SDO21395 - Maiden Castle, Dorset. A Geophysical Survey

'Licensed by English Heritage under Section 42 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, a geophysical survey using magnetometry was carried out on the interior of the Iron Age hillfort in February 2013. Maiden Castle has been surveyed previously; in 1985 a study to accompany excavations produced a plot covering most of the interior and showing many internal features (Figure 1). Thirty years later, the present study utilises modern equipment to produce more detailed data covering the interior in its entirety. Those areas surveyed for the first time have revealed evidence of intensive habitation on the sheltered slopes of the western section, and the increased detail in other areas presents a picture of a crowded metropolis packed with pits and houses along a layout of dendritic trackways. Overlapping structures point to extended use of the site and two internal enclosures are examined in detail.'