Unica River Revisited

So, in late February we visited Planina karst field and river Unica running through it - and we saw something strange in the bed of the river. Could this be something, we were asking ourselves, maybe an ancient boat?

What is that?

Luckily, we weren't asking just ourselves, but some professionals too. They were interested, so we went back there with Mija and Mitja from Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia and Rene from Skupina Stik, an archaeology and heritage research group.

First we let an archeologist loose in the muddy and overgrown river:

No swimming, archaeologists in water!

His eyes did not see anything, and his feet neither. So we unleashed the specialized aerial archaeology inspection and research tool - a Rokkaku kite.

This is the view of the site from above:

Thick overgrowth impeded the views even from above. But ...

Those lines we saw back in February are just vegetation growing in a strange, regular, orthogonal lines.

So, no ancient wooden boat there - probably. The final verdict is still not out, and more research is needed. But new theories abound already: maybe the vegetation is gorwing over some old foundation, a dam, a fishery, an old bridge. Who knows! :-)

And ... of course we found some strange circles in the grass again! ;-)

Here is a kite aerial video of the flight:

All kite aerial photos and video shot with iPhone SE on a Rokkaku kite.

Mija, Mitja and Rene - big thanks again!