Archaeology, History, and the Isle of Wight in the Middle Saxon Period

Abstract

CONTRARY to earlier beliefs, recent metal-detector finds from a number of sites in the Isle of Wight now attest to the continued wealth and economic importance of the island after its conquest by Cædwalla in 686. This is particularly revealed in the area around Carisbrooke, which, it is argued, survived as a major central place throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. The evidence from scattered excavations and finds is brought together, assessed, and set into the wider context of 7th-and 8th-century political and economic developments in the Solent area.