Contractors building a care home have stumbled on an archaeological treasure trove.

A dig on the site of the former Ipswich Airport airfield has unearthed pottery pieces, ashes and rock that link to burial chambers used in the Bronze Age period.

Care UK, which is building the care home and wellbeing centre, and construction partner Castleoak have commissioned heritage specialists Pre-Construct Archaeology to carry out the dig. The finds will be recorded and stored at Suffolk County Council’s archaeology department.

Alan Murray, the council’s cabinet member for health and adult care, said: “These finds are very exciting and will help us to understand more about the history of this area. Our archaeology and records service will make sure that the finds are carefully stored and are available for people to enjoy.”

Care UK’s Paul Spinks said he was excited about starting work on the new care home, the company’s second in Ipswich.

Phil Andrews, partnerships director at Castleoak, added: “This site has the unusual and added excitement of potentially important finds relating to prehistoric boundary systems, burial and cremation deposits.”