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Maiden Castle in England is one of the largest hill forts in Europe.^[1][2] Photograph taken in 1935 by Major George Allen (1891–1940).

A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortification usually follows the contours of a hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches. Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC, and were in use in many Celtic areas of central and western Europe until the Roman conquest.

Nomenclature[link]

The terms "hill fort", "hill-fort" and "hillfort" are all used in the archaeological literature. They all refer to an elevated site with one or more ramparts made of earth, stone and/or wood, with an external ditch. Many small early hill forts were abandoned, with the larger ones being redeveloped at a later date. Some hill forts contain houses.

Similar but smaller and less defendable earthworks are found on the sides of hills. These are known as hill-slope enclosures and may have been animal pens.

Chronology[link]

They are most common during later periods:

• Urnfield culture and Atlantic Bronze Age^[3] (c. 1300 BC – 750 BC) Bronze Age
• Hallstatt culture (c. 1200 BC – 500 BC) late Bronze Age to early Iron Age
• La Tene culture (c. 600 BC – 50 AD) late Iron Age

Prehistoric Europe saw a growing population. It has been estimated that in about 5,000 BC during the Neolithic between 2 million and 5 million lived in Europe; in the Late Iron Age it had an estimated population of around 15 to 30 million. Outside Greece and Italy, which were more densely populated, the vast majority of settlements in the Iron Age were small, with perhaps no more than 50 inhabitants. Hill forts were the exception, and were the home of up to 1,000 people. With the emergence of oppida in the Late Iron Age, settlements could reach as large as 10,000 inhabitants.^[4] As the population increased so did the complexity of prehistoric societies. Around 1100 BC hill forts emerged and in the following centuries spread through Europe. They served a range of purposes and were variously tribal centres, defended places, foci of ritual activity, and places of production.^[5]

During the Hallstatt C period, hill forts became the dominant settlement type in the west of Hungary.^[6] Julius Caesar described the large late Iron Age hill forts he encountered during his campaigns in Gaul as oppida. By this time the larger ones had become more like cities than fortresses and many were assimilated as Roman towns.

Hill forts were frequently occupied by conquering armies, but on other occasions the forts were destroyed, the local people forcibly evicted, and the forts left derelict. For example, Solsbury Hill was sacked and deserted during the Belgic invasions of southern Britain in the 1st century BC. Abandoned forts were sometimes reoccupied and refortified under renewed threat of foreign invasion, such as the Dukes' Wars in Lithuania, and the successive invasions of Britain by Romans, Saxons and Vikings.

Historiography[link]

Excavations at hill forts in the first half of the 20th century focussed on the defences because of the assumption that hill forts were developed as the result of military tensions. The exception to this trend was the series of excavations undertaken by Mortimer Wheeler at Maiden Castle, Dorset in the 1930s. From 1960 onwards, the attention of archaeologists shifted to the interior of hill forts and re-examining their function.^[7] Michael Avery opined in 1986 "The ultimate defensive weapon of European prehistory was the hillfort of the first millennium B.C.", epitomising the contemporary interpretation of hill forts.^[8] Since then post-processual archaeologists have reinterpreted the sites, introducing interpretations that hill forts were important as symbols of wealth and power.^[9]

Types of hill fort[link]

Beyond the simple definition of hill fort, there is a wide variation in types and periods from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. Here are some considerations of general appearance and topology, which can be assessed without archaeological excavation:

• Location
  • Hilltop Contour: the classic hill fort; an inland location with a hilltop defensive position surrounded by artificial ramparts or steep natural slopes. Examples: Brent Knoll, Mount Ipf.
  • Inland Promontory: an inland defensive position on a ridge or spur with steep slopes on 2 or 3 sides, and artificial ramparts on the level approaches. Example: Lambert's Castle.
  • Interfluvial: a promontory above the confluence of two rivers, or in the bend of a meander. Example: Kelheim.
  • Lowland: an inland location without special defensive advantages (except perhaps marshes), but surrounded by artificial ramparts; typical of later settled oppida. Examples: Maiden Castle, Stonea Camp.
  • Sea Cliff: a semi-circular crescent of ramparts backing on to a straight sea cliff; common on rocky Atlantic coasts, such as Ireland. Examples: Daw's Castle, Dinas Dinlle, Dún Aengus.
  • Sea Promontory: a linear earthwork across a narrow neck of land leading to a peninsula with steep cliffs to the sea on three sides; common on indented Atlantic coasts, such as Ireland, Cornwall, Brittany and west Wales. Examples: The Rumps, Huelgoat.
  • Sloping Enclosure: smaller earthwork on gently sloping hillsides; not significant defensive position. Examples: Goosehill Camp, Plainsfield Camp, Trendle Ring.
• Area
  • > 20 ha: very large enclosures, too diffuse to defend, probably used for domesticated animals. Examples: Miholjanec.
  • 1–20 ha: defended areas large enough to support permanent tribal settlement.
  • < 1 ha: small enclosures, more likely to be individual farmsteads or animal pens.
• Ramparts, walls and ditches
  • Univallate: a single circuit of ramparts for enclosure and defence. Example: Solsbury Hill.
  • Multivallate: more than one layer of defensive earthworks, outer works might not be complete circuits, but defend the weakest approaches; typically the inner circuit is original, with outer circuits added later. Example: Cadbury Castle.
• Entrances
  • Simple opening: might indicate an enclosure, rather than a defended position; sometimes the main ramparts may turn inward or outward, and be widened and heightened to control the entrance. Example: Dowsborough.
  • Linear holloway: straight parallel pair of ramparts dominating the entrance; projecting either inward, outward, or occasionally overlapped along the main rampart. Example: Norton Camp.
  • Complex: multiple overlapping outer works; staggered or interleaved multivallate ramparts; zig-zag entrance way, sling platforms and well planned lines of fire. Examples: Maiden Castle.

Some forts were also settlements, while others were only occupied seasonally, or in times of strife. Archaeological excavation reveals more about the dates of occupation and modes of use. Typical features for excavation include:

• Ramparts and ditches
  • Original depths and profiles of ditches.
  • Rampart construction: murus gallicus, pfostenschlitzmauer.
  • Guardhouses and defended entrances.
• Settlement and occupation
  • Raised platforms, roundhouses, longhouses.
  • Post holes for rectangular granary huts.
  • Pits for food storage, souterrains, fogous.
  • Pottery
  • Coins, jewellery and hoards.
• Temples and peacetime burials
  • Platforms and temple foundations.
  • Graves and offerings
• Warfare
  • Weapons: sling-shot, shields, armour, swords, axes, spears, arrows.
  • Sieges and conquest: ballista bolts, ash layers, vitrified stones, burnt post holes.
  • Wartime burials: typically outside the ramparts:
    • Contemporary individual burials by local inhabitants.
    • Massed grave pits dug by a conquering army.

