Rundling
Encyclopedia
A Rundling or place village is a primitive form of circular village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

, typical of Slav settlements in Europe in the Early Medieval period.
The Rundling was a common village form amongst the Slavs, although the same layout, for defensive reasons, is found throughout northern and western Europe. It usually comprises a central, circular village green
Village green
A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement. Traditionally, such an area was often common grass land at the centre of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events...

 with a track around it and farmsteads radiating out around it like the spokes of a wheel.

Such villages are typically found across eastern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

(where they referred to as a Rundling, Runddorf, Rundlingsdorf, Rundplatzdorf or Platzdorf), often indicated by village names ending in -itz, -ow and -thin.
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