The name is said to derive from Old English "wala" meaning "foreigner" and the name is tautological. Almost nothing is known about the early history of Wallasea. At the end of the last Ice Age it was almost certainly dry land like most of the North Sea basin. Rising sea levels are thought to have deposited the silt and sand which (together with older clays) underlie the island's soil. Several archaeological features have been recorded on the south and east edges of the island, these are the "red hills" typical of the Roman period and were probably relics of a process of extraction of salt from sea water.