Re-classifying Iron Age marsh-forts

拟议的项目将创建一个被称为沼泽堡垒的站点类别的新理解。尽管人们对这些地点越来越感兴趣，但除了与它们靠近湿地有关的描述性观察外，很少有批判性的反思。最近由M3C资助的一项研究（Norton 2019）为其环境背景创造了新的证据，但仍然没有批评使用描述性分类是否适合如此多样化的地点。我基于gis的MA研究侧重于对七个沼泽堡遗址的分析，得出了由人工建筑和湿地环境之间的关系定义的两种不同类型的沼泽堡的假设。第一种类型利用湿地作为天然防御工事，与海岬要塞的方式类似，而第二种类型则表现出相反的、反直觉的趋势，在这种自然障碍的地区增加防御工事的水平。如果这一假设是正确的，那么将沼泽堡垒归为一个单一的描述类别，对于解释后来的史前建筑和社会，以及理解每个遗址的意义都是没有帮助的。拟议的研究旨在通过将我的硕士研究扩展到所有已确定的例子，并进行有针对性的实地考察，来验证这一假设，从而创建一个新的关键性的沼泽堡遗址重新分类。该项目的第一阶段将集中于使用基于gis的建模（激光雷达、地质学、考古学）和实地考察，对英格兰和威尔士目前被定义为沼泽堡垒的所有地点进行批判性分析。这将导致不同类型的沼泽堡的初步分类，将在第二阶段进行测试，重点是利用钻孔样带的地层分析、基础沉积物的定向放射性碳定年以及基于gis的建模，为具有不同建筑细节的选择地点描绘湿地沉积物的特征。

The proposed project will create a new understanding of the site class known as marsh-forts. Despite increased interest in these sites, there has been little critical reflection beyond descriptive observations relating to their proximity to wetlands. Recent research at one site, funded through M3C (Norton 2019),has created new evidence of its environmental context but there remains no critique of whether the use of a descriptive classification is appropriate for such a diverse range of sites.My GIS-based MA research focused on the analysis of seven marsh-fort sites, resulting in the hypothesis that there are two distinctive types of marsh-fort defined by relationships between constructed architecture and wetland context. The first type uses wetlands as natural defences in a similar way topromontory forts, whereas the second type displays the opposite, counter-intuitive trend with increased levels of fortification in the areas of such natural obstacles. If this hypothesis is correct, then the grouping of marsh-forts within a single descriptive category is unhelpful for the interpretation of later prehistoricarchitecture and society, and for understanding the significance of each site.The proposed research aims to create a new critical reclassification of marsh-fort sites by testing this hypothesis by expanding my MA research to all identified examples, and undertaking targeted fieldwork of a selection. The first phase of the project will centre on the critical analysis of all sites in England and Wales currently defined as marsh-forts using GIS-based modelling (lidar, geology, archaeology) and site visits. This will result in an initial classification of different types of marsh-fort that will be tested in the second phase focusing on characterising wetland deposits for a selection of sites with different architectural details using stratigraphic analysis of borehole transects, targeted radiocarbon dating of basal deposits, and GIS-based modelling.