Barry Cunliffe on THE DOBUNNI

The following is drawn from:

"The tribes of the periphery

Durotriges, Dobunni, Iceni and Corieltauvi"

By Barry Cunliff

In

Iron Age Communities in Britain

4th Edition

2005

GLASTONBURY AND THE DOBUNNI

I asked two experts on the Dobunni - Professor Barry Cunliffe and Professor Michael Fulford - whether Arthur's Glastonbury was to be found within the territory of that tribe.  Here are their respective responses:

"Impossible to be sure. Could be either or could have fluctuated between one and the other." (BC)

"I think the answer is that we simply do not know.  It could have been both at different times as late Iron Age boundaries were fluid. (MF)

I then followed up this query by asking both scholars whether it is reasonable to propose the River Brue as the boundary river between the Dobunni and the Durotriges.  

"It is possible but there is no way to be certain." (BC)

"We just don't know.   The Avon is possibly a more likely boundary." (MF)

Various recent studies by other authors have confirmed that either the Avon or the Brue was probably the boundary between the two tribes.  See, for example, 

https://www.academia.edu/40480895/Glastonbury_and_Meare_Lake_Villages_their_roles_in_the_Iron_Age_settlement_system_of_Somerset, from which the following map is taken.