"Geoarchaeological mapping of the Isonzo Karst (NE Italy): integration of remote sensing, fieldwork and laboratory analyses"

Isonzo Karst is located in northeastern Italy, to the east of Isonzo River between the cities of Gorizia and Trieste. Eleven prehistoric hillforts and several archaeological caves, were already discovered in the 20th century. This thesis aims to use multi-disciplinary approaches to discover new archaeological sites in the Isonzo Karst. The first section uses LiDAR, satellite images, historical maps, field surveys, and the software QGIS to map out archaeological traces in the Isonzo Karst. We discovered for the first time a Quadriburgium-type Late Roman Camp, two 17th century Venetian Military Forts related to the Gradisca War, and dry stone walls from past agro-pastoral activities. The second section maps out and quantifies the distribution of quarries, cultivated sinkholes, and 19-20th century water infrastructures based on soil types, lithology types, slopes, and elevation data. The third section characterizes mortars sampled at the newly discovered Late Roman Camp, using XRD, Optical Microscopy, and SEM. The mortars are lime-based pozzolanic mortars, with brick fragments and sands as aggregates. They also do not contain Portland Cement phases, which rules out the possibility of them being of modern contemporary origins.