The remains of a pre-historic dwelling dating back 6000 years have been unearthed in a field during a major Scottish Water project.

Archaeologists found post-holes which formed part of a rectangular building and fragments of Neolithic pottery near Hillhouse farm north east of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire.

The discovery was made in recent weeks while Scottish Water was working on an ongoing £120m project to upgrade the water mains network between Ayrshire and Glasgow.

The archaeologists believe the structure was built by some of the earliest farmers in Scotland more than 4000 years BC, before the Callanish Stones in Lewis and Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

Kenneth Green, excavation director at GUARD Archaeology in Glasgow, who carried out the archaeological work for Scottish Water, said: "This is one of the most important discoveries of this type in south-west Scotland in recent years.

"Heavily truncated by millennia of ploughing, only the deepest parts of some of the post-holes survived, arranged in a rectangular plan and containing sherds of early Neolithic pottery, hazelnut shell and charcoal.

"Up until this time, during the earlier Mesolithic period (c. 8000-4000 BC), Scotland was inhabited by small groups of hunter-gatherers, who led a nomadic lifestyle, living off the land.

"The individuals who built this Neolithic house were some of the earliest communities in Ayrshire to adopt a sedentary lifestyle, clearing areas of forest to establish farms, growing crops such as wheat and barley and raising livestock such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs."

The rectilinear hall, which measured 14m in length and 8m in width, belonged to a type of house built by the first farming communities in Scotland.

Fragments of Neolithic carinated bowl, used for cooking and storage, were also found.