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Hill-forts of Northern France: a Note on the Expedition to Normandy, 1939

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

Extract

In 1939, in Antiquity, xiii, 58, and Revue Archéologique, janvier–mars, p. 103, I summarized the results of the work of an expedition sent out in 1938 by the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Leverhulme Trustees, and the University of London, to investigate the hill-forts of northern France. The purpose of the expedition was twofold: first to prepare a map and classified schedule of these hill-forts, and secondly to ascertain by partial excavation the dominant cultures associated with outstanding or representative examples. Our survey covered the departments of Finistère, Morbihan, Côtes-du-Nord, Ille-et-Vilaine, Manche, and a part of Loire-Inférieure. Our excavation was sufficient to ascertain the cultures associated with the outstanding hill-fort known as the Camp d'Artus at Huelgoat (Finistère), the Châtellier at Le Petit Celland, east of Avranches (Manche), and Kercaradec in the commune of Penhars, near Quimper (south Finistère).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1941

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References

page 266 note 1 Arch. Journ. xcvii (1941), 100Google Scholar.

page 266 note 2 Ibid., xcv (1939), 1.

page 266 note 3 As a subsidiary issue, I have elsewhere postulated a secondary extension of Venetic influence into Wessex at the time of the Caesarian conquest of the Venetic homeland, but the initial Venetic influx into the south-west of England belongs manifestly to the period of Breton-Cornish commerce and industry preceding Caesar—preceding him perhaps by several generations.

page 267 note 1 This camp was not excavated, but industrial quarrying into the main rampart had thrown out a large number of sherds, some with cordons and sub-pedestal bases of types ascribable to the last pre-Caesarian phase of the Iron Age. These sherds antedate or are contemporary with the construction of the earthwork, which cannot be attributed to a date subsequent to the Caesarian conquest and (in its present form) is therefore bracketed.

page 267 note 2 I would again emphasize the point that I do not for a moment ascribe all multiple earthworks in Britain to the Veneti, any more than one could ascribe all armour-clad warships to the French, who first produced them. I am here concerned with the germ of the idea, not with its ultimate provincial development.

page 267 note 3 Namely, in Eure, St. Pierre d'Autils and Vernon; and in Seine-Inférieure, Bracquemont (Cité de Limes), Caudebec (i), Duclair, Fécamp, Heugleville-sur-Scie, Incheville, Sandouville, and Veulettes.

page 268 note 1 A somewhat similar revetment to the upper part of the outer face of the rampart occurred in the Belgic period at Poundbury, Dorset.—Richardson, K. M. in Antiq. Journ. xx (1940), 433, and pl. LXXIGoogle Scholar, site G. The size, though not the construction, of the Iron Age B main rampart of Maiden Castle may owe something to influence from Normandy; this link is at least possible chronologically, but the whole matter needs further thought.

page 268 note 2 Preliminary report in Arch. Cantiana, li (1939), 137Google Scholar.

page 269 note 1 Karslake, J. B. P., Antiq. Journ. xiii (1933), 455CrossRefGoogle Scholar.