Ancient Skeletons Reveal Secrets of Britain’s Most Spectacular Hillfort

Join 'The Ancients' host Tristan Hughes in a captivating exploration of Maiden Castle, an ancient hillfort steeped in mystery. In this video, Tristan is joined by archaeologist Dr. Miles Russell for a fascinating interview that takes us deep into the heart of this enigmatic structure.
Located in Dorset, England, Maiden Castle stands as a testament to the ingenuity of our ancestors. Tristan and Miles guide us through its intricate ramparts, labyrinthine passageways, and awe-inspiring views, unveiling a captivating history that has puzzled scholars for centuries.
Through Tristan's expert analysis and Miles' archaeological expertise, they uncover the origins and evolution of Maiden Castle, gaining insights into its purpose and strategic significance and discover more about the daily lives of its inhabitants, their rituals, and their struggles against external threats as they navigate the fortification's remarkable features.
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[@markthompson1819]

There are lots of neolithic remnants around this part of Dorset. Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrows is a large cluster of 44 Bronze Age burial mounds is just 6 miles west of Dorchester. The site is so large that the grouping of barrows has been described as a Bronze Age cemetery. And the Cerne Giant is only a short drive away. We locals are blessed for ancient history.

[@stufour]

It is fabulous here. You can’t move for henges and standing stones and barrows 😊

[@horuslupercal9936]

The area of South West England is teaming with Hill Forts & Burial Mounds.

[@royfearn4345]

I vividly recall visiting Maiden Castle on a holiday in about 1963. Not knowing there was a hard way and an easy way in, I went for what I saw. By the time I'd scaled the final wall, my legs were absolutely wrecked, but I can say I stormed Maiden Castle the hard way, albeit without any defensive spears! Impressive beyond measure!

[@DJL78]

Tristan is one of this channels best presenters.

[@kc3718]

Tristan the pretend farmer and his celtic guff ? Nah he's crap. Alexei Sayle was miles better.

[@DJL78]

@@kc3718 Linda Rawsthorn would beg to differ.

[@valpayne2963]

Dr Russell explains in a wonderfully natural and interesting way.

[@colinbooth2421]

I was brought up with the Mortimer Wheeler theory. It made school and family visits to Maiden Castle an evocative experience. Thanks, Dr. Russell, for shattering my childhood memories! But I'm so grateful for being disabused so entertainingly and constructively.

[@marlo714]

This channel is the best thing for Great Britain's History !🇬🇧

[@stephanieyee9784]

Maiden Castle is absolutely magnificent and I would love to visit if I ever return to the UK. Thank you for this fantastic informative video.

[@diogenesegarden5152]

Looking at the local geography, this area could have been part of an early migration or trading route from continental Europe. Radipole lake, that is situated behind the sand spit that Weymouth is now built on, would have been an important sheltered harbour in the lee of Chesil beach and Portland. The lake itself would have provided reeds, as the name suggests, for thatching materials and oyster beds as suggested by the excavated mounds of shells that we used to call the ‘Humpty Dumpty’ fields when I was a kid, in Radipole village. Weymouth bay is well known as a shelter for shipping and bathing, and Portland itself would have been a great landmark for early navigation. The fear of tsunami would have encouraged building settlements on the high ground of the chalk Ridgeway. I often wonder if the ditches themselves could have been clay lined and used as reservoirs. The whole construction shows a high level of organisation and intelligence of these early people. Water supply would have been a major concern and although the consensus is that the ‘Dor’ in Dorset/Dorchester and indeed Durrotiges was derived from ‘dura’ meaning hard, referring to the chalk land, my pet theory is that it is derived from what was the ancient British/ Welsh word dwr meaning water. Dorchester prior to Roman times was known as Caer Dwr, Caer meaning fortified settlement and dwr again meaning water. As an aside, a local coastal feature is Durdle Door. Apparently a durdle is an ancient word for drill. If the door part is actually derived from dwr then it would describe exactly what the feature is, a hole drilled by water. Maybe these people were part of the migrations from ancient Mesopotamia? I understand that the climate was much wetter and warmer way back in the past and maybe these people had knowledge of water management. Maybe this is fanciful thinking, but we tend to think of our early ancestors as being painted barbarians, but the evidence shows that they were far from this.

