No Atomic Blast. Fire Melted the Stones of Iron Age Forts Say Investigators

Ancient Origins

In Scotland, archaeologists believe that they have solved the mystery of an Iron Age fort in which stones had melted in a process termed vitrification. The team of experts studied the vitrified fort, known as Dun Deardail, in the Highlands, near Ben Nevis and have concluded that they can explain how its stones became molten and melted.

 Vitrified Forts
Dun Deardail has been dated to have been built around 500 BC, based on carbon testing. It was occupied by the Celts and later by the fierce Picts who used it as a fortress. The outline of the original fort can still be seen today as grassy embankments and it sits a-top a hill, that once had strategic significance in the area. It is perhaps one of the best known of the vitrified forts in Scotland, along with Ord Hill, and has fascinated people for centuries. Many people visit the spectacular site set in stunning landscape every year.

Dun Deardail. At the top of this hill is the vitrified Iron Age fort. ( CC BY SA 2.0 )

There are many similar vitrified forts in France and Ireland. It is estimated by the National Geographic that there are about 70 vitrified forts in Scotland and 200 in total in Europe. Scientists believe that to vitrify stone slabs that a heat of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit or 1,100 degrees Celsius , is required. The question as to how Iron Age people managed to ignite such conflagrations with their crude technologies and limited capabilities has only added to the mystery.

The experts from the Forest Enterprise Scotland, working with Stirling University and local volunteers, believe that they have solved the enigma, reports the Scotsman. They believe that a large-scale wooden structure over the stone walls was set alight and the blaze reached such a temperature that it burned the stones. Have the team solved the mystery of the vitrified forts?

Dun Carloway Broch, Lewis, Scotland. Another fort that has areas of vitrification. ( Public Domain )

Solving the Mystery
In order to solve the riddle of the vitrification of forts in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe, a series of investigations have been carried out since at least the 1930s. These tried to duplicate the conditions that would have led to stone vitrifying. None of their results were especially convincing and the reasons for the melting of stone forts continued to be a mystery. The failure to provide a satisfactory theory encouraged all kinds of wild speculation. For example, the popular author, Arthur C Clark argued that the stones were melted and fused by some Iron Age superweapon if not an early atomic bomb.

Now the team led by an archaeologist from the University of Stirling have offered what they believe is the most plausible explanation for the phenomenon of the vitrification of stone citadels. The study has shown that a timber superstructure, which included ramparts and towers, was set alight and the resulting blaze heated the stones. The fire was so intense that is was able to melt stones because of the anaerobic environment that developed as the flames burned down into the stones. The absence of oxygen in the anaerobic conditions, made the fire much more intense and allowed it to reach the temperatures that would have burned the slabs until they melted and fused

Fused stones. This was once part of a wall to the original hill fort at Dunnideer which gave the hill its name. ( CC BY-SA 2.0 )

The team is not only excited by the potential discovery of the cause of the vitrification process but also by the insights that it offers into the nature of Iron Age forts and society. The theory can help us to visualize what these forts looked like. They were impressive bastons with stone walls and according to Matt Ritchie, archaeologist with Forestry Enterprise Scotland they had ‘ roofed rampart walls many metres high’ . He also believes that the extensive wooden structures were used to store the precious food supply of the community.

 It seems that the archaeologists and the team of volunteers have explained one of the most perplexing mysteries from the Iron Age. They have offered a rational and plausible explanation for the vitrification of forts without the need for far-fetched theories. However, according to Ritchie ‘ of course the mystery of why the forts were burned remains unresolved’ . It has been speculated that they were burned during war, as part of a religious ceremony or to mark the death of a monarch.

Top image: Dunnideer Castle, built on the site of a hillfort with a remaining vitrified rampart. ( CC BY-SA 2.0 )

By Ed Whelan

LIDAR Reveals 2,000-Year-Old Dwellings of Earliest Occupants of an Iron Age Hill Fort

Ancient Origins

A team of archaeologists has detected a conurbation of houses at a hill fort that once hosted some of the earliest occupants of a New Forest town, an area of southern England which includes one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Britain.

