4000-2200 BC Neolithic

Unlike some other regions of England such as the south-west or north, there is relatively little evidence of Neolithic activity surviving in the modern landscape of eastern England. However, during the Neolithic period the wide flat river valleys of this region would have provided fertile soil ideal for farming and settlement. This fertile land has since been subject to thousands of years of farming, which would have contributed to the erosion of any Neolithic earthworks such as enclosures or burial mounds.

Stone was not as freely available here as in the west and north. There was however a plentiful supply of woodland trees for constructing ceremonial monuments such as timber circles. Unlike stone, wood rarely survives which is why the landscape today appears to have such a lack of monuments. However new sites are now being discovered as a result of aerial photography.

One important resource in Neolithic eastern England was flint, which occurs naturally in the chalk beds of the region. A large flint mine complex was worked from around 3000 BC onwards at Grimes Graves in Norfolk. Flint from these mines was a valuable commodity which could be traded and exchanged. It may have been particularly prized where there was no local source of flint.