2011/01/01 by Gary Lock · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Byzantine Studies and History #Historical Studies of British Isles #Medieval Literature and History
paper · doi:10.1017/s0079497x00000724
openalex publication_date 2011/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Hillforts have always been central to interpretations of Iron Age society and Ian Armit's paper in this journal (2007) re-introduces the question of whether or not they represent ‘endemic warfare’. This response will critique claims for warfare in the Early and Middle Iron Age of Wessex and present an alternative view of hillforts and how they may have been used. It is argued that within dispersed small scale agricultural societies the communal building, maintenance, and use of hillforts can act to structure the sociality of people whose interests are in creating a harmonious existence. Within this view, hillforts act as metaphors for the managing of emotional relationships within groups of people as they go about their daily lives.