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Up and down the hill: Hillforts and dry stone wall enclosures on the Kvarner Islands of Cres and Lošinj in remote sensing data

Doneus, N., Fera, M., Doneus, M., Branković, D., Benvin, V., 2025. Up and down the hill: Hillforts and dry stone wall enclosures on the Kvarner Islands of Cres and Lošinj in remote sensing data. Studia universitatis hereditati.

Abstract
The Cres-Lošinj archipelago is a region characterised by numerous topographically prominent settlements. In the past, systematic research on this subject has been limited, mainly due to the difficulty of accessing the area because of dense vegetation. This study aims to address this gap by providing an overview of 85 locations where hillfort settlements and other types of enclosures have been systematically examined. It is based on a systematic analysis of ALS data covering approximately 500 km² of the archipelago over several months.

The current state of knowledge offers little opportunity for traditional archaeological evaluation, which relies on the typological and chronological characteristics of ceramic materials or on formal analogies between settlement features. Therefore, the discussion in this study focuses primarily on the potential of archaeological remote sensing for studying topographically prominent settlements in agro-pastoral karst landscapes. ALS interpretations of individual sites have been made available to experts to facilitate further discussion of the archipelago’s dry stonewalled landscapes in general and of hillforts in particular.

Keywords: ALS, Cres/Lošinj, hillforts, dry stone walls, agro-pastoral remains

 

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