Hillforts were a central point of power for the ancient Celtic tribes residing in central Europe. Despite the fact that they could be found scattered throughout the Western European landscape prior to the arrival of the Celts, these types of defensive positions were appropriated by the Celts as their primary type of defensive structure. As time went on, the time it took to build a hillfort increased together with the complexity of the design of the fort. Where some forts would initially be constructed of mud and wood, eventually stone was added to the walls of the fort, filling a frame bolted together from logs of wood to support piles of rocky rubble that filled it’s interior.
On top of this filling, more wooden logs were braced together to create palisades and walkways from which the Celtic warriors could defend their fort. Wooden towers were spaced apart almost equally from each other around the walkways. Occasionally, and it is unclear whether it was accidental or intentional, the rubble inside of the walls would be set on fire and melt down the rock together to fuse it into a solid mass.
The largest hillforts consisted of several ramparts and palisades that entrenched the community inside with an intricate entrance of gateways that were dug through the earth mounds. In addition to all the other nooks and crannies, these sometimes had supplemental protection from guards chambers strategically placed along the crevices for the purpose of flanking invading hordes of enemies. There we also wooden bridges above these places, as well as outworks designed to protect against a direct assault on the gates.
In the UK, the most astonishing and surviving hillfort from the Iron Age, which is in modern times referred to as Maiden Castle, which can be found close to Dorchester. This site boasts a 190,202 square meter area, and includes defensive features such as three massive ramparts shaped like an oval, it’s history actually began over 5,000 years ago, when it was a Neolithic camp. Throughout a period of hundreds of years, increasing amounts of earth were dug up and placed into the ramparts. The hillforts eventually arrived at it’s current enormous state sometime around 100 BC, when a tribe of Celts known as the Durotriges took hold of it. A hundred years after this event, the Roman invasion of Britain occurred and Vespasian, commanding the Second Augustan Legion, mounted an assault on the fortress. A terrifying battle erupted, and archeologists have uncovered the remnants of battered weapons and timbers having suffered incendiary damage. Some of the skeletons recovered and dated to this time period also show marks in which bones were cut by the weapons and one particular nasty case had a backbone with an arrow pierced through it.
The most widely known Celtic hillfort, would have to be Alesia near Dijon in central France. It was at this site that in 52 BC, Caesar went against the formidable Gallic warlord Vercingetorix. Alesia was meant to be an unconquerable hillfort that was situated on a plateau overlooking the countryside, which was encircled with three ravines with rivers that would run through them. In addition to this, the fort was encircled by wooden palisades as well as earth mounds that additionally reinforced the defensive capabilities of the fort. Caesar realized it would be next to impossible to take the fort, so he instead improvised a siege of the fort. This plan kept being interrupted as Vercingetorix would request the assistance of other Celtic tribes and attack Caesar’s legions as they surrounded the fort that would sandwich them between Vercingetorix’s forces and that of the rear flank.
In order to counter this, Caesar was forced to construct a fortification of his own to protect the rear flank of his forces, with one ring of fortifications that was 17 kilometers long that was intended for Vercingetorix’s forces, and another outer ring meant to protect his legions against any reinforcements that might arrive to counterattack. Once the construction of this defensive line was finalized, Caesar’s legion began to maintain the siege. Even though Celtic troops continually came to assist Vercingetorix, Caesar was able to decimate entire formations one by one. Eventually Vercingetorix was forced to surrender, because victory seemed nowhere in sight and his ranks were thinning. Through this, Caesar was able to conquer Celtic France. Therefore Celtic hillforts were a good symbol of what gave the Celts power but at the same time demonstrated how it could lead to their demise.
Veteran Celtic warriors from that period would wear the arms and armor of the La Tene period. The chieftain usually wore a bronze cone helmet that was not much different from that which was unearthed in Berru in Marne in France. This helmet boasts an opening for a plume at the pinnacle of the helmet and also contains a neckguard at the back. The scubbard this chieftain wore would be attached by a chain made of iron similar to those uncovered in Champagne, France. Some chieftains would wear decorative brooches that would fasten their cloaks more securely. This was signature La Tene metalwork, they were either manufactured into cut-out metal, inlaid with enamel, or gilded. Other than the Celtic style decoration, the Celts were able to obtain Greek and Latin artifacts, as well as those even further away such as the inhabitants of the Eurasian steppes, through the Celts’ well developed and far reaching trade networks. The Celts had a preference for plumes and crests for their metal helmets, there were also helmets presumed to have been made from softer materials which included leather, yet have not been unearthed yet in a preserved state.