Forms of prehistoric field division in the Karst

Abstract

Traces of prehistoric land use and field division in the Karst were identified using airborne laser scanning imaging. They mostly include cairns and cairnfields, stock management structures such as funnels, pens, corrals and remnants of enclosed paths. We also identified the remains of regular field systems. The traces testify to an intensively shaped landscape that most likely dates to the Bronze Age. The next major transformation, which shaped the modern and present-day landscape, has taken place only in the last millennium and shows no continuity with the previous one.