| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
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’this fortification system arrangement remained unchanged throughout the imperial Hittite and Neo-Hittite periods’
[1]
[1]: Marcella Frangipane, ‘Arslantepe-Malatya: A Prehistoric and Early Historic Center in Eastern Anatolia’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 985 |
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not yet found in settlements such as Çatal Höyük
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"When the invader had re-crossed the seas, the Himyar king reconquered his realm, and wreaked a savage vengance on the Christians of Najaran, who had probably collaborated with the Axumites. Their churches were demolished, and several hundred Najranis, who refused to apostatize, were burnt alive in a trench or moat outside their principal settlement. This occurred in the year 523..."."When the invader had re-crossed the seas, the Himyar king reconquered his realm, and wreaked a savage vengance on the Christians of Najaran, who had probably collaborated with the Axumites. Their churches were demolished, and several hundred Najranis, who refused to apostatize, were burnt alive in a trench or moat outside their principal settlement. This occurred in the year 523...".
[1]
Khandak: "ditch, moat ... it may be an Aramaic loanword in Arabic. ... Salman al-Farisi ... it is said, advised Muhammad to protect Madina in the year 6 A.H. against its beleaguerers by digging a moat, a means of defence hitherto unknown in Arabia but usual in Persia."
[2]
[1]: (Saunders 2002,13)John Joseph Saunders. 2002. A History of Medieval Islam. Routledge. London. [2]: (Beveridge 1993, 899) H Beveridge. Khandak. M Th. Houtsma. A J Wensinck. T W Arnold. W Heffening. E Levi-Provencal. eds. 1993. E. J. Brill’s First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. Volume IV. E J BRILL. Leiden. |
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"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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"When the invader had re-crossed the seas, the Himyar king reconquered his realm, and wreaked a savage vengance on the Christians of Najaran, who had probably collaborated with the Axumites. Their churches were demolished, and several hundred Najranis, who refused to apostatize, were burnt alive in a trench or moat outside their principal settlement. This occurred in the year 523..."."When the invader had re-crossed the seas, the Himyar king reconquered his realm, and wreaked a savage vengance on the Christians of Najaran, who had probably collaborated with the Axumites. Their churches were demolished, and several hundred Najranis, who refused to apostatize, were burnt alive in a trench or moat outside their principal settlement. This occurred in the year 523...".
[1]
Khandak: "ditch, moat ... it may be an Aramaic loanword in Arabic. ... Salman al-Farisi ... it is said, advised Muhammad to protect Madina in the year 6 A.H. against its beleaguerers by digging a moat, a means of defence hitherto unknown in Arabia but usual in Persia."
[2]
[1]: (Saunders 2002,13)John Joseph Saunders. 2002. A History of Medieval Islam. Routledge. London. [2]: (Beveridge 1993, 899) H Beveridge. Khandak. M Th. Houtsma. A J Wensinck. T W Arnold. W Heffening. E Levi-Provencal. eds. 1993. E. J. Brill’s First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. Volume IV. E J BRILL. Leiden. |
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not yet found in settlements such as Çatal Höyük
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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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not yet found in settlements such as Göbekli Tepe
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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 fortresses means no moats?
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No fortresses to moat?
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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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no fortresses to moat?
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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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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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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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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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not found in settlements
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not yet found in settlements such as Çatal Höyük
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not found in settlements
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not found in settlements
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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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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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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."
[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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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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Only dry moats or "natural moats" (rivers) were used.
[1]
[1]: (Jones 2004, 52) Jones, David. 2004. Native North American Armor, Shields, and Fortifications. Austin: University of Texas Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/943RGM7A/itemKey/HABDQG2T |
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older reports describe palisades and watchtowers made from wood only
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"The Iroquois preferred a location where a stream or river looped in such a fashion that it could be utilized as a natural moat. If such a condition was not practicable, they built a dry moat."
[1]
[1]: (Jones 2004, 52) Jones, David. 2004. Native North American Armor, Shields, and Fortifications. Austin: University of Texas Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/943RGM7A/itemKey/HABDQG2T |
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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 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 mentioned in the literature.
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a moat.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a moat.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a moat.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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The sources reviewed so far make no mention of ditches or moats around Ashanti settlements or forts.
