Assessment of the reason for the vitrification of a wall at a hillfort. The example of Broborg in Sweden

Published

May 9, 2022

Author(s)

Rolf Sjöblom, Eva Hjärthner-Holdar, Carolyn Pearce, Jamie Weaver, Erik Ogenhall, John McCloy, Jose Marcial, Edward Vicenzi, Michael Schweiger, Albert Kruger

Abstract

It was discovered around 250 years ago that some of the rock material in the walls of some hillforts had been subjected to such high temperature that it had vitrified. This prompted a debate as to the reason for it that is still going on today: did the vitrification come about as a result of hostile action, by accident, or for the purpose of constructing the fort? The present paper is based on the recognition that hillforts are different, and therefore should be evaluated individually. All identifiable factors of interest should be included, and especially those that might disprove any alternative. Thus, incentives, competence and petrographic aspects were evaluated for the hillfort named Broborg (dated to the Migration Period, in Sweden A.D. 400–550), and it is concluded that the vitrification here came about for the purpose of constructing the fort.

Citation

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Volume

43

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103459

Local Download

Keywords

glass, hillfort, vesicles, genesis, construction

Citation

Sjoblom, R. , Hjarthner-Holdar, E. , Pearce, C. , Weaver, J. , Ogenhall, E. , McCloy, J. , Marcial, J. , Vicenzi, E. , Schweiger, M. and Kruger, A. (2022), Assessment of the reason for the vitrification of a wall at a hillfort. The example of Broborg in Sweden, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103459, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=934286 (Accessed April 25, 2024)