Ancient Fortifications

Trata sobre el tipo de fortificaciones que construyeron los mayas prehispánicos desde el Preclásico Tardío (400 a.C. - 100 d.C.) y como se fueron desarrollando a través del tiempo y el espacio, hasta la llegada de los españoles en el siglo XVI.
En primer lugar se define lo que es un sistema defensivo, una fortificación y su tipología basado en sus funciones.
Para posteriormente aplicar dicha tipología en el caso maya por medio del análisis del patrón de asentamiento de varios sitios y las evidencias arqueológicas provenientes de ellos. Ha sucedido que algunos de los emplazamientos han sido considerados como fortificados, pero después de una reevaluación más minuciosa, muy probablemente se traten de otro tipo de obras de infraestructura que no están asociadas a la beligerancia, por lo que es necesario una reconsideración.
El estudio se complementa con información contenida en los documentos históricos de origen nativo como españoles relativos a la conquista y colonización del área maya, que fueron escritos durante los siglos XVI y XVII de nuestra era; en ellos se describen varias características referentes a los sistemas defensivos que por medios arqueológicos pasan desapercibidas debido a su naturaleza constructiva.
Gracias a los lineamientos de la arqueología de la guerra – la cual está basada en la multidisciplinariedad – en la que se conjugan la arqueología, la historia, la antropología y la teoría de la guerra se puede entender de una manera global el fenómeno de la beligerancia, siendo el tópico de las fortificaciones fundamental. Y por ende la guerra en el área maya es una cuestión que necesita ser analizada de una manera crítica para desmitificarla.

Die Tübinger Dissertation versucht die Befestigungsanlagen Italiens vom 8. bis zum 3. Jahrhundert v. Chr. zu klassifizieren und in eine historischen Zusammenhang zu bringen. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die Gesamtheit des fortifikatorischen Systems gelegt.
Im Download Inhaltsverzeichnis und Einleitung (bis S. 23 von 529 S.)

In 197 BC, proudly holding Chalcis along with Corinth and Demetrias, the Macedonian King Philip V claimed to be controlling the “fetters” of Greece. Indeed, the site of Chalcis, located at the narrowest point of the strait of the Euripos separating the island of Euboia from the continent, allowed the control not only of the Euboic Gulf and its maritime routes, but also of Central Greece as a whole, and by extension, of the Greek peninsula. This paper investigates the strategic, political and military factors needed in the early Hellenistic period for the transformation of the Euboian commercial port into one of the most significant strongholds in Greece. It will be argued that to achieve this, it was first necessary to destroy Boiotian Thebes, the strongest local power in the 4th century BC, and to disperse its territory. Also, foreign interest in tightly controlling the region was needed. The Macedonian dynasts were the first of course, and it will be argued that, after Alexander the Great, it was probably Demetrios Poliorcetes who first conceived the concept of the three “fetters” of Greece, and who developed a significant element to the system of fortifications of Chalcis: the so-called Aniphoritis Wall, or at least the associated kastro. A survey of the use of the site in international affairs down to the Mithridatic Wars is also offered, followed by an analysis of the impact such a disputed site had at a more local level, in particular on the territory of Oropos.

This paper regards a general revaluation of the complex system of fortifications of Hatra. Published and unpublished data have been used to achieve the goal, the latter belonging to the Italian expedition at Hatra. This integrated methodology has given the possibility to propose a new chronology of the defences but also to better understand the role of the city gates and their main and secondary functions.

Fortifications occupy a relevant position in the analysis of urbanization phenomena. However, in the scholarship dealing with Mesopotamian urban realities, no systematic investigations have been so far produced with regards to this topic. By focusing on the archaeological record, this article proposes an overview of urban defences of the 3rd and the first half of the 2nd millennium BC in Central and Lower Mesopotamia. The evolution patterns noted in the development of city defences over time are used to provide some glimpses on the evolution of Mesopotamian town planning and the formation of urban identities.

With this drawing I would like to announce that after years of research, drawing and photo-editing in the evenings after work I have finally managed to complete my work on the hellenistic ruins respectively the fortified Seleucid palace on Mount Karasis in Cilicia (Turkey). In accordance with the direction of the department Istanbul of the German Archaeological Institute there will be no online-publication; thus this PDF is to be understood as a small substitute and an appetizer for the print-version which will be published in 2023 (Istanbuler-Forschungen series).

This paper provides a detailed overview of recent research and bibliography (since 1997) on the Roman Republican Army during the Second Punic War in the Iberian peninsula and the conquest of Hispania. In this part, the first of two, we emphasize the capital importance of recent finds in Spain and Portugal, particularly in battlefield archaeology, marching camps and fortifications. We also comment on the relevance of the present restudy of many classic sites, such as Numantia. Full references and bibliography are included.
Keywords: military archaeology, conflict archaeology, republican Rome, Hispania, battlefield archaeology, siegeworks, fortifications, military camps.

