Another use for your thicket of briars.. after they start to be overrun you could set them on fire.  Have barrels of pitch or something else flammable strategically located to get the whole thing going up at once.  That might slow down the attack significantly and even kill or disable some attackers.

I agree with Bill's idea that the slopes were kept bare by grazing. (I was going to put a pun about grazing fire but can't think of one)

Anyways:

-- there are three belts of ditches around Maiden Castle. Presumably the killing ground is between the slope of two ditches. Does this suppose that you are firing slings with minimum lob, with straight trajectories ? = side arm. Generally, I suppose the slope is steep enough that it would make scaling rather difficult. Why multiple ditches, though ? Do you man the crest between ditches ?

-- the main point is the gates, where the slingstone depots were concentrated. How do you ensure maximum defence power ? The earthworks should channel the attack over a long stretch where enemies provide target right environment to missiles, and where the attackers' unshielded right flank is exposed. This requires pretty detailled look at the entrance complexes, and their history (since they evolve).

Hi All,
Sorry I've been absent for a few days. I'll try to repond to comments/questions over the past week or so, here.

Curious_Aardvark: by Wessex, I mean roughly Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, some of Somerset, and Berkshire. There are hillforts on the Ridgeway (Berkshire/Oxfordshire) that may be closer for you and others to visit, and there are several fairly close, so we could look at variations.

Leadrocks: interesting comments about the throwing positions and ballistics, thanks. Although lead shot were used in some times/places, I don't think there's much evidence of a lot of them around British hillforts. (They'd be more obvious than the stones, of course, so maybe they'd get picked up in the Iron Age.) Caesar describes the Belgae using shiled to enable them to get close to the gates, after having pelted the defenders with stones first. In the earlier cases we're mainly talking about, an analysis by Michael Avery suggests that the slingers were first used in attack, causing the defenders to respond with rampart designs that gave them more height and time advantage and that the defenders then employed more missiles themselves - previously having relied on a couple of metrers height advantage in close combat. In terms of the rampart shape and size, the question is could you really get up a long steep slope with guys on the top pelting stones down it, and is that better for the defenders than a vertical but low (say 3-4m) wall?

David, Kentucky, Mauro: I already commented on pallisades. An experiment on whether they get in the way would be interesting. Of course, the earlier steep but lower ramparts were often faced with wood or stone, and the "face" could have continued above the top of the bank without a separate pallisade being needed.

Mauro: thanks for the description of Conelle di Arcevia. It sounds like promontary forts and ridge-end forts here, except that I don't recall the convex-facing-out idea from anywhere, which is really interesting.

Kentucky and others: to some extent, I think the steep parts of the ramparts might be better if kept "clean". At least around a lot of Wessex, where they are chalk-faces. With no grass etc on them, they're still tricky to get up and the absence of bushes would mean no cover from sling stones (etc) from above. Some think they'd be kept like that to look impressive from a distance, too. The outer approaches migh tbe a different matter, especially where the topography allows a rush attack - hence, perhaps, the chevaux-de-frise.

Chuckrocks: thank you for the picture. But who is it? Avery, mentioned above, declines to distinguish missiles from slings, staff-slings, and simply chucked (if you pardon the expression) and probably all three were used, for different sizes of rock. Most of the stones found cached were smaller than the one shown, but not all.

KT: the initial position of defence would depend, I think, on the nature of the attack. If a small raiding party just turned up, it would be different from a pre-arranged formal battle.

Mauro: the British equivalent of the nuraghe would be the broch (also means nothing to English-speakers, but may in Gaelic).
There's a picture of one at: 
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/mousa/mousabroch/index.html
But if you search for "Mousa" "Dun Trodden" or "Dun Carloway" along with "broch" you'll find others. They're Iron Age but confined pretty much to Scotland.

Nemo: Yes, they used other weapons. In fact, the popular image of them is spear and sword and shield. It may be that the warrior types used those but when it came down to defended one's home and grain, everyone pitched in with slings. They also used horses and chariots, but of course not directly at hillforts.

Nemo and David: I see I wrote about the difficulty of climbing the banks before I'd read your similar comments. Sorry.

Mauro: I think I must have missed the email you refer to. I'll look for it. By the end of this morning I intend to have replied to everything I have.