Hill forts by country[link]

Britain[link]

Dunadd hill fort near Kilmartin in Argyll, similar to ring-forts in Ireland and Iberian castros

The reason for the emergence of hill forts in Britain, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, sites built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture. The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze, and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Power passed into the hands of a new group of people.^[10] Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase still played a role and has stated "[the forts] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [of an increasing population] burst out into open warfare. But I wouldn't see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction".^[11]

Hill forts in Britain are known from the Bronze Age, but the great period of hill fort construction was during the Iron Age, between 700 BC and the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD. The Romans occupied some forts, such as the military garrison at Hod Hill, and the temple at Brean Down, but others were destroyed and abandoned. Partially articulated remains of between 28 and 40 men, women and children at Cadbury Castle were thought by the excavator^[12] to implicate the Cadbury population in a revolt in the 70s AD (roughly contemporary with that of Boudicca in the East of England), although this has been questioned by subsequent researchers.^[13][14] However, the presence of barracks on the hilltop in the decades following the conquest suggest an ongoing struggle to suppress local dissent.

Maiden Castle in Dorset is the largest hill fort in England. Where Roman influence was less strong, such as uninvaded Ireland and unsubdued northern Scotland, hill forts were still built and used for several more centuries.

There are over 2,000 Iron Age hillforts known in Britain of which nearly 600 are in Wales.^[15] Danebury in Hampshire, is the most thoroughly investigated Iron Age hillfort in Britain, as well as the most extensively published.^[16]

Cadbury Castle, Somerset is the largest amongst forts reoccupied following the end of Roman rule, to defend against pirate raids, and the Anglo-Saxon invasions. The cemetery outside Poundbury Hill contains east-facing Christian burials of the 4th century. The Wansdyke was a new linear earthwork connected to the existing hill fort at Maes Knoll, which defined the Celtic-Saxon border in south-west England during the period 577–652 AD.

Some hill forts were re-occupied by the Anglo-Saxons during the period of Viking raids. King Alfred established a network of coastal hill forts and lookout posts in Wessex, linked by a Herepath, or military road, which enabled his armies to cover Viking movements at sea. For example, see Daw's Castle and Battle of Cynwit.

It has been suggested on reasonable evidence that many so-called hill forts were just used to pen in cattle, horses, or other domesticated animals. The large sprawling examples at Bindon Hill and Bathampton Down are more than 50 acres (20 ha). Even those that were defensive settlements in the Iron Age were sometimes used for coralling animals in later periods. For example, see Coney's Castle, Dolebury Warren and Pilsdon Pen. However, it is difficult to prove that people definitely did not dwell there, as lack of evidence is not proof of absence.

Examples include:

• see List of hill forts in England
• see List of hill forts in Scotland
• see List of hill forts in Wales

Central Europe[link]

An 11th-century hill fort in Bielsko-Biała

The Hallstatt and La Tene cultures originated in what is now southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. However, hill forts were built also in Poland and further east, till the Middle Ages.

The predominant form of rampart construction is pfostenschlitzmauer, or Kelheim-style.

Examples include:

• Heuneburg, Württemberg, Germany
• Mount Ipf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
• Kelheim, Bavaria, Germany
• Staré Hradisko, Moravia, Czech Republic
• Závist, Bohemia, Czech Republic
• Třísov, Bohemia, Czech Republic
• Bielsko-Biała, southern Poland
• Devín, Bratislava, Slovakia^[17]

Estonia[link]

Varbola ruins

The Estonian word for hill fort is linnamägi (plural linnamäed), meaning hillfort or hillburgh. There are several hundred hill forts or presumed ancient hill fort sites all over Estonia. Some of them, like Toompea in Tallinn or Toomemägi in Tartu, are governance centres used since ancient times up until today. Some others, like Varbola are historical sites nowadays.

Most likely the Estonian hill forts were in pre-Christian times administrative, economic and military centres of Estonian tribes. Although some of them were probably used only during times of crisis and stood empty in peacetime (for example Soontagana in Koonga parish, Pärnu county.

France[link]

The Gaulish hero Vercingetorix was famously besieged by Julius Caesar in the hill fort of Alesia. The predominant form of rampart construction was murus gallicus.

Examples include:

• Alesia
• Bibracte (Mont Beuvray)
• Mont St. Odile (Mur Païen)
• Le Camp d'Artus, Huelgoat

Ireland[link]

Exterior view of Grianan of Aileach situated in County Donegal

Bronze Age and Iron Age hill forts are widely found in Ireland. They are large circular structures between 1 and 40 acres (most commonly 5–10 acres) in size, enclosed by a stone wall or earthen rampart or both. These would have been important tribal centres where the chief or king of the area would live with his extended family and support themselves by farming and renting cattle to their underlings.

There are around 40 known hill forts known in Ireland:^[18] about 12 are multivallate as distinguished by multiple ramparts, or a large counterscarp (outer bank). The imposing example at Mooghaun is defended by multiple stone walls. One must be careful to not confuse a hill-fort with a 'ringfort' a medieval settlement a common archaeological feature across the whole island of Ireland, over 40,000 examples are known.

Some hill forts have cairns inside their boundaries and there are many speculations about this phenomenon, the theories range from being a strange cult religion to just coincidence the same kind of area as they both like (hill tops with commanding views of the local vicinity), the excavation at Freestone Hill in County Kilkenny has shown that there was indeed a ditch cut out around the cairn, evidence that they had respect for the feature no matter what they believed about it.

Examples include:

• Lyles Hill, Co. Antrim
• Maghera Temple, Co. Cavan
• Mooghaun, Co. Clare (multivallate)
• Grianán of Aileach, Co. Donegal (multivallate)
• Dunbeg, Co. Down
• Downpatrick, Co. Down
• Caherconree, Co. Kerry
• Dún Ailinne, Co. Kildare
• Dunmurray Hill, Co. Kildare
• Freestone Hill, Co. Kilkenny
• Spa Hill, Co. Kilkenny
• Rath Meave at Tara, Co. Meath
• Clogher, Co. Tyrone
• Emain Macha, Co. Armagh
• Brusselstown Ring, Co. Wicklow
• Rathgall, Co. Wicklow (multivallate)

Lithuania[link]

Piliakalnis complex in Kernavė, a World Heritage Site

Daubariai piliakalnis in Mažeikiai district municipality

The Lithuanian word for hill fort is piliakalnis (plural piliakalniai), from pilis (=castle) and kalnas (=mountain, hill).

Lithuania has hill forts dating from the Bronze Age in the 1st millennium BC. The earliest examples in present day Lithuania are found in the east of the country. Most of these forts were built or expanded between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, when they were used in the Dukes' Wars, and against the invasion of Teutonic Knights from the west. Most forts were located on the banks of a river, or a confluence where two rivers met. These fortifications were typically wooden, although some had additional stone or brick walls. The hill was usually sculpted for defensive purposes, with the top flattened and the natural slopes made steeper for defence.

