Two of the skeletons excavated by Mortimer Wheeler in the 1930s, dating from the 1st century AD. Both these individuals exhibit bladed weapon injuries, whilst one has a spear head lodged in his spine, previously interpreted (wrongly) as a Roman ballista bolt. (Image Copyright Martin Smith).A new study by archaeologists at Bournemouth University (BU) has revealed that bodies recovered from a ‘war-cemetery’ previously attributed to the Roman Conquest of Britain at Maiden Castle Iron Age hillfort in Dorset, did not die in a single dramatic event.
A re-analysis of the burials, including a new programme of radiocarbon dating, has revealed that, rather than dying in a single, catastrophic event, individuals fell in periods of lethal violence spanning multiple generations, spread across the late first century BC to the early first century AD. This is suggestive of episodic periods of bloodshed, possibly the result of localised turmoil, executions or dynastic infighting during the decades leading up to the Roman Conquest of Britain.
BU’s Dr Martin Smith, Associate Professor in Forensic and Biological Anthropology, who analysed the bodies said: “The find of dozens of human skeletons displaying lethal weapon injuries was never in doubt, however, by undertaking a systematic programme of radiocarbon dating we have been able to establish that these individuals died over a period of decades, rather than a single terrible event”.
The ‘war-cemetery’ of Maiden Castle Iron Age hillfort in Dorset is one of Britain’s most famous archaeological discoveries. Discovered in 1936, many of the skeletons unearthed had clear evidence of trauma to the head and upper body. Dig director at the time, Sir Mortimer Wheeler suggested, were “the marks of battle”, caused during a furious but ultimately futile defence of the hillfort against an all-conquering Roman legion. Wheeler’s colourful account of an attack on the native hillfort and the massacre of its defenders by invading Romans, was accepted as fact, becoming an iconic event in popular narratives of Britain’s ‘Island Story’.
Aerial view of Maiden Castle, Dorset, the largest Iron Age hillfort in Britain (image copyright Jo and Sue Crane). Principal Academic in Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology at BU, and the study’s Dig Director, Dr Miles Russell said: “Since the 1930s, the story of Britons fighting Romans at one of the largest hillforts in the country has become a fixture in historical literature. With the Second World War fast approaching, no one was really prepared to question the results. The tale of innocent men and women of the local Durotriges tribe being slaughtered by Rome is powerful and poignant. It features in countless articles, books and TV documentaries. It has become a defining moment in British history, marking the sudden and violent end of the Iron Age.”
Skeleton with spear head lodged in his spine, previously interpreted (wrongly) as a bolt (or arrowhead) from a Roman ballista (image copyright Martin Smith).Dr Russell added: “The trouble is it doesn’t appear to have actually happened. Unfortunately, the archaeological evidence now points to it being untrue. This was a case of Britons killing Britons, the dead being buried in a long-abandoned fortification. The Roman army committed many atrocities, but this does not appear to be one of them.”
Martin Smith further commented: “Wheeler’s view was likely influenced by the imminent threat of invasion during his own time. But having said that there may in fact be parallels that are still relevant. Just as on the other side of the Channel in 1944 it was clear to all that an invasion was coming, although no one could be sure exactly where or when, similarly the rise in conflict in southern Britain may be a result of growing concerns that an invasion by Rome was only a matter of time."
Bournemouth Visting Fellow and archaeological scientist Paul Cheetham said "The intermingling of differing cultural burial practices contemporaneously shows that simplistic approaches to interpreting archaeological cemeteries must now be questioned. Here we have either a number of distinct cultures living and dying together, or that an individual's burial right was determined by complex social rules and/or hierarchical divisions within this Iron Age society."
Skeleton with evidence of bladed weapon injuries. (Image copyright Martin Smith).The study has also raised further questions as to what may still lie undiscovered at Maiden Castle. Paul Cheetham commented that “Whilst Wheeler’s excavation was excellent in itself, he was only able to investigate a fraction of the site. It is likely that a larger number of burials still remains undiscovered around the immense ramparts."
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The research is published as an Open Access paper in the latest volume of the Oxford Journal of Archaeology.