Rat Man and Bill: There is evidence of fire on the ramparts of a number of hillforts. (In addition to many gates.) The focus of the archaeologists has been on whether that was part of an attack, or of destruction that occurred after an attack had succeeded. Remember that the earlier ramparts were faced in wood. The view I read most recently is that fire wouldn't be much use against ramparts, so it was later destruction, and hillfort builders responded by just not using wood in the later period; they would have had a problem building very high ramparts with wooden walls anyway. I don't know of evidence of burning of unfaced ramparts, but it wouldn't leave much evidence after 2000 years anyway. (On a different slant, there are burnt stone defences, in Scotland in particular, where the theory is that they were fusing the stones into an impenetrable mass. They're called "vitrified forts".)

Thearos: you encapsulate the questions very neatly; thanks. The answers may take longer!
Maiden Castle is one of the extreme examples, so analysing it's defences may not tell us about the typical case. Wheeler, who first excavated (1943), suggested that the extra-large defences protected the interior from sling attack by keeping them out of range, especially heated shot that would set fire to thatch. Bowden and McOmish (1987) went there and decided the defences were too large to be practical, there was dead ground in the ditches and the outer ramparts were indefensible (i.e. the whole thing is just showing off). Reading that was what got me into all this. I think there's a good chance that we can work out tactics that make sense, especially by using the expertise of you experienced slingers, not just a) archaeologists and b) modern military analysis.

David: interesting link. I've got Danebury books all over my desk, but the huge amount of detail often hides the picture!

Everyone: It's time I organised a visit to look at two or three hillforts. Some of you have volunteered already, but finding a convenient date will be the challenge. I'm thinking of places not far from the M4 in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire. If you can make any of the following dates, please send me a message, and I will pick the one with most takers: Sat 25 Feb; Sun 26 Feb; Sat 3 March; Sun 4 March. In addition, if you can do non-weekend dates, let me know what date suits you. (The advantage being that there will be fewer other people around.)

Pete

 
 

In 1976, 11,000 slingstones were found at Danebury near the main gate. Other similar piles were found in excavations at the east gate. Other piles were located at strategic places.
The thing is is that these had to have been imported. Danebury is mostly flint and chalk, the pebbles were water worn conglomerates.
The closest place to Danebury that has this type of stone  is in Harewood forest, 8 km away.
  This means that the inhabitants likely went to this area to get the right sized stones for slinging.

I suppose aswell having all loose rocks outside the gate wouldnt give any easy footing for moving in that area. If you are trying to run on loose material, you arent going to get anywhere near the same force behind you if you plan to pull down a gate (perhaps Im thinking the wrong type of gate, but its relevant to most form of combat anyway).
Are numbers of that size present in most forts, it seems a hell of a lot, even if we assume it is coming from both directions. Perhaps they werent even slingstones but just scree to take the wind out of the attackers.

Nemo

The visit is arranged for March 4. We'll look at two or three hillforts in the area south of the M4 near Swindon. They have different features, which may make them more or less suited to defence by slings. Anyone wishing to join in, please send me a PM or email. Pete

Hallo there,
I specialized on archaeological surface surveys at the university, and can tell you that there may be many reasons why you can't find evidence.
You already said three of them, and the fact that not all hillforts had similar defensive functions may be true too, but I cautiously disagree, for slinging was a common practice in pastoral contexts (as well as in nomadic ones) and I believe that throwing stones is one of the most used defensive tactics.
Or did you mean something different with defensive functions?
By the way, the most ancient sling bullets found in Italy are clay ones dating back to the Neolithic (5000 years bp more or less); we also have a topic here. Recognizing older bullets is only due to the archaeologist's eye, passion and experience!

Pete, I wish I could come! I wish you great fun and please, keep sharing your efforts!
Greetings,
Mauro.

Well my change of date was spot on

Sunday was wet, windy and thoroughly miserable.
Tuesday on the other hand, was clear, bright, sunny and while not warm - the perfect temperature for climbing up and down hillforts.

Despite my programming my satnav incorrectly (mea culpa can't blame tomtom for this one) and my car phone choosing tuesday morning to die. I did eventually find pete, more by luck than judgement 

Had a very interesting afternoon. I think we both learnt a lot and hopefully it'll lead to some very interesting practical experiments in the future - for which we will need other slingers (we'll wait till your in country david  )

But, yep good day.

I believe ths picture is on the outer earthwork at liddington.
More pics and info later