During the early years of Grand Duchy of Lithuania piliakalniai played a major role in conflicts with the Livonian Order and the Teutonic Knights. During this period the number of piliakalniai in use decreased, but those that remained had stronger fortifications. Two main defence lines developed: one along the Neman River (against the Teutonic Order) and another along the border with Livonia. Two other lines started to form, but did not fully develop. One was to protect Vilnius, the capital, and the other line in Samogitia, was a major target for both orders. This territory separated the two Orders and prevented joint action between them and Pagan Lithuania.

According to the Lietuvos piliakalnių atlasas (English: Atlas of Piliakalniai in Lithuania), there were 826 piliakalniai in Lithuania. Some researchers present a total number of 840 known piliakalnis in 2007; the number is likely to increase as even more of them are discovered every year. Most piliakalniai are located near rivers and are endangered by erosion: many have partly collapsed as the flooded river has washed out the base of the hill. Now around 80 percent of piliakalniai are covered by forests and are hardly accessible to visitors.

Examples include:

• Kernavė, (Lithuania, a World Heritage Site)

Portugal and Spain[link]

Rebuilt house in the oppidum of St. Tegra, A Guarda, Galicia

Hill fort of Coaña, Asturias, Spain

Hill fort of Baroña, Galicia

Oppidum of Lanobri, San Cibrao de Lás, Galicia

In Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Basque Country, province of Ávila and Northern Portugal a castro is a fortified pre-Roman Iron Age village, usually located on a hill or some naturally easy defendable place.^[19] The larger hill forts are also called citanias, cividades or cidás (English: cities). They were located on hilltops, which allowed tactical control over the surrounding countryside and provided natural defences. They usually had access to a spring or small creek to provide water; some even had large reservoirs to use during sieges. Typically, a castro had one to five stone and earth walls, which complemented the natural defences of the hill. The buildings inside, most of them circular in shape, some rectangular, were about 3.5–15 m (11–49 ft) long; they were made out of stone with thatch roofs resting on a wood column in the centre of the building. In the major oppida there were regular streets, suggesting some form of central organization. Castros vary in area from less than an hectare to some 50 hectare ones, and most were abandoned after the Roman conquest of the territory.

Many castros were already established during the Atlantic Bronze Age period, pre-dating Hallstatt culture.

Many of the megaliths from the Bronze Age such as menhirs and dolmens, which are frequently located near the castros, also pre-date the Celts in Portugal, Asturias and Galicia as well as in Atlantic France, Britain and Ireland. These megaliths were probably reused in syncretic rituals by the Celtic Druids.

The Celtiberian people occupied an inland region in central northern Spain, straddling the upper valleys of the Ebro, Douro and Tajo. They built hillforts, fortified hilltop towns and oppida, including Numantia.

Archaeological sites:

• Citânia de Sanfins, Paços de Ferreira, Portugal
• Citânia de Briteiros, Portugal
• Castro de Ovil, Portugal
• Castro Laboreiro, Portugal
• Castro Verde, Alentejo, Portugal

By region:

• List of castros in Asturias
• List of castros in Galicia
• List of castros in Cantabria
• List of castros in Basque Country
• List of castros in Ávila

Scandinavia and Russia[link]

Hill fort in Halikko, Finland

In Scandinavia and northern Russia, hill forts are fortifications from the Iron Age which may have had several functions. They are usually located on the crests of hills and mountains making use of precipices and marshes which worked as natural defences. The crests' more accessible parts were defended with walls of stone and outer walls in the slopes beneath are common. Round and closed, so called, ring forts are common even on flat ground. The walls often have remaining parts of stone, which were probably the support of pales. They often have well delineated gateways, the gates of which were probably of wood. Hill forts with strong walls are often located beside old trade route and have an offensive character, whereas others are reclusive and were weakly fortified, probably only for hiding during raids.

Many forts, located centrally in densely populated areas, were permanently settled strongholds and can show traces of settlements both inside and outside. Older place names containing the element sten/stein were usually hill forts.

In Sweden, there are 1100 known hill forts with a strong concentration on the northern west coast and in eastern Svealand. In Södermanland there are 300, in Uppland 150, Östergötland 130, and 90 to 100 in each of Bohuslän and Gotland.

Examples include:

• Runsa, Sweden
• Torsburgen, Sweden
• Ismantorp, Sweden
• Tingstäde Träsk, Sweden
• Lyubsha
• Alaborg
• Gnezdovo
• Old Castle of Lieto

See also[link]

• Prehistoric warfare
• Promontory fort

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Alcock, Leslie (1972), By South Cadbury, is that Camelot? Excavations at Cadbury Castle 1966–70, London: Thames and Hudson, ISBN 0-8128-1505-X 
• Avery, Michael (October 1986), "'Stoning and Fire' at Hillfort Entrances of Southern Britain", World Archaeology 18 (2): 216–230, JSTOR 124616 
• Ayán Vila, Xurxo (2008), "A Round Iron Age: The Circular House in the Hillforts of the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula" (PDF), e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies (UW-Milwaukee Center for Celtic Studies) 6: 903–1,003, ISSN 1540-4889, http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_19/ayan_6_19.pdf 
• Barrett, John (2000), Cadbury Castle, Somerset: The later prehistoric and early historic archaeology, London: English Heritage, ISBN 1-85074-716-4 
• Collis, John (2003) [1984], The European Iron Age (electronic ed.), Taylor & Francis e-Library, ISBN 0-203-44211-3 
• Cunliffe, Barry (2000), The Danebury Environs Programme: The Prehistory of a Wessex Landscape, Oxford: English Heritage and Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, ISBN 0-947816-48-8 
• Cunliffe, Barry (2007), "Understanding hillforts: have we progressed?", in Payne, Andrew; Corney, Mark; Cunliffe, Barry, The Wessex Hillforts Project: Extensive Survey of Hillfort Interiors in Central Southern England, English Heritage, pp. 151–162, ISBN 978-1-873592-85-4, http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.10744 
• McIntosh, Jane (2009) [2006], Handbook of Life in Prehistoric Europe (paperback ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-538476-5 
• Oswald, Alastair; Ainsworth, Stewart; Pearson, Trevor (2008), "Iron Age Hillforts in their Landscape Contexts: a Fresh Look at the Field Evidence in the Northumberland Cheviots", Archaeologia Aeliana, fifth 36: 1–45 
• Raftery, Barry (1972), "Irish Hill-forts" (PDF), Council for British Archaeology Research Report No 9: 37–58, http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/cbaresrep/pdf/009/00904001.pdf 
• Raftery, Barry (1994), Pagan Celtic Ireland:the enigma of the Irish Iron age, London: Thames and Hudson, ISBN 978-0-500-05072-9 
• Sharples, Niall M (1991), English Heritage Book of Maiden Castle, London: B. T. Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-6083-0 
• Tabor, Richard (2008), Cadbury Castle: The hillfort and landscapes, Stroud: The History Press, ISBN 978-0-7524-4715-5 

Further reading[link]

