10.5061/DRYAD.ZPC866T7V
Kirk, Scott
0000-0002-1953-426X
University of New Mexico
Sternberg, Evan
University of New Mexico
Functional changes in fortified places: Strategy and defensive
architecture in the Medieval and Early Modern Era
Dryad
dataset
2021
FOS: Social sciences
2021-12-14T00:00:00Z
2021-12-14T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5771189
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5748327
3433886 bytes
5
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Data for Scott Kirk's Doctoral Dissertation. Dissertation Abstract:
Defined as fortified elite Houses, castles are a cross-cultural
phenomenon, best understood by pairing Niche Construction Theory (NCT)
with the Lévi-Straussian concept of the House. NCT can be thought of as a
theory of the built environment, thus the material configuration of
castles and their placement on the landscape reflect elite socio-cultural
requirements. My dissertation asks: How do changes in castle morphology
and landscape placement reflect broad shifts in function diachronically
and cross-culturally? Wherever elites are militarized, castles typically
appear. Similarities in castle design and function are best understood
through anthropological frameworks and comparative, interdisciplinary
approaches. Using a sample of castles from medieval European, western
colonial, and nonwestern societies, I hypothesize that: (1) castle
building is a common, cross-cultural behavior, (2) geography and the
environment constrain castle location, allowing for a landscape-based
typology of castles, and (3) changes in castle placement and design
reflect large-scale social competition between elites. These hypotheses
contradict much of the current regionally-focused work in castle studies,
which are often grounded in national ideologies. Early 20th century
studies were more aligned with my hypotheses. Revisiting these earlier
investigations, my dissertation uses anthropological theories within an
interdisciplinary approach. It combines architectural, statistical, and
geospatial analyses to quantitatively test how similar castle placement
and co-occurring architectural features are cross-culturally, and how
these attributes change over time in relation to elite competition. This
research has general and theoretical significance for assessing mechanisms
of elite status reinforcement, behavior, and decision-making across space
and time. Building a typology that characterizes castles as resource
control points, examining how similar architectural features appear in
disparate cultures, and exploring social change driven by elite
competition, my dissertation takes aim at nationalistic policies by
illustrating cross-cultural similarities that are applicable to the modern
world in terms of increasing wealth disparities and socioeconomic
inequality.
This dataset was collected through a representative literature review for
each structure followed by ground truthing for 90% of the structures.
Data was used in cluster analyses and to create indices for two chapters
in Scott Kirk's dissertation.
Please cite accordingly.