Novensia: Studia i Materiały (24.2013)

Tomasz Kowal

CHANGES IN A LANDSCAPE:
A CASE STUDY OF THREE POSTCARDS FROM RISAN*

Abstract: Recent years have brought an expansion of the source base for the study of the landscape and topo-
graphy of Risan. Sources such as postcards, seldom used so far, should be noted. They give the opportunity
to reconstruct the natural environment and geography of the area, as it was before significant changes oc-
curred in it due to human interference. In many cases postcards are the only iconographic testimony of urban
transformation occurring at the turn of the century and are used today to reconstruct what has disappeared.
Three postcards that most accurately showed landscape transformation in the Carine area in the late nine-
teenth and early twentieth centuries were selected for analysis. An experiment with superimposition of
images was conducted in 2012, involving a comparative analysis of co-occurring objects. This experiment
gave surprisingly interesting results. For archaeologists conducting research in Risan, these findings are of
great importance, since they provide insight into the natural environment and help to determine which areas
have changed and to what extent. This in turn makes it easier to understand the problem of the disturbance
of archaeological stratigraphy, which is so typical of this site.
Key words: Rhizon/Risinium, postcards, “Ponte rotto di Pietra”, Carine, Gradina

Over the last few years intensive works on the site of Risan (Gr. Rhizon, Lat. Risinium), Monte-
negro, have included: regular excavations,1 geophysical and geomagnetic surveys,2 underwater
survey,3 source and library queries, radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis,4 as well as Geographic
Information System tools irreplaceable at any modem archaeological site.5 In a way that is difficult
to overestimate, as these diverse techniques have significantly contributed to the process of
decryption of the history of this place.
Disturbed stratigraphy of uncovered occupational layers in Risan has prompted the author’s
search for new sources, a task not easy on a scientifically depleted site such as this. Library queries,
as well as information collected from the local community have given an awareness of modern al-
terations in the said area, but the knowledge is incomplete and fragmentary. Recent years have seen
a growth of the source base for studies on the landscape and topography of Risan. Interesting results
have been noted from the use of old photographic documentation and iconography and in this context

* Scientific project of the National Science Centre, Poland,
no. 2011/03/B/HS3/00371.
1 Dyczek et alii 2004, pp. 101-118. pls. XX1V-XXVII;
Dyczek em/zz, 2007, pp. 121-139, pls. X1X-XX; Dyczek
et alii 2010 (in print).
2 For more information about the geophysical survey con-
ducted in Risan in 2008, see Herbich 2009, pp. 95-108;

for more information about the geomagnetic research con-
ducted in 2011. see Rummel 2013 (in this volume).
3 Karpiński 2010, pp. 135-163.
4 For more information on DNA analysis, see Stankovic
e/a/z’z 2005, pp. 111-117.
5 Perlińska 2013 (in this volume).