| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
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"About the period of the formation of the League, when they were exposed to the inroads of hostile nations, and the warfare of migratory bands, their villages were compact and stockaded. Having run a trench several feet deep, around five or ten acres of land, and thrown up the ground upon the inside, they set a continuous row of stakes or palisades in this bank of earth, fixing them at such an angle that they inclined over the trench."
[1]
Some sources suggest that the building of palisades ceased to be a common occurrence after the 17th century: "The necessity of stockading the villages had almost ceased by the beginning of the seventeenth century, and by the close of the century the stockades were abandoned. Villages became less compact, but houses continued to be built near enough together to form a neighborhood."
[2]
We follow Lyford’s periodization in selecting the end of the 17th century as the date of transition. Indeed, it’s suggestive that all sources we could find describing Iroquois fortification date to the seventeenth century. It’s possible that the end of fortifications also meant the end of defensive ditches.
[1]: Morgan & Lloyd 1901, 305 [2]: Lyford 1945, 11 |
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"About the period of the formation of the League, when they were exposed to the inroads of hostile nations, and the warfare of migratory bands, their villages were compact and stockaded. Having run a trench several feet deep, around five or ten acres of land, and thrown up the ground upon the inside, they set a continuous row of stakes or palisades in this bank of earth, fixing them at such an angle that they inclined over the trench."
[1]
Some sources suggest that the building of palisades ceased to be a common occurrence after the 17th century: "The necessity of stockading the villages had almost ceased by the beginning of the seventeenth century, and by the close of the century the stockades were abandoned. Villages became less compact, but houses continued to be built near enough together to form a neighborhood."
[2]
We follow Lyford’s periodization in selecting the end of the 17th century as the date of transition. Indeed, it’s suggestive that all sources we could find describing Iroquois fortification date to the seventeenth century. It’s possible that the end of fortifications also meant the end of defensive ditches.
[1]: Morgan & Lloyd 1901, 305 [2]: Lyford 1945, 11 |
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not yet found in settlements such as Göbekli Tepe
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not yet found in settlements such as Çatal Höyük
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Present in previous and subsequent periods.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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Within technical capability of time.
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Academic confirmation required.
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Ditches and moats existed and were used at this time, e.g. in the Levant region. Were they used by the Ptolemies?
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Present in previous and subsequent polities. ’
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Vieille Toulouse, a settlement which started to develop more extensively in the late 3rd century BCE, had a ditch.
[1]
[1]: (http://www.oppida.org/page.php?lg=fr&rub=00&id_oppidum=165) |
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Present in previous and subsequent periods.
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The sources reviewed so far make no mention of ditches or moats around Ashanti settlements or forts.
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No references in the literature. RA.
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Had a moat around Pataliputra so the concept of a defensive ditch as a cheap form of defensive measure would have been known to the Mauryans. Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions ditches (Book X, Relating to War).
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Inferred from the preceding Mauryans: Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions ditches (Book X, Relating to War).
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Ditches were used in this region in the Middle Ages. No specific reference.
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Ditches were used in this region in the Middle Ages. No specific reference.
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No evidence to code.
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Present in previous and subsequent polities.
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Simple fortification that was likely to have been incorporated somewhere within the huge Empire.
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Ditches were used in this region in the Middle Ages. No specific reference.
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basic defensive technology
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In Syria?
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‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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Present with evidence in both previous and succeeding polities, no reason to believe this stopped here
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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Sintashta-Petrovka culture (slightly preceding the Andronovo) in southern Urals: "The fortification and layout of the settlements were deliberately planned in advance, taking into account the natural relief. Sites are surrounded by a ditch ... with two rows of defensive walls, 1.7m and more thick, made of clay blocks and vertically erected pine logs ... Walls were also made of timber frameworks filled with earth; there was probably a timber palisade above them. The ditch was cut in steps and reinforced by logs."
[1]
Andronovo: "Larger fortified settlements were built in the steppe, protected by walls and ditches."
[2]
Sintashta culture 2100-1800 BCE: "One of the signature innovations of the Sintashta culture was the appearance of heavily fortified permanent settlements, with ditches, banks, and substantial palisade walls, in the steppes southeast of the Urals, beginning a shift from mobile to settled pastoralism that was adopted soon afterward across the northern steppe zone both to the east and the west. The late 3rd milennium BC was a time of intensified conflict and intensified interchange between the people of the northern steppes and the forest zone. Conflict and competition for shrinking marsh resources essential for wintering-over pastoral herds probably led to the sedentarization of the formerly mobile pastoralists of the steppes."
[3]
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 32) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Barisitz 2017, 16) Stephan Barisitz. 2017. Central Asia and the Silk Road: Economic Rise and Decline over Several Millennia. Springer. Cham. [3]: (Anthony and Brown 2014, 66) David W Anthony. Dorcas R Brown. Horseback Riding and Bronze Age Pastoralism in the Eurasian Steppes. Victor H Mair. Jane Hickman. eds. 2014. Reconfiguring the Silk Road: New Research on East-West Exchange in Antiquity. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Philadelphia. |
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Reference for pre-colonial African warfare: "The formation of a fortified camp, distinct from the parent town or towns, was usually the first step taken by a West African army when it advanced into the field. ... the leaders were sheltered by tents or by walls of matting while the soldiers slept under such shelter as they could find... But on arrival at the point chosen by the commander as the base of operations, the practice was to throw up an earthern wall surrounded by a ditch (the excavation from which the wall had been built)."
[1]
[1]: (Smith 1989, 100) Robert Sydney Smith. 1989. Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa. Second Edition. The University of Wisconsin Press. Madison. |
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a ditch.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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May not survive archaeologically, only detectable via excavation.
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May not survive archaeologically, only detectable via excavation.
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Sources
[1]
do not mention any archaeological evidence for fortification for this period.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Previous polity had this form of fortification.
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No references in the literature.
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not found in settlements
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not found in settlements
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not yet found in settlements such as Çatal Höyük
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not found in settlements
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not mentioned in literature
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not yet found in settlements such as Çatal Höyük
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Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate
[1]
which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy |
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"Malik ’Abbas built numerous fortress-like villages in Ghur. Qutb al-Din Muhammad founded the fortress-like villages in Ghur. Qutb al-Din Muhammad founded the fortress and city of Firuzkuh. Basha al-Din Sam erected strong fortresses in Ghur, the Garmsir, Gharchistan and Herat, keeping strategic needs in view. A castle constructed at Wadawajzd by Sultan Ghiyath al-Din was so impregnable that it survived the onslaught of the Mongols."
