Archaeologists have discovered 4,000-year-old artefacts while doing excavation work for Newsquest Oxfordshire’s new £20m press hall.

Irrigation gullies and pottery dating from the Bronze Age have been unearthed as well as coins which are thought to be medieval.

The work at the Osney Mead base in Oxford was undertaken because it is known that there was a Bronze Age settlement in the area.

A Bronze Age sword had previously been found and archaeologist Stephen Hammond said the new finds were significant.

He said: “It’s not unusual to find something around a place like Oxford, where there’s been a lot of activity over time, but it’s always exciting to find something like this.”

The artefacts will be given to Oxfordshire County Council’s archaeology department for further analysis.