Why hillforts? A comparative synthesis of hillforts within their landscape and social contexts.

山顶围栏，通常被称为“山堡”，已经被世界各地的不同社会建造了几千年。它们通常是其景观、考古解释以及更广泛的公众遗产意识中的主要特征。在欧洲分布着多达3万个后来的史前山堡，在欧洲、亚洲、非洲、大洋洲、北美和南美也有许多非史前的例子。这项研究的目的是考虑为什么在景观的突出位置上封闭空间的行为对如此多不同的社会如此重要。通过建立在Fox（1976）的工作基础上，本研究旨在发展尚未充分利用的民族志比较综合方法。特别是，该研究旨在考虑随着时间的推移变化和连续性，山堡与其周围景观和聚落之间的相互关系，山堡的经济作用和原始城市化的概念，圈地行为如何创造和重塑社区和身份，山堡作为权力的地点以及山堡在防御和战争中的作用。这些主题中的每一个，以及更广泛的综合需求，都被强调为后来史前英国和爱尔兰研究的关键研究主题。通过这种方式，这项研究旨在增加英国史前时期山堡的现有概念，挑战范式，并激发新的辩论。

Hill-top enclosures, often referred to as 'hillforts', have been built by different societies around the world for millennia. They are often a dominant feature within their landscapes, archaeological interpretations, as well as broader public consciousness of heritage. There are up to 30,000 later prehistoric hillforts spread across Europe, as well as numerous non-prehistoric examples across Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and North and South America. This research aims to consider why the act of enclosing space(s) upon prominent positions within the landscape has been important to so many widely differing societies. By building on the work of Fox (1976), the research aims to develop critically underutilised ethnographic approaches to comparative synthesis. In particular, the research aims to consider change and continuity through time, the interrelationships between hillforts and their surrounding landscapes and settlements, the economic role of hillforts and concepts of proto-urbanisation, how the act of enclosure creates and reshapes communities and identities, hillforts as loci's of power and the role of hillforts in defence and warfare. Each of these topics, as well as the broader need for synthesis, has been highlighted as a key research theme within later prehistoric British and Irish studies. In this way the research aims to add to current conceptualisations of hillforts within British prehistory, challenge paradigms, and stimulate fresh debates.