A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the ramparts needed.
The oldest known promontory fort is Amnya I in Siberia which was established as a fortified site in the late 7th millennium BC.[1] Although their dating is problematic, most seem to date to the Iron Age. They are mainly found in Ireland, Brittany, the Orkney Islands, the Isle of Man, Devon, the Channel Islands and Cornwall.[2]
- ^ Piezonka, Henny; Chairkina, Natalya; Dubovtseva, Ekaterina; Kosinskaya, Lyubov; Meadows, John; Schreiber, Tanja (2023). "The world's oldest-known promontory fort: Amnya and the acceleration of hunter-gatherer diversity in Siberia 8000 years ago". Antiquity. 97 (396): 1381–1401. doi:10.15184/aqy.2023.164. ISSN 0003-598X.
- ^ "Access to Monuments". www.historic-cornwall.org.uk. 11 December 2020.