Editing Maiden Castle, Dorset (section)

==Before the fort==
[[Image:Maiden castle dorset.jpg|left|thumb|Maiden Castle from the north]]
Before the hill fort was built, a [[Neolithic]] causewayed enclosure was constructed on the site. Dating from around [[4th millennium BC|4000&nbsp;BC]], it was an oval area enclosed by two ditches,<ref name="Sharples 34">Sharples (1991a), p.&nbsp;34.</ref> It is called a [[causewayed enclosure]] because the way the ditches were dug meant that there would originally have been gaps.<ref>Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;38–39.</ref> These gaps, and the bank being only {{cvt|17|cm}} high, indicate the site would not have been defensive. Instead the ditches may have been symbolic, separating the interior of the enclosure and its activities from the outside.<ref>Sharples (1991a), p.&nbsp;39.</ref> Archaeologist Niall Sharples, who was involved in excavating the hill fort in the 1980s, has identified the hilltop views of the surrounding landscape as a likely factor for the enclosure's position.<ref name="Sharples 34"/> Situated on the side of the hill, it would have been visible from several miles away, and when first cut the ditches would have exposed the underlying white chalk and stood out against the green hillside. The interior of the enclosure has been disturbed by later habitation and farming. The site does not appear to have been inhabited, although a grave containing the remains of two children, aged 6–7, has been discovered.<ref name="Sharples 35-37">Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;35–37.</ref> The enclosure is the earliest evidence of human activity on the site.<ref name="Sharples 35-37"/>

The purpose of Neolithic causewayed enclosures is unclear, and they probably had a variety of functions. In addition to the burials, which indicate the site at Maiden Castle was important for rituals related to death, pottery from the coast and areas to the east and west was found here, indicating that the site was a meeting place that attracted people over long distances.<ref>Sharples (1991a), p.&nbsp;53.</ref> [[Radiocarbon dating]] indicates that the enclosure was abandoned around 3,400&nbsp;BC. Arrowheads discovered in the ditches may indicate that activity at the enclosure met a violent end.<ref>Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;54–56.</ref>

Within a period of about 50&nbsp;years, a [[bank barrow]] was built over the enclosure. It was a {{cvt|546|m|adj=on}} long mound of earth with a ditch on either side; the parallel ditches were {{cvt|19.5|m|ft}} apart.<ref>Sharples (1991a), p.&nbsp;56.</ref> Many barrows lie over graves and are monuments to the deceased, but as the barrow at Maiden Castle did not cover any burials, scholars have suggested that it was a boundary marker. This would explain the limited human activity on the hilltop for the 500&nbsp;years after the bank barrow's construction.<ref>Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;59–60.</ref> 

Around 1,800&nbsp;BC, during the early [[Bronze Age]], the hill was cleared and used to grow crops, but the soil was quickly exhausted and the site abandoned. This period of abandonment lasted until the [[Iron Age]], when the hill fort was built.<ref>Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;65–67.</ref> The bank barrow survived into the Iron Age as a low mound, and throughout this period construction over it was avoided.<ref>Sharples (1991a), pp.&nbsp;94–96.</ref>