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Between the end of the Seventies and the beginning of the Eighties of the Twentieth century, following the discovery of numerous occasional findings, the village of San Basilio (Ariano nel Polesine, Rovigo, Italy) had been the object of a series of archaeological campaigns, which made it possible to identify a pre-Roman settlement and a Roman villa/mansio linked to the passage of the via Annia/via Popillia. In the past few years, the research has been resumed in that area, carrying out both archaeological and topographical activities, aimed at reconstructing the organisation of the ancient landscape. The aim of this contribution is twofold: on the one hand, the planned research activities are presented and, on the other, the opportunity can arise to discuss about the potentialities of digital approaches in mapping the archaeological landscapes of San Basilio.
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In the context of the joint archaeological project in Çuka e Ajtoit (Albania) by Sapienza University of Rome and the Albanian Institute for Archaeology, new archaeological field research is being conducted in the Southern fringes of the Albanian territory. The area of interest extends from the site of Butrint (UNESCO Heritage site) to the Albano-Greek border, and corresponds to ancient Cestrine, renowned in the literary sources for its pastoral resources and Trojan connections. The study integrates the freshly acquired information collected during the field campaigns, characterized by a high degree of technological innovation, with old research data poorly published up to present. This paper concerns the photogrammetric processing of historical aerial imagery acquired for mapping purposes by the Italian Military Geographical Institute (IGMI) in the 1930s, during the war context of the invasion of Albania by Fascist Italy. The process resulted in the creation of a DTM and an orthomosaic by using SfM algorithms and GNSS topographical surveys, representing the shape of the landscape of the late 1930s, i.e., before the realization of extensive land reclamation programs by the socialist regime that have determined the radical changes of the current landscape.
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RELOAD intends to re-evaluate the marginal areas of northern Tuscany to demonstrate their central role in the dynamics of management and perception of space between the Roman conquest and late antiquity. Considering that landscape archaeology, complemented by an anthropological perspective, allows a deep understanding of the linked dynamics of social and ecological systems, the project is expected to fill a gap of knowledge about ancient landscapes in northern Tuscany analyzing the case of Volterra to provide innovative interpretative models through a multidisciplinary methodological approach and a diachronic perspective. Integrating all available sources with new data collection, RELOAD approaches landscape complexity in a flexible way. Introducing for the first time in archaeology the concept of ‘antifragility’, RELOAD engages in the wider debate about adopting concepts and techniques from different fields for archaeological and historical reconstruction. The paper presents the project and preliminary data regarding the challenges and the potential benefits of applying agent-based model simulations to test the validity of approaching the past through the lens of ‘resilience’ or ‘antifragility’ leading to alternative reconstructions of the human-environmental interactions.
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The GISTArc project envisions the implementation of a webGIS environment for the management and visualization of geoarchaeological data from research included in the Archaeological Map of Northern Campania project, conceived and directed by Stefania Quilici Gigli. The creation of the new system began with the normalization of some completed research data. They were managed in a GIS environment and were subsequently imported into a Web geodatabase, with the preparation of layers containing all the textual, graphical/ photographical and spatial information of the catalogued archaeological evidence, together with the required bibliographical references. The GISTArc project has a threefold aim: make the results of archaeological research conducted in some sectors of northern Campania more usable; allow the researcher to consult, integrate and enter the data from future research, thanks to the connection to the system via the Internet and the possibility of recording data directly during the survey; and finally access via standard desktop applications, such as Quantum GIS and ArcGIS, rather than the internet-based GISTArc geodatabase, in order to use advanced data analysis and representation functions that may not be available online. This paper describes the technical and scientific approach to the creation of our webGIS. It focuses on the system architecture, operative environment, and development tools.
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The institutional goal of studying and mapping archaeological potential in SITAR in recent years has been to create an efficient tool to support urban planning and cultural heritage management: The Archaeological Potential Map of Rome. The Soprintendenza of Rome plays a key role in this effort, being responsible for the safeguarding and promotion of the city’s archaeological heritage. By developing a robust model of archaeological potential, the Soprintendenza can better anticipate and mitigate the impact of construction and development projects on archaeological sites. This proactive approach ensures that significant archaeological resources are identified and preserved before they are damaged or destroyed. The tool will facilitate informed decision-making in urban planning, helping to balance the needs of modern development with the preservation of historical sites. Moreover, it will support the regulatory framework that mandates archaeological assessments in high-potential areas, rationalisation of administrative processes and improving compliance with heritage protection regulations. Overall, the creation of an efficient archaeological potential model by the Soprintendenza of Rome underlines the commitment to preserving the city’s cultural heritage while accommodating its continuous urban evolution.
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The contribution draws on the experience gained within the Rome Transformed project on the Eastern Caelian hill, reserving a with more general attention to problems of method. The spatial dimensions of the project pose problems including – but at the same time going beyond – those normally addressed for the visualization of individual surveyed structures. Two points seem crucial: 1) the transparency of metadata and paradata; 2) the tension between too much or too little prescriptive models or ontologies. Visualizing a territory poses peculiar problems; we have several examples in the past, but normally the reconstruction of ancient orography on which to place surveyed structures is not explicitly thematized. The territory imposes a leap in scale in the size and management of the data; forms the palimpsest on which to arrange the views of the individual sectors or structures into which it is divided; defines the ‘conditions of existence’ of topographical and monumental articulation; must consider the effects that older phases impose on later ones. Visualization of a territory is not only a way to present to the scientific community and the wider public in a concise manner the results achieved. Such an approach poses the need to work in an environment in which it is possible to progressively incorporate evidence of a very heterogeneous nature such as archival data, geognostic surveys of different types, surveys using traditional techniques or 3D scanning, and core drilling. The organisation of such heterogeneous data within a single software becomes essential for their subsequent processing. It was therefore necessary to design an application able to manage in a single three-dimensional environment the data produced while maintaining the associated information (metadata and paradigms) in order to allow them to be compared and at the same time guaranteeing full interoperability with the GIS environments in which the modelling activity is carried out.
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Introduction to "Linking Pasts and Sharing Knowledge. Mapping Archaeological Heritage, Legacy Data Integration and Web Technologies for Modelling Historical Landscapes"
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The paper focuses on cooperation between GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums) and Wikimedia projects. Cultural institutions that share content, data and images of cultural heritage with free licence can make their collections accessible to a broad audience, while Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects benefit from these content as sources for the online encyclopedia. Wikimedia Italia, local chapter of the Wikimedia movement and of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, supports the partnerships with cultural institutions in different ways. The association organizes Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy, a photographic contest that invites citizens to document cultural heritage and represents an instrument to face the Italian legal restrictions on sharing images of cultural heritage. A funding program supports each year GLAMs and volunteers’ projects and a wide project, Empowering Italian GLAMs, aims at addressing all Italian museums and heritage institutions in using open tools and sharing their digital collections.
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Zotero2map is a web application for sharing bibliographic data from various collaborators who want to share their bibliographic collections, using the Zotero software with the specificity of displaying and querying data also on a geographical map. With this tool the LAD: Laboratory of Digital Archeology at Sapienza (http://purl.org/lad) aims to facilitate the exchange of information relating to different historical and archaeological contexts, to speed up their retrieval and ensure constant updating of the data entered into the system. The webApp allows you to view and search for bibliographic data within an online map, using keywords (tags) that define the contents that are archived within the Zotero Libraries, which individual researchers already use for own scientific production. By simply clicking on the map it will therefore be possible to go back to the titles of the contributions, giving the possibility to individual users/researchers to always be updated on the scientific debate and on the publications concerning a certain area. The international vocation of the project presented is given not only by usability and open distribution, but also by the development of the cross-language functionality of keywords, a system that will allow the association of terms related to the same research topic but treated in different languages. The use of shared, multilingual dictionaries will allow not only to break down language barriers, but also to define an articulated taxonomy of relationships between the terms used. Individual researchers therefore do not have to adapt to pre-established vocabularies, but are invited to align their taxonomy with the shared one, making use of simple but powerful ontologies, such as SKOS or FOAF. Currently the software has been used on the specific case of Caonia, Northern Epirus.
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ArCOA is a project aimed at the study, enhancement and communication of museum collections and historical archives on the ancient Near East in Italy. ArCOA was born from the collaboration between the University of Milan and the Institute of Heritage Science of the National Research Council, with a multidisciplinary working group of archaeologists, assyriologists, museum curators, cultural mediators and experts of technology applied to cultural heritage. The ArCOA team collaborates with several museums, public institutions and universities, including the Archaeological Museum of Como, the National Archaeological Museum of Florence, the Department of Historical Studies of the University of Turin and the Museum of Antiquities of the Royal Museums of Turin, for the diffusion of knowledge of the ancient cultures of the Near East. This paper shows the results obtained on photogrammetric scans of small terracotta head and its reprocessing through different programs, its morphological and geometric rendering. Even if today open source photogrammetric programs seem to be almost absent from academic researchs because non-commercial alternatives are not very competitive, much is moving instead in the freeware direction, with regulated conditions of use for universities and research centres, such as for example the latest version of Reality Capture or Metashape. Furthermore, the acquisition processes vary greatly in relation to the size of the object, which can force the operator to think in terms of micro-surveys.
