This course considers the archaeology of the period when the English language arose and the English state was formed from the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It was during this period that the current 'Celtic Fringe' of Europe developed in Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland and the legend of King Arthur arose. Looking at Post-Roman Britain during the period from about 400 to 800 AD allows us to examine issues such as continuity versus replacement in biological anthropology, migration versus diffusion in the archaeological record, the relation between archaeological and linguistic entities and the interplay of archaeology and nationalism in the modern world. Contemporary developments in Continental Europe at the end of the Western Roman Empire are also examined.

Tutorial attendance (10%), lecture notes appraisal (10%), two 2500 word essays (40% each).

Normally offered in alternate years
2 hours of lectures and one hour of tutorial per week.

One first year course to the value of 6 units in Archaeology (ARCH or PREH) or History or permission of the lecturer.

PREH2037 Post-Roman Archaeology of Britain: Arthur and the Anglo-Saxons.

Bassett, S. (ed.) The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, Leicester University Press, 1989.
Dark, K. From Civitas to Kingdom: British Political Continuity 300-800 AD, Leicester University Press, 1994.