During the Iron Age Britain was divided into distinct tribal areas. The area lay between the Catuvellauni to the south and the Corieltauvi to the north, with the Iceni to the east. The origin of Durobrivae is said to have been as a vicus attached to a "pre-Flavian" fort, established about half a kilometre to the east of modern Water Newton, between the Claudian invasion of 43 AD, and the beginning of the reign of Vespasian in 69 AD.Water Newton Huntingdonshire Draft Report. Cambridgeshire County Council. Retrieved 24 July 2008. Its first historical mention is in the Antonine Itinerary of the late 2nd century.Parthey, Gustav and Pinder, Moritz (eds.) Itinerarivm Antonini Avgvsti et Hierosolymitanum: ex libris manu scriptis Iter Britanniarvm (Iter V: Item a Londinio Luguvalio ad vallum mpm clvi sic) Friederich Nicolaus, Berlin, 1848. See also Reynolds, Thomas Iter Britanniarum or that part of the itinerary of Antoninus which relates to Britain with a new comment J. Burges, Cambridge, 1799 Archaeology of the Roman period shows that Durobrivae was then the production centre for a fine tableware known as Nene Valley Colour Coated Ware, from the 2nd century to the 4th. In Anglo-Saxon times, local settlement came to centre on Medeshamstede, now known as Peterborough.
