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Abstract Some of the most notable human behavioral palimpsests result from warfare and its durable traces in the form of defensive architecture and strategic infrastructure. For premodern periods, this architecture is often understudied at the large scale, resulting in a lack of appreciation for the enormity of the costs and impacts of military spending over the course of human history. In this article, we compare the information gleaned from the study of the fortified cities of the Early Historic period of the Indian subcontinent (c. 3rd century BCE to 4th century CE) with the precolonial medieval era (9-17th centuries CE). Utilizing in-depth archaeological and historical studies along with local sightings and citizen-science blogs to create a comprehensive data set and map series in a “big-data” approach that makes use of heterogeneous data sets and presence-absence criteria, we discuss how the architecture of warfare shifted from an emphasis on urban defense in the Early Historic period to an emphasis on territorial offense and defense in the medieval period. Many medieval fortifications are known from only local reports and have minimal identifying information but can still be studied in the aggregate using a least-shared denominator approach to quantification and mapping.

The paper considers the appearance and meaning of city walls on ducal and municipal seals in 13th-century Poland. Despite the great popularity of the motif, actual stone or brick fortifications, both of towns and castles, were rare in Poland at the time. It is especially striking that in the area of Kuyavia, where local dukes introduced the motif onto their seals at an early stage, such architectonic structures were almost entirely absent. Several towns also employed images of stone walls on their seals before they gained the real fortifications. The motif of fortification is examined here as a symbol of civilization in a wider sense, and particularly that of the communal town. The final section the paper explores ways in which Polish society might have come to understand this symbolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some of the most notable human behavioral palimpsests result from warfare and its durable traces in the form of defensive architecture and strategic infrastructure. For premodern periods, this architecture is often understudied at the large scale, resulting in a lack of appreciation for the enormity of the costs and impacts of military spending over the course of human history. In this article, we compare the information gleaned from the study of the fortified cities of the Early Historic period of the Indian subcontinent (c. 3rd century BCE to 4th century CE) with the precolonial medieval era (9-17th centuries CE). Utilizing in-depth archaeological and historical studies along with local sightings and citizen-science blogs to create a comprehensive data set and map series in a "big-data" approach that makes use of heterogeneous data sets and presence-absence criteria, we discuss how the architecture of warfare shifted from an emphasis on urban defense in the Early Historic period to an emphasis on territorial offense and defense in the medieval period. Many medieval fortifications are known from only local reports and have minimal identifying information but can still be studied in the aggregate using a least-shared denominator approach to quantification and mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archaeologies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article examines the defence system of the city of Kyiv in different historical periods, focusing on the territory of the immediate outskirts of Kyiv – the Kyiv triangle – the northern part of the Kyiv Plateau. From the moment the city of Kyiv was founded until the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war of the 21st century, the unique topography of the microregion was used to build the city’s defence systems. Today, in the region covered by this study, there are the remains of the ancient “Serpent Ramparts”, fortifications of hillforts and cities, the remains of Cossack, Polish and Moscovian forts, redoubts and outposts, pillboxes from the time of the Second World War, modern military fortifications. All these different types of archaeological monuments form a unique belligerent landscapes that require comprehensive research and protection.

Konsulivske belongs to the group of Late Scythian hillforts located in the lower Dnipro area. Since 2015, a Ukrainian–Polish archaeological team has been carrying out the investigation of the site. The article presents the results of these studies focused on fortifications of the citadel and the main line of defence.

