Defensive Settlements Research Articles

A Bibliometric Review of Chinese Traditional Defensive Settlement Heritage

Unlike residential settlements, Chinese traditional defensive settlements (CTDS) are fortress-shaped settlements built by forefathers to resist invasion and defend their homeland. What remains of these settlements today are not only unique defensive entities but also defensive spatial layouts and architectural techniques that reflect military defense strategies and spatial patterns of ancient Chinese society, resulting in a distinct cultural heritage. Using CiteSpace as a research tool and CNKI as a core database, this paper conducts a visual analysis and review of the research related to CTDS, aiming to accurately and intuitively elaborate on the literature distribution characteristics, collaborative characteristics, key issues, research trends, and research hotspots. We found that research on CTDS focuses on three key issues: the composition system and defense mode of northern defensive settlements, the architectural style and cultural characteristics of southern defensive dwellings, and the settlements’ heritage conservation and development planning; and research trends can be divided into three phases. We also propose five future research recommendations. This study helps to fill the gap in the bibliometric review of Chinese traditional defensive settlements, serves as a reference for future priority research directions, and provides a manual for heritage conservation and sustainable development of this special type of settlement.

토성의 등장과 축성기술의 형성

This paper examines the emergence of ancient earthen fortifications and the construction techniques that laid their foundations, under the premise that the appearance of ancient fortresses coincides with the formation of fortress construction techniques. Ancient fortresses first appeared as defensive structures characterized by walls and later evolved into significant political and administrative symbols for states. Among these, earthen fortifications, as suggested by the character ‘城’, represent an early form of such defensive walls, indicating a long-standing history. Literature records show that these fortifications existed prior to the Three Kingdoms period. Archaeological investigations of Bronze Age ditch enclosures indicate that the soil excavated from creating these enclosures was used to build earthen walls, which gradually developed into the defensive settlements known as earthen fortifications. In terms of the formation of construction techniques, the ability to build earthen fortifications likely did not emerge suddenly during the Three Kingdoms period. Constructing walls with soil requires appropriate techniques, specifically the technique of compaction, which means ‘to firmly pack soil.’ This compaction technique stemmed from accumulated civil engineering experiences since the Neolithic period and laid the groundwork for building earthen fortifications and other earthen structures. Recent findings of compaction marks in domestic earthen fortifications reveal that this technology had matured by the Three Kingdoms period. Therefore, it can be concluded that the practice of compacting soil began as early as the Neolithic period, evolving through the earthen walls of Bronze Age ditch enclosures into the form of fortifications. However, there remains a gap between the earthen walls of the Bronze Age and the construction of Three Kingdoms period fortifications. Future archaeological research is expected to further elucidate the emergence of these fortifications and the early techniques used in their construction.

Panowie i niewolnicy – gospodarka okresu halsztackiego

During the Hallstatt period in Central Europe, profound cultural, economic, and social changes occurred. This is due to the emergence of new technologies ‒ primarily iron metallurgy. Another element is the vicinity of the dominant economic system, i.e., the broadly understood Mediterranean civi-lization, especially the Etruscan cities in Italy. These asymmetrical relationships forced social changes in the areas north of the Alps. An important factor was probably the slave trade, which forced violence and armed struggle. This resulted in a progressive militarization, which is visible through the construction of defensive settlements and the strengthening of farms. The consequence was extreme social stratification and the domination of aristocratic elites. Thus, the stability of such a system depended on the relationship with the dominant partner. In a situation of disruption of relationships, a crisis must have arisen, resulting in the collapse of this culture model.

Early medieval island-type lake dwellings in north-western Poland: Western Slavonic crannogs?

In many regions of Europe there are so-called lake-dwellings, which were described in 1890 by Robert Munro, and have a close spatial and functional relation withinland water systems and seas. Settlements of this type are also known from the area of north-western Poland, where the landscape is dominated by lakes. Characteristicamong them are early medieval settlements entirely occupying small islands located within lake basins (Parsęcko, Żółte and Myślibórz in Pomerania – Pomorze; Nowy Dworek, Chycina and Lubniewice in Lubusz Land – ziemia lubuska). In their external appearance, they resemble British crannogs, especially in their size, the anthropogenic structure of the islands, wooden quays, piers and bridge crossings connecting the islands with the nearby mainland. An important feature of the islands where such structures are sited is their characteristic location – directly on the long-distance routes, in the settlement border zone, in the vicinity of the main watersheds of Lubusz Land andPomerania. They were also part of local settlement clusters, which often included contemporary defensive settlements. They were central places, especially important from the point of view of the identity of local territorial communities. Their functions should be considered not only in the social and political dimension, but probably also in the mythical and sacral one.

