Territorial organisation in Iron Age Western and Central Europe.

Territorial organisation in Iron Age Western and Central Europe. BRUNO CHAUME. Vix et son territoire a l'Age du fer. Fouillesdu mont Lassois et environnement du site princier. viii + 643 pages, 237figures, 155 plates. 2001. Protohistoire europeenne 6. Montagnac:Editions Monique Mergoil; 2-907303-47-3 paperback. NATALIE VENCLOVA with EVZEN NEUSTUPNY MIROSLAVSKY, BOZENAY ZAKOVA& PAVLYA VALTEROVA. Vyroba a sidla v doble latenske Lodenice. xi +399 pages, 137 b&w & colour figures, 41 tables. 2001. Prague:Institute of Archaeology The Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom. The Institute is located in a separate building at the north end of Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. . 80-86124-22-3 hardback. DOMINIQUE GARCIA & FLORENCE VERDIN (ed.). Territoiresceltiques: espaces ethniques et territoires des agglomerationsprotohistoriques d'Europe occidentale--actes du XXIVe colloqueinternational de l'AFEAF, Martigues, 1-4 juin2000. 420 pages, 191figures, 11 tables. 2002. Paris: Errance; 2-87772-219-8 paperback. These books analyse Iron Age settlements in western and CentralEurope Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. In addition, Northern, Southern and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe. . The common theme, running through many of the contributions, isthe process of 'centralisation' in settlement structures. Allthree publications offer a valuable introduction to the subject,particularly because the authors approach the subject from differentacademic traditions: research on late Hallstatt 'princelyseats', on late Iron Age oppida, and on the archaeology of theCatalonian and French Mediterranean coastal region. Mont Lassois Thanks to the doctoral thesis by Bruno Chaume, we finally have anauthoritative and up-to-date synthesis of archaeological work around theMont Lassois, Burgundy. Located on the upper Seine, and possiblyinvolved in the tin trade between Cornwall and the Mediterranean, theMont Lassois is well known as a classic late Hallstatt 'princelyseat' (Furstensitz, residence princiere). The book is divided into three parts. Part I (pp. 1-88) is ahistory of research into the protohistory pro��to��his��to��ry?n.The study of a culture just before the time of its earliest recorded history.pro of the Chatillonnais region,beginning with Edouard Flouest's work in the nineteenth century,and concentrating in detail on the activities of Rene Joffroy, and hisexcavations on the Mont Lassois (1946-74) and the discovery of theprincely tomb at Vix (1952-3). Despite the many years of excavation,information on the settlement structure and defences of the Mont Lassoisis sparse. It was probably first settled, possibly defended, in Bronzefinal IIIb, but the vast majority of finds date to Hallstatt D2-3.Recent prospection, along with a small excavation in 1969, also suggeststhe presence of settlement activity in a 'suburb' between theMont Lassois 'acropolis' and the Seine. Part II (pp.89-198) contains a study of the nonceramic small findsfrom the Mont Lassois; detailed studies of the imported pottery by J.-J.Maffre and M. Py have already been published, but the locally-madepottery awaits future research. Interpretation of these finds isseverely hampered by the poor quality of Joffroy's excavationrecords: Chaume estimates that precise provenances have only beenrecorded for 2-3% of the Mont Lassois finds. The chronology of thesettlement can therefore only be determined by typological study, andabout 300 fibulae dating to Hallstatt D2-3 provide the clearest evidence(along with a handful of La Tene La T��ne?adj.Of or relating to a late Iron Age Celtic civilization dating from the fifth to the first century b.c. D and Gallo-Roman fibulae). In part III (pp. 199-360), Chaume analyses the regional context ofthe Mont Lassois. Tumulus tumulus(t`myələs), plural tumuli (–lī), in archaeology, a heap of earth or stones placed over a grave. burials around Mont Lassois are analysed indetail, and in each case there are authoritative and useful discussionsof the burial types represented. Mont Lassois was the focus for a seriesof rich burials from the end of the Bronze Age Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the (ninth century BC) to theend of the Hallstatt period (c.475BC). The defended 'princelyseat' itself was of much shorter duration (c.540-475 BC). Burialevidence on the Chatillonnais plateau between the Bronze final IIIb andLa Tene B1 is covered, including a useful discussion of late Urnfieldgraves. The 'cult enclosures' at