| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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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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May not survive archaeologically, only detectable via excavation.
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May not survive archaeologically, only detectable via excavation.
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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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"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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Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fortifications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4.
[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. "The Hawaiians generally did not build fortifications, but non-combatants could find sacred sanctuary in places of refuge known as pu’uhonua." Pg 4.
[1]
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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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."
[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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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 earth ramparts, 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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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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"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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’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]
’In the second phase, housing on stilts makes its appearance in the plain itself. Funerary monuments have been discovered, betokening to the emergence of "chiefdoms", together with evidence of town planning at Oc-Eo, which was now supplied with an earthen enclosure rampart.’
[2]
’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.’
[3]
’Another text describing the kingdom, the Kinshu, begins thus: "There are walled towns, palaces and dwellings.’"
[4]
’The ancient town at Angkor Borei was in fact a port linked by canals to both Oc-Eo and the river Baassac, a branch of the lower Mekong. It is said to have been enclosed within a rather irregularly-shaped wall forming a rough square some two by two kilometers. This was a veritable rampart comparable to that of the twelfth-century Angkor Thom. It was a brick wall more than a metre thick and six to eight metres high, lined on the inside by a ramp and a sentry path along the top.’
[5]
’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.’
[6]
[1]: (Higham 2012b, p. 590) [2]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p. 54) [3]: (Higham 2014b, p. 342) [4]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p. 51) [5]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p, 57) [6]: (Higham 2004, p. 17) |
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’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]
’In the second phase, housing on stilts makes its appearance in the plain itself. Funerary monuments have been discovered, betokening to the emergence of "chiefdoms", together with evidence of town planning at Oc-Eo, which was now supplied with an earthen enclosure rampart.’
[2]
’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.’
[3]
’Another text describing the kingdom, the Kinshu, begins thus: "There are walled towns, palaces and dwellings.’"
[4]
’The ancient town at Angkor Borei was in fact a port linked by canals to both Oc-Eo and the river Baassac, a branch of the lower Mekong. It is said to have been enclosed within a rather irregularly-shaped wall forming a rough square some two by two kilometers. This was a veritable rampart comparable to that of the twelfth-century Angkor Thom. It was a brick wall more than a metre thick and six to eight metres high, lined on the inside by a ramp and a sentry path along the top.’
[5]
[1]: (Higham 2012b, p. 590) [2]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p. 54) [3]: (Higham 2014b, p. 342) [4]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p. 51) [5]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p, 57) |
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’The second centre was established east of the Mekong at Banteay Prei Nokor. This huge site, the moats and ramparts of which still dominate the flat landscape, was probably the capital from which Jayavarman II began his odyssey westward to found the Kingdom of Angkor.’
[1]
’Another text describing the kingdom, the Kinshu, begins thus: "There are walled towns, palaces and dwellings.’"
[2]
’The ancient town at Angkor Borei was in fact a port linked by canals to both Oc-Eo and the river Baassac, a branch of the lower Mekong. It is said to have been enclosed within a rather irregularly-shaped wall forming a rough square some two by two kilometers. This was a veritable rampart comparable to that of the twelfth-century Angkor Thom. It was a brick wall more than a metre thick and six to eight metres high, lined on the inside by a ramp and a sentry path along the to’
[3]
[1]: (Higham 2014b, 295) [2]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, 51) [3]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p, 57) |
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’The enclosure of Banteay Prei Nokor is the largest and most formidable of which we have any knowledge in pre-Angkorian Cambodia. It was surrounded by a large earthen rampart, probably surmounted by a wooden palisade. The rampart is about 2.50 kilometers square. A moat, about 100 meters wide, surrounded the rampart [...].’
[1]
[1]: (Briggs 1951, pg. 76) |
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’The enclosure of Banteay Prei Nokor is the largest and most formidable of which we have any knowledge in pre-Angkorian Cambodia. It was surrounded by a large earthen rampart, probably surmounted by a wooden palisade. The rampart is about 2.50 kilometers square. A moat, about 100 meters wide, surrounded the rampart [...].’
[1]
[1]: (Briggs 1951, pg. 76) |
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’The initial move seems to have been to Srei Santhor, about 30 km (19 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, at some time in the fourteenth century; then, briefly, to Phnom Penh itself. By about 1528, the Cambodian court under its first great Post-Angkorian king, Ang Chan I, had moved once and for all to the all to the Quatre Bras region, establishing a new capital at Lovek (Longvek), on the right bank of the Tonle Sap River, 50 km (30 miles) north of Phnom Penh. Love, like Udong and Phnom Penh- the town s that succeeded it as the capital- was thoroughly international, with foreign quarters for Malay, Japanese, and Chinese traders (there were as many as 3,000 of the last in the 1540s). There Ang Chan (who really did exist) built a golden palace and at least four major wats, erecting a huge, four-faced Buddha of wood, the stone foundation of which survive in one of the town’s vicars. The capital was fortified by earthen ramparts topped with palisades; these ramparts, which form a huge rectangle, are still visible.’
[1]
[1]: (Coe 2003, pp. 208-209) |
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Previous polity had this form of fortification.
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In early modern times, there had been a shift from stone fortification to brick fortification: "Aside from occasional exceptions, [...] stone fortifications do not appear to have been favored after the classical period. [...] Building stone walls was time-consuming and probably expensive. The stone was difficult to procure and to work, whereas brick was much more readily produced. a transition from stone to brick in temple building from the classical period into the early modern period was thus accompanied by the same general shift in fortification building."
[1]
[1]: (Charney 2004, p. 79) |
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Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[1]
"’In this country they have made the city walls of piled-up bricks, the wall has double gates and watch-towers,’ wrote a Chinese voyager who went to Java fourteen centuries ago."
[2]
[1]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. [2]: Hickman Powell. 1936. Bali: The Last Paradise. Dodd, Mead & Company. |
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Reference suggested a code of ’present’
[1]
but no description was provided to explain why. Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[2]
"’In this country they have made the city walls of piled-up bricks, the wall has double gates and watch-towers,’ wrote a Chinese voyager who went to Java fourteen centuries ago."
[3]
[1]: (Millet in Miksic 2003, 74) [2]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. [3]: Hickman Powell. 1936. Bali: The Last Paradise. Dodd, Mead & Company. |
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Reference suggested a code of ’present’ for Medang period.
