huge open occupation seen for miles around, at a time when hillforts were still common.

It is the largest unenclosed settlement yet uncovered in the UK and had more than 150 roundhouses in an area of four hectares, as well as storage facilities, animal pens and agricultural outbuildings.

The site shows that towns weren't introduced by the Romans, as many people believed, but existed at least 100 years before they invaded.

The newly-unearthed farmstead is roughly half a mile to the north west of Duropolis.

Once the 65 undergraduates have finished at the current site, they will use sophisticated technology to scan the surrounding areas for further archaeological structures.