2017/09/01 by Manuel Fernández‐Götz, Ian Ralston · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10963-017-9108-5
openalex publication_date 2017/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
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.