Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland facts for kids
The Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland is a special online collection of information about hillforts. Hillforts were like ancient forts or villages built on high ground. People lived in these fortified places during the Bronze Age and Iron Age in Britain and Ireland.
This amazing online atlas was put together by experts from the University of Edinburgh, the University of Oxford, and University College Cork. Two main researchers, Ian Ralston and Gary Lock, led the project. When the atlas first launched in 2017, it had details for 4,147 hillforts. The researchers believe this includes almost every hillfort still existing in Britain and Ireland! There are also plans to make a printed book version of the atlas.
How the Atlas Was Made
To create the atlas, the researchers gathered information from many existing records. These included official lists of old archaeological sites, like the National Monuments Records. They also used local historical records from different counties.
About 100 volunteers, called "citizen scientists", helped a lot too. These volunteers visited many of the hillfort sites themselves. They contributed important information and even took photographs for the atlas. This teamwork helped make the atlas very complete.
What is a Hillfort?
You might think all hillforts are on hills and are strong forts. But the researchers found that many of these sites are not actually on hills. Also, some of them were not really used as forts. They were more like protected villages.
The atlas includes sites that are now hard to see. Sometimes, you can only spot them from the air as "cropmarks." Cropmarks are patterns in fields where plants grow differently because of buried old structures.
Technology Behind the Atlas
The online atlas is hosted by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This group also provided the money to fund the whole project. The atlas uses a special online map system called ArcGIS from a company called Esri. This technology helps people explore the locations of all the hillforts easily.
The project also worked with Wikimedia UK. This partnership helped make sure the information from the atlas could be shared with Wikipedia. This means even more people can learn about these fascinating ancient sites.
See also
- List of hillforts
- Hillforts in Britain
- Hillforts in Scotland
