Stradonice, Celtic hillfort near Peruc, Czech Republic.
Stradonice is a hillfort on a spur above the Débeřský stream, a few hundred metres east of the village of Stradonice in the Louny district, at about 280 m. It covers 6.75 hectares and is enclosed on the north and east by a 520 m rampart with a ditch and a gate at its western end.
The hillfort was built between 550 and 450 BCE in the late Hallstatt period and lasted into the early La Tène. Ludvík Šnajdr first explored it in 1891; Zdeněk Smrž led excavations in 1975 and 1977–1978. Finds include fragments of Greek pottery and bronze vessels imported from Massalia.
The site's name is recorded in several field names: Na Šancích, Na Valech, Na Hradbách, Zadní Valy and Petrova Louka. The rampart is still visible in the terrain, and since 2009 the Stradonka lookout tower stands on it. A yellow hiking trail from Stradonice or Chrastín leads to the fort.
Access is via the yellow hiking trail from Stradonice or from Chrastín. The rampart survives as a 520-metre arc on the north and east sides, with the gate at the western end of the northern rampart; the ditch in front of the eastern rampart was filled in during 1977. The Stradonka lookout tower of 2009 stands on the rampart.
The northern ditch was edged on its inner side by an opuka stone wall, with the ground in front raised — the earliest prehistoric example of a glacis, a sloped defence otherwise known from Baroque fortresses of the 17th to 19th centuries. The ditch was 4.5 m wide and about 2 m deep.
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