EAA 2023: Abstract

The colourful pallet of research methods integrated into the investigations of Early Iron Age sites and landscapes on the fringes of the south-eastern Alps has, in recent years, witnessed a tremendous upswing. It has become a melting pot for diverse disciplines, which partly met their limits in the complex conditions of prehistoric settlements and their landscapes. Our primary goal was not to accumulate vast amounts of data, nor to understand one feature or one site, but to develop a ‘methodological toolbox’ which could be, due to its systematic nature, applied (almost) anywhere in similar environmental and archaeological circumstances.
Our first research step was aimed at understanding the geological and archaeological settings of the area with the help of remote sensing data (ALS, aerial photography). The most prominent areas were further selected for multi-method geophysical surveys. Minimally invasive ground-truthing (including coring and shovel pits) of the identified natural or anthropogenic features located in crucial positions at the sites was conducted to determine the most suitable areas for intensive geophysical surveys, geochemical mapping, and further invasive investigations.
Our approach, when locating sites for coring, is to follow the preliminary assessment of all available data. In this sense, it is a sampling strategy that is always adapted to our knowledge of the archaeological characteristics of the site, recently at Poštela in Slovenia and Sűttö in Hungary (Hungarian-Slovenian bilateral project; NRDIO-SNN134635/ARRS-N6-0168). This is also reflected in the further analyses of acquired materials, which are again adapted to their type, archaeological content, etc. Moreover, we also adapt the on-site and laboratory procedures for further analyses of the drilled material.
We cannot completely replace (small-scale) excavations with shallow coring, but we can certainly reliably explain various anomalies documented with non-invasive methods, understand the results better, and transfer the approach and techniques to other similar sites.

multi-method investigations, remote sensing, geophysics, coring, Early Iron Age

Oral presentation

  Abstract (PDF)

Matija Crešnar³

Branko Mušič³
Zoltán Czajlik²
Barbara Horn³
Balázs Nagy¹
László Rupnik²