Artefacts dating to around 70,000 years ago found at
Pakefield and
Beeches Pit are among the earliest evidence of human activity in northern Europe. In the
Neolithic period and
Bronze Age burial mounds,
hillforts and
causewayed enclosures were built reflecting Suffolk's role in prehistoric trade and agriculture. At the start of the
Roman period most of Suffolk was, along with
Norfolk inhabited by the
Iceni tribe. The
Trinobantes inhabited parts of southern Suffolk, as well as
Essex. The Iceni unsuccessfully
revolted under
Boudica in AD 60–61. Although Suffolk remained predominantly rural in the Roman period there were
villas, small towns and pottery kilns. By the late 4th century, however, archaeological evidence suggests significant depopulation in parts of
East Anglia possibly linked to
coastal raiding.
Anglian settlement followed in the 5th and 6th centuries with a distinctive Germanic
material culture largely replacing a
Romano-British one. The area was mostly or entirely governed by the
Kingdom of East Anglia, with studies of trade patterns and subinfeudation suggesting that the
Stour Valley of what is now south-west Suffolk was part of the
Kingdom of the East Saxons. Suffolk's most celebrated Anglo-Saxon site,
Sutton Hoo was an elaborate royal
ship burial – probably that of the East Anglian King
Rædwald, whose son
Sigeberht Christianised East Anglia. In the medieval period Suffolk was shaped by successive waves of conquest. It became part of the
Danelaw following
Viking incursions. The county of Suffolk was formed in the 10th or 11th Century. Suffolk was reorganised under Norman feudalism after 1066, with castles at
Framlingham,
Clare, and
Eye. The
abbey at Bury St Edmunds became one of the wealthiest and most powerful religious institutions in medieval England. Later centuries saw Suffolk prosper from the cloth and
wool trade, with towns such as
Lavenham and
Hadleigh flourishing in the 15th and 16th centuries. The county was also a site of Puritan and parliamentary strength during the
English Civil War. In modern times Suffolk's economy evolved with agriculture,
fishing, and maritime trade, while the 19th century saw the development of industry at
Ipswich and
Lowestoft. Coastal erosion and the decline of traditional industries changed the county's fortunes, but its historic sites, churches, and coastal landscapes continue to shape its identity.
Archaeology burial ship in 1939 A survey in 2020 named Suffolk the third best place in the UK for aspiring
archaeologists, and showed that the area was especially rich in finds from the Roman period, with over 1500 objects found in the preceding year. A formative episode in English archeology was in 1797 when
John Frere found flint
hand axes, now known to date back 400,000 years in the
Hoxne Brick Pit, in a deposit twelve feet deep, and commented that "the situation in which these weapons were found may tempt us to refer them to a very remote period indeed; even beyond that of the present world". This is the earliest recognition that hand axes were made by early humans, and was over sixty years before the antiquity of humanity was widely appreciated. One of Frere's hand axes, which was probably a general cutting tool, is held in the
British Museum. The site also provides the type deposits of the
Hoxnian Stage, an
interglacial between around 474,000 and 374,000 years ago, which is named after the site. In the east of the county is
Sutton Hoo, the site of one of England's most significant Anglo-Saxon archaeological finds, a ship burial containing a collection of treasures including a
sword of state,
helmet, gold and silver bowls, jewellery and a
lyre. The
Hoxne Hoard, to date the largest assembly of late
Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, was found near the village of
Hoxne in 1992. While carrying out surveys before installing a pipeline in 2014, archaeologists for
Anglian Water discovered nine skeletons and four cremation pits, at
Bardwell,
Barnham,
Pakenham and
Rougham, all near Bury St Edmunds.
Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and
Medieval items were also unearthed, along with the nine skeletons believed to be of the late or
Post-Roman Britain. Experts said the five-month project had recovered enough artefacts to fill half a shipping container, and that the discoveries had shed new light on their understanding of the development of small rural communities. In 2019 an excavation of a 4th-century
Roman burial in
Great Whelnetham uncovered unusual burial practices. Of 52 skeletons found, a large number had been
decapitated, which archaeologists claimed gave new insight into Roman traditions. The burial ground includes the remains of men, women and children who likely lived in a nearby settlement. The fact that up to 40% of the bodies were decapitated represents "quite a rare find". In July 2020,
metal detectorist Luke Mahoney found 1,061 silver hammered coins, estimated to be worth £100,000, in Ipswich. The coins dated back to the 15th–17th century, according to experts. In 2020, archaeologists discovered a 7th-century
Anglo-Saxon cemetery with 17 cremations and 191 burials in
Oulton, near Lowestoft. The graves contained the remains of men, women and children, as well as artefacts including small iron knives, silver pennies, wrist clasps, strings of
amber and glass beads. According to Andrew Peachey, who carried out the excavations, the skeletons had mostly vanished because of the highly acidic soil. They were preserved as brittle shapes and "sand silhouettes". == Governance ==