THE EMERGENCE OF LATE IRON AGE URBANISM
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-12-02

In large parts of Temperate Europe, the last centuries BC witnessed the emergence of large agglomerations, both open and fortified. Although most of the attention has been traditionally focused on the fortified oppida of the late 2nd and 1st centuries BC, new research emphasises the important role of large open settlements that in many cases preceded the oppida by several generations. There is increasing agreement that the development of urban sites needs to be understood within the wider context of their surrounding landscapes, the nucleation of settlement being the result of political and economic transformations and an increase in ‘social density’. In terms of power relations, there are differing interpretations about the driving forces behind these processes: were large centres the manifestation of bottom-up enterprises within social networks of a predominantly heterarchical nature, or should we envisage them as top-down projects directed by members of the social hierarchy? Can we observe multiple pathways to urbanisation, and differences between the processes that lead to the development of open vs. fortified sites? And were the push factors of a predominantly endogenous nature, or rather influenced by the increasing contacts with and pressure from the Mediterranean
world? These questions will be addressed with reference to relevant case-studies that exemplify some of the core discussions in the field of Iron Age urban studies.


Author(s): Fernández-Götz, Manuel (School of History, Classics and Archaeology)