The moat is a deep trench, sometimes filled with water, dug to form a barrier against attacks on castle walls or other fortifications. A moat makes access difficult for siege engines, such as the siege tower or battering ram, which need to be next to the wall to be effective. A very important characteristic is that it makes attempts to undermine the foundations of the walls through tunnels with a view to collapsing them very difficult, on the one hand forcing the excavation to go deeper and if there was water, it would flood those tunnels or cause them to have to be greatly reinforced.
This same concept is applied in the construction or improvement of stadiums. These are on average 3 m wide surrounded by a Kevlar mesh.
History
Antique
Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been discovered around ancient Egyptian castles. An example is at Buhen, a castle excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient pits is found in the ruins of Babylon and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures of the region.[1][2].
Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered at many archaeological sites across Southeast Asia, including Noen U-Loke, Ban Non Khrua Chut, Ban Makham Thae and Ban Non Wat. The use of the moats could have been for defensive or agricultural purposes.[3].
Medieval Era
In Europe, it is with the bastioned fortifications ("Italianizing layout") built between the 16th and 19th centuries that the moats will reach their maximum extension and the apogee of their complexity and refinement, a refinement both technical for the effectiveness of the defense and for the beautification of the cities. These moats were arranged along the fortifications in complex branching star patterns around citadels and often around entire cities when topography and hydrography permitted. Menno van Coehoorn in the Netherlands and Vauban in France, rivals in the second half of the century, were the greatest creators. The system spread throughout Europe and even North America.
In the violent environment of the 20th century in England, defensive walls required written permission from the King, but a moat surrounding a stately home could deter even the most determined intruders.
Pit architecture
Introduction
The moat is a deep trench, sometimes filled with water, dug to form a barrier against attacks on castle walls or other fortifications. A moat makes access difficult for siege engines, such as the siege tower or battering ram, which need to be next to the wall to be effective. A very important characteristic is that it makes attempts to undermine the foundations of the walls through tunnels with a view to collapsing them very difficult, on the one hand forcing the excavation to go deeper and if there was water, it would flood those tunnels or cause them to have to be greatly reinforced.
This same concept is applied in the construction or improvement of stadiums. These are on average 3 m wide surrounded by a Kevlar mesh.
History
Antique
Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been discovered around ancient Egyptian castles. An example is at Buhen, a castle excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient pits is found in the ruins of Babylon and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures of the region.[1][2].
Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered at many archaeological sites across Southeast Asia, including Noen U-Loke, Ban Non Khrua Chut, Ban Makham Thae and Ban Non Wat. The use of the moats could have been for defensive or agricultural purposes.[3].
Medieval Era
In Europe, it is with the bastioned fortifications ("Italianizing layout") built between the 16th and 19th centuries that the moats will reach their maximum extension and the apogee of their complexity and refinement, a refinement both technical for the effectiveness of the defense and for the beautification of the cities. These moats were arranged along the fortifications in complex branching star patterns around citadels and often around entire cities when topography and hydrography permitted. Menno van Coehoorn in the Netherlands and Vauban in France, rivals in the second half of the century, were the greatest creators. The system spread throughout Europe and even North America.
Streams were often diverted in the Middle Ages to fill the ditch. The pits required maintenance. They had to be dredged to prevent a natural bridge from forming due to sediment, objects accidentally dropped or thrown by enemies.
Removable bridges allowed crossing the moat in the Middle Ages. At first they were just simple wooden bridges, easily removable if the enemy tried to assault the fortification. They were replaced by drawbridges and suspension bridges.
With the evolution of fortification technique, dry moats were also built. In this case the obstacle is the moat itself by establishing a clear area where the assailant constitutes an easy target for the crossfire of the defenders locked in the fortress and sheltered behind the walls. The bastions are located so that their artillery can sweep the moat if the attackers reach it.
In the moat, the part of it that faces the interior of the fortress is called the escarpment "Escarpment (fortification)") and the wall that faces the enemy camp is called the counterescarpment. The covered path normally runs over the counterscarp and inside the moat the auxiliary fortifications such as ravelines, hornabeques and counterguards are located.
The moats sometimes had long wooden poles inside, to prevent enemies from swimming across.
Although moats are commonly associated with European castles, they were also commonly used in shiros or Japanese castles, of which several examples remain in Japan. Also by the North American Indians of the Mississippi culture, as an external defense of their fortified villages. The remains of a century-old moat are still visible at Parkin State Archaeological Park in eastern Arkansas.