• Cunliffe, Barry (1997), The Ancient Celts, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-025422-6 
• Hill, David; Jesson, Margaret (eds) (1971), The Iron Age and its hill-forts: papers presented to Sir Mortimer Wheeler on the occasion of his eightieth year, at a conference held by the Southampton University Archaeological Society, 5th–7th March, 1971, Southampton University Archaeological Society 
• Ralston, Ian (2006), Celtic Fortifications, Tempus, ISBN 0-7524-2500-5 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hill forts

• The Hillforts Study Group

v t e Fortifications Since ancient times Abatis Castra Circular rampart City gate Crannóg Ditch Defensive wall Gatehouse Grad Hill fort Palisade Refuge castle Stockade Sudis Trou de loup Vallum Wagon fort Since Middle Ages Arrowslit Barbican Bartizan Bastion Bent entrance Bergfried Caltrop Castle Concentric castle Cheval de frise Citadel Curtain wall Drawbridge Enceinte Embrasure Fortified tower Gate tower Gabion Glacis Guard tower Gulyay-gorod Hoarding Keep Kremlin (Detinets) L-plan castle Machicolation Moat Motte-and-bailey Murder-hole Neck ditch Peel tower Portcullis Reduit Shield wall Toll castle Tower house Turret Wall tower Ward (Bailey) Watchtower Yett Since Early modern period Bastion Blockhouse Breastwork Canal Caponier Casemate Cavalier Crownwork Coupure Hornwork Lunette Ostrog Outwork Polygonal fort Punji sticks Ravelin Redoubt Sandbag Scarp Station Star fort Tenaille Since 19th century Barbed wire Barbette Border outpost Bunker Coastal artillery Gun turret Land battery Land mine Outpost Trench warfare Sangar Wire obstacles Since 20th century Admiralty scaffolding Barbed tape Concertina wire Defensive fighting position Spider hole British "hedgehog" road block Czech hedgehog Dragon's teeth Electric fence Flak tower Hesco bastion Jersey barrier Main Line of Resistance Sentry gun Fortifications by topography Bridge castle Cave castle Hill castle Hill fort Hillside castle Hilltop castle Island castle Lowland castle Marsh castle Ridge castle Rocca Rock castle Spur castle

Krak des Chevaliers is one of the best-preserved Crusader castles.^[1]

Bourtange star fort, restored to 1750 situation, Groningen (province), Netherlands.

The well preserved Bulgarian medieval fort Baba Vida.

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin fortis ("strong") and facere ("to make").

Nomenclature[link]

Many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may class as fortresses; smaller ones formerly often bore the name of fortalices. The word fortification can also refer to the practice of improving an area's defence with defensive works. City walls are fortifications but not necessarily called fortresses.

The art of setting out a military camp or constructing a fortification traditionally classifies as castramentation, since the time of the Roman legions. The art/science of laying siege to a fortification and of destroying it has the popular name of siegecraft or 'siege warfare' and the formal name of poliorcetics. In some texts this latter term also applies to the art of building a fortification.

Fortification is usually divided into two branches, namely permanent fortification and field fortification. Permanent fortifications are erected at leisure, with all the resources that a state can supply of constructive and mechanical skill, and are built of enduring materials. Field fortifications, for example breastworks, are extemporized by troops in the field, perhaps assisted by such local labour and tools as may be procurable and with materials that do not require much preparation, such as earth, brushwood and light timber, or sandbags (see sangar).

There is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. This is employed when in the course of a campaign it becomes desirable to protect some locality with the best imitation of permanent defences that can be made in a short time, ample resources and skilled civilian labour being available.

Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the generic fort or fortress in that it describes a residence of a monarch or noble and commands a specific defensive territory.

History[link]

Ancient[link]

From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for many cities. Uruk in ancient Sumer (Mesopotamia) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities. The Ancient Egyptians also built fortresses on the frontiers of the Nile Valley to protect against invaders from its neighbouring territories. Many of the fortifications of the ancient world were built with mud brick, leaving many no more than mounds of dirt for today's archaeologists.

A model of the prehistoric town of Los Millares 3000 BC Spain, with its walls.

Artists impression of the battlements at Buhen fortress in Egypt about 1800BC

The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples and defensive walls.^[2]

Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified. By about 3500 B.C., hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. The stone and mud brick houses of Kot Diji were clustered behind massive stone flood dykes and defensive walls, for neighbouring communities bickered constantly about the control of prime agricultural land.^[3] Mundigak (c. 2500 B.C.) in present day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks.^[4]

Model of Ishtar Gate and part of the walls of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar

Babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of the building program of Nebuchadnezzar, who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate.

Exceptions were few—notably, ancient Sparta and ancient Rome did not have walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defence instead. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar.

The Lion Gate at Mycenae Greece 1600 BC

In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). In classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus.

heuneburg a Celtic fort in Germany 600 BC, with mudbrick walls

In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements known as oppida, whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continuously being expanded and improved. Around 600 BC, in Heuneburg, Germany, forts were constructed with a limestone foundation supported by a mudbrick wall approximately 4 meters tall, probably topped by a roofed walkway, thus reaching a total height of 6 meters. The wall was clad with lime plaster, regularly renewed. Towers protruded outwards from the wall.^[5]

The Great Wall of China.

Large tempered earth (i.e. rammed earth) walls were built in ancient China since the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BC), as the capital at ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States (481-221 BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

In terms of China's longest and most impressive fortification, the Great Wall had been built since the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodelling of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example. Likewise, the famous walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor.

The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. The most famous of these are the largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln.

Hadrian's Wall was built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England following a visit by Roman Emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD 122.

Medieval[link]

Genoese fortress in Sudak, Ukraine

Ávila city walls, Spain

Roman forts and hill forts were the main antecedents of castles in Europe, which emerged in the 9th century in the Carolingian Empire.

Rumelihisarı, İstanbul, Turkey

The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches. From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards.

Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork: the world’s largest brick gothic castle, in Poland

The fortified city of Valença, Portugal as seen from across the Minho River (Portugal's northern border with Spain)

Table of Fortification, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia.

Austro-Hungarian Fort 31 Benedykt of Kraków fortress

Austro-Hungarian Fort I "Salis Soglio" of Przemyśl fortress

Ranikot Fort in Sindh, one of the largest forts in the world.

The founding of urban centres was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in eastern Europe, were founded precisely for this purpose during the period of Eastern Colonisation. These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continuously improved to reflect the current level of military development.

During the Renaissance era, the Venetians raised great walls around cities threatened by the Ottoman empire. The finest examples are, among others, in Nicosia (Cyprus) and Chania (Crete), and they still stand, to this day.

Early modern[link]

Medieval-style fortifications were largely made obsolete by the arrival of cannons on the 14th century battlefield. Fortifications in the age of blackpowder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb and disperse the energy of cannon fire. Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes.

This placed a heavy emphasis on the geometry of the fortification to allow defensive cannonry interlocking fields of fire to cover all approaches to the lower and thus more vulnerable walls.

