The secrets of the community behind “Whitehawk’s Stonehenge” are set to be uncovered.

Whitehawk Camp Community Archaeology Project has won almost £100,000 of Heritage Lottery Fund support for a new community-based archaeology project.

The project will attempt to learn more about the community who created the Whitehawk Camp monument 5,500 years ago – half a millennium before the more famous Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

The site was excavated in the 1920s and 1930s and marks the emergence of Britain’s first farming communities.

The project will look to promote the significance of the monument and work on improving the site and its archive.

The Whitehawk Camp partnership is formed of Centre for Applied Archaeology at University College London, Brighton and Hove City Council’s Royal Pavilion and Museums and Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society.

The project will involve the local community working with professional and skilled volunteers with a series of volunteering opportunities, workshops and events run at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Whitehawk Camp and other venues for a year from this month.

Volunteers will be taught the necessary skills required to catalogue and examine archaeological finds, undertake geophysical survey, excavate archaeological remains and undertake conservation work to the monument.

The prehistoric project will also use the latest digital media technology and create an archaeological archive report.

Councillor Geoffrey Bowden, chair of Brighton and Hove City Council’s economic development and culture committee, said: “Whitehawk Camp, older than Stonehenge, is on our doorstep and we are delighted that, with our partners, we have been suc¬ cessful in securing funds to increase understanding and highlight the importance of this historical site.

“This promises to be a real community effort and there will be opportunities for people to get involved in workshops at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery to study objects excavated from the site in the 1920s and 1930s, a community excavation at the site, and a range of other activities.”

For more details visit www.ucl.ac.uk/caa/whitehawk-hlf.