| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Technology not yet available
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Technology not yet available
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Technology not yet available
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’The Kumasi Fort was built in 1820 by the Asantehene (the King of the Asante Kingdom), Osei Tutu Kwamina, to resemble the coastal forts which were built by European merchants. Kumasi Fort had to be rebuilt in 1897, after it was destroyed by British forces in 1874. The fort was built from granite and brown soil that was brought from Cape Coast to Kumasi by porters.’
[1]
Kumasi Fort apparently relied on mortared walls, and was constructed in imitation of colonial forts.
[1]: http://www.ghanamuseums.org/kumasi-fort-millitary-museum.php |
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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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"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]
. Nevertheless, there does appear to evidence for some stone walls, but I’m not sure if they are used in warfare. The “Great Wall” at Hōnaunau, built around 1600 CE, was over 300m long, 3m high and 5m wide
[2]
[3]
. Lapakahi also had a “Great Wall”, which was built between about 1450 and 1500 CE
[4]
.
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [2]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 162-4 [3]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 164. [4]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 178. |
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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]
. Nevertheless, there does appear to evidence for some stone walls, but I’m not sure if they are used in warfare. The “Great Wall” at Hōnaunau, built around 1600 CE, was over 300m long, 3m high and 5m wide
[2]
[3]
. Lapakahi also had a “Great Wall”, which was built between about 1450 and 1500 CE
[4]
.
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [2]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 162-4 [3]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 164. [4]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 178. |
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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Technology not yet available
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Technology not yet available
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Technology not yet available
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visible in temple buildings; i.e. Temple of Karnak
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The Pao-tun in the late Longshan and Erlitou used "river pebbles on exterior wall faces to improve weathering."
[1]
The river pebbles were apparently to "improve weathering" so archaeologists did not believe they had a role strengthening the wall as a fortification. However, depending on how fast they were to the earth it would have been more difficult to climb up a pebbled wall.
[1]: (Sawyer 2011, 91) |
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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Only archaeological evidence for mudbrick and stone buttressed walls at this time
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Only archaeological evidence for mudbrick walls at this time
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Only archaeological evidence for mudbrick walls at this time
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Only archaeological evidence for mudbrick walls at this time
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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]
. Nevertheless, there does appear to evidence for some stone walls, but I’m not sure if they are used in warfare. The “Great Wall” at Hōnaunau, built around 1600 CE, was over 300m long, 3m high and 5m wide
[2]
[3]
. Lapakahi also had a “Great Wall”, which was built between about 1450 and 1500 CE
[4]
.
[1]: Hommon, Robert, J. 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [2]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pp. 162-4 [3]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 164. [4]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 178. |
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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In Mediterranean France ramparts of stone or stone/mud appear to date with the arrival of colonialists (i.e. Greeks) and were close to Massalia.
[1]
[1]: (Dietler 2010, 169) Michael Dietler. 2010. Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France. University of California Press. Berkeley. |
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Not mentioned by sources.
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-
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-
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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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There is no evidence of stone walls at Nausharo.
[1]
However - the claimed unsuitability of walls and gates is somewhat subjective, and ignores sites with bastions and ‘double-axis’ gateways (such as Dholavira and Surkotada in Gujarat, Bisht 1991; Joshi 1990).
[2]
[1]: Agrawal, D. P. (2007) The Indus Civilization: An interdisciplinary perspective. Aryan Books International: New Delhi. [2]: Cork, E. (2005) Peaceful Harappans? Reviewing the evidence for the absence of warfare in the Indus Civilisation of north-west India and Pakistan (c. 2500-1900 BC). Antiquity (79): 411-423. p420 |
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not mentioned in any of the sources that deal with warfare
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not mentioned in any of the sources that deal with warfare
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"Aside from occasional exceptions, [...] stone fortifications do not appear to have been favored after the classical period. [...] Building stone walls was time-consuming and probably expensive. The stone was difficult to procure and to work, whereas brick was much more readily produced. a transition from stone to brick in temple building from the classical period into the early modern period was thus accompanied by the same general shift in fortification building."
[1]
[1]: (Charney 2004, p. 79) |
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Inferred from the fact that, in early modern times, there had been a shift from stone fortification to brick fortification: "Aside from occasional exceptions, [...] stone fortifications do not appear to have been favored after the classical period. [...] Building stone walls was time-consuming and probably expensive. The stone was difficult to procure and to work, whereas brick was much more readily produced. a transition from stone to brick in temple building from the classical period into the early modern period was thus accompanied by the same general shift in fortification building."
[1]
[1]: (Charney 2004, p. 79) |
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older reports describe make-shift palisades and watchtowers made from wood only even if stones were added.
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older reports describe palisades and watchtowers made from wood only, even if stones were added they were not mortared
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Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
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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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No references in the literature. RA.
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Walls were constructed using earth.
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|
no evidence of mortar used as construction technique during this period
|
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|
The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
|
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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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|
stone only being used as a wall foundation (e.g. Hattusa) The fortification walls were built in a casemate system with a width of up to 8 m. Two parallel walls were connected by diagonal walls, and the compartments thus constructed were filled with rubble. Towers protruded at regular intervals from the outer face of the walls. The walls are always situated on earthen ramparts, which provided protection against battering rams. As usual in Hittite architecture, the foundations and the lower parts of the walls were made of stone, whereas the upper parts consisted of a timber-framed structure of mud-brick. The superstructure of the walls can be reconstructed with a high degree of certainty thanks to the discovery of vessels showing fortification walls with battlements and towers. The gates were always flanked by towers. The Lion’s Gate in Hattusa was approached via a ramp, which ran parallel to the wall to the right, thus exposing the unshielded side of potential attackers to fire from the wall. Every gate could be closed on the outer and inner side by heavy wooden doors, which could be bolted with copper bars. A peculiarity of Hittite fortifications is the so-called postern, a narrow tunnel of up to 50 m in length and 3-4 m in width and height that led through the earthen ramparts on which the fortification stood. According to one theory, these posterns may have served as sally ports, enabling the defenders to make quick sorties. The length and the narrowness of the posterns made them easily defendable against intruders who, on the other hand, were exposed to fire from the fortification walls during their approach.
[1]
[1]: Lorenz J. and I. Schrakamp (2011) Hittite Military and Warfare, pp. 141 [In:] H. Genz and D. P. Mielke (ed.) Insights Into Hittite History And Archaeology, Colloquia Antiqua 2, Leuven, Paris, Walpole MA: PEETERS, pp. 125-151 |
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|
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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|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
|
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
|
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
|
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|
Walls used earth surrounding by bricks or wood
[1]
At Zhengzhou: "The two external protective walls were similarly pounded, and the outer one was coated with a layer of protective pebbles, presumably to forestall erosion by falling rain and perhaps buttress it against floodwaters."
[2]
Walls of Zhengzhou made out of earth.
[3]
No stone used for fortification.
[1]: (Lovell 2006, 31) [2]: (Peers 2011, 191) [3]: (Bagley 1999, 166) Bagley, R. in Loewe, Michael. Shaughnessy, Edward L.1999. The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge University Press. |
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|
based on stone only being used as a wall foundation (e.g. Hattusa) The fortification walls were built in a casemate system with a width of up to 8 m. Two parallel walls were connected by diagonal walls, and the compartments thus constructed were filled with rubble. Towers protruded at regular intervals from the outer face of the walls. The walls are always situated on earthen ramparts, which provided protection against battering rams. As usual in Hittite architecture, the foundations and the lower parts of the walls were made of stone, whereas the upper parts consisted of a timber-framed structure of mud-brick. The superstructure of the walls can be reconstructed with a high degree of certainty thanks to the discovery of vessels showing fortification walls with battlements and towers. The gates were always flanked by towers. The Lion’s Gate in Hattusa was approached via a ramp, which ran parallel to the wall to the right, thus exposing the unshielded side of potential attackers to fire from the wall. Every gate could be closed on the outer and inner side by heavy wooden doors, which could be bolted with copper bars. A peculiarity of Hittite fortifications is the so-called postern, a narrow tunnel of up to 50 m in length and 3-4 m in width and height that led through the earthen ramparts on which the fortification stood. According to one theory, these posterns may have served as sally ports, enabling the defenders to make quick sorties. The length and the narrowness of the posterns made them easily defendable against intruders who, on the other hand, were exposed to fire from the fortification walls during their approach.
[1]
[1]: Lorenz J. and I. Schrakamp (2011) Hittite Military and Warfare, pp. 141 [In:] H. Genz and D. P. Mielke (ed.) Insights Into Hittite History And Archaeology, Colloquia Antiqua 2, Leuven, Paris, Walpole MA: PEETERS, pp. 125-151 |
||||||
|
There is no evidence of stone walls at Nausharo.
[1]
However the claimed unsuitability of walls and gates is somewhat subjective, and ignores sites with bastions and ‘double-axis’ gateways (such as Dholavira and Surkotada in Gujarat, Bisht 1991; Joshi 1990).
