Fortifications: the Rise and Fall of Defended Sites in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age of South-East Europe

This meeting will consider the phenomenon of fortified sites in later prehistory, focusing on south-east Europe but ranging more widely across Europe. The aim is to bring together ideas about why fortifications were erected at all, and specifically why they made such a widespread appearance from the Middle Bronze Age to the transition to Early Iron Ages.
The progress of recent work on the huge fourfold enclosure at Corneşti-Iarcuri, Timiş county, in the Romanian Banat, provided the initial stimulus for setting up this conference. Geophysical survey and excavation since 2007 have shed light on many facets of this extraordinary site, but equally many remain mysterious. In the conference, reports on recent work at Iarcuri will show participants where we stand in terms of understanding the nature of the site (both the defences and the interior) and its dating. We invite participants to contribute their own insights into the function of this and similar sites in the Banat, and to offer thoughts on the wider phenomenon of fortification in the Late Bronze Age from their experience of sites of similar date elsewhere in Europe. Iarcuri is so huge that many commentators have thought it unlikely it could have been defended against attack; if that is so, the question arises, why build it at all? Were there other possible reasons, connected with symbolic or ideological aspects, that we should take into account?
We look forward to discussing these matters within the framework of a meeting of experts who can debate the archaeological significance of fortification over a wide geographical area, and within a timeframe that encompasses both the Late Bronze Age (the main period of occupation of Iarcuri) and periods before and after.

Program