Tobol-Ishim interfluve region (Trans-Urals). We aim at determining the functions of fortified settlements of the 4th–9th c. AD Bakal Culture. The primary objective is to identify the main features of the defensive architecture, defence and storm of settlements based on archaeological material. Fortresses-hillforts predominated over other types of sites in the Bakal Culture. Only their residential areas have been studied extensively, and the fortification lines have been discovered in trenches due to the high complexity of their study. We have eight objects that have been identified, and the series have been selected for the first preliminary conclusions. Methods for determining the protection levels of fortifications in the light of expert assessment of the state of military science in the early Medieval period (4th–9th c. AD) have been proposed. They have been used taking into consideration the following features: height of the floodplain, height of the rampart, depth of the ditch, presence of ledges, towns and bastions, the ratio of the sizes of citadel and outer territory. Hillforts differ in the sum of points in average by three times. The indicators vary as follows: the height of the floodplain from 10 to 54 m, the height of the rampart from 1.5 to 4 m, the width of the rampart from 2 to 7 m, the depth of the ditch from 0.5 to 3 m, the ratio of the citadel to outer territory sizes from 1:1 to 1:9. These figures demonstrate the different functions of the fortifications, suggesting that some of the sites were border forts (Ust-Utyak-1 and Lastochkino Gnezdo-1), some were economic and political centres (Ust-Tersyukskoye), and others were shelters for smaller settlements (Kolovskoye, Krasnogorskoye, Papskoye, Staro-Lybaevskoye, Bolshoye Bakalskoye). Improper carrying out of excavations at some of the sites may be the result of unfinished construction work.

Excavations by Benjamin and Eilat Mazar on the Ophel – south of the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount – have yielded important and substantial remains from the Iron Age. This area stands close to where the biblical text locates the Israelite royal precinct, about which we know almost nothing archaeologically. Aspects of these remains have been presented and discussed in recent publications by Eilat Mazar, Ariel Winderbaum, Israel Finkelstein, and the present author. Winderbaum’s work adds significant new information. The present paper critically evaluates Winderbaum’s conclusions, against the backdrop of Mazar’s and Finkelstein’s conclusions, and offers a significantly different reconstruction of the area’s Iron Age history, particularly in relation to the 11th, 10th and 9th centuries bce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work at Megiddo in 2018 shed light on Gate 3165 of Stratum VIA (late Iron I) and the six-chambered Gate 2156 of Strata VA-IVB and IVA (late Iron IIA and early Iron IIB). The disputed question of the number of gates which post-date Gate 2156 was only briefly discussed. Continued investigation of the gates’ area in 2022 assembled information for the existence of a four-chambered Gate 500b, described by the University of Chicago excavator as a construction error, which was replaced by the two-chambered Gate 500a. The new data is presented here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called ‘Revetment’, is a massive wall that has been entirely exposed over a length of c. 2 km at Tel Lachish in the years 1933–4. Based on historical considerations and the well-known Sennacherib relief that depicts the Assyrian attack of 701 bc, the wall was dated to the Iron Age. This was decided in London in 1932, before the excavation had even begun. Current field observations, however, indicate that this fortification system was built in the Middle Bronze Age, about a millennium earlier than suggested so far. This study has two objectives: to summarise the available data on this wall, emphasising 21 points along its circumference, and to analyse the implications of the new data for the dating of this construction. This is one of the best exposed Middle Bronze Age fortifications in the Levant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1907, two Romanian officers travelled on horseback from Bucharest to Constantinople and then to Constanța. Their observations regarding the situation of the Bulgarian and Ottoman armies were published in a brochure in 1909. The conclusion clearly indicated the qualitative superiority of the Bulgarian army and the intense military preparations in that country, where the fortifications inherited from the Ottomans played an essential role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Borders of Russia have been gradually moving southwards since the end of the XIV century. Each movement of the frontier leads to its maintaining. In the second half of the XVII century, as a result of the consolidation of the Russian state, new fortifications were built in the Trans-Kama and Penza defensive lines. On open landscapes they had ramparts and fosses. The Penza fortified line ramparts were fixed with wooden blocks in addition to the earthen base. Probably, it is also typical for other Russian fortification systems. The study of these defensive structures allows the authors to consider their design features. Knowledge about the construction of these defensive lines became possible as a result of field works, conducted by the Mari State University. Trans-Kama line was examined in 2012 and the Penza line in 2014. While the Trans-Kama line was only examined near Mullovka, the Penza line was subjected to significant excavations, which corresponded to the study plans. The studies showed that the defensive lines of the second half of the XVII century, although they were not in keeping with the norms, nevertheless represented serious fortifications, capable if not to stop the cavalry, at least to delay it. The field works allowed us to better study the construction principles of Russian state defensive structures in the second half of the XVII century. To some extent, the changes that took place in the defensive sphere after the Time of Troubles were introduced into their construction. The construction of the defensive structures, presented in this article, took a great deal of labour and time and, nevertheless, the state had to build them.

