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Protohistoric pastoral landscape in northern Istria revealed by airborne LiDAR: hill forts, enclosures and long linear walls in the Mali Kras plateau (southwestern Slovenia)

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Abstract

This paper presents the results of an international research aimed at investigating the ancient landscape of the Mali Kras plateau, a sector of northern Istria (southwestern Slovenia). The remains of two main protohistoric hill forts, Mali Kras and Socerb, and a few minor sites were already reported from this area. A cemetery, associated with Socerb hill fort, was in use between the sixth century BC and the first century AD. Airborne LiDAR remote sensing of Mali Kras plateau has allowed to identify several unknown archaeological features, ranging from approximately square features (30 × 30 m) to larger enclosures with different shapes, very long linear features and stone mounds. The elaboration and digitization of high-definition remote sensing data compared with historical cartography, field surveys, targeted small-scale excavations and thermoluminescence dating have been performed in order to decode the complex archaeological palimpsest. The square structures can be attributed to Middle-Recent Bronze Age on the basis of pottery finds. These structures are located close to natural passages from the plateau to the gulf of Trieste, in areas with low visibility and scarcity of soil, which were traditionally used for grazing activities. The other identified enclosures, some of them sharing a similar chronology, were also probably used for pastoral activities but for other purposes since their shape and size are different. Two main long drystone walls define the southeastern sector of Mali Kras plateau in correspondence of the most accessible entrance to the area. The preliminary data and comparisons with similar structures suggest these walls could correspond to protohistoric linear boundaries built to delimit grazing or agricultural areas under direct control of the nearby settlements. The enclosures identified at Mali Kras plateau, most probably connected to herding activities, and perhaps the long linear walls too, could reflect the development of new husbandry practices in the Middle-Recent Bronze Age in the karst areas of the north Adriatic hinterland, such as observed in the alpine territory.

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Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Margherita Di Giovannantonio for the language review of the paper and to Sara Biolchi and Stefano Furlani for the geological map of the investigated area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Fermi, Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro di Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi,”, Piazza del Viminale 1, 00184, Rome, Italy

    Federico Bernardini

  2. Multidisciplinary Laboratory, The “Abdus Salam” International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Strada Costiera 11, 34151, Trieste, Italy

    Federico Bernardini & Giacomo Vinci

  3. Inštitut za arheologijo, ZRC SAZU, Novi Trg 2, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Jana Horvat & Lucija Lavrenčič

  4. INFN and Department of Materials Science, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via R. Cozzi 53, 20125, Milan, Italy

    Emanuela Sibilia

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  1. Federico Bernardini
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  2. Giacomo Vinci
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Contributions

FB designed and led the study; FB wrote the manuscript with contributions from GV, JH, ES; FB, GV, JH, LL conducted archaeological research and archaeological investigations; GV, LL produced archaeological documentation; ES performed thermoluminescence dating; all authors revised the manuscript and contributed to final interpretation of data.

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Correspondence to Federico Bernardini.

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Fig. S1

Archaeological materials from structures 1 (1–15) and 8 (16–22). All iron (PNG 79 kb)

High Resolution (TIF 136 kb)

Fig. S2

Archaeological materials from structure 2. 1–17 iron, 18–21 pottery (PNG 119 kb)

High Resolution (TIF 195 kb)

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Bernardini, F., Vinci, G., Horvat, J. et al. Protohistoric pastoral landscape in northern Istria revealed by airborne LiDAR: hill forts, enclosures and long linear walls in the Mali Kras plateau (southwestern Slovenia). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 187 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01121-2

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