Hillforts : Prehistoric Strongholds of Northumberland National Park

Iron Age hillforts in Northumberland National Park are extraordinarily well preserved, rivalling anything to be found elsewhere in Europe. While the interiors of most hillforts in southern England have been hidden or disfigured by later land use, most of those in Northumberland national park have been left relatively untouched in since they were last occupied, in the Roman Iron Age, around 1,500 years ago. In many cases, even the foundations of timber-built roundhouses over 2,000 years old can still be seen as shallow trenches in the turf. What did hillforts look like when they were first built? Why were they built? What was life like for their inhabitants? This book - aimed primarily at walkers and other visitors to the National Park - presents the results of a key component of Northumberland National Park Authority's Discovering our Hillfort Heritage project; detailed and extensive archaeological landscape surveys carried out by English Heritage. Like the best detective work, these investigations have combined the precision of the microscope with and appreciation of the big picture. The authors - all Archaeological Investigators with English Heritage - have, collectively, spent nearly a century exploring England's historic sites on foot. Acknowledgements vi Foreword: Discovering our Hillfort Heritage vii Preface vii 1. Introduction: seeing into the past 1 2. Writing the story of the past 9 3. Before hillforts 33 4. Understanding hillforts 44 5. Life at home 71 6. Hillforts in the landscape 85 7. The afterlife of hillforts 101 8. Hillforts today and tomorrow (by Paul Frodsham) 119 Visiting hillforts safely 126 Further reading 127 References 127 Index 129 A detailed archaeological landscape survey that, like all the best pieces of detective work, investigates hillforts with the combined precision of the microscope and the ability to stand back and view the bigger picture. The authors have collectively spent many decades exploring these historic sites on foot and this book presents the results of their detailed archaeological landscape surveys. This book present the results of a key component of Northumberland National Park Authority's Discovering Our HIllfort Heritage project: the detailed and extensive archaeological landscape surveys carried out by English Heritage A Detailed Archaeological Landscape Survey Which Investigates The Purpose, Design And Function Of Iron Age Hillforts In Northumberland National Park.