[2]
[1]: Agrawal, D. P. (2007) The Indus Civilization: An interdisciplinary perspective. Aryan Books International: New Delhi. [2]: Cork, E. (2005) Peaceful Harappans? Reviewing the evidence for the absence of warfare in the Indus Civilisation of north-west India and Pakistan (c. 2500-1900 BC). Antiquity (79): 411-423. p420 |
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See above.
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See above.
|
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Not mentioned in the literature.
|
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-
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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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Not mentioned in the literature.
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-
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Not mentioned in the literature.
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By this period villages were often located on defensible hilltops, away from major routes, and were fortified "either by ravines or by artificial earthworks and multiple palisades," and even watchtowers. Also, "the placement of houses within a palisade may also have been motivated by defensive considerations" and to create defensible corridors.
[1]
[2]
[1]: (Snow 1994: 52) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TQ4KR3AE. [2]: (Engelbrecht 2003: 92) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/FJ3EAI76. |
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|
Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups." 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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|
"Whereas no sites are documented as fortified or military observatories during the Formative and Classic periods, approximately one quarter of sites are during the Epiclassic and one-third of sites are during the Postclassic."
[1]
[1]: (Carballo and Pluckhahn 2007: 615) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/MUW5MHB7. |
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|
"Whereas no sites are documented as fortified or military observatories during the Formative and Classic periods, approximately one quarter of sites are during the Epiclassic and one-third of sites are during the Postclassic."
[1]
[1]: (Carballo and Pluckhahn 2007: 615) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/MUW5MHB7. |
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|
"For urban centres in the rest of Mesoamerica, the lack of perimeter walls and defensive settings is striking. The undefended nature of Aztec towns, for example, contrasts sharply with the ethnohistoric record of Aztec warfare".
[1]
[1]: (Smith 2003: 38) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/WEIQNSNP |
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-
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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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|
Inferred from the following. "About two millennia ago, during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned several hundred years, intergroup conflict ending in violence was largely absent from eastern North America. Compared to both earlier Archaic hunter-gatherers and later village agriculturalists, few Middle Woodland skeletons have projectile points lodged in bones, distinctive stone-axe injuries, or signs of mutilation such as decapitation and scalping. [...] The scarcity of such injuries is not a result of inadequate sampling, since there are large and well-preserved skeletal collections dating to this period, especially from the Midwest. A rather sudden adoption of food-procurement practices that shifted the balance between resources and consumers to a time of relative plenty presumably played a big part in establishing conditions conducive to openness among otherwise separate groups."
[1]
[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 96-97) Milner, George, George Chaplin, and Emily Zavodny. 2013. “Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America.” Evolutionary Anthropology 22: 96-102. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/PAF8KM8K/itemKey/QR77EGA6 |
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|
"The 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 stone is shaped with iron picks and hammers, not bound together with mortar. ’Urartu’s craftsmen used iron picks and hammers to forge horizontal planes out of bedrock on which to erect the empire’s numerous and imposing stone fortresses.’
[1]
[1]: Lori Khatchadourian, ‘The Iron Age in Eastern Anatolia’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 480 |
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|
Technology not yet available
|
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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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|
Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE. Were these mud-brick constructions not stone?
|
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-
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|
Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
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|
Not made out of stone.
|
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-
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|
’The wall [of Angkor Thom] is entirely made of superimposed blocks of stone; it is about two [sic] fathoms high. The bonding of the stones is very compact and solid, and no weeds are found there. There is no crenellation.’ On the ramparts, in certain places gangling [kuang-lang, kouang-lang] trees have been planted. At regular distances are found empty casemates. The inner side of the wall is like a ramp wider than ten fathoms. On top of each ramp are huge doors, closed at night, and open in the morning. There are also guards at the gates.’
[1]
[2]
[1]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 19) [2]: (Dumarcay 2003, 25) |
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-
|
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|
"These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows."
[1]
"Up to the beginning of the feudal era, three forms of fortifications were built, according to archaeologists. The grid-pattern city form was inspired by Chinese planning precedents, and included gates or walled enclosures."
[2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing. [2]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.173. |
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|
Enclosure walls non-mortared?
|
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|
’We do not know how much of the walled area of Yasodharapura was settled nor the size of its population.’
[1]
’The wall [of Angkor Thom] is entirely made of superimposed blocks of stone; it is about two [sic] fathoms high. The bonding of the stones is very compact and solid, and no weeds are found there. There is no crenellation.’ On the ramparts, in certain places gangling [kuang-lang, kouang-lang] trees have been planted. At regular distances are found empty casemates. The inner side of the wall is like a ramp wider than ten fathoms. On top of each ramp are huge doors, closed at night, and open in the morning. There are also guards at the gates.’
[2]
[1]: (Miksic 2007, p. 18) [2]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 19) |
||||||
|
Palisades. Palisade 2.8km in length, 15m in height according to Iseminger et al.
[1]
Whilst the mounds were easily built over hundreds of years by a small number of workers, working few hours in a year, "partial walls were useless" and so arguably amounted to the more impressive challenge.
[1]
In terms of time and resources the first palisade was the biggest challenge because subsequent palisades could initially incorporate what was left standing from the earlier one.
[1]
Conservative estimate, 291,000 hours spent building each palisade. "1,000 workers could have erected a formidable wall in two to three months"
[1]
"If Cahokia’s residents could afford to move more slowly, taking nine months to complete the job, then 220 to 340 laborers were needed."
[1]
[1]: (Milner 2006, 148) |
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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Palisade 2.8km in length, 15m in height according to Iseminger et al.
[1]
Whilst the mounds were easily built over hundreds of years by a small number of workers, working few hours in a year, "partial walls were useless" and so arguably amounted to the more impressive challenge.
[1]
In terms of time and resources the first palisade was the biggest challenge because subsequent palisades could initially incorporate what was left standing from the earlier one.
[1]
Conservative estimate, 291,000 hours spent building each palisade. "1,000 workers could have erected a formidable wall in two to three months"
[1]
"If Cahokia’s residents could afford to move more slowly, taking nine months to complete the job, then 220 to 340 laborers were needed."
[1]
[1]: (Milner 2006, 148) |
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stone only being used as a wall foundation in previous polity (Around the citadel in Gordion)
[1]
. Wall fortifications found in Kaman Kalehöyük
[2]
[3]
.
[1]: DeVries, K., 1993, “The Gordion Excavation Seasons of 1969-1973 and Subsequent Research”, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 94, No. 3, pg:374 [2]: Genz H. "The Iron Age in Central Anatolia".In: Tsetskhladze G. R. (2011) The Black Sea, Greece, Anatolia and Europe in the first millenium BC. Paris. Pg: 336. [3]: Matsumura K., “The Early Iron Age in Kamankale-Höyük: The Search for ist Roots”. In: D. Bonatz, R.M. Czichon, F.J. Kreppner (2008), Fundstellen Gesammelte Schriften zur Archäologie und Geschichte Altvorderasiens ad honorem Hartmut Kühne. Wiesbaden. Pg: 41-50. |
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’The wall [of Angkor Thom] is entirely made of superimposed blocks of stone; it is about two [sic] fathoms high. The bonding of the stones is very compact and solid, and no weeds are found there. There is no crenellation.’ On the ramparts, in certain places gangling [kuang-lang, kouang-lang] trees have been planted. At regular distances are found empty casemates. The inner side of the wall is like a ramp wider than ten fathoms. On top of each ramp are huge doors, closed at night, and open in the morning. There are also guards at the gates.’
[1]
[1]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 19) |
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Only archaeological evidence for mudbrick walls at this time
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[The walls were non-mortared.]
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The following code clearly states the walls were always made of mudbrick even if they were build upon stone ground it does not seem to be a ’stone wall’ so I have coded this as absent from a blank code(e.g. Hattusa) The fortification walls were built in a casemate system with a width of up to 8 m. Two parallel walls were connected by diagonal walls, and the compartments thus constructed were filled with rubble. Towers protruded at regular intervals from the outer face of the walls. The walls are always situated on earthen ramparts, which provided protection against battering rams. As usual in Hittite architecture, the foundations and the lower parts of the walls were made of stone, whereas the upper parts consisted of a timber-framed structure of mud-brick. The superstructure of the walls can be reconstructed with a high degree of certainty thanks to the discovery of vessels showing fortification walls with battlements and towers. The gates were always flanked by towers. The Lion’s Gate in Hattusa was approached via a ramp, which ran parallel to the wall to the right, thus exposing the unshielded side of potential attackers to fire from the wall. Every gate could be closed on the outer and inner side by heavy wooden doors, which could be bolted with copper bars. A peculiarity of Hittite fortifications is the so-called postern, a narrow tunnel of up to 50 m in length and 3-4 m in width and height that led through the earthen ramparts on which the fortification stood. According to one theory, these posterns may have served as sally ports, enabling the defenders to make quick sorties. The length and the narrowness of the posterns made them easily defendable against intruders who, on the other hand, were exposed to fire from the fortification walls during their approach.
[1]
[1]: Lorenz J. and I. Schrakamp (2011) Hittite Military and Warfare, pp. 141 [In:] H. Genz and D. P. Mielke (ed.) Insights Into Hittite History And Archaeology, Colloquia Antiqua 2, Leuven, Paris, Walpole MA: PEETERS, pp. 125-151 |
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’The wall [of Angkor Thom] is entirely made of superimposed blocks of stone; it is about two [sic] fathoms high. The bonding of the stones is very compact and solid, and no weeds are found there. There is no crenellation.’ On the ramparts, in certain places gangling [kuang-lang, kouang-lang] trees have been planted. At regular distances are found empty casemates. The inner side of the wall is like a ramp wider than ten fathoms. On top of each ramp are huge doors, closed at night, and open in the morning. There are also guards at the gates.’
[1]
[1]: (Zhou and Smithies 2001, p. 19) |
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1274 CE. hardly any use seems to have been made of stone at Kamakura, even though fortifications built of stone had recently made a brief reappearance on the Japanese scene as a result of the attempt by Kublai Khan, the Yuan (Mongol) Emperor of China, to invade Japan in 1274’
[1]
"With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows."
[2]
[1]: Turnbull, Stephen. 2008. Japanese Castles AD 250--1540. Vol. 74. Osprey Publishing. P.19. [2]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing. |
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The defensive wall around Monte Alban was made of earth and stone.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. p150 [2]: Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (2003). "The origin of war: New C-14 dates from ancient Mexico." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(20): 11801-11805, p11804 |
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Technology not yet available
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Technology not yet available
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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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Technology not yet available
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Momoyama Period: "The stone walls so characteristic of the Japanese castle were built on a foundation of earth covered with small stones over which were placed the larger surface stones. Except at the corners, which were fashioned of stone slabs arranged much like the corner of a brick wall, the stones were of no uniform size or pattern. Generally, however, they were wedge-shaped and were placed with the smaller end of the wedge at the surface and the larger on the inside. This arrangement held them locked in position by their own weight and made them resistant to earthquakes. It also necessitated giving the wall a curve, and records show that this was geometrically determined. The basic earthen wall was known as a doi and the finished wall of stone as an ishigaki. Since no mortar was used to hold the stones in place, free drainage of water was permitted. Nevertheless, openings for drainage were used, although they were kept small so as not to be of advantage to the enemy."
[1]
[1]: (Kirby 1962) John Kirby. 1962. From Castle to Teahouse: Japanese Architecture of the Momoyama Period. Tuttle Publishing. |
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Technology not yet available
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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’The Kumasi Fort was built in 1820 by the Asantehene (the King of the Asante Kingdom), Osei Tutu Kwamina, to resemble the coastal forts which were built by European merchants. Kumasi Fort had to be rebuilt in 1897, after it was destroyed by British forces in 1874. The fort was built from granite and brown soil that was brought from Cape Coast to Kumasi by porters.’
[1]
Kumasi Fort apparently relied on mortared walls, and was constructed in imitation of colonial forts.
[1]: http://www.ghanamuseums.org/kumasi-fort-millitary-museum.php |
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“Muhammad b. Ziyad is said to have given the city its first wall (Yahya b. al-Husayn 1968, i: 151 1. 3; Chelhod 1978: 54), but according to Ibn al-Dayba, it may have been constructed by another ruler, Husayn b. Salama, an Ethiopian slave who was wazir of the young Ziyadid placed on the throne (Ibn al-Dayba 2006a: 282 II. 3-4; 2006B: 39 II. 2-3; chelhod 1978: 59). Whatever the case, al-Muqaddasi, who died around 380/990 (Miquel 1001: 492), tells us that Zabid was fortified (hisn min al-tin), so we can assume that Zabid had its first wall during the Ziyadid dynasty and not during the Najahid period as suggested by Ibn al-Mujawir’s map (1951-1954, i: 77, pl. 3; al-Muqaddasi 1906: 84 l. 14. Chelhod 1978: 54, 58; Keall 1984: 52).”
[1]
Use of mortar inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [2] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE. [1]: (Peli 2008: 251-252) Peli, A. 2008. A history of the Ziyadids through their coinage (203—442/818—1050). Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies , 2008, Vol. 38, Papers from the forty-first meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies held in London, 19-21 July 2007 (2008), pp. 251-263. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ADM7C94B/library [2]: 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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Multiple authors describe defensive structures surrounding Hmong settlements: ’The Miao settlement is called “chai” (Illus. 12, 13), built generally against a mountainside or along a river, without any uniform appearance. The chai wall is made of earth or stone slabs, and there is no definite number of gates. The streets of a chai zigzag up and down, with tiny alleys on both sides. In each alley there are a few families. The alleys are interconnected. Without a guide one can get lost once inside a chai; turning right and left, one will be unable to find an exit. Chinese passing through a Miao chai often cannot find a single Miao, because they have gone into hiding in small alleys, barring the doors and refusing to come out. The Miao chais are not located along lines of communication but in the deep mountains and valleys accessible only by small paths. Although visible at a distance, they often cannot be reached. Without modern arms, they cannot be easily taken. For the last few hundred years continuous Miao unrest in western Hunan may be largely related to the fact that their chais were easy to defend and difficult to capture.’
[1]
’There were formerly many fortified places called in Chinese chai tzŭ where groups of houses were clustered together for protection. This is indicated by the names of places such as Wang Wu Chai and by the frequent references to fortified places in the legends. To-day there [Page 23] are none to be found. One explanation given by Ch’uan Miao friends is that the danger of fire was too great so that people no longer built their houses so close together. There are two other possible reasons. One is that the Chinese destroyed the strongholds in war and to prevent future rebellions, and the other is that there is no longer danger of raids and attacks from the Lolos. Chinese histories actually mention the destruction of the strongholds’
[2]
We have assumed mortared stone walls for the time being.
[1]: Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 59 [2]: Graham, David Crockett 1937. “Customs Of The Ch’Uan Miao”, 22 |
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Within technical capability of time, certainly within the region of China.
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Present in previous and subsequent periods.
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Inferred from the preceding Mauryans: Kautilya’s Arthashastra recommended walls made of stone. Depended on resources available at location. Some are known at Rajgir (period not stated).
[1]
[1]: (Allchin 1995, 223) F R Allchin. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
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e.g around the village of Rajagriha.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Schlingloff, Dieter. Fortified Cities of Ancient India: A Comparative Study. Anthem Press, 2013. p. 39 [2]: Allchin, F. Raymond. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995., p.225. |
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e.g. Great Wall
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Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE. Were these mud-brick constructions not stone?
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Ghazan built a new wall around Tabriz.
[1]
The summer palace built by Hülegü’s son Abaqa near Lake Urmia had "massive oval walls protected by towers and accessed by a new gate".
[2]
[1]: (Houtsma et al. 1993, 586) Houtsma, M Th. Wensinck, A J. Gibb, H A R. Heffening, W. Levi-Provencal, E. 1993. First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936. E.J. Brill. Leiden. [2]: Sheila S. Blair, ’IL-KHANIDS ii. Architecture’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/il-khanids-ii-architecture |
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From the 11th century, local rulers constructed earth and wood "motte-and-bailey castles" and later built with stone.
[1]
A donjon was a stone tower.
[2]
[1]: (De Vries 1995, 1837-1839) [2]: (Hallam and Everard 2014) Elizabeth M Hallam. Judith Everard. 2014. Capetian France 987-1328. Second Edition. Routledge. London. |
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Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
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visible in temple buildings; i.e. Temple of Karnak
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Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
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Enclosure walls non-mortared?
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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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Reference for Kanauj in the 7th century CE: The city of Kanauj under Harsha was "a magnificent, well-fortified city".
[1]
Were there any stone walls?
[1]: (Sen 1999, 259) Sailendra Nath Sen. 1999. Ancient Indian History and Civilization. Second Edition. New Age International (P) Limited, Publishers. New Delhi. |
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Present in previous and subsequent polities.
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There was a city wall at Medina, built to protect against Qarmatis. There was also a walled citadel in Shīrāz.
[1]
[1]: Busse, H. 1975. Iran under the Būyids. In Frye, R. N. (ed.) The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume 4. The period from the Arab Invasion to the Saljuq’s. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.281 |
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I should emphasize, however, that stone walls of all sorts had largely given way by this period to earthworks and integrated, artillery-resistant fortifications (such as the fortezze stelle, the famous Italian star-forts.
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As used around Baghdad.
