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Site at Yoshinogari (3rd century CE) had surrounding ditch and ramparts, watchtower and inner moat.
[1]
Kofun succeeded the Yayoi era: "In the Kofun era, settlements were no longer enclosed by moats, but elites began to reside in mansions, enclosed by moats and spatially distinct from ordinary settlements."
[2]
[1]: (Barnes 2007, 98-99) Gina L Barnes. 2007. State Formation in Japan: Emergence of a 4th-Century Ruling Elite. Routledge. London. [2]: (Saski 2017, 68) Ken’ichi Saski. The Kofun era and early state formation. Karl F Friday. ed. 2017. Routledge Handbook of Premodern Japanese History. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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Site at Yoshinogari (3rd century CE) had surrounding ditch and ramparts, watchtower and inner moat.
[1]
Kofun succeeded the Yayoi era: "In the Kofun era, settlements were no longer enclosed by moats, but elites began to reside in mansions, enclosed by moats and spatially distinct from ordinary settlements."
[2]
[1]: (Barnes 2007, 98-99) Gina L Barnes. 2007. State Formation in Japan: Emergence of a 4th-Century Ruling Elite. Routledge. London. [2]: (Saski 2017, 68) Ken’ichi Saski. The Kofun era and early state formation. Karl F Friday. ed. 2017. Routledge Handbook of Premodern Japanese History. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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Tokarev and Gurvich mention fortifications surrounded by water and snow: "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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Tokarev and Gurvich mention fortifications surrounded by water and snow: "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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inferred from description of fortifications suggesting moat features
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present for previous polities
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we need expert input in order to code this variable
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we need expert input in order to code this variable
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Present for previous polities.
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In use in previous polities
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Within the technical capability of the time.
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older reports describe palisades and watchtowers made from wood only
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Academic confirmation required.
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No data.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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A monastery in a region of recently pacified Saxons had "an encircling moat and a strong wall, which extended to the River Weser. Towers fortified the four corners and gate towers secured the entrance into the monastery precinct. The site was originally the location of a Roman castelllum."
[1]
[1]: (Schutz 2004, 354) Herbert Schutz. 2004. The Carolingians in Central Europe, Their History, Arts, and Architecture: A Cultural History of Central Europe, 750-900. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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The sources reviewed so far make no mention of ditches or moats around Ashanti settlements or forts.
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No references in the literature. RA.
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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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Moats were used in this region in the Middle Ages. No specific reference.
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No evidence to code.
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In the second millennium BCE, "Moats were becoming a common feature of city defenses"
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2005: 189) McIntosh, J. 2005. Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspective. Santa Barbara: ABC Clio. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/KK2E3KMD. |
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Popular text refers to a ’Moat of Babylon’ (Neo-Babylonia) and the index of a work from 1915 mentions ’Moat, of Babylon’. Likely but cannot find reference at this time.
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Moats 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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moat at Hatra in this period?
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moat at Hatra in this period?
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Present in previous and subsequent periods.
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In Syria?
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‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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no fortresses means no moats?
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No fortresses to moat?
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A ditch filled with water would not have been beyond the technological capabilities of the Romans during this period but did they use/need them?
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no fortresses to moat?
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We can probably include Venice itself?
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We can probably include Venice itself?
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No data. Likely based on presence in earlier periods.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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present in the preceding and succeeding periods.
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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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Siege of Al-Wasit, last Umayyad stronghold in Iraq: "In the first such encounter Umayyad forces were defeated, and they retreated to the moat that surrounded the western section of the city."
[1]
[1]: (Elad 1986, 65) Saron, M. 1986. Studies in Islamic History and Civilization: In Honour of Professor David Ayalon. Brill. |
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not found in settlements
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not found in settlements
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not yet found in settlements such as Çatal Höyük
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not found in settlements
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"Built on the grand scale by Ahmad Shah Durrani - the dashing young cavalryman who founded the great Durrani Empire - with huge walls surrounded by a moat and pierced by six massive gates, Kandahar was designed to impress the approaching traveller, friend or foe. The walls were pulled down in the 1940s..."
