Archeologia e Calcolatori 11 - 2000

Introduction to the Proceedings.

This paper describes a system for real-time field support to archaeological excavations, and for interaction with remote researchers, via the Internet. To this aim, a prototype system has already been field tested at the site of Poliochni in Greece. The system is composed of a wireless LAN, including one (two or more in the future) mobile unit (Telxon PTC), and a wired LAN, with at least one PC or Workstation running Windows NT and Lotus Notes Domino for groupware activities. The two LANs are connected by means of an Access Point Aironet 630 (Radio-hub). The system provides a communication link with remote workstations installed in Universities or Museums where researchers who are interested in cooperating in real-time with field operators can work. Archaeologists can use the mobile units to draw finds on the screen using a magnetic pen, to write related textual information and to send these sketches or digital snapshots to the fixed host by using suitable interfaces (serial, parallel, PCMCIA, and so on).

This paper describes a database management system created for organising the data which emerged during an investigation conducted by a team from the University of Florence in Petra, Jordan. The subject of the research are Crusader settlements in Transjordan and, in particular, the castle system of the Petra valley; the study employed a methodological approach based on so-called “light archaeology”, that is a set of methods typical of European Medieval archaeology like “landscape archaeology” and “standing structure archaeology”. The study, which is still in progress, has revealed the key role of Petra in the territorial organisation of Transjordan during the Crusader period. By focusing on Wu’ayra, the most important fortress of the Petra valley, by means of a series of trial trenches, the project has documented the different settlement stages of the site. It is now apparent that the site was defended by a double wall overhanging the surrounding wadi with a single access and fourteen square towers on the outer ring and the inner walls, and an extreme defence nucleus, the fortified church, inside the cassero, in the centre of the system. Of the nine stages studied so far, three concern the Crusader settlement, one a very short occupation by the Ayyubids, and five correspond to the phase of abandonment of the castle with subsequent occasional use by Bedouin communities. The investigation will eventually evolve into a wide ranging study of the Crusader border, from Antioch to Aqaba. The computer project consists of a database management system, which is based on a Java servlet, a software which uses the HTTP protocol to generate and submit HTML pages “on demand”, and which can be viewed using a common Internet browser. This helps communication and simplifies access to data, which can also be shared on-line. Future developments will include spatial information, based on freely available GIS software. A particular feature of this investigation is the close connection which is maintained between computer technology and archaeological methods, which envisages new forms of co-operation in interdisciplinary research and new skills that draw from both disciplines.

Some years ago, the chair of Archaeology of the University of Salerno, in cooperation with the Soprintendenza Archeologica and the Amministrazione Provinciale, began a methodical research program on the ancient settlement of Fratte. This settlement is situated on the hill of Scigliato, in the north-eastern part of Salerno on the Irno River, at the confluence of the Pastorano and Grancano streams. Since 1985 the archaeological area - partly rediscovered in the 50’s and immediately expropriated, enclosed and set aside as a park - has been the subject of a new systematic research project aimed at defining the chronology and the town-plan and understanding the monuments and their functions. Thanks to new scientific knowledge, since 1995 the research project, which is still in progress, has defined two principal aims. Firstly, strictly scientific, to acquire and organise as much information as possible in order to reconstruct the geo-morphological dynamics and human activity involving the entire territorial context of the ancient settlement. Secondly, to develop the archaeological park, which is considered a key element for the improvement of the neighbouring urban areas. As the information about the scientific methods and documentary records from the beginning of this century until now was not homogeneous, it was necessary to plan a new strategy for the management and systematic organisation of all the records that would guarantee consistent documentation. For this purpose we suggest using Syslat, which was created specifically for the recording of archaeological data, as the most reliable system for guaranteeing a standard of consistent documentation, description and global analysis of all records (e.g. Stratigraphic Units, map-making, photos, reports, etc.). This can also be used for the organisation and handling of all information which emerges during research projects using statistic and quantitative methods. Moreover, the possibility of connecting individual data-bases for different sites will make it possible to project each dossier on the largest scale, i.e., on a “regional” level. This information system, which has been tested since 1983 at the proto-historic site of Lattes (Herault, France) by a team of researchers from CNRS (M. Py, M. Bats, J.L. Fiches) was adopted by the Laboratorio di Archeologia using the earliest versions in order to test its effectiveness and to optimise the results. Continuous exchange of ideas and comparison of results between the French team, the “Centre J. Bérard” and the Istituto Orientale of Naples have allowed us to elaborate a “personal” application, which is specifically suited to the theoretical organisation and to the specific and complex requirements of archaeological research in Fratte.

