Durotriges Dig
@durotrigesdig.bsky.social
Investigating the Iron Age and Roman period in SW Britain. Bournemouth University #HillfortsWednesday Posts (mostly) by Miles Russell
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Durotriges Dig
@durotrigesdig.bsky.social
· Nov 16
Hello, we're the Durotriges Project 👋
If you're here for updates on prehistoric Dorset, archaeology info or just to look at pictures of Iron Age / Roman artefacts, we hope you'll find something of interest
#Durotriges25
⚠️ warning: may contain random references to #DoctorWho and #HypocaustGate
If you're here for updates on prehistoric Dorset, archaeology info or just to look at pictures of Iron Age / Roman artefacts, we hope you'll find something of interest
#Durotriges25
⚠️ warning: may contain random references to #DoctorWho and #HypocaustGate
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
I have a few of these on my patch too... I call them nilforts.
Thought I'd throw my hat into the cairn-ring of #HillfortsWednesday
But paradoxically, I want to talk about Ingleborough, a large hill (732m) in the Yorkshire Dales that, while often believed to be a hillfort, actually isn't!
But paradoxically, I want to talk about Ingleborough, a large hill (732m) in the Yorkshire Dales that, while often believed to be a hillfort, actually isn't!
February 12, 2026 at 8:06 AM
I have a few of these on my patch too... I call them nilforts.
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
We have so many questions
We sent #CuratorRob to a professional Networking event at the Novium Museum, Chichester, yesterday and he represented the Palace by wearing a prawn hat. 🤦
February 11, 2026 at 10:51 AM
We have so many questions
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
We love this aerial view of the fantastic Iron Age hillfort on the Berkshire Downs near Blewbury, excavated by this very museum in the 1940s and 1950s, see some of finds including a complete dog skeleton in our Green Space gallery
February 11, 2026 at 10:40 PM
We love this aerial view of the fantastic Iron Age hillfort on the Berkshire Downs near Blewbury, excavated by this very museum in the 1940s and 1950s, see some of finds including a complete dog skeleton in our Green Space gallery
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
✨ An Evening with National Trust Archaeologists ✨
Ever wondered what archaeology looks like behind the scenes at National Trust places?
Join the CBA for a free online evening exploring the archaeology cared for by National Trust, including community digs, hilltop enclosures and Roman gold mining.
Ever wondered what archaeology looks like behind the scenes at National Trust places?
Join the CBA for a free online evening exploring the archaeology cared for by National Trust, including community digs, hilltop enclosures and Roman gold mining.
February 9, 2026 at 10:01 AM
✨ An Evening with National Trust Archaeologists ✨
Ever wondered what archaeology looks like behind the scenes at National Trust places?
Join the CBA for a free online evening exploring the archaeology cared for by National Trust, including community digs, hilltop enclosures and Roman gold mining.
Ever wondered what archaeology looks like behind the scenes at National Trust places?
Join the CBA for a free online evening exploring the archaeology cared for by National Trust, including community digs, hilltop enclosures and Roman gold mining.
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
This is so cool
And in other news, thanks to Storm Chandra, our colleagues from @bournemouthuni.bsky.social Maritime Archaeology have found a part of the Fame of Hoorn, an armed Dutch merchant ship that sank in 1631
#Archaeology
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
#Archaeology
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Timbers from 17th Century shipwreck appear on Dorset beach
Experts believe timbers found at Studland Beach form a missing piece of the Swash Channel wreck from 1631.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 11:48 AM
This is so cool
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Some Iron Age ramparty goodness from Abbotsbury Castle hillfort, high above the villages of West #Dorset
Here looking NW along the coast to West Bay and Bridport and SW along Chesil Beach to Weymouth and Portland
We love it here
📷 Feb 2023
Happy #HillfortsWednesday !
Here looking NW along the coast to West Bay and Bridport and SW along Chesil Beach to Weymouth and Portland
We love it here
📷 Feb 2023
Happy #HillfortsWednesday !
February 11, 2026 at 10:26 AM
Some Iron Age ramparty goodness from Abbotsbury Castle hillfort, high above the villages of West #Dorset
Here looking NW along the coast to West Bay and Bridport and SW along Chesil Beach to Weymouth and Portland
We love it here
📷 Feb 2023
Happy #HillfortsWednesday !
Here looking NW along the coast to West Bay and Bridport and SW along Chesil Beach to Weymouth and Portland
We love it here
📷 Feb 2023
Happy #HillfortsWednesday !
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
To celebrate #WomenInScience, this is Audrey Henshall (1927-2021), the first professional female #archaeologist in Scotland, renowned for her work on chambered cairns & burials.
This picture is of Henshall, included in The Herald. ©Rosemary A Meldrum, CC
#historyofscience #womenshistory #herstory
This picture is of Henshall, included in The Herald. ©Rosemary A Meldrum, CC
#historyofscience #womenshistory #herstory
February 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM
To celebrate #WomenInScience, this is Audrey Henshall (1927-2021), the first professional female #archaeologist in Scotland, renowned for her work on chambered cairns & burials.
This picture is of Henshall, included in The Herald. ©Rosemary A Meldrum, CC
#historyofscience #womenshistory #herstory
This picture is of Henshall, included in The Herald. ©Rosemary A Meldrum, CC
#historyofscience #womenshistory #herstory
A fantastic site for #HillfortsWednesday 👍
Haven't been to Battlesbury for years. Need to rectify that 👇👇
Haven't been to Battlesbury for years. Need to rectify that 👇👇
#hillfortwednesday - miraculously an hour of sun on Salisbury Plain today enabling a condition survey of Battlesbury Hillfort. Not looking bad and the views were grand. Colt Hoare’s plan in Ancient Wiltshire still works. #archaeology #wiltshire #ironage #celts
February 11, 2026 at 10:50 PM
A fantastic site for #HillfortsWednesday 👍
Haven't been to Battlesbury for years. Need to rectify that 👇👇
Haven't been to Battlesbury for years. Need to rectify that 👇👇
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
A magnetometry survey of Abbotsbury Castle hillfort #Dorset has shown that there are, in the SE corner of the enclosure, a series of Iron Age roundhouse platforms with collapsed daub walls, postholes and storage pits 🤩
11 have so far been identified
© Dave Stewart 2014
#HillfortsWednesday
11 have so far been identified
© Dave Stewart 2014
#HillfortsWednesday
February 11, 2026 at 3:39 PM
A magnetometry survey of Abbotsbury Castle hillfort #Dorset has shown that there are, in the SE corner of the enclosure, a series of Iron Age roundhouse platforms with collapsed daub walls, postholes and storage pits 🤩
11 have so far been identified
© Dave Stewart 2014
#HillfortsWednesday
11 have so far been identified
© Dave Stewart 2014
#HillfortsWednesday
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Oliver's Castle, Roundway Down
February 8, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Oliver's Castle, Roundway Down
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
One of the best views in the country. Glorious Dorset 🥰
Some Iron Age ramparty goodness from Abbotsbury Castle hillfort, high above the villages of West #Dorset
Here looking NW along the coast to West Bay and Bridport and SW along Chesil Beach to Weymouth and Portland
We love it here
📷 Feb 2023
Happy #HillfortsWednesday !
Here looking NW along the coast to West Bay and Bridport and SW along Chesil Beach to Weymouth and Portland
We love it here
📷 Feb 2023
Happy #HillfortsWednesday !
February 11, 2026 at 7:05 PM
One of the best views in the country. Glorious Dorset 🥰
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Some pretty rich bioarchaeological pickings here on A Massacre at an Iron Age Hillfort.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Worlebury Hillfort, Somerset: Interdisciplinary Reanalysis of an Iron Age Massacre | Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society | Cambridge Core
Worlebury Hillfort, Somerset: Interdisciplinary Reanalysis of an Iron Age Massacre
www.cambridge.org
February 6, 2026 at 3:36 PM
Some pretty rich bioarchaeological pickings here on A Massacre at an Iron Age Hillfort.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Ingleborough not a hillfort!
The Iron Age stans will be reeling!
Neolithic and Bronze Age bods sit in quiet triumph.
The Iron Age stans will be reeling!
Neolithic and Bronze Age bods sit in quiet triumph.