[1]
Note: technology to make fortifications was present, but in the case of large cities it was not implemented as the Caliphs preferred battles over long sieges, and because of concerns that citizens would use them for protection during revolts. The defense of the Caliphate came from a nation in arms rather than siege craft, and the stabilization of the frontiers in Anatolia had not taken place until the Abbasid Caliphate. The fortifications given below were largely the result of captured fortresses rather than new designs.
[1]: Kennedy, the Armies of the Caliphs pp. 185-192 |
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present in preceding Roman Principate
[1]
[1]: (http://www.romeartlover.it/Costroma.html) |
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Ephesus, which was relocated and rebuilt: "drystone walls with their substantial, quarried limestone blocks were carefully fitted onto the bedrock and followed the contours of the countryside wherever they led for about ten kilometers ... protecting the harbor and surrounding the city at some distance, to allow for expansion and the emergency evacuation of the rural population. The entire length of the wall consisted of two faces, inner and outer, with rubble and soil infill between, and an average width of almost three meters ..."
[1]
[1]: (Waterfield 2011, 78) Robin Waterfield. 2011. Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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[1]
The Questions of King Milinda on Salaka: "Wise architects have laid it out ... strong towers and ramparts, with superb gates and entrance archways; and with the royal citadel in its midst, white walled and deeply moated."
[2]
[1]: Iskender-Mochiri p. 63 [3]) [2]: (Bauer 2010, 180-181) Bauer, S W. 2010. The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. W. W. Norton & Company. |
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"Malik ’Abbas built numerous fortress-like villages in Ghur. Qutb al-Din Muhammad founded the fortress-like villages in Ghur. Qutb al-Din Muhammad founded the fortress and city of Firuzkuh. Basha al-Din Sam erected strong fortresses in Ghur, the Garmsir, Gharchistan and Herat, keeping strategic needs in view. A castle constructed at Wadawajzd by Sultan Ghiyath al-Din was so impregnable that it survived the onslaught of the Mongols."
[1]
[1]: (Nizami 1999, 189) K A Nizami. The Ghurids. M S Asimov. C E Bosworth. eds. 1999. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part One. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi. |
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Used during the spread of walled villages. A development considered very important in this period.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press, 1951. p.124-5 [2]: Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169 |
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"While recognizing the supremacy of the Great Yueh-chih, who remained in Transoxiana, Bactria still retained its independence (Chang-Ch’ien went there as to another country), and normal life went on without any obvious effects of"nomad invasions": there were cities and settlements of permanent inhabitants, surrounded by walls; in the capital there was a market with a great variety of goods; trade flourished, including international trade (merchants from Bactria travelled on business to India). This situation probably continued into the first century B.C., if we accept the account given in the Han shu."
[1]
[1]: (Zeimal 1983, 243-244) |
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"The study of these sites by the Uzbek-French expeditiondemonstrates that the process of erecting city walls in Samarkand and Kok-tepe and shrines in Kok-tepe included large-scale works [Rapin, Isamiddinovand Khasanov]."
[1]
[1]: (Waugh 2003) Daniel Waugh. From The Editor. December 2003. The Silk Road. Volume 1. Number 2. |
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"The study of these sites by the Uzbek-French expeditiondemonstrates that the process of erecting city walls in Samarkand and Kok-tepe and shrines in Kok-tepe included large-scale works [Rapin, Isamiddinovand Khasanov]."
[1]
[1]: (Waugh 2003) Daniel Waugh. From The Editor. December 2003. The Silk Road. Volume 1. Number 2. |
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The Hadrami (non-Himyarite) city of Sumhuram (from late 1st BCE) on the far southern coast of Oman had a monumental building which, including foundations, covered 400m2, with walls 6.6 metres thick, double the thickness of the city wall.
[1]
The city of Sirwah (Sabaean) which covered about 3ha was "surrounded by an enormous wall, fortified by towers at several points, with the unusual feature of the monumental structures such as the Almaqah Temple and the ruler’s palace built into it."
[2]
Stone and mortar abutments at the Marib dam.
[3]
Himyarites used stone to build dams, so it is likely they used stone for defensive works - question is whether the walls were mortared: "The masonry structures ... are built in a style that is regarded as Himyarite, being made of cut blocks of stone arranged in well-made horizontal courses. In addition, some dams are firmly dated to the Himyarite period by in situ inscriptoins."
[4]
[1]: (Avanzini 2008, 610) Alessandra Avanzini. Notes for a history of Sumhuram and a new inscription of Yashhur’il. Alessandra Avanzini. ed. 2008. A Port In Arabia Between Rome And The Indian Ocean (3rd C. BC-5th C. AD) Khor Rori Report 2. L’ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER. Rome. [2]: (Caton 2013, 41) Steven C Caton ed. 2013. Yemen. ABC-Clio. Santa Barbara [3]: Rhea Talley Stewart. March/April 1978. A Dam at Marib. Saudi Aramco World. Site: http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/197802/a.dam.at.marib.htm [4]: (Wilkinson 2003, 192) Tony J Wilkinson. 2003. Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East. The University of Arizona Press. Tucson. |
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Stone walls built as defences in Peru
[1]
[1]: (Bradley 2009, 85) 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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Present for Abbasid Caliphate: As used around Baghdad.
[1]
The technology to create fortifications was present, but in the case of large cities not implemented as the Caliphs preferred battles over sieges, and because of concerns that citizens would use them for protection during revolts. The Arabic word for castle or fortress was Hisn, with the Qasr more often used for a fortress. The use of fortifications depended on local tradition. In Syria, pre-existing walls were maintained. In other areas of conquest or after rebellions fortifications were torn down. Baghdad stands out as an exception in terms of a fortified urban centre. Baghdad was surrounded by large walls, and fortified gates were secured with two sets of iron covered doors and large numbers of guards.
[1]
[1]: Kennedy, the Armies of the Caliphs pp. 185-192 |
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The Hadrami (non-Himyarite) city of Sumhuram (from late 1st BCE) on the far southern coast of Oman had a monumental building which, including foundations, covered 400m2, with walls 6.6 metres thick, double the thickness of the city wall.
[1]
The city of Sirwah (Sabaean) which covered about 3ha was "surrounded by an enormous wall, fortified by towers at several points, with the unusual feature of the monumental structures such as the Almaqah Temple and the ruler’s palace built into it."
[2]
Stone and mortar abutments at the Marib dam.
[3]
Himyarites used stone to build dams, so it is likely they used stone for defensive works - question is whether the walls were mortared: "The masonry structures ... are built in a style that is regarded as Himyarite, being made of cut blocks of stone arranged in well-made horizontal courses. In addition, some dams are firmly dated to the Himyarite period by in situ inscriptoins."
[4]
[1]: (Avanzini 2008, 610) Alessandra Avanzini. Notes for a history of Sumhuram and a new inscription of Yashhur’il. Alessandra Avanzini. ed. 2008. A Port In Arabia Between Rome And The Indian Ocean (3rd C. BC-5th C. AD) Khor Rori Report 2. L’ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER. Rome. [2]: (Caton 2013, 41) Steven C Caton ed. 2013. Yemen. ABC-Clio. Santa Barbara [3]: Rhea Talley Stewart. March/April 1978. A Dam at Marib. Saudi Aramco World. Site: http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/197802/a.dam.at.marib.htm [4]: (Wilkinson 2003, 192) Tony J Wilkinson. 2003. Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East. The University of Arizona Press. Tucson. |
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Many cities were not fortified and lacked walls. Major temples were fortified structures. Do we have any examples of mortared walls?
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Many cities were not fortified and lacked walls. Major temples were fortified structures. Do we have any examples of mortared walls?
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Walled cities.
[1]
City walls present in sixth century.
[2]
[1]: (Bachrach 1972, 127) Bachrach, B S. 1972. Merovingian Military Organization 481-751. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. [2]: (Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249) Loseby, S. T. 1998. “Gregory’s Cities: Urban Functions in Sixth-Century Gaul.” In Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective, edited by I. N. Wood, 239-69. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DT5E5GNS. |
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David Baker says present.
[1]
Carolingian castles "used the standard building techniques employed by all since the Romans ... built in stone with crenellation ... round and square tower construction, and interior battlements, often built of wood."
[2]
[1]: David Baker. Personal communication to Seshat Databank. [2]: (Butt 2002, 38) John J Butt. 2002. Daily Life in the Age of Charlemagne. Greenwood Publishing Group. Westport. |
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David Baker says present.
[1]
Carolingian castles "used the standard building techniques employed by all since the Romans ... built in stone with crenellation ... round and square tower construction, and interior battlements, often built of wood."
[2]
[1]: David Baker. Personal communication to Seshat Databank. [2]: (Butt 2002, 38) John J Butt. 2002. Daily Life in the Age of Charlemagne. Greenwood Publishing Group. Westport. |
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|
Walled cities.
[1]
City walls present in sixth century.