[1]
Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[2]
"’In this country they have made the city walls of piled-up bricks, the wall has double gates and watch-towers,’ wrote a Chinese voyager who went to Java fourteen centuries ago."
[3]
[1]: (Millet in Miksic 2003, 74) [2]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. [3]: Hickman Powell. 1936. Bali: The Last Paradise. Dodd, Mead & Company. |
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Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[1]
"’In this country they have made the city walls of piled-up bricks, the wall has double gates and watch-towers,’ wrote a Chinese voyager who went to Java fourteen centuries ago."
[2]
"At the time, Singapore’s defenses included not only the fortified earthen wall but also a stockade-type structure made of wood. The Singaporeans withstood this initial Majapahit attack, but that did not remain the case."
[3]
[1]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. [2]: Hickman Powell. 1936. Bali: The Last Paradise. Dodd, Mead & Company. [3]: (Abshire 2011, 23) Jean E Abshire. 2011. The History of Singapore. Greenwood. Santa Barbara. |
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present in preceding Roman Principate
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no direct evidence for earth ramparts, but considering the elaborate forts constructed by the Incas, we can probably infer presence
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"Trenches and earthworks" in Callao, Peru
[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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e.g. earthen ramparts around cities.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Schlingloff, Dieter. Fortified Cities of Ancient India: A Comparative Study. Anthem Press, 2013. p. 39 [2]: Allchin, F. Raymond. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, p.223. |
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Present in the north of India at this time.
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"Till date, the best study of the evolution of fortifications in India from the Indus Valley Civilization till the rise of British power, remains Deloche’s monograph on fortification in India. Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French. 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. Ditches and moats were present during the preceding Satavahana period
[3]
and the simpler technology of earth rampart is also likely. Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats.
[4]
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. [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. [3]: (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. [4]: (Olivelle 2016, 103) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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"Till date, the best study of the evolution of fortifications in India from the Indus Valley Civilization till the rise of British power, remains Deloche’s monograph on fortification in India. Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French. Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats.
[2]
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. [2]: (Olivelle 2016, 103) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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"Till date, the best study of the evolution of fortifications in India from the Indus Valley Civilization till the rise of British power, remains Deloche’s monograph on fortification in India. Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French. Ditches and moats were present during the Satavahana period
[2]
and the simpler technology of earth rampart is therefore also likely. Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats.
[3]
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. [2]: (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. [3]: (Olivelle 2016, 103) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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"Till date, the best study of the evolution of fortifications in India from the Indus Valley Civilization till the rise of British power, remains Deloche’s monograph on fortification in India. Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French. Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats.
[2]
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. [2]: (Olivelle 2016, 103) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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"Till date, the best study of the evolution of fortifications in India from the Indus Valley Civilization till the rise of British power, remains Deloche’s monograph on fortification in India. Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French. Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats.
[2]
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. [2]: (Olivelle 2016, 103) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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"Till date, the best study of the evolution of fortifications in India from the Indus Valley Civilization till the rise of British power, remains Deloche’s monograph on fortification in India. Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French. Reference for Vijayanagara that may have more general relevance: "Walls made out of earth, which are common in the south of India, appear to have been used at settlements of inferior status, while stone walls were constructed around settlements which exercised some level of authority over the surrounding area."
[2]
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. [2]: (Howes 2003, 45) Jennifer Howes. 2003. The Courts of Pre-colonial South India: Material Culture and Kingship. RoutledgeCurzon. London. |
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"Till date, the best study of the evolution of fortifications in India from the Indus Valley Civilization till the rise of British power, remains Deloche’s monograph on fortification in India. Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French. "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."
[2]
-- what were the nature of the obviously fairly effective fortifications at Kunamata and Anegondi?
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. [2]: (Sadasivan 2011, 191) Sadasiva, Balaju. 2011. The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. |
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"Walls made out of earth, which are common in the south of India, appear to have been used at settlements of inferior status, while stone walls were constructed around settlements which exercised some level of authority over the surrounding area."
[1]
[1]: (Howes 2003, 45) Jennifer Howes. 2003. The Courts of Pre-colonial South India: Material Culture and Kingship. RoutledgeCurzon. London. |
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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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"Some villages were fortified by a moat enclosing as many as five to ten acres of land. Frequently inside the moat a continual row of stakes or palisades was fixed in a bank of earth thrown up in its construction."
[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 earth ramparts.
[1]: Noon 1949, 29 [2]: Lyford 1945, 11 |
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"Some villages were fortified by a moat enclosing as many as five to ten acres of land. Frequently inside the moat a continual row of stakes or palisades was fixed in a bank of earth thrown up in its construction."
[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 earth ramparts.
[1]: Noon 1949, 29 [2]: Lyford 1945, 11 |
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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, earth ramparts 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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Massive walls of rammed earth (terre pisée) were standard.
[1]
When the defenses included an earthen glacis (steep slope forming the outer bank), which was frequent, it was often covered with plaster: "Furthermore, the use of plaster in the construction of glacis (e.g., Jericho, etc.) indicates that it was also vital to maintaining the integrity of earthen ramparts with slopes between 30° and 40°."
[2]
[1]: Burke (2004). [2]: Burke (2004:159). |
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Massive Canaanite-style fortifications persisted from the Bronze Age, and in many cases were improved upon. For example, "[The Late Bronze Age fortification at Beirut] was replaced before the Early Iron Age by a massive new stone fortification wall with a large glacis of steeper angle (33 degrees) compared to the curved perimeter of the settlement mound."
[1]
[1]: Markoe (2000:81). |
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Ancient Levant: "In the Middle Bronze Age, sloping earth ramparts known as glacis appear."
[1]
Chaldea and Assyria: "What we find in the remarkable encrusted earth ramparts of Chaldea ... Stone was not used at all, but the clay brick walls were given a dressing of stucco or fired brick." "Like the Assyrian walls on which they are modeled, Persian walls were built of air-dried brick".
[2]
[1]: (Philip 2003, 190) Graham Philip. Weapons and Warfare in Ancient Syria-Palestine. Suzanne Richard. ed. 2003. Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader. Eisenbrauns. Winona Lake. [2]: (Semper 2004, 754-755) Gottfried Semper. 2004. Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; Or, Practical Aesthetics. Getty Publications. Los Angeles. |
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Long wall building: "The tradition seems more prevelant in Central Asia, although the oldest dated example is only Achaemenid. This is the wall of Kam Pirak, a rammed mud defensive wall that has been traced for about 60 kilometres across northern Afghanistan."
