Dumnonii the British population, suggesting an ancient connection of peoples along the western Atlantic seaboard. The Latin name for Exeter is Isca Dumnoniorum ("Water of the Dumnonii"). This oppidum (a Latin term meaning an important town) on the banks of I River Exe certainly existed prior to the foundation of the Roman city in about AD 50. "Isca" is derived from the Brythonic word for flowing water, which was given to the River Exe. This is reflected in the Welsh name for Exeter: "Caerwysg" meaning "fortified settlement on the river Uisc". Isca Dumnoniorum originated with a settlement that developed around the
Southern England Chalk Formation name of the Western Downs is given. The Downs enclose the rich district of the Weald, where the chalk has eroded to form a much flatter landscape. In Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, the Wiltshire Downs, and Cranborne Chase, all three famous for their archaeology, and it was on these downs that Augustus Pitt Rivers developed the methods of modern archaeological field work in the 19th century. The Berkshire Downs and White Horse Hills adjoin the northernmost part of this formation. The formation called Cranborne Chase () is a chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and