the foot of the Mont Lassoisare discussed: apart from an unexcavated long rectangular enclosure, ofa type normally dated to the time around the Late Bronze Age/Early IronAge transition, the main focus is on the square enclosure of HallstattD3 in Les Herbues, famous for its pair of stone statues. There followsan extremely well researched discussion of the Hallstatt/La Tenetransition. Most of the evidence comes from tumulus burials (tumulusburial is only replaced by flat graves in La Tene B1). Chaume'sconclusions are based on 77 grave inventories of the La Tene A phase inthe Chatillonnais region; it is worth noting that this is theprehistoric phase with most burials around Mont Lassois. The book alsocontains a complete publication and analysis of the importantBressey-sur-Tille tumulus. There is also discussion of a few keysettlement sites with rich finds, including Attic pottery: particularlyBragny-sur-Saone (Dep. Saone-et-Loire), Crest, Bourbousson I (Dep.Drome) and Sevaz 'Tudinges' (Canton Fribourg, Switzerland). The last part of the book is concerned with the definition andinterpretation of the residences princieres. There is a useful review ofearlier work and new contributions and ideas from the author; the latterare written in a somewhat sketchy fashion, which makes this part of thebook less easy to understand. Chaume's aim is to add a spatial orterritorial component to the definition of the residence princiere, inthe case of Mont Lassois, Chaume differentiates between the residenceprinciere and associated graves within 6-10 km of the core settlement, asecondary sphere within 25km and a tertiary sphere within 50km. Evidenceto support this suggestion seems largely to be lacking in the Hallstattperiod. However, the idea is linked to observation of rich graves withchariots and/or imports in the LaTene A phase: none are found within25km of the Mont Lassois; they seem to be found mainly at a distance ofabout 50 kin, where they are spaced about 20km apart. While thedifference between the distribution of rich graves in Hallstatt D and LaTene A is striking, and clearly important, it is difficult to interpretterritoriality TerritorialityBehavior patterns in which an animal actively defends a space or some other resource. One major advantage of territoriality is that it gives the territory holder exclusive access to the defended resource, which is generally associated with based on only one excavated settlement. It would beextremely useful, for example, to know more about the character ofsettlement in Chaume's secondary and tertiary spheres. There is no doubt that Bruno Chaume has published anextraordinarily valuable contribution to Iron Age research. This book,which benefits greatly from Chaume's wide knowledge of both Frenchand German literature, is a fitting monument to one of the most famousarchaeological sites in France's later prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to . Bohemia Natalia Venclova's Production and settlement in the La Teneperiod: the Lodenice project describes a research project in a region ofc.250[km.sup.2] in north-west central Bohemia. The importance of thisregion is two-fold: on the one hand it includes the well knownsettlement of Msecke Zehrovice, excavated by Venclova between 1979 and1988. On the other hand, there is copious evidence for'industrial' production. The aim of the project was toinvestigate spatial relationship between settlement and productionsites. Most of the evidence dates to the phases La Tene B2-C1/C2, orc.300-190/170 BC. The project entailed traditional fieldwalking and alimited amount of excavation, but also an 'analytical surfacesurvey'. The 'analytical survey' was conducted in part ofthe Lodenice region: a random sample of 111 sectors, each measuring 1ha,was fieldwalked in lines spaced 20m apart. This method was developed toinvestigate the spatial context of finds without thearchaeologist's normal subjective concentration on individualsites; it 'enables the landscape to be understood as a findscontinuum filled by the relicts of human activity' (p.304). The most frequent objects discovered by field-walking were remnantsof sapropelite and iron working. Pottery of the La Tene period was muchless common. Some of the excavated settlements have truly vastquantities of sapropelite waste and semi-finished products: 21,000 atMsecke Zehrovice I, 10,000 at Srbec and 5,000 at Msecke Zehrovice II.The raw material, a black palaeozoic bituminous bi��tu��mi��nous?adj.1. Like or containing bitumen.2. Of or relating to bituminous coal.Adj. 1. bituminous - resembling or containing