[1]
"In respect to Sogdiana of the fourth century B.C., Arrian and Curtius remarked that the city of Marakanda possessed a strongly fortified citadel, encircled by a wall and a moat. Both town and citadel were surrounded by a defensive wall with a circumference of approximately thirteen kilometres. ... It would appear that this large city originated in the Achaemenid period (Masson 1959: 127)."
[2]
Was the wall of Marakanda made of rammed mud or stone? Assuming former.
[1]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. [2]: (Dandamaev 1989, 37-38) M A Dandamaev. J Vogelsang trans. 1989. A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire. E. J. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Present in previous and subsequent periods.
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The sources reviewed so far make no mention of ramparts.
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Amory describes fortifications and ’earthworks’: ’Larger groups (sixteen to eighteen members and on up) readily developed a ‘siege mentality’, and would sometimes entrench themselves, not in caves, but in fortified earthworks or strongholds, thrown up against the inroads of their enemies. Both Óspakr and Hörðr had such fortifications built for themselves, their wives and families, and their men, Hörðr’s island retreat of wood and turf being virtually impregnable. Though Óspakr’s earthworks enclosed a farm with two cows, where his wife and son lived, these fortifications were not internally self-sustaining but were chiefly designed for receiving stolen goods, viz., the produce of the surrounding countryside, and for staging last-ditch defenses. It is remarkable but not unintelligible that the sizeable outlaw colony on the tiny island of Geirshólmr, under the leadership of Hörðr Grímkelsson and his foster-brother Geirr Grímsson, seems never to have engaged in animal husbandry of any sort on the island, or gone fishing in the surrounding waters, but instead preferred to launch expedition after expedition to the mainland in order to rustle from the rich coastal farms the cattle and sheep that it lacked; these would be slaughtered at once for its consumption. One may well think that cattle- and sheep-rustling was a perfectly suitable occupation for outlaws, but they were undercutting themselves by their total dependence on the mainland, and finally allowed themselves to be lured to shore by promises of freedom and were put to death in batches by a coalition of farmers who were lying in wait to dispatch them. So, at any rate, the story of the ‘Hólmverjar’ goes in Harðar saga Grímkelssonar (chs 34ff.). The colony was eradicated in three years’ time without the mainland farmers’ even having to assault the impregnable hall of Hörðr on one cliffside of the island.’
[1]
[Fortifications usually seem to be made of stone (and sod) with vertical sides rather than sloping sides as in earth ramparts. It is a theoretical possibility that some such fortifications were made exclusively of sod (this was sometimes done in house-walls) but these would still have vertical sides and seems unlikely as stone is stronger.] We have accordingly chosen to code this as ’inferred absent’.
[1]: (Amory 1992, 196) Amory, Frederic. 1992. The Medieval Icelandic Outlaw: Lifestyle, Saga, and Legend. Middlesex: Hisarlik Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/8FGVBVMM/itemKey/BH4V87MW |
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Amory describes fortifications and ’earthworks’: ’Larger groups (sixteen to eighteen members and on up) readily developed a ‘siege mentality’, and would sometimes entrench themselves, not in caves, but in fortified earthworks or strongholds, thrown up against the inroads of their enemies. Both Óspakr and Hörðr had such fortifications built for themselves, their wives and families, and their men, Hörðr’s island retreat of wood and turf being virtually impregnable. Though Óspakr’s earthworks enclosed a farm with two cows, where his wife and son lived, these fortifications were not internally self-sustaining but were chiefly designed for receiving stolen goods, viz., the produce of the surrounding countryside, and for staging last-ditch defenses. It is remarkable but not unintelligible that the sizeable outlaw colony on the tiny island of Geirshólmr, under the leadership of Hörðr Grímkelsson and his foster-brother Geirr Grímsson, seems never to have engaged in animal husbandry of any sort on the island, or gone fishing in the surrounding waters, but instead preferred to launch expedition after expedition to the mainland in order to rustle from the rich coastal farms the cattle and sheep that it lacked; these would be slaughtered at once for its consumption. One may well think that cattle- and sheep-rustling was a perfectly suitable occupation for outlaws, but they were undercutting themselves by their total dependence on the mainland, and finally allowed themselves to be lured to shore by promises of freedom and were put to death in batches by a coalition of farmers who were lying in wait to dispatch them. So, at any rate, the story of the ‘Hólmverjar’ goes in Harðar saga Grímkelssonar (chs 34ff.). The colony was eradicated in three years’ time without the mainland farmers’ even having to assault the impregnable hall of Hörðr on one cliffside of the island.’
[1]
[Fortifications usually seem to be made of stone (and sod) with vertical sides rather than sloping sides as in earth ramparts. It is a theoretical possibility that some such fortifications were made exclusively of sod (this was sometimes done in house-walls) but these would still have vertical sides and seems unlikely as stone is stronger.] We have accordingly chosen to code this as ’inferred absent’.
[1]: (Amory 1992, 196) Amory, Frederic. 1992. The Medieval Icelandic Outlaw: Lifestyle, Saga, and Legend. Middlesex: Hisarlik Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/8FGVBVMM/itemKey/BH4V87MW |
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A mudbrick wall at Nausharo could potentially be the remains of fortifications, or the remains of a retaining wall
[1]
. Mudbrick walls were built around Harappa in this period
[2]
, making a defensive wall around Nausharo seem more likely, but it is uncertain whether these walls had a defensive function and were not solely used for purposes of tax collection by controlling the inand outflow of people and goods.
[3]
[1]: Agrawal, D. P. (2007) The Indus Civilization: An interdisciplinary perspective. Aryan Books International: New Delhi. p44 [2]: Jonathan M. Kenoyer. ’Uncovering the Keys to the Lost Indus Cities’, Scientific American, vol. 15, no. 1, 2005, p. 29 [3]: Jonathan M. Kenoyer. ’Trade and Technology of the Indus Valley: New Insights from Harappa, Pakistan’, World Archaeology, vol. 29, no. 2, Oct. 1997, p. 263 |
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A mudbrick wall at Nausharo could potentially be the remains of fortifications, or the remains of a retaining wall
[1]
. Mudbrick walls were built around Harappa in this period
[2]
, making a defensive wall around Nausharo seem more likely, but it is uncertain whether these walls had a defensive function and were not solely used for purposes of tax collection by controlling the in- and outflow of people and goods.
