The Roman massacre that never happened according to a new study of an iconic archaeological site: bodies 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 new study by archaeologists at Bournemouth University 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’.
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.”
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.”
The study has also raised further questions as to what may still lie undiscovered at Maiden Castle. BU’s Visiting Fellow, Paul Cheetham commented that
“Here we interpret this as either a number of distinct cultures living and dying together, or we can understand this as burial rights that were determined by complex social rules or hierarchical divisions within this Iron Age society. Whilst Wheeler’s excavation was excellent, he was only able to investigate a fraction of the site. It is likely that a larger number of burials remain undiscovered around the immense ramparts.”
The work at Maiden Castle also brings into question how other archaeological cemeteries across the UK have been interpreted, as Paul Cheetham continued:
“The intermingling of differing cultural burial practices contemporaneously shows that simplistic approaches to interpreting archaeological cemeteries must now be questioned.”
Bibliographic information:
FRAUGHT WITH HIGH TRAGEDY: A CONTEXTUAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL RECONSIDERATION OF THE MAIDEN CASTLE IRON AGE ‘WAR CEMETERY’ (ENGLAND), Oxford Journal of Archaeology (13-May-2025), DOI: 10.1111/ojoa.12324
Press release from Bournemouth University.