[2]
[1]: (Bachrach 1972, 127) Bachrach, B S. 1972. Merovingian Military Organization 481-751. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. [2]: (Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249) Loseby, S. T. 1998. “Gregory’s Cities: Urban Functions in Sixth-Century Gaul.” In Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective, edited by I. N. Wood, 239-69. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DT5E5GNS. |
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|
Walled cities.
[1]
City walls present in sixth century.
[2]
[1]: (Bachrach 1972, 127) Bachrach, B S. 1972. Merovingian Military Organization 481-751. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis. [2]: (Loseby in Wood ed. 1998, 245-249) Loseby, S. T. 1998. “Gregory’s Cities: Urban Functions in Sixth-Century Gaul.” In Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period: An Ethnographic Perspective, edited by I. N. Wood, 239-69. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DT5E5GNS. |
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|
Fort walls are often mentioned, but only sources from the Portuguese give clues about their construction, stating in general: ’Turning now to the physical appearance of Aden, Albuquerque notes that the houses, which were tall and built of stone and mortar, were the most beautiful he had seen in the east.’ so it is clear mortared stone walls were in use.
[1]
[1]: Porter, Venetia Ann (1992) The history and monuments of the Tahirid dynasty of the Yemen 858-923/1454-1517, Durham theses, Durham University, p. 180, Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5867/ |
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|
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate
[1]
which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE. Yemeni forts and walls.
[2]
[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 [2]: (Stookey 1978, 73) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. |
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|
Smaller fortifications were often mortared.
|
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|
During the Satavahana period towns were protected by "high walls"
[1]
but the construction materials and methods are not mentioned. "The temple is enclosed by a stone wall and has evidently been used as a fort. On the outside of the east wall of the temple is a stone inscription of the Early Chalukya dynasty..."
[2]
[1]: S. Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), p. 27 [2]: (1884, 546) 1884. Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Bijápur. Government Central Press. |
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|
e.g. Fortifications Firuz Shah
[1]
Example of wall with mortar in photograph.
[2]
[1]: Stein, Burton, A History of India (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), p.148. [2]: (http://archnet.org/sites/3982/media_contents/2968) |
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|
The Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kanauj in the mid-7th century CE and reported a moat and tower fortifications.
[1]
It is logical to presume the moat was located outside of a circumvallating wall or rampart and that the tower was made from stone or brick.
[1]: 1917. The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay. Volume 10. Antropological Society of Bombay. |
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|
12 km walls around Ninevah.
[1]
Chaldea and Assyria: "What we find in the remarkable encrusted earth ramparts of Chaldea ... Stone was not used at all, but the clay brick walls were given a dressing of stucco or fired brick." "Like the Assyrian walls on which they are modeled, Persian walls were built of air-dried brick".
[2]
[1]: (Modelski 2003, 179) [2]: (Semper 2004, 754-755) Gottfried Semper. 2004. Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; Or, Practical Aesthetics. Getty Publications. Los Angeles. |
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|
Stone used in fortifications.
[1]
"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..."
[2]
[1]: Roy, Kaushik. War, Culture and Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740-1849. Taylor & Francis, 2011. pp. 30-35 [2]: (Gall 2012, 19) Sandy Gall. 2012. War Against the Taliban: Why It All Went Wrong in Afghanistan. Bloomsbury. London. |
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|
Aside from the above, chipped stone was often used as filler material in mudbrick walls and earthen ramparts, or as a protective patina.
|
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|
"Deloche notes that between the third and fourteenth centuries, the Hindu rulers constructed complex gateways, towers and thicker walls with earthen embankments in order to make their durgas (forts) impregnable."
[1]
Deloche’s studies on Indian fortifications are in French.
[1]: (Roy 2011, 123) Kaushik Roy. Historiographical Survey of the Writings on Indian Military History. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. ed. 2011. Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Primus Books. Delhi. |
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|
As used around Baghdad.
[1]
The technology to create fortifications was present, but in the case of large cities not implemented as the Caliphs preferred battles over sieges, and because of concerns that citizens would use them for protection during revolts. The Arabic word for castle or fortress was Hisn, with the Qasr more often used for a fortress. The use of fortifications depended on local tradition. In Syria, pre-existing walls were maintained. In other areas of conquest or after rebellions fortifications were torn down. Baghdad stands out as an exception in terms of a fortified urban centre. Baghdad was surrounded by large walls, and fortified gates were secured with two sets of iron covered doors and large numbers of guards.
[1]
[1]: Kennedy, the Armies of the Caliphs pp. 185-192 |
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|
Clay blocks and adobe bricks used for fortification walls.
[1]
Many towns enclosed by thick walls with rectangular towers.
[2]
"When the Kushan conquered this region they established a third administrative capital at a site called Sirsukh close to Taxila. This city was strongly defended with a stone wall that included projecting circular bastions for archers."
[3]
[1]: (Mukhamedjanov 1994, 279) Mukhamedjanov, A R in Harmatta J, Puri B N and Etemadi G F eds. 1994. History of civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. UNESCO. [2]: (Mukhamedjanov 1994, 270) Mukhamedjanov, A R. Economy and Social System in Central Asia in the Kushan Age. in Harmatta J, Puri B N and Etemadi G F eds. 1994. History of civilizations of Central Asia. Volume II. UNESCO. [3]: (McLaughlin 2016, 83) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley. |
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|
"The first part Manya would be written Manne in Kanarese and could be Mannai in Tamil. This is described as of unapproachable strength and that is the strength of the fortress that was built by the Rashtrakutas and in building the walls of which the Eastern Chalukyas were compelled to assist after defeat."
[1]
"Amoghavarsha developed the city of Manyakheta (modern Malkhed in Gulbarga district) and its fortifications and made it the famous capital."
[2]
[1]: (? 1922, 321) ? . 1922. Journal of Indian History. Volume 2. University of Kerala. [2]: (Hosamani 2019, 18) Ratnakar D Hosamani. 2019. A Study of Historical Monuments in Bidar District (1st Century-17th Century CE). Laxmi Book Publication. Solapur. |
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|
"Bilav - Kuji Nala, district Nagpur. Remains of fortification wall.
[1]
During the Satavahana period towns were protected by "high walls"
[2]
but the construction materials and methods are not mentioned.
[1]: (Sawant 2009) Reshma Sawant. 2008. ‘State Formation Process In The Vidarbha During The Vakataka Period’. Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute 68-69: 137-162. [2]: S. Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), p. 27 |
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|
"With Tehran established as the capital in 1786, the urban fabric was further developed by the expansion of the bazaar ..., palaces, and military fortifications.”
[1]
Tehran: "In addition to the construction of palaces which served both as royal residences and administrative centres, bazaars and thoroughfares all within a ring of defensive walls, it was also necessary to cater for religious needs and to demonstrate, publicly, piety and charity through sponsorship of mosques and madrasas, and repairs and additions to important Shi’i sanctuaries."
[2]
In the early 19th century Tehran was surrounded by a wall and ditch.
[3]
[1]: (Gharipour 2012, 133) Mohammad Gharipour. Architecture. Andrea L Stanton. ed. 2012. Sage. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Los Angeles. [2]: (Scarce 2005, 432) Jennifer Scarce. Some interpretations of religious and popular culture in Qajar tilework. Robert Gleave. ed. 2005. Religion and Society in Qajar Iran. RoutledgeCurzon. London. [3]: (Bosworth ed. 2007, 508) ???. Tehran. C Edmund Bosworth. ed. 2007. Historic Cities of the Islamic World. BRILL. Leiden. |
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|
Introduction of a ’cohesive cementing solution in building’.
[1]
"The chief characteristics of Aksumite architecture are the use of stone ... and a type of masonry which uses no other mortar but clay." (369) A 3000 square metre area castle at Dongour had walls which formed "an irregular quadrilateral with one side 57 metres long and the other half a meter shorter. The walls in the centre of the ruins still stand 5 metres high."
[2]
[1]: (Kobishanov 1981, 383) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. [2]: (Anfray 1981, 365) F Anfray. The civilization of Aksum from the first to the seventh century. G Mokhtar. ed. 1981, General History of Africa II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. |
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|
Citadel on the ridge above Urfa had stone walls: "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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|
City walls of Dura-Europos 1st century AD.
[1]
Walled cities mentioned in Chinese records.
[2]
Parthian walls at Hatra.
[3]
"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."
[4]
[1]: Lukonin, V.G., ‘Political, Social and Administrative Institutions: Taxes and Trade’, in The Cambridge history of Iran: the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Part 2, ed. by Ehsan Yar-Shater (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), vol. 3, p.718. [2]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. [3]: (Rawlinson 2014, 213) Rawlinson, George. 2014. The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, Or: Parthia; Sassanian, or New Persian empire; Notes and index. Gorgias Press LLC. [4]: 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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|
’The Kumasi Fort was built in 1820 by the Asantehene (the King of the Asante Kingdom), Osei Tutu Kwamina, to resemble the coastal forts which were built by European merchants. Kumasi Fort had to be rebuilt in 1897, after it was destroyed by British forces in 1874. The fort was built from granite and brown soil that was brought from Cape Coast to Kumasi by porters.’