[3]
[1]: Agrawal, D. P. (2007) The Indus Civilization: An interdisciplinary perspective. Aryan Books International: New Delhi. p44 [2]: Jonathan M. Kenoyer. ’Uncovering the Keys to the Lost Indus Cities’, Scientific American, vol. 15, no. 1, 2005, p. 29 [3]: Jonathan M. Kenoyer. ’Trade and Technology of the Indus Valley: New Insights from Harappa, Pakistan’, World Archaeology, vol. 29, no. 2, Oct. 1997, p. 263 |
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Discovered at 2nd century BCE Parthian archaeological site near Bisitun.
[1]
Earthern rampart at Hatra, in addition to wall and ditch.
[2]
[1]: (Ring, Watson and Schellinger 2014, 122) Ring, Trudy. Watson, Noelle. Schellinger, Paul. 2014. Middle East and Africa: International Dictionary of Historic Places. Routledge. [2]: (Rawlinson 2014, 213) Rawlinson, George. 2014. The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, Or: Parthia; Sassanian, or New Persian empire; Notes and index. Gorgias Press LLC. |
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Mud wall at the city of Taxila.
[1]
Reference for use of the mud rampart in ancient India.
[2]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press: 1951, p.124-5. Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169 [2]: (Singh 2008, 336) Upinder Singh. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Longman. Delhi. |
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basic defensive technology
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[1]
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."
[2]
[1]: Iskender-Mochiri p. 63 [2]) [2]: (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. |
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"a clear line of continuity can be followed from the Roman military architecture of the second to fourth centuries AD to the Umayyad period, with very important intermediary provided by some presumably sixth century villae or palaces. The latter mark the abandonment of the military function, but not of its general layout. Yet this line of continuity is essentially related to the external part of the buildings, that is the enclosure wall or rampart."
[1]
[1]: (Genequand 2006, 25) Kennedy H N. ed. 2006. Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria: From the Coming of Islam to the Ottoman Period. Brill |
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Earth ramparts were used in this region in the Middle Ages. No specific reference.
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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]
Reference for use of the mud rampart in ancient India.
[2]
[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. [2]: (Singh 2008, 336) Upinder Singh. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Longman. Delhi. |
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e.g. Fortifications built by Firuz
[1]
Reference for use of the mud rampart in ancient India.
[2]
[1]: Shah Stein, Burton, A History of India (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p.148. [2]: (Singh 2008, 336) Upinder Singh. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Longman. Delhi. |
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"The decline of the Delhi Sultanate in the 15th century led to a situation where each lord needed to fortify his province with numerous castles."
[1]
Reference for use of the mud rampart in ancient India.
[2]
[1]: Konstantin S Nossov. 2012. Indian Castles 1206-1526: The Rise and Fall of the Delhi Sultanate. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Singh 2008, 336) Upinder Singh. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Longman. Delhi. |
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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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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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’Literary and pictorial accounts confirm that extensive planning and earthworks projects were utilized throughout the medieval era for major battles. For instance, the defense works at Ichinotani erected by the Taira clan in 1184[CE] included boulders topped by thick logs, a double row of shields, and turrets with openings for shooting.
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press. p.173. |
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Present with evidence in both previous and succeeding polities, no reason to believe this stopped here
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Yamajiro (Yamashiro): ’A squat Japanese mountain fortress common during the Sengoku jidai era. They were carved out of canyons and gullies and were usually girded by a wooden palisade and guarded by dry moats and earth ramparts. Some had watchtowers.’
[1]
[1]: Cathal J. Nolan, The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization Volume 2, Greenwood Press, 2006, p. 949 |
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‘the other feat of almost Herculean proportions was the erection by Hideyoshi of an earthen embankment around the capital city of Kyoto. ;
[1]
"Earthern ramparts called dobashi were placed across the moat at points where attackers attempting to cross them would be most vulnerable."
[2]
[1]: Kawanabe, Hiroya, Machiko Nishino, and Masayoshi Maehata (eds.). 2012. Lake Biwa: Interactions between Nature and People. Springer Science & Business Media.p.293 [2]: (Kirby 1962) John Kirby. 1962. From Castle to Teahouse: Japanese Architecture of the Momoyama Period. Tuttle Publishing. |
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No references in the literature. RA.
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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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not yet found in settlements such as Çatal Höyük
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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 found in settlements
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not found in settlements
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(e.g. Hattusa) The fortification walls were built in a casemate system with a width of up to 8 m. Two parallel walls were connected by diagonal walls, and the compartments thus constructed were filled with rubble. Towers protruded at regular intervals from the outer face of the walls. The walls are always situated on earthen ramparts, which provided protection against battering rams. As usual in Hittite architecture, the foundations and the lower parts of the walls were made of stone, whereas the upper parts consisted of a timber-framed structure of mud-brick. The superstructure of the walls can be reconstructed with a high degree of certainty thanks to the discovery of vessels showing fortification walls with battlements and towers. The gates were always flanked by towers. The Lion’s Gate in Hattusa was approached via a ramp, which ran parallel to the wall to the right, thus exposing the unshielded side of potential attackers to fire from the wall. Every gate could be closed on the outer and inner side by heavy wooden doors, which could be bolted with copper bars. A peculiarity of Hittite fortifications is the so-called postern, a narrow tunnel of up to 50 m in length and 3-4 m in width and height that led through the earthen ramparts on which the fortification stood. According to one theory, these posterns may have served as sally ports, enabling the defenders to make quick sorties. The length and the narrowness of the posterns made them easily defendable against intruders who, on the other hand, were exposed to fire from the fortification walls during their approach.
[1]
[1]: Lorenz J. and I. Schrakamp (2011) Hittite Military and Warfare, pp. 141 [In:] H. Genz and D. P. Mielke (ed.) Insights Into Hittite History And Archaeology, Colloquia Antiqua 2, Leuven, Paris, Walpole MA: PEETERS, pp. 125-151 |
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(e.g. Hattusa) The fortification walls were built in a casemate system with a width of up to 8 m. Two parallel walls were connected by diagonal walls, and the compartments thus constructed were filled with rubble. Towers protruded at regular intervals from the outer face of the walls. The walls are always situated on earthen ramparts, which provided protection against battering rams. As usual in Hittite architecture, the foundations and the lower parts of the walls were made of stone, whereas the upper parts consisted of a timber-framed structure of mud-brick. The superstructure of the walls can be reconstructed with a high degree of certainty thanks to the discovery of vessels showing fortification walls with battlements and towers. The gates were always flanked by towers. The Lion’s Gate in Hattusa was approached via a ramp, which ran parallel to the wall to the right, thus exposing the unshielded side of potential attackers to fire from the wall. Every gate could be closed on the outer and inner side by heavy wooden doors, which could be bolted with copper bars. A peculiarity of Hittite fortifications is the so-called postern, a narrow tunnel of up to 50 m in length and 3-4 m in width and height that led through the earthen ramparts on which the fortification stood. According to one theory, these posterns may have served as sally ports, enabling the defenders to make quick sorties. The length and the narrowness of the posterns made them easily defendable against intruders who, on the other hand, were exposed to fire from the fortification walls during their approach.
[1]
[1]: Lorenz J. and I. Schrakamp (2011) Hittite Military and Warfare, pp. 141 [In:] H. Genz and D. P. Mielke (ed.) Insights Into Hittite History And Archaeology, Colloquia Antiqua 2, Leuven, Paris, Walpole MA: PEETERS, pp. 125-151 |
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(e.g. Hattusa) The fortification walls were built in a casemate system with a width of up to 8 m. Two parallel walls were connected by diagonal walls, and the compartments thus constructed were filled with rubble. Towers protruded at regular intervals from the outer face of the walls. The walls are always situated on earthen ramparts, which provided protection against battering rams. As usual in Hittite architecture, the foundations and the lower parts of the walls were made of stone, whereas the upper parts consisted of a timber-framed structure of mud-brick. The superstructure of the walls can be reconstructed with a high degree of certainty thanks to the discovery of vessels showing fortification walls with battlements and towers. The gates were always flanked by towers. The Lion’s Gate in Hattusa was approached via a ramp, which ran parallel to the wall to the right, thus exposing the unshielded side of potential attackers to fire from the wall. Every gate could be closed on the outer and inner side by heavy wooden doors, which could be bolted with copper bars. A peculiarity of Hittite fortifications is the so-called postern, a narrow tunnel of up to 50 m in length and 3-4 m in width and height that led through the earthen ramparts on which the fortification stood. According to one theory, these posterns may have served as sally ports, enabling the defenders to make quick sorties. The length and the narrowness of the posterns made them easily defendable against intruders who, on the other hand, were exposed to fire from the fortification walls during their approach.
[1]
[1]: Lorenz J. and I. Schrakamp (2011) Hittite Military and Warfare, pp. 141 [In:] H. Genz and D. P. Mielke (ed.) Insights Into Hittite History And Archaeology, Colloquia Antiqua 2, Leuven, Paris, Walpole MA: PEETERS, pp. 125-151 |
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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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Yassıhöyük ‘To the northwest of the Citadel lies a large Outer Town partially or completely enclosed by an earth rampart.’
[1]
[1]: Mary M. Voigt, ‘Gordion: The Changing Political and Economic Roles of a First Millennium B.C.E. City’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 1070 |
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not mentioned in literature
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not mentioned in literature
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Ephesus, which was relocated and rebuilt: "drystone walls with their substantial, quarried limestone blocks were carefully fitted onto the bedrock and followed the contours of the countryside wherever they led for about ten kilometers ... protecting the harbor and surrounding the city at some distance, to allow for expansion and the emergency evacuation of the rural population. The entire length of the wall consisted of two faces, inner and outer, with rubble and soil infill between, and an average width of almost three meters ..."
[1]
This is essentially an earth rampart with stone facing.
[1]: (Waterfield 2011, 78) Robin Waterfield. 2011. Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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700-500 BCE: "The most prominent features of these larger settlements were town walls and defences. At Ardea, Satricum, and Lavinium the populations erected aggreres, or earth ramparts, at the edge of settled areas that lacked natural defences."
[1]
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."
[2]
[1]: (Potts 2015, 86) Charlotte R Potts. 2015. Religious Architecture in Latium and Etruria, c.900-500 BC. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (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. |
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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 earth ramparts 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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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. |
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"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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"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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"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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older reports describe palisades and watchtowers made from wood only
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older reports describe make-shift palisades and watchtowers made from wood only.
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"It is not certain that the trading took place inside the towns themselves; in fact, it is much more likely that business was transacted in the outskirts, for we known that these ancient towns were not surrounded by ramparts."
[1]
[1]: (Anfray 1981, 369) F Anfray. The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century. G Mokhtar. ed. 1981, General History of Africa II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. |
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mud-walled towns
[1]
Djenne had been "fortified by a system of ramparts, with a variable number of guarded gates. A fortified city was called a tata."
[2]
[1]: (Roland and Atmore 2001, 62) [2]: (Diop 1987, 121) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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Hang-tu earth walls still the dominant technology. "The number of cities with earth fortifications grew rapidly near the end of the Western Zhou."
[1]
Hang-tu earthern walls. "Large stones were usually piled as a foundation, then earth was rammed above it layer upon layer. Traces of wood, possibly the remains of round posts used to hold the wall in place, have been discovered there." Qi wall
[2]
[1]: (Cooke 2010, 62) Cooke, Tim. 2010. The New Cultural Atlas of China. Marshall Cavendish. [2]: (Steinhardt, Nancy. 2002. Chinese Architecture. 新世界出版社. 10) |
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Up until the Tang and Song Dynasties wide ramparts and ditches were a typical part of the defense system for a fortified town or city.
[1]
After the 121-119 BCE campaigns against Hsiung-nu "A line of earthworks was built to extend the Ch’in defence line further into the steppe. For the next 18 years, there were no recorded Hsiung-nu raids into China."
[2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Peers 1995, 7) |
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Up until the Tang and Song Dynasties wide ramparts and ditches were a typical part of the defense system for a fortified town or city.
[1]
Fortifications along frontier 1st century.
[2]
Walls of Luoyang constructed using tamped earth.
[3]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Peers 1995, 11) [3]: (Bielenstein 1986, 262) |
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Up until the Tang and Song Dynasties wide ramparts and ditches were a typical part of the defense system for a fortified town or city.
