Considering European Iron Age oppida and Comparative Urbanism e Case of Bibracte and Manching (original) (raw)

Considering European Iron Age oppida and Comparative Urbanism: The Case of Bibracte and Manching

Journal of Urban Archaeology, Vol. 7, 2023

The Late Iron Age (second century BC to first century AD) agglomerations in Europe known as oppida have long defied easy categorization leading them to be described using various terms, such as proto-urban, rurban, and polyfocal. Despite the diversity of oppida many share characteristics, including large open spaces and low-density settlement, which appear similar to a range of other social centres from around the world which also struggle to fit conventional definitions of urbanism. Despite this, discussion of the relevance of such comparison remains limited. Through assessment of two best investigated oppida in Europe (Bibracte, France and Manching, Germany) we explore the nature of the oppida phenomenon, the commonalities they share, and how these compare with agglomerations elsewhere in the world. Dear reader, Please note this article is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license. The article is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers: https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.JUA.5.133455 under this same license.

T. Moore/R. Hoppadietz/H. Wendling/K. Winger, Considering European Iron Age oppida and Comparative Urbanism. The Case of Bibracte and Manching. Journal of Urban Archaeology 7. 2023, 169-195.

The Late Iron Age (second century BC to first century AD) agglomerations in Europe known as oppida have long defied easy categorization leading them to be described using various terms, such as proto-urban, rurban, and polyfocal. Despite the diversity of oppida many share characteristics, including large open spaces and low-density selement, which appear similar to a range of other social centres from around the world which also struggle to fit conventional definitions of urbanism. Despite this, discussion of the relevance of such comparison remains limited. Through assessment of the two best investigated oppida in Europe (Bibracte, France and Manching, Germany) we explore the nature of the oppida phenomenon, the commonalities they share, and how these compare with agglomerations elsewhere in the world.

Alternatives to Urbanism? Reconsidering Oppida and the Urban Question in Late Iron Age Europe

The mega-sites of Late Iron Age Europe (traditionally known as oppida) provide an important dataset for exploring how complex social systems can articulate power in novel ways. The question of whether these can be described as ‘urban’ has overshadowed a deeper understanding of the development and role of such sites, with many studies examining this issue almost wholly against peculiarly classical concepts of urbanism, isolating Iron Age studies from wider debate. Rather than seek to redefine ‘towns’, this paper explores how and why oppida diverge from traditional concepts of urbanism, arguing that the form of oppida reflects their focus on particular aspects—assembly, theatricality, and the household—which reflect the nature of Late Iron Age societies. It will be suggested that oppida are comparable to a range of mega-sites and low-density settlements recognised throughout the world that represent alternative solutions to the social complications urbanism seeks to address.

Oppida, agglomerations and suburbia: The Bibracte environs and new perspectives on Late Iron Age urbanism in central-eastern France

Moore, T., Braun, A., Creighton, J., Cripps, L., Haupt, P., Klenner, I., Nouvel, P., Ponroy, C. & Schönfelder, M. (2013) Oppida, agglomerations and suburbia: The Bibracte environs and new perspectives on Late Iron Age urbanism in central-eastern France. This paper explores the nature and chronology of La Tène and early Roman unenclosed agglomerations in central-eastern France. It has been prompted by the discovery of a c. 115 ha La Tène D2b/Augustan (c. 50 bc to ad 15) site close to Bibracte in the Morvan, located around the source of the River Yonne. This complex provides a new perspective on the chronology and role of Late La Tène and early Roman unenclosed settlements, adding further complexity to the story of the development of Late La Tène oppida. It indicates that these ‘agglomerations’ followed remarkably varied chronological trajectories, raising important issues concerning the nature of landscape and social change at the end of the Iron Age.

Moore, Braun, Creighton et al...(2013) Oppida, Agglomerations, and Suburbia: the Bibracte Environs and New Perspectives on Late Iron Age Urbanism in Central-Eastern France

European Journal of Archaeology, 2013

Written by a group of fieldworkers, this paper explores the nature and chronology of La Tène and early Roman unenclosed agglomerations in central-eastern France. It has been prompted by the discovery of a c. 115 ha La Tène D2b/Augustan (c. 50 bc to ad 15) site close to Bibracte in the Morvan, located around the source of the River Yonne. This complex provides a new perspective on the chronology and role of Late La Tène and early Roman unenclosed settlements, adding further complexity to the story of the development of Late La Tène oppida. It indicates that these ‘agglomerations’ followed remarkably varied chronological trajectories, raising important issues concerning the nature of landscape and social change at the end of the Iron Age.

