Students are welcome to attend this virtual lecture by Dr. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni.
By the early first millennium BCE, fortified regional networks (FRNs) were an important tool used by ancient state makers to both defend and control extra-urban territories in western Asia. FRNs were regional, rural systems consisting of fortresses, forts, wall segments and towers, organized along roads and at river crossings. The strongholds of the FRN functioned in multiple ways: they served as fire beacons to send military information quickly, functioned as waystations, protected the roads, and hosted garrisons to be drawn upon at need.
Since 2017, the VDFLP has investigated FRNs in their landscape context. The area of interest, the Yegheghis River valley in southern Armenia, witnessed two booms in FRN construction: the Early Iron/Urartian periods (c. 10th to 7th BCE) and again during the heyday of the Silk Roads (c. 13th CE). The florescence of fortified regional networks during these two periods has been documented through extensive and intensive regional survey and in test excavations. The results of these recent investigations will the be focus of the lecture.
Learn more about the Vayots Dzor Fortress Landscapes Project here: https://projects.cah.ucf.edu/armenia/
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