ARCHAEOLOGISTS digging up a Dorset field have discovered artefacts that show how life changed during a crucial period in history.

Bournemouth University specialists are spending their third summer working on land near Winterborne Kingston, just north of Bere Regis.

This year they started excavating Roman buildings dating to around 300AD.

They have found that even after the empire and its economy collapsed, people carried on using the site, and made their own buildings from the Roman remains.

“The traditional thought is that after Roman Britain ended, it was total disorder. Lots of people died and we went into a dark age,” said senior lecturer Paul Cheetham.

“But here life carried on – you don’t need a beautiful mosaic to live.”

Bournemouth University has 146 student archaeologists on the site off West Street and the Roman remains are continuing to turn up ornate artefacts.

One was a coin that had been turned into a pendant, from the period after Christianity became the Empire’s official religion in 313AD.

It was marked with the early Christian symbol, the ‘Chi Rho’, and will be featured in the next series of the BBC show Digging For Britain.

Another was a carved bone knife handle, originally from the Eastern Mediterranean, bearing an image of the goddess Minerva or the beast Medusa.

It was described by one expert as the finest examples of carved bone yet found in Britain, said Mr Cheetham.

The site mainly consist of grain storage pits and huts used by famers growing food for the Roman Legions stationed in Germany.

The Durotriges, the tribe who lived in Dorset, are usually thought to have been among the most resistant to Roman rule and built their own forts at sites including Maiden Castle and Hod Hill.

Their remains have also been revealing new insights this summer.

The team has found apparently deliberate deposits of horse and cow bones – for example a horse’s skull with a cow’s jaw – which suggests these bones had special meaning.

“This mix of bones is repeated time and time again,” said Mr Cheetham. “Our specialist is absolutely convinced it is deliberate and it’s quite unique to this site.”

The site is holding an open day on Sunday, July 3.

Contact Bournemouth University for details.