Articles by Enrico Giorgi

The Asculum Project started in 2012 by the Bologna University in agreement with the former Soprintendenza per iBeni Archeologici delle Marche and the Municipality of Ascoli Piceno, mainly as a project of urban archaeology and preventative archaeology in a city which has been inhabited for a very long period of time. A proper integrated methodology and the combination of a wide range of data, including that gathered from geophysical surveys, archaeological digs, historic cartography, bibliographic and archival data, allowed us to reconstruct the cityscape during the Roman Age and its development over the centuries. The understanding of the ancient urban landscape also included a detailed morphological study aimed at the reconstruction of the Roman paleosurface, carried out using data derived from coring samples and stratigraphic digs. In parallel, particular attention was directed to the modern 3D documentation of the historical buildings of the city, by means of laser scanner and the analysis of the stratigraphy of the surviving walls. The new surveys covered, in particular, the still extant Roman buildings, such as the temples incorporated by the churches of San Venanzio and San Gregorio Magno, as well as the Sostruzioni dell’Annunziata. These last acquisitions made it possible to reconstruct the overall layout and urban plan of the town during the Roman Age, as well as to shed new light on the conformation of the ancient landscape at the time of the oldest Piceni settlement. One of the most interesting aspects of the operating practices applied in the project was to reconcile the needs for preservation and research with the aim of a sustainable urban development.

The Agrigento: insula III Project began in 2016 thanks to an agreement between the Parco Archeologico e Paesaggistico Valle dei Templi di Agrigento and DiSCi - Bologna University; it aims to document an entire sector of the Hellenistic-Roman quarter, in a three-year period. The main goal is to start a systematic study of private housing from the Archaic period to Late Antiquity and, at the same time, provide a critical understanding of the town planning scheme in this part of the town, which still lacks a modern archaeological and topographical documentation. The interpretation of the previous documentation is the starting point, along with new mapping with laser scanning and a systematic campaign of geophysical investigations to obtain a BIM. As the Bologna University tradition teaches, modern technologies can answer precise historical and archaeological questions: what are the primary phases of the town map? Which one is the starting module of each lot and what are the changes in different ages? Is it possible to reconstruct the original architecture of Hellenistic houses? What is the relationship between this quarter and the rest of the town? The integration of traditional investigational techniques with more recent ones is the methodological assumption of the project, in order to solve the analysis of the complex stratigraphy of the setting, which was inhabited for at least a millennium, from the Archaic to the Middle Ages.

In 2015 the Department of History and Cultures of the Bologna University took part in the Grande Progetto Pompei - Piano della Conoscenza, with the task of providing a modern and complete documentation of the so-called Lotto 3 in Pompeii. The new survey was carried out by means of integrated innovative diagnostic survey techniques in order to provide a total documentary research of the whole sector. In 2016 a new project was started in agreement with the competent Superintendency, and focused on the study and preservation of the House of Obellio Firmo, included in the Lotto 3 of the Roman city. The new research contemplates an in-depth analysis of the building, employing systematic laser scanning and photogrammetry methods to generate an accurate 3D model of the house. This model is going to constitute the starting point for the further analysis of the wall stratigraphies and for the mapping and monitoring of the structures’ state of decay. The full-scale analytical documentation of the building also includes a detailed geophysical mapping of all the accessible domestic spaces, by using the ground penetrating radar technique. The preliminary results achieved by the non-invasive prospecting survey, integrated with the analysis of the surviving walls and building techniques, supply valid information for the archaeological interpretation of the house’s history. In order to allow the management and sharing of the information collected, the data are going to be organised within a building information model (BIM) with a triple objective: the reconstruction of a fragment of the ancient urban landscape in Pompeii during the oldest phase, with particular attention directed to the Samnitic period; the outlining of a precise strategy of intervention for the restoration and preservation of the House of Obellio Firmo; the re-opening of the building to sightseeing tours and its restitution to public use.

