ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information from initial investigations of the Austro-Hungarian positions at Staviska peak. It examines the possibilities and potential of applying archaeological methods to investigating modern war in a mountain environment. The fiercest clashes between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian armies during the entire war occurred in the Carpathians during early 1915, on what is today Polish, Slovak, and Ukrainian territory. The archaeological survey of Austro-Hungarian fortifications on the top of Staviska near Stebnik was conducted as one of the first investigations in the Czecho-Slovak area. It demonstrated the potential of applying non-destructive and slightly-destructive methods to the battlefields of the First World War in the mountain terrain of Eastern Slovakia, and gives new information on the appearance of trench lines on the Eastern Front during the first year of the war. Investigations at the site were carried out mainly by non-destructive techniques, apart from some unavoidable minor damage to the Austro-Hungarian positions.