It is our intention to present the experience accumulated in the last decade by the LIAAM (Laboratorio di Informatica Applicata all’Archeologia Medievale). In recent years we have worked to develop solutions for managing all types of information produced by an archaeological project. We have operated on different levels (from regional surveys down to detailed records of all the finds). In particular, all the data was administered within a system made up of three components: different GIS platforms, an alphanumerical database and a media database; these are linked by a system level application called OpenArcheo, directly engineered and developed at our Laboratory. Basic concepts of our system are the multidirectional links between information types (which allow the user to query and retrieve all the information related to a feature starting from any of the components mentioned above), modular organisation of the architecture in order to implement the ever changing variables and detail levels of archaeological research that suit the specific needs of every single project, and user-friendliness so that the management of complex data is possible for anyone who has a basic knowledge in the use of computers. In short, our aim is to optimise the management of information produced by archaeological projects and make it possible that the archaeologist has all the different kinds of data at hand in real time. Such a system, and particularly a “GIS solution”, is perfectly suited for the management of an excavation and the application of inter-site spatial and statistical analysis tools, organising each campaign of our projects and providing simulations of the parts we cannot investigate.

This paper concerns the specific experience of our Laboratory in managing archaeological excavations on a GIS platform; the development process of our solution started five years ago and brought us, through successive stages of refinement, to an efficient data model. The basic idea was to reproduce on a graphic level the exact situation we find in the field. We therefore organised our objects according to an overall composite plan representing all the excavated layers, as well as the necessary landscape features, related only in spatial terms; detailed alphanumerical data and interpreted information were derived from the DBMS using specific identifiers. The objects were organised in views according to different parameters and queries; examples of views we created involved the surrounding landscape (e.g. with archaeological surveys, land cover and use, geology, etc.), preliminary investigations (with analytical surveys and crop-marks detection), and stratigraphical data (with a composite plan of all layers as well as analytical views based on chronological aspects, excavated structures, etc.).

Designing a database to fit the needs of an archaeological excavation meant creating an open architecture capable of adapting to the evolving aspects of our research project (in range of data as well as in level of detail); this, together with the complete integration within the global system developed at our Laboratory, were the first aims we pursued in building our solution. The DBMS, based on an open ID system, can be considered a large data container which is continuously updated in its structure; it allows us to easily build relational indexes, increase the level of data detail and create new table and forms in order to manage new types of data. Essential aspects of this solution are total control over data consistency and data vocabularies, a self-made and user-friendly interface, and the possibility of managing multiple projects together. The automation of many repetitive tasks through programming also helps archaeologists in elaborating their data in order to produce information (the elaborated finds quantification and frequency routines are a good example).

