Airborne LiDAR application to karstic areas: the example of Trieste province (north-eastern Italy) from prehistoric sites to Roman forts
Highlights
► We report the results of airborne LiDAR application to Trieste Karst (Italy). ► We produced a Digital Terrain Model of the area by free open source softwares. ► LiDAR derived images revealed structures ranging from prehistory to Roman time. ► We describe a Roman fort, probably built during the 3rd Istrian war (178–177 BC). ► LiDAR remote sensing is a revolution in archaeological mapping of karstic areas.
Introduction
The karstic plateau near Trieste (north-eastern Italy), on the northernmost shore of the Adriatic Sea, (Fig. 1) is a carbonate succession ranging from the Aptian to the Lower Eocene, informally known as Trieste Karst Formation (Cucchi et al., 1989). Two parallel hilly chains with NW–SE orientation, separated by a relatively flat area in the middle, run through the Trieste Karst, one in front of the gulf of Trieste and one by the border between Italy and Slovenia. The height of the Karst increases from sea level in the north-west, near the Timavo mouths, towards the south-eastern area, where the maximum elevation is about 600 m (Fig. 1).
This area is rich in archaeological caves and rock-shelters, mainly used from the Mesolitic to protohistoric times (Boschian and Montagnari Kokelj, 2000; Montagnari Kokelj, 1994; www.units.it/criga), and Bronze Age-Iron Age hill forts, locally called castellieri (Antonelli et al., 2004; Bandelli and Montagnari, 2005; Marchesetti, 1903), which entered under the direct Roman influence in the 2nd century BC (Bandelli, 2004; Horvat, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2008, 2009).
Prehistoric open-air sites are almost completely unknown, with few exceptions (Almerigogna, 1986; Bernardini, 2007; Bernardini and Betic, 2008; Dolzani, 1993).
The castellieri were recognized as protohistoric sites during the second half of the 19th century: the majority of them (24 sites) was identified and mapped by Marchesetti (1903), and only few other hill forts have been identified after his pioneering field research and studies (10 sites; Andreolotti and Stradi, 1965; Bernardini, 2005, 2012; Flego and Rupel, 1993; Schmid and Faraone, 1971) due to the Karst reforestation and the lack of archaeological systematic surveys (Fig. 1). Moreover, only some of these fortified structures have been partially excavated (for detailed references see Bandelli and Montagnari, 2005; Flego and Rupel, 1993).
Several Roman archaeological sites are known in the area (Auriemma and Karinja, 2008) but traces of military fortified structures datable to the romanization of the region are unknown, perhaps with the exception of a possible Roman military fort on the top of San Rocco hill, between Trieste and Muggia (Flego and Župančič, 1991).
The light detection and ranging (hereafter LiDAR) remote sensing (Campbell, 2002; Jensen, 2000), presented in this paper, yields information that surpasses that obtained in many years of archaeological surveys in the Karst area, opening a new era for landscape archaeology and archaeological mapping of karstic areas (Chase et al., 2011, 2012).
Section snippets
Open-air archaeological sites in temperate karstic landscapes
Despite temperate karstic areas represent a complex and dynamic system, the evolution of which mainly depends on climatic and geological conditions of the carbonatic outcrops, remains of even small archaeological structures can be preserved on the ground surface. This is possible due to the small sedimentation rates in comparison to other landscape systems, such as, for example, alluvial plains (Rommens et al., 2006).
Archaeological structures gradually become part of the landscape but are still
Results
The LiDAR data allow imaging of the complete Trieste Karst in 2-D, revealing topography and fortified archaeological structures of different ages. Their features have been brought out applying different light angles and shade conditions. A preliminary list of the archaeological fortified sites that have been identified by LiDAR is reported in Table 1. Among them, some examples of prehistoric, protohistoric and Roman sites, whose preliminary chronology has been defined on the basis of the
Discussion and conclusions
LiDAR derived images, produced using open source softwares, allow to easily discriminate between natural landscapes and those modified by man through times. Most of the Trieste Karst, mold since ancient times in order to get farmable grounds, is characterized by a complex superposition of structures belonging to different periods.
Thanks to LiDAR data and complementary archaeological surveys in the studied area, an open-air prehistoric site probably associated with structures remains, probably
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Protezione Civile of Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Ispettorato agricoltura e foreste di Gorizia e Trieste for the laser scan data, Diego Masiello for the help during the first surveys on mount Grociana piccola, Serena Privitera for the drawings of the amphorae, the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Friuli Venezia Giulia for the authorization to study them. Many thanks to M. Di Giovannantonio for the language review of the paper.
This work is part of
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