Mesolithic and Late Neolithic/Bronze Age activity on the site of the American Express Community Stadium, Falmer, East Sussex

Excavations on the site of the American Express Community Stadium, Falmer, East Sussex have revealed evidence for over 7000 years of human activity. The earliest occupation was a Mesolithic camp, where the production of flint tools (microliths) was carried out, on a scale unprecedented in East Sussex. There was little recognisable human activity in the Early and Middle Neolithic but geoarchaeological investigations have shown that the landscape continued to change with probable deforestation causing colluvial deposition within the river valley to the west.

In the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, a series of three ring ditches were dug, close to the location of the Mesolithic pits. There are a number of possibilities as to what these ring ditches represent, but the most likely explanation is a group of barrows or other ceremonial ring ditches. Whatever their function, the structures were re-visited later in prehistory; a testament to the continued topographic importance of the site.

Finally the site became the focus of Anglo-Saxon habitation including a sunken-featured building, perhaps an outlying part of the precursor to Falmer village.