The Contribution of Geophysics to the Knowledge of the Hidden Archaeological Heritage of Montenegro

Abstract

Montenegro is a land of great history which needs attention and care for a deeper knowledge and its making at the disposal of new generations. It is still a territory to be discovered, studied, and disclosed. It is important to understand how much hidden heritage there is still in this area to explore and exploit, but on the other hand, how much known heritage exists to protect and monitor, preventing its destruction and loss. In this context, Montenegro is heavily investing in the management of cultural heritage through initiatives for identification, protection, preservation, enhancement and fruition of them. In the frame of the knowledge, the use of non-destructive geophysical methods can be helpful for a cognitive investigation immediately in the bud of any archaeological verification project, safeguarded through preventive archaeology operations and the exploration of large areas within archaeological parks. In this paper, the results of geophysical prospections at the Hellenistic-Illyrian site of Mjace, the roman towns of Doclea and Municipium S, the medieval city of Svač, and the Stećci medieval tombstones graveyards of Novakovići, Žugića, and Plužine are presented. The study allowed the reconnaissance of new buried structures in the soil and has provided an updated view of the rich archaeological heritage of Montenegro.

An Extension of the Data-Adaptive Probability-Based Electrical Resistivity Tomography Inversion Method (E-PERTI)

“…Many applications of the PERTI approach in near surface prospections are available in literature for solving archaeological research questions such as in the roman city of Aesernia [23], the archaeological park of Pratolino (Vaglia, Florence, Italy) [24], the Bedestan monumental complex (Nicosia, Cyprus) [25], the Temple of Athena in Poseidonia-Paestum (Southern Italy) [26], the theater of Akragas (Valley of Temples, Agrigento, Italy) [27] and the medieval tombstones in Montenegro [28]. The method was also applied for defining faults in Crete [29] and for imaging of the near-surface structure of the Solfatara crater (Campi Flegrei, Naples, Italy) [30].…”

The role of fire disturbances, human activities and climate change for long-term forest dynamics in upper-montane forests of the central Dinaric Alps

“…Similarly, regional heterogeneity of land-use pressure may also have occurred in pre-Roman times. Anthropogenic indicators do not show distinct signs of Bronze and Iron Age land use, despite the probable connection between coastal and inland settlements (Bulatović et al, 2020) and Illyrian and Celtic Iron Age settlements (Cozzolino et al, 2020). However, Secale cereale pollen finds at Zminje Jezero suggest its presence as a weed among other cereals (Behre, 1992) since about 6000 cal BP, as also observed in archaeobotanical samples from Neolithic sites in the mountain hinterland (e.g.…”

The Extended Data-Adaptive Probability-Based Electrical Resistivity Tomography Inversion Method (E-PERTI) for the Characterization of the Buried Ditch of the Ancient Egnazia (Puglia, Italy)

“…The next step was the launch of the data-adaptive Probability-based ERT Inversion (PERTI) method, which was formulated with the aim of giving an estimation of the most probable resistivity values within a surveyed volume as weighted averages of the whole apparent resistivity dataset [19]. Using this approach, different near-surface prospections were successfully processed and interpreted [20][21][22][23][24].…”