Speaker: Lilian Ladle

Recent work looking at ancient DNA has provided family links and some surprising lineages for the group of 26 people buried at Worth Matravers in the late 6th and early 7th centuries CE. Lilian Ladle uses burial rites, settlement and industry to compare this site with the very few other Post-Roman sites of this date at Ulwell, Wareham, Bestwall, Worgret, Puddletown and Druce.
Lilian Ladle is an independent archaeologist and a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University. She directed excavations at the multi-period sites of Druce Farm Roman Villa near Dorchester, the Football Field at Worth Matravers and Bestwall Quarry, Wareham. She was awarded the MBE for services to archaeology in 2008 and elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2021.