Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Role Of Fortifications In Reifying Social Structure

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

The modern world is characterized by countless differences that cut along economic, social, and political lines. Such structured and hierarchical divisions within human society are neither an essential nor inevitable condition of collective life, but develop under specific historical circumstances. Archaeology is uniquely poised to study how such "complex societies" come about, as it allows researchers to trace changes in social organization over the span of millennia through the material remains of human action. Such understanding helps one to better recognize both the opportunities and tradeoffs that come with different approaches to political life. Ms. Eilis Monahan of Cornell University will undertake research that investigates the early formation of complex societies, through a particular focus on landscapes and the built environment. Specifically, the research seeks to explain the roles played by defensive structures, such as fortifications, in creating the kinds of social and political boundaries that we take for granted today as basic features of modern societies. In many parts of the world, fortifications and other dramatic alterations to the landscape occur during times of transition to increased complexity. This research is therefore of broad social scientific relevance, contributing to wider debates on the relationships among power, society, and defense. Ms. Monahan's study is undertaken in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus and will foster collegial intellectual and professional relationships between U.S., E.U. and Cypriot students and scholars. This project will also document threatened sites of cultural and historical significance, which will aid in the development of future heritage management planning in the region. Ms. Monahan will investigate how the construction of fortifications creates a "disciplinary landscape" that alters how people experience and perceive space, and the impacts this has on the development and reinforcement of inequality. This project focuses on a cluster of four Middle Bronze Age fortresses in the Ayios Sozomenos region in central Cyprus. Located near vital copper sources, and situated at crossroads of communication and trade across the island, these massive fortified sites appear during the dramatic transformation of Cyprus from an insular and egalitarian village-based society to a socially-stratified urban society, engaged in diplomatic relations and trade with the great polities of the Eastern Mediterranean. Combining excavation, survey, and museum study, the research will investigate how these fortresses were constructed and used in conjunction with the location and chronology of other sites in the region. By evaluating how fortresses alter the ways that people can move, see, and act, and by analyzing shifting patterns of settlement, this research will reveal how fortifications change the ways in which people interact with each other and how, in turn, this contributes to the transformation of society.