Ljubljana, Slovenia—Phys.org Four large, chimney-like hunting traps made of stone walls leading to an enclosed pit have reportedly been discovered on a karst plateau, located on the border of Slovenia and Italy. The megastructures were observed by airborne laser-scanning surveys conducted by Dimitrij Maliko ž Verhovnik of the University of Ljubljana and Tomaj Fabić of the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia. The researchers note that the structures were built into the landscape to take advantage of cliffs and other natural formations. The walls, made of stacked limestone blocks, are about 550 yards to two miles long, and measure between three and five feet wide. Estimates suggest that the walls once stood three feet tall. The construction of the largest of the four traps likely required more than 5,000 hours of labor, reflecting prehistoric hunter-gatherers’ knowledge of the landscape and movement of wild animals, and their ability to coordinate communal labor to complete a large-scale project. To read about similar hunting structures in the Baltic, visit “Walls of Reindeer Hunters”.
Published after post-prehistoric hunting traps found in Europe.
