Hillfort, Ritual Site or both? | Forum

Percuinion May 22, 2016 16:37:46

This was never called 'Mount Caburn' until outsiders named it so. Its name is 'The Caburn.'

Any site members should see the late 1990's archaeological report: they found out some remarkable things, and put to bed the idea of The Caburn as a hill-fort, through hi-tech as well as inspired techniques.

Amongst these was 'the shout test'. They placed volunteers at intervals round the (round-topped) hill. They shouted as if to warn of attack. Nobody could hear anything from the others. It would never have worked as a defensive position (except perhaps in WWII when there were AC-AC nests there). They DID find over 139 holes, not post holes, deliberately dug, sometimes as pits with shelves and ritually-placed objects in them. The ancient entrance/exit is placed in the ritually important north-east.

The ditches do seem to have served a defensive purpose but only very much later than its original ritual purpose, and very temporarily.

Percuinion May 22, 2016 16:47:11

Replying to Percuinion

I read, and I am racking my brains to remember 'in which book?!' years ago that the Puritans burnt down a wood henge below The Caburn in The Commonwealth period. It cannot have been too low down as there were 50,000 m2 of salt-marsh, (before being drained in 1570 by Dutch engineers) according to their tests down there.

It is doubtful if The Caburn itself had a wood 'henge' as their are no known examples anywhere on top of hills. Also of note is that they found that in the Bronze Age there were yew woods leading to The Caburn with paths from barrow to barrow. Sometime from the end of the Bronze and the Iron Age these were hewn. The whole hill was lit by the sun, or visible, torch-lit from below.

thesweetcheat May 22, 2016 17:29:06

Replying to Percuinion

Interesting. Lots of hillforts are completely impractical as defensible places though, unless you've got a very large garrison. But showing off status and providing a practical settlement site are plausible uses without the need to fall back on ritual to explain their purpose and placement.