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Actual 3D scanners based on the structured-light principle are opening to possibilities for creating detailed models (polygon populations) with micrometric resolutions. Consequently, highly detailed models allow specific investigations. This work focuses on 3D scanning and post-processing analysis/filtering of Ancient Near East finds, especially seals and cuneiform clay tablets, fragile artefacts that can hold a lot of semantic information beyond transliteration: e.g. seal impressions (figurative and textual sealings), fingerprint evidence, retracing and erased text. Behind the ease of use of portable structured-light scanners, hides the enormous potential for feature extraction and processing. Metric analysis (e.g. deviation analysis) coupled with the application of MSII (Multi-Scale Integral Invariant) filter enhance data extraction, changing the overall perception on details of the archaeological artefact.
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This study presents the preliminary results of a non-invasive analysis of bronze fragments from the site of Buttrio (Udine). The analysed sample belongs to a bronze situla dating to the second half of the 7 th century BC, currently preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Udine. These fragments are characterised by the presence of mineralised traces of textiles, which are relatively rare finds in this period but provide important information about the perishable materials, which represented one the most important and time-consuming economic activities of the past. The aim is to identify the fibres used in the production of the textiles, understand the manufacturing processes employed, and explore the nature of the archaeological context. The textile traces were analysed using standard analytical procedures to determine the main structural parameters, including weave type, thread
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This article aims to analyze the complex issue of 3D documentation of archaeological artifacts under different viewpoints: from potential technologies to current methodological limitations, in light of the obtained results. These results will be described based on direct experiences derived from specific archaeological projects, whose primary aim was indeed the creation of digital replicas of selected artifacts. Among the institutions involved in such projects are the MArTA (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto), the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, and the UMST (Unit. di Missione Strategica) of the Soprintendenza per i Beni e le Attività Culturali of the Autonomous Province of Trento (PAT).
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Public history and participatory history initiatives are rapidly gaining momentum as they aim to democratize the historical narrative, involving communities and individuals in shaping their own historical experiences. This paper introduces a novel approach to these accomplishments by harnessing the power of the Social Simulacra Model. The model offers an innovative and participatory framework for public history projects, enabling individuals to actively engage with and contribute to historical narratives. By integrating the Social Simulacra Model into public history, this paper seeks to transform the traditional approach to historical storytelling. This model facilitates the creation of immersive, interactive historical simulations that enable participants to become part of the historical landscape. It fosters a deeper connection between individuals and the past by allowing them to take on roles, explore social dynamics, and make decisions within historical contexts. This paper also illustrates the potential of the Social Simulacra Model in enriching public history and participatory history projects by offering a new dimension of engagement and interaction with the past. It paves the way for a more inclusive, engaging, and participatory approach to historical storytelling, bridging the gap between academic history and public engagement.
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The use of the Extended Matrix in the planning of the Mount Nebo virtual archaeological park allows for the creation of virtual models. The models facilitate the rediscovery and understanding of sites in the surroundings of the Moses Memorial on Mount Nebo that are difficult for tourists to access, ensuring the virtual preservation and memory of these sites. The use of the Extended Matrix as the basis for virtual reconstructions guarantees a philologically correct reconstruction based on reliable sources. The possibility of verifying the sources used and the reconstructive process of the author, at any time, ensures a transparent reconstruction. Sharing this data also makes it possible to have access to large databases that can be implemented and modified over time to keep them up to date.
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Digital reconstructions for valorization projects are becoming increasingly popular and the creation of narratives that catches the user’s attention and instigates their curiosity is the key to edutainment. However, as shown by interviews and related work, there is still a lack of a working methodology for a balanced and fruitful collaboration between academia and creative industries. Even though this work is still in its early stages, in this paper we propose a methodology for bridging the gap between academia and creative industries through the development of the Extended Matrix Narratives (EMN) tool. It allows academics and creative people to construct narratives, characters, dialogues, and scenes in a schematic way, helping to ensure that the virtual reconstruction is both accurate and engaging for the target audience. The main step is to compile a dossier documentative, a collection of all the information that may be necessary for the creation of context, setting, narrative, or characters. This document provides a solid scientific basis for the final product and helps to direct the creative team. The result is a narrative that is both accurate and engaging, and that can be used for a variety of purposes, such as education, entertainment, and cultural heritage preservation.
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The following contribution aims at presenting a new free and open source software, EM Manager, created to assist archaeologists at approaching virtual reconstruction projects with the Extended Matrix (method developed at the Digital Heritage Innovation Lab - DHILab - of the CNR-ISPC of Rome). EM Manager is a free and open source standalone software, already available on GitHub, that allows to convert a table into an Extended Matrix. The software represents a remarkable update of the Extended Matrix Framework and, due to its features, it will expand the user base, since it helps EM users to cover one, or more, of the ‘7 key roles’ considered by the Extended Matrix method. In addition, the fact that EM Manager is Python based ensures the possibility for future implementation with other platforms (such as QGIS and Blender) based on the same language.
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Virtual Reality is one of the tools that has become widely used in recent years, in the field of cultural heritage. This tool has proven to be particularly valuable, especially for approaching intangible cultural heritage. Using free and open source software for 3D modeling and animation, such as Blender and Unreal Engine, the international research group, Praeteritas Urbes, focused on the reconstruction of historical events such as the inquisitions many Autos de Fe, which had a significant impact on the colonial history of Central America. In this paper, we will present the results of two different projects: ‘The Great Auto de Fe of Guatemala’, which took place in Santiago de Guatemala in 1554, and ‘The Auto de Fe of Maní’ (Yucatán, Mexico), which occurred in 1562. In both cases, our objective was to make simulations of these two events known and accessible to the public, using a precise methodology, following the scale of evidence, and adhering to the standards established in the Principles of Seville codified in 2017.
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Virtual Archaeology is a developing scientific discipline that seeks to open windows into the past. Born from the ‘Seville Principles’, it is a powerful tool in the virtualisation of heritage, promoting a multidisciplinary approach and overcoming professional individualism. A case study is presented on the virtual recreation of the Roman city of Épora in Montoro (Córdoba, Spain) using historical-archaeological and literary data. Virtual reconstruction differs from virtual recreation in its focus on the physical representation of archaeological elements, while virtual recreation focuses on the visual recovery of the past of a specific archaeological site or context, which is not fully or partially confirmed. The study shows how Virtual Archaeology tools and protocols can be improved and highlights the need for specific forums to collectively discuss and improve the discipline.
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The Abade Artificial Archaeological Site Project (AAASP) employed computer simulations to recreate a 19th -century Brazilian mining village that was destroyed in an environmental conflict. The simulations integrate laser scans of ruins, 3D modeling, historical data, and material evidence to reconstruct the site in a virtual environment accurately. After researching 31 simulation programs, the project utilized AnyLogic software (https://www.anylogic.com/) for the final phase. One base model was the ‘Serial Killers’ simulation in AnyLogic, modeling criminal behavior in an urban setting. This laid the groundwork for the more extensive historically accurate ‘Abade 10’ simulation, precisely replicating the Lavras do Abade conflict within set parameters. The ‘Abade 10’ model incorporates system dynamics, agent behaviors, connections, and an experiment simulating the 3-day conflict timeline in 1887. Preliminary findings indicate all victim agents were fatally assaulted within 30 minutes in the simulations, aligning with historical records of intermittent attacks before the village’s destruction. Upon completion, the AAASP aims to be an open repository that allows other researchers to validate, adjust, and enhance the model with new data. The project demonstrates the potential of virtual archaeology to test hypotheses, plan fieldwork, share models globally, and inspire public engagement by immersing users in accurate ancient environments.
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After the initial enthusiasm for a hypothetical explosion of the metaverse phenomenon, which then waned, a careful analysis can reveal a possible dual model in the planning of this technology. On one hand, a closed, basically monopolistic, approach aimed at market concentration, and on the other a fragmented approach, starting from the bottom, consisting of small interoperating entities. This second model, in recent years, characterized in Italy a series of metaverse initiatives linked to the enhancement of Cultural Heritage and seems to be the most promising at the moment, provided that the longstanding issue of reproduction rights of the Heritage itself is addressed and resolved, preferably with an open approach: a crucial issue in the new digital scenarios.
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The UAVIMALS system is a small airborne laser scanner prototype resulting from interdisciplinary research conducted by the Sapienza University of Rome and the Institute of BioRobotics of the Scuola Superiore S. Anna in Pisa. The project was financed by the National Geographic Society (Early Career Grant No. EC-50761T-18). Its aim was to develop an inexpensive and open source remote sensing system, test an engineered LiDAR sensor for autonomous vehicles, and create a specific aerial system for ‘micro-relief’ archaeological trace detection. The experiment conducted in the archaeological context of Leopolis-Cencelle (VT) demonstrated the effectiveness of a self-built open source hardware and software system that can be adapted to different types of archaeological visibility.
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Distributed Version Control Systems are one of the common ways through which scientists collaborate and keep track of different versions of their work. Moreover, scientists, programmers, etc., have been using platforms such as GitHub to host and share their resources versioned through Git. While not as widely adopted as in other disciplines, Git has also been used in archaeological research. In fact, DVCS allow scholars to collaborate remotely and offer the transparency necessary to align with Open Science and reproducible research practices. However, Git is highly inefficient when versioning GIS data. Kart, described as «an open source DVCS for geospatial and tabular data built on git», is a software addressing the need for collaboration and finer incorporation of geospatial data, providing also an integration with QGIS. Kart and code-hosting websites offers unique resources for archaeologists, from collaboration to more efficient workflows. In this paper, an example of how the authors are using Kart, QGIS, and GitHub in the project ‘Governance Policies and Political Landscapes in the Southern Levant under the Neo-Assyrian Empire’ will be presented. With this case study, the authors hope to provide a solution to the current gap in the workflow of documentation and collaboration among archaeologists using GIS.
