SKELETONS have been found on the route of Weymouth’s relief road.

Archaeologists found the remains of people from the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age and Roman graves in fields on the Ridgeway.

A team from Oxford Archaeology made the discoveries after being employed by Dorset County Council to inspect the area above the railway tunnel as part of preparation for the road.

The team found burial grounds at the start of the Bincombe Bumps, which are believed to be Bronze Age burial barrows originating from around 2000BC.

The archaeologists thought the site had already been heavily excavated by Victorians but have found tools, pottery and animal bones, which they think were buried in a post-feast ritual.

Oxford Archaeology’s project leader David Score said one of the Bronze Age cremated remains was buried with a dagger as a sign of their status.

He suspected the grave to be of a leader of a group of people who lived in the Weymouth area as the barrow is not visible from Dorchester.

He said: “You would have had to have been pretty important to have been buried here.

“We don’t like to use the word prince but it would have been someone of prestige in their group.

“This area is too cold for a settlement of people but groups marked out their territory by having burials here.

“This was a way of claiming the ground when more and more people were putting pressure on the land so nothing has changed in a way.”

Mr Score said the new road has given his team the opportunity to search and preserve archaeological finds that he hopes will finally be displayed in Dorset County Museum.

A 5.1-hectare area was stripped of topsoil close to Came Down for the inspection.

The inspectors believe the Romans would have found the Bincombe Bumps when they were still chalk mounds and decided they were suitable for their own burials.

A group of five pits in the area were found to be the site of crouched Neolithic burials, dating from 4000 to 2400 BC.

The team believe they represent the earliest evidence of human activity on the site.

Elsewhere other Bronze Age skeletons were found alongside artefacts including a beaker and pottery.

The team also found tracks and terracing they believe to illustrate farming at the site in the medieval period.

A small Victorian building at the top of a ventilation shaft for the railway tunnel has also been found.

The railway and its tunnel were constructed in the mid 19th century and it is thought the chalk and brick building could have been used as an office or workshop during the works.

The archaeological discoveries will all be taken to Oxford for detailed analysis and are not expected to delay work on the relief road.