A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC, and were in use in many Celtic areas of central and western Europe until the Roman conquest.
Read more about Hill Fort: Nomenclature, Chronology, Historiography, Types of Hill Fort
Famous quotes containing the words hill and/or fort:
“Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of the Law. The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
“Look, it’s moving. It’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive. It’s moving. It’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive, it’s alive!”
—Garrett Fort (1900–1945)