The fall of Maiden Castle to Roman assault

[Adrian Nayler]

There are probably few members of the Society unfamiliar with the famous photograph of Maiden Castle Skeleton P7A with a Roman artillery bolt-head embedded in its spine. Many will be familiar with the long-standing interpretations of this and other skeletal remains found there by Mortimer Wheeler in the 1930s. Two recent papers, one just published, reflect on those interpretations and suggest that much of what we thought we knew is wrong. I shall let the paper's abstracts set the scene. Firstly,

Miles Russell (2019) "Mythmakers of Maiden Castle: Breaking the Siege Mentality of an Iron Age Hillfort," Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 8(3), pp. 325–342.

Summary: The idea that an invading Roman army brought about the end of hillforts in south-west Britain, using artillery fire to demoralize and defeat their enemy, is one of the most powerful narratives in British archaeology, being a constant element in both academic literature and public discourse. At the heart of the debate is the evidence recovered by Mortimer Wheeler during fieldwork conducted at Maiden Castle, in Dorset, between 1936–37. Wheeler interpreted a series of burials found in the east gate of the hillfort as a 'war cemetery', residue of an ultimately futile defence of the site, in the face of Roman aggression, by the local Durotriges tribe. A recent survey of hillforts in Dorset has, however, cast significant doubt on Wheeler's hypothesis, suggesting that not only is the widely accepted battle-theory unsupported by the archaeological evidence, but also that the Durotriges themselves were unconnected to any fortification or defence of Maiden Castle. This paper explores the conclusions of that survey, examining how the dramatic story of a siege first took shape in the late 1930s and why it became so immediately popular with the public. The problems of linking material remains to postulated historical events are outlined and the beginnings of a new model for Late Iron Age settlement at Maiden Castle are presented for the first time.

It is available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334637257_Mythmakers_of_Maiden_Castle_Breaking_the_Siege_Mentality_of_an_Iron_Age_Hillfort

Secondly, Martin Smith, Miles Russell and Paul Cheetham (2025) "Fraught With High Tragedy. A Contextual and Chronological Reconsideration of the Maiden Castle Iron Age 'War Cemetery'(England)," Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 44(3), pp. 270–295.

Summary. The Iron Age 'war cemetery' of Maiden Castle hillfort, Dorset, England, is one of the most internationally celebrated of British archaeological discoveries, levels of trauma recorded on skeletons found there being interpreted as evidence for a Roman massacre. A new radiocarbon dating programme and reanalysis of the burial patterning, presented here for the first time, shows that the inhumations actually fall into temporal clusters of lethal violence, plausibly spanning multiple generations, spread mostly between the early and middle decades of the first century AD. This is suggestive of increasing societal stress in the decades leading up to, rather than as a product of, the Roman invasion of AD 43.

It is available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391718737_FRAUGHT_WITH_HIGH_TRAGEDY_A_CONTEXTUAL_AND_CHRONOLOGICAL_RECONSIDERATION_OF_THE_MAIDEN_CASTLE_IRON_AGE_'WAR_CEMETERY'_ENGLAND

The latter paper is quite technical, as it concerns itself with radiocarbon dating, but the results indicate that the 'war cemetery' burials were almost certainly not deposited in a single phase event commensurate with an assault and sacking of Maiden Castle by the Roman army as per the traditional interpretation.

In (partial and inadequate) summary the 'hillfort' had passed out of occupational use long before the invasion of 43AD with some of the rampart areas turned over to selective burial of a few members of society (rather than burial of a mass of the local population). The burials fall into several groups as respects burial practice though interestingly the practices do not seem to flow sequentially over time. Skeleton P7A is dated to between 44BC and 70AD (calibrated dates) with the median point being a little before 20AD (this is not stated but indicated on a graph). The Roman artillery bolt is thus now interpreted as a native javelin head.

A question likely arising amongst us concerns that 'bolt-head.' The typology of ancient British projectile points is not tackled by these papers. Rather than the familiar 'leaf' shaped blades, do we find other examples of square section projectile points in Britain at that time? My expertise and library is wholly inadequate to resolve this matter. Does anyone have the ability to answer that question, or have any other thoughts?

[Old Sarum]

There is an interesting discussion about Iron Age Dorset in this video with Miles Russell. The Maiden Castle myth is covered from minute 36.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpA_Ist5LRY

[DBS]

Always worth remembering that Wheeler was a gunner in both World Wars so just possibly over inclined to see evidence of artillery...