Investigations at Cemex UK's Kingsmead Quarry have unearthed a Neolithic age house

A £5million (€6.3million) archaeological investigation ahead of a quarry expansion in the UK has unearthed the remains of a Neolithic house – one of only three known in the UK. The investigation at Cemex UK’s Kingsmead Quarry in Horton, Berkshire is being carried out ahead of a £3.3million (€4.1million) investment at the site in new aggregates processing facilities and installation of a ready mixed concrete plant.

The foundations of the Neolithic house were found during investigations ahead of expansion at the Cemex site.

Following discovery of the 6000 year old structure on the site, further investigations are being carried out to determine the uses and activities that may have taken place within the house. “In comparison to today’s houses it is relatively small, but its discovery provides us with one of the best plans for one of the oldest houses in Britain,” said Cemex UK sustainability director Andy Spencer.

“From the layout we can picture a rectangular building with walls made from split logs and a thatched roof. It probably didn’t have a chimney, and smoke from the hearth would have seeped through the thatch, which was high enough to avoid catching fire from the sparks.”

An artists impression of how the Neolithic house could have looked

Other, recent finds on the site have included some 10,000 year old flint tools, traces of broken pottery in small rubbish pits, which indicate traces of the first farmers at Horton. There has also been the unusual find of cache of eight flint arrowheads from around 2000BC, and a large elegant bronze pin believed to be used to pin the cloak of a farmer dating back to around 1500BC, in the middle of the Bronze Age.