Articles by Andrea D'Andrea

The world of research is currently undergoing a profound transformation, characterized by the extensive use of digital data available online. To optimize the utilization of these resources, artificial intelligence offers researchers several tools capable of aggregating both structured and unstructured information. The need to train algorithms to enhance the use of artificial intelligence techniques in data classification has led to the creation of structured datasets. However, it is not always possible to fully automate the transfer of data to more modern environments without substantial human intervention, aimed at extracting the implicit knowledge present in digital data. The category of CAD data appears to be particularly challenging in terms of automated management of spatial resources. The use of graphical entities for digital drawings, without semantically identified components, makes automatic conversion into GIS extremely complex. The paper is based on a partial test conducted on a cartographic archive that has been formed over 70 years of field research, aiming to demonstrate the importance of prioritizing legacy spatial data, both digital and non-digital, as archaeological data.

In the framework of a collaboration between the Archaeological Park of Paestum and the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’, in 2018 the study of the insula 4-6 of Paestum has been resumed. The paper shows the so-called ABIM (Archaeological Building Information Modelling) methodological approach that involves combining digital survey with parametric reconstruction of the structures. The study aims to provide a complete information system useful for different purposes, from documentation to interpretation and management of archaeological data, with a special focus on standards and interoperability. For this purpose, CISA (Centro Interdipartimentale di Servizi di Archeologia de ‘L’Orientale’) carried out an aerial digital survey to provide a detailed and updated map of all the structures still visible, while the point cloud was used to develop the archaeological BIM.

Computer graphics and three-dimensional modelling techniques have extended the possibilities of archaeologists in the creation of virtual reconstruction of ancient sites and monuments. Modern computational systems allow the implementation of computer-generated scenarios tailored on human cognitive capacities. Although Virtual Archaeology is not a novelty in the panorama of archaeological methods, there is no agreement among scholars on the minimal parameters necessary to virtually rebuild an ancient context, nor is there any requirement needed to guarantee the accuracy and the effectiveness of the final reconstruction; the strength of a model is based mainly on the capacity of the archaeologist to check the final result in terms of comparison between interpretations and hypotheses. The paper aims at exploring how the archaeologists could perform their work in a computational laboratory thanks to shared 3D models. The case study selected is the recent virtual reconstruction of the so-called Basilica in Herculaneum, a monument - 250 years after its discovery - still largely unexplained. The building is completely buried by volcanic lava save for part of its entrance porch. It was extensively explored using tunnels and looted by its early excavators. Different scholars have rebuilt the monument mainly on the basis of two plans, drawn in the 18th century, and few notes taken by the archaeologists during the exploration. The 3D model, carried out by integrating cad modelling with close-range photogrammetry, is intended to highlight some controversial parts of the reconstructions. Metadata associated to the digital replica describe the physical object and register all phases from data-acquisition to data-visualization in order to allow the validation of the model and the use or re-use of the digital resource.

By examining the potential offered by the digital survey, the article aims at encourag¬ing archaeologists to undertake a more rational approach towards three-dimensional data acquisition and management. Data was derived from excavations at Aveia (AQ - Italy) and Seglamen (Ethiopia). The 3D data-capture was achieved with the laser scanner and structure from motion techniques that make it possible to obtain a point cloud of an object from a sequence of photographic images, which are neither ordered nor calibrated. The conclusions reflect the role of digital technologies in the field of stratigraphic survey. Independence from scale and the ability to extract profiles and contours of stratigraphic units are factors of great importance for a virtual reconstruction of archaeological excavations.

Starting from the remark that scientific progress and cultural background proceed in a dialectical way, this paper seeks to deepen the relationship between scientific thought, archaeology and information technology. The still rationalist approach of information technology presses archaeologists toward applications where the quantity of data to manage and manipulate is dominant. The importance of quantitative methods is not balanced by an adequate reflection about the connection between archaeological theory, information technology and mathematical formalism. In archaeological field rules, as in other scientific areas, an attitude within the common expectation of confidence towards information technology seems deterministic; in this view technology is neutral and independent in comparison to the changes of the society. This is the dominant framework of archaeological computing closed within autarchy, self-reference and productive myth. The paper examines the possibility to define a different way of formal description and then analysis of archaeological objects. These different approaches, borrowed from other disciplines, are not dependent only from the theoretical model that the archaeologist selects for the digital reproduction of reality. They are a reflexive attitude and research experience which enables archaeologists to articulate in a flexible way data description and formalization without falling into the trap of the true/false opposition and the presumed neutrality of quantitative methods in archaeology.

Review article.

Review article.

The paper examines the applications of some software technologies in archaeological research and discusses a number of errors that may derive from a naïve approach. In considering databases, relational databases have strict requirements that are fulfilled in most cases when dealing with archaeological records, but cannot be given for granted without further investigation. It is suggested that XML technology may solve many of these issues. Digital Elevation Models generated automatically by GIS software may create undesired or unrealistic terrain features and introduce errors, as well as GPS data acquisition. The frequent absence in archaeological GIS papers of an error analysis confirms the lack of a critical approach to these mathematical tools. Finally, computer visualisation is examined in the paper, with a similar criticism to an exclusively visual interpretation of Virtual Reality reconstructions. Since all the tools examined in the paper were created within other applicative contexts, it is hoped that a more conscious approach may better integrate them into archaeological method and theory.

Introduction to the Proceedings.

For CRM the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is mainly related to the possibility of integrating archaeological data into territorial and town planning. The value of predictive models based on the construction of geo-environmental patterns has only recently been recognised. Spatial technologies have opened a whole new set of possibilities for the management of cultural resources, and the contribution of information technology to archaeological investigation makes it possible to reinterpret this protective action not only as a simple defence of the archaeological site, but as a dynamic exploitation and integration of the archaeological heritage into the territorial and town design. In Italy the diffusion of GIS at the inter-site level has been accompanied by the introduction of the concept of archaeological risk. This term has often been used incorrectly. In fact, it is more correct to refer to archaeological impact maps (AIM), borrowing the term from the Italian regulations governing the evaluation of environmental impact (VIA). An investigation based on the level of distribution of geographical information systems in Italian Public Administration has called attention to the increasing importance of GIS in urban planning. In the near future therefore, GIS will acquire a more strategic role, acting as a link and guaranteeing communication between policy makers and archaeologists. This paper examines the experience of an actual process of analysis and design of a GIS, designed for the management of cultural heritage. In particular, the aim is to offer operational and methodological guidelines for the development of the data models applied, in this specific case, to the analysis of the necropolis of Pontecagnano, an Etruscan-Campanian centre lying about 70 kilometres south of Naples. The system has been adjusted to the needs of different types of users: on the one hand, scientists interested in the reconstruction of the social, economic and cultural organisation of the ancient community, and on the other, operators involved in the preservation of cultural heritage through the promotion of a careful policy of development which would integrate the archaeological patrimony into urban planning.

Applicazione di un GIS intra-site al giacimento paleolitico di Garba IV – Melka Kunture (Etiopia). Spatial analysis has been widely utilised by Italian archaeologists to obtain territorial information at an inter-site level, but only a few attempts have been made to study the organisation of Early Palaeolithic paleosurfaces. The application presented here concerns the spatial analysis of the Early Palaeolithic site of Garba IV (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia). The excavation of two levels (C and D) over an area of more than 100 square metres has produced several thousand stone tools and faunal remains, which make it possible to attribute the site to the Developed Oldowan period, dated to 1.5/1.4 m.y. The entire set of data, concerning both the taphonomy and the techno-typological study of the lithic and faunal remains from level D, have been inserted in a database system (Microsoft Access and Excel). The plans of the excavation were drawn using Autocad and subsequently imported into the software Maplnfo and associated to the database. The management of the spatial data has been organised in order to meet the following goals: 1) Visualisation of the position and concentration of all the remains of the paleosurface D; 2) possibility of selecting the different classes of lithic materials and faunal remains in order to elaborate plans according to different themes; 3) application of statistical and quantitative methods together with spatial analysis to the study of each square metre of paleosurface D. The statistical and quantitative approach to the study of the frequency and density of particular tool types and faunal remains permit the identification of numerous hidden structures, which are probably related to several functionally differentiated areas of this Oldowan paleosurface.

Review article.

Archaeological investigations over the last thirty years in Pontecagnano, an important Etruscan-Campanian site about 70 km south of Naples, have brought to light an interesting archaeological context consisting of a large ancient site and an extended cemetery with more then 7000 graves, dating from the 9th to the 4th century BC The need to acquire, analyse and display this rich collection of data has given rise to the project, addressed to the application of a vector GIS to handle archaeological records from funerary contexts. This work consists in the elaboration of a powerful cartographical database, including the spatial location of graves and their attribute data. In this way it is possible to create and display thematic maps in order to trace a reconstruction of the social organisation of the ancient settlement through the patterns of development of the cemetery. Meanwhile the exact recording of the excavated areas in the digital cartography, superimposed on the topography of the modern Pontecagnano, allows us to have a complete, updated view of the operations, in order to define a new townplan and infrastructural projects in the local area. The package chosen for the full integration of conventional archaeological data with maps is Mapinfo, a desktop mapping software in use in archaeological computing applications. The information has been organized into three tables: burial data, paleobiological remains and grave-goods. These tables are linked to the digital cartography, structured according to different layers representing the ancient levels of the graves and the topography of the modern town. The project, involving numerous public agencies with different institutional aims, is designed to offer a single tool responding to different needs: scientific research, territorial management, running of a museum, townplanning and informing the public.