bitumen; "bituminous coal" sideritic claystone,comes from the Kounov coal seam, which outcrops in an area about 7 x Ikin. This source was used to make almost all the black sapropelitearmrings in Bohemia, and analyses have shown that Kounov sapropelite wasexchanged over distances of at least 400km. The great majority ofsettlements in the Lodenice project area produce evidence forsapropelite working, and together they form an 'industrialzone'. Iron bloomery slag was also frequently found in the projectarea (on 56% of sites) and the ore probably also came from the Kounovcoal seam, in the form of pelosiderite. The best evidence available forintensive iron production comes from the site of Msec III, with abattery of 18-20 slag-pit furnaces. Venclova explains that the third and second centuries BC were aperiod of economic transition in Bohemia, with an increase inspecialised production--sapropelite, iron and glass provide goodexamples for this development. Gradually, these specialist sites cameunder the control of settlements with a central trading or distributionfunction, and in the second century BC (La Tene B2) fortified fortified (fôrt´fīd),adj containing additives more potent than the principal ingredient. oppidaemerge. Venclova and her team have succeeded in providing a valuablebackground to the 'aristocratic' settlement of MseckeZehrovice and its famous stone sculpture Stone sculpture is the result of forming 3-dimensional visually interesting objects from stone.Carving stone into sculpture is an activity older than civilization itself. . The project waswell-conceived, incorporating the 'analytical' survey whichwas necessary to complement traditional surface collections, whichinevitably concentrated on a few major settlement sites. A furtherproject to investigate the process of centralisation in La Tene C2/D1would be more than welcome! France and Spain Territoires celtiques is the fruit of the 24th colloquium col��lo��qui��um?n. pl. col��lo��qui��ums or col��lo��qui��a1. An informal meeting for the exchange of views.2. An academic seminar on a broad field of study, usually led by a different lecturer at each meeting. of theAssociation Francaise pour l'Etude de l'ge du Fer. The volumecontains 30 papers covering almost the whole of the First Millennium BC,from the end of the Bronze Age to the Roman conquest. A paper by Phillippe Leveau provides a short introduction tocurrent archaeological and geographical work on the theme ofterritoriality. This is complemented by a paper towards the end of thevolume, by Laurent Olivier, Bruno Wirtz and Bertrand Triboulot, whichoutlines the development of research on spatial analysis (Data West Research Agency definition: see GIS glossary.) Analytical techniques to determine the spatial distribution of a variable, the relationship between the spatial distribution of variables, and the association of the variables of an area. . Both thesearticles emphasise the important contribution of the German school ofgeography, particularly J.H. von Thunen, W. Christaller and A. Losch,and the rank-size law developed by Felix Auerbach is also discussed. InFrance, the school of historical geography Historical geography is the study of the human, physical, fictional, theoretical, and "real" geographies of the past. Historical geography studies a wide variety of issues and topics. based on the work of PaulVidal de la Blache Paul Vidal de la Blache (P��zenas, 22 January 1845 - Tamaris, 5 April 1918) was a French geographer. He is considered to be the founder of the modern French geography and also the founder of the French School of Geopolitics. , who emphasised the importance of the historicalcomponent in defining territory, was dominant until the 1970s when theNew Geography gradually replaced it. At the start of the Iron Age (Bronze final IIIb, Hallstatt C) AlainDaubigney believes, 'central' settlements controlledterritories no more than 20km in diameter. For southern France, however,Dominique Garcia discusses good evidence for population growth in Bronzefilial filial/fil��i��al/ (fil��e-al)1. of or pertaining to a son or daughter.2. in genetics, of or pertaining to those generations following the initial (parental) generation. IIIb and even 'proto-urban' developments at some sites,such as Mailhac, Carsac and BaouRoux, at this early period. These'central' sites do not seem to form a clear spatial patternand may be understood as representing a 'concentric' ratherthan a 'reticulate' territorial system. The developments inBronze final IIIb were short-lived, however, and the following centuriessaw the