Freestone Hill is a prehistoric burial cairn and Iron Age hillfort in County Kilkenny in Ireland.
Freestone Hill is a prehistoric burial cairn and Iron Age hillfort in County Kilkenny in Ireland.
The cairn is located approximately 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) east of Kilkenny City. The hill rises steeply on all sides above the surrounding and the summit is a lightly rounded plateau. [1] The view from the summit is vast, enabling the onlooker to see much of the encompassing region of County Kilkenny. Freestone Hill is seen to lay within the large natural "amphitheatre" surrounded by the Wicklow Mountains to the north, the Blackstairs to the east, Slievnaman to the south-west, and the Galtees to the west. [1]
The burial mound at Freestone Hill was built to contain human remains during the Early Bronze Age, around 2000 BCE. Gerhard Bursu excavated the site in 1946, finding three inhumation burials as well as thirteen cremations, two of which were associated with food vessel pottery from the era. [2] No inhumations at the site were buried with grave goods, but the excavation report suggests that they may have been secondary insertions into the burial cairn. [1]
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill and consists of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. Hillforts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC, and were used in many Celtic areas of central and western Europe until the Roman conquest.
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Mellor hill fort is a prehistoric site in North West England, that dates from the British Iron Age—about 800 BC to 100 AD. Situated on a hill in Mellor, Greater Manchester, on the western edge of the Peak District, the hill fort overlooks the Cheshire Plain. Although the settlement was founded during the Iron Age, evidence exists of activity on the site as far back as 8,000 BC; during the Bronze Age the hill may have been an area where funerary practices were performed. Artefacts such as a Bronze Age amber necklace indicate the site was high status and that its residents took part in long-distance trade. The settlement was occupied into the Roman period. After the site was abandoned, probably in the 4th century, it was forgotten until its rediscovery in the 1990s.
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Tiscoffin is a civil parish, in County Kilkenny, Ireland.
Buarth-y-Gaer is an Iron Age hillfort or enclosure on the summit of Mynydd-y-Gaer, 300 m (980 ft) above sea level. It is in Briton Ferry community, near Neath, in Neath Port Talbot, South Wales. A large hilltop enclosure is bounded by a single bank and ditch. Within the enclosed area is a Bronze Age burial mound.
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Cecily Margaret Guido,, also known as Peggy Piggott, was an English archaeologist, prehistorian, and finds specialist. Her career in British archaeology spanned sixty years, and she is recognised for her field methods, her field-leading research into prehistoric settlements, burial traditions, and artefact studies, as well as her high-quality and rapid publication, contributing more than 50 articles and books to her field between the 1930s and 1990s.
Beacon Hill, also known as Harting Beacon, is a hillfort on the South Downs, in the county of West Sussex in southern England. The hillfort is located in the parish of Elsted and Treyford, in Chichester District. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument with a list entry identification number of 1015915. The hilltop enclosure is dated to the Late Bronze Age, from the 8th to 6th centuries BC. The hillfort defences were renewed during the Late Iron Age.
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Chapel Hill, Balladoole is a significant historical and archaeological site in Arbory on the Isle of Man. The site is a short distance from Castletown in the south of the Island. It is located on a small hilltop overlooking the coast. Balladoole has undergone extensive archaeological excavations in the 20th century, most notably in 1944-1945 by German archaeologist Gerhard Bersu who was interned on the Isle of Man during World War II.
Coordinates: 52°39′15″N7°07′49″W / 52.6543°N 7.1303°W
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