Hillforts, monumentality and place: a chronological and topographic review of first millennium BC hillforts of south-east England

Abstract

This article results from a series of visits by the authors to the 44 hillforts of south-east England. Our aim was to re-contextualize these hillforts in their landscapes. Analysis of the pottery assemblages and radiometric dates allows a three-phase chronological division of these hillforts. Assessment of the topographic positions and excavated evidence indicates that the enclosures may have functioned in distinctly different ways in each of the three phases. The data for south-east England offer a counter-analysis to the extant ‘Wessex-centric’ view of southern British hillforts.