Later western fortifications
With the introduction of siege artillery, a new style of fortification emerged in the century using low walls and projecting strong points called bastions, which was known as trace italienne. The walls were further protected from infantry attack by wet or dry moats, sometimes in elaborate systems. When this style of fortification was replaced by lines of polygonal forts in the mid-century, moats continued to be used for close protection.
Africa
The Benin Walls") were a combination of walls and moats, called Iya, used as a defense of the capital Benin City in present-day Edo State of Nigeria. It was considered the largest man-made structure in length, second only to the Great Wall of China and the world's largest earthwork. Recent work by Patrick Darling has established it as the largest man-made structure in the world, larger than Eredo of Sungbo, also in Nigeria. He encircled 6,500 km of community lands. Its extension exceeded 16,000 km of land limits. It was estimated that the first construction began in 800 and continued until the middle of the century.
The walls are built with a ditch and dike structure, the ditch was excavated to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the outer wall.
The walls of Benin were devastated by the British in 1897. Scattered pieces of the walls remain in Edo, and locals use the material for construction. Walls continue to be torn down for real estate developments.
The Benin City Walls were the largest man-made structure in the world. Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist:
"They extend for some 16,000 kilometers in total, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They cover 6,500 square kilometers and were all excavated by the Edo people. In total, they are four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and consumed one hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Khufu. It is estimated that they took 150 million hours of excavation to build, and are perhaps the single archaeological phenomenon largest on the planet."
Asia
Japanese castle often has very elaborate moats, with up to three moats arranged in concentric circles around the castle and a host of different patterns designed around the landscape. The outer moat of a Japanese castle typically protects other supporting buildings in addition to the castle.
As many Japanese castles have historically been a very central part of their cities, the moats have provided a vital waterway for the city. Even in modern times, the Tokyo Imperial Palace moat system consists of a very active body of water, hosting everything from rental boats and fishing ponds to restaurants.[6].
Most modern Japanese castles have water-filled moats, but castles from the feudal period more commonly had "dry moats." karabori, a trench. A tatebori is a dry pit dug into a slope. A unejo tatebori is a series of parallel trenches running up the slopes of the excavated mountain, and the earthen wall, also called doi, was an outer wall made of earth excavated from a moat. Even today it is common for Japanese mountain castles to have dry moats. A mizubori is a pit full of water.
Pits were also used in the Forbidden City and Xi'an in China; in Fort Vellore") in India; Hsinchu in Taiwan; and in Southeast Asia, such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia; Mandalay in Myanmar and Chiang Mai in Thailand.
North America
Moats were developed independently by North American Native Americans (Mississippi culture) as the outer defense of some fortified villages. The remains of a century-old moat are still visible at Parkin Archaeological State Park in eastern Arkansas.
The Mayan people also used moats, for example in the city of Becan.
European settlers in the Americas often built dry ditches around forts built to protect important landmarks, ports, or cities (for example, Fort Jay on Governors Island in New York Harbor).
modern era
Moats are also used to separate animals from spectators in many modern zoos. The structure with an external vertical retaining wall, rising directly from the moat, is a widespread use of the Ha-ha of English gardening.
In 2004, plans were suggested for a two-mile ditch along the southern border of the Gaza Strip to prevent tunneling from Egyptian territory to the border town of Rafah.[7]
Modern use
Architectural use
Dry moats were a key element used in French housing in classicism and Beaux-Arts architecture, both as decorative designs and to provide discreet service access. Excellent examples of these can be found in Newport, Rhode Island at Miramar "Miramar (mansion)") and The Elms "The Elms (Newport, Rhode Island)"), as well as in Carolands, outside of San Francisco, California, and at Union Station "Union Station (Toronto)") in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Additionally, a dry moat can allow light and fresh air to reach basement work spaces, such as at the James Farley Post Office in New York.
Anti-terrorist pits
While moats are no longer a major tool of warfare, modern architectural building design continues to use them as a defense against certain modern threats, such as terrorist car bomb and improvised fighting vehicle attacks. For example, the new location of the United States Embassy in London, opened in 2018, includes a moat among its security features, the first moat built in England for over a century.[8] Modern moats can also be used for aesthetic or ergonomic.
