Gutenwerd was a medieval market town situated on the Freising estate of Dolenjska. Formerly also known as »Otok« today it is known as »Otok pri Dobravi«. Its primary formation is unknown although it is presumed it was populated in the 11th century or earlier. It is first mentioned in the year 1251 as a forum or market town. The settlement reached its peak in the 14th century after which its role in the region was gradually replaced by the newly formed Rudolfswerd, modern »Novo mesto«. The settlement was abandoned in the 15th century due to its general decline in importance and due to numerous raids by the Hungarians and Turks. The market town was finally abandoned after it burned down during the last Turkish raid in the year 1473. Gutenwerd or »Otok« is a well-known archaeological site where excavations and probing's were conducted between 1967 and 1984 as well as archeological field surveys in 2021 by the University of Ljubljana, department of archaeology. The site was partially surveyed using geophysics namely with georadaring and magnetometry as part of the framework of this thesis paper. We compared the obtain results with previously obtained data from other sources (probes, excavations, surface surveys, written and pictorial sources) to form a better view of the composition of the core of the market town and its hinterland and formed an initiative for further research of this kind to take place on the site of Gutenwerd and other such settlement sites.
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