SUMMARY: Lecture-14 provides an overview of Canaanite religion (selected deities and their attributes), some LB Age material culture (e.g., pottery; foreign forms [trade]; metallurgy; art; sculpture; seals; ivory carving; clay/ceramic sculpture), writing & literature, burial customs, and features in Egypt's Empire in North Sinai and Canaan (e.g., forts) --especially in the Ramesside period (LB IIB - Iron IA). This lecture is designed mainly as an educational resource/aid for college students (i.e., normally posted only on my institution's course website), the public (e.g., people auditing my course), and interested colleagues from other disciplines (to whom I periodically provide copies privately).  I am posting it here, both as a broader access, educational tool, and especially to promote the study of this region and its past societies.  For further knowledge about this region and period, I refer interested parties to the textbooks and other sources from which the initial materials were extracted for this ppt. (see syllabus; e.g., initially Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible), and/or the bibliographies in these works and my online resource guides (see other files in my academia folders).  Much of this and the other lectures summarize the pertinent materials in the course textbook(s), add in other data, including my own research materials, and furnish numerous images to clarify/illustrate the wealth of information encountered in the textbook(s).  Some generic imagery (usually indicated as such) is posted to aid in transmitting various concepts visually, and/or when a specific image remains not located (temporarily).  I update and revise such lectures each time, with such elective courses normally being taught once every two years.  I try to cover the most current, mainstream views, and usually place summary notes at the end of each lecture (or in separate test study guides).  Over time, each lecture is improved, errors rectified, and additional data placed within the lecture.  These ppt. lectures take many hours to compile, but they have proved useful to many of my more serious students (who have since pursued graduate degrees), and a few colleagues, who, like me, often teach outside our main fields of specialty, and I hope they can be of benefit to others as well.  My apologies for any errors I may have made (over time, as I teach this course every two years, I try to rectify any errors that might slip in inadvertently), and for my liberal usage of educational imagery from professional sources and vetted internet sources.  UPDATES: Oct. 2023 reformatting, including new images and text.

La disputa sulla pertinenza etnica dei centri fortificati sorti intorno alla metà del IV secolo a.C. nella Sibaritide meridionale (oppida italici o fortificazioni italiote?) è servita da stimolo per intraprendere un'accurata ricerca topografica che desse un chiaro contributo per una soluzione del problema. L'individuazione dei siti che avrebbero potuto ospitare le fortificazioni è stata facilitata da una un'attenta analisi cartografica, che ha permesso di limitare l'area d'indagine soltanto alle alture più elevate. La scelta definitiva dei siti da controllare tramite ricognizioni mirate è avvenuta tenendo conto di alcuni parametri di natura "geo-storici", paesaggistici, morfologici. idrogeologici.

This article deals with the chronology of the fortifi cations of the Akhtanizovskaya 4 settlement during the
last period of its existence. The citadel was located on the cape in the north-western part of the Akhtanizovsky
fi rth. According to the surveys and aerial photography, the size of the fortifi ed area was about 108 by 112
meters. Instrumental for the dating of this edifi ce is a section of a moat discovered in 2012–2014. The moat
was fi lled right before the building of the citadel. Based on the fi nds (fragments of amphorae and glazed
ceramics, coins, terracotta fi gurines etc.) from the fi ll of the moat and from the stratum associated with the
destruction of the citadel walls, it is possible to assume that the citadel was built in the middle — third
quarter of the 1st century BC; it was most probably destroyed in the course of the internecine (the so-called
Polemon) war in the Bosporos, i.e. during the last 15 years of the 1st century BC.

Η αρχαία Ακραιφία (ή Ακραίφνιον ή Ακραίφνια ή Ακραίφια) ήταν χτισμένη στην ανατολική όχθη της Κωπαΐδας και στα βορειοδυτικά της λίμνης Υλίκης. Με έκταση 47 τ.χλμ. και περίμετρο 34,6 χλμ. η Ακραιφία συγκαταλέγεται μεταξύ των μικρών πόλεων της Βοιωτίας, εντός της χώρας των οποίων δεν υπήρχαν δευτερεύοντες οικισμοί (κώμες). Ωστόσο, υπήρξε από τα πρώτα μέλη της ένωσης των βοιωτικών πόλεων υπό την ηγεσία της Θήβας. Συμμετείχε διαδοχικά και στα τρία βοιωτικά Kοινά, όμως με την έλευση των Ρωμαίων τήρησε φιλορωμαϊκή στάση και δέχθηκε προνόμια γι’ αυτό.

This paper regards a general revaluation of the complex system of fortifications of Hatra. Published and unpublished data have been used to achieve the goal, the latter belonging to the Italian expedition at Hatra. This integrated methodology has given the possibility to propose a new chronology of the defences but also to better understand the role of the city gates and their main and secondary functions.