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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a moat.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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In the 15th century, Djenné was the archetype of a fortified city: built on an island, it was defended by a ring of water; the city itself was protected by a wall with 11 doors. "Mais au XVè siècle, Djenné était la ville forte par excellence: bâtie sur une île, elle était admirablement défendue par une ceinture d’eau; la ville elle-même était protégée par une enceinte percée de 11 portes."
[1]
[1]: (Niane 1975, 125) |
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no evidence of "external threats to Jenne-jeno"
[1]
"For much of every year, Jenne was encircled by the flood waters of the Niger river ... Its inhabitants also built high protecting walls round their city, somewhat like those that may still be seen at Kano".
[2]
[1]: (Reader 1998, 230) [2]: (Davidson 1998, 58) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London. |
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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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Monte Albán’s fortifications are relatively well understood, but no source mentions the existence of a moat.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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There is no evidence for a moat at Monte Alban or other settlements.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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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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"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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"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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older reports describe make-shift palisades and watchtowers made from wood only.
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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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Sidon, which was taken by the Achaemenids in 345 BCE, was "surrounded by three high walls and a moat."
[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]
[1]: (Dandamaev 1989, 308) Dandamaev, M A. 1989. A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire. Brill. [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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inferred from description of fortifications suggesting moat features
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present for previous polities
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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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Academic confirmation required.
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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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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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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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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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|
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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We can probably include Venice itself?
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|
We can probably include Venice itself?
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-
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present in the preceding and succeeding periods.
|
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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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|
"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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"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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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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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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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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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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"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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Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats
[1]
and the moat was still used during the 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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When a Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kanauj in the mid-7th century CE he "gives a vivid description of the city and its king Harsha. The town was over three miles in length, one mile in breadth, and surrounded by a moat and fortified by a strong lofty tower."
[1]
[1]: 1917. The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay. Volume 10. Antropological Society of Bombay. |
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NBP = Northern Black Polished Ware. "Also lying on this route is Jai Mangal Garh, a roughly 80-100 acre NBP-bearing site which is clearly surrounded by a moat but is perhaps without fortification."
[1]
Moats around defensive walls are known in the Ganga valley in India from about 500 BCE, or perhaps earlier.
[2]
[1]: (Chakrabarti 2006, 16) Dilip K Chakrabarti. Relating History to the Land: Urban Centers, Geographical Unites, and Trade Routes in the Gangetic and Central India of circa 200 BCE." Patrick Olivelle. ed. Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (? 1990, 298) Amalananda Ghosh ed. 1990. An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology. Volume I. E J BRILL. Leiden. |
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"Banavasi in North Kanara, an acient capital city of the region measuring 1 km2, goes back at least to the Satavahana period and shows a burnt-brick fortification on rubble foundations and a moat."
[1]
[1]: (Chakrabarti 1995, 306) D K Chakrabarti. Post-Mauryan states of mainland South Asia (c. BC 185-AD 320). F R Allchin. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
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Inferred from the preceding Mauryans: "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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Moats around defensive walls are known in the Ganga valley in India from about 500 BCE, or perhaps earlier.
[1]
Present for the preceding Satavahana period.
[2]
Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions ramparts constructed with earth and moats.
[3]
[1]: (? 1990, 298) Amalananda Ghosh ed. 1990. An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology. Volume I. E J BRILL. Leiden. [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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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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In the second millennium BCE, "Moats were becoming a common feature of city defenses".
[1]
e. g. at Kish
[2]
[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. [2]: Hamblin, W. J. 2006. Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. New York: Routledge, 223 |
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In the second millennium BCE, "Moats were becoming a common feature of city defenses".
[1]
e. g. at Kish
[2]
[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. [2]: Hamblin, W. J. 2006. Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. New York: Routledge, 223 |
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In the second millennium BCE, "Moats were becoming a common feature of city defenses".
[1]
e. g. at Kish
[2]
[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. [2]: Hamblin, W. J. 2006. Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. New York: Routledge, 223 |
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In the second millennium BCE, "Moats were becoming a common feature of city defenses".
[1]
e. g. at Kish
[2]
[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. [2]: Hamblin, W. J. 2006. Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC. New York: Routledge, 223 |
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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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Citadel on the ridge above Urfa had a moat and was held by the Ak Koyunlu: "The Mamelukes tended to use smaller stones, while the Ak Koyunlu Uzun Hasan in his rebuilding campaign of 1462-63 imitated the original masonry."