The evolution of this new style of fortification can be seen in transitional forts such as Sarzanello^[6] in North West Italy which was built between 1492 and 1502. Sarzanello consists of both crenellated walls with towers typical of the medieval period but also has a ravelin like angular gun platform screening one of the curtain walls which is protected from flanking fire from the towers of the main part of the fort. Another example are the fortifications of Rhodes which were frozen at 1522 so that Rhodes is the only European walled town that still shows the transition between the classical medieval fortification and the modern ones.^[7]

Fortifications also extended in depth, with protected batteries for defensive cannonry, to allow them to engage attacking cannon to keep them at a distance and prevent them bearing directly on the vulnerable walls.

The result was star shaped fortifications with tier upon tier of hornworks and bastions, of which Bourtange illustrated to the right is an excellent example. There are also extensive fortifications from this era in the Nordic states and in Britain, the fortifications of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the harbour archipelago of Suomenlinna at Helsinki being fine examples.

19th century[link]

The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification. Star forts of the cannon era did not fare well against the effects of high explosive and the intricate arrangements of bastions, flanking batteries and the carefully constructed lines of fire for the defending cannon could be rapidly disrupted by explosive shells.

Worse, the large open ditches surrounding forts of this type were an integral part of the defensive scheme, as was the covered way at the edge of the counter scarp. The ditch was extremely vulnerable to bombardment with explosive shells.

In response, military engineers evolved the polygonal style of fortification. The ditch became deep and vertically sided, cut directly into the native rock or soil, laid out as a series of straight lines creating the central fortified area that gives this style of fortification its name.

Wide enough to be an impassable barrier for attacking troops, but narrow enough to be a difficult target for enemy shellfire, the ditch was swept by fire from defensive blockhouses set in the ditch as well as firing positions cut into the outer face of the ditch itself.

The profile of the fort became very low indeed, surrounded outside the ditch by a gently sloping open area so as to eliminate possible cover for enemy forces, while the fort itself provided a minimal target for enemy fire. The entrypoint became a sunken gatehouse in the inner face of the ditch, reached by a curving ramp that gave access to the gate via a rolling bridge that could be withdrawn into the gatehouse.

Traditional fortification however continued to be applied by European armies engaged in warfare in colonies established in Africa against lightly armed attackers from amongst the indigenous population. A relatively small number of defenders in a fort impervious to iron-age weaponry could hold out against high odds, the only constraint being the supply of ammunition.

Much of the fort moved underground, with deep passages and tunnels to connect the blockhouses and firing points in the ditch to the fort proper, with magazines and machine rooms deep under the surface.

The guns however, were often mounted in open emplacements and protected only by a parapet - both in order to keep a lower profile and also because experience with guns in closed casemates had seen them put out of action by rubble as their own casemates were collapsed around them.

20th and 21st centuries[link]

Steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in modern warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Only underground bunkers are still able to provide some protection in modern wars. Many historical fortifications were demolished during the modern age, but a considerable number survive as popular tourist destinations and prominent local landmarks today.

Dragon's teeth—tank traps in the Eifel

The downfall of permanent fortifications had two causes:

• The ever escalating power, speed, and reach of artillery and air power meant that almost any target that could be located could be destroyed, if sufficient force were massed against it. As such, the more resources a defender devoted to reinforcing a fortification, the more combat power that fortification justified being devoted to destroying it, if the fortification's destruction was demanded by an attacker's strategy. From World War II, bunker busters were used against fortifications. By 1950, nuclear weapons were capable of destroying entire cities, and produced dangerous radiation. This led to the creation of civilian nuclear air raid shelters.
• The second weakness of permanent fortification was its very permanency. Because of this it was often easier to go around a fortification and, with the rise of mobile warfare in the beginning of World War II, this became a viable offensive choice. When a defensive line was too extensive to be entirely bypassed, massive offensive might could be massed against one part of the line allowing a breakthrough, after which the rest of the line could be bypassed. Such was the fate of the many defensive lines built before and during World War II, such as the Siegfried Line, the Stalin Line and the Atlantic Wall. Note that this was not the case of the Maginot Line, designed to force the Germans to pass through Belgium and that has fully achieved its political and strategic role^[8].

Bunkers in Albania^[9]

Instead field fortification rose to dominate defensive action. Unlike the trench warfare which dominated World War I, these defences were more temporary in nature. This was an advantage because since it was less extensive it formed a less obvious target for enemy force to be directed against.

If sufficient power were massed against one point to penetrate it, the forces based there could be withdrawn and the line could be re-established relatively quickly. Instead of a supposedly impenetrable defensive line, such fortifications emphasized defence in depth, so that as defenders were forced to pull back or were overrun, the lines of defenders behind them could take over the defence.

Because the mobile offensives practised by both sides usually focused on avoiding the strongest points of a defensive line, these defences were usually relatively thin and spread along the length of a line. The defence was usually not equally strong throughout however.

The strength of the defensive line in an area varied according to how rapidly an attacking force could progress in the terrain that was being defended—both the terrain the defensive line was built on and the ground behind it that an attacker might hope to break out into. This was both for reasons of the strategic value of the ground, and its defensive value.

This was possible because while offensive tactics were focused on mobility, so were defensive tactics. The dug in defences consisted primarily of infantry and antitank guns. Defending tanks and tank destroyers would be concentrated in mobile "Fire Brigades" behind the defensive line. If a major offensive was launched against a point in the line, mobile reinforcements would be sent to reinforce that part of the line that was in danger of failing.

Thus the defensive line could be relatively thin because the bulk of the fighting power of the defenders was not concentrated in the line itself but rather in the mobile reserves. A notable exception to this rule was seen in the defensive lines at the Battle of Kursk during World War II, where German forces deliberately attacked into the strongest part of the Soviet defences seeking to crush them utterly.

The terrain that was being defended was of primary importance because open terrain that tanks could move over quickly made possible rapid advances into the defenders' rear areas that were very dangerous to the defenders. Thus such terrain had to be defended at all cost.

In addition, since in theory the defensive line only had to hold out long enough for mobile reserves to reinforce it, terrain that did not permit rapid advance could be held more weakly because the enemy's advance into it would be slower, giving the defenders more time to reinforce that point in the line. For example, the battle of the Hurtgen Forest in Germany during the closing stages of World War II is an excellent example of how impassable terrain could be used to the defenders' advantage.

After World War II, ICBMs capable of reaching much of the way around the world were developed, and so speed became an essential characteristic of the strongest militaries and defenses. Missile silos were developed, so missiles could be fired from the middle of a country and hit cities and targets in another country, and airplanes (and air carriers) became major defenses and offensive weapons (leading to an expansion of the use of airports and airstrips as fortifications). Mobile defenses could be had underwater, too, in the form of nuclear submarines capable of firing missiles. Some bunkers in the mid to late 20th century came to be buried deep inside mountains and prominent rocks, such as Gibraltar and Cheyenne Mountain. On the ground itself, minefields have been used as hidden defences in modern warfare, often remaining long after the wars that have produced them have ended.

Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, providing a buffer between potentially hostile militaries.