[1]
Kumasi Fort apparently relied on mortared walls, and was constructed in imitation of colonial forts.
[1]: http://www.ghanamuseums.org/kumasi-fort-millitary-museum.php |
||||||
|
City walls of Dura-Europos 1st century AD.
[1]
Walled cities mentioned in Chinese records.
[2]
Parthian walls at Hatra.
[3]
"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."
[4]
[1]: Lukonin, V.G., ‘Political, Social and Administrative Institutions: Taxes and Trade’, in The Cambridge history of Iran: the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Part 2, ed. by Ehsan Yar-Shater (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), vol. 3, p.718. [2]: (Tao 2007) Tao, Wang in Josef in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Stewart, Sarah eds. 2007. The Age of the Parthians. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. London. [3]: (Rawlinson 2014, 213) Rawlinson, George. 2014. The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, Or: Parthia; Sassanian, or New Persian empire; Notes and index. Gorgias Press LLC. [4]: 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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|
Introduced by the Dutch. What is the reference for this? Sultan Agung built a new capital at Plered which had "much greater walls" than the previous one.
[1]
The material the wall was made out of is not mentioned.
[1]: (Santosa 2007, 10) Revianto Budi Santosa. 2007. Kotagede: Life Between Walls. Penerbit PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Jakarta. |
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|
Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[2]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[3]
During the Shutrukid Period new construction activity replaced mudbrick with glazed and baked brick (but no specific mention is made of defensive structures).
[4]
"Like the Assyrian walls on which they are modeled, Persian walls were built of air-dried brick".
[5]
[1]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468 [2]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [4]: (Bryce 2009, 676). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [5]: (Semper 2004, 754-755) Gottfried Semper. 2004. Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; Or, Practical Aesthetics. Getty Publications. Los Angeles. |
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|
"The Safavid cities’ fortifications were not that impressive. Isfahan was surrounded by a wall with eight gates. ... The Safavids, after making Isfahan their capital, did not rebuild the wall. ... Since Isfahan faced no threat, there was no point in constructing time-consuming and costly fortifications."
[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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|
According to the Bishop of Ravenna, Theodoric built walls around Verona and Pavia.
[1]
On Rome, from the Anonymous Valesianus text: "for the restoration of the Palace and the rebuilding of the walls of the city he ordered two hundred pounds to be given each year from the chest that contained the tax on wine."
[2]
[1]: (Hodgkin 1897) [2]: (Burns 1991, 90) |
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|
Many of these would have been Roman-era survivals, however. The most notable example is Aurelian’s Wall at Rome, which remained the main wall circuit for Rome up to 1870. (These walls may have required some maintenance?).
|
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|
[1]
392 BCE conquest Veii gave access to quality stone, Grotta Oscura tufa. 374 BCE stone wall constructed around Rome, using this stone.
[2]
[1]: (http://www.romeartlover.it/Costroma.html) [2]: (Stearns 2001) |
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|
Walls of Darband, 20 meters high (Khosrau I).
[1]
Most Sasanian cities were fortified.
[2]
[1]: (Nikitin 1996, 63) Nikitin, A. V. Customs, Arts and Crafts. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.59-80. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [2]: (Nikitin 1996, 61) Nikitin, A. V. Customs, Arts and Crafts. in in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.59-80. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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|
[1]
The 392 BCE conquest Veii gave the Romans access to a quality building stone, the Grotta Oscura tufa. In 374 BCE a stone wall constructed around Rome used this stone.
[2]
opus caementicium - Roman concrete. Servian wall constructed from 378 BCE.
[3]
[1]: (http://www.romeartlover.it/Costroma.html) [2]: (Stearns 2001) [3]: (Fields 2011) |
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|
[1]
The 392 BCE conquest Veii gave the Romans access to a quality building stone, the Grotta Oscura tufa. In 374 BCE a stone wall constructed around Rome used this stone.
[2]
opus caementicium - Roman concrete.
[1]: (http://www.romeartlover.it/Costroma.html) [2]: (Stearns 2001) |
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|
According to Al Bakri, emperor of Ghana "lived in a stone castle, surrounded by a wall."
[1]
Idrisi, writing in 1150 CE, said it was a "fortified chateau, built in 1116, decorated with sculptures and paintings, and boasting glass windows."
[1]
[1]: (Diop 1987, 83) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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|
"Ancient Rajagriha, the first capital of Magadha, dates from the early phase of the NBP or at least the sixth century BCE ... There is a core of pre-NBP BRW occupation inside the hill girt area of Rajgir, which is also defended by a cyclopaean masonry wall at least at the major entrances to the valley."
[1]
Have no idea whether this wall was dry stone or mortared. Moats around defensive walls are known in the Ganga valley in India from about 500 BCE, or perhaps earlier.
[2]
[1]: (Chakrabarti 2006, 14) Dilip K Chakrabarti. Relating History to the Land: Urban Centers, Geographical Unites, and Trade Routes in the Gangetic and Central India of circa 200 BCE." Patrick Olivelle. ed. Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (? 1990, 298) Amalananda Ghosh ed. 1990. An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology. Volume I. E J BRILL. Leiden. |
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|
According to Al Bakri, emperor of Ghana "lived in a stone castle, surrounded by a wall."
[1]
Idrisi, writing in 1150 CE, said it was a "fortified chateau, built in 1116, decorated with sculptures and paintings, and boasting glass windows."
[1]
[1]: (Diop 1987, 83) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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|
Tipón "This Late Intermediate Period settlement and its agricultural lands and water sources were surrounded by an enormous defensive wall, constructed of rough field stones and mud mortar, approximately five meters in height. In other sections, areas of sheer cliff blocked access to the site. These defensive features of the site run for several kilometers."
[1]
[1]: (Bauer and Covey 2002, 858) |
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|
Used during the spread of walled villages. A development considered very important in this period.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press, 1951. p.124-5 [2]: Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169 |
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|
Tarsus
[1]
Demircihöyük
[2]
[1]: Çevik Ö., "The Emergence of Different Social Systems in Early Bronze Age Anatolia: Urbanisation versus Centralisation", In: "Anatolian Studies", Vol. 57, Transanatolia: Bridging the Gap between East and West inthe Archaeology of Ancient Anatolia (2007), p. 135. [2]: Düring B. S., "The Prehistory of Asia Minor. From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies", Cambridge 2011, p. 267. |
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|
Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[2]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[3]
During the Shutrukid Period new construction activity replaced mudbrick with glazed and baked brick (but no specific mention is made of defensive structures).
[4]
"Like the Assyrian walls on which they are modeled, Persian walls were built of air-dried brick".
[5]
[1]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468 [2]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [4]: (Bryce 2009, 676). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. [5]: (Semper 2004, 754-755) Gottfried Semper. 2004. Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; Or, Practical Aesthetics. Getty Publications. Los Angeles. |
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|
"Lime-burners" are mentioned among the craftsmen who worked on the construction of the walls of Rumeli Hisar.
[1]
Konya had "a city-wall and a citadel”
[2]
[1]: J. M. Rogers, Waqf and Patronage in Seljuk Anatolia: The Epigraphic Evidence Anatolian Studies, Vol. 26 (1976): 85. [2]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001. P.121. |
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|
"In the physical domain, Ollantaytambo also exemplifes their bent for modifying the terrain and adapting their designs to existing land forms. Taking advantage of a meander in the Urubamba, engineers diverted the water ow from the le bank to the right and back again and also channelized the Río Patakancha where it owed through the site (Protzen 1993: 22). e eleven expansive terraces that face the settlement gracefully blended in with the natural slope of the piedmont. In 1536, their steep stone walls helped to repel the Spanish expedition sent against Manqo Inka. e Incas even used the waterworks in their defense, as they ooded the valley where the Spanish. were attacking, handing them their only real defeat of the campaign (P. Pizarro 1986: 146-8). "
[1]
"Troops defending fortified locations responded with a similar array of weaponry, to which they added large boulders rolled down onto advancing forces. Piles of hundreds of sling stones lining the interior of defensive walls can still be found at various Inca forts, such as Cerro del Inga, Chile (Planella et al. 1991: 407)."
[2]
[1]: D’Altroy 2014, 224) [2]: (D’Altroy 2014, 345-347) |
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|
Walls of Central Asian cities generally constructed with "sun-dried bricks faced with fired bricks".
[1]
[2]
[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton. [2]: (Nicolle 2012, 45) Nicolle, David. 2012. Saracen Strongholds AD 630-1050: The Middle East and Central Asia. Osprey Publishing. |
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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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-
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|
Massive Canaanite-style fortifications persisted from the Bronze Age, and in many cases were improved upon. For example, "[The Late Bronze Age fortification at Beirut] was replaced before the Early Iron Age by a massive new stone fortification wall with a large glacis of steeper angle (33 degrees) compared to the curved perimeter of the settlement mound."
