Early Iron Age urbanism in the south-eastern Alpine region: A case study of the Pungrt hillfort

Largescale excavation at the Iron Age and Roman period Pungrt hillfort (8th century BC to 2nd century AD) has revealed a distinctly urban character of the settlement in its best-preserved Late Hallstatt phase from the 6th to 4th centuries BC. This study provides an important contribution to the understanding of the settlement’s internal organization and its socioeconomic development. By examining the previously unaddressed phenomena of settlement nucleation, population aggregation and urbanism along with the possibility of earlystate formation, the paper broadens the narrative on the fundamental social and political development in the southeastern Alpine region during the Early Iron Age and contributes to the wider field of early urbanism research. Obsežna arheološka izkopavanja železnodobnega in rimskodobnega gradišča Pungrt (8. st. pr. n. št. do 2. st. n. št.) so v njegovi najbolj ohranjeni fazi, ki jo uvrščamo v mlajše halštatsko obdobje (6.–4. st. pr. n. št.), razkrila izrazit urbani značaj naselbine. Predstavljena raziskava pomembno pri speva ne le k poznavanju notranje organizacije naselbine, temveč tudi k razumevanju njenega družbenogospodarskega razvoja. Z naslavljanjem pojavov kot sta centralizacija in urbanizacija, ki sta med drugim privedla tudi do oblikovanja zgodnjih držav, ponovno odpiramo razpravo o družbenem in političnem razvoju jugovzhodnoalpskega prostora v starejši železni dobi in hkrati poskušamo prispevati k razumevanju širše slike pojava zgodnjega urbanizma.