It's #HillfortsWednesday and here’s the curiously enigmatic (and infrequently examined) prehistoric earthwork enclosures atop the wonderfully named Thundersbarrow Hill #WestSussex @sdnpa 😍

Pic © CACUP 1975 (BSR60) @CamDigLib @theUL

A short thread 👇👇👇
The subcircular Iron Age hillfort of Thundersbarrow covers 1.2ha with entrances at the SE and N

It encloses a 0.5ha subsquare Bronze Age enclosure with a barrow and Romano British village at the S + E

Plan: Robert Gurd 1932 © Sussex Arch Soc @sussex_society

#HillfortsWednesday
Thundersbarrow Early Iron Age hillfort sits brooding atop a low ridge at the southern slope of the chalk downs @sdnpa above the Sussex coastal plain and Shoreham-by-Sea

It's easy to spot once you know it's there

Pic Simon Carey 2005 CC BY-SA 2.0

#HillfortsWednesday
The landscape context of Thundersbarrow hillfort and its relationship to prehistoric, Romano British and later fieldsystems is evident in these contour and relief LiDAR maps looking SE generated by @planlaufterrain @HenryRothwell

See digitaldigging.net/thundersbarrow…

#HillfortsWednesday
The archaeology of Thundersbarrow Hill (a BA barrow, LBA enclosure, EIA hillfort and a RB village with field systems) was recorded in meticulous detail from 1916-32 by Robert Gurd, William Jacobs, Herbert Toms and EC Curwen, prior to plough damage 🤩

#HillfortsWednesday
The hillfort of Thundersbarrow has been levelled by ploughing at the E, but survives as a low earthwork along the W as evident in this aerial pic looking NE

The inner Bronze Age enclosure appears as a crop mark

Pic © CACUP 1975 (BSR58) @CamDigLib @theUL

#HillfortsWednesday
The western edge of Thundersbarrow hillfort #WestSussex, despite agricultural attrition, can just be made out today, the rampart surviving to just under 1m in height above a shallow 6m wide ditch

Pics Robin Webster / A R Cane CC BY-SA 4.0
#HillfortsWednesday
Excavations at Thundersbarrow by Elliot Cecil Curwen in 1932 sampled the Iron Age hillfort, Bronze Age enclosure and Romano British grain-drying / malting ovens identified through ground percussion

Robert Gurd was on hand to record them © @sussex_society

#HillfortsWednesday
In August 1985, excavations at Thundersbarrow hillfort #WestSussex were conducted by David Rudling on behalf of the Sussex Archaeological Field Unit @UCLarchaeology

It was fun (if cold) 👍

#HillfortsWednesday (early #ThrowbackThursday)
Excavations at Thundersbarrow Hill #WestSussex @UCLarchaeology August 1985 for #HillfortsWednesday and #ThrowbackThursday

As with all digs in the 80s, on-site facilities were a tad basic 😊

a) photographic tower 😱

b) accommodation 😱😱

c) something best not mentioned😱😱😱
Excavations in August 1985 across the barrow of ‘Thundersbarrow’ Hill #WestSussex confirmed it was indeed of Early Bronze Age date

#HillfortsWednesday
The 1985 excavation by David Rudling #SAFU @ArchSouthEast @UCLarchaeology across the inner enclosure at Thundersbarrow Hill confirmed this earlier phase dated to the Later Bronze Age (10th / 9th century BC)

The outer ditch was 3m wide and 0.6m deep

#HillfortsWednesday
Excavation by #SAFU (now @ArchSouthEast @UCLarchaeology) across the bank and outer ditch of Thundersbarrow Hill #WestSussex in 1985 recovered finds that suggesting the hillfort was constructed in the 6th c BC and went out of use in the mid-3rd c BC

Happy #HillfortsWednesday !

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More from @Durotrigesdig

Mar 2
For #HillfortsWednesday here’s the glorious Chlorus Camp (Figsbury Ring) #Wiltshire, photographically captured by David R Abram 🤩

For more of his stunning work see davidabram.co.uk

And catch his exhibition @SalisburyMuseum salisburymuseum.org.uk/whats-on/exhib…

A thread 👇👇👇
Figsbury Ring / Chlorus Camp #Wiltshire comprises a univallate Iron Age hillfort with entrances at the East and West

At 6.2ha it encloses a Neolithic / EBA feature (a henge?)

