Beyond Iron Age ‘towns’: Examining oppida as examples of mega-sites and low-density urbanism

Summary

The question of whether Late Iron Age oppida in Europe were truly ‘urban’ has dominated debate over these sites since the 19th century. Oppida, however, have been surprisingly absent from comparative urban studies, despite increasingly nuanced perspectives on the nature and diversity of the urban phenomenon. In particular, Roland Fletcher’s suggestion that oppida might be examples of a range of alternative urban-like centres has been largely ignored by scholars of the European Iron Age. The increasingly complex nature of many oppida makes it a pertinent time to assess Fletcher’s claims and examine whether oppida can be compared to low-density urbanism elsewhere in the world. Using specific case studies, this paper argues that oppida do indeed share characteristics of low-density urbanism and that this is likely to be due to the negotiated nature of power in Iron Age societies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Cities, Large Villages, or Neither? The Conundrum of "Megasites" in Prehistory

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14468