[1]
[1]: Francis Russell. 2017. 123 Places In Turkey. A Private Grand Tour. Wilmington Square Books. London. |
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Hatra had "inner and outer city walls surrounded by a moat".
[1]
"Other than a few cities in Mesopotamia, Parthian cities seem not to have been surrounded by walls, although some defensive preparations, such as the aforementioned fortresses and moats, have been identified in some sites."
[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]: Rezakhani, Khodadad. 2016. Arsacid Society and Culture. Accessed 06.09.2016: https://iranologie.com/the-history-page/the-arsacid-empire/arsacid-society-and-culture/ |
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Ilkhans would have encountered moats e.g. in Syria. Did they use them themselves? Were any already present in Persia that survived the Mongol destructions e.g. southern Persia?
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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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Hatra had "inner and outer city walls surrounded by a moat".
[1]
"Other than a few cities in Mesopotamia, Parthian cities seem not to have been surrounded by walls, although some defensive preparations, such as the aforementioned fortresses and moats, have been identified in some sites."
[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]: Rezakhani, Khodadad. 2016. Arsacid Society and Culture. Accessed 06.09.2016: https://iranologie.com/the-history-page/the-arsacid-empire/arsacid-society-and-culture/ |
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Isfahan: "Canals were outside the city walls, which might have functioned as a wet moat."
[1]
"There was a citadel at Sarakh situated on the top of a hill and surrounded by a moat."
[1]
[1]: (Roy 2014, 105) Roy, Kaushik. 2014. Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400-1750: Cavalry, Guns, Government and Ships. A&C Black. |
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Data from Po Valley: "At least from the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age a new phenomenon is noticeable in the Po Valley - pile-dwellings on dry land, called terramare. These villages were trapezoidal in shape and were surrounded with a moat and within this a rampart."
[1]
[1]: (Childe 1925, 267-268) V Gordon Childe. 1925 (1996). The Dawn of European Civilization. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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’Connected by the singular artery of Muromachi Road and surrounded by a patchwork of walls, moats, and guardhouses, these small enclaves served as makeshift fortresses within which residents sought to secure a level of stability, safety, and commercial viability despite the violence and lawlessness of the age (see Figure 6.2). Politically, they organized into “neighborhood federations” (chō-gumi) through which they engaged in corporate defense and self-government
[1]
[1]: Stavros, Matthew 2014. Kyoto: An Urban History Of Japan’s Premodern Capital. University of Hawai’i Press.p.143 |
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’Despite their imposing appearances, the castles of the Azuchi- Momyama epoch were not constructed only for defense. Daimyo wished to develop commercially thriving towns around their fortresses and therefore often selected castle sites more on the basis of economic than military considerations. But above all, the typical Azuchi-Momoyama daimyo conceived of the castle as a means to impress the world with his grandeur and power. Thus, although castles of the time were noteworthy because of their broad, deep moats and huge protective walls made of stone, their most distinctive features were multistoried donjons or keeps, which were of little use militarily but were highly decorative and showy.’
[1]
"the water-filled moat or hori afforded the best guarantee against penetration."
[2]
[1]: Yamamura, Kozo (ed). 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 3. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press [sixth edition].p.492 [2]: (Kirby 1962) John Kirby. 1962. From Castle to Teahouse: Japanese Architecture of the Momoyama Period. Tuttle Publishing. |
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’Heian itself was almost certainly unwalled, except for a small garden-like structure about 6 feet high on the city’s southern border that served as a setting for Rampart Gate.That extremely modest "rampart," only about a third as high as the great walls that surrounded Ch’ang-an, was paralleled by two ditches or moats a little less than 10 feet wide, one inside the wall and the other outside. The remainder of the city’s boundaries is thought to have been delineated by nothing more formidable than extensions of those moats and perhaps some kind of simple earthwork.’
[1]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.106-107 |
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"Tomb-era villages were quite different from their Yayoi predecessors. ... Villages might range from ten to sixty or more pit dwellings, along with several storehouses, and residences might be grouped in units of two or three, suggesting that they contained extended families. In larger settlements, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of sizable wooden structures, sometimes surrounded by a moat or stone walls."
