How many hillforts are there in western Scotland? : comparing aspects of the size, morphology and landscape position of later prehistoric enclosed sites in Kintyre, Skye and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright
Hillforts in Scotland are smaller than their counterparts in southern Britain and extremely difficult to define as a site category. This is even more true in the western and northern parts of the country traditionally described as Atlantic Scotland, where the plethora of small enclosed sites forms a continuum in terms of size and morphology that cuts across the boundaries of current classifications. Using the recent definition of a hillfort by J.D. Hill as a site type that is not a farmstead, this thesis attempts to analyse enclosed sites in terms of their area enclosed, morphology/architecture and particularly their landscape position to try to identify groups of sites or individual monuments that are these ânot-farmsteadsâ. Three case study areas have been chosen for GIS-based analysis. Skye and Kintyre are in Atlantic Scotland. The former is a region where brochs have always been central to interpretations of the Iron Age, but it has a considerable number of larger hilltop enclosures classed as forts, and small, less regular drystone enclosures classed as duns. The forts of Kintyre in Argyll have been more studied, but their social role, as well as their relationship with and distinctiveness from the
Wood, Simon Groves
hillforts ; GIS ; archaeology ; Iron Age Scotland ; Early historic ; Dunadd ; Kintyre ; Skye ; Galloway
How many hillforts are there in western Scotland? : comparing aspects of the size, morphology and landscape position of later prehistoric enclosed sites in Kintyre, Skye and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Hillforts in Scotland are smaller than their counterparts in southern Britain and extremely difficult to define as a site category. This is even more true in the western and northern parts of the country traditionally described as Atlantic Scotland, where the plethora of small enclosed sites forms a continuum in terms of size and morphology that cuts across the boundaries of current classifications. Using the recent definition of a hillfort by J.D. Hill as a site type that is not a farmstead, this thesis attempts to analyse enclosed sites in terms of their area enclosed, morphology/architecture and particularly their landscape position to try to identify groups of sites or individual monuments that are these ânot-farmsteadsâ. Three case study areas have been chosen for GIS-based analysis. Skye and Kintyre are in Atlantic Scotland. The former is a region where brochs have always been central to interpretations of the Iron Age, but it has a considerable number of larger hilltop enclosures classed as forts, and small, less regular drystone enclosures classed as duns. The forts of Kintyre in Argyll have been more studied, but their social role, as well as their relationship with and distinctiveness from the
many hillforts western_scotland comparing aspect size morphology landscape position later_prehistoric enclose site skye hillforts scotland small counterpart southern_britain extremely_difficult define site category even true western northern part_country traditionally describe atlantic_scotland plethora small enclose site form continuum term size morphology cut_across boundary current classification using recent definition hillfort hill site_type farmstead attempt_analyse enclose site term area enclose morphology architecture particularly landscape position try_identify group sit individual monument not three_case study_area choose gis_based analysis skye atlantic_scotland former region brochs always central interpretation iron_age considerable_number large enclosure class fort small less regular enclosure class fort argyll study social_role well relationship distinctiveness