Two skeletons found during excavations at Maiden Castle. The skullof one shows the square piercing
Two skeletons found during excavations at Maiden Castle. The skullof one shows the square piercing of a quadrangular Romanballista-bolt, and the other has an iron arrowhead embedded deeply ina vertebra.Maiden Castle is the largest hill fort in England, and was stilloccupied at the time of the Roman invasion of 43 AD, unlike mostother hill forts in Wessex. One group of burials (including the twoskeletons pictured above) behind the inner bank of the easternentrance outworks became known as the “war cemetery”. In total,¾ of the burials in Maiden Castle had met a violent death. This isa far greater proportion than any other group of Iron Age burials inDorset.It has been believed that Maiden Castle was stormed by the Romans,and this is the reason for the high percentage of violent death. However, some skeletons have evidence of healed wounds, showing thatthey had been the victims of violent encounters during their lives. Roman violence may be responsible for some of the deaths at MaidenCastle, but many would have died in other ways. The skeletons in the“war cemetery” were buried carefully, so it is unlikely that theywere killed in battle. -- source link
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