The Wessex Hillforts Project

The Wessex Hillforts Project PDF Author: Andrew Payne
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1848022212
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 187

Get Book Here

Book Description
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 Wessex Hillforts Project

The Wessex Hillforts Project PDF Author: Andrew Payne
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1848022212
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 187

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Hillforts, Warfare and Society in Bronze Age Ireland

Hillforts, Warfare and Society in Bronze Age Ireland PDF Author: William O'Brien
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784916560
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 538

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the first project to study hillforts in relation to warfare and conflict in Bronze Age Ireland. This project combines remote sensing and GIS-based landscape analysis with conventional archaeological survey to investigate ten prehistoric hillforts across southern Ireland.

Hillforts and the Durotriges

Hillforts and the Durotriges PDF Author: Dave Stewart
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784917168
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 186

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume sets out the results of a detailed programme of non-intrusive geophysical survey conducted across hillforts of Dorset (UK), generating detailed subsurface maps of archaeological features, in the hope of better resolving the phasing, form and internal structure of these iconic sites.

Iron Age Hillforts in Britain and Beyond

Iron Age Hillforts in Britain and Beyond PDF Author: Dennis Harding
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199695245
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Get Book Here

Book Description
Widely regarded as major visible field monuments of the Iron Age, hillforts are central to an understanding of later prehistoric communities in Britain and Europe. Harding reviews the changing perceptions of hillforts and the future prospects for hillfort research, highlighting aspects of contemporary investigation and interpretation.

Communities and Connections

Communities and Connections PDF Author: Chris Gosden
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019923034X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 522

Get Book Here

Book Description
A collection of essays by many of the leading specialists in the archaeology of the Iron Age and early Roman periods in Britain and western Europe, paying tribute to Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe. The subjects covered range over more than a thousand years, and from the Atlantic coasts to the eastern Mediterranean.

Hillforts of the Cheshire Ridge

Hillforts of the Cheshire Ridge PDF Author: Dan Garner
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1784914673
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Habitats and Hillforts of Cheshire’s Sandstone Ridge Landscape Partnership Project was focussed on six of Cheshire hillforts and their surrounding habitats and landscapes. It aimed to develop understanding of the chronology and role of the hillforts and encourage local interest and involvement in their maintenance.

The Oxford Handbook of the European Iron Age

The Oxford Handbook of the European Iron Age PDF Author: Colin Haselgrove
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191019488
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1425

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of the European Iron Age presents a broad overview of current understanding of the archaeology of Europe from 1000 BC through to the early historic periods, exploiting the large quantities of new evidence yielded by the upsurge in archaeological research and excavation on this period over the last thirty years. Three introductory chapters situate the reader in the times and the environments of Iron Age Europe. Fourteen regional chapters provide accessible syntheses of developments in different parts of the continent, from Ireland and Spain in the west to the borders with Asia in the east, from Scandinavia in the north to the Mediterranean shores in the south. Twenty-six thematic chapters examine different aspects of Iron Age archaeology in greater depth, from lifeways, economy, and complexity to identity, ritual, and expression. Among the many topics explored are agricultural systems, settlements, landscape monuments, iron smelting and forging, production of textiles, politics, demography, gender, migration, funerary practices, social and religious rituals, coinage and literacy, and art and design.

Europe Before Rome

Europe Before Rome PDF Author: T. Douglas Price
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199914702
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 425

Get Book Here

Book Description
Europe before Rome uses the extraordinary archaeology of prehistoric Europe to explore questions about the origins and evolution of human society

Place-names, Language and the Anglo-Saxon Landscape

Place-names, Language and the Anglo-Saxon Landscape PDF Author: N. J. Higham
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 1843836033
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

Book Description
An exploration of the landscape of Anglo-Saxon England, particularly through the prism of place-names and what they can reveal.

Tradition and Transformation in Anglo-Saxon England

Tradition and Transformation in Anglo-Saxon England PDF Author: Susan Oosthuizen
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472505360
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book Here

Book Description
Most people believe that traditional landscapes did not survive the collapse of Roman Britain, and that medieval open fields and commons originated in Anglo-Saxon innovations unsullied by the past. The argument presented here tests that belief by contrasting the form and management of early medieval fields and pastures with those of the prehistoric and Roman landscapes they are supposed to have superseded. The comparison reveals unexpected continuities in the layout and management of arable and pasture from the fourth millennium BC to the Norman Conquest. The results suggest a new paradigm: the collective organisation of agricultural resources originated many centuries, perhaps millennia, before Germanic migrants reached Britain. In many places, medieval open fields and common rights over pasture preserved long-standing traditions for organising community assets. In central, southern England, a negotiated compromise between early medieval lords eager to introduce new managerial structures and communities as keen to retain their customary traditions of landscape organisation underpinned the emergence of nucleated settlements and distinctive, highly-regulated open fields.