Application of LiDAR technology in analyses of the topography of Margum/Morava and Kulič

Vujadin, Ivanišević, Ivan, Bugarski

Starinar

62

239

255

http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/Article.aspx?ID=0350-02411262239I

2012-2020/03/02/00:11:54

Roman Margum and Mediaeval town of Morava, situated on the Orašje site in Dubravica at the confluence of the Velika Morava and the Danube, could not have been analysed more thoroughly in the past because of the damage caused by the river bed displacements and soil erosion on the one hand, and dense vegetation growing on such a moist terrain on the other. Archaeological research has so far failed to produce even a site plan. Available data on this important site are contradictory to a considerable extent, so the information one could obtain from the written and cartographic sources needed to be confronted with the archaeological ones and, especially, those derived from the recent LiDAR scanning of the terrain, conducted within the scope of the Archaeo-Landscapes Europe Project. Among the most important plans of the confluence area are those left by Marsigli in the 18th and Kanitz in the 19th century. Felix Kanitz, the famous Balkan traveler, also provided us with a textual description of his visit to the site in 1887. Our analyses of the two plans have revealed a number of inaccuracies. Through analyses of the obtaineded LiDAR scans, however, the preserved area of the two settlements has been clearly demarcated, measuring 7-8 hectares, and the eastern edge of the Roman agglomeration - presumed already in the course of the 2011 excavations - was confirmed. Most probably it was the eastern rampart of the Roman fortification. Apart from this, the purpose of a canal stretching along the whole plateau, and mentioned by Kanitz, has been established. Given that to the east of the canal there was the presumably Roman rampart, and to the west of it there were recently excavated ruins of Roman buildings, the canal itself must have been of a more recent date. Bearing in mind the established vertical stratigraphy of the site, we conclude that it was in fact a Mediaeval defence trench. The topography of the nearby fort Kulič has been studied as well. It is often believed that this fortification was originally built in Roman times, but the analyses of DTM have shown the fort erected on an embankment, round in shape, i.e. on the more elevated terrain in comparsion to the largest part of the confluence area, where most of Roman Margum and Mediaeval Morava has been wiped out by water. So the Kulič fortification could have been originally erected only afterwords, i.e. in Turkish times. There are some data from the written sources to corroborate such a date, and we also know of two later accounts describing the 17th century settlement in front of it. There has been no field confirmation so far, but thanks to the results of LiDAR scanning one may observe the traces of a small settlement south of the fortification, protected by a trench. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177021: ArchaeoLandscapes Europe i Procesi urbanizacije i razvoja srednjovekovnog društva]

cartographic sources, Confluence of the Velika Morava and the Danube, Kulič, LiDAR, Mediaeval town of Morava