Stonea Camp is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ap ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Rom ...

located at

Stonea Stonea is a hamlet in Cambridgeshire, England, south east of March and part of the parish of Wimblington.Wimb ...

near

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

in the

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to th ...

Fens. Situated on a gravel bank just above sea-level, it is the lowest

in Britain. Around 500 BC, when fortification is thought to have begun at this site, this "hill" would have provided a significant area of habitable land amidst the flooded marshes of the fens. The site exhibits at least two phases of development over several hundred years of settlement, with a D-shaped set of earth banks surrounded by a larger, more formal set of banks and ditches.

Roman control

The fort is a possible site of the battle of 47 AD mentioned by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

, between the

Iceni tribe The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...

and a Roman auxiliary force under governor

Ostorius Scapula Publius Ostorius Scapula standing at the terrace of the Roman Baths (Bath) Publius Ostorius Scapula (died 52) was a Roman statesman and general who governed Britain from 47 until his death, and was responsible for the defeat and capture of Cara ...

. It has also been speculated that the remains relate to the campaign to subdue the Iceni after the Boudiccan Revolt. Human remains have been found around the site including sword-marked adult bones and the cleaved skull of a child, indicating that the inhabitants were trapped and attacked within the settlement. The remains of a multi-storey Roman tower have also been excavated within sight to the north of the Stonea Camp fortifications.Stonea Camp
, Cambridgeshire County Council, accessed 20 September 2013 The building was possibly constructed to suppress further tribal rebellion or settlement at this site.

Excavation and restoration

Excavation work was carried out in 1980 by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

, and restoration work followed in 1991 to recover the outer bank system and ditches which have been worn away by agriculture. The Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeology department has continued to carry out restoration work at the site. To prevent further damage by agriculture, the area is now designated as a pocket park and scheduled ancient monument. Stonea Iron Age Fort Panorama

References

External links

21 images of the site
{{Iron Age hillforts in England Hill forts in Cambridgeshire Scheduled monuments in Cambridgeshire

Roman control

Excavation and restoration

See also

References

External links