[1]
[1]: (Nizami 1999, 189) K A Nizami. The Ghurids. M S Asimov. C E Bosworth. eds. 1999. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part One. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi. |
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Excavation of Bala Hisar, an archaeological mound near Charsada in northwest Pakistan, revealed a "deep defensive ditch, the foundations of a postern gateway, and a bridge." According to the Greek historian Arrian, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, Hephaistion, besieged this city (called Pushkalavati) in 327 BCE whose inhabitants eventually surrendered to Alexander.
[1]
[1]: (Higham 2004, 72-73) Charles F W Higham. 2004. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts On File, Inc. New York. |
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The Questions of King Milinda on Salaka: "Wise architects have laid it out ... strong towers and ramparts, with superb gates and entrance archways; and with the royal citadel in its midst, white walled and deeply moated."
[1]
At Gurgan (484 CE) a covered ditch was used as a trap for Persian cavalry.
[2]
[1]: (Bauer 2010, 180-181) Bauer, S W. 2010. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. [2]: (Bennett 1998, 135) Bennett, M. 1998. The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient & Medieval Warfare. Taylor & Francis. |
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’With Qing advances in 1795, the Miao would build fortications of an unspecified type quickly, presumably wooden palisades, earth ramparts, and ditches.’
[1]
This presumably still applies for this period.
[1]: SUTTON, D. S.. (2003). Ethnic Revolt in the Qing Empire: The "Miao Uprising" of 1795-1797 Reexamined. Asia Major, 16(2), 105-152. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41649879 |
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’With Qing advances in 1795, the Miao would build fortications of an unspecified type quickly, presumably wooden palisades, earth ramparts, and ditches.’
[1]
[1]: SUTTON, D. S.. (2003). Ethnic Revolt in the Qing Empire: The "Miao Uprising" of 1795-1797 Reexamined. Asia Major, 16(2), 105-152. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41649879 |
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"Haojiatai, whose walled enclosure covers an area of 6.5 ha, is also built on an elevated platform and is further protected by an external ditch, most likely a defensive moat."
[1]
"Some of the walled settlements have surrounding ditches that may have served as moats. One of the functions of the walls probably was defense."
[2]
[1]: (Demattè 1999, 126) [2]: (Underhill in Peregrine and Ember 2001, 157) |
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not mentioned in the literature
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Coded present for the Roman Empire - Principate. Existing fortified places which had ditches may have been maintained into this period.
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not mentioned in literature
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Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE) had defensive fortifications such as pallisades, ditches and earth ramparts at many sites.
[1]
[1]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago. |
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"The architectural and topographic survey of Pueblito shows that the town itself seems to have no particular contours, limits, or a predetermined shape. Neither does Ciudad Perdida. There is no perimeter or defensive wall, of any shape or form, encircling it or bounding it, and clustered residential compounds were not organized into a definite form that can be interpreted as a spatial template that was being followed."
[1]
[1]: (Giraldo 2010, 274) |
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The Shuar constructed traps: ’It is still common among the Jibaros to arrange a kind of trap on the way which leads to the house and where one expects the enemy will try to approach it. One such trap consists of a round hole in the ground, about 1 1/2 meters deep and large enough for a full-grown man to fall into it. At the bottom of the hole three pointed sticks of chonta, resembling points of lances, are arranged in an erect position. These pointed sticks are called ashi. The part which sticks out from the earth has a length of about half a meter. At the surface of the earth the opening of the hole is covered with small sticks and leaves which makes it difficult or impossible for the enemy, creeping along in the darkness, to discover its presence before he falls into it. When he falls his feet are transfixed by the pointed sticks and he is not able to get out. Besides, the defenders of the house are often keeping watch at these holes, ready to dispatch the enemy when he is caught in them. The Jibaros call these traps mesértinyu whua, ‘a hole of death’.’
[1]
These are not considered ditches in the conventional sense here.
[1]: Karsten, Rafael. 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru.", 262-264 |
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"It is still common among the Jibaros to arrange a kind of trap on the way which leads to the house and where one expects the enemy will try to approach it. One such trap consists of a round hole in the ground, about 1 1/2 meters deep and large enough for a full-grown man to fall into it. At the bottom of the hole three pointed sticks of chonta, resembling points of lances, are arranged in an erect position. These pointed sticks are called ashi. The part which sticks out from the earth has a length of about half a meter. At the surface of the earth the opening of the hole is covered with small sticks and leaves which makes it difficult or impossible for the enemy, creeping along in the darkness, to discover its presence before he falls into it. When he falls his feet are transfixed by the pointed sticks and he is not able to get out. Besides, the defenders of the house are often keeping watch at these holes, ready to dispatch the enemy when he is caught in them. The Jibaros call these traps mesértinyu whua, ‘a hole of death’".
[1]
[1]: Karsten, Rafael. 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru.", 262-264 |
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[1]
[1]: (Adam 1981, 232) Adam, S. 1981. “The Importance of Nubia: A Link between Central Africa and the Mediterranean.” In General History of Africa II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa, edited by G. Mokhtar, II:226-44. General History of Africa. Paris: UNESCO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8APQDQV3. |
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Ditches and moats existed and were used at this time, e.g. in the Levant region. Were they used by the Ptolemies?
|
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"Trenches and earthworks" at Callao
[1]
[1]: (Bradley 2009, 54) Bradley, Peter T. 2009. Spain and the Defense of Peru: Royal Reluctance and Colonial Self-Reliance. Lulu.com. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/VFMNE6JR |
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General reference for Western Europe 11th and 12th centuries CE: fortifications typically consisted of earth ramparts and timber palisades which were generally surrounded by dry ditches (rather than water-filled for a moat). In the early 12th century CE stone began to replace earth-and-timber defences for walls and for castles (previously often wooden).
[1]
Since ditches are a very ancient form of fortification we could code inferred present for the period earlier than the 12th century (when it is known they were still used). Thuringians dug ditches in the fields against Merovingian horses.
[2]
[1]: (Jones 1999, 171-172) Richard L C Jones. Fortifications and Sieges in Western Europe, c.800-1450. Maurice Keen. ed. 1999. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Bachrach 1972, 19, 135) Bachrach, B S. 1972. Merovingian Military Organization 481-751. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. |
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|
Not mentioned in the literature. "Settlements varied between two primary forms in the Earlier Bronze Age. One was a simple hamlet of several small, square structures, probably housing one or more extended family groups. The other was a fortified town, usually built on an easily defended prominence and surrounded by a series of walls and ditches."
