A young man who died nearly 2,000 years ago defending a huge hill fort from Roman invaders has been brought back to life as the hero of a new novel.

A male skeleton, unearthed in a mass grave by archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler during a major investigation of Maiden Castle in the 1930s, was found with a Roman ballista bolt embedded in his spine.

It is one of the most dramatic exhibits at Dorset County Museum, Dorchester.

Now in history teacher David Macpherson's debut novel, aimed at bringing history alive for 12-year-olds and older, the young man who took the fatal bolt is Huw, 17, one of the "Defenders of Mai-dun."

The novel covers the terrible events of AD 43 when the Second Legion under its General, Vespasian, was moving remorselessly through the South and West, "blowing through the land of the Durotriges like a fierce wind".

The Iron Age tribes, plagued by inter-tribal suspicion and disputes, fought bravely, but in isolation, against the most efficient fighting machine the world had seen. Hill fort after hill fort fell to the invaders.

Mr Macpherson, 68, taught at Taunton School and then Dean Close School, Cheltenham, some years ago, before going on to become a headmaster in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

He retired to Coryates, near Dorchester, and has revelled in the detailed research needed for the book.

It follows the fortunes of a young orphan boy called Conn, who lives on Mai-dun (Maiden Castle), and Julius, an inexperienced tribune in the Roman army. The lives of Julius and Conn are intertwined with a compelling inevitability. The adventure concludes with the Roman assault on the settlement and the establishment of Durnovaria (Dorchester).

But, as Mr Macpherson's book makes clear, the defenders may not have been wiped out in a wholesale massacre.

That was Sir Mortimer Wheeler's interpretation, but in the 1980s Niall Sharples' excavations suggested the fall was more a slow war of attrition.

"My story is based on what Niall Sharples said, and I have not gone for a pitched battle," said Mr Macpherson.

"Some of the skeletons showed injuries which had healed or partially healed."

The latest research into Maiden Castle skeletons, by bio-archaeologist Dr Rebecca Redfern of the Museum of London, has yet to be published. "She has shown that women were involved in the fighting. If I had known that I would certainly have brought it in," said Mr Macpherson.

The book is published by Roving Press at £5.99 and is for sale at Words Etcetera in Dorchester and other bookshops.