FUNCTION OF FORTIFIED HILLTOP SETTLEMENTS – A MEASURE OF THE INTANGIBLE
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-01-05

Following Simmel’s idea, that social structures and power relations are projected to space, fortified hilltop settlements have played a major role in the interpretation of Bronze Age settlement patterns. Often they are associated with military power and functions associated with central place theory. In pre- and protohistory these functionalities are usually estimated on the basis of a theoretical framework. It connects a set of ideas how economic and political power as well as cultic centres might be reflected within the archaeological and environmental record. However, without written sources there are no direct tracers, easy access interpretations, or a priori selective variables. This makes the estimation of an intangible variable, like function, complex. Nonetheless it can be investigated, as anything in existence reflects on the system. These consequences can be measured by selecting matterful variables. While treating measurement as a state of uncertainty reduction this paper aims to investigate functional differences in the material record of Urnfield culture fortified hill-top settlements and low land settlements in the Central Swabian Alb by comparing them among themselves and to other features, such as graves or hoards. Reflecting on similarities and differences in spatial location, categorical functional groups, as well as the chaîne opératoire of pottery as interaction indicator will open up new pathways to the interpretation of fortified hill-top settlements and their function. Aided by statistical analysis, differences in the material record are apparent, however their functional association is not accessible for us. Embracing our own lack of understanding of the observed pattern, we gain further insight into the structures of Urnfield culture, even if we might not be able to deduce clear and objective indicators of functionality or the position of fortified hill-top settlements within their respective settlement pattern.


Author(s): Girotto, Chiara (Goethe University Frankfurt)