Articles by Luigi Malnati

The aim of this paper is to accurately and realistically describe the condition of the archives in which the documentation of excavations and, more in general, of the intervention related to archaeology in Italy should be kept. It is clear that, because of the backwardness of the regulations and the lack of personnel in the Archaeology Superintendencies, every project of data sharing and data advertising needs to start from an absolutely matter-of-fact evaluation of the state of affairs. Additionally, the author notes that the Bray-Franceschini reform, which separates Museums from the Archaeology Superintendencies, has worsened the situation adding cumbersome and almost insurmountable bureaucracy.

In relation to the project approved by the European Commission, the Direzione Generale per le Antichità has been charged with the responsibility of implementing the Knowledge Plan in accordance with the Cabina di Regia of the Consiglio Superiore per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici guidelines. A working group, composed of archaeologists from MiBACT in cooperation with informatics experts, was therefore established with the objective of creating a logic system capable of gathering and managing all information pertaining to the Pompeii area. The research and analysis have culminated in the project currently presented, and is the realization of an informatics system that integrates technical-descriptive with geographical and cartographical data, permitting the analysis of all the archaeological and architectural components of the ancient City. The project has enabled an evaluation of the state of preservation and deterioration factors, with the object of implementing a programmed conservation with periodic inspections and interventions that are not solely based on emergency factors.

This project has studied metallic ingots from the Etruria Padana that come from either old excavations and more recent ones. The samples have been studied through chemical-physical structural and metallographic analysis; the process, conducted after years of restoration, leaves no trace on the object, as it concerns only a few milligrams of sample, which usually allows the identification of about 15 elements in the alloy. The sample is taken after accurate weighing and a series of chemical treatments, through its exposure to a strumental analysis through Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. With this type of analysis a qualitative and quantitative measurement of the elements of the alloy is made. The results of the analysis are transferred to tables in Excel; then, through these tables, a series of graphics are produced giving a better opportunity to evaluate the concentration of the most important elements of the alloy. The computer allows us also to organize, in the same table, the study of one or more elements in comparison with the others, in order to give different meanings to the results obtained, by for example, producing a decreasing movement in the concentration of an element; so we obtain some graphics that may better point out the differences. The use of computer graphics permits not only an easy reading of the elements of the alloy, but also better evidence of the differences regarding the composition that are particular to some different classes of metal objects.