sreda, 17. avgust 2016

Degradation of archaeological sites because of archaeological research - example hillfort Ajdovščina/Rodik/Slovenia

Usually there is a degradation of archaeological sites due to natural disasters, changes in vegetation cover, intensive agricultural use, various land and building works and treasure hunters.

Usually
we archaeologists do not admit that even our work has degrading effects on archaeological sites. But at this point I do not mean archaeological excavations in the so-called rescue archaeology. Rescue excavations and archaeological research is usually done because of construction work in the area of archaeological site and it is only way to save it.

Here I write about archaeological excavations and research, that is done on exclusively research and study basis. I will present one case where archaeologist left archaeological site in "disarray" and neglected. It is meant on one hand as critique of management of excavators and on the other hand a reminder to our-self. In what state do we leave archaeological site behind.

One example of poor management is the condition of the archaeological site Ajdovščina, that I wrote about previous month. Archaeological research was conducted in the 80s and 90s by the Department of Archaeology Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Situation
already shocked me few years ago when I visited the site for the first time, and disappointed and angry by the condition of some archaeological features. When I visited it this year I decided that because nothing had changed and on some parts situation is getting worse I have to write something down and also inform Department of archaeology of the unfinished business they left up there.

What follows are photos of degraded and neglected areas left by archaeological research.
Poles that marked grid for geophysical survey. As they are made from wood they do not represent an environmental problem. More a visual garbage and it looks as someone will build something up there.
The section of the main bank. Because left open it has started to slide and fill by natural destruction of still standing bank. The section also degrades the whole view of the majestic ruins of the main wall around the main entrance to hillfort.
Section made through the ruins of main wall. Sliding of material is seen on bout edges.
Spoil heap of material from ruins of main wall, that is left on the bank.
Shed for tools left standing on the top of the hill.

PVC foil left laying around. Started to tear and pollute whole site.
PVC foil left laying around. Started to tear and pollute whole site. Spoil heap of main excavation on left.
Spoil heap of main trench on the top of the hill.
PVC foil left on the excavated late antiquity foundations. Started to tear as trench wasn't properly filed back. Foundations started to crumble.
PVC foil left on the excavated late antiquity foundations. Started to tear as trench wasn't properly filed back. Foundations started to crumble.
PVC foil left on the excavated late antiquity foundations. Started to tear as trench wasn't properly filed back. Foundations started to crumble.

Teared PVC foil now seen almost on half of the whole site.
This image of the archaeological site of the so-called "research" excavations is inadmissible. Similar is the surroundings of cave site of Mala Triglavca near Divača, especially plastics and PVC that are lying around. I urge the Department of Archaeology, to activate and clear all PVC at least.

For me personally such an attitude indicates a stance and that archaeological sites are only information carrier. We need only to dig them and then, take away all the data to study it in the comforts of our chair. Who gives a s*** about what we left when we dug it.

Archaeological sites are the living remnants and witnesses of life of ancestors.
Archaeological sites are vital part of any landscape. Every archaeologist would have to take care and respect the environment and archeological sites and leave minimal impact on them.

We musnt let this bad examples to message to public: Archaeologists were here and we don give a f***for the environment and archeological site itself..

Degradacija arheoloških najdišč zaradi arheoloških raziskav – primer gradišče Ajdovščina

Ponavadi prihaja do degradacije arheoloških najdišč zaradi naravnih nesreč, sprememb v vegetaciji, intenzivne kmetijske uporabe, raznih zemeljskih in gradbenih del ter iskanja zakladov.

Ponavadi si arheologi ne priznamo, da tudi naše delo degradira in pusti posledice na arheoloških najdiščih. A na tem mestu ne mislim na arheološka izkopavanja v okviru tako imenovane reševalne arheologije. To so izkopavanja in arheološke raziskave, ki jih opravljamo zaradi ponavadi gradbenih posegov na območju arheoloških najdišč.