Prehistoric defensive structures in the Szreniawa valley

This paper presents the results of the non-invasive search for defensive settlements from the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in the Szreniawa valley and in its closest upland area (Proszowice Plateau and the Miechow Upland). This investigation was carried out in 2018 by archaeologists gathered in the “Stater” Association of Field Archaeologists and was funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. During this study geomagnetic tests and surveying were carried out on 18 sites, which were selected on the basis of satellite image analysis. The total investigated area covered 40 hectares. Spatial analysis of the artefacts compared with the course of magnetic anomalies allowed the determination of the chronology of the investigated settlements. The outcome of this project points to the presence of at least 15 well-documented prehistoric defensive settlements of various types found on 10 archaeological sites. The discovered settlements can be attributed to the Lublin-Volhynian, Funnel Beaker-Baden, Trzciniec and Lusatian Cultures.

Coalescence and Defensive Communities: Insights from an Andean Hillfort Town

Defensive and fortified settlements are often places of relatively dense nucleation by people with few viable alternatives, resulting in the imperative need to establish consensual rules for living together. What behaviours and attitudes were adopted in defensively nucleated places? Recent investigations at Ayawiri (Machu Llaqta), a densely settled hillfort town of the western Titicaca Basin of Peru inhabited c. ad 1300–1450, shed light on the nature of social life within the defensive community and the workings of social distinction, priority in settlement, conformity and publicity. I draw on the evidence from Ayawiri to discuss how defensive settlements create and reinforce certain ways of living by reformulating the basic logics of sociality and the material and spatial realms through which they work.

The Fortresses of Ukraine. The Builders of Early Iron Age Strongholds in Podolia

Abstract The most challenging question regarding the defensive settlements of the Pontic forest-steppe is the reason behind their construction at all and size. The most frequent interpretations centre around two questions: were they to protect from external threats (i.e. the nomads) or were they the result of a carefully planned construction strategy related to the economic and social pressure from the Greek colonies in the Black Sea region? It is also possible that both explanations are true.

Webs of defense: Structure and meaning of defensive visibility networks in Prehispanic Peru

Although visibility between or within ancient settlement has long been an element of archaeological investigation and imagination, the structure, processes, and consequences of networks of visibility are just beginning to be treated in a formal manner. This paper uses two Andean case-study regions with particularly strong defensive settlement patterns, the Titicaca Basin and the Moche Valley, to build a methodology for modeling, testing, and characterizing networks of inter-visibility and how they intersect with patterns of warfare and the construction of political authority upon landscapes. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software is used to re-construct likely networks of inter-visibility between defensive settlements and Complex Network Analyses (CNA) are used to characterize network structure, particularly through the measures of centralization and cohesion. Both case-studies have significantly high values of cohesion, affirming the importance of visual connectedness in defensive settlement. Unlike the decentralized Titicaca Basin, higher values of centralization observed in the Moche Valley may be attributed to the more centralized Chimú Empire.

Analysis on Derivative Mechanism of Liuzhou Urban Architecture, Qing~Minguo

This paper figures out that during Qing ~Minguo, defensive settlements including Hakka enclosed dwelling and castle-type building were taken as the fundamental units, which plays an important role in Liuzhou urban morphological evolution. Compared with the instances in the different histories, this paper illustrates the derivative processes wherein the defensive type of architecture was gradually geared to the local culture and constructed requirement. According to the comparisons of space patterns, this paper comprehensively analyzed the urban architecture features of Liuzhou. This paper further explores some historical phenomena, taking watchtower as the basic code of typological selection which gained afresh its cultural connotations in different historical periods accordingly. Lastly it generalizes two internal principles on the derivative mechanism of the urban architecure in this period.