The essay analyses the theme of conflicts that arose due to the presence of stone fortifications between 12th and 13th century in the Po Valley communal Italy. The analysis is carried out on three areas of clashes in which the communes were protagonists, namely contrasts with the powers of the territory, inter-communal conflicts, and the fight against the exiles. Through some case studies, will be highlighted the different reasons that could lead to the destruction of stone fortresses, observing their military, political and symbolic implications and trying to understand how much the characteristics of this material influenced the decision.

This is a short review of the latest results of the archaeological excavations and noninvasive investigations carried out in the Roman forts from the south-western part of Roman Dacia. We want to provide an up to date overview and the unified technical features of these forts. We consider the updating of the bibliographic informations and of the available images and cartographic data and useful tool for further researches or for developing new scientific and archaeological projects. This overview follows the same pattern as the peridiocally reports on different areas of the Roman Empire, published in the proceedings of the International Limes Congresses. After the report published by Doina Benea in the proceedings of the International Limes Congress from Zalău in 1999, updated in a book on the history of the Banat region during antiquity in 2016, Eduard Nemeth published several important synthesis.

The article examines the defence system of the city of Kyiv in different historical periods, focusing on the territory of the immediate outskirts of Kyiv - the Kyiv triangle - the northern part of the Kyiv Plateau. From the moment the city of Kyiv was founded until the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war of the 21st century, the unique topography of the microregion was used to build the city's defence systems. Today, in the region covered by this study, there are the remains of the ancient "Serpent Ramparts", fortifications of hillforts and cities, the remains of Cossack, Polish and Moscovian forts, redoubts and outposts, pillboxes from the time of the Second World War, modern military fortifications. All these different types of archaeological monuments form a unique belligerent landscapes that require comprehensive research and protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Konsulivske belongs to the group of Late Scythian hillforts located in the lower Dnipro area. Since 2015, a Ukrainian-Polish archaeological team has been carrying out the investigation of the site. The article presents the results of these studies focused on fortifications of the citadel and the main line of defence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gdansk Journal of East Asian Studies / Gdanskie Studia Azji Wschodniej is the property of Jagiellonian University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Earth is a complex material with mechanical and physical behaviors that differ from modern building materials. The conservation of rammed-earth (RE) constructions presents specific difficulties that are challenging to overcome. A lack of knowledge about RE due to its abandonment for decades and interventions adopting materials and repair methodologies designed for conventional constructions have led to inadequate interventions. In the case of historic defensive constructions, the doubts and technical difficulties are even greater due to the nature of so-called military RE (with physical and mechanical characteristics which differ significantly from those of civil, more common RE) and, not least, due to the historical and cultural heritage value of these constructions. Some important interventions have been carried out recently, while others are underway or in the planning stage, and there is a constant lack of information and technical data regarding the best ways to intervene. To fill this gap, the state of conservation of defensive RE structures and the results of interventions carried out throughout history in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula are being assessed. This article sets out a framework for the subject, identifies material and construction techniques and recognises the main causes of RE constructions' deterioration and decay. With special focus on the most frequent damages detected in historic military defensive structures built with RE, it analyses and discusses the most common techniques that have been used for the repair and conservation of these particular structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article proposes to analyze four old maps: the one contained in the work Description Oltenia in 1723 by Franz Schwantz von Springfels; of Banat and Wallachia probably built in 1790; the so-called Little and Great Wallachia built around 1791 and southern