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

山顶围栏，通常被称为“山寨”，已经由世界各地的不同社会建造了数千年。它们往往是其景观、考古学解释以及更广泛的公众遗产意识中的主导特征。有多达30，000个后来的史前丘陵分布在欧洲，以及许多非史前的例子分布在欧洲，亚洲，非洲，大洋洲和南北美洲。这项研究旨在考虑为什么在景观中的突出位置封闭空间的行为对如此多的不同社会很重要。通过建立在福克斯（1976年）的工作，研究的目的是发展批判性地利用不足的民族志方法进行比较综合。特别是，研究的目的是考虑通过时间的变化和连续性，丘陵及其周围的景观和定居点之间的相互关系，丘陵的经济作用和原城市化的概念，圈地行为如何创造和重塑社区和身份，丘陵作为权力的场所，以及丘陵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一个关键研究主题。通过这种方式，研究的目的是增加到目前的概念化的hillcountries在英国史前，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.