Archaeologists in Suffolk, on England’s east coast, have uncovered a nationally significant early medieval burial ground—most strikingly, a “princely” grave in which two individuals were laid to rest alongside a fully harnessed horse, weapons, and personal items. Dating to the 7th century, the discovery adds vivid new detail to what elite power and identity looked like in early medieval England.
The burial ground includes at least 11 barrows—burial mounds—alongside a mixture of cremation and inhumation graves. The cemetery was carefully arranged across a prominent point in the landscape near the village of Theberton, suggesting the site was meant to be visible and symbolically important within the surrounding area.
The excavators report that many of the burials were furnished with objects including weapons, jewellery, and vessels. Bone preservation was poor because of the region’s sandy soil, but the team says the graves still produced exceptionally vivid traces of the bodies themselves.
“Excavating a section of the Sizewell Link Road has been an exciting experience for me and the team,” says Len Middleton, the Project Officer leading the excavation. “The site is an early Anglo-Saxon barrow cemetery dating from the 6th to 7th centuries, with both inhumation and cremation burials, many furnished with weapons, jewellery, and vessels. Soil conditions have resulted in little preservation – we are instead left with striking sand silhouettes that capture the outlines of the bodies in remarkable detail.”
A horse-and-warrior burial in an elite tradition
Horse burial from early medieval cemetery Oxford Cotswold Archaeology
One barrow has drawn particular attention: a grave containing a horse and two individuals, buried with weapons and personal items. Middleton linked it to a wider pattern of elite burials in the region:
One barrow, containing a horse and two individuals buried with weapons and personal items, stands out as a ‘princely’ burial – part of the same elite tradition seen at Sutton Hoo, Snape and Prittlewell. Discoveries like this are of national importance because they deepen our understanding of power, belief, and identity in early medieval England, and how those ideas were expressed along the East Anglian coast.
For historians, that combination—barrow monument, furnished grave goods, and an accompanying horse—strongly suggests a community investing significant labour and material into commemorating high-status figures, while also signalling connections to broader elite customs in early medieval eastern England.
Details of the discovery will be shown to British viewers in an episode of Digging for Britain on BBC Two at 21:00 on Wednesday, 14 January. Rosanna Price, Engagement Manager at Cotswold Archaeology, noted that the wider excavations have revealed an exceptionally long span of human activity in Suffolk.
“These excavations have been a labour of love for field archaeologists and specialist teams across the country,” she said. “They’re revealing an astonishing 36,000 years of human occupation – from the early wandering of Neandertals to the graft of the first farmers 6,000 years ago, and from the rich culture of early medieval England to the tough training grounds of the Second World War.
“I grew up in Suffolk and cannot overstate the privilege of watching my county’s expansive and epic history be revealed through the hard work of everyone in the OCA team. What an honour to present Digging for Britain and share all this with the people of Suffolk as a positive outcome of the Sizewell C developments.”
An open weekend is planned at Yoxford Village Hall on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd February, where items found during the excavations will be displayed alongside photographs and videos, with archaeologists available to answer questions.
Two free online webinars are also scheduled: 25 February – Beaker Archaeology at Sizewell, and 29 April – Medieval Archaeology at Sizewell, both exploring discoveries in more depth.
“Suffolk continues to reveal its stunning past, and the magnitude of these discoveries should not be under-estimated,” says Councillor Debbie Richards, a member of Suffolk County Council. “It is therefore important that the council’s archaeological service plays its part to make sure that our history is not lost.
“We protect and document Suffolk’s history and our officers work closely with the team at Sizewell C to ensure that all archaeological investigations are carried out to high standards. The archaeological objects from Sizewell C will be deposited in our archive, allowing us to make them available for future research and museum display.”
Last year, the archaeological team announced the discovery of a hoard of 11th-century silver coins at the Sizewell C site – click here to read more about that find
Archaeologists in Suffolk, on England’s east coast, have uncovered a nationally significant early medieval burial ground—most strikingly, a “princely” grave in which two individuals were laid to rest alongside a fully harnessed horse, weapons, and personal items. Dating to the 7th century, the discovery adds vivid new detail to what elite power and identity looked like in early medieval England.
