Simple earthen house walls can neutralize heavy cannon fire as effectively as engineered earthworks

Evidence

Galera did not need to construct such buffer earthworks. Its outer houses formed, quite naturally, an ideal defensive position capable of neutralizing much of the advantage accruing to the Spanish forces from their lavish deployment of artillery. The village had no outer defenses as such, but the houses piled one over the other up the hillside were largely built of tapia, that is to say, had earth walls. Tapia does not at first sound a very useful material in fortification, but its effect seems to have been exactly the same as what might have been achieved by a skillfully constructed outer earthwork: “Artillery could not inflict damage on them, nor could our men make progress,” and then, “The artillery had little effect on the houses, it simply drilled holes (solamente horadaba) in these walls, and did not even dislodge enough earth to allow the attackers to clamber up” (217). — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1048 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Only in the Middle East, Europe, and parts of Asia did siege warfare escalate, and it’s here that fortresses evolved to their greatest size and complexity. The protruding towers and balconies we saw in Lachish selected for a means to breach walls at a distance, and by the time of the Hellenistic Greeks artillery was added to siege repertoires. Ballistas, wheeled contraptions with a spring-loaded giant sling or wooden spoon, hurled rocks several hundred yards. Giant, multiperson catapults fired iron-tipped spear-sized missiles. Boulders punched holes into walls and snapped battlements. The best hits were on towers, since the corners were more fragile than the rest. Hitting a corner just right could rip away chunks of the tower, and often the walls above the gash then collapsed. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 513 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mud-brick houses resisted cannon fire as well as engineered earthworks — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1048; Sloped earthworks defeated cannons by absorbing shot and forcing upward fire; Siege artillery evolved to exploit the fragility of fortress wall corners — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 513

Broader Connections

• Mud-brick houses resisted cannon fire as well as engineered earthworks #corroborates (0.98) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1048
• Siege artillery evolved to exploit the fragility of fortress wall corners #complicates (0.72) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 513