Hillfort Research Articles

Shabran Ancient Settlement: Architecture and Historical Significance of Azerbaijan

The article delves into the historical significance of modern Azerbaijan, particularly in terms of civilization formation. The author highlights the importance of architectural artifacts, fortified cities, and fortresses within the Shabran district. Special attention is given to defensive structures like the Shabran Hill Fort, which dates back to early Middle Ages. The article analyzes historical and archaeological data concerning the city emergence and development, outlines the military-strategic and economic significance of the territory alongside its water supply and trade features.Purpose: Study and analysis of archaeological, historical and architectural properties of the Shabran settlement as well as its role in the Azerbaijan history.Research findings: The author examines the city transition from a regional hub of crafts and trade into a small village, followed by its eventual destruction due to recurrent raids. Research identifies the influence of Sassanid Iranian architecture on the initial Shabran development, studies the history, and discoveries is link with the city. Particular focus on the architectural characteristics and construction of fortresses and castles unearthed after archaeological excavations.Value: The significance of research is in comprehending the historical and cultural context of urban development in Azerbaijan.

Archaeological LiDAR in Mediterranean Karst Landscapes. A Multiproxy Dating Method for Archaeological Landscape and a Case Study From Prehistoric Kras Plateau (Slovenia)

ABSTRACTThe case study area is a small but typical prehistoric landscape in the Kras Plateau on the north coast of the central Mediterranean. The Late Bronze and Iron Age Kras Plateau was an emblematic Mediterranean archaeological landscape dotted with numerous hillforts. Since the mid‐20th century, the landscape had been overgrown with some of the most archaeology‐hostile vegetation, severely impeding landscape archaeology until archaeological LiDAR revealed thousands of archaeological features that attest to a carefully constructed and managed agro‐pastoral landscape. However, these discoveries were hampered by insecure chronology typical of any LiDAR guided analysis. This case study meticulously documented two prehistoric hillforts and a previously unknown agro‐pastoral landscape with hundreds of archaeological features. The focus of the article, however, was on establishing a more precise and objective dating method. We proposed a multiproxy method to date the archaeological landscape. It combines relative dating using remote sensing data and historical maps; dating based on historical context; relative stratigraphic dating; indirect dating based on associated archaeological finds; and dating by association. Particularly, we focused on the association‐based dating of archaeological features. We proposed a method based on the concept of taskscapes that relies on kernel density estimation. Using these methods, we objectively demonstrated that agro‐pastoral landscape features documented with archaeological LiDAR were contemporaneous with Late Bronze Age and Iron Age hillforts and have no connection to the post‐medieval landscape. The latter has important methodological implications for the prehistoric archaeology of Mediterranean karst landscapes, where backdating post‐Medieval landscapes is a common practise.

Conserving Continuously Evolving Cultural Landscapes of Vernacular Settlements: Insights from the Village Nirmand, Himachal Pradesh, India

Hill settlements have emerged and evolved respecting the given condition of Nature. The elements of the settlement pattern reflect the tenets responding to the socio-cultural-geographical context. The scientific and technological adaptations, innovations, and creations address culture-specific physical and psychological needs. The historical hill settlement of village Nirmand in Himachal Pradesh, India exhibits components of its origin and evolution. The settlement pattern, neighbourhood clusters, and house forms of the village are filled with religious significance, sensitivity towards local materials, technology, climateresponsive solutions, and architectural details. The living indigenous settlements have sustained and evolved over many years. However, with rapid urbanisation and changes in living patterns, the settlement is losing its value. The paper investigates ways to retain the authenticity and integrity associated with indigenous living hill settlements against the changing dynamics. This research employs the empirical research method. Before the field visit, secondary data collection was conducted to establish historical background. The fieldwork has been conducted periodically to understand patterns of change in the settlement. The research method involves an ethnographic approach to decipher the socio-cultural attributes of the community. During the field visit, the documentation of architectural components, mapping of neighbourhoods, community interaction, stakeholders' consultation, and visual documentation were conducted. The collected data has been analysed further to synthesise findings. Findings indicate that the patterns of change have accelerated due to urbanisation. The expansion of the settlement away from its centre, and the increase in the use of modern materials and construction techniques are threatening the authenticity of the settlement. The research concludes that the dynamics of issues both, natural and man-made are threatening the values associated with the settlement. Unless urgent actions with sensitivity toward Nature, culture, and community are undertaken, the settlement might lose its integrity.

