Abstract
The hierarchy of rural settlements is a theme that has been discussed since the 1970s. Recently, several archaeologists have proposed criteria to estimate their rank using differents geographic scales (national or regional). These criteria are related to the architectural and material data discovered during archaeological excavations of these settlements. However, this classification does not always take into account the archaeological context of these sites which are not replaced in their geographic environment. In this paper, these criteria will be grouped into five categories related to the morphology of the sites, their activities, the wealth of the inhabitants and the duration of the occupation. This new classification allows us to modulate certain criteria and notify regional differences. We will illustrate our purpose through the example of an aristocratic area, the Boves and Glisy zone, in Hauts-de-France.
Keywords: Rural settlement, hierarchy, Iron age, La Tène, archaeological context, archaeological landscape.