Transhumance between Mountain and Coastal Landscapes

This course examines transhumance as a long-term form of seasonal pastoralism connecting the mountain and coastal landscapes of southern Velebit. The course adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating perspectives from archaeology, cultural anthropology and ethnology, geography, and agronomy to explore the complex relationships between people, livestock, and landscape.

Through archaeological evidence, the course investigates the material traces of transhumant practices, such as pastoral settlements, dry-stone structures, pathways, and landscape modifications, emphasising continuity and change from prehistory to the present. Anthropological and ethnological perspectives focus on traditional knowledge, social organisation, and cultural meanings associated with seasonal mobility and pastoral life. Geographical analysis addresses spatial organisation, routes, environmental conditions, and the role of mountain and coastal zones within transhumant systems. Agronomic perspectives contribute an understanding of grazing systems, pasture management, livestock practices, and the ecological impacts of seasonal grazing.

A significant component of the course is research-based learning grounded in the analysis of existing datasets, maps, archival sources, archaeological documentation, and ethnographic and historical records. Students will collaboratively examine documented transhumant routes, pastoral sites, and grazing areas using GIS tools, remote sensing data, historical cartography, and published archaeological and ethnological sources. By integrating methods and perspectives from multiple disciplines, students will critically assess patterns of seasonal mobility and landscape use without extensive fieldwork (unless this can be made feasible). The results of this research will be used, among other purposes, to support the reinterpretation of existing hiking trails, highlighting their historical role as pastoral routes and corridors of seasonal movement. In this way, the course aims to provide new perspectives for hikers, visitors, and local communities, encouraging a deeper understanding of Velebit as a lived-in cultural landscape shaped by long-term human–environment interactions.

By combining historical, cultural, spatial, and ecological approaches, the course demonstrates the contemporary relevance of transhumance for heritage interpretation, landscape management, and sustainable land-use practices.

General learning outcomes

• Explain transhumance as a long-term form of seasonal pastoralism and its role in shaping mountain and coastal cultural landscapes.
• Identify and interpret material, cultural, spatial, and ecological evidence related to transhumant practices using archaeological, anthropological, geographical, and agronomic perspectives.
• Analyse human–environment interactions within transhumant systems, with particular attention to pasture use, seasonal mobility, and landscape sustainability.
• Apply basic interdisciplinary field methods to document transhumant routes, pastoral sites, and grazing landscapes.
• Integrate data and approaches from multiple disciplines in collaborative and team-based research.
• Critically assess the relevance of traditional pastoral practices for contemporary issues such as cultural heritage management, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable rural development.
• Communicate research findings clearly in written and oral formats, using appropriate academic terminology across disciplines.