The Catawba Nuclear Plant" has a concrete moat around part of the plant. (Other sides of the plant border a lake.) The moat is part of precautions added to such sites after the attacks of September 11, 2001.[9].
safety pits
Moats, rather than fences, separate animals from spectators in many modern zoo facilities. Pits were first used in this way by Carl Hagenbeck at his Tierpark in Hamburg, Germany.[10].
border defense ditches
In 2004 plans were suggested for a 3 km (2 mi) ditch across the southern border of the Gaza Strip to prevent the construction of tunnels from Egyptian territory to the border town of Rafah.[11]
In 2008, employees of the city of Yuma, Arizona, USA, planned to excavate a two-mile stretch of a 180-hectare (440-acre) wetland known as Hunters Hole to control immigrants coming from Mexico.[12].
Pest control pits
Researchers of Salticidae jumping spiders, which have excellent vision and adaptable tactics, built miniature pits filled with water, too wide for the spiders to jump through. Some specimens were rewarded for jumping and others only for swimming. The Queensland jumping spider species Portia fimbriata was generally successful, so it was rewarded for whichever method it used.[13] When specimens from two different populations of the jumping spider species Portia labiata were set with the same task, members of one population determined which method earned them a reward, while members of the other continued to use the method they tried first and did not try to adapt.[14]
A moat can be used to restrict the access of insects that approach the bonsai through the ground, as a simple method of pest control.
[13] ↑ Jackson, Robert R.; Chris M. Carter; Michael S. Tarsitano (2001). «Trial-and-error solving of a confinement problem by a jumping spider, Portia fimbriata». Behaviour (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill) 138 (10): 1215-1234. ISSN 0005-7959. JSTOR 4535886. doi:10.1163/15685390152822184.: https://es.wikipedia.org//portal.issn.org/resource/issn/0005-7959
In the violent environment of the 20th century in England, defensive walls required written permission from the King, but a moat surrounding a stately home could deter even the most determined intruders.
Streams were often diverted in the Middle Ages to fill the ditch. The pits required maintenance. They had to be dredged to prevent a natural bridge from forming due to sediment, objects accidentally dropped or thrown by enemies.
Removable bridges allowed crossing the moat in the Middle Ages. At first they were just simple wooden bridges, easily removable if the enemy tried to assault the fortification. They were replaced by drawbridges and suspension bridges.
With the evolution of fortification technique, dry moats were also built. In this case the obstacle is the moat itself by establishing a clear area where the assailant constitutes an easy target for the crossfire of the defenders locked in the fortress and sheltered behind the walls. The bastions are located so that their artillery can sweep the moat if the attackers reach it.
In the moat, the part of it that faces the interior of the fortress is called the escarpment "Escarpment (fortification)") and the wall that faces the enemy camp is called the counterescarpment. The covered path normally runs over the counterscarp and inside the moat the auxiliary fortifications such as ravelines, hornabeques and counterguards are located.
The moats sometimes had long wooden poles inside, to prevent enemies from swimming across.
Although moats are commonly associated with European castles, they were also commonly used in shiros or Japanese castles, of which several examples remain in Japan. Also by the North American Indians of the Mississippi culture, as an external defense of their fortified villages. The remains of a century-old moat are still visible at Parkin State Archaeological Park in eastern Arkansas.
Later western fortifications
With the introduction of siege artillery, a new style of fortification emerged in the century using low walls and projecting strong points called bastions, which was known as trace italienne. The walls were further protected from infantry attack by wet or dry moats, sometimes in elaborate systems. When this style of fortification was replaced by lines of polygonal forts in the mid-century, moats continued to be used for close protection.
Africa
The Benin Walls") were a combination of walls and moats, called Iya, used as a defense of the capital Benin City in present-day Edo State of Nigeria. It was considered the largest man-made structure in length, second only to the Great Wall of China and the world's largest earthwork. Recent work by Patrick Darling has established it as the largest man-made structure in the world, larger than Eredo of Sungbo, also in Nigeria. He encircled 6,500 km of community lands. Its extension exceeded 16,000 km of land limits. It was estimated that the first construction began in 800 and continued until the middle of the century.
The walls are built with a ditch and dike structure, the ditch was excavated to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the outer wall.
The walls of Benin were devastated by the British in 1897. Scattered pieces of the walls remain in Edo, and locals use the material for construction. Walls continue to be torn down for real estate developments.
The Benin City Walls were the largest man-made structure in the world. Fred Pearce wrote in New Scientist:
"They extend for some 16,000 kilometers in total, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They cover 6,500 square kilometers and were all excavated by the Edo people. In total, they are four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and consumed one hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Khufu. It is estimated that they took 150 million hours of excavation to build, and are perhaps the single archaeological phenomenon largest on the planet."
