Manuel Fernandez-Gotz

Rethinking Early Iron Age urbanisation in Central Europe: the Heuneburg site and its archaeological environment

The Heuneburg on the Upper Danube has been one of the best-known archaeological sites of Early Iron Age Europe since the first excavations of the 1950s. Fieldwork carried out during recent years, however, has radically changed our accepted understanding of what was clearly a central place of supra-regional importance. In addition to the three-hectare hilltop fortification with its famous mudbrick wall, an outer settlement some 100ha in extent has been discovered. Its investigation has given new insights into the centralisation process that took place from the end of the seventh century BC. Moreover, recent discoveries from the richly furnished burials in the surrounding area offer significant clues to issues of social hierarchy and status transmission within Late Hallstatt communities. The results provide an entirely new picture of the earliest stages of urbanisation north of the Alps.

The Politics of Identity: Late Iron Age Sanctuaries in the Rhineland

Abstract The Late Iron Age in the Rhineland area was a period of intensive social change, manifested in the development of a hierarchical system of sanctuaries. This paper discusses the social implications of this development, thereby emphasizing the role of regional and supraregional cult places as key-sites in the construction of politicized ethnic identities and associated power networks. Moreover, some interesting spatial and temporal patterns can be observed. In the Middle Rhine-Moselle area, the main sanctuaries and assembly places seem to be located in major fortified settlements (oppida) and often seem to have been the oldest elements within these sites. In the Lower Rhine region, there is no link between cult centers and fortified settlements, and at least one of the regional cult sites was situated in a forest.

Urbanization in Iron Age Europe: Trajectories, patterns, and social dynamics

The development of the first urban centers is one of the most fundamental phenomena in the history of temperate Europe. New research demonstrates that the earliest cities developed north of the Alps between the sixth and fifth centuries BC as a consequence of processes of demographic growth, hierarchization, and centralization that have their roots in the immediately preceding period. However, this was an ephemeral urban phenomenon, which was followed by a period of crisis characterized by the abandonment of major centers and the return to more decentralized settlement patterns. A new trend toward urbanization occurred in the third and second centuries BC with the appearance of supra-local sanctuaries, open agglomerations, and finally the fortified oppida. Late Iron Age settlement patterns and urban trajectories were much more complex than traditionally thought and included manifold interrelations between open and fortified sites. Political and religious aspects played a key role in the development of central places, and in many cases the oppida were established on locations that already had a sacred character as places for rituals and assemblies. The Roman conquest largely brought to an end Iron Age urbanization processes, but with heterogeneous results of both abandonment and disruption and also continuity and integration.

Eurasia at the Dawn of History: Urbanization and Social Change

Our current world is characterized by life in cities, the existence of social inequalities, and increasing individualization. When and how did these phenomena arise? What was the social and economic background for the development of hierarchies and the first cities? The authors of this volume analyze the processes of centralization, cultural interaction, and social differentiation that led to the development of the first urban centres and early state formations of ancient Eurasia, from the Atlantic coasts to China. The chronological framework spans a period from the Neolithic to the Late Iron Age, with a special focus on the early first millennium BC. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach structured around the concepts of identity and materiality, this book addresses the appearance of a range of key phenomena that continue to shape our world.

Villages and cities in early EuropeJesús Álvarez-Sanchís, Alfredo Jimeno Martínez & Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero (ed.). Aldeas y ciudades en el primer milenio a.C.: la Meseta Norte y los orígenes del urbanismo (Complutum 22(2)). 316 pages, numerous colour and bw ISSN 1131-6993 paperback € 21.

