Sir Mortimer Wheeler, who excavated Maiden Castle in the 1930s, hypothesised that because a number of make skeletons showing signs of horrific injuries were excavated from this cemetery, that this was evidence of a vicious battle between Britons and Romans at the site. Indeed, the Second Legion Augusta, under the command of their leader Vespasian, is known to have led a campaign through this area of Britain.
However, it is now thought that these men who appeared to have died of such horrid injuries are more likely to have been victims of smaller skirmishes. The cemetery also contains a large number of people buried in normal circumstances with domestic grave goods and not showing obvious indications of violent deaths.
A detail illustration of the arrowhead lodged in the skeleton's spine can be seen on sheet IC064/007.
This is part of the Volume: IC064 Maiden Castle, Dorset; within the Series: EHC01/146 English Heritage Reconstruction and Artwork Collection; within the Collection: EHC01 English Heritage(EH):Archive
© Historic England Archive
Illustrator: Dobie, Judith
Iron Age Cemetery, Iron Age Grave
Our website works best with the latest version of the browsers below, unfortunately your browser is not supported. Using an old browser means that some parts of our website might not work correctly.
