A TREASURY of finds and information about life centuries ago has come from beneath the ground in South Cumbria.

The stories of how recent discoveries have been made at places such as Satterthwaite, Witherslack and Troutbeck Bridge will feature in a conference called Archaeology in the Lake District 2019 on Saturday, November 9.

Forty years of mine history and underground exploration by the Cumbria Amenity Trust - including at places such as Coniston - will also feature in a talk by Warren Allison.

Trevor Avery, from the Lake District Holocaust Project, will look at wartime links between Troutbeck Bridge and Treblinka.

The talks day is being held at Rheged, near Penrith, and you can find out more by calling 01539 724555, or check the website at https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/B7SuCjZwws5W7w0uW7GPq

Back in June 1992 a cave at Scales, near Dalton, began to give up the secrets of its Stone Age occupants - including flint knives and scrapers, antler tools, human teeth, jaw bones and fragments of juvenile skulls.

The discovery was the result of more than a year of digging by members of the Morecambe Bay Archaeological Research Society.

An ancient stream bed on the shore at Bardsea was also telling a story about life in the past in 1992 to diggers from the society and from Lancaster University.

The Mail, on July 16, noted: "Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of an 8,000-year-old giant red deer."

Robert Middleton, of the university's Wetland Survey Team, said: "Red deer came into Britain at the end of the Ice Age.

"They were much bigger in those days than they are today."

From April to May in 1999 Barrow Dock Museum hosted a Digging up the Past exhibition which featured some star items from its collections - including a giant ox skull - and an introduction to how archaeologists find out about the past.

Most of the artefacts came from under the ground but it took underwater archaeology to recover the bell of the Barrow-built warship HMS Vanguard.

The ship, built in 1910, sank after an internal explosion off the Orkney Islands during the First World War.

An weekend archaeology club for children was launched in February 2000 and held meetings at the Custodian's cottage, near Furness Abbey.

In March, Ulverston archaeologist Dan Elsworth assisted youngsters to search top soil for items of interest before the ground became herb gardens at the cottage.

In December 2005 a 1,400-year-old market trader's weight, found near Dalton,  became part of a loan display at Barrow's Dock Museum called What Lies Beneath.

The small item was made from lead and decorated with interlacing animals - possibly by the Saxons or Vikings.