Chronology and Strategic Significance of the Hilltop Fortress, Umm Tawabin in Jordan: Some Conclusions from the 2015-2018 Survey and Excavations by the Ghor As-Safi Project

ABSTRACT Umm Tawabin (‘Mother of Bread Ovens’ in Arabic) is a large fortress overlooking the Wadi ‘Arabah and southern Dead Sea in Jordan. From the time of its discovery by a Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) expedition in the late 19th century, Umm Tawabin had not been excavated, nor published extensively in spite of its strategically elevated location with panoramic views on all sides, its monumental fortification and numerous and varied archaeological remains until the Ghor as-Safi Project survey (Ariotti 2017) and excavations (Ariotti 2022; 2021; Politis and Ariotti 2020). The goal of this investigation was to determine the extent, function (or multiple functions) and dating of the site, along with the subsistence practices and diet of its inhabitants based on its topographical, architectural and excavated material culture, botanical and faunal remains (Ariotti 2021, Edwell 2023, Hansen and Heinrich, in press). This paper presents an overview of the chronological development and strategic importance of Umm Tawabin from the Hellenistic to Roman periods in view of its stratigraphic evidence, radiocarbon dates and pottery. It also presents some fragmentary remains dated to the Iron Age II.

A comparative approach to GIS modelling of terrestrial mobility in archaeological sites. The iron age hillfort of Villasviejas del Tamuja as a study case

The archaeological analysis of Historical mobility is an increasingly studied topic thanks to new geographic information technologies. This paper proposes a modelling exercise of the spatial behaviour of a Second Iron Age community in the Middle Tagus Valley: the hillfort of Villasviejas del Tamuja (Botija, Cáceres). Based on our knowledge of the configuration of the site and the surrounding settlements, we propose a heuristic use of a series of GIS tools to understand how the spatial relationship between both elements was structured. More specifically, we compare the results obtained with different calculation methods that combine two essential variables to address this issue: mobility and visibility relations. On the one hand, we evaluate the results with the application of an already developed methodology: the MADO analysis. On the other hand, we present a complementary procedure for the calculation of Least Cost Paths (LCP), considering the visibility as a key element in the mobility. The methodology uses the same data, in a paradigmatic case study for comparing results. The differences obtained through the use of different tools are thus evaluated in order to weigh up the additional or complementary knowledge that they can provide us with to investigate archaeological research questions such as the defensive architecture of the hillfort or the distribution of other nearby settlements.

Metallographic study of non-ferrous metal products from the Maray 1 site of the Baitovo Cul-ture in the Lower Ishim River region

The article examines non-ferrous metal products from the Baitovo Culture materials of the Early Iron Age hillfort of Marai 1. This settlement is located in the forest-steppe of the Ishim River region of Western Siberia. The upper building hori-zon marks the settlement of the Baitovo Culture dating to the 4th–2nd centuries BC. Metallographic analysis of 28 items was carried out using the Axio Observer D1m microscope (Zeiss). As a result, eight technological schemes characteristic for the metalworking activities of the Baitovo population have been identified. The study shows that prevailing were smithing tech-nologies in different temperature regimes for the production of non-ferrous metal objects (16 specimens, 57.2 %). The pref-erence was given to hot forging in the red-heat regime at 600–800°C (7 specimens, 25 %), cold forging with annealing (5 specimens, 17.8 %), as well as incomplete hot forging at 300–500°C (3 specimens, 10.7 %). Casting without further refine-ment was recorded in the microstructures of arrowheads, ingots and splashes (9 specimens, 14.2 %). Casting, followed by a slight degree of deformation (20–30 %), was noted in three cases. This scheme correlates with the metalworking traditions of the Itkul and Krasnoozerskaya Cultures, and it was dominant on the territory of the Tobol-Ishim region during the Early Iron Age. Such a low percentage of items related to it could be explained by the absence in Marai 1 of large items cast in moulds needing further refinement (knives, celts, etc.). A microstructural study confirmed the use of pure oxidized copper by the craftsmen of the Baitovo Culture, with characteristic inclusions of Cu–Cu2O eutectic, associated with the Ural production centres. Arrowheads and an ingot made of pure oxidized copper were probably a direct import from the territory of the Itkul Culture. Low-alloy tin and arsenic bronzes, coming from the metal production centres of Kazakhstan and Altai, were also used to the same extent for production of some tools and jewellery. The correlation between the type of product, composition of raw materials and technology of its manufacture has been revealed, which is most clearly manifested in arrowheads and awls. The use of high temperatures and significant degrees of compression (80–90 %) has been recorded in a number of cases, resulting in the appearance of rejects. Cracks of hot brittleness, as well as of cold brittleness, occurred in the process of technological cycle, carried out with an excess of the tensile strength of the metal.