Gre za primere, ko se pusti arheološko najdišče po zaključku arheoloških raziskav v »razsulu« in zanemarjeno. Tukaj bom podal primer, v kakšnem stanju je gradišče Ajdovščina po končanih arheoloških raziskavah v 80tih in 90tih s strani Oddelka za arheologijo Filozofske fakultete v Ljubljani.
Stanje me je že pred leti prav osuplo in razočaralo. Ko sem letos obiskal Ajdovščino sem se odločil, da zaradi nespremenjenega stanja napišem nekaj na blog. Kar sledi so fotografije degradiranih in zanemarjenih območji, ki so jih pustile arheološke raziskave.

Količki, ki so označevali mrežo za geofizikalne meritve. Ker so leseni ne predstavljajo takšnega okoljskega problema, kot to, da barvno sekajo iz okolice in človek ne ve ali bodo kaj gradili gor.
Sonda glavnega nasipa. Ker je ostala nezasuta oziroma stranice niso bile ustrezno utrjene prihaja do posuvanja nasipa in postopnega uničevanja. Sonda tudi degradira celoten pogled na mogočno ruševino glavnega obzidja v okolici vrat.

Sonda narejena skozi nasip - dobro vidno posipanje z obeh strani.
Deponija - ostanek izkopa sonde za obzidje. ker ni bilo izvedeno ponovno zasutje sonde, se je deponija zlila skupaj z ruševino obzidja.
Kovinska hiška, ki sameva na vrhu Ajdovščine. Potreben odvoz, ker kazi okolico, notri se nabirajo smeti.
Nedokončano zasutje temeljev izkopane zgradbe na vrhu Ajdovščine. Na izkopnem polju je raztrgana PVC  folija, ven gledajo deli temelja in razpadajo. Zaraščeno z robido in plevelom.
PVC folija od pokritih temeljev razpada in onesnažuje okolico,
PVC folija raztrošena po okolici izkopa.
PVC folija raztrošena po okolici izkopa.

Neurejena deponija na vrhu Ajdovščine ob izkopnem polju.

PVC folija raztresena daleč stran od izkopnega polja na vrhu Ajdovščine.
Takšna podoba arheološkega najdišča po t.i. "raziskovalnih" izkopavanjih je nedopustna. Podobna je okolica najdišča Mala Triglavca pri Divači, predvsem naokoli ležeča plastika in PVC folija. Pozivam oddelek za arheologijo, da se aktivira in počisti za seboj.

Meni osebno takšen odnos do najdišč kaže na to, da za nekatere ostajajo arheološka najdišča samo nosilec informacij, katerega se izkoplje in potem "znanstveno" raziskuje.

Arheološka najdišča so živi ostanki in pričevalci življenja prednikov, ki so stalno prisotni v pokrajini. Vsak arheolog bi moral poskrbeti in spoštovati okolje, kjer se le ta nahajajo. 
Ali se pa mora videti da ARHEOLOGI SO BILI TU IN JIH BOLI K ZA OKOLJE...

sreda, 3. avgust 2016

#FridayLiDAR

In the beginning of my Twitter activity not so long ago, @MarkusZevnik suggested me a hashtag #FridayLiDAR when I started to post every Friday a LiDAR visualizations of interesting archaeological sites and landscapes.
Hillfort Žuškovka - #FridayLidar of 07.08.2016
Since in March 2016 I have managed to post quite a collection of a very interesting archaeological sites and landscapes. In this blog post I decided that i will make a list every now and then of all published #FridayLiDAR tweets. 

Why LiDAR every week? 

In Slovenia, we have publicly available data LiDAR recording for the total area of ​​the country. This allows us a view of the shape of the surface, even where there is a forest ... and in Slovenia we have over 60% of land covered with forest.

LiDAR imagery reveal many new and unknown archeological sites. From better visible already known archaeological traces and sites to completely newly discovered and almost completely preserved archaeological landscapes and sites.

With LiDAR we have possibility to display in very easy and attractive way shape of landscapes and archaeological sites to the general public.

 I also publish a LiDAR imagery of archaeological sites from other countries. Thus, in addition to Slovenia also from the UK, Finland and Italy. I have in plan few other countries...expect some surprise.

03/18/2016 - LiDAR imagery of an prehistoric hillfort Cvinger near Vir pri Stični/Slovenia. 