This paper describes a methodology for using the GIS Arc/Info system as an operating tool to study excavation finds and structures on an archaeological site. The choice of the archaeological sample site (Villa Rufolo, Ravello - Italy) and the definition of information and methodologies useful to its study and management were the result of collaboration between a photogrammetry partnership (S.F.M.) and the “N. Cilento” archaeological laboratory of the University of Salerno. The GIS architecture was developed starting from the analysis of methods common to both the research methodologies (landscape recognition and stratigraphic excavations), which define the phases of archaeological data manipulation. The main aim was to create a tool which, starting from the planimetric documentation of each excavation, could link the various environments to their related stratigraphic units through data derived both from the individual structures and from artefacts. Following Arc/Info data models, all information was arranged into a relational database. The Stratigraphic Unit (US) attribute forms the link which connects the graphical elements, geographical and spatial database, and the descriptive database. Data stored can be analysed using many criteria, and the GIS always makes it possible to display the graphic results of the analysis. Besides the management, integration and manipulation of the archaeological data assigned to the territory under investigation, with Arch/Info various data levels can be combined for the purpose of producing new types of information; this information is usually acquired by employing techniques of data overlapping and through statistic and classification processing of all the stratigraphic units related to the site. The next stage of our project will consist of a careful check of the results of the statistical and classification processes and the use of this model at other archaeological sites so as to exploit the GIS potential for comparing excavation data as well as the geomorphologic and geographic features of the various sites.

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.

In general, a territory can be considered as the centre which contains all information related to different historical ages. The study of a portion of a given territory characterised by the presence of archaeological sites must be aimed at the complete and accurate acquisition of environmental data (e.g. topography, geo-morphology, litho-stratigraphy, land use, etc.), which will be used for an overall study of the site, the reconstruction of the man-environment interaction, and the evaluation of possible applications of geophysical prospecting methods. By interpreting different sets of remote-sensing data, studying existing geological and geo-morphological information and through systematic field work (e.g. archaeological survey, geophysical investigations, etc.), a wide spectrum of environmental data can be collected. The methodology of a complete analysis of the territory can be summarised as follows: analysis of remote-sensing data sets and their geo-referencing; DTM of the selected study area; morphological and geological definition of the selected study area; identification, location and geo-referencing of all archaeological sites in the territory; high-resolution integrated geophysical prospecting methods, to delineate the extension of the site and to locate the archaeological structures; a complete description of the site in its environmental context; definition of an integrated analysis method, based on the spatial correlation of the different data sets; study and design of a GIS for the management of all data sets which have been collected, elaborated and interpreted; definition of a model for the knowledge and protection of the historical and environmental aspects of the territory.

Analysis and geometric measurement represent the main diagnostic tool to define the state of conservation of historic buildings and to plan their restoration. In the case of complex structures, the accurate monitoring and survey of the morphology aid in understanding the static situation in relation to the original design and materials used. This information is fundamental for the generation of virtual models and for simulating the evolution of deviations. This paper presents the results of a survey of two Islamic domes in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) which suffer from serious static problems. The integration of the different methods of survey performed with laser distantiometers, traditional geodetic instruments and digital photogrammetric techniques has been found to be vital in order to accurately reproduce the geometrical pattern of these structures. We obtained dimensional and geometrical measurements of the thickness of the walls, the morphologic defects, the variations of the axes and of the supporting surface of the domes. All of the geometric data, obtained in continuous form, was then used for the digital reconstruction and 3D simulation of the domes.

Maintenance and restoration activity of archaeological structures are often recorded only on paper and not according to standardised procedures. For this reason a large amount of information produced daily can be neither referred to or elaborated. The geographical location of building materials and deterioration patterns, the relations between decay and environmental data, quantitative information on restoration work, products and techniques, are some of the types of information normally generated in the conservation sector which at present are not being used to improve the quality of the restoration activity or to accomplish the institutional task of strategic programming. The main purpose of this research project was to devise a qualitative and quantitative method to evaluate the behaviour over time of products used for the protection and restoration of architectural surfaces, and to establish a single criterion for certifying their performances. Only after the procedures used to record the different kinds of data (geometrical survey, building materials, deterioration patterns etc.) have been standardised will it be possible to correlate and elaborate them, exchange information through a system of local and remote networks, and produce synthesis outlines. The proposal has been tested on the monumental complex of Khor Rori in the Sultanate of Oman. The fortified city, built at about the end of the first century BC, for the protection of a natural harbour, was located on the main maritime route that crossed the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Nile, connecting Rome and the Mediterranean Basin to India (the Frankincense road). The study and the restoration of Khor Rori, chosen as a “pilot project” by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and financed by public organisations in Italy and Oman, will help to clarify the historical, commercial, and cultural relations between the Mediterranean and the Southern Arabian peninsula. This study has been conducted with the support of Siatel S.n.C. of Perugia and the Studio Menci of Arezzo.