Provenance studies on ancient mud mortars, plasters, and floor soils of India’s Raigad hill fort

Understanding the building materials and construction practices employed is an inevitable component of forensic studies on ancient structures. In Particular, knowing the origins of the raw materials used in manufacturing native building materials is vital for preparing new materials that are compatible with ancient materials for their restoration. The present work focused on establishing the provenance of raw materials used in the construction of the Raigad hill fort, dated between the 12th and 17th centuries. This study particularly carries significance due to the fact that the fort is located at a height of 800m above sea level with no lime source on the hilltop. It is believed the builders of Raigad hill fort predominantly used local soils in the creation of mud plasters and mud mortars. However, validation of this supposition is necessary prior to the selection of raw materials for preparing the building material for the retrofitting works. Hence, the present study investigates the mud plasters, mud mortars, and floor soils of the fort, along with soil samples collected from Ganga Sagar Pond on the hilltop. The physical and compositional analytical characterization techniques such as sieving (for Particle size analysis), Elemental analyzer (for CHNS determination), XRD (for mineralogical characterization), FTIR, SEM-EDS, and TGA/DTA (for thermal analysis) were performed on the collected mud plaster, mud mortar and soil samples. Based on the physical–chemical-mineralogical data, it is revealed that the local pond soil was sourced for the preparation of mud plaster and mortar, and its properties were modified by adding basaltic aggregates and organic additives to the extent of 13–17%.

Huge amounts of iron raw material from the Early Iron Age settlement of Dédestapolcsány-Verebce (N-Hungary) – a preliminary archaeometallurgical study

The team of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences of the Eötvös Loránd University has been investigating the Early Iron Age hillfort at Dédestapolcsány-Verebce-bérc (Northeast Hungary) since 2020. The settlement was destroyed by siege in the late 7th century BC, as evidenced by hundreds of early Scythian bronze arrowheads and burnt buildings. Based on the recovered metal and pottery findings the settlement dated to the Early Iron Age in the Carpathian Basin (end of the 7th century – beginning of the 6th century BC). The quantity of the Early and Middle Iron Age iron and bronze artefacts and pieces of iron raw material on the site is exceptionally high. More than 30 depots were unearthed which include pieces of iron raw material. In the whole territory, the number of these finds is more than 600. The average weight of the pieces was 1.54 kg. A few selected objects were sampled and subjected to archaeometric analysis (OM and SEM-EDS). The main aim of the examinations carried out by the experts of the Archaeometallurgical Research Group of the University of Miskolc (ARGUM) was the material characterisation of the samples to figure out what kind of processing has been applied and reveal how the iron raw materials can be connected in any way to the other iron objects found at the site. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the iron pieces are compacted with a slightly heterogeneous structure. Each one is a part of a single bloom, not several pieces of different blooms assembled together. Numerous pores and cavities were observed in the microstructure of the samples. Their basic character is similar, although, they differ from each other, mainly in terms of carbon content and degree of forming. These pieces are not typical semi-finished products; they can be identified somewhere halfway between primary bloom and compacted bar.

Magnetometry Studies of Belinskoye Settlement on the Kerch Peninsula

For the first time, the results of magnetometry studies on the territory of the Belinskoye archaeological heritage site (AHS) located on the Kerch Peninsula are published in the article. This monument, which included a hill fort and necropolis, intermittently existed from the turn of I–II to the beginning of the X century. Excavations 1996-2023 studied about 5.5 thousand m2, which is no more than 3% of its approximate area. Magnetic exploration carried out at the facility during 2007–2015 made it possible to study almost 90% of the territory of the settlement and at least 1/3 of the necropolis. Thus, among all the archaeological sites of Taurika, AHS Belinskoye is the most studied. Despite the hypothetical nature of the information received, it can be concluded that in early Byzantine times the object was a fortified settlement with urban neighborhoods divided by a grid of streets. At the Khazar time, the eastern part of the settlement was occupied by manor development with the use of its northern and central parts for economic purposes.

