Enclosing the Past - Inside and Outside in Prehistory (Volume 15) - Anthony Harding
Enclosing, Enclosures and Elites in the Iron Age
Enclosing the Past - Inside and Outside in Prehistory (Volume 15) - Anthony Harding
Natalie Venclová [+]
Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Natalie Venclová is Deputy Director at the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague.
Description
This paper looks at various local enclosures (serving individuals, family groups or other small groups of people and located within settlements) and community enclosures (serving whole communities and delimiting whole residential areas, ritual areas, etc.). It is argued that some of the first, but mainly the second type of enclosures reflect types of behaviour typical of elites. This is mainly true of the single enclosures of the later part of the La Tene period, which fill the gap in Central Europe in the settlement structure between the oppida and emporia on the one hand and rural settlements on the other.