Absent siege threats, defensive walls stagnated for seven thousand years

Evidence

Without the threat of siege weapons, there was no need to enlarge defensive walls. Simple walls sufficed, and little evolution of fortification design occurred. From the earliest traces of civilization, pre-Incan villages dating to 5000 BCE, until the arrival of the Spaniards in the 1500s, fortifications in Central and South America consisted of ditches, earthen mounds, and stick or stone palisades. Most cities were walled and a few, like Tenochtitlan, were surrounded by water, but basic fortifications held against the types of threats they encountered. The same holds true for much of Asia, Africa, and North America; ditches and timber palisades look almost the same in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Iroquois and Maori villages as they did in the Fertile Crescent and the Andes more than seven thousand years ago. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 512

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the ‘stasis without predators’ story — how New World defenses froze for millennia exactly as island species stall without predators.
• XREF: Directly parallels earlier chapters on weapon stasis when competitors or predators are absent. — connects to: Siege artillery evolved to exploit the fragility of fortress wall corners — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 513; Terrain and logistics prevented Mesoamerican empires from developing siege weapons — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 511; Fortification style evolved in direct response to artillery effectiveness — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 972

Related

• Terrain and logistics prevented Mesoamerican empires from developing siege weapons (similarity 0.87)
• Pushing siege weapons to longer range only drove artillery growth (similarity 0.80)
• Siege artillery evolved to exploit the fragility of fortress wall corners (similarity 0.80)
• City fortification walls evolved progressively from palisades to layered battlement systems by 1500 BCE. (similarity 0.80)
• Fortification style evolved in direct response to artillery effectiveness (similarity 0.79)
• Warfare-focused Mayan cities like La Milpa lacked heavy fortifications (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Siege artillery evolved to exploit the fragility of fortress wall corners #expands (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 513
• Fortification style evolved in direct response to artillery effectiveness #corroborates (0.60) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 972
• Terrain and logistics prevented Mesoamerican empires from developing siege weapons #qualifies (0.50) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 511