Yesterday at the end of a month-long dig of Ann Jones’ Inn, project leader Adam Ford said the discovery had redefined the site.

He said it now had international significance and compared it to Custer’s Last Stand at Little Bighorn.

“We can now map the movement of the Kelly Gang in their last hours,” Mr Ford said.

“The bullets that came in from police smashed through the front wall but didn’t penetrate the rear wall.

“Behind that wall, which was one of the bedrooms, is a host of cartridges used by the Kelly Gang as they took refuge and reloaded and then came out and re-engaged the police.

“To find that dynamic movement and understand that is incredible.

“I don’t recall any other site, perhaps only work done on the Little Bighorn dig in the 1980s, having that.

“It is beyond our wildest dreams.”

Thousands of artefacts, some relating directly to the siege and the inn, have also been recovered.

But the most exciting discovery may well be one of the smallest items found on the site.

A tiny copper percussion cap from an early musket or revolver may well have belonged to Ned Kelly himself.

“We know of only three weapons involved in the siege that used such percussion caps — and all three were actually owned and used by Ned,” Mr Ford said.

“And because the firing cap was found within the remains of the original Ann Jones’ Inn we can reasonably surmise that it was Ned Kelly himself who last handled this tiny but hugely significant object.”

Mr Ford has not ruled out returning to the site.

“We can walk away from here knowing we have exhausted all the avenues on the inn site but I would like to get to the residence behind the inn,” he said.

A final report on the findings is not expected to be completed until later this year.