Dorset's rich archaeology is reflected in the collections of the Dorset County Museum. The Museum is home to over a million archaeological finds, from the Iron and Bronze Ages to the later medieval period. The most important of these objects are on display in the Archaeology Gallery, where visitors will find gold neck-rings, hoards of bronze coins and beautiful Roman mosaics.

But even the most humble of the artefacts can tell us a great deal about how people lived in the past. The Gallery also displays objects from one of the country's most important archaeological sites. Maiden Castle, just outside Dorchester, is one of the largest hillforts in the British Isles. Although people lived and worshipped on Maiden Castle for thousands of years, the Iron Age is the period from which most finds date, including domestic utensils, working tools, fine Iron Age pottery and skeletons.

The finds reveal a great deal about the local landscape, which was not always as peaceful as it is now. Buried on Maiden Castle there is evidence of the bloody battles that took place after the Romans landed in Britain in AD 43.

Under Roman rule Dorchester and the surrounding area saw a great deal of change. The Romans built an amphitheatre, aqueducts and baths, town walls and elegant houses. Visitors to Dorchester can still see the remains of one Roman Town House, and an enormous wealth of Roman material, including beads, glassware, pottery and mosaics, is displayed in the Dorset County Museum.