Asia
Japanese castle often has very elaborate moats, with up to three moats arranged in concentric circles around the castle and a host of different patterns designed around the landscape. The outer moat of a Japanese castle typically protects other supporting buildings in addition to the castle.
As many Japanese castles have historically been a very central part of their cities, the moats have provided a vital waterway for the city. Even in modern times, the Tokyo Imperial Palace moat system consists of a very active body of water, hosting everything from rental boats and fishing ponds to restaurants.[6].
Most modern Japanese castles have water-filled moats, but castles from the feudal period more commonly had "dry moats." karabori, a trench. A tatebori is a dry pit dug into a slope. A unejo tatebori is a series of parallel trenches running up the slopes of the excavated mountain, and the earthen wall, also called doi, was an outer wall made of earth excavated from a moat. Even today it is common for Japanese mountain castles to have dry moats. A mizubori is a pit full of water.
Pits were also used in the Forbidden City and Xi'an in China; in Fort Vellore") in India; Hsinchu in Taiwan; and in Southeast Asia, such as Angkor Wat in Cambodia; Mandalay in Myanmar and Chiang Mai in Thailand.
North America
Moats were developed independently by North American Native Americans (Mississippi culture) as the outer defense of some fortified villages. The remains of a century-old moat are still visible at Parkin Archaeological State Park in eastern Arkansas.
The Mayan people also used moats, for example in the city of Becan.
European settlers in the Americas often built dry ditches around forts built to protect important landmarks, ports, or cities (for example, Fort Jay on Governors Island in New York Harbor).
modern era
Moats are also used to separate animals from spectators in many modern zoos. The structure with an external vertical retaining wall, rising directly from the moat, is a widespread use of the Ha-ha of English gardening.
In 2004, plans were suggested for a two-mile ditch along the southern border of the Gaza Strip to prevent tunneling from Egyptian territory to the border town of Rafah.[7]
Modern use
Architectural use
Dry moats were a key element used in French housing in classicism and Beaux-Arts architecture, both as decorative designs and to provide discreet service access. Excellent examples of these can be found in Newport, Rhode Island at Miramar "Miramar (mansion)") and The Elms "The Elms (Newport, Rhode Island)"), as well as in Carolands, outside of San Francisco, California, and at Union Station "Union Station (Toronto)") in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Additionally, a dry moat can allow light and fresh air to reach basement work spaces, such as at the James Farley Post Office in New York.
Anti-terrorist pits
While moats are no longer a major tool of warfare, modern architectural building design continues to use them as a defense against certain modern threats, such as terrorist car bomb and improvised fighting vehicle attacks. For example, the new location of the United States Embassy in London, opened in 2018, includes a moat among its security features, the first moat built in England for over a century.[8] Modern moats can also be used for aesthetic or ergonomic.
The Catawba Nuclear Plant" has a concrete moat around part of the plant. (Other sides of the plant border a lake.) The moat is part of precautions added to such sites after the attacks of September 11, 2001.[9].
safety pits
Moats, rather than fences, separate animals from spectators in many modern zoo facilities. Pits were first used in this way by Carl Hagenbeck at his Tierpark in Hamburg, Germany.[10].
border defense ditches
In 2004 plans were suggested for a 3 km (2 mi) ditch across the southern border of the Gaza Strip to prevent the construction of tunnels from Egyptian territory to the border town of Rafah.[11]
In 2008, employees of the city of Yuma, Arizona, USA, planned to excavate a two-mile stretch of a 180-hectare (440-acre) wetland known as Hunters Hole to control immigrants coming from Mexico.[12].
Pest control pits
Researchers of Salticidae jumping spiders, which have excellent vision and adaptable tactics, built miniature pits filled with water, too wide for the spiders to jump through. Some specimens were rewarded for jumping and others only for swimming. The Queensland jumping spider species Portia fimbriata was generally successful, so it was rewarded for whichever method it used.[13] When specimens from two different populations of the jumping spider species Portia labiata were set with the same task, members of one population determined which method earned them a reward, while members of the other continued to use the method they tried first and did not try to adapt.[14]
A moat can be used to restrict the access of insects that approach the bonsai through the ground, as a simple method of pest control.
[13] ↑ Jackson, Robert R.; Chris M. Carter; Michael S. Tarsitano (2001). «Trial-and-error solving of a confinement problem by a jumping spider, Portia fimbriata». Behaviour (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill) 138 (10): 1215-1234. ISSN 0005-7959. JSTOR 4535886. doi:10.1163/15685390152822184.: https://es.wikipedia.org//portal.issn.org/resource/issn/0005-7959