Entstehung und Entwicklung kleinerer Städte

82 G. Isenberg
The archaeology of smaller historical towns is not a problem of method, but a
question of interest . Towns of that type, at least in the Westphalian area, were
quite often of later origin than the larger foundations . In addition, their
development seems to be much more uniform, as there was little chance for
the individual growth one would find in older and larger historical towns .
The lesser age and the greater uniformity in development suggested the idea
of a less historical importance of those towns, which caused a much reduced
interest in their archaeology, let alone the establishment of a responsible
urban archaeological committee, as has become more and more usual in older
towns .
One of the chances to increase attention to those towns is offered by
surveying their archaeological remains . Since these towns were founded and
developed at a time when urban historical sources were increasing, the survey
will cause less problems than in older foundations whose growth was not
accompanied by written sources for a long time . This will allow to formulate
much more precisely questions not able to be answered by interpreting
historical sources, but only by archaeological work, without having to excavate
to a large extent . This sort of attention is more appropriate for smaller towns
and allows more knowledge to be gained about them without great expense .
Literatur
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