Romania in 1864 in terms of mentioning some archeological sites, in most cases being fortified settlements, in order to check if they are listed in the database of the National Archaeological Repertory (RAN) of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Romania (CIMEC). To this analysis we have added that of satellite images and other maps to identify these sites or to add new information related to their size, shape, surface, number of their premises. Old maps often have a wealth of additional data. In the case of maps showing military operations, they indicate the location of camps and campaign or siege fortifications, the position of old streams, fords, bridges, ports and old roads that are not used today, the sources of water in semi-arid areas, thus indicating possible favorable locations of old fortifications. They also show us the areas of swamps, sands, pastures and forests creating an image closer to the appearance of the region from distant historical periods. The first of these maps contains the location of only less than 22 archeological sites. Following the analysis, we identified a total of 16 objectives from the four maps present in the RAN. We called a number of 17 targets unrecognized because they do not appear in the RAN or have features in addition to those currently known such as the number of enclosures and the area and were analyzed in the article. Once again, the importance of studying old maps in association with the study of satellite imagery is proving to be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Serie III, Historia Medieval is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Engineer Military Bulletin / Muszaki Katonai Közlöny is the property of National University of Public Service and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The construction of military edifices in Spanish Caribbean was overseen by engineers, as previous studies have largely shown, but forced labor played a key role in the processes, an understudied aspect. Hundreds of enslaved workers in San Juan de Puerto Rico or San Juan de Ulúa (Veracruz, Mexico) and thousands in Havana (Cuba) helped create the built environment of the Spanish empire in the eighteenth century yet both their significant physical presences and housing situations have not been discussed at large. Furthermore, general maintenance of these structures was one of the duties of military engineers serving in Spanish Caribbean and, thus, archival material should be rich in describing this aspect, yet very few plans or reports offer any information concerning enslaved workers' habitations, apart from Havana's galeras and some sections of San Juan de Ulúa, both unpublished until now. Recognizing that Spanish authorities paid little attention to the lodgings of their enslaved workers, this paper considers the forms of structures created by enslaved peoples for their lodgings. Through examples discussed in Havana and for San Juan de Ulúa, this study demonstrates that European architectural traditions were eschewed in favor of native and, likely, African customs. These examples offer unique insights into enslaved peoples' living environments and expand our discussions into how race contributed to the diversity of architectural practices in the early modern Iberian world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decades have brought a growing interest in fortified heritage research, protection and reuse in Europe as a result of the demilitarisation of numerous historic defence structures occupied by armies in many countries and used as service facilities during the Cold War. There are various approaches to the conservation of fortified heritage and adaptive reuse is one of them. The values associated with a site should constitute the departure and arrival point for any type of intervention. An essential part of the process therefore should be the appropriate identification of these values to base on them contemporary actions. Fortified heritage has values similar to other forms of urban heritage but it also possesses values that are unique to this form of architecture and landscape. This paper sets out the values that should be taken into consideration when carrying out an adaptive reuse project on fortified heritage. Based on research and on international charters, as well as the writers’ own experience, the paper identifies seven values and makes a distinction between two groups of values, namely: intrinsic (history, memory and identity; scientific and technical; territorial and architectural) and extrinsic (landscape and aesthetic; environmental sustainability; social and cultural; economic). While intrinsic values of fortified heritage are usually well described, less explored are the issues of extrinsic values. The paper presents two case studies, Zamość Fortress and Fort St Elmo, and considers how these values were taken into account in the respective projects.

