THE burial chamber for a Stone Age man has been discovered in Silsden.

Archaeologists excavated the barrow created for an “important individual” at least 4,500 years ago and found items including an ancient urn.

Experts described the find, on the site of the planned Belton Road housing development near the River Aire, as rare and exciting.

Earlier this year Barratt David Wilson Homes called in archaeologists ahead of work to build 190 houses.

The operation was organised by Prospect Archaeology and carried out by West Yorkshire Archaeological Services.

Spokesman David Hunter said the site lay on a terrace north of the river and was quite prominent to the trained eye.

He said a magnetometer survey by a geophysics team revealed clear anomalies associated with burial practices in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age.

Specialists believed these included a double-ditched barrow, a mortuary enclosure and a ‘double pit alignment’.

Mr Hunter said: “Whilst finds were few, the excavation of the barrow has produced rare but characteristic flints and pottery including a Neolithic leaf-shaped arrowhead, a Letter flint blade and a complete collared urn.

“The urn was found in a pit towards the centre of the barrow and is likely to be the primary burial and focus of this feature.

“The size, form and artefacts pointed to the barrow being created in the later Neolithic to early Bronze Age some 5,000 to 4,500 years ago and the burial of an important individual in a prominent location.”

The urn was removed for further study in the laboratory.