Reconstructing the archaeological landscape in the Trieste Karst (north-eastern Italy) through airborne LiDAR remote sensing

The archaeological landscape of Trieste Karst is rich in protohistoric hill forts built from the Early/Middle Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age. Airborne LiDAR data have been analysed for the archaeological prospection of a central Karst sector and several spatial analysis have been carried out. The high-resolution LiDAR-derived images have allowed to identify several previously unknown fortified structures, ranging from small lookouts to large settlements within a complex landscape including enclosures, ancient clearance stone cairns and field divisions. Our results have allowed to recognize small-scale clusters of protohistoric sites visually interconnected and arranged around a central large site. These probably had a role in the strategic control over routes leading from the coast to the inner Karst across the central Karst ridge. According to available chronological data, the rising and occupation of such cultural landscape organized in small-scale entities could be tentatively placed in the Bronze Age.