The Wessex Hillforts Project : Extensive Survey of Hillfort Interiors in Central Southern England

With contributions by N. Burton, T. Cromwell, S. Cross, S. Crutchley, N. Linford, F. Small and J. Vallender. Ebook (PDF) published 2013. The earthwork forts that crown many hills in Southern England are among the largest and most dramatic of the prehistoric features that still survive in our modern rural landscape. The Wessex Hillforts Survey collected wide-ranging data on hillfort interiors in a three-year partnership between the former Ancient Monuments Laboratory of English Heritage and Oxford University. These defended enclosures, occupied from the end of the Bronze Age to the last few centuries before the Roman conquest, have long attracted archaeological interest and their function remains central to study of the Iron Age. The communal effort and high degree of social organisation indicated by hillforts feeds debate about whether they were strongholds of Celtic chiefs, communal centres of population or temporary gathering places occupied seasonally or in times of unrest. Yet few have been extensively examined archaeologically. Using non-invasive methods, the survey enabled more elaborate distinctions to be made between different classes of hillforts than has hitherto been possible. The new data reveals not only the complexity of the archaeological record preserved inside hillforts, but also great variation in complexity among sites. Survey of the surrounding countryside revealed hillforts to be far from isolated features in the later prehistoric landscape. Many have other less visible, forms of enclosed settlement in close proximity. Others occupy significant meeting points of earlier linear ditch systems and some appear to overlie, or be located adjacent to, blocks of earlier prehistoric field systems. The earthwork forts that crown many hills in Southern England are among the largest and most dramatic of the prehistoric features that still survive in our modern rural landscape. The Wessex Hillforts Survey collected wide-ranging data on hillfort interiors in a three-year partnership between the former Ancient Monuments Laboratory of English Heritage and Oxford University. These defended enclosures, occupied from the end of the Bronze Age to the last few centuries before the Roman conquest, have long attracted archaeological interest and their function remains central to study of the Iron Age. The communal effort and high degree of social organistation indicated by hillforts feeds debate about whether they were strongholds of Celtic chiefs, communal centres of population or temporary gathering places occupied seasonally or in times of unrest. Yet few have been extensively examined archaeologically. Using non-invasive methods, the survey enabled more elaborate distinctions to be made between different classes of hillforts than has hitherto been possible. The new data reveals not only the complexity of the archaeological record preserved inside hillforts, but also great variation in complexity among sites. Survey of the surrounding coutnryside revealed hillforts to be far from isolated features in the later prehistoric landscape. Many have other less visible, forms of enclosed settlement in close proximity. Others occupy significant meeting points of earlier linear ditch systems and some appear to overlie, or be located adjacent to, blocks of earlier prehistoric field systems. The earthwork forts that crown many hills in southern England are among the largest and most dramatic of the prehistoric features that still survive in our modern rural landscape. These defended enclosures, occupied from the end of the Bronze Age to the last few centuries before the Roman conquest, have long attracted archaeological interest and their function remains central to study of the Iron Age. The communal effort and high degree of social organisation indicated by hillforts feed debate about whether they were strongholds of Celtic chiefs, communal centres of population or temporary refuges occupied seasonally or in times of unrest. Yet few have been extensively examined archaeologically. Using non-invasive methods, the survey enabled more elaborate distinctions to be made between different classes of hillforts than has hitherto been possible. The new data reveals not only the complexity of the archaeological record preserved inside hillforts, but also great variation in complexity among sites. Survey of the surrounding countryside also revealed hillforts to be part of their contemporary landscape rather than isolated features Front Cover 1 Prelims 3 Half title page 3 Title page 5 Contents 7 List of illustrations 8 Summary 9 Résumé 9 Zusammenfassung 10 Acknowledgements 11 Chapter 1 - Hillfort studies and the Wessex project 13 Chapter 2 - The Monuments and Their Setting 51 Chapter 3 - The Regional Pattern 143 Chapter 4 - Understanding hillforts: have we progressed? 163 Endmatter 175 Bibliography 175 Index 180 Fold-out illustrations 184 Fig 2.7 184 Fig 2.14 185 Fig 2.15 186 Fig 2.40 187 Fig 2.41 188 Fig 2.46 189 Fig 2.47 190 Imprint 191 Illustrations vi Summary vii Acknowledgements ix 1. Hillfort studies and the Wessex Project / Andrew Payne 1 2. The monuments and their setting / Mark Corney and Andrew Payne 39 3. The regional pattern / Mark Corney and Andrew Payne 131 4. Understanding hillforts: have we progressed? / by Barry Cunliffe 151 Bibliography 163 Index 168 An archaeological survey of the Iron Age prehistoric earthwork forts that crown many hills in Southern England.The survey distinguishes several classes of hillfort, and reveals the great variation in complexity among sites