A statistical approach on the role of fortified urnfield culture hill-top settlements
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2018-10-08

Hill-top settlements are often considered to be a ‘central place’ of general geopolitical importance, centres of trade, power and home to the elites. This concept of an evolutionary hierarchical society has often been interpreted as a continuous process, deeply rooted in the European Metal Ages.
This contribution presents a methodological approach to reconstruct the role of fortified hill-top settlements in the settlement pattern of Central Swabian Urnfield culture sites. It is based on a detailed analysis of sites (settlements, graves, hoards, single, and stray finds) in the region summarising the recovered material into functional groups (e.g. needle, bracelet) and categories (e.g. jewellery). Additionally the emergence of (fortified) hill-top settlements will be traced throughout the Bronze Age in order to gain insight into the general relations and potential patterns. This firm base allows statistical analysis to perform without a priori assumptions of the sites original function allowing to test e.g. for spatial auto-correlation, log-risk surfaces and self-organising algorithms in general. This wide array of methods will complement more traditional ones, like site mapping and kernel density estimates.
Only if a conclusive pattern can be established, interpretations of roles and temporal variations within these structures should be attempted. Advanced geospatial statistics in combination with archaeological markers will allow new insights into potential clustering factors and provide new determinates for the theoretical interpretation of these sites. The primary interest is whether there are any factors other than elevated geographic location, and (mainly undated) fortification, that allow the interpretation of fortified Urnfield hill-top settlements as ‘central places’ and these assumptions will be challenged and tested.

Author: Girotto, Chiara G. M. - Goethe University Frankfurt (Presenting author)