Description

The tribe of the Durotriges was listed by the Greek geographer Ptolemy in the second century AD. Traditionally it has been believed that the Durotrigans formed an Iron Age tribe whose territory included Dorset and parts of neighboring Somerset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire. This book brings together new evidence to suggest that the Durotrigan nation was made up of fiercely independent baronies rather than a unified state. The prolific number of hillforts built during this period and still visible in many cases today bears testament to this disparate state. Maiden Hill, the largest hillfort in Britain, witnessed a bloody battle in AD43 when the Romans under Vespasian fought the Durotrigans to effectively claim the Battle for Britain. For the first time, the evidence for the Durotriges is made accessible to undergraduates and amateur archaeologists, those interested in the history of their area, and anyone who has visited the numerous grand hillforts and would like to know more about how they came to exist.