Forts[link]

Engineers fill Hesco bastions at a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

Forts in modern usage often refer to space set aside by governments for a permanent military facility; these often do not have any actual fortifications, and can have specializations (military barracks, administration, medical facilities, or intelligence). In the United States usage, forts specifically refer to Army fortifications; Marine Corps fortifications are referred to as camps.^{[citation needed]}

However there are some modern fortifications that are referred to as forts. These are typically small semi permanent fortifications. In urban combat they are built by upgrading existing structures such as houses or public buildings. In field warfare they are often log, sandbag or gabion type construction.

Such forts are typically only used in low level conflict, e.g., counterinsurgency conflicts or very low level conventional conflicts, e.g., the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation saw the use of log forts for use by forward platoons and companies. The reason for this is that static above ground forts can not survive modern direct or indirect fire weapons larger than mortars, RPGs and small arms.

North America[link]

Fort Snelling on the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, 1844. Image painted by John Caspar Wild (1804-1846).

In British North America, and subsequently in the frontiers of the United States, prior to the 20th century the term fort was increasingly used for any military base of operations regardless of how fortified it was. Military forts in the American Old West during the Indian Wars were often lightly fortified enclosures with log or adobe walls. In many areas the term fort was used to refer to any European or U.S. outpost, military, para-military, or civilian, that was located in an undeveloped region. Many of these outposts were simply trading posts or a combination of a trading post and an Army post.

Some famous U.S. military forts included Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger on the Emigrant Trail and Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River.

Prisons and others[link]

Fortifications designed to keep the inhabitants of a facility in rather than out can also be found, in prisons, concentration camps, and other such facilities, with supermaxes having some of the strongest of those. Those are covered in other articles, as most prisons and concentration camps are not primarily military forts (although forts, camps, and garrison towns have been used as prisons and/or concentration camps; see Theresienstadt, Guantanamo Bay, and the Tower of London for examples).

See also[link]

Captain John Smith's 1624 map of Bermuda, showing important sites, including the Castle Islands Fortifications.

The Kumbhalgarh Fort in Rajasthan, India. For more than 3 centuries, the Fort remained impregnable.

Klis Fortress in Croatia, built into the south face of a rocky mass. Lost and re-conquered several times over more than two thousand years.

• Border fence
• Castra
• Citadel
• Coastal fortification
• Defensive wall
• Hesco bastion
• List of fortifications
• List of forts
• Military camp

Fort components

• Abatis
• Banquette
• Barbed wire, Razor wire, Wire entanglement, and Wire obstacle
• Bartizan
• Bastion
• Berm
• Caponier
• Casemate
• Curtain
• Czech hedgehog
• Defensive fighting position (aka a "foxhole")
• Ditch
• Embrasure
• Glacis
• Gun turret
• Keep
• Palisade
• Parapet
• Pillbox
• Postern
• Ravelin
• Revetment
• Sandbag
• Scarp and Counterscarp
• Turret

Types of forts and fortification

• Bastion fortress
• Blanket fort
• Blockhouse
• Bunker
• Castle
• City wall
• Chinese city wall
• Compound
• Diaolou
• Fire support base
• Flak tower
• Grad, a Slavic wooden fortified settlement
• Hill fort
• Land battery
• Martello tower
• Medieval fortification
• Missile silo
• Pā a 19th-century Māori fortification
• Peel tower
• Polygonal fort
• Promontory fort
• Redoubt
• Stockade
• Star fort

Fortification and siege warfare

• Military engineer
• Military history
• Medieval warfare
• Siege
• Siege engine

Famous experts

• Henri Alexis Brialmont
• César Cui
• Diades of Pella
• Mozi
• James of St. George
• Bernard de Gomme
• Fritz Todt
• Menno van Coehoorn
• Vauban

Gallery[link]

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fortification

Look up fortification in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Fortress Study Group
• Militaryarchitecture.com
• Study of Fortifications in Slovenia
• Fortifications in Slovenia

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill performing at Bonnaroo in 2006
Background information
Also known as	DVX (Devasting Vocal Excellence)
Origin	South Gate, California, United States
Genres	Hip hop, rap rock, alternative hip hop, west coast hip hop
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Ruffhouse, Columbia, Sony Music, Priority, EMI
Associated acts	Soul Assassins, Tom Morello, Everlast, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Slash, House of Pain, Xzibit, Funkdoobiest, Adil Omar, Young De, Travis Barker, Psycho Realm, La Coka Nostra, Rusko, Rage Against the Machine, Fergie, La Coka Nostra
Website	CypressHill.com
Members
B-Real DJ Muggs Sen Dog Eric Bobo
Past members
Mellow Man Ace

Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. Cypress Hill was the first Cuban-American/Latino hip hop group to have platinum and multi-platinum albums, selling over 18 million albums worldwide. It is one of the most well-known groups in West Coast rap and was critically acclaimed for their first two groundbreaking albums.^[1]

History[link]

Formation (1988)[link]

Senen Reyes (also known as Sen Dog) and Ulpiano Sergio Reyes (also known as Mellow Man Ace) are brothers who initially lived in South Gate, California. In 1971, their family had immigrated to the United States, settling in the Los Angeles neighborhood of South Gate. In 1988, the two brothers teamed up with Lawrence Muggerud (also known as DJ Muggs) and Louis Freese (also known as B-Real) to form a hip-hop group named DVX (Devastating Vocal Excellence). The band soon lost Mellow Man Ace to a solo career, and changed their name to Cypress Hill, after a street in South Gate.^[2]

Early works and mainstream success (1989–1995)[link]

After recording a demo in 1989, Cypress Hill signed a record deal with the major label, Columbia Records. Their self-titled first album was released in August 1991. The lead single was the double A-side "The Phuncky Feel One"/"How I Could Just Kill a Man" which received heavy airplay on urban and college radio. The other two singles released from the album were "Hand on the Pump" and "Latin Lingo", the latter of which combined English and Spanish lyrics. The success of these singles led to the album selling two million copies in the US alone. The group made their first appearance at Lollapalooza on the side stage in 1992.

Black Sunday, the group's second album, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. Also, with their debut still in the charts, they became the first rap group to have 2 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. With "Insane in the Brain" becoming a crossover hit, the album went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold about 3.25 million copies.

The band headlined the Soul Assassins tour with House of Pain and Funkdoobiest as support, then performed on a college tour with Rage Against the Machine and Seven Year Bitch. In 1993, Cypress Hill also had two tracks on the Judgment Night soundtrack, teaming up with Pearl Jam on the track "Real Thing" and Sonic Youth on "I Love You Mary Jane".

The group later played at Woodstock 94, introducing new member Eric Bobo, son of Willie Bobo and formerly a percussionist with the Beastie Boys. Rolling Stone magazine named the group as the best rap group in their music awards voted by critics and readers. Cypress Hill played at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. They also appeared on the "Homerpalooza" episode of The Simpsons. Prior to Bobo joining the crew, Panchito "Ponch" Gomez sat in as a percussionist when not acting.