[1]
"field defences such as wagon laagers, earth ramparts or felled trees became very widespread, and many battles to the form of assaults on fortified lines or camps."
[2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Peers 1995, 20) |
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Up until the Tang and Song Dynasties wide ramparts and ditches were a typical part of the defense system for a fortified town or city.
[1]
Work on Great Wall used "pounded earth and sun-dried mud bricks."
[2]
The city walls of Chang’an built under Yang Chien: "the building material was the light brown earth."
[3]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Wright 1979, 103) [3]: (Wright 1978, 86) Wright, Arthur. 1978. The Sui Dynasty. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. |
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"Engineers and laborers built walls by ramming thin layers of loose earth in wood frames to form the core of the ramparts. They then face them with brick and stone to prevent erosion by rain and constructed battlements on top to provide for their defense."
[1]
[1]: (Benn 2002, 45) Benn, Charles. 2002. China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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"Engineers and laborers built walls by ramming thin layers of loose earth in wood frames to form the core of the ramparts. They then face them with brick and stone to prevent erosion by rain and constructed battlements on top to provide for their defense."
[1]
[1]: (Benn 2002, 45) Benn, Charles. 2002. China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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Within technical capability of time.
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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]
We don’t know if the walls in this region were made out of stone or earth.
[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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"Krasnaya Rechka. Site in northern Kyrgyzstan, c. 36 km east of Bishkek. ... identified with either Sarigh or Navakat ... Located along the Silk Route, the settlement developed in the 6th century and explanded in the 7th. ... The city was fortified with a pise and mud-brick wall (h. 15m; w. 12.3 m) with protuding bastions, fortified gates and a large moat. In the center of the site was an extensive area (20 sq. km) with traces of an irrigation system, sections of inner walls ... Excavation of a palace (10th-12th century), manor houses, craft workshops, pottery kilns and vineyards suggest that this became the city center during the period of Karakhanid (r. 940-1211) rule."
[1]
The pise and mud-brick wall mentioned here.
[1]: (Bloom and Blair 2009, 399) Jonathan M Bloom. Sheila S Blair. eds. 2009. Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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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]
4.5 meter thick wall, in the region of Central Asia where walls (e.g. Samarkand) were usually built out of earth rather than stone.
[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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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 earth ramparts 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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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 earth ramparts 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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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 earth ramparts 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). David Baker says present.
[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]: David Baker. Personal communication to Seshat Databank. |
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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 earth ramparts 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). David Baker says present.
[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]: David Baker. Personal communication to Seshat Databank. |
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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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A Babylonian inscription "begins with the names and titles of Nebuchadrezzar the Great (604 B.C.) and discusses the building of various temples and palaces as well as the ramparts of Babylon and Borsippa."
[1]
[1]: (Semper 2004, 347) Gottfried Semper. 2004. Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts, Or, Practical Aesthetics. Getty Research Institute. Los Angeles. |
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Mud wall at the city of Taxila.
[1]
Ai Khanoum "There was also a "lower city" protected by a fearsome defensive wall (with ramparts more than 30 feet high and twenty to twenty-six feet thick)".
[2]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press: 1951, p.124-5. Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169 [2]: (www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh02-06enl.html) |
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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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Earth ramparts were used in this region in the Middle Ages. No specific reference.
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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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Due to lack of trees in Egypt possibly the earth rampart would be a likely defensive fortification for a smaller town.
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Samarkand: "massive earthen ramparts with a circumference of five miles, surrounded by a deep ditch, that Temur had reconstructed after the devestation wrought by Genghis."
[1]
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."
[2]
Inferred present. 4.5 meter thick wall, in the region of Central Asia where walls (e.g. Samarkand) were usually built out of earth rather than stone.
[1]: (Marozzi 2004, 223) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London. [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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"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]
[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. |
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Inferred from the preceding Mauryans: Kautilya’s Arthashastra discusses "earth ramparts faced with burnt brick or stone." One known at Kausambi (period not stated).
[1]
[1]: (Allchin 1995, 223) 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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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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"Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French.
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. |
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"Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French.
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. |
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Ramparts at Kausambi in the post-Mauryan period.
[1]
"earth ramparts faced with burnt brick or stone" known at Kausambi (period not stated).
[2]
[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. [2]: (Allchin 1995, 223) 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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In the 14th century Ibn Battuta who visited the city of Kanauj wrote: "The city is surrounded with a huge rampart".
[1]
The Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kanauj in the mid-7th century CE and reported a moat.
[2]
It is logical to presume the moat was located outside of a circumvallating wall or rampart? When the city of Kanauj was conquered at the end of the Gurjara-Pratisharas (815-1019 CE) the inhabitants took refuge in sturdily-built temples on high ground. This suggests the external fortifications may not have been that substantial: "When the Muslim army approached, most of the inhabitants had taken refuge ’with the gods’, i.e. in the temples. The city was taken possession of in one day, and emptied of its treasure."
[3]
[1]: Niharranjan Ray. Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya. Ranabir Chakravarti. V R Mani. eds. 2000. A Sourcebook of Indian Civilization. Orient Blackswan. Hyderabad. [2]: 1917. The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay. Volume 10. Antropological Society of Bombay. [3]: (Wink 1997, 331) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest. 11th - 13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden. |
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"Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French.
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. |
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Tamped-earth walls
[1]
Rammed-earth walls. "So far, about 30 cities with massive defensive hangtu walls dating to the Longshan era have been identified. Several others are under excavation, and new ones are being identified with regular frequency. While most of the best known are located in the middle-lower Yellow River Valley (in the Henan-Shandong there are about ten), several others are found throughout China, such as in the Hunan- Hubei area, in Inner Mongolia, and in Sichuan. What is most relevant is that all appear to be arranged in significant regional clusters (Fig. 4; Appendix 1)."
[2]
"Of these fortified sites, Taosi (陶寺) in Shanxi is the most impressive (Fig. 1). Its walls are up to 10 m wide, and at the peak of the site’s expansion they would have enclosed an area of some 280 ha."
