A bronze age settlement has been discovered by crews who were working on the construction of 99 houses.
Developers were working on the site of a former residential unit in Crosshaven, County Cork, which is being demolished to make way for new homes.
Straight away, the contractors got in touch with Cork County Council and the scene was shut off for excavations.
The construction site is based near the Templebreedy Church, and the area has been cordoned off, reports CorkBeo.
CorkBeo understands that the settlement is from the later era of the Bronze Age, which is located above the village of Crosshaven on a high point, overlooking Church Bay.
The Archeology department for Cork County Council has started investigations on the discovery and a report will later be released.
A spokesperson for Cork County Council confirmed that a prehistoric settlement has been found by consultant archaeologist, Avril Purcell of Lane Purcell. She was working for Flynn's Construction.
They said: "There was no evidence of the settlement in the field beforehand and so it is a new discovery. It was identified by the archaeologist through archaeological investigation- a geophysical survey and archaeological testing.
"The archaeological features identified consists of possible enclosure, foundations of round houses and lots of post holes, pits, & burnt areas. None of the features identified have been archaeologically excavated yet.
"A certain extent will be preserved in situ (i.e. not excavated) and accommodated as a green area within development while other sections will be archaeologically excavated (i.e. recorded and removed) under licence from the National Monument Services.
"The excavation of these features will give a clearer picture of the settlement and activity. Finds from the site were interesting including several pieces of Bronze age pottery and a saddle quern for grinding corn. The site is an exciting find as it gives us valuable information about our Bronze ancestry who lived here in over 3,000 years ago."
The Bronze Age site at Crosshaven is believed to be from around the same era as the Bronze Age village at Ballybrowney Lower in Fermoy which was excavated in 2016. The Fermoy site was discovered on the lower route of the M8, some 10km south of Fermoy.
The excavated site contained an oval house, three unenclosed houses, and three large subcircular enclosures.
