Page 61 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(2) (2025)

Vinci, G., F. Vanzani, A. Fontana, and S. our ability to detect anthropogenic landforms, re-
Campana. 2024. ‘LiDAR Applications search into prehistoric material culture remains
in Archaeology: A Systematic Review.’ fragmented. An exception is the ongoing research
Archaeological Prospection 32 (1): 81–101. at Osor, but it remains insufficient for establish-
ing a relative chronological framework for hill-
Summary forts across the entire archipelago. Consequently,
The landscape of the Cres–Lošinj archipelago is there is little scope for the traditional archaeolog-
characterised by the remains of numerous topo- ical evaluation of newly documented hillforts and
graphically prominent settlements, hillforts, and enclosures based on the typological or chronolog-
various types of agro-pastoral enclosures. Both ical characteristics of ceramic materials or on for-
vegetation and more recent human activity con- mal analogies between settlement features.
tribute to the concealment of these sites. Since Accordingly, the discussion focuses primari-
their first mention in scientific publications over a ly on the potential of archaeological remote sens-
century ago, research has been limited, primarily ing for studying topographically prominent set- 61
focusing on locating prehistoric dry stone fortifi- tlements in agro-pastoral karst landscapes. It
cation walls. The karst topography, dense ground highlights that the dry stone enclosures visible
vegetation, and limited visibility of archaeological in the ALS data do not necessarily correspond
remains have made the study of hillforts particu- to (prehistoric) hillfort settlements. At the same
larly challenging. This situation has changed with time, ALS allows for a shift in focus from individ-
advances in airborne laser scanning (ALS or Li- ual enclosures to prehistoric landscapes, which can
DAR) technology. A comprehensive ALS survey include extensive, multi-zonally organised fortifi-
of Croatia has recently been made publicly availa- cations across the Cres–Lošinj archipelago.
ble, offering a new perspective on the islands of the The bird’s-eye perspective also facilitates the
Cres–Lošinj archipelago. planning of targeted field research. However, this
This study addresses how archaeological re- does not eliminate the need for challenging on-
mote sensing can alter our understanding of hill- site investigations. As large-scale excavations have
forts on Cres and Lošinj. We approached this by become rare and many dry stone walls yield no
systematically examining ALS-derived terrain finds, the OSL-PD method offers an alternative,
models covering 500 km² of the archipelago for providing absolute chronological data where oth-
traces of hillforts and comparing the results with er evidence is lacking. The complexity of the archi-
the current state of research. pelago’s agro-pastoral karst landscape, including
In total, 85 locations were systematically re- (prehistoric) hillforts and enclosures, may be seen Up and Down the Hill: Hillforts and Dry Stone Wall Enclosures on the Kvarner Islands...
viewed. Detailed terrain models confirmed 35 lo- as a challenge but also represents a compelling ar-
cations where simple dry stone enclosures or settle- chaeological opportunity. Accordingly, archaeo-
ment fortifications had previously been identified logical interpretations of all catalogue sites are pro-
as archaeological sites. As expected, the terrain vided as part of this publication to support further
models provided a clearer picture of the shape, discussion of the archipelago’s dry stone walled
structure, and complexity of these remains. No landscapes in general, and of hillforts in particular.
visible archaeological traces were apparent in the
ALS data at the other 22 presumed sites. Addition- Povzetek
ally, 28 new locations of enclosures and settlements Krajino arhipelaga Cres-Lošinj zaznamujejo ostan-
were added to the catalogue. There is a clear dis- ki številnih topografsko izrazitih naselij, gradišč in
crepancy between the locations of hillfort settle- različnih vrst agropastoralnih ograj. Gostota vege-
ments reported in the literature and those revealed tacije in kasnejše človekove dejavnosti prispevajo
by ALS analysis; only 50% of the literature sites ex- k prikritju teh najdišč. Od njihove prve omembe
hibited clear fortification structures in the DTM. v znanstvenih publikacijah pred več kot sto leti so
While high-resolution ALS-derived digi- bile raziskave omejene predvsem na lociranje praz-
tal terrain models have substantially improved godovinskih suhozidnih obrambnih zidov. Kraška