[3]
[1]: (Sawyer 2011, 47-8) [2]: (Demattè 1999, 123) [3]: (Shelach and Jaffe 2014, 339) |
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Rammed-earth defensive walls: "Comparing the inner and outer walls, the inner walls are built on a more or less rectangular plan aligned roughly 20 degrees east of north5 and were built directly upon the ground surface. The outer wall, on the other hand, was built according to the contours of the land, with a foundation trench to strengthen it, and is currently 12-17 m thick at the base. These facts suggest to Yuan and Zeng (2004) that the walls served different defensive functions, the inner wall protecting the “palaces,” and the outer wall, moat, and lake defending the site as a whole. Another, additional possibility, is that the outer wall served as flood protection."
[1]
Walls used earth surrounding by bricks or wood
[2]
At Zhengzhou: "The two external protective walls were similarly pounded, and the outer one was coated with a layer of protective pebbles, presumably to forestall erosion by falling rain and perhaps buttress it against floodwaters."
[3]
Walls of Zhengzhou made out of earth.
[4]
[1]: (Campbell 2014, 72) [2]: (Lovell 2006, 31) [3]: Sawyer, R. 2011. Ancient Chinese Warfare. Basic Books. [4]: (Bagley 1999, 166) Bagley, R. in Loewe, Michael. Shaughnessy, Edward L.1999. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press. |
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Rammed-earth defensive walls: "Comparing the inner and outer walls, the inner walls are built on a more or less rectangular plan aligned roughly 20 degrees east of north5 and were built directly upon the ground surface. The outer wall, on the other hand, was built according to the contours of the land, with a foundation trench to strengthen it, and is currently 12-17 m thick at the base. These facts suggest to Yuan and Zeng (2004) that the walls served different defensive functions, the inner wall protecting the “palaces,” and the outer wall, moat, and lake defending the site as a whole. An- other, additional possibility, is that the outer wall served as flood protection."
[1]
[1]: (Campbell 2014, 72) |
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no evidence of "external threats to Jenne-jeno"
[1]
Later, at least, Djenne known to have been "fortified by a system of ramparts, with a variable number of guarded gates. A fortified city was called a tata."
[2]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 230) [2]: (Diop 1987, 121) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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no evidence of "external threats to Jenne-jeno"
[1]
Later, at least, Djenne known to have been "fortified by a system of ramparts, with a variable number of guarded gates. A fortified city was called a tata."
[2]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 230) [2]: (Diop 1987, 121) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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A parapet walk corresponding to the ramparts is mentioned by Sagir al-Ifrani. A squad of qabdjiya walked along it every night. "Chaque nuit, une escouade de qabdjiya montait la garde et parcourait le chemin de ronde des remparts qui entouraient la ville."
[1]
[1]: (Mohammed Sagir al-Ifrani translated by Houdas 1889, 197) |
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Reference for pre-colonial African warfare: mud walls often surrounded towns.
[1]
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)."
[2]
[1]: (Smith 1989, 99) Robert Sydney Smith. 1989. Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa. Second Edition. The University of Wisconsin Press. Madison. [2]: (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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|
Reference for pre-colonial African warfare: mud walls often surrounded towns.
[1]
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)."
[2]
[1]: (Smith 1989, 99) Robert Sydney Smith. 1989. Warfare & Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa. Second Edition. The University of Wisconsin Press. Madison. [2]: (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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"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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Not mentioned in the literature.
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"Excavations have shed much light on the ramparts, the first of which are established during the Middle Neolithic, with successive rebuilding taking place during the Late Neolithic, the Early Bronze Age, the Late Bronze Age, and finally the Iron Age. Etaules is a good example of such a sequence, with houses built for the most part along the inside of the house."
[1]
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]: (Mordant 2013, 579) [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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Not mentioned in the literature.
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"Mur terre" finds within France but not close to the Paris Basin region.
[1]
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) |
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"Mur terre" finds within France but not close to the Paris Basin region.
[1]
Hillforts: "large fortified hilltop sites often enclosed by an intricate system of earth banks and ditches."
[2]
NOTE: undated reference - does the code apply to this time period?
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) [2]: (Allen 2007, 21) |
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"Mur terre" finds within France but not close to the Paris Basin region.
[1]
Hillforts: "large fortified hilltop sites often enclosed by an intricate system of earth banks and ditches."
[2]
NOTE: undated reference - does the code apply to this time period?
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) [2]: (Allen 2007, 21) |
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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[1]
Oppida excavated Manching, Bavaria - Late Iron Age. Earth wall 7 KM length enclosed 380 ha
[2]
At Sainte-Germain: "Delimiting the citadel fortification consists of a triple system of embankments and ditches."
[3]
At Sandouville outer rampart almost one kilometer long, is preserved as an embankment 6 m high, preceded by a ditch 3 m deep. At Bracquemont there was a 12m high embankment wall.
[3]
[1]: (Kruta 2004, 102) [2]: (Wells 1999, 28) [3]: (http://www.oppida.org/page.php?lg=fr&rub=00&id_oppidum=168) |
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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 earth ramparts 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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Present in previous and subsequent polities. ’
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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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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]
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."
[2]
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 32) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (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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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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What were the condition/use state of Bukhara’s fortifications in this period?
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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]
Ling et al claim earth slabs for the fortified walls around settlements: ’The Miao settlement is called “chai” (Illus. 12, 13), built generally against a mountainside or along a river, without any uniform appearance. The chai wall is made of earth or stone slabs, and there is no definite number of gates. The streets of a chai zigzag up and down, with tiny alleys on both sides. In each alley there are a few families. The alleys are interconnected. Without a guide one can get lost once inside a chai; turning right and left, one will be unable to find an exit. Chinese passing through a Miao chai often cannot find a single Miao, because they have gone into hiding in small alleys, barring the doors and refusing to come out. The Miao chais are not located along lines of communication but in the deep mountains and valleys accessible only by small paths. Although visible at a distance, they often cannot be reached. Without modern arms, they cannot be easily taken. For the last few hundred years continuous Miao unrest in western Hunan may be largely related to the fact that their chais were easy to defend and difficult to capture.’
[2]
[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 [2]: Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 59 |
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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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No evidence to code.
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Discovered at 2nd century BCE Parthian archaeological site near Bisitun.
[1]
Earthern rampart at Hatra, in addition to wall and ditch.
