Examining Transhumant Pastoralismin Western Herzegovina through an Integrative Archaeology

Apstrakt

Although the mountainous countryside of the Western Balkans is today only used occasionally for grazing, it has formed an integral part of pastoral landscapes since prehistoric times. The challenge, however, is how to recognise the presence of transhumance in such areas through archaeology. This article presents the integrative archaeological transdisciplinary research of a historical mountain pastoral station – a katun – on the Crvanj and Morine mountains above Nevesinje in Herzegovina. A group of remote sensing and spatial experts, prehistoric and medieval archaeologists, geoarchaeologists and soil scientists, each bringing their own unique
perspective to the study, focused on two summer pastoral camps, locally named the Busovača and Tarasovača katuns, to understand the remarkable long-established occupation of these highlands.