Kingdom, Civitas and County: The Evolution of Territorial Identities in Iron Age, Roman, and Early Medieval Eastern England”: presented by Professor Stephen Rippon, Professor of Landscape Archaeology at Exeter University, and President of The Society for Medieval Archaeology.

Stephen’s research focuses on the origins and development of today’s countryside, and embraces archaeological and historical evidence.

This talk will look at variations in Iron Age, Roman, and early medieval landscapes across eastern England. It will be argued that there are long-term continuities in some of the boundaries between communities in these periods such as the kingdoms that started to emerge during the Late Iron Age, the Roman administrative districts (civitates) that replaced them, and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that in turn replaced them. These ancient boundaries were only finally swept away in a reorganisation of local government during the 10th century AD when the counties with which we are familiar were created.