Landscape Elements Analysis of Defensive Settlements along Ming Dynasty Great Wall with the Concept of Cultural Landscape

The movement of international cultural heritage protection experienced a history from single natural and cultural protection to the integration of nature and culture, at present, the concept of ''cultural landscape" become the hot topic of the cultural heritage research. Based on the cognition to the concept of "cultural landscape", This thesis analyses characteristics and connotation of the settlement-type cultural landscape, and quotes the concept used in the study of the built environment and its significance from Amos Rapoport. As a result, defensive settlements landscape along Ming dynasty Great Wall is divided into three forms: fixed-feature elements, Semi-fixed-feature elements, and the unfixed-feature elements. At the same time, this thesis elaborates the contents and characteristics of each of these three forms. It will make the value of the conservation of defensive settlements clear, and provides the basic research to the conservation for the future defensive settlements along Ming dynasty Great Wall.

Defensive Settlements of the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean after c. 1200 B. C.: Proceedings of an International Workshop Held at Trinity College Dublin, 7th-9th May, 1999. Vassos Karageorghis and Christine E. Morris.

<i>Defensive Settlements of the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean after c. 1200 B. C.: Proceedings of an International Workshop Held at Trinity College Dublin, 7th-9th May, 1999</i>. Vassos Karageorghis and Christine E. Morris.

Kultura castro oraz procesy celtyzacji i romanizacji na terenie Galicii w Hiszpanii

The Castro Culture occupies the area of northern-western part of Pyrenees (Galicia, the northern part of Portugal). Chronological limits according to the contemporary investigations are said to be from the 6th century В. C. till the end of the 1st century A. D., however some researchers claim that some significant elements of this culture lasted till the end of the 6th century A. D. The name of this culture as the archaeological notions was adopted in the 19th century and was specified by P. Bosch-Gimpera in 1932. Due to the existence of defensive settlements (castra) it was supposed that this culture was of Celtic origin. The eastern Trans-Pyrenees province of Galicians was also mentioned. Whereas, the notions Celtos and Castros were treated as synonyms (Jose Vera у Aguiar). The function of castra was differently interpreted either as tombs, sanctuaries or fortifications built in protection of tracks. Castra were also treated as areas with organized settlement (Murguia). Due to significant archaeological discoveries made in the end of the 19th century some very explicit cultural features of the regions occupied by defensive settlements of castro types are more clearly seen. Two main architectonic forms appearing in castra - i. e. buildings of ovate and orographic projection constructed of cast wall are distinguished. Specific style of decoration of pottery by means of die ornament was also notified. As compared to the rest of Iberian territory the specific jewelery, especially fibulas, torkwes, bracelets and earings were distinguished.

Archeologia osadnicza w zastosowaniu do badań mikroregionu Graña (Galicja, Hiszpania)

In 1986 the team of Workers of the Archaeological Institute of Łódź University together with the Archaeological Institute of University of Santiago de Compostela began the common research studies. The subject of investigations of both Universities is devoted to microregional studies on the development of the settlement. The Castro culture limited to Halstatt, Latenian and Roman periods was chosen as a basis for such studies. The research group is interested in the genesis of this culture as well as its further transformations the Middle Ages. Defensive settlements of different size situated on natural hills are characteristic for this culture. The specific feature of Castro culture, at least in its present state investigations, is its long duration (from the VII century B.C. to the II century A.D. and even as others daim to the VI century A.D.). One of topics of many years programme are excavations of Graña Castro situated in the centre of Galicia, 7 km north of Melide town. The subjekt of studies is the use of methods which will allow the reserchers to learn the stratigraphy and the structure of cultural foliation and natural sediments in order to establish the exact chronology and function of the objekt. Excavations were arranged in one row to obtain initial information about all main ponts of the settlement. During the first research season of Graña the fragments of outer defensive stone wall constructed without mortar were discovered. The fragments coming from its inner structure and probably used as dwelling and subsidiary places were discovered as well. Initially two phases of the existence of the settlement with buildings both of oval and rectangular shape were distinguished. The hearth originally a Stove with stone walls and clay mud floor was very interesting. Fragments of pattery both hand-made and made on the grinding stone, clay whorls, glaze beads, gold ear-rings and stone axe most likely used secondarily constitute the antique material. All material allows us to date the exavated layers from the II century B.C. to the II century A.D. Besides excavations; archival and historiographical studies confirming or excluding relations among settlement structures functioning in the period of Roman occupation, in the Middle Ages and in contemporary times in the area of the discussed microregion were conducted as well. Palinologic investigations were begun in order to reconstruct natural environment and its changes in the time course. The number of castro settlements near Melide town is very high. Their mutual time relation is a problem to be explained. If they were existing at the same time then it is possible to reconstruct the territory of economic exploitation of this region assuming that the economy of this region was of farming character. However, these are so far very little documented assumptions which require to be confirmed by detailed studies on few neighbouring settlement morphologically constructing one microregion.