East ramparts of the Buckland Rings hilltop fort, Lymington (Public domain)

 Research Reveals Significant Archaeological Evidence
Buckland Rings is a spectacular embanked and ditched earthen fortress enclosing six acres within its triple ramparts. Until now, archaeologists have not been able to estimate the hillfort’s age accurately, but this could change very soon. A technologically advanced research at Buckland Rings Iron Age hillfort in Lymington, southern England, has divulged proof of 2,000 year old roundhouses within the fort’s ramparts as Heritage Daily reports. The geophysical research was directed by the New Forest National Park Authority with local volunteers and students from Bournemouth University. Seven pre-historic residences have been determined so far, which according to the experts were once home of hunters and farmers that occupied the lands of what is today Lymington. Archaeologists suggest that these ancient people lived in round wooden dwellings covered with a soil-based mixture and made a living by trading throughout Britain and across the sea.

Buckland Rings – artist’s impression, aerial view. (New Forest National Park Authority)

The Utility of Ancient Hillforts in Ancient Britain
As reported in a previous Ancient Origins article, British researchers undertook a large-scale project in 2013, in order to gather information on approximately 5,000 Iron Age hillforts scattered throughout the UK and Ireland. For those who might not know, hillforts are large circular defensive enclosures, protected by one or a series of steep ditches carved out of the earth, and are usually found on prominent hilltop positions, overlooking areas of strategic importance. While they were once thought to have been Roman constructions, archaeological excavations at the end of the 19th century revealed that they were entirely British in nature.

Some hillforts have been traced back to the Bronze Age but the vast majority were constructed in the Iron Age after 500BC. It was once thought that the hillforts had a purely defensive purpose, however, there is evidence to suggest that a wide variety of other activities took place there - domestic, cultural and industrial – suggesting that they functioned like defensible towns, or as administrative centers of a community, home to the local chief and prominent citizens. Interestingly, while hillforts can be found spread throughout the British Isles and Ireland, archaeologists have noticed that they are most prevalent in Southern and Western England.

Archaeologists Examine a Vast Area Covering Six Football Pitches
 Fast forward to 2017, the team of archaeologists has been using the incredibly revealing Lidar surveying equipment to conduct the recent survey at Buckland Rings Iron Age hillfort in Lymington, has also spotted medieval field systems, which have helped them to understand significantly better the progress and evolution of the Buckland Rings community from prehistoric hamlet to modern day Lymington.

Lidar 3D image of Buckland Rings (New Forest National Park Authority)

The team closely examined a wide area of 4.3 hectares or nearly six football pitches as Heritage Daily characteristically points out, in order to determine disparities in the earth’s soil that show ancient human activity. Lawrence Shaw, Archaeological Officer for the New Forest National Park Authority, told Heritage Daily, “Buckland Rings is a fantastically well preserved hillfort that would have once towered over Lymington and even been visible from the sea. This project has allowed us to look back at the origins of this historic town and see how people were living thousands of years ago. We hope to continue with our research to uncover more details of early Lymington and help the local community to find out more about this fascinating site.”

Ultimately, Josie Hagan, a Bournemouth University archaeology student who participated in the research, told Heritage Daily that the project was not just successful (from an academic point of view), but also fun for the participants, “This survey was a great success and we had a lot of fun over the six days. The volunteers and students worked extremely hard to get a lot of ground covered, and this looks great in the results. It makes it all worthwhile when you get to piece the results together and see features that haven’t been discovered before.”

Top image: Buckland Rings - artist's impression from gates (New Forest National Park Authority)

By Theodoros Karasavvas

Burnt Hill Fort in Dark Ages Scotland Was Likely the Stronghold of the Mysterious Rheged Kingdom

Ancient Origins

For years, scholars thought a Scottish Dark Ages hill fort that met a violent, fiery end was a stronghold of the Pictish people. But new research shows Trusty’s Hill was likely the royal stronghold of the Britons’ mysterious Rheged kingdom in Galloway.

During the attack, the fire that burned the fort lasted long enough and generated enough heat that it vitrified the stones of its ramparts. The same thing happened to the Mote of Mark, another hill fort also in southwest Scotland, in Galloway.

Thus came the demise of the kingdom of Rheged in the 7th century AD. A kingdom that had once dominated Scotland and northern Britain.

GUARD Archaeology Ltd. produced this re-enactment of the conflagration at Trusty’s Hill. (GUARD Archaeology Ltd)

The location of the kingdom of Rheged had been lost to history, though one of its kings, Urien, was celebrated centuries later in the poet Taliesin’s works.