Their third album III: Temples of Boom was released in 1995, selling 1.5 million copies and reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the hit single "Throw Your Set in the Air".^{[citation needed]} Cypress Hill also contributed a track "I Wanna Get High" to the High Times sponsored Hempilation album to support NORML.

Continued career (1996–2002)[link]

Sen Dog took a break from the band to form a Los Angeles based rap rock band SX-10.^[3] Meanwhile in 1996, Cypress Hill appeared on the first 'Smokin' Grooves' tour, featuring Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Quest. The band also released a nine track EP Unreleased and Revamped with rare mixes. In 1997, band members focused on their solo careers. Muggs released Soul Assassins: Chapter 1 featuring contributions from Dr. Dre, KRS-One, Wyclef Jean and Mobb Deep. B-Real appeared with Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man on "Hit Em High" from the multi-platinum Space Jam Soundtrack. He also appeared with RBX, Nas and KRS-One on "East Coast Killer, West Coast Killer" off Dr. Dre's Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath album, and contributed to an album entitled The Psycho Realm with the band of the same name. Though the focus that year was not on group efforts, the band played Smokin' Grooves with George Clinton and Erykah Badu.

Cypress Hill released IV in 1998 which went gold in the U.S., on the backs of hit singles "Tequila Sunrise" and "Dr. Greenthumb." Sen Dog also released the Get Wood sampler as part of SX-10 on the label Flip. In 1999, Cypress Hill helped with the PC crime video game Kingpin: Life of Crime. Three of their songs from the 1998 IV album were in the game ( "16 Men Till There's No Men Left", "Checkmate" and "Lightning Strikes"). B-Real also did some of the voices of the people in the game. Also in 1999, the band released a greatest-hits album in Spanish, Los grandes éxitos en español. In 2000, Cypress Hill then fused genres with their fifth album, Skull & Bones, which was a two-disc album. The first disc, "Skull" was composed of rap tracks while "Bones" explored further the group's forays into rock. The album reached the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 in Canada. The first single was "Rock Superstar" for rock radio and "Rap Superstar" for urban radio. Following the release of the album, Cypress Hill (along with MxPx) landed a slot opening for The Offspring on the Conspiracy of One tour. The band also released Live at the Fillmore, a concert disc recorded at the Fillmore (in San Francisco) in 2000. Cypress Hill continued their experimentation with rock on the Stoned Raiders album in 2001. However, its sales were a disappointment, as the disc did not even reach the top 50 of the U.S. album charts. In 2001, the group appeared in the film How High.

[edit] Till Death Do Us Part (2003–2007)

Cypress Hill recorded "Just Another Victim" for WWE as a theme song for Tazz. At the time, WWE was using original music for almost all of the wrestlers, so this was an unusual step for the company to take, but it remains one of the more memorable songs to emerge from the wrestling organization. The band released Till Death Do Us Part on March 23, 2004. The album saw the band experiment with reggae especially on the lead single "What's Your Number". The track features Tim Armstrong of Rancid on guitar and backup vocals. It is based on the classic song "The Guns of Brixton" on The Clash's London Calling and has proven to be a success on the modern rock charts. However, the album represented a further departure from the signature sound of their first four albums. The album also features appearances by Damian Marley, son of Bob Marley, Prodigy of Mobb Deep and producers the Alchemist and Fredwreck.

In 2004, the song How I Could Just Kill A Man was included in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas created by Rockstar Games, playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos. In December 2005 a best of compilation album titled Greatest Hits From the Bong was released including 9 hits from previous albums and 2 new tracks. The group's next album was tentatively scheduled for an early 2007 release. In the summer of 2006, B-Real appeared on Snoop Dogg's single "Vato", which was produced by Pharrell Williams.

In 2007 Cypress Hill toured with their full line up as a part of the Rock the Bells tour, held by Guerilla Union, and headlined with Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Other acts included Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, EPMD, Pharoahe Monch, Jedi Mind Tricks, Erykah Badu, MF Doom, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, The Coup, Blue Print, Lucky I Am, Living Legends, Felt, Cage, Mr. Lif, Grouch & Eligh, Slightly Stoopid, and Hangar 18.

[edit] Departure from Sony and Rise Up (2008–present)

On July 25, 2008, Cypress Hill performed at a benefit concert at the House of Blues Chicago, where a majority of the proceeds went to the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.^[4]

In August 2009, a new song by Cypress Hill, titled "Get 'Em Up", was made available on iTunes. The song is featured on the Madden NFL 2010 video game.^[5]

In November 2009, a new version of Guns N' Roses classic "Paradise City" performed by Cypress Hill, Slash and Fergie was made available as a bonus track to Slash's single "Sahara" off Slash's solo album Slash.

Cypress Hill's eighth studio album, Rise Up, features contributions from Everlast, Tom Morello, Daron Malakian, Pitbull, Marc Anthony and Mike Shinoda.^[6] The album was released on Priority Records/EMI Entertainment, as the group was signed to the label by new Creative Chairman Snoop Dogg on January 15, 2010. The album was finally released on April 20, 2010.^[7] The album's introduction single, "It Ain't Nothin'" was released as a free download from the group's official website. The song "Rise Up" was featured at WWE's pay-per-view, Elimination Chamber, as the official theme song for that event, and was released as the third single for the album, with "Armada Latina" being fourth. The song also appeared in the trailer of the movie The Green Hornet.

Cypress Hill commenced its Rise Up tour in Philadelphia on April 10, 2010. Julio G had replaced DJ Muggs for the tour. Muggs had been absent due to working on several other projects, including separate albums with B-Real and Sen Dog. The group was supposed to stop in Tucson, Arizona but canceled the show in protest of the recent immigration legislation. At the Rock en Seine festival in Paris on August 27, 2010 they said in an interview that they would wait and see what happens with the legislation before going back there.^[8] Cypress Hill performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in late August 2010, on the 28th at Leeds and the 29th at Reading.

In summer 2012, Cypress Hill and Dubstep artist Rusko will be releasing a collaborative EP entitled 'Cypress X Rusko'.

Style[link]

Rapping[link]

One of the band's most striking aspects is B-Real's exaggeratedly high-pitched nasal vocals.^[2] In the book Check the Technique B-Real describes his nasal style, saying his rapping voice is "high and annoying... the nasal style I have was just something that I developed... my more natural style wasn't so pleasing to [DJ Muggs and Sen Dog's] ears"^[9] and talking about the nasal style in the book How to Rap, B-Real says, "you want to stand out from the others and just be distinct... when you got something that can separate you from everybody else, you gotta use it to your advantage."^[1] Sen Dog's voice is deeper, more violent and often shouted alongside the rapping; his vocals are often emphasized by adding an additional background/choir voice to say them. Sen Dog's style is in contrast to B-Real's, who says, "[Sen's] voice is so strong", and "it all blends together" when they are both on the same track.^[9]

Both B-Real and Sen Dog started writing lyrics in both Spanish and English and B-Real was inspired to start writing raps from watching Sen Dog and Mellow Man Ace writing their lyrics,^[9] and originally B-Real was going to just be the writer for the group rather than a rapper.^[9] Their lyrics are noted for bringing a "cartoonish" approach to violence by Peter Shapiro and Allmusic.^[2][10]

Production[link]

The sound and groove of their music, produced by Muggs, is notable for its spooky sounds and stoned aesthetic; with its bass-heavy rhythms and odd sample loops ("Insane in the Brain" is notable for having a pitched-altered horse neigh looped in its chorus), it carries a psychedelic value, which lessened in the later albums.^[2][10]

The band is also known for involving rock instruments. In their songs – this has caused the band to sometimes be classified as a rap rock group.^[2] The double album Skull & Bones consists of a pure rap album ("Skull") and an entire CD of rap/rock songs ("Bones"). Also in IV, there is "Lightning Strikes" which doesn't truly use electric guitars, but a synthesized version of it. In the live album Live at The Fillmore some of the old classics are played in a rock/metal version, with Sen Dog's band SX-10 and Eric Bobo playing the rock instrument.

