FIVE years ago work began on a £36 million project to reform a 5km stretch of coastline between Holland-on-Sea and Clacton.

The mammoth effort saw 23 new bays created between new rock fishtail groynes.

To form the beaches, workers used sand and shingle dredged from the seafloor 19km offshore.

In doing so, they tapped into a historical and archaeological gold mine.

Among the tonnes of material lay fossils dating back some 200,000 years. Since the conclusion of the work in 2015, keen-eyed collectors and enthusiasts have made some truly remarkable discoveries.

Between them, amateur collectors John Ratford and Paul Buisson have dozens of Neanderthal flint tool pieces.

Now their collections are attracting attention from experts.

Paul said: “The flint tools are from a particularly interesting period – or so we’ve been told by the British Museum – they are from a period that not a massive amount is known.

“Where the dredging took place is clearly quite a unique little site.”

Many of the tool fragments were fashioned using the distinctive Levallois technique, which was developed by Neanderthals, an extinct species of human.

Dr Rachel Bynoe, a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Southampton and expert on Ice Age fossils, has met with the collectors and is keen to examine further finds.

The duo’s discoveries were also looked over by Dr Beccy Scott, a curator and prehistoric stone tool expert at the British Museum, and Adam Whightman, of Colchester Archaeological Trust.

It is hoped analysis and dating of the finds will further Dr Bynoe’s research into Doggerland, the area of land - now submerged - which connects Britain to continental Europe.

John said: “I don’t know how big a brick in the wall of human evolution this is.

“But I think its fairly substantial and people who are fascinated by this need the evidence – and we’re helping with that. It’s a legacy thing – you’ve got a responsibility with what to do with them.”

“When modern humans left Africa, say 100,000 years ago, they would come across Neanderthals in Europe and Western Asia and bred with them to a certain extent.

“So each one of us has about 2 per cent Neanderthal DNA.”

Paul added: “To think it’s been sucked up from the ocean, pumped along a pipe and spat onto a beach.

“I’ve spent dedicated days at a time looking for these things, if you find something it gives you the enthusiasm to keep looking.

“It’s been a privilege to find something with that much history attached to it.”

Both hope collectors will be willing to have their finds identified by experts at the free roadshow, held from 10.30am until 5pm at St Bart’s Church Hall, in Frinton Road, Holland-on-Sea on Saturday, July 20.