38 EARLY MAN IN DORSET. 



THE IRON AGE. 



The introduction of Iron into Britain probably took place 

 about 600 B.C. and the use of the potter's wheel came in 

 about the same time. Mr. E. Torday, who has lately 

 published an interesting account of the negro tribes living 

 on the tributaries of the Congo and entirely unaffected by 

 European influence, found among them smiths well 

 acquainted with the arts of smelting and forging iron. 

 These arts have certainly been practised there for many 

 centuries, and it is conceivable that we owe to the African 

 negro the discovery how to make tools of iron. 



The conquest of Britain by the Romans was contemplated 

 by Julius Caesar, who landed on this island in 55 and 54 B.C., 

 the serious invasion began under Claudius in 43 A.D., and 

 the occupation of the country was completed by Agricola 

 in 84 A.D. The Hill-top Camps would, of course, be attacked 

 and captured by the Romans, and it is possible that the 

 strongest of them, Maiden Castle, which appears unfinished 

 on one side, really was unfinished when it was taken by the 

 invader. After capturing these forts the Romans would 

 take care that they never again became the strongholds of 

 an enemy, and in the great fortress on Hod Hill they made 

 a small inner Camp in one corner for their own garrison. 

 But this was quite exceptional. These Camps of Refuge 

 were not needed after the establishment of the Pax Romana. 

 Roman roads run near them, sometimes quite close to them, 

 but without running into them, as the roads run into 

 Silchester and wherever we have a town with a name 

 compounded of " castrum." The Romans placed their camps 

 on fairly level ground, where there was convenient access 

 to water and good pasture. These grew into our modern 

 towns, and the Romano-British settlements will be found, 

 as in London, buried many feet below the present surface. 



There is, however, a district, largely in Dorset, which was 

 inhabited during the Iron Age far more densely than it is 

 now. This is Cranbourne Chase, the earthworks of which 



