Europe is crisscrossed by a dense network of large rivers and countless smaller tributaries, forming lifelines that have shaped human settlement, mobility, and communication since prehistoric times. Rivers functioned as arteries of exchange and transport, connecting distant regions and facilitating cultural interaction — yet at the same time, they also served as natural boundaries, obstacles, and strategic frontiers.
Given this dual role, it is hardly surprising that numerous fortified sites and hillforts were deliberately positioned to exploit the strategic potential of river landscapes. From elevated promontories overlooking river crossings to enclosures controlling fords, harbours, or trade routes, fortifications along waterways reveal much about how past communities understood and harnessed their fluvial surroundings for defence, control, and communication.
Fortified sites along rivers were often not isolated strongholds but elements of broader, sometimes contemporaneous systems of communication and defence. Their spatial relationships, visibility, and chronological overlap suggest coordinated patterns of settlement and interaction that transcend local contexts. This session seeks to explore how rivers shaped the placement, structure, and function of fortified sites from Prehistoric to Modern times across Europe.
We invite papers that:
(1) examine fortifications situated along rivers and their tributaries;
(2) compare their spatial, functional, and chronological relationships with waterways;
(3) examine their roles in systems of defence, communication, and mobility; and
(4) present case studies or broader comparative approaches to understanding the interplay between water, landscape, and fortification.
Through comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives, the session seeks to reassess fortifications in river landscapes as integral nodes within Europe’s long-term networks of interaction, communication, and mobility.
Organized in the framework of the Community on Fortification Research (COMFORT) by
Timo Ibsen (Leibniz-Zentrum fur Archäologie, Germany)
Gintautas Zabiela (Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania)
Audronė Bliujienė (Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology, Lithuania)
Ladislav Rytfr (Department of Archaeology FF UHK, Czech Republic)
Please contact us for questions!
Deadline for submissions: 5 February 2026
