There are several key archaeological and historical influences which have impacted on the historic character of today's landscape in the AONB. These include:

1. Landscape Scale archaeological features

The AONB is blessed with a wealth of landscape scale archaeological features. These are relevant to the historic character of the AONB due to the effect they have had on later land uses. Bokerly Dyke (a Saxon boundary with possible Bronze Age origins) or the Ackling Dyke (the line of a Roman Road) formed barriers across the landscape which were respected long after they were abandoned from their original purpose.

Other large scale ancient monuments affected the development of later land for economic or practical reasons. A key example is the Iron Age Hillforts which are found across the AONB. Often the banks of these hillforts have survived beneath pre 1800 woodland while the flatter and more manageable interiors have been cleared of trees to form more recent fields. Alternatively these hillforts have survived as open or semi-enclosed swathes of chalk grassland, or are entirely covered by ancient trees.

Conversely, some later historic land uses have lead to the survival of archaeological sites and monuments. The late enclosure and ploughing of much of the former open chalk grassland across the AONB means that there is a strong correlation between the distribution of ancient monuments and areas recorded in the HLC dataset as having previously been open downland.

2. Ancient Borderlands

A key historical influence on the landscape of the AONB is the fact that four county boundaries cross the AONB; Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. These historic borderlands once formed marginal land often subject to late enclosure, and are associated with the survival of common land and ancient woodland. This subject is currently being researched in more depth by The Dorset County Boundary Survey.

3. The Chase

Another major historical feature of the AONB is the delimited hunting preserve of the Cranborne Chase.

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The adjacent map shows the approximate outer bounds of this Chase as defined in the Quo Warranto of Edward I dating to around 1280. The Chase was a medieval royal hunting area very similar to the royal hunting forests surrounding the AONB. These include Holt Forest east of Wimborne, Grovely Forest in Wiltshire, the Forests of Gillingham and Selwood and the Forest of the White Hart in Blackmoor Vale. The area of the Chase was subject to special laws which protected the deer and its habitat. The land could, however, be put to other uses including timber supply, grazing of domestic animals and the cutting of peat and furze.

The reason why the Chase is so important to the history of landscape of the AONB is that it was not disenfranchised until 1829. The effect of the Chase Laws and the primacy given to deer continued much later here than in other areas in the country. In 1816 William West calculated that the land subject to damage by deer comprised 7000 acres of woodland, 10000 acres of sheep walks and commons, and 15000 acres of arable.

The Chase, therefore, has had a major effect on the historic landscape of the southern half of the AONB. Many of the features seen in the landscape today relate to the former importance of the Chase. These include ancient woodlands, proliferation of downland, number of lodges and large estates, and the late enclosure of open chalk downland.