A NEW exhibition opens today to showcase the most impressive of more than a million artefacts recovered from 25 years of archaeological excavation.

Turning back the clock to 5000BC, specialists have provided information on the Dark Ages and brought to life the day-to-day existence of our ancestors in North Yorkshire.

The exhibition at Malton Museum, which is in the market square, tells the story of more than 7,000 years of life in the Vale of Pickering.

The artefacts were recovered following a chance discovery of bones at West Heslerton in 1978.

That find set in motion a long-running dig which has assumed international importance.

Dominic Powlesland, who has supervised the excavation since it began, said the site contained the North's only completely excavated Anglo-Saxon village.

He said: "In the event, we found a very large cemetery that took ten years to excavate, yielding a treasure trove of information from the earliest years of Anglo-Saxon England between 400 and 600AD."

Among the finds was a cruciform brooch, which is believed to have been a sort of charm.

West Heslerton also concealed evidence of much earlier habitation, with discoveries of tiny flint blades from 5,000 BC, two henges, eight Bronze Age round barrows and an Iron Age settlement.

Even the Romans were lured to this corner of North Yorkshire, a belief underlined by the discovery in 1995 of what is thought to be a Roman shrine.

Many of the relics in the exhibition are being displayed for the first time and are well-preserved thanks to the local sand and gravel.

English Heritage allocated £55,000 from the Aggregates Levy Fund, which funded refurbishment of the museum's gallery and preparation of materials.

It will also support an educational outreach programme.

The displays at the museum will be on show daily (except Sundays) between 10am and 4pm until October 31.