Surveying and LiDAR scanning of fortification on Goriška Gradina site near Šibenik

The village of Goriš is located in the hinterland of Šibenik, about 15 kilometres to the northeast, on the border of the former medieval Šibenik district. In the midst of conflict with the magnates of the Croatian noble Nelipić family, the communal government of Šibenik (then under Venetian protection) built a fort in Goriš in the mid-14th century. The fort was allegedly mentioned for the last time during the Ottoman conquests two centuries later. The modest remains of this fort were detected in early months of 2020 on a steep, difficult-to-access hill overgrown with rough maquis vegetation. The hill is located about 1km east of the village, on a top of a peninsula overlooking the valley of a nearby Čikola river. The first field survey suggested that the newfound fragments are the remains of a fortified watchtower. The location was then documented with a LiDAR scanner in late 2022, with the results showing a number of previously undetected structures. A new, more detailed field survey showed that the commune of Šibenik constructed a respectable fort which occupied more than 300 square metres. It is one of the first cases of a Dalmatian commune planning and building a fortification to protect its own territory, which would become more common throughout the second half of the 15th century.