In the UK, hillforts were ancient formed structures first created by humans approximately 3000 years ago as communities began to settle into areas pursuing early agricultural initiatives.
The first hillforts appear to have been constructed around 900 BC in the later Bronze Age although the main thrust of a building phase deploying more effective defensive structures did not begin until 800 and 700 BC.
As a fortified refuge or defended settlement, hillforts were usually sited to exploit or benefit from some naturally occuring geological feature of the general landscape where, for example, a rise in the elevation of a hill or promontary lent itself to being either a formidable obstacle for an enemy to negotiate or a location offering some other strategic defensive advantage. Fortifications usually followed the contours of a hill or geographical feature and / or were further enhanced manually by constructing one or more lines of earthworks, erecting wooden stockades, creating a maze of ditches and building other walls and structures to inhibit or neutralise any potential threat.
by ramparts made of earth, stone or wooden palisades, or a combination of these elements, forming barriers around a hilltop to create an enclosure. Inside the enclosure were buildings – houses, workshops and so on.
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