A video argues that Bronze Age peoples who built hillforts and practiced excarnation may have been entirely replaced by Iron Age groups using inhumation and cremation. That is the video's interpretation, not a settled archaeological conclusion. The evidence shows varied hillfort dates and excarnation at particular sites, while Balkan prehistory reflects continuity as well as change. It does not establish wholesale replacement, an exclusively Illyrian identity for all newcomers, or the disappearance of Cyclopean builders across Europe.
Video Argues Bronze Age Hillfort Builders Were Replaced
Key facts
- The wholesale replacement of Bronze Age hillfort builders by Iron Age peoples is the video's argument, not an established archaeological conclusion.
- Hillforts have varied dates: some originated in the Bronze Age, while others remained occupied into the Iron Age.
- Excarnation is documented at particular sites, including Ham Hill, but not as the universal practice of Bronze Age hillfort or Cyclopean builders.
- Iron Age Balkan communities had differing burial rites, including inhumation and cremation; the cited evidence does not establish that all incoming groups were Illyrian tribes.
- The cited results do not support the claim that Cyclopean builders across Europe disappeared or left only excarnated bones.
- The Balkan Peninsula's prehistory involved multiple changing populations and cultural traditions, but the evidence does not demonstrate a single event of total population replacement.
Sources
The Great Iron Age Hill Fort Hoax - Prehistoric Britainprehistoric-britain.co.uk
Celtic hill forts came into their own during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, aligning roughly with the inception of the first millennium ...
The development of the hillfort in prehistoric Ireland WILLIAM O'BRIENjstor.org
This paper presents the results of a recent investigation of hillfort chronology in Ireland. The first examples were built c.1400–1200 BC during ...
Letter From Wales - Hillforts of the Iron Age - Archaeology Magazinearchaeology.org
Archaeologists are currently excavating at hillforts in the Clwydian Range to understand both their construction and the conditions that convinced people to ...
Dig reveals Iron Age home of people who built and used iconic ...digventures.com
The impressive settlement is the likely home of people who built and used one of the most iconic prehistoric monuments in Oxfordshire.
Archaeologists make new discoveries at Bodbury Ring hillfortheritagedaily.com
The study has revealed that Bodbury Ring is six times larger than previously thought and is part of a much larger hillfort which enclosed the ...
Late Bronze Age Hillfort found in Francethe-past.com
Excavations at a fortified hillfort near Gannat have discovered several collections of metal objects buried inside ceramic vessels. IMAGE: F ...
Tag: Excarnation - Balkan Celts - WordPress.combalkancelts.wordpress.com
The finds at Ham Hill include ritualistic burials – arrangements of human skulls as well as bodies tossed into a pit, left exposed and gnawed by animals. At the ...
Bronze Age Balkans Research Papersacademia.edu
The Bronze Age Balkans refers to the period from approximately 3000 to 1000 BCE in the Balkan Peninsula, characterized by the emergence of complex societies ...
Was this story useful?
Keep exploring
Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.
3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search
AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.