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| Natural fusion of rock equivalent with the force and power of an atomic bomb. |
Vitrified fort is the title granted to certain crude stone enclosures whose
partitions have been subjected in a larger or lesser degree to the action of
heat. They are generally located on hills proposing strong defensive places.
Their pattern seems to have been very resolute by the contour of the flat
summits which they enclose. The walls alter in dimensions, a couple of being up
of 12 feet (3.7 m) high, and are so broad that they present the look of
embankments. feeble parts of the defense are reinforced by twice or triple
partitions, and rarely huge lines of ramparts, composed of large blocks of unvitrified stones, envelop the vitrified center at some expanse from it.
No lime
or cement has been found in any of these structures, all of them presenting the
peculiarity of being more or less consolidated by the fusion of the rocks of
which they are built. This fusion, which has been initiated by the application
of strong heat, is not identically complete in the diverse forts, or even in
the partitions of the identical outpost. In some situations the pebbles are
only partially melted and calcined; in other ones their adjacent to edges are
fused so that they are solidly cemented simultaneously; in numerous examples
pieces of rock are covered in a glassy enamel-like outer layer which binds them
into a consistent entire; and at times, though rarely, the whole extent of the
partition presents one solid mass of vitreous matter.
It is
not clear why or how the walls were subjected to vitrification. Some antiquarians
have argued that it was finished to reinforce the wall, but the heating
actually dwindles the structure. Battle impairment is furthermore improbable to
be the origin, as the walls are considered to have been subjected to mindfully
maintained blazes to double-check they were hot enough for vitrification to
take place. Most
archaeologists now address that vitrified outposts are the merchandise of
deliberate destruction either following the arrest of the location by an foe
force or by the occupants at the end of its hardworking life as an proceed of
ceremonial closure.
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