[1]
However, this description comes from a description of Western Europe as a whole and might not correspond to the Atlantic zone specifically. Data for Mediterranean France: "Massive defensive ramparts that have left archaeological traces were extremely rare throughout Mediterranean France during the period immediately preceding the colonial encounter. One cannot rule out the possible presence of wooden palisades surrounding settlements, although these have yet to be detected. Aside from a few sides with impressive ditches (such as Carsac in western Languedoc), the Late Bronze Age settlements at Le Baou Roux (in Provence), La Joufee (at Montmirat in eastern Languedoc), and Le Cros (in western Languedoc) are among the very few examples known with geniune ramparts during this early period."
[2]
[1]: (Peregrine 2001, 412-413) [2]: (Dietler 2010, 169) Michael Dietler. 2010. Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France. University of California Press. Berkeley. |
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"Evidence for warfare varies in the different areas of Europe during the Late Neolithic. In France, numerous fortified sites are found (Cassen and Boujot 1990); for example, in the Charentes and adjoining regions approximately 60 fortified sites are known (Giot 1994). Some of them such as Champ-Durand in Vendee, have a triple row of interrupted ditches with dry-stone walls and towers to protect entrances."
[1]
[1]: (Milisauskas and Kruk 2002, 259) |
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A Bailey consists of a ditch with a wooden rampart. "In the 11th century, local rulers led in the construction of fortifications, at first small earth and wood motte-and-bailey castles, but soon larger and stronger structures of masonry."
[1]
Motte and bailey castles proliferated.
[2]
[1]: (DeVries in Kibler et al 1995, 1838) [2]: (Hallam and Everard 2014) Elizabeth M Hallam. Judith Everard. 2014. Capetian France 987-1328. Second Edition. Routledge. London. |
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|
"In the 11th century, local rulers led in the construction of fortifications, at first small earth and wood motte-and-bailey castles, but soon larger and stronger structures of masonry."
[1]
Motte and bailey castles proliferated.
[2]
Baileys (ditch and wooden rampart) "Built at Eure in Normandy in 1196-98 at the behest of the English king Richard the Lionhearted, Château-Gaillard stands on a precipitous cliff 300 feet above the Seine River. The castle consists of three baileys arranged in a line, with a donjon, which may have been a later addition, standing on the edge of the precipice, principally within but also projecting outside of the inner bailey."
[3]
"At the height of the Middle Ages, great castles were built with deep, defensive ditches or moats and several concentric rings of stone walls reinforced with towers that required attackers to fight their way through several layers of defense to achieve victory."
[4]
[1]: (DeVries in Kibler et al 1995, 1838) [2]: (Hallam and Everard 2014) Elizabeth M Hallam. Judith Everard. 2014. Capetian France 987-1328. Second Edition. Routledge. London. [3]: (DeVries in Kibler et al 1995, 401) [4]: (Newman 2001, 75) Paul B Newman. 2001. Daily Life in the Middle Ages. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Jefferson. |
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General reference for Western Europe 11th and 12th centuries CE: fortifications typically consisted of earth ramparts and timber palisades which were generally surrounded by dry ditches (rather than water-filled for a moat). In the early 12th century CE stone began to replace earth-and-timber defences for walls and for castles (previously often wooden).
[1]
Since ditches are a very ancient form of fortification we could code inferred present for the period earlier than the 12th century (when it is known they were still used).
[1]: (Jones 1999, 171-172) Richard L C Jones. Fortifications and Sieges in Western Europe, c.800-1450. Maurice Keen. ed. 1999. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
General reference for Western Europe 11th and 12th centuries CE: fortifications typically consisted of earth ramparts and timber palisades which were generally surrounded by dry ditches (rather than water-filled for a moat). In the early 12th century CE stone began to replace earth-and-timber defences for walls and for castles (previously often wooden).
[1]
Since ditches are a very ancient form of fortification we could code inferred present for the period earlier than the 12th century (when it is known they were still used).
[1]: (Jones 1999, 171-172) Richard L C Jones. Fortifications and Sieges in Western Europe, c.800-1450. Maurice Keen. ed. 1999. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
General reference for Western Europe 11th and 12th centuries CE: fortifications typically consisted of earth ramparts and timber palisades which were generally surrounded by dry ditches (rather than water-filled for a moat). In the early 12th century CE stone began to replace earth-and-timber defences for walls and for castles (previously often wooden).
[1]
Since ditches are a very ancient form of fortification we could code inferred present for the period earlier than the 12th century (when it is known they were still used). Thuringians dug ditches in the fields against Merovingian horses.
[2]
[1]: (Jones 1999, 171-172) Richard L C Jones. Fortifications and Sieges in Western Europe, c.800-1450. Maurice Keen. ed. 1999. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Bachrach 1972, 19, 135) Bachrach, B S. 1972. Merovingian Military Organization 481-751. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. |
||||||
|
General reference for Western Europe 11th and 12th centuries CE: fortifications typically consisted of earth ramparts and timber palisades which were generally surrounded by dry ditches (rather than water-filled for a moat). In the early 12th century CE stone began to replace earth-and-timber defences for walls and for castles (previously often wooden).
[1]
Since ditches are a very ancient form of fortification we could code inferred present for the period earlier than the 12th century (when it is known they were still used). Thuringians dug ditches in the fields against Merovingian horses.
[2]
[1]: (Jones 1999, 171-172) Richard L C Jones. Fortifications and Sieges in Western Europe, c.800-1450. Maurice Keen. ed. 1999. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Bachrach 1972, 19, 135) Bachrach, B S. 1972. Merovingian Military Organization 481-751. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. |
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‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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At Sainte-Germain: "Delimiting the citadel fortification consists of a triple system of embankments and ditches." Ditches also known at Saint-Mihiel, Vouziers, Saint-Pierre-de-Varengeville, Saint-Samson-de-la-Roque, Sandouville and Lion-devant-Dun.
[1]
[1]: (http://www.oppida.org/page.php?lg=fr&rub=00&id_oppidum=168) |
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"Castle architecture became increasingly complex from the 12th to 13th centuries. ... All of these precautions became obsolete with the widespread use of gunpowder in the 14th and 15th centuries, and castles became simply country residences for the nobility."
[1]
[1]: (Jesse 1995, 181) Scott Jesse. Castles. William W Kibler. Grover A Zinn. Lawrence Earp. John Bell Henneman Jr. 1995. Routledge Revivals: Medieval France (1995): An Encyclopedia. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "One kind of fortress was the point of a narrow, steep-sided ridge that had been made somewhat defensible by digging deep trenches" Pg 35-36.
