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Overview of Chilterns Hillforts The chronological framework for later prehistory Land allotment and the landscape setting of hillforts Hillforts as part of a distinctive archaeological signature for the Iron Age of the Chilterns?

Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

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Page 1: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Overview of Chilterns Hillforts

• The chronological framework for later prehistory

• Land allotment and the landscape setting of hillforts

• Hillforts as part of a distinctive archaeological signature for the Iron Age of the Chilterns?

Page 2: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

1600-1150 BC Middle Bronze Age Ending of the major phase of ritual and burial monuments; beginning of land allotment and widespread permanent settlement

1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age Changes in settlement; pottery and metalwork; diversity of settlement types and developing settlement hierarchy; evidence of inter-regional and international exchange

800-600 BC Earliest Iron Age Collapse of bronze manufacturing and trading networks; major phase of settlement abandonment and re-location

600-300 BC Early Iron Age Intensification of settlement and agriculture; development of distinctive regional cultures/identities

300-100BC Middle Iron Age

100BC-AD50/80 Late Iron Age Re-establishment of significant international contacts with new cultures; explosion in settlement and ritual/burial evidence in Thames valley and SE England; Chilterns appears to retain some separate identity

Chronology: the implications of Needham’s ‘great divide’ of 800BC and improved precision for

radiocarbon dating of the Iron Age

Page 3: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Barrett pots: plainware 1000-800BC

Barrett pots: decorated 800-600BC

Page 4: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

The end of the Bronze Age – hoarding/dumping of bronze

The Watford Hoard

Page 5: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

The Langton Matravers Hoard, Dorset

303 new axes, high tin content, polished, too brittle to use

Page 6: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

The Problem:

• lack of radiocarbon dating

• circularity of dating from pottery

• differing use of period terminology

Leads to:

• imprecise dating for most settlements

• difficulty of identifying periods of abandonment

• poor understanding of the dynamics of settlement

Page 7: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

A terminology based on Needham 2007

• 1150-800 Late Bronze Age • 800-600 Earliest Iron Age• 850-750BC Late Bronze Age/Earliest Iron Age • 1200-600BC Late Bronze Age-Earliest Iron Age • 1200-300BC Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age

Page 8: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

North Hertfordshire: landscape and chronology

Page 9: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Late Bronze Age (1200-800)

Large, apparently empty enclosure; pits, cremation burials

Earliest Iron Age (800-500/400)

Hiatus/abandonment

Early Iron Age (5/400-300)

Enclosed hamlet-sized settlement

Middle Iron Age (300-100)

Reduced activity

Fairfield Park 2001-2

Page 10: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Fairfield Park radiocarbon dates

Page 11: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Excavations west of Wilbury Hill, Letchworth 2012

Page 12: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Prehistoric pasture landscapes

Ashridge

Page 13: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Gt. Gaddesden & the Boxted to Friar’s Wash Pipeline 2006

Page 14: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

The Chilterns Iron Age signature?

Page 15: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Hillforts, Dykes and LBA ringworks

Page 16: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Mucking North Rings

Page 17: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Late Bronze Age ringwork, Gt. Westwood Quarry 2001

Page 18: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Whitely Hill, Royston

Page 19: Overview of Chilterns Hillforts - The Chilterns AONB - Home · Overview of Chilterns Hillforts • The chronological framework for later prehistory ... 1150-800 BC Late Bronze Age

Late Bronze Age Ringworks