Starodavne poti pod Karavankami
Publisher: MEDIUM d.o.o. Zabreznica and author
Published: 2004
Description: SUMMARY
The second book of the author »Antique ways under the Karavanke mountains« is continued under the same theoretical conditions, models and tools, followed by the present time fast computerisation development, as the first book »Medieval roads and ironworking in the Visoka Gorenjska region«.
The water circumstances, ways and roads (those characteristics, the influences of economic activities, corridors connecting the activities and locations of ways) are analysed.
The development of the ways and these characteristics, connected with the specific ground and orientation in the space and the possibilities of building of networks and influence of the quality on the transportation, is analysed.
The first settlements on the slopes of Karavanke mountains above the forest limit, were detected that they exist already in the bronze age, but the permanent settlement in the foot of the mountains in the iron age (Hallstadt period). In the Iron Age the life is prolonged, the gathering of cooper ores is changed by the iron ores and afterwards also the smelting operations were introduced. The settlements (villages) were placed on the slopes of the foothills, where the mountains were used for the pasture and ironworking activities and the before placed plain land for the agriculture. 
Afterwards (in the 6th century B.C.) also the settlements in the middle of the valley appear. The transition into the antique times is not defined because of the insufficiency of the remains, much better is defined the roman period.
In this time two kinds of settlement can be established, the village settlement (vicus) and the individual homes (ville rustice) with a greater house and some outbuildings with protective walls, induced by the roman influences. These two types remain also during the whole Middle ages as individual colonization in courts and group colonization in villages.
New settlers have built its own villages, to minimize the contacts to the old inhabitants and so to minimize the conflicts between the old and new human customs, religions, languages, civilisation differences, working methods, etc.
New settlements were placed into the environment, where already the older ways (tours) exist. They change sometimes the locations of this ways, but mostly the new local network is connected on the older ways. 
The new settlements have had usually the common arrangement as a village and not as the arrangement into courts.
The Christianity appears in the 4th century in the new settlements, but in the old the old religion has probably never fully vanished.
After the migration of people, started in the 5th century, only the ecclesiastic organization has vanished (in the 7th cent.) and a part of Christianized population has left its homes and migrated to the Adriatic coast region. Afterwards the new incomers and a great part of the old settlers, have kept its old religion.
Living in the same region the old and new population after some centuries has smelted to a common population conglomerate, making possible to raise in the 10th century repeatedly the ecclesiastic organization out from Aquileia under the influence of feudal lords. So the new (pre)parishes have been founded, led from Aquilea and Cividale. 
The settlements have built new economic areas which have been bound with ways, making possible the transportation to the homes and to bind the settlements between themselves and with the churches. For the communication with the other world (market places) usually the existing older way were used. The old ways have promoted the settlement on a specific location, where the life factors were given.
The ways have been adjusted to the specific transportation manner. The first settlers have used the best specific conditions on the best locations; afterwards always more worse conditions were also used.
The largeness of a village is adapted to the productivity of the fields, the used agricultural methods, of this distance from the village and the specific transportation manner. So in the beginning only 5 to 6 houses (= domes = »hubs«) could form a village, based on portage transportation operations. But with the implementation of pull/push operations in contrary of the portage, where greater loads and greater objects could be transported and smaller times and energy were consumed, the new conditions for a growth of the settlement were given, so some villages could be doubled by the implementation of small cars and sledges. That can be determined as well for the human as for the animal transportation (human and animal (horses, asses, mules, dogs, …) backs –backpacking, animal packing).
Already in the Bronze Age the regions in Europe were bound into networks making possible the interchange of goods. The mining was developed especially in the mountains, the agriculture in the planes. The mining was placed high on the mountains, where the acquisition of food is impossible.
The mining and the animal breeding needs the same territories and can be lighter combined as the agricultural and mining. All the activities are connected to a whole transportation system.
So the society has specialized already in the Bronze Age. Already in the Bronze Age it was possible to make steps into the stone and make ways through gorges which can sometime exist on the old ways from the north to south still nowadays.
For the ways, leading through the corridors from east to west, we can determine that they were mostly founded in the antiquity.
The ways were made in each time in an other manner and on specific ground specific building methods were used.
In the Middle age in the Visoka Gorenjska region the feudal colonization was implemented as we can determine on the knowledge transfer in the ironworking.
The following step in the development of the villages became in the middle of the 14th cent. When great natural catastrophes appear (earthquake 1348, »Venetian« plague 1348-49, etc.) and when 1/3 to ½ of the population died and the beginning of climate change appear (lower temperatures). The rarefied population has developed a new style of life (portage to pull/push, handling of two farms, intensifying of cottage trade, furrier's trade, furrier's trade, cooperage, etc. using the domestic raw material base – objects made from wood, flax, etc. All this activities have needed new farm buildings as drying houses for fruits and flax, granaries, barns, etc. 
In the ironworking the production process was prolonged to new human intensive operations, especially in the hammering of nails and other iron products, what led to the growth of metalworking settlements? 
The consequences of these activities are the products made for the market. So the transportation between the production places in the region and the trade places on the Adriatic coast was stimulated.
All this activities led to better life conditions and to the development on a higher step. This period ends in the middle of 15th century, when the Habsburgs became the country lords and when the Turkish attacks began.
Significant for the following period is on the first hand the fast development of ironworking, introduced by the foreign (Bergamo) smiths, supported by Habsburgs, which needed money for the war with Turks and on the second hand in the extortion of the farmers (peasant risings). But in the end of the 16th century the ironworking came into the crisis and many of the work smith’s workshops were closed. In this time the raw materials were excessively exploited, the forests have vanished, and have been renewed not earlier than in the 20th century.
The main conclusion of this development is that the ironworking has not changed to an other activity when the raw materials (ore, woods) were exhausted and still prolonged its work on the base of foreign raw material, till they were needed to die. All possibilities to make the transition were exhausted, instead to use them for the transformation into an other activity, when the appropriate occasion was given.
Author, 10.02.2010.  Appendix to the second, online addition.