[1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "One kind of fortress was the point of a narrow, steep-sided ridge that had been made somewhat defensible by digging deep trenches" Pg 35-36.
[1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[1]
In Medang period Ratu Boko had a dry moat as a defensive structure
[2]
[1]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. [2]: (Millet in Miksic 2003, 74) |
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According to Miksic the Majapahit capital did not seem to have any sort of defensive perimeter.
[1]
This does not mean that no town or fort in Majapahit had any type of defensive fortification. Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[2]
[1]: (Miksic 2000, 115) [2]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. |
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Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[1]
Ratu Boko had a dry moat as a defensive structure
[2]
[1]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. [2]: (Millet in Miksic 2003, 74) |
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E.g. "The layout of Khirbet Atarus - a rectangular, elevated compound surrounded by a rock-cut [dry] moat on three sides and protected by a steep slope on the fourth—is identical to the Omride compound in Jezreel."
[1]
(Note that references to "moats" in ancient Israel are invariably to dry moats, i.e. ditches.)
[1]: Finkelstein (2013:100) |
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"According to A. N. Bose (1961, 205-6), Saketa and Ayodhya, both celebrated in the Buddhist sources and the Ramayana, were the same city. The excavations conducted at the site in 1975-77 showed a burnt-brick fortification wall with a ditch outside dating possibly from c. BC 200 (IAR, 1975-76, 1976-77)."
[1]
[1]: (Allchin et al. 1995, 298) F R Allchin. George Erdosy. R A E Coningham. D K Chakrabarti. Bridget Allchin. The Mauryan Empire and its aftermath. F. R. Allchin. ed. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
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Lower Deccan (Krishna-Tungabhadra River Valleys; Krishna-Tungabhadra Doab) 1100-100 BCE: "Preferred settlement location are on high hilltops or on the slopes of outcrops, with some evidence for walls and other defensive features."
[1]
[1]: (? 2002, 365)? South Indian Iron Age. Peter N Peregrine. Melvin Ember. eds. 2002. Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Volume 8: South and Southwest Asia. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. New York. |
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Cannot find any data other than passing references to city walls and that the later Guptas didn’t build enough fortifications. The Guptas held a vast territory (where resources available differed greatly from one place to the next) so one could infer this included cities which already had stone walls, earth ramparts, moats and ditches, and palisades.
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Commenting on Jean Deloche’s ’Studies on Fortification in India’ a book reviewer says " certain types of multiple ditches on the exterior of medieval forts were likely to have been placed to ’impede the approach of elephants.’”
[1]
[1]: (Smith 2010, 274) Monica L Smith. January 2010. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 130.2. Studies on Fortification in India. Collection Indologie, vol. 104. Four Forts of the Deccan vol. 111. Senji (Gingee): A Fortified City in the Tamil Country. vol. 101 by Jean Deloche. |
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‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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"The Kingdom of Kampili on the Raichur Doab between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers was protected by the strong forts of Kunmata and Anegondi. The Muslim armies repeatedly attacked Kampili and captured Kunmata on their third attempt."
[1]
-- what were the nature of the obviously fairly effective fortifications at Kunamata and Anegondi? Commenting on Jean Deloche’s ’Studies on Fortification in India’ a book reviewer says " certain types of multiple ditches on the exterior of medieval forts were likely to have been placed to ’impede the approach of elephants.’”
[2]
[1]: (Sadasivan 2011, 191) Sadasiva, Balaju. 2011. The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. [2]: (Smith 2010, 274) Monica L Smith. January 2010. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 130.2. Studies on Fortification in India. Collection Indologie, vol. 104. Four Forts of the Deccan vol. 111. Senji (Gingee): A Fortified City in the Tamil Country. vol. 101 by Jean Deloche. |
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"Ancient Rajagriha, the first capital of Magadha, dates from the early phase of the NBP or at least the sixth century BCE ... citadel surrounded by a mud rampart and a ditch outside the hill-girt valley ... There is a core of pre-NBP BRW occupation inside the hill girt area of Rajgir, which is also defended by a cyclopaean masonry wall at least at the major entrances to the valley. A recent survey (Harding 2003) has demonstrated that the only entrances were fortified; along the hilltops the so-called fortification wall was nothing more than a kind of marker defining the limits of the settlement."
[1]
NBP = Northern Black Polished Ware. "Naulagarh is an unpublished NBP-bearing site of about one sq km and with a surrounding mud fortification wall ... basically unexcavated and lies, like Sikligarh, on the route which traveled east from Pataliputra by following the northern edge of the Ganga."
[2]
[1]: (Chakrabarti 2006, 14) Dilip K Chakrabarti. Relating History to the Land: Urban Centers, Geographical Unites, and Trade Routes in the Gangetic and Central India of circa 200 BCE." Patrick Olivelle. ed. Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Chakrabarti 2006, 16) Dilip K Chakrabarti. Relating History to the Land: Urban Centers, Geographical Unites, and Trade Routes in the Gangetic and Central India of circa 200 BCE." Patrick Olivelle. ed. Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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Ed: seems to be references to something called a khandaq - which could be either moat or a ditch or both.
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"(a) The Fort is said to have been originally built by Soma- deva, the Raja of Qandhar, and subsequently added to by Krishna III, the Rashtrakuta Raja of Malkhed, who is styled " Lord of Qandharpura ". It is surrounded by a ditch and a ..."
[1]
[1]: (? 1953, 20) ?. 1953. Antiquarian Remains in Hyderabad State. Government Press. |
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"Satanikota on the bank of the Tugabhadra was a fortified Satavahana place [palace?] with a ditch cut into the natural bedrock".
[1]
[1]: (Chakrabarti 1995, 306) D K Chakrabarti. Post-Mauryan states of mainland South Asia (c. BC 185-AD 320). F R Allchin. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
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Present for the preceding Satavahana period.
[1]
. There were "Sites of royal importance with fortifications, e.g. Pauni, Nagaradhan, Bilav-Kuji nala, Ghugusgad, etc."
[2]
however, what those fortification were is not stated.
[1]: (Chakrabarti 1995, 306) D K Chakrabarti. Post-Mauryan states of mainland South Asia (c. BC 185-AD 320). F R Allchin. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (Sawant 2009) Reshma Sawant. 2008. ‘State Formation Process In The Vidarbha During The Vakataka Period’. Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute 68-69: 137-162. |
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"During sieges, huge shields were used to protect individual sappers when they destroyed or sapped the walls, and surely when they filled the ditch in as well."
