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I have to say, the pictures on that article and others online aren’t particularly convincing. I wonder if you could pull this off in the modern world. It would

I have to say, the pictures on that article and others online aren’t particularly convincing. I wonder if you could pull this off in the modern world. It would be amazing to see sheer walls of granite, completely fused together as one solid mass.

jacquesm 3y ago
It's not completely fused together, more like loose aggregate held together by fused bits. It appears to be very brittle rather than stronger than the original wall.
- arethuza 3y ago
  Places like the Tap o' Noth look like the the ruins of any mysterious hill top fortress that we have quite a lot of in Scotland - its only when you look closer do you realise that the rubble is actually all stuck together by melted rock. The fort (or inner bastion as there was a large outer settlement) is 100m by 30m and the walls roughly 5m by 8m - which is a lot of rock!
madaxe_again 3y ago
You can. We just had a wildfire here and in a few spots, where the rocks formed a natural chimney filled with flammable material, the rocks have vitrified and deformed. You just need intense heat for a prolonged period - if they could do it with mounds of gorse, it can still be done.
fbdab103 3y ago
This also seems like significantly more work than using mud as mortar. Just providing fuel for the fires to sustain this heat feels like it would be too costly to make this a routine procedure. >The expert consensus explains vitrified forts as the product of deliberate destruction either following the capture of the site by an enemy force or by the occupants at the end of its active life as an act of ritual closure.[6] The process has no chronological significance and is found during both Iron Age and early medieval forts in Scotland.
- soligern 3y ago
  It seems almost impossible to get and keep a wall at 1000 C for several hours using primitive technology. The only way I can imagine is building a clay/mud oven around the entire wall and then having people pump massive bellows for an entire day.

jacquesm 3y ago

It's not completely fused together, more like loose aggregate held together by fused bits. It appears to be very brittle rather than stronger than the original wall.

arethuza 3y ago
Places like the Tap o' Noth look like the the ruins of any mysterious hill top fortress that we have quite a lot of in Scotland - its only when you look closer do you realise that the rubble is actually all stuck together by melted rock. The fort (or inner bastion as there was a large outer settlement) is 100m by 30m and the walls roughly 5m by 8m - which is a lot of rock!

madaxe_again 3y ago

You can. We just had a wildfire here and in a few spots, where the rocks formed a natural chimney filled with flammable material, the rocks have vitrified and deformed. You just need intense heat for a prolonged period - if they could do it with mounds of gorse, it can still be done.

fbdab103 3y ago

This also seems like significantly more work than using mud as mortar. Just providing fuel for the fires to sustain this heat feels like it would be too costly to make this a routine procedure. >The expert consensus explains vitrified forts as the product of deliberate destruction either following the capture of the site by an enemy force or by the occupants at the end of its active life as an act of ritual closure.[6] The process has no chronological significance and is found during both Iron Age and early medieval forts in Scotland.

soligern 3y ago
It seems almost impossible to get and keep a wall at 1000 C for several hours using primitive technology. The only way I can imagine is building a clay/mud oven around the entire wall and then having people pump massive bellows for an entire day.