[1]
Inferred because this is not a specialist source.
[1]: (Gall 2012, 19) Sandy Gall. 2012. War Against the Taliban: Why It All Went Wrong in Afghanistan. Bloomsbury. London. |
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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 moat as a form of fortification in northern India around 3rd century BCE - 300 CE.
[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, 394) 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 Questions of King Milinda on Salaka: "Wise architects have laid it out ... strong towers and ramparts, with superb gates and entrance archways; and with the royal citadel in its midst, white walled and deeply moated."
[1]
[1]: (Bauer 2010, 180-181) Bauer, S W. 2010. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. |
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Evidence of a moat at the Yan state capital during the preceding Western Zhou period.
[1]
There was some siege warfare so it is possible some Chu towns had moat defenses. There would have been no lack of water nearby to fill the moat.
[1]: (Littlewood 2008, 212) Littlewood, Mark. Littlewood, Misty. 2008. Gateways to Beijing. Genesis Books. |
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In the Guchengzhai site, "The moat, which used water from the Qinshui river, was another important defensive barrier around the site. Its width ranges from 34m to 90 m. Coring/probing (zuantan 钻探) determined that the now buried moat is over 4.5m deep in the eastern section, but the river bed is still visible today."
[1]
"Haojiatai, whose walled enclosure covers an area of 6.5 ha, is also built on an elevated platform and is further protected by an external ditch, most likely a defensive moat."
[2]
"Some of the walled settlements have surrounding ditches that may have served as moats. One of the functions of the walls probably was defense."
[3]
[1]: (Zhao 2013, 245) [2]: (Demattè 1999, 126) [3]: (Underhill in Peregrine and Ember 2001, 157) |
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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not yet found in settlements such as Göbekli Tepe
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not mentioned in the literature
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References to Seljuks building moat fortification for a different region.
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"This five-walled and triple-moated kilometer-square city is, in fact, correctly named Shahr-i-Gholghola, and is located in the sand sea of several hundred square kilometers properly bearing the name Sar-o-Tar."
[1]
Located in the Samanid region of control. I don’t know when the city was established/gained its moat. It was destroyed in the Mongol conquest.
[1]: (? 1986, 61) ?. ?. Albrecht Wezler Ernst Hammerschmidt. 1992. Proceedings of the (XXXII) International Congress for Asian and North African Studies.: Hamburg 25th-30th August 1986. F Steiner. |
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City walls usually protected by a moat.
[1]
"When Jin forces attacked the Song capital of Kaifeng in 1126, they met stout resistance. The city’s defenses had been overhauled, and it boasted immense walls, a deep wide moat, and advanced fortifications structures including bastions and barbicans."
[2]
"In the late-tenth and very beginning of the eleventh century, the Song dynasty (960-1279) undertook a large-scale defensive project to protect its northeast border. ... the Song government gradually constructed a continuous band of water obstacles, spanning hundreds of miles across northern Hebei province from the Taihang Mountains ... in the west to the Gulf of Bohai in the east. The spine of these obstacles was a dike that connected its surrounding rivers and swamps into a continuous defense line. Unlike the Great Wall, the role of which was miniscule, this Great Ditch played a large part in stabilizing the military situation between the Song and Liao, leading to the Chanyuan Covenant (Chanyuan zhi meng) in 1005, and a peace that lasted for more than a century."
[3]
[1]: (Lorge 2011, 30) [2]: (Andrade 2016, 34) Andrade, Tonio. 2016. The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. Princeton: Princeton University Press. [3]: (Lorge 2008, 60) Peter Lorge. The Great Ditch of China. Don J Wyatt. 2008. Battlefronts Real and Imagined: War, Border, and Identity in the Chinese Middle Period. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. |
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Jiahu likely had a moat surrounding the site.
