Rural settlements

Before the emergence of proper towns in the High Middle Ages, the early Middle Ages and prehistoric times were basically exclusively rural settlements, with the exception of settlements within fortifications. These can take many forms, as the way of life and the way of building have changed considerably from culture to culture since the beginning of sedentarization. There are individual farmsteads and hamlets as well as real villages. In prehistory, these may have been scattered settlements or already laid out in rows. The Middle Ages saw the emergence of various land forms, such as the clustered village, the street village, round villages, and hillside or woodland villages. Some medieval and early modern settlements known from tradition were abandoned over the centuries for various reasons. Here we speak of a desertification.