[@Lord_Merterus]

Hillforts are probably my favorite type of fortification. They're severely underrated

[@will-i-am-not]

Especially when they were dug by deer antlers

[@carveraugustus3840]

Were they tho? I think they look pretty freaking cool no doubt but to the Army of Alexander the Great /Competent Hellenistic king or Roman army under the likes of vespasian, you'd have no hope of Surviving the siege

[@sanderson9338]

​@@carveraugustus3840 haversford west hillfort disagrees as does tap o noth not to mention Daulatabad Rome withdrew from Pictland and its hillforts and built a wall actually 2 to keep the picts out, alexander quit in india. Rome fell to homeless barbarians despite its walls and legions, the IX legion got spanked and destroyed in Pictland .

[@carveraugustus3840]

@@sanderson9338 India was vast and incomparable to Britain. Also, the army had just conquered the whole of the Persian empire, and spent years camping in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan . The Romans indeed quit Scotland, but it was rather more mountainous than the rest of Britain/England and there’s nothing there for them the gain. Just emperors dying in northern England and southern Scotland. Would you know is pretty cool

[@sanderson9338]

@@carveraugustus3840 you cant use the argument there was nothing in Pictland Rome wanted as they tried for 300 years to obtain it, they wanted it they just couldnt take and hold it.

[@zakamoriarty]

Used to enjoy walking around here when I lived in Dorchester. Interesting documentary!

[@TheSonicdruid72]

New favourite channel! Cheers from Australia

[@wag0NE]

I think the use of stones in early warfare is highly underappreciated and was certainly not limited to slings. Used all over the world and in any given opportunity, in The Iliad there is a powerful description of their use (throwing rocks) akin to Zeus showering upon the enemy army, stopping Hektors advance in its tracks, the thought of it is genuinely terrifying and is described as such.

[@paulfletcher3998]

There's another bill fort about 8 miles away from Maiden castle near Milborne St Andrew that very few people seem to know about. It's called Weatherbury castle. Smaller than Maiden Castle with a wood on the top and an obelisk in the middle. My friends and I used to play there when we were kids.

[@resnonverba137]

Surprisingly interesting. Thanks for upload.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

A wonderful, informative historical coverage video thank you for sharing (4000 BC 😮)

[@1caremsa]

I attended Weymouth Grammar School in the 1970's and we were taught that the Romans laid siege to Maiden Castle and that it was the tip of a Ballista bolt embedded in the skeleton as proof. I loved the idea of Iron Age tribesmen armed with slingshots, manning a wooden palisade built on top of the trenches repelling a superior Roman force only to find that Carbon dating now disproves this!

[@jeffsmith2022]

What a splendid video...

[@matthewwilson5548]

amazing! I learned so much.

[@andrewroberts8959]

The history in this video was great! The sound quality could use a bit of work. The interviewer/presenter was muffled and quiet, his volume needs to be increased.

[@54mgtf22]

Love your work 👍

[@IamSquirrel]

This is truly one of the most beautiful and fascinating things I have ever seen.

[@flamencoprof]

I visited this site about lunch on a Tuesday in early August 1996. Was surprised to note only 15 cars in the carpark. I am from New Zealand and found it very reminiscent of the hilltop fortifications called Pa which were built by the Maori people here. Although they were stone age people, when faced with British military assaults, they soon abandoned settled Pa for more temporary warrior-only Pa which were more adapted to artillery fire. They would get the Brits to waste a lot of effort taking the Pas to find all the warriors gone to fight another day. I understand their innovations against artillery were noted and utilised by the Brits in WW1 trench warfare.

[@nixxie2390]

Also locally there is the Amphitheater just up from the old police station, that is pretty likely to have been an iron age barrow of some kind before being turned into an amphitheater by the romans, and later on was the local trial/hanging site.

[@giamlarry]

I used to run around Maiden Castle a lot, on a windy winters day I'd often stop for a pee break to admire the views and see how far the wind would take my stream. Pretty sure I created a yellow rainbow reaching Martinstown on one blustery occasion

[@murder13love]

Went there when I was little... the wind was insane!! My mum genuinely got scared and held my hand thinking it would blow me off the top 😂 my dad meanwhile was leaning against it! So I can believe that story 100% it probably would have gone a fair distance 😂😂

[@markthompson1819]

Ahem. Tmi.

[@matthewjohns1758]

@@markthompson1819 Can’t agree.😂

[@anthonystevens8683]

A great informative video of a part of the country that was clearly modified to serve a purpose of defence.... from something or someone. The engineering at the time and man power required would have been huge yet it's surprising that today it has nothing within the design that survives that would have required defending. Incredible to learn about so many thanks History Hit for sharing.

[@wag0NE]

Maybe it was the people with the design who required defending.

[@DragonsAndDragons777]

I love this channel

[@gibmattson1217]

It's interesting that the stone circles which are not defensive are also bank and ditch. Avebury is and Stonehenge was originally.