Several years ago archaeologists decided to take a second look at Trusty’s Hill, drawn there by enigmatic Pictish symbols. The symbols at Trusty’s Hill are far south of where Pictish marks are usually found, which presented something of a mystery.

Trusty’s Hill was assumed to be a stronghold of what became known as the Galloway Picts. Archaeologists, with a staff of 60 people, launched The Galloway Picts Project in 2012 to verify or refute the idea.

An article on Guard Archaeology’s website quotes Ronan Toolis, the lead archaeologist:

 … far from validating the existence of ‘Galloway Picts’, the archaeological context revealed by our excavation instead suggests the carvings relate to a royal stronghold and place of inauguration for the local Britons of Galloway around AD 600. Examined in the context of contemporary sites across Scotland and northern England, the archaeological evidence suggests that Galloway may have been the heart of the lost Dark Age kingdom of Rheged, a kingdom that was in the late sixth century pre-eminent amongst the kingdoms of the north.

 An article on the Galloway Picts site explains that when local nobles weren’t making war, they were likely marrying, hiring laborers and trading with other cultures in northern Britain and Ireland. They presumably absorbed foreign elements into their own cultures.

“This is the context for the Pictish Symbols at Trusty’s Hill, where the Pictish Inscription either represents the presence of Picts there, perhaps through marriage into a local family, or where a local family aspired to be seen as Picts,” the Galloway Picts site states.

Excavations since 2012 have shown that in the decades around 600 AD, the hill’s summit had fortifications that included a rampart of timber and stone. Other defenses and enclosures on the lower slopes of the hill made it a nucleated fort. Such forts were used by high-status people in Scotland in the medieval period, says Guard Archaeology.

People entering the fort saw a rock-cut basin on one side and an outcropping on the other, upon which were carved two Pictish symbols. Guard Archaeology calls this a rite of passage into the fort, where royal inaugurations took place. Upon entering, guests would see the king’s feasting hall to the west, and a smith’s workshop to the east. The smith likely worked with gold, silver, bronze, and iron.

One of the Pictish symbols at the gate. Because there is no Rosetta Stone for the Picts, the meaning of the symbol has been lost. ( DGNHAS / CDDV )

“The layout of this fort was complex, each element deliberately formed to exhibit the power and status of its household,” Guard Archaeology states .

Traders came from across Europe, Britain, and Ireland, lured in part by copper and lead, which were mined nearby.

 Other activities on Trusty’s Hill included feasting, spinning wool, and preparing leather. The household ate beef, oats, and barley, much the same as their Iron Age ancestors. The people who lived at Trusty’s Hill didn’t farm, according to excavation co-director Dr. Christopher Bowles , Scottish Borders Council Archaeologist.

 “Instead, this household's wealth relied on their control of farming, animal husbandry and the management of local natural resources - minerals and timber - from an estate probably spanning the wider landscape of the Fleet valley and estuary. Control was maintained by bonding the people of this land and the districts beyond to the royal household, by gifts, promises of protection and the bounties of raiding and warfare.”

Anglo-saxon style bronze jewelry that was originally gilded and silvered. It was probably brought to Trusty’s Hill as loot. ( DGNHAS / GUARD Archaeology Ltd )

Trusty’s Hill had the highest status in comparison to other similar forts around Galloway. Those Dark Age forts include Whithorn, Kirkmadrine and the Mote of Mark. But only

Trusty’s Hill had evidence of royal inauguration and so scholars think it dominated the local hierarchy.

 Galloway has been called the cradle of Christianity in Scotland, which could only be accomplished if it had sufficient lands and resources and if the locals were literate and well-connected on the international scene.

 In the 7th century, the kingdom of Rheged failed and died out in apparent violent conflict. Trusty’s Hill also may have been burnt by its own people who wanted to destroy it after abandonment. To vitrify the stones of the forts, the fires had to last for days or weeks and be especially hot. Past Horizons says the smoke and flames generated by the fires may have also been meant to send a message of dominance and threat to anyone in the vicinity.

 Top Image: This is a reproduction of Trusty’s Hill, erroneously thought to be a Pict site but now believed to have been the stronghold of the lost British kingdom of Rheged of 600 AD or so. Source: DGNHAS / GUARD Archaeology Ltd .

By Mark Miller