[3] That would produce a meaning of 'fort dwellers', appropriate for the region's many hill forts (although these appear to have been largely abandoned by the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43).

"[7] Their main outlet for the trade across the Channel, strong in the first half of the 1st century BC, when the potter's wheel was introduced, then drying up in the decades before the advent of the Romans, was at Hengistbury Head.

Numismatic evidence shows progressive debasing of the coinage, suggesting economic retrenchment accompanying the increased cultural isolation.

Nevertheless, the Durotriges presented a settled society, based in the farming of lands[9] surrounded by hill forts, the majority of which seem to have gone out of use by 100 BC, long before the arrival of the Roman II Legion, commanded by Vespasian in 43 or 44 AD.

[12] Later examination of Maiden Castle by Niall Sharples in 1985-6[13] and geophysical survey conducted in 2015 by Dave Stewart[14] have shown that Wheeler's interpretation of a siege and subsequent massacre is unlikely.

The Durotriges, and their relationship with the Roman Empire, form the basis for an ongoing archaeological research project directed by Paul Cheetham, Ellen Hambleton and Miles Russell of Bournemouth University.

The Durotriges Project[16] has, since 2009, been reconsidering the Iron Age to Roman transition through a detailed programme of field survey, geophysical investigation and targeted excavation.