[@paulannable3734]

Amazing. Misconceptions corrected (I always thought the Romans attacked Maiden Castle) and new stuff learned. Where did the inhabitants get their water, I wonder?

[@nixxie2390]

There is a winterbourne river at the back side (weymouth side). Plus later on they had wells. they must have been seriously deep tho. I expect lots of kids & elderly folks brought water up every day endlessly.

[@kimblecheat]

From a few hundred yards away-check the area.

[@davidevans3227]

every now and again, watching one of these things, i recognise someone from Time Team.. 🙂

[@katherinecollins4685]

Well presented

[@bravo2zero796]

There's a lovely one in Oswestry

[@stevenl.passalacqua3953]

Very interesting!!

[@JC-sd3vh]

As mentioned in the video the height and depth of the the brows and furrows were deeper & higher, I walked this area in the 80's and stunned by it just walking up and down them with a rucksack . Given the small population at the time and the poor tools used I still wonder what made then take on this effort over such a period of time. Amazing. If I saw the pyramids I think I would have to lay down just thinking of the effort of it all.

[@pauls3204]

Still lots of wild animals and big hairy wild neighbours during this period Wolves Grizzly’s Black bears brown bears Lynx all sorts of scary shit including giant Oryx Hill forts and enclosures all over the UK Don’t forget the temperature was warmer considerably at this time and the sea was further away from much of the coastline

[@JC-sd3vh]

@@pauls3204 Jeez I didnt even think of that. Good point.

[@aaronleverton4221]

So, the peace dividend did for the hillforts and the lack of hillforts did for the Britons? Given what Lucius Flavius Silva did to Masada, I'm not sure the hillforts would have delayed the conquest for all that long anyway.

[@lilylove2021]

Miles is excellent

[@eileenlocke7877]

Thank u interesting . I luv Dorset .

[@tristangraham2326]

Call in time team 😀

[@davidlloyd2225]

0:21 ❤hillforts 0:30

[@stewarth99]

How hostile were the local fauna? Wild pigs, bears, wolves and possible megafauna. That could be an explanation for the structures.

[@jonathanweeks9925]

Hamdon Hill in Somerset is much larger.

[@GildaLee27]

Were there or are there wells up on top of Maiden Castle? How could any settlement survive for long without a source of water?

[@rtk3543]

Always been my thoughts, most so called Hillforts have no local water supply.

[@judithmacfadzen9516]

Don't forget many rivers & streams have disappeared over the centuries.

[@ericwilliams1659]

Sadly any well might be hard to find also any local streams/springs might have dried up today. But i promise you they had to have had a near by water source.

[@randalthor741]

I would think there must have been wells there, because they would have needed some sort of water supply and as far as I'm aware there isn't any evidence that iron age Britons used cisterns to collect rain water (I could be wrong: they might have used cisterns). I've actually wondered if the reason why the hill fort was practically abandoned by the time the Romans arrived, and why the settlements had all moved to the low lands around Maiden Castle might be because the hill fort's wells were running dry, so they moved to where the water was.

[@jmanj3917]

5:14 Ancient Alien Theorists say, "Yes!" 🤣

[@jasoncallow860]

I always watch TV shows, like The Walking Dead etc, and they focus on building walls, and I'm screaming at the TV dig a ditch around it! The ditch is the most basic and effective fortification.

[@nancyM1313]

⭐👍🏼⭐

[@spotthedraco2353]

SNAKE fort yeno ive found a serpent mound in the uk gonna go dig it up today✌❤

[@danielleetaylor]

lay lines?

[@GACBRAIN]

Tristan must have his scarf wrapped over his mic, can barely understand his parts

[@vadusnisky31]

The impact of disease is poorly understood in early human history

[@pauls3204]

It isn’t , it’s just conveniently ignored by some ignorant narratives We’d be lucky to reach early teens in the period being shown here , infant mortality was more than fifth percent

[@chrisstrider]

Ironic that our president King has built a gleaming suburban settlement nearby

[@markthompson1819]

It isn't gleaming. Many of the buildings are seriously disfigured with exterior mould and stained stonework. It's shocking.

[@raysargent4055]

Who were they and why did they need these defences .How did they get their water .

