Theme:
5. All Roads Lead to Rome: Multiscalar Interactions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Cooperating or Competing? ? The Organisation of Space and Power Using Networks and Systems of Fortifications
Content:
Fortifications are often viewed and studied as individual monuments, while detecting related pairs or clusters is challenging due to the reliance on clear chronological evidence for their contemporaneity. Without it, interpreting neighbouring monuments as parts of cooperative networks or opposing systems is nearly impossible. Recently, the utilization of LIDAR data and other survey methods has uncovered new elements within known hillfort complexes, shedding new light on the size and function of individual monuments.
Sometimes, previously solitary fortifications are revealed to be part of a network, significantly altering older interpretations and possibly reflecting prehistoric socio-political entities and the processes of organizing space and power to control or protect adjacent territories. Furthermore, there is a plethora of analytical computational tools available for embedding fortifications into spatial or relational networks, focusing on accessibility via routes and road systems, visibility ranges, or cultural territories on both micro- and macro-regional levels. This facilitates the identification of entire fortification systems, such as border defence systems, signalling or warning networks with chains of watchtowers and military camps, or other types of defensive barriers on land and in water. All of these insights provide a deeper understanding of sophisticated organizational structures.
This session diachronically focuses on examples and methods of detecting and interpreting networks and systems of fortifications. We aim to discuss the roles individual monuments played within larger frameworks and the impact of their organization on the control of space and power in entire regions. We welcome papers presenting case studies focusing on landscapes with either opposing systems or cooperating networks of fortifications, and how to identify, define, and interpret such agglomerations. Contributions on analytical tools or methodologies for processing data to identify systems and networks are also appreciated.
Keywords:
fortification, network, system, power
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:
Community on Fortification Research (COMFORT)
Main organiser:
Timo Ibsen (Germany) 1,2
Co-organisers:
Sebastian Messal (Germany) 3
Giacomo Fontana (United Kingdom) 4
Affiliations:
1. Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie (ZBSA)
2. Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA)
3. Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage
4. University College London (UK)
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