"Unprecedented find" at Cambridgeshire dig

Archaeologists have uncovered the most complete example of a Bronze Age wheel ever found in Britain, shedding new light on the lives of our ancestors.

A dig at the edge of a brick quarry near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, has already drawn comparisons with the Roman city Pompeii - because it provides a time capsule into Bronze Age life, just as the era was ending.

Dwellings discovered at Must Farm quarry in Whittlesey were built on stilts on a river and destroyed in a fire 3,000 years ago.

Now among the water and silt which has preserved countless artefacts, the team has found a wheel thought to date from 1100-800 BC.

The ancient wooden wheel is one metre in diameter and is so well preserved it still contains part of the axle.

Historic England said the find is unprecedented in terms of size andcompleteness. Before that the oldest Bronze Age wheel ever found in Britain was found at nearby Flag Fen in Peterborough but it was incomplete and much smaller.