This meeting will consider the phenomenon of fortified sites in later prehistory, focusing on south-east Europe but ranging more widely across Europe. The aim is to bring together ideas about why fortifications were erected at all, and specifically why they made such a widespread appearance from the Middle Bronze Age to the transition to Early Iron Ages.
The progress of recent work on the huge fourfold enclosure at Corneşti-Iarcuri, Timiş county, in the Romanian Banat, provided the initial stimulus for setting up this conference. Geophysical survey and excavation since 2007 have shed light on many facets of this extraordinary site, but equally many remain mysterious. In the conference, reports on recent work at Iarcuri will show participants where we stand in terms of understanding the nature of the site (both the defences and the interior) and its dating. We invite participants to contribute their own insights into the function of this and similar sites in the Banat, and to offer thoughts on the wider phenomenon of fortification in the Late Bronze Age from their experience of sites of similar date elsewhere in Europe. Iarcuri is so huge that many commentators have thought it unlikely it could have been defended against attack; if that is so, the question arises, why build it at all? Were there other possible reasons, connected with symbolic or ideological aspects, that we should take into account?
We look forward to discussing these matters within the framework of a meeting of experts who can debate the archaeological significance of fortification over a wide geographical area, and within a timeframe that encompasses both the Late Bronze Age (the main period of occupation of Iarcuri) and periods before and after.

Program

11.11.2015
12:00 - 17:00
Registration
17:00 - 17:15
Opening
17:15 - 18:00
Cornesti-Iarcuri and the rise of mega-forts in Bronze Age Europe
Anthony Harding
Rüdiger Krause
18:00 - 19:00
Einblicke in Funktion und bautechnischen Wandel bronzezeitlicher Befestigungen Istriens
Bernhard Hänsel
18:00 - 19:00
Tour Timişoara
19:00 - 19:40
Transfer to Recaș Wineyards
19:45 - 21:30
Welcome Dinner
12.11.2015
08:00 - 09:00
Breakfast
09:00 - 09:30
The rise of a chieftain. The initial phase of the Hünenburg-Hillfort near Watenstedt in Lower-Saxony
Immo Heske
09:30 - 10:00
Caution highly inflammable!? The Middle Bronze Age fortification of Bernstorf in Upper Bavaria
Vanessa Bähr
10:00 - 10:30
Defended sites and fortifications in Southern Germany during Bronze Age and Urnfield Period
Markus Schußmann
10:30 - 11:15
Coffee/tea time
11:15 - 11:45
Multidisciplinary investigation of settlement change – Introduction to the Vrable tool box
Jozef Bátora
Nils Müller-Scheeßel
Knut Rassmann
Samantha Reiter
11:45 - 12:15
Late Bronze Age defensive settlements in Southern Poland and the case of Maszkowice hillfort
Marcin S. Przybyla
12:15 - 12:45
Bronze Age and Iron Age fortifications in West Hungary
András Jáky
Victoria Kiss
Gabriella Kulcsar
12:45 - 14:00
Lunch/catering
14:00 - 14:50
Igrici-Szőke-hát: microregional characteristics of a recently discovered fortified settlement in the Late Bronze Age of the South-Borsod Plain Area
Ágnes Kiraly
14:50 - 15:40
Horte und befestigten Siedlungen. Neue Beobachtungen zu Gliederung, Organisation und Funktionen der spatbronzezeitlichen befestigten- und Höhensiedlungen in Ungarn
Gábor Szabó
15:40 - 16:30
Recent work at Late Bronze Age fortified settlements in southeast Hungary
Zoltán Rózsa
Péter Czukor
Anna Priskin
Csaba Szalontai
Vaik Szeverényi
16:30 - 17:15
Coffee/tea time
17:15 - 17:45
From the Place of Eternal Rest to the Safe Place to Live: Belegiš Culture in Serbia
Marija Liuština
17:45 - 18:15
Morava Valley in the Late Bronze and the Early Iron Ages - changes in topography and material culture
Alexander Bulatović
Vojislav Filipović
18:15 - 18:45
Fortifications with stone facings from the Carpathian region
Liviu Marta
19:00 - 20:30
Dinner
13.11.2015
08:00 - 09:00
Breakfast
09:00 - 09:30
Bronze and Iron Age Fortifications in north-western Romania. A case study: the Depression of Șimleu (Sălaj county)
Ioan Bejinariu
09:30 - 10:00
The Late Bronze Age Fortifications from Popeşti (Southeastern Romania): Reconstruction, Origin, Function and other Problems
Nona Palincaș
10:00 - 10:30
Research history and geomagnetic investigation of the Bronze Age fortified settlement in Teleac
10:30 - 10:45
Coffee/tea time
10:45 - 11:15
Bronze Age Fortifications from Romanian Banat Plain. The morphology of fortifications in the context of paleolandscape
Dorel Micle
Andrei Stavila
11:15 - 11:45
The huge Bronze Age fortifications of Corneşti-Iarcuri in the Romanian Banat. 10 years of interdisciplinary archaeological research
Bernhard Heeb
Rüdiger Krause
Alexandru Szentmiklosi
12:00 - 13:30
Lunch/catering
13:30 - 14:30
Conclusions
14:30 - 18:30
Visit to Corneşti-Iarcuri
20:00 - 21:30
Closing Dinner