Artefacts up to 4000 years old found at Olympic site

Rare archaeological discoveries made during a two-year excavation of the Olympics site have cast light on the history of east London.

Archeologists said the discovery of a 4,000-year-old Neolithic flint axe-head was "very significant" evidence of the level of pre-historic human activity.

The artefact is among rare finds which have enabled historians to chart activity in the Lower Lea Valley from the pre-historic age via the Iron Age to Roman times and beyond. Experts believe the hand axe was placed in a ritual burial at the point where the Lea met the Thames flood plain. Early settlers were attracted to the area to fish the Lea and hunt on the plains.

Kieron Tyler, of Museum of London Archaeology, said: "For the first time in this area of the Lower Lea Valley we have evidence of continued human activity from the Neolithic to the Roman period.

"We have revealed a part of London that is pre-London. The earliest developments were previously thought to be in the City area nearby, but as a result of this, the focus shifts eastwards."

Four skeletons that provide evidence of Iron Age communities were found in graves in the Carpenters Road area earmarked for the aquatics centre, and probably date from 100BC.

The north of the Olympic Park provided particularly rich pickings. As the foundations of the velodrome were dug a Victorian cobbled road linking water mills was uncovered. Archeologists also found helmets from the Second World War in the remains of gun emplacements on the velodrome site.

The Olympic Delivery Authority is expected to commission a book charting the area's history.