Dinas Powys in context: settlement and society in post-Roman Wales

Dinas Powys is Wales’ best preserved example of a post-Roman secular settlement, but until recently the site’s significance has been understated due to the misdating of its defences. Re-evaluation of the finds assemblage and site stratigraphy combined with radiocarbon dating demonstrates that Dinas Powys was a multivallate promontory fort occupied between the late-fifth and seventh centuries AD. In this paper Dinas Powys is reinterpreted as the seat of a dynasty of ‘petty kings’ who controlled a small kingdom centered upon the eastern Vale of Glamorgan and the Cardiff basin. By exploring Dinas Powys within its local and regional contexts we are able to not only enhance our understanding of this and other post-Roman settlements in Wales, but also contribute to our broader understanding of society and culture in post-Roman western Britain