THREE weeks after the excitement of unearthing what is thought to be the remains of a huge Roman fort in Furness, archaeologists think they have uncovered the Roman equivalent of a ball-point pen.

A Cardiff University student working on the Urswick Origins Discovery Project found a 93mm long copper strip at the big dig that has now been identified as a 1,600-year-old Roman stylus.

"She wasn't sure what it was but when we saw it in the finds' tray we thought wow'," said project leader Steve Dickinson. "It's an exceptionally important find."

The stylus would have been used to write on wax tablets palm-sized pieces of wood overlaid with wax. The text was scratched into the wax with the sharp stylus which has a point at one end and an eraser' on the other in the form of a small knife.

The stylus appears to be more modern than the fort he believes the dig has already uncovered, and could be evidence of post-Roman occupation. It might lend support to Mr Dickinson's theory that the fort was recycled as an early Christian monastic site after the Romans left.

But they will need a lot more evidence for that, something they hope to find over the rest of the summer as a team of 15 university students and volunteers continue scratching into the earth at Urswick.

Anyone wanting to take a look at the site can pop down for a tour between 1pm and 6pm any day except Thursday. The site can be found opposite Low Furness Primary School.