Earthworks
Pile it high!

When society, and population, grew and increased, there became the need to mark and protect boundaries.

To start with, during the bronze age, there was pressure on the land as more of it was cleared. The cleared areas eventually joined up, and there became the need to mark the edge of each property.

As society grew, and tribal and family groups developed, there was the need to declare and defend those boundaries. In late bronze age and into iron age, towns grew in stature.

Having established themselves on the hilltops in the early days, a simple ditch was dug around the hill top.The earth was piled up to create a bank on the inside of the ditch. Sometimes a fence or a hedge was put onto the top of the bank to provide a better defence. The defences sometimes grew very large, with timber or stone walls.

As time went on there was a growing need for better defences, - or greater social statements, so the ditch and bank became elaborate structures. The greatest engineering took place at the gateways. Many banks were built. with twists and turns between them. This made it harder for an attacker to gain entrance, and easier for the defenders to protect the gates.

These examples are reconstructions of the gateway at Danebury Hillfort, Hampshire. The hillfort fell out of use in 100BC so the archaeology was not overlaid with anything else.

Graphics © Danebury Trust

Find out more about Danebury Hillfort

Andover Museum of the Iron Age
Church Close
Andover
Hampshire
+44 (0)1264 66283