New Research Revises Story of Maiden Castle Cemetery

MAIDEN CASTLE, ENGLAND—In the 1930s, British archaeologists Tessa and Mortimer Wheeler discovered a grisly cemetery containing at least 34 skeletons at the site of Maiden Castle in Dorset. The Iron Age fort is one of England’s most impressive archaeological monuments and the Wheelers imagined that the deceased, who were all men who showed signs of having suffered traumatic injuries, were cut down defending the fortress by the invading Roman army in a.d. 43. However, according to History Extra, a new study indicates that this dramatic theory is not accurate. Radiocarbon dating and reanalysis of the bones suggests that the soldiers were not buried in a single event. Instead, they likely represented three generations of men who had died in different conflicts across the early decades of the first century a.d., all prior to the Romans' arrival. The researchers believe the violent events leading to the men’s’ deaths were the results of societal stresses and internal conflicts between native Britons. “This was a case of Britons killing Britons,” said archaeologist Miles Russell. “The Roman army committed many atrocities, but this does not appear to be one of them.” Read the original scholarly article about this research in Oxford Journal of Archaeology. For more on Dorset's archaeological history, go to "Man of the Moment."