Hillforts and Power in the Post-Roman West: A GIS-Enabled Analysis of Dinas Powys - Dr. Andy Seaman

The (re)occupation of hillforts was a distinctive feature of post-Roman Europe (5th-7th century AD). In western and northern Britain hillforts are interpreted as power centers associated with militarised elites, but research has focused narrowly upon sites, with less consideration of landscape context. Consequently, we have little understanding of the factors that influenced the siting of hillforts and how this facilitated elite power. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide opportunities for landscape research, but are constrained by limitations of source data and the difficulty of defining appropriate parameters for analysis. In this lecture I will present a new methodology that combines data processing and analytical functions afforded by GIS with techniques and principles drawn from 'traditional' landscape archaeology.