For the past month people of all ages and all walks of life have been digging, tapping and scraping various areas on a field near Selhurst Park.

At first, it seems like any other green field, but those who have been looking more closely have been finding all manner of exciting objects, left there by people who lived in the Iron Age and in Roman times.

"We've known for a while this site was important, but we haven't been able to excavate until now," explains George Anelay, who is an archaeologist with Chichester District Council.

"An aerial photo was taken in 1976 which revealed parch marks and dark lines. The photo lay in a folder for years until they were confirmed as likely walls and ditches."

During an initial excavation of the area in 2005 and 2006, archaeologists discovered an enclosure containing Iron Age pottery.

They also found Romano-British pot shards, a broken arm from a large bronze statue and a rare Gallic gold coin, minted to fund the war against Caesar in 50BC.

The current dig is the first organised by the Volunteer Archaeology Projects Trust, which raises funds for large-scale digs, and the district council, whose archaeologists are overseeing it with help from members of the Chichester and District Archaeology Society.

The field has been thrown open to anyone interested in having a go and so far about 30 volunteers a day have been visiting the site, along with schools and members of the public just curious to see archaeology in action.

The site is thought to have been a rural homestead, which was inhabited for 100 years, and there are several areas of interest in the field which further digs over the next two years will examine.

Sarah Stone of Duncton went along after seeing the signs for it along the A285. She has been working on a post hole and has found several pieces of pottery.

"I knew they'd dug here two years ago and decided to have a go. It's not often you get the opportunity to take part in something like this on your own doorstep – it's extraordinary," she said.

"You get trained on the job, and you learn to examine what you are looking at. You train your eyes. It's been very enjoyable and it's really exciting pulling out finds, thinking you're the first person to have touched this in 1,000 years."

Deborah Lee from Billingshurst is a member of CDAS and has been interested in history ever since she started metal detecting as a young girl.

"This is my second dig here, and I've been really enjoying learning about the archaeology," she said.

"I'm learning about noticing the different layers and it's been really interesting. My seven-year-old son has been down here as well and he loved it – he could be an archaeologist when he grows up!"

The dig is fairly informal. People can turn up for a day or stay for as long as they like if they get hooked. Everyone learns on the job, with help and guidance from the experts.

"All the artefacts recovered are cleaned, then logged and bagged and then sent to different specialists," explained George.

"We've also been taking soil samples and eventually we hope all the artefacts we find will be displayed in the new district museum.

"The work done here will contribute greatly to our understanding of the rural populations. Most people think of Roman villas, but very few people had experience of those.

"People mostly lived in the countryside. It's fairly unusual to excavate four areas in four years which are in close proximity and it will give us a chance to see how all the areas on the site relate to each other."

What has been found? Next page.

To see a picture gallery from the dig click here.