[1]
[1]: (Liu 2005: 75) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/Q77FKW2H?. |
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Beijing had an extensive fortification system, consisting of the Forbidden City, the Imperial city, the Inner city, and the Outer city. Fortifications included gate towers, gates, archways, watchtowers, barbicans, barbican towers, barbican gates, barbican archways, sluice gates, sluice gate towers, enemy sighting towers, corner guard towers, and a moat system. It had the most extensive defence system in Imperial China.
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Construction of Chang’an: "possibly some of it [the earth] was excavated to form a moat outside the walls." ; The city walls of Chang’an built under Yang Chien: "the building material was the light brown earth."
[1]
[1]: (Wright 1978, 86) Wright, Arthur. 1978. The Sui Dynasty. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. |
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"The Ta Ming Wu Chieh chapters of the I Chou Shu ... mention several methods of attacking a city: mounding in the moat (yin) ... but the text probably dates from Warring States times."
[1]
[1]: (Needham and Yates 1994, 241) Joseph Needham. Robin D A Yates. 1994. Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5. Chemistry and Chemical Technology. Part VI. Military Technology: Missiles and Sieges. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
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possible cities still had moats from previous eras when they were necessary. however, with the unification of China under the Qin and Han, they might have lost them. "The border defense system had five basic architectural components. First were the border towns...most of them have moats, walls, gates, wall towers, corner towers, streets, administrative offices, shops, residences and storehouses. Some had additional wall fortifications and beacon towers."
[1]
[1]: (Steinhardt, Nancy. 2002. Chinese Architecture. 新世界出版社. 38) |
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"The Yangshao (7000-4500 B.P.) tradition of the middle Yellow river valley witnessed the emergence of relatively large agricultural communities organized around a public courtyard, many with a defensive moat."
[1]
"A defensive moat was dug on the periphery of the dwelling area."
[2]
[1]: (Peregrine and Ember 2000, xix) [2]: (Lee in Peregrine and Ember 2001, 334) Peregrine, P. and M. Ember (eds.) 2001. East Asia and Oceania (Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Volume 3). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. |
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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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older reports describe make-shift palisades and watchtowers made from wood only.
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[1]
[1]: (Adam 1981, 232) Adam, S. 1981. “The Importance of Nubia: A Link between Central Africa and the Mediterranean.” In General History of Africa II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa, edited by G. Mokhtar, II:226-44. General History of Africa. Paris: UNESCO. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/8APQDQV3. |
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Ditches and moats existed and were used at this time, e.g. in the Levant region. Were they used by the Ptolemies?
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Ditches and moats existed and were used at this time, e.g. in the Levant region. Were they used by the Ptolemies?
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Present for Abbasid Caliphate: Abbasid siege of Al-Wasit, last Umayyad stronghold in Iraq: "In the first such encounter Umayyad forces were defeated, and they retreated to the moat that surrounded the western section of the city."
[1]
[1]: (Elad 1986, 65) Saron, M. 1986. Studies in Islamic History and Civilization: In Honour of Professor David Ayalon. Brill. |
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Moat used as a defence in Peru.
[1]
[1]: (Bradley 2009, 58) 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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Loches Keep: "The 11th-century tower, a rectangle 82 feet long by 43 feet wide with walls 9 feet thick, is one of the earliest and finest examples of a stone keep; it was here that the chronicler Philippe de Commynes, among many others, was incarcerated. Of the original double curtain walls and broad moat (35-40 feet), only one wall still stands."
[1]
[1]: (Kibler in Kibler et al 1995, 1058) |
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"The so-called Palace of the Viscounts was actually built, according to Héliot, in the 13th century by Simon de Montfort and especially Louis IX. Constructed of rough-worked sandstone, it is surrounded on three sides by a deep moat and protected by nine towers."
