Fortifications, defence systems, structures and features in the past - 4th International Scientific Conference of the Medieval archeology
06/07/2017 — 06/09/2017
Call for participation in the 4th International Scientific Conference on Mediaeval
Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology
Fortifications, defence systems, structures and features in the past
Dear colleagues!
We are kindly inviting you to take part in the scientific conference entitled
Fortifications, defence systems, structures and features in the past organized by the Institute
of Archaeology, which will be held in Zagreb 7—9 June 2017.
A fort is any defended space, organized either by making use of naturally protected
positions or by organizing different fortification-related structural elements which offer
efficient defense, be it permanent or provisional, of a defended place.
The need for security can be observed in the creation of different types of barriers
even in the oldest human dwellings. Barriers were built during millennia by using
increasingly complex building procedures. Different defence systems were built in the past
depending on the nature or type of danger, the level of equipment of the defenders, natural
and human resources, defensive achievements of the defenders, funds and time constraints,
as well as the level of equipment of the enemy and their attacking skills and techniques.
Discovering appropriate building and defensive procedures for the purpose of defence is a
dynamic process which depends not only on the natural fortification of a location, but also
on the mastery of selecting an advantageous location to build a fort, as well as the efficiency
of man-made barriers and fortifications (wooden or dry stone fences, palisades, stone walls,
excavated ditches and earth ramparts, etc.). It is especially interesting to observe the
similarities or differences, as well as the changes in the way the defence system of forts and
areas was organized in similar or different spatial and social contexts. In that regard we are
interested in:
– concrete representations of technical solutions of certain defensive elements,
– different manifestations and changes in the organization of defensive structures and
systems over time, with regard to the causes of those changes,
– identification of possible patterns in a certain area, region or in a certain
archaeological or historical period.
We encourage the appreciation of defensive systems and structures in a wider national
and international context by gathering scientists and experts from interdisciplinary areas in
order to corroborate the discussion with various sources (archaeological, historical,
anthropological, ethnological, etymological, toponomastic, art history and architectural
history sources). It is also our wish that the conference be a place where experts on
defensive structures from different periods – from Prehistory and Antiquity through Middle
Ages up to the Modern period – can meet and share experiences.
We kindly ask you to send the title and summary of the presentation or the poster (max.
1800 characters) to e-mail [javascript protected email address] no later than 15 February 2017. Summaries
will be published in the Book of Abstracts. Please attach complete data (affiliation, address,
e-mail) to your submission in order for it to be properly listed in the Book of Abstracts
(Application form attached).
The conference languages are English and Croatian. We kindly ask the Croatian
presentation holders to add visible information in English to their slides.
Participation in the scientific conference is free of charge. An optional one day trip – a
tour of forts in the Krapina-Zagorje and Varaždin Counties – will be organized for which
there is an additional charge. Please state your interest in the trip so we can calculate the
costs, about which you will be subsequently notified.
The papers from the conference are going to be published in Zbornik Instituta za
arheologiju / Serta Instituti Archaeologici. Please hand in the manuscripts no later than 31
October 2017. All texts are subject to a peer-review procedure and are to be published until
the end of 2018. The instructions for the preparation of the manuscript and the citation style
are the same as those of journal Prilozi Instituta za arheologiju u Zagrebu and are available
at:
http://hrcak.srce.hr/upute/upute_autorima_Prilozi_Instituta_za_arheologiju_u_Zagrebu.pdf
Feel free to contacts us if you have any additional questions.
We are looking forward to your participation in the scientific conference!
With kind regards,
PhD Tatjana Tkalčec, senior research associate