abandonment of most 'central' sites. But from thesecond half of the sixth century BC, there was a sudden change insettlement structures near the coast and along the Rhone valley: a'reticulate' territorial system develops, which is clearlylinked to the foundation of Massalia and Phocaean commercial activity.Within this system, large centres engaged in long-distance exchange.They were more than 10ha in size and spaced 20-50 km apart, a secondarylevel of 'central' settlements, less than 5ha in size andspaced 3-10 km apart. From the fourth century onwards, settlementdevelopment polarised: while many 'central' settlements weredeserted, a few, such as Aries, Avignon, Narbonne, Nimes, Ruscino andSaint-Blaise/Entremont, increased in importance; we see the emergence ofthe capitals of the ethnic or political territories known from thehistorical sources. It should come as no surprise that the developments along thecentral and northern Mediterranean coast of the Iberian peninsula Iberian Peninsula,c.230,400 sq mi (596,740 sq km), SW Europe, separated from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees. Comprising Spain and Portugal, it is washed on the N and W by the Atlantic Ocean and on the S and E by the Mediterranean Sea; the Strait of Gibraltar ,discussed in articles by Rosa Plana Mallart and Aurora Martin Ortega,Joan Sanmarti, Carme Belarte and Jaume Noguera, p. 37ff, are similar.Once again, the rise of small 'proto-urban' sites in the EarlyIron Age' was followed by the abandonment of many sites during thesixth and fifth centuries BC. Then, from the late fifth century BC untilthe Second Punic War Parameter not given Error...''Template needs its first parameter as beg[in], mid[dle], or end. Parameter not given Error... , there is a clear development of hierarchicalsettlement patterns culminating in the formation of historically knowncivitates with important urban centres such as Sam Miquel de Lliria,Arse, Tortosa, Tarragona, Burriac and Ullastret. At the same time, thearchaeological record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. shows a marked increase in rural settlement, theintroduction of writing, an increase in Greek and Punic imports and,finally, from the second half of the third century BC, the introductionof coinage. The central urban settlements seem to have played a crucialrole in the formation of territorial organisation and it is worthmentioning that the names of Iberian ethnoi can often be derived fromthe names of their 'central' towns. The prime role of theseurban settlements in territorial formation in convincing; but it iscurious that processes of synoecism play such a minor part in thecurrent discussion. The contributions concerning temperate Gaul, taking up most of thevolume, concentrate on the second and first centuries BC, presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. because there is little evidence for territorial organisation orsettlement hierarchy in the preceding centuries. Many of thecontributions concentrate on individual regions and comparearchaeological evidence with the Greek and Latin historical sources,against the background of civitas boundaries, reconstructed in thenineteenth century according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. early Mediaeval me��di��ae��val?adj.Variant of medieval.mediaevalAdjectivesame as medievalAdj. 1. dioceses (AugusteLongnon) or epigraphic ep��i��graph?n.1. An inscription, as on a statue or building.2. A motto or quotation, as at the beginning of a literary composition, setting forth a theme. evidence (Otto Hirschfield). The article byPatrice Bran once again emphasises the crucial role of core'urban' settlements in the formation of politicalterritories--demonstrated by the close correlation between theoreticalboundaries generated by Thiessen polygons and the (reconstructed)civitas boundaries. Whereas the civitas boundaries presumably did notexist before the emergence of the oppida, the pagi have ancient roots.While the oppida display a 'reticulate' pattern, suitable fortheir function in long-distance exchange, the pagi are based onsubsistence economy and regional exchange, with territories neverextended more than a few hours' walk from a central settlement andmarket. Territoires celtiques is an extremely useful review of currentresearch oil the late Iron Age in France and Mediterranean Spain and itis recommended reading for anyone interested in the process ofcentralisation and territoriality in late prehistoric Europe. Chris Pare, Institute of Pre-and Proto History, University ofMainz, Germany (Email: pare@mail.uni-mainz.de)