Enclosure and Surveillance: The Development of a Disciplinary Landscape in Bronze Age Cyprus

Summary

Monumental architecture, specifically in the form of structures classified as "fortifications," emerged on Cyprus at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, but these massive constructions remained in use for only a brief period of time. This period, however, is of critical importance to the transformation of Cypriot society from a relatively egalitarian village-based society to the urban-focused, politically complex society of the Late Bronze Age. Using the cluster of fortresses in the Agios Sozomenos region in central Cyprus as a case study, and presenting the results of recent field work in this region, this paper considers not just what these structures are, but what they do and how they do it. This material agentive approach demonstrates that fortresses are efficacious actors within the political domain, shaping the human imagination and experience of the landscape, and thereby driving the apprehension of inequality and contributing to the restructuring of social relations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22474