[1]
[1]: (De Backer 2016, 111) Fabrice De Backer. 2016. The Neo-Assyrian Shield: Evolution, Heraldry, and Associated Tactics. Lockwood Press. Atlanta. |
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"As with the rest of the Near East, there is little evidence for warfare in Neolithic Mesopotamia."
[1]
[1]: (Hamblin 2006: 33) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/4WM3RBTD. |
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‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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|
‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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|
‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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|
‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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|
‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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Safavid soldiers dug trenches during sieges.
[1]
"Shah Abbas arrived at Ganja in 1606 to make heavy use of trenches, siege works, and cannon fire to subdue its Ottoman garrison."
[2]
[1]: Steven R. Ward, Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces (Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press, 2009), p.49. [2]: (Farrokh 2011) Farrokh, Kevin. 2011. Iran at War: 1500-1988. Osprey Publishing. |
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|
‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
||||||
|
‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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Late Bronze Age (c.1350-1200 BCE): "A large rectangular hut (c.15 by 7 m) has been found at Monte Rovello, southern Etruria, and a ditch-and-embankment system at Toree Mordillo."
[1]
[1]: (Sestieri 2013, 640) Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri. Peninsular Italy. Harry Fokkens. Anthony Harding. 2013. The Oxford Handbook of the European Bronze Age. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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General reference for Western Europe 11th and 12th centuries CE: fortifications typically consisted of earth ramparts and timber palisades which were generally surrounded by dry ditches (rather than water-filled for a moat). In the early 12th century CE stone began to replace earth-and-timber defences for walls and for castles (previously often wooden).
[1]
[1]: (Jones 1999, 171-172) Richard L C Jones. Fortifications and Sieges in Western Europe, c.800-1450. Maurice Keen. ed. 1999. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
General reference for Western Europe 11th and 12th centuries CE: fortifications typically consisted of earth ramparts and timber palisades which were generally surrounded by dry ditches (rather than water-filled for a moat). In the early 12th century CE stone began to replace earth-and-timber defences for walls and for castles (previously often wooden).
[1]
[1]: (Jones 1999, 171-172) Richard L C Jones. Fortifications and Sieges in Western Europe, c.800-1450. Maurice Keen. ed. 1999. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
General reference for Western Europe 11th and 12th centuries CE: fortifications typically consisted of earth ramparts and timber palisades which were generally surrounded by dry ditches (rather than water-filled for a moat). In the early 12th century CE stone began to replace earth-and-timber defences for walls and for castles (previously often wooden).
[1]
Since ditches are a very ancient form of fortification we could code inferred present for the period earlier than the 12th century (when it is known they were still used).
[1]: (Jones 1999, 171-172) Richard L C Jones. Fortifications and Sieges in Western Europe, c.800-1450. Maurice Keen. ed. 1999. Medieval Warfare: A History. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
|
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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’The first city conformed with the classic form of Khmer capital with certain fundamental elements: a defensive bank and ditch with a state temple at its centre, built from brick or stone, and a wooden palace. There would also have been many secular buildings, constructed almost entirely of wood, in and around the enceinte. The state temple at Roluos, the Bakong, and the temple built in memory of the royal ancestors, Preah Ko, were erected around 880. Another essential feature of a Khmer capital, a large reservoir, was added a decade later, with in its centre a third temple built to the north-west of Roluos, around the hill of Phnom Bakeng, now known as the Eastern Baray.’
[1]
[1]: (UNESCO ’Angkor’ World Heritage Site Long Description http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668) |
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’The first city conformed with the classic form of Khmer capital with certain fundamental elements: a defensive bank and ditch with a state temple at its centre, built from brick or stone, and a wooden palace. There would also have been many secular buildings, constructed almost entirely of wood, in and around the enceinte. The state temple at Roluos, the Bakong, and the temple built in memory of the royal ancestors, Preah Ko, were erected around 880. Another essential feature of a Khmer capital, a large reservoir, was added a decade later, with in its centre a third temple built to the north-west of Roluos, around the hill of Phnom Bakeng, now known as the Eastern Baray.’
[1]
[1]: (UNESCO ’Angkor’ World Heritage Site Long Description http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668) |
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|
’The first city conformed with the classic form of Khmer capital with certain fundamental elements: a defensive bank and ditch with a state temple at its centre, built from brick or stone, and a wooden palace. There would also have been many secular buildings, constructed almost entirely of wood, in and around the enceinte. The state temple at Roluos, the Bakong, and the temple built in memory of the royal ancestors, Preah Ko, were erected around 880. Another essential feature of a Khmer capital, a large reservoir, was added a decade later, with in its centre a third temple built to the north-west of Roluos, around the hill of Phnom Bakeng, now known as the Eastern Baray.’
[1]
[1]: (UNESCO ’Angkor’ World Heritage Site Long Description http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668) |
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|
’The first city conformed with the classic form of Khmer capital with certain fundamental elements: a defensive bank and ditch with a state temple at its centre, built from brick or stone, and a wooden palace. There would also have been many secular buildings, constructed almost entirely of wood, in and around the enceinte. The state temple at Roluos, the Bakong, and the temple built in memory of the royal ancestors, Preah Ko, were erected around 880. Another essential feature of a Khmer capital, a large reservoir, was added a decade later, with in its centre a third temple built to the north-west of Roluos, around the hill of Phnom Bakeng, now known as the Eastern Baray.’
[1]
[1]: (UNESCO ’Angkor’ World Heritage Site Long Description http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668) |
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It seems that most of the features are canals, embankments, moats, or ponds/reservoirs:’In the 1920s Pierre Paris overflew this area [the flat plains surrounding the Mekong and its Bassac arm below Phnom Penh] and took a series of photographs. These revealed a network of canals crossing the landscape, and various nodal points where they met. One such junction revealed a huge enceinte demarcated by five moats and ramparts encoding 1,112 acres (450 ha). It was here that Louis Malleret excavated in 1944. The site was known as Oc Eco [...].’
[1]
’The river which flows there today was formerly a canal which functioned as a moat and a harbour, and ran about halfway around the outskirts of town.’
[2]
[1]: (Higham 2012b, 590) [2]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p, 57) |
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"Whereas no sites are documented as fortified or military observatories during the Formative and Classic periods, approximately one quarter of sites are during the Epiclassic and one-third of sites are during the Postclassic."
