Middle Iron Age Warfare of the Hillfort Dominated Zone c.400BC to c.150BC [Paperback]

The purpose of this study is to define the nature of warfare within the Middle Iron Age of the hillfort dominated zone of lowland Britain (400-50 BC) from the archaeological remains and ethnographic inferences relating to the social significance of weapons, within specific analogies. In the process, this study provide a new model for Middle Iron Age warfare in the hillfort dominated zone rather than using the generalised model derived from continental Classical sources and seventh-eighth century AD Irish vernacular literature. The process of model generation includes comparison of the proposed model with another prehistoric European culture within the same temporal framework. Denmark was also on the fringe of Mediterranean influence during the Iron Age and yet, despite evidence of increasing land pressure, there are no significant fortifications and there is strong evidence of some form of elite. Therefore, Early Iron Age Denmark presents a powerful foil for the proposed model for the Middle Iron Age of the hillfort dominated zone in lowland Britain. Throughout this study there is an explicit use of ethnography as an interpretative By drawing on four historically independent societies that shared a similar economic/social background (i.e. pre-state sedentary agriculturalists), significant inferences relating to the possible social expressions of weapons within the Middle Iron Age of the hillfort dominated zone can be drawn, whilst remaining within the cultural parameters that the archaeological evidence suggests.Oxbow says: This study re-evaluates many of the misconceptions about the war-crazed Iron Age warrior hero, and questions anew the role of hillforts as truly, or primarily, defensive structures. Taking a regional approach to Middle Iron Age warfare, Finney examines hillforts and weaponry from lowland Britain.