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Unveiling Past Settling and Land Use
of a Marginal Insular Landscape:

The Matalda Area Intensive Field Survey 2025
on the Cres Island
November
Tena Karavidović, Ana Konestra in Matija Makarun
Invited Lecture

4–5
Abstract In 2024, the area of Matalda, located on the karst landscape in
the southern part of Cres Island, was investigated using a multi-method Koper,
approach combining remote sensing and intensive field survey. Airborne
LiDAR-derived images, along with generated terrain models, informed the •
survey strategy and enabled the identification of a complex array of struc-
tures. Subsequent systematic surface surveys recorded the spatial distribu- Spotlight
tion of artefacts and documented in detail presumed subsurface and sur-
face structures. These were identified as funerary barrows, various functional
dry-stone wall constructions, and more complex architectural remains, often
bearing evidence of multiple phases of use or modification. This research led
to the identification of four periods of more intensive use of the area, broadly Scientific
corresponding to the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age, the Roman/Late Antique
period, the Late Middle Ages/Early Modern era, and the contemporary pe- the
riod. Traces of activity, inferred from the analysis of the spatial distribution of
in
finds and structures, indicate differing intensity, character, and localisation of
land use. The results allow the study of period-specific land-use patterns and Osor
diachronic, long-term changes in relation to the natural landscape, includ-
ing processes of archaeological degradation and the reuse of earlier features.
This contribution presents the complex pattern of land use spanning multi-
ple archaeological and historical periods, as a unique example of a cultural
landscape that evolved from prehistory to the present, in what has only re-
cently become a marginal zone within the insular landscape of Cres Island.
Keywords Cres Island, marginal landscape, systematic surface survey, Li-
DAR, GIS

© 2025 Author(s) 19