Developer-funded excavation in Easton, Suffolk, investigated part of a long-lived Iron Age settlement and Roman farmstead. One late Iron Age pit contained an unusual bronze handle, most likely from a jug, the form of which appears to be unique in Britain. The closest parallels are products of Italian workshops in the late first century b.c. This paper describes the likely form of the vessel and discusses the significance of its presence at a rural settlement on the ‘border’ of the Iceni and Trinovantes/Catuvellauni.

Fieldwork at Rendlesham in Suffolk has identified a major central place complex of the early–middle Anglo-Saxon periods. This has particular significance in the light of Bede's eighth-century reference to a ‘royal settlement’ at Rendlesham and the princely burial site at nearby Sutton Hoo. This interim report summarises the archaeology, and considers the wider interpretative issues relating to economic complexity and social diversity.

The Pleistocene College Farm Silty Clay Member of the Creeting Formation at Great Blakenham, Suffolk, south-east England is shown to contain indigenous and recycled dinoflagellate cysts and other derived palynomorphs. The indigenous dinoflagellate cysts indicate a marine influence during deposition of the clay, whilst the other palynomorphs demonstrate derivation of sediment from a wide catchment of Carboniferous, Jurassic and Cretaceous bedrocks. It is argued, by comparison with palynological data from the Chillesford Clay Member of the Norwich Crag Formation some 25km to the east, that these sediments were eroded from western, south-central and south-eastern Britain, and transported by the early River Thames to its estuary, where they were redeposited at the western margin of the Crag Basin, during the Early Pleistocene Tiglian TC3 Substage. This interpretation refines earlier research which concluded the College Farm Silty Clay was deposited in a predominantly freshwater environment, such as a lagoon, without any direct access to the sea or major river.

Sheep internal parasites (nematodes) remain a major health challenge and are costly for pasture-based production systems. Most current breeding programmes for nematode resistance are based on indicator traits such as faecal egg counts (FEC), which are costly and laborious to collect. Hence, genetic markers for resistance would be advantageous. However, although some quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been identified, these QTL are often not consistent across breeds and few breeding strategies for nematode resistance in sheep are currently using molecular information. In this study, QTL for nematode resistance on ovine chromosomes (OAR) 3 and 14, previously identified in the Blackface breed, were explored using commercial Suffolk (n = 336) and Texel lambs (n = 879) sampled from terminal sire breeder flocks in the United Kingdom. FEC were used as the indicator trait for nematode resistance, and these were counted separately for Nematodirus and Strongyles genera. Microsatellite markers were used to map the QTL and the data were analysed using interval mapping regression techniques and variance component analysis. QTL for Nematodirus and Strongyles FEC were found to be segregating on OAR3 at 5% chromosome region-wide significance threshold in both Suffolk and Texel sheep, and Nematodirus FEC QTL were segregating on OAR14 in both breeds. In addition, QTL for growth traits were also found to be segregating at 5% chromosome region-wide on OAR3 and OAR14. The confirmation that FEC QTL segregate in the same position in three widely used breeds widens their potential applicability to purebred Blackface, Suffolk and Texel sheep, with benefits likely to be observed in their commercial crossbred progeny.

The aim of this research was to study the effect of genotype on the fatty acid composition in adult ewes and 5-to 6-month-old lambs of two mutton breeds (Suffolk and Pannon Sheep) and Booroola Merino. Samples of subcutaneous fat were obtained by surgical biopsy around the tailhead. Fatty acid composition of the adipose fat was determined by gas chromatography. Significant differences (P < 0·05) were found in the fatty acid composition of the adipose tissue among the three breeds. Suffolk showed a lower (P < 0·05) proportion of C12: 0 and C14: 0 fatty acids than the other two breeds. Considering the total quantity of saturated (TSFA) and the total quantity of unsaturated (TUFA) fatty acids, Booroola Merino showed a significantly (P < 0·05) higher proportion of TSFA and lower proportion of TUFA in their adipose tissue than the mutton genotypes (Suffolk and Pannon Sheep). Higher proportions of C18: 0, C18: 3 and C20: 1 (P < 0·05) but lower proportions of C12: 0, C14: 0, C16: 0, C16: 1 and C18: 2 (P < 0·05) were found in the subcutaneous fat of adult ewes than in that of their female progeny. Sex differences were also observed in the study. The proportions of saturated fatty acids were higher (P < 0·05) in female lambs than in males of the same age. These results indicate that a genetic approach may be useful to improve fatty acid composition of carcass lipids in sheep. However, age and sex differences also have to be taken into consideration.