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<< County Introductions >> County Guides No. 23 - Suffolk

Submitted by ermine on Wednesday, 07 July 2004  Page Views: 10732

EnglandCountry: England County: Suffolk
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Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo submitted by ermine : Restored mound (Vote or comment on this photo)
Suffolk holds antiquity to the dawn of humanity - the county has yielded many delicate Palaeolithic records. Indeed one of the sites at Hoxne gave the name to the Hoxnian Interglacial period of balmy weather around 427,000 to 364,000 years ago.

The county has no rock to speak of, so megalithic remains are particularly sparse, in contrast to the fabulous richness of its historic heritage. As a result, if it is prehistory writ large in standing stones you are after, it has to be said Suffolk may disappoint compared to other regions.

The prehistory of the county is understated but ancient almost beyond comprehension, stretching back nearly half a million years to when humans competed with tropical creatures. On the banks of a prehistoric river running eastwards to the sea in that distant past, someone fashioned this hand-axe found at Hoxne, on the border with Norfolk.

The Brecks in the north-west of the county has yielded many more lithic finds, and raw material was close to hand at the nearby Grimes Graves flint mines. Time Team joined a British Museum dig at Elveden Forest to discover a 400,000 year old flint knapping site on the banks of a prehistoric river flowing eastwards towards the sea, which was much further east that the modern coastline.

Many prehistoric barrows survived in the county until the twentieth century, where mechanised farming of the rich East Anglian soils seems to have destroyed about 80% of sites, in comparison with Victorian maps.

Websites

400,000 year old Hoxne handaxe
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/print?OBJ1278

Suffolk County Council Archaeology service
http://www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/e-and-t/archaeology/

East Anglian Archaeology reports
http://www.eaareports.org.uk/

Lithics in Thetford Forest
http://www.aoqv41.dsl.pipex.com/lithic2.html

Time Team Elveden dig
http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/archive/2000elveden.html

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"County Guides No. 23 - Suffolk" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: County Guides No. 23 - Suffolk by Anonymous on Friday, 20 January 2006
"towards the sea, which was much further east that the modern coastline"
My understanding is that the sea level was eight metres higher during the Hoxnian than the present day. Should that not bring it nearer?
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