Celtic Oppidum, Central Europe 1st century BC
An oppidum (plural oppida) is a large fortified Iron Age settlement. Oppida are associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretching from Britain and Iberia in the west to the edge of the Hungarian plain in the east. They continued in use until the Romans began conquering Europe. North of the River Danube, where the population remained independent from Rome, oppida continued to be used into the 1st century AD.
The Hallstatt and La Tène cultures
Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-
In his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age settlements he encountered in Gaul during the Gallic Wars in 58 to 52 BC as oppida. Although he did not explicitly define what features qualified a settlement to be called an oppidum, the main requirements emerge.
They were important economic sites, places where goods were produced, stored and traded, and sometimes Roman merchants had settled and the Roman legions could obtain supplies. They were also political centres, the seat of authorities taking decisions that affected large numbers of people, such as the appointment of Vercingetorix as head of the Gallic revolt in 52 BC.[1]:12–13
Caesar named 28 oppida. By 2011, only 21 of these had been positively identified by historians and archaeologists: either there was a traceable similarity between the Latin and the modern name of the locality (e.g. Orléans-
In his work Geographia, Ptolemy listed the coordinates of many Celtic settlements. However, research has shown many of the localisations of Ptolemy to be erroneous, making the identification of any modern location with the names he listed highly uncertain and speculative. An exception to that is the oppidum of Brenodurum at Bern, which was confirmed by an archaeological discovery.[1]:13
Bibracte France, seen from above, 1st century BC
In archaeology and prehistory, the term oppida now refers to a category of settlement; it was first used in that sense by Paul Reinecke (de), Joseph Déchelette (fr) and Wolfgang Dehn (de) in reference to Bibracte, Manching, and Závist.[2][3] In particular, Dehn suggested defining an oppidum by four criteria:
Size: The settlement has to have a minimum size, defined by Dehn as 30 hectares (74 acres).
Topography: Most oppida are situated on heights, but some are located on flat areas of land.
Fortification: The settlement is surrounded by a (ideally uninterrupted) wall, usually consisting of three elements: a facade of stone, a wooden construction and an earthen rampart at the back. Gates are usually Zangentore (de).
Chronology: The settlement dates from the late Iron Age: the last two centuries BC.[1]:12
In current usage, most definitions of oppida emphasise the presence of fortifications so they are different from undefended farms or settlements and from urban characteristics, marking them as separate from hill forts. They could be referred to as "the first cities north of the Alps". The period of 2nd and 1st centuries BC places them in the period known as La Tène. A notional minimum size of 15 to 25 hectares (37 to 62 acres) has often been suggested, but that is flexible and fortified sites as small as 2 hectares (4.9 acres) have been described as oppida. However, the term is not always rigorously used, and it has been used to refer to any hill fort or circular rampart dating from the La Tène period. One of the effects of the inconsistency in definitions is that it is uncertain how many oppida were built.[4]
In European archaeology, the term 'oppida' is also used more widely to characterize any fortified prehistoric settlement. For example, significantly older hill-
Such wider use of the term is, for example, common in the Iberian archaeology; in the descriptions of the Castro culture it is commonly used to refer to the settlements going back to the 9th century BC. The Spanish word 'castro', also used in English, means a walled settlement or hill fort, and this word is often used interchangeably with 'oppidum' by archaeologists.[5]
Location and type[edit]
According to prehistorian John Collis oppida extend as far east as the Hungarian plain where other settlement types take over.[6] Central Spain has sites similar to oppida, but while they share features such as size and defensive ramparts the interior was arranged differently.[7] Oppida feature a wide variety of internal structures, from continuous rows of dwellings (Bibracte) to more widely spaced individual estates (Manching). Some oppida had internal layouts resembling the insulae of Roman cities (Variscourt). Little is known, however, about the purpose of any public buildings.[1]:28
A museum model of a typical Zangentor at the Oppidum of Manching in Germany
The main features of the oppida are the walls and gates, the spacious layout, and usually a commanding view of the surrounding area. The major difference with earlier structures was their much larger size. Earlier hill forts were mostly just a few hectares in area, whilst oppida could encompass several dozen or even hundreds of hectares. They also played a role in displaying the power and wealth of the local inhabitants and as a line of demarcation between the town and the countryside.[1]:25 According to Jane McIntosh, the "impressive ramparts with elaborate gateways ... were probably as much for show and for controlling the movement of people and goods as for defense".[8]
Size and construction varied considerably. Typically oppida in Bohemia and Bavaria were much larger than those found in the north and west of France. Typically oppida in Britain are small, but there is a group of large oppida in the south east; though oppida are uncommon in northern Britain, Stanwick stands out as an unusual example as it covers 350 hectares (860 acres). Dry stone walls supported by a bank of earth, called Kelheim ramparts, were characteristic of oppida in central Europe. To the east, timbers were often used to support the earthen ramparts, called Pfostenschlitzmauer or "Preist-
