Volunteers being used for Hill Fort project

Reoil

Thought this might be of interest to some of you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23203500

Archaeologists are drafting a volunteer army to help map every ancient hill fort across Britain and Ireland.

It is part of a project to create an online atlas of around 5,000 of these Iron Age monuments.

Prehistory enthusiasts are being asked to identify and record features such as ramparts, ditches and entrances.

Prof Gary Lock, of Oxford University, said: "We want to shed new light on why they were created and how they were used."

Despite their large numbers there has been little academic work on hill forts, how they were used and how they varied across Britain and Ireland, the researchers say.

More on the link.

robp

Reoil wrote: »

Thought this might be of interest to some of you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23203500



More on the link.

I wonder are they interested in all hillforts or just Iron Age ones, as Irish hillforts are predominately late Bronze Age rather then the Iron Age era ones in Britain.

slowburner

All the required information about hillforts in Ireland is clearly documented on the RMP, freely available online and in book form in the county surveys.

I can't for the life of me, see how groups of people traipsing around Irish hillforts could add anything new to the register - unless of course, there are hillforts awaiting discovery.

bawn79

I heard this on the radio yesterday slowburner and thought the very same thing! Perhaps things are different in the UK but the Irish part of the study could be done with a few clicks on the internet.

robp

bawn79 wrote: »

I heard this on the radio yesterday slowburner and thought the very same thing! Perhaps things are different in the UK but the Irish part of the study could be done with a few clicks on the internet.

Are features such as ramparts, ditches and entrances all on the RMP? Is the UK really that far behind that they would not?

Meathlass

bawn79 wrote: »

I heard this on the radio yesterday slowburner and thought the very same thing! Perhaps things are different in the UK but the Irish part of the study could be done with a few clicks on the internet.

Had exactly the same thought. I suppose an up to date survey with some more information would be handy as sites change over time and some entries in the RMP are very old.

slowburner

robp wrote: »

Are features such as ramparts, ditches and entrances all on the RMP?

In most circumstances and where such features are extant, yes.

James__D

The project does include the Bronze Age examples both in Ireland and Britain. There are quite a substantial number of dated Late Bronze Age hillforts in Britain, however, they are generally lumped in and discussed in context with the more frequently found Iron Age examples by British archaeologists...hence people thinking all British hillforts are Iron Age. The RMP's do not have the information that some of you have suggested is available for every site. Site plans, info on entrances, number of enclosing elements, rampart and ditch size etc. are severely lacking in many counties, particularly those that do not have the relevant county inventories published. If available, this information is limited to a few sentences, a paragraph at best. Considering the average hillfort in Ireland encloses an area the size of 6 football pitches (5 Hectares) and the complexity of many of these sites, a few sentences describing the monuments and there enclosing elements does really equally a well recorded hillfort. The large majority of the information available on the internet (arch.ie for example) is derived from the county inventories and not all of these have been uploaded either, therefore, the survey in Ireland most certainly cannot be undertaken with 'a few clicks on the internet'.

slowburner

James__D wrote: »

The RMP's do not have the information that some of you have suggested is available for every site. Site plans, info on entrances, number of enclosing elements, rampart and ditch size etc. are severely lacking in many counties, particularly those that do not have the relevant county inventories published.

Welcome to the forum.

Nobody suggested that the RMP/SMR has detailed site plans.
The SMR holds over 145,000 records - records are in a necessarily brief format, considering the overall quantity of information.
If anyone wants to make a more detailed search, they are free to visit the topographical files in the National Museum (by appointment). These files usually contain considerably more information than is available online.
Add to the above the database of excavations.ie and there is a considerable wealth of information available.
Of course additional information can be provided for any site and it will always be welcome.
The online SMR is not without its flaws. It can be frustrating to search a record and get that all too familiar message: 'We regret that we are unable to supply descriptive details for this record at present'.
Revisits and updates are probably not as frequent as we might like either, but the number of staff in a position to do this at the NMS is limited - as are their resources.

So yes, the SMR is not perfect but it is still a magnificent resource.