The study outlined here was conducted in order to show how the combined representation of a monument’s geometry, together with the morphology and distribution of the damage, the component materials and their physical characteristics, the historical-architectural analysis and environmental factors can be used to facilitate our understanding of the degradation processes. A correct management of the various aspects of our knowledge of our architectural heritage and the evaluation of its state of conservation, which are required for making a plan, implementing it and verifying the results, can only be achieved by constantly matching the specificity of the monument, after its exact geometry has been restored using elements obtained by means of historical and architectural analysis, the survey of the structure, building techniques and materials used, including those which describe its material status, considering individual buildings as a whole and systems of buildings as a group in its context. Information Technology (IT) was selected as the best means of creating environments that were the most suitable for the aims pursued and for use as an operating instrument. It was decided to translate the theoretical disciplinary model into a computer-based procedure in which the functions specific to the GIS - Geographic Information Systems - were transposed to an architectural scale. To this end, an Information System - ARKIS - is currently being configured. It is designed for the organisation, representation and utilisation of knowledge obtained from data regarding the architectural subject in question, its immediate context and its territorial location. Some actual applications are presented.

This article introduces the Web Site of Sorgenti della Nova, a proto-urban settlement located in Southern Etruria and inhabited in the Final Bronze Age (11th - beginning of the 9th century BC). The web site was implemented thanks to collaboration between the Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità of the University of Milan and the Istituto per le Tecnologie Informatiche Multimediali of the National Research Council in Milan; it contains not only general information about the settlement but, in particular, digital records on the archaeological finds of Sorgenti della Nova (records and drawings). Further, an analysis is made of the different forms of study and data dissemination offered by multimedia techniques as opposed the traditional forms of finds publications. In conclusion, a complete description of data organisation and structure of the site is offered as well as what is probably the most interesting topic for the archaeologist: the three basic methods for consulting finds according to their typology, chronology or topographic position in the settlement. The site is available at the following URL: http://jargo.itim.mi.cnr.it/ Nova.

This paper deals with the problem of virtual modelling for ancient architecture. After examining the different roles played in the project management of a virtual model - the scientific tutor, the modeller and the communicator - the representation of the modelled object is designed according to different detail levels (formal, operational and aesthetic), with emphasis on their dynamic and interactive features. The paper then describes the operational steps for creating a virtual model and considers, in particular, how this may be applied to the study of ancient architecture, examining what this use implies in general, from an operational point of view and as far as the dissemination of knowledge is concerned.

What is Virtual Archaeology (from now on abbreviated as VA) really? And what is virtual? In a period of great technological-digital evolution in all scientific fields, it is even more important to try to decipher, monitor and critically describe the state of the art, with particular attention to those interdisciplinary areas which will represent the avant-garde of future research. The great communicative impact that archaeology offers in itself is greatly enhanced by the possible digital interfaces and by the comprehensibility that these provide for much more than the scientific community. Therefore, considering what has been noted in this overview and what will be discussed below, VA can be defined as digital reconstructive archaeology, computational epistemology applied to the reconstruction of three dimensional archaeological ecosystems, therefore, cognitive ecology. The epistemological aspect is essential in the assessment of computational processes and therefore, in archaeological activity. To the out-going elaboration one must increase the cognitive significance of the in-going data (“augmented” reality). The context is cognitively greater than the sum of its components and we must identify the “environment” of the VA in a structuralist sense. In the assessment of the application of VA therefore, an epistemological measurement is essential; if, in fact, we try to “measure” the cognitive quality of models there is a risk of completely destructuring the information in respect to the context. Moreover it is evident that virtual space, in the archaeological dimension, must be contextualised and hierarchically restructured in order to allow for the identification of the logical units of information in the geometry of the models; theoretically one should “undo” and “redo” the context to completely verify the geometric and functional system. Key words might be 3D, interaction, virtual models, and other variables described in the text.