In Britain the oppidum of Camulodunon (modern Colchester, built between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD), tribal capital of the Trinovantes and at times the Catuvellauni, made use of natural defences enhanced with earthworks to protect itself.[11] The site was protected by two rivers on three of its sides, with the River Colne bounding the site to the north and east, and the Roman River forming the southern boundary; the extensive bank and ditch earthworks topped with palisades were constructed to close off the open western gap between these two river valleys.[11][12] These earthworks are considered the most extensive of their kind in Britain,[11][13] and together with the two rivers enclosed the high status farmsteads, burial grounds, religious sites, industrial areas, river port and coin mint of the Trinovantes.[11][14][15]
History[edit]
The reconstructed walls of Bibracte, France
Prehistoric Europe saw a growing population. According to Jane McIntosh, in about 5,000 BC during the Neolithic between 2 million and 5 million people lived in Europe;[16] in the late (pre-
Oppida originated in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Most were built on fresh sites, usually on an elevated position. Such a location would have allowed the settlement to dominate nearby trade routes and may also have been important as a symbol of control of the area.[8] For instance at the oppidum of Ulaca in Spain the height of the ramparts is not uniform: those overlooking the valley are considerably higher than those facing towards the mountains in the area. The traditional explanation is that the smaller ramparts were unfinished because the region was invaded by the Romans; however, archaeologist John Collis dismisses this explanation because the inhabitants managed to build a second rampart extending the site by 20 hectares (49 acres) to cover an area of 80 hectares (200 acres). Instead he believes the role of the ramparts as a status symbol may have been more important than their defensive qualities.[17]
While some oppida grew from hill forts, by no means all of them had significant defensive functions. The development of oppida was a milestone in the urbanisation of the continent as they were the first large settlements north of the Alps that could genuinely be described as towns.[1]:29 Caesar pointed out that each tribe of Gaul would have several oppida but that they were not all of equal importance, perhaps implying some form of settlement hierarchy.
Oppida continued in use until the Romans began conquering Iron Age Europe. Even in the lands north of the River Danube that remained unconquered by the Romans, oppida were abandoned by the late 1st century AD.[8] In conquered lands, the Romans used the infrastructure of the oppida to administer the empire, and many became full Roman towns. This often involved a change of location from the hilltop into the plain.
Brass and Bronze.
So much similarity is observable in the modes of or ef working in the different combinations of copper with other metals, that the same description will apply pretty accurately to all of them.
In brass founding and before working, for instance, the making of the moulds, the melting of the metal in furnaces , the casting and subsequent trimming and finishing, the rolling into sheet , pr ht the drawing into wire— all are conducted pretty nearly in the same way as for other metals.
The making of the the brass itself is, however, rather a delicate operation.
This metal consists of about two parts of copper to one cu ay of zinc ;
the proportion not being exactly equal in all specimens.
In the first place the copper is melted, then and poured into cold water, by which it is made to separate into small pieces varying from the size of a small shot , to that of a bean, and known as “ shot-
The mi to zinc is produced from a carbonate of the metal, called Cu ng “ calamine;”
this is broken into small pieces, heated to redness in a furnace, reduced to a fine pow’der, and m; rm w’ashed.
Any quantity of the powdered calamine is then mixed with three-
The mixture is exposed to a strong heat in earthen crucibles for several hours;
at the end of fir elt which time the two kinds of metal have combined ce lys together in a liquid state, and the charcoal has disap-
(on Mr. Westmacott’s plan), gun-
The making of the original model belongs to its [ry ! the highest department of art; for it is here that the ra or : sculptor show’s his consummate skill, by imparting to ei m-
annoyance and disappointment.
At length his labours seemed to be nearly at an end ; his mould was lowered into the pit, the furnace heated, and the metal thrown in. At this time, while a violent storm raged without, the roof of his study, as if to increase the confusion, caught fire; but, though ill and harassed, lie still directed the works and encouraged his assistants, till overcome by anxiety and fatigue he retired in a raging fever to lie down, leaving instructions respecting the opening of the mouth of the furnace and the running of the bronze.
He had not, he says, been reposing very long before one came running to him to announce evil tidings : the metal was melted, but would not run. He jumped from his bed, rushed to his studio like a madman, and threatened the lives of his assistants, with, being frightened, got out of his way till one of them, to appease him, desired him to give his orders, and they would obey him at all risks.
He commanded fresh fuel to be thrown into the furnace; and presently, to his satisfaction, the metal began to boil. Again, how-
Coining.
The process of coining may, in some respects, be ranked among those here treated; for copper is the metal most largely used for this purpose, though its intrinsic value is much less than that of the silver and gold employed. The metal for such purposes is in the first instance rolled out to the state of sheets; these sheets are cut up into blanks, and the blanks are stamped on both sides at once, by means of hard steel dies, one to give each side of the impress. A curious record of past times has been dug up among the Roman remains in Britain, viz., a sort of coin-