[1]
[1]: (Carballo and Pluckhahn 2007: 615) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/MUW5MHB7. |
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It seems that most of the features are canals, embankments, moats, or ponds/reservoirs:’In the 1920s Pierre Paris overflew this area [the flat plains surrounding the Mekong and its Bassac arm below Phnom Penh] and took a series of photographs. These revealed a network of canals crossing the landscape, and various nodal points where they met. One such junction revealed a huge enceinte demarcated by five moats and ramparts encoding 1,112 acres (450 ha). It was here that Louis Malleret excavated in 1944. The site was known as Oc Eco [...].’
[1]
’The river which flows there today was formerly a canal which functioned as a moat and a harbour, and ran about halfway around the outskirts of town.’
[2]
’Angkor Borei, a city covering about 300 hectares (750 acres), located above the Mekong Delta in Cambodia mayonee have been the capital of a state called FUNAN. The city had been occupied as early as the fourth century B.C.E. and was a major center. It is ringed by a brick wall and a moat. Chinese visitors to the region in the third century C.E. described a capital of a state called Funan, and Angkor Borei, which was linked to OC EO and other delta settlements by a canal, may well have been such a regal centre.’
[3]
’Nor should one overlook the extent of the moats and defences of Oc Eo, and the large brick structure which was built in its central area.’
[4]
[1]: (Higham 2012b, p. 590) [2]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p, 57) [3]: (Higham 2004, p. 17) [4]: (Higham 2014b, p. 342) |
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|
It seems that most of the features are canals, embankments, moats, or ponds/reservoirs:’In the 1920s Pierre Paris overflew this area [the flat plains surrounding the Mekong and its Bassac arm below Phnom Penh] and took a series of photographs. These revealed a network of canals crossing the landscape, and various nodal points where they met. One such junction revealed a huge enceinte demarcated by five moats and ramparts encoding 1,112 acres (450 ha). It was here that Louis Malleret excavated in 1944. The site was known as Oc Eco [...].’
[1]
’The river which flows there today was formerly a canal which functioned as a moat and a harbour, and ran about halfway around the outskirts of town.’
[2]
’Angkor Borei, a city covering about 300 hectares (750 acres), located above the Mekong Delta in Cambodia mayonee have been the capital of a state called FUNAN. The city had been occupied as early as the fourth century B.C.E. and was a major center. It is ringed by a brick wall and a moat. Chinese visitors to the region in the third century C.E. described a capital of a state called Funan, and Angkor Borei, which was linked to OC EO and other delta settlements by a canal, may well have been such a regal centre.’
[3]
’Nor should one overlook the extent of the moats and defences of Oc Eo, and the large brick structure which was built in its central area.’
[4]
[1]: (Higham 2012b, p. 590) [2]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p, 57) [3]: (Higham 2004, p. 17) [4]: (Higham 2014b, p. 342) |
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"The term “Memotian” culture is now used to refer to 40 circular ramparted and moated sites (banteay kou in Khmer) in a hilly area of east Cambodia and a corner of southwest Vietnam measuring 85 kilometers east-west and 35 kilometers north-south, occupied between the early third millennium to early first millennium bce; about 15 have been intensively studied. The oldest sites seem to cluster in the west of this area, from whence they spread gradually east. Their components include an outer rampart, interior depression or “moat”, and a gap in the rampart, probably an entrance/exit."
[1]
[1]: (Miksic and Goh 2016: 113) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2EZ3CBBS. |
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"The term “Memotian” culture is now used to refer to 40 circular ramparted and moated sites (banteay kou in Khmer) in a hilly area of east Cambodia and a corner of southwest Vietnam measuring 85 kilometers east-west and 35 kilometers north-south, occupied between the early third millennium to early first millennium bce; about 15 have been intensively studied. The oldest sites seem to cluster in the west of this area, from whence they spread gradually east. Their components include an outer rampart, interior depression or “moat”, and a gap in the rampart, probably an entrance/exit."
[1]
[1]: (Miksic and Goh 2016: 113) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2EZ3CBBS. |
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Reference for pre-colonial African warfare: "The formation of a fortified camp, distinct from the parent town or towns, was usually the first step taken by a West African army when it advanced into the field. ... the leaders were sheltered by tents or by walls of matting while the soldiers slept under such shelter as they could find... But on arrival at the point chosen by the commander as the base of operations, the practice was to throw up an earthern wall surrounded by a ditch (the excavation from which the wall had been built)."
[1]
[1]: (Smith 1989, 100) Robert Sydney Smith. 1989. Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa. Second Edition. The University of Wisconsin Press. Madison. |
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Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[1]
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a ditch.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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|
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[1]
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate
[1]
which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy |
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From Chinese chronicles: "They do not have towns surrounded with inner and outer walls, but herd livestock, going from place to place in search of water and grass. Their homes are felt tents, which they take to the place where they stop."
[1]
The Chinese chronicles on this matter seem to be lacking in detail and therefore suspect. They might be referring to the condition of the majority of the Rouran so it might not preclude the existence of a capital town/city that is fortified. "Early in the 6th century, probably under Anagui’s reign, the Rouran built their capital city, the town of Mumocheng, encircled with two walls constructed by Liang shu (LS 54: 47a-47b; Taskin 1984, p. 290)."
[2]
"However, no trace of the town has been found to date and historians argue about its location."
[2]
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[3]
[1]: (Kyzlasov 1996, 317) [2]: (Kradin 2005, 163) [3]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[1]
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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’Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents.’
[1]
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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"The fortified settlement of Ivolga in Russia, situated near the modern city of Ulan-Ude, is the most investigated one among them. The site was an irregular rectangle with sides equal to approximately 200 and 300 m. On three sides, it was protected by fortification works of three walls alternating with three ditches while on the fourth side the site was protected by the Selenga river."
[1]
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2011, 85) [2]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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"The fortified settlement of Ivolga in Russia, situated near the modern city of Ulan-Ude, is the most investigated one among them. The site was an irregular rectangle with sides equal to approximately 200 and 300 m. On three sides, it was protected by fortification works of three walls alternating with three ditches while on the fourth side the site was protected by the Selenga river."