The band's music is constantly subject to change: while the first album and Black Sunday follow a more minimalistic and funky sound, III (Temples of Boom) has a very dark, spooky atmosphere and heavy beats, sometimes approaching hardcore rap. IV introduced more diverse sounds on the beats while maintaining the hardcore edge. The first albums are mostly influenced by psychedelic music, but the band eventually got closer to modern rap as it is today while still experimenting with rock from time to time, like on "Skull and Bones" and "Stoned Raiders".

The band involves horns in their songs, and often have guitar and horns together in the instrumentals. "What's Your Number?", "Trouble", "Tequila Sunrise", and "(Rock) Superstar" have become some of the band's most popular songs featuring these elements.

Side and solo projects[link]

Eric Bobo is part of the group Sol Invicto with producer Richie Londres and Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones. Eric Bobo is also a main member of Cultura Londres Proyecto which is a Spanish Hip Hop group from London, England. In 2008, he released his first solo album "Meeting Of The Minds" on Nacional Records. In 2011, he joined up with Chilean DJ Latin Bitman to form the group Ritmo Machine & in November 2011 they released the album "Welcome To The Ritmo Machine" on Nacional Records with special guests Sick Jacken (Psycho Realm), Ana Tijoux, Sen-Dog, Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys), P-Nut (311), Pato Machete & Chali 2na (Jurassic 5).

2009 saw the releases of both B-Real and Sen Dog's solo efforts Smoke N Mirrors and Diary of a Mad Dog. B-Real is also part of a super-group called Serial Killaz with both Xzibit and his protege Young De. B-Real started his own production company called Audio Hustlaz, with which he has worked and featured on tracks with Kurupt, Young De, Xzibit, Adil Omar, Snoop Dogg, Bitza and others, and has also done guest appearances for La Coka Nostra, Ill Bill, Prozak, Akrobatik, The Outlawz, Nipsey Hussle and Apathy.

Other notable side projects include B-Real's rap metal group Kush with members from Deftones and Fear Factory who are as yet to release any official material.

Sen Dog has released one album with his rap metal group SX-10.

Muggs has released collaborative albums with Sick Jacken, GZA, Planet Asia, Ill Bill and others.

Discography[link]

• Cypress Hill (1991)
• Black Sunday (1993)
• Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom (1995)
• Unreleased and Revamped (1996)
• Cypress Hill IV (1998)
• Skull & Bones (2000)
• Stoned Raiders (2001)
• Till Death Do Us Part (2004)
• Rise Up (2010)

Awards and Nominations[link]

Grammy Awards

MTV Video Music Awards Awards

Band Members[link]

Current Members

• B-Real – lead rapping (since 1988)
• DJ Muggs – turntables, production (since 1988)
• Eric Bobo – drums, percussion (since 1993)
• Sen Dog – rapping (since 1988)

Former Members

• Mellow Man Ace - rapping (1988)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Cypress Hill interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' April 2010
• Cypress Hill interview, August 2010, Radio France Internationale
• Cypress Hill on Velvet Hammer Site
• Cypress Hill at Legacy Recordings (Sony Music)
• Eric Bobo video interview

Young De
Background information
Birth name	Demrick Shelton
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genres	Hip-Hop R&B
Occupations	Rapper
Instruments	Rapping
Labels	Audio Hustlaz Entertainment
Associated acts	B-Real, Kurupt, Xzibit, DJ Skee, Soul Assassins, Cashis, The Dogg Pound, Mitchy Slick, Damizza, Apathy, Ras Kass, Adil Omar, Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill, Crooked I, Bitza , Sen Dog, thekeenone
Website	Official Myspace

Demrick Shelton, better known by his stage name Young De, is a rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, currently residing in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his collaborations with high profile artists such as Xzibit, Kurupt, Snoop Dogg, Too $hort and B-Real of Cypress Hill. He is also recognized as a protege of Kurupt and B-Real.

Career[link]

The beginning of his career started in 2005 when Kurupt met the group 'Tangled Thoughts' which consisted of Young De, Casanova 'Cas' and Tekneek 'Tek' and took them to California. They released their debut album in 2007, titled 'From Philly 2 Cali' witch feat Kurupt, Roscoe, Reyes Bros and more. After the succes of their album they released 2 mixtapes titled 'T.H.O.' and 'Every Hood's Tha Same'. Young De released his debut mixtape titled Audio Hustlaz Vol. 1 which B-Real contributed to as a producer, co-executive Producer (with Damizza) and was heavily featured on several tracks. It was presented by DJ Skee and hosted by Kurupt. Besides the Audio Hustlaz Vol. 1 mixtape, Young De also released the Homeland Security mixtape in collaboration with Shady/Interscope artist Ca$his. Homeland Security was hosted by DJ Whoo Kid and released by Eminem's Shady Records and featured collaborations with B-Real, Royce Da 5'9 and Crooked I among others. A video was shot & directed by Matt Alonzo for the single "In God's Hands" featuring Mitchy Slick and produced by then 19 year old producer "Los" (Baby Ree productions), He is also featured on B-Real's 2009 album, Smoke N Mirrors, performing on 5 of the 15 songs.

Young De has also performed alongside Ice Cube, Tha Dogg Pound, Too $hort, DJ Muggs, E-40 and Xzibit on the Westcoast Tour in March 2009. In April he toured alongside Xzibit on the first part of the Euro vs. Dollar Tour. In August/September, he joined B-Real for the promotional tour of his Smoke N Mirrors album release, only to return to Europe in December 2009 for the second part of the Euro vs. Dollar Tour, headlining Xzibit.

In late 2009, Young De along with Xzibit and B-Real formed a super group called Serial Killaz. The first single, "Body Bags", was released by the end of 2009. The trio's album is to be released in 2011.^{[dated info]} Apart from his work with the previously listed, he has also collaborated with Cypress Hill, Snowgoons, Kid Frost, Krayzie Bone, Ill Bill, Adil Omar, Apathy, Mitchy Slick, Freeway, Sen Dog, Deen, Bitza and others.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Discography[link]