ARCHAEOLOGICAL treasure unearthed during building of the Weymouth Relief Road is going on display in the town.

Ancient bones, Iron Age pottery, jewellery and other items have been recovered from the site of the £87.4million route.

One of the most remarkable finds saw dozens of skulls and decapitated bodies discovered in a mass grave at the top of Ridgeway.

Now the haul of historic treasure is being unveiled to local people at a free, three-day exhibition at Weymouth Pavilion.

Dorset County Council senior archaeologist Steve Wallis said: “Some people will be unaware of the scale of the archaeological work on the relief road.

“Before work started on the road, archaeologists investigated the Ridgeway Hill area between October and December 2008.

“This was followed by the discovery in spring 2009 of an Iron Age settlement on Southdown Ridge, south of Littlemoor, and then the unique mass burial pit on Ridgeway was uncovered last summer.

“The three sites are totally different to one another and hopefully residents will get a real flavour of the variety of finds by coming along to the exhibitions.”

Oxford Archaeology was contracted by the county council to undertake all archaeological work throughout the relief road scheme.

Project manager David Score said it had been a ‘pleasure’ to work on the project.

“We’re looking forward to sharing our findings so far with Dorset residents,” he said.

“Two skeletons from the Ridgeway burial pit will be on display alongside Iron Age jewellery, pottery and remains from one of the other 100 burials discovered on the site.”

The finds will go on display at the Pavilion Ocean Room between 10am and 5pm on Sunday, March 21, and between 9am and 8pm on Monday and Tuesday, March 22 and March 23.

Dorset County Council leader Angus Campbell added: “This is a truly exciting event for residents across Dorset to come and share in.

“It is not often that remarkable finds from such a wide historic time period are displayed in a free event for the community.”

Enthusiasts are also being invited to a day school – complete with archaeology presentations – on Saturday, March 20.

For details on the £12 session, visit www.dorsetforyou.com/weymouth reliefroad. Booking information is also available at County Hall, Dorset County Museum, the Timewalk Museum and tourist information centres.