Before castles were built in Scotland, people built different types of shelters to keep warm and dry. Some shelters were also built to keep people or their things safe from attack.

We call these early buildings fortifications. A fortification is a building, wall or fence used to keep people and places safe from attack.

Look through the slideshow to see different types of fortifications from across Scotland.

Even though these fortifications are very old you can still see evidence or where they were and what they looked like today.

Look through the slideshow. Try comparing the ruins you can see now with what they must have been like hundreds or thousands of years ago.

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