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Archaeological research must handle issues such as vagueness and uncertainty in data modelling. Especially vagueness and uncertainty must be modelled to work with geodata. However, for linking data and FAIRification graph-based modelling as Linked Open Data (LOD) proposed by Berners-Lee is the method and technique of choice. This paper discusses three data-driven interdisciplinary use cases of dealing with and modelling vague and uncertain geo-references (here especially findspots) based on literature as LOD from the archaeological and geosciences domain (Irish Ogham Stones, Campanian Ignimbrite, and Silver Coinage of Croton), implementing three modelling strategies using Wikidata, Linked Open Data and Wikibase.
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This study addresses the standardization of methodologies and data formats used in photogrammetric projects related to archaeology. The application of photogrammetry in recording and safeguarding cultural artifacts proves invaluable in various domains. However, the lack of a standardized method makes effective sharing of experiences and knowledge among practitioners difficult. This paper presents a methodological framework for photogrammetric data acquisition in the context of cultural heritage. This framework transcends the constraint of specific technical tools, embracing instead a level of abstraction consistent with the general principles of the Digital Data Curation paradigm and ontological encoding through the CIDOC-CRM model. Eventually, we provide a comparison between the FOPPA protocol with other three main acquisition protocols in order to test the interlingua that can enhance the communication between protocols. The overall goal of our research is to support systematic and methodical structured acquisition path, as well as systematic classification of metadata, facilitating the effective implementation of the methodology in new projects and promoting effective communication among existing projects.
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In the past decade, archaeology has witnessed a surge in digital data and methodologies made accessible through online repositories, databases, collaborative platforms like GitHub, and library collections. While this ‘digital revolution’ has lead to notable advancements in data accessibility and dissemination, it has also presented several challenges. These include developing effective data management strategies, defining scientific publication modalities, addressing ethical concerns regarding the protection of cultural heritage, and bridging the gap between rich and poor research institutions. Taking these challenges into account, this paper aims to outline best practices for data sharing, dissemination, and reproducibility in archaeology, underscoring their benefits to researchers and the wider public. Through a range of approaches and practical examples drawn from everyday research scenarios, we will demonstrate how these practices promote transparency and foster open science.
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FAIRification and sharing of open data is an important aspect of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) and its archaeology related consortium NFDI4Objects. NFDI4Objects offers domain-specific data-driven hubs to publish and share research data, Linked Open Data (LOD), ontologies, community-driven vocabularies and authority files, such as thesauri. This paper demonstrates the content, challenges and possibilities of the Data Hub ‘archaeology.link’. It consists of five thematic parts: 1) Semantic Modelling using the Linked Archaeological Data Ontology (LADO), 2) publication of domain-specific Linked Open Data, 3) community-driven vocabularies such as thesauri, 4) ontologies and 5) research tools.
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For about ten years this research team has been experimenting with techniques of spatial and visual perceptual analysis using GIS on the Nuragic landscapes (Middle and Late Bronze Age) of different areas of Southern Sardinia. Over time, various field campaigns have been developed on the monumental complexes built by the Nuragic communities. Towers, fortresses, villages, tombs of giants and sacred wells suggest a marked attention to the display of a message of power, strength and monumentality by the human group studied. An aspect often emphasized by these researches is the relationship of monuments with mobility and with the routes and strategic points of the territory, often verified through matches of different Least Coast Path Analyses (LCPA) that cross the territory by connecting different patterns of points. However, the real efficiency of the paths predicted by the GIS has never been directly tested on the ground. The paper presents the result of field analyses conducted by our group of archaeologists on the paths resulting from the GIS analysis in the Marmilla territories: travel times, energy expenditure and the real possibility of a path to actually cross a given territory are provided. Working with the LCPAs is still to be explored, however it remains a valid tool for territorial research, if an analysis unrelated to preconceptions and with a holistic evidence framework is carried out.
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How can we study the making of a medieval juridical space? Which were the agents that affected more? We try to answer to these questions thanks to a postdictive approach. We applied the QGIS algorithms to model the potential political space. We used several agents to get different outcomes. We tried both environmental and human agents to avoid the more deterministic side of this approach. We focused on the plain of Lucca in Northern Tuscany to study the making and development of its bishopric. Then we turned to the southern side of this region to study the district of a castle already excavated and whose territory is known quite well: Selvena. In this last example, we applied a regressive procedure, starting from the 19th century communities boundaries and making hypotheses about the relationship with medieval districts. This procedure can be applied to any context where a certain amount of data is available.
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The territory of Sarcidano is very important for the study of the settlements of the Nuragic population in the central-southern Sardinia (Italy), as the archaeological evidence of the late phases of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age shows. In particular, the great sanctuary of Santa Vittoria at Serri stands out on the homonymous plateau and exercises a control of the surrounding territory, corresponding in whole or part to the territories of the Serri, Escolca, Gergei, Isili, and Nurri municipalities. In this work, we experimented with an analytical procedure not yet widely used in the study of settlement processes in the Bronze and Iron Ages: that of Spatial Autocorrelation Techniques. The advantage of this approach lies in the fact that it not only shows spatial relationships, but does so on the basis of different values connected to the spatial data. Results showed that the Nuragic monuments were built near routes of passage so as to control the valleys below the basalt plains. This demonstrates the existence of a specific and organized approach for exploiting and monitoring the landscape, in which settlement choices depend on functionality criteria, with both nuraghi and villages having a key role on the strategic control of the territory.
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The present paper aims at studying Roman sanctuaries from the late 4th century BC to the early 4th century AD in southern coastal Latium, a region of crucial importance for the development of Roman religion. Quantitative GIS-based research was undertaken to study sacred spaces in their natural and cultural landscape context. A first research question concerned the role of good accessibility of sanctuaries as a factor, which could have influenced the choice of construction sites for villas. Further research focused on the visibility of sanctuaries in respect to other elements of the cultural landscape such as villas and roads. Cost-distance and viewshed analyses were undertaken to answer these questions. As the analyses are based on published and archived site data, several issues related to the use of legacy survey data had to be faced. Results show that the role of sanctuaries as factors of attraction might not have been extremely high. While a few major sanctuaries with extraordinary visibility conditions are situated in the study area, the overall trend does not confirm the choice of particularly visible spots as a general rule.
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This contribution is the result of experimenting with methodologies linked to the understanding of soundscapes in the context of medieval monasteries. In our specific area, the approach was not focused on the cognitive concept itself so much as the perception of the spirituality of the ringing of bells. The premise was to understand whether, and how, the bells functioned as a soundmark for controlling the territory. The case studies examined are the Abbey of Farneta, the Monastery of Camaldoli and the Abbey of San Fedele, today located in the Province of Arezzo: the three religious structures differ in their historical development, geographical position, and economy. However, what links them (and what links the great majority of medieval monastic complexes) is a tight control of their territory for production purposes, in order to guarantee the profitability of their material heritage. Analyses of the diffusion of the sound of the bells was compared (and integrated) with visibility and catchment analyses. The aim was to understand whether this type of analytical approach could contribute to the definition of a monastery’s ‘catchment area’. The data that emerged describe a complex economic landscape in which identified anomalies at settlement level can be worth analyzing and trying to understand.
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The Molise Region, on the Adriatic coast of southern Italy, experienced human presence since prehistoric times. Site distribution is not homogeneous throughout the region and a comprehensive census of all known archaeological sites has never been performed. In this paper, we present the results of a three-year project for the GIS mapping and database creation for all the known archaeological sites of the Molise Region. As a result, 3111 archaeological sites have been mapped, stored in a GIS database and then analysed through Spatial Analyst tools. Most of the mapped sites have been classified as area of archaeological finds (57.1% of the total sites), followed by settlements (12.9%) and buildings (9.8%). Site distribution is mainly clustered along the Biferno river valley, in the central and in the south-western sectors of the Molise Region. The largest human occupation of the region occurred during the Samnite and Roman ages. Archaeological sites are also located at different elevation a.s.l., with a general increasing trend of site elevation through time. This GIS database is, up to now, the most complete census of archaeological sites in the study area, thus representing a powerful tool to promote the archaeological heritage of the Molise Region and to address urban planning.
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The problem of coding archaeological finds is discussed. The different items susceptible to coding are described according to the kind of information that must be collected. Some new coding techniques are described in particular: the landmarks technique, to be used for the shape analysis of corpora of finds all having a similar shape; the textual coding, useful for the study of images, once both the elements and attitudes and the sub-images composing the image are taken into account; a symbolic coding, to be used in the study of the syntactical structure of the images, describing the relations among items, regardless of the iconographical content. An overview of the exploratory analysis issues is given as conclusion.
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The aim of this research is to define a new methodology in order to reconstruct the historical human mobility network in mountain areas in a perspective of ‘longue durée’. Through the match of different types of data, in particular historical and archaeological sources, the analysis of environmental features and the application of a series of algorithms on a GIS platform, we produced a series of maps of possible mobility networks. The comparison between them and with the historical cartography emphasizes both continuities and breaks over time and outlines the reliability of the elaborations obtained. Our focus is a small region in the North-Eastern Italy, called Feltrino (BL), on a time frame from the Bronze Age to the modern times
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The application of computer science and advanced technologies to the topographical management of archaeological data have made it possible, in the last five years, to adjust an instrument of a strong tradition, such as the “Forma Italiae”, to the new requirements for the planning and protection of a territory. From the application of digital mapping to historical cities, the management of territorial archaeological data, satellite survey and multimedia distribution of information, the development outlook becomes gradually broader, respecting however, the methodological progress achieved during a century of tradition in historical topographical studies.
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This paper presents some results obtained by the application of remote sensing methodologies in the study and monitoring of the Roman city of Falerii Novi and its surrounding area. This landscape changes quickly and for this reason is suitable for non-invasive investigation, which ensure the regular tilling of the land and allow the monitoring of the conservation of the ancient buried structures. Specifically, the research concerns the experimental application of the recent image processing methodologies on five high-resolution satellite images (one QuickBird-2, two GeoEye-1 and two WorldView-2 acquired between 2003 and 2014). The aim of this processing phase is to enhance spectral, spatial and radiometric properties of the images and so, to facilitate the identification of the archaeological marks related to buried structures. The photointerpretation was necessarily supported by the examination of the bibliographic sources, and was validated, where was possible, by field checks. In general, no significant archaeological marks have emerged in the urban area, but the strategic use of the spectral properties of the images, has allowed the identification of the areas with the greatest erosion of the surface soil and those of greatest deposition of the colluvial soil. In the extra-urban area, on the other hand, vegetation marks relating to a probable suburban villa in the immediate territory to the South of the city and to the route of the Via Amerina to the North have been identified.
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In general, a territory can be considered as the centre which contains all information related to different historical ages. The study of a portion of a given territory characterised by the presence of archaeological sites must be aimed at the complete and accurate acquisition of environmental data (e.g. topography, geo-morphology, litho-stratigraphy, land use, etc.), which will be used for an overall study of the site, the reconstruction of the man-environment interaction, and the evaluation of possible applications of geophysical prospecting methods. By interpreting different sets of remote-sensing data, studying existing geological and geo-morphological information and through systematic field work (e.g. archaeological survey, geophysical investigations, etc.), a wide spectrum of environmental data can be collected. The methodology of a complete analysis of the territory can be summarised as follows: analysis of remote-sensing data sets and their geo-referencing; DTM of the selected study area; morphological and geological definition of the selected study area; identification, location and geo-referencing of all archaeological sites in the territory; high-resolution integrated geophysical prospecting methods, to delineate the extension of the site and to locate the archaeological structures; a complete description of the site in its environmental context; definition of an integrated analysis method, based on the spatial correlation of the different data sets; study and design of a GIS for the management of all data sets which have been collected, elaborated and interpreted; definition of a model for the knowledge and protection of the historical and environmental aspects of the territory.
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In recent years, the use of DGPS (Digital Ground Positioning System) satellite antennas has become widespread within the framework of the historical-topographic research. They give us the possibility of geo-referencing, in a simple manner, different objects spread across the territory, and permit the delimitation and geometrical survey of specific areas rendered in the shape of polygons. In the present project, new case-studies, aimed at defining new procedures for the geo-referencing of territorial elements, are produced. In these case-studies the use of DGPS, employed in a new and integrated way with other modern topographical instruments, has enabled us to survey complex structures and to produce detailed morphological studies of the sites. The archaeological sites that have been examined show great differences. Firstly, in their geomorphologic characteristics, the historical period, the cultural environment and related problems and secondly, for the different scale of the research, procedures and level of investigation of the archaeological research.
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The paper analyses the practise of surveying and reconstruction of the buildings in a Roman North Africa monumental centre by means of photogrammetry and three-dimensional modeling. Photogrammetry, in particular, proves to be an efficient and economic method for field analysis, although it has limitations in terms of processing time and the need for very powerful computers. Photogrammetric models, characterized by a high volumetric and colorimetric quality, constitute an ideal basis for reconstruction by means of 3D modeling, particularly in the case of research, such as this one, related to the Archaeology of Construction.
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Opening speech in the Session ‘Ancient Cities: Past and Current Perspectives’.
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The aim of this paper is to illustrate a study addressing the comprehension and architectural reconstruction of part of Hadrian’s Villa, the so called Accademia. The reconstruction of the monument has a double purpose: the understanding of the buildings and the creation of a virtual musealization. Archaeological data combined with digital reconstructions are aimed at making areas that are not accessible to visitors visible to users. In recent times, several reconstruction projects have been undertaken, producing relevant visual impacts. However, a careful study of the archaeological evidence often failed to support the reconstruction process. During the research project, a detailed survey of the archaeological evidence was conducted, using photogrammetry, photo scanning, and laser scanning techniques. The study produced important information accounting for both the building site and the construction choices made during the erection of the monument. The analysis generated new elements that allowed us to propose some new hypotheses regarding the identification and restitution of volumes, as well as the interpretation of some topographical, architectural and possibly ideological features. For this reason, the paper does not simply enquire into the reconstruction of an ancient building, but into the process of methodological experimentation required to understand, store, process and make data accessible, within the particular context of the Accademia. The methodological experimentation, based on a correct balance between new technologies and traditional research methods, helped us understand the monument, providing content to a reconstruction that otherwise would have been empty.
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The MAGOH (Managing Archaeological data for a sustainable Governance of Heritage) project is a two-year project funded by Regione Toscana, co-funded by the Italian Ministry of Culture (MIC) and coordinated by MAPPA Lab of the University of Pisa. The project was designed to address the needs of the Superintendencies of Florence, Pistoia and Prato and of Pisa and Livorno to manage archaeological data. The project represents the development of the MAPPA project on a larger geographical area of 72,000 km², corresponding to almost all of Northern Tuscany. MAGOH system is composed of a web-based back-end which allows collecting textual and vector data and the archaeological documentation. It contains around 8000 archaeological interventions openly accessible through the web platform and reusable as open data following FAIR principles. Furthermore, through an appositively developed API, it is entirely interoperable with GNA, the National Geoportal for Archaeology, managed by the MIC.
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The model of the Tuscanic Temple of Uni in Marzabotto, recently discovered, has been a common ground for engineering and archaeological studies, thanks to the processing of a Building Information Modeling (BIM). Beside the historic and archaeological analysis, the innovation of this study concerns the examination of the Etruscan temple as a three-dimensional building, with the use of technologies which impact on the architectural reliability of the model, and the design of a new method of Experimental Archaeology based on a virtual approach. The uniqueness of this approach lies in the study of original elements at the starting point of the building process, that consist in foundations or spoliated structures (i.e. negative evidences), over the clues from the historical and scientific literature. To better define this distinctive working process, the expression ArchaeoBIM has been proposed. With this expression we underline the common BIM matrix in the data management through integrated analytical models, applied to a particular aspect of the archaeological research.
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Pontecagnano is a large Etruscan-Samnite settlement located 8 km SE of Salerno, at the northern edge of the Sele plain. The well-investigated necropolis provided data that made it possible to analyse the structure of the ancient community and reconstruct its long-term development. Over the last few years, after archaeological investigations carried out during roadwork to widen the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway, a more systematic study of the site was begun. The analysis of archaeological data was combined with environmental and landscape studies, shedding light on the reasons behind the spatial organisation of the settlement, which was influenced by natural or man-made landscape elements such as streams, non-uniform dislocation of geological formations, terraces, roads, canals, etc. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the methods and instruments we used to develop a system that can dynamically combine archaeological and geomorphological data. The paper focuses particularly on the reconstruction of paleo-topographical areas of the ancient settlement. Our investigation outlined the physical and environmental limits within which the old town developed, especially as regards the archaic and classical period. Part of the work was devoted to reconstructing in detail the connections between the modern and the ancient landscape, not only by reading and interpreting the aerial photographs from 1945 to the present-day, but also by analyzing the evidence from the excavations. This approach allowed us to draw up a detailed geomorphologic map of the area of the ancient settlement - part of the GIS platform - and develop a three-dimensional model of the ground (DEM).
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A huge irrigation project is being conducted in the Iranian western border and satellite investigation of the area was initially performed in order to identify archaeological settlement sites before they were threatened by the so-called Garmsiri water project. Because of the diverse geography and the inherited critical war conditions such as mined lands, the investigation of ancient sites in this region is not easy; therefore, satellite-based methods can play an important role in the detection and documentation of archaeological sites. The main hypothesis of this study is that all settlements have internal and external characteristics allowing to detect the presence of archaeological sites. The identification of a series of these characteristics in a spatial area will lead to the discovery of archaeological sites. Three general methods which this study utilizes to identify the location of the site include: 1) Identification using satellite images; 2) Identification using the predictive model based on GIS; 3) Integration of satellite images data applying the prediction model. Thereby, those points having a series of internal and external characteristics related to settlement sites were introduced as potential ancient sites. In the field survey, 57 points were confirmed as settlement sites. The perspective of this study helps archaeologists to explore the surface and subsurface remnants of ancient sites without conventional field-walking survey.
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The Centro di Ricerca Coordinata ‘Progetto Tarquinia’ of the Università degli Studi di Milano is a LERU (League of European Research Universities) exemplary interdisciplinary research project that involves groups from the Università Statale di Milano (Archaeology, Information and Communication Technologies, Geoarchaeology, Palaeoanthropology), the Politecnico di Milano (Architecture and Topography) and bridges the gap between soft and hard sciences. This project stems from the ‘Progetto Tarquinia’ conceived by Maria Bonghi Jovino in 1982. During the last ten years, our integrated system of tools and services, supported by ICTs (ArchMatrix), through which multidisciplinary domain experts can examine all the typologies of data of a given culture, has made it possible to concentrate on the links between data-sources focusing on the recurrence of association rates within different aspects of material evidence and phenomena. The fields of application of our methodology in the domain of archaeology and epigraphy are multifaceted as regards the inside and outside connections of the Tarquinian heritage, whose necropolis with the famous painted tombs is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Research includes areas of the Civita plateau: the ‘monumental complex’, the Ara della Regina sanctuary, fortifications, and archaeological sites previously explored. In the past ten years, research in the necropolis (roughly 6,000 tombs, of which 400 are painted) and in the surrounding territory has also been implemented and has produced the complete corpus of the painted tombs of Tarquinia. Our holistic approach encompasses archaeological analysis of small (mobile finds), medium (archaeological contexts) and large scale (territory and landscape) architectural analysis and applications for integrated solutions for the cultural heritage, including the first bilingual Virtual Museum dedicated to an Etruscan city.
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A project for digitalization and web diffusion of the journal «Archeologia e Calcolatori» contents has been recently started. While PDF seems to be the most satisfactory data format to deliver the electronic version of documents, international standards developed within the Open Archives paradigm can surely offer fascinating solutions to disseminate metadata describing their content. The most relevant protocol for Open Archives implementation is OAI-PMH. Several software applications to support OAI-PMH have been proposed by different institutions and some obtained a brilliant success. However, in certain situations the deployment of an OAI-PMH conformant repository is still problematic. The reason ranges from lack of technical expertise, cost of implementation and intrinsic complexity of web server administration. For small research institutions and university departments the most part of the existing OAI applications seems in effect not simple to implement. In this paper a simplified approach to OAI implementation for small and medium size archives is discussed. This project is based on an OAI Static Repository file (OAI-SR, i.e. an XML file based on a schema whose guidelines have been recently issued by OAI), Visual Basic, ASP, XML/XSL and Java technologies. It has been applied to the collection of abstracts coming from the articles published in «Archeologia e Calcolatori», but it can easily be adapted to other cultural subjects with small efforts.
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The history of archaeological computing has long been characterised by the distinction between the application of mathematical and statistical techniques, as part of the so-called movement of quantitative archaeology, and the use of databases and information systems for descriptive and documentary purposes. The intensity of the debate on the relationship between logic and computing, as well as between theory and applications, began to wave in the 1990s. Over time, data integration and new ICT tools have allowed archaeologists to address simultaneously all the issues raised by the archaeological research. This paper focuses on the evolution of methods and techniques in this specific research area, thanks to the analysis of literary sources, the Bibliography of Archaeological Computing, accessible via the Virtual Museum of Archaeological Computing website, and the scientific articles published in the open access international journal Archeologia e Calcolatori.
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The use of interactive storytelling by museums and heritage sites lends to the creation of experiences that support visitors in engaging emotionally with the objects on display. Finding ways to connect to the cultural content is even more important for visitors of archaeological sites due to the often fragmentary nature of the exhibits, which can leave them wondering what was once there and how it relates to them. In this paper, we describe the creation of a prototype mobile storytelling experience that attempts to explore a more emotive kind of storytelling in cultural contexts. The prototype was evaluated in a preliminary study that took place at the archaeological site of the Ancient Agora of Athens. The observations provide insights for the design of future iterations of such emotive storytelling experiences.
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The paper introduces the concept of webmapping in the archaeological and historical sciences. The interest in offering an online mapping service is developed in terms of collaborative working, technical support, e-learning, mapping functions, and hardware and software architecture. The integration of the webmapping functions in the more general case of a Geoportal is also considered. Examples of operational Geoportals and projects in progress are also briefly described, most of them being detailed by their authors in the present volume.
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What is the use of reflecting on the history of Digital Archaeology? Dividing the history of Digital Humanities in general into four stages, Digital Archaeology was born in the stage of “pioneers’ applications” (1960-70), and for some time it developed both in practice and in theory. The theory seemed especially interesting also for non digital Archaeology, but around 1990 technology suffocated the more complicated and difficult theoretical approach. The opportunity to go back to this approach is demonstrated in three special cases: the creation of databases, the encoding procedures, and the relations between archaeology and information science.
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The article attempts to retrace some of the early years of the scientific activity of Jean-Claude Gardin, throughout a particularly fertile period of about five years that certainly affected all of his subsequent scientific endeavours. Starting in the mid 1950s, Gardin carefully followed the international evolution of documentation systems and tirelessly promoted the innovative methods of investigation that will eventually make him one of the undisputed pioneers of archaeological computing. At the same time, he founded and led highly specialised laboratories that have acted as a breeding ground for the formalisation of archaeological research associated with the process of data representation and classification, as well as the construction of scientific knowledge.
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This article is intended to provide an overview of archaeological open access journals, with particular reference to Italy and a general survey of the situation in France and the Anglo-Saxon countries. The Internet is now established as an important tool for the dissemination of knowledge and exchange in research; all sectors are adapting to this new environment, including that of classical studies, which more than any other remains attached to traditional forms of knowledge transmission and publication. Alongside published journals, online open access journals (of which we describe some examples related to the above mentioned geographic areas) are increasing considerably, and are acquiring an important role for the publication of research studies. The article also provides a brief overview on open access features and creative commons licenses.
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PAThs - Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths: An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature (P.I. Paola Buzi) is an ERC Advance project based at the Sapienza University of Rome. It focuses on compiling a catalogue of literary manuscripts in Coptic language, organized by their archaeological and geographical contexts. The Atlas is an open access publishing platform, built on the top of open source technologies and backed up by a web database based on Bradypus system, a MIT licensed RDBMS highly specialized in the management of archaeological and other cultural heritage data. The Atlas and the web database are being constructed to become a linking hub for automated access to the data by third party software and other applications. Specific interconnecting output formats (mainly RDF) are being developed to link this platform to other collaborative systems (such as those developed by Pelagios Commons) utilizing geographical representation, i.e. places, as a common reference point.
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The article describes some bibliographic works carried out as part of the research line devoted to archaeological computing at the Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo Antico (ISMA), CNR. The work analyses, in particular, the rich bibliography on archaeological computing in the 1990s published on the website Virtual Museum of Archaeological Computing (http://archaeologicalcomputing.lincei.it/) and the digital bibliographies of Massimo Pallottino, Sabatino Moscati and Mauro Cristofani, some leading figures in our Institute’s history. Next, the text explores some examples of bibliographic resources available online (those relating to open texts and those relating to simple bibliographic references) and also describes some recently launched projects dedicated to virtual libraries and digital infrastructures in the field of human sciences.
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The paper addresses two of the main issues discussed during the workshop: the photographic reproduction of Cultural Heritage and the sharing of archaeological data. As far as photographic reproductions are concerned, an overview of the Italian laws on this topic is proposed, in particular about the evolution of art. 108 of the Cultural Heritage Code, recently modified. The new regulations reflect a more open attitude of the Ministry of Culture towards private photographic reproductions, which have been liberalised for personal use (study, research, education, non-profit use in general), while they still are subject to payment of fees in case of profit uses. The second part of the paper gives an overview of the activities of the Istituto Centrale per l’Archeologia (Central Institute for Archaeology) - ICA, aimed at the promotion of open access to archaeological data. ICA, which has among its tasks precisely the definition of standards and guidelines for publishing open archaeological data, is developing the National Geoportal of Archaeology, to foster the online consultation of topographic archaeological data; a first experimentation of its content started in 2018 with the digital cataloguing of information produced by preventive archaeology.
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This article is the result of a research project currently being conducted at the University of Molise (Italy), aimed at drawing a cognitive framework of Roman building techniques in today’s Molise Region. The methods used to pursue this objective are specifically linked to masonry walls analysis, with an innovative interdisciplinary approach, entailing the use of a database, which is the result of the work of an international team of researchers (ACoR), in addition to the use of experimental methods to analyse the metric and the GIS platform to manage the geo-localization of the sites. Two different case studies are included in this paper, such as a Roman villa, i.e. a private building, in the municipality of San Giuliano del Sannio (CB), and a theatre, i.e. a public construction, in the municipality of Venafro (IS). Thanks to the different nature of the two examples, a different approach was used in analysing the parameters. For the private villa, the method employed was a stratigraphic reading of the structure, performed analytically; whereas for the public building, given its construction complexity being examined and the lack of results from the archaeological investigation, a sample method with metric parameter analysis was applied – already tested on the sites of Olimpia, Ostia and Cuma. The main aim is to contribute, through an extremely accurate analysis, filing, and geo-localization system, in the understanding of an area which is still under-researched and in which architectural information are extremely fragmented and little known.
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The author illustrates a research project aimed at making an important contribution to the topographical knowledge of the urban area inside the city walls of Roman ‘Telesia’, located near Benevento (S. Salvatore Telesino). The urban survey has involved topographical and archaeological research and a selected coverage of the western area of the city, near Porta Volturno, using satellite images and low altitude aerial photography. A Geographical Information System, based on the integration of aerial data, maps and the digitization of several negative cropmarks, has allowed the author to develop a database for the visualization and comprehension of the complex ancient site of Telesia and to interpret the urban planning of the Roman city.