[1]
There were apparently fewer moats in the Kofun era compared to the Yayoi. According to Kenichi Saski "the new age was also marked by the disappearance of moats enclosing settlements" although "influential people appeared, who could maintain larger storehouses ... these influential people resided within moated enclosures together with ordinary residences. 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]: (Farris 2009, 17) William Wayne Farris. 2009. Japan To 1600: A Social and Economic History. University of Hawai’i Press. Honolulu. [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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"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]
[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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’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]
’Angkor Wat (see diagram 1 and map 5) was built over a period of 28 years (1122-1150), though some decorations were never com- pleted. Like several earlier Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is sur- rounded by a moat; in this case the moat is 200 meters (660 feet) wide. Digging this moat involved removing 1,500,000 cubic meters of earth; this could have been done by 5,000 men in 10 years.’
[2]
[1]: (Briggs 1951, pg. 76) [2]: (Miksic 2007, p. 23) |
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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]
Banteay Prei Nokor was ’a very large city demarcated by a wall and exterior moat.’
[2]
[1]: (Briggs 1951, pg. 76) [2]: (Higham 2014b, p. 353) |
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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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’With the later Iron Age, these have been identified through the banks that ringed the sites to retain and control the flow of water. Smiths fashioned heavy iron ploughshares and sickles. At Lovea in Cambodia, rice field boundaries radiated out from the moats. The division and improvement of land and increased production occurred as elites at Noen U-Loke were being interred in graves filled with rice, along with outstanding sets of exotic ornaments. Smiths also forged iron arrowheads and heavy spears. Some settlements grew to be much larger than others. Valued cattle and water buffalo were protected in corrals within the moats, and substantial houses were constructed in the residential quarters of the moated towns. It is suggested that this was a period of formative social change involving the emergence of powerful leaders rooted in hereditary inequality.’
[1]
’All we know is that like Oc Eo, the surrounding moats were square or rectangular.’
[2]
Prei Khmeng and Ak Yum and its brick predecessor occupied an area thats seem to have been ’associated with a fan-shaped area of rice fields (Hawken 2011). The orientation of the linear banks north of these temples and fields might well have served to converse or direct water into these irrigated fields, associated in all likelihood with the use of drought oxen or water buffaloes to draw a plough, are must more productive than broadcast rice and the use of the hoe or spade alone to turn the soil.’
[3]
[1]: (Higham 2014, p 833-834) [2]: (Higham 2014b, 288) [3]: (Higham 2014b, 295) |
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|
’The picture [of the Funan] is one of small town-states, moated, fortified and frequently in conflict with each other.’
[1]
’This extraordinary site [Oc Eo] comprises a rectangular enceinte measuring 3 by 1.5 km. It lies behind five ramparts and four moats, and covers an area of 450 ha.’
[2]
’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 [...].’ [3] ’The river which flows there today was formerly a canal which functioned as a moat and a harbour, and ran about halfway around the outskirts of town.’ [4] ’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.’ [5] ’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.’ [6] [1]: (Freeman and Jacques 1999, p. 8) [2]: (Higham 2014, p. 279) [3]: (Higham 2012b, p. 590) [4]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p, 57) [5]: (Higham 2004, p. 17) [6]: (Higham 2014b, p. 342) |
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|
’The picture [of the Funan] is one of small town-states, moated, fortified and frequently in conflict with each other.’
[1]
’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 [...].’
[2]
’The river which flows there today was formerly a canal which functioned as a moat and a harbour, and ran about halfway around the outskirts of town.’
[3]
’Some have hypothesized that Angkor Borei was Naravaranagara, a capital of Funan in the sixth century. According to Michael Vickery, however, Naravaranagara was probably 60 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of Angkor Borei. In any case, Angkor Borei was one of the most impressive sites in early first-millennium Southeast Asia.’
[4]
’The oldest dated inscriptions from Funan (K.557 and K.600), dated 611, have both been found at Angkor Borei. Another recently discovered inscription is believed to date from about 650. This stele mentions that Rudravarman, Funan’s last known ruler, was living in Angkor Borei.’
[5]
’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.’
[6]
’This extraordinary site [Oc Eo] comprises a rectangular enceinte measuring 3 by 1.5 km. It lies behind five ramparts and four moats, and covers an area of 450 ha.’
