AN EXCITING new exhibition is set to shed light on the Dark Ages in North Yorkshire - and to turn the clock back even further, to 5,000 BC.

Impressive artefacts from the north's only completely excavated Anglo-Saxon village went on display today at Malton Museum, in the Old Town Hall.

Beautiful Anglo-Saxon jewellery, beakers made by the Bronze Age people, flints and pottery will all be part of the exhibition.

A chance discovery in 1978 of human bones at the West Heslerton site, outside Malton, led to an exhaustive dig.

Dominic Powlesland, director of the Landscape Research Centre, has supervised the excavation since it began.

"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," he said. Archaeologists set off in search of the ancient village linked to the burial plot and found it just 300 metres away. Many earlier habitations were also discovered, followed in 1995 by a large stone Roman temple, complete with bread ovens and even an oyster bar.

Mr Powlesland said: "The work at West Heslerton has shown that the Anglo-Saxon culture emerged directly after the collapse of the Roman economy and administration rather than 50 to 100 years later as was thought in the past. The whole idea of the 'Dark Ages' was invented by historians more interested in the glory of the Roman Empire, and should be removed from the history books."

The exhibition runs from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday, until October 31.

Updated: 10:37 Saturday, June 07, 2003