Analisi di siti archeologici inquadrati nel loro contesto territoriale: gli insediamenti protostorici del bacino del fiume Fiora

Neda Parmegiani, Maurizio Poscolieri

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 79-89

Abstract

Relationships between communities who inhabited the Fiora river basin during the Bronze Age and surrounding landscape have been examined to give more insight into the choice of settlement location, on the basis of landscape analysis methods adopted in environmental studies. By processing Landsat TM and elevation (raster) data and water related (vector) data (all georeferenced to a UTM grid), respectively spectral (the six TM band values), morphometric (elevation, aspect and slope etc.) and hydrological (distance to water from a site etc.) parameters have been derived for about 50 settlements detected in the study area. These parameters have been statistically analysed by separately processing the spectral, morphometric and morpho-hydrological values using a hierarchical cluster analysis method. The spectral data classification has yielded, with two exceptions, two main groups, one characterised by intermediate reflectivity, medium-low vegetation percentage and variable moisture; the other, more defined, with mostly dark and very humid soils, includes also 32% of the Final Bronze settlements. The classification of the morphometric parameters has highlighted elevation as the discriminating variable, obtaining two main clusters: the first includes sites located above 400 m; the second splits into two subclusters, one with sites between 50 and 200 m, the other between 200 and 400 m. Among the subclasses, three exhibit sites belonging to the Final Bronze Age, one includes sites of the Early Bronze Age. Therefore, the classification of the morpho-hydrological parameters shows that both elevation and water distance appear discriminating. The highest values of these two variables characterise a single site, clearly separated after cluster analysis application, which again yielded three subgroups belonging to the Final Bronze Age.

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