engleski

Aerial and field reconnaissance of Velebit mountain

Although rich in archaeological sites, the coastal slope of the Velebit Mountain is mostly archaeologically unexplored. Karst surface, maquis and weather conditions slow down the research and aggravate approach to known sites, as well as discovering of new ones. Despite that, research of the mountain has been intensified in last few years, and field reconnaissance resulted in discovering of great number of new sites. In March 2012 aerial reconnaissance was conducted for the first time in the area of the North and Middle Velebit Mountain. Archaeological remains in the area of the Velebit Mountain are today preserved as upstanding features (drystone walls and collapsed walls). Most of the sites are more clearly seen from the air because some remains are not visible due to maquis or because they lay on a karst surfce. The largest numbers of sites recorded from the air are prehistoric hill- forts whose number was double increased after this research. In addition to the discovery of new hill-forts we also revealed many features of hill-forts which have not been recognized in the field by now. This caused many changes of the current ground plan situation of the localities. With the hill-forts, a number of sites are prehistoric and historic enclosures that were used for economic purposes. All data obtained within this airborne recording are processed in ArcGIS program. Photos of the sites are georeferenced and digital descriptions of the structures were made as well as the digital terrain models of individual sites. The results enabled the precise mapping of all archaeological features in their landscape and a better understanding of the changes that have taken place during the process of Romanization in this part of the Velebit Mountain.

Aerial photography; field reconnaissance; Velebit; karst terrain; photo interpretation

nije evidentirano