Following on from The Fields of Britannia (Reference Rippon, Smart and Pears2015), Stephen Rippon's latest volume develops its theme of understanding landscape change from the late Roman to the early medieval period through analysing extensive excavation with palaeo-environmental data. This new work takes a narrower study area, focusing on eastern England, but a broader temporal swathe, working between the Iron Age and the Anglo-Saxon periods. In this way, the book aims to study the development of territorial structures and boundaries by identifying persistent places and ‘strangely stable boundaries’. It argues that in this area of England these territories remained similar through these time periods due to the underlying community-based socio-economic spheres which underpinned them. The methodology uses primary data and the characterization of the natural and cultural landscape.

We are increasingly seeing in archaeology the importance of studies that range between temporal and spatial scales. The increase in commercial archaeology since PPG 16 in 1990, and the digital resources now held at Historic Environment Records (HER), the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) and public archives, have opened up the potential for larger-scale studies. In recent years there have been several ambitious, national-scale projects (such as the English Landscapes and Identities Project, University of Oxford) that have attempted to draw out wider themes and discussions from these data. The result of this has been to create a broader perspective of archaeological sites and material, identify aspects of regional patterns and changes and introduce new debates. In this study, Rippon has reduced the scale somewhat, in an effort to combine detail from the data with the broader picture. He has selected eastern England as the study area, including the northern Thames Basin, East Anglia and the southeast Midlands. The territorial boundaries within this are delineated by physical lines such as dyke systems, suggested boundaries marked by the presence of Romano-British temples, as well as differences in artefact and site-type distributions. In this way, the project is designed to be complementary to, and used in conjunction with, the Roman Rural Settlement Project.

The study makes use of a rich dataset of landscape and material evidence, derived from a range of archives (HERs and the ADS), as well as updating published sources. It has included the study of: 540 Iron Age settlement plans, 74 Romano-British urban centres, 66 villa plans, as well as 1,212,882 Romano-British pottery sherds, analysis of the distribution of Grubenhäuser and Anglo-Saxon burials, and regional variations within selected categories of material culture (brooches, sleeve clasps and spearheads). Although it could be noted that certain material has been excluded from the study and it may therefore be reinforcing particular ways of thinking, overall this is an impressive assemblage of data which is dealt with in a clear and well-argued manner. It allows for a perspective on change and continuity within this area of England that spans the three periods in question. By taking the approach of the longue durée, the narrative can therefore focus on the social and economic context of communities in everyday life.

The large dataset upon which Rippon has drawn is reflected well in the maps that follow through the chapters. There is a regularity to these which is important for a piece of work that is highlighting comparisons, and they allow the reader to take stock of the types and distributions of material in a straightforward way. For monochrome maps, they generally communicate the data well, especially given that the dimensions of the area do not allow for full-page illustrations. The tables, too, are clear and spacious. This volume also benefits from using online appendices for more detailed finds and settlement data, giving a strong foundation for further studies or comparisons.

The book is arranged in chronological order, drawing on different aspects of the archaeological evidence such as texts, settlement patterns and site and find distributions. Chapter 2, for example, examines landscape, society and regionality of the Iron Age through different aspects of material culture. We see a comparison of coinage (interestingly compared to aspects of topography and agricultural land-use potential), pottery types, brooches, torcs, horse-fittings and loom-weights. For each type, there is a detailed distribution map, often boasting an extensive list of sources, reflecting the thoroughness with which this study has been carried out. Some of the maps are then drawn together to compare particular types of material, drawing out or reinforcing particular patterns. The evidence is synthesized in chapter 13 to argue that, from the Early Iron Age onwards, communities began to develop common identities at a regional scale. Boundaries can be traced running through areas of sparse settlement with poor soils. Throughout the three periods, these regional entities appear to continue, or regenerate along similar lines, due to the enduring regional identities, formed by socio-economic interactions that occur within them on a smaller scale. So these regions do not simply move from Iron Age kingdoms to Roman civitates to Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but rather are formed by something more deeply rooted in the relationship between people and landscape and the social and economic factors at play. Rippon sums this up by stating that ‘These socio-economic spheres appear to have survived not because of environmental determinism but due to demographic continuity and customary practices which led to the communities there creating and maintaining distinct identities for themselves’ (p. 356).

The volume has brought together a huge amount of material, making good use of commercial grey literature and HER data and taking full advantage of the wealth of evidence created by developer-funded archaeology in the last 30 years. Tracking territorial change in the three periods chosen here is a difficult and complex task: however, using the evidence from landscape characterization, environmental data, material culture and ‘empty’ spaces, it has made a good attempt at establishing an overall narrative. These larger studies of national or regional patterns are increasingly important in archaeology as a way of digesting the vast quantities of data with which we are faced. Studies that posit new narratives at different scales give foundations for future work, draw out new patterns and debates and give us new perspective for more site-based or localized work. No doubt this volume will be an important keystone for future work.