Fortified refuge or defended settlement on a rise of elevation
Maiden Castle in England is one of the largest hillforts in Europe.[1][2] Photograph taken in 1935 by Major George Allen (1891–1940).
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A hillfort is a type of fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late European Bronze Age and Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill and consists of one or more lines of earthworks or stone ramparts, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. If enemies were approaching, the civilians would spot them from a distance.
Prehistoric Europe saw a growing population. It has been estimated that in about 5000 BC during the Neolithic between 2 million and 5 million lived in Europe; in the Late Iron Age it had an estimated population of around 15 to 30 million. Outside Greece and Italy, which were more densely populated, the vast majority of settlements in the Iron Age were small, with perhaps no more than 50 inhabitants. Hillforts were the exception, and were the home of up to 1,000 people. With the emergence of oppida in the Late Iron Age, settlements could reach as large as 10,000 inhabitants.[3] As the population increased so did the complexity of prehistoric societies. Around 1100 BC hillforts emerged and in the following centuries spread through Europe. They served a range of purposes and were variously tribal centres, defended places, foci of ritual activity, and places of production.[4]
Hillforts were frequently occupied by conquering armies, but on other occasions the forts were destroyed, the local people forcibly evicted, and the forts left derelict. For example, Solsbury Hill was sacked and deserted during the Belgic invasions of southern Britain in the 1st century BC. Abandoned forts were sometimes reoccupied and refortified under renewed threat of foreign invasion, such as the Dukes' Wars in Lithuania, and the successive invasions of Britain by Romans, Saxons and Vikings.
^"Maiden Castle". English Heritage. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
^Historic England. "Maiden Castle (451864)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 27 May 2009.
A hillfort is a type of fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the...
Hillforts in Britain refers to the various hillforts within the island of Great Britain. Although the earliest such constructs fitting this description...
Hillfort at Rathgall, Co. Wicklow, near Tullow, Co. Carlow". Cultural Heritage Ireland. Retrieved 8 November 2014. Raftery, Barry. "Rathgall Hillfort"...
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of hillforts: Great Britain List of hillforts in Wales List of hillforts in Monmouthshire List of hillforts on the Isle of Man List of hillforts in Northern...
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Below it the list of hillforts in Lithuania. The first three volumes of the atlas of Lithuanian hillforts (Lietuvos piliakalniai. Atlasas, eds. Z. Baubonis...
the site. The site now belongs to the National Trust. A survey of the hillfort by the RCHME was begun in 1993. The summit area was cleared of undergrowth...
large and prominent archeological site; one of the largest hillforts in west Wales. This hillfort, generally dated to the Iron Age and assumed to be from...
St Martin's Church of England (Voluntary Aided) School in Lake Lane and Hillfort Primary School on Old Road. The latter was opened in September 2006 following...
a park in Bristol Oldbury Hillfort, an Iron Age hillfort on Cherhill Downs, Wiltshire Oldbury Camp, an Iron Age hillfort near Ightham, Kent Oldbury rock...
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sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Hillfort of Otzenhausen" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January...