Theme:
1. Artefacts, Buildings & Ecofacts
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Fortifications and Defensive Behaviour in Socio-Historical and Contemporary Contexts: Beyond Socio-Political Complexity and Eurocentrism
Content:
Material remains referred to as fortifications, hillforts, or enclosures have traditionally been associated with stratification, centralisation, and/or the rise of elites competing over power and prestige. In this context, fortified sites represent costly signaling and material manifestations of violent conflicts between people. The emergence of fortifications in small-scale societies has particularly been discussed in connection with resource abundance and the need to protect surpluses, leading to the emergence of territorial ownership and institutionalised social inequality.
However, archaeological and anthropological research, especially outside of Europe, draws a different picture: communities that construct fortifications instead draw upon this de-escalation strategy to defy centralisation and successfully prevent violent conflicts. These principles of autonomy and coordination manifest materially in different forms, including the construction of fortifications, which can be found in societies of various political structures and subsistence strategies. Enclosed sites thus embody particular socio-historical events, negotiations, as well as peaceful and violent interactions between people.
This observation raises the question of how defensive behaviour is connected to social hierarchy in non-western societies, including those in the past. Do socio-political complexity and monumental investments in community defence go hand in hand? Or can the construction of defences be coordinated at various levels of socio-political organisation? Can they actually represent conciliation rather than conflict?
Approaches from disciplines other than archaeology, including written sources, can help to shed light on human social organisation and coordinated defensive action. Of special interest is the potential interdependence of socio-political organisation, landscape modification, and the construction of place in past and living societies. Papers exploring the roles and functions of defensive architecture beyond archaeological sources are especially welcome. The session aims to capture a cross-geographical comparative historic approach to discussing the social implications of fortification construction on a global scale.
Keywords:
fortifications, defensive behaviour, socio-political complexity, de-escalation strategies, social organisation, written sources
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Tanja Schreiber (Germany) 1
Co-organisers:
Albert Garcia-Piquer (Spain) 2
Sebastian Messal (Germany) 3
Vytenis Podėnas (Lithuania) 4
Anna-Theres Andersen (Germany) 5
Affiliations:
1. Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University
2. Department of Prehistory, Autonomous University of Barcelona
3. Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage
4. Lithuanian Institute of History, Department of Archaeology
5. ROOTS of Conflict, Kiel University
THIS SESSION CAN NOT BE SELECTED AT THIS MOMENT