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The web site LIMC-France, created by the French team of the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), is free and available in seven languages: English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Russian and Spanish. The site makes it possible to consult and search three different databases: – LIMCicon, the main database, gives access to file-cards gathering technical and scientific data relating to all Greek and Roman objects decorated with a mythological image that have been studied by the French team of LIMC, not only in French museums but also in several Near-Eastern, North African and East European countries. Most of the files are related to one or several digitized photographs. Each entry comprises a number of fields, all of them searchable, including bibliographical references, find-place, previous and current location, shape, iconographical description, key-words, etc. – LIMCbiblio updates the bibliography of LIMC articles from their publishing date onward. – LIMCabrev is a helpful tool giving complete titles of the abbreviations used in LIMC and in other publications of the LIMC Foundation.
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The author offers a summary of the research work carried out over the last decade at the Beazley Archive, which consists of two inter-related parts: a traditional paper archive and electronic programs. The electronic programs began in 1979 with a database of Athenian figure-decorated pottery. The structure of the database was based on extensive “catalogues”, which Beazley had compiled and published in many editions from the 1920s through the 1960s. Since 1992 the Beazley Archive has been able to include in its electronic services other types of objects Sir John Beazley had recorded in his personal archive, for example, sculpture and engraved gems. In 1998 the Beazley Archive was selected as a suitable site for testing new techniques of watermarking and digital finger-printing; with the availability of several means of image protection the Beazley Archive launched a multimedia version of the pottery database on the Web. With the experience gained from adapting the pottery database for the Web, the Beazley Archive has taken the decision to use this platform for programs about other types of classical archaeology and art.
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Two major features have emerged lately in the communication patterns of archaeological research: (a) an increasing use of the Web as a channel of information transfer, to complement or occasionally replace printed publications; (b) an exploration of new forms of archaeological discourse related to that trend. The Arkeotek project combines the two approaches in a specific domain of archaeological research described as 'the archaeology of techniques' (hence its acronym). The present paper exposes the objectives and status of the European association recently set up under that name (2002), as well as its initial works and plans for the coming years. A comprehensive introduction deals with the origins and guiding principles of the project. The paper ends with a square review of the problems that lie ahead.
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The nucleation of the rural population was a widespread phenomenon during the Middle Ages that interested many areas of Western Europe. However, many of these sites are now deserted with the underlying phenomena causing these abandonments not always easy to reconstruct. Archaeologists have been interested in these medieval settlements since the middle of the 19th century, and remote sensing has played a decisive role in mapping hundreds of them. This also applies to many parts of the Po Valley but not the Romagna plain, where hundreds of medieval sites are known but almost exclusively based on written sources. However, the increasing availability of aerial and satellite images offers a valuable opportunity to bridge this knowledge gap. The systematic study of legacy images allowed the mapping of new defensive elements and reconstruction of the general plan of six deserted medieval fortified settlements in the broader hinterland of Ravenna. PlanetScope 3m resolution images were later exploited to continuously monitor these sites during periods prone to crop marks formation to detect the presence of wide crop/soil marks (e.g. ditches). Six successful field verifications demonstrate that these ‘coarse’ images are sufficient to plan drone surveys that can allow the mapping of additional smaller features.
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While the application of computer technology to archaeology has been characterized by numerous experiments, there has been no specific attempt to standardize processes. Archaeologists operating in the field seem to privilege “ad hoc” solutions in which the computer has been more or less actively featured. Without any pretence of presenting a model, this paper describes a series of field experiments conducted by the archaeology team of the University of Foggia, and reflections based on the growing use of computers in the various phases of our research. Beyond this, we hope to show the necessity and importance of reaching some kind of consensus regarding methodology and technological innovation. Computer technology has allowed us to rethink the process of documentation by introducing important innovations in all phases of research, from recovery of data to analysis, interpretation and reconstruction right through to the dissemination of results.
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RAPTOR is a geo-database built for the management of the archaeological administrative procedure of the Superintendencies. The system allows the recording of any kind of work carried out in any geographical context and the mapping of the archeological outcomes so that the archaeological maps can be constantly updated. A set of the archaeological data recorded in the system can now be freely accessed on the map by external users; archaeologists in particular can see full information of the archaeological sites. In order to support preventive archaeology, a new section of the system currently allows to map the preventive archaeology investigations and to obtain automatically the vector data of the archaeological sites within the project areas. Moreover, RAPTOR enables now to record and show the plans of the archaeological phases of each single site or urban context; on the other hand a new specific section is dedicated to the drawing of the areas of archaeological potential.
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This paper aims to present the advantages of including auralisation techniques in archaeology. Archaeology can benefit from auralisation under several aspects. Not only does it offer the possibility to live a unique experience listening sounds originated within ancient buildings, but it allows to formulate subjective interpretations of the quality of the audio of a specific space. In addition, the subjective feeling evoked by the auralised audio can be further investigated through psychoacoustics analysis. The combination of archaeology and auralisation is also attractive for the general public thanks to digital applications that can be employed for educational purposes. The involvement of society through digital applications is important to bring it near to research and archaeology. After a short literature review about the implementation of archaeology, auralisation and digital applications, the final elaboration of a PhD research will be presented: the development of a virtual reality app that shows the 3D reconstruction of six Roman theatres in Crete, including the virtual auralisation from different seats within the theatres. The VR app is the ultimate product of a research that studied hypothetical reconstructions of the Roman theatres in Crete through 3D visibility analysis and virtual acoustics analysis. Through the VR app, users will not only experience an ancient performance in different Roman theatres, but they will also be able to observe the influence of architecture on the sound.
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Research on ancient sensory experience has questioned ocular-centric research as the primary form of knowledge production in archaeological investigations. With enough information about the material composition of an ancient building, the acoustic properties of the interior spaces can be modeled for greater understanding of the daily experience of past users. Acoustics can reveal what people heard in the past, an experiential starting point to begin asking how someone heard in the past. Thus, acoustic study of place offers the potential to deepen understanding of the emplaced past experience as well as limitations to what conclusions can be drawn directly from gathered data. One area that remains underdeveloped is the research of sounded experience in ancient outdoor settings. This paper presents ongoing acoustic research at the ancient Greek sanctuary to Zeus on Mount Lykaion, applying psychoacoustic analysis to comprehensive recording efforts. Moments of sonic connectivity and isolation in this mountainous site align with past building outlines and prominent landscape features, suggesting that the sanctuary landscape likely played a key role in ritual experiences. The sonic dynamics of the landscape can still be experienced – and measured – today. The paper details the current approach to data collection and analysis on the mountain and includes some of the challenges afforded by applying acoustic study in the ancient built landscape.
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Digital technologies and 3D models, nowadays largely used to document archaeological remains and to obtain hypothetical reconstructions when these remains are more or less heavily damaged, can also be powerful tools to simulate and render the acoustic response of an environment, such as the interior of a building, or an artifact, such as sounding objects or musical instruments. This work addresses the cases of three musical instruments of the past – namely a Pan flute, a brass instrument, and an electrophone instrument – coming from different periods and in different states of preservation, which voices can now be heard thanks to as many multidisciplinary projects. Possible approaches to the simulation of the sounds that these instruments could generate are discussed in relation to different aims and contexts.
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Music was one of the earliest kinds of art to explore the creative use of electronic and information technologies: new musical forms have assumed an increasingly artistic importance since the second half of the last century. Technology, at the same time, also is the cause of their rapid deterioration and risk of disappearance. The conservation of this heritage presents very different problems from those posed by traditional artworks. To this purpose this paper first presents some results for the conservation of audio documents: a well-tuned re-mediation methodology, an artificial intelligence based approach to detect audio tape discontinuities and access tools for renovating the listening experience of old analog media. To safeguard this heritage, it is not enough to digitize the content of recordings and documents, but all the related information, collected on the author’s personal archive, must also be accessible. The second part of this paper presents in detail, as a case study, the design and development of an information management system allowing the long-time preservation and the access to different documents, among them: audio, letters, musical scores, and manuscripts of the personal archive of an important electronic music composer.
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A significant number of Ancient Musical Instruments (AMIs) are exhibited in archaeological museums all over the world. Organized sound (music and songs) was the prominent factor in the process of both formulating and addressing intellectual activity and artistic creation. Thus, the way AMIs sound is a key element of study for many scientific fields such as anthropology, archaeology, and archaeomusicology. Most of the time, the excavated instruments are not in good condition and rather fragile to move around (in order to perform studio recordings or exhibit them). Building replicas was the only way to study their performance. Unfortunately, replicas are not trivial to build and, once built, not modifiable. On the other hand, digitally simulated instruments are easier to build and modify (e.g., in terms of geometry, material, etc.), which is a rather important feature in order to study them. Moreover, the audio stimulus and the digital interaction with an AMI through a Graphical User Interface would give more engagement and knowledge to the museum’s visitor. In this work, we show the simulation methods of wind (classes: Aulos, Plagiaulos, Syrinx, and Salpinx) and string (classes: Phorminx, Chelys, Barbitos, Kithara, and Trigonon) Greek AMIs and the relevant built-applications useful to scientists and broader audience. We here propose a user-friendly, adaptable, and expandable digital tool which reproduces the sound of the above classes of AMIs and will: a) allow the museum scientists to create specific Auditory Virtual Musical Instruments and b) enrich the experience of a museum visitor (either in situ or on line) through a digital sound reconstruction and a 3D visual representation of AMIs, allowing real-time interaction and even music creation.
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Music-archaeology can show exemplarily the potential as well as the dangers of digital approaches. Both are here illustrated using case studies from the field of virtual modelling the intended scales of ancient reed instruments, with a focus on the requirement of the closest possible collaboration between music-archaeologists and programmers from the planning stages of a project and throughout its development. On the one hand, the potential robustness of predictive algorithms is shown, on the other, methodological fallacies are exposed that have led to redundant results and consequently misguided interpretations, which however, due to the ubiquitous partition of expertise, have slipped through reviewing processes. Finally, the author amends a problematic detail in the approach underlying previous publications of his own, showing how reflecting the physiology of aulos playing more accurately may enhance the harmonicity of modelled pitch sets, which in turn lends further credibility to the general method.
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This paper aims to explore how digital imaging and computed tomography (CT) can provide us with significant results and valuable information otherwise unavailable in the study of ancient instruments. Whilst its methods provide great potential in terms of the diagnostics and preservation of ancient musical instruments, radiology has been underused in this field of application. As an improved method for the visualisation and analysis of the material density of instruments and of their surfaces and volumes, CT allows for a useful evaluation of the handcrafting process of instruments as well as the visualisation of invisible fracture lines and lesions in their structures, showing possible modifications, damages and repairs.
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The aim of this paper is to explore the interaction between design and archaeology in building Museum engagement experiences. In particular, a case study from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (MANN) will be presented. This study was carried out as part of OBVIA - Out Of Boundaries Viral Art Dissemination, a joint public engagement project sponsored by the Museum and partners such as the Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘Federico II’ and the Università degli Studi della Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’. The target of the project was to stimulate innovative communication and promotion actions. Specific research activities carried out by the Dipartimento di Architettura e Disegno Industriale dell’Università degli Studi della Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, were dedicated to the development of Experience Design strategies for museum engagement and audience development. This study resulted in the creation of kits to be used during hands-on laboratories for children. The kit ‘Museum Details’ focused on the observation and reproduction of details of archaeological artifacts exhibited in the Museum. These kits included a map, instruments for detailed observation, moulding clay and casts to create 3D reproductions of original archaeological details. The necessity of a high detailed reproduction of small features of archaeological findings was an opportunity to experiment with the acquisition of accurate 3D models. In particular, the work carried out by Mnemosyne3D focused on five findings from the Magna Graecia collection. The main challenge was to detect sub-millimetric details on a reflecting surface. Photogrammetry was chosen as method for 3D scanning, a structure from motion acquisition technique. The post processing, through 3D sculpting and CAD 3D software, aimed to enhance the features of the models in order to make them suitable for casting and plastic reproductions.
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This article illustrates a case study from an ongoing research project on the statues and sculptural fragments from Tebtynis, discovered by Carlo Anti during the 1930-1936 excavation campaigns, in the temple dedicated to the god Soknebtynis. Specifically, it examines a non-royal statue which one of the authors has recently identified as Turin, Museo Egizio S. 19400+S. 19400/1. The authors combine a study of relevant archival records currently kept in Padua and Venice, Italy, with the virtual reconstruction of the fragment of the head and the stylistic analysis of the statue in order to shed light on the sculpture and retrace its post-excavation history.
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In a virtual archaeology project, a full transparency in methods, techniques and documentation is necessary in order to define quality standards that are crucial for a discipline that promises to inform, amaze and fascinate with increasing effectiveness and accuracy. However, documentation is often insufficient to guarantee a level of reliability. Comparisons, deductions and methods that allow experts to retrace the reconstructive process in all its parts are always needed. Based on the results of a case study carried out on the Monte Sannace site, several methods are described in order to evaluate the level of reliability of the 3D reconstruction. This process is related to qualitative factors not always easy to weigh up, but highly important in compliance with Principle no. 7 of the Seville Charter: transparency of information and specification of the methods applied. From a theoretical point of view, analogies and differences in modern restoration methods are analysed, and the results are described in relation to the communicative and emotional objectives of the project. The reconstruction of the Monte Sannace site represents a significant step towards the full appreciation of a little-known area with important archaeological and naturalistic features.
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Surveys conducted in the aftermath of recent earthquakes have shown that the structural and anti-seismic performances of historical masonry churches are related not only to structural damages and masonry quality but also to other key features such as effectiveness of connections, damages of wooden elements or criticalities related to humidity. Technical and scientific communities are interested in developing or improving existing procedures for the fast-visual survey and diagnostics in order to measure and analyze all the parameters affecting the building performance. In this paper a new procedure, that can be implemented in a Decision Support System (DSS) based on the Analytic Hierarchy Processes (AHP), is developed to perform a rapid visual survey and diagnostics of masonry building through a set of condition ratings. The originality of the presented work is fourfold: 1) the AHP allows to include in the analysis qualitative and quantitative data such as the quality of masonry and connections effectiveness; 2) the proposed survey and diagnostics performed by suitable condition ratings allow an extensive application in order to identify the most damaged buildings that require more detailed structural investigations; 3) the proposed AHP-based approach is integrated in a DSS to provide a powerful computerized tool, useful to large scale data acquisition; 4) the comparison with a standard diagnostics is performed to validate the procedure and emphasize the advantages of the novel diagnostics.
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Structural monitoring of the Ninfeo Ponari by fibre optic sensors, photogrammetry and laser scanningThe Ninfeo Ponari is an ancient building dating back to the first century BC as part of a rich domus, located in the ancient Roman city of Casinum. It consists of two bodies: a rectangular room covered by a barrel vault and an atrium with no roof with a shallow pool in the middle, both paved with mosaics and decorated with wall paintings. The structural condition of the building is critical and its preservation is at risk, as it is located on a hill slope where some substantial sliding activity is occurring. Moreover, it is not protected by an efficient rainfall drainage system. Aim of this paper is to illustrate the strategies and the digital techniques recently applied to initiate a permanent monitoring of the building structural condition.
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The piazza Pozzo Dorico substructures in Cori (the ancient Cora, a Latin city at the north-western slopes of the Lepini Mountains) represent a remarkable example of Roman public architecture of the Late Republican period. They are situated at the bottom of a secular and imposing terracing system, distributed on at least three levels. This paper aims at identifying the modular schemes, geometric shapes and proportions governing the layout plan of this monumental infrastructure, based on recent topographic surveys and new metrological considerations. Finally, it will investigate the relationship between the layout of the archaeological complex (apparently quite simple) and its function (still largely unknown), in order to attempt to identify the several formal and functional components that played a decisive role in the development of the original project.
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The 5G is the fifth generation of networks. It will officially arrive from 2020 to connect millions of devices all over the world with high speed and low latency, to enable advanced projects based on smart technologies, Internet of Things, smart cities and a new generation of smart houses. The use of this new high-speed connection will positively involve, in the near future, the virtual enjoyment of cultural heritage, allowing to offer new and more powerful solutions, especially in the field of immersive VR/AR visualization. On these premises we have carried out a project that aims to virtualize some spaces within the Diocletian Baths through innovative, immersive, emotional and persuasive solutions. The results are based on simple panoramas and 360° VR videos. However, they are enhanced with the stereoscopic vision and, above all, the animation of the scene, thus increasing the “sense of presence” of the user. The immersive visit within ancient spaces is populated with life, human figures and elements that increase the spatiality of reconstruction (sense of scale, presence, verisimilitude).
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The paper illustrates the recent evolution of web architectures and the choices made for the web portal of 'Archeologia e Calcolatori'. The website needed an urgent restyling to update its ASP platform, even though for 15 years it had performed its interactive work very well. Today, the ASP language is no longer supported by Microsoft and the infrastructural choices of the CNR are and will be increasingly oriented towards the world of open source and LAMP architectures (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Phyton). For this reason, a transformation was not only suggested, but vital. It was therefore decided to completely renew the website, a task consisting of about 70 physical pages to be rewritten in PHP. This work transformation has helped to pave the way for new technologies that today are modifying the web architecture of the entire WWW and that will soon allow us to implement new services and functions. Particular attention was paid to the most significant phenomena in the innovative technological panorama of Web Information Systems, with particular emphasis on the Semantic Databases and the new RIA (Rich Internet Application) technologies, the latter a splendid evolution of client-side web architectures.
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RAPTOR is a project, still under development, designed to build a simple and versatile tool in order to computerize the administrative procedures of the Italian Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage. Its purpose is to ensure a faster response to all kinds of external requests and to align, as much as possible, the Superintendency offices to the new Code of Digital Administration (CAD). RAPTOR geodatabase is based on open source software PostgreSQL and PostGIS, while the web-interface management is provided by PHP, JavaScript, GeoServer and OpenLayers. In this way all vector data can be entered into the system through specific compilation forms and displayed on a map, where they can also be queried. In short, RAPTOR will provide the users a complete and accurate mapping module, which will be able to show in real time a thematic cartography provided both with known archaeological evidence and negative areas.
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The aim of the collaborative platform WikiCARE, born in 2010, is the cataloging of European churches between the 4th and the 10th centuries and the creation of a scientific community with shared research interests centered on the study of the churches. In this contribution we will first retrace the constitutive phases of the project and its purposes, and then present the structure of the information sheet, highlighting some critical issues found in its compilation by the Italian group. We will then reflect on the prospects of WikiCARE, considering its potential from the point of view of an ever wider sharing of research, not only in the academic field.
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Since the 1970s, the development of archaeological databases has characterised the history of archaeological computing. The paper presents a summary of the pivotal early projects, with a particular focus on Italy and France, up to the current projects shared online. They are constantly monitored by the international journal Archeologia e Calcolatori, that since 1990 is an observatory of theoretical and methodological aspects of computing and information technology applied to archaeology.
