The use of magnetic prospection in the exploration of iron age hillfort interiors in southern England

Abstract

The hillforts of central southern England are impressive landscape features requiring active conservation and sympathetic management. Geophysical survey can play an important role in the response to these needs. Many hillforts are in public ownership and accessible to visitors, and need careful management and the provision of informative interpretation to the public. Countryside Stewardship schemes are increasing the number of hillforts in this category. Excavation can inform the management and interpretation process, but large-scale archaeological interventions are expensive, impractical to undertake on more than a few sites, and cause unnecessary damage. Only a minority of hillfort interiors have been excavated extensively in the past, and therefore the internal layout of most hillforts is often still only poorly understood, and surface evidence for their utilization is often absent. Geophysical survey, with an emphasis on magnetometry, can provide a cost-effective solution to the problems of interpreting hillforts where past excavation evidence is lacking and where future excavation is not an option. This paper reviews recent geophysical surveys carried out by the Ancient Monuments Laboratory and links their results with State-funded initiatives to secure the better management of hillforts and their environs. The surveys reveal contrasting patterns of activity at different hillforts, and sample excavations have subsequently shown that these variations reflect the lifetime and the complexity of the socioeconomic development of a particular hillfort. The paper concludes by previewing new research dedicated to the exploration of hillfort interiors on a regional scale using geophysical techniques. This project will target hillforts in Wessex in order to identify contrasting or recurring patterns of activity in the different types of hillfort represented in the region, thus enabling a reappraisal of monument classification based on internal layout, which reflects their function, rather than on surface evidence, which may simply reflect the terrain or local conditions. © 1996 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.