OPPIDA AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 407 INTRODUCTION Until the 2 nd century BC, when the oppida ap- peared, the Iron Age landscape and social structure had a rural character. Settlements, even if engaged in intensive specialised production, were deeply rooted in the country. When the oppida emerged as ‘deliberate foundations rather than a gradual evolution’ 1 , they for- med a new feature of the settlement structure, which was perceived as a ‘separation of the rural area from the urban centre by a monumental rampart’ 2 . Owing to their location and the chronological range of ma- terial it is presumed that they were established during the 2 nd century BC as part of local economic develop- ments connected to the redistribution of goods and a new system of long-distance trade formerly carried out at the large open settlements in the lowlands. The distinct intensiication of the settlement pattern du- ring the Late La Tène period may have included the founding of fortiied settlements from the traditional settlement zones. This phenomenon was probably in- luenced by a combination of factors which we have yet to discover. Oppida settlements represent complex systems or societies with multiple functions, as described 1 Collis 2000, 223. 2 Buchsenschutz 2006, 62. in antiquity (Fig. 1). The complexity of social rela- tions might have been modiied by the actual con- ditions of each site and region. The oppida were conventionally perceived as a peak of social, eco- nomic and political development in the La Tène period. Recently, however, this position has been usurped by the chronologically earlier emporia 3 : the large open settlements whose economic potential has only recently been understood owing to new discoveries. An interesting factor is also the high- ly embedded notion of the hierarchy of Iron Age settlements which greatly affects the interpretation of their subsistence systems. In the "Dürrnberg and Manching" volume, the economic potential of the oppida has been tested mainly from an industrial or commercial standpoint, but so far the ecological circumstances for agricultural production have ten- ded to be neglected 4 ; although Early Iron Age cen- tral places have already been examined from this particular point of view 5 . The agricultural potential of the oppida has been challenged 6 , especially for locations that were not within the primary agricul- tural settlement zone (i. e. the fertile lowlands) and in reaction to the widespread evidence of Late La Tène open settlements with enclosed farmsteads which were believed to supply the oppida with the necessary foodstuff. However, the archaeological evidence reveals deinite signs that there must have been at least some engagement in the agricultural production. There is evidence of livestock breeding and indicators of crop cultivation within the oppi- da contexts, such as archaeobotanical inds. The structure of the oppida sites reveal evidence for traditional agricultural household units similar to those found much earlier in the countryside. These enclosures originally had an agricultural function. Later they also constituted the basic settlement units in the oppida that relected the traditional or- 3 Cf. Kaenel 2006. 4 Rare exception is, for example, Wells 1993. 5 Fischer et al. 2010. 6 See for example Salač 2009. OPPIDA AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION – STATE OF THE ART AND PROSPECTS. CASE STUDY FROM STARÉ HRADISKO OPPIDUM (CZECH REPUBLIC) . ALŽBTA DANIELISOVÁ AND MÁRIA HAJNALOVÁ Fig. 1: The complexity of functions represented by the oppida according to Gaius Iulius Caesar (graphics by A. Danielisová).