[@hawklord100]

They keep calling these sites 'iron age' but they were building and using these great sites over 6,000 years ago, the question was asked what drew people to the area and build monumental earthworks, it was the religion of the Dragons/Serpents as there are not only many earth energy Dragons in that area of the country but the people would also build Serpentine earthworks alongside them as a form of veneration. These Serpentine earthworks were later called by the incoming Saxons 'Dyke or Grim' as they were unaware of what they were used for. Also often associated by the early Christians as 'devils grim' or devils dyke' Offa's Dyke is a Serpentine veneration of this ancient religous practise as it follows the flowing earth Dragon energy acrosss the land. All part of the same culture that built the Great Serpent Henges.

[@rock3music176]

Interesting viewpoint

[@DragonWizards]

Agreed, to call these neolithic centres of community and religious Sacred areas as a mere Hill fort is a sacrilege

[@demetos5432]

The people of stone had a much closer connection with the earth and its energy.Perhaps they were demonstrating their collective knowledge in constructing these places that we don't have anymore. And we still don't understand.

[@n0killz44]

And what’s on offas dyke? Old Oswestry hillfort

[@DragonWizards]

@@demetos5432 I understand.....

[@TheLRider]

Just so easy to say Iron Age. Imagine the scientific knowledge gained over generations to be able to smelt iron ore and produce hard shiny metal in serious volumes. Smelting of Iron ore needs temperatures of 1800 °C. They'd practiced for centuries with copper and bronze that only need temperatures of around 1000°C. In those two numbers you get to realise how sophisticated these people were. The Bronze Age people's came up the West Coast of Europe from the Iberian Peninsula looking for outcrops of Copper pirities which is that bright turquoise blue that shows up easily in water courses where present. Large outcrops were mined on Anglesey at Paris Mountain and the biggest of them all on the Great Orme in Llandudno; the biggest Coper mine in the whole of Europe in its day. The people's who developed and governed these massive enterprises were classed as magicians and alchemists and we're very powerful and were known as the original Druids whose HQ was on Anglesey. Over the centuries the Bronze Age immigrants settled integrated and moved inland. Stone henge originally built in Pembrokeshire was moved to Salisbury Plain as part of this migration and ofcourse underwent further development as did Maiden Castle. Many other coastal areas underwent similar development I would imagine, Dorset being one of them..

[@DaraS84]

I do wonder if perhaps there was something akin to the Bubonic Plague that could've changed the landscape and decimated the population, enough that they couldn't maintain the giant structures or political setup, whatever it might've been. This is just me and my armchair archeologist thoughts 😂

[@graceamerican3558]

Okay it’s protection for the people living there but protection from whim? And how many? It’s a big place.

[@welshpete12]

I wonder why people would have a need to live there. It was such a huge effort to build . Was it for mutual protection from other tribes , if so why ? They would have needed a good water supply close by . With a maximum of 2000 people living there . They would have needed at lest 2 liters or 4 pints of water per day per person. A thousands gallons which would have been 10, 000 Lbs. or about 5 tons of water . That would have had to be carried up each and every day , summer and winter , a huge effort . I wonder how they would have coped in times of warfare when their water supple was cut off from them ?

[@kevinquinn225]

They were Celts

[@elizabethdarley8646]

Somewhere here was living maybe one of my grandparents/great great x150 going back! My DNA is 98% English

[@OmmerSyssel]

Read about Cheddar Man and his present day offspring?

[@kylelawlor2793]

That will be Briton DNA then, not “English”. They gave us the English language. It was the Vikings who told us words like “trust”….. Sickening how the descendants of the murderers can even make these videos. They know what weapons would of been used, and know it was built for a potential attack 🤔 but “no knowledge” of the people. We’re told their history at school. These aren’t Britons in this video, these two men, so this is their version. Be careful if you claim you’re Briton.

[@elizabethdarley8646]

@@kylelawlor2793 My parents had their DNA done. I am not interested as it smells a bit Fascistic/Nationalistic in a way...There is only one race- the human race.

[@elizabethdarley8646]

@@kylelawlor2793 I didn't write the DNA results. They were written by a company that does the testing. I haven't had mine done but my parents have.

[@elizabethdarley8646]

@@kylelawlor2793 We didn't study Danes etc at school. Anyway, hello. Please explain a bit more if you want to. What you say is interesting to me and I would love to know a bit more if you would please. From Bess in Yorkshire 🙂

[@frankparsons1629]

Did they finally embellish and strengthen the ramparts maybe knowing that one day the Romans would come.

[@aaronjaben7913]

Armies took a really long to get there back then. The defenders would plant hedges on hearing of an approaching army, and they would be full-grown and impenetrable by the time the attackers arrived 😉

[@lenabreijer1311]

Did you bother actually watching the video? Because they clearly talk about how it was abandoned over 100 years before the Romans arrived.

