ARCHAEOLOGISTS have found new evidence about the effect the Roman occupation of the North-East had on the local people.

A new book by archaeologist Dr Nick Hodgson has shed new light on the lives of the people who lived around Hadrian’s Wall during the Roman invasion, 2,000 years ago.

'The Iron Age on the Northumberland Coastal Plain: excavations in advance of development 2002-2010' proposes that the decline of British people residing in the area was more substantial than formerly believed.

His book demonstrates that native North-Easterner’s were starkly marginalized as a result of the wall’s construction.

Dr Hodgson said: "These discoveries show what a destructive effect it had on the local population."

It is thought that the building of the wall caused dramatic depopulation on the north side, on a par with the Highland clearances that took place in Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The book also finds that there were substantial, centuries-old, settlements near the wall before the Roman takeover occurred, dating back as far as 200BC.

Dr Hodgson’s research was facilitated by a mining project north of Newcastle, and the development of Newcastle Great Park, which enabled a series of Iron Age excavations just north of the wall.