Fin Cop
Hill in Derbyshire, England
Fin Cop is a hill and an associated Iron Age hill fort in Monsal Dale, close to Ashford in the Water in Derbyshire, England.
The fort shows evidence of hurried construction, indicating a defensive response to a real threat, rather than the more usual assumption that such forts were a display of status and prestige. The hillfort, along with an adjacent bowl barrow, lime kiln and quarry, constitutes a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
In 2011 excavations unearthed a mass burial containing only women and children, probably massacred after the fort was attacked, the first such segregated burial in Iron Age Britain. Some animal bones were also found, suggesting the inhabitants kept livestock. The remains were relatively well preserved due to the limestone geology of the hill. Carbon dating of the site suggests it was constructed between 440BC and 390BC.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Fin Cop”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Fin Cop Jonathan Clitheroe.jpg by Jonathan Clitheroe, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Fin Cop Digital Terrain Model.jpg by data.gov.uk, OGL 3
- View from Brushfield Hough - geograph.org.uk - 1711456.jpg by Peter Barr, CC BY-SA 2.0
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