Please note that the date of this event has changed and this talk will now be held on 6 November and not 5 November as previously advertised.

Can the origins of the English be found among 5th and 6th-century immigrants to Britain from North Western Europe? Archaeologist Susan Oosthuizen suggests there is insufficient documentary, archaeological, genomic and linguistic evidence to support that view. Instead, she argues the emergence of the English should be sought in the evolution, adaptation and innovations of late Romano-British communities to a post-imperial world.

Susan Oosthuizen is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Royal Historical Society, and Wolfson College, Cambridge. Her research focuses on the evolution of early medieval rural landscapes and on rights of common. Her most recent book is The Emergence of the English published in 2019.