Vitrified forts — How and why?

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BrigantesNation B
BrigantesNation May 14, 2002 16:51:41
Replying to BrigantesNation

I think we need to remeber two things:

The amount of wood needed to fuel a fire to vitrify a fort.

All forts that show signs of burning have been classified as vitrified.

The ones I'm interested in will have an even burning all the way round, like Wincobank.

Oh, its starting to get a whole lot more complex.

By the way there are 48 forts classified as vitrified in Scotland.

Another angle is why mainly in Scotland? How many are there in Ireland? There are many stone faced hill forts in england but very few classified as vitrified (the only one I can find is Almondbury, and that is dubious. (excavator reported that the vitrification was present inside the ramparts, not outside, and that is was spontanious combustion.

F FourWinds
FourWinds May 14, 2002 17:18:32
Replying to BrigantesNation

Ah but! Why assume wood?

These are a people who could smelt metals from ores. Of course this was done with huge amounts of charcoal.

Perhaps tar and other chemicals was involved.

Has anyone ever performed any serious chemical analysis on remains?

W Wotan
Wotan May 15, 2002 09:54:27
Replying to BrigantesNation

Given the concentration of V-Forts north of the border, is there any geological evidence to show that certain minerals,ores or other combustibles occur more naturally/frequently in Scotland as opposed to further down south?
w