[1]
"Botanical analyses were conducted at the Ivolga site complex, an important example of a fortified settlement of 2,500-3,000 people specializing in agriculture and metal production in the Transbaikal region (Davydova 1995; Kradin 2005a). "
[2]
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[3]
[1]: (Kradin 2011, 85) [2]: (Rogers 2012, 221) [3]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a ditch.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a ditch.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a ditch.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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The presence of a ditch has not been recorded.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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"For fortifications, Aztec sites show a broad range with some totally exposed on valley floors and others being walled or at elevations. Tenochtitlan only had walls around the sacred precinct but of course had natural fortification by being an island in a lake that could be entered only through a few causeways. At the high end of fortification was the Tlaxcalan stronghold of Tepeticpac, up on a high hill and encircled by walls. That was their strategy of resistance against the Aztec empire. Huexotla is a site in the domain of Texcoco with a large wall and their were fortified garrisons on the frontier between the Aztec and Tarascan empires, in west Mexico. But probably more sites were not fortified than were. There was nothing comparable to the medieval European pattern or earlier fortified city states of Mesopotamia or elsewhere in Eurasia."
[1]
[1]: (Carballo 2019: pers. comm. to E. Cioni and G. Nazzaro) |
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"Whereas no sites are documented as fortified or military observatories during the Formative and Classic periods, approximately one quarter of sites are during the Epiclassic and one-third of sites are during the Postclassic."
[1]
[1]: (Carballo and Pluckhahn 2007: 615) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/MUW5MHB7. |
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"Whereas no sites are documented as fortified or military observatories during the Formative and Classic periods, approximately one quarter of sites are during the Epiclassic and one-third of sites are during the Postclassic."
[1]
[1]: (Carballo and Pluckhahn 2007: 615) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/MUW5MHB7. |
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"For urban centres in the rest of Mesoamerica, the lack of perimeter walls and defensive settings is striking. The undefended nature of Aztec towns, for example, contrasts sharply with the ethnohistoric record of Aztec warfare".
[1]
[1]: (Smith 2003: 38) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/WEIQNSNP |
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The fact that sources mention evidence for defensive palisades
[1]
but not evidence for any other kind of fortification suggests that there is only evidence for the former. Evidence for large or complex fortifications has not been found for this period.
[1]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2005). Excavations at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum, p102 |
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The fact that sources mention evidence for defensive palisades
[1]
but not evidence for any other kind of fortification suggests that there is only evidence for the former. Evidence for large or complex fortifications has not been found for this period.
[1]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2005). Excavations at San José Mogote 1: The Household Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum, p102 |
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"While Inca fortifications used the same architectural techniques as those of LIP populations -- concentric walls or wall-ditch complexes, baffled gates and non-aligned gates, parapets with slingstone piles -- the density, design, and defensibility of Inca forts varied from region to region, depending on function, the level of threat, and local architectural tradition (Hyslop 1990:189)."
[1]
[1]: (Arkush 2006, 534) |
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Williams and Murray report the construction of spear pits: ’As a last point may be mentioned the miniature spear-pits (see p. 49) with which the paths were sometimes beset. They are mentioned as occurring in the Kokoda district, often beside a tree-trunk that has fallen across the path, so that the unwary might step over the log and into the trap. Several of the police had their feet spiked in this manner. Near Bogi, again, Mr. Alec Elliot, attacking a force of natives established in a strong position on the opposite side of a garden, found this garden to be ‘one mass of small spears and spear-pits’.’
[1]
Whether these traps qualify as fortifications remains in question.
[1]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray. 1930. “Orokaiva Society.", 166 |
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Williams and Murray report the construction of spear pits: ’As a last point may be mentioned the miniature spear-pits (see p. 49) with which the paths were sometimes beset. They are mentioned as occurring in the Kokoda district, often beside a tree-trunk that has fallen across the path, so that the unwary might step over the log and into the trap. Several of the police had their feet spiked in this manner. Near Bogi, again, Mr. Alec Elliot, attacking a force of natives established in a strong position on the opposite side of a garden, found this garden to be ‘one mass of small spears and spear-pits’.’
[1]
Whether these traps qualify as fortifications remains in question.
[1]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray. 1930. “Orokaiva Society.", 166 |
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Tokarev and Gurvich mention fortifications surrounded by water and snow, but no additional ditches dug out around the forts: "When speaking of structures, we should also mention the fact that in the old days the Yakuts knew how to make fortifications or ostrozhki, as they were called in the Russian texts of the 17th century. For example, in 1636-1637, during the campaign against the Kangalastsy, the Russian Cossacks found that “they had built strong forts with two walls covered with gravel, and surrounded by snow and water;” it was only after a two-day assault that the Cossacks managed to take one of these forts. In 1642 the Russians also took a Sakha fortress after great difficulty: “. . . the fort was made with two walls, the space between the walls was filled with earth, and there were log towers.” At a later stage these fortifications disappeared, and no one has described them since in detail. But even in the 19th century it was possible to find special tower-like barns here and there, which belonged to the Toyons."
[1]
[1]: Tokarev, S. A., and Gurvich I. S. 1964. “Yakuts.” Peoples Of Siberia, 265 |
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Tokarev and Gurvich mention fortifications surrounded by water and snow, but no additional ditches dug out around the forts: "When speaking of structures, we should also mention the fact that in the old days the Yakuts knew how to make fortifications or ostrozhki, as they were called in the Russian texts of the 17th century. For example, in 1636-1637, during the campaign against the Kangalastsy, the Russian Cossacks found that “they had built strong forts with two walls covered with gravel, and surrounded by snow and water;” it was only after a two-day assault that the Cossacks managed to take one of these forts. In 1642 the Russians also took a Yakut fortress after great difficulty: “. . . the fort was made with two walls, the space between the walls was filled with earth, and there were log towers.” At a later stage these fortifications disappeared, and no one has described them since in detail. But even in the 19th century it was possible to find special tower-like barns here and there, which belonged to the Toyons."
[1]
[1]: Tokarev, S. A., and Gurvich I. S. 1964. “Yakuts.” Peoples Of Siberia, 265 |
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Sintashta culture is also in Central Asia (essentially follows the Sarazm 2100-1800 BCE) but I don’t think there is enough here to infer present as Sarazm was not between the northern steppe and the forest zone:"One of the signature innovations of the Sintashta culture was the appearance of heavily fortified permanent settlements, with ditches, banks, and substantial palisade walls, in the steppes southeast of the Urals, beginning a shift from mobile to settled pastoralism that was adopted soon afterward across the northern steppe zone both to the east and the west. The late 3rd milennium BC was a time of intensified conflict and intensified interchange between the people of the northern steppes and the forest zone. Conflict and competition for shrinking marsh resources essential for wintering-over pastoral herds probably led to the sedentarization of the formerly mobile pastoralists of the steppes."
