Editing Maiden Castle, Dorset (section)

==Roman activity and abandonment==
[[Image:Roman temple, Maiden Castle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Site of the Roman [[temple]] at Maiden Castle]]
In AD&nbsp;43, the [[Roman conquest of Britain]] began. [[Vespasian]]'s subsequent campaign to conquer the tribes of the [[Atrebates]], [[Dumnonii]], and Durotriges in the southwest of Britain took place in AD&nbsp;43–47.<ref>Mattingly (2006), p.&nbsp;97.</ref> Based on the discovery of a group of bodies in the Late Iron Age formal cemetery that had met a violent death, archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler created a vivid story of the fall of Maiden Castle to Roman forces. He believed a legion wreaked destruction on the site, butchering men, women, and children, before setting fire to the site and [[slighting]] its defences. However, there is little archaeological evidence to support this version of events, or even that the hill fort was attacked by the Romans, Wheeler's interpretation of a siege and subsequent massacre being unlikely.<ref name="Russell">{{cite journal |author=Russell, Miles. |date=2019 |title=Mythmakers of Maiden Castle: the Siege Mentality of an Iron Age Hillfort |journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology |volume=38 |doi=10.1111/ojoa.12172|doi-access=free}}</ref> Although there is a layer of [[charcoal]], it is associated with the iron works, and the main evidence for slighting of defences comes from the collapse of an entranceway to the fort. Although 14&nbsp;bodies in the cemetery exhibited signs of a violent death, there is no evidence that they died at Maiden Castle.<ref>Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;124–125.</ref>

The eastern part of the hill fort remained in use for at least the first few decades of the Roman occupation, although the duration and nature of habitation is uncertain. Many 1st-century Roman artefacts have been discovered near the east entrance and in the centre of the hill fort. It has been suggested that Maiden Castle was occupied as a Roman military outpost or [[castra|fort]] and the settlement discontinued, as there is no known fort in the area and it was not uncommon for hill forts in the southwest to have been occupied by Roman forces. This was a characteristic of [[Vespasian]]'s campaign in the region; there was military occupation at [[Cadbury Castle, Somerset|Cadbury Castle]] in [[Somerset]], [[Hembury]] in [[Devon]], and [[Hod Hill]] in Dorset.<ref>Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;125–126.</ref> A full geophysical survey of the hillfort conducted in 2015 by Dave Stewart<ref>Stewart, Dave and Russell, Miles. (2017) Hillforts and the Durotriges: a geophysical survey of Iron Age Dorset, pp. 106-133. Published by Archaeopress ({{ISBN|9781784917159}})</ref> has, however, produced no evidence for a Roman fort here.

Maiden Castle had been abandoned by the end of the 1st century, a time when ''[[Durnovaria]]'' (Dorchester) rose to prominence as the ''[[civitas]]'', or regional capital, of the [[Durotriges]], a Celtic tribe whose territory was in southwest England.<ref>Sharples (1991a), p.&nbsp;126.</ref> However, in July 2015 archaeologists from [[Bournemouth University]] discovered the remains of the Iron Age settlement of [[Duropolis]] and believe that the abandonment of the fort may be connected with the new site.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/2015-07-12/dig-unearths-prehistoric-town |title=Dig Unearths Prehistoric Town |publisher=[[Bournemouth University]] |date=12 July 2015 |access-date=17 July 2015}}</ref> According to the ancient geographer [[Ptolemy]], writing in the 2nd century&nbsp;AD, ''Dunium'' was the main settlement of the Durotriges. Although ''Dunium'' has long been thought to refer to Maiden Castle, [[Hod Hill]] and [[Hengistbury]] have been identified as two other possible sites for ''Dunium''.<ref>Wainwright & Cunliffe (1985), p.&nbsp;97.</ref> ''Dunium'' may have derived from [[British language (Celtic)|British]] ''duno-'' which meant "a fort".<ref name="Mills 377">Mills (1977), p.&nbsp;377.</ref> 

Sometime after 367, a Romano-Celtic temple was built at Maiden Castle in the eastern half of the hill fort.<ref>Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;16,&nbsp;130.</ref> The date was deduced from a hoard of coins discovered beneath a mosaic floor in the temple. A central room, measuring {{cvt|6|m|ft}} square, was surrounded by a {{cvt|3|m|ft}} passageway, similar to many Romano-Celtic temples found in the south of England. Nearby were two other buildings: a rectangular building {{cvt|7.9|x|5.5|m|ft}} with two rooms that may have been a house for a priest, and a circular building that may have been a shrine. At the same time as the temple was built, the fort's eastern gateway was refurbished; there was possibly another shrine inside the gateway.<ref>Sharples (1991a), p.&nbsp;130.</ref>