Recently, the team of researchers who collaborate with the journal ‘Groma’ was involved in two major archaeological projects relating to abandoned Roman towns in the Adriatic area: Burnum (Šibenik, Croatia) and Suasa (Ancona, Italy). The Burnum Project is primarily a remote sensing research project that aims at promoting the archaeological heritage of the site. The main results have already been presented during the first edition of the Workshop (2011). The Roman town of Suasa is located in the middle valley of the Cesano River, in the northern Marche region. The Department of Archaeology of Bologna University has spent over twenty years conducting archaeological excavations and multidisciplinary studies in the site. The present paper focuses on the new season of research, which involves new tools and methods for the analysis and documentation of the site and its territory. In particular, in recent years there has been an increased use of remote sensing techniques and the systematic management of the new data excavations through an innovative webGIS system. The integration of historical and modern aerial photographs, finalized aerial photogrammetry, new aerial and geophysical survey, made it possible to identify several buildings in the urban area and to locate the most important elements of the ancient topography in the suburban area. The large amount of archaeological data acquired from the excavations and from remote sensing techniques was managed by webGIS technology, which made it possible to conduct different levels of analysis.

This research project on the graphic documentation used in restoration grew out of a collaboration between ICCROM and the ICR. Among the objectives of the group were the formation of a documentation technique and the development of a useful, light and user friendly information instrument for the registration of graphic and documentary data. The principle goal was to reach a situation in which the restorer/conservator or the draughtsman could record, in a definitive way and directly on site, all the data related to the mapping techniques, distinct for each category and class, which characterise the graphic documentation of a restoration operation, without having to give up their personal happiness. This should be accomplished without altering in a drastic way the intrinsic complexity of the software used, while avoiding any prior hyper-specialist technical preparation. It is on site that it is necessary, to maximise tbc enormous potential offered by data elaboration systems that can store and process such enormous amounts of data in a simple way. There are two major classes of problems to solve. On the one hand all the psychological barrieres created by the personal resistance of the technicians strongly, and sometimes emotionally, tied on their role as documenters armed with pencils and crayons. On the other hand all the problems of a technical nature that are linked to the digital acquisition of the graphic base, to the planning of the form of the documentation, to the standardization of the topology of the hatch patterns and the personalization of the accessory procedures to the CAD programme.

This article describes work and experience in the computer documentation of restoration work. The final aim of this project is to develop a new standardized methodology for manipulating data relating to the process of conservation and restoration. The authors are members of an ICCROM/ICR special research group on graphic documentation and a NORMAL Commission sub-group for graphic documentation of mural paintings. The concept of standards is paramount. Standardization, information transfer and communication are stressed, especially in the area of training. Indeed, this approach unifies the description of documentation of restoration treatments performed by professional restorers and trainees from the two partner institutions. In view of the escalating use of computers in the field of conservation, it seems that little has been done to evaluate their impact and appropriate fields of application: the new converts have photographed themselves sitting at the computer keyboard much as our forebears were depicted with a prize buck. The attempt here is to plan for practical use by suggesting a method and specific operating techniques. Our aim is to supply user-friendly procedures (which help run more complex applications) to those who, with good reason, are neither expert in graphics software nor interested in becoming so. The quality of a computer system is not measured by spectacular rainbow effects but by the quantity of information available, its quality and retrievability. The diverse operating environments are defined - the open system and the closed system - analogous to the restoration worksite and the laboratory for chemico-physical analyses. On the one hand is the restoration worksite, the open system, where data are obtained; on the other is the laboratory, or closed system, where one collects and studies the data. What, then, is represented, and how? What is the structure of the information in relation to the model of the information and the model of the object? How should the graphic material be imported into the computer? How can one navigate through the various types of information while protecting the specific nature of each type? Information on hardware is scarce; there is not enough on software; there is a great deal on abstruse theoretical implications. In essence, hardware should allow software to run - no more than that. The principal idea is that the organization of information is the value-added factor produced in the process of registering data in a computer. These notes also describe some attempts at personalizing menus (icons, hatching, etc.) in AutoCAD (and other related software) and multimedia experiments using ToolsBook on a cycle of mural paintings in the Roman Forum.