Call for Papers: Enclosures, Fortifications, Castles, Hillforts and alike – How to differ and interpret the defensive structures of the past

Andy Reymann has sent us the following call for papers, he says: Although it will be a very small workshop with no additional fundings, we hope that we can interest you and some of the HARN-members and that you could at least spread the word about our research project here.

I felt it was guaranteed to be of interest so rather than just post brief details, I’ve taken this text from the relevant  Academia page

Interdisciplinary post graduates Workshop @ Goethe-University Frankfurt (Main)

Artificial fortifications have been a long-standing topic in archaeological and historical research. The archaeological record shows a wide extend of different defensive structures throughout history. The terms used referring to those sites and structures are varying from “Fortified Settlements” to “Hillforts” to ”Castles” and so on. Yet the distinctions between these terms are blurry at best. The same applies to a holistic interpretation which aims to link the defensive structures in their social context and within the wider archeological landscape. To quote a popular scientific phrase: “Further research is needed”.

The workshop, will take place as part of the LOEWE-Program “Prähistorische Konfliktforschung” at Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main. We intend to explore the range of fortified structures and their interpretations throughout Central European history. The Presentations should follow the topic through time and space. While we wish to focus on the theoretical engagement with fortifications on a macro scale, we plan to give room for presentations centered on single site projects, connected within realm of defensive structures.

We hope to intensify our insights on the social dynamics behind the emerge of defensive structures and sharpen the distinction between their different implementations. Therefore we take an interdisciplinary approach and would love to get post graduates from archeology, anthropology, history, ethnology and sociology together for intense exchange and discussion.

To make this a productive and remarkable workshop we have decided to open up lager frames for in depth discussions. You should be comfortable to receive remarks to your presentations and be willing to prove your points in the plenum.

Please submit your proposals for any of the given sessions:

• The Conception of Defense – Ideas & Notions  
• Is this a Hillfort yet? – Terms, Definitions & Categories
• Defensive Structures through time and space – Patterns & Manifestation

The Workshop takes place on 14th October 2016. At the Institute for archaeological sciences, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, Campus Westend, Frankfurt (Main), Germany Please submit your abstracts by 30/08/2016 here or here.