[1]
"At the height of the Middle Ages, great castles were built with deep, defensive ditches or moats and several concentric rings of stone walls reinforced with towers that required attackers to fight their way through several layers of defense to achieve victory."
[2]
[1]: (Kibler in Kibler et al 1995, 322) [2]: (Newman 2001, 75) Paul B Newman. 2001. Daily Life in the Middle Ages. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Jefferson. |
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A monastery in a region of recently pacified Saxons had "an encircling moat and a strong wall, which extended to the River Weser. Towers fortified the four corners and gate towers secured the entrance into the monastery precinct. The site was originally the location of a Roman castelllum."
[1]
[1]: (Schutz 2004, 354) Herbert Schutz. 2004. The Carolingians in Central Europe, Their History, Arts, and Architecture: A Cultural History of Central Europe, 750-900. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Moat known at Vertault.
[1]
[1]: (http://www.oppida.org/page.php?lg=fr&rub=00&id_oppidum=168) |
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"Castle architecture became increasingly complex from the 12th to 13th centuries. ... All of these precautions became obsolete with the widespread use of gunpowder in the 14th and 15th centuries, and castles became simply country residences for the nobility."
[1]
[1]: (Jesse 1995, 181) Scott Jesse. Castles. William W Kibler. Grover A Zinn. Lawrence Earp. John Bell Henneman Jr. 1995. Routledge Revivals: Medieval France (1995): An Encyclopedia. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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Not clear whether this information applies to pre-contact polities. "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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Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[1]
In Medang period Ratu Boko had a dry moat as a defensive structure
[2]
[1]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. [2]: (Millet in Miksic 2003, 74) |
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According to Miksic the Majapahit capital did not seem to have any sort of defensive perimeter.
[1]
This does not mean that no town or fort in Majapahit had any type of defensive fortification. Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[2]
[1]: (Miksic 2000, 115) [2]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. |
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"Nevertheless, the results of this archaeological survey suggests that there is no clear evidence that any MB features in the Levant should be identified as moats. While the bottoms of some fosses may be below the water table today in certain areas, the lack of data for the level of the water table in the MB at the time of their construction makes it impossible to be sure that they were intended to hold water…"
[1]
[1]: Burke (2004:147). |
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Present for the Satavahana period.
[1]
Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats.
[2]
[1]: (Chakrabarti 1995, 306) D K Chakrabarti. Post-Mauryan states of mainland South Asia (c. BC 185-AD 320). F R Allchin. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (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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Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats
[1]
and the moat was still employed during the preceding Rashtrakuta period.
[2]
[1]: (Olivelle 2016, 103) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: Jayashri Mishra, Social and Economic Conditions Under the Imperial Rashtrakutas (1992), p. 206 |
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Moats around defensive walls are known in the Ganga valley in India from about 500 BCE, or perhaps earlier.
[1]
Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions a moat.
[2]
[1]: (? 1990, 298) Amalananda Ghosh ed. 1990. An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology. Volume I. E J BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Olivelle 2016, 142-143) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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Moats around defensive walls are known in the Ganga valley in India from about 500 BCE, or perhaps earlier.
[1]
Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions a moat.
[2]
[1]: (? 1990, 298) Amalananda Ghosh ed. 1990. An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology. Volume I. E J BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Olivelle 2016, 142-143) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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"Most Indian castles have a ditch, dry or filled with water, in front of the walls; only mountain castles rarely have a ditch."
[1]
"In The Arthashastra, Kautilya (Art. II, 3 (21)) recommends surrounding a fortress with three ditches (parikha) filled with water. ... This was an ideal scheme but it was rarely put into practice."
[1]
[1]: (Nossov 2006, 14) Konstantin S Nossov. 2006. Indian Castles 1206-1526: The Rise and Fall of the Delhi Sultanate. Osprey Publishing. |
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Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats.
[1]
"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."
[2]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French.
[1]: (Olivelle 2016, 103) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (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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