LiDAR Digital terrain model Rouven Meidlinger @planlaufterrain CC BY-SA 4.0

#HillfortsWednesday
William Stukeley visited Chlorus Camp hillfort (Figsbury Ring) #Wiltshire in 1723

His drawing of the hillfort and inner henge looking SW shows the hillfort and castle of @EHOldSarum (B) and cathedral of Salisbury (C) in the distance

#HillfortsWednesday #HengeWednesday
Read 9 tweets
Feb 23
It’s #HillfortsWednesday (huzzah!)

Today we’re looking down on the mighty Maiden Castle #Dorset @EnglishHeritage

It's impressive today, but how did it look in prehistory?

A thread on our favourite recreations / reconstructions from books, guides and on-site signage 👇👇 ImageImageImage
Arguably the most famous hillfort in Britain, the multivallate Maiden Castle #Dorset encloses over 17ha and comprises many phases of construction and modification the appearance of which can be difficult to convey

📷 looking south © Jo and Sue Crane 2016

#HillfortsWednesday Image
The earliest built phase at Maiden Castle #Dorset was an Early Neolithic causewayed enclosure (c. 3550 BC)

Recreations of this period are comparatively rare, so this wonderful image © Miranda Schofield / English Heritage is particularly welcome 😊👍

#HillfortsWednesday Image
Read 25 tweets
Mar 31, 2021
It’s #HillfortsWednesday and we wonder if the Iron Age univallate Trundle has ever looked more gorgeous than in this incredible pic by @DavidRAbram here, looking N towards the mist swathed #WestSussex Weald 🤩

For more of David’s stunning photos see:

davidabram.co.uk/ancient-britain
The Iron Age ramparts of the Trundle #WestSussex partially enclose the spiral circuit of an earlier causewayed enclosure, the remains of which can be seen in this epic photo by @DavidRAbram

For more of David’s stunning photos see:

davidabram.co.uk/ancient-britain

#HillfortsWednesday
The distinctive imprint of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure is evident within the polygonal circuit of the Iron Age Trundle #WestSussex as slight earthworks and as dark lines to the SW in this early air photo from the 1930s in @SAS_Library @sussex_society

#HillfortsWednesday
Read 9 tweets
Oct 21, 2020
Figsbury Ring comprises a fine set of prehistoric enclosure systems on the chalk above Salisbury in #Wiltshire looked after by @nationaltrust @NatTrustArch

A short thread for #HillfortsWednesday
Figsbury Ring, once known as Chlorus Camp, #Wiltshire @NatTrustArch - The outer circuit encloses 6.2ha with entrances on the E and W

📷 Dae Sasitorn + Adrian Warren © Sasitorn Images

For more amazing images see: sasitornimages.com

#HillfortsWednesday
For many years, Figsbury Ring, depicted here in the Ordnance Survey for 1927 with the Roman road from Old Sarum to Winchester to the south, was thought to be a bivallate Iron Age hillfort...

...but there was something strange about the innermost circuit

#HillfortsWednesday
Read 9 tweets
Aug 5, 2020
Here’s the glorious multivallate Iron Age hillfort (and Roman fort) atop #HodHill #Dorset @nationaltrust 😍looking east in this aerial photo from 2016 © Jo and Sue Crane

A thread to celebrate #HillfortsWednesday
Double ramparts define the 22ha hillfort of Hod Hill #Dorset except on the W with a single bank. Quarry pits form a line behind the ramparts. A Roman fort occupies the NW

Digital terrain model planlauf/TERRAIN from @HenryRothwell digitaldigging.net/hod-hill-dorse…
#HillfortsWednesday
The 2.6ha Roman fort at Hod Hill dates to c AD 44-52. It reused the N and W ramparts of the hillfort and was defended on its S and E sides by a rampart and 3 ditches

Excavations in 1951-8 revealed much of the internal structure

#HillfortsWednesday
Read 12 tweets

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