Dunwan Hill

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dunwan Hill

The hill fort of Dunwan Hill is a Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age fort on the hill of the same name . It is about four kilometers southwest of Eaglesham in the Scottish council area of East Renfrewshire . Since 2011, Dunwan Hill has been classified as a Scheduled Monument in the Scottish Monument Lists .

history

The earliest fortified defensive structures in Scotland date from the late Bronze Age around 1200 BC. Most of them were not until the early Iron Age around 800 BC. Built in BC. The wood- reinforced ramparts of the nearby Fort Craigmarloch are dated to this time, which may indicate the age of Dunwan Hill. Most of the time, such systems were in use up to around AD 400, sometimes even into the late 1st millennium. Dunwan Hill has not yet been extensively archaeologically examined, so no age determination has yet been made.

description

The fort is located on the flat top of a low, conspicuous hill with steep slopes at a height of around 300 m above sea level. A flatter ascent is only possible on the southwest flank. The hilltop, which offers a good overview of the area, is enclosed by a low, grassy protective wall that may once have been taller and is best seen in aerial photographs today. With a height of 25 cm and a thickness of about two meters, the wall is best preserved on the north side. It consists of earth and unlayered stone material. In the southwest the entrance can be seen through an approximately two meter wide incision in the wall. There are indications that there was once a second, horseshoe-shaped protective wall twenty meters below the main wall. However, since this complex coincides with the enclosure of a former farm, it is not clear whether it is a historical building.

The enclosed area has an approximately triangular shape. The maximum length is 87 m and the width is gradually reduced from around 60 m to 18 m in the southwest. In the western area there are two sunken areas that could possibly indicate locations of round huts.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Scheduled Monument - entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ Entry on Dunwan Hill  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)

Web links

Coordinates: 55 ° 42 ′ 43.4 "  N , 4 ° 18 ′ 52.7"  W.