[@KernowekTim]

For me, as a Brit with Breton/Cornish/Welsh and Irish roots, I say, "Damn the Romans", and their so-called 'pax Romana'. I loathe them. That is my opinion, and priviledge to say.

[@EuroWarsOrg]

any bets History Hit gives credit to africans?

[@jeanettewee8805]

Please debunk the story of the 45 trillion dollar loot circulating on the internet. Even if you calculate the entire GDP of India during the 190 years of British rule, adjusted for inflation, you wouldn't reach 45 trillion dollars.

[@ericwilliams1659]

?? What are you on about?

[@ericwilliams1659]

You forgot to add the income from all the dead people and theirs children's potential income. You can add damage and suffering, since we know the British to super nice to the "other races". How did you value the loot stolen that was never returned. Why can't they add punitive damages?

[@ericwilliams1659]

You forgot to add the income from all the dead people and theirs children's potential income. You can add damage and suffering, since we know the British to super nice to the "other races". How did you value the loot stolen that was never returned. Why can't they add punitive damages?

[@ericwilliams1659]

Didn't British India lose Pakistan? How does one put a price on losing a whole country?

[@hetrodoxly1203]

@@ericwilliams1659 No.

[@Ahuka]

For some reason the host is really muffled in this video. Makes it harder to follow.

[@allon33]

They had wild animals back then, cave lions and packs of wolves; you know nothing Jon Snow.

[@pauls3204]

Brown black and grizzly bear plus various big cats

[@mcnicepidii3340]

I feel like this "historian" doesn' know his history. It's obvious why at "around 100AD" (as he sates) there was "a decline in the local populations that can't be due to the Roman 'invasion'"... If the "historian" for this "program" knew his facts... he would know that 100AD was only 5yrs after the Roma's 2nd invasion(in earnest this time). The arrows in the 'early' victim that the "historian" says "couldn't have been roman", was obviously roman... from J. Caesar's first invasion... in 55BC. Duh! get your facts straight or don't teach to preach!

[@kc3718]

wish that pretend farmer and his romano celtic guff hadn't been a feature.

[@Stephen-lx9nm]

They were black😂

[@IrishCinnsealach]

Everyone was until the invention of the camera 😂😂

[@complimentary_voucher]

I will never understand the bizarre amateur dramatics that English history presentations always insist on. From the really tiresome ott scores to the huge buckets of martial/patriarchal bullshit poured into every interpretation, it's so fucking weird. This one isn't the worst, obviously, but I always brace for these cringey antics. I've lived alongside a modern neolithic/pre-industrial culture and it's way more chill than these chickenheads imagine.

[@elizabethdarley8646]

That's why they found us Catholics a threat to their establishment - we refuse to worship their pantheon of goddesses and gods and we also refuse human / child sacrifice. Paganism has no proven dictat against human sacrifice. In paganism there is no law which says do not murder or do not give human sacrifice. All pagan systems would have used human sacrifice without a doubt. I will stick with our Lord Jesus Christ Who is the last and final sacrifice and being a human sacrifice of Himself by His allowing it is amazing and mind blowing to me. Paying for our sins. Paying the Father for our sins against the Father. Love. Forgiveness. Many Romans and many of all systems converted once they found out about our Lord appearing to ordinary people when He arose from the dead! Mind blowing! And our Lord was living on earth in the Iron Age! I cannot find evidence of such love by any other faith than our Blessed Lord. And, today in 2023 is Holy Pentecost! Praise God! Amen

[@OllyDee123]

HAIL MITHRAS

[@michaelstamper5604]

The history of the origins of the Abrahamic religions is interesting, too. Various myths and legends plagiarised from Assyria, Akkad, Babylonia and dozens of other pantheons, then carefully woven together with ancient Greek, Etruscan and early Roman myths to eventually produce Judaism, which in turn gave birth to Islam and Christianity. All provably fairy stories from ancient, prehistoric beginnings up to the present day, yet the terminally foolish still give it/them credence. Surely the saddest kind of reality avoidance when scientific processes can, and frequently do, prove beyond question that religion of any description is essentially bedtime stories for children and nothing more.

[@elizabethdarley8646]

@@michaelstamper5604 That's what you want to believe. I like to read all sides. The Bible is God's story written by God. It's entirely up to each of us to choose what we believe.

[@PanglossDr]

Pictures used to illustrate this are disgraceful. Hunter gatherers did not run around naked. This promotes stupid stereotypes and is not historical. However good the rest of this might have been I would not watch beyond that point.

[@The_Silent_One.]

She's Beautiful Look At Her Standing Proud On her EMPTY HILL TOP...😂😅