The question of the origins of ancient urbanism—of the emergence and development of the first cities—has attracted considerable attention both from scholars and the general public, and remains a ‘hot topic’ in archaeological and ancient historical research (see Marcus & Sabloff 2008 for a recent overview). What were the preconditions that led to the fusion of previously scattered communities? Is it possible to recognise some common patterns that transcend time and space? Can we speak of an ‘urban revolution’, as V. Gordon Childe did in

Reconsidering Urbanisation in Late Iron Age North-western Iberia: The Oppidum of San Cibrán de Las (Galicia, Spain)

Zusammenfassung: Neue Forschungen stellen die traditionelle Datierung der Oppida auf der nordwestlichen Iberischen Halbinsel während der römischen Zeit in Frage. Es zeigt sich, dass zahlreiche dieser Plätze schon im späten 2. und 1. Jh. v. Chr. entstanden. Das Oppidum von San Cibrán de Las kann für diese Diskussion eine Schlüsselrolle einnehmen. Die großflächigen Ausgrabungen der letzten Jahre erbrachten umfangreiche Informationen zur inneren Struktur des Ortes, der Anordnung der Häuser, der Befestigungen sowie zur Bedeutung der Akropolis. In letzterer konnten Skulpturen unterschiedlicher Gottheiten sowie religiöse Inschriften geborgen werden. Am Wichtigsten ist aber der mit Hilfe zahlreicher 14C-Proben erbrachte Beleg einer deutlich früher als bislang bekannt beginnenden Nutzung des Areals. Diese nimmt ihren Anfang mehrere Jahrhunderte vor der Gründung des Oppidums und ist scheinbar mit einer Nutzung der Akropolis im Rahmen religiöser Zusammenkünfte verbunden. Ein Vergleich mit archäologischen Funden und Befunden anderer bedeutsamer Fundstellen in Mittel- und Westeuropa, zu literarischen Quellen und regionalen Ortsnamen weist auf die entscheidende Rolle solcher Versammlungen und religiöser Feste bei der Konstruktion kollektiver Identitäten und der Entstehung früher urbaner Zentren hin. Die Ergebnisse haben weitreichende Auswirkungen auf unser Verständnis von sozialen Aggregationsprozessen während der Eisenzeit und darüber hinaus.

Deposition practices in Iron Age France: new light on old discoveries

Dealing with information coming from nineteenth-century discoveries is not always an easy task for archaeologists, and it can prove particularly problematic for iconic findings that have come to characterise entire periods or cultural horizons. Information is very often fragmentary, and in most cases, field methods and recording techniques are not up to present-day standards. A careful re-examination of old collections can, however, often be as fruitful as new findings. This is exemplified by the volumes under review here, which reassess two of the most important archaeological discoveries made in the late nineteenth-century in France: the bronze hoard of Launac in Languedoc and the grave of La Gorge-Meillet in Champagne. In addition to summarising existing knowledge, the volumes also provide new information coming from modern scientific analysis, as well as re-evaluations of certain find categories.

Landscapes of life and conflict in northern Spain: the ‘Monte Bernorio in its Environment’ project

Archaeological investigations at Monte Bernorio (northern Spain) and its surroundings are yielding exciting new evidence for the destruction of the Iron Age oppidum by the Roman military and the subsequent Roman occupation of the area.

EAA and CIfA – From Concurrency to Cooperation in Times of Brexit

Abstract The European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) as an International Non-Governmental Organisation and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) as a professional association, each want to be in their field the leading representative body for archaeologists in Europe. Both organisations recruit their members from a very similar target group, but instead of competing with each other they work together to further develop complementary roles. For archaeologists, it will be necessary to be a member in both organisations to enjoy the full range of possibilities and services, which reach from free scientific exchange on the one hand to professional accreditation on the other hand. While Brexit is dividing Britain and the European Union, EAA and CIfA unite to lobby more effectively for archaeology and archaeologists in and beyond Europe.

Fought under the walls of Bergida: KOCOA analysis of the Roman attack on the Cantabrian oppidum of Monte Bernorio (Spain)

Abstract As conflict archaeology has matured as a discipline, there have been calls for more unified analytical techniques. Several researchers advocate the adoption of codified analytical and planning concepts used by the United States Army. One of these concepts, KOCOA Terrain Analysis, shows promise as a locational and analytical aid in archaeological contexts. Defining terrain features are identified and categorized according to well-defined terminology, allowing for a detailed analysis of the effects of terrain on military operations. KOCOA’s structure and codification render the concept transferable between researchers and diachronically across different site types. KOCOA has only rarely been utilized outside the United States and only on historical battlefields. The ongoing archaeological research at the Monte Bernorio oppidum (Palencia, Spain) provides an opportunity to utilize KOCOA in a classical, proto-historical archaeological context.