Remains of the Neglected Past. Ottoman Forts on Planinica Hill, Montenegro

• Authors: Urszula Bugaj , Predrag Lutovac , Maciej Trzeciecki , Miron Bogacki , Małgorzata Chwiej , Mario Novak , Zbigniew Polak
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Planinica — a hill situated on the edge of a vast mountain range delimited to the south-east by the Zeta Plain. It is a part of historical region known as Malesija inhabited mainly by the Albanians. During the field research on Planinica in 2012–2013 a group of stone structures was documented. It consists of circular stone tower surrounded by quadrilateral wall, several small enclosures of trapezoid or pentagonal plan and a network of roads leading to the top of the hill. The arrangement of the buildings indicates that the most likely function was military. They can be described as an observatory tower surrounded by small auxiliary forts. The complex of stone structures on Planinica was most probably built by the Turks after 1878 as a part of system of fortifications guarding newly established Turkish-Montenegrin border. The border survived until the Balkan War in 1912. After that Planinica was no longer been a point of military interest and the forts on its top have undergone progressive destruction. The stone structures on Planinica are not mentioned either in archaeological or historical publications in Montenegro, except the watchtower, which is interpreted as a prehistoric burial mound destroyed by the Turks. The buildings on Planinica hill remain “in the shadow” of the prehistoric stone tumuli, which represent a positively valorised, very distant past.

Keywords

EN

Montenegro; fortifications; watchtower; stone architecture; 3D modelling; orthophotogaphy; Ottoman Empire; borderland studies; Balkan Wars

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Sprawozdania Archeologiczne
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 66
• Pages: 385–398

Dates

published

2014

Contributors

author

Urszula Bugaj

• Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Solidarności 105, 00-140 Warsaw, Poland

author

Predrag Lutovac

• Polimski Museum in Berane, Montenegro

author

Maciej Trzeciecki

• Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Solidarności 105, 00-140 Warsaw, Poland

author

Miron Bogacki

• Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland

author

Małgorzata Chwiej

• School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

author

Mario Novak

• School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

author

Zbigniew Polak

• Historical Museum of the Capital City of Warsaw, Poland