Possible stellar asterisms carved on a protohistoric stone

AbstractChisel marks on a stone uncovered in Rupinpiccolo protohistoric hill fort from north‐eastern Italy were suggested to be a representation of the night sky (Bernardini et al. 2022 Documenta Praehistorica XLIX). The patterns of the 29 marks are analyzed here to establish if they reproduce popular stellar asterisms. Nine marks are found to match the Tail of Scorpius and five the Orion's Belt, together with Rigel and Betelgeuse. Nine marks are found in the approximate position of the Pleiades showing some match with the cluster members. On the back side, 5 marks possibly reproduce Cassiopeia. One mark slightly North of Orion cannot be identified. The 28 marks show a Pearson correlation coefficient (28) with stellar positions higher than 0.99 with a probability of a wrong correlation lower than 0.001. Departures are about one degree, or about 7 mm, as the mean diameter of the marks, which suggests a manufacturing limitation in the charting. The fort dates 1800–400 BCE when Scorpius and Orion showed about the same orientation at the heliacal rising. The unidentified mark challenges the whole picture. We suggest it could have been the progenitor of a failed supernova, thus offering also the possibility of a verification.

Comparative Analysis of Traditional and Contemporary Architecture in Context to Sustainable Characteristics and its Construction Techniques: A Case of Kumaon Region

Abstract: This research focuses on the study of traditional architecture of Kumaon, and how it has changed over the period of time. Kumaon region in Uttarakhand shows great examples of traditional architecture which has proven to be the best earthresistant structures. The concept of science and earthquake-resistant structures were beyond the thought process of the people of that time. These traditional structures were cost effective, energy-efficient, provide thermal comfort for the longer period of day. The buildings of that time were locally constructed by the skilled person of the community using conventional materials like stone, mud, timber slates etc. With rapid urbanization, the need for rapid development has increased, transportation has improved, and the need for high rise structures has encouraged the use of modern materials such as concrete. However, society continues to demand better services, faster and easier construction to meet the needs of residents, resulting in serious damage to the fragile environment in and around settlements. To minimize the environmental impact of damage caused by modern technology, the use of indigenous practices needs to be revived. This research comprises of the comparison of traditional architectural style “Koti banal” which is rarely being used in many northern parts of Uttarakhand and current construction technique which is affecting the natural terrain of Kumaon resulting in natural calamities like landslide, soil erosion etc. The vernacular practices and patterns followed in conventional hill settlements have splendid capability to emerge as the premise for brand new improvement and system of suitable constructing policies for hill settlements.

Ancient river fishing utensils in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula: the Miño river basin between the 4th century BC and the 4th century AD

This paper presents a brief overview of fishing in Galicia during Antiquity on the basis of fishing equipment—in particular hooks and weights—recovered from several sites of indigenous origin (castros or hill forts) and newly-established Roman settlements around the basin of the Miño river. Although the topic has often passed unnoticed by archaeological research and suffers from a distinct lack of literature to guide future efforts, the more or less recent publication of papers dealing with this topic in depth has facilitated the study of the Galician record, which is supported by literary and iconographic sources as well as ethnographic documents. The latter have proved relevant in this context, as the world of fishing tends to hold on to traditions. The author sets out to establish a correlation between the remains of fishing implements found and the possible fishing gear they would have been attached to.

