Hillforts now had wooden palisades on top of their banks to
protect the enclosed farmsteads and villages from stock wandering
off or being taken by rustlers, and from attacks by wild animals
or other people. Later a rampart was added from which sentries
could patrol. These were supported by timber and/or stone
structures. Timbers were probably transported by carts or dragged
by oxen. At the entrances were several openings only one of which
really allowed entry. The others went between banks into dead ends
and served as traps in which to kill the enemy from above. Gates
were of wood, some hung from hinges on posts which could be
locked. Later guard chambers were added, some with space for
hearths and beds. Sometimes further concentric circles of banks
and ditches, and perhaps a second rampart, were added around these
forts. They could reach to 14 acres. The ramparts are sufficiently
widely spaced to make sling-shotting out from them highly
effective, but to minimize the dangers from sling-shotting from
without. The additional banks and ditches could be used to create
cattle corridors or to protect against spear-thrown firebrands.
However, few forts had springs of water within them, indicating
that attacks on them were probably expected to be short. Attacks
usually began with warriors bristling with weapons and blowing war
trumpets shouting insults to the foe, while their kings dashed
about in chariots.
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