[7]
[1]: (Freeman and Jacques 1999, p. 8) [2]: (Higham 2012b, p. 590) [3]: (Jacques and Lafond 2007, p, 57) [4]: (Miksic 2007, p. 19) [5]: (Miksic 2007, p.20) [6]: (Higham 2014b, p. 342) [7]: (Higham 2014, p. 279) |
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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 15th century, Djenné was the archetype of a fortified city: built on an island, it was defended by a ring of water; the city itself was protected by a wall with 11 doors. "Mais au XVè siècle, Djenné était la ville forte par excellence: bâtie sur une île, elle était admirablement défendue par une ceinture d’eau; la ville elle-même était protégée par une enceinte percée de 11 portes."
[1]
[1]: (Niane 1975, 125) |
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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 moat as a form of fortification in northern India around 3rd century BCE - 300 CE.
[2]
[1]: Konstantin S Nossov. 2012. Indian Castles 1206-1526: The Rise and Fall of the Delhi Sultanate. Osprey Publishing. [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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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 Sakha fortress after great difficulty: “. . . the fort was made with two walls, the space between the walls was filled with earth, and there were log towers.” At a later stage these fortifications disappeared, and no one has described them since in detail. But even in the 19th century it was possible to find special tower-like barns here and there, which belonged to the Toyons."
[1]
[1]: Tokarev, S. A., and Gurvich I. S. 1964. “Yakuts.” Peoples Of Siberia, 265 |
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Tokarev and Gurvich mention fortifications surrounded by water and snow: "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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"Rattanakosin Island, where King Rama I established the Royal Palace in 1782, was created by the digging of a defensive canal/moat which joined with the Chao Phraya River at the north and south and encircled the royal settlement."
[1]
[1]: (Bristol 2010, 117) Graeme Bristol. Rendered invisible. Urban planning, cultural heritage and human rights. Michele Langfield. William Logan. Mairead Nic Craith. eds. 2010. Cultural Diversity, Heritage and Human Rights: Intersections in Theory and Practice. Routledge. London. |
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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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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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|
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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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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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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not mentioned in literature
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we need expert input in order to code this variable
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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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we need expert input in order to code this variable
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"The Kingdom of Kampili on the Raichur Doab between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers was protected by the strong forts of Kunmata and Anegondi. The Muslim armies repeatedly attacked Kampili and captured Kunmata on their third attempt."
[1]
-- what were the nature of the obviously fairly effective fortifications at Kunamata and Anegondi?
[1]: (Sadasivan 2011, 191) Sadasiva, Balaju. 2011. The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. |
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not mentioned in literature
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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 references in the literature. RA.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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May not survive archaeologically, only detectable via excavation.
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No data.
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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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May not survive archaeologically, only detectable via excavation.
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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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‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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‘early Neolithic settlements have proven difficult to document even in intensively surveyed regions.’ There is only evidence for mudbrick architecture
[1]
[1]: Lloyd R. Weeks, ‘The Development and Expansion of a Neolithic Way of Life’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 56 |
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The 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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No data. Likely based on presence in earlier periods.
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Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa.
[2]
It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. |
||||||
|
‘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 |
||||||
|
-
|
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa.
[2]
It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. |
||||||
|
‘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 |
||||||
|
In Syria?
|
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa.
[2]
It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. |
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not mentioned in the literature
|
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|
References to Seljuks building moat fortification for a different region.
|
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa.
[2]
It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa.
[2]
It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. |
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Closest reference is a moat at Ur c2000 BCE.
[1]
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[2]
The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa.
[3]
It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (Rutkowski 2007, 26) Rutkowski, Ł. 2007. Problematyka militarna w Państwie Ur III. In: D. Szeląg (ed.), Historia i kultura państwa III dynastii z Ur. Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 17-28. [2]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [3]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa.
[2]
It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. |
||||||
|
Ur III (c2000 BCE) inscription mentions the construction of a moat and rampart in the region of Elam.
[1]
The Achaemenids built a moat at Susa.
[2]
It is not much of a stretch to suggest that if moats were a feature of the fortified architectural landscape in c2000 BCE and c500 BCE they also were used between times. However, since I have not yet found a reference to a moat specific to the Elamite period I will leave an expert to make the decision on if/when to code inferred present.
[1]: (? 2018) Author?. Title?. Javier Alvarez-Mon. Gian Pietro Basello. Yasmina Wicks. ed. 2018. The Elamite World. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Root 2015, 49) Margaret Cool Root. 2015. Achaemenid Imperial Architecture: Performative Porticoes of Persepolis. Sussan Babaie. Talinn Grigor. Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. |
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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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No evidence to code.
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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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‘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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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 moats, 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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Not mentioned in the literature.
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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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