that mercenaries may have started arriving in Sussex as early as the 5th century.

Before the 7th century, there is a dearth of contemporary written material about the Anglo-Saxons' arrival. Most material that does exist was written several hundred years after the events. The earlier dates for the beginnings of settlement, provided by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, have been contested by some findings in archaeology. One alternative hypothesis to the foundation legend suggests, because previously inhabited sites on the Frisian and north German