THE OLDEST TRANSPORT ARTERY OF SCYTHIA (Lower Hypanis — middle course of Borysthenes Track)

The article examines the connection between the archaeological sites of the pre-Scythian and Scythian times and the key watersheds of Right Bank Ukraine, as routes of potential overland communications that used to move goods in ancient times. One of the impetuses for turning to this topic was the discovery of four archaic amphorae (one whole from Klazomenai, others from Lesbos) at the recently discovered Khotynets hillfort in Poland, which is located in the extreme west of the country of the Early Iron Age hillforts of southern Eastern Europe. These finds of amphora containers in the area of Vyshnia and San valleys convincingly testify that trade caravans could reach this distant region from the Black Sea coast using only the land route. For its time, land communications were optimal, as they provided relatively reliable movement with a heavy load, along a path practically devoid of sharp descents and ascents.
 Key attention in the article is given to one of the most ancient routes that connected the northern coast of the Black Sea with settlement structures in the Middle Dnieper region. The extreme points in this transport system were pre-Scythian hillforts — Dykii Sad located at the confluence of the Ingul and Southern Bug rivers and its potential northern partner Subotivske in the Tiasmin basin. During the Scythian rule in the Black Sea steppes, this route continued to be actively used. However, over time, the final trade terminals changed, and the route of trade caravans remained. Merchants from Olbia and the harbors of the northern coast of the Black Sea used the eastern edge of the Southern Bug basin as a reliable route to the fortified settlement structures of the forest-steppe Right Bank, among them Matronynske and the Trakhtemyrivske hillforts.
 Given the shallow depths near the coast of Olbia, the authors consider the harbour of the little-explored ancient hillfort of Hlyboka Prystan as a likely place for unloading sea vessels with a deep draft. From this harbour opened a convenient way to the hillforts of the Forest Steppe, just using the oldest transport artery of Scythia.

Investigations of an Early Iron Age Siege

As part of a new research project, the team of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences of the Eötvös Loránd University has been investigating the Early Iron Age hillfort at Dédestapolcsány-Verebce-bérc since 2020. Based on the results of previous fieldwalk sessions and metal detector surveys, we conducted excavations in 2022 to investigate the effects of the Iron Age siege on the settlement. We unearthed the remains of two buildings, one of which was apparently damaged by fire. A metal detector survey was also carried out simultaneously with the excavations, yielding a Late Bronze Age and several Middle Iron Age depots comprising bronze and iron artefacts.

Fragments of Water in a Himalayan Town

Narrativizing water conditions in hill settlements only through the optic of water scarcity hides more than it reveals. This piece has employed fragment as a trope to understand and read the different modes through which water intertwines with the quotidian, policy, and governance framework in Kalimpong, India. Here fragment has acted as a critique of a whole; whole as sameness, ubiquity, and undifferentiated spatiality. The first one looks into the question of water governance as unconventional, nonrepresentative, and partisan. The second one looks at citizens’ absence of effective claim making as one of the markers of the water question. The third fragment intrigues the distributive aspect of water that can never be essentialized into a coherent and immediately comprehensible form. The last fragment reads the different shades of water in a community at the city fringe that entangles historical relocation, parastatal powers, and intracommunity differences. Based on ethnographic and archival engagement, we explore studying a differentiated waterscape in place of looking at the town through the singular optic of water paucity. The study recommends coproduction as the sustainable recourse to the water problem in Kalimpong, albeit with caution.

Micro- and Nanoscale Surface Analysis of Late Iron Age Glass from Broborg, a Vitrified Swedish Hillfort

AbstractArchaeological glasses with prolonged exposure to biogeochemical processes in the environment can be used to understand glass alteration, which is important for the safe disposal of vitrified nuclear waste. Samples of mafic and felsic glasses with different chemistries, formed from melting amphibolitic and granitoid rocks, were obtained from Broborg, a Swedish Iron Age hillfort. Glasses were excavated from the top of the hillfort wall and from the wall interior. A detailed microscopic, spectroscopic, and diffraction study of surficial textures and chemistries were conducted on these glasses. Felsic glass chemistry was uniform, with a smooth surface showing limited chemical alteration (<150 nm), irrespective of the position in the wall. Mafic glass was heterogeneous, with pyroxene, spinel, feldspar, and quartz crystals in the glassy matrix. Mafic glass surfaces in contact with topsoil were rougher than those within the wall and had carbon-rich material consistent with microbial colonization. Limited evidence for chemical or physical alteration of mafic glass was found; the thin melt film that coated all exposed surfaces remained intact, despite exposure to hydraulically unsaturated conditions, topsoil, and associated microbiome for over 1,500 years. This supports the assumption that aluminosilicate nuclear waste glasses will have a high chemical durability in near-surface disposal facilities.