04/01/2016 - LiDAR imagery of prehistoric and late Roman hillfort Ajdovščina in Brkini/Slovenia. 

08/04/2016 - LiDAR imagery of iron age hillfort Ivigton Camp in Herefordshire/UK.

 04/15/2016 - LiDAR imagery of prehistoric and late Roman hillfort and the medieval castle Šilentabor near Pivka/Slovenia.


Šilentabor #FridayLiDAR of 15.04.2016
04/22/2016 - LiDAR imagery of an hillfort V Lazu and in the surroundings pre-medieval field boundaries/Slovenia. 

04/29/2016 - LiDAR imagery of pre-medieval field boundaries and possible plain settlement near village Vrhpolje-Kozina/Slovenia. 

06/05/2016 - LiDAR imagery of pre-medieval field boundaries and possible plain settlement near village of ​​Škocjan - Divača/Slovenia. 

05/13/2016 -LiDAR imagery of an prehistoric hillfort in the village of Gradina Kosovelje in Karst/Slovenia.

 05/20/2016 - LiDAR imagery of an prehistoric hillfort in the village of Birth Zagradec in Karst/Slovenia. 

05/27/2016 - LiDAR recording of one the best preserved prehistoric hill forts in the Karst, Vahta in the village of Kazlje/Slovenia. 

06/10/2016 - LiDAR imagery of an prehistoric hillfort Tabor near Vrabče and surrounding pre-medieval field boundaries/Slovenia.

 06/17/2016 -  LiDAR imagery of an prehistoric hillfort Debela Griža pri Kozini/Slovenia. 

06/24/2016 - LiDAR imagery of two prehistoric hillforts above Newcastle-on-Clun in Shropshire / United Kingdom.

Two prehistoric hill forts above Newcastle-on-Clun #FridayLiDAR of 06.24.2016
07/01/2016 - LiDAR imagery of an prehistoric hillfort Rapola/Finland. 

08/07/2016 - LiDAR imagery of an prehistoric hillfort Žuškovka near village Laže-Senožeče/Slovenia.

07/15/2016 -
LiDAR imagery of the early Roman military camp near Gročana/Italy. 

07/22/2016 - LiDAR imagery of the wider surroundings of Newcastle-on-Clun in Shropshire. Transcription of prehistoric hillforts, burial mounds and the early medieval dikes/Great Britain. 

07/29/2016 - LiDAR imagenry and transcription of archaeological traces pre-medieval field boundaries plain settlement in near village Naklo near Divača/Slovenia.

torek, 2. avgust 2016

#FridayLiDAR

V mojih Twitter začetkih ne tako dolgo nazaj, mi je predlagal hashtag #FridayLiDAR @MarkusZevnik, ko sem si zadal da vsak petek objavim en LiDAR posnetek zanimivega arheološkega najdišča. 
Gradišče Žuškovka - #FridayLidar dne 08/07/2016
Ker se je tega že kar nekaj nabralo in so med njimi zelo zanimiva najdišča in pokrajine, sem se odločil, da bom tukaj na blogu vsake toliko časa naredil seznam vseh objavljenih tvitov.

Zakaj ravno LiDAR vsak teden?

V Sloveniji imamo javno dostopne podatke LiDAR snemanja celotne površine države. PRedvsem nam omogoča oddaljen pogled na obliko površja, tudi tam kjer je gozd...in v Sloveniji ga je veliko. 

LiDAR posnetki nam odkrivajo veliko novega, še neznanega. Od boljše vidnih že znanih arheoloških sledov in najdišč, večjega obsega že znanih arheoloških najdiš, do novoodkritih skoraj v celoti ohranjenih arheoloških pokrajin.

Z LiDAR posnetki najlažje in tudi najbolj atraktivno prikažemo oblikovanost pokrajine in arheološka najdišča znotraj pokrajine.

Objavljam tudi LiDAR posnetke arheoloških najdišč iz drugih držav. Tako poleg Slovenije še iz UK, Finske in Italije. Imam v načrtu še druge...presenečenje :D






Šilentabor #FridayLiDAR dne 15/04/2016










Dve prazgodovinski gradišči nad Newcastle-on-Clun #FridayLiDAR dne 24/06/2016