The burial ground includes at least 11 barrows—burial mounds—alongside a mixture of cremation and inhumation graves. The cemetery was carefully arranged across a prominent point in the landscape near the village of Theberton, suggesting the site was meant to be visible and symbolically important within the surrounding area.
A team from Oxford Cotswold Archaeology (OCA) is carrying out the dig at the site of the future Sizewell C nuclear power station, a major construction project.
Furnished graves and “sand silhouettes”
The excavators report that many of the burials were furnished with objects including weapons, jewellery, and vessels. Bone preservation was poor because of the region’s sandy soil, but the team says the graves still produced exceptionally vivid traces of the bodies themselves.
“Excavating a section of the Sizewell Link Road has been an exciting experience for me and the team,” says Len Middleton, the Project Officer leading the excavation. “The site is an early Anglo-Saxon barrow cemetery dating from the 6th to 7th centuries, with both inhumation and cremation burials, many furnished with weapons, jewellery, and vessels. Soil conditions have resulted in little preservation – we are instead left with striking sand silhouettes that capture the outlines of the bodies in remarkable detail.”
A horse-and-warrior burial in an elite tradition
One barrow has drawn particular attention: a grave containing a horse and two individuals, buried with weapons and personal items. Middleton linked it to a wider pattern of elite burials in the region:
One barrow, containing a horse and two individuals buried with weapons and personal items, stands out as a ‘princely’ burial – part of the same elite tradition seen at Sutton Hoo, Snape and Prittlewell. Discoveries like this are of national importance because they deepen our understanding of power, belief, and identity in early medieval England, and how those ideas were expressed along the East Anglian coast.
For historians, that combination—barrow monument, furnished grave goods, and an accompanying horse—strongly suggests a community investing significant labour and material into commemorating high-status figures, while also signalling connections to broader elite customs in early medieval eastern England.
Featured on Digging for Britain
Details of the discovery will be shown to British viewers in an episode of Digging for Britain on BBC Two at 21:00 on Wednesday, 14 January. Rosanna Price, Engagement Manager at Cotswold Archaeology, noted that the wider excavations have revealed an exceptionally long span of human activity in Suffolk.
“These excavations have been a labour of love for field archaeologists and specialist teams across the country,” she said. “They’re revealing an astonishing 36,000 years of human occupation – from the early wandering of Neandertals to the graft of the first farmers 6,000 years ago, and from the rich culture of early medieval England to the tough training grounds of the Second World War.
“I grew up in Suffolk and cannot overstate the privilege of watching my county’s expansive and epic history be revealed through the hard work of everyone in the OCA team. What an honour to present Digging for Britain and share all this with the people of Suffolk as a positive outcome of the Sizewell C developments.”
Public displays and free online talks
An open weekend is planned at Yoxford Village Hall on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd February, where items found during the excavations will be displayed alongside photographs and videos, with archaeologists available to answer questions.
Two free online webinars are also scheduled: 25 February – Beaker Archaeology at Sizewell, and 29 April – Medieval Archaeology at Sizewell, both exploring discoveries in more depth.
“Suffolk continues to reveal its stunning past, and the magnitude of these discoveries should not be under-estimated,” says Councillor Debbie Richards, a member of Suffolk County Council. “It is therefore important that the council’s archaeological service plays its part to make sure that our history is not lost.
“We protect and document Suffolk’s history and our officers work closely with the team at Sizewell C to ensure that all archaeological investigations are carried out to high standards. The archaeological objects from Sizewell C will be deposited in our archive, allowing us to make them available for future research and museum display.”
Last year, the archaeological team announced the discovery of a hoard of 11th-century silver coins at the Sizewell C site – click here to read more about that find
Top Image: Adult and child sand body at the early medieval cemetery site © Oxford Cotswold Archaeology
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