Re-classifying Iron Age marsh-forts

拟议的项目将创建一个新的理解的网站类称为沼泽。尽管对这些地点的兴趣越来越大，但除了描述性的观察之外，很少有关于它们与湿地接近的重要反映。最近在一个地点进行的研究，由M3C资助（诺顿2019），创造了新的证据，其环境背景，但仍然没有批评是否使用描述性分类是适当的，这样一个多样化的网站范围。我的基于GIS的MA研究集中在七个沼泽堡网站的分析，由此产生的假设是，有两种不同类型的沼泽堡之间的关系所定义的建筑和湿地的背景。第一种利用湿地作为天然防御，其方式类似于海角防御，而第二种则表现出相反的、反直觉的趋势，即在这些天然障碍物所在地区加强防御。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性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重要性是没有帮助的。拟议中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来验证这一假设，并进行有针对性的实地考察，来创建一个新的沼泽堡垒遗址的关键重新分类。该项目的第一阶段将集中于利用基于地理信息系统的建模（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界定为沼泽地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，重点是表征湿地沉积物的选择与不同的建筑细节的网站使用钻孔断面的地层分析，有针对性的放射性碳测年的基础存款，和基于地理信息系统的建模。

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.