[1]
[1]: Markoe (2000:81). |
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|
-
|
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|
Al Untash-Napirisha, a new city, was built with walls enclosing 100 hectares.
[1]
Were these walls of mud or stone? Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers.
[2]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[3]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[4]
During the Shutrukid Period new construction activity replaced mudbrick with glazed and baked brick (but no specific mention is made of defensive structures).
[5]
[1]: Carter, E. and Stolpher, M.W. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. London: University of California Publication. p.37 [2]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468 [3]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [4]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [5]: (Bryce 2009, 676). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[2]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[3]
During the Shutrukid Period new construction activity replaced mudbrick with glazed and baked brick (but no specific mention is made of defensive structures).
[4]
[1]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468 [2]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [4]: (Bryce 2009, 676). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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Al Untash-Napirisha, a new city, was built with walls enclosing 100 hectares.
[1]
Were these walls of mud or stone? Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers.
[2]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[3]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[4]
During the Shutrukid Period new construction activity replaced mudbrick with glazed and baked brick (but no specific mention is made of defensive structures).
[5]
[1]: Carter, E. and Stolpher, M.W. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. London: University of California Publication. p.37 [2]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468 [3]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [4]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [5]: (Bryce 2009, 676). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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Inferred absent for defensive stone walls. A stone wall has been found surrounding a funerary enclosure but this may be considered part of a building: "No large necropolis has yet been found at Sarazm, but excavation IV led to the discovery of a funerary enclosure with a round plan (15 m in diameter) surrounded by a stone wall. (see general plan of the excavation IV)."
[1]
[1]: (Sarazm Management Plan 2005, 20) |
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"According to A. N. Bose (1961, 205-6), Saketa and Ayodhya, both celebrated in the Buddhist sources and the Ramayana, were the same city. The excavations conducted at the site in 1975-77 showed a burnt-brick fortification wall with a ditch outside dating possibly from c. BC 200 (IAR, 1975-76, 1976-77)."
[1]
Was stone used for fortifications, or was it all brick?
[1]: (Allchin et al. 1995, 298) F R Allchin. George Erdosy. R A E Coningham. D K Chakrabarti. Bridget Allchin. The Mauryan Empire and its aftermath. F. R. Allchin. ed. 1995. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
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A brick wall is not a stone wall.
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Walls found at Oc Eco are brick i.e. mud wall so counts as a rampart rather than a stone wall.
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[1]
Sassanid city planning incorporated walls.
[2]
unknown whether walls were mortared
[1]: (Nikitin 1996, 63) Nikitin, A. V. Customs, Arts and Crafts. in Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.59-80. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf [2]: (Chegini 1996, 46) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
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Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[1]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[2]
City walls built under Indatu 11, son of Tanruhurater: “Nada podemos colegir de la situación en Elam. El rey debía ser Indatu 11,hijo de Tanruhurater, el cual conmemora en sus inscripciones, redactadas en sumerio y acadio, fundaciones piadosas y la construcción de la muralla de la acrópolis de SusaL6."
[3]
Are these walls of brick or stone - mortared or non-mortared?
[1]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [2]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: (Quintana 2007, 39) |
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Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[1]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[2]
[1]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [2]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. |
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’Up to the beginning of the feudal era, three forms of fortifications were built, according to archaeologists. The grid-pattern city form was inspired by Chinese planning precedents, and included gates or walled enclosures. Mountain fortresses appear to be an indigenous form, and were typical of remote areas. Plateaus or plains often utilized the palisade, a semi-permanent defense. Typical defenses included a rampart, a ditch, and a palisade. Grid-pattern cities were surrounded by walls that served as a demarcation point rather than as true protection, and eventually such barriers disappeared.’
[1]
"These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows."
[2]
Some stone walls were built during the Asuka period in the 7th century: "eighteen hilltops were fortified with stone walls in north Kyushu’.
[3]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.173. [2]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing. [3]: Kidder Jr., J. Edward, 2007. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Kingdom of Yamatai (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press). p. 126 |
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About Kiuzeli-g’ir: "The first, in northern Turkmenistan, consists of long walls with rounded towers, the walls containing corridors which have been called ’living walls’ by Tolstov (Fig. 3). This complex is dated in about the 6th century BC and substantiates cultural, and thus probably also economic, contacts far to the south, as far as north-west India."
[1]
[1]: (Helms 1998, 88) |
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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]
[1]: (Farris 2009, 17) William Wayne Farris. 2009. Japan To 1600: A Social and Economic History. University of Hawai’i Press. Honolulu. |
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opus caementicium - Roman concrete. Stone walls have been dated to the 8th Century.
[1]
Archaeologist Patrizia Fortini dated an earlier wall from nearby ceramic remains "between 9th century and the beginning of the 8th century."
[2]
There was no complete fortification of Rome in the 6th Century. Parts had walls.
[3]
[1]: (Cornell 1995, 72) [2]: (Hooper, J. Sunday 13 April 2014 17.38 BST. "Archaeologists’ findings may prove Rome a century older than thought" The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/13/archaelogists-find-rome-century-older-than-thought) [3]: (Cornell 1995, 200) |
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"These yamashiro (mountain castles) were hilltop fortresses consisting only of wooden stockades, gates and towers, joined to one another across valleys and peaks to form a complex defensive arrangement. With no stone or mudbrick walls to batter down, these castles were almost always overcome by infantry assault, often supported by arson attacks launched by fire arrows."
[1]
’Interestingly enough, after the fiasco of 663, when the Japanese in trying to aid Paekche were disastrously routed in a naval battle off the west coast of Korea, they rushed home to start building defenses against an expected invasion from Silla. About eighteen hilltops were fortified with stone walls in north Kyushu’.
[2]
Were the stone walls mortared or unmortared?
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing. [2]: Kidder Jr., J. Edward, 2007. Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Kingdom of Yamatai (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press). p. 126 |
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“The Sogdian princelings bad the title of gwPw ( = xvatâv ) or gwtl(w). These rulers, whom Chinese sources claim belonged to one clan (the bouse of Chao-wu [t’siiiu-miu] = jmûk [jamûg] of the Muslim authors), were more ofte:n than not merely the first among equals in the class of dihqâns, aristocratic landholders who lived in fortified castles.2"
[1]
[1]: (Golden 1992, 189) |
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No evidence to code.
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Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[1]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[2]
[1]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [2]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. |
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"Engineers and laborers built walls by ramming thin layers of loose earth in wood frames to form the core of the ramparts. They then face them with brick and stone to prevent erosion by rain and constructed battlements on top to provide for their defense."
[1]
[1]: (Benn 2002, 45) Benn, Charles. 2002. China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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"Engineers and laborers built walls by ramming thin layers of loose earth in wood frames to form the core of the ramparts. They then face them with brick and stone to prevent erosion by rain and constructed battlements on top to provide for their defense."
[1]
[1]: (Benn 2002, 45) Benn, Charles. 2002. China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
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needs expert verification
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Many settlements show evidence for fortifications from this period, for example: “…the rocky summit of the Yagul hill [Tlacolula region] was fortified during Period V with the same kind of dry-laid stone masonry walls used at the Mitla Fortress.”
[1]
[1]: Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People. New York. p292 |
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Kirch
[1]
[2]
states that Hawaiians had no true fortifications, only refuges where civilians could flee during wartime, and none of the refuges he describes include a substantial stone wall.
[3]
[4]
[1]: Kirch, P. V. 1984. The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pg. 213 [2]: Kirch, P. V. 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai’i. Berkeley: University of California Press. Pg. 70. [3]: Kirch, P. V. 1985. Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: An Introduction to Hawaiian Archaeology and Prehistory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Pg. 167. [4]: Kirch, P. V. 1984. The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 208-9, 215-6. |
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Smaller residential buildings were often mortared with clay, but whether this technique was used for fortifications is unknown.
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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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Walled towns present prior to 3100 BCE.
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Tell el-Dab’a covered almost 4 KM2 at its largest extent. Citadel on western edge on the river, watchtower to the southeast over the land, around them an "enclosure wall" 6.2 meters wide (later 8.5m) and "buttressed at intervals."
[1]
Wall built at Buhen (perhaps renewal of existing fortifications) under Theban control in the third year of Kamose.
[2]
[1]: (Bourriau 2003, 180) [2]: (Bourriau 2003, 195) |
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"These urban centres, containing temples and aristocratic dwellings, were protected by stone enclosures, which could reach 14 m in height."
[1]
[1]: (Robin 2015: 93) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZMFH42PE. |
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not mentioned in literature
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Late 3rd - early 2md millennium BCE text: "Its walls were built from stone."
[1]
Mortar existed at this time because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2md millennium BCE text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[2]
[1]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [2]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. |
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Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers.
