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AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRON CURTAIN
sure there is no ambiguity of where one country’s territory ends and another
begins. As the border areas in the study area, especially on the Yugoslavian
side, were restricted areas for most people, it was mostly the border guards
that would see the border stones. In some places, such as on ridge of Mount
Sabotino/Sabotin where space was limited on either side of the border, the
stones could guide the guards, making sure they did not step over the border.
In areas that were not restricted they helped people to make sure not to cross
the border by mistake.
Figure 33: Border stones along the ridge of Mount Sabotino/Sabotin. Photo: Anna McWilliams 2008.
When the border was first established it was marked by barbed wire which
was kept until 1955 when the border became more permanent. It was later
replaced by metal mesh fencing between the towns of Gorizia and Nova
Gorica. In some places the border followed already existing walls of houses or
land boundaries. These were occasionally reinforced by metal or barbed
wiring where the border was considered weak, such as near the Rafut/
Pristava crossing where remains of wire fencing on top of an approximately
1.5 m stone wall are still visible. There is also metal fencing topped with, now
decaying with rust, barbed wire along the border between the Rafut/Pristava
and the San Gabrielle/Erjavčeva ulica crossing (Figure 35). The barbed wire
still continued to be used as a border marker in more rural areas.
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