In 1907, two Romanian officers travelled on horseback from Bucharest to Constantinople and then to Constanța. Their observations regarding the situation of the Bulgarian and Ottoman armies were published in a brochure in 1909. The conclusion clearly indicated the qualitative superiority of the Bulgarian army and the intense military preparations in that country, where the fortifications inherited from the Ottomans played an essential [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Drawing Ideas Images / Disegnare Idee Immagini is the property of Gangemi Editore S.P.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Archeologia dell'Architettura is the property of Edizioni all'Insegna del Giglio and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Archeologia dell'Architettura is the property of Edizioni all'Insegna del Giglio and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents a cache of 31 astragali from the site of Tel Nagila, dating to the Middle Bronze Age. This is the earliest known cache of astragali from the Southern Levant outside tombs, and may be the forebearer of the later caches found in cultic contexts in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. This paper presents the context in which the cache was found, adjacent to a tower that functioned as part of the site's fortifications; the social mechanisms behind the use of astragali; their deposition in a cache; and how the cache may have related to the function of the context in which it was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fortified sites from the La Tène Period belong to the main research topics of Karol Pieta. He has contributed to their field excavations in the mountainous environment of Slovakia to a great extent. He also very intensely deals with their classification and dating. In the text, I try to apply his knowledge on the research of the fortified sites in the regions of the Hron and Ipeľ river basins and also confront them with the latest research. K. Pieta has distinguished several types of fortifications: hillfort, castella, small hillfort, refuge place, etc. Unlike other authors, he did not consider only the size of the fortified area, but also its use. Individual fortifications and enclosed areas might have had a practical function, social or symbolic meaning. K. Pieta promotes mainly the defensive and protective function of the fortified sites in the territory of Slovakia. There had to be real reasons and favourable conditions for existence of fortifications, as they were often large structures challenging as for work power and its organization, project with some experience as well as available sources of building material and strategical thinking of the authors. Nevertheless, he does not exclude possible central, commercial or sacral function of the fortified settlements. I have selected the regions of Pohronie and Poiplie in the analysis for three reasons – they are more or less complexly processed and their character allows application of results also for other parts of the north of the Carpathian Basin, maybe with the exception of the area of the Bratislava oppidum. The third characteristics of the chosen region which was the reason for selecting it as a ‘model’ is that it is partly a peripheral area of the La Tène settlement in the north of the Carpathian Basin, where two cultural areas meet – the La Tène and Púchov cultures. According to the current state of research, there are 26 fortified sites of different sizes and forms in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent article published in this journal (Finkelstein 2020, PEQ 152, 85–93), newly published data on Level V at Tel Lachish was criticized. This new data indicates that Level V was a fortified city and that radiometric dating places its construction in the last quarter of the 10th century bce. This date is in accordance with the biblical tradition describing the fortification of Lachish during the reign of King Rehoboam of the Kingdom of Judah in the last quarter of the 10th century bce (2 Chr 11:5–12). In the past, various scholars have proposed dating the list of Rehoboam's fortification to the reigns of later kings: Hezekiah, Josiah or even John Hyrcanus I. It is thus not surprising that Israel Finkelstein, an advocate of a later date, attempts to refute this new archaeological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The port city of Yafo was fortified during much of its four millennia of existence. However, today, even its most recent Ottoman walls are dismantled, and only fragmentary parts of its earlier fortifications have been traced despite decades of research and salvage excavations on the mound and its environs. These limited discoveries cannot provide a comprehensive delineation of any pre-Ottoman defensive lines. Nevertheless, new discoveries, the mapping of scattered sites, comparative observations and consultation with historical sources can shed some light on Yafo's otherwise obscure fortifications through its many phases, as well as on various related issues. Through these we may gain new perspectives and a better understanding of the convoluted history of this ancient port. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A small salvage excavation in 'Akko exposed the remains of a previously unknown ravelin outwork in the counterscarp of the Ottoman-period fortifications--a previously unknown military feature--which cut through earlier Crusader and Hellenistic layers. Ravelins are known components of city fortifications in Europe from the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, continuing in use in the nineteenth century. In 'Akko, it seems that the construction of the ravelin was not completed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An impressive fortification system on the northern border of the Genoese Quarter at Crusader-period Acre was discovered, comprising a defensive wall built of bossed ashlars and incorporating arrow slits, a fortified gate leading to the quarter through a vaulted passageway and a projecting tower with two levels of arrow slits. The gate and parts of the passageway were blocked, apparently during the Crusader period, as a consequence of the Saint Sabas War. This war broke out following a dispute between Venice and Genoa over ownership of a monastery located on the border between their quarters, near the port, which was rooted in their struggle over control of the harbor of Acre and the eastern Mediterranean lucrative maritime trade. Written sources indicate that the outcome of this fierce conflict was the expulsion of the Genoese from Acre and the blocking of their quarter. The presence of a blocked gate and the abandoned state of the area are physical evidence of the aftermath of the War. These remains, well-preserved within eighteenth-century Ottoman buildings, do not only shed light on the nature of the Genoese Quarter's northern fortified borderline but also provide the first concrete material evidence of defense, power and control by the Italian communes in the maritime hubs of the Crusader states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fortified sites, sanctuaries, deities, and community were interconnected in Mesoamerican warfare practices and theology. This article examines the archaeological patterning and Indigenous religious beliefs regarding fortifications, sanctuaries, and deity communication. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic information points to the importance of deities and ancestors for community well-being and success in war. Mesoamerican combatants protected deities, including their images and sanctuary homes, for they were often captured or destroyed during sieges. Site fortification was based not only on pragmatic military purposes, but on culturally practical decisions related to protecting deities and divine intercession that influenced human behavior and community practices. As in other areas, Mesoamerican people maintained covenants with spiritual forces in close proximity at sacred "communicating places" in wartime, such as temples in settlements and sanctuaries at hills and caves. Hence, fortifications protected people, their shrines, and their gods, as well as militarily strategic places. This study calls attention to additional religious behaviors in Mesoamerican war besides sacrifice to war gods and for cosmic renewal, which went hand-in-hand with political, military, and community concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earth is a complex material with mechanical and physical behaviors that differ from modern building materials. The conservation of rammed-earth (RE) constructions presents specific difficulties that are challenging to overcome. A lack of knowledge about RE due to its abandonment for decades and interventions adopting materials and repair methodologies designed for conventional constructions have led to inadequate interventions. In the case of historic defensive constructions, the doubts and technical difficulties are even greater due to the nature of so-called military RE (with physical and mechanical characteristics which differ significantly from those of civil, more common RE) and, not least, due to the historical and cultural heritage value of these constructions. Some important interventions have been carried out recently, while others are underway or in the planning stage, and there is a constant lack of information and technical data regarding the best ways to intervene. To fill this gap, the state of conservation of defensive RE structures and the results of interventions carried out throughout history in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula are being assessed. This article sets out a framework for the subject, identifies material and construction techniques and recognises the main causes of RE constructions’ deterioration and decay. With special focus on the most frequent damages detected in historic military defensive structures built with RE, it analyses and discusses the most common techniques that have been used for the repair and conservation of these particular structures.

The construction of military edifices in Spanish Caribbean was overseen by engineers, as previous studies have largely shown, but forced labor played a key role in the processes, an understudied aspect. Hundreds of enslaved workers in San Juan de Puerto Rico or San Juan de Ulúa (Veracruz, Mexico) and thousands in Havana (Cuba) helped create the built environment of the Spanish empire in the eighteenth century yet both their significant physical presences and housing situations have not been discussed at large. Furthermore, general maintenance of these structures was one of the duties of military engineers serving in Spanish Caribbean and, thus, archival material should be rich in describing this aspect, yet very few plans or reports offer any information concerning enslaved workers’ habitations, apart from Havana’s galeras and some sections of San Juan de Ulúa, both unpublished until now. Recognizing that Spanish authorities paid little attention to the lodgings of their enslaved workers, this paper considers the forms of structures created by enslaved peoples for their lodgings. Through examples discussed in Havana and for San Juan de Ulúa, this study demonstrates that European architectural traditions were eschewed in favor of native and, likely, African customs. These examples offer unique insights into enslaved peoples’ living environments and expand our discussions into how race contributed to the diversity of architectural practices in the early modern Iberian world.

The paper features the results of palynological studies obtained during the study of the rampart embankment of the Maklasheevka II hillfort. According to these studies, the pre-hillfort settlement of the Ananyino cultural and historical area, which arose in the second half of the 7th – first half of the 6th centuries BC, was surrounded by birch forests interspersed with open areas with herbs and cereals. This situation continued until the beginning of the construction of defensive structures in the 6th –5th centuries BC. In the 5th century BC, when the rampart was completed, coniferous and deciduous forests grew in the vicinity of the hillfort, which included pine, linden, and birch. Large areas remained free from the forest. The plant environment of Maklasheevka II hillfort during the Early Middle Ages, when the bearers of the Imenkovo culture settled at the hillfort, could not be determined, since the construction (last quarter of the 4th – first quarter of the 5th centuries AD) and completion (6th-7th centuries AD) of the rampart embankment were carried out from the soil of the lower soil horizons. In the post-Imenkovo period, the hillfort was abandoned, and semi-open areas with a predominance of forb-grass communities spread on its outskirts. The forests were small and consisted of pine and birch copses.