Thought I'd throw my hat into the cairn-ring of #HillfortsWednesday
But paradoxically, I want to talk about Ingleborough, a large hill (732m) in the Yorkshire Dales that, while often believed to be a hillfort, actually isn't!
But paradoxically, I want to talk about Ingleborough, a large hill (732m) in the Yorkshire Dales that, while often believed to be a hillfort, actually isn't!
February 11, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Ingleborough not a hillfort!
The Iron Age stans will be reeling!
Neolithic and Bronze Age bods sit in quiet triumph.
The Iron Age stans will be reeling!
Neolithic and Bronze Age bods sit in quiet triumph.
On this #hillfortwednesday a book recommendation: The rampart of Stillfried (Austria). Hellerschmid and Griebl describe the features of the three Urnfield Culture phases and suggest the use of fire to strengthen the timber elements.
austriaca.at/9206-0inhalt
@fwf-at.bsky.social @oeai.bsky.social
austriaca.at/9206-0inhalt
@fwf-at.bsky.social @oeai.bsky.social
February 11, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Abbotsbury Castle is a roughly triangular multivallate Iron Age hillfort encircling 1.8ha of a limestone outcrop overlooking the Jurassic Coast betwixt Bridport and Weymouth in Dorset
We love it 😍
Here looking NE dominating the B3157 coast road
📷 © Jo and Sue Crane 2016
#HillfortsWednesday
We love it 😍
Here looking NE dominating the B3157 coast road
📷 © Jo and Sue Crane 2016
#HillfortsWednesday
February 11, 2026 at 7:14 AM
Abbotsbury Castle is a roughly triangular multivallate Iron Age hillfort encircling 1.8ha of a limestone outcrop overlooking the Jurassic Coast betwixt Bridport and Weymouth in Dorset
We love it 😍
Here looking NE dominating the B3157 coast road
📷 © Jo and Sue Crane 2016
#HillfortsWednesday
We love it 😍
Here looking NE dominating the B3157 coast road
📷 © Jo and Sue Crane 2016
#HillfortsWednesday
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#HillfortsWednesday #Celtic: Excavations at Tre'r Ceiri have produced finds mainly of Roman pottery, showing that they traded with the Romans. During the final period of occupation the fort may have been used as a refuge, not from the Romans but from Irish raiders.
February 11, 2026 at 4:16 PM
#HillfortsWednesday #Celtic: Excavations at Tre'r Ceiri have produced finds mainly of Roman pottery, showing that they traded with the Romans. During the final period of occupation the fort may have been used as a refuge, not from the Romans but from Irish raiders.
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Sneaking Rispain Camp in for #HillfortsWednesday as it is not listed on the Atlas, and we define it as a settlement - but the ditches are absolutely MASSIVE
First thought to be a Roman site, then medieval it was revealed as Iron Age following excavation in the 1970s
Photos from my visit yesterday
First thought to be a Roman site, then medieval it was revealed as Iron Age following excavation in the 1970s
Photos from my visit yesterday
February 11, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Sneaking Rispain Camp in for #HillfortsWednesday as it is not listed on the Atlas, and we define it as a settlement - but the ditches are absolutely MASSIVE
First thought to be a Roman site, then medieval it was revealed as Iron Age following excavation in the 1970s
Photos from my visit yesterday
First thought to be a Roman site, then medieval it was revealed as Iron Age following excavation in the 1970s
Photos from my visit yesterday
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
The Viking-period hillfort Borg on Björkö/Birka in the 1890’s, captured by the legendary Swedish field archaeologist and later Professor in ethnography Hjalmar Stolpe (using wife and daughter as scale bars…)
#HillfortsWednesday
#HillfortsWednesday
February 11, 2026 at 1:56 PM
The Viking-period hillfort Borg on Björkö/Birka in the 1890’s, captured by the legendary Swedish field archaeologist and later Professor in ethnography Hjalmar Stolpe (using wife and daughter as scale bars…)
#HillfortsWednesday
#HillfortsWednesday
A magnetometry survey of Abbotsbury Castle hillfort #Dorset has shown that there are, in the SE corner of the enclosure, a series of Iron Age roundhouse platforms with collapsed daub walls, postholes and storage pits 🤩
11 have so far been identified
© Dave Stewart 2014
#HillfortsWednesday
11 have so far been identified