‘Period property in sought-after area’: 2,500 years of Digging and building at St George’s Hill

In 2011, on a peri-urban plot in Surrey in the UK, a then newly built house, Ravenridge, was put on sale for £14,750,000. Above the house, whose architecture was described by the Mail on Sunday as ‘an unthreatening kind of bloated Georgian’, and inaccessible to outsiders since the gating of St. George's Hill on which it stands, hulk the eroded ramparts of an Iron Age hillfort. Ravenridge also happens to occupy part of the likely site of the first ‘Digger’ community established in 1649 by a group of local men and women led by Gerard Winstanley and William Everard on what was then the common land of Walton-on-Thames. Co-present on the Hill, three ostensibly unlike dwelling types — the visible yet inaccessible gated mansion, the ruined and hidden hillfort, and the only guessed-at squatter's hut — ‘stand’, spatially united, but uncoupled in time. The temporal slippage of this gated landscape of architectural co-presence — between the ruin and the commons, and between the Iron Age and the ‘age of surveillance’ — offers an opportunity for and provides a reflection of an elusive yet critical notion of architectural ‘commons’. A commons which, at its heart, is nothing less than a manifestation of spatial justice.

Population Trends of Bogomolje Parish (Island of Hvar, Croatia) According to Registers from 1855-1894

This paper presents historical-demographic movement and population development of Bogomolje parish on the island of Hvar, according to the registers of births/christenings and deaths from 1855 to 1894. Bogomolje, a hill settlement on the eastern side of the island of Hvar, was mentioned as early as in the 15th century, but it was intensively populated during the period of the Ottoman conquests when it was colonised by population who had fled from the mainland of the Adriatic coast, mostly from the coastal area of Makarska. An analysis of natural movement data has served in this paper as an indicator of birth and mortality rates, natural increase and migration balance, based on which the migration wave that had affected Bogomolje parish at the end of the 19th century was presented.

Late Iron Age coins of the Đurđevac (Gjurgjevac) tradition from Kuzelin (southwestern Pannonia)

The Late Iron Age hillfort site of Kuzelin on Medvednica in south-western Pannonia has yielded a not negligible number of coins, most of which can be classified among the types that are traditionally labelled “Tauriscan”. A single coin can be categorized as an East Celtic type from Transdanubia, while two further coins were struck by pairs of dies that also occur in the Samobor–Okić hoard and were thus produced simultaneously with the bulk of the hoard, whereas the remainder can be classified as recently recognized group of coins produced in the Đurđevac (Gjurgjevac) tradition. The latter represent the debased and reduced in weight and size coins inspired by the tetradrachms deposited as the Đurđevac hoard. They were issued at various sites in south-western Pannonia, testifying to different phases of striking and local developments in their production. Two subtypes of such coins were recognized in the numismatic record of Kuzelin and are here separated out as Kuzelin A and B types. The date of these coins corresponds to the archaeological material excavated at the site, i.e., to the Lt D1 period, ca. 150/130−70/50 BC.

Хронология памятников X в. на территории Окско-Донского водораздела

The article deals with the problems of chronology of the 10th century sites, located between the Oka and Don rivers. Analysis of the topography of the settlements and the range of finds from them allows them to be divided into three periods — early, middle and late. In the first half of the 10th century there are still sites from the early period that appeared in the 9th century. They are associated with the Upper Oka section of the Don trade route. These sites are located on the banks of its main thoroughfares. Their ceramic complex consists of ceramics of the Romensky type, and a small percentage of circular pottery of the Saltovsky and Volintsev types. The early settlements cease to exist as a result of military invasion. This event is archaeologically documented at the Suprut hill fort. After that, the settlements of the middle period appear. This process is linked to the termination of the Upper Oka section of the Don trade route. The sites of the middle period are situated at a distance from the major waterways of the region. Their complexes contain items of Northern European and Old Russian origin. The ceramic complex consists of stucco ceramics of the Romensky type and a small percentage of wheel-thrown pottery vessels. The sites of the middle period exist throughout the second half of the 10th century. The late stage settlements appear at the end of the 10th century. They retain a topography similar to that of the middle period settlements. Their ceramic complex contains a large percentage of Old Russian pottery. Life at the late stage settlements continues into the 11th century.