Vitrified Fort

A type of Iron Age hillfort where the external walls of stone have become smooth by the heat of the sun or by burning, combined with windy conditions. The walls fuse into a slaggy or glassy mass, becoming vitrified. Dry-stone timber-laced ramparts, especially in Scotland, have timber-lacing that has been fired causing the stone core of the rampart to fuse. They are dated roughly in the last few centuries BC and early centuries AD.

Name given to a type of Iron Age hillfort where the stone defences have been significantly vitrified. This has come about through the firing of the timber-laced stone walls which, especially in windy conditions, generated sufficient heat to bring about vitrification. Vitrified forts occur commonly in Scotland, especially in the sites of the so-called ‘Abernethy complex’ of the northeast. They can be dated to the last few centuries bc and the first few ad.