The complex and dense architectural remains unveiled by the analysis of the LiDAR data show that the hilltop site above the village of Knežak (Gradišče above Knežak) was intensely populated in the Roman period. The layout of the architectural remains even suggests an urban settlement. The intensity and continuity of settlement from the Iron Age into the Roman period speak of Gradišče’s economic prosperity, which have been due to a specialised agricultural activity. This is suggested by the evidence of intensive land use in the surrounding landscape. A similar continuity has been observed on several other hillforts in the region.
COBISS.SI-ID: 45959725
The evidence of past land use and land division survived surprisingly well in the area of Knežak and Ilirska Bistrica (south-western Slovenia). Our in-depth analysis and archaeological interpretation of LiDAR data and trial trenching suggest that several features are associated with pastoral and agricultural activities from the late prehistoric (mainly Iron Age) and Roman period.
COBISS.SI-ID: 10290784
The beginning of the permanent settlement of the Notranjska region hillforts was in the late Bronze Age or during the transition to the Iron Age, and it reaches its peak between 9th – 8th centuries BC and the arrival of the Romans in the last decades of the 1st century BC. During the Roman period, some hillforts were abandoned, yet others remained inhabited, reaching their final peak in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The article reviews the history of research of local hillforts, the issue caused by unauthorised researchers of artefacts with metal detectors, and the importance of lidar technology.
COBISS.SI-ID: 9827424