[1]
[1]: (Anthony and Brown 2014, 66) David W Anthony. Dorcas R Brown. Horseback Riding and Bronze Age Pastoralism in the Eurasian Steppes. Victor H Mair. Jane Hickman. eds. 2014. Reconfiguring the Silk Road: New Research on East-West Exchange in Antiquity. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Philadelphia. |
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A trench was dug in front of the north wall of Cairo "to protect the city from Qarmat attacks."
[1]
Dry moat called Khandaq.
[2]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 37) [2]: (Bloom 2007, 102) Bennison A K, Gascoigne A L eds. 2007. Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World: The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society. Routledge. |
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same as the previous polity: ’this fortification system arrangement remained unchanged throughout the imperial Hittite and Neo-Hittite periods’
[1]
[1]: Marcella Frangipane, ‘Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 985 |
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same as the previous polity: ’this fortification system arrangement remained unchanged throughout the imperial Hittite and Neo-Hittite periods’
[1]
[1]: Marcella Frangipane, ‘Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 985 |
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’this fortification system arrangement remained unchanged throughout the imperial Hittite and Neo-Hittite periods’
[1]
[1]: Marcella Frangipane, ‘Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 985 |
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"By the 16th century Ottoman tactics had reached their classic form. Within a formidable system of entrenchments..."
[1]
"At the battle of Varna in 1444 the formidable Janissaries occupied the centre positions with a ditch around them."
[2]
[1]: (Nicolle 1983, 7) [2]: (Turnball 2003, 20) Turnball, S. 2003. The Ottoman Empire 1326-1699. Osprey Publishing Ltd. |
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References to Seljuks building ditch fortification for a different region.
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In terms of settlement organisation, the main defensive strategy seems to have been to construct larger villages
[1]
.
[1]: Illinois State Museum, Illinois Economy: Settlements (2000), http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/ec_settle.html |
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Though the Iroquois were known for their impressive fortifications in the seventeenth century, no sources could be found describing Iroquois fortifications in the eighteenth century. This, combined with Lyford’s claim that the Iroquois had abandoned their traditional fortification methods by the end of the seventeenth century, suggests that most of our "fortification" variables cannot be confidently coded as "present". "The necessity of stockading the villages had almost ceased by the beginning of the seventeenth century, and by the close of the century the stockades were abandoned. Villages became less compact, but houses continued to be built near enough together to form a neighborhood."
[1]
Because, in seventeenth century descriptions, dry moats are not mentioned separately from palisade system, it seems reasonable to infer this variable as inferred absent.
[1]: Lyford 1945, 11 |
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By this period villages were often located on defensible hilltops, away from major routes, and were fortified "either by ravines or by artificial earthworks and multiple palisades," and even watchtowers. Also, "the placement of houses within a palisade may also have been motivated by defensive considerations" and to create defensible corridors.
[1]
[2]
[1]: (Snow 1994: 52) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TQ4KR3AE. [2]: (Engelbrecht 2003: 92) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/FJ3EAI76. |
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Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups."
[1]
[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6 |
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"The geographers of the 10th century describe Fulanj as a town half the size of Herat, with a citadel protected by a ditch and rampart, and as having three gates, leading to Nisapur, Qohestan, and Herat".
[1]
[1]: (Yarshater 2001, 230) Yarshater, Ehsan. 2001. Encylopaedia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul. |
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Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD".
[1]
[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6 |
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Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups."
[1]
[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6 |
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Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD".
[1]
[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6 |
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Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." The situation only changed "[l]ate in the first millennium AD".
[1]
[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6 |
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Apparently the sites of Sleeth and C.W. Cooper were "fortified"
[1]
, but fortification type is not specified. Given that Cahokia and East St Louis had been fortified with wooden palisades
[2]
, it seems reasonable to infer that this same type of fortification was used for Oneota sites as well. However, it is entirely possible that fortifications, here, did include ditches, do it does not seem correct to code this variable as absent. And it is not unknown, as someone out there must know what these fortifications consisted of.
[1]: T. Pauketat and J. Brown, The late prehistory and protohistory of Illinois, in J.A. Walthall and T.E. Emerson (eds.) Calumet & fleur-de-lys: archaeology of Indian and French contact in the midcontinent (1992), pp. 77-128 [2]: J. Galloy, The East St. Louis Mound Center: America’s Original “Second City” (2011), in The Cahokian Fall 2011: 11-15 |
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Qarshi, built by Kebek, was about 40 hectares in area "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents. This layout is typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."
[1]
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate, was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[1]
Trenches dug on the battlefield to combat war elephants at Delhi 1398 CE.
[2]
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Marozzi 2004, 266) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London. |
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"When the invader had re-crossed the seas, the Himyar king reconquered his realm, and wreaked a savage vengance on the Christians of Najaran, who had probably collaborated with the Axumites. Their churches were demolished, and several hundred Najranis, who refused to apostatize, were burnt alive in a trench or moat outside their principal settlement. This occurred in the year 523...".
[1]
Khandak: "ditch, moat ... it may be an Aramaic loanword in Arabic. ... Salman al-Farisi ... it is said, advised Muhammad to protect Madina in the year 6 A.H. against its beleaguerers by digging a moat, a means of defence hitherto unknown in Arabia but usual in Persia."
[2]
[1]: (Saunders 2002,13)John Joseph Saunders. 2002. A History of Medieval Islam. Routledge. London. [2]: (Beveridge 1993, 899) H Beveridge. Khandak. M Th. Houtsma. A J Wensinck. T W Arnold. W Heffening. E Levi-Provencal. eds. 1993. E. J. Brill’s First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. Volume IV. E J BRILL. Leiden. |
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"When the invader had re-crossed the seas, the Himyar king reconquered his realm, and wreaked a savage vengance on the Christians of Najaran, who had probably collaborated with the Axumites. Their churches were demolished, and several hundred Najranis, who refused to apostatize, were burnt alive in a trench or moat outside their principal settlement. This occurred in the year 523...".
[1]
Khandak: "ditch, moat ... it may be an Aramaic loanword in Arabic. ... Salman al-Farisi ... it is said, advised Muhammad to protect Madina in the year 6 A.H. against its beleaguerers by digging a moat, a means of defence hitherto unknown in Arabia but usual in Persia."
[2]
[1]: (Saunders 2002,13)John Joseph Saunders. 2002. A History of Medieval Islam. Routledge. London. [2]: (Beveridge 1993, 899) H Beveridge. Khandak. M Th. Houtsma. A J Wensinck. T W Arnold. W Heffening. E Levi-Provencal. eds. 1993. E. J. Brill’s First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. Volume IV. E J BRILL. Leiden. |
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