Dorchester, Dorset - Maiden Castle - Valentines RP postcard c.1930s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Maiden Castle, Dorchester, Dorset - real photo type
• Publisher:  Valentines (25231)
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Maiden Castle is an Iron Age hill fort 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) south west of Dorchester, in the English county of Dorset.^[1][2] Hill forts were fortified hill-top settlements constructed across Britain during the Iron Age. The name Maiden Castle may be a modern construction meaning that the hill fort looks impregnable, or it could derive from the British Celtic mai-dun, meaning a ""great hill.""

The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the site consists of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure and bank barrow. In about 1800 BC, during the Bronze Age, the site was used for growing crops before being abandoned. Maiden Castle itself was built in about 600 BC; the early phase was a simple and unremarkable site, similar to many other hill forts in Britain and covering 6.4 hectares (16 acres). Around 450 BC it underwent major expansion, during which the enclosed area was nearly tripled in size to 19 ha (47 acres), making it the largest hill fort in Britain and by some definitions the largest in Europe. At the same time, Maiden Castle's defences were made more complex with the addition of further ramparts and ditches. Around 100 BC habitation at the hill fort went into decline and became focused at the eastern end of the site. It was occupied until at least the Roman period, by which time it was in the territory of the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe.

After the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD, Maiden Castle appears to have been abandoned, although the Romans may have had a military presence on the site. In the late 4th century AD, a temple and ancillary buildings were constructed. In the 6th century AD the hill top was entirely abandoned and was used only for agriculture during the medieval period.

Maiden Castle has provided inspiration for composer John Ireland and authors Thomas Hardy and John Cowper Powys. The study of hill forts was popularised in the 19th century by archaeologist Augustus Pitt Rivers. In the 1930s, archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler undertook the first archaeological excavations at Maiden Castle, raising its profile among the public. Further excavations were carried out under Niall Sharples, which added to an understanding of the site and repaired damage caused in part by the large number of visitors. Today the site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is maintained by English Heritage.

Before the hill fort was built, a Neolithic causewayed enclosure was constructed on the site. Dating from around 4000 BC, it was an oval area enclosed by two ditches,^[3] It is called a causewayed enclosure because the way the ditches were dug meant that there would originally have been gaps.^[4] These gaps, and the bank being only 17 centimetres (6.7 in) high, indicate the site would not have been defensive. Instead the ditches may have been symbolic, separating the interior of the enclosure and its activities from the outside.^[5] Archaeologist Niall Sharples, who was involved in excavating the hill fort in the 1980s, has identified the hilltop views of the surrounding landscape as a likely factor for the enclosure's position.^[3] Situated on the side of the hill, it would have been visible from several miles away, and when first cut the ditches would have exposed the underlying white chalk and stood out against the green hillside. The interior of the enclosure has been disturbed by later habitation and farming. The site does not appear to have been inhabited, although a grave containing the remains of two children, aged 6–7, has been discovered.^[6] The enclosure is the earliest evidence of human activity on the site.^[6]

The purpose of Neolithic causewayed enclosures is unclear, and they probably had a variety of functions. As well as burials, indicating the site at Maiden Castle was important for rituals related to death, pottery from the coast and areas to the east and west indicate it was used as a meeting place which attracted people over long distances.^[7] Radiocarbon dating indicates that the enclosure was abandoned around 3,400 BC. Arrowheads discovered in the ditches may indicate that activity at the enclosure met a violent end.^[8]

Within a period of about 50 years, a bank barrow was built over the enclosure. It was a 546-metre (1,791 ft) long mound of earth with a ditch on either side; the parallel ditches were 19.5 m (64 ft) apart.^[9] Many barrows lie over graves and are monuments to the deceased, but as the barrow at Maiden Castle did not cover any burials, it has been suggested that it was a boundary marker, which would explain the limited human activity on the hilltop for the 500 years after the bank barrow's construction.^[10] Around 1,800 BC, during the early Bronze Age, the hill was cleared and used to grow crops, but the soil was quickly exhausted and the site abandoned. This period of abandonment lasted until the Iron Age, when the hill fort was built.^[11] The bank barrow survived into the Iron Age as a low mound, and throughout this period construction over it was avoided.^[12]

Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC.^[13] The reason for their emergence in Britain, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been defensive sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and resulting pressure on agriculture. The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze. As a result, trading patterns shifted, and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Power passed into the hands of a new group of people.^[14] Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase still played a role and has stated that ""[the forts] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [of an increasing population] burst out into open warfare. But I wouldn't see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction"".^[15]

There are around 31 hill forts in Dorset; archaeologist Sharples, who undertook excavations at Maiden Castle, proposed that hill forts were used to control agricultural land to support a large community. Those in Dorset were situated near expanses of fertile land. Monumental defences such as the ditch at Maiden Castle indicate that the land was disputed and communities fought each other for control.^[16] This is supported by Cunliffe, who argues that the elaborate earthworks such as those around the entrances to Maiden Castle and Danebury were used to defend the weakest part of the hill fort. They increased the time the attackers took to reach the gateway, which would have left them vulnerable to defenders armed with slings. Hoards of carefully selected sling stones have been found at both sites.^[17][18]

Constructed on a territorial boundary in about 600 BC, the first hill fort at Maiden Castle was a 6.4-hectare (16-acre) area surrounded by a single ditch.^[19] The hill it sits on is part of a ridge on the north side of the South Winterborne valley, which feeds the River Frome. At the eastern end of the ridge and rising 132 m (433 ft) above sea level, the site of the first hill fort was not the highest point along the ridge, although the highest point is the neighbouring Hog Hill and is only 1 m (3.3 ft) higher.^[20] The hill projects about 40 m (131 ft) above the surrounding countryside which is about 90 m (295 ft) above sea level.^[21] The defences were 8.4 m (28 ft) high and consisted of the V-shaped ditch and a rampart.^[19] The rampart would probably have been timber-faced around just the entrances. Elaborate timber facing would have been used to impress visitors.^[22] The site could be accessed by an entrance in the northwest and a double entrance in the east. The double entrance is unique in hill forts in the British Isles. The reason for a double entrance is unclear; however, archaeologist Niall Sharples has suggested that it was a form of segregation. It is likely that several farming communities lived in the hill fort and wanted different entrances.^[19]

The defences of the first hill fort were rebuilt on at least one occasion; the ditch was deepened by 1.5 to 7 m (4.9 to 23 ft). The spoil from re-digging the ditch was deposited on the back of the rampart. At the same time, the defences around the eastern entrances were made more complex. A bank and ditch were built outside the two entrances, and a bank was erected between them. The bank had a wall faced with limestone, which originated over 3 km (2 mi) away. Sharples believes this would have created an impressive entrance and was a demonstration of the settlement's high status.^[23] The Early Iron Age archaeology has been largely destroyed due to later activity on the site. However, nearby Poundbury and Chalbury date to the same period, so through comparison it is possible to infer the Early Iron Age activity at Maiden Castle.^[24] From parallels at these sites, Niall Sharples deduces that it was probably densely occupied, with separate areas for habitation and storage.^[24] Not much is known about the material culture and economy of the Early Iron Age, and the paucity of finds from this period at Maiden Castle makes it difficult to draw conclusions about activity on the site.^[25]

type=real photographic (rp)

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=england

county/ country=dorset

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted