Analytical approaches and digital methods in alluvial archaeology: the ‘Ancient Shipyard’ of Pisa-San Rossore as a case study

Teresa Tescione

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2024, 35.1, 305-328; doi: 10.19282/ac.35.1.2024.20

Abstract

This paper aims to present analytical approaches and digital methods for the analysis of ceramic assemblages resulting from catastrophic alluvial flood flows. The study has been developed based on the principles of ‘alluvial archaeology’, a recently-developed field of archaeology. In this research program, ceramic records have been treated on a par with clasts in the geomorphological analyses of alluvial sediments. To test the different analytical procedures the ‘Ancient Shipyard’ of Pisa-San Rossore has been selected as a case study. This archaeological site represents a river channel, affected by several alluvial flood events. The analysis achieved several objectives, including the definition of the formation processes of the deposition (in synergy with the results of geomorphological data), the chronological framework of alluvial floods, the dynamics of flows, and locating the original deposition of the ceramic assemblage. In this regard, the combination of different approaches has proven particularly useful, ranging from computational analyses for chrono-typological determination of ceramic assemblages to intra-site spatial analyses, which have been useful in defining alluvial flood flows and the subsequent movement of ceramic assemblages.

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