[2]
[1]: (Ring, Watson and Schellinger 2014, 122) Ring, Trudy. Watson, Noelle. Schellinger, Paul. 2014. Middle East and Africa: International Dictionary of Historic Places. Routledge. [2]: (Rawlinson 2014, 213) Rawlinson, George. 2014. The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, Or: Parthia; Sassanian, or New Persian empire; Notes and index. Gorgias Press LLC. |
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Earth ramparts were used in this region in the Middle Ages. No specific reference.
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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 |
||||||
|
‘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 |
||||||
|
‘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 |
||||||
|
‘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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Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period. "At Tepe Farukhabad, 60 km northwest of Susiana in the Deh Luran plain, part of a rampart overlooking the banks of the Mehmeh River and dating to the first centuries of the second millennium has been excavated. This installation may have controlled traffic moving along the foothill road linking Susiana and central Mesopotamia."
[5]
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. [5]: (Carter and Stolper 1984, 148) |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
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Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
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Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "My master: the Asag has constructed a wall of stakes on an earthen rampart".
[2]
The unfinished city of Chogha Zanbil began by Elamite king Untash-napirisha (1275-1240 BCE) had a section "designated as the royal city, covers an area of c. 85 ha, lying to the east of the temenos, and protected by a rampart."
[3]
Later, after c500 BCE?, the Achaemenids built a long rammed mud defensive wall (the Kam Pirak).
[4]
Earth ramparts are a known defensive fortification c2000 BCE and c500 BCE and there is also a reference to them being used during the Elamite period. They seem to be a consistent feature of the architectural landscape over the period.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: Ninurta’s exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta: c.1.6.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Bryce 2009, 160-163). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [4]: (Ball 2001, 315) Warwick Ball. 2001. Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. London. |
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According to Gnirs, "fortification architecture and techniques of siege had become the basic means of warfare by the third millennium BCE."
[1]
Construction of a fortress at Elephantine.
[2]
[1]: (Gnirs 2001) [2]: (Juan Carlos Moreno García 2013, 190 cite: Building the Pharaonic state: Territory, elite, and power in ancient Egypt in the 3rd millennium BCE http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/toc/15127.html) |
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Middle Kingdom fortresses "were remarkable examples of military architecture with huge walls, ramparts and ditches, bastions, and fortified gates with drawbridges. Inside them were barracks, magazines, workships and offices, as well as small temples for Egyptian gods... Large granaries contained the rations to feed the troops and personnel stationed there."
[1]
[1]: (Van De Mieroop 2011, 113) Van De Mieroop, Marc. 2011. A History of Ancient Egypt. Wiley-Backwell. Chichester. |
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"The type of town defense most characteristic of the Hyksos was a sloping revetment or rampart above which a town wall itself was often built. For added protection a moat or fosse was frequently dug. The materials which went into the construction of the revetment... sand, mud, mud-brick, stone, and plaster." Many Hyksos fortifications were "rectangular or even square where the ground contour permitted... the sides or corners of these structures tend to face the cardinal points. Such fortifications have been uncovered in Lower Egypt, Palestine, and Syria... best known rectangular camp... at Tell el-Yahudiyyah in the Delta. The structure was about 1100 feet square on the inside, with rounded corners. An embankment of sand was faced with plaster and properly braced on the inside by a retaining wall."
[1]
[1]: (Wilson and Allen 1939, 20-21) |
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needs expert verification
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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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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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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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Sabaens fortified Sana’a and Marib to protect two trade routes.
[1]
The cities of Marib and Sirwah "were probably walled right from the beginning of their history"
[2]
which probably began at the end of the second millennium BCE.
[3]
Mud and bricks are detectable in the earliest layers of the walls of Marib with limestone in some later layers.
[4]
"It seems that these massive walls were constructed up to a width of 14 meters."
[4]
[1]: (McLaughlin 2008, 5) Daniel McLaughlin. 2008. Yemen. Bradt Travel Guides. [2]: (Schnelle 2008, 109) Mike Schnelle. Origins of Sabaen Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC - Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Marib and Sirwah (Yemen). Rune Frederiksen. Mike Schnelle. Silke Muth. Peter Schneider. eds. 2016. Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Oxbow Books. Oxford. [3]: (Schnelle 2008, 110) Mike Schnelle. Origins of Sabaen Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC - Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Marib and Sirwah (Yemen). Rune Frederiksen. Mike Schnelle. Silke Muth. Peter Schneider. eds. 2016. Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Oxbow Books. Oxford. [4]: (Schnelle 2008, 113) Mike Schnelle. Origins of Sabaen Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC - Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Marib and Sirwah (Yemen). Rune Frederiksen. Mike Schnelle. Silke Muth. Peter Schneider. eds. 2016. Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Oxbow Books. Oxford. |
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Sabaens fortified Sana’a and Marib to protect two trade routes.
[1]
The cities of Marib and Sirwah "were probably walled right from the beginning of their history"
[2]
which probably began at the end of the second millennium BCE.
[3]
Mud and bricks are detectable in the earliest layers of the walls of Marib with limestone in some later layers.
[4]
"It seems that these massive walls were constructed up to a width of 14 meters."
[4]
[1]: (McLaughlin 2008, 5) Daniel McLaughlin. 2008. Yemen. Bradt Travel Guides. [2]: (Schnelle 2008, 109) Mike Schnelle. Origins of Sabaen Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC - Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Marib and Sirwah (Yemen). Rune Frederiksen. Mike Schnelle. Silke Muth. Peter Schneider. eds. 2016. Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Oxbow Books. Oxford. [3]: (Schnelle 2008, 110) Mike Schnelle. Origins of Sabaen Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC - Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Marib and Sirwah (Yemen). Rune Frederiksen. Mike Schnelle. Silke Muth. Peter Schneider. eds. 2016. Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Oxbow Books. Oxford. [4]: (Schnelle 2008, 113) Mike Schnelle. Origins of Sabaen Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC - Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Marib and Sirwah (Yemen). Rune Frederiksen. Mike Schnelle. Silke Muth. Peter Schneider. eds. 2016. Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Oxbow Books. Oxford. |
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Fortifications were in use in the region at this time: First mention of the Himyarites occurs about 15 CE "when a Hadhramite inscription detailed the need of building a new fortified wall at a settlement north of modern-day Bir ’Ali to fend of the attacks of the Himyarites."
[1]
For YeHmyr1 we have a reference for ramparts.
[1]: (McLaughlin 2008, 7) Daniel McLaughlin. 2008. Yemen. Bradt Travel Guides. |
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