LAND OF THE GIANTS?
The coast of ancient Croatia must have been inhabited by giants…and one of them left a thumbprint.
▼Photo Source: amusingplanet.com/2017/croatian-island
LAND OF THE GIANTS?
The coast of ancient Croatia must have been inhabited by giants…and one of them left a thumbprint.
▼Photo Source: amusingplanet.com/2017/croatian-island
▲Photo Source: total-croatia-news.com/fingerprint-island
From the air, the thumbprint, a tiny island named Baljenac in the Adriatic Sea, really does resemble a fingerprint. Humans have discovered many things about our earth since the advent of space photography.
Undoubtedly, locals may have made the observation about the shape long ago, but pictures from above brought the novelty to the attention of the public in general.
RIDGES AND GROOVES
Part of the Sibenik Archipelago off the Dalmatian coast, this one-half square mile speck of dry land seems a strange place for someone to construct the ridges and grooves which create its visual similarity to the thumbprint. A closer look at the photo reveals the uninhabited islet is covered with 66 miles of low stone walls.
From the air, the thumbprint, a tiny island named Baljenac in the Adriatic Sea, really does resemble a fingerprint. Humans have discovered many things about our earth since the advent of space photography.
Undoubtedly, locals may have made the observation about the shape long ago, but pictures from above brought the novelty to the attention of the public in general.
RIDGES AND GROOVES
Part of the Sibenik Archipelago off the Dalmatian coast, this one-half square mile speck of dry land seems a strange place for someone to construct the ridges and grooves which create its visual similarity to the thumbprint. A closer look at the photo reveals the uninhabited islet is covered with 66 miles of low stone walls.
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Credit for Photos: sibenski.slobodnadalmacija.hr
Source of Photos: amusingplanet.com/2017/croatian-island
Source of Photos: amusingplanet.com/2017/croatian-island
Many of the walls were built centuries ago by residents of the nearby island of Kaprije, who have been exploiting the area since ancient times and continue to do so. Kaprije, currently inhabited by only 150 people, and other islands in the archipelago also contain similar walls, but at a much lower density. The barriers defined ownership boundaries among three hundred farmers of agricultural plots of land, and for protection from the wind.
Since the coastal soil is very rocky, local material was abundant and the rocks removed from the land were utilized by the farmers for the dividers. The walls have no mortar holding the rocks together. As in other cultures, stone smiths selected rocks to fit together like pieces of a puzzle and piled them one on top of the other, together forming a grid of sorts of ridges and grooves.
AGE
Some of the walls were built as late as the 19th century, but they were probably erected at various times over the past several centuries. Several islands in the archipelago served as a refuge for Christians during the Ottoman conquest in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so it is possible that the walls began to rise at that time.
Croatia recently requested its inclusion in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites. I don't know if this island will make it onto the UNESCO list, but it's not particularly good for your bucket list unless you are flying very low over the Adriatic.
Just Sayin'
□
Sources:
https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/28319-croatia-s-fingerprint-island-gets-spring-makeover-and-some-international-attention
https://labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/09/the-tiny-croatian-island-that-has-more-than-23-kilometers-of-walls-and-looks-like-a-fingerprint-from-above-the-air/
https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/hr
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/03/this-croatian-island-looks-like-giant.html
https://interestingengineering.com/croatian-island-looks-like-massive-fingerprint
Since the coastal soil is very rocky, local material was abundant and the rocks removed from the land were utilized by the farmers for the dividers. The walls have no mortar holding the rocks together. As in other cultures, stone smiths selected rocks to fit together like pieces of a puzzle and piled them one on top of the other, together forming a grid of sorts of ridges and grooves.
AGE
Some of the walls were built as late as the 19th century, but they were probably erected at various times over the past several centuries. Several islands in the archipelago served as a refuge for Christians during the Ottoman conquest in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so it is possible that the walls began to rise at that time.
Croatia recently requested its inclusion in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites. I don't know if this island will make it onto the UNESCO list, but it's not particularly good for your bucket list unless you are flying very low over the Adriatic.
Just Sayin'
□
Sources:
https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/28319-croatia-s-fingerprint-island-gets-spring-makeover-and-some-international-attention
https://labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/09/the-tiny-croatian-island-that-has-more-than-23-kilometers-of-walls-and-looks-like-a-fingerprint-from-above-the-air/
https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/hr
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/03/this-croatian-island-looks-like-giant.html
https://interestingengineering.com/croatian-island-looks-like-massive-fingerprint
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