Urbanization in Iron Age Europe: Trajectories, Patterns, and Social Dynamics - Journal of Archaeological Research (published online 2017, print 2018)

2018

The development of the first urban centers is one of the most fundamental phenomena in the history of temperate Europe. New research demonstrates that the earliest cities developed north of the Alps between the sixth and fifth centuries BC as a consequence of processes of demographic growth, hierarchization, and centralization that have their roots in the immediately preceding period. However, this was an ephemeral urban phenomenon, which was followed by a period of crisis characterized by the abandonment of major centers and the return to more decentralized settlement patterns. A new trend toward urbanization occurred in the third and second centuries BC with the appearance of supra-local sanctuaries, open agglomerations, and finally the fortified oppida. Late Iron Age settlement patterns and urban trajectories were much more complex than traditionally thought and included manifold interrelations between open and fortified sites. Political and religious aspects played a key role in the development of central places, and in many cases the oppida were established on locations that already had a sacred character as places for rituals and assemblies. The Roman conquest largely brought to an end Iron Age urbanization processes, but with heterogeneous results of both abandonment and disruption and also continuity and integration.

Review American Journal of Archaeology - Paths to Complexity: Centralisation and Urbanisation in Iron Age Europe

The definition of urbanism is a topic long debated by scholars in numerous historical disciplines, but almost all of these discussions are derived from textual sources and are based on examples that postdate the introduction of writing. This volume, edited by Fernández-Götz et al., extends that analytical perspective into a context where primary written sources are not available and the archaeological record is the only key to determining the level of social complexity. The European Association of Archaeologists session organized by the three editors in Helsinki in 2012 focused on revisiting the emergence of urban lifeways in archaeological contexts in Europe, with case studies drawn from recent research projects carried out in Germany (the Early Iron Age Heuneburg hillfort and the Late Iron Age oppida of Manching, Schnippenburg, and the Hunnenring at Otzenhausen, among other sites), France (Early Iron Age contexts in central, eastern, and southeastern Gaul, including recent work at Bourges, Corent, and Mont Lassois/Vix, and the Late Iron Age oppida of Bibracte, Gergovia, Entremont, and Le Castellan), Switzerland (Basel-Gasfabrik and the late La Tène settlement landscape of the upper Rhine), the Czech Republic (Němčice, Staré Hradisko, Stradonice, and Závist), Austria (Braunsberg and Roseldorf), Spain (the Early Iron Age Meseta [Álvarez-Sanchís and Ruiz Zapatero] and the Celtiberian oppidum of Segeda [Burillo-Mozota]), and Britain (Late Iron Age hillforts of southern England [Sharples]). Several papers present recent research, much of it the result of rescue archaeological projects as well as geophysical and topographic prospection (Armit et al., Blöck et al., Hornung, and Wendling and Winger); others provide theoretically, linguistically, and historically oriented overviews of urbanization and the oppidum in Iron Age Europe (Collis, Fernández-Götz et al., Lukas, Rieckhoff, von Nicolai).

Beyond Iron Age 'towns': examining oppida as examples of low-density urbanism

The question of whether Late Iron Age oppida in Europe were truly ‘urban’ has dominated debate over these sites since the nineteenth century. Oppida have been surprisingly absent from comparative urban studies, however, despite increasingly nuanced perspectives on the nature and diversity of the urban phenomenon. In particular, Roland Fletcher’s implication that oppida might represent part of a broader alternative form of low-density urbanism has been largely overlooked, by Iron Age scholars and urbanism specialists alike. With the complex nature of many oppida now becoming increasingly apparent, I suggest it is a pertinent time to assess Fletcher’s claim and examine whether oppida can be convincingly compared to low-density urbanism elsewhere in the world and, if so, what implications this might have for understanding Iron Age societies. This paper argues that oppida do indeed display aspects of low-density urbanism and that this is likely to be due to the negotiated nature of power in Iron Age societies.

The Complexity and Fragility of Early Iron Age Urbanism in West-Central Temperate Europe - Journal of World Prehistory 2017

The development of large agglomerations is one of the most important phenomena in later Eurasian prehistory. In west-central temperate Europe, the origins of urbanism have long been associated with the oppida of the second to first centuries BC. However, large-scale excavations and surveys carried out over the last two decades have fundamentally modified the traditional picture of early centralization processes. New results indicate that the first urban centres north of the Alps developed over time between the end of the seventh and the fifth century BC in an area stretching from Bohemia to southern Germany and Central France. Sites such as the Heuneburg, Závist, Mont Lassois and Bourges produce evidence of a process of differentiation and hierarchization in the pattern of settlement that was concurrently an expression of, and a catalyst for, increasing social inequality. Although contacts with the Mediterranean world would certainly have played a role in such processes, endogenous factors were primarily responsible for the development of these early Central European agglomerations. This paper summarizes recent fieldwork results, showing the heterogeneity and diversity of Early Iron Age central places and outlining their diachronic development. The fragility and ephemeral character of these centres of power and their territories is highlighted. Their demise was followed by a period of decentralization that constitutes a prime example of the non-linear character of history.