DWELLINGS dating back to the Iron Age and the Roman eras have been uncovered during major road improvement work on the A66.

The half-dozen round houses, including paddocks and fields, were uncovered along the A66 during work to create a dual carriageway.

The roadworks are focused on the stretch from Carkin Moor to Scotch Corner and Greta Bridge to Stephen Bank.

It was during excavations at Scotch Corner, near the junction of two Roman roads, that the discoveries were made.

Highways Agency project manager Lynne Biddles said: "It's fantastic we've been able to uncover all these settlements and artefacts ahead of these dualling schemes. We can now piece together the history of this area and preserve it for the wider community to enjoy."

The site is close to the Melsonby crossroads and other features include a circular house, square structures, pits and field ditches thought to be associated with a larger settlement close by on the other side of the A66, near Rock Castle Farm.

The finds, to be handed to a local museum, were discovered with the help of a team of archaeologists who have been carrying out detailed excavations in four areas on the Carkin Moor to Scotch Corner stretch.

The existing A66 follows the line of an important Roman road, dating back to the first century AD. Potential sites were discovered in 1999 and these helped to influence the early design of the road schemes.

Archaeologists were given the green light to begin the excavations last May. The road scheme has enabled them to carry out the first excavation of Scots Dyke, a large ditch running for 14km through North Yorkshire, in modern times.

Experts now believe it to be 1,000 years older than was previously thought and it is provisionally dated to the first century AD.

The site is considered of such importance that an unexcavated section will be preserved intact under the new A66.

Metal detecting near Black Plantation has revealed another insight into the way communities lived in the 17th and early 18th centuries, with the discovery of objects such as a small silver christening spoon.