Isca Dumnoniorum settlement there (modern Caerleon) to be distinguished as "Isca Augusta", while the Devonian Isca was called "Isca Dumnoniorum": Usk of the Dumnonians. Exeter began as settlements on a dry ridge ending in a spur overlooking a navigable river teeming with fish, with fertile land nearby. Although there have been no major prehistoric finds, these advantages suggest the site was occupied early. Coins had been discovered from the Hellenistic kingdoms, suggesting the existence of a settlement trading with the Mediterranean as early as . This is disputed however by Prof T P Wiseman who alleges the hoard was not genuine. Following
Celtic language decline in England England begin to be attested from around 670, pre-eminently in Anglo-Saxon charters; they have been intensively surveyed by the English and Scottish Place-Name Societies. Except in Cornwall, the vast majority of place-names in England are easily etymologised as Old English (or Old Norse, due to later Viking influence), demonstrating the dominance of English across post-Roman England. This has traditionally been seen as evidence for a cataclysmic cultural and demographic shift at the end of the Roman period, in which not only the Brittonic and Latin languages, but also Brittonic and Latin place-names, and even Brittonic- and Latin-speakers, were swept away.