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Reviewer: Llywrch ( talk · contribs) 07:09, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
Looking forward to reviewing this for GA. -- llywrch ( talk) 07:09, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
In general, this article meets the GA criteria: it is well-written, verifiable w/o any original research, neutral, stable, & competently illustrated. (Yes, I left out "broad in coverage"; more about that below.) But there are some issues, which are fixable.
But one area that could stand improvement is in citing print sources. What appears to be the earliest description of Cadbury Camp, Seyer's Memoirs Historical and Topographical of Bristol (1821) is fortunately accessible online here. (None of the bibliographies about this hill-fort note this is a 2-volume book, & the pages you want -- pp. 80-1 -- are in the volume I linked to.) I don't know what resources you have at hand, but if you could use the Victoria County History for Somerset here, or St. George-Gray's report of his excavations at Cadbury Camp, that would be good.
My own resources, while surprisingly good for someone on the other side of the globe, are 30-40 years old, but from checking the online sources you cited it appears the latest research on Cadbury Camp was published that long ago. Two works that you will find useful if you write more on hill-forts in Somerset are: (1) Philip Rahtz & Peter Fowler, "Somerset A.D. 400-700", in Archaeology and the Landscape (London: John Baker, 1972), pp. 187-221; & (2) Ian Burrow, Hillfort and Hill-top Settlement in Somerset in the First to Eighth Centuries A.D., BAR British Series 91 (Oxford, 1981). Both I expect are out-of-print, but I hope you can find a copy at a library near you. (I may be able to provide a copy of Rahtz' & Fowler's article for your use, if you can't find one over there.)
Then there is the issue that information on the hill-forts of Somerset is quite thin: of the 89 hill-forts Burrow lists in his monograph, less than a third have been excavated to any degree, & only 2 -- South Cadbury & Cadbury Hill-Congresbury -- well enough to support any serious analysis. Cadbury Camp is, despite the limited amount of information available, one of the better known sites. So it may be what you've written is the best that can be done.
But digging a little further, I did find some material you may be able to use in this article. For example, looking at the map in Rahtz & Fowler, it's clear that Cadbury Camp sits on a ridge of dry land between the Somerset Levels & the marshlands near the mouth of the Avon, which links Portishead to the mainland. And there is evidence that Portishead survived as a settlement long after the end of Roman Britain, so Cadbury Camp takes on a strategic value for both the Romano-British defenders & the Anglo-Saxon invaders. On the other hand, Burrow in his monograph at several points notes that the hill-forts in Somerset were abandoned as defensive positions as Roman rule progressed (although at least one shows signs it was used as a base for outlaws), & instead asserts that during the Roman period many acquired a religious or cult function. Burrow explicitly mentions Cadbury Camp as one example of having a religious function (p. 161).
Sorry to have rambled a bit here. I'm trying to integrate what I've read in a coherent manner, & I sense I may have failed in discussing "sources" & "context of the hill-fort". If those sections sound confused, feel free to put those two sections aside until after the GA process. But there are two more points I believe need addressing:
I hope this helps. -- llywrch ( talk) 07:31, 17 June 2015 (UTC)
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Reviewer: Llywrch ( talk · contribs) 07:09, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
Looking forward to reviewing this for GA. -- llywrch ( talk) 07:09, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
In general, this article meets the GA criteria: it is well-written, verifiable w/o any original research, neutral, stable, & competently illustrated. (Yes, I left out "broad in coverage"; more about that below.) But there are some issues, which are fixable.
But one area that could stand improvement is in citing print sources. What appears to be the earliest description of Cadbury Camp, Seyer's Memoirs Historical and Topographical of Bristol (1821) is fortunately accessible online here. (None of the bibliographies about this hill-fort note this is a 2-volume book, & the pages you want -- pp. 80-1 -- are in the volume I linked to.) I don't know what resources you have at hand, but if you could use the Victoria County History for Somerset here, or St. George-Gray's report of his excavations at Cadbury Camp, that would be good.
My own resources, while surprisingly good for someone on the other side of the globe, are 30-40 years old, but from checking the online sources you cited it appears the latest research on Cadbury Camp was published that long ago. Two works that you will find useful if you write more on hill-forts in Somerset are: (1) Philip Rahtz & Peter Fowler, "Somerset A.D. 400-700", in Archaeology and the Landscape (London: John Baker, 1972), pp. 187-221; & (2) Ian Burrow, Hillfort and Hill-top Settlement in Somerset in the First to Eighth Centuries A.D., BAR British Series 91 (Oxford, 1981). Both I expect are out-of-print, but I hope you can find a copy at a library near you. (I may be able to provide a copy of Rahtz' & Fowler's article for your use, if you can't find one over there.)
Then there is the issue that information on the hill-forts of Somerset is quite thin: of the 89 hill-forts Burrow lists in his monograph, less than a third have been excavated to any degree, & only 2 -- South Cadbury & Cadbury Hill-Congresbury -- well enough to support any serious analysis. Cadbury Camp is, despite the limited amount of information available, one of the better known sites. So it may be what you've written is the best that can be done.
But digging a little further, I did find some material you may be able to use in this article. For example, looking at the map in Rahtz & Fowler, it's clear that Cadbury Camp sits on a ridge of dry land between the Somerset Levels & the marshlands near the mouth of the Avon, which links Portishead to the mainland. And there is evidence that Portishead survived as a settlement long after the end of Roman Britain, so Cadbury Camp takes on a strategic value for both the Romano-British defenders & the Anglo-Saxon invaders. On the other hand, Burrow in his monograph at several points notes that the hill-forts in Somerset were abandoned as defensive positions as Roman rule progressed (although at least one shows signs it was used as a base for outlaws), & instead asserts that during the Roman period many acquired a religious or cult function. Burrow explicitly mentions Cadbury Camp as one example of having a religious function (p. 161).
Sorry to have rambled a bit here. I'm trying to integrate what I've read in a coherent manner, & I sense I may have failed in discussing "sources" & "context of the hill-fort". If those sections sound confused, feel free to put those two sections aside until after the GA process. But there are two more points I believe need addressing:
I hope this helps. -- llywrch ( talk) 07:31, 17 June 2015 (UTC)