Climatic Change and its Effect on Prehispanic Agriculture in the Central Peruvian Andes

The effect of climatic change on human and natural populations is most readily discernible in geographic locations where climate is a significant factor in limiting the range of activities. Today, as in the past, severe minimum temperatures at high altitudes limit the range of production of various crops in the Peruvian Andes. Periodic climatic cooling, as evidenced by the deposits from two recent glaciations, lowered the upper elevation limit of maize and significantly reduced the area available for its cultivation in the northern Mantaro River Valley. Paleoethnobotanical data from the same area suggest that during the most recent period of climatic cooling, less maize was produced compared to the warmer time periods that bracket this event. During the cooler phase, climatic constraints on maize production could have exacerbated already existing social tensions, perhaps leading to an increased establishment of more defensive settlements. This study shows how climate can affect human actions. This does not mean that climate dictated the major social and political changes seen in the archaeological record; but including environmental constraints and climatic change in discussions about the past can, given appropriate data, provide a more complete picture of cultural change.

A PREHISTORICO-GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY ON THE ORIGIN, DISTRIBUTIONS AND TERRITORIES OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND DURING THE IRON AGE

The purpose of this article is to clarify the followings: (1) ecological conditions conducive to the genesis of urban communities in Southern England during the Iron Age, (2) spread patterns of such urban settlements in their chrysalis stages, and (3) territories over which such urban settlements controlled. The study results are summarized as follows. The genesis of an urban community can be generally accounted for by the formation of a habitat of non-agricultural groups, being supported by the over-surplus of agricultural products. The enlargement of agricultural produce in England in the above period can be verified by means of pollen analysis administered in the following areas; Hockham Mere (Norfolk), Old Buckenham Mere (Norfolk), Decoy Pool wood (Somersetshire), and Thrang Moss (Lancashire). A supposition could be made out of these findings that forest clearances had been quite vigorously pursued in order to obtain arable land. The fact that defensive settlements called hillforts took urban appearances, can be known from the following archeological findings: in such places as Maiden Castle (Dorsetshire), South Cadbury (Somersetshire) and Heathrow (Middlesex) either a shrine or a temple had been excavated, and using these discoveries we can surmise that these places had been religious centres. It can also be assumed that Hod Hill (Dorsetshire), Chalburry (Dorset shire), and Credenhill Camp (Herefordshire) had a large population. The regularity shown in the distribution of a hillfort whose area covers over 15 acres, leads to the presumption that these hillforts presented themselves as central places in the hexagonal network with a distance of 13 kilometers, when measured from the centre of one cell to the centre of the next one nearest to it. An additional clarification is the fact that Credenhill Camp had a higher ranking than the other central places with its sphere of influences amounting to a circle with a radius of 30 kilometers. Judging from tribal territory and distribution of pottery works, a cultural sphere of influence can be discerned as a circle with a radius of some 30 to 40 kilometers. The territorial scale as recognized in the above-mentioned findings has been maintained in the regional size of iron-aged oppidum (Belgic oppidum) as the central place. Never-theless, the most powerful state Catuvellauni seems to have enjoyed a radius of some 60 kilometers as her sphere of influence. As such, we can surmise that the regional system prevailing then was somewhat akin to the Kolb's Central Place Model. The circular regional system discussed above, had been so recapitulated, even in the civitas under the Roman rule, that we can surmise an existence of some ecological balance that had been sustaining such a regularity. In conclusion, the author should like to thank Drs. K. Fujioka and I. Suizu, Professors at Kyoto University, for their continual assistance. His thanks also go to Dr. A. M. Lambert, of the London School of Economics and Political Science for her generous assistance and cooperation in securing the necessary materials contained in this paper.