Places of Memory, Hero Cults and Urbanisation during the First Iron Age in Southeast Gaul

SummaryThe following paper presents an analysis of the term ‘oppidum’, discussing its value for understanding social complexity in Iron Age Europe. Throughout this paper, the most relevant debates regarding the oppida and their value are synthesized from a semiotic point of view. Key features such as urban planning, social hierarchies and political centralization are analysed to frame research in terms of Iron Age mentalities and cultural diversity. Accordingly, the ‘oppidum’ is assessed as a conceptual tool, weighing its appropriateness as a wide‐ranging concept in the European Iron Age. Several criteria, such as urban planning, the role of memory or religion, and the creation of large public and assembly places, among others, are explored as proxies of social legitimation. These key aspects aim to define some traits to set the oppidum as a useful and organic archaeological term without undermining cultural specificities.

Section: Collective Identities Religion and Political Structuresupporting

confidence: 55%

OPPIDUM VOCANT, QUIDVIS CUM VALLO ATQUE FOSSA. SOME THOUGHTS ON OPPIDA, CENTRAL PLACES, AND SOCIAL COMPLEXITY IN THE EUROPEAN IRON AGE

Nión‐Álvarez

2023

“…This discussion of memory has also begun to receive attention in France, including that of my own work (Golosetti ; and b). Only one paper (Verger –08) demonstrates the manipulation of memory in an Iron Age context in the Celtic world – namely, the construction during Hallstatt D2‐3 of tumulus 4 at the Heuneburg on an aristocratic building.…”

Section: Background: Memory and Tradition Studies In Roman Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 94%

Cult Places at Former Oppida in South‐East Gaul: Questions of Memory, Tradition and Identity

Golosetti

2017

Self Cite

This paper offers a new perspective on the reuse of Celtic fortified hilltops by Gallo-Roman shrines. Going beyond the simplistic explanation of continuity, I shall argue for the role of memory in the perception of the landscape and in the location of some Gallo-Roman shrines. This paper opposes the argument for continuity of sacred spaces and Celtic cults during the Roman period despite abandonment of the settlements. The evidence supports a more symbolic protohistoric expression, beyond that attendant on the place of a cult. The continuity concealed breaks, changes and modifications. I put forward the concept of 'fictive continuity', after Hobsbawm. The reclamation of a place of memory assigns a greater visibility to these shrines, enhancing their topographical appearance at the highest points in their respective landscapes, thus enabling the sites to appropriate fully space and place and to ensure cohesion within the community.

“…From a European perspective, the emergence of such processes in north‐west Iberia should come as no surprise. However, it is still necessary to accent the need for a heterogeneous perspective that avoids standardization processes and narratives: even though the Germanic Fürstensitze of the Rhineland‐Palatinate disappeared between the fifth and fourth centuries BC (Fernández‐Götz 2017, 120–4), as happened with Punta de Muros, and in other regions too, such as south‐east Gaul, this incipient and faltering hierarchization marks the beginning of a gradual process of endogenous urbanization that would not culminate until the Roman conquest (Golosetti 2014).…”

Section: Metallurgy As a Social Agent?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Change and Metalworking in the Early Iron Age: An Approach From North‐west Iberia

Nión-Álvarez

García

2022

This paper analyses social transformations in the Early Iron Age based on a holistic and longue durée approach applied to the first fortified habitats in the Iberian north-west. Through a comprehensive review of two paradigmatic settlements of the EIA in the province of A Coruña (Galicia, north-west Iberia), Punta de Muros and A Graña, a comparison is drawn between the social and territorial dynamics of this period by means of an in-depth analysis of the main characteristics of both settlements.Accordingly, a greater level of social complexity during the phases of occupation of the settlement of Punta de Muros has been identified, in contrast to the resistance to change observed in A Graña. Based on these conclusions, the role of metalworking and its symbolic value in fostering and legitimizing these social and territorial transformations and in the development of Iron Age communities are analysed.