Articles by Ernesto Canal

A particular type of multivariate analysis called “fuzzy c-means clustering” was applied to ancient bricks of 44 archaeological sites in the Lagoon of Venice, the remains of historical settlements of the last two thousand years. Each brick is characterized by its three geometrical dimensions, probably related to the local units of measure of the various epochs. The analysis was made with binary data (presence/absence) for the 20 principal types of bricks. The aim was to establish temporal relations among the various sites, some of which have definite temporal reference, allowing both to extend the references to the unknown sites and to evaluate, measuring the depth of the archaeological sites, the trend of the geological subsidence in the Venetian area. The results, compared also with those of a Correspondence Analysis, are, within some limitations, in agreement with the available dating from archivistic sources.