Thinking the World: Defensive Architectures as Landscape Builders

CAA: Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology

Viena. Austria
Congreso. 2026

Everything that a society produces is done so in certain ways, encoded in

tradition, culture or habit. This goes beyond artifactual productions and involves,

among other things, the way in which societies transform the space they inhabit (Hillier y Hanson 1984). In addition to any other functional or

symbolic explanation, the configuration of space and the distribution of elements

within it also has a social dimension (Criado-Boado 1993). The Iron

Age in the north-west of Iberian Península presents an archaeological reality

with great potential to benefit from this kind of observation since, above any

other archaeologically recorded materiality, there is the ubiquitous and hegemonic

presence of fortified settlements (González-Ruibal 2006). Thus, a

monumentalised landscape is presented through constellations of fortified

settlements which, in many cases, offer no information beyond their morphology

and location.

This work, which is part of a doctoral thesis currently in progress, presents a

comprehensive methodology based on geographic information systems and

spatial data processing using digital applications to analyse the formation

patterns of these settlements. To this end, special emphasis has been placed

on the effects of architecture on the percepction of the landscape. In addition,

a new computational tool is developed to quantify the role of