SOME of the hundreds of archaeological finds excavated by Channel Four television's programme Time Team are on display at Sandown's Dinosaur Isle until March 28.

The County Archaeology Service are to hold a launch event today at Dinosaur Isle for the hundreds of local people who took part in the three-day excavations in Yaverland during filming.

At the launch, souvenir booklets of the excavations will be given to all those who took part and everyone will get the chance to see the

prehistoric and Roman pottery, brooches and other finds which have just returned to the Island after specialist conservation treatment. The exhibition opened to the general public on Saturday, January 25.

Island archaeologist Kevin Trott from Newport, first uncovered Roman remains when the Seaclean Wight pipeline was laid in the field three years ago, but there was no funding available for further investigation. It was not until Time Team decided to undertake an excavation on the Island in 2001 that the exciting secrets of Yaverland's past were revealed.

Over 300 people took part in a Community Archaeology Project organised by the County Archaeology Service which gathered information about the surrounding area while filming was taking place.

Time Team showed how, over 4,000 years ago, the people of Yaverland were Bronze Age tribes who buried their dead in burial mounds along the chalk ridge.

The Celtic Islanders were probably involved in sea trade of local goods to the mainland and Europe.

Time Team also excavated the remains of an Iron Age man who was buried around 1,000BC.