Fig 4 - uploaded by Manuel Fernandez-Gotz
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Overall plan of the archaeological monuments in the surroundings of the Heuneburg. e areas excavated in 2000 to 2003 (Areas A-F) are marked. 1: inner ditch surrounding the central hilltop settlement (Burgberg), 2: pincer-shaped external fortication, 3: bank and ditch of the lower town (Vorburg), which incorporated the stone gate, 4: Gießübel-Talhau necropolis, 5: outer bank and ditch system, 6: "Greutäcker" tumulus (aer S 2010).
Source publication
Between the late 7th and the 5th centuries BC, large fortified centres, traditionally called ‘princely seats’ by scholars, developed in the area to the north of the Alps. In some cases these centres of power could cover an area of several dozen or even more than 100 hectares, and are testimony to a process of centralisation that led to the establis...
Context in source publication
Citations
Based on recent archaeological data and ancient texts, this paper aims to present the social organization of the Western facies of the Golasecca culture during the Early Iron Age. The territorial and social transformations of the communities will be analysed here, by considering all the internal and external factors that favoured, in the VII century B.C. and especially during the following century, the emergence of the proto-urban centre of Castelletto Ticino/Sesto Calende, before the major changes that marked the transition to the Second Iron Age. In fact, the urbanization process seems to have been followed by a social transformation, where the signification of power characteristic of a warlike society were transformed into a more diversified social structure that based its power and wealth on commercial practices, client relationships, and direct connections with trading partners, mostly Etruscan.