© Dave Stewart 2014
#HillfortsWednesday
February 11, 2026 at 3:39 PM
A magnetometry survey of Abbotsbury Castle hillfort #Dorset has shown that there are, in the SE corner of the enclosure, a series of Iron Age roundhouse platforms with collapsed daub walls, postholes and storage pits 🤩
11 have so far been identified
© Dave Stewart 2014
#HillfortsWednesday
11 have so far been identified
© Dave Stewart 2014
#HillfortsWednesday
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#HillfortsWednesday
Pen-y-crug is a large, oval, multivallate #hillfort which encloses the summit of a prominent, isolated hill about 2km north-west of the confluence of the rivers Usk and Honddu at #Brecon #Wales
📸 @drtobydriver.bsky.social
#Archaeology #History #Cymru
Pen-y-crug is a large, oval, multivallate #hillfort which encloses the summit of a prominent, isolated hill about 2km north-west of the confluence of the rivers Usk and Honddu at #Brecon #Wales
📸 @drtobydriver.bsky.social
#Archaeology #History #Cymru
February 11, 2026 at 12:57 PM
#HillfortsWednesday
Pen-y-crug is a large, oval, multivallate #hillfort which encloses the summit of a prominent, isolated hill about 2km north-west of the confluence of the rivers Usk and Honddu at #Brecon #Wales
📸 @drtobydriver.bsky.social
#Archaeology #History #Cymru
Pen-y-crug is a large, oval, multivallate #hillfort which encloses the summit of a prominent, isolated hill about 2km north-west of the confluence of the rivers Usk and Honddu at #Brecon #Wales
📸 @drtobydriver.bsky.social
#Archaeology #History #Cymru
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#HillfortsWednesday #Celtic: Tre'r Ceiri was probably constructed in the late #IronAge and remained in use until the 4th century AD. The earliest defences enclosed an Early Bronze Age (2000-1100 BC) burial cairn on the summit and may have housed 100 people living in about 20 houses.
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February 11, 2026 at 12:00 PM
#HillfortsWednesday #Celtic: Tre'r Ceiri was probably constructed in the late #IronAge and remained in use until the 4th century AD. The earliest defences enclosed an Early Bronze Age (2000-1100 BC) burial cairn on the summit and may have housed 100 people living in about 20 houses.
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Reposted by Durotriges Dig
Caer Bach - a Celtic hillfort of indeterminate age, on a rounded hillock situated near the village of Rowen; in Conwy County, Wales; courtesy of Llywelyn2000. #Cymru #HillfortsWednesday
February 11, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Caer Bach - a Celtic hillfort of indeterminate age, on a rounded hillock situated near the village of Rowen; in Conwy County, Wales; courtesy of Llywelyn2000. #Cymru #HillfortsWednesday
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
How exciting - I have always wanted to see these altars, the one featuring Sol is particularly amazing!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Ancient Roman altars to go on display in Edinburgh
Two Mithraic Roman altars are to be displayed as a part of an upcoming exhibition after being acquired for the nation.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 1:03 PM
How exciting - I have always wanted to see these altars, the one featuring Sol is particularly amazing!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#HillfortsWednesday Darnit
The iconic Brentor on the western edge of Dartmoor. Iron Age ramparts exist but the hillfort my never have been fully completed. The medieval church was begun in the C12th.
#HillfortWednesday
#Dartmoor
#HillfortWednesday
#Dartmoor
February 11, 2026 at 9:42 AM
#HillfortsWednesday Darnit
Reposted by Durotriges Dig
#HillfortsWednesday #Celtic: Tre'r Ceiri is one of the most and best preserved #IronAge hillforts in Britain. The impressive dry-stone ramparts that enclose it survive to near their full height of 3.5 metres in many places. The 2.5 hectare fort contains the remains of over 150 huts.
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February 11, 2026 at 9:59 AM
#HillfortsWednesday #Celtic: Tre'r Ceiri is one of the most and best preserved #IronAge hillforts in Britain. The impressive dry-stone ramparts that enclose it survive to near their full height of 3.5 metres in many places. The 2.5 hectare fort contains the remains of over 150 huts.
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