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The increase of 3D acquisition and modeling techniques applied to archeology is due principally to (i) their capacity to survey archeological artifacts with high precision and a non-contact approach and (ii) the possibility to create 3D digital models useful for data analysis, simulation and preservation. These benefits in terms of knowledge oblige the contemporary archaeologist to acquire a better understanding of 3D acquisition and modeling principles and practice. This evidence arises from the necessity of adopting a common language for experts in 3D data management and archaeologists with the principal aim being the understanding of each other’s requirements and sharing of the purposes of the project. In this article the authors propose a concise but exhaustive explanation of the working principles of active and passive 3D acquisition techniques. For each one a description of instruments and methodologies is developed, pointing out pros and cons of every technique. In conclusion, a sensor fusion approach is presented as an interesting solution to increase the instrument performances while obtaining at the same time a quality improvement of 3D acquisition and modeling results. A final multi-resolution application about Pompeii Forum 3D modeling follows and closes the article.
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During the Late Republic and Early Empire, central Adriatic Italy was one of the most urbanised regions in the Roman world and most cities were extensively equipped with monumental buildings, often lavishly decorated with imported marbles and sculptures. This contribution presents the results of an archaeological and archaeometric study of the architectural and sculptural marbles used in this central Adriatic area. The determination of the geographical origin of white and polychrome marbles was carried out through macroscopic examination and laboratory investigations (optical petrography, X-ray diffraction, oxygen and carbon stable isotopes). The analyses revealed the presence of a wide range of lithotypes from Italy, Greece (mainland and Aegean islands), Asia Minor, North Africa and Egypt, including varieties of white marble from Carrara, Proconnesos, Pentelikon, Thasos, Paros and Dokimeion.
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The author illustrates a specimen of an archaeological map on a provincial scale and a prototype of an archaeological map on a municipal scale (Contessa Entellina area, near Palermo, ancient Entella) carried out by the Laboratorio di Topografia Storico Archeologica of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa within the GIS project of “Regione Sicilia”.
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The author illustrates some applications of the Idrisi GIS to the archaeological research he is carrying out in the Cingoli area, a territory having a considerable presence of prehistoric sites. In particular, he analyses the relationship between the archaeological sites and some landscape features. The archaeological record highlights a considerable concentration of Palaeolithic sites near areas of the flint outcrops (mainly in the inferior Palaeolithic). A further point of interest is represented by the different middle Palaeolithic sites mean altitude: compared with the inferior Palaeolithic situation, this difference could demonstrate a downwards displacement of settlements. With regard to the Neolithic, Aeneolithic and Bronze Age, the location of sites and their close relationships with Musone and Rudielle rivers could suggest the presence of a road running alongside these rivers and linking the two important valleys of the Marche Region: the Esino valley to the North, and the Potenza valley to the South.
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The author illustrates the results of a research project on the scattered sherd dispersion in the Lower Sangro Valley, where he has supervised a survey since 1995. While a number of dispersion causes have been detected, the author analyses here only the effects of meteoric water spill and of the agricultural work on the landscape. The analysis was performed using the DISPERSE module of the GIS Idrisi 2.0 for Windows.
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This paper is an introduction to the IX issue of «Archeologia e Calcolatori», dedicated to GIS in Archaeology. GIS technologies are first put in the context of Computer Science since the sixties. It is shown that the development of GIS results from a general evolution of computer manufacturing towards both multimedia and workstation solutions. The needs of the archaeologist for graphics and GIS are mainly within Rescue Archaeology, large site excavations, regional settlements studies and Cultural Resources Management (CRM). The progress of the use of GIS in Archaeology over the last 10 years has been analysed through 150 projects described in the present volume. It shows the advance of GIS applications in Anglo-Saxon countries (US, UK, Australia), even though in other countries the success of GIS is growing. The survey indicates a global rate of worldwide development of 25% per year. Pilot studies of GIS applications are mainly conducted by research Institutes (70%) and then culture heritage administrations (30%). About 40% of the GIS projects are CRM projects, 25% excavation management projects and 35% regional settlement studies. The computers used are Unix workstations (33%) and PCs (66%). About 40% of GIS users have chosen Arclnfo from Esri, while 50% have chosen low cost software like Maplnfo, Idrisi or Grass. The market for GIS applications in Archaeology seems to be shared between vector packages dedicated to CRM, raster packages dedicated to regional settlement studies, and CAD/CAM packages dedicated to survey and excavation. But progressively, the different packages will be adapted to have all the required functions, including image processing and interfacing with DBMS and statistical packages. Finally, GIS applications in Archaeology are not intrinsically theory oriented, even if environmental determinationism has found within GIS a perfect tool for its needs.
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The growing use and increasing sophistication of GIS methods to manage archaeological data is not related to an increase in diversity of use. After two decades on a trial basis, we evaluate in this paper the current ability of Spanish Archaeological GIS applications to meet the expectations placed upon them, especially concerning their role in archaeological method and theory. The purpose of this paper is threefold. Firstly, we summarize the main trends in Spanish GIS-based applications over the last years using a sample of the most recent bibliography. Secondly, we critically examine and evaluate the inherent shortcomings of some existing GIS applications, and finally we review different underlying conceptions of space in GIS projects and propose how such a software can be integrated into a proper theory of social space.
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This paper discusses the way in which GIS applications have flourished in Australia and New Zealand through a combination of high levels of computer ownership, environmental awareness and the scale of the landscape relative to population. The paper covers administrative applications such as site registers; traditional landscape based research applications of GIS; and recent attempts to apply GIS to off-site archaeology and distributions of artefacts on a micro-topographic scale. The critical effects of data availability and the use of GPS are discussed, as well as research into extending GIS or desktop mapping to cope with chronological change. The paper concludes by looking at ways in which the use of GIS can be encouraged within the wider archaeological community, the importance of sharing digital map data and some ideas on future directions in the application of GIS within Australian and New Zealand archaeology.
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The use of GIS in Scandinavian archaeology is still limited. The current survey has revealed 18 projects, of which 12 are full research projects, four are Cultural Resource Management (CRM) projects and two are aimed at developing field methods. Minor projects based on the work of individuals prevail among the research projects, although at least one large-scale project is reported. Three of the four CRM projects are “flagships” for their country (Denmark, Norway and Sweden). The paper takes a critical attitude towards the current development in Scandinavian Archaeology, where an obvious disparity between administrative and research archaeology prevails. The way GIS is applied may be seen as a good example of what this disparity means. Large scale uses of GIS occur in the CRM context, but primarily not with a research aim. Ambitious research projects, on the other hand, are promoted by research institutions, but generally they appear impotent due to a lack of resources. Further, the paper focuses on demands for making GIS a success in archaeological research. Issues discussed here are: active research contributions from CRM units in the future; better access to digital map information for non-profit research projects; education, education and once more education of archaeologists.
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This paper consists of some notes and comments on the use of electronic information systems in archaeology, in the form of stating a number of theses, each followed by an explanation and/or defence. Most of the theses pertain to the relationship among research design, relational database management system and geographical information system. The last section of the paper shortly discusses some projects in which electronic information systems are being used.
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In every region of the world there are some areas that assume an important role for cultural change and development of the neighbouring regions. This was the case of the Belice Valley in Sicily: its primary role in cultural change was the product of its long running in North-East/South-West direction that cuts almost all of Sicily from North to South, connecting the Tirrenian Sea with the African Sea. This preliminary study concerns the project “The Belice Valley: early cultural development in the Mediterranean area”, carried out in order to analyse the archaeological landscape on the basis of the socio-economic activities in pre-defined archaic societies. In order to process this complex information, we have started to undertake GIS and remote sensing applications reconstructing 3D models of the valley from macro-scale (territory) to micro-scale (sites). Finally, with virtual interactive navigation through the archaeological landscapes, we have created cognitive models of archaeological information that may hopefully also be useful for planning new archaeological parks.
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The paper presents a proposal fir the computer-based management of all the archaeological data produced by the Poggio Imperiale project. It highlights in particular, perhaps for the first time, a complete GIS solution to fit the needs of representing, querying and spatially analysing the features of an excavation. The hypermedia and multidirectional system we have developed provides a programmed user interface linking the interactions between three different applications: a GIS platform (with digital cartography ranging from the whole hill to a single stone of the excavation), a relational alphanumeric DBMS (collecting all the data from fieldwalking to stratigraphical layer records with all the finds) and a media archive (storing pictures, 3D reconstructions, movies, hypermedia products, etc.). The aim is to create a standard in the management of archaeological data.
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The rapid spread of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology confronts archaeologists with a number of opportunities and several dilemmas. Presentations and discussions at the 1996 UISPP meeting in Forlì, Italy, suggested that the current contributions of GIS to archaeological zeitgeist mixes new analytical possibilities, new data management capacities and theoretical problems. The current debate surrounding these issues is useful, yet it ignores several important areas of discussion. Many of the peculiarities of spatial data and spatial analysis have so far been overlooked, as have the changing metaphors of time and space demanded by GIS. A host of entertaining possibilities await those prepared to explore some of the remoter horizons opened by GIS.
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An international team of scholars from Croatia, Canada, Britain and Slovenia is attempting to analyse the human adaptation of nature on the Central Dalmatian islands in Croatia. Archaeological data and various forms of environmental information were integrated into a GIS. This system is an ideal platform for a variety of analytical procedures: the economy of past societies was analysed, territories of larger communities were modelled, trade routes were predicted and the positioning of different sites was observed. In this paper, special emphasis is paid to the GIS application of a sites and monuments database in the analysis of the perception of space using the data from the Bronze Age.