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The Roman Siege of Burnswark

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

D.B. Campbell
D.B. Campbell
Affiliation:
Bearsden, Glasgow
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Extract

The flat-topped hill of Burnswark broods over the surrounding landscape of southern Annandale. Its Iron Age defences enclose an area of 7 ha, modest when set against the hillforts of the neighbouring Tyne-Forth province, but without equal in Dumfriesshire. Its situation has often evoked comparison with the 10.5 ha site of Masada (Israel), but, even allowing for occasionally steep slopes rising some 70 m from its base, Burnswark's defences cannot match the formidable 250 m cliffs of the Judaean site.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 34 , November 2003 , pp. 19 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © D.B. Campbell 2003. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

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