Could this important Iron Age king really have been a queen?

New research has unearthed an amazing Iron Age discovery that, if true, could rewrite history.

Archaeologists from the Bournemouth University (BU) say that a Roman ruler from 43 AD, assumed to be King Verica could actually have been a Queen.

Dr Miles Russell, the director of archaeological fieldwork at BU said "Verica is probably the most important person at the end of the Iron Age."

Verica was the leader of the Atrebates, a tribe whose lived in modern-day Hampshire and West Sussex.

According to historians, Verica convinced Roman emperor Claudius to cross the English Channel and invade Britain and until now, was assumed to be a male ruler.

But Dr Russell says coins from the era "clearly" depict a female figure on horseback alongside Verica's name and the word 'Rex'.

But Dr Russell says Rex, traditionally translated as meaning King, was just a term that meant "someone ruled with full authorisation of the Emperor", so could have meant male OR female.

He also writes, in a new book called Caratacus: Great King Of Britain, that the name "Verica", suggests she was a woman, because female names in Latin often ended with the letter a.

However, Prof Roger Tomlin, a British archaeologist who is an expert in Latin translation at the University of Oxford says the coins alone did not prove Verica was female.

He said there was little evidence the term Rex had been used for both male and female rulers.

Furthermore, Dr Daphne Nash Briggs, a British iron age archaeologist and coin expert says other coins exist from around the same time that have Verica's name on them alongside a clearly male form on horseback.

So, we may never know whether Verica was a king or a queen, but Dr Russell says it was important to have the discussion.

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, Dr Russell said:

"Other Iron Age leaders are putting male warriors on their coins, Verica is putting exclusively female figures on the backs of her coins, the question is 'Why would anyone do that?'

"So it does seem that, alongside various other bits of evidence, Verica is an important female leader, and that changes the dynamic of the Roman invasion itself."