The study of a wide variety of artefacts of cultural interest requires a vast and heterogeneous documentation that ranges from information concerning the physical sites, to the typologies, state of conservation, methodologies of documentation and intervention, until the whole cognitive process is brought to fruition. The techniques employed for analysis, intervention and documentation are therefore fundamental both for the planning and the implementing of innovative solutions for the recovery and the conservation of the artefacts themselves, as well as for the protection and preservation of the archaeological heritage involved. This paper consists of an analysis of research projects in the field of cultural heritage which includes aspects of information and communication technologies, based on the ACM Classification Scheme. The topics dealt with are intended as a contribution to the understanding of the interdisciplinary approach which should be taken into consideration in proposing future research programs.

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.

The aim of this project has been to create a GIS for the archaeological survey in Contessa Entellina (Palermo) that was conducted in 1998 by the Historic-Archaeological Topography Laboratory of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. The survey covered an area (about 42 km2) of the territory of Contessa Entellina. Like the survey, the GIS was also a model for research. During the survey Topographic Units (UT) were located with large concentrations of finds and other zones labelled “Sporadic Material” (MS) were also identified. The GIS includes only the Topographic Units. With the software ArcView GIS 3.1, UTs have been located as points on a raster map at a scale of 1:5000, the same as used for the survey. The survey data has been recorded in a relational database that holds information about the finds, the documents, the relationship between UTs, the chronology, the vegetation, etc. We focused our attention on the representation of temporal information. However, it is very difficult to represent archaeological dates in a database scheme because their limits are uncertain. Therefore, to represent this uncertainty every Topographic Unit is characterised by several periods. Each period has a beginning (field “Inizio”, meaning “Start”) and an ending (field “Fine”, meaning “End”). These two limits have a symmetrical tolerance (for example ±50 years). In the future, this system will be completed and used to analyse the spatial relations between UTs and their visibility.

The purpose of this paper is to present an archaeological information system and multimedia application used to record, manage and diffuse the data provided by the excavations conducted, since 1976, in Braga, Portugal, and related to the “Urban Rescue Project of Bracara Augusta”. The Geographical Information System built to manage and process the archaeological information (SIABRA), created by a team from the Archaeology Unit of Minho University, which was responsible for the project, is presented here. A natural result and advantage of this system is to simplify and enhance spatial analysis and data articulation related to the main buildings which have already been found, as well as the urban interpretation. One further advantage is the three dimensional model reconstruction, where a specialist (archaeologist, architect, urbanist) can analyse and visualise complex and diachronic information concerning the Roman town, in order to simplify the global understanding of buildings, their reconstruction phases and the general relationships between them. The development of virtual environments reproducing archaeological sites, such as the Roman town of Bracara Augusta, can be considered as an important and powerful tool for facilitating the research of specialists and improving heritage consciousness.

GeoARQUEOS is a programme designed with Avenue and Crystal Reports for the purpose of keeping the digital cartography of the Andalusian Archaeological Heritage updated. Its three basic functions may be summarised as follows: a) Automatic elaboration of digital coverages and data models using the information available in the Andalusian Archaeological Heritage Database (DatARQUEOS); b) Detection of geo-referencing errors in the resulting coverage (archaeological sites outside of their municipality boundaries and evident errors in the assignment of coordinates); c) Automatic comparisons between new and previous coverages, in order to offer information about the new, cancelled or modified archaeological sites in the new coverage. The GeoARQUEOS programme represents a considerable improvement in the handling of information related to the Andalusian Archaeological Heritage. This progress has been possible mainly because it acts as a means of quality control for the data by minimising the number of errors which escape manual filtering when information is stored in the system.

Review article.

Review article.

Review article.

Review article.