It is a much-cited refrain that the only way to understand Scottish hillforts properly will be to excavate them fully, reliant as we have been, for the most part, on very limited interventions. The total excavation, then, of Broxy Kennels…
Starting with the opening of the UK’s first science park in 1970, Cambridge has grown from the sleepy market town of 60 years ago into an internationally renowned centre of technical research and innovation at the centre of a metropolis…
Recent archaeological investigations at the Bronze Age site of Haughey’s Fort – next to the famous Navan Fort, an Iron Age monument in County Armagh, Northern Ireland (see CA 406) – have revealed new details about the complex, demonstrating that…
Aberdeenshire is known for its Pictish symbol stones, but until recently evidence for Pictish settlements in the region was sparse and our understanding of Pictish sites even more tenuous. This has now changed dramatically, in large part due to a…
Highdown Hill is an extraordinary place. It stands detached from the great chalk spine of the South Downs, dominating the coastal plain across to the English Channel. The Bronze Age saw the hill crowned with an enclosure, perhaps a redistributive…
Evidence of Iron Age ritual activity has been discovered at the Bruchhauser Steine, a prominent rock formation in the hilly Sauerland region of western Germany. This natural landmark, which comprises four main rocks that can be seen for miles around,…
Excavations at Wandlebury Country Park, just south of Cambridge, have uncovered a large burial pit containing the remains of at least ten individuals who died violently in the 8th- to 9th-century AD (below). The Department of Archaeology at the University…
REVIEW BY KK On the threshold between the Lowlands and the Highlands, the King’s Seat fort, 1.5km (a mile) west of Dunkeld on the River Tay, sits in an important location in the landscape. Despite its importance, little was known…
Recent excavations at Brusselstown Ring, a prehistoric hillfort in County Wicklow, Ireland, have confirmed that many of the anomalies found in previous surveys of the site are roundhouse structures. With more than 600 possible examples identified across the hilltop, the…
Excavations just north of Perth have revealed the remains of an Iron Age hillfort that appears to have been inhabited for close to 600 years before it was finally abandoned around the time that the first Roman armies appeared in…
The Trimontium Museum in Melrose is using Virtual Reality technology to vividly evoke a Roman assault on a hillfort community. Carly Hilts visited to learn more.
Ruperra Castle (Castell Rhiw’r Perrai; ‘pear-tree hill’) is garlanded with heritage designations, being a Grade II*-listed building and a Scheduled Monument, set within a Grade II Registered Park. Sadly, it is also on the Heritage at Risk Register for Wales,…
REVIEW BY JAMES O’DRISCOLL It is safe to say that I, and many others interested in the later prehistory of Ireland, have been waiting for this book for decades. This volume documents the excavations undertaken at the multivallate hillfort of…
Newly published research has illuminated the evolution of an enigmatic monument at Crickley Hill, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. Its role as a religious or ceremonial complex can be traced back to the Neolithic period, but it continued to be used and rebuilt numerous times over the next 3,000 years, and perhaps even longer, as Steve Vaughan reports.
Pendinas hillfort is a well-situated pre-Roman defended village, commanding a prominent hill on the west coast of Cardigan Bay. The Iron Age hillfort developed over several centuries, eventually encompassing both the steeper south summit and the lower north summit. Everything…
Advances in digital technology are opening up ever-more realistic ways to depict archaeological sites and events from the past. John Reid describes how excavated evidence has been used to create a detailed and dramatic model of a Roman attack on a hillfort in Dumfriesshire.
Last summer, excavations at Warham Camp – a monumental Iron Age enclosure in north Norfolk – revealed intriguing clues to the site’s date and purpose. Carly Hilts visited the project and spoke to Andy Hutcheson to find out more.
Christopher Catling, Contributing Editor for CA, delves into the eccentricities of the heritage world.
The hillfort of Dinas Powys, located about 9km south-west of Cardiff, was first excavated by Leslie Alcock in the 1950s. While the excavation and its subsequent report were pioneering for their time and led to Dinas Powys being widely considered…
Joe Flatman explores over half a century of reports from the past.
An ongoing project at Navan Fort, led by Dr Patrick Gleeson and Dr James O’Driscoll, is providing new evidence on the long-term evolution of the site and how it fits into the wider archaeological landscape. Navan Fort is a hilltop…
A recent publication in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society () has brought to light a major archaeological complex – spanning in date from the Neolithic to the Iron Age – on Faughan Hill in County Meath, placing it within…
REVIEW BY KATE WADDINGTON This very readable book discusses the archaeology from a beautiful stretch of coastal north-west Wales: the Llŷn peninsula. As this volume demonstrates, it has produced a diverse range of well-preserved monuments that are of national importance.…
REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH One of the most impressive archaeological site-types in the British Isles is the Iron Age hillfort. Archaeological evidence has shown that it took many generations to construct and remodel these structures. Even after Roman occupation, hillforts…
There are lots of great archaeological events coming up over the next few months, including new exhibitions, lectures, and conferences. Or, if you would prefer to get your history and heritage fix at home, there is a wide selection of resources available, from virtual tours of museums and heritage sites to radio and TV shows, games, and activities. Amy Brunskill has put together a summary of some of the options available.
Excavation work at Traprain Law, an Iron Age hillfort in East Lothian, some 30km east of Edinburgh, was interrupted by the turmoil of the First World War. Two weeks after work began again on 12 May 1919, George Pringle loosened the soil with the tip of his pick and pulled out a Roman silver vessel. This was the first artefact to be found from what would prove to be the largest hoard yet known of Late Roman hacksilver – silver which has been chopped, cut, and crushed. More than a century later, an equally massive 784-page study has been published that tells us what the hoard represents in terms of the art and lifestyles of people from both sides of Hadrian’s Wall, as Chris Catling reports.
The 2,500-year-old fortifications are perched on the edge of a cliff, and are fast disappearing due to processes of natural coastal erosion.
The plan now is to fully preserve the roundhouse and leave it open so that people may appreciate the scale of erosion that is occurring at this site.
There will be opportunities for storytelling, pottery making, and guided walks, which will culminate in a weekend festival.
Review by Andrew Tibbs. This invaluable contribution to our knowledge of hillforts is the most complete study on the subject in Britain and Ireland to-date. A long-awaited volume, it sheds much light on these somewhat enigmatic structures, detailing the results…
Seventy years after John Pull’s excavations at Cissbury Ring transformed our understanding of Neolithic flint-mining, an innovative new interpretive trail has been launched at the West Sussex landmark. Carly Hilts visited the site with James Brown and James Sainsbury to find out more.
CAER Heritage is a model of genuine partnership between heritage professionals and community interest groups.
An investigation stretching from Durham to the southern Scottish Highlands is illuminating the lives of communities who lived under Roman occupation, and on the fringes of imperial influence. The first phase of this work has already identified more than 130 previously unknown settlements, as Carly Hilts reports.
While many volunteer excavations were mothballed during COVID-19 restrictions, this summer has plenty of opportunities for you to get involved in fieldwork. Carly Hilts and Emilie Clowry have put together some regional highlights of what is on offer for 2022, but see www.archaeology.co.uk/digs for even more options for archaeological experiences.
An Iron Age hill fort and multiperiod site under threat from coastal erosion at Seaford Head in East Sussex is being investigated as part of a new initiative tackling the wider problem of heritage loss. The project, funded by Historic…
Geophysical survey revealed previously unrecorded outer defences at the site