[1]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[2]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[3]
During the Shutrukid Period new construction activity replaced mudbrick with glazed and baked brick (but no specific mention is made of defensive structures).
[4]
[1]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468 [2]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [3]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [4]: (Bryce 2009, 676). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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No data yet. If not the typical Song fortification it is likely that stone fortifications existed, even if on a small/local scale.
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Lapili-breccia and limestone used in layer layers of wall building at Marib.
[1]
Photos of wall
[2]
suggest to me non-mortared but I might be wrong as they also used mud brick work which presumably had a mortar.
[1]: (Schnelle 2008, 113) Mike Schnelle. Origins of Sabaen Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC - Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Marib and Sirwah (Yemen). Rune Frederiksen. Mike Schnelle. Silke Muth. Peter Schneider. eds. 2016. Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Oxbow Books. Oxford. [2]: (Schnelle 2008, 115-117) Mike Schnelle. Origins of Sabaen Fortifications of the Early 1st Millennium BC - Some Suggestions to the Examples of the Cities Marib and Sirwah (Yemen). Rune Frederiksen. Mike Schnelle. Silke Muth. Peter Schneider. eds. 2016. Focus on Fortifications: New Research on Fortifications in the Ancient Mediterranean and the Near East. Oxbow Books. Oxford. |
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Andronovo: "Larger fortified settlements were built in the steppe, protected by walls and ditches."
[1]
"The Andronovans employed as building materials birch, pine and cedar (Siberian pine), rarely other species."
[2]
Stone was used where there were no trees.
[3]
The Liventsovka fortress near Rostov on Don "is a semicircular promontory fort, 20-24m high, enclosed by a double semi-circle of massive stone walls and surrounded by ditches, 2-6m wide and 2-3m deep."
[4]
Note: The Liventsova fortress is not Andronovan.
[1]: (Barisitz 2017, 16) Stephan Barisitz. 2017. Central Asia and the Silk Road: Economic Rise and Decline over Several Millennia. Springer. Cham. [2]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 42) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden. [3]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 38) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden. [4]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 33) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Khar Bukhyn Balgas in Mongolia: "Built in stone by the Khitan, it was surrounded by ramparts and a moat."
[1]
Internet search of photographs - wals looked dry-stone in construction. Lots of tiny stones between bigger stones/rocks.
[1]: (Baumer 2016) Christoph Baumer. 2016. The History of Central Asia: The Age of Islam and the Mongols. I.B. Tauris. |
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Not mentioned 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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In Medang period Ratu Boko had stone walls as defensive structure.
[1]
Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’fortress’ and ’siege’.
[2]
[1]: (Millet in Miksic 2003, 74) [2]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. |
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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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"Other sites in northeast China and Inner Mongolia are connected to the Xianbei, such as sites with dwellings and burials in the Wuerjimulun River valley, east of Nanyangjianingzi, Balin Left Banner (Dien 1991, pp. 41-43; Su 1979). In A.D. 160 the Xianbei leader moved his headquarters to that of the former Xiongnu leader in the Khangai Mountains in Mongolia, although this location has not been conclusively identified. Among known sites is the walled settlement at Shengle, reportedly built in A.D. 258, just north of modern Holingol. The site was occupied by Chinese farmers under Xianbei control (Dien 1991, p. 45)."
[1]
[1]: (Rogers 2012, 223-224) |
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"The fortified settlement of Ivolga in Russia, situated near the modern city of Ulan-Ude, is the most investigated one among them. The site was an irregular rectangle with sides equal to approximately 200 and 300 m. On three sides, it was protected by fortification works of three walls alternating with three ditches while on the fourth side the site was protected by the Selenga river."
[1]
"Botanical analyses were conducted at the Ivolga site complex, an important example of a fortified settlement of 2,500-3,000 people specializing in agriculture and metal production in the Transbaikal region (Davydova 1995; Kradin 2005a). "
[2]
[1]: (Kradin 2011, 85) [2]: (Rogers 2012, 221) |
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Lower Deccan (Krishna-Tungabhadra River Valleys; Krishna-Tungabhadra Doab) 1100-100 BCE: "Preferred settlement location are on high hilltops or on the slopes of outcrops, with some evidence for walls and other defensive features."
[1]
Walls existed but not known what materials were used or whether the walls were mortared or un-mortared.
[1]: (? 2002, 365)? South Indian Iron Age. Peter N Peregrine. Melvin Ember. eds. 2002. Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Volume 8: South and Southwest Asia. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. New York. |
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Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[1]
We don’t know if the walls in this region were made out of stone or earth.
[1]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Lower Deccan (Krishna-Tungabhadra River Valleys; Krishna-Tungabhadra Doab) 1100-100 BCE: "Preferred settlement location are on high hilltops or on the slopes of outcrops, with some evidence for walls and other defensive features."
[1]
[1]: (? 2002, 365)? South Indian Iron Age. Peter N Peregrine. Melvin Ember. eds. 2002. Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Volume 8: South and Southwest Asia. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. New York. |
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Sources
[1]
do not mention any archaeological evidence for fortification for this period.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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"The 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]
-- how were the effective fortifications at Kunamata and Anegondi built?
[1]: (Sadasivan 2011, 191) Sadasiva, Balaju. 2011. The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. |
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From Chinese chronicles: "They do not have towns surrounded with inner and outer walls, but herd livestock, going from place to place in search of water and grass. Their homes are felt tents, which they take to the place where they stop."
[1]
The Chinese chronicles on this matter seem to be lacking in detail and therefore suspect. They might be referring to the condition of the majority of the Rouran so it might not preclude the existence of a capital town/city that is fortified. "Early in the 6th century, probably under Anagui’s reign, the Rouran built their capital city, the town of Mumocheng, encircled with two walls constructed by Liang shu (LS 54: 47a-47b; Taskin 1984, p. 290)."
[2]
"However, no trace of the town has been found to date and historians argue about its location."
[2]
Qarshi, built by Kebek of the Chagatai Khaganate is an example "typical of Mongolian and south Siberian cities from the Xiongnu period onwards."; it was "bounded by a strong wall, 4.5 m thick, surrounded by a deep defensive ditch, 8-10 m wide and 3.5-4 m deep, and had four gates. The original layout of the city (before Timurid additions) included one central fortress/palace surrounded by an open spaced designed for the erection of tents."
[3]
[1]: (Kyzlasov 1996, 317) [2]: (Kradin 2005, 163) [3]: (Biran 2013, 271-272) Michal Biran. Rulers and City Life in Mongal Central Asia (1220-1370) David Durand-Guedy. Turko-Mongol Rulers, Cities and City Life. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Stone walls were "permitted only in the case of places on the frontier" and the "most important forts in the interior".
[1]
"The one variety of monument which most significantly demonstrates the hierarchical arrangement of settlements under Vijayanagara’s control is its walls. ... masonry was employed in the construction of walls at Vijayanagara. Mortar appears not to have been used, but other stone walls elsewhere on the site show evidence of once having been covered by a layer of plaster. Granite was cut into large rectangular blocks and was held in place by smaller pieces of cut stone. Although arches are found at the top of the structure, the actual gateway is held up by corbels which support a horizontal stone slab. This gateway represents a mere fragment of the once extensive network of stone walls which surrounded Vijayanagara duing the sixteenth century ..."
[2]
[1]: (Ramayanna 1986, p. 120) [2]: (Howes 2003, 44-45) Jennifer Howes. 2003. The Courts of Pre-colonial South India: Material Culture and Kingship. RoutledgeCurzon. London. |
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Al Untash-Napirisha, a new city, was built with walls enclosing 100 hectares.
[1]
Were these walls of mud or stone? Elam in the Iron Age: stone wall technology used for burial chambers.
[2]
Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text (perhaps for the region of Mesopotamia rather than Elamite Susiana): "Its walls were built from stone."
[3]
Mortar existed at the time of Sumer because they also built with brick which would have required mortar. Late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BCE Sumerian text: "Now Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows."
[4]
During the Shutrukid Period new construction activity replaced mudbrick with glazed and baked brick (but no specific mention is made of defensive structures).
[5]
[1]: Carter, E. and Stolpher, M.W. 1984. Elam: Surveys of Political History and Archaeology. London: University of California Publication. p.37 [2]: Javier Alvarez-Mon, ‘Elam in the Iron Age’, In Daniel T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, 2013, p. 468 [3]: The death of Gilgameš: c.1.8.1.3. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [4]: Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird: c.1.8.2.2. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. [5]: (Bryce 2009, 676). Trevor Bryce. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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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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Towns were protected by "high walls".
[1]
Satavahana cities "were surrounded by high walls, ramparts and gates constructed with brick and mortar."
[2]
Were walls also made out of stone?
[1]: S. Kamath, A Concise History of Karnataka (1980), p. 27 [2]: (Roy 2013, 20) Kaushik Roy. 2013 Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge. London. |
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