Is the fortification always about fortress? The case of Middle Bronze Age fortified settlements in Northern Eurasia

Summary

There are 22 fortified settlements of the Middle Bronze Age discovered in Russia for last 40 years through the methods of aerial photography analysis and field excavations. All together they are known as Sintashta archeological culture of Southern Urals. The typical Sintashta settlement is usually enclosure consists of 1-4 meters deep ditch and the wall built of dirt and clay. However, the current analysis of the settlement patterning using GIS suggests that people chose the place of living without much respect to the defensive goals. Surprisingly, all the fortified settlements placed in the lowest spots of landscape, and the tops of surrounding hills were not occupied during the Bronze Age.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage