ARCHAIA: Case Studies on Research Planning, Characterisation, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 9781407303574, 9781407333847

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BAR S1877 2008

ARCHAIA

MARCHETTI & THUESEN (Eds)

Case Studies on Research Planning, Characterisation, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites Edited by

Nicolò Marchetti Ingolf Thuesen

ARCHAIA

BAR International Series 1877 2008 B A R

ARCHAIA Case Studies on Research Planning, Characterisation, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites Edited by

Nicolò Marchetti Ingolf Thuesen

BAR International Series 1877 2008

ISBN 9781407303574 paperback ISBN 9781407333847 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407303574 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

BAR

PUBLISHING

Riccardo Francovich et Stine Rossel in memoriam

Table of Contents Preface......................................................................................................................................................................................................7 INTRODUCTION ARCHAIA: from excavation strategies to archaeological parks  (Nicolò Marchetti).......................................................... 11 Protection of cultural property and archaeological heritage in the European Union and in Italy (legislation and recent case-law)  (Guglielmo Cevolin)................................................................................................................................17 Towards an international agenda for agreeing on a standard policy of preservation, presentation and management of archaeological sites and parks 

(Ingolf Thuesen)........................................................................................23

TOPOGRAPHY AND SURVEYING Survey and technical analysis: a must for understanding monuments  (Carla Maria Amici)...............................................29 Image-based 3D recording and modelling of landscapes and large Cultural Heritage sites  (Armin Gruen)................41 Multiscale integrated application of geomatic techniques for Cultural Heritage documentation  (Gabriele Bitelli).................................................................................................................................................................................53

Precise global georeferencing of sites and geodetic techniques for morphological surveys within a common reference frame 

(Luca Vittuari)...................................................................................................................................................59

Topographical field operations in mapping archaeological sites  (Enrico Giorgi)..................................................................67 Some aspects of close-range photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage documentation  (Antonio Zanutta, Gabriele Bitelli).....................................................................................................................................................77

Take a look, make a sketch and re-think it: surveying and 4D models for reconstructing archaeological sites 

(Moritz Kinzel).......................................................................................................................................................................91

MATERIAL CULTURE CHARACTERISATION Traces of the past: characterising material culture  (Luisa Mazzeo Saracino).....................................................................103 A mineralogical-geochemical approach to pottery characterisation  (Vanna Minguzzi, Maria Carla Nannetti).............. 113 A systematic approach for the damage assessment of museum metals collections based on statistics and portable techniques: the case study of ancient Messene, Greece  (M. Giannoulaki, V. Argyropoulos, T. Panou, G. Michalakakos, A.G. Karydas, V. Kantarelou, D. Anglos, A. Giakoumaki, V. Perdikatsis, C. Apostolaki, P. Themelis, S. Poulimenea)..................121

Characterisation and documentation of material culture (particularly pottery)  (Susanne Kerner)...........................131 Reconstructing history from material culture: the case of Etruscan Marzabotto  (Elisabetta Govi)..........................137 Material evidence as a vehicle for socio-cultural reconstruction  (Alan Walmsley).........................................................147 DATA PROCESSING GIS archives for sites and their landscapes  (Maurizio Cattani)..............................................................................................155 Semantic profiling to support multi-view and multimodal interaction  (Flavio De Paoli, Glauco Mantegari)..................159 Computational intelligence in archaeology: the automatic production of knowledge  (Juan A. Barceló).....................167 Wireless networks in archaeology and Cultural Heritage  (Massimo Ancona, Davide Conte, Donatella Pian, Sonia Pini,
Gianluca Quercini, Antonella Traverso)........................................................................................................................175

NADIR – The Archaeological Research Network of the Department of Archaeology, University of Bologna  (Antonio Gottarelli)......................................................................................................................................................181 BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL ISSUES An introduction to Bioarchaeology through a zooarchaeological perspective  (Antonio Curci)....................................187 Bioarchaeology: the human skeleton as a historical source  (Maria Giovanna Belcastro, Valentina Mariotti)..................199 Faces from the past: the reconstruction of human physical appearance  (Niels Lynnerup, Bjørn Skaarup)......................209 Palaeoenvironment and subsistence economy through the analysis of botanical macroremains  (Marialetizia Carra).........................................................................................................................................................................215

The use of archaeobotanical assemblages in palaeoeconomic reconstructions  (Mette Marie Hald)...............................223 An introduction to faunal remains and environmental studies: a mismatch or a match made in heaven?  (Pernille Bangsgaard)......................................................................................................................................................................231

LANDSCAPES Conservation and presentation of historical European mining landscapes: the Rammelsberg and Goslar UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the North-Western Harz Mountains in Germany  (Christoph Bartels).............................241 Ten years of collaboration on cultural landscapes research  (Almudena Orejas, María Ruiz del Árbol).........................249

From archaeological parks to the enhancement of archaeological landscapes: new directions in Italian heritage management

  (Andrea Zifferero).................................................................................................................................257

Environmental assessment of an archaeological site for the development of an archaeological park 

(Paola Rossi Pisa, Gabriele Bitelli, Marco Bittelli, Maria Speranza, Lucia Ferroni, Pietro Catizone, Marco Vignudelli)............273

Culture, context, communication: an essay on the museological depth of field  (Tim Flohr Sørensen)...........................285 Global climate change and archaeological heritage: prevision, impact and mapping  (Cristina Sabbioni, Alessandra Bonazza, Palmira Messina)...........................................................................................................295

CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT AND PRESENTATION OF SITES The restoration and consolidation of archaeological sites and historical buildings. Science – research – technology 

(Pasquale Zaffaroni)................................................................................................................................................303

Modern approaches to archaeological conservation  (Giovanna De Palma)..........................................................................307 The policy for the conservation of the archaeological heritage in Turkey  (Abdullah Kocapınar)..................................313 Low impact restoration techniques, coverings and fixed devices in an archaeological park: a case study at Tilmen Höyük in Turkey   (Stefano F. Musso)..........................................................................................................................319 Preservation and presentation of Neolithic sites: a case study at Shkarat Msaied, Southern Jordan  (Moritz Kinzel)..................................................................................................................................................................................331

Cultural Heritage management: the special case of the World Heritage Site of Petra  (May Shaer)...........................341 The desert and the sown: Islamic cities
as a paradigm for sites on the fringe?  (Alan Walmsley).....................................347 The archaeological park and open-air museum at the Middle Bronze Age site of Montale (Modena, Italy)  (Andrea Cardarelli, Ilaria Pulini).....................................................................................................................................................355

Strategic management of enhancement projects on urban archaeological sites: the APPEAR method 

(Anne Warnotte, Marianne Tinant, Pierre Hupet)............................................................................................................................367

Understanding the historic urban fabric of towns: implications for archaeological research design and public archaeology 

(Ian Simpson).........................................................................................................................................................375

Late antique mosaics and their archaeological context  (Isabella Baldini)..........................................................................379 Archaeology and its museums: from the excavation to multimedia dissemination  (Maria Teresa Guaitoli).....................391 NATIONAL POLICIES: CROATIA AS A CASE STUDY The Croatian archaeological heritage: some introductory remarks  (Nenad Cambi, Giuseppe Lepore)...........................399 The archaeological site of Burnum: research perspectives within a protected natural landscape  (Igor Borzić).....................................................................................................................................................................................401

Archaeological diagnostics experiences at Burnum  (Federica Boschi, Alessandro Campedelli)..........................................409 Critical approach to the exhibitions of the
imperial cult in the Roman Illyricum with regard
to its early stage of development 

(Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić).......................................................................................................417

Archaeological heritage alongside the Krka River  (Josko Zaninović).................................................................................427 Roman epigraphical monuments from Asseria and Burnum: the role of epigraphy in reconstructing the history of sites 

(Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić).................................................................................................................................435

Addresses of contributors. ..............................................................................................................................................................445 COLOUR PLATES

Preface

That field archaeological research and the conservation of ancient remains are inseparable actions is now a commonly shared opinion. However, in practice this consensus does not come with a check-list of shared protocols which can help in identifying the best possible solutions in each case. The ways of presenting a site to the public are often conceived a posteriori, after the completion of an archaeological project and without taking advantage of all the data produced by secondary studies and analysis of the excavated materials. As field archaeologists we have long been confronted by these problems. We believe in the value of networking and of discussing from several points of view some of the main issues in the current scientific debate and research on conservation, enhancement and management of archaeological sites. As a first step, we gathered a group of colleagues from the Universities of Bologna, Copenhagen and Zadar, to which some other key speakers were added. This book contains the results of our joint efforts in highlighting what we think may be some of the most promising avenues for future practice and research. We hope that it may contribute in many ways to enhance our understanding and appreciation of problems so significant for the present and future memory of our past. The ARCHAIA project was funded as a Specific Support Action within the 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Developement of the European Union. Two training seminars were organized in Copenhagen (January 28th-30th, 2008) and Bologna (May 15th-17th, 2008). The seminars were attended by about 90 participants, both researchers and Ph.D. students, from 23 Countries all over the world. We would like to thank them for their lively contribution and for the constructive discussion after each presentation. This book is dedicated to the memory of two colleagues of ours, part of the project, who tragically passed away in 2007. Riccardo Francovich from the University of Siena envisaged some of the topics discussed here with astounding clarity already thirty years ago and he has been a pioneer in creating thematic archaeological parks in Italy. Stine Rossel was a post-doc researcher at the University of Copenhagen. She had devoted her work to the study of zooarchaeology in the Ancient Near East in relation to climatic change. Her achievements were remarkable for someone so young. Several institutions deserve to be mentioned with gratitude at the end of this project: the Research Directorate - General of the European Commission (Directorate I – Environ-

ment) has offered all the enthusiasm and support of its officers: Mr Michel Chapuis and Ms Caroline Woussen. The Universities of Bologna and Copenhagen provided the best possible environment for researching and for conducting the seminars. In Bologna, the Department of Archaeology, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Complesso di San Giovanni in Monte and the Administrative Area for Research offered skilled administrative personnel and logistic support. In Copenhagen the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, the Faculty of Humanities all the way through the project offered professional support both in terms of academic activities and in the necessary logistic and administrative tasks. Also we would like to mention the fruitful and intense cooperation with the University of Zadar – in particular with its most eminent Antiquity scholar, Nenad Cambi – in discussing several field research topics before and during the seminars. Among the many persons who helped us, our special thanks are extended to Massimo Bozzoli and Stefano Bassetto in Bologna for setting up and maintaining the Web site www.archaia.eu (hosted on the servers of the Department of Archaeology thanks to an internal domain offered by CeSIA, www.archaia.unibo.it); to the assistant to the ARCHAIA project, Alessandro Campedelli, who has been invaluable in helping us in every possible way and solving many problems encountered. During the seminars, Luisa Guerri, Tatiana Incerti, Marie Risager, Aiysha Abu Laban, Hanne Nyman, David Walter Birk, Berit Jakobsen, Marco Lammers, Ann-Sölvia Jacobsen were also very helpful. Among the administrative personnel of the University of Bologna, Pasquale Frattaruolo, Verdiana Bandini, Diego Torresan, Alessandra Baccigotti, Giovanni Paruto, Maria Concetta Chiaravalloti, Annalisa Mondini and Carmelo Geraci must be mentioned with gratitude; in Copenhagen, Lykke Ditlefsen and Jane Engelund. The Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna with its president Fabio Alberto Roversi Monaco and the MAPEI group with its marketing director Adriana Spazzoli offered us also the stationery for the seminars, much appreciated by participants. Finally, this book would not have seen the light of day in its present form without the help of Ivano Devoti (layout), Benedetta Panciroli (editing of texts), Richard Hugh Barnes, Inge Demant Mortensen, Stephen Lumsden, Rachael Jane Dann (revision of the English) and Susanne Kerner (editorial assistance). The staff of BAR at Oxford has proven of great assistance and we are very grateful for the inclusion of this book into their series. The Editors

ON

INTRODUCTI

ARCHAIA from excavation strategies to archaeological parks  

Nicolò Marchetti Abstract The ARCHAIA network aims at supplying an integrated perspective deriving both from the human and the natural sciences, i.e. a global approach towards the planning and management of archaeological parks, starting from the very first steps of field research and going through the characterisation of the materials retrieved and topographical studies, in order to mould every bit of historical information within coherent projects, properly displayed for the public. Dealing with the initial program of archaeological research in the field, integrated with techniques of archaeobiological and geoarchaeological investigation, the final goal is to contribute in moulding research strategies and in managing archaeological sites, in order to be able to publicly display the historical contents derived from research results and also effectively proceed to the protection of archaeological heritage.

The conservation of Cultural Heritage is a vast domain underpinned by an immense literature: because of but at the same time notwithstanding that reason, not all the actors involved may be evident. Governmental Bodies normally have a direct responsibility for conservation, which they may delegate to selected operators, either through contracting (e.g., with private companies) or through concessions (as in the case of public research institutions). Alternative management models are possible, and to some extent desirable (Carman 2005), but they cannot be considered here (moreover, they are not likely to be implemented on a significant scale in a very near future) Recommendations issued by specialized and/or supranational Bodies are well available: while they fully retain their value, they may not necessarily apply to all, if not even the majority of cases. As a matter of fact, archaeological field research most often entails also conservation activities, but these are in many cases occasional and left to the discretion of project leaders. True, the latter usually act under the approval of local specialized State Authorities, but, even then, control may be just slightly more than a formal one. It is questionable if this state of the business should be radically reformed, since a centralized governance does not seem tobe an attractive solution either (cf. infra), but it is quite evident that an alternative should be sought for. Our concern here is not with, or rather not especially with, best practices in conservation, but in building articulated and effective action models. However, these should result from the evaluation of different experiences and methods, as those which have been collected in the present volume. The present paper should be seen as an introduction for the latter, based on the spirit which gathered us together in Copenhagen and Bologna.

1. A NETWORK AROUND AN IDEA Networking seems to be a very effective mean for sharing and propagating awareness and contributing ideas to the problems touched by the ARCHAIA project. The integration of the results contributed by colleagues depends on an

approach like the one adopted here, which is bottom driven, unstructured, non bureaucratic, non dogmatic, pragmatic and pluralistic. In fact, freedom of research and individual rather than collective responsibility seem to be the most flexible and fast response to new, global questions which are singled out at an increasing pace. The great plurality of actors, objects and aims can be managed, in the end, by a relatively complex model based on relatively simple premises. In human sciences, a formal theory often follows an experiment rather than the contrary: our daily practice (deriving from personal education and attitudes) may be at a certain stage described as a coherent theoretical construct, but this is actually often done in retrospect.

2. MULTIDISCIPLINARITY VS. INTERDISCIPLINARITY, COORDINATION VS. STRATEGY Although archaeology as an historical, global science deals from as diverse fields as artifact studies to landscape analysis, from site museums organization to environmental characterization, archaeologists themselves are becoming, understandably, more and more sectorial. Leaving interdisciplinarity to other fields, in archaeology we should rather speak of multidisciplinarity to describe the array of different investigations carried out by different specialists. Even when working within the same project, it is doubtful whether their aims ever coincide. The constant feedback and retuning of each one’s intermediate results appear to be the best procedure to counteract fragmentation. Thus, coordination takes up a leading role in a successful multidisciplinary project, provided it is based upon the principle of networking and at the same time checking that basic historical questions continue to be kept at least in background. Strategical planning on the other hand requires a clear direction towards which the efforts of each specialist must be addressed: the coordinator is one of them, although her/his choices obviously may influence those of the others. For example, in planning an excavation over the years, one may decide to privilege horizontal rather than

Nicolò Marchetti

vertical exposure for understanding the urbanism of a given site in a given historical phase: in this case, the project of the archaeological park will have to take into account that strategy. Given the main research theme, it seems to be but natural that the coordinator is in most, if not in all, cases an archaeologist.

complex matter, not least because the latter depends in a sense from the position of the observer and thus cannot be owned (Carman 2005: 117-119). Important laws have been issued in Italy in the 1980s for the protection of landscapes, but in fact experience has proven that landscapes are often among the first victims, or costs in another terminology, of economic development. Effective solutions to this problem can be envisaged through cognitive ownership (cf. infra).

3. A SINGLE TISSUE FROM MANY THREADS 5. EXTRACTING, MANAGING AND PRESENTING INFORMATION

We view each discipline, once applied to archaeological issues, as an autonomous source of historical information: it is the very logic of each different discipline that will supply new data and a first explanation in terms of its core methods. This does not mean that it is already historically meaningful, it will need a confrontation with other ongoing researches part of the same project before a (preliminary, by definition) interpretation may be put forward. The topics covered by the present volume do not exhaust in any way the potential contribution of natural and human sciences to archaeology: from anthropology to various chemical applications, from DNA analyses to geography, the array of possibilities has as its only limit the imagination of scientists. It is thus the focus which makes the difference and it will be the coordinator as defined above who will ensure a certain degree of coherence, within each multidisciplinary project. If somebody objects that unity is not reached by simple juxtaposition and that concurring researches may not result into a single picture, we may reply that it is doubtful whether this is (and will ever be) the aim of field sciences. Syntheses are only sketched to be surpassed in due time and should not thus be privileged in respect of analytical data presentation and explanation. In this respect, I would like to add that it seems to be fundamental to provide open access to the data collected and analyzed, which should thus not just be summarized when presented in a scientific paper.1 Effective, low-cost solutions for this aim are now allowed by the Internet and hardware technologies.

From the perspective which has just been sketched, it is clear that the core problem lies in extracting each bit of historical information from very different sources and moulding them into a coherent project, properly displayed for the public. From an initial program of archaeological research in the field, integrated with techniques of bioarchaeological, archaeometric and geoarchaeological investigations, the final goal must be to supply a proper framework for setting research strategies and managing archaeological sites at the same time (thus, the two aspects should not be in a consecutive order): we will then be able to publicly display the historical content derived from research results and effectively proceed to the protection of the archaeological heritage (which cannot fully happen, in fact, unless awareness on all aspects has been raised). A few, connected aspects may further be mentioned here to illustrate progress and intertwinment in archaeological research. One of the first issues concerns the use and role of geophysical investigation: while it is often undertaken in order to provide data for selecting new excavation areas, it should rather be intended as an autonomous source, complementing the excavations (the scale and nature of the information retrieved will be varying of course, only in a minority of sites being possible to reach sufficient dating probabilities for what is observed beneath the surface). This not only allows to address in a new, extensive way questions such as urban history and ancient settlement strategies, but also to employ a noninvasive and nondestructive research technique, contributing also to keeping the fascinating ‘ruin’ effect – resulting from a monument in its setting – so intimately connected with the notion of archaeology and much appreciated also by visitors.2 Precisely to this end and to a theory of restorations which has known its most advanced elaborations in the Italian milieu, a clear stance must be taken in favor of a restoration of the archaeological remains intended as simple conservation (reversible whenever possible), never attempting at any reconstruction except for the limited sake of structural stability and even in this case taking care to distinguish newly added part from the ancient ones.3

4. ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND ENVIRONMENT The archaeological community has since long become aware that an ancient site lived and continues to live within its environment, only within which a site can in fact be understood and appreciated. At a basic level, the protection we seek for ancient remains is now often extended to the natural setting which immediately contain and surround them, i.e. to the time-honoured (but often forgotten) notion of ‘ruin’. At a higher level still, environmental characterization and presentation should be taken into due account when planning an archaeological park, just like surveying and digging are operations basic to studying and presenting ancient urban structures (Pl. I: 1-2). The study and conservation of a site landscape is a very

 That this feeling is however not a universal one in all cultures, is shown by the contrast analyzed by Settis (2004: 82-91) between a Western and an Oriental attitude towards seeing or not the ruins as memories of the Past. ‘In altre civiltà domina il pathos della tradizione di cui si è portatori; nella nostra, il pathos delle rovine, di una frattura irreparabile che è necessario sanare: rinascere, insomma, come condizione indispensabile della tradizione e della memoria’ (Settis 2004: 91). 3  See Brandi 1977: 31 ‘Il riconoscimento della qualifica di rudero fa tutt’uno, allora, con quel primario grado di restauro che è individuabile 2

1 A   lthough this topic is a key one, it cannot be developed within the framework of the present article. On the subject, one can see for example the recommendations of the European Research Council at http://erc.europa. eu/pdf/ScC_Guidelines_Open_Access_revised_Dec07_FINAL.pdf.

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ARCHAIA: from excavation strategies to archaeological parks

In realising the archaeological and environmental park of Tilmen Höyük in South-Eastern Turkey, officially opened in October 2007, we have tried to keep all these issues in the foreground (Pl. I: 3) (Marchetti 2008), but at the same time the interaction with local Authorities and communities has been particularly fruitful, allowing us to integrate scientific needs for public presentation with traditional usage of the site by hikers, hunters, fishermen, shepherds, etc., thus contributing to keeping it as a living place without changing it into an open-air vitrine (Figs 1-5).

ce, the enhanced value given that place led to its protection by very different “owners” even though their own values were potentially in conflict’ We will probably have to rethink intertwined issues that many would instead like to think as settled: the concept of cultural property (which in fact limits access to the archaeological heritage by stakeholders), the illegality of the antiquity market (which as a matter of fact exists and it is thus not useful to ignore if we wish to control a phenomenon that, especially after recent large-scale looting in Iraq, has become clearly impossible to limit in any significant way)5 and the presentation of archaeological sites (where not just architectural monuments, but also the environment and the landscape, contextual and analytical information should merge into a coherent, interconnected multidisciplinary discourse).

6. PLANNING AND ACTING: THREAT, RESPONSIBILITY, VISION That these issues are not at all familiar with or agreed by the majority of scholars is shown, I believe, by many examples: most of these derive from an ill-conceived need to face and actually favor mass-tourism (Walsh 1990). If archaeological remains are considered a ‘resource’ – as well as a heritage of course – they can be exploited economically: actually, exploitation may bring development and at the same time protection, in areas where this would otherwise be at least difficult to get. On the other hand, archaeological tourism entails the consumption of sites (Winter 1997), as well as leading to highly questionable choices: large scale reconstructions over ancient remains are certainly one of the most visible, and most problematic, outcomes in this respect, even altering a site landscape (Seeher 2007; cf. note 3). At the same time, in many of the most important touristic archaeological localities management plans have – surprisingly – been lacking thus far (Schuster 2008). As an empyrical science, we may accept that archaeology and the other disciplines with which it is connected may meet some failures. However, due to the unique nature of the object of our study, we have a great responsibility: failing to preserve a site or a monument, because of the lack of conservation or of the ineffective methods employed, results in an irreparable loss.4 The fast, ever changing world around us creates greater risks, and needs quick responses: a centralized attitude is unlikely to successfully stand to the challenge. A conscious strategy needs to limit potential damages by creating networks in which archaeologists open up a constructive dialogue with the other actors involved (cf. also Moser et al. 2002). To put it with Carman (2005: 120):

REFERENCES Brandi, C., 1977, Teoria del restauro (Torino: Einaudi) Carman, J., 2005, Against Cultural Property. Archaeology, Heritage and Ownership, Duckworth Debates in Archaeology (London: Duckworth) Carver, M., 2008, ‘Editorial’, Antiquity 82, pp. 7-10 Marchetti, N., 2008, ‘A Preliminary Report on the 2005 and 2006 Excavations at Tilmen Höyük’ in J.M. Córdoba, M. Molist, M.C. Pérez, I. Rubio, S. Martínez (eds) Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Madrid, April 3-8 2006 (Madrid: UAM) Moser, S., Glazier, D., Phillips, J.E., Nasr el Namr, L., Mouier, M.S., Aiesh, R.N., Richardson, S., Conner, A., Seymour, M., 2002, ‘Transforming Archaeology through Practice: Strategies for Collaborative Archaeology and Community Archaeology Projects at Quseir, Egypt’, World Archaeology 34/2, pp. 220-248 Schuster, A.M.H., 2008, ‘The Bell Tolls for Thebes’, Archaeology 61/5, pp. 18, 62-64 Seeher, J., 2007, A Mudbrick City Wall at Hattusa. Diary of a Reconstruction (Istanbul: Ege) Settis, S., 2004, Futuro del ‘classico’ (Torino: Einaudi) Stone, E.C., 2008, ‘Patterns of Looting in Southern Iraq’, Antiquity 82, pp. 125-138 Walsh, K., 1990, ‘The Post-Modern Threat to the Past’ in I. Bapty, T. Yates (eds) Archaeology after Structuralism: Post-Structuralism and the Practice of Archaeology (London, New York: Routledge), pp. 278-293 Winter, I.J., 1997, ‘Packaging the Past: the Benefits and Costs of Archaeological Tourism’ in B. Sitter-Liver, C. Uhelinger (eds) Partnership in Archaeology. Perspectives of a Cross-Cultural Dialogue (Freiburg: University Press Fribourg), pp. 127-146

‘By allowing the growth of multiple systems of “cognitive ownership” in relation to a heritage planel restauro preventivo, ovvero mera conservazione, salvaguardia dello statu quo, e rappresenta riconoscimento che implicitamente esclude la possibilità di altro intervento diretto che non sia la vigilanza conservativa e il consolidamento della materia, sicché nella qualifica di rudero già si esprime il giudizio di equiparazione fra il rudero dell’opera d’arte e il rudero puramente storico’. 4  I will not discuss here the problem represented by the removal of evidence in the excavation process. Nowadays, sites should in general be selected and searched according to their main phase of occupation: deeper levels – no matter how interesting – are then available for research only in particular cases (on slopes, etc.), while upper levels should not be completely removed but partly left in spots as part of the overall ongoing display and conservation process.

 Carver 2008 remarks on several contradictions in contemporary attitude towards antiquities, including unstable support to the well known program ‘Portable Initiative Scheme’ (www.britarch.ac.uk). The case of Iraq after 2003 represents the most dramatic evidence for the strength of an illegal market (to which not only individuals, but also private and public institutions do have access) capable of fostering intensive looting of the main Mesopotamian cities over ‘15.75 km2 – an area many times greater than all archaeological investigations ever conducted in Southern Iraq’ (Stone 2008: 137). 5

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Nicolò Marchetti

Fig. 1 - View from the south-east of Fortress P (Middle Bronze II, ca 1800-1600 BC) in the western lower town at Tilmen Höyük, Turkey, at the end of the 2007 season; to the left the entrance to a neighbouring contemporary casemate.

Fig. 2 - 3D reconstruction (by M. Soldà and G. Vescovi) of Fortresses P and P2 at the end of MB II in the lower town at Tilmen Höyük, as seen from the south-east (cf. Fig. 1). Extreme photorealism has been avoided, although a sufficiently detailed idea of the possible original appearance of the ancient buildings is offered to visitors.

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Fig. 3 - Aerial orthophoto (by M. Zanfini) of Tilmen Höyük, (taken in August 2008, a year after the Park was opened); the photo shows the excavated monuments and the visitor paths, both being kept cleared by a weed-control program.

ARCHAIA: from excavation strategies to archaeological parks

15

Fig. 4 - 3D reconstruction (by M. Soldà and G. Vescovi) of the MB II town at Tilmen Höyük. The model has been created at a 1:1 scale, with a high level of scientific accuracy; all the architectural elements have been modelled one by one. In some cases, instead of using textures the detailed drawings of floors and façades have been imported into the 3D model.

Fig. 5 - The archaeological and environmental park of Tilmen Höyük: throne room L.38 in Royal Palace A (ca 1800-1600 BC) and its relevant didactic panel; the 3D reconstruction on the panel is taken from the same point of view of the visitor in that spot.

Protection of cultural property and archaeological heritage in the European Union and in Italy (legislation and recent case-law)  

Guglielmo Cevolin Abstract This essay discusses the current technical-legal debate on the topics of protection of cultural property in European Union legislation, and protection of cultural property and archaeological heritage in the Italian Code of cultural goods (legislation and recent caselaw), with particular attention to the judgements of the Court of Justice of the European Community and the judgements of the Italian Constitutional Court and of other Italian high courts.

1. The European Union and the protection of cultural property In order to introduce the relevant subject matter, it is necessary to expose the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 10 December 1968 (Commission of the European Communities vs. Italian Republic, Case 7-68) and the regulations and directives about cultural goods. 1.1. The Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 10 December 1968 (Commission of the European Communities vs. Italian Republic, Case 7-68). Italian Law no. 1089 of 1 June 19391 on the protection of items of artistic or historic interest contains several provisions relating to their exportation; in particular, it provides, according to the circumstances, for an absolute prohibition on exportation (Article 35), the requirement of a licence (Article 36), a right of pre-emption vested in the State (Article 39) and the imposition on exportation of a progressive tax (on the value of the object ranging by successive stages from 8% to 30%, Article 37). In January 1960, the Commission asked the Italian Republic to abolish the tax as regards the other Member States by the end of the first stage of the transitional period, that is to say, before 1 January 1962, since it considered that the tax had an effect equivalent to a customs duty on exportation and so was contrary to Article 16 of the EEC Treaty. After a long informal phase, the Commission by a letter dated 25 February 1964 started the procedure laid down by Article 169 of the EEC Treaty and asked on the Italian Government to submit its observations on the alleged violation of the Treaty by the Italian Republic. On 16 May 1966, the Commission, in reply to a fresh request for an extension, informed the Italian Government that it had already granted an extension sufficient to allow for the abolition of the tax in question, having regard to the necessary parliamentary procedures, and that it reserved  Legislative Decree no. 42 of 22 January 2004 has incorporated several articles of Italian Law no. 1089. 1

the right to refer the case before the Court of Justice at the appropriate time. A draft law by the Government to exempt exports to Member States of the Communities from payment of the tax was approved by the Italian Senate on 26 July 1967 and passed to the Chamber of Deputies, but the Italian Parliament ended on 11 March 1968. Meanwhile, the Commission had brought proceedings before the Court of Justice by an application lodged on 7 March 1968. It is for the Commission, under Article 169 of the Treaty, to judge at what time it shall bring an action before the Court; and the considerations which determine its choice of time cannot affect the admissibility of the action, which follows only objective rules. The definition of goods, within the meaning of Article 9 of the EEC Treaty, includes products which can be valued in money and which are capable, as such, of forming the subject of commercial transactions. The rules of the common market apply to objects possessing artistic or historic value subject only to the exceptions expressly provided by the Treaty. Any charge which, by affecting the price of an item exported, has the same restrictive effect on its free circulation as a customs duty is deemed to be a charge having an effect equivalent to a customs duty within the meaning of Article 16 of the EEC Treaty. A tax levied on the exportation of items possessing artistic or historic value falls within the prohibition contained in Article 16, by reason of the fact that export trade in the goods in question is hindered by the pecuniary burden which it imposes on the price of the exported items. The prohibitions or restrictions on imports and exports referred to in Article 36 of the EEC Treaty are by nature clearly distinguished from customs duties and assimilated charges, whereby the economic conditions of importation or exportation are affected without restricting the freedom of decision of those involved in commercial transactions. Such measures must be strictly interpreted since they constitute an exception to the fundamental principle of the elimination of all obstacles to the free movement of goods between Member States. The prohibitions and restrictions referred to in Article 36 of the EEC Treaty cannot justify the retention of measures, such as customs duties or charges having equivalent effect, which fall outside the scope of the prohibitions referred to

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in the section relating to the elimination of quantitative restrictions between Member States. In order to apply Article 36, Member States must observe the limitations imposed by that provision both as regards the objective to be obtained and as regards the nature of the means used to attain it. The levy of a tax on the exportation of goods possessing artistic or historic value is incompatible with the provisions of the Treaty. As in other subject matters (for example telecommunications Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, British Telecom, case 41/83) the European Institutions have seen their competences increased. After the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 10 December 1968 (Commission of the European Communities vs. Italian Republic, Case 7-68) European Communities, and now the European Union, rules the matter of cultural goods.2

standing the provisions on the free movement of goods. Council Directive 93/7/EEC of 15 March 1993 on the return of cultural objects aims at ensuring the return of cultural objects classed as ‘national treasures possessing artistic, historic or archaeological value’ under national legislation or administrative procedures. The directive secures the return of national treasures of artistic, historic or archaeological value that fall within one of the categories listed in the Annex to the Directive or form an integral part of public collections recorded in the inventories of museums, archives or libraries or those of ecclesiastical institutions. To apply the Directive, Member States may classify an object as a national treasure even after it has left their territory. They may also extend the scope of application to cultural objects that do not belong to any of the categories listed in the Annex. The Directive applies where such objects have been removed from the territory of a Member State unlawfully, in breach of the legislation in force there or of the conditions under which temporary authorisation was granted. Consequently the objects must be returned, irrespective of whether they have been moved within the Community or first exported to a non-member Country and then reimported to another Member State. The Directive applies only to cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State on or after 1 January 1993. However, Member States may broaden the scope to include objects which have been unlawfully removed from their territory before 1 January 1993. Each Member State shall appoint one or more authorities to carry out the tasks provided for in the Directive. The Commission shall from time to time publish the list of these authorities in the Official Journal of the European Union. The central authorities of each Member State shall cooperate and promote consultation between the other Member States’ competent national authorities to try to ensure the return of the cultural object. To ensure administrative cooperation for the amicable return of objects the central authorities must: seek a specified cultural object which has been unlawfully removed from a Member State’s territory, identifying the possessor and/or holder; notify the Member State concerned, where a cultural object is found in their own territory and there are grounds for believing that it has been unlawfully removed from the territory of another Member State; enable the Member State to check that the object in question is a cultural object covered by the Directive, within two months of the notification; take any necessary measures for the physical preservation of the cultural object; prevent any action to evade the return procedure; act as intermediary between the possessor or holder of the object and the requesting Member State. Only the courts of the requested Member State have the power to order the object’s return to the requesting Member State if the possessor or holder should refuse to release it. The burden of proof is governed by the legislation of the requested Member State. Only a Member State may initiate proceedings with the aim of securing the return of a cultural object. Private owners of cultural objects may only bring proceedings provided for under ordinary legislation.

1.2. The protection of cultural property in the European Union legislation. In order to ensure that exports of cultural goods are subject to uniform checks, the Regulation no. 3911/92 of 9 December 1992 on the export of cultural goods makes the presentation of an export licence compulsory for their export outside the customs territory of the Community. For the purposes of the Regulation the term ‘cultural goods’ refers to the items listed in the regulation Annex. In force of the regulation the export of cultural goods outside the customs territory of the Community shall be subject to the presentation of an export licence, which shall be issued at the request of the person concerned or by a competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the cultural object in question was lawfully and definitively located on 1 January 1993, or, by a competent authority of the Member State in whose territory it is located following either lawful and definitive dispatch from another Member State, or importation from a third Country, or reimportation from a third Country after lawful dispatch from a Member State to that Country. The licence to export, which shall be valid throughout the Community, may be denied where the cultural goods in question are covered by legislation protecting national treasures of artistic, historical or archaeological value in the Member State concerned. In European Union legislation, a directive constitutes the legal mean to secure the return of national treasures of artistic, historic or archaeological value that have been unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State, once controls have been abolished at internal frontiers. Such a directive is aimed at reconciling the operation of the internal market with the guarantee that Member States can protect cultural objects with the status of national treasures of artistic, historic or archaeological value. It complements Article 30 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community. This article provides for the possibility of imposing prohibitions or restrictions on imports, exports or goods in transit to guarantee Member States the possibility of protecting these types of objects, notwith For the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities on cultural goods, see Chiti 1997: 349 ff.; Moretti 1994: 485 ff. 2

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Protection of cultural property and archaeological heritage in the European Union and in Italy (legislation and recent case-law)

Return proceedings may not be brought more than one year after the requesting Member State becomes aware of the location of the cultural object and the identity of its possessor or holder. To be admissible, the application must be accompanied by a document describing the object covered by the request, and stating that it is a cultural object within the meaning of the Directive, and by a declaration by the competent authorities of the requesting Member State that the cultural object has been unlawfully removed from its territory. Such proceedings may in any case not be brought more than thirty years after the object is unlawfully removed from the territory of the requesting Member State, except in the case of objects forming part of public collections or ecclesiastical goods, in respect of which the time limit is governed by national legislation or bilateral agreements between Member States. This Directive does not prevent any civil or criminal proceeding that may be brought, under the national legislation of the Member States, by the requesting Member State or the owner of the object. The Advisory Committee on Cultural Goods provided for by Regulation (EEC) no. 3911/92 on the export of cultural goods shall assist the Commission in examining any matter relating to the application of the Annex to the Directive. When the return of a cultural object is ordered, if the possessor proves that he exercised all due care when acquiring the object he is entitled to fair compensation. This compensation is to be paid by the requesting Member State, which may, however, claim reimbursement from the persons responsible for the unlawful removal of the object. Following the return of the object, the question of its ownership is ruled by the legislation of the requesting Member State.

March 1993, as modified by Directive 96/100/CE which has execution in the norms of the Code of cultural goods.​ 2.2. Protection of cultural property and archaeological heritage in the Italian Code of cultural goods (legislation and recent case-law). Article 52 of the Code of cultural goods applies to the matter of commercial activities in areas of cultural value the reform of Legislative Decree 31 March 1998, no. 114. The reform of commercial activities gives great importance to towns. So towns will identify the areas of archaeological, historic and environmental value in which commercial activities are permitted, with or without limits. Archaeological findings and discoveries are ruled by Articles 88-93 of the Code. Archaeological research and, in general, work undertaken to discover the cultural objects listed under Article 10, in any part of the national territory, are the exclusive competence of the Ministry. The Code gives only to the State the competence on the matter (Constitutional Italian Court 23 June 1964, no. 54 which justifies the national monopoly), perhaps against the public interest of academic research and the constitutional freedom of research (Marzuoli 2007: 369). For the purposes of archaeological research, the Ministry can through an executive order arrange for the temporary occupancy of real estate in which such research must be undertaken. For the jurisprudence (Judgement of the Consiglio di Stato, 6th section, 26 January 2000, no. 357) the public interest of archaeological research (discovery of a Roman city) is more important than the private interest of a factory, and it is not necessary to be sure to get archaeological discoveries but it is enough that there is a probability to have them (Judgement of the Consiglio di Stato, 6th section, 7 November 1996, no. 1520). The Ministry has to indicate the reasons for the temporary occupancy (Article 88) or expropriation (Article 97). The Ministry can consent archaeological research for a lot of time for research just in force (Judgement of the Consiglio di Stato, 6th section, 26 January 2000, no. 357). The owner of the real estate has the right to be indemnified for the damage sustained, which, in the case of disagreement, shall be established by the provisions under the President of the Italian Republic Decree 8 June 2001, no. 327, as modified by Law 1 August 2002, no. 166, by Legislative Decree 27 December 2002, no. 302, and by Legislative Decree 27 December 2004, no. 330 (i.e., ‘Testo unico delle disposizioni legislative e regolamentari in materia di espropriazione per pubblica utilità’). The Ministry can hand over to the owner those cultural artefacts, or part there of, which are not of interest to the collections of the State. The Ministry can entrust the research to public organisations and private citizens and issue a decree of occupancy of the real estate where the work is to be performed on behalf of the concessionaire. The concessionaire must observe, in addition to the provisions relating to the act of concession, all those other provisions that the administration may deem appropriate to prescribe. In case of non-compliance, the concession will be revoked. The concession may also be revoked

2. Protection of cultural property and archaeological heritage in Italy (legislation and recent case-law) The Code of cultural goods (Legislative Decree 22 January 2004, no. 42, ‘Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio’ in force of Article 10 of Law 6 July 2002, no. 137 – Gazzetta Ufficiale 24 February 2004, no. 45) protects cultural objects, which form the national artistic and historic heritage in implementation of Article 9 of the Italian Constitution. As far as the archaeological heritage is concerned, cultural goods are moveable and immovable property, as the areas of archaeological interest. 2.1. The connection between the European ordering and the Italian ordering in the matter of cultural goods. Exportation of cultural goods from the territory of the European Union must observe: • the (EEC) regulations no. 3911/92 of the Council of 9 December 1992, as modified by the (EC) regulations no. 2469/96, 974/2001, 806/2003 (and the execution regulation EEC 752/93, as modified by the regulations 1526/1998 and 656/2004) which tries to prevent the outbringing of cultural goods from the European territory; • the EEC directive 93/7/CEE of the Council of 15 19

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when the Ministry decides to replace the concessionaire in the execution or the continuation of the work. There are two diverse cases: the Ministry can revoke the concession of research because it is necessary to make a very difficult research which need only the concrete competence of Ministry, or because the concessionaire doesn’t observe the provisions of the Ministry. In this case the State will only reimburse the expenses sustained for the work carried out and the relative costs will be fixed by the Ministry. The concession of research is a kind of exception to the public monopoly of research (Marzuoli 2007: 373). If the concessionaire deems the ministerial assessment unacceptable, the amount of money may be established by a technical surveyor appointed by the president of a court. The relative costs will be anticipated by the concessionaire. The concession of research may also be given to the owner of the real estate on which the work will be carried out. Whoever makes the fortuitous discovery of the moveable or immovable property listed under Article 10 of the Code must report the finding to the Superintendent or mayor, or to the police within the following twenty-four hours and also see to the temporary custody of such objects, leaving them in the conditions and place where they were found. After the discovery the Superintendent must report the notice to the special police of cultural goods (Nucleo di tutela del patrimonio storico e artistico dei Carabinieri, Legislative Decree 26 March 2008, no. 62). In the case of moveable objects whose custody cannot be otherwise ensured, the finder has the right to remove them in order to guarantee their security and conservation until the visit of the competent authorities, and, if necessary, the finder may solicit the assistance of the police. The obligation of conservation and custody as indicated in the case of fortuitous discoveries applies to every person holding fortuitously discovered artefacts (and he always must report the finding to the Superintendent or mayor, or to the police, Corte di Cassazione penale, 3rd Section, 11 June 2001, also in case of discovery not during the time of a concession of research, TAR Lazio 13 May 2000, no. 3949). Any costs sustained for custody and removal will be reimbursed by the Ministry. The goods indicated in Article 10 of the Code of cultural goods, by whomever and however discovered, belong to the State. Depending on whether they are immovable or moveable property they shall be classified, respectively, as part of inalienable property or heritage of the State pursuant to Articles 822 and 826 of the Civil Code. The Ministry will pay a reward not higher than a quarter of the value of the items found to: the owner of the real estate on which the discovery was made; the concessionaire as set out in the case of concession of research, if the activity is not in his own specific power; the finder who has fulfilled the obligations as provided for fortuitous discoveries. If the owner of the real estate has obtained the concession of research, and in this capacity discovers an artefact, he has the right to a reward not greater than one half the value of the items found. No reward is due to the finder of an object who broke into and searched the property of other persons without the consent of the owner or possessor. The reward may be paid in money or by the consignment of part of the items discovered. Concerning the calculation of the reward, the Code foresees that the Ministry will make

provision for the calculation of the prize due to the parties entitled to it pursuant to Article 92, subject to the estimate of the items found. At the request of the entitled parties who do not accept the estimate of the Ministry, the value of the items found will be established by a third person who is appointed in accord of the Ministry and of the finde .

3. Conclusions Judgements are very important in the matter of cultural property and archaeological heritage. After the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 10 December 1968, European Communities, and now the European Union, began to rule on the subject matter of cultural goods. Within commercial activities, the Code changed the competence identifying areas of archaeological, historic and environmental value in which commercial activities are performed according to Law dated 28 March 1991, giving more importance to towns. Other judgements (Consiglio di Stato 26 January 2000, no. 357 and 7 November 1996, no. 1520) present the public interest in archaeological research. The General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, meeting in Paris from 3 to 21 October 2005 at its 33rd session, adopted the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions on 20 October 2005. The objectives of this Convention are: a. to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions; b. to create the conditions for cultures to flourish and to freely interact in a mutually beneficial manner c. to encourage dialogue among cultures with a view to ensuring wider and balanced cultural exchanges in the world in favour of intercultural respect and a culture of peace; d. to foster interculturality in order to develop cultural interaction in the spirit of building bridges among peoples; e. to promote respect for the diversity of cultural expressions and raise awareness of its value at the local, national and international levels; f. to reaffirm the importance of the link between culture and development for all countries, particularly for developing countries, and to support actions undertaken nationally and internationally to secure recognition of the true value of this link; g. to give recognition to the distinctive nature of cultural activities, goods and services as vehicles of identity, values and meaning; h. to reaffirm the sovereign rights of States to maintain, adopt and implement policies and measures that they deem appropriate for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions on their territory; i. to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity in a spirit of partnership with a view, in particular, to enhancing the capacities of developing countries in order to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions. The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the 20

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Diversity of Cultural Expressions of 2005 represents the great importance that the UNESCO attaches to all cultural expressions of all countries, particularly for developing Countries and the distinctive nature of cultural activities, goods and services as vehicles of identity, values and meaning, in order to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions. I think that this Convention may be very important for archaeological issues too.

it/archivio/2007/1/clemente1.htm) Costanza, M. (ed.), 1999, Commercio e circolazione delle opere d’arte (Padova: CEDAM) Cozzuto Quadri, M.R., 1997, La circolazione delle ‘cose d’arte’ (Napoli: Jovene) Droz, G., 1997, ‘La convention d’Unidroit sur le retour international des biens culturels volés ou illicitement exportès (Rome, 24 juin 1995)’, Revue critique de droit international privé 86, pp. 239 ff. Fabricatore, C., Scarpa, A., 1998, La circolazione dei beni culturali (Milano: Giuffrè) Giannini, M.S., 1964, ‘Disciplina della ricerca e della circolazione delle cose di interesse archeologico’ Tecnica e diritto nei problemi della odierna archeologia (Roma: CNR), pp. 230-238 Lalive D’Epinay, P., 1997, ‘La convention d’Unidroit sur les biens culturels volés ou illicitement exportés’, Revue suisse de droit international et de droit européen 1, pp. 13-56 Mansi, A., 1998, La tutela dei beni culturali (Padova: CEDAM) Marzuoli, C., 2007, ‘Art. 88’ in C. Cammelli (ed.) Il Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio (Bologna: Il Mulino), pp. 365-372 Merusi, F., 2005, ‘Qualche osservazione finale sulla recente riorganizzazione del Mbac’, Aedon 2005/1 (http:// www.aedon.mulino.it/archivio/2005/1/merusi.htm) Moretti, F.M., 1994, ‘L’arte europea ha un suo mercato unico?’, Contratto e impresa, pp. 485-492 Panuccio, V. (ed.), 1989, Ritrovamenti e scoperte di opere d’arte (Milano: Giuffrè) Pastori, G., 2004, ‘Tutela e valorizzazione dei beni culturali in Italia: situazione in atto e tendenze’, Aedon 2004/3 (http://www.aedon.mulino.it/archivio/2004/3/ pastori.htm) Piergigli, V., Maccari, A.L. (eds), 2006, Il codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio tra teoria e prassi (Milano: Giuffrè) Ricci, A. (ed.), 2002, Archeologia e urbanistica, Quaderni del Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti. Sezione Archeologica, Università di Siena 53/54 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio) Trotta, G., Caia, G., Aicardi, N. (eds), 2005-2006, ‘Commentario al Codice dei beni culturali e del pae­ saggio’, Nuove leggi civili commentate 2005/5-6, 2006/1

REFERENCES Aicardi, N., 2002, L’ordinamento amministrativo dei beni culturali: La sussidiarietà nella tutela e nella valorizzazione (Torino: Giappichelli) Ainis, M., Fiorillo, M., 2003, ‘I beni culturali’ in S. Cassese (ed.) Trattato di diritto amministrativo, II. Diritto amministrativo speciale (Milano: Giuffrè) Alibrandi, T., Ferri, P.G., I beni culturali e ambientali (Milano: Giuffrè) Antonucci, D., 2005, Commento al Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio (Napoli: S. E.) Barbati, C., Cammelli, M., Sciullo, G. (eds), 2006, Il diritto dei beni culturali (Bologna: Il Mulino) Cammelli, C. (ed.), 2007, Il Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio (Bologna: Il Mulino) Catalano, N., 1969, ‘Nota a Corte di giustizia Cee, 10 dicembre 1968, in causa n. 7/68’, Il Foro italiano IV, pp. 89 ff. Cevolin, G., 1999, ‘Il contributo della giurisprudenza costituzionale nella ricostruzione dell’assetto delle funzioni e delle competenze statali e regionali con riferimento al settore dei beni culturali’ in L. Mezzetti (ed.) Dizionario giuridico delle autonomie locali (Padova: CEDAM), pp. 540-561 Cevolin, G., 2006, ‘Per una nozione giurisprudenziale della materia “beni culturali” (2003-2006)’ in V. Piergigli, A.L. Maccari (eds) Il codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio tra teoria e prassi (Milano: Giuffrè), pp. 287-305 Chiti, M.P., 1997, ‘Beni culturali’, in M.P. Chiti, G. Greco (eds) Trattato di diritto amministrativo europeo. Parte speciale (Milano: Giuffrè), pp. 349-360 Clemente di San Luca, G., 2007, ‘La elaborazione del “Diritto dei beni culturali” nella giurisprudenza costituzionale’, Aedon 2007/1 (http://www.aedon.mulino.

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Towards an international agenda for agreeing on a standard policy of preservation, presentation and management of archaeological sites and parks  

Ingolf Thuesen Abstract Many archaeological sites become an attraction for the public and are turned into archaeological parks. The concept of the archaeological park is discussed and, in particular, its implications for the scientist and the park manager. A number of recommendations for a future agenda on the handling of archaeological sites and parks are given.

1. The archaeological park concept Any place that contains remains after human activities in the past, recent or distant, is considered an archaeological site. A sub-segment of archaeological sites are turned into parks, requiring considerable planning and management beyond traditional archaeological investigation. This paper approaches the particular complexity and challenges associated with archaeological parks, proposing some recommendations that in the future may lead to an international agenda for the handling of archaeological sites and parks. Archaeological parks are exposed and accessible concentrations of material remains from the past. They are of cultural historical significance and located in their original natural setting, their primary context. The park contains installations that facilitate a layman’s visit to the site and disseminate information, offer experience, provoke questions and generate answers concerning our predecessors’ life. There are two main dimensions to the phenomenon. The first is the Cultural Heritage or archaeological challenge per se. The second is the park, which is here understood as a public space that attracts and offers an experience of ancient culture to the visitor. The park is normally a restricted area, and most parks are administrated by public authorities. Often an entrance fee must be paid in order to experience the place. Attraction is a critical parameter for the success of a park when measured against number of guests, and in order to attract visitors the park authorities need to disseminate an expectation of experience and learning: amusement, wonders, recreation, etc. The park’s content of material remains offers a narrative to the visitor, for instance in case of violent destruction in the past, that has frozen the time. They are thought provoking, for instance by a deep time dimension or by monumentality of constructions. At the same time the park is recreational in its natural or urban setting. Therefore, archaeological parks require a number of competences in order to approach the complexity of challenges. They range from the scholarly approach to the material remains and the scientific interest in understanding the past to an almost commercial speculation in economic

sustainability. Add to this, the use and abuse of Cultural Heritage in identity building in an economically globalizing world, where cultural diversity can trigger tragic conflicts on both a regional and a global scale. As archaeological parks often are created in the expectation of increasing tourism, the investments are tied closely into expectations to world tourism, which is monitored through agencies such as World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). According to WTO the years 2004-2007 showed an extraordinary growth rate of tourism of more than 7% per year. At the beginning of 2008 the increase continued, however with a stronger regional growth reported in countries such as in Asia: China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Macao (China), Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Fiji, India and Nepal; in the Americas: the USA, Cuba, Jamaica, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Chile, Peru and Uruguay; in Europe: Sweden, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro and Turkey; and in Africa and the Middle East: Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, and Morocco (UNWTO 2008). The overall trend is towards growing world tourism. Not only a strong world economy is responsible, but also the increasing global awareness, which is generated through media, TV, movies, magazines and newspapers. Also travelling becomes easier and many governments invest in attracting tourists. Strong Asiatic economies result in a more diversified tourism. Where for instance the major contingent of tourist visitors to the Middle East came from Europe and North America, in the future many more can be expected from China, India and South-East Asia. Although tourism is directed towards many different experiences, a visit to an archaeological park or site usually has a high potential to become a part of a standard tourist programme. Every Country has its own highlights or world wonders, and because these are often used as symbols for the cultures, whether past or present, there also are international attempts to list the most important sites and monuments. This is done by UNESCO in a World Heritage list, which according to criteria defined by the international community register both heritage of cultural and natural significance of value for the global society (UNESCO 2008a). As tourism normally is an important precondition for the

Ingolf Thuesen

successful archaeological park, the global trends advocate investments and improvement of the archaeological park concept and the necessity of such initiatives as ARCHAIA, where examples of best praxis are taught.

ground, the matrix, the arti- or ecofacts, the architecture and the contextual information, which is one of the most critical parameters in the documentation. Parallel to the scientific activities of excavation involving teams of specialists the decision has to be made about what to preserve and present, if the site is expected to be turned into a public park. Fortunately, some of the risks of making premature decisions can be minimized as more non invasive methods are becoming available, e.g. radar scanning, micromorphology, aDNA, etc. The excavations are followed by periods of intensive research and analysis of finds, many carried out in highly specialized laboratories. The dissemination of the results is therefore often delayed in relation to the excavations as scholars are awaiting results from the analysis. There are alternative and recommendable dissemination strategies which publish preliminary results, and for this purpose the Internet is a valuable tool. For any major project a publication plan should be prepared including the presentation of results to the non-scholarly society, in particular when a site is a possible candidate to become a park. If the site is considered of less value to the public, it should be protected by backfill or fenced. In the latter situation a preservation plan is required. If the decision is made to open the site for the public, a long-term plan has to be developed including a preservation plan, estimation of risks of deterioration caused by wear or exposure to climate or looting. Facilities for visitors are needed, that direct their traffic on the site with panels that explain what is seen in several languages, etc. Good and clear explanations of what you see are important as dramatic ruins appeal to fantasy causing misinterpretation and in the worst case generate false cultural history and identity. There are several reasons for turning a site into a park area. A main reason is the unique character of the finds, the size and monumentality and the simple fact that the remains cannot be backfilled or camoufl ged in the landscape. Also the importance for understanding cultural history is an argument. This is typical for sites which offer explanation of crucial events in history. Also the potential for tourism, local or global, is a main concern and argument for the decision to create a park, which may help developing local communities and even in some cases become a major contribution to the financial income on a national level Therefore the park process includes a major task of planning and management. The park management is not necessarily associated with the archaeological excavations, but would ideally be worked out as early as possible during the process in order to coordinate the various activities in an efficient way and, not at least, in considering the critical destructive character of an excavation. The ideal managing plan involves a director and a managing team, which comprises the various competences necessary to realize the park vision, archaeologists, architects, conservators, scientists, public relations staff, guards, etc. In summary, a precondition for being able to approach all these challenges is a profound understanding of the physical nature and symbolic value of a site including: • documentation of the contours of the landscape through survey, mapping, GIS, etc. including information

2. The park formation process The evolution from archaeological sites to archaeological parks comprises a number of processes, which each calls for a different kind of expertise and which also reflects the complexity of the park concept. The beginning of any park is always the knowledge or discovery of a site of archaeological significance, i.e. a location where material remains contribute to our understanding of cultural history. Monumental remains often create special circumstances as a monument immediately becomes a site when it is constructed. Good examples are the pyramids of Egypt and the Chinese Wall. These monuments already were sites with park potential when they were erected and consequently they are connected with a very long tradition of explanation and historical tradition. There are also monuments which were forgotten or destroyed, e.g. Petra in Jordan, which was rediscovered by European travelers in the early 19th century. Famous symbols such as the Babylon ziggurat, better known as the tower of Babel, have disappeared as a material manifestation as the bricks of the ziggurat were recycled and reused in subsequent building programmes in Babylon. In such cases the monuments have a long tradition attached, that even with or without material remains may attract the attention of a visitor. In other cases remains are discovered as a result of archaeological research and surveys. In such cases the attraction of layman attention to a site requires an active strategy for disseminating the knowledge of the importance and meaning of the site. Any site with park potential needs archaeological investigation. Before that a principal investigator or a research team should develop a plan for the archaeological investigation, some preliminary assessment of preservation and conservation challenges must be elaborated and, very important, a programme for the local community that will integrate them in the project must be set up. Also an estimation of project time may be required in order to obtain funding. Fund raising is the critical phase of any project, and the funding institutions are many and differ considerably from Country to Country and even among universities and museums. However, it can be said that many funding agencies, public or private, expect realistic research programmes of high academic quality that are assessed and evaluated by competent scholars. It is important that the project explains its contribution to both science and the society. That it is well structured and comprises the necessary competence. The expected date for the termination of the fieldwork is often more important for the funding agency to know than the date for the initiation of the fieldwork During excavation activities the archaeologists are challenged with several decisions. Excavation also means irreversible destruction of what is removed from the 24

Towards an international agenda for agreeing on a standard policy of preservation, presentation and management of archaeological sites and parks

on present natural and cultural conditions (in the wilderness or in a townscape); • understanding of the physical character of exposed features (architecture, tombs, ecofacts, etc.); • engagement of local communities; • a managing plan and a managing team; The decision about turning an archaeological site into a park thus implies availability of substantial human and economic resources. The decision is placed in a political context that includes several levels of decision making in the society from local communities to international organisations. The model below (Fig. 1) shows some of the more obvious political levels involved. There is always the local community which, no matter what, will be affected by turning a part of their land into a publicly accessible park. That is why the local community always from the very beginning of a project should be included in the decision making. Normally the magnitude of an archaeological park project means that it can only be handled by national authorities for archaeology and tourism. Most decisions are therefore taken on a government level by a minister. In the very special cases where a site or landscape is considered of global value, also the international society may enter the process and declare a site World Heritage as mentioned above. This is handled through UNESCO, which has a special branch for the long and complicated process of recognising sites as World Cultural Heritage. There are two lists, a tentative list with sites suggested by national authorities and the final list with sites that have been accepted by the World Heritage Committee (UNESCO 2008b). The World Heritage list includes sites in all countries of the world, also those that are not members of UNESCO. However, as the acceptance by the World Heritage Committee is attractive for the promotion of tourism and world political agendas, the number of sites cannot be seen as representative or comprehensive in a culture historical perspective. The table below (Table 1) shows a simple count of number of World Heritage sites in selected countries. It is remarkable that Iraq up till 2003 only had one site (Hatra). Since two more have been added (Assur and Samarra), making a total of three sites in one of the countries in the world most rich in Cultural Heritage of global value. Another reason for the rather oblique distribution of World Heritage sites is that the conditions to become accepted include requirements of facilities and management plans that are often difficult to provide in non-developed countries.

2. The success of the process depends on the team work and the realization of the multi-, trans-, cross-disciplinary character of the main components: • narratives require archaeological knowledge: the archaeologists and scientists answer the visitors’ questions; • thought provocation requires knowledge of contemporary society: public relation strategies do not answer the visitors’ questions but stimulate their fantasy; • recreation requires knowledge of landscape, design, visitor facilities, etc. the architects / park developers add aesthetic value and facilitate the visit of the layman without removing the focus from the archaeological narrative. 3. Any field project includes an assessment in the plan that describes the meaning and impact of the fieldwork on local communities, including a strategy for how local communities become affected and included. 4. Any archaeological field project includes an action model for post-excavation activities: • dissemination of the results to the society; • strategy for the future of the site and its protection and preservation: backfill or park, and a long-term risk assessment 5. An international research project on how to develop management plans for archaeological parks is needed in order to develop formal education programmes for managers and in order to strengthen policy making.

References UNWTO, 2008, ‘F��������������������������������� irm Tourism Demand – Advanced Results, World Tourism Barometer June 2008’, Press release, July 2nd UNESCO, 2008a, ‘World Heritage List’ (http://whc. unesco.org/en/list) UNESCO, 2008b, ‘World Heritage’ (http://whc.unesco. org/en/35)

3. Recommendations There are four major recommendations to extract from this review of the archaeological park and the process of establishing a park, that may be considered in formulating an international agenda concerning the handling of archaeological sites/parks. 1. The efficiency of the process requires a management plan with visions and missions, strategies, priorities. The projects should be based on realistic estimations on availability of human and financial resources, and a manager and a managing team are required. 25

Ingolf Thuesen

Fig. 1 - The political context of archaeological sites and parks.

ITALY

40

(40)

FRANCE

31

CHINA

25

UK

25

RUSSIA

15

SWEDEN

12

JAPAN

11

TURKEY

9

BRAZIL

9

USA

8

IRAN

6

EGYPT

6

PERU

6

ISRAEL

5

(19)

SYRIA

5

(15)

CROATIA

5

IRAQ

3

(6)

JORDAN

3

(13)

DENMARK

3

(2)

(1) (18)

Table 1 - Number of World Cultural Heritage sites in selected Countries (arranged according to numbers in falling order); in brackets the number of sites on the tentative list.

26

TOPOGRAPHY AND SURVEYING

Survey and technical analysis: a must for understanding monuments  

Carla Maria Amici Abstract Studying ancient monuments allows one to gather a remarkable amount of significant and relevant information, not just about the construction itself, but also about the historical and cultural context. This happens only if the task is entrusted to professional people with a specific training in the analysis and the understanding of ancient buildings, and a sound knowledge of ancient building techniques. The results of a research performed according to this standard has a value added in providing valuable data for planning the restoration of monuments; virtual reconstructions and step-by-step illustrations of the building process can offer a noteworthy contribution to the public presentation of archaeological sites.

The study of ancient monuments is still the Cinderella of archaeology: in an archaeological context the value attributed to moveable finds such as statues, mosaics, and vessels, is often considered much more relevant than the remains of a building, which is usually regarded just as a ‘container’ for the exhibits that really matter. Moreover, it is not really clear who should study the buildings: an engineer? Or an architect? Or a particular kind of archaeologist? Of course, cooperation is always welcomed, but the results are valuable only if each specific field of work is well defined, the risk being that only some aspects will be examined, while the overall understanding of the construction will be missed. I suggest that only a trained archaeologist with specific competence in the analysis of ancient buildings and building techniques can cope successfully with the study of monuments by extracting all the possible meanings within its cultural context, thereby making them a primary source of information. This kind of study should have high priority in field research planning because it provides the framework for the other types of evidence found on a site. The necessity to operate in a broad chronological spectrum and to deal with a variety of types of work, from the scholarly publication of results to the restoration of the monument and its public presentation, requires very specific skills and expertise but offers a stimulating and challenging work experience. As a preliminary note, we should really consider an ancient construction as a building, not a monument. It should be seen as a structure with a dynamic life of its own often resulting in a product that differs from the original intention, with its own construction techniques and processes, a unique articulation of interior space and lighting, and its own set of modifications, reinforcings, and alterations. Furthermore, the more complex and ambitious a construction is, the more composite will be the technology needed to build it. The quantity and the quality of the information the remains will offer depend not only on the skill of the researcher, but largely on the importance and meaning the researcher attaches to such information: in a sense, the monument will speak only to ears prepared to listen. Actually, this means also spending a lot of time in the building, allowing our

eyes to pass from merely looking at it to really seeing it, experiencing different conditions of light and feeling the suggestions that even a damaged interior space is likely to offer. Accordingly, the working model to deal with monuments should provide for: • analysis • understanding • virtual reconstruction • suggestions for restoration The correct methodology to achieve a satisfactory result should be as follows: 1. Analysis Analysis involves survey of the building remains by direct or indirect procedures (Fig. 1), and providing documentation with every type of two-dimensional drawing required for a detailed description of the construction, i.e. plans of several levels, cross sections, and elevations in a scale with an adequate coefficient (usually 1:100, 1:50) Equal attention and similar treatment should be given to the survey of the architectural elements, sometimes the skin but often both the skin and the skeleton of an ancient building, using a scale with an even lower coefficient (usually 1:20, 1:10) (Figs 2-3). Whenever possible, the person who makes the survey should be the one to study the monument because he, or she, is the only one who really has become sufficiently acquainted with it, and can extract from it the maximum amount of information, sometimes very significant and innovative not only from a technical, but also from a historical point of view. If an indirect procedure, such as working with a total station or a laser scanner, has been carried out, careful checking of the graphic results by the screening directly on site of the remains should be done and any extra information made by direct observation of the building should be added. Ultimately, all information should be integrated with a graphic mapping of the cracks and other damage to the building (Fig. 4).

Carla Maria Amici

2. Understanding

4. Suggestions for restoration

‘Understanding’ means checking, comparing and combining all the data acquired during the survey with a wide range of bibliographic, archival, historical and artistic research; the purpose is to acquire a 360° knowledge of the building. The task involves asking questions, solving problems, asking new questions, and trying not to miss anything. Every construction represents some considerable financial commitment, so even apparently irrelevant factors usually have a sound reason for existing (Figs 5-9). When in doubt, remember: the building is always right; and don’t forget that the builders were not stupid, they usually knew what they were doing even if they were doing it 2000 years ago. Otherwise, we would have nothing to examine today.

The comparison between a mapping of the cracks in the existing remains of a structure and a virtual reconstruction provides insight into the static and structural behaviour of the building over time. Often the reasons behind perplexing adjustments and adaptations become clear when juxtaposing these different types of studies. Emblematic is the case of the Basilica of Maxentius, where this kind of comparative study has suggested a new reading of the main features and modifications of the building, with remarkable consequences even on its historical interpretation (Figs 14-17). This kind of data is not only apt to provide extra information about the monument and the possibility of relating the damage to specific causes, such as earthquakes, which are often well dated, but it also serves to identify the critical zones of maximum stress and therefore helps to assess the stability of the structure, which in turn provides extremely valuable data for planning the restoration of the building (Figs 1819). This is particularly relevant if the ‘philosophy’ of the restoration process is an active one, based on preventing collapse rather than an ‘old style’ passive reinforcement, which is applied only when the existing structure starts to collapse resulting in significant and visible damage An approach of this kind, dealing with monuments with a holistic perspective, is bound to provide an exhaustive understanding of the ancient building, which can then be translated into the broader cultural context. Furthermore, the documentation acquired in the process is particularly appropriate for public presentations and for developing the archaeological site. The conservation of an ancient monument is not only the preservation of its physical reality, but is a continuous process of informing, showing, disclosing and popularising the building, which leads to a common understanding of Cultural Heritage. It should be remembered that a true respect for and genuine desire to protect and preserve ancient structures are born only from a conscious and mindful appreciation of Cultural Heritage. More prosaically, this means that as public funding is directed towards the enormous cost of excavating, preserving, and managing archaeological sites, the public should be included in the process as a way of promoting appreciation for the preservation of the monuments. Virtual reconstructions, particularly the 3D models and virtual animations can be used for public presentations and displays of an ancient building. Even the illustration of the building process step by step can be an extremely effective means of communicating the value and significance of a structure (Fig. 20). Actually, serious intellectual examination of the building through these means should be matched by the accurate popular presentation of the results; only in this way will the survey of an ancient monument not only increase significantly general historical information but also the level of public cultural perception.

3. Virtual reconstruction Virtual reconstruction of the building should take into consideration dimensional specifications, scale drawings, digital images, topographical and historical data, building techniques within the historical context, and physical laws (very often forgotten by archaeologists). The process is very similar to the planning of the original building; it means a full understanding of the building process, which can lead to a better understanding of the structure and to original and new interpretations. Working in a 3D context, one is bound to deal with the building as an articulated but homogeneous complex. Any possible solution to a particular or unusual problem must be related back to the general context. One cannot ‘forget’ even a minor or secondary structural element: every component of the building has to form part of a coherent whole. Whenever possible, a reconstruction of the previous topographical setting should be provided. Often it can explain or can give useful hints about specific or baffling features of the construction (Fig. 10) A 3D model is an open system: it can be modified, increased, integrated, and (alas!) endlessly improved. In a way, it is something very similar to a real scale model of a construction, like those conceived and carried out during the Renaissance. It is worked out with diligent but dynamic attention to the building itself and is imbued with multiple meanings and significances (Figs 1-13). If possible, the ‘skin’ of the monument should be recreated, applying suitable textures to the structural model according to the remains, or when sufficient documentation is available (Fig. 13). Several virtual animations from inside and/or outside should be made, so that the articulation of the interior circulation system and the original sources of lights can be understood better. At present this is the most successful method available to give a clear and suggestive idea of the interior space, which is actually, in an architectural sense, ‘the’ building: it expresses the relationship between an artificially modelled space and the time and motion one needs to appreciate and ‘use’ it.

30

Survey and technical analysis: a must for understanding monuments

REFERENCES

The Basilica of Maxentius: the Monument, its Materials, Construction and Stability (Roma: Erma di Bretschneider), pp. 21-60, 125-149 Amici, C.M., Cancellieri M., 2005, Privernum: l’edificio termale (Priverno: RS Edizioni)

Amici, C.M., 1991, Foro di Cesare (Firenze: Olschki), pp. 82-87 Amici, C.M., 2005, ‘From project to monument’ and ‘Construction techniques and process’ in C. Giavarini (ed.)

Fig.1 - Selinunte, Temple C. General photo and a sample of the survey; the original is 1:50. A very clear example when the use of direct survey is compulsory.

Fig. 2 - Rome, Forum of Caesar, temple of Venus Genitrix. Blocks of the entablature of the back side.

31

Carla Maria Amici

Fig. 3 - Survey and analysis of the cornices, reconstructing the technical progression of the building procedure and the position of the blocks at the back side of the temple.

32

Survey and technical analysis: a must for understanding monuments

Fig. 4 - Rome, Basilica of Maxentius, perimeter wall, northern side, exterior; orthophotogram (Fokus GmbH – Leipzig). Screening of the wall facing and mapping of the cracks; width in mm.

Fig. 5 - Rome, Basilica of Maxentius, east side, perimeter wall, orthophotogram (Fokus GmbH – Leipzig). As an example, only the part emphasised is here considered.

Fig. 6 - North-east buttress, detail of the exterior elevation. The drawing documents clearly the imprints left by reinforcing work. 33

Carla Maria Amici

Fig. 7 - Rome, Basilica of Maxentius, axonometric reconstruction from north-east, showing the original features of the buttress. A passage made it possible to access the overhanging balcony for maintenance of the upper windows of the east façade, otherwise unreachable.

Fig. 8 - Axonometric reconstruction of the surroundings of the Basilica of Maxentius, Rome, in the 16th century, partially incorporated into Palazzo Silvestri da Cingoli, clearly built over previously existing structures. In the circle the buttress is emphasised.

Fig. 9 - Reconstruction of the reinforcing system added to the buttress, probably during Renaissance times, to permit safe access to the lower terrace, still used in that period by the residents in Palazzo Silvestri. 34

Survey and technical analysis: a must for understanding monuments

Fig. 10 - Rome, Basilica of Maxentius, reconstruction of the previous topographical setting. The level of the floor of the highest sector of the Horrea Piperataria, the Flavian market which formerly occupied the area, was selected as the level of the future ground floor of the basilica; the Velian Hill was excavated for approximately 30 m to the north-east, causing a drastic reduction in size of the existing Flavian-Trajanic villa above. The material earth from the excavation was used as fill, thus resolving the problem of the progressive difference in level between the terraced floors of the Horrea and the new floor level, as well as the problem of what to do with the excavated material. The remains of previous structures clearly influenced the planning of the Basilica, and several walls of the Horrea Piperataria were used as formwork. 35

Carla Maria Amici

Fig. 11 - From survey to 3D model: Privernum (Latina). Thermae and Domus dell’Emblema: plan and elevations, carried out with direct procedure, allowing a very sound and reliable technical analysis.

Fig. 12 - From survey to 3D model: wireframe 3D and realistic 3D of the thermal building.

36

Survey and technical analysis: a must for understanding monuments

Fig. 13 - From survey to 3D model: virtual reconstruction of the interior of the thermal building with wall decoration patterns strictly deduced from the remains.

Fig. 14 - Traditional interpretation of the structural setting of the Basilica.

Fig. 15 - Pronaos, south-east end. The construction of the projecting pronaos was prepared building a foundation, in part against the ground and in part against blocks, and then an elevated section with blocks at each end. Both were clearly bonded to the foundation and the perimeter wall of the Basilica; consequently it must be attributed to the first phase of the building, in Maxentius time.

37

Carla Maria Amici

Fig.16 - Basilica, north apse, (A), exterior (orthophotogram by Fokus GmbH – Leipzig). The deteriorated section of Maxentian wall was demolished and repaired, following the course of the existing structural crack, indicated by the arrow on the right, by inserting a large buttressing apse. The arrow on the left indicates the remains of the springing of the arches in bipedales of the truncated windows of the original rectilinear wall.

Fig. 17 - Basilica, east (B) and west (C) perimeter wall (orthophotogram by Fokus GmbH – Leipzig). Arrows indicate deep structural vertical cracks; the analysis of the wall facings shows that buttressing arches were built against them to cope with lateral thrusts and external inclination.

38

Survey and technical analysis: a must for understanding monuments

Fig. 18 - Model of the Basilica in its original condition, showing the Finite Element mesh with degrees of tension stress (A. Samuelli Ferretti). The geometry of the model is derived from the 3D analytic reconstruction.

Fig. 19 - Proposals for permanent strengthening (A. Samuelli Ferretti). Proposal B strongly takes into account the suggestions offered by the arched buttresses built during the second phase of the construction of the Basilica (cf. Figs 16-17), adapting to changed topographical and structural conditions.

39

Carla Maria Amici

Fig. 20 - Selinunte, Temple C. Virtual reconstruction of the building process of the pediments and the roof.

40

Image-based 3D recording and modelling of landscapes and large Cultural Heritage sites  

Armin Gruen Abstract The recording and 3D modelling of landscapes and large Cultural Heritage sites is currently receiving much attention. A great variety of sensors for data acquisition, procedures for automated processing and tools for data administration and analysis (Spatial Information Systems) and visualisation/simulation are readily available nowadays. So the time has come to use these devices more extensively in Cultural Heritage recording, modelling and visualisation. This paper, after a brief review of the currently available high resolution satellite images and the new large format digital aerial cameras, addresses the issue of automated processing and describes our software systems SAT-PP and TLS for the 3D processing of satellite, aerial and terrestrial imagery. Very often the recording of large sites implies the modelling of objects at very different scales (from DTM to small artefacts). This requires the use of different imaging sensors. We will address this issue by presenting results from our Bamiyan, Afghanistan project. With imagebased techniques we can go back in time. This is demonstrated with our project Tucume, Peru. Of particular interest for archaeological and Cultural Heritage applications is the new concept of UAV-based data acquisition. We present here the successful use of a model helicopter in Pinchango Alto, Peru.

1. Introduction The modelling of large sites has received much attention in recent years. This was triggered on the one side by the increased interest of UNESCO and other supranational and national organisations and on the other side by the new technologies available for recording, processing, administration and visualisation of the data. As can be seen from the UNESCO World Heritage List (whc.unesco.org), many recent additions can actually be classified as ‘Large Sites’, both in terms of culture and nature. In a press release (No. 2002-77: ‘For UNESCO, Space Technologies should be Harnessed for Sustainable Development’) UNESCO has stressed the use of satellite imagery for monitoring World Heritage sites. Lately many conferences have been devoted to this issue. Conservation and management of these sites rely heavily on the availability and timeliness of suitable data. On the technology side we have nowadays at our disposal a vast array of relevant and efficient data acquisition tools: high resolution satellite images, large format digital aerial cameras, hyperspectral sensors with several hundreds of channels, interferometric radar from space and aerial platforms, laser scanners of aerial and terrestrial type, partially with integrated cameras, model helicopters with off-the-shelf digital cameras, panoramic cameras and a large number of diverse customer-type still video cameras, camcorders and even mobile phone cameras. This is augmented by GPS/ INS systems for precise navigation and positioning. Automated and semi-automated algorithms allow us to process the data more efficie tly than ever before and Spatial Information System technology provides for data administration, analysis and other functions of interest. Finally, also visualisation and animation software is becoming affordable at better functionality and lower costs. This sets the scene for a totally new evaluation of the tools and techniques for large sites Cultural Heritage recording and

modelling. We have conducted in the past a number of projects that have shown the potential, but also the limitations of some of these new technologies. Among these are (see also www. photogrammetry.ethz.ch under PROJECTS): Mount Everest, Ayers Rock/Australia, Kunming/China, Matterhorn/ Switzerland, Bamiyan/Afghanistan, Geoglyphs of Nasca, Pinchango Alto, Chichictara, Tucume, Machu Picchu (all Peru), Xochicalco/Mexico. The principles of large site modelling are also applied to the modelling of relief models, as has been done with the Pfyffer relief (Niederoest 2004, Niederoest 2005) and the 3D city model of Zurich 1800 (in work). In this paper we will report on our experiences with large site modelling, and also address some of the new algorithmic approaches and software modules for the 3D processing of digital satellite and aerial images, which we have developed in the course of these projects. Here we will limit ourselves to a brief description of the Bamiyan, Tucume and Pinchango Alto projects.

2. Photogrammetry and remote sensing It is interesting to note that in the early days of photogrammetry the so-called ‘non-topographic applications’ played a major role. Among those Architectural Photogrammetry, using graphical and analogue processing techniques, represented the main application field. In the year 1930 the International Society for Photogrammetry even kept a Commission on ‘Architectural and Engineering Photogrammetry’. With the advent of airplanes and aerial cameras the emphasis shifted to aerial photogrammetry and topographic mapping. Until 1970 Architectural Photogrammetry was still largely executed with analogue techniques, although analytical methods and instruments were already available then. Since

Armin Gruen

those times the photogrammetric recording and processing techniques have undergone major changes and other technologies like lasers canning, structured light, GPS, INS, etc. are being used as well. With the emergence of digital technologies, traditional applications experienced a revival and new fields of applications are opening up. In industrial inspection and quality control, robotics, navigation, medical imaging, biometrics, motion analysis, animation and others photogrammetric techniques are nowadays used extensively. All these developments are clearly technology-driven. What are now the technologies that are triggering such a tremendous progress? In photogrammetric recording and modelling we distinguish the following components in data handling: acquisition, processing, administration, analysis and representation.

vector and raster data can be combined with information from archaeological records. Database functionality also provides for analysis functions that would otherwise have to be implemented with much effort. Some SIS also include fairly advanced 3D visualisation modules, which are very important in Cultural Heritage applications. 2.4. Data representation Traditionally the results of processing were presented as graphical plots (maps and plans) or in the form of lists and tables. Nowadays 3D visualisation products are standard. A great amount of commercial software is available for this purpose, but in most cases with severe limitations. The key parameters to be observed here are true 3D modelling, realtime capability, quality of rendering and size of datasets. There is no package available yet which would satisfy all requirements simultaneously in a reasonable way. Beyond pure visualisation, techniques from Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, simulation and animation are also very useful for Cultural Heritage applications. Photogrammetry and remote sensing are image-based techniques for the extraction of metric and semantic information from images. Originally, terrestrial photogrammetry, aerial photogrammetry and satellite remote sensing developed along separate lines, both in terms of types of sensors used and processing methodology and tools. Today, within an almost totally digital environment, we see a strong trend towards convergence. This opens the path for a much more cost-efficient use of a variety of different sensor data and processing tools. As opposed to photogrammetry, which is strongly geometry-oriented, remote sensing is looking more into the radiometric properties of images, in order to extract useful information in particular for land-use applications. However, the steady increase in the geometrical resolution of satellite images also puts 3D modelling issues there on the top of the priority list. We will concentrate in this paper on the processing of satellite and aerial images, because they are most relevant when it comes to large site modelling. Fig. 1 shows the workflow of the photogrammetric techniques used to turn images into hybrid 3D models (‘hybrid’ meaning mixed models including geometry and texture).

2.1. Data acquisition While in the old days we only had one type of sensor available – the photographic camera – we nowadays dispose of a great variety of different devices: CCD and CMOS still video cameras of various geometrical, spectral and radiometric resolutions, camcorders, linear array cameras of various types (among those three-line scanners and panoramic cameras), laser scanners, X-ray and electronic imaging devices, microwave and ultrasound sensors, GPS/ INS, videotheodolites, etc. Several aspects have led to new concepts in data acquisition: the ease of image taking, the possibilities for fast image processing and the need for real texture mapping. While traditionally the art of photogrammetry consisted in taking and processing as few images as possible, very often from a fixed stereobase, we nowadays experience a paradigm shift towards the collection of large numbers of images (image sequences), taken from all possible directions, in order to facilitate automated processing and good photo-realistic texture mapping. Also the combination of different sensors (e.g., images and laser scans) is a viable means to support automated processing. 2.2. Data processing The increased power of computers and availability of application software allows for much faster processing of the data and for new kinds of products. Also, with digital photogrammetry the costs of systems are reduced drastically. Automation of processing is the key topic in research and development today. However, one has to note that fully automatic processing procedures are still in a state of infancy. The related results are mostly not reliable enough and require a large amount of postediting. One can very often observe that the results generated by automated methods do not nearly match the requirements of the user of Cultural Heritage data. Therefore semi-automated processing techniques have lately found much interest and offer a way out of the existing dilemma.

3. Relevant satellite sensors and new aerial digital cameras The development and increased availability of high resolution, multispectral and stereo-capable satellite sensors, and of a new generation of digital large format aerial cameras is very crucial for the efficient modelling of la ge sites. Table 1 shows an overview of high resolution satellite sensors (including medium resolution ASTER because of its easy availability and low costs), which might be useful in Cultural Heritage applications. There is a great variety of image products available in terms of geometrical resolution (footprint), spectral resolution (number of spectral channels) and costs. All images of Table 1 are acquired with digital sensors, using Linear Array CCD camera technology. For precise processing this requires a particular sensor

2.3. Data administration and analysis The use of Spatial Information Systems (SIS) has opened new venues for the storage and administration, but also for the analysis of data. The database functions of SIS allow for the storage of consistent, non-redundant data, both for geometric and attribute information. In this way up-to-date 42

Image-based 3D recording and modelling of landscapes and large Cultural Heritage sites

model and the related special software (see Paragraph 4). The latest satellite sensor WorldView-1 provides images with 0.5 m spatial resolution in panchromatic stereomode, a 1.7 days revisit period and collects up to 750,000 million km2 of images per day. This takes satellite imagery into the domain of medium resolution aerial images and provides for exciting new application opportunities. There are and have been also a number of film-based photographic satellite cameras in use (Jacobsen et al. 1999). This includes the US Corona satellite (2-3 m footprint, B/W, stereo, USD 24 for a scanned image). The availability of images and the costs can be checked through a number of image providers over the Internet (Table 1). It is very important to select the right product for a particular task. We are witnessing right now a move in photogrammetry towards the use of large format digital aerial cameras. A number of manufacturers are offering their products since 2000 and these cameras have already found their way into many projects. We actually witness worldwide a replacement of the traditional film-based aerial cameras by this new generation of digital ones. Table 2 gives an overview of the current status in digital aerial large format camera development. We define ‘large format’ as having more than 10,000 pixels in at least one image format direction. There are many consumer-type still video cameras on the market, some of them with up to 12 Mpixel image format, or even semi-professional ones with up to 39 Mpixel, but none of them will even closely match the format of these professional photogrammetric cameras.

•

TLS-SMS: Userinterface Image measurement in mono and stereo 3-ray forward intersection (point positioning) Image and shadow enhancement • TLS-IRS: Quasi-epipolar rectification to plane or via DTM/DSM Orthoimage generation • TLS-LAB: Sensor/trajectory modelling, georeferencing/triangulation Automatic and semi-automatic tiepoint generation • TLS-IMS: Image matching for DSM/DTM generation DSM/DTM modelling and interpolation • Feature/object extraction, e.g. for city modelling: CCModeler For the satellite image case we have developed a modified version of this software, called SAT-PP (Satellite Image Precision Processing), with similar functionality as described above. The key difference to the aerial case is the use of slightly different sensor and more simplistic trajectory models. In recent years we have done a number of experiments and tests with TLS/STARIMAGER aerial images (Gruen and Zhang 2003a, Gruen et al. 2003, Zhang and Gruen 2004), with ADS40 (Kocaman et al. 2006, Kocaman et al. 2007) and with satellite stereoimages from SPOT (Poli et al. 2004), IKONOS and Quickbird (Gruen and Zhang 2003b, Eisenbeiss et al. 2004, Gruen et al. 2005) and from ALOS/ PRISM (Gruen et al. 2007, Gruen and Wolff 2007) with respect to georeferencing (orientation), measurement accuracy (point positioning), Digital Surface Model (DSM) determination and orthoimage generation. These investigations have shown that with the proper methodology and software one can achieve extraordinary results. Both with aerial and satellite images one can get a georeferencing accuracy of better than 1 pixel. In automated DSM generation one can achieve a height accuracy of 1 to 5 pixels, depending on such factors as surface roughness (flat and smooth or mountainous areas), land-use parameters (forest, desert, urban areas), local texture (sand, snow), time and month of image taking, image quality, etc. Accurate DSM/DTM data is not only an important product in its own right but is also necessary for the derivation of good quality orthoimages.

4. New methods for digital photogrammetric processing



The new generation of sensors has a number of particular properties that require new approaches in processing, if the inherent accuracy and data processing potentials are to be used. Images from CCD sensors do have a much larger dynamic range than film-based images, so there is more detailed radiometric information present in those images. This is important in particular in areas of shadows and areas close to saturation. Linear Array sensors do have almost parallel projection in flight direction, which leads to less occlusions and gives better orthoimage products. Linear Array imagery, if acquired in multi-image mode, e.g. by Three-Line-Scanners or Multi-Line-Scanners, has 100% overlap for all strip images over the same area. This delivers better precision and reliability of results. Finally, Linear Array imaging systems are using GPS/INS sensors for position and attitude determination of the imaging sensor, which can be used advantageously at different stages of the processing chain (Fig. 1). Taking into consideration these facts and other parameters and constraints, we have developed some new methods and the related software packages for the high accuracy processing of aerial and satellite Linear Array images. For the aerial case we have developed a complete software system in cooperation with Starlabo Inc., Tokyo, the manufacturer of the Three-Line Scanner STARIMGER, consisting of the following modules:

5. Status of automated processing The automation of photogrammetric processing is obviously an important factor when it comes to efficiency and costs of data processing. The success of automation in image analysis depends on many factors and is a hot topic in research. Progress is slow and the acceptance of results depends on the quality specificatio s of the user. Also, the image scale plays an important role in automation. Potentially, the smaller the scale the more successful automation will be. Therefore, it is a bit difficult to make firm statements which would be valid in all cases. However, in general one can state that: • orientation and georeferencing can be done in part au43

Armin Gruen

tomatically; DSM generation can be done automatically, but may need substantial postediting; • orthoimage generation is a fully automatic process; • object extraction and modelling is possible in semiautomated mode at best; Since object extraction and modelling constitute very important elements in Cultural Heritage applications, we will give some specific comments on that in the following

Chiclayo and Trujillo, the so-called ‘Pyramids of Tucume’ represent a unique example of adobe architecture built during different periods of pre-Hispanic cultures. About 3000 years ago, people started to construct various buildings until they were completed during the 13th century AD in the period of Sican, and later also used by the Incas. From the Cerro La Raya, a characteristic hill in the centre of the site, 26 adobe buildings are visible, the largest one, Huaca Larga, with a base length of 545 m, 110 m in width and 21 m in height. On top of Huaca Larga, the Incas constructed a stone building. During excavations in the last few years, tombs, reliefs and coloured wall drawings were found. Besides the pyramids, the complex contains platforms, citadels, residential areas and cemeteries. The fact that Tucume has been an urban settlement area for the cultures of Lambayeque, Chimu and Inca consecutively makes it one of the most important Cultural Heritage sites of ancient Peru. The archaeological investigations of the adobe buildings are at an end for the moment. As the adobe structures are heavily affected by wind erosion, the architecture should be modelled as well as possible in an unaffected state. For this reason, aerial imagery from the years 1949 and 1983 was acquired from the Peruvian SAN (Servicio Aerofotográfico Nacional, Lima), which shows the adobe complex in two different states. As no control points existed for the 1949 images, two maps and the 1983 imagery had to be used for the orientation. The orientation of the 1983 images was accomplished on an analytical plotter WILD S9, while for the orientation of the 1949 images both, the analytical plotter and a digital photogrammetric workstation Virtuozo 3.1, were used. The photogrammetric products derived from the oriented 1949 images are a manually measured DTM, an automatically generated DSM, an orthomosaic and a photorealistic 3D model. For details see Sauerbier et al. 2004. The hybrid model was visualised with the software packages Skyline Terra Builder / Explorer Pro and ERDAS Imagine Virtual GIS (Fig. 3). The 3D model now can serve archaeologists and other scientists as a means for documentation, analysis and presentation of the Cultural Heritage site of Tucume in a state of preservation as of 1949.

•

5.1. Object extraction and modelling Basically, in digital photogrammetric software object extraction functionality is restricted to manual or semi-automated measurements, together with the capability of attribute data acquisition. Commercial systems assist the human operator in measuring 3D objects in combination with registration of attribute data in a semi-automated mode, e.g. Leica Photogrammetry Suite, Z/I Image Station or Virtuozo IGS Digitize. These systems provide libraries containing objects, e.g. buildings or streets, which allow for object modelling according to certain rules concerning object topology. It is generally agreed that these programs are not very efficient. Moreover, there is no functionality available that would consider the specific requirements of Cultural Heritage modelling. For the 3D modelling of buildings and other man-made objects we have developed and tested a methodology called CyberCity Modeler (CC-Modeler). This is a semi-automated technique, where the operator measures manually in the stereomodel a weakly structured point cloud, which describes the key points of an object. The software then turns this point cloud automatically into a structured 3D model, which is compatible with CAD, visualisation and GIS software. Texture can be added to the geometry to generate a hybrid model. A DTM can also be integrated. An example using CyberCity Modeler for 3D modelling of terrain and buildings in an archaeological application was conducted for the pre-Hispanic site of Xochicalco, Mexico, where an urban centre was reconstructed photogrammetrically from aerial images (Gruen and Wang 2002) (Fig. 2).

6.2. The Bamiyan project The Bamiyan region, situated about 200 km north-west of Kabul in Afghanistan, is one of the most famous Buddhist monument sites worldwide. Global attention was attracted to Bamiyan when the Taleban regime destroyed the big standing Buddha statues in March 2001. We started our Bamiyan project in July 2001, not long after the destruction of the standing Buddhas. We were looking for a pilot dataset that could be used in order to refine and demonstrate our already developed methods of deriving 3D models from old (possibly amateur) imagery. This is an important task, to be executed whenever objects have been destroyed over the years and are to be rebuilt according to their original size, shape and location, with no accurate metric plans being available. After collecting old photographs of the Great Buddha and their successful processing our tasks grew beyond this work. In summary the main goals of the Bamiyan project expanded into: • terrain modelling of the entire Bamiyan area from sat-

6. Examples for large site modelling In recent years we have modelled a number of large Natural and Cultural Heritage sites, e.g. Mount Everest (Gruen and Murai 2002), Ayers Rock/Australia, Xochicalco/Mexico (Gruen and Wang 2002), Geoglyphs of Nasca/Peru (Reindel and Gruen 2006, Lambers and Gruen 2003, Lambers and Sauerbier 2003) and Chichictara/Peru (Fux et al. in press). We also worked on Machu Picchu/Peru. For more details concerning our projects see www.photogrammetry. ethz.ch under PROJECTS. In the following we will report about the results and experiences gained with the projects Tucume/Peru (Sauerbier et al. 2004) and Bamiyan/Afghanistan (Gruen et al. 2004a, Gruen et al. 2004b, Gruen et al. 2005) and Pinchango Alto/Peru (Eisenbeiss et al. 2005).



6.1. 3D reconstruction of an adobe architecture in Tucume/Peru In the region of Tucume in Northern Peru, near the cities of 44

Image-based 3D recording and modelling of landscapes and large Cultural Heritage sites

ellite images for the generation of virtual flights over the UNESCO Cultural Heritage site; • modelling of the rock cliff from which the Buddha were carved out; • 3D computer reconstruction of the two lost Buddha statues and the re-mapping of the frescoes of the niches; • 3D modelling of the two empty niches where the Buddha statues once stood; • documentation of the Cultural Heritage area with a topographic, tourist and cultural information system. The project is an excellent example of image-based modelling, using many types of images, with different spatial resolution. It shows the capabilities and achievements of the photogrammetric modelling techniques, and combines large site landscape modelling with highly detailed modelling of objects (i.e., the statues and frescoes) by means of terrestrial images. Automated image-based modelling algorithms have been specifica ly developed for the modelling of the Great Buddha statue, but, in the end, manual measurements revealed to be the best procedure to recover reliable and precise 3D models. Photogrammetric processing was used by our group for different purposes: 3D reconstruction of the Great Buddha statue (Gruen et al. 2004a), 3D modelling of the rock façade (Gruen et al. 2005), and generation of a high resolution mosaic of the destroyed fresco in the Great Buddha’s niche (Remondino and Niederoest 2004), all from terrestrial close-range images (old metric photographs, Internet images, semi-metric images, still video images and small format tourist images), and the generation of a Digital Terrain Model of the Bamiyan valley and its surroundings from SPOT-5 and IKONOS satellite imagery using SAT-PP (Gruen et al. 2004b). The DTM was generated automatically from SPOT-5 stereoimages for an area of 49 x 38 km2. For texture mapping we used one of the B/W SPOT-5 images, but also an MS (multispectral) IKONOS mosaic for a smaller area of 12 x 18 km2, containing the rock façade, the village of Bamiyan and its surroundings. The empty niches of the Buddha statues can clearly be seen in the 3D view generated from the IKONOS textured 3D model, derived from SPOT-5 stereoimagery using the SATPP software system (Fig. 4). For the reconstruction and modelling of the Bamiyan cliff, a series of terrestrial images acquired with an analogue Rollei 6006 camera were used. The images were digitised at 20 µm resolution and then oriented with a photogrammetric bundle-adjustment. Then manual measurements were performed on stereopairs in order to get all the small details that an automated procedure would smooth out. The recovered point cloud was triangulated, edited and finally textured, as shown in Fig. 5. The modelling of the empty Buddha niches was performed using five digital images for each niche, acquired with a Sony Cybershot F707 during our field campaign in August 2003. The image size is 1920 x 2560 pixels while the pixel size is 3.4 mm. After the image orientation, three stereomodels were set up and points were manually measured along horizontal profiles, while the main edges were measured as breaklines. Thus a point cloud of ca 12,000 points was generated for the Great Buddha niche. The final tex-

tured 3D model is displayed in Fig. 6. The Bamiyan project is a combination of multiresolution and multitemporal photogrammetric data, as summarised in Table 3. The geometric resolution of the recovered 3D data spans from 20 m (SPOT5) to 5 cm (Buddha model), while the texture information is between 2.5 m (SPOT5) and 2 mm (fresco) resolution. A factor 400 exists between the different geometry resolutions, while there is a factor 1250 in the texture. The whole triangulated surface model covers an area of ca 49 x 38 km2 and contains approximately 35 million triangles, while the texture occupies ca 2 GB. The fusion of the multiresolution (and multitemporal) data is a very complex and critical task. Currently there is no commercial software able to handle all these kinds of data at the same time, mainly for these reasons: • the data is a combination of 2.5 and 3D geometry, limiting the use of packages for geodata visualisation, which are usually very powerful for large site textured terrain models, but may have limitations concerning the rendering of textured truly 3D models; • the amount of data is too big for graphical rendering and animation packages, generally able to handle textured 3D data; • the high resolution texture information exceeds the memory capacity of most current graphic cards. Therefore, there is a need for rendering techniques able to maximise the available amount of visible data with an optimal use of the rendering power, including anti-aliasing functions, while maintaining smooth motion during the interactive navigations. In the future, an integration of the different multiresolution datasets into one 3D model using visualisation software with real-time navigation capability would be desirable. Another aim of the project is the development of a tourist information system for the Bamiyan region in the near future (Gruen et al. 2006).

7. A remotely controlled model helicopter over Pinchango Alto / Peru Model helicopters belong to the class of UAVs (Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles). These vehicles are currently a hot topic for R&D and used in a great variety of applications. Lately we have applied such a system to Cultural Heritage modelling. In the vicinity of Palpa, the prehispanic site of Pinchango Alto is an attractive, yet difficult target for archaeological research. On the one hand, its stone architecture, abundant surface finds, and richly furnished graves dating to the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1400) offer many opportunities to study this still poorly understood pre-Incaic period. On the other hand, access to and working on the site is rather difficult. The recording of the preserved surface remains therefore requires a highly mobile and flexible documentation system. In a 2004 field campaign we used a model helicopter carrying a CMOS camera to acquire a series of vertical aerial images for photogrammetric recording and 3D modelling of the site and the surrounding terrain. The system used in Pinchango Alto is based on a commercial low-cost model helicopter. It features an integrated 45

Armin Gruen

References

GPS/INS based stabiliser. While the GPS/INS unit enables semi-automated navigation along a predefined flight path, the stabiliser ensures a stable flight attitude and thus highly reliable image acquisition. The processing and analysis of the acquired images encompassed image pre-processing, semi-automatic triangulation and automated DTM generation. A 3D model of the site was produced and visualised (Fig. 8). The results were analysed, concerning in particular the potential of DSM generation from model helicopter images as compared to terrestrial laser scan data. For details of the whole mission (data acquisition and processing) see Eisenbeiss et al. 2005. Fig. 7 shows the model helicopter in action over Pinchango Alto and the user interface of the remote control system.

Eisenbeiss, H., Baltsavias, E., Pateraki, M., Zhang, L., 2004, ‘Potential of IKONOS and QUICKBIRD Imagery for Accurate 3D Point Positioning, Orthoimage and DSM Generation’ in Geo-Imagery Bridging Continents. Proceedings of the XXth ISPRS Congress, 1223 July, Istanbul, Turkey, IAPRS 35, Part B7 (Book & DVD), pp. 522-528 Eisenbeiss, H., Lambers, K., Sauerbier, M., Zhang, L., 2005, ‘Photogrammetric Documentation of an Archaeological Site (Palpa, Peru) Using an Autonomous Model Helicopter’ in Proceedings of the XXth CIPA International Symposium, Torino, Italy, 26 September – 1 October, IAPRS 34, Part 5/C34 (Book & CD-ROM), pp. 238-243 Fux, P., Sauerbier, M., Peterhans, J., Kersten, T., Lindstaedt, M., in press, ‘Documentation and Interpretation of the Petroglyphs of Chichictara, Palpa (Peru), Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Image-Based 3D Modeling’ in Layers of Perception. Advanced Technological Means to Illuminate our Past. CAA 2007. Berlin: April, 2-6 (Oxford: BAR Publishing) Gruen, A., Kocaman S., Wolff K., 2007, ‘Geometric Validation of ALOS/PRISM Images’ in Proceedings of the First Joint PI Symposium of ALOS Data Nodes for ALOS Science Program in Kyoto, Japan, 19-23 November (CD-ROM) Gruen, A., Murai, S., 2002, ‘High-resolution 3D Modeling and Visualization of Mount Everest’, ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing 57, pp. 102-113 Gruen, A., Remondino, F., Zhang, L., 2004a, ‘Photogrammetric Reconstruction of the Great Buddha of Bamiyan’, The Photogrammetric Record 19/107, pp. 177199 Gruen, A., Remondino, F., Zhang, L., 2004b, ‘The Bamiyan Valley: Landscape Modeling for Cultural Heritage Visualization and Documentation’, in A. Gruen et al. (eds) Proceedings of the International Workshop on ‘Processing and Visualization Using High-Resolution Images’, 18-20 November 2004, Pitsanulok, Thailand, IAPRS 36, Part 5/W1 (CD-ROM) Gruen, A., Remondino, F., Zhang, L., 2006, ‘The Bamiyan Project: Multi-Resolution Image-based Modeling’ in E. Baltsavias, A. Gruen, L. Van Gool, M. Pateraki (eds) Recording, Modeling and Visualization of Cultural Heritage (London: Taylor & Francis), pp. 45-54 Gruen, A., Wang, X., 2002, ‘Integration of Landscape and City Modeling: the Pre-Hispanic Site Xochicalco’ in International Workshop on Visualization and Animation of Landscape, Kunming, China, 26-28 February 2002, IAPRS 34, Part 5/W3 (CD-ROM) Gruen, A., Wolff, K., 2007, ‘DSM Generation with ALOS/ PRISM Data Using SAT-PP’ in Proceedings of the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Barcelona, 23-28 July (CDROM) Gruen, A., Zhang, L., 2003a, ‘Sensor Modeling for Aerial Triangulation with Three-Line Scanner (TLS) Imagery’, Photogrammetrie, Fernerkundung, Geoinformation 2, pp. 85-98

8. Conclusions We have shown here how high resolution satellite, aerial and terrestrial images can be used in order to generate hybrid 3D models for archaeological and Natural and Cultural Heritage applications with photogrammetric techniques. The digital nature of many of those images and the progress in automatic photogrammetric processing allows for very efficient procedures and for new kinds of results. Among the many and varied projects which we have conducted we have reported here about the sites of Xochicalco/Mexico, Tucume/Peru and Bamiyan/Afghanistan. Additional options for recording and processing are available through the use of aerial and terrestrial laser scanners, panoramic cameras and combined systems. Of particular interest are UAVs – in our case a model helicopter, which works in an autonomous mode, based on integrated GPS/ INS, stabiliser platform and digital cameras, and which can be used to get images from otherwise hardly accessible areas. This system, together with advanced software for automated processing, will allow us in the near future to generate at least an initial model of the object fully automatically online in the field or immediately after data collection in the campaign office All these presented technologies, together with Spatial Information Systems, 3D modelling, visualisation and animation software are still in a dynamic state of development, with even better application prospects for the near future.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank my cooperators H. Eisenbeiss, D. Poli, F. Remondino, M. Sauerbier and Zhang Li for their very valuable contributions to this paper.

ABBREVIATIONS IAPRS – International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences

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Image-based 3D recording and modelling of landscapes and large Cultural Heritage sites

Gruen, A., Zhang, L., 2003b, ‘3D Processing of High-Resolution Satellite Images’ in Proceedings of the 24th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, 3-7 November 2003, Busan, Korea (CD-ROM) Gruen, A., Zhang, L., Eisenbeiss, H., 2005, ‘3D Precision Processing of High-Resolution Satellite Imagery’ in Proceedings of ASPRS Annual Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, 7-11 March (CD-ROM) Gruen, A., Zhang, L., Wang, X., 2003, ‘Generation of 3D City Models with Linear Array CCD-Sensors’ in A. Gruen, H. Kahmen (eds) Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Optical 3D Measurement Techniques, Zurich, 22-25 September 2003, II (Book & CD-ROM), pp. 21-31 Jacobsen, K., Konecny, G., Wegmann, H., 1999, ‘High Resolution Sensor Test Comparison with SPOT, KFA1000, KVR1000, IRS-1C and DPA in Lower Saxony’ in D. Fritsch, M. Englich, M. Sester (eds) ISPRS Commission IV – GIS Between Visions and Applications, IAPRS 32, Part 4 (Heidelberg: H. Wichmann Verlag), pp. 260-269 Kocaman, S., Gruen, A., Casella, V., Franzini, M., 2007, ‘Accuracy Assessment of ADS40 Imagery over the Pavia Testsite’ in Proceedings of the 28th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing, 12-16 November 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CD-ROM) Kocaman, S., Zhang, L., Gruen, A., 2006, ‘Self-calibrating Triangulation of Airborne Linear Array CCD Cameras’ in Proceedings International Calibration and Orientation Workshop, EuroCOW 2006, 25-27 January, Castelldefels, Spain (CD-ROM) Lambers, K., Gruen, A., 2003, ‘The geoglyphs of Nasca: 3-D Recording and Analysis with Modern Digital Technologies’ in Theory and Methods – General Sessions and Posters. Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001, Section 1, BAR S1145 (Oxford: BAR Publishing), pp. 95-103 Lambers, K., Sauerbier, M., 2003, ‘A Data Model for a GIS-Based Analysis of the Nasca Lines at Palpa, Peru’ in M.O. Altan (ed.) Proceedings of the XIXth International Symposium, CIPA 2003: New perspectives to Save Cultural Heritage, Antalya, Turkey, 30 September – 4 October 2003, IAPRS 34, Part 5/C15 (Book & CD-ROM), pp. 713-718

Niederoest, J., 2004, ‘Image Analysis for the History of Cartography: Drawing Conclusions from the Evaluation of Pfyffer’s Relief’ in Geo-Imagery Bridging Continents. Proceedings of the XXth ISPRS Congress, 12-23 July, Istanbul, Turkey, IAPRS 35, Part B5 (Book & DVD), pp. 389-394 Niederoest, J., 2005, Das Relief der Urschweiz von Franz Ludwig Pfyffer (1716-1802): 3D-Rekonstruktion, Analyse und Interpretation, IGP Mitteilung 89 (Zürich: ETH) Poli, D., Zhang, L., Gruen, A., 2004, ‘Orientation and Automated DSM Generation from SPOT-5/HRS Stereo Images’ in Proceedings of the 25th Conference on Remote Sensing, ACRS Silver Jubilee: November 22-26, Chiang Mai, Thailand, I (Chiang Mai: GISTDA), pp. 190-195 Reindel, M., Gruen, A., 2006, ‘The Nasca-Palpa Project: a Cooperative Approach of Archaeology, Archaeometry and Photogrammetry’ in E. Baltsavias, A. Gruen, L. Van Gool, M. Pateraki (eds) Recording, Modeling and Visualization of Cultural Heritage (London: Taylor & Francis), pp. 21-32 Remondino, F., Niederoest, J., 2004, ‘Generation of HighResolution Mosaic for Photo-Realistic Texture-Mapping of Cultural Heritage 3D Models’ in Y. Chrysanthou, K. Cain, F. Niccolucci, N. Silberman (eds) VAST 2004. The 5th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Intelligent Cultural Heritage, incorporating 2nd Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, Conscience-Auditorium, Brussels and Ename Center, Oudenaarde – Belgium, December 7-10, 2004 (Aire-la-Ville: Eurographics Association), pp. 85-92 Sauerbier, M., Kunz, M., Flühler, M., Remondino, F., 2004, ‘Photogrammetric Reconstruction of Adobe Architecture at Tucume, Peru’ in A. Gruen et al. (eds) Proceedings of the International Workshop on ‘Processing and Visualization Using High-Resolution Images’, 1820 November 2004, Pitsanulok, Thailand, IAPRS 36, Part 5/W1 (CD-ROM) Zhang, L., Gruen, A., 2004, ‘Automatic DSM Generation from Linear Array Imagery Data’ in Geo-Imagery Bridging Continents. Proceedings of the XXth ISPRS Congress, 12-23 July, Istanbul, Turkey, IAPRS 35, Part B3 (Book & DVD), pp. 128-133

47

Armin Gruen

ividers

#pixels/line

swath width (km)

ground resolution (m)

channels

incidence angles (°)

stereo

focal length (mm)

# cameras

Sensor Quickbird

1

8800

L1

up to ±30

PAN RGB, NIR

0.6 2.4

16

27,000

Digitalglobe http://www.digitalglobe. com

IKONOS-2

1

10000

L1

up to ±60

PAN RGB, NIR

1 4

11

13,500

GeoEye http://www.geoeye.com

Orbview-3

1

2820

L1

up to ±45

PAN RGB, NIR

1 4

8

8000

GeoEye http://www.geoeye.com

EROS-A1

1

3500

L/C1

up to ±45 PAN

1.8

14

7800

ImageSat Int. http://www���������� .imagesatintl.com

A L O S 3 PRISM

2000

L

0 ±24

PAN

2.5

70

28,000

35

14,000

SPOT-5/HRG 2

1082

C

up to ±27

PAN

5 (2.5)2

RG, NIR

10

SPOT-5/HRS

2

580

L

±20

PAN

10

120

12,000

Spotimage http://www.spotimage.com

A S T ER 2 VNIR

329

L

0

RG

0, -27

NIR

15

60

5000

LP DAAC (NASA)

1

one-lens sensor with ability to rotate up to a certain off-nadir angle

2

supermode

60

24,000 6000

RESTEC, Japan www.restec.or.jp SpotImage http://www.spotimage.com

Table 1 - Main characteristics of high and medium resolution pushbroom sensors carried on satellites (L = along-track; C = across-track, PAN = panchromatic, MS = multispectral). System Z/I Imaging DMC®

Sensor Type Frame

Vexcel UltraCam DTM Frame Leica ADS-40 STARIMAGER® SI250 Wehrli 3-DAS-1

Linear Array Linear Array Linear Array

Frames/ lines 4 PAN 4 MS 4 PAN 4 MS 6 PAN 4 MS 10 MS 9 PAN

Spectral Bands RGB, NIR RGB, NIR RGB, NIR RGB, NIR RGB

Format

Pixel size

7680 x 13824 pi composite (PAN) 2000 x 3000 pi per head (MS) 7500 x 11500 pi composite (PAN) 2672 x 4008 pi (MS) 12,000 pi per line

12 μm 9 μm

Rad.Resol. (nominal) 12 bit 12 bit

6.5 μm

14 bit

14,400 pi per line

5 μm

11 bit

8023 pi per line

9 μm

14 bit

Table 2 - Large format digital aerial cameras (MS = Multispectral, PAN = Panchromatic). Source of data

Year

SPOT 5 - HRGa IKONOSa Rolleib Sonyb TAF, Kostkab Frescos, tourist small formatb

2003 2001 2003 2003 1970

1960s & 1970s

Image resolution (μm) 20 4 10 20

Geometry resolution (m)

Texture resolution (m)

20 5 1 0.5 0.05

2.5 1 0.5 0.1 0.01

N.A.

Satellite images, bTerrestrial images

a

Table 3 - Multiresolution data (geometry and images) used in the Bamiyan project. 48

0.002

Image-based 3D recording and modelling of landscapes and large Cultural Heritage sites

Fig. 1 - Workflow and products of the photogrammetric / remote sensing process.

Fig. 2 - Partially textured 3D model of Xochicalco, derived semi-automatically from a stereopair of aerial images using CyberCity Modeler. 49

Armin Gruen

Fig. 3 - View onto the 3D model of the Tucume adobe complex, produced with Skyline Terra Explorer Pro. Overlaid is the texture from 1949 aerial images. To the left is Huaca Larga, a huge adobe building of 545 m base length, with an Inca stone building on top.

Fig. 4 - View onto the 3D hybrid model, textured with an IKONOS orthoimage mosaic, showing the rock cliff with the now empty niches of the Buddhas. 50

Image-based 3D recording and modelling of landscapes and large Cultural Heritage sites

Fig. 5 - Textured 3D model of the Bamiyan cliff, modelled with thirty terrestrial images: the entire cliff (above) and two closer views of the now empty niches (left: Great Buddha, right: Small Buddha).

Fig. 6 - The 3D textured models of the Great Buddha of Bamiyan (right) and its actual empty niche (left).

51

Armin Gruen

Fig. 7 - Left: model helicopter over Pinchango Alto. Right: user interface showing the flightplan and the control panel.

Fig. 8 - Left: Pinchango Alto (marked with white box) in an aerial image of 1997 (1:7,000). Right: snapshot of a virtual flight over the hybrid model, generated automatically from UAV model helicopter images.

52

Multiscale integrated application of geomatic techniques for Cultural Heritage documentation  

Gabriele Bitelli Abstract Preservation and study of Cultural Heritage require today a scientific approach for documentation, surveying and monitoring of single objects, structures, sites and territory. Each of these tasks can receive a significant improvement by the adoption of current techniques and instruments from the disciplines of Geomatics. An appropriate choice of these methods would not only produce better results in terms of precision and accuracy or in terms of a greater productivity, but can be considered in general as an overall increase in the quality and value of the products generated. The purpose of the paper is to point out some characteristics to be considered for the use of geomatic techniques, with the aim to stressing the possibilities of multidisciplinarity, integration and multiscale approaches allowed by modern digital technologies. Some examples are briefly presented.

1. Introduction Immovable and moveable Cultural Heritage are the subject of a wide range of activities directed towards conservation, maintenance and restoration requiring accurate and complete documentation. High standards of information are essential for research and for presentation, for decision making and for planning purposes. It’s hence currently accepted that a rigorous and scientific knowledge of heritage, in its holistic sense, is determinant to preserve it and improve its fruition and study. One basic challenge in this direction is making a systematic effort, based on multidisciplinary contributions, to bridge the gap between the traditional information users (archaeologists, conservation specialists, project managers and planners, restorers, etc.) and the information providers. Information providers are first of all constituted by the recorders of heritage, whose skills are in performing different kinds of surveys or diagnostic activities. Developing a close cooperation between researchers having scientific and humanistic competencies, and making the most of their specific expertise, is the right direction to try to bridge this gap and develop a new approach to the documentation of Cultural Heritage. Furthermore, networking research activities are essential in developing this culture, unfortunately not completely shared yet. In this context, this paper tries to discuss the problem of modern heritage surveying and to highlight some specific crucial questions, to be faced when complex recording operations are required. This contribution comes from a specialist in Geomatics, and aims to point out some specificities related to the use of the new digital surveying techniques for multiscale applications. The term ‘multiscale’ refers here to surveying tasks carried out, at the same moment or in successive stages, at different scales (large to small) on the same subject, with different aims and products. Surveys in the field of Cultural Heritage can be performed at varying levels and scales: • cultural landscapes and territories • cities or large sites

• complex groups of buildings • single buildings or monuments • single objects, findings, art object Each subject requires a different scale, has different accuracy requirements, different operating constraints, different study approaches, etc. and also requires specific methodologies and techniques. A well designed survey must be able to produce results at these various scales of study, nevertheless having the possibility of a good integration between them, within the obvious limits derived from their origin. The conventional surveyor of the past is today substituted by a new figure, the Geomatics Engineer (the term Geomatics, is well known, deriving from ‘Geodesy’ and ‘Informatics’, highlighting the modern aspect arrived at by disciplines like topographical Surveying, Cartography, Photogrammetry, Spatial Geodesy, Remote Sensing, etc.). Besides being worthwhile for a large number of applications, Geomatics Engineering is of great interest to Cultural Heritage documentation, data acquisition, representation and management. A multidisciplinary work is of particular interest in this context and can produce outstanding scientific results, taking into account the specific contribution of each discipline. Referring for instance to Archaeology, the most direct connection is of course with the Archaeologist, who has a comprehensive view of the excavation and of its cultural context, together with the capability to understand in the field the structures and their relationships. A true multidisciplinary scientific collaboration between archaeologists, geomatic engineers and scientists from other disciplines is certainly a challenge for research in this field

2. Geomatics Engineering and Cultural Heritage Geomatics Engineering can be considered as a new applied science and information technology discipline dealing with the problems of acquiring, displaying, modelling, analysing and managing spatially referenced information. Strictly

Gabriele Bitelli

speaking, it uses terrestrial, airborne, marine and satellitebased digital sensors to obtain spatial and other data with well defined accuracy characteristics; the acquired data are frequently transferred into common information systems. The fields of applications are very wide and cover a variety of functions. Within the ambit of Cultural Heritage, geomatic engineers can play an important role (Atkinson 1996, Kasser and Egels 2001, Baltsavias et al. 2006) thanks to their specific expertise in choosing and adopting the best techniques, technologies and instruments today available amongst a spectrum of possibilities: • geodetic engineering surveys (e.g. high accuracy monitoring of structures by first class surveying instruments); • conventional surveying by total stations, digital levels or other topographic instruments; • geodetic space positioning by GNSS, using different measurement methods and data processing approaches (the term GNSS refers today to the GPS and other systems, e.g. in Europe Glonass and in the next future Galileo); • photogrammetry (aerial or close-range, with the processing carried out by analytical instruments or by digital workstations); • laser scanning / Lidar (airborne or terrestrial, integrated or not with digital imagery); • satellite remote sensing (optical or radar, with different characteristics in term of geometrical, radiometrical, spectral and temporal resolution); • Digital Terrain Models (DTM) or Digital Surface Models (DSM), depending if they are referred to the ground surface or if the actual surface is measured, including any trees, buildings, etc. • digital cartographic processing (in the form of new maps, at different scales, or the reuse-integration of existing or historical maps); • integration with other sensors (positioning of geophysical surveys, accurate determination of the position of diagnostic instruments, etc.); • GIS establishment and database management (for inventory and data/metadata organization, or environmental aspects). Regardless of the technique adopted, assessing the results by rigorous quality indicators is almost always necessary; if possible, a preliminary accuracy assessment can also be performed in the planning phase of the surveying activities, based on the measurements plan and the kind of instrumentation involved. There is active applied research in this field which is reported in international scientific organisations like ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), CIPA (International Committee for Documentation of Cultural Heritage), committee of ICOMOS established in collaboration with ISPRS (International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing), and ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property). Particular questions apply for these kinds of applications, and in a certain sense they configure and mould a peculiar form of Geomatics Engineer, who must pay close attention

to some particular aspects: • A number of cases, first of all in Archaeology, need to have an effective integration of different techniques and data, acquired with various accuracy/scale and using different reference systems. The geometrical coherence among all the information must be taken into account and controlled for errors. The establishment of shared reference systems, or the insertion of local systems into absolute systems by highly accurate measurements is a crucial point to be addressed from the beginning of each multisource and multitechnique surveying activity, and good documentation by metadata records must be maintained. For these purposes the main technical requirements are related to data processing (e.g., GPS in its manifold methods) and geometric mathematical transformations; a good knowledge of local geodetic infrastructures is in general worthwhile. The same concepts for systematic, coherent and accurate georeferencing can be carried out through monitoring procedures on sites or objects, realized over the years or decades for maintenance and control. • Fast data acquisitions methods are generally to be preferred (for instance to reduce to the minimum the interference with excavations); the contemporary execution of multiple surveying activities can be achieved by a careful preliminary planning of the operations and by establishing shared networks of reference points, to be adopted in different phases. Furthermore remote surveys, which are non intrusive, should be the favoured choice, and sometimes they are the only one. The first decision is the selection of appropriate techniques (e.g., Photogrammetry or Laser scanning) and data acquisition methodologies. While terrestrial laser scanning is becoming a standard tool for highresolution 3D documentation of archaeological excavations, its capabilities are in some cases still underestimated by professional archaeologists or the products of such scanning are not actually usable; on the other hand digital photogrammetry, thanks to the development of new and powerful tools, can provide dense point clouds for surface description, similar to laser scanning (Bitelli et al. 2007), together with classical vector description, photoplans and high resolution orthophotos with the colour and radiometric richness of pictures. • Dimensionality of the data varies depending on the application and the aims of the work. Sometimes 2D or 2.5D data are sufficient as they are the most adequate for data representation, as in classical cartographic products, but 3D information is more and more required for a wide range of purposes. Handling threedimensional datasets poses new problems not only for data gathering, where image-based (Photogrammetry) or range-based (Laser scanning) methods are nowadays well developed and can provide outstanding results, but also for data processing, for data exploration, and in general for an effective fruition of the final products. • A current requirement is to provide a link between the surveyed data and the external databases by special54

Multiscale integrated application of geomatic techniques for Cultural Heritage documentation

ised spatial-based information systems. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) may allow one to manage all the different data with their associated non-geometrical information (textual or even multimedia); a true complete 3D management is of course a complex task which can only be carried out with the appropriate instruments and skills. Some commercial or opensource GIS packages offer today powerful procedures for spatio-temporal analysis and modelling, providing tools for exploratory multivariate analysis, which are of great interest in archaeology. • An interesting trend is related to the development of Web-based GIS, which enables a more effectual sharing of information, providing real time access to a plurality of users and the possibility to improve or modify a common database. In the last case it is necessary to produce well designed validation procedures and coherence controls. • Local physical constraints on site require specific solutions, and sometimes they are not optimal from the point of view of acquiring the best data. Operative problems (e.g., requirements for particular elevation systems, light conditions, very short distances for data acquisition, absence of electrical power, the problems of importing high technology instruments, etc.) can still constitute a severe problem, requiring in any case specific or sometimes innovative solutions, today often supported by new digital devices (e.g., for data communication). • The information derived from metric surveying is today very often related to other kinds of information or measurement: colour or multispectral data (near infrared, UV), temperature, other in situ diagnostic or monitoring instrumentation, etc. It is a problem of data fusion, requiring accurate and coherent instrumental calibration procedures. The same concept is again also applied at the scale of satellite imagery (optical or radar), today frequently used in archaeological applications, either to support the investigation of sites or remains, or to enlarge the research onto a regional level. Some examples are related to mapping of sites and of surrounding areas by Very High Resolution imagery, using panchromatic or pan-sharpened data. • The majority of the data is currently digital, in their original form or after conversion from other formats. This makes possible and simpler some of the processes listed above; attention must however be continually paid to data organisation, management and conservation. Some general considerations relate to the overall management of surveys and specificall to standardisation issues. It must be pointed out that the accuracy requirements for geomatic applications for Cultural Heritage are less regulated in comparison with other surveying applications (e.g., mapping): in some cases they are less strict (e.g., for first documentation stages), in others they are very high (e.g., for deformation monitoring of structures, for reproduction of features or artefacts by numerical control machines, for restoration, etc.), and finally sometimes they are not clearly specified by the clients, or the final use of the products is not well defined

It must be noted that there is often a lack in technical regulations and standard specifications concerning operations, instruments, data processing and products. In part this fact is connected to the characteristics of these applications, where each case is different from the next and can require, each time, new specific procedures. The surveyor is therefore required to have a great adaptability, and for the same reasons the costs are also hardly quantifiable using standard criteria.

3. Multiscale surveying for Cultural Heritage Thanks to the availability of a multiplicity of techniques and instruments, mostly digital based, surveying Cultural Heritage is today carried out with the aim of integrating together different data. A first requirement for an effective spatial integration is of course that they can be referred to in a common shared reference system, in general provided today by the use of spatial geodesy, e.g. GPS (Vittuari, this volume). From the experience gained in a number of applications, mostly in the framework of archaeological researches, we propose here a general outline of the techniques and technologies useful at different scales, in terms of level of detail in the investigation: the Fig. 1 is an attempt to provide a simple schema but of course it can be further widened due to other considerations. A few products realised by DISTART Department, University of Bologna, following researches carried out at different scales and with the techniques shown in Fig. 1 will be briefly presented here, referred to some case studies. A more detailed discussion can be found in the papers listed in the bibliography. Pl. II: 1 deals with an experience of recovering ancient cartographic products for use in a digital environment (Bitelli and Gatta in prep.): a copy of the ‘ichnoscenografia of Bologna produced in 1702 by F. de’ Gnudi has been scanned and georeferenced to a current cartographic reference system. The parameters of the mathematical transformation have been calculated after a careful choice of ground control points still existing, identified on the basis of historical data. The scenographic aspect of the map, with representation of the three-dimensional appearance of the buildings, suggested the realisation of a 3D digital model based on the georeferenced map. Thus this result can be superimposed and easily compared with current data, in a GIS environment or also in Web-based Earth viewers like Google Earth, permitting interesting analysis about intervening changes, a new perception of the city in the past and of its structural evolution, etc. An insert in the Pl. II: 1 shows a 3D model derived from laser scanning of the façade of Santo Stefano church; the church was heavily restored at the end of the 19th century. Pl. II: 2 is related to an integrated approach to surveying ancient architecture, carried out by a multidisciplinary team from the University of Bologna (Baratin et al. 2002): the military wall system of Malta was mapped at a very high scale (1:500), using numerical photogrammetric processing and some buildings were subject to a highly accurate 55

Gabriele Bitelli

of small objects with an accuracy of some microns. In Archaeology, the close cooperation between geomatics engineers and archaeologist, in a multidisciplinary context, can allow the adoption and integration of different solutions with very high interoperability, and the possibility of managing all the georeferenced data in dedicated information systems or GIS. Data fusion of information coming from different kinds of sensors is providing a new way to measure and monitor physical phenomena related to heritage, and image-based and range-based techniques furnish powerful solutions for complete and accurate 3D data capture. Whatever the technique applied, it must be pursued with the maximum attention to the evaluation of data quality and the rigorous management of the problems related to the adoption or the institution of spatial reference systems.

terrestrial photogrammetric survey for restoration purposes (scale 1:100); at the same time, structural monitoring of some areas was performed. All the data, thanks to accurate georeferencing, can be managed in the same information system, together with descriptive and textual information related to other distinctive aspects of the multidisciplinary research. The same approach can be of course applied for large archaeological sites, with complex structure blocks. The next example (Pl. II: 3) describes a multitechnique approach for a quick and rigorous survey of a structure; the study case is the ancient monastery of Mesopotam, in Albania (Bitelli et al. 2005). A surveying operation carried out in a short time by integrating different geomatic techniques provided the data for: absolute georeferencing of the site through GPS long-period measurements to other reference stations, remains surveying by kinematic GPS, applying different close-range photogrammetric techniques depending on the subject size and shape, and the scale requirements (photoplan for a façade, here shown in its vector or raster form, true precision orthophoto for another façade with non-planar geometry, pseudo-stereocamera acquisition for a small low relief in marble on the basement), photographic visual reality for an interactive and ‘all round’ walk in the exterior and interior of the church by interconnected 360° panoramic images (QTVR system). A similar approach could be effective when rapid documentation of a building is required, for instance in case of disasters or a risk situation. For the ancient Graeco-Roman city of Bakchias (Egypt), geomatic methods were applied at different scales (Bitelli et al. 2001, Bitelli et al. 2004, Bitelli et al. 2005). Remote sensing imagery is useful both for a regional analysis (by medium and moderate resolution sensors) and for large scale mapping (by very high resolution sensors), using as reference some points derived from absolute and relative GPS positioning campaigns. For orthophoto generation by IKONOS satellite imagery (geometric resolution 1 m) the DTM previously obtained by total station, and afterwards georeferenced by GPS, has been used. Low height Photogrammetry of this site has been carried out by a specifically developed system using a photogrammetric camera arranged through a special device suspended by a balloon or a train of kites; the system is remotely managed by piloting electronic controlled motors. The virtual exploration of the overall site is allowed by a complex programme developed from 1999 using the Apple QTVR system. At the level of single buildings, objects and finds, digital photogrammetry and virtual reality were again the adopted techniques (laser scanning is of course not really practicable on some archaeological sites), and some experience was gained trying to link together all the information and the visual products through a Web interface. Some examples are reported in Pl. III: 1.

Acknowledgements I thank the coauthors of the cited papers and the Directors of the Archaeological Expeditions from the University of Bologna.

References Atkinson, K.B. (ed.), 1996, Close Range Photogrammetry and Machine Vision (Caithness: Whittles Publishing) (with a chapter on Architectural and Archaeological Photogrammetry) Baltsavias, M., Gruen, A., Van Gool, L., Pateraki, M. (eds), 2006, Recording, Modeling and Visualization of Cultural Heritage (London: Taylor & Francis) Baratin, L., Bitelli, G., Bonnici, H., Unguendoli, M., Zanutta, A., 2002, ‘Traditional and Modern Methods of Surveying Architectural Heritage: a few Examples in the Fortified Island of Malta’ in J. Albertz (ed.) Surveying and Documentation of Historic Buildings – Monuments – Sites – Traditional and Modern Methods. Proceedings of the XVIII International Symposium. CIPA 2001. Potsdam (Germany), September 18-21, 2001 (Berlin: CIPA), pp. 529-535 Bitelli, G., Gatta, G., in prep., Experiences on Georeferencing and 3D Digital Processing of an 18th Century Map of Bologna Bitelli, G., Girelli, V.A., Remondino, F., Vittuari, L., 2007, ‘The Potential of 3D Techniques for Cultural Heritage Object Documentation’ in J.-A. Beraldin, F. Remondino, M.R. Shortis (eds) Videometrics IX, Proceedings of SPIE 6491 (Bellingham: SPIE), pp. 64910S1-64910S10 Bitelli, G., Girelli, V.A., Tini, M.A., Vittuari, L., 2004, ‘Lowheight Aerial Imagery and Digital Photogrammetrical Processing for Archaeological Mapping’ in GeoImagery Bridging Continents. Proceedings of the XXth ISPRS Congress, 12-23 July, Istanbul, Turkey, IAPRS 35, Part B5 (Book & DVD), pp. 498-503 Bitelli, G., Girelli, V.A., Tini, M.A., Vittuari, L., 2005, ‘Integration of Geomatic Techniques for Quick and Rigorous Surveying of Cultural Heritage’

4. Conclusions The contribution of Geomatics for the documentation of Cultural Heritage is provided by a whole set of modern digital techniques operating at different scales, from the image analysis of satellite imagery to 3D laser scanning 56

Multiscale integrated application of geomatic techniques for Cultural Heritage documentation

in Proceedings of the XXth CIPA International Symposium, Torino, Italy, 26 September – 1 October, IAPRS 34, Part 5/C34 (Book & CD-ROM), pp. 124129 Bitelli, G., Tini, M.A., Vittuari, L., 2001, ‘Low-cost Systems for Metrical Documentation and Virtual Reality Representation of Small Objects in Archaeology’ in Proceedings of the Italy-Canada Workshop on ‘3D Digital Imaging and Modeling Application of: Heritage, Industry, Medicine & Land’, Padova, Italy, April 3-4, 2001 (Padova: CIRGEO) (CD-ROM), 10 Bitelli, G., Zanni, M., 2005, ‘Use of Ikonos High

Resolution Imagery in Archaeology: the Example of the Ancient City of Bakchias in Egypt. New Strategies for European Remote Sensing’ in M. Oluić (ed.) New Strategies for European Remote Sensing. Proceedings of the 24th Symposium of the European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories, Dubronik, Croatia, 2527 May 2004 (Rotterdam: Millpress), pp. 23-30 Kasser, M., Egels, Y., 2001, Digital Photogrammetry (London: Taylor & Francis) (with a chapter on Architectural Photogrammetry by P. Grussenmeyer, K. Hanke, A. Streilein)

Fig. 1 - Integrating different geomatic techniques for multiscale studies.

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Precise global georeferencing of sites and geodetic techniques for morphological surveys within a common reference frame  

Luca Vittuari Abstract Topographical surveying is an important tool aimed at guaranteeing both excellent documentation and support for multidisciplinary scientific investigations within the theme of Cultural Heritage. In archaeology, it is closely connected to other research operations and is fundamental to the geometrical comprehension of the relationships among finds and between archaeological structures. Modern surveying technologies offered by Geomatics allow the study of objects, sites, and territory in a consistent way using space geodesy together with digital photogrammetry, laser scanning, total stations, and satellite remote sensing. Space-geodetic techniques are suitable for multiscale measurements (global to local), and thus complement traditional in situ observation systems. This paper describes examples of the use of GPS in archaeology, applied to frame topographical measurements within a globally defined reference frame.

1. Introduction In archaeology, and more generally in the field of Cultural Heritage, an evolution in the techniques of surveying, management, and representation of information has occurred in recent decades, often based on the integration of different sensors. Thanks to the advancement of data processing, robotics, and telecommunications, innovative surveying approaches are available today that allow the superimposing of measurements of the manmade environment onto the physical territory and vice versa. Therefore, the role of the land-surveyor is evolving toward the realization of a field of research that establishes the connection (in near real time, directly in the field, or after a post-processing phase at the office) between elements on the Earth’s surface, even at great distances between them. In the context of the geosciences, there is growing awareness about the importance of geodetic infrastructures able to define, through the integration of space geodetic techniques, the absolute or relative position of points on the Earth’s surface with precision at the one-millimetre level. These tools are today used for the study of geophysical and environmental phenomena, such as present-day geodynamics or global changes, and could be extended to the humanistic sciences in order to study the geometrical relationship between the features left during the evolution of human civilizations and the interaction between people and the surrounding territory. Therefore, these geodetic services could support precise investigations about the relative positions of archaeological structures, terrain morphologies, and objects, pointing out possible spatial correlations.

2. Reference systems and reference frames A reference frame is a set of rules and measurements able to determine where a point is located and when an event happens. Beyond the theoretical proprieties of reference

systems that involve relativity, we can consider the spatial component as a three-dimensional entity in Euclidean space. It is useful to emphasize the double nature existing between a reference system and a reference frame. The term reference system specifies how a terrestrial coordinate system is to be formed; thus it is defined by the origin and the orientation of the Cartesian axes that define the coordinate system. The concept of a reference frame refers to a set of points, along with their coordinates and velocities, that serves as the practical realization of the reference system. Geodetic applications generally refer to a terrestrial reference frame, called the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), that realizes a set of axes that is corotating with the Earth, following these definitions • the origin of the axes is close to the Earth’s centre of mass, including the oceans and atmosphere (geocentre); • the Z-axis is chosen in the direction of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) Reference Pole (IRP), consistent with the definition of the ���������� Bureau International de l’Heure (BIH), epoch 1984.0; • the X-axis belongs to the equatorial plane and the IERS Reference Meridian (IRM), which it is coincident with the BIH Zero Meridian; • the Y-axis is chosen to complete a right-handed triad; • scale unit refers to a SI metre consistent with the Geocentric Coordinate Time (TCG); • orientation time evolution is ensured by using a no net rotation condition with respect to horizontal tectonic motions over the Earth. ITRF continues to be refined as more space-based data, coming from Global Positioning System (GPS), Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), ����������������������������������������������� Doppler Orbitography, and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS),��������������������������� are acquired. New realizations of ITRF have been published on a regular basis, and ITRF2005 is the current version (Altamini et al. 2007). Considerable geophysical knowledge is, however, necessary to define the reference system with respect to a changing planet. Thus, considering changes in the Earth

Luca Vittuari

surface as irreversible phenomena, the coordinates estimated for each surveyed point are not static (they change in absolute terms at the cm/yr level) and, in the framework of a site global georeferencing operation, it is advisable to report both the coordinate and time reference values. From a practical point of view, this rigour is required when the movements in time are comparable with the accuracy of the spatial referencing required. ITRF solutions are specified by Cartesian geocentric coordinates, and they do not refer to an ellipsoid; therefore, in order to transform these values to geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude, and ellipsoidal height), an ellipsoid must be selected. In this case, the GRS80, which is quite similar to WGS84 ellipsoid, is recommended. In order to use a cartographic grid to represent geographical coordinates, a cartographic projection must be adopted. This must be handled carefully because if a projection based on the WGS84 datum is chosen (e.g., UTM-WGS84), new data acquired and georeferenced using spatial geodesy techniques can be easily framed directly within the same grid, but a preliminary homogenization among the datum and cartographic projections for the existing layers has to be performed.

A common question that can emerge from these considerations concerns the realistic requirements of precisions within surveying activities carried out in the framework of archaeological studies. The answer often given to this from someone who is not a specialist in surveying is obvious: t������������������������������������������������������������ he best possible. From a technical point of view, the precision, and hopefully the final accuracy, of a survey has to be designed from the beginning of the activities. It is strictly related to a careful balance ������������������������������������ between requirements and investment, and involves factors such as instrumentation, surveying schemes, computational procedures, and awareness maintained during field operations. In the past, the choice of a rigorous geodetic approach for georeferencing archaeological data would have been chosen based on the attraction of the high accuracy techniques, but the real usefulness would have been rather limited because of the difficulty to highlight small geometrical differences between old maps produced at the various scales, and in particular concerning the geometrical relationships between objects located at considerable distances from one another. Today, high precision multiscale investigation tools are commonly used in the field of Cultural Heritage (e.g., very high resolution spaceborne imagery and surveying from remote sensing, aerial photogrammetry or balloon-kite systems, close-range photogrammetry, total stations, GPS, and laser scanning). In order to coregister the metrical information obtained through this wide range of sensors, archaeologists can take advantage of the adoption of appropriate geodetic methodologies able to define a reliable, exportable, and internationally recognized common reference frame easily reproducible to within a couple of centimetres. Applied space geodetic techniques allow this task, even if the points are located at great distances from each other, without requiring any inter-visibility between points but rather only sufficient visibility above the horizon toward the sky.

3. Relative versus absolute surveying: the Georeferencing Georeferencing is the alignment of geographic data to a homogeneous coordinate system, so data produced using different approaches can be analyzed, viewed, and queried within the same reference system. Classical land surveying technologies are generally dependent upon an a priori definition of a local or global reference system, necessary to assign coordinates to surveyed points through the measurements of relative elements (e.g., azimuthal and vertical angles, slope distances, and height differences). Geodesy and cartography have devised reference systems and cartographic grids over time for various purposes. Regardless of their technical specifications (briefly described in Paragraph 2), such systems and grids share a structured syntax for coordinate references and a specific mechanism for producing coordinates in relation to a geodetic datum and a cartographic projection. Topographic surveying in archaeology is certainly one of those sectors in which different areas of expertise are concurrently needed; for example, an archaeologist is needed for the correct interpretation of the object in the field, while surveying engineering knowledge about the techniques and statistical analysis of the surveying schemes to be implemented is also required. In practice, a highly detailed survey is the last ring of the chain of surveying, and it must be supported by a reliable geodetic framework to maintain the consistency within the whole dataset. As an example, using the same total station for detailed surveying of the four blocks of structures shown in the simulated scheme of Fig. 1, the precision achieved (in relative positions between blocks) is strongly governed by different aspects, e.g. the robustness of the network used for the connections between the four stations, and the precision in centering the instruments and the targets.

4. Introduction to GNSS techniques useful for site georeferencing and site surveying in archaeology Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is the name used to describe the ensemble of navigation systems that provide autonomous geospatial positioning with global coverage. It is composed ������������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������������� of�������������������������������������� the United States NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLONASS, while future systems have been planned for global service, including the European Union’s Galileo positioning system, scheduled to be operational in 2012, the Chinese navigation system Beidou, and India’s IRNSS system. 4.1. High precision differenced approach The standard mode of precise differential positioning is for one reference antenna/receiver to be located at a master station whose coordinates are known, while the second receiver’s coordinates are determined relative to this reference. A widely used approach to pursue centimetric positioning is the relative surveying founded on differences between carrier phase signals transmitted by satellites; a solution based on fixed integer numbers estimations of the 60

Precise global georeferencing of sites and geodetic techniques for morphological surveys within a common reference frame

5. Examples of georeferenced surveys carried out at the archaeological site of Sarazm (Tajikistan)

carrier phase’s ambiguities has to be realized. 4.1.1. Static and rapid static Static and rapid static processing involves the determination of three-dimensional baselines between two or more stations. These relative methods of surveying are applied placing geodetic GPS instruments at the edges of the baselines to be measured. Static methods are generally used both for long baselines (>30 km) and to reach the highest accuracy (few parts-per-billion are now routinely obtained for Continuous Operating Reference Stations [CORS]; one ppb is equivalent to 1 mm relative accuracy over a baseline 1000 km in length). The acquisition duration is from an hour to a permanent acquisition, e.g. CORS. If the rapid static mode is used, short observation times (less than one hour) are required, but the lengths of the baselines have to be maintained within 15-20 km. Generally speaking, rapid static modes do not estimate effects due to the atmosphere, but an a priori model could be used within advanced processing packages.

In order to provide some practical examples about the above mentioned aspects concerning reference systems and georeferencing, selected operations of the fieldwork carried out at the ancient settlement of Sarazm (Tajikistan) are presented. These measurements were taken, with sponsorship of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, under the direction of Maurizio Tosi, of the University of Bologna, in close cooperation with the political and scientific authorities of Tajikistan, in particular with Abdurauf Razzokov, Director of Penjikent Local Academy of Sciences (Institut d’Histoire, Archéologie et Ethnographie. Coopération scientifique) The Sarazm settlement stands on a hill extending from west to east on the left bank of the Zeravshan River in the Republic of Tajikistan, about 50 km east of Samarcanda (Uzbekistan) and about 10 km west of Penjikent. Sarazm is a large unique site that attests to the occupation of this area by communities of farmers and breeders in prehistoric epochs (Besenval and Isakov 1989, Isakov 1994). The closest GPS reference station of the International GNSS Service (IGS) is located in Uzbekistan, 65 km from the site. Observing the time series of coordinates computed by the Scripts Orbit and Permanent Array Center (SOPAC, http://sopac.ucsd.edu/) derived by daily acquisition of GPS data at station KIT3, the movement of the station due to the continental drift is clear (velocities estimated by SOPAC are North 4.2 mm/yr ± 0.2 mm/yr, East 27.8 mm/yr ± 0.2 mm/yr, Up -2.4 mm/yr ± 0.5 mm/yr). Fig. 2 shows the planimetric tracks of the KIT3 reference station from the end of 1994 to the beginning of 2008. In order to produce a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the topographic surface of the archeological site, a Post Processed Kinematic (PPK) method survey was planned, and a reference GPS station was established at the site. For georeferencing of successive surveys, preliminary estimates of the ITRF2000 coordinates of the IGS station KIT3 were made at the time of measurements (October 2006). Starting from these coordinates, the position of the GPS master station established at the site of Sarazm was computed. The solution obtained through the differenced positioning was then compared with the solution obtained using the acquisition made at the receiver located at Sarazm stand-alone (undifferenced PPP data processing approach). Table 1 shows the geographical coordinates obtained using both the differenced and the undifferenced computation approaches. The height supplied by the GPS system is merely ellipsoidal, while in most studies the height is referred to the Geoid. Conversion ���������������������������������������������������� of this ellipsoidal height into orthometric (approx. mean sea level) requires knowledge about the geoid-ellipsoid separation, known as the geoid undulation at the observed point. The geoid height of a single point can be measured combining GPS and leveling measurements over a common point, or geoid undulation can be modeled from gravity data. �������������������������������� The final accuracy of the elevations above sea level derived by GNSS is therefore related to both the accuracy of the surveying procedure and the ac-

4.1.2. GNSS continuous kinematic The kinematic term used in conjunction with GNSS positioning means that the data collection is made from a receiver while moving (a rover instrument) with respect to a fixed reference station located within 15-20 km. This master station supplies data for relative processing and frames the surveyed path followed by the rover antenna. This method is widely used when other sensors need timereferenced positioning (e.g., aerial photogrammetry assisted by GNSS, airborne LIDAR, positioning of geophysical surveying profiles, mobile mapping systems) There are two types of kinematic methods: Post Processed (PPK) and Real Time (RTK). To operate in real time mode with the simultaneous acquisition of GNSS signals from satellites at the master and rover receivers, a radio-link between the instruments (radio or cellular phone) is necessary. If instead of a single master station the RTK service is supplied by a network of reference stations, the method can be extended to wide regions, and this positioning method is called Network Based Real Time Kinematic (NRTK). 4.2. High precision undifferenced approaches An undifferenced approach uses the Precise Point Positioning technique (PPP) (Kouba and Heroux 2001, Zumberge et al. 1997, Zumberge et al. 1998), which refers to centimetre position accuracy of a single static receiver using a long observation series. Using a PPP approach, the datum is fixed by using precise estimates of satellite clock error and satellite ephemerides published by International geodetic services; hence, at the stage of application of the method it is not necessary to make any choice regarding the reference stations (interstation distance is irrelevant). Besides furnishing a means for framing within the ITRF2005 datum, the PPP approach provides solutions of coordinates with accuracies that can vary depending on age of the data, time������������������ ����������������� length of collection, satellite geometry, frequency of cycle slips, receiver type, and measurement quality. Users can expect 5-40 cm kinematic accuracies and 2-10 cm static accuracies without using a base station. 61

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5.2. Georeferencing close-range photogrammetric survey using GPS Five excavated areas within the Sarazm site are protected by steel structures that support protecting roofs. This allowed the realization of an ‘aerial-style’ photogrammetric block by suspending the operator through hanging stairs to the roof structure. Therefore, the acquisitions of four stereoscopic photogrammetric strips, composed of 28 photographs (24 x 36 mm) were made from the roof structure through a semi-metric camera (Leica R5) maintaining an overlap of 60% and a sidelap of 20% within the block’s images (Fig. 6). In order to allow the georeferencing of the block within the UTM-WGS84 grid system, 31 ground control points were premeasured before the acquisition of the images placing visible targets on the structures, and three of them were surveyed both with the classical method and using the geodetic GPS. The digital surface model necessary for the production of the orthomosaic was created using a digital photogrammetric workstation (Socet Set – Bae Systems), and the orthophoto was created using the above mentioned cartographic grid coordinates. Fig. 7 shows an example of the multiscale data produced using different approaches precisely georeferenced through the use of GPS surveying.

curacy of the geoid model used. In the following examples, the global geoid model EGM96 was used to correct the GPS-derived ellipsoidal heights. In order to test the undifferenced PPP kinematic surveying technique, a session of about four hours of static acquisition made at the Sarazm GPS master station were processed in a kinematic mode, obtaining a single position for each acquisition time (1 s). The vertical component of the static data acquired at the Sarazm master station and elaborated in PPP kinematic mode is shown in Fig. 3. The graph shows the computed ellipsoidal heights estimated from a stand-alone receiver at each acquisition second (the ‘true’ height is 880.45 m, as reported in Table 1). The result is overoptimistic with respect to the usual precision of the method (5-40 cm) and must be read with due caution. 5.1. Application of GPS continuous kinematic for DTM surveying The surveying of the topographic surface of a site in high detail is often of great interest during the planning of activities, the study of the site, and for the representation of the investigated areas. If a detailed and up-to-date map is not available for the area, kinematic GNSS can be used to produce a highly detailed DTM. This product can be easily integrated with total station, aerial photogrammetry, or laser scanning surveying. In order to obtain the highest precision, the relative ��������������������������������������� kinematic method has to be applied within a few kilometres from a master station. The expected precision of the positioning of the roving track can be considered at a few centimetres level, and this precision can be expected for the surveying of selected points (Fig. 4, left), but on the contrary, for artificial surfaces, terrain often presents high spatial variability in roughness and can not be described at this level of resolution; therefore, a more realistic��������������������������������������������� precision target can be considered the decimetre level. In high grass or in the presence of shrubs, it is not easy to transport the rover antenna on a pole that must be kept continually vertical and in contact with the soil. For this reason, selected tests were carried out maintaining the antenna fixed to the back of operator by means of a backpack with a rigid metal framework. Using this approach, two effects were considered: a horizontal offset between the reference antenna and the centre of the operator’s body, and the vertical swing induced by the operator walking (Fig. 4). Pl. III: 3 shows the DTM derived by GPS for the Sarazm archaeological site (area of about 17 ha) using a linear Kriging approach to interpolate the elevation values in a regularly spaced grid. The GNSS reference station was preliminary inserted within ITRF2000; consequently, the surveyed profiles were referred to the same frame. Latitudes and longitudes were then projected using the UTMWGS84 cartographic representation. The global geoid model EGM96 was used to correct the ellipsoidal heights. To check both the reliability of the interpolation procedure and the cross-over differences along about 70 km of surveyed profiles, Fig. 5 shows the distribution of residuals between the interpolated grid and the whole original dataset.

6. Conclusions Geodetic infrastructures created in the last few decades for the definition of ITRS and the establishment of the ITRF allow for the adoption of a common reference frame for applications that require a precise georeferencing of information. Therefore, even in archaeology, when absolute positioning is required, it is possible to plan for the use of this International reference frame. The experiments performed at the Sarazm site showed a practical example of GPS and close-range photogrammetric data framing within ITRF. The alignment of data produced using different surveying approaches to a homogeneous coordinate system allow data exportability, facilitate the analysis of spatial correlations and the visualization on maps or georeferenced high resolution images within GIS, and allow easy retrieval of geographical data within shared databases.

Acknowledgements Measurements at Sarazm were taken with the sponsorship of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, under the direction of Maurizio Tosi of the University of Bologna, in close cooperation with hte Authorities of Tajikistan, in particular with Abdurauf Razzokov, Director of Penjikent Local Academy of Sciences (Institut d’Histoire, Archéologie et Ethnographie. Coopération scientifique) I would like to thank all members of the Archaeological Expedition of the University of Bologna in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and in particular Enrico Agnolin. Thanks are due to Valentina Girelli and Fabrizio Girardi for their collaboration within data processing of the photogrammetric block acquired at Sarazm. 62

Precise global georeferencing of sites and geodetic techniques for morphological surveys within a common reference frame

references

102, pp. 5005-5017 Zumberge, J.F . et al. 1998, ‘C haracteristics and Applications of Precise GPS Clock Solutions Every 30 Seconds’, Navigation. Journal of the Institute of Navigation 44/4, pp. 449-456 Besenval, R ., Isakov, A., 1989, ‘S arazm et les débuts du peuplement agricole dans la région de S amarkand’, Arts Asiatiques 44, pp. 5-20 Isakov, A.I., 1994, ‘S arazm: an Agricultural C entre of Ancient Sogdiana’ in B.A. Litvinsky, C.A. Bromberg (eds) The Archaeology and Art of Central Asia Studies from the Former Soviet Union, Bulletin of the Asia Institute, N ew S eries 8 (Bloomfield Hills , pp. 1-12

Altamimi, Z. et al. 2007, ‘ITRF 2005: a N ew R elease of the International Terrestrial R eference F rame based on Time S eries of S tation Positions and E arth Orientation Parameters’, Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (B09401, DOI:10.1029/2007JB004949) Kouba, J., Heroux, P. 2001, ‘GPS Precise Point Positioning Using IGS Orbit Products’, GPS Solutions 5/2, pp. 12-28 Zumberge, J.F . et al. 1997, ‘Precise Point Positioning for Efficient and Robust Analysis of GPS Data from Large N etworks, Journal of Geophysical Research S tatic differenced solution with respect to IGS KIT3 (65 Km)

S tatic undifferenced solution (PPP single receiver) IGS orbits and clock

Latitude N 39° 30’ 30.96390”

Longitude E 67° 27’ 38.84485”

E ll. height 880.453m

Latitude N 39° 30’ 30.96420”

Longitude E 67° 27’ 38.84512”

E ll. height 880.455m

± 2.4 (mm)

± 2.1 (mm)

± 7.0 (mm)

± 2.1 (mm)

± 0.7 (mm)

± 12.0 (mm)

Table 1 - Geographical coordinates estimate for the Sarazm GPS master station. On the left are values computed using a classical static differenced approach using the simultaneous acquisitions carried out at the IGS reference station KIT3; on the right are the coordinates obtained using a PPP (undifferenced approach) based on the stand-alone receiver installed at Sarazm.

Fig. 1 - Simulation of error propagation within a planimetric surveying scheme composed of four stations. In Fig. 1: a the stations are connected through a rigid network and the relative position between the four blocks still remains rigid (this is demonstrated by the small dimension of the error ellipses). In 1: b the stations are connected through a weak scheme (open traverse St100, St200, St300, St400, plus distance St400-St100) and the confidence regions are three times larger. In Fig. 1: c one possible interpretation of error induced by the surveying scheme of Fig. 1 : b through relative apparent rotations among blocks is shown.

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Fig. 2 - Planimetric track of GPS reference station KIT3 derived by coordinates time series computed by Scripts Orbit and Permanent Array Center, from 03/10/1994 to 23/03/2008.

Fig. 3 - Kinematic PPP approach applied to a stand-alone fixed GPS antenna installed on a tripod within the site of Sarazm. The ‘true’ estimation of the ellipsoidal height derived from the static processing is 880.45 m.

Fig. 4 - Example of surveying selected points by fixing the antenna at the top of a pole equipped with a circular bubble to check verticality (left). Sources of artefacts in the surface surveying: the offset between the antenna position and the centre of the operator’s body and the vertical swing induced by the operator walking (centre, right).

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Precise global georeferencing of sites and geodetic techniques for morphological surveys within a common reference frame

Fig. 5 - Distribution of residuals between the interpolated grid and the original surveyed points. This graph shows two main effects: the adaption of the computed surface to the acquired points, and the discrepancies shown at the coincident and crossover points along the profiles.

Fig. 6 - Example of close-range photogrammetric orthomosaic produced through the analysis of an ‘aerial’ photogrammetric block, composed of 28 photographs acquired from the reticular structure of the roof of the protecting shelter, in four strips with an overlap of 60% and sidelap of 20% between images. The camera used was a semi-metric (Leica R5). In order to allow the georefencing of the block in the UTM-WGS84 grid system, three of the 31 ground control points were surveyed both with the classical method and using the geodetic GPS.

Fig. 7 - The alignment of multiscale geographic data can be easily performed using the Global Navigation Satellite System. A homogeneous cartographic projection (UTMWGS84) was used in this example.

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Topographical field operations in mapping archaeological sites  

Enrico Giorgi Abstract The present paper focuses on the different topographical field operations for mapping the archaeological sites, from a technical and methodological point, trying to highlight the most suitable practices for each case. The fundamental issue is that the final purpose of the topographic documentation in archaeology is to allow the analysis and reconstruction of the historic evolution of a territory, even from the point of view of valorisation and preservation. To achieve these aims, parallel topics exposed in the following points must be taken into consideration: the relationship between technology and topography in archaeology; the operating principles of the most widespread topographical equipments; the evaluation of the characteristics of the site under examination; to refer to well known and innovative methodologies of topographical survey.

1. Introduction The present paper aims at focusing the different topographical field operations in mapping the archaeological sites, especially from a technical and methodological prospect, trying to highlight the most suitable practices for each case. The fundamental assumption of what will be said is that the final purpose of the topographic documentation in archaeology is to allow the analysis and reconstruction of the historic evolution of a territory, even from the point of view of valorization and preservation. To achieve those aims, we should develop some parallel topics summarized in the following points: 1. Preliminary considerations on the relationship between technology and topography in archaeology, because there are some open issues still affecting the research strategies. 2. The operating principles of the most widespread topographical equipments, able to clarify their limits and potentials.1 3. The careful evaluation of the characteristics of the site under examination brings to different documentation strategies, and therefore to different methodologies of topographic mapping. For this reason, it is necessary to define both typologies and methods of identification of the archaeological sites. 4. In conclusion, it may be useful to refer to well known and innovative methodologies of topographical survey, related to specific cases exemplified in bibliography (Table 5).

2. Preliminary considerations 2.1. Methodology and technology The relationship between technology and research methodology today is a very interesting and still open problem, deeply investing many aspects of the archaeological research and practice. Among the topics involved in this complex re1

Referring to a specific bibliography for further information

lationship, the topographic documentation of archaeological sites plays a significant role, because of its nature of traditionally halfway discipline between humanities (archaeology) and sciences (topography). This double nature compels the archaeologist and topographer to a constant update of his know how between tradition and technological innovation. 2.2. Technology and research potentials An advanced research project is today based on the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team, consisting of experts in all the different aspects of the research methodologies which must work in a homogeneous way, through the help of intermediate figures with transversal skills In the field of archaeology, in particular in the case of the archaeological-topographical research, the topographer, expert in ancient history and settlement dynamics, plays a relevant role, being the intermediate figure which must acquire specific technological skills, being able to sharpen his dialogue with experts of other research topics. In many cases it is indeed clear that the opportunity to improve and use technologies and equipments, not available in the past, made possible to collect data not considered before, often influencing the outcomes of the general analysis The topographic investigation of still buried structures, identifiable through the aerial photography or through the geophysical prospecting, can be considered as an example of the above issue. For the same reasons no archaeologist could today think to analyze a territory without consulting the satellite imagery, to place and define an archaeological site on a cartographic basis without a GPS and a total station, or to document a front of a wall without the help of photogrammetry. This not only because they are tools able to simplify the fieldwork, but also because of the increasing awareness of their scientific value for different purposes: a topographic survey carried out through a rigorous and advanced methodology, for example, may become a strategic basis both for the research activities and for the preservation and sustainable management of the territory.

Enrico Giorgi

2.3. Education and training of the topographer Even if today there is a well established practice for topographical survey in archaeology, which widely relies upon the new technologies, the problem of a scientific and effective mapping of an archaeological site can’t be resolved only by using the topographical equipment. In fact, the wide availability of easily accessible technologies (such as tools for the topographical survey and software of data processing and management) causes some problems about their use. We must consider what professional skills are needed for the proper application of technology to archaeological topography; there is no doubt that the education and training of the topographer will influenc the nature of archaeological survey: for example, the documentation produced by a specialized topographer will be different from the one carried out by an archaeologist with some skills on topographical mapping. This is not obviously a qualitative difference but typological: in the former case, the priority will be given to the correctness of topographical measures, in the latter to the interpretation of the archaeological data, two equally significant elements Consequently, there are questions that can be answered by an archaeologist with specific topographic know how and questions that must find the answer of a specialized topographer with a deep experience in the field of archaeolog .

the most used and their working principles.2 3.1. Cartography, ortophotography, satellite imagery The cartography is the basic element to frame the site in its topographic outline; in particular cases, such as the documentation of archaeological evidences today disappeared,3 the historical cartography is often the only available source. The cartography represents both the starting and the arrival point, because the first step of a topographical study is the analysis of the topographic maps, and its development and final aim is to archive the available data on a cartographic basis; so, it is possible to define it as the fundamental source and support of topographic research. Cartography may be at various reduction scales, which obviously determine the detail level of description and metric accuracy. In archaeology the detailed maps of the regional cartography are generally preferred (such as 1:10,000 and 1:5000 of the Carte Tecniche Regionali in Italy) or the larger scales of the national cartography (such as the Tavolette 1:25,000 of the Italian ‘Istituto Geografico Militare’). Recent cartography is often based on rectified aerial photographs. The cartography of a territory is usually referred to the national coordinates system. The archival of topographic maps in digital format and their georeferencing overcomes the difference of scale and allows overlapping.4 In conclusion, the cartography represents the fundamental basis for the positioning of the sites; its cost shifts from zero to a few hundreds euros, depending on the typology of the maps and the extent of the territory under examination.

2.4. Measurability of the topographical data The reflection on the education of the topographer leads immediately to the fundamental problem of archaeological topography: in archaeology the object of the topographic analysis is often highly floating. The topographical borders of a dispersion area of materials, for example, are dynamic, changing with every annual ploughing, and not clearly measurable but depending on the judgement of the archaeologist. How many resources, in those cases, should we invest in the metric accuracy? Even the apparently simpler cases hide nevertheless some traps. For example, mapping archaeological masonry structures may seem easy, because of the clearly measurableness of the architectural evidence. However, this type of survey doesn’t consist in the mere topographic positioning of the walls, which can be resolved with the help of appropriate technology and skills, but includes the analysis and interpretation of structures according with the capacity of judgment of the archaeologist. Before measuring it is then necessary to understand the nature of the archaeological structures under examination, and their relations with the surrounding context (contemporary structures, natural environment, etc.) (Table 3).

3.2. Remote Sensing As we mentioned, traditional cartography can be integrated by the analysis of georeferenced frames acquired from remote distances (remote sensing); these images can be obtained from short (kites, aerostatic balloons, low altitude aircrafts), middle (aircraft) or long-distance devices (satellites). Particular cases of occasional traces of buried structures, visible through the different growth of vegetation (cropmarks), can be identified and investigated only through these media. Among the instruments for remote sensing, a key role is played by the geophysical survey equipments,5 essential to detect the presence of buried structures that may be interpreted as archaeological remains. The most used and Further information will be available in the thematic bibliography. Many archaeological sites disappeared because of the bad state of conservation and the lack of proper policies of preservation and tutelage. 4 The archival and management of different kinds of information referred to georeferenced and mapped sites is possible through relational systems (GIS). 5 The results of different methodologies of geophysical survey are obtained: a. energizing the subsoil and detecting the anomalies encountered by the energy waves propagated across it and returned by reflection (active methods, such as the georadar and the georesistivity); b. measuring the induction of the Earth’s magnetic field (passive methods, such as the magnetometry). The non destructiveness of those methods makes them very helpful in the preliminary analysis of the buried deposits without any excavation activity. 2 3

3. Cartography and topographic equipment The topographic mapping of an archaeological site makes use of many different tools, both for the on-field work and for the post-processing and management of the acquired data. Obviously, all those implements are not concurrent, but responding to different needs and often successfully integrable; the following points will list, in a simplified way, 68

Topographical field operations in mapping archaeological sites

widespread are the georadar, the magnetometer and the georesistivimeter. The georadar (GPR, acronym for Ground Penetrating Radar) is able to produce, through the radar waves propagated by an antenna, tomographies (slices) with a depth range in inverse relation to the signal frequency; the interpolation of different slices carried out on parallel lines helps the archaeologist to map the depth of the buried structures. The magnetometer detects the differences of the magnetic fields 6 with the result of a planimetric survey of the subsoil provided with isohypses, obtained connecting each point to its depth. The instrument is very sensitive to the surrounding electromagnetic environment, so the final result may be disturbed by nails and small metal elements, or adversely affected by a high rate of humidity. The georesistivimeter measures the electrical conductivity through sensors directly fixed into the ground, obtaining parallel sections of the examined subsoil: different rates of resistivity are highlighted by a chromatic spectrum ranging from cool colors (blue means high conductivity) to warm ones (red means strong resistivity and possible presence of buried structures). Damp soils increase the conductivity, and help to improve the result. As for the georadar, the tomographies may be interpolated to produce maps and 3D digital models of the subsurfaces. All these equipments, in standard layouts, cost between 15,000 and 30,000 euros, and need a deep scientific know how to be used. The resulting maps must then be georeferenced and require the support of a topographical survey; the post-processing is moreover very demanding and strictly influenced by the validity of software used Some prototypes, conceived with the aim of shortening the time for data georeferencing and post-processing, have been experimented, but the costs are much higher; among those, a prototype that has already achieved good results in archaeological mapping of the buried structures is the ARP system, composed by a small tractor dragging a wheeled cart with a series of geoelectric sensors able to draw more sections at different depths (Dabas et al. 2006: 197-199). The data are gathered, processed in real time and displayed on board through a PC connected to a GPS antenna. In conclusion, it is necessary to recall that a profitable geophysical survey must be based on integrated methodologies. Among the remote sensing methodologies, of great interest is the analysis of specific typologies of frames, such as the infrared photos, or the data collected through airtransported sensors (MIVIS) able to slightly penetrate the Earth’s surface. The availability of these technologies requires a very high cost, normally accessible only to huge research institutions and mostly used for territorial analysis rather than for the documentation of individual sites.

on the general survey. To obtain a three-dimensional output it is necessary to turn to the stereoscopic or monoscopic photogrammetry, more compelling in terms of expense and professional skills needed. For bidimensional photogrammetry, a simple high resolution digital camera and a dedicated software (whose cost may be of a few hundreds euros) are required, as well as the acquisition of the coordinates of a number of control points. 3.4. Total station The most widespread equipment for a detailed documentation of archaeological sites is today the total station. It is a topographical instrument integrating optical-mechanical and electronic systems for data acquisition and a computerized device for data processing and storage. The current standard implies an optical laying system (telescope anchored to a mechanism defined ‘alidade’) rotating on two orthogonal axes, a vertical and a horizontal one, describing two concentric circles. Two goniometers allow the high precision reading of two angular measures and then the acquisition of the horizontal (azimuth angle) and vertical directions (zenithal angle). In the point of origin of the system is also integrated a laser diastimeter measuring the distance with subcentimetric precision. This measure can be obtained both with and without the aid of a reflector prism, with a two millimetres decline of the margin of accuracy. The cost of a standard unit is currently less than 10,000 euros. The total station is the best tool for accurate medium-sized field measurements (from a few metres to about 3 km), with short time of data acquisition (every measure lasts a few seconds). Every point to be measured must yet be visible, and the station points must be accessible. Finally, the original measures are expressed in polar coordinates (two angles and a distance) and are always referred to a local system (the intersection of the rotation axes of the instrument): for this reason, these measures must then be georeferenced through the related cartography or a GPS.7 3.5. Environmental laser scanner The laser scanner is frequently used for the three-dimensional mapping of landscapes and architectures; its operating principle is approximately similar to that of a total station, although it produces a great amount of points scanning the entire surface of the object, without selecting remarkable points. The resulting point cloud must be cleaned from all the inaccuracies (background noise). The final result is partially comparable to photogrammetric survey, without the chromatic data. In the case of regular surfaces the laser scanner can be replaced by a motorized total station, automatically detecting a number of points within a default grid. Laser scanners applied to the documentation of archaeological sites, although deeply developed in the recent years, have not yet reached a level of affordability for the high cost of the technological equipment (tens of thousands euros) and for the technical know how needed, especially in

3.3. Camera for terrestrial photogrammetry In the case of topographical documentation of well preserved structures, a widespread practice is to realize photogrammetric mappings, that can be georeferenced and placed The terrestrial one and all the magnetic fields available in the selected area, produced by different entities such as metal objects, evidences with strong ferrous components, or structures and building materials that came into contact with fire (brick walls, kilns, hearths)

6

To overcome the problem of positioning, total stations equipped with a GPS device are available, but their costs are obviously higher.

7

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3.7. Traditional topographical methodologies The technologies presented above should be supported by other ‘traditional’ tools of topographic documentation, such as metric tapes and compasses, useful for example to define a clearly recognizable site in a large scale cartography or for an approximate positioning in not optimal circumstances. There are indeed sites that, because of the environmental or logistical constraints, don’t allow the use of more advanced systems, and a crucial role is then played by the competence and adaptability of the operator (Table 1).

post-processing of the raw data.8 3.6. Global Positioning System (GPS) The most widespread equipment for mapping the sites on a territorial scale is certainly the GPS. It is a radio receiver detecting the distance from constellations of satellites constantly monitored by specific ground stations. The intersection of at least four measures from as many satellites determines the position of the selected point on the Earth’s surface. The distance is derived from the measurement of the period of time spent by the radio signal during its course, as well as a wide range of other technical parameters. One of the main factors affecting the accuracy of such measures is the time of signal acquisition (precise measurements require hours of acquisition). The surface to which these measures are related is the geometric fi ure that best fits the Earth’s surface, namely the ellipsoid defined World Geodetic System WGS84. The position of the measured point is expressed in geocentric coordinates within the WGS84 system. Measures may be obtained in real time or in post-processing, depending on the desired accuracy and on the available equipment. The most common type of GPS, currently used in archaeology, is the cartographic GPS, entirely contained in a small handheld device. It is composed by an antenna and a small calculator for recording, processing and displaying the data. The standard low-cost cartographic GPS devices have wide margins of error (about 10 m) and are quite cheap (less than 1000 euros). Most precise is the geodetic GPS with differential mode data processing. It consists of two antennas and a separate receiver with integrated handheld PC. To obtain high precision measures, an antenna must be held in acquisition mode on a point of known coordinates, while the other one is moved along the unknown points in constant acquisition mode (kinematic GPS) or stationing for a few seconds on the point to be acquired (stop and go). In the best conditions this kind of GPS method can reach absolute submetric accuracy, and relative subcentimetric positioning. The costs of standard geodetic GPS equipment may exceed 10,000 euros. The measures obtained through the GPS are always expressed in terms of absolute georeferencing, but the instrument needs a good vision of the sky and an adequate satellites coverage.9 If the purpose of the survey is to map a site, a palm GPS can provide enough accuracy of measures. If you need a precise topographical documentation it should instead be chosen a geodetic GPS. In many cases, a strategic methodology may be implemented integrating the positioning through a geodetic GPS (for georeferencing the main points of the site) and then completing the detailed survey with the help of a total station.

4. Identification and positioning of the archaeological sites 4.1. Archaeological site and scale of representation: Territorial Unit (TU) and Urban Unit (UU) In its most widespread interpretation, the landscape archaeology is primarily based on the analysis of the sites in relation with the context in which they developed. In terms of topographic documentation, the site represents the smallest unit under examination. Usually, the study of a site aimed at understanding the dynamics of a whole territory doesn’t imply to take into consideration its stratigraphical units, since this analytical level of detail is typical of an intrasite approach;10 the territorial research is often based on the identificatio of the Territorial Units (TU), as we define the individual sites. A particular case is represented by the survey of abandoned urban areas, for which a scale of detail midway between the topographic documentation of the sites and the intrasite analysis of the individual TU is needed: the individual buildings composing the entire settlement are treated as autonomous units, mapped and documented like the Territorial Units. As a result, we could define these individual buildings as Urban Unit (UU). 4.2. Archaeological site: problems of identification Since the first step for mapping the archaeological sites is to identify and delimit them, of great significance is then the definition of ‘archaeological site’; this is an extremely complex concept, widely treated by experienced scholars. We can consider the archaeological site as a geographical area, topographically identifiable with different degrees of accuracy, whose archaeological value is ruled by a series of tangible and intangible evidences, referring to an extended human settlement, to the presence of infrastructures, to the persistence of traces left by human actions. The identificati n of the site may be based on material evidences, such as artefacts or their remains, or may derive from different indicators, in particular written sources with careful topographical reference, toponyms, cartography, visible traces detected through non intrusive (remote sensing) methodologies. Without any doubt, an archaeological site is frequently identified after an integrated analysis of different types of sources. For greater clearness, without the aim of being exhaustive,

See, for example, the LIDAR methodology, consisting in a laser scanner mounted on an aircraft. 9 On the contrary, GPS can’t be used in sheltered environments or in areas characterized by poor celestial visibility, for example due to the presence of trees, buildings, slopes and sheer hillsides, or other elements, such as reflective surfaces or magnetic fields disturbing the reception of the radio waves. 8

The detailed documentation of the intrasite stratigraphic relations usually takes place after the topographic contextualization. 10

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we can try to summarize the different typologies of archaeological sites in the following table, supplied with the more reliable methodologies of identification

dense mesh may be chosen, dividing the land into squares of different measure. Main aim of the intensive survey method is to document with the greatest rate of objectivity what is visible on the surface. The availability of time, human and economic resources, as well as the width of the covered area, are factors deeply influencing the level of detail of the research project. To preserve a higher level of homogeneity and to overcome the differences in the visibility of the soil (for example influenced by the growth of the vegetation and by the cycles of ploughing), it may be necessary to repeat several times the investigating activities. It seems clear that this method of research is particularly suitable for limited areas: when applied to large territorial districts, such as in the case of an entire valley, the best way to fulfill the research’s expected goals is to choose a number of sample areas, selected on the basis of the representativeness of the various geomorphological units included in the examined territory.12 The selective survey method implies inspections in sites with specific archaeological potential. These sites are selected before the on-field activities through the integrated analysis of different kinds of sources, such as archive investigations, oral testimonies, ancient and modern cartography, aerial and satellite imagery, changes in the ancient landscape, historical and topographical considerations.

4.3. Archaeological site and surrounding area (site/offsite) The historical complexity of a territory is represented by a large amount of traces, equally significant to define, for example, the relations between the sites or the settlement peculiarities in a selected area. These traces are the sporadic surface archaeological remains, or the written evidences not specifically related to a site but anyway useful to understand the general dynamics of soil occupation and exploitation. This complex system of traces, defined ‘background noise’ in the case of sporadic findings, isn’t nevertheless enough, from the point of view of the concentration of data, to identify a circumscribed area as an archaeological site. Various attempts of quantificati n, in order to delineate the adequate rate of scattered finds to establish a Territorial Unit, have been carried out: for example, how many fin ings per square metre, or how many tens of artefacts per hundred square metres. This is obviously a floating value, significantly based on many variables, such as the nature of the examined territory and the degree of preservation of artefacts. The recent guidelines have therefore recommended not to rely upon accurate quantifications, preferring to individuate areas of above average concentrations of artefacts. However, referring to the consideration of material aspects, the mere quantification represents a reductive datum: in fact, even a single sporadic find may be highly significant, supported by evidences from other kind of sources (toponymic, archival, etc.).

4.5. Sites detected through the archaeological survey: structures and areas of scattered materials Every territorial survey project must face with two main typologies of archaeological site: visible structures and areas of scattered materials. To those, the sites today not conserved but identifiable through other sources (Table 2) must be added. Of course, the complexity of archaeological evidences can’t be clearly schematized within one of the following types, but this simplification helps us to better clarify the role of the different topographical methodologies currently used. The first case are the visible archaeological structures, remains of masonry or natural elements reused for various purposes (caves, natural shelters, regularized rocky outcrops, etc.). This is the simplest case because it requires less discretion, but also the one in which there is the greater risk of superficiality: the risk is to underestimate the archaeological value of the examined evidences, reading them partially, or even confusing ancient and modern structures or natural elements and ancient ruins. The other case is the surface dispersion areas of artefacts and other objects (such as river pebbles used to build wall foundations). This is the most widespread case in territories of intense agricultural exploitation, with superficial or low depth archaeological levels. The identification and positioning might be simple, but the relative value of these data, resulting from random events, should always be kept in mind.13

4.4. Systematic surface survey: intensive and selective In the recent projects of landscape archaeology, a great significance is given to the archaeological evidence, partially as a result of the underestimation of archaeology in the past studies, mostly based on the written sources. The most advanced researches, able to produce the better results, do not consider any hierarchy of the different sources; the level of reliability indeed does not depend on the nature of the sources, but on the quality of the initial data. However, the most widespread practice relies mostly upon the archaeological data, gathered through survey activities. The surface survey consists of a direct examination of selected areas, aimed at identifying and documenting the archaeological sites. It can be carried out through an intensive or selective methodology. In both cases, these are systematic survey methods, equally valid and both responding to different choices in the research strategy.11 The intensive survey methods are based on the full and careful direct analysis of defined portions of the territory. The survey teams cover the territory in predisposed order, and individual operators are placed at regular distances, usually following parallel equidistant lines; the distance between the operators is based on the desired level of detail. Therefore, in particularly significant sites, a more 11

4.6. The archaeological map and its interpretation The documentation of a site is not limited to the topoTo select transects including only plain or ridge areas should be therefore avoided. 13 The main problem is the randomness through which the remains are mostly partially brought to the surface (ploughing or construction works). 12

Both systems are used in the territorial research.

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Enrico Giorgi

graphical mapping, but also includes a specific descriptive apparatus. This descriptive form normally contains some predefined fields selected on the basis of research need • name • positioning • site name • typological interpretation • chronology • description Specific topographical fields are requeste • the site identification code, linking the localization on the cartography to the descriptive apparatus; • topographic positioning, in geocentric absolute coordinates (WGS84) or referring to a local projection coordinates system (UTM, Gauss-Boaga); • topology: topographical features of the site in relation to the surrounding historical, geographical and geopedological context. On the basis of those data, the sites are ranked in their cartographic reference, with their descriptive apparatus. The final result of this work is a topographic thematic map, what is currently defined as an archaeological map The problem of the interpretation of the areas of scattered materials would require a separate tractation: it seems in fact obvious that even proceeding with systematic collection of archaeological materials, documenting their original topographic location, some variables that make the acquired data incomplete and only partially significant still exist We can recall at least the main factors able to affect the final result: randomness, lack of homogeneity, partiality. It appears then clear that the problem of the topographical mapping in those cases is less important than the evaluation of the archaeological significance; the surface data quantification, to obtain statistical based model of soil occupation (similar to those applied in quantitative geography) is deeply affected by the risk of simplification, and will difficultly reflect the complexity of the ancient landscape dynamics.

or hillsides have been settled, the findings might be very superficial, while on the alluvial terraces the archaeological remains may be buried at various depths under the soil surface, depending on the consistency of deposit coverage.15 Once reconstructed the ancient landscape and its development up to the present time, the reconstruction of the archaeological dynamics can be superimposed, placing the known archaeological sites on the geomorphological cartography. It will then be possible to highlight the dynamics of ancient population and the environmental and historical factors influencing them; for example, a typical feature of the Italian peninsula during the Roman age is the high number of stable settlements in specific areas of the valley, such as the flat river terraces: the historical reason for this dynamic is the political stability and the effective management of the territory, which made particularly attractive those areas, propitious to the agricultural exploitation and close to the road network. The plateaus along the ridges, mainly in correspondence with other favourable environmental factors (such as the presence of easy supply of water, considerable visibility or natural defences), were always areas of privileged ancient settlement, becoming particularly important in times of territorial fragmentation and political instability. In flat territories, near the water bodies, bumps represented safe areas from the river flooding, while in the mountains, where broad plains are scarce, ancient assessed landslides offered a good opportunity of level spaces: both these geomorphological units bear potential traces of ancient population. Basing on all the considerations listed above, some assumptions can be proposed: for example, if in a specific sector of a river valley there is a significant presence of archaeological sites in connection with geomorphological units, we can assume that even in other similar geomorphological units, a similar archaeological situation may exist. In this case, the territorial units presenting this particular kind of archaeological potential or ‘risk’ may be detected and topographically mapped, reconstructing the development of the palaeosoil (with the help of logs), and placing the area on a cartographic basis as a potential archaeological site. The systematic mapping of the archaeological potential sites may then become a basic mean: • for the management of the excavated archaeological evidences; • for the preservation and tutelage of the buried heritage.

4.7. The map of potential archaeological sites In the recent years, great prominence has been given to a particular type of archaeological site, whose existence can be inferred through deductive reasoning based mainly on the process of analogy. The result of this kind of archaeological site survey is the so-called ‘map of potential archaeological sites’.14 The identification of these ‘potential’ areas derives from the integrated study of geography and archaeology: it is necessary to reconstruct the changes in the landscape with a specific geomorphologic research, in order to determine the geological feature and the chronology of some portions of the territory under examination. For example, peaks and slopes, stable and lithologically resistant, are often palaeosoils almost devoid of modern sediments. On the contrary, low and flat areas, close to river mouths or near marine and lake basins, may have been covered by thick alluvial deposits that have deeply buried the ancient palaeosoils. This means that if these summit palaeosurfaces

5. Topographical mapping of archaeological sites On the basis of the limits and potentials of the different equipments of topographical survey (see above, Table 1), and on the knowledge of the typologies of sites (see above, Table 2), it is possible to enumerate the standard proceOf course, once again, we are simplifying the complexity of the archaeological evidence, because in many cases these phenomena are less schematic, for example an erosion may bring to light buried palaeosoils, or river digressions may damage or bury ancient bumps. 15

Or ‘maps of the archaeological risk’, with a terminology mostly responding to the perception of archaeology of those involved in planning and managing the territory. 14

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dell’abitare’, Ocnus 14, pp. 83-115 Dabas, M., Delétang, H., Ferdière, A., Jung, C., Zimmermann, W.H., 2006, La prospection (Paris: Editions Errance) De Maria, S., Campagnoli, P., Giorgi, E., Lepore, G., 2006, ‘Topografia e urbanistica di Soknopaiou Nesos’, Fayyum Studies 2, pp. 23-90 Docci, M., Maestri, D., 1992, Manuale di rilevamento architettonico e urbano (Roma, Bari: Laterza) Giorgi, E., 2002a, ‘Il metodo di rilievo e di schedatura’ in S. De Maria, S. Gjongekaj (eds) Phoinike, I. Rapporto preliminare sulla prima campagna di scavi e ricerche 2000 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 117-119 Giorgi, E., 2002b, ‘Ricerche e ricognizioni nel territorio’, in S. De Maria, S. Gjongekaj (eds) Phoinike, I. Rapporto preliminare sulla prima campagna di scavi e ricerche 2000 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 121-131 Giorgi, E., 2003, ‘Ricerche e ricognizioni nel territorio’ in S. De Maria, S. Gjongekaj (eds) Phoinike, II. Rapporto preliminare sulla campagna di scavi e ricerche 2001 (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 91-97 Giorgi, E. (ed.), in press, In profondità senza scavare. Introduzione alla diagnostica per l’archeologia, Groma 2 (Bologna) Giorgi, E., Lepore, G., in press, ‘La basilica di Burnum alla luce delle nuove ricerche’, Archaeologia Adriatica 2 Giorgi, E., Pallotti, G., 2005, ‘Ricerche e ricognizioni nel territorio’, in S. De Maria, S. Gjongekaj (eds) Phoinike, III. Rapporto preliminare sulle campagne di scavi e ricerche 2002-2003 (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 195210 Mannoni, T., 1994, Venticinque anni di archeologia globale, III. Caratteri costruttivi dell’edilizia storica (Genova: Escum) Mascione, C., 2006, Il rilievo strumentale in archeologia (Roma: Carocci) Medri, M., 2003, Manuale di rilievo archeologico (Roma, Bari: Laterza) Nicosia, A., Ceraudo, G. (eds), 2007, Spigolature Aquinati. Studi storico-archeologici su Aquino e il suo territorio. Atti della Giornata di Studio. Aquino, 19 maggio 2007, Ager Aquinas 2 Orsini, C., Silani, M., Giorgi, E., 2005, ‘Archeologia del paesaggio e società. Modelli interpretativi per la valle del fiume Chacapata (Ande centro settentrionali del Perù)’, Archivio per l’Antropologia e la Etnologia 185, pp. 269-281 Piccarreta, F., Ceraudo, G., 2000, Manuale di aerofotografia archeologica. Metodologia, tecniche e applicazioni (Bari: Edipuglia) Ravaioli, E., Vecchietti, E., 2007, ‘Il Progetto “Acquaviva Picena nella storia”. Relazione preliminare delle campagne di scavi e ricerche 2005-2006’, Ocnus 15, pp. 209-228 Vecchietti, E., in press, ‘Beyond Methodology and Practice: the Burnum Project, a Case-Study of International Cooperation in Archaeological Research’, Archaeologia Adriatica 2

dures currently used for topographic documentation. Once again a summarized simplificat on may be proposed in a synopsis (Table 4).

Acknowledgements I thank Erika Vecchietti for the English translation.

References Altini, M., Bogdani, J., Boschi, F., Ravaioli, E., Silani, M., Vecchietti, E., 2005, ‘Prime esperienze del Laboratorio di Rilievo Archeologico: La Fortezza di Acquaviva Picena (AP) e il castrum romano di Burnum (Drniš, Croazia)’, Ocnus 13, pp. 9-34 Becker, H., Fassbinder, J.W.E. (eds), 2001, Magnetic Prospecting in Archaeological Sites (München: Lipp) Bitelli, G., Giorgi, E., Vittuari, L., Zanfini, M., 2004, ‘La campagna di rilevamento e di fotografia aerea di Suasa. Nuove acquisizioni per la ricostruzione della forma urbana’, Ocnus 12, pp. 9-14 Bitelli, G., Girelli, V.A., Tini, M.A., Vittuari, L., 2006, ‘Spatial Geodesy Applications for Accurate Georeferencing of Soknopaiou Nesos and DTM Determination’, Fayyum Studies 2, pp. 15-21 Bitelli, G., Girelli, V.A., Vittuari, L., 2005, ‘Il rilievo del monastero di Mesopotam con tecniche geomatiche integrate’ in S. De Maria, S. Gjongekaj (eds) Phoinike, III. Rapporto preliminare sulle campagne di scavi e ricerche 2002-2003 (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 211218 Bitelli G., Vittuari, L., 2002, ‘Inquadramento assoluto con tecniche GPS ed istituzione di una rete di vertici per il sito di Phoinike’ in S. De Maria, S. Gjongekaj (eds) Phoinike, I. Rapporto preliminare sulla prima campagna di scavi e ricerche 2000 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 109-116 Bonora, G., Dall’Aglio, P.L., Patitucci, S., Uggeri, G., 2000, La topografia antica (Bologna: Clueb) Brogiolo, G.P., 1988, Archeologia dell’edilizia storica (Como: New Press) Campana, S., Forte, M. (eds), 2001, Remote Sensing in Archaeology (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio) Campana, S., Francovich, R. (eds), 2006, Laser Scanner e GPS. Paesaggi archeologici e tecnologie digitali (Firenze: All’insegna del giglio) Campedelli, A., in press, ‘The castrum of Burnum: among Old Excavations and New Researches’, Archaeologia Adriatica 2 Campedelli, A., Boschi, F., Curci, A., Silani, M., 2007, ‘Il municipio romano di Burnum (Drniš, Croazia)’, Groma 1, pp. 131-138 (www.groma.info) Conyers L.B., 2004, Ground-Penetrating Radar for Archaeology (Walnut Creek, Oxford: AltaMira Press) Coralini, A., Scagliarini Corlàita, D., Helg, R., Giorgi, E., Zanfini, M., Minghelli, S., Ascari Raccagni, C., Assenti, G., 2006, ‘Domus Herculanensis Rationes (DHER). Dal rilievo archeologico alla cultura

73

Enrico Giorgi

Instrument

Aim

Positioning

Accuracy

Skills

Post-processing

Cost

Georadar

Survey of the buried structures

Local

Tens of centimetres

Geophysics

Long

High

Magnetometer

Survey of the buried structures

Local

Tens of centimetres

Geophysics

Long

High

Georesistivimeter

Survey of the buried structures

Local

Tens of centimetres

Geophysics

Very long

Very high

Metric or semimetric photo camera

3D mapping of structures or palaeosoils

Local

Centimetric

Topography

Long

Medium

Photo camera

2D mapping of structures or palaeosoils

Local

Centimetric

Archaeology

Medium

Low

Total station

Detailed topographic documentation

Local

Centimetric

Archaeology

Short

Medium

Laser scanner

Detailed topographic documentation

Local

Centimetric

Topography

Very long

High

Cartographic GPS

Positioning

Global

Tens of metres

Archaeology

Short

Low

Geodetic GPS

Positioning and detailed topographic mapping

Global

Submetric

Topography

Long

High

Traditional tools

Positioning and detailed mapping

Local

Relative

Archaeology

Very short

Very low

Table 1 - Topographical equipments for mapping an archaeological site.

Features Material/architectonic remains

Methodology of identification On-field surface surve Aerial photos analysis

Material traces of human actions

On-field surface surve

Anomalies deriving from buried archaeological structures

Topographic mapping Remote sensing analysis Geophysical perspections

Toponyms

Cartographic analysis Historical/written documentation analysis

Cartography

Cartographic analysis

Documentary and literary sources

Historical/written documentation analysis Archive documentation analysis

Examples Area with scattered archaeological materials on the soil surface Architectonic remains Archaeological materials conserved in Museums or Collections, but whose provenance is known Hearths Artificial rock cutting Buried structures visible on the soil surface through cropmarks or soilmarks Buried structures visible through geophysical analysis Toponyms indicating roman land holdings (praedia) Toponyms indicating post-stage along the routes, with distances in Roman miles from the nearest towns (i.e., Quintodecimo) Medieval toponyms related to the presence of castles or other military settlements (Byzantine courts, Lombard farae, etc.) Toponyms indicating the presence of ancient ruins Sites not conserved, but mentioned in the ancient cartography Persistence of infrastructures inferable from the cartographic analysis (roads, land divisions, etc.) Sites not conserved, but mentioned in the archival documentation Sites not conserved, but mentioned in the literary sources

Table 2 - Methodologies of identification of different kinds of archaeological evidence.

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Topographical field operations in mapping archaeological sites

Typology of site

Detecting methodologies

Other useful methodologies

Visible structures

Territorial survey or remote sensing

Area of scattered materials

Territorial survey

Buried or non conserved remains

Remote sensing Ancient cartography Written and historical sources

Remote sensing

Table 3 - Different detecting methodologies on the basis of site typologies.

Site typology

Target

Equipment

Other supporting equipment

Costs/ duration

Direct investigation

Visible remains of structures

Positioning Planimetry

Geodetic GPS

Aerial photography Total station

High

Necessary

Dispersion area

Perimetration

Cartographic GPS

Low

Necessary

Traces of buried structures visible on the soil surface (cropmarks, soilmarks)

Positioning Planimetry

Aerial photography Geodetic GPS

Total station

High

Necessary

Buried structures

Positioning Vertical sections/ Planimetry

Geodetic GPS Georadar/Magnetometer/ Georesistivimeter

Total station

Very high

Necessary

Non conserved sites

Positioning

Ancient cartography

Written sources

Low

Useless

Visible remains with difficult accessibilit

Positioning Perimetration Planimetry

Cartography Aerial photography Traditional equipment (metric tape, compass, etc.)

Medium

Necessary

Table 4 - Topographical methodologies and equipment for different archaeological kinds of evidence. What?

Positioning and mapping of structures in urban area with environmental difficultie Positioning and mapping of structures in urban area with historical documentation Archaeological map documenting the remains of structures and infrastructures

Where?

With which?

How?

Reference

Herculaneum (Italy)

Geodetic GPS Total station Photogrammetry Archival documentation Geodetic GPS Cartographic GPS Total station Photogrammetry Historical cartography

Global positioning Planimetry Architectural analysis

Coralini et al. 2006

Global positioning Planimetry Structures and infrastructures analysis

Geodetic GPS Total station Photogrammetry Archival documentation Geodetic GPS Total station Photogrammetry Geodetic GPS Total station Photogrammetry Geophysic

Global positioning Planimetry Superstructure analysis

Bitelli and Vittuari 2002 Giorgi 2002a Giorgi 2002b Giorgi 2003 Giorgi and Pallotti 2005 Bitelli et al. 2005 Campedelli et al. 2007 Altini et al. 2005 Ravaioli and Vecchietti 2007 Campedelli et al. 2007

Soknopaiou Nesos (Egypt)

Phoinike (Albania)

Integrated topographical and geophysical analysis

Acquaviva Picena (Italy)

Structures detection and mapping through cropmarks Visible and buried structures documentation

Suasa (Italy)

Positioning and mapping of sites with difficult accessibility

Chacas (Perù)

Burnum (Croatia)

Geodetic GPS Total station Photogrammetry

Global positioning Planimetry

Cartographic GPS Total station Traditional equipment

Table 5 - Thematic bibliography. 75

Bitelli et al. 2006 De Maria et al. 2006

Global positioning Planimetry

Bitelli et al. 2004

Global positioning Planimetry Structures analysis Integrated geophisical investigations Global positioning Planimetry

Campedelli in press Giorgi and Lepore in press Vecchietti in press Campedelli et al. 2007 Orsini et al. 2005

Some aspects of close-range photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage documentation  

Antonio Zanutta, Gabriele Bitelli Abstract Photogrammetry is today one of the most interesting techniques which can be applied to Cultural Heritage surveying and specifically to Archaeology; terrestrial close-range applications have been playing a growing role in an increasing number of excavations and to the rigorous documentation of objects maintained in museums or collections. The development of digital instruments and digital processes has increased this tendency, making possible for a large number of researchers and surveyors to approach this technique and to obtain results with instruments of lower cost using hardware and software more easily available. Despite this trend, a good knowledge of photogrammetric theory and of the problems involved in the overall process is necessary to achieve reliable results and to obtain an estimate of their quality; a multidisciplinary approach to the surveying problem, where geomatic engineers can convey their specific expertise in collaboration with archaeologists, constitutes of course the most appropriate and modern solution. The aim of the paper is to point out some main characteristics of Close-Range Photogrammetry, and to discuss technical aspects related to practical applications of archaeological interest.

1. Introduction Surveying structures and objects of archaeological interest is worthwhile for several purposes: to have a metrical description in support of scientific studies, to provide the basic data for restoration, to realize a monitoring in case of deterioration problems (e.g., of structural type) or simply to have a rigorous representation for documentation purposes. With respect to traditional methods employed by archaeologists in the past, modern techniques based on current surveying technologies offer several benefits and open challenging opportunities for obtaining new kinds of higher quality products, with superior characteristics in terms of flexibility and usefulness Photogrammetry is, of course, one of the most important methods to obtain a rigorous metrical description of an object, and its characteristics are very interesting for surveying in Archaeology; although the most known photogrammetrical employment was principally linked to aerial surveying (this technique is surely the best solution to have a cartographic description of an archaeological site and its surroundings at a very large scale), close-range photogrammetrical surveying is increasingly adopted for objects of different size and shape, for single structures or structural systems. With the term ‘Close-Range Photogrammetry’ we normally mean the survey carried out by photogrammetric techniques for distances within tens or few hundreds metres; normally it deals with terrestrial Photogrammetry. The products of a photogrammetric survey show some very interesting characteristics, combining the potentialities of a very accurate and precise geometrical description with the richness of a photographic documentation. As a consequence of the spreading adoption of Digital Photogrammetry (Schenk 1999), different automatic techniques, e.g. image matching algorithms, have been developed and are continuously improved; the space resection and intersection procedures have become easy and quasitotally automatic. Furthermore, high quality digital cameras, software and hardware platforms are continuously

offered on the market, with a sensible saving. All these characteristics have strongly reduced the production costs of photogrammetric surveys, making possible for a large number of researchers and surveyors to approach this technique, making it a viable option for heritage recording. Surveyors are today faced also with an increasing diffusion of the laser scanning technology in this application field: as it will be clear in the following, the two techniques are not in contrast, they are not in antithesis but on the contrary they are complementary. In a number of situations in Archaeology, Photogrammetry can be the preferred choice for its flexibility on the field and for its low-cost, while the achieved accuracy and the final products, if the process and the instruments are carefully adopted, can be similar. A first aim of the paper is to point out some fundamental concepts related to a photogrammetry survey, starting from the differences between central and orthogonal projection. Basic concepts of Photogrammetry, like the main mathematical models and the spatial resection-intersection problems, are then reviewed. A priori survey accuracy assessment, function of the complexity of the object, of its dimension, of the cost requirements and of the type of the final products, can be important in planning a close-range survey for Cultural Heritage documentation, although it is not routinely performed. The paper shows two simple methods for a priori evaluation of the errors related to the restitution. A short description of the simple rectification method is afterward given, highlighting the practical effects of this widely applied 2D simplification Finally, examples are shown from real cases of Close-Range Photogrammetry applied to Architecture and Archaeology.

2. The characteristics of the central projection of a photograph The first task of photogrammetry is to determine the position of 3D object points from the measurement of 2D im-

Antonio Zanutta, Gabriele Bitelli

3. 3D Point Determination by Photogrammetry

age coordinates. Of course a direct use of photographs for mapping purposes is normally not possible, being the photographs realizing a central projection and not an orthogonal projection of the subject. As shown in Fig. 1, considering a photograph taken by a plane, the façades of buildings are visible and vertical lines pass through a vanishing point (isocentre), while in a map only the roofs of the buildings are visible and vertical elements are represented as points. In a central projection the image point is obtained by the intersection of the image plane with the line connecting the central point to the object, while for a map the projective lines are parallel and the projection point is to infinit . There are three well known main differences between the two projections: the average photoscale, the image tilt and the relief displacement. They are shown in Figs 2-3, related to a close-range image acquisition. The photoscale of an image, 1/mi, is the ratio between a distance measured on the photo (l) and the object distance between the same two points (L), or in other words, the ratio between the focal length (c) and the distance (Z) from the object (Fig. 2: A). Changes in object elevation will cause scale variation. Therefore, while in an orthogonal projection the scale factor is consistent and constant for every point on the map, in a photograph this ratio is not constant and only an average value may be defined Considering a reference plane on the object, the images of points that don’t lie exactly on this plane will result displaced in direction of the principal point by a value (dr) called relief displacement (Fig. 2: B). The image of a flat object is similar to the real object only when the focal plane is parallel to it: tilt displacement is the effect due to the non-parallelism between the object and the image plane (Fig. 3). As example, taking a photo of a rectangular object with a tilted camera, the object on the photo will look like a quadrilateral. The geometrical characteristics of a central projection are described by the collinearity mathematical model,1 which defines the correspondence between the image and the object space. The photogrammetric restitution generates metrical vectorial and raster elaborates that are orthogonal projections of the object.

Considering a three-dimensional photogrammetric survey, the equations of the central projection can be modeled mathematically by the well known collinearity relations (1), containing Internal Orientation Parameters (IOP) and External Orientation Parameters (EOP). The employ of such coordinate transformation model can solve the restitution problem (determination of the 3D coordinates of a point in the object space, spatial intersection) or vice versa the calculation of the space position and the angular orientation (spatial resection) for an image (Table 1). The restitution problem, the main task of the photogrammetry, has a solution only if the transformation parameters between the image and the object space (IOP, EOP) are known. It is generally known that the three-dimensional point restitution can be achieved if the measurement of image coordinates is realized by spatial intersection on at least two photos, collected from different points of view; the distance between the projection centres of the two images is called photobase (B). In fact, collimating a point on a photograph permits to write two equations of the type (1) in three unknowns; the solution is possible adding a new photograph of the same object, and then deriving two more equations, for a total of four equations in three unknowns for the point. Generally the orientation and spatial positioning parameters of the photos (EOP of the collinearity model) necessary for the restitution procedures are unknown, and they are estimated thanks to the presence in the photos of ground points of known coordinates (Ground Control Points, GCPs). This is the spatial resection step: the unknowns are the six EOP, while the 3D coordinates of the GCPs are known; the results are drawn from the measurement of image coordinates of at least three GCPs. If the inner orientation parameters are unknown, more GCPs are needed. In this case extended central projection model is usually adopted, adding to (1) more transformation parameters, in order to model the systematic error due firstly to the scale factor uncertainty in pixel spacing (shape factor), secondly to the non-orthogonality of the image coordinate system (shear factor), finally to the radial and the decentering lens distortion. By means of a procedure called ‘bundle adjustment with image self-calibration’, internal parameters of the camera together with its position, orientation and object coordinates of observed homologous points are solved starting from known coordinates of a sufficient number of GCPs (Kraus 1997) Normally, a minimum of three GCPs must be available for one pair of overlapping photos, so several points are needed to orient large blocks of photos. This is often the most costly aspect of photogrammetric survey. The adoption of the photogrammetric Triangulation technique, originally developed for aerial surveys and based on tie point detection, can largely reduce the number of required GCPs. In a close-range survey, the coordinates of the Ground Control Points are traditionally surveyed before the acquisition of the photos by using topographical techniques. These GCPs may be already existing (natural points) or may be

Collinearity equations establish a relationship between the image and the object space:

1

x = x0 − c

i T (X − X 0) k T (X − X 0)

y = y0 − c

jT (X − X 0) k T ( X − X 0 )

(1

where:

Y

XT = X

Z = object coordinates of a point;

x, y = image coordinates;

x0 , y0 = image coordinates of the camera Principal Point (PP, a particular point in the image defined by the intersection between the optical axis of the lens and the image plane), constituting with the focal length c and the lens distortion parameters the so-called Internal Orientation Parameters; i , j , k = versors of the rotation matrix, function of the angular position in space of the image with respect to the object coordinate system (defined by three angles ω, φ, κ); X 0T = X 0 Y0 Z 0 = coordinates of PP position in the object coordinate system, constituting — together with the three above mentioned angles — the so-called Exterior Orientation Parameters of the single image.

78



Some aspects of close-range photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage documentation

artificially signalized on the object. The highest accuracy in the photogrammetric orientation and restitution is normally achieved adopting signalized points, like targets attached to the object. Fundamental is a proper distribution on the object and the correct definition of their dimension To obtain accurate results, it is suggested that the GCPs are well separated and well spread out in the overlap area. Furthermore, GCPs have to be easily and precisely identifiable on adjacent photos. The signal size is a function of the photoscale (Kraus 1997): mi k



mi = 4 ⋅ mmap

(3



where mmap is the denominator of the restitution map scale factor. Once the scale factor of the restitution is chosen, by means of the map reading error it is possible to roughly estimate the restitution error (σ). It is an experimental method, easily applicable in situ, which supplies a priori errors fundamental for the execution of terrestrial photogrammetric survey:

(2

(4 σ A = mmap ⋅ σ r where: σA = root mean square error for 3D restitution (from experimental equation); σr = map reading error (0.2÷0.4 mm at map scale factor).

where: d = diameter of the signal; mi = photoscale number, the denominator of the image scale factor; k = parameter function of the image quality, ranging between 300 to 600. The signal size in Close-Range Photogrammetry may be 1.5 to 3 time larger than the values coming from (2) and their size on the image would be at least in the order of 50 μm. For example, a photoscale with mi = 400 needs signalized GCPs with diameters of 2÷4 cm. Adopting the above considerations, the correct dimension of a signalized GCP can be preplanned before the survey realization. An accurate sketch of the points must be furthermore realized to recognize their location on the photos. While for aerial photogrammetric surveys GPS is the widespread instrument adopted to calculate the three-dimensional coordinates of the GCPs (by static, fast static, kinematic, Real Time Kinematic methods) and the heights are determined by spirit or trigonometric leveling, for CloseRange Photogrammetry horizontal and vertical angles measurements are usually collected by Total Stations, together with slope distances (Fig. 4). Triangulation, trilateration, intersection-resection, polygonal, radial sideshot methods and more modern 3D or 2D networks can be realized for this purpose (Ghilani and Wolf 2008).

In the ‘normal case’, the equation which permits to evaluate the root mean square error for restitution obtained applying the law of variance propagation is:  Z2   ⋅ σ Px σ B =   c⋅B 

(5

where: Z = relative distance from the object (absolute vertical distance – mean object Z coordinate); c = focal length of the camera; B = distance between central points on subsequent images (photobase); σ P = horizontal parallax measurement error (errors measuring image coordinates on the images, related to the instrument). Table 2 shows some examples using the two approaches.





d=

be derived from:

x

5. Digital image resolution, storage REQUIREMENTS and Object Sampling Distances Another important issue for the planning of a photogrammetric survey is the choice of the camera. Photogrammetric survey may be realized by means of metric, semi-metric or amateur cameras. The metrical cameras are mostly employed in aerial surveys while semi-metric (with réseau) or amateur cameras (nowadays very high resolution digital cameras) are largely used in close-range surveys. Photos can be either acquired by an analogue film camera and digitized by means of an high quality scanner, or obtained directly by digital cameras, with the aim to run the overall process in a digital environment. Good results for Cultural Heritage documentation may be obtained by means of amateur cameras which have been previously calibrated. In this context, the inner geometry of the camera cannot be changed and the use of zoom optics must be avoided at all (Waldhäusl and Ogleby 1994). Fundamental is the evaluation of the object pixel size (Object Sampling Distance, OSD) because it constrains the detail of the scene:

4. A priori accuracy evaluation The scales involved in archaeological documentation range normally from 1:20 to 1:100, and the required accuracies range from 1 to 5 cm (Patias 2007). Thus it is fundamental to evaluate the accuracy of the restitution procedures before the survey realization. A priori plotting errors for artifi ial or natural points can be obtained by means of empirical relationships (Kraus 1993, D’Agata and Zanutta 2007) or applying the law of variance propagation to the collinearity model, simply considering the so-called ‘normal case’2 of stereocouple restitution. A simple function between the photoscale and the scale of a consistent restitution in close-range photogrammetry can 2 The ‘normal case’ in photogrammetry is a method for obtaining photographs, where the photobase and the camera axes relative to two stereopairs form perfect right angles. This situation permits a certain simplification of the collinearity model and a simple application of the law of variance.

79

Antonio Zanutta, Gabriele Bitelli

of the photogrammetric survey. An equation to evaluate relief displacement may be obtained geometrically, analyzing similar triangles (Fig. 2): DR : DZ = r : c (8 where: DR = mi·dr = relief displacement on the object; dr = relief displacement on the image; DZ = elevation of the object in respect to the plane XY (datum) selected as reference; r = radial distance of the image point from the Principal Point; Z = distance of the camera from the plane XY; c = focal length of the camera; producing:

(6

where: l = pixel dimension; Z = relative distance to the object; c = focal length of the camera; The geometric resolution of the image, e.g. obtained by scanning, is commonly defined as the number of pixels within one inch (Dots Per Inch, dpi) and this parameter, together with the radiometric resolution, defines the size of the file in function of the photoscale mi, as shown in Table 3 for a 6 x 6 cm2 film

dr =

6. About image rectification The hypothesis of flat object simplifies the topographic survey and the restitution work. Only a single photo is required to plot a 2D object and only four 2D GCPs are necessary to solve the resection problem: between the image and the object space a biunique correspondence exists (homographic transformation, governed by height parameters).3 Once the eight orientation parameters are known, the spatial intersection can be realized. The object coordinates (X, Y) of each point on the image are calculated by the image coordinates measurement and the solution of equations (7). The simple image rectification may be realized using optical systems or in digital environment, by software which applies the geometric transformation together with radiometric image resampling. This approach is correct if the object is flat, lying on the plane XY (datum) selected as reference; this aspect is related to the accuracy required. If the object isn’t flat, the relief produces a shift in the position of the points on the image: they will result displaced in direction of the principal point by the relief displacement effect (dr in Fig. 2: B). The relief displacement is the main limit related to the metric accuracy of the image rectification, so its a priori numeric evaluation may be fundamental for the planning

  The homographic transformation is a function of eight independent parameters (ai): 3

X =

a1 ⋅ xi + a 2 ⋅ yi + a 3 a 7 ⋅ xi + a 8 ⋅ yi + 1

Y=

a 4 ⋅ xi + a5 ⋅ yi + a6 a7 ⋅ xi + a8 ⋅ yi + 1

DZ ⋅ r mi ⋅ c

=

DZ Z

⋅r



(9

The equation (9) shows that relief displacement increases with the radial distance of the point from the PP and with the increasing of the object out-of-planarity DZ. Furthermore, relief displacement increases while the focal length is decreasing: by means of wide-angle lens the error on the object (DR) results of the same order of magnitude of DZ. The Table 4 shows the geometric accuracy of perspective rectification considering two film formats, small and medium size (A = 24 x 36 mm2, B = 60 x 60 mm2). Relief displacement values (dr in cm) have been calculated on the image borders (at the maximal radial distance from the PP) considering three common lens (c = 24, 50, 100 mm) and different object distances; the restitution map scale factors, which can be generated by rectification, have been evaluated by means of equation (4). Two restitution map scales have been evaluated adopting 0.2 and 0.4 mm values of the σr map reading error. Table 4 clearly shows that if a true flatness of the object is not guaranteed, the rectification process can’t be applied without unacceptable loss in accuracy. Where the object shows different plane levels, each one must be separately processed, and the results mosaicked by appropriate software modules to manage the radiometric differences. In a great number of applications related to heritage documentation this solution is not feasible, and digital differential rectification must be executed starting from the knowledge of the Digital Surface Model (DSM), generating in this way digital orthophotos, images characterized by metric properties and a specific unique scale Ortophotos production in this application field shows some specificities: first of all, a dense high quality Digital Surface Model is required, sometimes enriched by breaklines and vector lines depicting the main discontinuities, then appropriate algorithms for resampling and mosaicking are needed too. In some cases specific modules for ‘true orthophoto’ production are required, for example where obstacles near the objects are present; this product is derived from two or more images and a unique surface model. It may be stressed that the surface model generation, realized by some automatic matching procedures implemented in software modules, is sometimes not suitable for heritage applications: geometrical characteristics of the objects and data acquisition constraints, together with the kind of algo-

(7

where: X,Y are the object coordinates; x,y are the image coordinates; ai are the transformation parameters. The model permits to transform images coordinates into object coordinates and vice versa: by means of homographic transformation, from the central perspective (the image) an orthogonal projection can be obtained. There is a correspondence between the collinearity model (1) and the homographic transformation (7): this can be demonstrated assuming Z = constant in (1). The eight parameters of (7) have a directly geometric significance, being obtained from the nine parameters (EOP and IOP) of the equations (1). The spatial resection problem may be solved if the object coordinates of 2D GCPs are available. A pair of equations (7) may be written for each known GCP, so 4 GCPs produce eight equations and permit a unique solution of the transformation parameters (spatial resection). Redundant measurements permit to detect mistakes and evaluate the uncertainty of the coordinates estimate, and singular solutions can be avoided by appropriate spatial distribution of the GCPs (points not aligned and well spread out).



Z OSD = l ⋅ c

80

Some aspects of close-range photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage documentation

7.2. Use of historical images for the metrical study of the Lararium from the House of the Skeleton in Ercolano Using a Digital photogrammetric approach doesn’t mean a mere substitution of the classical methodologies, but the realization of new products and new applications; an example can be provided by the digital processing of historical images, adapted to metrical purposes, for studies related to restoration activities, to the analysis of structural deformations or simply to the changes occurred during time to objects or buildings. In the framework of a multidisciplinary project started in 1999, within a collaboration established between the University of Bologna and the Archaeological Superintendence of Pompei Ercolano Stabia, a rigorous survey of the most significant Nymphaea of Ercolano and Pompei (Naples) was activated (Bitelli et al. 2002). The Lararium from the ‘House of the Skeleton’ in Ercolano is a wall painting of a garden, surrounding a niche framed by an aedicula and decorated with mosaics and shells (Fig. 6: A). Some historical photos of the same object are available, dated about 1927-1928, immediately after the excavation (Fig. 6: B). The Lararium was surveyed in 2006 (Bitelli et al. 2007) with the aim to document its various geometric characteristics, to represent the decorative mosaics, to define the static condition and in particular to understand the geometrical modifications occurred starting from its excavations (Fig. 6: C); many interventions and changes were in fact realized until a complete disassembly with a successive replacement in situ. During the 2006 campaign, a standard methodology of survey and representation was set. Numerical and raster elaborates at 1:50 scale were generated by means of a DPW (Fig. 7). Archival photogrammetric technique was adopted to create a historical 3D model of the object using three images of the period. Metric information derived from the current photogrammetric survey (simple distances, vertical or horizontal constraints) were adopted in order to calibrate, orient and process the historical images by photogrammetric techniques. As result, the comparative analysis of the vectorial and raster models covering a time span of almost eighty years evidences a progressive deterioration of the lower part of the Lararium and the decorations and a decay of wall paintings in the bottom. A geometric correspondence of the bottom of the object was observed while a rigid rotation of the pillars at the top evidenced a probable variation in recollocation after the restoration procedures (Fig. 8).

rithmic approach adopted by some software products, can produce low quality results, requiring significant manual editing. However, new fully automatic or largely automated procedures are today available and they greatly improve the performance of 3D image modeling, producing results with accuracy comparable with laser scanning and with all the practical advantages of the photogrammetric method.

7. Practical examples of close-range photogrammetric surveys A very large spectrum of photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage applications is today available, carried out at different scales and with different aims, using analytical or digital instrumentation. A few cases will be described in the following, derived from authors’ experiences in the past years. They follow the trend in this field and they can briefly illustrate the current development of techniques and instruments. 7.1. Zabbar Gate at Cospicua (Malta Island) In the framework of a multidisciplinary project for the survey of the fortification system and related historical buildings in Malta, derived from a cooperation between the Maltese Government and the University of Bologna, a traditional high precision photogrammetric survey was realized to support the restoration of the Zabbar Gate façade along the Cottonera Lines at Cospicua (Baratin et al. 2000). A Wild P31 classical metric camera with focal length 99.39 mm and image size 90 x 120 mm was adopted; the images were afterwards scanned with pixel size of about 21 µm (1200 dpi). The image scale was 1:190, with a pixel size on the object of about 4 mm. In order to realize a conventional scheme for the photogrammetric coverage, with good overlapping between photos, the appropriate position for each photograph was obtained by means of an elevator at different heights from the ground (Fig. 5). Specifically developed reflective targets were stuck up on the façade and surveyed by establishing a high precision network (few millimetres error ellipses at 95% probability) performed using a Leica TC2000 total station. The restitution was carried out on an analytical Digicart40 stereoplotter and a Digital Photogrammetric Workstation (DPW), with the aim to produce a representation at 1:50 scale. Vectorial treatment of the structural elements, detailed representation of the principal architectural elements, and a rectified raster image representation of the façade were generated (Fig. 5). In this case the instrument was one of the first desktop DPWs and the procedures were not well standardized; some researches were realized about the optimal structure of the Digital Surface Model for orthophoto production and about the sensitivity of the image matching algorithms to a change in the parameters. Some assessments were performed comparing orthophoto metrical characteristics with vectorial restitution: TIN model showed some interesting characteristics for this application, but the results were largely improved by adding digitized breaklines delimiting the major surfaces.

8. Conclusions Photogrammetry is today one of the most interesting techniques which can be applied for Cultural Heritage surveying and specifically in Archaeology, providing a rigorous documentation by non destructive remote and low-cost data acquisition. A knowledge of photogrammetric theory and of the problems involved in the overall process is necessary to achieve good results and to derive an estimate of their quality. Fun81

Antonio Zanutta, Gabriele Bitelli

damental is to select the most appropriate surveying methods depending on object size, shape, environmental conditions and complexity, accuracy of the final products Metric cameras are nowadays substituted by semi-metric film cameras or to a large extent by digital high resolution cameras, requiring accurate (and sometimes periodic) calibration procedures for internal orientation. Stereoscopic and monoscopic systems are available for orientation and plotting procedures; the choice depends on the characteristics of the object and of the images, and of course from local situation; monoscopic low-cost systems can be easily adopted on the field during archaeological excavations in order to support the metrical analysis and the production of simple works. Spreading availability of software for image rectification and orthophoto production makes these products easily available, but their adoption must be carefully verified depending on the geometrical characteristics of the object and the kind and quality of surface models. The availability of historical images in digital form assumes particular importance for the study of objects of archaeological interest and of their long time span modifications. Appropriate comparison of 3D models coming from photogrammetry realized in different years allows a metrical identification of the geometric changes occurred during the time interval. All the products obtained by numeric and digital photogrammetric techniques, in vector and raster format, can finally provide a fundamental documentation for Cultural Heritage, useful as base for GIS and other specific information systems.

‘Digital Orthophoto as a Tool for the Restoration of Monuments’ in Proceedings of the XIXth ISPRS Congress ‘Geoinformation for All’, 16-23 July, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, IAPRS 34, Part B5 (Book & CD-ROM), pp. 62-69 Bitelli, G., Capra, A., Zanutta, A., 2002, ‘Digital Photogrammetry and Laser Scanning in Surveying the “Nymphaea” in Pompeii’ in W. Boehler (ed.) Proceedings of the CIPA WG 6 International Workshop on Scanning for Cultural Heritage Recording, September, 1-2, 2002 Corfu, Greece (Thessaloniki: Publishing ZITI), pp. 115-120 Bitelli, G., Girelli, V.A., Marziali M., Zanutta, A., 2007, ‘Use of Historical Images for the Documentation and the Metrical Study of Cultural Heritage by Means of Digital Photogrammetric Techniques’ in Proceedings of the XXIth CIPA International Symposium, Athens, IAPRS 36, Part 5/C53, pp. 141-146 D’Agata, C., Zanutta, A., 2007, ‘Reconstruction by Indirect Source of the Recent Changes of a Debris Covered Glacier (Brenva, Mont Blanc Massif, Italy). Methods, Results and Validation’, Global and Planetary Change 56/1-2, pp. 57-68 (DOI:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.07) Ghilani, C.D., Wolf, P.R., 2008, Elementary Surveying: an Introduction to Geomatics (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall) (12th edition) Kraus K., 1993, Photogrammetry, I. Fundamentals and Standard Processes (Bonn: Dümmlers Verlag) Kraus K., 1997, Photogrammetry, II. Advanced Methods and Applications (Bonn: Dümmlers Verlag) Patias, P., 2007, ‘Cultural Heritage Documentations’ in J. Fryer, H. Mitchell, J.H. Chandler (eds) Application of 3D Measurement from Images (Caithness: Whittles), pp. 225-258 Schenk, T., 1999, Digital Photogrammetry, I (Laurelville: TerraScience) Waldhäusl, P., Ogleby, C., 1994, ‘3 x 3 Rules for Simple Photogrammetric Documentation of Architecture’ in J.G. Fryer (ed.) Close Range Techniques and Machine Vision. Proceedings of the Commission V Symposium, 1-4 March 1994 Melbourne, Australia, IAPRS 30, Part 5 (Melbourne: Australian Photogrammetric and Remote Sensing Society), pp. 426-429.

Acknowledgements The Authors wish to thank the Archaeological Superintendence of Pompei Ercolano Stabia and the DHER Project for the case study in Paragraph 7.2. Thanks are also due to E. Mandanici.

References Baratin L., Bitelli G., Unguendoli M., Zanutta, A., 2000,

82

Some aspects of close-range photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage documentation

Spatial Intersection

Model

3D Survey Equation of the central projection

2D Survey Omographic transformation

Unknown

3D object coordinates (XYZ) of a point

2D object coordinates (XY) of a point

Known

EOP of at least 2 photos of the same object acquired from different EOP of 1 photo points of view

Measured

Image coordinates of the same point on 2 photos acquired from Image coordinates (x,y) of the different point of view point

Model Spatial Resection

Equation of the central projection

Omographic transformation

IOP self -calibration 6 EOP of a single photo

Unknown

6 EOP of a single photo

8 Parameters

Known

IOP Object coordinates of at least Object coordinates of at least Object coordinates of at least five 3D GCP four 2D GCPs three 3D GCPs

Measured

Image coordinates of GCPs

Image coordinates of GCPs

Image coordinates of GCPs

Table 1 - Mathematical relation between image and object coordinates: spatial intersection and spatial resection.

Z (m)

B(m)

σA (cm)

mi c=5cm

mmap

σr = 0.02

σr = 0.04

σB (cm)

Z (m)

σA (cm)

B (m)

mi c=5cm

mmap

σr = 0.02

σr = 0.04

σB (cm)

4

1.0

80

20

0.4

0.8

0.4

30

7.5

600

150

3.0

6.0

2.9

10

2.5

200

50

1.0

2.0

1.0

40

10.0

800

200

4.0

8.0

3.8

20

5.0

400

100

2.0

4.0

1.9

50

12.5

1000

250

5.0

10.0

4.8

Table 2 - A priori accuracy evaluation of close-range photogrammetric surveys. Z = relative distance from the object; B = distance between central points on subsequent images (photobase); 1/mi = scale factor of the image; 1/mmap = scale factor of the restitution map; σr = map reading error (0.2÷0.4 mm of the map’s scale factor); σA = root mean square error for restitution (from experimental equation); σB = root mean square error for restitution obtained applying the law of variance propagation to the so-called normal case.

dpi

100

200

300

400

600

1000

1200

2400

4000

dpix (μm) = (25400/ dpi)

254

127

85

64

42

25

21

11

6

8 bit image (Mb)

0.1

0.2

0.5

0.9

2.0

5.6

8.0

32.1

89.3

24 bit image (Mb)

0.2

0.7

1.5

2.7

6.0

16.7

24.1

96.4

267.8

mi 80

OSD (cm) 2.03

1.02

0.68

0.51

0.34

0.20

0.17

0.09

0.05

200

5.08

2.54

1.70

1.28

0.84

0.50

0.42

0.22

0.12

400

10.16

5.08

3.40

2.56

1.68

1.00

0.84

0.44

0.24

600

15.24

7.62

5.10

3.84

2.52

1.50

1.26

0.66

0.36

800

20.32

10.16

6.80

5.12

3.36

2.00

1.68

0.88

0.48

1000

25.40

12.70

8.50

6.40

4.20

2.50

2.10

1.10

0.60

Table 3 - Digital image resolution (dpi, dpix), storage requirement for 6 x 6 cm2 film (8 bit, 256 gray levels or color palette image; 24 bit, RGB image), and Object Sampling Distances for different image scale factors.

83

Antonio Zanutta, Gabriele Bitelli

DZ (cm) c (cm)

10 2.4

5

50 10

2.4

mi

100

5

10

2.4

5

200 10

2.4

5

10

Relief displacement values (dr in cm)

25

0.36

0.17

0.09

1.80

0.87

0.43

3.61

1.73

0.87

7.21

3.46

1.73

100

0.09

0.04

0.02

0.45

200

0.05

0.02

0.01

0.23

0.22

0.11

0.90

0.43

0.22

1.80

0.87

0.43

0.11

0.05

0.45

0.22

0.11

0.90

0.43

0.22

400

0.02

0.01

0.01

0.11

0.05

0.03

0.23

0.11

0.05

0.45

0.22

0.11

DR (cm)

9.01

4.33

2.16

45.07

21.63

10.82

90.14

43.27

21.63

180.28

86.53

43.27

mmap (σr = 0.2 mm)

451

216

108

2253

1082

541

4507

2163

1082

9014

4327

2163

mmap (σr = 0.4mm)

225

108

54

1127

541

270

2253

1082

541

4507

2163

1082

A DZ (cm) c (cm)

10 2.4

5

50 10

2.4

mi

100

5

10

2.4

5

200 10

2.4

5

10

Relief displacement values (dr in cm)

25

0.71

0.34

0.17

3.54

1.70

0.85

7.07

3.39

1.70

14.14

6.79

3.39

100

0.18

0.08

0.04

0.88

0.42

0.21

1.77

0.85

0.42

3.54

1.70

0.85

200

0.09

0.04

0.02

0.44

0.21

0.11

0.88

0.42

0.21

1.77

0.85

0.42

400

0.04

0.02

0.01

0.22

0.11

0.05

0.44

0.21

0.11

0.88

0.42

0.21

DR (cm)

17.7

8.5

4.2

88.4

42.4

21.2

176.8

84.8

42.4

353.5

169.7

84.8

mmap (σr = 0.2 mm)

884

424

212

4419

2121

1061

8839

4243

2121

17678

8485

4243

mmap (σr = 0.4mm)

442

212

106

2210

1061

530

4419

2121

1061

8839

4243

2121

B

Table 4 - Image rectification: relief displacement values (dr in cm). A) 24 x 36 film; B) 6 x 6 film; DZ = out-of-plain for the object; mi = the denominator of the image scale factor; DR = mi·dr = relief displacement on the object; mmap = denominator of the restitution map scale factor that can be generated by rectification.

A

B

Fig. 1 - Central (A) and orthogonal projection (B). 84

Some aspects of close-range photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage documentation

A Fig. 2 - Mean photoscale (A) and relief effects (B) of a central projection.

B

Fig. 3 - Tilt displacement of a central projection.

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Fig. 4 - Topographic instruments and methods of Ground Control Points surveying for photogrammetric aerial and close-range applications.

Fig. 5 - An example of close-range photogrammetric survey of a monument (Zabbar Gate façade along the Cottonera Lines, Malta) realized for restoration purposes: photograms, traditional vector plotting and the othophoto of the façade (from Baratin et al. 2000). 86

Some aspects of close-range photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage documentation

Fig. 6 - The survey of the Lararium from the House of the Skeleton in Ercolano; above, recent images of the Lararium; middle, historical images; below, schemes of photogrammetric coverage.

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B

Fig. 7 - Restitution of the Lararium at the current state (2006 survey); A) Digital Surface Model (DSM), the decorative elements and the main discontinuities vector drawing; B) scheme of the section position; C, D) vertical and horizontal sections; E) The orthophoto of the basement (modif. from Bitelli et al. 2007). Coordinates are in metres.

A

C

D

E

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Some aspects of close-range photogrammetric surveys for Cultural Heritage documentation

Fig. 8 - Superimposition between historical (gray color) and current (colored vector drawing) model (left view) (from Bitelli et al. 2007).

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Take a look, make a sketch and re-think it: surveying and 4D models for reconstructing archaeological sites  

Moritz Kinzel Abstract The reconstruction of an archaeological site is in general a very complex system. We have to consider that the reconstruction of an archaeological site should be seen as a medium to illustrate the context of the findings and to visualize how the archaeological site or parts of it have looked like. Site reconstructions do not only cover the architecture and/or the environment, the socio-economic systems should also be included as an important part of this complex system. I focus on the use of survey data and different models for the reconstruction of archaeological sites. Reconstructions help to understand the site, and this is already the case while the excavation takes place. Reconstruction should be an ‘open system’ and an ongoing process, from the very early beginning of an archaeological project until the end and beyond.

1. Introduction This contribution focuses on the use of survey data and different models for the reconstruction of archaeological sites. Therefore we have to consider that the reconstruction of an archaeological site is a medium to illustrate the context of the findings and to visualize how the archaeological site or parts of it have looked like. Site reconstructions do not only cover the architecture and/or the environment, the socio-economic systems should also be included as an important part of this complex system. Here I will concentrate on reconstructions as illustrations and visualizations, instead of discussing the issue of on-site (in situ) reconstructions.

2. General Considerations on Reconstructing Archaeological Sites The reconstruction of archaeological sites is a complex system with various components (Fig. 1). Our main information for the reconstruction comes from the preserved remains. The findings must be the main source. We should always go back to the findings, to remember what we have. To get as much information as possible out of the findings and the context of the findings, documentation plays an important role. The different ways of documentation are important for the way of understanding and the interpretation of the fin ings. It is hard to separate documentation and interpretation clearly. Even in our understanding that documentation is the first objective step, we have to consider that the way we document and the decision what we document is often already an interpretation of the findings. The process of documentation and interpretation is going hand in hand. Another major source for understanding and reconstructing an archaeological site is the survey information of the site’s surrounding. A survey can provide important information on the relationship between the settlement and its environment. The environmental context can give some hints for the raw material resources and the human effects

on the environment. The resources for building materials are linked directly with the findings. Especially in case of building material surveys could offer answers to question on construction and material. An important role in the case of the reconstruction of (vernacular) architecture as a part of the archaeological site is played by tradition or rather traditions. Traditional architecture can offer a variety of possible explanations for ‘strange’ or unusual contexts of findings. Often it is easy to find similarities and to pick up some arguments you need to fit your findings into your interpretation. We have to be aware of the differences between the archaeological context and the recent observations. However, for the reconstruction it is more help- and useful to know about the differences. In a next step the collected excavation and survey data go into simple 2D and 3D models. This can be a set of classical ground plan-, section- and/or profile-drawings. This information goes into a simple CAD model. This simple simulation is the basis for models with higher complexity. At this point, we should introduce the time dimension. Time is a major aspect in the context of reconstruction. We have to keep in mind that any reconstruction cannot be more than a snapshot, focusing on one moment within a living process of the development of a given site. By using virtual reality reconstructions we are able to factor time into the model. So we have to think in terms of 4D models instead of talking about 3D models (Kinzel 2004). All data together allow us to reconstruct the architecture (or parts of it) and the environment of a site. To get a better understanding of the site it is helpful and necessary to reconstruct the probable socio-economic systems of a site (Gebel 2002, Purschwitz and Kinzel 2007). The aspect of socio-economic systems provides information on function, use and life, needed for a realistic visualisation of an archaeological site. I will come back to this point later on. Now, when we assume to have all the information needed for the site reconstruction, we really should re-think all the arguments we have. We should re-think all findings and all interpretations. For the reconstruction of archaeological sites constant re-thinking is indispensable. We must not stick to one idea only, if there is more than one option.

Moritz Kinzel

With this background it is now possible to try a preliminary reconstruction of an archaeological site. The connections and correlations between architecture, environment and the socio-economic system have to be put into context. At this point, some problems might occur, caused by missing data or unclear findings. Nevertheless should it be possible to give an idea how the archaeological site looked like and how life was during the occupation of the site. Reconstructions should be an open system, always open for new ideas, information and arguments. The following part will concentrate on the reconstruction of the architecture as a substantial part of an archaeological site.

only one. But we should be aware of dividing the different steps during the process of reconstruction to be sure what is actually present and which elements are absent. There should always be a part in a reconstruction which shows the preserved parts and the artistic additions.

4. Scenarios relevant for Reconstruction There are some scenarios which might be helpful for the understanding of architecture and its reconstruction (Purschwitz and Kinzel 2007, Gebel and Bienert 1997). These scenarios are an open system (Fig. 3). There are many options to go back and forth, and parallel development is usual and always possible. 1. In the beginning there is the development of building ground and the exploration of building material: e.g., stones, mud, mortar elements, lime, wood, water, etc. 2. Building activities: erection of architecture and preparation of the building material, tools and ‘work power’. 3. Use with modifications of function and architecture: e.g., maintenance of roofs, ceiling and/or floors, compartmentalisation of larger spaces, etc. 4. Have there been ‘dramatic events’: e.g., earthquakes, fires, heavy rainfalls/floods, conflicts, parallel to a beginning abandonment? The beginning abandonment could result in neglected maintenance. 5. Dilapidation processes parallel to post-occupational use of the architecture: e.g., extraction and recycling of building material, intra-mural dumps, ruin squatters, etc. 6. After a final abandonment we may imagine a scenario of the development of the ruin with mainly natural depositional, erosion and/or sedimentation processes. According to these processes we can assume a defla ing of the surface (e.g., agricultural use). 7. Last but not least an often overseen scenario, though indispensable for any reconstruction, is the excavation and interpretation of archaeological sites. The way of excavating, documenting and interpretation has a direct influence on the data for the understanding and the reconstruction of the site. These scenarios are only snapshots of specific situations we can observe in the findings. Normally these scenarios occur consecutively, but the scenarios are not fixed in their temporal order. They can also happen at the same time.

3. Limits and Possibilities of Reconstruction There is a still ongoing long discussion on the limits and possibilities of reconstruction (e.g., Sober 1991, Kinzel 2006, Nennstiel in prep.). As mentioned above, reconstruction should be understood as an ongoing process of discussion and interpretation. Often the architectural remains are far too complex for simple explanations, because of missing data and various building events. Therefore we have to distinguish at least three different levels of probability during the reconstruction process: 1. A ‘provable’ reconstruction is based on the archaeological results and findings (Fig. 2: A). This includes interpreting ground plans, profiles, projections and photos, if they are available. It is possible to reconstruct constructions or structural elements directly from the findings: e.g., completed ground plans according to collapsed walls, or a completed modular (timber-) structure with missing elements in a modular system. 2. A ‘plausible’ or ‘find-oriented’ reconstruction is the result of comparisons with similar results from other squares, areas and sites (Fig. 2: B). Considering the fact that the situation above the preserved crown of a wall is never clear, a reconstruction may become ‘plausible’ if compared with form and construction of similar situations: e.g. the wall heights of the ‘Round Houses’ in Neolithic Shkarat Msaied showing a wide range of varieties. Some are preserved to a height of only 20-30 cm, whereas others stand up to 1,60 m. Following our guideline we would use the archaeological results of the better preserved structures to get an idea how to reconstruct the less preserved structures to a certain degree of plausibility. 3. A ‘free’ or ‘completed’ reconstruction (Fig. 2: C) in addition to all evidence available, is based on building characteristics from comparable areas with similar climatic condition and building technology, including elements of imagination and aesthetics: e.g. a completed house with an ‘unknown’, but suitable, roof construction (using survey information and ethnoarchaeological data); addition of atmospheric elements like smoke, dust, etc.; There is only one question to ask: ‘How far would we like to stretch our imagination?’ Combining these three levels of approaches creates a more complex view on architecture (and findings) than using

5. Case study: Reconstructing the early neolithic architecture of Shkarat Msaied, Southern Jordan The Neolithic site of Shkarat Msaied was excavated by a Danish team under the directorship of Ingolf Thuesen between 1999-2005 (Hermansen et al. 2006). Shkarat Msaied is located on a small plateau on a saddle 1000 m above sea level, between two peaks and wadi systems some 13 km north of Petra / Wadi Musa (Figs 4-5). 92

Take a look, make a sketch and re-think it: surveying and 4D models for reconstructing archaeological sites

The site provides well preserved circular buildings dated to the E/MPPNB (~ 7000 BC). At least sixteen Roundhouses were excavated with diameters from 3 to 6.50 m. The walls were preserved to a height from 20 cm to 1.60 m. The documentation was made by hand drawing (‘classic way’), photography and levels. The information on architecture was used to create a simple 3D model. During fiel work, a 3D model can be helpful to get an undisturbed view on findings or structures to recognize specific contexts. Especially the combination of this 3D model with processing the information on stratigraphy into a ‘4D model’ can be very helpful for the later reconstruction. All other diary and locus sheet data were put into a filemaker database After the documentation and first interpretation process we can enter the level of a ‘provable’ reconstruction (Fig. 2: A). The findings (preserved structures) provide clear information about the building techniques for walls, floors and entrances. Walls were erected with sand and lime stones around a wooden scaffold. The stones were set into a kind of lime-mud mortar. Often upright standing stone slabs mark the entrances. Floors were plastered with a fine lime plaster floo , some of them were red-stained. There is evidence for an original wooden scaffold by a series of wall channels running along the interior wall face. The function of this scaffold is still unclear. Was it necessary for the construction of the walls or was it a support for a complex roof construction? Is it a reflection of a former tent-like structure? With the question: ‘How high were these walls?’, we enter the reconstruction level of ‘plausible’ reconstruction (Fig. 2: B). We tried to answer this question with an archaeological experiment. We collected all wall stones from the excavated fill of one unit to get an idea how high the walls would have at least been. The collapse fill inside the walls of that unit (Unit K) contained roughly 1/2 m³ of dressed stones per m³ of excavated volume (Hermansen et al. 2006). We could reconstruct a wall height of at least around 2.20 m. This is an amazing result, given the fact that some of the structures were only preserved to a height of less than 50 cm. For the interior wall face we have the evidence of wall plaster and re-plaster activities, with both lime and mud plaster. For the exterior wall faces we only can assume a mud or loam plaster, to prevent infestation (Fig. 7). The doors or rather the entrances were found mainly blocked. This feature is interpreted as an argument for a seasonal use of the settlement. Usually seasonal use has a large influence on specific features of the architecture and its spatial use. In Shkarat Msaied the entrances are relatively small. This is a common feature in traditional vernacular architecture of semiarid mountain areas, to avoid or minimize climate influences on the house interior. A possible, plausible reconstruction of an entrance would be one with a wooden lintel on top of the completed upright standing stone slabs marking the entrance (Fig. 8). The borderline between ‘plausible/find-oriented reconstruction and ‘free/completed’ reconstruction is often hard to define. The step to ‘free/completed’ reconstruction occasionally remains unnoticed (Fig. 2: C). For Shkarat Msaied it is impossible to define a clear border between these two levels of reconstruction. There is a certain height of the walls, but not the exact one. We have a similar situ-

ation with respect to the roofs. The findings and results of the archaeological research point to a specific way of constructing roofs, still in practice today in the traditional vernacular architecture of the Greater Petra Area. Fig. 9 shows some of the hitherto discussed possible reconstructions. Attempts at reconstruction started with domed roofs, followed by pitched roofs and ended up with a discussion on flat roofs (Dennis 2002, Dennis 2003, Kinzel 2004). As regards the form of the roofs, there is a wide range of possible materials which could have been used for the roof construction. Reed, grass, stones, mud / mud bricks, branches, a kind of tarpaulin or hide/skin were part of the stock. We used different 3D models made with programs such as Cinema 4D, Nemetschek Allplan or Google SketchUp to discuss different types of roofing during our fieldwork, in order not to overlook a detail that could tell us more about how the houses were covered. Fortunately the findings and results of the archaeological investigations made in Unit K of Shkarat Msaied offer some ideas how a roof and a roof construction could have looked like (Kinzel 2004, Kinzel 2005, Hermansen et al. 2006, Hermansen and Bille Petersen in prep.). As a result of an intra-mural fire the house collapsed toward the interior. All material was gathered there in clear defined stratigraphy. In addition we profit from the result of the experimental archaeology fieldwork done by Samantha Dennis in nearby Beidha (Dennis 2003). In general, we can describe for Unit K a flat roof consisting of several layers from bottom to top: roof beams (juniper?), branches or reed, wickerwork and/ or brushes (e.g., ephedra), several layers of mud and mortar (including some lime mortar lumps and embedded fistsized stones). Fig. 10 shows a section through the structural members of Unit K and a reconstruction of the interior of the same Unit. In Unit K a central post supported the solid roof construction. The wall faces were plastered and partly painted with reddish pigments. In the case of building and building material a Survey on raw material resources and subrecent traditional building was very helpful. For Shkarat Msaied we found all necessary resources in the direct surrounding. Even today with a much less dense vegetation, we can find large juniper trees with straight branches 8 m long in the wadis. The same we can say about the soils with relatively high lime contents for mortar. Wall stones were collected in the sandstone formations or the wadi bed. For the foundations bigger limestone boulders were used. They were collected in the wadi beds or they were carried down from the limestone plateaus east of Shkarat Msaied. The water resources are not clear yet, although there is enough water in the aquifers of the wadi bed. ‘Water management’ during the Neolithic period is a relatively new field of research. Recent findings by Gebel (2004) or Fujii (in press) show the potentials of ‘water’ research for our understanding of life in the Neolithic. A Survey during the fieldwork in Shkarat Msaied, Ba’ja and Basta focuses on the traditional Bedouin architecture in the region (Haberkorn 2000, Kinzel 2004, Kinzel and Zaid in prep.). The houses were documented by photos and drawings. Construction details and dilapidation processes were studied and documented as well. The building technologies nowadays are in their characteristics very similar to the Neolithic ones. Substantial and solid wall and roof 93

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constructions with predominantly windowless exterior walls were chosen to minimize influences of the climatic extremes of the semiarid mountain area, especially between night and day. The traditional wall construction is in general very close to the Neolithic technique, so is the roof construction in terms of roof layers. However, we should use the visible features of traditional architecture only to get ideas about what we are dealing with. As mentioned above, for the reconstruction we should always be aware of the differences. The next step in the reconstruction of the archaeological site is to extend our attention from one single house to the village and then in a further step to the site as a whole. In order to understand spatial and environmental contexts of the settlement, I promote here to do a walk around the site to make some sketches from different views of the site, to get the feeling how the settlement had been placed into the landscape (Fig. 11). This method gives a feeling for the accessibility of the place and what the whole setting is alike. In the stage of ‘free (or completed)’ reconstruction we are dealing with a lot of intuitive decisions based on experience and imagination. Again I recommend to use simple, basic 3D models to ‘place’ the site into the ‘landscape’. These ‘simple’ models, as shown in Fig. 6, created with the free software of Google SketchUp, can be used as a basis for later investigations for the site presentation. There is a wide range of options: these models could be a starting point for interactive Internet or screen platforms, where the user would be invited to try her or his own ideas on the reconstructions (Nennstiel in prep.). It is easy to work with different layers to offer different depths of information (see Fig. 6 with added stratigraphy information). In Shkarat Msaied hand-drawn reconstructions were used to get a basis for discussions. One of these is shown in Fig. 12. We need these visualisations both in field and at home as well. Hand drawings are very suitable. We do not need to turn on our computer, nor do we have to render every view or perspective to get a presentable stage of reconstruction. By means of hand drawing we can try out a lot of possibilities without being too precise. It is just a matter of training and education of the architects and/or archaeologists. Like the survey sketches of the site setting, hand-drawn reconstructions offer a more intense analysis of the material. And the reconstruction work should already start during the fieldwork to create an open discussion on findings, documentation, interpretation and excavation strategies. Computer-based digital reconstructions can offer the same, but with other efforts. Pl. IV: 2 is an example how different media could be combined in a computer-based visualisation of Shkarat Msaied. Pl. IV: 1 presents the current situation during the excavation work. The excavation area is situated in the middle of the circle the road describes at this slope. The present-day situation is marked by a semiarid mountain setting with eroded slopes to the east. With the animation software Cinema4D a simple 3D model was placed ‘on site’ into a slightly modified landscape, according to the results of the palaeobotanical research (Hald 2004). In a final step the same model was modified with Adobe Photoshop into a ‘Neolithic’ landscape and a settlement in use. Atmospheric furniture, like animals and humans, was added and a morning light spot was set. This

kind of panorama could be part of a publication or on-site information to present a kind of snapshot of a possible situation 9000 years ago (Pl. IV: 2).

6. Perspectives In the near future there will be more possibilities in the digital world of reconstruction, through the rapid development of 3D animation- and CAD- software (e.g., Cinema4D or SketchUp). Also the approach to Laser Scan based 3D models will change the documentation of preserved structures and the use of the data. The 3D models of the findings will be used as a database platform. The 3D model will be the surface for a kind of Geographic Information System (GIS). But as of now the capacity of an average computer still cannot deal with the high amount of collected data, e.g. it is still impossible to create and use a complex 3D model in a relatively short time without using various kinds of very specialized software. A laser-scanned high resolution 3D model is often unpractical in the context of exhibitions and presentations. Here more idealized models, with less information, are more effective and attractive to the audience. Interactive elements could offer a solution for a presentation of the results on the reconstruction of an archaeological site, to both scientific and public audience as well. What we need is a dialogue between the researchers and the public already during fieldwork and afterwards. Reconstruction could be a part of that dialogue and it is a good vehicle to stimulate the discussion. For this purpose, there is no difference between hand drawings or virtual reality computer-based reconstructions.

7. Summary The reconstruction of an archaeological site is a very complex system. In a reconstruction all information about the site, from e.g. excavation and surveys, are put together in a specific order to create a coherent picture. This leads often (and logically) to some snapshot-like visualizations. Only one moment in a long complex history is presented, while other developments on the site are ignored or simply absent. Normally we can only recognize some scenarios of the site history (Purschwitz and Kinzel 2007). In very rare occasions we are able to show an ongoing, floating process. Therefore it might be helpful to present the way of reconstructing in the order of the work flow: starting with the presentation of the findings. What is really preserved? This is a very important issue, because the preserved structures and findings are our primary sources for all our thinking about reconstruction. In a second step we should present what we can reconstruct directly from the findings and the results of archaeological research. In a third step add the parts which could be plausible to the context and the fin ings. In a final step all needed details could be combined to create a picture of the past that is also aesthetically attractive. Finally, the way we are reconstructing an archaeological site should fit into our concepts for the site presentation. Is the reconstruction part of the final publication as a simple 94

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Krämer, B. Müller-Neuhof , R. Neef, J. Timm and K.I. Wright) Haberkorn, J., 2000, ‘Ba’ja and Fersh: Bedouin Architecture of the 20th Century’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 44, pp. 142-144 Hald, M.-M., 2004, Plant Remains of Shkarat Msaied: Preliminary Observations (http://www.neolithicshkaratmsaied.hum.ku.dk/botanic.htm) Hermansen, B.D., Bille Petersen, M., in prep., Reconstructing Early Neolithic Architecture: the Case of Shkarat Msaied Hermansen, B.D., Thuesen, I., Jensen, C.H., Kinzel, M., Petersen, M.B., Jorkov, M.L., Lynnerup, N., 2006, ‘Shkarat Msaied: the 2005 Season of Excavations. A Short Preliminary Report’, Neo-Lithics 1/06, pp. 3-7 Kinzel, M., 2004, ‘Some Notes on the Reconstruction of PPNB Architecture’, Neo-Lithics 2/04, pp. 18-22 Kinzel, M., 2005, ‘Stein auf Stein. Frühjungsteinzeitliches Bauen in Südjordanien’, AIV Forum 1/2005, pp. 5559 Kinzel, M., 2006, ‘The Architectural Reconstruction of Basta’ in H.G.K. Gebel, H.J. Nissen, Z. Zaid Basta, II. The Architecture and Stratigraphy, Bibliotheca neolithica Asiae meridionalis et occidentalis & Yarmouk University, Monograph of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology 5 (Berlin: ex oriente) Kinzel, M., Zaid, Z., in prep., The Old Village of Basta: Studies on Traditional Vernacular Architecture in Southern Jordan Nennstiel, B., in prep., Hölzerne Großbauten in frühkaiserzeitlichen Militärlagern der provinzialrömischen Regionen – Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Rekonstruktion Purschwitz, C., Kinzel, M., 2007, ‘Baja 2007. Two Room and Ground Floor Fills: Reconstructed House-life Scenarios’, Neo-Lithics 2/07, pp. 22-35 Sober, E., 1991, Reconstructing the Past: Parsimony, Evolution, and Inference (Cambridge: MIT Press)

figure or could it be presented on a CD in the context of an interactive site presentation? Is the reconstruction part of a visitor centre or of an exhibition? The site reconstruction could be presented on a poster, a screen, an interactive program or as a real model. There are several ways of using a reconstruction, even in the post-excavation merchandising activities, e.g. postcards, paper models (a real 3D model!), books, etc. Reconstructions help to understand the site, and this is already the case while the excavation takes place. Reconstruction should be an open system and an ongoing process, from the very early beginning of an archaeological project until the end and beyond.

References Dennis, S., 2002, ‘“Beidha Late than Never”: Presentation and Conservation of Prehistoric Sites in Jordan?’, CBRL Newsletter 2002, pp. 6-8 Dennis, S., 2003, ‘The Experimental Reconstruction of a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Structure at Beidha in Jordan’, Levant 35, pp. 39-48 Fujii, S., in press, ‘Domestication of Runoff Water: Current Evidence and New Perspectives from Jafr Basin, Southern Levant’, Neo-Lithics 2/08 Gebel, H.G.K., 2002, Subsistenzformen, Siedlungsweisen und Prozesse des sozialen Wandels vom akeramischen bis zum keramischen Neolithikum, II. Grundzüge sozialen Wandels im Neolithikum der südlichen Levante (Freiburg: Universitätsbibliothek) (http:// www.freidok.uni-freiburg.de/volltexte/466) Gebel, H.G.K., 2004, ‘The Domestication of Water: Evidence From Early Neolithic Ba’ja?’ in H.D. Bienert, J. Häser (eds) Men of Dikes and Canals: The Archaeology of Water in the Middle East, OrientArchäologie 13 (Rahden : Verlag Marie Leidorf), pp. 25-35 Gebel, H.G.K., Bienert, H.D., 1997, ‘Ba’ja Hidden in the Petra Mountains. Preliminary Report on the 1997 Excavations’ in H.G.K. Gebel, Z. Kafafi, O.G. Rollefson (eds) The Prehistory of Jordan, II. Perspectives from 1997, Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 4 (Berlin: ex oriente), pp. 221-262 (with contributions by T.

NOTE All photos, sketches and drawings are by Moritz Kinzel, Shkarat Msaied Neolithic Project.

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Fig. 1 - The complex system of factors relevant for the reconstruction of archaeological sites.

Fig. 2 - Levels of reconstruction: ‘provable’ reconstruction/findings, ‘plausible or find-oriented’ reconstruction, ‘free/completed’ reconstruction.

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Fig. 3 - Scenarios relevant for the reconstruction of architecture.

Fig. 4 - Shkarat Msaied: location of the site.

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Fig. 5 - Shkarat Msaied: preserved structures of Neolithic architecture.

Fig. 6 - Shkarat Msaied: basic 3D model with information on stratigraphy.

Fig. 7 - Shkarat Msaied: Neolithic building techniques.

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Fig. 8 - Shkarat Msaied: reconstruction of the entrance of Unit C.

Fig. 9 - Variations of possible Reconstructions of MPPNB architecture.

Fig. 10 - Shkarat Msaied: reconstruction of the interior of Unit K.

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Fig. 11 - Shkarat Msaied: survey sketches from different views.

Fig. 12 - Shkarat Msaied: reconstruction hand drawing. 100

ON

MATERIAL CULTURE CHARACTERISATI

Traces of the past: characterising material culture  

Luisa Mazzeo Saracino Abstract The analysis of artefacts plays a relevant role in reconstructing the history of ancient populations, of which is able to offer a valid image, although approximate because of the presumptive character of the initial data, that should be supported through other kinds of sources. Traditional methods of study (from drawing to typology, from cataloguing to quantification) are needed, integrated with the most innovative methodologies (analytical and digital), in order to overcome the mere typological and chronological approach. The identification of those vessels function, and then of the eating habits of those who used them, of their provenance, of the social organization of the workshops that produced them, of the social identity of the owners, is the main target of a comprehensive approach aimed at contextualizing the objects, making them understandable to any visitor of any archaeological area.

The process of reconstruction of the past implies today the study of all the minimal traces, not only through the precise stratigraphic analysis or the territorial survey aimed at understanding the development of the anthropic landscape, but also through the careful and comprehensive study of the archaeological finds. This study should be carried out with the help of the most updated methodologies, through which the material culture1 is able to become an essential tool for the reconstruction of the ancient ways of life, the economic and social structures and trades of the people who have produced, used, exchanged the artefacts. The relation between each production cycle with its spatial, chronological, social, cultural, climatic frame is strong, and equally strong are the relations between the different productions developed in an individual territory. Geographic links related to the raw materials supply, economic ties resulting from communication infrastructures and from the presence of possible customers, administrative and political connections related to the juridical and fiscal organisation exist. It is therefore essential to include the study of the artefacts in a wider frame, able to consider the geographical context, the settlement dynamics, the environmental resources and the commercial routes; but because every human action brings an impact on the environment, it is also necessary to understand the changes caused by the same different productions on the environment, in terms of exploitation of the territory (Fig. 1).2 Excavation/survey and analysis of the archaeological finds are an inseparable whole and the basic step of any valorization activity of an archaeological site. Too often, however, still now the artefacts ‘without glory’ are studied with a restrictive typological and chronological approach (functional only to the work of other experts), and whoever studies them merely provides the dating and the provenance of the ceramic artefacts, becoming a sort of ‘servant’ of the archaeologist and not a significant academic partner.3 The concept of material culture has by now exceeded that of a simple set of objects used by a society, to include multiple and complex meanings. 2 From the exploitation of quarries to the destruction of entire forests to obtain fuel for the productive cycle. Significant in this sense the study of changes in the landscape around the productive site of Salèlles d’Aude (Laubenheimer 2001). 3 Alcock 2006: 581. After his invitation was founded in 2007 a new jour1

The study of artefacts, carried out through the traditional methodologies of classification and typology, requires today the support of all the different analytical processes able to increase their information potential (Fig. 2).4 In the design and management of the archaeological parks, key issues in the ARCHAIA Project meetings, a significant role is played by the experimental archaeology techniques applied to the study of artefacts: reproducing today ancient technologies may become an appealing mean to capture the visitors’ attention.5 This is not a simple device to provoke curiosity, but also to contribute to a better understanding of actions and procedures perceived as distant in time, but yet often still present in still existing societies, as we know from the ethnoantropological studies. Any reproduction, however, requires a deep and systematic knowledge of the available documentation, supported by the development of the study of craft production in the ancient world, which has had important results in the second half of last century through the increasing awareness of the potential offered by the punctual analysis of the artefacts. Already Wheeler stated that ‘men, and not things should be excavated’, and almost in the same years Leroi-Gourhan wrote that ‘from the artefacts we pass to the hands, then to the brain, to the geographical environment, to the relations between men’. In prehistoric studies, in absence of written sources, an early attention rose to the smallest finds and evaluation of their importance as a primary source to know the different aspects of the men who used and discarded them, but only in the recent decades it was gradually understood that in any age the artefacts, as a direct source, can help to understand aspects of ancient societies otherwise unknown. nal, FACTA. A Journal of Roman Material Culture, in whose editorial J. Poblome, D. Malfitana, and J. Lund expect to be able to provoke an intense dialogue among the scientific community involved in any kind of artefact typology, to overcome the excessive specialism and to propose innovative methodologies. 4 If necessary in reproducing the artefacts. ‘Experience means reproduce to understand, and in particular how it was produced an object, and also why. These are the two dimensions of the experimentation: from production to function’: Frère-Sautot 2003: 99. 5 In Italy see San Silvestro and Baratti-Populonia in Tuscany and the terramara of Montale in Emilia; in France the Archeodrome of Burgundy and Bibracte.

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This opportunity has widened the interest towards classes of objects not assessed before, such as the common ware, able to transmit, in absence of any formal value,6 significant information especially on the food preparation, fundamental behaviour of everyday life not only for the wealthy classes (the élites), but also for those (sub-élites) not concerned in the written sources. The case study of the Roman pottery, so widespread and apparently well known (especially the finest artefacts, often object of very detailed classifications, which allowed a reliable chronological seriation) is indicative. No Roman written source, excepting for some hints in Pliny, however, hands on about the production, neither from a technological point of view, nor from the prospect of the craft structure, the productive cycles, the trade aspects. The recognition of the informative potential of pottery implies increasingly refined methods of analysis, exploiting innovative methodologies of classification, quantification, provenance recognition, examination of usage traces, including specific archaeometric analyses.7 There is therefore a discontinuity from the previous tradition, through the search for methodological innovations allowed by the development of scientific procedures. Significant turning points and trends in the pottery studies are exposed8 in Poblome et al. 2006, where the archaeologists are defined as ‘magicians of sorts’, able to transform the different traces, monumental but also material and often quite illegible as small fragment of ceramics, in reliable pictures of ancient everyday life.9 Beneath the recent development in the archaeology of production studies is the will to reconstruct the transformation processes of the raw materials into manufactured goods, with a careful attention not only to the technological processes, however, quite easily recognizable, but also to the productive context and hierarchy, significant indicators of the socio-economic structures and dynamics of ancient societies.10 The entire society has been represented as a pyramid whose summit is the ideology (represented by art objects and sacred buildings), and whose basis are the artefacts, representing both the technology and the social organization (Giannichedda 2006: 16). It is useful to recall that the support of all the above mentioned pyramid are the primary productions, such as agriculture, hunting and breeding, representing the basic human needs but leaving weak traces: cultivated fields, hunted animals remains, charcoal resulting from combustion are manufactured evidences, because they involve human work.11

Among the most widespread artefacts in the archaeological record are the ceramics, for well known reasons12 occupying pages and pages in publications of archaeological sites of different chronology and geographic area. A recent issue concerns the opportunity of reducing the significance of the ceramic evidence, although fundamental to date with high precision contexts and sites, but often overshadowing other kinds of hardly visible and interpretable evidences, such as the microscopic remains of small animals and plants, wood, the effects of water and ancient agriculture, equally crucial for the survival of a society (Vidale 2007: 7-9). To achieve reliable historical reconstructions it is therefore necessary to take into consideration the analysis of all the archaeological finds, even the seemingly insignificant ones; the careful and often boring (because repetitive) description of hundreds or thousands of fragments, occupying the main part of the archaeological work, finds its justification only if we don’t forget the primary aim, which is to get to historical hypotheses, and not just to accumulate undiscerning data. In most cases they will be partial assumptions, nevertheless contributing to the general historical reconstruction, ultimate goal of the archaeological research. It is however necessary to bear in mind that any reconstruction represents only a model of the past, which can never be recreated (Poblome et al. 2006: 561); we can therefore get to simulations of a past, that remains unreachable (Arthur 2000: 74); they nevertheless have a good chance to get closer to reality if the methods of analysis are standardized and complete. Greene speaks of ‘proxy evidence’ of artefacts for the reconstruction of the economy (Greene 2005: 43); there isn’t in fact any direct connection between the economic dynamics and the deposition of ceramic fragments in archaeological sites: therefore, the presence of a certain quantity of a specific pottery production is not enough to inform us on a site, this datum must be compared with other kind of sources, obtained from any other evidence, including non-ceramic finds (Poblome et al. 2006: 570).13 If we look at the Italian reality, we moved in a few decades from publications in which there was no room for Roman finds to other with an uncritical list of materials, finally arriving to works in which even the Roman pottery received the right attention.14 Today the problem is to overcome the have, apart from its functional value, a symbolic and cultural significance that should be investigated because it is able to provide, if properly interpreted, important information on how acted and thought who used it. 12 Widespread presence of raw materials and other elements necessary for ceramic production (water and fuel); easy workability, at least for the simplest productions; indestructibility due to non-reversibility and therefore non-recycling. The pottery has the advantage of being easily identifiable , and the shapes may be reconstructed through small fragments. 13 In this sense was highly indicative, for its aims and methods, the project CRAFTS on the Roman craft (Polfer 2001), using all the available sources to reconstruct one of the fundamental aspects of the economic life of the ancient world, from written to epigraphic and iconographic sources, to the minimal traces of production indicators. A key aspect of the project was to achieve the comparability of the data collected by the different teams participating. 14 See the publications of the Ostia excavations in the 1970s, edited by A. Carandini after the fundamental work of N. Lamboglia on Albintimilium; in the publication of the excavations in Ostia, a key role was played by the archaeological materials, essential for the innovative information provided on the life of the main port of the capital of the Roman Empire, where goods from all over the Mediterranean were gathered and that the old excavations had failed to recognize.

6 The fine artefacts such as figured pottery and objects supplied with epigraphic apparatus have always aroused the interest of scholars and antiquaries. 7 Very interesting are the new perspectives offered from new chemical analysis of the organic residues absorbed in the clay pores: Pecci 2007. 8 Significant is the title of a conference held in Catania in 2004, Old Pottery in a new century: Malfitana et al. 2006. 9 The archaeologist need both the astuteness of the investigator to interpret the traces, and the imagination of the magician to rebuild what is now invisible and whose remains are often minimal traces. 10 This is the purpose of the book of Mannoni and Giannichedda 1996, and the most recent Giannichedda 2006, where in the premise the author says that the archaeology of production meets the question: ‘How can we study the object produced in the past with the aim of reconstructing wider scenarios?’. 11 The same art object can be considered as an artefact from the point of view of the technical choices and not only for its artistic value or its ideological meaning; it is then true that any object, even the most humble, can

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punctual analysis, which must be the starting step, to reach publications of archaeological excavations less weighted by long lists of artefacts, nevertheless reflecting the complexity of the gathered data in order to achieve reliable historical hypotheses. This should not be based only on the sampling of artefacts: the quantitative analysis15 of the presence of a certain type of product is absolutely significant to understand the predominance of trade flows rather than smaller movement of goods: an isolated piece may be interpreted as a personal souvenir, while the concentration of the same type of manufactured goods far from their production area means a commercial spread. The first step of analysis is the classification of artefacts based on the typologies, which should be a tool for the interpretation, able to avoid lengthy descriptions and to help the adoption of a universal language. A typology, to have a general value, should be based on a significant quantity of artefacts from different sites. Very useful, however, is that of artefacts coming from a productive site (or assumed), because it allows the knowledge of the specific characteristics of the in situ manufactured goods and helps to recognize the productions in different consumption centres. It’s absolutely to avoid any new typology on materials from various provenance in consumption sites: when there are general widespread classifications it is much more profitable to use these, at least until the emersion of new significant elements able to put them under discussion The basis of a typological classification is the definition of the type, a topic to which many theoretical works are dedicated, and on which there are different positions. The typological groupings, namely groups of vessels with morphological similarities, coming from spatially and chronologically contiguous sites, can be carried out through an intuitive approach (synthetic), or through an analytical approach (fragmenting the vessels into attributes and calculating the degree of similarity) (Levi 1990: 91). This operation, however, apparently highly scientific, finds obstacles in the multiplicity of factors influencing the final shape of the artefacts, producing an extreme variability. Many experimentations were also conducted on the basis of ethnoarchaeology to measure this variability, to achieve the result that even the time of the day in which the ceramist has forged the vessel affects its shape: e.g., when the clay is dry, its workability changes, and then the product will result more squat (Levi 1990: 98). The orientation of the rim is particularly variable from day to day and from jar to jar, even for manufactured goods with the same morphologic features (Levi 1990: 100). The limits of a too detailed typology have been highlighted through the example of the variability shown by a series of vases made by the same potter in a working session (D’Anna et al. 2003: 197). Too meticulous distinguishing criteria could lead to the result that each vessel becomes an individual type. We must not forget that even more standardized products, in the greater technological progress, are made individually and therefore unlikely to be identical.16

To the variability derived from the time of production then it is added the variability produced by the basis for the representation of any manufactured ceramic: the drawing. Even in this case it was verified that different representations of the same pot, standardized and realized by professional drawers, may be significantly different for the subjectivity that even the most precise graphical representation has.17 Of great interest, in the case of the decorated pottery, is the application of the methodology of photogrammetry for the acquisition of the decorative motifs, recently tested in the context of a research project on Terra Sigillata Italica with moulded decorations (Schindler Kaudelka et al. 2001). Rather indicative for the definit on of a type are those elements which can not result from random events but only from intentional actions of the craftsman: a groove constantly present on the rim of a series of vases may be more important than their inclination or enlargement, which may result from a different pressure of the ceramist’s fingers 18 The construction of a typology is a complex, often intuitive and highly subjective operation, general typologies of reference are nevertheless needed, especially when the increasingly widespread use of computer networking systems leads to a necessary normalization of references. Paradoxically, the more detailed typologies are more difficult to use, because you loose the general groupings, trying to find punctual comparisons, often lacking 19 Surely, one of the main elements of investigation for the construction of a typology (especially in order to consider the use), is to study the function of a vase, based on the identification of the shape through parameters suggesting the possible use of the vessel.20 The function is sometimes suggested by the context of discovery (dwelling or grave, ship wreck or emporium), but is often clearly identifiab e by both macroscopic and microscopic traces. If it is obvious that burned traces are related to the use near the fire, the presence of those traces on the bottom or only on one side of the vase may inform us on the position in which the vessel was placed in the hearth and then on the kind of cooking practiced. Traces of fire outside and of deposits of limestone inside a vase can change the identification from a pitcher with trilobate mouth, apparently a table ware used to pour, to a kettle for water (D’Anna et al. 2003: 151): it is clear that this will change the interpretation of the vessel within the context of discovery. The traces can also be superimposed and almost stratified, thus providing the history of the reuse of an artefact, which must to be reconstructed if we want to recontextualize it, in order to define its functional/cultural value during the different chronological phases (and then in its context of discovOrton 1993, fig. 7.3: the differences are due both to different techniques of reproduction and to different ways of observing and reproducing some details. 18 Extremely useful for the knowledge and the interpretation of all the operations carried out by the ceramist during the production of vessels is the manual, recently reprinted, of Cuomo Di Caprio (2007). 19 It is therefore often more difficult to classify our black glazed artefact according to Morel’s typology rather than assign our terra sigillata exemplar in the Conspectus. 20 Large-mouth vases are generally less suitable to contain and transport liquids; pans with wide rim could be appropriate for a cooking habit requiring a steam leak, while narrow-rim pots were more suitable for prolonged cooking, etc. 17

On the complex problem of quantification of ceramics, a recent contributions can be recalled: Peña 2007, starting from different works developed by C. Orton, also in collaboration with P. Tyers (ibid., see the bibliography). In this article is also presented, by J. McCaw, an innovative system of calculation of the volumes, by scanning the vessel profile 16 Orton 1982: 27: this is true even for moulded vessels, which may differ for the plain portions added. 15

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ery). When examining those kind of traces the archaeologist should and must be supported by the chemist, the archaeozoologist, the palaeobotanist, experts able to provide useful support for the identification of any organic or animal/vegetal remain. The results of a multidisciplinary approach may be important, such as in the case of the revision of the ‘classical’ identification of African amphorae as oil amphorae on the basis of a review of the archaeological data supported by archaeometric analyses,21 or in the case of the Dressel 1 amphorae, traditionally interpreted as wine containers.22 These comments should suggest the utmost caution in drawing conclusions on the economic productions and commercial trades. The study of the types variation, related to the precise analysis of the production technologies of ancient artefacts, allows to reconstruct the productive process and the social structure of the ceramic ateliers. Basing on ethnoarchaeologic data Peacock, in his still fundamental work, suggested the identification of different productive processes ranging from individual work for self-consumption, typical of women in primitive social structures, to the complex ‘manufacture’, ‘industrially’ organised, especially documented in the terra sigillata production during the Roman Empire.23 Peacock’s outline is not to be interpreted in a diachronic and almost evolutionary sense; different productive structures are connected to differently organized cultures which may be contemporary, as it is well known from the ethnoarchaeological evidence (even today still exist people whose production processes are to be considered as primitive). The recognition of the function of vases is also the basis of a crucial aspect of the ceramic studies, in which Bats is one of the major theorists and precursors: the relationship with food, one of the basic activities of every human culture (Bats 1988). Significant are the changes highlighted, in his work on the documentation of Olbia in Provence, between the Greek and Roman time, between a cooking method based on solid foods and another based, at least in the Republican age, on semiliquid foods such as the puls. These conclusions derive from an integrated use of the available sources, as well as on the observation of the variations (over time) in the shape of the cooking and table ware. The same recovery of ancient cooking habits through the analysis of artefacts was conducted by A. Tchernia in a remarkable work on the wine in Roman Italy, in which he rebuilt, on the basis of the presence and spread of Roman

Republican amphorae and of the written sources, the culture of vine and the diffusion of the practice of drinking related to the changes in dietary habits, in particular to the culture of bread,24 and of dry foods, increasing the need of drinking, compared to soups (puls), which were the typical food of Roman Republican age (Tchernia 1986). On several occasions, in contexts of Late Republican age, it is noteworthy the decrease of the number of ollae (for the cooking of soups) and the raise of pans, clear sign of increasing consumption of meat and fish in a period of huge changes in eating habits, due to a widespread and enlarged wealth level.25 The analysis of the evolution of mortars26 in the Marche region27 has shown how they represent a clear break with the previous indigenous world, both from a morphologic28 and functional point of view. It has been also noted, in addition to the change between pre-Roman and Roman world, the relationship between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian area of Latium, which must be interpreted, in the wider context of the spread of Romanization, as a process of acculturation of the territories gradually incorporated into the Roman world. The same relations with the provenance of the settlers sent to reinforce the Roman presence in the Adriatic emerged in the study of black glazed pottery,29 and have The habit of eating bread is related to the parallel use of internal red paint pans, widespread in the Late Republican period in Central Italy. 25 See the study on the materials of the colony of Ariminum carried out by Galli 2005: 166-168, which integrates the analysis of the gradual transformation of urban spaces to the changes in ceramics, considered the mirror of the ‘continuity-break’ processes characterizing the formation and consolidation of urban reality after the Roman expansion. We do not know, however, how much the minor presence of ceramic ollae might be affected by the use of bronze manufactured goods for cooking (poorly documented because refused during the Late Antiquity, but well known in the contexts of the Vesuvian towns). 26  The importance of the mortar, used for grinding seeds, was related to the function of the handling of cereals, for centuries the basis of ancient food. It also had, in some cases, a cultural value, as evidenced by its presence in grave equipments. In the Marche region it appears in the 6th century BC, almost entirely within grave equipments with undoubted cultural value (linked to the use of ‘panfocaccia’ in the symposium). With the Roman age mortars are found in dwelling contexts, related to more specialised culinary functions, such as to crush various herbs for complex recipes of meat, fish or vegetables 27  Mazzeo Saracino and Giannotti 2005. During the study of the finds from Suasa (Ancona), the issue of Romanization of the territory was taken into consideration as a primary need to trace the history of the town foundation. To reconstruct the transition between pre-Roman and Roman culture, the assumption of identifying continuity and cultural changes in the use of pottery in the Marche region (a territory where the pre-Roman population is not always certainly defined: in addition to the local material culture of the Piceni, there are artefacts related to the population of Galli Senoni in the northern part and Magno-Greek or Greek objects imported from the sea through the Greek colony of Ancona and the emporium of Numana) during the Roman expansion has been developed. The archaeological documentation of 4th-3rd century BC is still weak and fragmented, although it seems that in some areas there has been continuity of life, while in others the pre-Roman dwellings show traces of violent damages, connected to the Celtic population in the area settled by Piceni. 28  There is a clear difference between the Piceni mortars, characterized by deep basin and variously enlarged band rim, and the Roman mortars from Suasa, that can be compared with the same artefacts from Latium. The later exemplars (1st-2nd century AD) are characterized by pending casted rim and lip, connected to the new recipes of the Roman cuisine. 29 See in particular Mazzeo Saracino 2007a. The typological repertoire of black glazed pottery, probably local (as was confirmed by the archaeometric analyses), is often very similar to Latial types and, significantl , to those of the two earlier colonies of the Adriatic area, both producing such ceramic type: Ariminum and Aesis (for which there are close relations with the Roman productions of Latium). It is obvious to think that the set24

Bonifay 2007, with the support of N. Garnier for the analyses. Costantini 2007. The analyses carried out on the content of a complete Dressel 1 amphora found in Populonia, and almost certainly produced in the Albinia kilns, with fish bones inside, have excluded any trace of chemical elements due to the presence of wine. For the amphorae it is then to be considered the problem of reuse, not only as construction material in vaults and for the drainage of wetlands, but also as containers for transporting foodstuffs different than those for which they were produced: during the 2004 campaign in the garden of Casa del Centenario in Pompeii, we found a buried wine amphora bottom that we thought reused for agricultural aims; the analysis of the content, as well as some seeds, revealed the presence of small fishes stowed inside, changing our interpretetation. However this interpretation may now change again according to new data offered by the Populonia amphora. 23 Peacock 1982: 6-11. In this case, to reconstruct a highly organized structure, in which big entrepreneurs owned the productive sites, and with a strong division and specialization of work, of great significance are the stamps containing the names of the manufacturers and of their slaves. 21 22

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been strengthened especially from the analysis of cooking ware for its high value as Romanization index, because of the finest artefacts could be connected with existing settlements, where they could already be used by Gallic élites. In particular the ollae,30 although documenting the persistence of Gallic cooking and eating habits (and in this sense could be considered a ‘pole of resistance to cultural assimilation’, Galli 2005: 15), are however significantly renewed for the technical and morphological aspects. For the Tyrrhenian area are noticeable the studies of A. Zifferero, also aimed at reconstructing the various territories on the basis of certain ceramic productions intended as important markers, as the dough decorated with small cylinder and mould (Zifferero 2000). Fundamental is then to identify the provenance of artefacts, in order to reconstruct both the productive and the commercial aspects. The ideal case would be to know the sites of production in order to study in situ the artefacts’ technological and morphological features, recognizing them in other contexts. This unfortunately is very rare, especially in Italian archaeology, where too often there is continuity of life between past and present, and the current structures often cover the ancient ones, hiding them.31 A strong contribution is now given by the analytical methods of provenance determination (for further information see the contribution of V. Minguzzi, this volume). Some remarks ‘from the point of view of the archaeologist’32 are nevertheless possible. The first need is the close collaboration between the archaeologist and the archaeometrist; if the former must know at least the basic principles and potential of the requested analyses, the latter must be aware of the problems inherent the analysed samples, in order to better assess the research and data processing methodology.33 Satisfactory results can then be achieved only through common reflection, especially regarding the determination of provenance.34 Secondly, the sample must be truly representative and chosen after the archaeological sorting of all the finds, in order to ask scientists precise questions, which might arouse useful answers to solve archaeological problems.35

We should possibly have terms of comparison to gather certain reference groups: production wastes, remains of kilns, or rejects related to the production cycle are the best elements in order to compare the clay samples. In the detection of reference groups, a particular problem is that of the current local raw materials, often included in the sample analysis; their value is certainly valid, because the clay has not generally changed over time; however, the sampling activity should be always carried out in collaboration with a geomorphologist, expert in the changes in the landscape and able to identify the areas of possible ancient supply. Studying the archaeological materials from Faenza, the Roman Faventia, urban centre along the Via Aemilia, a local production of black glazed pottery and terra sigillata seems certain from the discovery of production wastes, cooking rings, remains of kilns. Comparing those data with the analyses (already known in the bibliography) of clays collected in the foothills area, in a site used by the Renaissance potters, the local ceramic production in the Classic age should be excluded (Mazzeo Saracino et al. 2007b: 180, 184). Only the opportunity of extending the comparison to the clay from another area, in the south-west of the modern city centre, near the river Lamone and closer to what should be the productive area during the Roman age, offered a valid reference to certify the local provenance of a significant part of the analysed artefacts from Faenza.36 A similar problem has been shown by M. Picon for the area of Adria, a centre of great commercial importance, but also a production site whose features are not yet well defined (Picon 2000): the local clays present a large variability, related to the transformations of the territory after the frequent movements of the Po riverbed and its overflowing For Italy, on the other hand, there is also the problem of the similarity of regional clayey formations, presenting repetitive geochemical characteristics;37 based on this issue an available distinction between Tyrrhenian and Adriatic clays can be reached, and then between terra sigillata from Arezzo and from the Po valley, but this becomes more complicated in distinguishing the different production areas of the Northern Italy, partly because the low number of sure manufacturing sites, partly for the lack in certain reference groups. Therefore, the several successes of the archaeometric analyses, especially in identifying new productions,38 must be compared with the still open problems and with the unexpected results (different from those based on the optical observation) that the analyses propose to the archaeologists. In a recent work A. Klynne reports the problems encountered in identifying the provenance of the terra sigil-

tlers have brought with them new technologies and a new morphological repertoire, and is likely that even craftsmen moved with them, in order to make the colonies self-sufficient 30 The cooking ollae are similar to types from Central Italy and Latium, with flared enlarged rim and ovoide body, or with the distinctive almond rim. They replace the less refined dough ollae and probably still handmade, or with a revolving disc, present in the earlier levels under the Late Republican and Imperial levels. 31 It is very rare to find the kilns, mostly because they were temporary structures and frequently reconstructed; more often are documented production indicators as wastes, rejects, moulds. 32 Deriving from a long collaboration with our colleagues of the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bologna, successful for the many achievements in recent years. 33  The need for a strong interdisciplinary approach has been maintained several times by M. Picon, see Picon 2000: 101. 34 Olcese 2006: 525: ‘It is not enough to own the equipments to reach good archaeometry’. 35 The same point of view is expressed in Zabehlicky-Scheffenegger 2006: 518, 520. The author recalls however the cases of lacking results: the two productions of terra sigillata of the Po valley found in Magdalensberg, the B and C (recognizable through optic examination), do not differ according to the archaeometric analyses except for a different degree of temperature in cooking. Significant is also the mentioned case of two fragments of the same vase, analyzed separately and considered similar but not identical, showing how there can be some unhomogeneity in the raw material, gen-

erally well prepared, in a fine ceramic exemplar as the terra sigillata is. 36 Black glazed pottery but also terra sigillata, of Northern Italic and Medio-Adriatic type, common ware, and perhaps Lamboglia 2 amphorae. 37 See recently Olcese 2006: 524. After analysing several cases in which the archaeometric analyses haven’t yet dissolved the many doubts on the local productions of many of the most widespread ceramic classes, such as those of Arezzo, the author rightly maintains the need to use different methods of study, able to integrate typological, epigraphic, macroscopic and archaeometric data. 38 Consider the case of so-called Tripolitanian Sigillata / Sigillata A from the Bay of Naples, a local production of the Gulf of Naples (Soricelli et al. 1994), or the most recent case of the graue platten of Ephesus (Zabehlicky-Scheffenegger 2006: 519).

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lata found in the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta: in several cases the results of the chemical analyses differed with the attribution of sealed pieces or even with the macroscopic observation.39 After having reported the several cases where this has happened, the author asks: ‘Do we have to send every sherd to the laboratory for analysis?’. Beyond the provocation, the proposal of creating a Web accessible database of the results of the archaeometric analyses (with a precise description of the technical characteristics of the samples and with clear photos of the ceramic body) is very interesting. This could be an useful suggestion to share the available knowledge, through the direct comparison of data scattered in different publications and often not homogeneous in their presentation.40 Regarding the databases accessible on the Web, the other opportunity that the exponential development of information technology offers is to create GIS platforms able to collect all the documentation of entire classes of materials, integrating information on both the typology of the artefacts and on their context, with a precise georeferenced location. It will be possible, through the spread of a shared methodology (with homogeneous aims and technical implementations), and the development of Web based catalogues and databases, a real-time dissemination of the knowledge of certain manufactured goods, in order to achieve the identification of their commercial routes and possible productive areas,41 with the constant awareness that those results are preliminary and partial, liable to be reconsidered and rediscussed.42 And also: how many movements of artefacts are required to recognize profitable sales activities instead of exchange43 or simple transport of personal objects?44 Amphorae are the most interesting archaeological remains to reconstruct the ancient economy, being related to a particular foodstuff contained. But how many were other typologies of containers whose material doesn’t leave traces, documented by iconographic sources or only assumable? The most obvious example are the sacks used for transporting grain, certainly one of the most dealt agricultural products (see the supply needs of the capital Rome). In a recent study (Bonifay 2007: 22) is argued the association

between the trade of African Red Slip Ware and amphorae: according to the review of new data on the geographical position of the different productions, it is assumed that the African Red Slip Ware C is rather to be connected to another shipment: the wheat.45 Certainly, then, wood containers (barrels) and leather containers existed: probably the wine, arrived by sea, was decanted in wineskins and transported to areas not accessible by water; the use of barrels for river transport is certainly attested in the famous Rhine reliefs and in particular Gallo-Germanic areas, where they were reused as lining of wells.46 The analysis of the spread and the study of the archaeological discovery contexts opens another prospect, mentioned in a recent work on small metallic pieces in Britain (Eckardt 2005): the reconstruction of the social identity of the people who used the artefacts, in this case not only ceramic. Similarly to the study of the iconographic repertoire used in the decoration of a house to understand the features of the owner, it is possible to start from the objects trying to connect them with the purchasers.47 Again, however, opposite arguments must be recalled, for example, in the provincial world the choice of Roman objects may be due to a statement of social identity and lifestyle more than to their standard of functionality, economy, duration. For this, the presence of Roman artefacts in the provinces must be interpreted not only as a testimony of a major/minor level of Romanization/resistance, but also of an adaptation through a process of increasing adoption and development. Of particular interest, among the studies on Romanization, is the opportunity, offered by the analysis of pottery, to reconstruct the effects of the wide phenomenon of Romanization on the non-élites, the portion of the population represented by the common objects rather than by the monumental buildings, symbols of social prestige. R.E. Roth refers to the concept of ‘bricolage’ used by N. Terrenato to describe the process of acculturation caused by the Romanization, a ‘complex patchwork’ resulting from many elements, some new, but other old, used for new functions and purposes (Terrenato 1998: 23), extending it from the sphere of élites to that of the everyday life.48 The quantificati n of the presence of certain materials in different areas, and analysis of the change over the time of that presence, is generally interpreted as the result of economic factors for which there are periods of growth of

Klynne 2006: 168. The attribution was made according to the Corpus Vasorum Arretinorum. However, it must be remembered that the spread of trademarks is not always a faithful mirror of the production, but only of the commercial distribution. And the trade dynamics are often not totally identifiable. On the many still open issues on the analysis of the Italic terra sigillata see Schneider and Daszkievicz 2006. 40 The guidelines for a common database of archaeological and archaeometric data of the ceramics produced in Southern Italy were given in Olcese 2006: 532. The online availability of the data would be another step forward for a fruitful real-time exchange of information. 41 At the Department of Archaeology of the University of Bologna we are experiencing a project of information networking, which we are going to test with the collection of all data regarding the Northern Italic decorated terra sigillata. 42 I agree with what is maintained by Schindler Kaudelka 2006, on the dangers and limits of distribution maps attempting to quantify the presence of certain findings based on non representative samples (the available data represent today only a small part of the ancient circulation, about 1-3%). 43 For example that of a peasant-potter who sells his household pots not for profit purposes but to exchange useful goods for its daily needs 44 The legionnaires who arrived on the Rhine were supplied by mercatores, but they may also have brought with them the fine table ware. Or maybe there were two different times and stages of these two ways of distribution, leaving no visible and distinguishable traces. 39

On the transport of grain into sacks we have an interesting iconographic source in a famous painting from Ostia, with the scene of cargo on a boat. 46 What about the danger of containers valuable for themselves and not for what they contained? For example the glass unguentaria, that only rarely bear traces of the essences they contained. What can also be said on wooden vessels, certainly widespread as table forniture but rarely found in the excavations because of the scarce possibility of conservation? It’s a quite unknown world, except for extraordinary environments such as the desert for the Egyptian civilization or exceptional finds such as the ships of Pisa or of Comacchio. 47 The analysis of the contexts of discovery can be useful to define the meaning of the objects: differences between sets of finds in different contexts, military, commercial, urban, rustic villas, baths, can be noticed. It is therefore necessary to combine theory, corpora of finds and information on sites and contexts, the intersection of those data will provide additional information on the use and meaning of the artefacts. 48 Roth 2003: 38. The pottery provides the main source for studying the changes in everyday life: ‘either frames this context or is framed by it’ (ibid.: 41). 45

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D’Anna, A. et al., 2003, La céramique. La poterie du Néolitique aux Temps modernes (Paris: Errance) Eckardt, H., 2005, ‘The Social Distribution of Roman Artefacts: the Case of Nail-Cleaners and Brooches in Britain’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 18, pp. 139-160 Forcey, C. et al. (eds), 1998, TRAC 97. Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, which Formed Part of the Second International Roman Archaeology Conference, University of Nottingham, April 1997 (Oxford: Oxbow books) Frère-Sautot, M.-C., 2003, ‘Réflexion sur 20 ans d’archéologie à l’archéodrome’ in P. Bellintani, L. Moser (eds) Archeologie sperimentali: metodologie ed esperienze fra verifica, riproduzione, comunicazione e simulazione. Atti del Convegno, Comano Terme – Fiavè (Trento, Italy, 13-15 settembre 2001) (Trento: Provincia autonoma di Trento), pp. 97-108 Galli, M., 2005, ‘Vasellame domestico e Lebenswelt’ in R. Neudecker, P. Zanker (eds) Lebenswelten: Bilder und Räume in der römischen Stadt der Kaiserzeit. Symposium am 24. und 25. Januar 2002 zum Abschluss des von der Gerda Henkel Stiftung geförderten Forschungsprogramms ‘Stadtkultur in der römischen Kaiserzeit’, Palilia 16 (Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert), pp. 154-173 Giannichedda, E., 2006, Uomini e cose. Appunti di archeologia (Bari: Edipuglia) Greene, K., 2005, ‘Roman Pottery: Models, Proxies and Economic Interpretation’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 18, pp. 34-56 Hawthorne, J.W.J., 1998, ‘Pottery and Paradigms in the Early Western Empire’ in C. Forcey et al. (eds) TRAC 97. Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, which Formed Part of the Second International Roman Archaeology Conference, University of Nottingham, April 1997 (Oxford: Oxbow books), pp. 160-172 Klynne, A., 2006, ‘Consumption of Italian Sigillata: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ in D. Malfitana et al. (eds) Old Pottery in a New Century. Innovating Perspectives on Roman Pottery Studies. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Catania, 22-24 aprile 2004 (Catania: IBAM, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali), pp. 167-174 Laubenheimer, F. (ed.), 2001, 20 ans de recherches to Salèlles d’Aude (Paris: Presses Universitaires FrancComtoises) Levi, S.T., 1990, ‘Vasi simili ma non identici: recenti tendenze di analisi della variabilità della produzione ceramica’, Dialoghi di Archeologia 1, pp. 91-113 Malfitana, D. et al. (eds), 2006, Old Pottery in a New Century. Innovating Perspectives on Roman Pottery Studies. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Catania, 22-24 aprile 2004 (Catania: IBAM, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali) Mannoni, T., Giannichedda, E., 1996, Archeologia della produzione (Torino: Einaudi) Mazzeo Saracino, L. et al., 2007a, ‘Ceramica a vernice nera volterrana da una domus repubblicana di Suasa (AN)’, Picus 27, pp. 181-209

certain production areas and subsequent crisis; the possibility that such changes may be the consequence of other factors, such as the change in dietary habits and cooking processes49 affecting the use of certain types of materials or even certain shapes, has been highlighted. It is therefore necessary to have a multivariate and multidisciplinary approach to ancient artefacts, taking into account all the possible collaborations, not only in the archaeological field, but also in the archaeometric, anthropological, sociological, ethnographic, historical fields, able to make the study of material culture one of the main sources for the reconstruction of the past. The artefacts are thus forced to become an integral part of a story having as its protagonists men and their ways of life in the ancient societies.

Acknowledgements I wish to thank Erika Vecchietti for the translation of the present text.

REFERENCES Alcock, S.E., 2006, ‘Small Things in the Roman World’ in D. Malfitana et al. (eds) Old Pottery in a New Century. Innovating Perspectives on Roman Pottery Studies. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Catania, 22-24 aprile 2004 (Catania: IBAM, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali), pp. 581-585 Arnold, D.E., 1985, Ceramic Theory and Cultural Process (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Arthur, P., 2000, ‘Commercio, Archeologia del’ in R. Francovich, C. Manacorda (eds) Dizionario di Archeologia. Temi, concetti e metodi (Roma, Bari: Laterza), pp. 65-75 Bats, M., 1988, Vaisselle et alimentation à Olbia de Provence (v. 350 - v. 50 av. J.C.). Modèles culturels et catégories céramiques (Paris: CNRS) Bonifay, M., 2007, ‘Que transportaient donc les amphores africaines?’ in E. Papi (ed.) Supplying Rome and the Empire: the Proceedings of an International Seminar Held at Siena – Certosa di Pontignano on May 2-4, 2004, on Rome, the Provinces, Production and Distribution (Portsmouth: Journal of Roman Archaeology), pp. 9-25 Costantini, A., 2007, ‘Dressel 1 a Populonia: esportazioni di tonno dalla foce dell’Albegna’ in D. Vitali (ed.) Le fornaci e le anfore di Albinia. Primi dati su produzioni e scambi dalla costa tirrenica al mondo gallico. Atti del Seminario Internazionale, Ravenna 6 e 7 maggio 2006 (Bologna: Dipartimento di Archeologia) Cuomo Di Caprio, N., 2007, La ceramica in Archeologia, II. Antiche tecniche di lavorazione e moderni metodi di indagine (Roma: L’Erma di Bretschneider) Hawthorne 1998, proposes an interpretation of the changes in the distribution of fine table ware in the western provinces of the Empire during the 3rd century AD, suggesting a ‘pan-western Empire change in dining habits’ perhaps due to the transformations in social relations between wealthy and poor; the latter during the early Empire probably emulated the rich, while then the distance between the two classes exacerbated. 49

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Mazzeo Saracino, L. et al., 2007b, ‘Ceramiche di età romana a Faenza: nuovi dati archeologici e archeometrici sulla possibile produzione locale’, Ocnus 15, pp. 167-200 Mazzeo Saracino, L., Giannotti, G., 2005, ‘Romanizzazione e mutamenti del costume alimentare in territorio marchigiano; studio delle fonti e analisi dei materiali ceramici: il mortaio’ in P. Attema et al. (eds) Papers in Italian Archaeology. Communities and Settlements from the Neolithic to the Early Medieval Period. Proceedings of the 6th Conference of Italian Archaeology Held at the University of Groningen, Groningen Institute of Archaeology, The Netherlands, April 15-17, 2003, BAR 1452 (Oxford: BAR Publishing), pp. 376-389 Olcese, G., 2006, ‘Ricerche archeologiche e archeometriche sulla ceramica romana: alcune considerazioni e proposte di ricerca’ in D. Malfitana et al. (eds) Old Pottery in a New Century. Innovating Perspectives on Roman Pottery Studies. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Catania, 22-24 aprile 2004 (Catania: IBAM, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali), pp. 523-535 Orton, C., 1982, Mathematics in Archaeology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Orton, C. et al., 1993, Pottery in Archaeology, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Papi, E. (ed.), 2007, Supplying Rome and the Empire. The Proceedings of an International Seminar Held at Siena – Certosa di Pontignano on May 2-4, 2004, on Rome, the Provinces, Production and Distribution (Portsmouth: Journal of Roman Archaeology) Peacock, D.P.S., 1982, Pottery in the Roman World. An Ethnoarchaeological Approach (London: Longman) Pecci, A., 2007, ‘Potenzialità delle analisi chimiche applicate all’archeologia dei consumi alimentari: Il bilancio delle conoscenze’ in A. Ciacci, P. Rendini, A. Zifferero (eds) Archeologia della vite e del vino in Etruria. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Scansano, Teatro Castagnoli, 9-10 settembre 2005 (Siena: Ci.Vin), pp. 123-131 Peña, J.T., 2007, ‘The Quantitative Analysis of Roman Pottery: General Problems, the Methods Employed at the Palatine East, and the Supply of African Sigillata to Rome’ in E. Papi (ed.) Supplying Rome and the Empire: the Proceedings of an International Seminar Held at Siena – Certosa di Pontignano on May 2-4, 2004, on Rome, the Provinces, Production and Distribution (Portsmouth: Journal of Roman Archaeology), pp. 153-172 Picon, M., 2000, ‘Recherches préalables en vue de la determination de l’origine des céramiques padanes à vernis noir et à vernis rouge’ in G.P. Brogiolo, G. Olcese (eds) Produzione ceramica in area padana tra il II secolo a.C. e il VII secolo d.C.: nuovi dati e prospettive di ricerca. Convegno Internazionale, Desenzano del Garda, 8-10 aprile 1999 (Mantova: S.A.P), pp. 93-101 Poblome, J. et al., 2006, ‘A Concluding Dilemma: Sisyphos versus Daidalos’ in D. Malfitana et al. (eds) Old Pottery in a New Century. Innovating Perspectives on Roman Pottery Studies. Atti del Convegno Internazio-

nale di Studi, Catania, 22-24 aprile 2004 (Catania: IBAM, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali), pp. 557-579 Polfer, M. (ed.), 2001, L’artisanat romain: évolutions, continuités, ruptures (Italie et provinces occidentales), Actes du 2ème colloque international d’Erpeldange, 26-28 octobre 2001 (Montagnac: Monique Mergoil) Rice, P.M., 1987, Pottery Analysis. A Sourcebook (Chicago, London: The University of Chicago press) Roth, R.E., 2003, ‘Towards a Ceramic Approach to Social Identity in the Roman World: Some Theoretical Considerations’ in Digressus. The Internet Journal for the Classic World, Suppl. 1, pp. 35-45 (www.digressus.org) Schindler Kaudelka, E., 2006, ‘Intérêts et limites de la cartographie du mobilier archéologique pour l’histoire économique antique: l’exemple des sigillées, parois fines et lampes italiques’ in S. Čače, A. Kurilić, F. Tassaux (eds) Les routes de l’Adriatique antique. Geographie et économie, Actes de la table ronde du 18 au 22 septembre 2001, Zadar (Bordeaux: Ausonius), pp. 259-265 Schindler Kaudelka, E. et al., 2001, Italische Terra Sigillata mit Appliken in Noricum, Denkschriften der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 298 (Wien: Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften) Schneider, G., Daszkievicz, M., 2006, ‘Chemical Analysis of Italian Sigillata from Italy and from the Northern Provinces’ in D. Malfitana et al. (eds) Old Pottery in a New Century. Innovating Perspectives on Roman Pottery Studies. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Catania, 22-24 aprile 2004 (Catania: IBAM, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali), pp. 537-543 Soricelli, G. et al., 1994, ‘“Tripolitanian Sigilla­ ta”/“Produzione A della Baia di Napoli”’ in G. Olcese (ed.) Ceramica romana e archeometria: lo stato degli studi. Atti delle giornate internazionali di studi, Castello di Montefugoni (Firenze), 26-27 aprile 1993 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 67-88 Tchernia, A., 1986, Le vin de l’Italie romaine: essai d’histoire économique d’après les amphores (Rome: École française de Rome) Terrenato, N., 1998, ‘The Romanization of Italy: Global Acculturation or Cultural Bricolage?’ in C. Forcey et al. (eds) TRAC 97. Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, which Formed Part of the Second International Roman Archaeology Conference, University of Nottingham, April 1997 (Oxford: Oxbow books), pp. 20-27 Vidale, M., 2007, Ceramica e archeologia (Roma: Carocci) Zabehlicky-Scheffenegger, S., 2006, ‘Conditions, Possibilities and Limits of the Archaeological-archeometrical Collaboration Concerning Roman Pottery’ in D. Malfitana et al. (eds) Old Pottery in a New Century. Innovating Perspectives on Roman Pottery Studies. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Catania, 22-24 aprile 2004 (Catania: IBAM, Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche Istituto per i beni archeologici e monumentali), pp. 517-521

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Fig. 1 - The complexity of material culture.

Fig. 2 - The archaeological research from the project to the fruition. 111

A mineralogical-geochemical approach to pottery characterisation  

Vanna Minguzzi, Maria Carla Nannetti Abstract The objective of this work is to draw attention to the applications of mineralogical-geochemical archaeometric studies aimed at resolving the problems relative to ancient ceramic artefacts. The study begins with the recognition of our current knowledge of the raw materials usually used in the manufacturing of ceramics and also considers the additions or purifications made to the raw materials. Then, the reactions that occur during the firing process are shown; we can consider the pottery as an ‘artificially’ metamorphosed sedimentary rock because it was subjected to heating processes. Ample space is given to the presentation of archaeological problems and of analytical methods which can give answers to these problems. For example, three cases of studies conducted by the research group active at the Department of Earth and Geological-Environmental Sciences of the University of Bologna are presented. The examples address the problems inherent to the study of the provenance, to the production techniques, and to the study of coatings.

1. Introduction In this work we believe that it is interesting to review the situation of archaeometric studies (both mineralogical and geochemical), applicable to the characterisation of ancient ceramics. Essential points to arrive at a characterisation are: 1. the knowledge of the raw materials which constitute the pottery; 2. the knowledge of the reactions that occur during the firing of the ceramic mixture 1) The ceramic products are artefacts obtained from natural clay or clay treated by addition or purification processes, that are first dried and then subjected to firing processe The clays are sedimentary rocks that are present in many geological areas, and from zone to zone, they can have different chemical and mineralogical compositions. The natural clay is constituted by clay minerals, the sandysilty fraction, and other components. Clay minerals are kaolinite, smectite, chlorite, mixed layers minerals, vermiculite, talc, and serpentine. The sandy-silty component is constituted by quartz, carbonates, feldspars, and micas. Other additional components are: oxides and hydroxides of iron and aluminum, iron sulphides, zeolites, organic matter, carbonous components, amorphous phases of silica (such as opale). Moreover, clays can be divided into two large families: a. clay without carbonates, which includes kaolin, constituted exclusively by kaolinite, and ‘red beds’, constituted by illite, chlorite, kaolinite, smectite, and abundant iron oxides and hydroxides; b. carbonate clay or marly clay, constituted by clay minerals and carbonates (about 30%). In the ceramic mixture, clay minerals constitute the matrix (also known as the plastic component); the other minerals constitute the temper (also known as the non-plastic component).

The plasticity of the mixture depends on the type of clay, on the grain size, and on the quantitative and qualitative relationship between the matrix and the temper. Some substances which are not suitable for the production of all ceramic typologies are sometimes present in clays. During production, the clay, before being made into a paste with water, can be subjected to addition or purific tion processes to obtain a refined or coarse ceramic mixture with different technological characteristics. The most common additives are quartz, calcite, dolomite, feldspars, feldspathoid (leucite, nepheline), lithic fragments, carbonous components, and chamotte. The different combinations of all of these materials in different proportions characterise the composition of the ceramic mixture. 2) We can consider the pottery as an ‘artificially metamorphosed sedimentary rock because it was subjected to heating processes. During the firing of ceramics, important reactions happen We can schematize them in the following way: • Starting with a carbonate clay: a. at a temperature under about 200° C, we have the elimination of residual H2O still present after the drying of the mixture; b. between 300-450° C we have the combustion of organic matter with the liberation of CO2 and H2O and the dissociation of possible sulphides; c. between 450-650° C we have the decomposition of clay minerals with the liberation of the structural OH; d. at about 800° C we have the decomposition of calcite in CaO and CO2, and of dolomite in CaO and CO2 and in MgO and CO2 with the liberation of CO2; e. at about 900° C we have the reactions between CaO, MgO and the silicates which form high-temperature Ca-silicates (diopside, wollastonite, and gehlenite). • Starting with a kaolin clay: the reactions a), b), c) previously described are the same; however the reactions d) and e) don’t take place because

Vanna Minguzzi, Maria Carla Nannetti

the carbonates are not present; f. at temperatures higher than 1000° C the melting of feldspars (added as flux) begins with glass formation. This glass includes intact minerals which lead to a compact structure with low porosity; we have now the transformation of kaolinite into cristobalite and mullite. Therefore, the temperature is a significant factor in the fi ing process of the pottery. In fact, the maximum heating temperature influences the formation of mineral phases which are different from those present in the raw material. The temperature also determines the technological characteristics of a ceramic artefact (porosity, compactness, degradation resistance). The oxidising or reducing atmosphere used during the fi ing process is also a very important factor as it can induce the formation of different minerals starting from the same raw material. For example, in mixtures with iron hydroxides, oxides, sulphides and carbonates, we have the formation of hematite in an oxidising atmosphere; alternatively we have the formation of magnetite and hercynite in a reducing atmosphere. These minerals determine, respectively, the red or black colour of the ceramic artefacts.

size (coarse or ‘refined’cerami s), the presence of gloss coating, the presence of chamotte and/or lithic fragments (as temper), and the presence of fossil organisms which could provide important information about the manufacturing techniques and their provenance. In fact, the added rocks are often autochthonous and therefore indicative of the zones of production. If we associate this technique with the X-Ray diffraction analysis and the electron microscopy observations, we can define the mineralogical composition of a ceramic sherd clearly. For example, in the ancient ceramic artefacts we can find • relictic phases: (quartz, clay minerals, calcite, feldspars) thermally resistant; • prograde phases: (gehlenite, diopside, wollastonite, mullite, cristobalite) formed during firing • retrograde or secondary phases: (gypsum, calcite) which were formed after firing The presence of these phases provides information about the nature of the raw material, the maximum heating temperatures, and the alteration state. In the graph in Fig. 1, we can see the content of prograde phases (diopside and gehlenite) and the calcite content of a series of 14 ceramic samples. Using the data displayed in the graph we can make the following observations: a. in sample 1, we have a lot of calcite and only a low content of diopside because the raw material was rich in carbonates; however the temperature of firing was about or less than 800° C; b. in sample 2, we have a very abundant content of diopside because the raw material was rich in carbonates and the firing temperature was higher than 800° C c. in sample 7, we have significant contents of calcite, diopside and gehlenite because the raw material was rich in carbonates and the firing temperature was higher than 800° C. The calcite is still present because in the raw material it either was present as coarse grains or it formed after firing. In this case, the optical observation is very important in establishing the type of calcite and also in determining if the diopside and gehlenite are prograde phases, and thus were not present in the raw material; d. in samples 8, 9, 10, and 11, we have only a small content of calcite, diopside and gehlenite, because the raw material was poor in carbonates. The chemical analyses, which are shown in Fig. 1, confirm these observations because the data they provide regarding the presence of CaO are in accordance with the mineralogical phases present. The chemical analyses, which are shown in Fig. 1, allow these observations because the data they provide regarding the presence of CaO are in accordance with the mineralogical phases present. The chemical analyses (major, minor and trace elements) of an ancient ceramic sherd can be considered a photograph of the chemical composition of the raw material, even if the mineralogical composition has changed. We could consider the trace elements as the real indicators of provenance, because they indicate the genesis of the raw material. The thermal analysis completes the mineralogical study

2. Objectives and analytical methods Therefore, the mineralogical and geochemical characterisation of the ancient ceramic sherds proves very significant because it aids the autoptic analysis in resolving problems about: a. the nature and the composition of the used raw material; b. the provenance of the sherds; c. the manufacturing techniques: purifications of or additions to the raw material, presence of coatings; d. maximum heating temperature and firing process e. the state of degradation. The peculiarity of archeological finds requires methodological choices that are either nondestructive or that use only small portions of the sample. This constitutes a serious limitation because the resulting analysis might not be representative of the entire sample, a fact that must be remembered in the subsequent interpretations. The main analytical procedures used for the mineralogical or geochemical characterisation (or both) are the following: • optical microscopy on thin section; • scanning electron microscopy; • X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD); • thermal analysis (TG, DTG, DTA, EGA); • Raman microspectroscopy analysis; • chemical analysis of major, minor, and trace elements (XRF, AAS, INAA, ICP/AES ); • diagrams and statistical analysis: cluster, factor and discriminant analysis. By observing a ceramic artefact in thin section with a polarizing microscope (Pl. V: 1), we can determine the grain 114

A mineralogical-geochemical approach to pottery characterisation

because it allows us to quantify the carbonates phases and the presence of organic matter in many ceramic classes. Moreover, the thermal analysis allows us to report the relict phases of clay minerals or the secondary phases (for example the formation of gypsum). In addition, the thermal analysis provides the datum of Loss On Ignition (LOI), useful in completing the chemical analysis. Finally, Raman microspectroscopy analysis boasts very useful characteristics for the investigation of the surfaces and the section of ancient ceramics, especially regarding the study of pigments. This is a technique of a nondestructive character; the analyses do not cause damage or alterations to the find, thereby allowing you to make subsequent investigations on the same sample with other analytical techniques.

• •

on the 18 samples of oil lamps (LUC 1-18); on a group of samples of other ceramic classes, derived from the same deposit and used in order to make a comparison, included in Table 1: two samples of simple ware (CL11 and CL12) and one of terra sigillata (CL 13), all of sure local provenance, two sherds of African terra sigillata (TUN 8 and TUN9) and two sherds of Phocea terra sigillata (TUR 7 and TUR 10); • on one sherd of cooking ware (TUN 2) and five sherds of terra sigillata (TUN 4, 5, 6, 14, 15,) that are of sure African provenance because they derive from some production sites in South-Central and Northern Tunisia. All the analyses performed gave coherent results and they allowed us to make the following observations shown in the dendrogram of Fig. 2 and in three diagrams of Fig. 3. In the dendrogram obtained, it is possible to see four clusters or groups: 1. The first group contains 15 sherds of oil lamps, with the exclusion of only LUC 8, 14, 18. The components of this first group are linked together very closely and have an evident composition affinit . The two samples of African terra sigillata TUN 4 and TUN 8 are also very well placed in this group. 2. The second group is represented by samples TUN 2, 5, 9, 14, 15 which are very similar to each other. All sherds originated from sites in Northern Tunisia, with the exception of TUN 9 that is from Classe; however, this last sample was probably produced in a site in Northern Tunisia. This hypothesis is confirmed by the affiliation of this sample to this cluster. The TUN 2 presents less affinity to the other sherds because it is a cooking ware, and therefore was made with a mixture less purified than terra sigillata; TUN 6, which originates from South-Central Tunisia and presents significant differences in composition, appears strongly disconnected from the other samples. 3. The third small group contains only two samples (TUR7 and TUR10) recovered in Classe but with probable origins in Phocea Turkey. 4. The fourth, very compact, group is constituted by the three samples of oil lamps (LUC8, LUC14 and LUC18) that are very closely linked together. In this group, there are also the two samples CL12, CL13 and the more detached sample CL11, all of which are of local production. In all diagrams shown, the groups 1 and 4 of the cluster are always clearly visible, so it’s possible to distinguish the African production (South-Central Tunisia) from local production (Emilia-Romagna zone). From the chemical and mineralogical point of view, the samples of oil lamps were essentially homogeneous, and only three samples (LUC8, LUC14 and LUC18) showed sensible variations in respect to the general trends of this type of ceramics. The data obtained permitted a very precise mineralogical and geochemical characterization of the 18 finds of oil lamps considered, comparing them with the other finds from Classe and Tunisia. The results of these analyses were, therefore, essential for the identification of the provenance of the late antique ce-

3. Archaeometric researches For nearly ten years, a research group that aims to give answers to the archaeological questions previously cited has been active at the Department of Earth and Geological -Environmental Sciences – University of Bologna. In this time, the application of analytical methodologies typical of mineralogy, geochemistry, and petrography has been refined for the study of different classes of ceramic finds (terra sigillata, black glaze ware, simple ware, cooking ware, bucchero ware, etc.) of the Etruscan and Roman age and of their probable raw materials. Particular attention has been given to the statistical data gathered which, given the high number of ancient artefacts studied, is considered a very important database, already consulted and appreciated by researchers in the field (Augenti et al. 2007, Mazzeo et al. 2000, Mazzeo Saracino et al. 2007, Minguzzi et al. 1995, Minguzzi et al. 2007, Minguzzi et al. 2008, Morandi et al. 1996, Morandi et al. 1997, Morandi et al. 1999, Morandi et al. 2000, Nannetti et al. 1995, Nannetti et al. 2003, Nannetti et al. 2005, Nannetti et al. in prep., Ospitali et al. 2005). We report in this work, for example, three cases of problems taken from studies conducted in recent years. 3.1. First example: the provenance The first example concerns a sampling of oil lamps predominantly of the form ‘Atlante X’ discovered in the excavation performed by the Department of Archaeology of the University Bologna (Augenti et al. 2007) at the ������� Chiavichetta farm (Classe, Ravenna, Italy). The origin of these oil lamps has caused numerous debates in the past regarding the interpretation of their provenance. Eighteen representative samples of all cases (more than 5000 sherds), which were hypothesised to be indicative of a massive local production in imitation of African prototypes, were chosen. X-ray diffraction analyses, thermal analyses, optical observations on thin section, chemical analyses of major, minor and trace elements, and the subsequent statistical elaborations of the data (cluster analysis and diagrams) were carried out on the sampling shown in Table 1, and precisely: 115

Vanna Minguzzi, Maria Carla Nannetti

ramics discovered in the Classe excavations. The mineralogical-geochemical investigations that were performed on the oil lamps verified the presence of many African sherds and the existence of a regional production in imitation of African prototypes, even if in lower quantities than previously hypothesised.

present and uniformly distributed; the presence, in some samples, e.g. in MU1376, of a diffused porosity and a homogeneous distribution of the grains, that are not found in other ones, e.g. in MU3276. In this sample, we can note a concentration of quartz and feldspar grains of bigger dimensions in the internal and external portions than in the central portion. This determines a higher porosity in these portions. The cause of this phenomenon is probably the potter’s wheel manufacturing process. In Fig. 4 the images of sections of the samples MU1376 and MU3276, chosen as representative, are shown. We have also analysed the samples of bucchero by thermal analysis in order to obtain the content of the organic matter present and to verify if the chromatic variations depend on this. We analysed all samples and, for three of them, also the three different fractions. The three samples chosen have emblematic colour variations, already brought to light by the autoptic analysis. Particularly: • the sample MU1376 (sherd of unidentifiable form) is characterised by a strong homogeneous blackening in the internal and external walls and by a grey-green colour in the fracture; • the sample MU3106 (sherd of unidentifiable form) presents a generally clearer and heterogeneous colour: browner in the external wall and grey-green in the internal wall and central fractions; • the sample MU3276 (sherd of a pitcher) has a dark colour in the internal and external walls, with a greater accentuation in the external fraction and a reddish colour in the fracture. The contents of organic matter in the samples of bucchero are reported in Pl. V: 2. If we compare these percentages with the quantity of blackening observed both in the samples in toto and in the three fractions, we can note a significant correlation. Moreover, the different porosity, observed in the samples by use of a scanning electron microscope, seems to be influenced by the content of organic matter and, therefore, the amount of blackening. For example, in the sample MU1376, with homogeneous porosity, there aren’t significant differences of organic matter content in the three fractions. Yet, in the sample MU3276, with heterogeneous porosity, there are significant differences of organic matter content, mostly present in the external portions. In conclusion, we can affirm that the chromatic differences, present in the samples of bucchero, are connected to the organic matter content. However, we cannot exclude that the presence of hercynite, also in traces, and the porosity of the ceramic artefacts, contribute to reinforce these characteristics. In the samples in which it was possible to recognise the form of the ceramic artefact, we saw that in closed forms (pitchers, for example), unlike the open forms (cups, for example), the internal wall didn’t present as much blackening as the external one. This can be explained by the fact that organic matter, •

3.2. Second example: the manufacturing techniques The second example regards the study of sherds of bucchero discovered in the excavation of ‘Casa 1-Regio IV-Insula 2’ in the Etruscan city of Marzabotto (Bologna, Italy) (Minguzzi et al. in prep.). One of the objectives of the research was the characterisation of this ceramic class, abundantly found in the excavations, from the point of view of the manufacturing techniques and the production site. In this work, we’ll present the problems relative to the manufacturing techniques of eight bucchero samples whose production presents very heterogeneous characteristics though not completely clarified by autoptic analysis The samples in examination are: three sherds of pitchers (MU 3242, MU 3276, MU 3295), one of a cup (MU 3303), four of unidentifiable forms (MU 1376, MU1376, MU 3106, MU3301). These samples differ from the classical type because they present different colours, both on the surface and in fracture, and they present heterogeneous brightness and are consistent to the touch. The analytical investigations were made to discover the cause of these chromatic variations. They were carried out, in some cases, on the whole sample, and also on separate fractions of the internal wall (i), external wall (e), and of the internal material of the fabric (c). X-ray diffraction analyses on the three portions of the ceramic artefacts were made to determine their mineralogical composition and to identify the presence of phases (predominantly oxides) which could justify the chromatic heterogeneities mentioned above. The mineralogical composition (semiquantitative analysis) of the samples is presented in Table 2. The data observation allows us to recognise that the predominant phases are quartz and feldspars, while calcite and clinopiroxenes (the diopside type) are present in traces only in some samples. This indicates a raw material poor in carbonates. The presence of hercynite is observed only in three samples; the presence of hematite is observed in the two samples in which the autoptic analysis reported chromatic differences caused by defects of firing The mineralogical composition of the three fractions of each sample doesn’t justify the chromatic differences observed. We also conducted some observations by scanning electron microscopy on polished sections in order to observe the grain size and the crystal morphology, the porosity of the material, and to verify the scarce presence of iron oxides found by X-ray diffraction analysis. The observations we made have confirmed • the presence of the minerals already identified by Xray diffraction analysis. Particularly, by observing the sections in the extreme and central portions we can note that in all the samples the iron oxides are poorly 116

A mineralogical-geochemical approach to pottery characterisation

during the firing process in an oxidizing environment or in a reducing environment. Moreover, we have presented three emblematic examples of specific studies (such as the provenance of the ceramic artefact, the technique used for its production, and the nature of the coatings), to demonstrate the application of the mineralogical and geochemical methodologies to the type of studies which aim to resolve the most common and recurrent issues in archaeological investigations. We want, however, to emphasize that the problems that the archaeometric researchers have to solve as they present themselves are very complex and of varying nature. The choice of the portion of material to analyse, its treatment on the basis of the typology of the find and on the characteristics of the analytical process, and how representative it is have great importance. Whenever it is possible, it is essential to analyse with the same techniques both the raw materials recovered near the site of excavation and the firing discards or the components of the furnace. This is useful in providing more information on the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of a possible local production. Moreover, the choice of the methodologies of analysis has to be made with the objective of comparing the data to those of analogous studies in order to extend the case histories to similar objects or to narrow geographical areas. To achieve all this, a close cultural integration among archaeologists and archaeometric researchers and a common awareness of the limitations and of the potentialities of similar studies are essential. Without this agreement, the archaeometric studies risk appearing as an appendix devoid of real content, and thus not very useful in resolving archaeological problems.

present in the firing room, is absorbed with great difficulty by the less-exposed internal walls. 3.3. Third example: the coatings In the third example we will try to emphasize in particular the contribution of micro-Raman spectroscopy to the study of black gloss coatings on Roman pottery (Ospitali et al. 2005). We analysed the black gloss coatings of 18 Roman ceramic artefacts, of which 10 samples originate from the archaeological excavations of Rimini and 8 from those of Suasa (Ancona). These samples are constituted by a very fine and refined table pottery, dated from the 2nd century BC. They are mainly composed of plates and cups with a characteristic uniform black surface coating. This coating is also compact, bright, tenacious and tightly joined to the body (Pl. V: 3). By means of Raman microspectroscopy, which allows a lateral resolution of approximately 1µm, it was possible to investigate, in a nondestructive way, the ceramic coatings both on the surface and in section, the contact between the ceramic body and the black coating was studied. The microspectroscopic analysis revealed an extremely glassy, refined, and uniform black matrix that takes a reddish colour near the ceramic body and where individual crystals aren’t recognizable. The surface is rich in magnetite and carbon, and, in some cases, we also found hematite and hercynite. As we move from the external to the internal portion of the sherd the amount of magnetite and hercynite decreases and the content of hematite increases. The presence of carbon on the surface excludes the intentional addition of organic matter in the clay suspension that is enriched with hematite. These observations confirm the hypothesis that the find was fired in a partially reducing atmosphere The analyses carried out by Raman microspectroscopy also confirm and complete the data obtained in previous investigations (XRD, XRF, SEM-EDS, DTA, DTG, TG) (Morandi et al. 2000). In conclusion, we can affirm that the use of Raman microspectroscopy has allowed the identification of crystalline and amorphous components present in the black gloss coating and clarified their distribution. In particular, this technique has revealed, as traditional analytical techniques have not, the presence of particles of amorphous carbon on the surface. The identification of this component and the determination of its spatial distribution are very useful in understanding the firing processes used by ancient potters during the production of black gloss pottery.

References Augenti, A. et al., 2007, ‘Nuovi dati archeologici dallo scavo di Classe’ in S. Gelichi, C. Negrelli (eds) La circolazione delle ceramiche nell’Adriatico tra tarda Antichità e alto Medioevo, Documenti di Archeologia 43 (Mantova: S.A.P.), pp. 257-295 Mazzeo, L. et al., 2000, ‘Ceramica a vernice nera di Ariminum: produzione locale, rapporti produttivi e commerciali in base allo studio morfologico e archeometrico’ in G. Olcese (ed.) Atti del Convegno: Produzione ceramica in area padana tra il II e il VII secolo d.C. (Desenzano: S.A.P.), pp. 25-39 Mazzeo Saracino, L. et al., 2007, ‘Ceramiche di età romana a Faenza: nuovi dati archeologici e archeometrici sulla possibile produzione locale’, Ocnus 15, pp. 167-200 Minguzzi, V. et al., 1995, ‘Caratterizzazione minerogeochimica e studi termici di varie tipologie di “Concotto” di età etrusca (Marzabotto, BO)’, Miner. Petrogr. Acta 38, pp. 1-9 Minguzzi, V. et al., 2007, ‘Le ceramiche a vernice nera di Phoinike: studio minero-geochimico a fini archeometrici’, Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta 40, pp. 55-62 Minguzzi, V. et al., in prep., ‘I buccheri e le ceramiche

4. Concluding remarks With the present study we have tried to give a clear picture of the knowledge acquired to this day of the raw materials used in the past for the production of ceramic artefacts. The sequence of the issues we have discussed has become a real excursus on the nature of the clays, on the problem of the purificati ns of the clay before use, on the deliberate additions of additives and on the reactions that happen 117

Vanna Minguzzi, Maria Carla Nannetti

Archaeological Class Attribution’, Miner. Petrog. Acta 43, pp. 101-111 Nannetti, M.C. et al., 1995, ‘Parametri mineralogici e geochimici utili per la caratterizzazione e la distinzione in gruppi di provenienza di “terre sigillate” di Suasa (AN)’, Museologia Scientifica 12, pp. 399-417 Nannetti, M.C. et al., in prep., ‘La ceramica attica e la ceramica etrusca a vernice nera. Analisi archeometriche’ in E. Govi (ed.) La Casa 1 della Regio IV-insula 2 di Marzabotto (Bologna: Ante quem) Nannetti, M.C., Sabetta, T., 2003, ‘Le lucerne a canale di Suasa (Ancona). Primi risultati delle indagini archeometriche’, Ocnus 11, pp. 25-34 Nannetti, M.C., Sabetta, T., 2005, ‘La ceramica a vernice nera di Rimini: studio archeometrico’ in L. Mazzeo Saracino (ed.) Il complesso edilizio di età romana nell’area dell’ex Vescovado a Rimini (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 155-160 Ospitali, F. et al., 2005, ‘The Role of Raman Microspectroscopy for the Study of Black Gloss Coating in Roman pottery’, Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 36, pp.18-23

depurate grigie. Analisi archeometriche’ in E. Govi (ed.) La Casa 1 della Regio IV-insula 2 di Marzabotto (Bologna: Ante quem) Morandi, N. et al., 1996, ‘Ceramics from Etruscan City of Marzabotto: Geochemical-Mineralogical Approach and Connections with Raw Materials’, Miner. Petrogr. Acta 39, pp. 341-350 Morandi, N. et al., 1997, ‘Ceramiche e argille della città etrusca di Marzabotto’ in S. Santoro Bianchi, B. Fabbri (eds) Il contributo delle analisi archeometriche allo studio delle ceramiche grezze e comuni – Il rapporto forma/funzione/impasto. Atti della 1° Giornata di Archeometria della ceramica, Bologna, 28 febbraio 1997 (Imola: University Press Bologna), pp. 40-45 Morandi, N. et al., 1999, ‘Ricerche archeometriche su ceramiche a vernice nera di Suasa (AN)’ in C. D’Amico, C. Tampellini (eds) 6° Giornata Le Scienze della Terra e l’Archeometria. Este, Museo nazionale atestino, 26 e 27 febbraio 1999 (Este: Grafica Atestina), pp. 87-96 Morandi, N. et al., 2000, ‘Minero-Geochemistry of Roman Ceramics from Suasa (Italy): Evidences for a Correct

Sample

Type

Find site

Provenance

LUC 1-18

oil lamp

Classe

local or African

TUR 7-10 TUN 8 TUN 9 CL 11-12 CL 13

terra sigillata terra sigillata terra sigillata simple ware terra sigillata

Classe Classe Classe Classe Classe

Phocea (Turkey) South-Central Tunisia Northern Tunisia local local

TUN 2 TUN 4 TUN 5 TUN 6 TUN 14 TUN 15

cooking ware terra sigillata terra sigillata terra sigillata terra sigillata terra sigillata

Carthage Ain Thougga Dougga Thina (Sfax) Thuburbo Majus Carthage

Northern Tunisia South-Central Tunisia Tunisia South-Central Tunisia Northern Tunisia Northern Tunisia

Table 1 - Type, find site and provenance of examined samples.

118

A mineralogical-geochemical approach to pottery characterisation

 

Samples i

qz xxxx

K-feld x

plg xx

MU 1376  

c e

xxxx xxxx

x x

xx x

 

i

xxxx

x

MU 1396  

c e

xxxx xxxx

  MU 3106  

i c e

 

cpx  

micas x x tr

hem  

her  

 

cal   tr tr

 

   

x

 

 

 

 

x x

x x

 

 

 

 

xxxx xxxx xxxx

x x x

x x x

tr

 

tr

 

 

tr tr tr

tr

  tr tr

i

xxxx

x

xx

tr

 

 

 

MU 3242  

c e

xxxx xxxx

xx xx

xx xx

tr  

tr tr x

 

   

  MU 3276  

i c e

xxxx xxxx xxxx

xx x x

xx xx x

  tr  

 

 

 

tr tr tr

 

     

MU 3295  

i/c e

xxxx xxxx

x x

x x

   

   

   

   

tr tr

  MU 3301  

i c e

xxxx xxxx xxxx

x x xx

x x xx

  tr  

 

tr tr tr

  tr  

     

 

i

xxxx

x

xx

MU 3303  

c e

xxxx xxxx

x x

xx xx

 

 

  tr tr

x

 

tr x

   

 

Table 2 - Semiquantitative mineralogical analysis obtained by XRD. qz = quartz; K-feld = K-feldspars; plg = plagioclase; cpx = clinopyroxene; cal = calcite; hem = hematite; her = hercinite. ****very abundant quantity; *** abundant; ** significant; * modest; tr = traces

Fig. 1 - Prograde phases (diopside and gehlenite) and calcite content of a series of fourteen ceramic samples. In the table are reported the contents of CaO (wt%) of the same samples.

119

tr tr tr

Vanna Minguzzi, Maria Carla Nannetti

Fig. 2 - Dendrogram of the cluster analysis. Four groups are indicated.

Fig. 3 - Diagrams: a) CaO-SiO2; b) Fe2O3- TiO2; c) Zr-SiO2.

Fig. 4 - SEM images of the sample MU 1376 (a) (BEI, bar scale = 100 μm) and of the sample MU 3276 (b) (BEI, bar scale = 1 mm).

120

A systematic approach for the damage assessment of museum

metals collections based on statistics and portable techniques: the case study of ancient  

Messene, Greece

M. Giannoulaki, V. Argyropoulos, T. Panou, G. Michalakakos, A.G. Karydas, V. Kantarelou, D. Anglos, A. Giakoumaki, V. Perdikatsis, C. Apostolaki, P. Themelis, S. Poulimenea Abstract Museums next to archaeological sites often house metal artefacts in uncontrolled conditions, without proper conservation or maintenance programs. Thus, the nature and condition of the collection is unknown and in order to design an effective conservation plan, a damage assessment must first be carried out using a systematic approach. Such an approach was developed for large metals collections made of wrought iron and copper alloys, using as a case study 5000 objects of everyday use from the collection of Ancient Messene Museum, Greece. Two types of surveys (technological and condition) were carried out, both of which provided statistics. Further scientific examination was conducted on a representative sample using mainly portable scientific techniques such as X-ray radiography, milli-beam X-ray fluorenscence (XRF), micro-XRF (µ-XRF), laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The paper outlines the approach for carrying out a conservation survey and how such an approach can lead to identify interesting questions related to dating, technology, condition, and treatment priorities.

1. Introduction Museums next to archaeological sites often house for a large period of years in their storage facilities metal artefacts that may be in urgent need of conservation. To compound this problem, wide temperature and relative humidity (RH) fluctuat ons during the year in the environmentally uncontrolled storage areas create further damage to these objects. Furthermore, the nature of the collection regarding ‘value’ and condition is unknown and it is difficult to design an effective conservation plan corresponding to the real problems and needs. Consequently, a ‘re-excavation’ (from the storage area) and a damage assessment must be carried out using a systematic approach for effective conservation planning. A simple and feasible systematic survey approach was developed for large metals collections made of iron and copper alloys, using as a case study 5000 objects from the collection of the Ancient Messene Museum, Greece. Two types of surveys (technological and condition) were conducted providing statistics. From here, a representative sample was selected and further examined using mainly portable scientific techniques such as X-ray radiography, milli-beam X-ray fluorescence (XRF), micro-XRF (µ-XRF), laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The paper outlines the systematic approach for carrying out a damage assessment of a large collection and how one can evaluate such results to determine an effective conservation plan.

2. Ancient Messene The archaeological site of ancient Messene (Themelis 2003) is located at the foot of Mount Ithome, in

Messenia, Peloponnesus. The new capital of the free and independent Messenia was founded in 369 BC by general Epameinondas of Thebes. It was occupied without any interruption until AD 395. All the public and sacred buildings and the preserved fortifications were excavated during a period spanning 174 years.

3. The metals collection The iron and copper alloys collection is related to the city’s activities and customs and consists mainly of everyday use objects of the Hellenistic and Roman period, such as tools and instruments, accessories of doors and furniture, decorative artefacts, vessels, weapons, votive figurines, etc. A small number was on display in the exhibition halls of the Museum of Ancient Messene and the main part of the collection is housed in the storage rooms. The collection is recorded with general information concerning excavation context, but the metal objects are not separated according to typological or technological groups. The storage conditions are only partly controlled resulting in an indoor environment with wide temperature and RH fluctuations during the year. During winter months (from November till February) it is usually raining and the RH ranges between 7090%. The condition of the objects regarding the amount of remaining metal, nature, and extent of corrosion products is unknown. The soil of ancient Messene is characterised as siliceous clay, with silicon as the main component element (Giannoulaki and Poulimenea 2000). As a result, different questions arise for the iron and the copper alloy artefacts, respectively. For iron artefacts, it is commonly known that all iron objects at that time – Hellenistic and Roman period – were made of wrought iron or steel (Forbes 1950) with mechanical working processes (carburisation, quenching, annealing

Giannoulaki et al.

and tempering). Since visual examination recorded signs of active corrosion, through the presence of akaganeite formation and the characteristic ‘spalling’ and detachment of pieces (Selwyn et al. 1999), the following questions were raised: • Amount of remaining metal: what is the amount of remaining metal, if any? • Corrosion layers: what is the extent and type of corrosion layers? Do they contain chlorides that lead to active corrosion? • State: what is hidden underneath the corrosion layers: cracks, fissures, decoration, inscriptions For copper alloy artefacts, since our initial examination found differing types of manufacturing techniques, decoration, presence of inhomogeneous surface corrosion layers and patinas, our study raised the following questions: • Manufacture: what is the type of manufacturing technique and chemical composition of the copper alloys? • Decoration: is there any surface decoration or inscriptions sealed underneath the surface corrosion layers, and if so what kind? • Dating: is the relevant dating of the object in agreement with the type of chemical composition of the copper alloy according to literary references? • Corrosion layers: what are the extent and type of corrosion layers? • Cracks: are there any cracks and fissures, sealed under the corrosion layers? Furthermore, in the past few metal objects had undergone treatment, and often when they were excavated wet, they were allowed immediately to dry out. Thus, for this project, the management policy of the collection was redefined in terms of handling and storage after excavation and prior to treatment.

priority levels using the answer to the question: ‘Which objects are in urgent need of treatment? Which would benefit from treatment? Which do not require treatment?’. Variables affecting the condition of the objects, such as burial environment, environment and time since excavation, technological characteristics, type of corrosion products and the ‘value’ were identified and used in the statistical approach. With the assistance of a statistical package SPSS12.0 (SPSS 2004), frequency tables were produced displaying all the probable values of a variable(s) correlated in the sample. From here, Multinomial Logistic Regression was chosen to work out the answer to the question based on the selection of two or three independent variables (McCullagh and Nelder 1989). 4.2. Scientific examination techniques After the survey, further scientific examination using mainly portable nondestructive techniques were carried out. Such techniques are essential, since current Greek legislation for antiquities does not easily permit the transportation of objects, and even sampling for destructive analyses is strictly controlled. Radiography was applied to the entire preselected sample (873 artefacts). X-ray radiography is a well established nondestructive technique (Lang and Middleton 1997), which is often used to reveal hidden clues as to the methods of manufacturing, decorative details, as well as the overall condition of the artefacts. Since it is well known that all iron artefacts were made of wrought iron or steel at that time, and visual examination recorded signs of active corrosion, only radiography was necessary to determine the amount of remaining metal in order to design an effective conservation plan. This was not the case for copper alloy artefacts, since it was obvious that these objects were manufactured by differing types of alloys and techniques and it was difficult to determine the nature, whether active or stable, of surface corrosion products/layers. A sample of 56 copper alloy artefacts representing all technological types were selected for further compositional analysis using the milli-beam XRF, so as to identify the variety of manufactured alloys. From this sample, 5 artefacts that exhibited an interesting variety of inhomogeneous surface layers and ‘patinas’ were examined further with µ-XRF, so as to identify the elemental composition of surface corrosion products and the presence of any surface techniques, such as signs of plating. Furthermore, 12 artefacts that exhibited various surface corrosion layers were examined using the LIBS technique, for the study of lateral and in-depth elemental distribution within corrosion layers. Finally, samples of the corrosion products were collected from 34 copper alloy artefacts and analysed using XRD to identify their mineralogical composition.

4. The systematic approach The methodological approach applied for the metals collection of ancient Messene is described step by step in this section. 4.1. Technology and Condition Survey From 5000 artefacts, a sample of 873 copper alloys and iron objects were selected, based on those that could be dated according to typology or excavation context and preserved relevant technological information including shape and form of the object, surface decoration, etc. The sample was separated into general types based on the archaeological typology. The following tables (Tables 1- 2) show the typology of ancient Messene collection. A technology survey was carried out using the variables that describe the type, such as morphological characteristics like shape, form, dimensions, as well as surface decoration, types of joins, etc. Burt frequency tables (Vitali and Franklin 1999), classification trees and pie charts were produced according to the defined variables representing the characteristic technological types of the collection and the frequency of appearance and distribution of a technological feature in the whole sample. A condition survey was carried out to determine treatment

Radiography The portable system consisted of a military control unit and tube transformer head, X-ray apparatus 15 mA and a portable film processor Curix 60/CP1000, Type 9462, 230V/50/60 Hz. For copper alloys, the exposure conditions ranged from 60-85 kV, 5-40 mA and 1-4 sec, whereas for iron alloys from 55 kV, 10-20 mA and 1-2 sec, and are described in detail elsewhere (Giannoulaki et al. 2005). 122

A systematic approach for the damage assessment of museum metals collections based on statistics and portable techniques

Milli-beam XRF The portable milli-beam XRF spectrometer used consists of an Rh-anode side-window low power X-ray tube (50 kV, 1 mA, 75 μm Be window), a PIN X-ray detector (165 eV FWHM at MnKα, Amptek Inc.) with 500-μm nominal crystal thickness and a battery operated MCA card. The spot of the exciting beam at the sample position has a diameter of about 3 mm. The analysis of the metal alloys was performed at 40 kV operational high voltage (Giannoulaki et al. 2007).

artefacts and decorative details hidden under thick corrosion layers and soil deposits. 1. The condition of the artefacts is clearly shown. X-ray radiography showed that almost all artefacts retained a substantial metal core, but also that they are actively corroding and in isolated areas little metal or no metal is present. 2. Internal cracks and fissures sealed under the thick corrosion layers and soil deposits are clearly depicted. The radiographic examination supported the results of the condition survey and the visual examination of the objects. According to these results, most of the artefacts exhibit clear signs of active corrosion with akaganeite formation and spalling and detachment of pieces during handling. Condition survey determined treatment priority levels, where from a total sample of 549 objects, only 10 seem stable and do not need treatment. A group of 176 objects could benefit from treatment and finally a group of 363 objects, corresponding to 66.1% of the total sample, is in urgent need of treatment (Table 3 and Fig. 1).

μ-XRF The spectrometer head used for the analysis consists of an optical element (polycapillary lens, IfG), a laser pointer and a colour CCD camera. The spectrometer consisted of an Rh-anode low power air cooled X-ray tube and a silicon drift detector (145 eV FWHM at MnKα, BrukerAXS). Three different stepping motors, coupled with the spectrometer head, allow its three-dimensional movement. Single coloured areas were selected and examined through line scans. Then, 2D elemental mapping was performed in selected areas characterised by intense local variations both in colour and texture, and is described in detail elsewhere (Kantarelou et al. 2007).

5.2. Copper alloys collection The results of the condition survey based on visual examination and statistics led to the separation of the objects in treatment priority levels: urgent to treat, could benefit from treatment, no need to be treated. For the separation, two independent variables related to condition and ‘value’ of the objects were identified and used. One was ‘nature of corrosion products’ (stable or active) and the other ‘dating of the object’ (yes or no). According to these two variables, 39.8% of the sample is in urgent need of treatment, since the objects exhibited signs of active corrosion and could be dated. Around 46.3% of the objects could benefit from treatment, since they are positive for one of the two variables, i.e., they could be dated but have stable corrosion products or cannot be dated but exhibited signs of active corrosion. Finally, 13.9% of the objects do not need treatment, since they cannot be dated and have stable corrosion products (Table 4 and Fig. 2). These results were based on visual examination of the objects.

LIBS The LIBS system used for the analysis is model LMNT-II, comprising a hand-held probe that includes the laser head, optics to guide, attenuate and focus the laser beam on the sample, and an optical fibre to transmit the plasma plume emission to the spectrograph, which along with the laser power supply is housed in the main unit. The laser (passively Q-switched Nd:YAG) emits 8 ns pulses at 1064 nm with energy up to 15 mJ/pulse, which upon focusing probe a spot with diameter around 200 μm. The spectrograph (HR4000, Ocean Optics Inc.) covers a spectral range between 270 and 650 nm with spectral resolution of about 0.5 nm and uses a 3648-element CCD-array detector, and is described in detail elsewhere (Giakoumaki et al. 2007). XRD XRD was carried out in the Technical University of Crete using a Siemens D500 Powder diffractometer with copper radiation and graphite monochromator. The diffractograms were taken using zero background Si-sample holders with fine pulverised material of a few milligrams. The diffractograms were interpreted qualitatively using the software Diffrac Plus from Bruker company and the Powder Diffraction File (PDF). The quantitative analysis was carried out by the Rietveld refinement method, and the normative chemical composition was calculated (Giannoulaki et al. 2007).

X-ray radiography X-ray radiography was able to determine the amount of substantial metal core so that the type of treatment can be determined. Usually light areas indicate the presence of a substantial metal core, grey areas indicate corrosion layers and black areas the presence of no metal core. Also, cracks and fissures sealed under the thick corrosion layers and soil deposits were observed and their extent and thickness can be estimated. Almost all of the copper alloy objects of the collection retain a substantial metal core. In some cases, regarding objects of small dimensions, little metal is observed but this is also correlated with the extent of the corrosion layers that cover the object. Usually grey areas are observed near the edges of the objects, in pointed areas and in the working ends of tools, as well as in areas where cracks are present and small parts are missing.

5. Results 5.1. Wrought iron collection The entire preselected sample of 549 iron objects was examined only by X-ray radiography (Giannoulaki et al. 2005) and the following was observed: The radiographs revealed the initial shape and form of the 123

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XRF The elemental chemical compositional analysis was carried out for cleaned areas showing the bare metal of the copper alloy objects. The results indicate that the metals collection of ancient Messene includes a variety of copper alloys: • Nearly pure copper with minor amounts of tin and trace amounts of lead, iron and antimony, due to the original metal ore used. • Typical bronzes with tin content between 4-13% and lead present. • High-tin bronzes with tin content between 22-27% (e.g., mirrors) • High-leaded bronzes with lead content between 1017%, which created an alloy with better casting properties. • Clear brasses with zinc content between 18-23%. If the zinc content was less than 20%, tin was also present in the original metal ore. • Brasses with zinc content between 10-20%, most probably made by mixing clear brasses and scrap bronze metal. This information helped in some cases to redate the objects, especially for objects manufactured using brass alloys and dated in the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st centuries BC. Typical bronzes probably represent objects dated in the late Classical – early Hellenistic period. High-leaded and leaded objects probably indicate a dating in the Hellenistic period, since bibliography describes this intentional reduction of tin and the growth of lead concentrations as one of the characteristics of metallurgy in the Hellenistic period (Treister 1996: 241-42). Finally, brasses correspond to a dating in the 1st or 2nd century AD and onwards, since brass is the technological innovation for copper alloys of the Roman period (Craddock 1978). Bronzes (high-tin bronzes, high-leaded bronzes, leaded bronzes and typical bronzes) are found in 70% of the objects. Brasses are found in 17% of the objects. Pure coppers are found in 11% of the objects, corresponding to objects made by hammering. Around 2% corresponds to a type of alloy very fashionable from the Roman times and onwards for common objects, resembling the composition of historic ‘gun metal’ (Craddock 1978) (Fig. 3).

•

•

•

•

•

•

Both green coarse and smooth corrosion products are identified as copper corrosion products and since no sulphur or chlorine is detected with μ-XRF, they can be identified as malachite, a copper carbonate Light green corrosion products are identified as copper corrosion products but in these areas Cu intensity decreases and Pb intensity increases dramatically, corresponding probably to a copper selective depletion process and a wash-out of lead forming lead corrosion products, possibly carbonates. White corrosion products are identified as lead corrosion products and since no sulphur or chlorine is detected with μ-XRF, they can be identified as carbonates, possibly cerussite or hydrocerussite. Black and grey corrosion products forming usually a lustrous and smooth patina are identified as tin corrosion products, since a significant increase of Sn intensity is observed compared to the clean areas, corresponding to the formation of thick tin compounds during burial, possibly cassiterite. LIBS analysis was able to identify Ca and Na from soil contamination, with both distributed in-depth within the corrosion layers, corresponding to soil encrustations on the surface but also to soil deposits distributed within the corrosion layers. The relative intensities of Ca and Na were higher on the surface and decreased gradually in-depth, as the laser beam was reaching the original metal core. Brown bulky corrosion products are identified as iron corrosion products due to soil contamination or to the contact with an iron object during burial.

XRD XRD results identified copper and lead carbonates as the dominant type of corrosion products for the copper alloy objects. Malachite is the most dominant corrosion product almost in all cases, and cerussite and hydrocerussite for high-leaded copper alloys. Also, cuprite is commonly present. In two cases, were the burial or storage environment was enriched with sulphur, brochantite (copper corrosion product) and larnakite (lead corrosion product) were identified. Only in one case, a copper compound containing chlorine was present, identified as atacamite, but it seems that this object is stable, since it does not exhibit any signs of active corrosion (presence of nantokite). Quartz, due to soil contamination is present almost in all the samples, corresponding to soil depositions. In the objects that μ-XRF and LIBS technique were applied, XRD analysis confirmed the assumptions made from the interpretation of the relevant spectra. The following pie chart (Fig. 4) presents the distribution of corrosion products in the entire sample. The dominant copper corrosion products are malachite (copper carbonate) and cuprite (copper oxide), corresponding to stable corrosion products. They represent 55% of corrosion products. Quartz is present in 19 objects, corresponding to 23% of the sample. The following pie charts (Figs 5-6) present the distribution of corrosion products within the group of carbonates and soil deposits. In carbonates, green malachite is the dominant corrosion product, corresponding to 76% of the sam-

μ-XRF and LIBS Both techniques were able to identify the principal component elements of the corrosion layers and the bare metal. Some elements like Ca, Na were detected only by LIBS and some others like Pb and Sn in small amounts only by μ-XRF. What is obvious is that the objects present mainly stable corrosion products characterized by a great variety regarding surface distribution, and local intensive corrosion phenomena are also identified, like copper depletion or lead wash-out. The development of these layers is correlated to the composition of the manufacture alloys and the burial environment (soil characteristics). For example, surface lead corrosion products are more abundant in high-leaded bronze objects and black areas corresponding to tin enrichment are more extended in bronze objects with a significant tin amount. So, the following was observed (Figs 7-8): 124

A systematic approach for the damage assessment of museum metals collections based on statistics and portable techniques

ple. Lead carbonates are present in 21% of the sample. In soil deposits, quartz is present in 83% of the sample.

the objects in plastic containers with silica gel, embedded in polyethylene foam sheets and apply in the future EscalTM storage system (www.mgc-a.com).

6. Con clus ions

Acknow led gemen ts

The application of our statistical survey approach for a large number of metal objects from the collection of ancient Messene, followed by scientifi examination and analysis of a representative sample using mainly portable techniques, proved to be a feasible approach. The technological profile and the conservation needs of the collection were identified. The results of the damage assessment based on the condition survey and the diagnostic analysis allowed for careful conservation planning of the collection. Ancient Messene site has a burial environment which helped in the good preservation of metal findings. Most objects retain a substantial amount of metal core. N evertheless, iron objects, although retaining a significant amount of metal core, present signs of active corrosion (akaganeite formation, ‘spalling’), because they were excavated damp and they were left to dry out immediately after excavation. This was also the case for some copper alloy objects, but after some years from excavation they seem to be stable, since they retain substantial amount of metal core and the surface corrosion products are characterized as stable. Their main problem is aesthetic, when thick corrosion layers seal the original surface and hide the original form. For excavated iron objects a treatment plan was urgent, including stabilization and removal of chlorides. A sample of 16 iron objects with substantial metal core and akaganeite formation was selected for stabilization treatment in N aO H 2% (w/w) solution. O ur purpose was to investigate if the application of a common treatment can effectively stabilize these artefacts, by monitoring the chlorides removed using Grans’ potentiometric measurement. After treatment, the objects were stored in uncontrolled museum environment in plastic containers and monitored every six months. After one year from treatment, 14 artefacts were still stable. The evaluation of the results of the survey and the experiment were used for an effective conservation planning for excavated iron objects. When excavated wet the objects are kept wet and immediately immersed in stabilization solutions. A big reservoir was manufactured for massive stabilization treatments. The objects then are mechanically cleaned in a microblasting chamber with glass beads, installed in the conservation laboratory of the Museum of Ancient Messene and then stored in plastic containers with silica gel, embedded in polyethylene foam sheets, in order to protect them from mechanical stresses and isolate them from the uncontrolled conditions of the storage room. For copper alloy objects, other factors could affect the choice of what should be treated urgently, for example factors related to the museum exhibition needs. For example, all the mirrors should urgently be treated, since they represent the typology of this group through four centuries and they are impressive objects for exhibition according to their technological features and archaeological value. The most important for the copper collection is to design an effective storage and monitoring plan regarding storage conditions and storage materials. A decision was made to place

This work was financially supported by the PROMET European 6th Framework project. The authors would like to thank the personnel of the Museum of Ancient Messene and Amalia S iatou, professional conservator-restorer, for her assistance during the X-raying of the metals collection of ancient Messene.

Referenc es C raddock, P.T., 1978, ‘The C omposition of the C opper Alloys used by the Greek, Etruscan and Roman Civilizations 3. The O rigins and Early U se of Brass’, Journal of Archaeological Science 5, pp. 1-16 Forbes, R.J., 1950, Metallurgy in Antiquity. A Notebook for Archaeologists and Technologists (Leiden: E.J. Brill), chapter 2 Giakoumaki, A., K antarelou, V., Zarkadas, C., Giannoulaki, M., K arydas, A., Anglos, D ., Argyropoulos, V., 2007 ‘C ombined in-situ U se of LIBS and MicroXRF S pectrometers for the C haracterization of Archaeological Metal O bjects’ in LACONA VII. International Conference on Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks, Madrid (Spain), September 17-21, 2007, p. 53 Giannoulaki, M., Argyropoulos, V., Michalakakos, G.P., Panou, T., Kantarelou, V., Zarkadas, C ., Karydas, A.G., Perdikatsis, V., Apostolaki, C ., 2007a, ‘A Conservation S urvey of Museum Metals Collections Using Portable S cientific Techniques: a C ase S tudy of Ancient Messene Museum, Greece’ in C. D egrigny et al. (eds) Metal 07. Interim Meeting of the ICOMCC Metal WG, Amsterdam, 17-21 September 2007, I (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum), pp. 67-73 Giannoulaki, M., Argyropoulos V., Panou, T., MoundreaAgrafioti, A., Themelis, P., 2007b, ‘The Feasibility of Using Portable X-Ray Radiography for the Examination of the Technology and the C ondition of a Metals Collection Housed in the Museum of Ancient Messene, Greece’, in B. S zmelter, A. Łopuska (eds) Art Conservation-Restoration – Studies and Practice, VII. Proceedings of the VII Conference of Art Conservation-Restoration, Students and Graduates, Toruń, 13-15 October 2005 (Toruń: Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika), pp. 163-176 Giannoulaki, M., Poulimenea, S ., 2000, Machaon, Hermes. Presentation, Study and Proposals for the Conservation of Two Marble Sculptures from Ancient Messene (diss., TEI of Athens) K antarelou, V., Zarkadas, C., Giakoumaki, A., Giannoulaki, M., K arydas, A.G., Anglos, D ., Argyropoulos, V., 2007, ‘A N ovel Approach on the C ombined in-situ Application of LIBS and µ-XRF S pectrometers for

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Themelis, P.G., 2003, The Ancient Messene (Athens: Archaeological Receipts Fund) Treister, M.Y., 1996, The Role of Metals in Ancient Greek History (Leiden: Brill) Vitali, V., Franklin, U.M., 1999, ‘Conservation of the Punic Collection at the Museum of Carthage. Part 1: Mapping the Collection: Methodology, Classification, and Assessment’, Journal of the Canadian Association for Conservation 24, pp. 29-41

the Characterization of Copper Alloy Corrosion Products’ in C. Degrigny et al. (eds) Metal 07. Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Metal WG, Amsterdam, 1721 September 2007, II (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum), pp. 35-42 Lang, J., Middleton, A., 1997, Radiography of Cultural Material (Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann) McCullagh, P., Nelder, J.A., 1989, Generalized Linear Models (London: Chapman and Hall) Selwyn, L.S., Sirois, J., Argyropoulos, V., 1999, ‘The Corrosion of Excavated Archaeological Iron with Details on Weeping and Akaganeite’, Studies in Conservation 44, pp. 217-232 SPSS, 2004, Regression Models 12.0 (Chicago: SPSS Inc.)

Internet link www.mgc-a.com (Mitsubishi Web site)

TOOLS-INSTRUMENTS

Strigils, spatulas, chisels, medical tools, spades, needles, tongs, quills, axes, hooks

ACCESSORIES OF DOORS & FURNITURE

Simple nails, bosses, cringles, parts of locks, keys

DECORATIVE ARTIFACTS

Mirrors, buckles, rings, pins, bracelets, earrings, necklaces

VESSELS

Small vessels, rims, handles, bases, covers, decorative elements

FIGURINES-STATUETTES

Animal and human

WEAPONS

Spear and arrow shafts, sauroteres

Table 1 - Types of copper alloy artifacts.

WEAPONS

Spear and arrow peaks, sauroteres, daggers, butcher Knives

TOOLS-INSTRUMENTS

Strigils, scissors, spatules, spades, cradles, chisels, knifes and carving blades, hooks, needles, tongs

ACCESSORIES OF DOORS & FURNITURE

Simple nails, bosses, cringles, parts of locks, keys, sheathing foils

Table 2 - Types of iron artifacts.

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

NO

10

1.8

1.8

1.8

COULD BENEFIT

176

32.1

32.1

33.9

YES

363

66.1

66.1

100.0

Total

549

100.0

100.0

IRON

Valid

Table 3 - Treatment priority levels for iron objects.

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Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

NO

45

13.9

13.9

13.9

COULD BENEFIT

150

46.3

46.3

60.2

YES

129

39.8

39.8

100.0

Total

324

100.0

100.0

COPPER

Valid

Table 4 - Treatment priority levels for copper alloy objects.

Fig. 1 - Treatment priority levels for iron objects.

Fig. 2 - Treatment priority levels for copper alloy objects.

Fig. 3 - XRF results of copper alloys composition.

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Fig. 4 - XRD crystalline phases of corrosion layers.

Fig. 5 - XRD crystalline phases of carbonates.

Fig. 6 - XRD crystalline phases of soil deposits.

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Fig. 7 - Area X-ray intensity maps that indicate the variation of the elemental content in a selected area. Dark areas represent higher intensities of the respective characteristic X-ray lines. The differentiation of dark/ white colours among the individual elemental graphs evidences a rather inhomogeneous distribution of different corrosion products based on the corresponding elements.

Fig. 8 - Variation of the mean elemental intensities of Sn-Lα, Cu-Kα, Pb-Lα and SnKα characteristic X-rays among different single areas on saurotere W2, correlated with LIBS results after 18 pulses.

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Characterisation and documentation of material culture (particularly pottery)  

Susanne Kerner Abstract Any material from an excavation can only be sensibly interpreted when it is well documented. The different aspects of such a documentation are discussed here using the example of pottery. The treatment of all pottery found in an excavation and the necessary elements which need to be documented in computer-based files (both for all fabrics as well as for the diagnostic sherds) are detailed. The theoretical background and its importance for the development of a typology as well as the final interpretation is mentioned, and finally the possibilities in interpretation given by a body of well documented pottery are illustrated.

The characterisation of pottery is based on the existence of pottery. This trite statement seems to be rather pointless unless one becomes aware of the fact that still today some excavations have a very superficial way of dealing with pottery. This article will deal with the different steps necessary to ensure the full interpretative potential of pottery, once it has been found: • pottery in the excavation • pottery documentation • theoretical approaches • pottery typology • and finally pottery interpretatio

1. Pottery in the excavation The treatment of pottery in the excavation will thus be the starting point for the following thoughts. It is well known that pottery is usually by far the largest group of finds in those excavations, which come from pottery bearing periods. The numbers can easily reach mind-numbing dimensions, the comparatively small scale excavation in Gadara, a Hellenistic-Roman site in Northern Jordan, yielded in four campaigns over 120,000 pieces of pottery (Kerner 1997: 290). The large site of Tell Brak in Northern Syria brings around 200,000 pieces of pottery each season (Oates et al. 2001). If such an amount is not dealt with immediately it quickly reaches a stage, where the sheer mass of material makes it impossible to handle.

2. Excavation and documentation of pottery on site The recording (but not necessarily the keeping) of all pottery is the first necessary step in the documentation process, even though throwing away large amounts of body sherds is not such an unusual procedure. The problems involved with such an unsystematic approach can be illustrated with some examples. If only complete vessels are kept, all information about the MNI (Minimum Number of Individual pots) is lost, which would have allowed comparisons with other sites and enabled hypotheses

about the function of contexts. It also limits very much the usefulness of any typology, because it does not really allow one to reconstruct the relationship between different types of pottery in one level. Similar problems occur when pottery is documented only according to certain criteria (e.g., either painted or only fine wares). Even though the fine wares might deliver sufficient information to date a site or the level of a site, the more or less complete loss of the common wares will again destroy a large number of theoretically possible interpretations (such as wealth level, local production vs. imported production, indigenous development of pottery, etc.). Examples of problems related to such erratic treatment of pottery can be seen in the lack of knowledge about Akkadian pottery in general, the development of Nuzi pottery (Woolley 1953), the exact development and relationship of Halaf pottery from different sites1 and finally the continuous unsystematic use of pottery as an indication of the so-called ‘sea-people storm’. A very good example is the Bevelled Rim Bowl, an Uruk period bowl, which has often been interpreted as a measurement or distribution vessel for rations (Nissen 1983: 93; Pollock 2002: 29), but very few excavations have taken care to measure the volumes of these vessels, which would certainly have helped to refute some of the possible explanations given for the BRB. The obvious consequence is the registration of all pottery in the field, if that is done directly and in time, the problem of storage and growing amounts of pottery can be avoided. The early installation of a ‘pottery garden’ and a sufficient amount of people, who can process the pottery, are essential here.

3. Data files But this information, gained in the excavation, needs to be handled. This part of pottery documentation is often neglected and that can easily lead to the loss of information. Particularly at the beginning of an excavation much will    And the different treatment of pottery in a site like Sabi Abiad shows how much more information is available when all pottery is looked at and most possible information is retrieved (Nieuwenhuyse 2006). 1

Susanne Kerner

be done by trial and error, because new material might be encountered. But certain important points for such a documentation need to be layed out beforehand. The planning of a computer-based file for the documentation of pottery has to include thoughts about the attributes of the pottery which will be needed for the interpretation. I have found it e.g. advisable to have two different files for the documentation of the fabric and the shape of the pottery. In the fabric-file all information about the pottery from each different locus can be stored (Table 1), including stratigraphic information, the number of diagnostic pieces per fabric (sorted as rim, base, handle), the number of body sherds and the weight as well as any special commentaries about the whole collection. This allows easy access to general information and an overview about the material in e.g. single stratigraphic units (area, locus, level), as well as the material as a whole (weight, number of sherds from fabric x) and other information such as number of MNI. The second file should include the information about diagnostic pottery (the same stratigraphic information as the first file), kind of sherd, diameter, degree, colour, description (coded), type, drawing, scanning, any other relevant information (impression, mat-impression, design pattern). This is the more complicated form, as it requires the step to change a visual impression into a code (Table 2). The problems connected to such a concept will be explicated in the next paragraph.

(Nieuwenhuyse 2006) can deliver more insightful interpretations of these different ceramics. The Processual approach is more interested in common traits between cultures, in comparative elements, thus the interpretations are based on compatible, qualitative (often quantified) elements (attributes). Processual archaeology tends to build rules on general phenomenon, the formulation of such rules (laws) has been one of the hallmarks of that approach. The typical processual typology is heavily based on measurable attributes (size, amount of temper, firing degrees, etc.) and from the beginning on statistical methods (Spaulding 1953) and in particular quantified ‘cannon’-boat diagrams have been a characteristic of processual pottery reports (Hole et al. 1969: fig. 64). This has allowed far more detailed comparisons between sites and together with the ethnoarchaeological aspect of processual archaeology it also made interpretations of rooms, buildings and areas of sites more reliable.3 Other elements, usually the nonmeasurable ones, have been grossly neglected in many processual analyses of pottery. The Post-Processual approach is interested in specific traits of one culture (or even smaller units), and has little to no interest in typology. The attempts to understand the symbolic and structural meaning of artefacts has thus led to a much larger interest in decoration (as this opens the possibility of a cognitive analysis). It is an interesting phenomenon that all post-processualist, postmodern and post-structuralist publications do contain very little research about large bodies of finds, be it pottery, bones or flint. There are a few exceptions dealing with large bodies of pottery (e.g., Miller 1985) or with in-detail studies of individual finds such as Shanks famous analysis of a perfume jar (Shanks 1993). But the post-processual ‘movement’ made the archaeologists more aware of the fact that pottery needs to be studied in its own terms, that production conditions in the late Neolithic, the Classical and the modern period have differed considerably. And not only that, but that many other factors than purely economic ones (mass-production, competition, demand, etc.) must have played a large role in ancient pottery production. Ideas of ritual renewal as well as ritual breakage, prestige and symbolic exchange are only named here as opening points to whole new avenues of research. Only the exact stratigraphical information of the pottery allows constructing the context, meaning here first of all the archaeological context. But the context in the sense it is used by post-processual archaeologists which includes, according to Hodder, information about Time, Space, Depositional Unit and the Typology is also meant here. Other finds from the surrounding are as necessary as all pottery to come to meaningful statements about pottery. One can easily see that only very rigorous documentation will give the base for any contextualisation of the pottery, which is of course the ultimate goal, because a statement such as ‘we had 35,000 pieces of fine ware and little coarse ware’ can hardly be called sufficient and is quite frankly

4. Theoretical background The collection of information (or facts) is, in the opposite to many such statements, not a neutral exercise. Nothing done in archaeology, from digging to sorting, to using chemical analyses to making a typology is neutral. Every establishment of a fact has a certain theoretical background, the important element is only that one needs to be aware of this. The three most common theoretical approaches in archaeology will be mentioned here and their particular stance concerning pottery. The Cultural Historical approach is mostly interested in chronological questions, and the typologies are often based on concepts of an evolutionary development, this is particularly the case when dealing with pottery shapes (Petrie 1901). In cultural historical archaeology pottery is normally studied under aspects of dating and possibly ethnicity. The material of one specific group has been studied – and often the recognition of that culture has been sufficient: typical examples for such an approach are the early ceramics from the Hassuna, Samarra, Halaf and partly Ubaid culture. Each has been interpreted as characteristic for a different people, which then got other typical characteristics always bound to the existence of the particular pottery type.2 More recent studies have shown that different approaches, based on structural patterns underlying pottery decoration (Bernbeck 1994: 129), or based on a much wider collection of material attributes

   Having been educated in the 1980s at the Free University of Berlin, the heaviest and earliest influence of theory were certainly processual, which is still influencing my own way of creating typologies, even though the post-processual critiques of too much ‘measuring’ and too little ‘insight’ have hopefully left traces too. 3

  A good example is Vértesalji with his theory of two different traditions to be found in the pottery (Vértesalji 1984: 27). 2

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boring. The problem of how to deal with masses of finds can really only be solved by using codes to develop a typology and large databases. The idea that impressions of the senses can be encoded is of course an idea strongly influenced from the processual approach to archaeology. Quantifying even qualitative attributes is a typical element in the New Archaeology. And it includes several problems: one’s impression of any piece of pottery, which one has by using one’s eyes, hands and sometimes even ears and nose is far more varied, than any well developed database can express. So whenever one encodes pottery one will loose information, which can only partly be avoided by drawings and photography.

pottery in Northern Jordan (Umm Qais). Only the analysis (Schneider 1995) has shown that Roman pottery shapes existed in black Hellenistic fabrics and some Hellenistic shapes in Roman red fabrics, which allows completely new insights in production processes. 5.2. Form typology To develop an understanding of the shaping and function of pottery is probably even more difficult than the questions about fabric. The particular difficulty is here again to be found in the different theoretical standpoints that will lead to different typological criteria. How is shape defined? By geometrical proportions as Franken and others (Franken 1969, Gardin 1967) have shown in numerous meaningful examples, or by the use of a seemingly accepted terminology or by using mostly emic criteria as is possible in ethno(archaeo)logical research (Hodder 1991), which could lead to the acceptance than ancient typologies might have followed very different criteria than our modern societies use for pottery typologies. The different typologies are generally based on function, style or technology and often try to combine the three elements.5 If the starting point for a shape typology lies in the function of vessels, one already assumes knowledge about the society behind the ceramics, which poses several problems. As an example the different serving/consumption vessels in modern European and Arab societies can give meaningful insights. They differ very much in size, because the method of consuming the food is fundamentally different. And even certain vessels in the western cuisine need explaining to the uninitiated, such as a glass container which allows one to separate fat and sauce. Realising which difficulties in recognising function exist already in one’s own society might make archaeologists more aware of the difficulties to ascribe function to ancient pottery from very different forms of society. There is, of course, no way to step out of this dilemma, but the only way to reach more than trivial results is a greater awareness of the dangers of cultural prejudices. And one way to try and avoid this dilemma is documenting as much information as possible about the material, in this case pottery, in order to have the chance to build new hypotheses if one is refuted. Such a complete documentation means a fully coded typology of the pottery which includes as much information as possible about each sherd.

5. Development of typology The establishment of a typology is thus an essential part in the documentation of pottery. Early typologies and seriations have already been made in the 1800s (Montelius 1903). They were very much based on morphological criteria then and they still are. But even when using similar criteria for each typology, it must still be stressed that each new material might require a new typology, as each material is genuinely different. It is a completely different case, if one deals with late terra sigillata, a kind of pottery which is already well known and has an existing typology (Hayes 1972) or if one deals with Late Chalcolithic / Early Bronze Age pottery that is not known and needs a completely new typology. Typology is based on the idea that single attributes of pottery can be grouped into larger units. The choice of these attributes will therefore determine the quality of the typology. 5.1. Fabric typology Again the question of the particular material comes into play here, if the fabrics have different temper it needs to be taken into consideration, but if all material is sand tempered (and the sand seems to be the same) then the material of the temper does not play a large role. But even if the kind of temper is of no importance the amount of it might well be. This is, of course, a point, where chemical and archaeological analysis can work hand in glove. The macroscopical impression of the archaeologist should be verified by chemical analyses, which can first of all show how accurate the initial fabric sorting has been. Questions of provenance and similarly important questions about the relation between fabric and shape of the pottery can also be helped along by chemical analyses. For all other elements like production technique, firing information and surface treatment such as slips or glazes the same criteria are valid, everything that might be of importance should be registered and several elements will be better defined through further chemical analysis 4 One illuminating example of the information chemical analysis can provide is the case of Hellenistic and Roman

5.3. Documented information and possible interpretation Once the types have been established the interpretation can start and this is, of course, when the most interesting part of the process begins. The different fields of possible interpretation can only just be mentioned here without any attempt to go into detail. Questions of provenience: Diffusionism has been the interpretative pattern of the 19th-20th century, where cultural groups (often understood as ethnic groups) distributed their pottery throughout the Near East (often in an aggressive manner and through displacing other groups). Against these very simplistic explanations, e.g. the Ubaid people

  The most comprehensive overview about the treatment of pottery can still be found in Rice 1987 and Shepard 1980.

   For a recent discussion of the relationship between style, function and technology see Ali 2005.

4

5

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Susanne Kerner

lage Sequence from Khuzistan, Iran, Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan 1 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press). Kerner, S., 1997, ‘Umm Qays-Gadara: a Preliminary Report 1993-1995’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 41, pp. 283-299 Kerner, S., in prep., ‘The Pottery of Hujeirat al-Ghuzlan 1998 to 2004’ in The Prehistory of Aqaba, I, OrientArchäologie Mallowan, M.E.L., Rose, J.C., 1935, ‘Excavations at Tell Arpachiyah, 1933’, Iraq 2, pp. 1-178 Miller, D., 1985, Artefact as Categories (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Montelius, O., 1903, Die typologische Methode (Stockholm: Selbstverlag) Nieuwenhuyse, O.P., 2006, Plain and Painted Pottery – The Rise of Late Neolithic Ceramic Styles on the Syrian and Northern Mesopotamian Plains (Ph.D. diss., University of Leiden) Nissen, H.J., 1983, Grundzüge einer Geschichte der Frühzeit des Vorderen Orients (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft) Oates, D., Oates, J., McDonald, H., 2001, The Excavations at Tell Brak, II. Nagar in the Third Millennium BC (London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq) Petrie, W.M.F., 1901, Diospolis Parva. The Cemeteries of Abadiyeh and Hu, 1898-99 (London: Egyptian Exploration Fund) Pollock, S., 2002, ‘Feasts, Funerals, and Fast Food in Early Mesopotamia’ in T. Bray (ed.) Pots as Political Tools (New York: Kluwer), pp. 17-38 Rice, P., 1987, Pottery Analysis: a Sourcebook (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) Schneider, G., 1995, ‘Roman Red and Black Slipped Pottery from NE_Syria and Jordan: First Results of Chemical Analysis’ in H. Meyza, J. Młynarczyk (eds) Hellenistic and Roman Pottery in the Eastern Mediterranean – Advances in Scientific Studies. Acts of the II Niebórow Pottery Workshop, Niebórow 18-20 December 1993 (Warsaw: Research Center for Mediterranean Archaeology), pp. 415-422 Shanks, M., 1993, ‘Style and the Design of a Perfume Jar from an Archaic Greek City State’, Journal of European Archaeology 1, pp. 77-106 Shepard, A.O., 1980, Ceramics for the Archaeologist (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington). Spaulding, A., 1953, ‘Statistical Techniques for the Discovery of Artefact Types’, American Antiquity 18, pp. 305-313 Ussishkin, D., 1976, ‘The Ghassulian Shrine at Ein Gedi’, The Biblical Archaeologist 39, pp. 23-39 Vértesalji, P.P., 1984, Babylonien zur Kupfersteinzeit, Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B35 (Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag) Woolley, L., 1953, A Forgotten Kingdom. Being a Record of the Results Obtained From the Excavation of Two Mounds, Atchana and Al Mina, in the Turkish Hatay (London: Penguin Books)

decimating the Halaf people and the Early Bronze Age population displacing the Late Chalcolithic population (Mallowan, Rose 1935: 106; Ussishkin 1976), followed a reaction denying any diffusion of material at all. But the analysis of distribution patterns of pottery, based on realistic pictures of fabric percentages and similarities in types between two and more sites, together with chemical analyses of the material, will allow a much more elaborate picture of the patterns of communication and distribution. And such explanations will not only assist in defining movements of influence in one direction or another (which in itself touches on questions of centre and periphery, etc.), but it will also be instrumental to analyse the level of political organisation in a region. Another question that could be answered with the help of a careful pottery analysis is the function of a site. A particular site can be a local centre and pottery was produced there and exported to other sites in the surrounding; or a site can be a cultic centre and pottery was brought there, possibly originally containing the material (e.g., wine, oil, perfume) for the cult. Questions of functional and social differences between different areas of a site could also be solved with a careful analysis. Questions of function inside houses, palaces and temples, questions of a detailed chronology, questions of gender division, age division, any other division one might not even think about in the beginning of the research, questions of trade or exchange, the way prestige has been expressed or social exchange took place. All these are questions pottery could often give information about, if we only bother to look at it in all detail.

REFERENCES Ali, N., 2005, The Development of Pottery Technology from the Late Sixth to the Fifth Millennium B.C. in Northern Jordan. Ethno- and Archaeological Studies: Abu Hamid as a Key Site, BAR S1422 (Oxford: BAR Publishing) Bernbeck, R., 1994, Die Auflösung der häuslichen Produktionsweise. Das Beispiel Mesopotamiens, BBVO 14 (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag) Franken, H., 1969, Excavations at Tell Deir ‘Allā. A ��������� Stratigraphical and Analytical Study of the Early Iron Age Pottery, Documenta et monumenta orientis antiqui 16 (Leiden: Brill) Gardin, J.C., 1967, ‘Methods for the Descriptive Analysis of Archaeological Material’, American Antiquity 32/1, pp. 13-30 Hayes, J.W., 1972, Late Roman Pottery (London: British School at Rome) Hodder, I., 1991, ‘The Decoration of Containers: an Ethnographic and Historical Study’ in W.A. Longacre (ed.) Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology (Tucson: University of Arizona Press), pp. 71-94 Hole, F., Flannery, K.V., Neely, J.A., 1969, Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Deh Luran Plain: an Early Vil-

134

135

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

61 17 27 182 47 16 22 600 25 63 8 550 13 411 0 739 6 128 0 30 34 8 6 11 8 3 10 3 10 24 31 8 26 17 16 16 100

EG_A MEG_B MEG_C MEG_D BP

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 1

22 6 6 17 19 23 26 25 28 29 27 8 13 10 9 14 11 1 1 11 8 17 12 24 19 26 27 25 9 5 13 22 11 10 20 23 1

98 86 87 91 121 112 114 106 117 119 115 10 36 17 11 62 38 1 1 40 69 120 83 124 106 136 134 130 76 56 86 112 73 79 117 114 1

0 1373 0 0 0 0 0 58 0 0 328 0 0 98 0 0 46 0 0 33 0 0 860 0 0 13 0 0 22 0 0 16 0 0 266 0 0 16 0 0 405 0 0 152 38 0 743 0 0 10 0 0 241 0 0 8 661 0 43 0 0 19 3 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 2 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 10 3 0 9 1 0 8 2 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 11 1 0 18 1 0 9 1 0 5 0 0 25 1 0 22 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

6 100 788 0 0 0 0 5 41 2 35 264 1 4 50 0 6 27 0 2 33 7 29 877 0 3 29 0 2 66 0 1 13 1 62 704 0 3 23 6 49 557 0 58 280 11 58 1001 0 1 8 43 117 146 5 0 1053 3 4 49 0 18 37 1 1 10 0 2 8 0 2 13 0 8 12 0 0 0 0 4 13 0 1 9 0 7 15 0 0 0 0 9 40 0 0 8 27 7 0 0 5 17 0 10 17 0 9 19 1 0 132

0 0 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

159 0 8 22 13 0 7 121 6 13 1 96 4 92 80 242 2 117 247 8 5 1 6 6 12 0 6 2 8 0 13 7 11 4 3 9 13

2426 68 112 654 168 79 75 1894 51 103 31 1131 46 1081 608 2057 21 573 2146 107 82 14 20 23 44 13 37 22 41 79 75 32 64 36 35 63 170

14 12 14 116 15 8 2 149 6 8 8 159 8 101 88 319 2 54 0 24 14 4 5 7 4 3 5 4 11 4 9 2 7 5 3 3 16

6 1 0 4 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 5 1 8 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

2 1 0 5 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 5 0 7 0 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

6 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 4 0 10 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 7 20 210 86 42 32 815 11 21 13 28 10 6 0 217 8 62 0 39 1 0 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 3 2 0 2 0 0 2 5

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

61 17 27 182 47 16 22 600 25 63 8 550 13 411 0 739 6 128 0 30 34 8 6 11 8 3 10 3 10 24 31 8 26 17 16 16 100

BYZBU UMYMMISLOTunknownTOTAL SAVEDHSLIPAHSLIPB HSLIPD HSLIPE HSLIPF HSLIPX CAMP_A HSLIPH HSLIPJ HSLIPK HBUFF MEG_A MEG_B MEG_C MEG_D BP

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 6 0 0 0 15 0 0 2 1 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 0

0 3 0 0 0 3 7 127 0 2 4 26 5 15 0 39 1 0 0 5 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 5

0 2 0 13 1 0 0 9 1 0 0 6 0 25 0 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 4 0 6 0 65 0 3 0 8 0 4 0 150 0 4 0 1 0 1 0 78 0 3 11 64 0 0 0 139 0 1 0 43 0 0 0 14 0 14 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 5 0 9 0 5 0 3 0 7 0 5 0 9 0 6 0 15

0 1 0 2 1 0 0 7 0 0 0 1 0 6 0 13 0 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

0 4 4 20 1 5 2 18 2 2 1 56 2 23 0 36 1 26 0 4 3 1 0 0 3 0 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0

0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 4

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 2 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

0 1 1 2 0 0 1 11 0 1 0 8 1 5 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

0 1 1 0 0 0 0 31 5 6 0 0 0 1 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

5 1 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 0 40 0 25 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

22 0 1 14 13 0 6 65 1 6 1 92 0 50 69 181 2 79 211 6 5 1 6 6 7 3 5 2 7 0 8 7 11 4 3 9 13

BP_PINK B_BPGADCOOKHREDREDCBUFF ETSETS_BERSITSIGCYP_SIG TC CTCCREDARSCRSLRCBSWPGRAYPKPTD SCRAFBYGLZBRNGLZ YELGLZC_STRAW CHSTCRS_ORA H_SOFT AMPHREDAMPH CHAL_RED RY_STR unknown

39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 39 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 44 40 40 40 40 41

area squarelocus registr. Nr PREHEL HR ERLR RO RB 0 3 0 0 0 3 7 127 0 2 4 26 5 15 0 39 1 0 0 5 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 5

0 2 0 13 1 0 0 9 1 0 0 6 0 25 0 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 4 0 6 0 65 0 3 0 8 0 4 0 150 0 4 0 1 0 1 0 78 0 3 11 64 0 0 0 139 0 1 0 43 0 0 0 14 0 14 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 5 0 9 0 5 0 3 0 7 0 5 0 9 0 6 0 15

0 1 0 2 1 0 0 7 0 0 0 1 0 6 0 13 0 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

0 4 4 20 1 5 2 18 2 2 1 56 2 23 0 36 1 26 0 4 3 1 0 0 3 0 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0

0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Table 1 - Example (one page) of a data-file containing information about fabrics of pottery per locus. The columns from area to locus give the stratigraphical information, registr. Nr is the registration number of that particular sherd-collection, Pre (preHellenistic) to Ot (Ottoman) are the columns with the chronological information, followed by unknown, Total (total number of pieces per bag) and Saved (diagnostic pieces per bag saved); all columns from HSLIP A (Hellenistic Slip A fabric) to RY STR (RedYellow striped fabric) are the fabrics, which were recorded for this particular sherdcollection (several fabrics are not shown here to save space). Each row stands thus for one sherd-collection. The pottery in this example comes from Umm Qais (Hellenistic to Ottoman), Northern Jordan (Kerner 1997).

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 6 0 0 0 15 0 0 2 1 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 4

BP_PINK B_BPGADCOOKHREDREDCBUFF ETSETS_BERSITSIGCYP_SIG TC CTCCR

Characterisation and documentation of material culture (particularly pottery)

Susanne Kerner

ID

38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 2622 2623 453 454

square

locus

B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8 B8

61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 61,3 64,1 64,1 66,1 66,1

date

19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 21-02-2004 19-02-2004 19-02-2004 24-02-2004 24-02-2004

find nr

890-01 890-02 890-03 890-04 890-05 890-06 890-07 890-08 890-09 890-10 890-11 890-12 890-13 890-14 890-15 890-16 890-17 890-18 890-19 890-20 891-01 891-02 891-03 891-04 891-05 891-06 891-07 891-08 891-09 891-10 891-11 891-12 891-13 0905-01 0905-02 894-01 894-02

fabric

fabric

kind

diameter

15

R B B B B R R R R B B B R R R R R R X X R RH R R R R R B B H R R H B B R R

30 9,5 15 19 12 6

F F F F F F F F 55 55 55 70 70 G J J F N F/G B 50 F F F

F

55 55 70 70

G G/F N 13 F F 15 15

22 19 20 17 20

9 15 29 17

24 19 24 27 14 16

25

colour

form

I red a schwarz buff a buff+red I hgrau buff hred beige red-buff red-buff red-buff buff hbeige grau-beige a grau-buff I red-buff grün+red grünlich pr red red a pr I rot

2.4.1.1.2 1.2.1.3.2 1.1.2.3.2 1.1.2.3.2 1.1.1.2.2 2.1.2.1.2 3.2.0.1.2 3.1.2.1.2 3.3.2.3.1 1.1.2.3.9 1.1.2.0.6 1.1.2.2.1 3.0.0.1.2 2.3.1.1.2 3.0.0.2.2 3.2.2.1.1 3.1.1.1.1 3.0.0.1.2

grau-braun graubeige buff buff buff buff a beige I buff a red-buff I grau-buff red-buff beige a beige I green-beige buff k grau a rot I grau-rot buff buff a hgrau I pr dgrau

3.2.1.2.4 3.1.3.1.1 3.0.2.1.2

degree

drawn

3.1.2.1.1

impression deco

70 63 61 58 50 22 40 62

15

6

3.0.0.1.2 3.0.2.1.1 3.1.2.1.2 1.1.2.3.4 1.1.3.3.2 5.2.1.2 4.2.2.1 3.1.2.1.1

diget.

24 15

button like

17

19 62 83 52

22

23

2

12

Table 2 - Example of a data-file containing information about all diagnostic pottery per locus, giving stratigraphical information (square-date), find number (of each single piece), fabric, diameter, colour, form (coded), degree (slope of wall), drawing number, digitising, and decoration (there is a comments column at the end, which is not shown here. The pottery in this example comes from Hujeirat al-Ghuzlan (Late Chalcolithic – Early Bronze Age), Southern Jordan (Kerner in prep.).

136

Reconstructing history from material culture: the case of Etruscan Marzabotto  

Elisabetta Govi Abstract Marzabotto is one of the best preserved Etruscan cities. Excavation and research today necessarily require an innovative approach, consisting in appropriate procedures for gaining, studying and processing archaeological records according to the most effective systems; and envisaging also a new arrangement of the findings for the purposes of public display in the museum. Recently the Department of Archaeology of Bologna, besides the excavations, has combined different methodologies of research converged in an ambitious project, that involves many competencies and profitable cooperations: from the studies about urban layout, now based on a new general plan of the town, to the innovative techniques of plotting structures and graphic recording, to the chemical-mineralogical analyses and archaeometry research on the findings, to the new museum display. New procedures combined with traditional studies on material culture offer a consistent base for historical reconstruction of the city.

Marzabotto is one of the best preserved and among the most famous Etruscan cities (Govi 2007b). Excavation and research on a city that has been investigated for over a century, necessarily requires an innovative approach. This consists in appropriate procedures for acquiring, studying and processing archaeological records using the most effective systems; and envisages also a new arrangement of the results for the purposes of public display in the museum that will allow a better understanding and appreciation of such a heritage. Recently the Department of Archaeology of Bologna, along with the excavations, has combined different methodologies of research to create an ambitious and large project, that involves many competencies and mutually benefiting cooperations The Etruscan town of Marzabotto lies along the valley of the Reno river, an ancient and crucial route which connected Bologna (Felsina), the main centre of the Po valley, to the Tyrrhenian Etruria (Fig. 1). Founded in the 6th century BC, the city was part of the general economic and political reorganisation of the Po valley, which had become the most thriving area of all Etruria. In this period the pre-existing centres, such as Bologna, were renovated and new cities founded, each linked in close cooperation and with precise economic functions within a federal network aimed at increasing trade throughout the Adriatic Sea. Trade connections flourished with Athens and the Greek world as well as with transalpine Europe to which the Etruscans exported gold, ivory artefacts and fine bronzes from the Tyrrhenian area. Imports from Greece, such as oil, wine, marble, but principally decorated pottery, represent tangible evidence of the economic power and testify to the influence of the Greek culture in the Etrurian Po valley during the 5th century.1    The new trade network is based on cities such as Marzabotto, a trading post located on the routes that connected the north to the south characterized by a thriving handicraft activity; Spina and Adria, cities and harbours on the Adriatic coast inhabited by a multiethnic community, important emporia for the exchange of imported goods that were redistributed inland through waterways; Mantova, north of the Po river, bridgehead on the trade routes toward the transalpine area; Bologna, the actual federal capital of the entire region. A large fertile territory crossed by rivers provides a wealth of agricultural and breeding products, goods of exchange in an 1

Replacing an early settlement of the second half of the 6th century BC, Marzabotto was reconstructed at the beginning of the 5th century (Fig. 2). The newly founded city was built following a rigorous urban plan, structured on four main orthogonal streets, the plateiai, perfectly oriented according to the cardinal points of the compass. The town is thus divided into eight large sectors, denominated regiones, where minor streets parallel to the north-south axis, the stenopoi, further subdivide the city into long blocks. On the terrace of the acropolis some cult buildings were built, while on its southern slopes is a water facility which drew and collected the groundwater that was then conveyed to the town by canals. Just as with the streets, all but one of the five sacred buildings on the acropolis are north-south aligned (Vitali et al. 2001, Lippolis 2005). There are two temples flanked by open to the sky altars;2 one of the altars can be identifie as a mundus, i.e. a well-altar for the cult of underworld divinities. Behind the temples was the auguraculum, a platform on which the foundation rites of the city were carried out. Just outside the town lay another sacred area, connected with a spring with healing qualities, as suggested by water basins and bronze ex-votos of anatomical parts found here (Govi 1995). Near the fountain sanctuary recent excavations have led to the discovery of architectural remains that perhaps suggest the presence of another sacred area (Malnati et al. 2005). Within the city a number of formerly unearthed dwelling units included within the blocks have shown that house planning was not limited to a predetermined model, but could vary according to their location or because they included artisan workshops. Some of the houses, however, display a certain uniformity in their design, including an entrance corridor with a drainage channel running lengthwise underneath it; this narrow passage led to an interior cross-shaped courtyard that usually contained a well with a pebble revetment. The courtyard, which was open to the sky, was surrounded by living rooms covered by a roof with four inward-sloping economy still based on barter (Sassatelli 1990, Sassatelli 2005). 2  Building E, leaning on the southern slopes of the higher terrace, has been interpreted as a temple facing east, inconsistent with the general town orientation (Lippolis 2005: 141-142).

Elisabetta Govi

eaves, an arrangement that ancient writers called atrium tuscanicum with compluvium and they relate was invented by the Etruscans. Within the town, and in particular along the main plateia A (Fig. 2), were aligned workshops manufacturing metal objects, pottery and clay elements for the roof, i.e. curved and flat tiles. The remains of a huge oven used to fire vases as well as tiles has been uncovered near the large urban temple, while a foundry, on the southern edge of the town, produced bronze items and even statues of remarkable size, as testified by their moulds (Locatelli 2005) A planned layout resembling coeval Greek examples is thus identified here, but its rigorous orientation according to the cardinal points reflects also the cosmological and ritual requirements that shaped the urban layout of the Etruscan newly founded towns, according to literary sources. Recent research has indeed proved that the urban layout originated with a number of actions culminating from the rite of foundation which today can be reconstructed thanks to information provided by Latin sources (Gottarelli 2005). It has been possible to demonstrate that the geometry of the town must have been determined by the observation of the Sun in its annual course. In particular, it appears that the urban layout coincides with the point that links the earliest and latest sunrises and sunsets of the summer and winter solstices (Fig. 3). The point at which the astronomical observation originated corresponds to the auguraculum on the acropolis, whence the augur projected in a southeastern direction the first solstice diagonal line whose middle point corresponded to the geometric centre of the town, where a cippus, with the decussis, a cross engraved according to the astronomical orientation, was found. The latter was the point whence the north-south/east-west axis originated. Finally, in order to complete the plan, from the geometric centre of the town the second solstice diagonal line was determined aiming at the point on the horizon where the Sun sets. The urban plan was then based on these two diagonal lines. The Etruscan town of Marzabotto had a short lifespan: at the beginning of the 4th century BC it fell to invading Celts coming from Europe. The Gallic invaders settled in the town and the inhabitants left. During the Roman age the valley of the Reno lost its importance and the plateau where the town stood was no longer occupied.3 Marzabotto is therefore the only Etruscan town that can be entirely excavated and investigated, representing thus an extraordinarily lucky case study which has provided insights into the Etruscan town planning and architecture of the 5th century BC. For this reason the city has been investigated ever since the middle 19th century, when regular excavations began and the scientific debate about Etruscan civilisation soon focused on Marzabotto (Sassatelli 1983). The University of Bologna has always played a leading role in this long tradition of excavations, unearthing many sectors of the city; yet, a lot has still to be uncovered. Further, the latest

excavations have led to spectacular discoveries which no one would have expected. It seems therefore appropriate to point out that archaeological investigation at Marzabotto today has to deal with the problems of recovering the old excavation reports which are often lacking or even, in some cases, didn’t survive.4 Whoever wishes to undertake research on this city has therefore to tackle the main issue of the recovery of past excavation records; moreover, these have to be converted according to the most updated systems of investigation. Only recently, for instance, it has been possible to draw up an accurate, comprehensive topographical map of the town, replacing the map prepared in about 1960 that today would be insufficient (Masturzo in Lippolis 2005). Thus, it was necessary first of all to plot the whole area as well as the excavated structures through the use of a total station, completing the map with contour lines; this enabled us to digitise the old hand drawn maps combining their data with the new topographical plan (Fig. 4).5 The result, the outcome of a difficult as well as scrupulous work, that as soon as possible we will publish, is clearly different from the old general map, due to its accuracy and comprehensiveness; moreover, it will also enable future developments that we are already preparing. We are currently working on a further step, the establishment of a GIS database of the city of Marzabotto, which will entail major efforts to recover from the archives all the graphic data and photo records of each past excavation, thus providing an extraordinary tool for research and advancing the knowledge and the understanding of the heritage of the city. Preparing a new topographical plan of the city, together with the use of procedures allowing graphic records that ensure high level accuracy and precision in details, will also open up new perspectives in research, providing the basis for the study of ancient modularity and metrology, an almost entirely unexplored aspect in the field of Etruscan studies. In a case study such as that of the city of Marzabotto it seems most likely that in planning the urban layout and organising the inner division of buildings the Etruscans followed fixed standards, that now can be individuated thanks to an adequate documentary basis.6 Given the situation of this ancient town, during the last excavation season activities in the field focused on such relevant aspects as the plotting of structures and graphic recording, combining the different methodologies adopted. Geophysical surveys also represent useful tools for studying archaeological sites by noninvasive methods before starting excavations. During the last season of excavation we combined different methods of investigations, techniques and scientific approaches in order to collect as much information as possible (georadar, magnetometric and    The whole of southern sector of the town, for instance, was excavated and largely restored in the second half of the 19th century; despite some reports of the time, we don’t know anything about it and the materials retrieved were mixed up. Some fundamental features of the acropolis, investigated in the same period, are still obscure, such as the cult practiced and the exact date of each building. 5   This work is the result of a profitable cooperation with the Local Archaeological Office (= Soprintendenza Archeologica dell’Emilia-Romagna). 6   This aspect has been studied only superficially up to now (Lippolis 2005, Ranieri 2005). 4

3   This has resulted in the whole of the urban plan being preserved, unlike the other Etruscan centres which are generally overlaid by Roman and later occupation. Unfortunately, however, later intensive agricultural activities on the plateau where the town was built have gradually stripped away the buildings, which are today preserved only at the lowest level of foundation; moreover, part of the southern sector of the town was destroyed due to erosion from the Reno river.

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geoelectric surveys). The Department of Archaeology of Bologna, under the direction of Giuseppe Sassatelli, began by conducting the excavation of a house in Regio IV-insula 2, denominated Casa 1; then, from 1999 on it has undertaken the excavation of the impressive urban temple (Fig. 2). Casa 1 is actually a workshop-house, since it includes a large amount of space reserved for craft activities, especially if compared to that destined for residential functions (Brizzolara et al. 2004). Within the building the traces of manufacturing structures used for pottery and tile making are in fact numerous, from rectangular basins lined with tiles to knead the clay, to a large water reservoir and up to seven ovens of different sizes to fire the artefacts. This building, as we will see, is of particular importance for the study of the productive economy of the town since it has provided fresh light on craft activities (Marchesi et al. 1997). The impressive urban temple, on the other hand, lies in the north of the town, at the crossroad between the two main streets (Sassatelli and Govi 2005). The sacred area, at present still under excavation, was probably a social and political meeting place for all the citizens, like the agorà of Greek cities. The temple, north-south oriented as are the town and the cult buildings of the acropolis, is a rectangular peripteros, with six columns on the long sides, four on the front, and five on the back side (Fig. 5). The building was on a podium which originally had a stone moulded revetment and monumental frontal steps. The cella is subdivided into a deep pronaos in antis and a bipartite adyton on the back. Service buildings and a large well flank the temple that, as for size and typology, is one of the largest known in Etruria. A votive inscription to Tinia, the powerful Etruscan god equivalent to the Greek Zeus, found within the sacred area attests to the cult of this divinity to whom this large temple was dedicated. Its well preserved plan makes its discovery even more striking, since none of the known Etruscan temple plans have survived intact, having to be reconstructed on the basis of Latin sources, i.e. of Vitruvius. None of the known Etruscan temples have so far been found with all the column bases preserved in situ, thus the presence of the colonnade, as a feature of Etruscan temples, has always been in dispute. The ground plan of the building at Marzabotto has however survived intact, though only the foundations, made of river pebbles and stone blocks, have been preserved. This has enabled us to investigate several aspects of Etruscan religious architecture, such as for instance the Greek patterns which inspired it, the mixture of imported and Etruscan elements as well as the metrology, the numeric and geometric standards on which the structure is based. How to integrate in the graphic records the required high level of accuracy and precision on a large scale with the need for a detailed report of the excavated areas, were the issues posed by this specific case stud . It was thus necessary to have a detailed (1:20) analytic map and also a concise plan, as well as a general topographic map at less detailed scale that could be used both for measurement and recording purposes. We thus chose to adopt two different procedures: the first one is a direct graphic record in 1:20 scale, that enables one to immediately identify the uncovered structures, combined

with the use of a total station which plotted single easily detectable points on walls which were also visible on the hand drawn graphic record. The other procedure consists of the photoplan or photomosaic, obtained through photogrammetric surveying, using a camera at ground level, or by aerial photography from a kite, then graphically elaborated in the field by drawings made while directly studying the structures (Fig. 6). The difference in the latter procedure is that the general plan is provided by digitising from the photographs which have been rectified and scaled by means of surveyed control points (Sacchetti 2005). Such methods ensure accuracy and precision in details but also rapidity in realisation. Both the procedures can be used and interchanged since the result is exactly the same and the choice between them depends on the more or less complex situation of the excavation as well as on the fieldwork needs. Then, in the laboratory the hand made graphic records are turned into vector images and digitised on the general map through CAD software. This enables one to manage all the data that can be displayed in a selective way, highlighting only some structures or stratigraphic units. The final result is a concise graphic record that enables an overall understanding, ensuring accuracy and also precision in details. Adopting this system of graphic recording has allowed us to undertake the metrologic analysis of the temple, that seems to conform with a unit of measurement comparable to the Attic foot of 29.6 cm (Sassatelli and Govi 2005: 26-30). Casa 1 was excavated through traditional methods, with hand made graphic records. In order to update such records we have digitised the old plan, redrawing each single cobblestone of the foundation walls in a CAD environment. This enabled us to gain an accurate map of the house that, as with that of the temple, can be worked on in 3D along with digital images to produce virtual reconstructions of both the buildings (Figs 7-8). One of the difficulties we encountered in virtual modelling were the walls, these haven’t survived at all, and we have reconstructed them on the basis of information drawn from literary sources (Sassatelli and Govi 2005: 29-30). Clearly these products, which are the outcome of research on buildings and excavation records, represent not only a scientific asset which can be used in academic argumentation, but are also an effective and immediate way to advance and enhance the transfer of knowledge of this important archaeological heritage, which otherwise could not be appreciated and fully understood by the public. Virtual reconstructions of buildings such as these can be presented in scientific as well as in popular books, and are also suitable for displaying the structures in the museum, a project on which we are working. The exceptionally well preserved foundations of the temple, that contrasts with the poor state of its walls, have led to the idea of a large model reconstruction to be placed in the sacred area or, indeed, a life size reconstruction of part of the building able to show how impressive it was. An example in Etruria, at Veio, indicates that a good choice would be a limited structure with a minimal visual impact which can nevertheless convey the impression of what the entire building would have looked like. The project in Marzabotto should be done in collaboration with the local Archaeological Office, encompassing an overall program 139

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of rearrangement of the archaeological area including a new museum. If therefore the adoption of appropriate procedures for the graphic recording is essential to acquire the data, process them and enhance their understanding and appreciation, then the approach to the materials recovered during the excavation are not less so. Correctly interpreted, they are the main source of information to reconstruct the historical reality of the archaeological area investigated. In the case of Marzabotto the study of architectural structures and town planning has always been preferred, though it has become clear that craft and productive activities played an important role in town life, as testified by the presence of public and private workshops included within the urban plan. To fully understand this phenomenon and its consequences on the town economy it is necessary to tackle the study of the materials recovered, both employing accurate methods of classificati n of artefacts in the field and submitting part of the items recovered to a laboratory analysis with a multidisciplinary approach.7 The excavation of the workshop-house (Casa 1) yielded a large quantity of materials, mostly sherds of purified-clay, bucchero ware, coarse impasto and painted ware. Greek vases (Attic pottery) and vessels imported from northern Etruscan centres are attested in a lesser percentage. It was thus of overriding importance to distinguish the local production from imports and within the local production to classify different typologies of artefacts to understand their function. As we have seen, within the house that we excavated kilns and craft facilities for the working of the clay were found; thus, it was important to shed new light on this aspect of production, as it has never been fully documented at Marzabotto. None of the other buildings so far excavated have revealed a similar amount of craft facilities connected with rooms with residential functions. It was thus necessary to clarify as much as possible the nature of handicraft activities performed within this dwelling. The collaboration with the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Bologna has enabled us to make chemicalmineralogical analyses and prove that the town economy largely relied on the production of both kitchen and storage ware.8 The different shapes and fabrics addressed different needs and were used for a variety of functions in everyday life. Banqueting ware, for instance, included precious vessels that imitated shapes and decorations from Greek vases as well as the luxury Etruscan bucchero ware. In order to classify the thousands of sherds yielded by the excavations it was necessary to prepare a comprehensive typology, as representative as possible of the full range of the locally produced pottery. Ten years ago, therefore, we started a huge task that has not been limited to the house we had excavated, but has been extended to include the entire town of Marzabotto and currently encompasses also the entire region of the Etrurian Po valley (Mattioli 2005). It was essential, indeed, to set the production of Marzabotto in the wider cultural context within which the city thrived. Classifying all the pottery recovered in the Etrurian Po valley has allowed us to identify a completely

homogeneous standardised production, diffused over the entire territory: the output of a uniform coherent culture as well as of an advanced productive economy, almost at an industrial level, that addressed equally shared needs. Establishing the first complete reference series of pottery shapes and fabrics manufactured in Marzabotto has allowed us to classify every sherd recovered during the excavation; more generally, we have been able to evaluate cultural phenomena such as the patterns that inspired the production of ‘up-to-date’ artisans within a city that was part of vast thriving trading network which enabled the import of goods from Greece as well as other parts of Etruria. Equally essential to determine was which of the types of vessels produced were to be offered in the sacred area within the town; the comparison between the items found in the workshop-house and those coming from the temple enables us to understand the relations between the private and the public spheres as well as between everyday domestic life and the sacred circles. Not less interesting are the productive processes and manufacturing techniques, as recently clarified by the results from Casa 1 as well as by the mineralogical analyses carried out. The pottery classification procedure has led to the assembly of a reference series of tiles, which we found in huge quantities during the excavation. Different sizes and features of flat and curved tiles have enabled us to reconstruct the roof of buildings and reveal that different shapes were employed for the building and for the large urban temple. If we compare such information with the documentation from Tyrrhenian Etruria we understand that the production of the town of Marzabotto entirely complied with rules and standards already in use for a long time. It is only on the basis of the classification of roof tiles that it is possible to virtually reconstruct the buildings. Metalworking has to be considered another important aspect of the handicraft activity. Excavations in Casa 1 have yielded large quantities of slag and moulds, suggesting that in the house were manufactured metal objects, though firing facilities, such as ovens, haven t been found. The collaboration with the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Florence has allowed us to perform archaeometry research on the finds showing that within the building iron, copper and bronze were manufactured (Giunti et al. 2007a). Such information can be integrated with what we know about the city from the excavation of the large foundry along the plateia A (Malnati and Locatelli 2007), and gives the outline of a thriving productive centre that could have profited from raw material most probably imported from the mines of northern Etruria, producing items that were most probably traded. Besides a wide ranging productive economy, almost at the level of industrialization, we now also know that there was a private production manufactured within the houses to meet domestic needs (Govi 2007a). Most probably in fact, within the excavated Casa 1 iron was worked in a variety of forms for different purposes. Finally, archaeo-mineralogical analyses conducted on unworked irregular lumps of iron found in an alley, the socalled aes rude, enabled us to understand another feature of the town economy, i.e. the use of lumps of copper or iron

   For bone remains from Casa 1 see Curci et al. 2006 and A. Curci, this volume. 8    See V. Minguzzi and C. Nannetti, this volume. 7

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with a pre-monetary value. Due to their irregular form the lumps were first considered to be simple metal slags, but they were revealed, due to their high percentage of iron, to be purposely made lumps useless for manufacturing, in this form they circulated (Giunti et al. 2007b). In some cases the lumps bear a recognisable design. A mould with such a design has been found in the foundry (Sassatelli 2002). This means that within the town the aes rude, used according to its weight, and the aes signatum, bearing a design that made the lump recognisable, were both used as a monetary medium. In Etruria an actual form of coinage was adopted late, replacing a barter economy and this system of metal lumps, diffused all over the Etrurian Po valley, seems to be the preceding stage to a monetary economy. Consequently, it can be assumed that this was even the function of the marked stone weights, found in large quantities at Marzabotto: they must have been used, as were the metal lumps, as a means of exchange for precious goods (Cattani 1995). This aspect of the economy was most probably under the control of the civic authorities as we can theorize from the better known monetary economies of the Greek and Roman world. However, to reinforce this theory, in Etruria there is evidence of units of weight housed in town sanctuaries (Cristofani 1996, Maggiani 2001). At Marzabotto besides the control of a civic authority some of the exchanges must have been under a private control, as suggested by a stone weight recovered from a house and inscribed with the name Lavtuni, who must have been the controller of the trade transaction (Colonna 1986: 465; Sassatelli 1994: 15-18). It has still to be ascertained what role single dealers had within the wider context of an economy under the control of civic authorities. Finally, and with regard to social articulation, it is necessary to mention the inscriptions found in Marzabotto, not very numerous (Sassatelli 1994). They are of a private kind and mostly give local names, i.e. gentilitials, formed by a suffix that is characteristic of the Po valley area. This show that the citizens, or better the well-to-do who were capable of writing, were purely locals and didn’t include Etruscan families allegedly come from abroad to rule the town. Yet, some inscriptions also document the fact that settlers from abroad became absorbed into the local community and were ‘Etruscanized’, as for instance Kraikalus, which stands for ‘the Greek’ (Sassatelli 1994: 59). The recent overall analysis of epigraphic evidence recovered from the town has revealed some interesting aspects of the handicraft activities that, as we have seen, were the main source of wealth for the city. There are numerous graffiti, marks that can include both alphabetical and geometric signs, found everywhere in the town (Govi 1994). There is a link between such marks and the pottery production, since graffiti was used on the pottery to give the name of the owner or as signs to differentiate the batch of materials within the pottery workshop; besides this, some signs indicate a numerical value: they must have been made by the craftsmen to indicate the number of vases. These are thus marks that attest to an advanced level of production, an inner organisation within the workshops and a wider spread culture, though writing on the whole remains a rare phenomenon. Mostly inscriptions, alphabetical signs

as well as syllabaries, though partial, were engraved on kitchenware and must have been used within the houses to indicate the mastering of the writing practice as a status symbol. The heritage of the Etruscan town of Marzabotto deserves to be better known, understood and appreciated. For some years and in collaboration with the local Archaeological Office we have been working on a new project which will envisage the enlargement of the present-day small museum as well as a new display. The new project which has been encompassed in an European research project on eco-sustainable museums, focuses on innovative solutions for the conservation issues and on ways to make the displays more attractive to a wider audience; the project aims also to reduce energy waste using renewable resources and includes a structure that will allow one to have an overall view and appreciate the extraordinary archaeological heritage of the urban layout displayed at Marzabotto. A large balcony linked to the museum will allow one to look at the whole plateau, with the preserved buildings and features of the town, from above. The reconstruction of part of the large temple will also lend a more evocative visual impact to those who will visit the area. In the museum rooms virtual reconstructions will be largely employed in order to enable visitors to understand every aspect of the town planning and architecture. The new museum display is scheduled for next year and we hope that with it Marzabotto will open a new era of excavations and research, as well as advance the knowledge and public appreciation of this ancient site.

REFERENCES Brizzolara, A.M., Govi, E., Mattioli, C., Pozzi, A., Sacchetti, F., Sassatelli G., 2004, ‘La città etrusca di Marzabotto’ in M.T. Guaitoli, N. Marchetti, D. Scagliarini (eds) Scoprire. Scavi del Dipartimento di Archeologia (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 37-49 Cattani, M., 1995, ‘Il sistema ponderale di Marzabotto’, Annali dell’Istituto Italiano di Numismatica 42, pp. 21-79 Colonna, G., 1986, ‘Urbanistica e architettura’ in M. Pallottino et al. (eds) Rasenna. Storia e civiltà degli Etruschi (Milano: Libri Scheiwiller), pp. 371-530 Cristofani, M., 1996, Due testi dell’Italia preromana, Quaderni di Archeologia etrusco-italica 25 (Roma: CNR) Curci, A., Bigoni, M., Ferrari, V., 2006, ‘Le nuove analisi archeozoologiche a Marzabotto: Regio IV, Insula 2, Casa 1’ in A. Curci, D. Vitali (eds) Animali tra uomini e dei. Archeozoologia del mondo preromano. Atti del Convegno internazionale, 8-9 novembre 2002, Studi e scavi n.s. 14 (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 197-204 Giunti, I., Benvenuti, M., Chiarantini, L., Govi, E., Pecchioni, E., Sassatelli, G., 2007a, ‘Studio archeometallurgico di resti della lavorazione dei metalli rinvenuti nel sito etrusco di Marzabotto (Bo)’ in C. D’Amico (ed.) Atti del Convegno di Caserta (febbraio 2005) dell’associazione Nazionale di Archeometria (Bologna: Pàtron), pp. 465-474 141

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Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 247-266 Masturzo, N., 2005, ‘La ricerca topografica in Lippolis 2005, pp. 158-163 Ranieri, M., 2005, ‘La geometria della pianta del tempio urbano di Marzabotto’ in G. Sassatelli, E. Govi (eds) Atti del Convegno: Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 73-87 Sacchetti, F., 2005, ‘I nuovi scavi del Dipartimento di Archeologia nella città etrusca di Marzabotto (Regio I, insula 5): le tecniche di rilievo’ in G. Sassatelli, E. Govi (eds) Atti del Convegno: Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 63-72 Sassatelli, G., 1983, ‘Bologna e Marzabotto. Storia di un problema’ in G.A. Mansuelli (ed.) Studi sulla città antica. L’Emilia Romagna (Roma: ‘L’Erma’ di Bretschneider), pp. 65-127 Sassatelli, G., 1990, ‘La situazione in Etruria padana’ in Crise et transformation des sociétés archaïques de l’Italie antique au Ve siècle av. J.-C.: Actes de la table ronde, Rome 1987 (Rome: L’Ecole française de Rome), pp. 51-100 Sassatelli, G. (ed.), 1994, Iscrizioni e graffiti della città etrusca di Marzabotto (Imola: Bologna University Press) Sassatelli, G., 2002, ‘Marzabotto (Bologna), Insula 5 della Regio IV (officina per la fusione del bronzo)’ in E. Pellegrini, R. Macellari (eds) I lingotti con il segno del ramo secco (Roma: Istituti editoriali e poligrafici internazionali), pp. 134-136 Sassatelli, G., 2005, ‘La fase felsinea’ in G. Sassatelli, A. Donati (eds) Storia di Bologna, I. Bologna nell’antichità (Bologna: Bononia University), pp. 282-290 Sassatelli, G., Govi, E., 2005, ‘Il tempio di Tina in area urbana’ in G. Sassatelli, E. Govi (eds) Atti del Convegno: Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 9-62 Vitali, D., Brizzolara, A.M., Lippolis, E., 2001, L’Acropoli della città etrusca di Marzabotto (Bologna: University Press)

Giunti, I., Benvenuti, M., Chiarantini, L., Pecchioni, E., 2007b, ‘Studio archeometallurgico di resti della lavorazione dei metalli rinvenuti nella Regio IV, insula 2, Casa 1’ in Nuove ricerche sulla metallurgia antica (Seminario di Studio, Populonia 2005), Agogè. Atti della Scuola di Specializzazione in Archeologia III, pp. 337-342 Gottarelli, A., 2005, ‘La connessione astronomica della forma urbana della città di Marzabotto’ in G. Sassatelli, E. Govi (eds) Atti del Convegno: Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 101-138 Govi, E., 1994, ‘I graffiti in G. Sassatelli (ed.) Iscrizioni e graffiti della città etrusca di Marzabotto (Imola: Bologna University Press), pp. 213-236 Govi, E., 1995, ‘Vasi attici a figure nere dal santuario per il culto delle acque di Marzabotto’, Ocnus 3, pp. 61-76 Govi, E., 2007a, ‘La città etrusca di Marzabotto. La Casa 1 della Regio IV, insula 2’, in Nuove ricerche sulla metallurgia antica (Seminario di Studio, Populonia 2005), Agogè. Atti della Scuola di Specializzazione in Archeologia III, pp. 333-337 Govi, E. (ed.), 2007b, Marzabotto an Etruscan Town (Bologna: Ante quem) Lippolis, E., 2005, ‘Nuovi dati sull’acropoli e sulla forma urbana di Marzabotto’ in G. Sassatelli, E. Govi (eds) Atti del Convegno: Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 139-165 Locatelli, D., 2005, ‘La fonderia della Regio V, insula 5: elementi per una definizione dell’attività produttiva’ in G. Sassatelli, E. Govi (eds) Atti del Convegno: Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 213-237 Maggiani, A., 2001, ‘Peso’ in A.M. Moretti Sgubini (ed.) Veio, Vulci, Cerveteri. Città d’Etruria a confronto: Roma, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Villa Poniatowski, 1 ottobre – 30 dicembre 2001 (Catalogo della mostra) (Roma: ‘L’Erma’ di Bretschneider), p. 153 Malnati, L., Desantis P., Losi, A., Balista, C., 2005, ‘Nuove testimonianze cultuali a Marzabotto: l’area sacra nord-orientale’ in G. Sassatelli, E. Govi (eds) Atti del Convegno: Culti, forma urbana e artigianato a Marzabotto. Nuove prospettive di ricerca (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 89-100 Malnati, L., Locatelli, D., 2007, ‘Ricerche sulla metallotecnica a nord degli Appennini: per un riesame della “fonderia” di Marzabotto-Kainua’, in Nuove ricerche sulla metallurgia antica (Seminario di Studio, Populonia 2005), Agogè. Atti della Scuola di Specializzazione in Archeologia III, pp. 347-355 Marchesi, M., Brizzolara, A.M., Sassatelli, G., Taglioni, C., Mattioli, C., Govi, E., 1997, ‘La città etrusca di Marzabotto: scavi nell’isolato 2 della Regione IV’ in M.T. Guaitoli (ed.) Scavi e ricerche del Dipartimento di Archeologia (Bologna: University Press), pp. 9-28 Mattioli, C., 2005, ‘La ceramica etrusca di area padana: verso una tipologia generale ed un linguaggio comune’ in G. Sassatelli, E. Govi (eds) Atti del Convegno: 142

Reconstructing history from material culture: the case of Etruscan Marzabotto

Fig. 1 - Map of the Etrurian Po valley between the 6th and the 4th century BC.

Fig. 2 - General map of Marzabotto. 143

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Fig. 3 - Hypothesis of the link between the urban layout and the heavenly templum (from Gottarelli 2005).

Fig. 4 - New general plan of the town. 144

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Fig. 5 - General view of the sacred area with the urban temple.

Fig. 6 - General map of the sacred area.

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Fig. 7 - Hand made graphic record (1:20) plotted on general map through CAD software.

Fig. 8 - Virtual reconstruction of the urban temple 146

Material evidence as a vehicle for socio-cultural reconstruction  

Alan Walmsley Abstract The presentation and explanation of material culture as a window on the past is a task that challenges museum curators, historians, and archaeologists alike, although the intended audience can be different. This paper investigates some contemporary issues facing institutions that are entrusted with preserving Cultural Heritage material, beginning with a discussion of the popularisation of the past and the pitfalls in staging ‘block-buster’ public exhibits. Next, two recent books are evaluated as models in the field of modern academic writing. Finally, two material culture groups – ceramics and coins – from the early Islamic east Mediterranean are presented as examples of the insights archaeological discoveries can give in writing social history.

1. Introduction The general intention of this paper is to illustrate and evaluate the contemporary uses of archaeological evidence for reconstructing the social history of premodern societies, and the various ways by which the impact of these changes on the modern world can be evaluated. The different applications and social worth of this multifaceted approach are manifold, but especially useful in the presentation of material culture to the wider public. Here, uses include staging displays in places such as museums, or potential ‘blockbuster’ exhibitions so fashionable today,1 and through the media, for example television documentaries. The multiplication of cable channels – National Geographic, the History Channel, and feature programs on news channels for example – reflect the modern interest, if not obsession, with the past. It has become incumbent on institutions, scholars and curators to present a dynamic and pertinent interpretation of the past that not only addresses the interests and concerns of modern society, but furthers that process by stimulating informed debate. The outcomes of such an approach are also practical, in that the success of such activities will ensure continuing public support for museums, academic research, and the preservation of indigenous and borrowed Cultural Heritages. Archaeology is often popularised through offerings, in print and the media, that emphasize the mysterious and unfathomable, but the danger here is the trend to incite titillation rather than instruction and, more dangerously, an encouragement of the lunatic fringe. Von Däniken as (almost) mainstream; but it is reasoning, rationality and logic that are in peril – and us. The eventual and surely disastrous result of such developments will be the degradation of archaeological endeavour and the institutions that nurture it. In the longer term, consequences could include the eventual discrediting of the important educational role archaeology can claim in addressing topics relevant to the modern world, such as multiculturalism, religious tolera1    Tutankhamun, Chinese Warriors and many other ancients roam, as disconnected celebrities, the modern world; the stark lessons in Haskell 2000 seem wholly (and deliberately?) ignored. I recognise contemporary pressures museums face; the question is motive, intent, and consequences of actions past and present.

tion, cultural resource management, identity, premodern globalisation, and climate change. If, as some believe, ‘aliens did it’, then we are powerless and worthless in contemporary society. The challenge to oppose titillation and refute the lunatic fringe is ours, and very real. To investigate aspects of these various issues, this paper is set out in two parts, the first tending towards the general, the second dealing with more specific topics 1. The first section of the paper offers broadly applicable observations on the use (and potential misuse) of archaeological data for writing social and cultural history. 2. There then follows the presentation of two instances of the application of material culture to social history that actively illustrate these general comments. These are: a. ceramics, and b. numismatics Both of these material culture groups, although quite different in character, offer highly illuminating examples of how material culture can give us new and, at times, quite profound insights into socio-cultural developments that continue to have an impact on the make-up of the modern world.

2. Understanding material culture and its presentation There is no question that the presentation of material culture ranks highly in the mind of curators and governors charged with the oversight of museum collections. Witness, especially, the grand style of the buildings erected to house and present national collections. Take London’s British Museum, recently and controversially refurbished: is it a bookshop and café first (their opening hours exceed the galleries), and then a museum? Or the Metropolitan Museum of New York, again given lavish care in recent years, notably the new Classical sculpture gallery (at a reputed 200 million dollars, much through philanthropic donations). Yet, in spite of its obvious popularity, does the decades-long rearrangement and admittedly stylish pres-

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entation of a long-established collection of sculpture represent a missed opportunity, not venturing beyond sculpture as art and offering little that is new. The ensuing debate, for instance in the prestigious and at times provocative magazine The New Yorker,2 on the appropriateness of such collections (many of the objects have unprovenanced origins) and their proper visual and intellectual presentation reveals, with some relief, an ongoing high level of public interest in museums, their purposes, and the ethical standards expected of them in the modern world. While, then, the refurbishment of the British Museum and the new galleries at the Metropolitan Museum maybe missed opportunities, they have been, nonetheless, undeniably popular with the visiting public. However, is popularity necessarily at the expense of intellectual pursuits? It should be remembered that museums, as receptors and interpreters of past cultural objects,3 emerged as a core part of the Enlightenment, serving in part as institutions of public education set up, in part, to challenge superstition and ignorance, not in acquiescence to them. The continuing relevance of this role for museums today needs to be embraced as part of a reinvention of purpose, in part as a challenge to constructed identities of the past, many false and prejudiced, for which they – museums – are partly responsible (Heath 2007). Museums, through their collections, locations, and intellectual resources, are in a matchless position to challenge entrenched misconceptions about peoples and cultures of the past as well as the present, and thereby can make a significant contribution to the enhancement of global cooperation. Thus by recreating the social relevance of museums, which in no way necessarily needs to be at the expense of ‘glamour’, their future purpose can be ensured. As a positive example, I have in mind the enormously successful and popular exhibition curatored by Jessica Hallett on early Islamic ceramics at the Sackler Museum in Washington D.C. during 2004-2005.4 As The Washington Post remarked: ‘If only every exhibition had as rich a tale to tell, and as much fresh scholarship to share’.5 Not only a story to tell of interregional trade, long-distance cultural contact, the technological inventiveness by the potters of Basra (Iraq), and the revolutionary impact these innovations had on early Islamic society, but also a story part-told through lumps of industrial waste and cabinets of fragmentary pottery sherds – the sort of ‘un-museum’ like objects often scorned by major museums. We will return to aspects of the origin and spread of early Islamic glazed ceramics later in this paper, specifically the impact of this movement at the more local level in Syria-Palestine, to illustrate the importance of the material past in understanding social change in the past. Iraq and China: Ceramics, Trade and Innovation was an ambitious, even risky, experiment in museum curatorship that unquestionably identified the existence of a sophisticated and curious public, sadly and all

too often ignored and even spurned by museum curators. Does the material culture record attract a more transparent and sympathetic treatment in contemporary scholarship? Perhaps not surprisingly the answer is both yes and no. An inherent problem with archaeological data has been the lack of accessibility to nonspecialists, which has to some extent restricted its use in the writing of histories. Conversely, historians have perceived archaeology as little more than a ‘gap-fille ’, especially useful when the historian’s subject matter runs a little short, but otherwise intrinsically of little independent worth. Hence an archaeologist-historian dialogue has been slow to emerge, but recently two especially successful books on the history of the early Middle Ages have served to completely redefine the presentation and explanation of archaeological information in thematic historical narratives.6 Chris Wickham’s book is a magisterial study of almost a thousand pages that compares and contrasts the defining events that characterised the end of Antiquity and the onset of the Middle Ages around the Mediterranean and in Europe. In his study, of such depth and complexity it would be foolish to attempt a generalisation of the outcomes here, Wickham interleaves historical and archaeological sources in a tight and seamless exposé of regional trends that characterised the disintegration of the Roman world. Essentially a social and economic history, his study on the emergence of the Middle Ages emphasises disruption, divergence, regionality, and a reduction in operating social structures, all outcomes of multiple transformations that, sadly (it could be viewed), defy easy generalisation. Hence seeking a single, overarching explanation for the onset of the Middle Ages, as welcomed as the identification of a solitary and straightforward cause would be, will not only fail, but is quite erroneous. Following a similar line, although of shorter length (but of no less impact), Bryan Ward-Perkins offers a refreshing and challenging study of the end of Rome, a book entirely in tune with the contemporary world. Focusing on Europe, archaeological data is widely utilised to argue for real decline in living standards with the end of the Roman polity: ‘It is currently deeply unfashionable to state that anything like a “crisis” or a “decline” occurred at the end of the Roman empire, let alone that a ‘civilisation’ collapsed and a “dark age” ensued’.7 There is no restatement of stale, dark-age ‘decline’ theories but a vibrant re-examination, based on archaeological evidence, of what living circumstances must have been like after the 5th century in Europe (not good at all), and the social, cultural and political implications that can be read into these conditions (rather bleak). Instead of a painless transformation, argues Ward-Perkins, decline unmistakably occurred and a civilisation came to an end, but there was no specific year, decade, nor, even, a particular cen-

   Mead 2007: 54; online (abstract only) at www.newyorker.com/ reporting/2007/04/09/070409fa_fact_mead (accessed 15 March 2008). 3    The power of the material past in the modern, especially its ideological translation, is exposed in Barkan 1999. 4    Seen personally by the author in April 2005. 5    Gopnik 2004; online at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/ A26920-2004Dec1.html (accessed 15 March 2008). 2

   Ward-Perkins 2005, Wickham 2005. There are many differences between the two books – scope, intent, and readership for instance – and the intention in this paper is only to comment on their extensive use of archaeological data as historical source material. 7    Ward-Perkins 2005: 87. The chapter is pointedly entitled ‘The Disappearance of Comfort’. 6

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tury that is recognisable as the moment of collapse. There were (so to speak) many ends, separated in time and space, which ultimately combined to bring about an undeniable ‘fall of Rome and the end of civilization’. To comprehend this decline, the reader is presented with a number of charts which tell a miserable story: from Britain to the Aegean, the situation was bleak beginning with the 5th century – even cattle reverted to smaller prehistoric dimensions8 – but the start date and rates of decline varied region by region. Everyone was affected, not just the upper echelons of society. This consideration of non-elites, made especially possible by archaeological discoveries, is a further mark of WardPerkins innovative use of alternative data often ignored, or misinterpreted, by historians.

nian urban sites, notably Amman Citadel, Bayt Ras, Jarash, Pella and Aqaba. Due to their survival in the archaeological record, ceramics constitute a major data source that can be used to identify significant phases of social equilibrium and change in the formation of the Islamic Middle Ages. At Pella, situated in the tectonically-active Jordan Valley, a series of historically-attested earthquakes have provided a secure chronology for the ceramics of early Islamic north Jordan and Palestine (Fig. 2). Research into the pottery from excavation areas IV and XXIX has identified nineteen major wares in the Pella corpus, between the earthquake of AD 659-660 and the end of the Islamic city centre in Area XXIX sometime in the 10th century or early 11th century, although not all of these coexisted. The pottery corpus thus preserved presents some clearly discernable cultural trends in the first three to four Islamic centuries. Major historical events, specific lly the Islamic Conquest of the AD 630s and the traumatic overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphs (AD 750), had no appreciable impact on ceramic styles. Clearly, equating certain pottery types with specific dynastic periods is both erroneous and historically misleading. In both instances, only after a few decades, when a new ruling group was firmly in control, did major shifts occur in representative wares, shapes and production technology. The first major changes took place at the start of the 8th century, when five local wares with a long history disappeared from the corpus and three new types appeared, although these developments did not alter the essentially local character of the corpus. The new pottery of the 8th century clearly originated in the ceramic technologies of the preceding Roman and Byzantine periods, with the changes representing a quiet ‘internal revolution’ rather than any radical change imposed from outside. Such change was only to occur a century later, but the differences this time were technologically significant and culturally profound in their implications. Sometime in the first half of the 9th century – nearly two centuries after the imposition of Islamic hegemony in the region – was there a clear break with local potting technologies, although the disjunction was not in any way complete. It involved the sudden end of one ware and its replacement with a distinctive thin-walled, cream ware often associated with Samarra in Iraq, and expertly thrown into bowls, jars and strainer jugs (Fig. 2). These soon came to dominate the ceramic corpus of 9th-century Pella.9 Other new wares, also previously unknown stylistically and technologically, appear by the middle of the century, including examples of glazed wares of an Iraqi-north Syria inspiration resulting from the introduction of Basra-induced technologies. These new pottery types, especially the thin cream and glazed wares, represent a profound artistic and technological break with the past, an event that stands as one of the more significan ‘puncture points’ in the cultural history of Palestine and Jordan. The appearance of new ceramic styles and technologies reveals a growing community awareness of, and contact with, the cultural traditions of the wider Islamic world, an interest that formed part of a search for a new identity following the physical and institutional end of the late antique Pella. Fortunately, the study of ceramics in contemporary ar-

3. The uses of material culture: two studies This discussion of Wickham’s and Ward-Perkins’ books takes us to a consideration of two examples in which material culture can be used for the writing of social history. Both coincide chronologically with the period studied by Wickham and Ward-Perkins (5th-8th centuries AD), but are confined to a small area of the former East Roman empire, a region which never experienced anything like the social and economic contractions that characterised the West. 3.1. Ceramics Pottery is the most commonly recovered and analysed artefact type in Middle Eastern archaeology. The usefulness of pottery to the archaeologist results from its abundance, durability, stylistic change, and technological variability. As vessel shape and surface decoration reflect the aesthetic preferences of producers and consumers, significant stylistic developments are often used as evidence for broader social change. The example cited in this paper comes from the early Islamic site of Pella in Jordan (Figs 1-2), and reveals that the arrival of new elites in the region had little immediate impact on the local population. Rather, the evidence for major social change does not appear until almost two centuries later in the archaeological record. In the last two decades, the late antique – early Islamic period has gained full recognition as a discrete and legitimate field of research in Jordanian archaeology (Walmsley 2007: 15-30). Old and frequently prejudiced concepts have been challenged and discredited, and problem-oriented archaeological field programs have been begun to address current issues of cultural continuity and change in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. Since the late 1970s a stream of new material, from ceramics to numismatics, has emerged from excavations at a number of major Jorda   ‘Cattle and, to a lesser extent, other domesticated animals show a marked rise in average size in Roman times… but it appears to have been impossible to sustain this improvement in the more basic conditions of the post-Roman centuries. Cattle size fell back to prehistoric levels.’ (WardPerkins 2005: 145). Ward-Perkins argues that the cause for this decline in livestock size had to do with better Roman nutritional values, especially in winter; he uses a little graphic showing leaner Iron Age and early medieval cattle to illustrate his point (the chapter is resolutely entitled ‘The Death of a Civilization?’, but the question mark belies his intent). 8

   Magness 1997; Walmsley 2001, for studies in the Palestine-Jordan area. 9

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chaeology goes well beyond the limited antiquarian objectives of the past. The thorough collection and systematic processing of pottery from excavations at an archaeological site permit the application of advanced techniques, and can identify wider trends within an ancient society by identifying stylistic and technological changes to the corpus. Analysis of the late antique and early Islamic pottery from the Pella excavations has recognised two major shifts in the ceramic horizon, each reflecting a broader reform of the socio-economic structure of the town. Of these ceramic ‘revolutions’ the second was by far the more profound. New and unfamiliar pottery styles came to predominate, and quickly so, indicating the growing Islamicisation of Pella’s community in the early 9th century AD.

production of the first coinages, beginning at Hims during the Sassanid occupation (614-628) and continuing, virtually uninterrupted, in the first Islamic decades, but specifically authorised by town church authorities such as at Baysan (Skythopolis) and Jarash (Gerasa). 3. Lastly, these changes were indicative of a progressively more institutionalised approach to the organisation of government structures, as the coin series become more standardised over Syria-Palestine. The need for coinage was well understood at all levels of administration, as was (in time) the powerful social message coins could convey – perhaps at that time more powerfully than today’s iconic Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, built with its rich decorative imagery at the same time as the final reform of the coinage was underway. The two events, surely, can not be unrelated. The use of coins as instruments for reconstructing social history is not a new approach, but until recently has been rare in the study of late antique – early Islamic Syria-Palestine. Coins present many challenges to historians, archaeologists and museum curators alike: they are physically difficult to identify, hard to explain as documents of the economic and cultural past, and difficult (but not impossible) to display attractively and informatively. Accordingly, the use of coins as a source for historical study and public instruction is an exception, rather than the rule.

3.2 Numismatics Coins, as the deliberate product of a ruling authority, offer detailed insights into the operations and socio-economic intentions of government agencies, whatever their place in the hierarchy. The monetary history of Syria-Palestine in the 7th century is especially informative, as this century was one of the most inventive and adaptable periods in the monetary history of the region. In four clearly definable stages, in which the hand of a centralised authority becomes increasingly identifiable, the coinage was to be progressively transformed into a radically original tripartite series in gold, silver and copper, characterised by short passages in Kufic Arabic extolling God/Allah and his Prophet Muhammad, often based on verses from the Qur’ân. Due to its reputation, the new coinage was to celebrate a long history and to enjoy popularity far beyond the confines of the Muslim world, such as in Scandinavia (Graham-Campbell and Williams 2007), which indicates the ultimate success of the change. Yet the century-long prologue to this new monetary order, the so-called Arab-Byzantine coinage, although less enduring, is equally remarkable but for different reasons. In this case its importance lies in the considerable insights it gives us into a number of defining social and economic developments that occurred at that time. Coinage circulating in Syria-Palestine during the 7th century can be divided into four major categories, based on style and chronology (Album and Goodwin 2002, Foss 2004, Pottier and Foss 2004). These are: 1. Standard Byzantine in copper and gold, brought into Syria-Palestine until around the 660s; 2. substitute copper coinage replicating current and earlier Byzantine issues; 3. transitional Byzantine-Muslim issues, mostly in base metal (about 660-680); 4. the Standing Caliph Series (690s), with which the intention of producing a standardised and centralised coinage becomes abundantly clear. An analysis of these coin types presents three major interlinking points of foremost significance, each of which stands out as directly relevant to the social and economic history of 7th-century Syria-Palestine. 1. Firstly, the clearly determined purpose of issuing authorities to supply adequate small change and, less systematically, precious coinage to the market, an indication of an active monetary economy. 2. Next, the clear role of ecclesiastical authorities in the

4. Concluding note This paper has attempted to argue that greater care needs to be taken in the presentation, analysis and explanation of material culture. This caveat applies equally to the archaeologist and the museum curator, as in both professions the presentation and explanation of material culture is fraught with problems of perception at all levels, from the curator/archaeologist as interpreter to the intended audience. In this process the greatest responsibility falls to the appointed cultural mediators – museum curators and archaeologists – to offer candid, engaging, yet challenging insights into premodern societies. This can be done by addressing the totality of the archaeological evidence, and especially by undertaking a reasoned analysis of the material with the intention of shedding light on the character and operation of past societies, both successes and failures. Hence in dealing with material evidence as a vehicle for socio-cultural reconstruction, it is the totality of the argumentation that counts, not the presentation of isolated (and especially unprovenanced) examples as art objects if the results are to be appreciated by, and appear relevant to, a contemporary audience.

References Album, S., Goodwin, T., 2002, Sylloge of Islamic Coins in the Ashmolean, I. The Pre-Reform Coinage of the Early Islamic Period (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum) Barkan, L., 1999, Unearthing the Past: Archaeology and 150

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of Antiquity”. The Met Defends its Treasures’, The New Yorker, April 9th Pottier, H., Foss, C., 2004, Le monnayage de la Syrie sous l’occupation perse (610-630). Coinage in Syria under Persian Rule (610-630), Cahiers Ernest-Babelon 9 (Paris: CNRS) Walmsley, A., 2001, ‘Turning East. The Appearance of Islamic Cream Wares in Jordan – the End of Antiquity?’ in E. Villeneuve, P.M. Watson (eds) La céramique byzantine et proto-islamique en Syrie-Jordanie (IVe-VIIIe siècles) (Beyrouth: Institut français d’archéologie du Proche-Orient), pp. 305-13 Walmsley, A., 2007, Early Islamic Syria: an Archaeological Assessment, Duckworth Debates in Archaeology (London: Duckworth) Ward-Perkins, B., 2005, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (Oxford: Oxford University Press) Wickham, C., 2005, Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean 400-800 (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press) Foss, C., 2004, ‘The Coinage of the First Century of Islam’, Journal of Roman Arcaheology 17/2, pp. 748760 (review of Album and Goodwin 1997) Gopnik, B., 2004, ‘An Exotic Tale Formed of Clay And Imagination’, The Washington Post, December 2nd Graham-Campbell, J., Williams, G. (eds), 2007, Silver Economy in the Viking Age, Publications of the Institute of Archaeology (Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press) Haskell, F., 2000, The Ephemeral Museum: Old Master Paintings and the Rise of the Art Exhibition (New Haven: Yale University Press) Heath, I., 2007, The Representation of Islam in British Museums, BAR S1643 (Oxford: BAR Publishing) Magness, J., 1997, ‘The Chronology of Capernaum in the Early Islamic Period’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 117/ 3, pp. 481-486 Mead, R., 2007, ‘Onward and Upward with the Arts. “Den

Fig. 1 - A cultural puncture point in the ceramics at Pella: the introduction of eggshell-thin white wares (Pella Project).

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Fig. 2 - Map of main excavated areas with late antique and early medieval levels at Pella (Tabaqat Fahl) in Jordan (Pella Project, modified Walmsley).

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GIS archives for sites and their landscapes  

Maurizio Cattani Abstract The capabilities of Geographic Information Systems in archaeological research show several solutions in managing archives of information. The application of GIS to the management of archaeological excavations and sites may redirect several approaches of investigation, data treatment and explanatory process. Huge amount of data can be faced with an open access according to semantic and relational retrieval. For a territorial analysis, the usage of GIS makes the most of shared information in a Web application that allow several scholars to a collaborative and efficacious analysis of ancient settlement patterns.

After more than ten years of GIS applications in the archaeological research we need some considerations to reach a better awareness of this tool, in order to schedule a future development as new role in storing and managing data. The feeling is that the collection of information and the practice of field archaeology did not follow the development of informatics with the result of a disconnection between both practices. Many archaeologists believe that the informatics tool is able to solve any future interpretive step, while other scholars are persuaded about the pointlessness of the effort needed to reach a minimum result. In both cases nobody has in his mind the awareness of a wider system in managing archives that the GIS can offer. The publication in recent years of many handbooks (Forte 2002, Weathley and Gillings 2002, Conolly and Lake 2006) about the use of GIS in the archaeological research allows even the least expert to understand the potential of this tool, from a friendly approach with specific software to the possibility of generating archaeological maps or analyzing spatial data. Many other applications have been published as case study making clear among several advantages the following three aspects of GIS: 1. Tool for documentation of Spatial Information with both quantitative data and qualitative data. 2. Developer of new methods (analytical, descriptive, training) for a more sophisticated documentation of archaeological contexts. 3. Reasoning and Interpreting Tool as guidance, explanatory process and suggesting the following steps in the research. We may assume that GIS has reached among field archaeologists a commonly shared level for documenting excavations and survey projects. Both research activities produce large mass of data traditionally stored in archives that in most of the cases remain unused or exploited at a low percentage of their capabilities. The GIS appears as a tool that can help to relate information and to enlarge the explanatory process. The evaluation of GIS application in managing excavation can help us to understand the current awareness of this tool and more deeply the operational sequence from documentation to the final explanation. For the first and basic use of GIS as documentation tool, despite a few steps further have been made toward a digital recording, we have the

suspicion that there is not a real awareness about the GIS use in comparison with the idea of fashion in the current research. Since the GIS is used sometimes as alternative to Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software, it means that archaeologists are not so aware of the advantage of information systems comparing with simple technical drawings. The lack of awareness concerns especially the link between spatial data and the archaeological meaning. We can take advantage of storing information in GIS for a shared knowledge of plans, records list, distribution of items but we will have also a certain advantage with added values as: • a tool to query, analyze, and map data in support of the decision-making process; • up-to-date inventories for evaluation of development proposals in the research; • delineate and study in depth archaeological resources and variables. At the documentation step the GIS can be used together with digital photographs (for single images or photomosaics) and Electronic Total Station (for topographic survey) and in this way it will allow to reach new results in quickness, accuracy and control in storing data. One of the first application in managing archaeological excavation dates back to 1998-2001 and concerns the research at the ‘terramara del Montale’(Candelato et al. 2002), carried out by the Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico di Modena, directed by A. Cardarelli (Pl. VI: 1). In recent years after this first testing phase, the method has become a standard in managing data and has been applied in several excavations carried out by the prehistoric section of the Department of Archaeology of the University of Bologna. The field research carried out in different environments from Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), Arabian Peninsula (Yemen and Sultanate of Oman) to Italian regions (Romagna and Sicily) allowed to improve the techniques of a deeper analysis of the archaeological context (Cattani 2003) and definitely demonstrated the efficacy of the recording system (Pl. VI: 2). Among the developments applied in the field research there are some aspects that will have a fundamental direction in the application of GIS. The first can be considered technical and instrumental. Following the development of tools and recording systems (laser scanner, photogrammetry) will increase the GIS interface for a better documenta-

Maurizio Cattani

tion like a 3D evaluation of archaeological features, while a topological approach (Cattani and Fiorini 2004) and a more sophisticated analysis of spatial data like a vertical distribution (Cattani et al. 2004) will allow to analyse the volumetric space that contain the archaeological data. A further target focuses on a reorganization of recorded sets of data (US, finds, features, activities) according to the archaeological phases determined by the stratigraphic sequence. A more sophisticated use of matrix generating software, interlaced with the GIS, is increasing the capability to exploit topological relationships among stratigraphic units and the significance of interpreted phases (abandonment, life, reuse). Another target concerns the connectivity of several archives (photo, video, drawings…) interlaced with the GIS to improve the availability of documents to enrich the explanatory process, usually delayed long time after the completion of field research with the effect of some loss of data treatment (Pl. VI: 3, Pl. VII: 1). Among the main effective systems are the software to manage archives of images that with the availability of a visual and direct examination can improve the choice in comparing documents for a typological analysis (PhotoArchive, Cumulus). The most important and recent development has been the systemic approach in which the GIS becomes a part of an extended way of connecting information, through ontology, semantic retrieval, expert systems, case-based reasoning and other systems of knowledge management. Among these applications some of them have been faced with a theoretical approach in collaboration with the Dipartimento di Informatica, Sistemistica e Comunicazione (DISCo) of the University of Milano Bicocca. The collaboration plan includes several research programs, like the formal Knowledge Representation and Automated Reasoning for the Study of Archaeological Stratigraphy (Mantegari et al. 2008) or the Protocol for a shared practice of archaeological methods (Sala 2008) and the Semantic Profiling for a Multimodal Interaction. About the latter application, the aim concerns the capability in using GIS as a support system in the reasoning steps of the archaeologist. The knowledge of the past depends from the analysis of traces and we need to examine each of these because it has something to tell us. The capability to explain and narrate the results depends from the formulated questions, from the advanced hypothesis, or from the methods applied to obtain the answers (what is it? [function], how was it made ? [material, production cycle], when? [chronology]). In the field research each archaeologist must put himself questions that will allow to direct choices and to control the result of practical actions. Even if the GIS will never substitute the archaeologist in the decision process, it can help in the choice of a strategy of the excavation. Some critical steps in the fieldwork are usefully assisted by GIS and allow to improve delimiting US, determining the sequence, locating features and supporting explanations or directing strategies of sampling (for sedimentological analysis, chemical analysis, etc.). Also in the interpretive phase the GIS supporting knowledge management systems can assist as a referenced pat-

tern of decision process. A simple example, in the choice of how to proceed in the excavation of large heaps of stones, in the Bronze Age settlement of Mursia (Pantelleria) includes several options to interprete archaeological layers. The stones put on light can reference to several models of evaluation and explanation, like a collapse with partial squatting events, or the result of artificial removal of stones, even modified or not by pedogenetical processes. In the evaluation of formation (natural) or intentionality (artificial) the stratigraphical analysis and the topological analysis (e.g., lines of stone appearing during the excavation lead to suppose the evidence of a wall) suggested by the GIS can support the way to proceed in the excavation. Another example can be the increase of the explanatory process when the archives are extended to a shared knowledge that can exploit the capabilities of the Web (De Paoli, this volume). The application of this approach to the analysis of the dwelling B6 (Pl. VII: 2), with peculiar structures of unknown purpose shows the necessity to increase the profi ing of all the information collected and to look for different links in the results collected with different sources. The role of the GIS in this process consists in a shared platform, where all the features are measurable and topologically related each other to confirm or to exclude the different steps in the documentation and explanatory process. The capability of GIS may be extended to the evaluation and the enhancement of an archaeological site, for a dissemination of scientific results or for a popularization including the development of systems of assisted visit of an archaeological site. A three-dimensional model of a site, where each feature could be selected according to the schedule plan of path or sight view, can assist the designer in exploiting all the main features of the site. Another example of GIS archives is the WebGIS of Northern Italy in the Bronze Age (Bonomi et al. 2007, Mantegari et al. 2007), where the wide capability of a Web sharing, updating and working allows to enhance the results of a long-term research (Pl. VII: 3). The collaboration of different scholars from several universities or research centres shows the high potentiality of analyzing interactively the distribution of several kinds of archaeological information, from sites typology, for an evaluation of settlement pattern and demographic estimate, to the distribution of archaeological markers for the definition of cultural and chronological outline (Pl. VIII: 1-3).

References Bonomi, A., Cattani, M., Mantegari, G., Vizzari, G., 2007, ‘Tecnologie Open Source e servizi web per la condivisione di conoscenze sulla preistoria e la protostoria in Italia’ in R. Bagnara, G. Macchi Janica (eds) Open Source, Free Software e Open Format nei processi di ricerca archeologici. Atti del I Workshop, Grosseto, 8 maggio 2006 (Firenze: Centro editoriale toscano), pp. 203-224 (CD-ROM) Candelato, F., Cardarelli, A., Cattani, M., Labate, D., Pellacani, G., 2002, ‘Il sistema informativo dello scavo della terramara di Montale (Castelnuovo Rangone – 156

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Austria, April 2003, BAR S1227 (Oxford: BAR Publishing), pp. 299-303 Conolly, J., Lake, M., 2006, Geographical Information Systems in Archaeology (Cambridge: Cambridge �������������� University Press) Forte, M., 2002, I sistemi informativi geografici in archeologia (Roma: MondoGis) Mantegari, G., Cattani, M., de Marinis, R.C., Vizzari, G., 2007, ‘Towards a Web-Based Environment for Italian Prehistory and Protohistory’ in J.T. Clark, E.M. Hagemeister (eds) Digital Discovery: Exploring New Frontiers in Human Heritage. CAA 2006. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Proceedings of the 34th Conference, Fargo, United States, April 2006 (Budapest: Archaeolingua), pp. 351-358 Mantegari, G., Mosca, A., Cattani, M., 2008, ‘Formal Knowledge Representation and Reasoning for the Study of Archaeological Stratigraphy’, in 12th International Congress ‘Cultural Heritage and New Technologies’, Vienna, Austria, 5-7 November, 2007, Proceedings (CD-ROM) Sala, F., 2008, Protocolli di interazione come ponte tra norma e pratica: il caso dell’archeologia (MA diss., University of Milano Bicocca) Weathley, D., Gillings, M., 2002, Spatial Technology and Archaeology: the Archaeological Applications of GIS (London: Taylor & Francis)

MO)’ in C. Peretto (ed.) Analisi informatizzata e trattamento dati delle strutture di età preistorica e protostorica in Italia, Origines, Progetti 1 (Firenze: Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria), pp. 257-270 Cattani, M., 2003, ‘Il sistema informativo dello scavo di HD-6 (Ra’s al-Hadd, Sultanato d’Oman)’, Ocnus 11, pp. 77-93 Cattani, M., 2005, ‘Il dato tridimensionale nei contesti archeologici: l’esperienza di alcune ricerche’ in Nuove frontiere dell’archeologia: il trattamento informatico del dato tridimensionale. Atti del Seminario, 13 maggio 2004, Ravenna (CD-ROM) Cattani, M., 2006, ‘Expectations, Assessments and Capabilities in Managing Archaeology Through GIS’ in T. Uno (ed.) Reading the Historical Spatial Information from around the World. Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium, Kyoto, February 7-11, 2005 (Kyoto: International Center for Japanese Studies), pp. 427-442 Cattani, M., Fiorini, A., 2004, ‘Topologia: identificazione, significato e valenza nella ricerca archeologica’, Archeologia e Calcolatori 15, pp. 317-340 Cattani, M., Fiorini, A., Rondelli, B., 2004, ‘Computer Applications for a Reconstruction of Archaeological Stratigraphy as a Predictive Model in Urban and Territorial Context’ in [Enter the Past]: The E-Way into the Four Dimensions of Cultural Heritage. CAA 2003. Proceedings of the 31st Conference Held in Vienna,

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Semantic profiling to support multi-view and multimodal interaction  

Flavio De Paoli, Glauco Mantegari Abstract The paper introduces the vision of a semantic profiling to support multi-view and multimodal interaction in the domain of archaeological research and in particular archaeological excavation. The discussion moves from an overview of the context in which this kind of interaction can take place and then examines the issues connected to the archaeological documentation, and the representation of archaeological data and information with semantic structures (ontologies). The ideas at the basis of the vision exposed here come from a system, named MILK, in which some innovative technological elements were introduced and demonstrated their effectiveness in supporting cooperation among the members of communities and organizations. In fact, the final goal of the envisaged system is to support scientific work while also offering innovative capabilities for scientific learning.

1. Introduction In the last twenty years computer-based tools and technologies have consistently changed the processes of archaeological documentation, and this has led to new opportunities for the analysis of the past. Moreover, the incredible growth of the Web has changed dramatically the way to access, share and perceive computers. In particular, the advent, in the last few years, of the so-called ‘Web 2.0’ has reshaped the way contents are created and made available to users. Today the tendency is towards the local creation of multimedia contents and their repeated sharing among unidentified people or among members of a community. Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), Flickr (www.flick .com), and YouTube (www.youtube.com) are examples in this area, just to mention a few. Beyond the technical issues and the framework in which this phenomenon has occurred, the interesting fact is the clear evidence of the attitude of sharing that especially the new generations demonstrate. Moreover, the availability of a number of devices, that can connect to computer networks and to the Internet, has introduced different modalities of interaction and new opportunities for mobile connectivity as a means to support human activities. In Archaeology these opportunities can be exploited in many different ways. For example, they can be used to implement a continuous support for the annotation of the findings in the course of an excavation, in order to avoid forgetting some aspects and to get immediate feedback that can be useful in continuing the work. In fact, documentation is a crucial task for every archaeological investigation, from the survey of large scale areas to the excavation of a single site. In particular, when investigating a site an archaeologist performs destructive operations which require a precise recording of each remain of human activities, in order to be able to recompose them into an interpretative picture and thus to ‘read the past’. A multi-view and multimodal interaction is then needed to accommodate different contexts of use in terms of activities and technology profile of devices in use. The aim here is to provide users with various contextualized interfaces

and interaction mechanisms, that fit different working situations and promote awareness and learning according to the activity the user is undertaking (Rodden 1996). User interfaces to provide multimodal interactions according to different user terminals are required; for example, to support archaeologists at an excavation site with a rugged tablet PC or a PDA, as well as researchers in front of a desktop PC in the office It is important to stress that the development of such services assumes the definition of machine-readable documentation, that goes beyond the simple data representation and involves a structured and formal definition of the knowledge associated with archived objects and with people who operate with the system. Ontologies and classifications are the tools that enable this knowledge representation and the subsequent knowledge management. The task of these tools is to define the structure of the profiles associated with items (e.g., the archaeological cards associated with finds) and the content data that populate those profile Systems based on classificati ns and ontologies have manifold usages: they can be exploited by researchers and experts to find and compare novel information on specific themes; by students and learners to understand the methodologies adopted during an excavation campaign; by the archaeologists working on an excavation to rapidly classify the new items, and to retrieve related information that provides such items with a context. This last usage is very interesting because of its potentially great impact on the excavation methodologies. In fact, it is well known among archaeologists that the context is fundamental to perceiving the meaning of each fragment of human activity, and that the connections and the comparisons between different elements are key activities in providing an interpretation and in reconstructing the nature of past societies. It is also known how the process of manually retrieving these connections is very complex and time-consuming. Thus, it may be very interesting to automate the retrieval of pertinent elements to better support the everyday work of an archaeologist. It is important to notice that the automation is not intended here as a substitute for human expertise, but it is just a powerful aid, thanks to the capabilities in the man-

Flavio De Paoli, Glauco Mantegari

agement of huge datasets that today’s computers have. The paper is organised as follows. The next paragraph deals with the documentation in an archaeological excavation, with particular regard to the problems arising from the coexistence of traditional and new digital formats. The following paragraph discusses several key concepts that are connected to new ways in modeling and representing field data, briefly describing the experiences made with the MILK system and introducing some core concepts about ontologies. The paper continues with a paragraph discussing a simple excavation scenario that illustrates the use of multi-view and multimodal interaction. Some final considerations and directions for future work end the paper.

than the traditional approaches based on paper formats. Moreover, the diffusion of ICT tools has introduced a further level of complication due to the adoption of different digital formats that prevent systems from interoperating. The problem is clear if we consider that most of the databases used in excavations do not conform to any standard schema and, therefore, they greatly differ from each other. Moreover, the effectiveness of such databases depends often on the skill of the archaeologist in terms of database design. The result is that the documentation of archaeological sites is nowadays very articulated because it takes into consideration a lot of different data types (spatial, numeric, textual, graphical), and represents and manages them using both traditional media (paper forms, sketches, free text notes) and digital ones (databases, spreadsheets, GIS, file systems, etc.). Traditionally, scholars search, find and read documentation in archives with enormous effort and fragmentary results. In practice, all the data are related one to another while studying a site and only a subset of them is shared with the scientific community in final reports that summarise the interpretations given by the archaeologist. The digital tools offer potential access to the complete detailed documentation associated with a site and with other similar sites, plus the complete literature in the field. A key point is therefore the development of models and tools that allow researchers and those keen on archaeology to manage the huge amount of information available. The problem is twofold: giving structure to the information in order to make it machine-readable, and provide users with effective accessing tools to identify interesting knowledge. In this context the word ‘knowledge’ has to be intended as finding relationships among heterogeneous objects: sites, excavations, finds, artefacts, pictures, spatial data and also reports, publications and experts.

2. The problems of archaeological documentation between traditional and digital formats Since the middle of the 20th century, the methodologies of archaeological excavation have constantly evolved towards a better definition of the criteria for describing and documenting the entities found in a site. The attention paid to the study of stratigraphy and the definition of a model to describe it (Harris 1979) played a central role in this process, and constituted the core of the documentation procedures that are in use nowadays. In the Italian context, it is the work of scholars like A. Carandini (1981) that led to the diffusion of the stratigraphic methodology and to a new approach to the archaeological documentation, along with the activities of the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione (ICCD – http://www.iccd.beniculturali.it/). The ICCD was founded in 1975 as a branch of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and became responsible for the definition of several cataloguing principles for Italian archaeology, which were published in 1984 (Parise Badoni and Ruggeri Giove 1984) and are also available in terms of guidelines and models in a section of the ICCD’s Web site (http://www.iccd.beniculturali.it/Download/normativa). It is important to notice that, even if these guidelines and models were mandatory, they would often be used in slightly modified versions to conform to the peculiarities of each excavation. Moreover, it is very difficult to manage and connect the whole documentation which is normally produced in an excavation, with the result that missing possible links might have combined together to form a more complete picture of the ongoing work. This is also exacerbated due to the fact that several other kinds of ‘nonstandard’ documents are normally produced to collect all the information and data that do not fit into the standard schemas, as for example, free-text notes and sketches written in notebooks. On the other hand, the diffusion of ICT tools in archaeology, which started to be used consistently at the beginning of the 1990s, changed the traditional manual cataloguing methods in favour of computer-supported documentation that enriched enormously the quality and amount of data available, with the result of making some of the guidelines and schemas obsolete. Spatial data, for example, are now commonly managed using GIS (Geographic Information Systems), which are much more convenient and effective

3. Modeling and representing the archaeological field data The knowledge associated with the archaeological research includes information about documents reporting descriptions of the items collected during the excavation activities, the documents retrieved from the literature and the relationships between them. Moreover, knowledge includes people and their activities (expertise, tasks, excavation plans). An effective way to manage such knowledge is to rely on a profiling mechanism, that allows for associating common knowledge descriptions with entities of a different nature (collectively referred to as elements in the rest of the paper). The key factor is the ability to compare and contrast elements of any type, to compute various kinds of relationships to give users an integration that gets knowledge from information. The task of an effective Knowledge Management System is to address the issues of computing and maintaining profiles and relationships To illustrate these concepts, some elements coming from an experience made with the MILK system (Boselli et al. 2003), which addresses these ideas, is used in the following. MILK was designed as a system to support knowledge workers, as archaeologists are, by providing them with 160

Semantic profiling to support multi-view and multimodal interaction

multi-view and multimodal interaction though different terminal devices. The core of the system relies on the concept of metadata. Metadata are defined as data about data that describe elements. For example, MILK profiles are based on three main metadata categories. Generic metadata – such as names and references for people, authors and creation date for documents, etc. – to describe elements; content metadata to capture the knowledge associated with elements; and qualifying metadata to describe the relevance of elements over time and usage. Ontologies are used to give structure to profiles (i.e.,identifying the categories and the relationships among metadata) and to support the process of identifying terms (e.g., numeric and lateral values) to be used as metadata values. Elements are then indexed by content metadata to support navigation and information retrieval. User actions on elements like rating, recommending, accessing, etc., together with the age and context of use of an element contribute to qualify each element, to provide users with the most accurate response from the system. Without entering into the details of the adopted algorithms and rules, we can mention the example of the frequency of usage that affects the relevance metadata of the documents and, similarly, the fact that the documents accessed by users affect their interests and expertise. Readers can refer to Agostini et al. 2003 for more details. We would like to stress that, in many existing knowledge management systems, some elements – like people – are normally not considered as an internal part. However, people profiles are very important to get personalised responses from the system. Ontologies have become a popular topic in some research fields, including knowledge engineering, artificial intelligence and natural language processing (Hovy 2003). They have been developed to facilitate knowledge sharing and reuse, and to provide an explicit conceptualisation describing the semantics of data. Many definitions of ontologies have been given in the last decade; one of the most appropriate for the use in computer science states: ‘An ontology is a formal, explicit specificati n of a shared conceptualisation’ (Studer et al. 1998). A ‘conceptualisation’ refers to an abstract model of some phenomenon in the world that identifies the relevant concepts of that phenomenon. ‘Explicit’ means that the type of concepts used and the constraints on their use are explicitly defined. ‘Formal’ refers to the fact that the ontology should be machine-readable. The given definition originates from the more common one given by Gruber (1993), by adding the word ‘shared’ to reflect the notion that ontologies should capture consensual knowledge that reflects the view of a community, not the thoughts of a single individual. This notion of ‘shared’ is the root for developing distributed applications over the Web and the Semantic Web itself. Therefore, an ontology is an abstract model of a particular field of knowledge; it describes concepts, attributes of concepts, and the relationships between concepts providing an agreed and shared vocabulary of terms and relations, as a consensual knowledge accepted by a large group of people. The relationships enable the expression of domain-specific knowledge, without the need of new domain-specific terms As a consequence, an important issue is the definition of the consensus. To have a community commit to an ontology it

is necessary that such an ontology is developed through a cooperative process, involving different people with different perspectives and that these people are recognised as authorities in the domain. There are standardisation bodies existing who define and promote classifications that are usually non-formalised, such as the ones proposed in the ICCD’s guidelines for the compilation of a Stratigraphic Unit card (Parise Badoni and Ruddegri Giove 1984). The problem with this kind of classification is their inadequacy for machine processing. For example, Fig. 1 (left) shows the definition of a metadata, gradi della struttura, pertaining to the classification of the soil in the case of a natural stratigraphic unit, that is defined by five categories, each of which can assume three values: fine, media, grande. A problem is the use of natural language: only Italian speakers can be sure that they get the meaning of these terms, but any human can guess the meaning by the use of context information (that is, writing on stratigrafic cards) and drawings. A machine cannot make those kind of inferences; there is the need to formally describe the terms and, more important, to state the relationships (e.g., state that prismatica is a refinement of gradi della struttura). By creating an ontology that formalises such knowledge, it is possible to state the relationship among the different items, make precise definitions and therefore support automatic processing. In the field of semantic-based information retrieval, ontology is used to specify the meaning of the concepts to be searched for. The adoption of ontology helps to avoid misunderstandings and ambiguities when indexing and searching for information in heterogeneous and enormous bunches of data. The use of ontologies (and classifications) is consistently growing in the field of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, and has led to the creation of standard models, such as the CIDOC-CRM (Crofts et al. 2005). However, the community has not committed itself on a unique ontology, since each school differs from the other; moreover, research groups work on different subjects that require definitions at di ferent conceptual levels. The result is that the archaeological knowledge is broken into smaller, well focused units that need to be integrated to let research groups share their common knowledge. As discussed in Maedche et al. 2003, three problems arise in this scenario. First, it is difficult to find ontologies that can be reused in different scenarios, thus leading to many different ontologies modelling the same thing. Second, current tools do not provide the means for reusing existing ontologies while building new ontologies. Finally, ontologies are rarely static, but are being adapted to changing requirements. Hence, an infrastructure for the management of ontology changes which takes into account the dependencies between ontologies is a mandatory operation. Moreover, when dealing with an ontology that is composed of several modules, which can independently evolve, it is necessary to tackle the problem of integrating them into a coherent aggregation (Pinto et al. 1999, Pinto and Martins 2001). An important aspect of the integration process is to maintain the inherent fragmentary nature of a distributed ontology while perceiving it as a single conceptual entity. Therefore, the aim is to define a ‘virtual’ dimension for representing the whole ontology. To address the integra161

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tion problem, it is necessary to refer to general mechanisms for merging ontologies, extending an existing ontology and keeping different versions of an ontology aligned to support replication. Building ontologies by merging means to merge concepts, relations, and axioms, from existing ontologies to build a new ontology on exactly the same subject. Merging is the ‘creation of a single coherent ontology that includes the information from all the sources’, and alignment is the ‘process in which the sources must be made consistent and coherent with one another but kept separately’ (Noy and Musen 2000).

that are involved and interested in that subject, or identify documents that deal with similar arguments. Common profiling of elements enables the system to supply users with personalised services based on their profiles and context of use. Personal profiles include rights (e.g., security info, access rights and group memberships) and expertise (e.g., roles and interests). According to profile information, available knowledge is filtered and selected to meet the users needs. Moreover, the context of use defines what and how the information will be displayed. For example, filling up a stratigraphic card is different than discussing the related interpretations with colleagues in a meeting. In the former, an archaeologist needs to find and access various sources to complete the work. In the latter, documents should be proposed in suitable formats for projection, e.g., a multimedia presentation or similar. To address this issue, documents are not considered just as single files: a document can be a collection of various files (e.g., written reports and papers, drawings and pictures), each of them being a different representation of the same element.

4. Multi-view and multimodal interaction The MILK system has been designed to be accessible through three main channels: desktop PCs, handheld devices (e.g., mobile phones and PDAs), and large shared screens for synchronous collaborative interaction (Agostini et al. 2005). Large interactive screens can be used to promote social awareness and to support face-to-face meetings by giving access to appropriate documents. Desktop PCs and laptops are personal devices to access shared information. Moreover, they play the crucial and traditional role of supporting knowledge and information creation. Other devices can be exploited for this purpose, as for example digital pens that allow one to make traditional paper annotations with the side effect of digitalising the writing. Tablet PCs and PDAs are becoming popular devices with a high potential of use to support mobile workers in creating knowledge in any situation.

4.2. An archaeological scenario This paragraph describes an application scenario based on a real excavation to illustrate how multi-view and multimodal interaction can improve the quality of archaeological research. The scenario is rooted in the discussion with the research team coordinated by M. Cattani (University of Bologna) on the application of our technologies in the investigation of the Bronze Age site of Mursia, on the island of Pantelleria (Italy). The documentation procedures in Mursia are very accurate and articulated and thus offer an ideal case study. In Mursia the documentation is based on paper forms, paper lists, and databases of various kinds (e.g., for artifacts, stratigraphic units, samples, etc.,), while spatial information is acquired and managed using electronic devices (e.g., total stations) as well as specific softwares (e.g., photogrammetric applications, GIS). Moreover, pictures and videos are taken in a digital format and are managed through specific applications and databases. It is easy to believe that selecting and accessing the right data and information when needed is not straightforward. For example, in case of the discovery of a new feature, the archaeologist would like to compare it with previously found features of the same type. Assume the situation where an archaeologist on the site of Mursia is responsible for the excavation of a structure and encounters a situation that, in some way, she remembered was previously found in another building. She opens her rugged tablet PC and logs into the system, typing her nickname and password. The system loads her profile and all the data and information about the site and about her specific research activity. These include some documents related to the team she belongs to and, what is more interesting at the moment to her, all the data collected since the day before. When she enters the new data and information, which are related to the specific situation she is trying to interpret, the system proactively suggests some information, which is supposed to be related to the ones she has just typed. This is possible thanks to the presence of an ontology that infers, on the basis of conceptual relation-

4.1. The view with context The interaction style introduced in this paper is rooted in a ‘View With Context’ (VWC) interface. Such interface displays any element immersed in its related information (i.e., documents, annotations, e-mail messages and even people). Such related information defines the context for the piece of information users are dealing with, to continuously support awareness (Agostini et al. 2003) and to stimulate knowledge discovery. This approach is illustrated by the prototype interface for the MILK system in Fig. 2, displaying a document – more precisely, its profile – surrounded by the profiles of the elements with which it is related The VWC metaphor reverses the common paradigm that enables users to search systems to get information; instead, users can discover information while they are using the system. The view with context addresses the issue of providing users with a common perception of any piece of knowledge associated with elements of a different nature. That is, the VWC bonds together different kinds of elements to support a common view and access. To reach this goal, a profiling mechanism has been exploited. In fact, associating common descriptions with elements allows the system to include any kind of element in a knowledge retrieval process. The VWC enhances the processes of knowledge diffusion and cross-fertilisation by knowledge discovery. So, for example, given the profile of an excavation project, it is possible to collect information about other projects that have similarities with the current one, be aware of people 162

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ships, what is relevant to her. Among the documents and the data that the system retrieves, she finds something very interesting: during the researches conducted eleven years before on the same site by the University of Bologna a similar structure was found, as she remembered. However, that structure did not have a unique and final interpretation, because nothing similar had been discovered on the site before. Our archaeologist decides then to broaden her search/discovery including the data she has received in the morning by e-mail from another team working on the same site. The two teams operate on the site during different periods of the year and have agreed to exchange their data to enhance each others work. Even if the methodologies and the descriptive vocabularies of the two teams are different, the system is able to integrate them and to provide a unified access, thanks to the definition of mappings based on the use of metadata and ontologies. After having loaded these new data, our archaeologist finds that a similar situation has been already described by the other team just one month before and that, thanks to the better state of preservation of the context and to the presence of diagnostic materials, it was possible to interpret it as a structure for the production of olive oil. To better compare the two situations she then decides to compare all the data belonging to the materials found during her excavation with those found by the other team. Even if the materials coming from the excavation were very fragmentary, she realises that they probably pertain to the same classes, and this is another element that confirms an analogy between the structure under investigation, and the one the system retrieved. Our archaeologist examines the excavation strategy adopted by the other team to get useful suggestions on how to go on with her investigation, and slightly modifies her strategy in order to concentrate on specific elements and verify the likelihood of her interpretation. After three days of hard work, she is finally convinced that her structure is of the same type of the one excavated by the other team. Of course, the system in the meantime has upgraded automatically the metadata associated with the new data and information with the name of the archaeologist and the actual date, thus allowing the future tracking of all the changes in the interpretation. After that the system prompts a dialog box asking her whether she wants to make changes public or not. She agrees and the tablet PC connects to the Internet to upgrade the central repository situated in the University of Bologna. By sharing the results of her in real-time work, she will quickly receive feedbacks from the community of archaeologists involved in the project, some of whom will join the excavation a week later, others that worked eleven years before on the site, and also experts in that kind of artefact. Our archaeologist can now improve the planning of work that originally provided for opening a large area of excavation, and concludes that the goal of this years research has become the full interpretation of this structure. She knows the importance of good planning and how this affects the effectiveness of research, especially with respect to the budget constraints that are imposed by the University. At the same time, she knows that once back in Bologna the system will provide her with a huge amount of new material for teaching and refining the research conclusions. In

fact, the system repository is dedicated to the study of the Bronze Age and collects the results of the excavations that are conducted during the year by different Universities all over Italy. In particular, the repository is structured as a portal that offers browsing facilities based on the location of each site, thanks to WebGIS services. The materials that were published for each site, as well as those uploaded each day by the different research groups, will be very useful for this year’s class on the Bronze Age pottery. Moreover, the students can access the repository and autonomously consult all the data which will vary on the basis of each student’s profile (interests, experiences, etc.) and this is a great opportunity for their education, since they have the possibility to be confronted by the real practice of an archaeological research rather than have the synthetic view of knowledge as provided by excavation reports.

5. Conclusions This paper addressed the issues related to the development of a knowledge management system for archaeological research, focusing on the core component constituted by semantic profiling to support multi-view and multimodal interaction. In fact, the scenario depicted here can provide innovative tools for archaeologists and can significantly enhance the quality of the research beyond the possibilities already offered by technologies. The results of the experience made with the MILK system have shown that it is now possible to re-think the way experts operate and interact with digital technologies, which are more and more powerful, yet easy to use. Of course, the development of the described framework requires working on several aspects, that involve both organisational and technological aspects, which can be summarised in some general points. On the organisational side, it is necessary to deepen the analysis of the archaeological scientific community, starting from a subset of specialists operating on well delimited topics, to be able to model as accurately as possible all the aspects of their research. In this regard, the community of archaeologists working on the Bronze Age in Italy seems to be particularly appropriate, because of its small, yet well articulated composition. The analysis has to take mainly roles and processes into consideration, and the relationships between them, to provide a schema of the social network which links persons, institutions, projects and so on. This will enable the understanding of the dynamics of the community, which are the essential starting point for the design of a knowledge management system. It is then necessary to represent all these elements with ontological schemas, that capture the articulation of the community and allow for the automation of the dynamics involved in their activities. From a more technological point of view, the precise definition of the data types and data formats used by the archaeologists in the field is essential, in order to understand how to enable the browsing/discovering capabilities of the domain elements which are allowed by knowledge management systems like MILK. In this regard, the formal representation of the domain elements has to be built on 163

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B. White (eds) WWW 2003. The Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference. Budapest Convention Centre, 20-24 May 2003, Budapest, Hungary (New York: New York: ACM Press), pp. 439-448 Motik, B., Maedche, A., Volz, R.., 2002, ‘A Conceptual Modeling Approach for Semantics-Driven Enterprise Applications’ in R. Meersman, Z. Tari (eds) On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems 2002. DOA, CoopIS and ODBASE (Berlin, London: Springer), pp. 1082-1099 Noy, N.F., Musen, M.A., 2000, ‘Prompt: Algorithm and Tool for Automated Ontology Merging and Alignment’ in Proceedings of the Seventeenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence(AAAI-2000) and the Twelfth Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-2000). July 30 – August 3, 2000, Austin, Texas, USA (Menlo Park: AAAI Press), pp. 450-455 Parise Badoni, F., Ruggeri Giove, M., 1984, Norme per la redazione della scheda di saggio stratigrafico (Roma: Multigrafica Pinto, H.S., Gómez-Pérez, A., Martins, J.P., 1999, ‘Some Issues on Ontology Integration’ in Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence Pinto, H.S., Martins, J.P., 2001, ‘A Methodology for Ontology Integration’ in Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Knowledge Capture (New York: ACM Press), pp. 131-138 Rodden, T., 1996 ‘Populating the Application: A Model of Awareness for Cooperative Applications’ in M.S. Ackerman (ed.) CSCV ’96. Proceedings of the ACM 1996 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. November 16-20, 1996, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (New York: ACM Press), pp. 87-96 Raghavan, P., 1997, ‘Information Retrieval Algorithms, A Survey’ in Proceedings of the Eighth Annual ACMSIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (New York: ACM; Philadelphia: SIAM), pp. 11-18 Studer, R., Benjamins, V.R., Fensel, D., 1998, ‘Knowledge Engineering, Principles and Methods’, Data and Knowledge Engineering 25/1-2, pp. 161-197 Van Heijst, G., Schreiber, A.T., Wielinga, B.J., 1997, ‘Using Explicit Ontologies in KBS Development’, International Journal of Human Computer Studies 46/2-3, pp. 183-292

existing standard models, like the CIDOC-CRM, to allow a better interoperability with the different data and information uploaded into the system. Moreover, this activity will allow testing the expressiveness and adequacy of these standards in representing the domain we consider.

References Agostini, A., Albolino, S., Boselli, R., De Michelis, G., De Paoli, F., Dondi, R., 2003, ‘Stimulating Knowledge Discovery and Sharing’ in M. Pendergast et al. (eds) Group ‘03. Proceedings of the 2003 International ACM SIGGROUP Conference on Supporting Group Work. November 9-12, 2003, Sundial Resort on Sanibel Island, Florida, USA (New York: Association for Computing Machinery), pp. 248-257 Agostini, A., Albolino, S., De Paoli, F., Grasso, M., Hinrichs, E., 2005, ‘Supporting Communities by Providing Multiple Views’ in P. van den Besselaar et al. (eds) Communities and Technologies 2005. Proceedings of the Second Communities and Technologies Conference, Milano 2005 (Berlin: Springer Netherland), pp. 437-456 Boselli, R., Dondi, R., De Paoli, F., 2003, ‘Knowledge Organization and Retrieval in the MILK system’ in SEKE 2003. The 15th International Conference on Software Engineering & Knowledge Engineering. Technical Program, July 1-3, 2003, San Francisco, California USA (Skokie: Knowledge Systems Institute), pp. 372-376 Carandini, A., 1981, Storie dalla Terra (Bari: De Donato) Crofts, N., Doerr, M., Gill, T., Stead, S., Stiff, M. (eds), 2007, Definition of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/docs/cidoc_crm_ version_4.2.2.pdf) Gruber, T. R., 1993, ‘A Translation Approach to Portable Ontology Specifications’, Knowledge Acquisition 5, pp. 199-220 Harris, E.C., 1979, Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy (London, New York: Academic Press) Hovy, E., 2003, ‘Using an Ontology to Simplify Data Access’, ACM Communication 46/1, pp. 47-49 Maedche, A., Motik, B., Stojanovic, L., Studer, R., Volz, R., 2003, ‘An Infrastructure for Searching, Reusing and Evolving Distributed Ontologies’ in G. Hencsey,

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Fig. 1 - An example of classification for the soil structure of a natural unit (left) and the profile of a unit (right), as stated in the ICCD’s guidelines for the compilation of Stratigraphic Unit cards (Parise Badoni and Ruggeri Giove 1984: table 3 p. 22, fig. 2 p. 23).

Fig. 2 - A ‘View With Context’ screenshot. 165

Computational intelligence in archaeology: the automatic production of knowledge  

Juan A. Barceló Abstract. Theoretical and practical aspects of computer programs able to reproduce the same tasks archaeologists do are reviewed in this paper. The question of whether it is possible to automate the archaeological knowledge production is of both great theoretical interest and increasing practical importance, because knowledge and information are being generated much faster than they can be effectively analyzed. The approach adopted here is based on a fact that archaeologists couldn’t evaluate fifteen years ago: computer programs do work in real science, not only in archaeology. Maybe they are more successful in other ‘harder’ sciences, but we cannot deduce from this fact that Archaeology is a different kind of science. Computable archaeology – if you do not like the expression ‘automatic archaeology’ – is the proper way of exploring new ways of answering the questions we have not yet answered.

1. Introduction If we ask: ‘Is it possible to build a machine to do archaeology?’ (Barceló 2007), most archaeologists will claim: ‘Fortunately, never!’ These critics seem to think that computer programs are guilty of excessive simplification, of forcing knowledge, or distorting it, and of failing to exploit fully the knowledge of the expert. The so-called ‘intelligent’ machines incite instinctive fear and anger by resembling ancestral threats – a rival for our social position as more or less respected specialists. But robots and extremely sophisticated computer programs are here, around us. I’ve never heard of a claim against wash machines selecting ‘intelligently’ the best way to wash a specific tissue, or a photo camera with an ‘intelligent’ device measuring luminance and deciding by itself the parameters to take the picture. So, why having fear of a machine classifying a prehistoric tool and deciding ‘intelligently’ its origin, function and/or chronology?

2. The mechanical basis of Archaeological Knowledge production Archaeological artifacts have specific physical properties because they were produced so that they had those characteristics and not some other. They were produced in that way, at least partially, because those things were intended for some given uses and not some other: they were tools, or consumed waste material, or buildings, or containers, or fuel, etc. If objects appear in some locations and not in any other, it is because social actions were performed in those places and at those moments. Therefore, archaeological items have different shapes, sizes, and compositions. They also have different textures, and appear at different places and in different moments. That is to say, the changes and modifications in the form, size, texture, composition and location that nature experiences as the result of human action (work) are determined somehow by these actions (production, use, distribution) having provoked its existence (Fig. 1). In that sense, I am considering archaeology as a problem

solving task: why is the present observation the way it is? What action or process caused what is seen now? In other words, why the observed material entities have specific values of size, shape, texture, composition, and why do they appear at some specific spatial and temporal location? The main assumption is that some percept (archaeological description) is related to a causal affirmati n about the causal event (social event, work activity) having produced the perceived evidence (archaeological explanation). In our case, it implies to predict the cause or formation process of some archaeological entity given some perceived evidence of the effect of this causal process. In its most basic sense, then, the task may be reduced to the problem of detecting localized key perceptual stimuli or features, which are unambiguous cues to appropriate causal events. For instance, a distinctive use wear texture on the surface of a lithic tool, and not on others, predicts that these tools have been used to process fresh wood, and we infer that at some moment a group of people was cutting trees or gathering firewood. Alternatively, we can consider that the shape of some pottery vases predicts their past use as containers for wine, and then we have evidence of wine production and trade; the composition of some graves predicts the social personality of the individual buried there and hence the existence of social classes. Here the output is not the object (trees or firewood, wine, social elite), but a causal affirm tion: cutting trees or gathering firewood, wine production and trade, social power and coercion.

3. Archaeological applications in the domain of Expert Systems Ideally, to solve such an archaeological problem we would need to know the solution beforehand. The reader may be surprised with this characterization of archaeological problem solving. Archaeological problems are usually defined as ‘some material effect of social action in the past we wish to explain and we do not know how’. Now it results that

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the past is knowable, only if it is already known. It seems a tricky way to solve problems! There is, however, nothing wrong in this approach. By making use of some previously stored knowledge, an automated archaeologist would infer from sensory data, what it is that gave rise to those data. Explanation occurs when a perceptual input matches a perceptual memory, containing a description of each causal event the system is expected to recognize or identify (Fig. 2). Although there are many criticisms to this approach (Shennan and Stutt 1989, Wilcock 1990), its advantage is that it is a practical and efficient way to solve archaeological problems and to explain archaeological evidences perceived at the archaeological site. On the practical side, we can mention different real archaeological applications, showing that the technology really works. The most obvious application of expert systems is the domain of archaeological typologies. They range from the study of shape and function of Palaeolithic flint tools, the chronological determination of Bronze Age axes, or the historical determination of British Bell Beaker, Roman and Phoenician pottery. In the same way, the function and chronology of ancient buildings can be correctly explained from their observed architectural features, and the visual characteristics of human and animal bones can be used to recognize them as instances of well defined explanatory categories. It is also possible to mechanize the process of microscope samples classification for ancient wood taxonomy determination. Some other systems help scientists to decode decorative patterns in pottery or rock-art. Other archaeological applications have explored the possibilities of whole artifact identification from the perception of sherds Applications of automated problem solving methods do not finish here. An expert system can be programmed to help archaeologists to interpret the results of archaeometric analyses, within the framework of provenance studies. Such a system would produce one (or several) ‘diagnoses’ according to the geographic origin of raw material, from a database of analyzed samples of known origin provided by the user. Of direct interest to archaeologists, are the important applications of expert systems technology to solve geographical and geosciences problems. The idea seems to be building a full Geo-Expert System to answer questions based on facts contained in a GIS. Knowledge-based systems have been developed for aerial photo-interpretation too. For Remote Sensing, expert systems help to detect relevant features in a landscape. There are some interesting applications in geomorphology, which can be useful to archaeologists. Social applications, that is to say the use of expert systems to explain social action, have not been yet fully explored. Gardin et al. (1987), van den Dries (1996), Francfort (1997), Puyol-Gruart (1999), Mameli et al. (2002), Witlox (2005), Barceló (2008) review many of these archaeological applications. Interest on Expert Systems vanished in recent years, both in Computer Science and in Archaeology . What seemed at the early 1980s an interesting tool, never found in Archaeology the place it really merited, compared with the situation in other similar domains. The real cause seems to be in the poorly developed formal aspects of our discipline, even today. The postmodern criticism of the early 1990s

and its reification of subjectivism was an insurmountable obstacle to any effort that tried to analyze ‘objectively’ the way we think.

4. Archaeological applications in the domain of automated learning systems Expert systems are useful, very useful indeed, because many archaeological problems can be structured in terms of a single template matching mechanism. However, there is a trouble. A template matching scheme could work provided we had precompiled rules for all events to be explained. To explain social action produced in the past, an expert system would need a universal knowledge base covering the entire domain of interaction. Unfortunately this is almost impossible to achieve, because it implies the existence of an infinite number of rules, to have the ability of recognizing each unique archaeological evidence for what it is and then selecting an appropriate explanation for each possible historical state. Archaeologists generally do not know why archaeological observables have the shape, size, texture, composition and spatio-temporal location they have. Instead we have sparse and noisy observations or measurements of perceptual properties, and an incomplete knowledge of relational contexts and possible causal processes. This is kind of inverse problem, where the consequence is known (observed), and the cause should be inferred (Barceló 2007). Programming computers to be able to solve an inverse problem is a cross between statistics and computer science (Holland et al. 1986, Thagard 1988, Thornton 2000). We can formalize this inferential task in terms of a kind of ‘automated learning’:   Given: an initial description of a theoretical entity; an instance of this entity; an explanation of the association between the concept and its instance; some operating criteria;   Determine: a generalization of the instance that substitutes initial description and it is related to the explanation and operating constraints. In other words, the idea is to program a system able to look for common features between positive examples of the causal relationship to be predicted, and common differences between its negative examples. This task is exactly like an example of a truth-function learning problem 1  1  0  1  0 

1  0  1  1  0 

0  0  1  0  0 

1  0  1  0  0 

1  0  0  1  0 

         

1 0 1 0 ?

Concept learning problems have the same form, except that target outputs are either ‘yes’ or ‘no’(or ‘true’ = 1 and ‘false’ = 0). Inputs that map onto ‘yes’ are treated as positive examples of a particular concept. Inputs that map onto ‘no’ are treated as negative examples (i.e., counterexam168

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ples). The process of finding a solution to such a problem is naturally viewed as the process of calculating the communalities among positive examples. As such, it is a variation of the philosophical theories seeing induction as a process involving the exploitation of similarity. This imply that an automated archaeologist will learn explanatory concepts such as ‘15th century’, ‘cutting’, ‘killing’, ‘social elite’ or any other, provided it has enough known instances for the underlying event, and a general background knowledge about how in this situation a human action has generated the observed modification of visual appearances that it is using as perceptual information. When subsequently asked to determine whether novel instances belong to the same causal event, those instances that are similar to instances characteristic of a single event of a single class of events will tend to be accepted. For instance, a machine will understand what a house, a castle, a burial, a tool are when it learns how a prototypical house, a prototypical castle, a prototypical burial, a prototypical tool have been made, under which social and economic conditions they have existed. This approach is a surrogate of experiment design. Experimental analysis is the process whereby the antecedents of a phenomenon are manipulated or controlled and their effects are measured. An obvious archaeological example is modern use wear analysis. By replicating lithic tools and using them a determined period of time performing some activity – i.e., cutting fresh wood – we will be able to test the relationship between kinematics, worked material and observed use wear on the surface of the tool. When laboratory replication is not possible (i.e., not all social activities performed in the past can be replicated in the present), archaeologists are limited to mere observation. Ethnoarchaeological data can be also used to generalize observations and learn explanatory general principles. Computer scientists are intensively exploring this subject, and there are many new mechanisms and technologies for knowledge expansion through iterative and recursive revision. Artificia Intelligence offers us powerful methods and techniques to bring about this new task. Fuzzy logic, rough sets, genetic algorithms, neural networks and Bayesian networks are among the directions we have to explore. Although statistical reasoning is still giving its support to all these methods, it is not classical statistical inference. Artificial Intelligence paradigms differ from usual classification and clustering methods in that they are (in comparison at least) robust in the presence of noise, flexible as to the statistical types that can be combined, able to work with feature (attribute) spaces of very high dimensionality, they can be based on nonlinear and non monotonic assumptions, they require less training data, and make fewer prior assumptions about data distributions and model parameters. The huge number of learning algorithms and data mining tools make impossible that we can review the entire field in a single paper (Langley 1996, Han and Kamber 2001, Wittek and Frank 2005). Free computer programs like Weka1 or Tanagra2 can be explored to discover how to extract meaning and knowledge from archaeological data. Barceló (2008) gives an exhaustive state of the art both

in automated learning algorithm design and concerning archaeological applications. The most basic inductive algorithms are designed to find a conjunctive description for a single concept C, that covers positive instances of C and that fails to cover negative instances. In this way, we can represent the solution to an inverse problem as a logical conjunction of Boolean features, values of nominal attributes, limits on the values of numeric attributes, or some combination of them. It is usual to refer to each component of such conjunction as a condition or a test. Alternatively, concept hierarchies provide a framework for memory organization, and a considerable amount of machine learning research has taken this approach. Such hierarchies can be represented as a decision tree consisting of nodes and branches. Each node represents a separate concept, typically with its own associated intensional definitions. The links connecting a node to its children specify an ‘is-a’ or subset relation, indicating that the parent’s extension is a superset of each child’s extension. Typically, a node covers all of the instances covered by the union of its descendents (Weiss and Kulikowski 1991, Langley 1996, Wittek and Frank 2005). In fact, such a decision tree can be seen as a collection of rules, with each terminal node corresponding to a specific decision rule Inductive decision trees are increasingly applied in archaeology. Modern applications range from sex determination of buried human bodies to the discrimination of geo-archaeological soil data. In any case, it is in archaeometry where these methods have found their greatest popularity in the recent years (Baxter 2006). Decision trees seem also relevant to palaeoecological research. More details on applications are given in Barceló (2008).

5. Archaeological applications in the domain of intelligent image processing Archaeology is a quintessentially visual discipline. Among all archaeological features, the most important for the recognition and/or explanation of the item have a visual nature. Tasks such as identifying a pottery type, identifying decorative patterns or use wear in archaeological materials, recognizing archaeological structures in a satellite or aerial image, identifying layers or buildings at the site, interpreting burials or settlement patterns can be considered to be within the purview of visual analysis. Human beings have the ability to recognize and classify images, identifying interesting patterns and single objects in them. Computers and robots can do it, too!3 Computer vision has been defined as a process of recognizing elements of interest in an image, and it can be described as the automatic logical deduction of structures or properties of the three-dimensional objects, from either a single image or multiple images and the recognition of objects with the help of these properties (Kulkarni 2001). 3   As an example, one can quote a project by Branca to create a visual surveillance system for archaeological sites. In this context, the main aim of this computer vision system is to detect the presence of people and to scan them in order to recognize the intruders based on their gestures and the objects they are carrying. If this is technically possible, a lot easier must be archaeological evidence explanation!

  http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/ml/weka/.   http://eric.univ-lyon2.fr/~ricco/tanagra/en/tanagra.html.

1 2

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The methods of automated problem solving and learning are of limited use when we approach the specific characteristics of image data. We need an alternative computational approach: neural networks (Caudill and Butler 1992, Haykin 1999, Principe et al. 2000). An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is an information processing paradigm that is inspired by the way biological nervous systems, such as the brain, process information. It is composed of a large number of highly interconnected processing elements (neurons) working in unison accepting numeric inputs and sending numeric outputs. Neurons are organized in such a way that incoming vectors (descriptions) are sequentially transformed into output vectors (archaeological explanations) (Fig. 3). ANNs, like people, learn by example. An ANN is confi ured for a specific application, such as pattern recognition or data classification, through a learning process. Learning in biological systems involves adjustments to the synaptic connections that exist between the neurones. This is true of ANNs as well. In general, upon repeated presentation of various real examples and under the steady pressure of a learning rule or algorithm, that makes small adjustments in the connections among artificial neurons, the network slowly but spontaneously generates a set of internal representations, one for each of the several features it is required to detect. The overall result is that after learning the network contains a number of processors chained together, in such a way as to produce the appropriate outputs given a set of inputs. During learning, a network will typically develop a way of organizing its representations, so that different inputs come to be represented as belonging to partitioned classes or groups (which may themselves be hierarchically ordered into various subgroups). Given the particular vector representation of input data, images can be easily transferred into a neural network. The procedure is similar to that of expert systems, but here archaeological observables and archaeological explanations are no more represented in terms of sentences, but as numbers. This fact allows the intelligent processing of archaeological image data. Barceló (2008) reviews the technical aspects of this approach and the archaeological applications. We can mention the use of this technology in rock-art research, lithic arrow-point shape classificatio , the functional classific tion of lithic tools according use wear descriptors, the interpretation of ancient sites according to their spatial features, the reconstruction of whole pottery vessels, the historical classification of ancient Mesopotamian seals, the recognition of written characters in ancient documents, coins and epigraphic inscriptions. Human and animal bone materials found in archaeological sites can also be investigated using neural networks. A very important domain of application of neural network approaches is remote sensing and satellite imaging. There are two different domains of application within this field • when remote sensing data are intensity measurements to be reconstructed as an image. This is the case of laser scanning (3D scanners) or the different modalities of geoelectric/georadar/geomagnetic surveying; • when remote sensing data are images or part of an image (satellite imaging or aerial pictures).

In the first case, artificial neural networks have been successfully applied to a number of geophysical modeling problems, including parameter prediction and estimation, classification, filtering and optimization (al-Nuaimy et al. 2000, Bescoby et al. 2004). In archaeological geophysical surveying, neural networks can be used to interpolate the possible nonlinear spatial trend among magnetic differential measurements obtained in an archaeological geophysical survey and derive estimates of feature burial depths, allowing a three-dimensional reconstruction of buried subsurface remains to be made. The neural network approach potentially offers several advantages in terms of efficiency and flexibility over more conventional data interpolation techniques. In the second category of remote sensing data, the input is not an array of sensor measurements, but an aerial or a satellite image. Many relevant neural network models of remotely sensed image interpretation and analysis have been recently published (Kulkarni 2001). Remotely sensed images are digital pictures composed of pixels showing grey-level values. In many satellite or remote sensing cases, such values are the intensities of specific spectra of electromagnetic radiation of either form of reflection or emission. Because different types of objects have different physical nature in terms of the reflection, absorption, and emission, these values of two or more layers are used to categorize the pixels into several groups. The idea is then to distinguish between the various categories of spatial features of interest to archaeologists. It can be a difficult task because archaeological features comprise a complex spatial assemblage of disparate land cover types – including built and/or linear structures, numerous vegetation types, bare soil and water bodies – each of which has different reflect nce characteristics. Conventional image classification techniques assume that all the pixels within the image are pure, i.e. that they represent an area of homogenous cover of a single land cover class. This assumption is usually untenable with pixels of mixed land-cover composition. By using neural network approaches, the idea is to use image data (brightness, greenness, wetness, and ratio indexes) and geographical information (forest, grass, water, archaeological elements, etc.) to train an input-output nonlinear relationship model. The resulting network can be exported and used for new satellite images, were map data have not been interpreted, and these geographical values may be predicted. The input data typically comprises a set of multispectral data, although they may also include measures of image texture or ancillary data. Supplemental information such as soils or elevation attributes, and even non-numerical data such as ground cover classes or soil types that might assist the classification, can be easily integrated. In the output layer, there is one unit for each class in the classification

6. Computational Intelligence in the domain of Anthropological and Historical modeling Solving archaeological problems implies answering a dou170

Computational intelligence in archaeology: the automatic production of knowledge

ble causality question: • given the perception of visual inputs, the automated archaeologist should explain what social activity produced in the past the evidence perceived in the present; • once it knows what social activity was performed, where, and when, the automated archaeologist should explain why such activities were performed there and then, and in what way. Up to now we have only presented examples of the first kind. It is time to present some possible applications of the second kind of archaeological knowledge production. Let us begin with standard social explanation. It is usual in the social sciences to classify people according to social attributes. Computational intelligence tools can help in such a classification. In the social sciences, a neural network can classify a population into homogenous groups using factors such as age, sex and other socio-economic variables to infer social status or position. The obvious archaeological example of this kind of analysis is ancient burial explanation (Spars 2005). Spatio-temporal modeling is another approach to historical explanation. Neural networks have been applied in this domain, both in ecology, geography, and modern politics. Relevant examples are quoted in detail in Barceló 2008. In such examples, a neural network is trained on sets of dependent variables (outputs) measured at known spatial locations (inputs), to generalize how such ecological or social aspects are spatially related. Ecological applications show that neurocomputation is a viable technique and has advantages over linear models. Examples are very diverse, from the classification of soil structure based on soil sample data, to the prediction of changes in the dominant species of grassland communities based on climatic input variables. Neural networks have been used to predict the presence, absence, or abundance of some species based on habitat variables. The most promising area of research is that of social simulation using computational intelligence algorithms. The idea is to represent human societies using computational units that simulate the acting of different social agents. An Artificial Prehistoric Society is then a complex set of computational reactive units simulating how a group of people behaved in the past. There are an increasing number of examples in the specialized literature. There are very interesting studies of hunter-gatherer societies and the beginnings of social life. Artifici l societies are also being programmed for studying the origins of agriculture, and the dynamics of prehistoric and ancient societies (Doran 1999, Kohler and Gummerman 2000, Epstein 2007, Kohler and van der Leuuw 2007, Barceló 2008). In many cases, such applications go beyond prehistory, and move towards the explanation of the emergence of social complexity.

That means that information is derived from external objects and flows into the system via the senses. It is denotational because it is an encoding. The robot’s memory is just a storehouse of denotational encodings. 2. Archaeological Knowledge is not given but created as transformations of stimuli. Information does not exist in the world waiting to be extracted by a rational agent, but, rather, the agent is situated in meaningful contexts, in which information should be defined as a function of the local needs and concerns of the agent. Perceiving a world implies distinguishing ‘possibilities for action’ and not naming or identifying per se. That is to say, it can be understood as recognizing the circumstances to act with or upon. This means that the contents of perception (and, hence, the structure of the phenomenal world) is largely determined by the selforganized dynamics of the cognitive system and prerational dispositions that are embodied in the cognitive agent. Being a perceiver, the automated archaeologist should literally create a phenomenal world, because the process of perception first defines relevant distinctions in the sensory environment. Consequently, two different, opposite approaches to build ‘intelligent’ machines appear: 1. we can build an automated archaeologist simply by telling it what it needs to know, 2. or we can build it as a learning machine. Both approaches have their advantages. They are often presented as competing paradigms, but since they attack cognitive problems on different ways, we should see them rather as complementary methodologies. Bringing artific al intelligence into archaeology introduces new conceptual resources for dealing with the structure and growth of scientific knowledge. The discussion is between what is considered an artificial way of reasoning (computer programs), and a natural way of reasoning (verbal narrative). Critics of computationalism insist that we should not confound scientific statements with predicate logic operations, since discursive practices or argumentations observed in a scientific text are not ‘formal’. By that reason, they are tributary, to a certain extent, from the Natural Language and the narrative structure (literary) of which scientific texts derive. I take the opposite approach: scientific problem solving stems from the acquisition of knowledge from a specific environment, the manipulation of such knowledge, and the intervention in the real world with the manipulated knowledge. The more exhaustive and better structured the knowledge base, the more it emulates a Scientific Theory and the easier will be the solution to the scientific problem, and more adequate the interpretations we get.

References

7. Conclusions

al-Nuaimy, W., Huang, Y., Nakhkash, M., Fang, M.T.C., Nguyen, V.T., Eriksen, A., 2000, ‘Automatic Detection of Buried Utilities and Solid Objects with GPR Using Neural Networks and Pattern Recognition’, Journal of Applied Geophysics 43, pp. 157-165

Two different views on archaeological knowledge production were presented: 1. Archaeological Knowledge is viewed as something that can be stored, coded, matched, and displayed. 171

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Barceló, J.A., 2007, ‘A Science Fiction Tale? A Robot Called Archaeologist’ in A. Figueiredo, G. Leite Velho (eds) The World is in your Eyes: CAA 2005. Proceedings of the XXXIII Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Conference: Tomar March 2005 (Tomar: CAA Portugal), pp. 221-230 Barceló, J.A., in press, ‘Towards a True Automatic Archaeology. Integrating Technique and Theory’ in Layers of Perception. Advanced Technological Means to Illuminate our Past. CAA 2007. Berlin: April, 2-6 (Oxford: BAR Publishing) Barceló, J.A., 2008, Computational Intelligence in Archaeology (Hershey: Information Science Reference) (http://www.igi-global.com/reference/ details.asp?id=7791) Baxter, M.J., 2006, ‘A Review of Supervised and Unsupervised Pattern Recognition in Archaeometry’, Archaeometry 48/4, pp. 671-694 Bescoby, D.C., Cawley, G.C., Chroston, P.N., 2004, ‘Enhanced Interpretation of Magnetic Survey Data Using Artificia Neural Networks: a Case Study from Butrint, Southern Albania’, Archaeological Prospection 11/4, pp. 189-199 Caudill, M., Butler, C., 1992, Understanding Neural Networks. Computer Explorations, I-II (Cambridge: The MIT Press) Doran, J.E., 1999, ‘Prospects for Agent-Based Modelling in Archaeology’, Archeologia e Calcolatori 10, pp. 33-44 Epstein, J.M., 2007, Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling (Princeton: Princeton University Press) Francfort, H.P., 1997, ‘Archaeological Interpretation and Non-Linear Dynamic Modelling: between Metaphor and Simulation’ in S.E. van der Leeuw, J. McGlade (eds) Time, Process and Structured Transformation in Archaeology (London: Routledge) Gardin, J.C., Guillaume, O., Herman, P.O., Hesnard, A., Lagrange, M.S., Renaud, M., Zadora-Rio, E., 1987, Systèmes experts et sciences humaines. Le cas de l’archéologie (Paris: Eyrolles) Han, J., Kamber, M., 2001, Data Mining. Concepts and Techniques (San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann) Haykin, S., 1999, Neural Networks. A Comprehensive Foundation (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall) (2nd edition) Holland, J.H., Holyoak, K.J., Nisbett, R.E., Thagard, P.R., 1986, Induction. Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discover (Cambridge: The MIT Press) Kohler, T.A., Gumerman, G. (eds), 2000, Dynamics in Human and Primate Societies, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity (New York:

Oxford University Press) Kholer, T.A., van der Leeuw, S., 2007, Model-Based Archaeology of Socionatural Systems (Santa Fe: SAR Press) Kulkarni, A.D., 2001, Computer Vision and Fuzzy Neural Systems (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall) Langley, P., 1996, Elements of Machine Learning (San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann) Mameli, L., Estévez, J., Goodall, N., 2002, ‘An Expert System to Help Taxonomic Classification in Avian Archaeozoology: a First Attempt with Bird Species from Tierra del Fuego’, Acta Zoologica Cracoviensa 45, pp. 383-391 Principe, J.C., Euliano, N.R., Lefebvre, W.C., 2000, Neural and Adaptive Systems. Fundamentals through Simulations (New York: Wiley) Puyol-Gruart, J., 1999, ‘Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Archaeology’ in J.A. Barceló, I. Briz, A. Vila (eds) New Techniques for Old Times. CAA 98. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Proceedings of the 26th Conference, Barcelona, March 1998, BAR S757 (Oxford: BAR Publishing), pp. 19-27 Shennan, S.J., Stutt, A., 1989, ‘The Nature of Archaeological Arguments’, Antiquity 64/ 245, pp. 766-777 Spars, S.A., 2005, Interpreting Conflict Mortuary Behaviour: Applying Non-Linear and Traditional Quantitative Methods to Conflict Burials (Ph.D. diss., University of Glasgow) Thagard, P., 1988, Computational Philosophy of Science (Cambridge: The MIT Press) Thornton, C., 2000, Truth from Trash. How Learning Makes Sense (Cambridge: The MIT Press) van den Dries, M.H., 1998, Archaeology and the Application of Artificial Intelligence. Case Studies on Use-Wear Analysis of Prehistoric Flint Tools, Archaeological Studies Leiden University 1 (Leiden: University of Leiden Press) Weiss, S.M., Kulikowski, C.A., 1991, Computer Systems that Learn (San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann) Wilcock, J., 1990, ‘A Critique of Expert Systems, and their Past and Present Use in Archaeology’ in J.-C. Gardin, R. Ennals (eds) Interpretation in the Humanities: Perspectives from Artificial Intelligence, Library and Information Research Report 71 (Wetherby: The British Library Publications) Witlox, A., 2005, ‘Expert Systems in Land-Use Planning: An Overview’, Expert Systems with Applications 29, pp. 437-445 Wittek, I.H., Frank, E., 2005, Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques (San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann) (2nd edition)

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Fig. 1 - The mechanical basis of archaeological explanation can be represented in terms of the way people produced and/or used the artifact, the needs it served, and the history of its development.

Fig. 2 - A model for an archaeological recognition system. The model database contains all the models known to the system. The information in the model database depends on the approach used for the recognition. It can vary from a qualitative or functional description to precise parametric equations. The feature detector applies operators to the input and identifies locations of features that help in forming causal event hypotheses. Using the detected features in the input, the hypothesizer assigns likelihoods to those events that may have produced the observed evidence. The knowledge base is organized using some type of indexing scheme to facilitate elimination of unlikely causal events candidates from possible consideration. The verifier then uses causal theories to verify the hypotheses and refines the likelihood of explanations. The system then selects the causal event with the highest likelihood, based on all the evidence, as the correct event.

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Fig. 3 - A Three-layer Neural Network topology, with a hidden layer.

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Wireless networks in archaeology and Cultural Heritage  

Massimo Ancona, Davide Conte, Donatella Pian, Sonia Pini,
Gianluca Quercini, Antonella Traverso Abstract In this paper we discuss the great potential for the general use of mobile devices in Cultural Heritage sites, analysing the obstacles we faced and the envisaged solutions. Common shortcomings are the limited bandwidth available in today’s networks and the difficulties in developing adequate user interfaces on small devices. The basic potential advantages of mobile computing are mobility (working while moving) and ubiquitous data access. These advantages gain their complete effectiveness only when supported by context location awareness, which simplify the user interface design and minimise the need of data exchange over the network. The implications of a third concept, named attention awareness, will be discussed in full detail.

1. INTRODUCTION In the last eleven years a fruitful collaboration involving archaeologists of Darficlet (Department of Archaeology and Classical Philology) and computer scientists of Disi (Department of Computer Science), from the University of Genoa (Italy), produced several research projects (Ancona et al. 1999, Ancona et al. 2002, Ancona et al. 2006a, Ancona et al. 2006b) applying mobile computing to Cultural Heritage and specifically archaeology. These projects span the whole development of wireless technology from its early origins up to today. Mobile computing owes its success to the growing spread of more and more powerful mobile devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs and smartphones. Such devices are able to run applications that only a few years ago were supported only by personal computers. Applications running on mobile devices (mobile applications in short) act in a highly dynamic environment, thus some concepts such as context awareness and location awareness make more sense than in traditional applications. The term context awareness refers to the ability of a mobile application to sense the user’s computational context and react based on it. Context is defined by several parameters: user’s geographic location and time, device characteristics, present activity performed by the user, mobile device state, time, climate and weather of user’s location, user’s identity and so on. We speak of location awareness, when the context is mainly represented by the knowledge of user’s location. We introduced and defined two additional parameters of context: focus of attention and peripheral devices. An application is attention-aware if it can infer from the context the object actually representing the user’s focus of attention (in a nutshell, what the user is staring at); it is device-aware if it can detect peripheral hardware devices installed on the mobile device and determine their features. This second requirement is particularly useful when an application needs to receive photos taken by the camera phone, or the geographical coordinates computed by a GPS receiver connected to the phone; the application must be aware of the presence of such devices and be able to use them.

Beside context-awareness, another important point is the communication paradigm used by the applications to communicate with each other. A large part of mobile applications follows the mobile client-server paradigm (or architecture), based on a set of fixed servers (namely applications running on one or more computers whose location does not change) interconnected over a wired network, and exchanging information with a potentially unlimited set of mobile clients (applications running on mobile devices) communicating via wireless links. This architecture is effective because data can be elaborated and stored on server computers that typically are more powerful than mobile devices, and subsequently downloaded by the client applications. This approach, aiming at limiting the computation burden on mobile devices, is called thin-client architecture. Current wireless networks represent a severe obstacle to such an approach, because of the difficulties of managing the communication between a server and a mobile client and the limited speed. For this reason, the full-client approach is widely used, charging mobile devices with computations that usually are performed by servers. A modern evolution of the client-server architecture is the so-called service-oriented architecture (SOA). Basically, a service is an application or a set of applications acting as a server and replying to clients requests. Unlike traditional client-server systems, in a SOA approach clients and servers play their role independently, in a word they are loosely coupled. Although the difference seems to be subtle, it will get more evident in the next paragraphs. Finally, the design of the interface of a mobile (client) application is another critical point. The word interface refers to how users perceive the application and interact with it. In our projects we adopted and compared three approaches: a Web-based interface (in Past), a heavyweight interface (used in Agamemnon) and a lightweight interface (used in our extension of Agamemnon to towns and based on a SOA architecture). After a brief introduction to the state of the art and to our projects (Paragraphs 2 to 3), all these concepts will be analysed in Paragraph 4.

Massimo Ancona, Davide Conte, Donatella Pian, Sonia Pini, Gianluca Quercini, Antonella Traverso

2. STATE OF THE ART

the Cultural Heritage site, but requires dedicated and often costly hardware. This is just what we tried to avoid.

This paragraph emerged from the question of how mobile devices have changed the nature of cultural and historical tourism. For some Countries such as Italy, Spain, France or Greece, cultural tourism is especially important, while very often Cultural Heritage resources are placed at the centre of urban and rural development and rejuvenation strategies. Today, technology that serves to enhance the visitors’ experience is gradually becoming more commonplace at Cultural Heritage sites. Cultural Heritage resources may be revitalised through the provision of mobile tourism guides. These consist of digital multimedia content adapted to mobile terminals, such as PDAs, MP3 players or mobile phones. To this aim it is necessary to describe the creation of multimedia contents and dissemination methods. Two dissemination methods can be distinguished. The first one is the most common and consists in providing a portable guide medium with integrated information; this is the solution typically adopted by museums nowadays. The alternative approach, which indeed we followed in part of our projects, provides digital content alone, either downloadable from the Internet, or accessible through a multimedia terminal or a simple telephone using a platform specialised in the sale of guide services.

2.2. Our Projects The projects we actively contributed to are mostly concerned with (but not limited to) electronic tourist guides for Cultural Heritage sites, such as museums, archaeological sites and, recently, towns. The first project was indeed a tool supporting archaeologists working in an excavation area. In fact, RAMSES1 (Ancona et al. 1999), funded by National Research Council (CNR), aimed to help archaeologists to remotely share their discoveries while being at the excavation site. An application (called ARCHEO) was implemented to describe archaeological finds with textual annotations, drawings or snapshots by using a pen-based mobile device (i.e., a device users interact with by touching the screen with a specific tiny pen). Using a radio-based network, annotations can be sent to other such devices present in the area or to other remote recipients by exploiting a fixed computer installed at the base camp as a gateway to Internet. This way, discoveries can be communicated and discussed in real time, with evident benefits for the scientific communit . The second project, PAST2 (Ancona et al. 2002), was funded under the 5th EU Framework Programme. The project aimed at exploiting wireless computer networks to improve the understanding of the general public of what is visible in an archaeological site. Basically, a clientserver system was developed, where the client was an application running on a PDA and acting as a tourist guide. A server, keeping all the information about a specific museum, offered to clients several functionalities, such as descriptions about a monument, suggestions on the path to be followed according to visitors’ preferences and so on. A wireless network was exploited both for communication and localization, a choice that guarantees low costs and high reliability. However, location is sensed through triangulations software techniques, an easier and cheaper method with respect to that adopted, for example, in GUIDE. Finally, Agamemnon (Ancona et al. 2006a, Ancona et al. 2006b) (funded under the 6th EU Framework Programme) can be considered as the evolution of Past. In fact, it inherits many features, such as the possibility of personalised visits, but also introduces new innovative approaches. First of all, the client application is installed on cellular phones instead of PDAs, making it possible to be used by a larger group of visitors, as cellular phones are far and away more widespread than any other handheld device. Moreover, any visitor can shoot at a monument with the phone camera and send the photo to the Agamemnon server, which, thanks to our image recognition system, recognises, if possible, the monument, and sends back all the related information. We would like to state that Agamemnon provides a portable guide without any additional expense for archaeological sites. No renting policy of costly devices (such as PDAs and Tablets) is needed, as it is the user who himself/herself carries along his/her cellular phone. No additional costs are needed for the

2.1. Other projects Context-aware mobile tourist guides are particularly interesting in our field, as they help in providing content with no or little users’ intervention. An example will make this point clearer. Suppose you are browsing the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum (Italy), with a mobile device (such as a PDA) running an application guiding you through the visit. If the application is context-aware, is able, among other things, to sense that you are visiting the room given over to the Heraion of the Sele, it can automatically display information about the metopes of the major temple and the marble statue of Hera. GUIDE (Cheverst et al. 2000), MobiDENK (Krösche et al. 2004) and Muse (Roffia et al. 2005) are examples of such an application. In particular, GUIDE uses as a mobile device a Tablet PC, allowing city visitors to grasp Web-based information based on their current context. In this case contextual information is essentially related to location. Augmented reality is another commonly used technology in Cultural Heritage projects. Examples are iTacitus (Zöllner et al. 2007), ArcheoGuide (Vlahakis et al. 2001) and CINeSPACE (Santos et al. 2007). Augmented reality is a growing field of computer science with a wide application domain, ranging from medicine, entertainment, military training to consumer design and Cultural Heritage. An augmented reality system generates a composite view of the world, partly using the real scene partly using a virtual scene generated by a computer augmenting the real scene with additional information. Thus, when looking at a monument, the visitor can see, through a dedicated device (that in ArcheoGuide and CINeSPACE is a head mounted display), a virtual reconstruction of it. Such an approach provides an exciting and original guide through

 http://www.disi.unige.it/person/DoderoG/ramses/main.html.  http://www.beta80group.it/past/.

1 2

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server to communicate with clients, as the communication takes place over the existing cellular network. In addition, from a photo, provided that the system recognises it, it is possible to guess user’s position and orientation, without needing to employ costly and complicated hardware.

there are many more possibilities and users’ requests have to be carefully analysed. Many parameters have to be considered when profiling visitors, ranging from available time for the visit, stamina of the visitor (human capital) and personal interests (Pian et al. 2006). The shortest visit path should include at least all the most important monuments; in this case the Hera, Neptune and Athena temples in Paestum. Other monuments can be suggested based on whether the user has already visited the site or many other sites, showing the level of the visitors interest in the field. This is part of what we called ‘human capital’. Finally, personal interests span different topics: architecture, cult, history, everyday life. Thus, again in Paestum, the Perfume Shop will be suggested to people interested in everyday life, whereas Heroon would be suggested to those particularly keen on cults. The access to a database, created by information gathered on sites, and images sent by the visitors to the server, thus constitutes an extra resource that the site offers to the public that can freely reach it, becoming an element of indirect attraction for the cultural organisations associated with the site itself, such as the relative museums, through the use of consultation and elaboration tools such as a glossary. Maybe the weakest point of the planning for Agamemnon could be identified within the preservation function. This is one module within Agamemnon and its function is to check for damage to the monuments through the images sent by visitors to the site. This check is performed automatically by the software. However it has turned out to be very difficult to use low resolution images in the analysis, unless they are taken at very close range to the monument. Since the realisation of such a module was the most challenging part of the system, we consider ourselves quite satisfied with the results obtained.

3. a CONTRIBUTION TO CULTURAL HERITAGE Besides being technologically innovative, Past and Agamemnon successfully focused on the aspect of communication to the general public of archaeological topics and subjects, and have been tested on some sample sites. These sites are different both in spatial size and in annual number of visitors in order to cover the widest range of probable case studies, with the intention of representing the various typologies of archaeological sites, as for example: Paestum, quite a famous site with a remarkable size, where the visitors can move quite freely, without a fixed visit path; Mycenae, with its very high public profile, that shows instead a suggested path, within the Citadel, not much liable to changes; Passo di Corvo and Toumba, sites with considerable archaeological interest, highly valued by specialists, but which have never received from the general public an attention equal to their importance and potential. The main choice, that has orientated the research, started from two postulates: to reasonably foresee the potential development that would define the market within the sector of devices, from the start of the projects throughout the years, and to suggest a product that was formulated on user’s demands, and was at the same time handy and highly customised. In point of fact, between the first and the second project, it has been necessary to tailor the primary preference from PDAs to mobile phones, especially 3G phones that, in the meantime, had absorbed a significant slice of the market, then being carried by the most important part of the potential tourist public. Therefore, the choice of a tool that belongs to the visitor proved extremely decisive, because it allows, as stressed before, to remove capital investments for pieces of equipment, with their relative periodic update needs, on the side of sites managers, and additionally works on a great familiarity by the public of every age group in the use of the device. Moreover, the benefit using this kind of tool, one that recognises the object that the visitor is looking at and allows one to have access to messages based on the user’s specific interests, consists in the fact that such customised information is more likely to satisfy the user’s curiosity, getting closer to the role of a private guide. In this context one of the strong points of both projects is the visit path planning, based on the preferences users indicate in a questionnaire filled in before the visit. Unlike Past, Agamemnon allows changes to this path during the visit, according to the current interests of the visitor. Planning a path is anything but a straightforward task. First of all it strongly depends on the archaeological site. In Mycenae, for example, it is difficult to suggest personalised paths, as there is pretty much only one path to follow. In Paestum

4. METHODOLOGY After the pithy overview of our work given in the previous paragraph, we go into details about the issues we faced in realising all of this. Since the first projects we proposed, technology has come along by leaps and bounds, thus making the implementation of several aspects easier than they were at the time. A new era of wireless networks (called 4G) is about to be brought in (Dekleva et al. 2007), handheld devices, such as PDAs and mobile phones, are thus changing, and the improvements in geographic positioning systems is known by everybody. If such a technological situation had been available just three years ago, we could have endowed our projects with more features with less effort. Being aware of this, we always tried to be ahead of our time, envisaging solutions that would be fully realisable only when the technology advanced. Just as an example, one of the main features of Agamemnon was an image recognition system, although such technology is far from being highly efficient (but in future probably will be). However, the description of how we coped with the question of developing technologies is out of the scope of this paper. Rather, we want to give an idea of what the main issues were (and in some cases still are) and explain the main reasons behind our choices. Two of these reasons are 177

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the topics discussed here: user interface, which is the crux to handheld device software development, and network connectivity.

the geographical coordinates describing the user’s position within the archaeological site. The Web-based interface is the second approach we developed in Past. This requires a small Web-browser running on the mobile device. A Web-browser is an application typically used to browse Internet sites. The available browsers are almost independent from the device hardware/firmware and operating system, meaning that all the devices (provided they have a browser) can access the interface. Again, older mobile phones are not included in this set. Since browsers on mobile phones are quite similar to those installed on PCs, users are provided with an interface they are acquainted with. However, this kind of interface is not suitable for outdoor applications. In fact, Web browsing is based on a continuous user-machine interaction, thus distracting the user from the reality surrounding him. No device-awareness can be embedded into a Web application, unless we build a customised Web browser, which is far more complicated than building a traditional application. Finally, Web applications are based on hypertext documents linked to each other, forcing the user to undertake many selection tasks, which are, as stressed before, highly ineffici nt to perform on mobile devices (especially phones). The last approach is called lightweight, as it requires no application to be installed on the mobile phone. A full description of this solution is given separately in Paragraph 5, as it involves changes in the whole system architecture.

4.1. User Interface Everybody is aware of what can be done with a PDA nowadays; born as simple personal ‘digital assistants’, as their name suggests, featuring a small set of functionalities, now they can compete in computational power with older PCs. Thus the range of applications supported by a PDA is almost unlimited. Mobile phones also are becoming very versatile, with high storage capabilities, multimedia support and network connectivity. Increasingly, mobile phones and PDAs will most probably be the same entity in a not too distant future; smartphones are the main evidence of such a convergence. The evolution of such devices, that we can simply call ‘handheld devices’, is thus growing faster, but still a nagging drawback affects them: the user interface. On one hand portability requires them to be small; on the other hand, usability demands that the devices can be comfortably employed any time and anywhere. Finding a good compromise between these two aspects is far from straightforward. But it is not only a matter of size. Textual input is another considerable burden in mobile devices. Small hardware keyboards have proved their inapplicability, and handwriting recognition systems are not yet as effective as the first researchers in this area had hoped. T9 is only a solution to typing short texts, but for long texts an optimal solution is still far from being realised. A feasible solution is what we proposed in Ancona et al. 2007a, aiming at making more comfortable textual data input possible in PDAs. Due to such limitations, the design of the interface of a mobile application is a crucial point. Basically we devised three approaches. The heavyweight interface consists of a full application specifically designed for the mobile device. This is the approach followed in Agamemnon. The interaction with the application involves pushing buttons on small keyboards or selecting by a tiny pen items on a screen; these often suffer from visibility problems under particular light conditions. For this reason, the application has to demand as little interaction as possible from the user. The choice of an application automatically targets only a specific subset of mobile devices. Programming an application for mobile phones is different from programming an application for PDAs. Moreover, some compatibility problems among devices of the same group can be experienced. Finally, older mobile phones do not support any application and thus they are automatically cut out. Nevertheless an application allows a high degree of customisation of the final product, from the design of the graphic interface to the content presented to the user. Moreover, it would be impossible to implement some features without an application. The application can be programmed to be device-aware, i.e., able to automatically detect and use peripheral devices, such as a camera, a GPS receiver, headphones and so on. This is a basic requirement if the application (as it does in Agamemnon) wants to use these peripherals to accomplish a given task. For instance, in Agamemnon the application is able to determine whether a GPS receiver is connected to the phone, and to get from it

4.2. Network Connectivity One unquestionable strength of modern handheld devices is in their connectivity capabilities. Recent smartphones feature Bluetooth and WiFi, along with traditional cellular network connectivity. Bluetooth is used for short-range connectivity to make two devices exchange data when they are close enough (up to 100 m). Although it seems not to be very powerful, it can connect several different devices, such as headphones, printers, loudspeakers, GPS receivers besides mobile phones and PDAs. Moreover, Bluetooth was also exploited to set up indoor location systems, aimed at determining the position of a subject within a closed environment (Hallberg et al. 2003). As illustrated in Paragraph 2.1, Past and Agamemnon relied on two different kinds of networks. The first one opted for a Wireless LAN, the latter for the cellular network. A wireless LAN, or WLAN, is a network of two or more devices (PCs, laptops, mobile phones, PDAs) connected without using wires. Connections are ensured by devices called access points, which usually connect to a wired network. WLANs perform efficiently both indoors and outdoors, but require the installation of a number of access points depending on the size of the area to cover, introducing additional costs. This was the main reason Agamemnon chose to rely on cellular networks. However, today’s cellular networks (called 3G networks) have a limited transmission speed (up to 2 Mbps), which is far less than that of WLANs (up to 54 Mbps). Moreover, indoors and in certain outdoor areas the coverage of the network leaves much to be desired. The transmission of data from the server to the application running on the phone is thus limited to tiny images, short texts and short videos. 178

Wireless networks in archaeology and Cultural Heritage

However, the situation is bound to change in the next few years, with the innovations promised by 4G cellular networks, and much more elaborate interactions between clients and servers are likely to become a reality. Another interesting evolution is represented by WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), which is a new standard wireless network technology capable of transmitting network signals covering up to 50 km of linear service area (Dekleva et al. 2007). Roughly speaking, WiMAX gives the support for setting up an effective wireless network covering an area of several kilometres. Such a network is indeed called WMAN (Wireless Metropolitan Area Network). Moreover, transmission speed is improved up to 75 Mbps, a significant advance over current WiFi technology. Finally, the coverage area size being equal, WiMAX requires less access points than WiFi. For all these reasons WiMAX is often referred to as the 4G of wireless communications. It stands to reason that our work would greatly benefit from such a development

monuments from a photo. However, since such recognition systems are based on statistical rules, the possibility of failures must be taken into account. In such cases the server application in Agamemnon sends back to the client, in form of a selection menu, a list of small photos of monuments that are likely to be the one the visitor is looking at. However, the service-oriented approach demands more suitable solutions and further experiments. The number of successfully recognised images (in a word the recognition rate) can be further improved if the visitor’s location is known. The recognition system can in fact restrict the search to the monuments close to that point. To compute the location of the visitor we used both GPS and Cell Global Identity. In the first case, a GPS receiver, connected to the cellular phone, calculates its position using the signals from four or more satellites. Since this requires an additional device, we preferred the second approach. The cellular network is composed of several cells, each served by a fixed transmitter called ‘base station’. Since each cell covers a particular geographical area, the position of a mobile phone can be estimated with an approximation of 150-200 m if the base station to which it is connected is known. Cell Global Identity is less accurate than GPS but it fits our needs perfectly, although it raises privacy issues that have obviously to be tackled. Finally, the new generation of mobile phones (4G) seems to be prone to slowly move into a new kind of communication strategy. In fact recent devices can easily switch between different networks such as WiFi, Bluetooth and cellular networks in a transparent way. Furthermore, many cities are going to cover their urban centre with the WiMax technology. This means that we have more opportunities to exploit our research, for example, studying a more sophisticated way to locate users using well known radio technologies like angle of arrival, time of flight and so on. Due to the potential diffusion of WiMax, such techniques could become a more scalable and feasible substitute for GPS, with the advantage of being also effective indoors. Hence, location-aware and context-aware systems could also be designed for museums. We are currently working on using Bluetooth to give a more accurate estimate of visitors position and length of stay in rooms within an exhibition. To conclude, Cultural Heritage applications offer a great opportunity of research in mobile computing and network integration, raising exciting challenges and encouraging technological progress.

5. A SERVICE-ORIENTED APPROACH In 2006, strengthened by our experience in the field, we started to push further the ideas behind Agamemnon. We received the impression that the project carried enough potential to be extended to other environments than archaeological sites. Towns, for example. The upgrade is not painless; a town is much larger, involves a greater number of monuments and clever ways to guide the visitor through them have to be envisaged. Moreover, we wanted to break the pattern of an application running on a PDA or mobile phone, demanding too much attention from the user, who would like to see what is around him instead of what is displayed on the screen of his device. These considerations led to a prototype system described in Ancona et al. 2007b, based on a serviceoriented architecture. All a visitor has to do is to carry his mobile phone featuring a camera. Whenever he wants to learn more about a monument, he shoots at it and sends the photo (attaching it in a MMS) to a server application (which is linked to a given and well known phone number). The server application is charged with recognising the monument depicted in the photo and sending back to the visitor all the information about it. What is different from the previous schema of a client-server architecture is that the server application offers a service which clients always access by using SMSs and MMs, having no need to change if the server implementation changes. This is the concept of loose coupling (lightweight) we introduced above in Paragraph 4.1. In Agamemnon such a scenario would be impossible, as the client application strongly depends on the server. What is striking is that adopting a serviceoriented approach extremely simplifies the design of the application on the mobile device (lightweight interface). In this case there is even no need to install an application, as the service is requested by using SMSs and MMSs. The ambitious aim here is to implement an attention-aware system, by only using an image recognition system and no costly hardware devices. Everything works wonderfully as long as the server application succeeds in recognising

6. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK The considerations given throughout this paper are an overview of the experiences we collected in the last ten years, in applying wireless and mobile computing to Cultural Heritage. Ongoing research aims at exploiting developing technologies (WiMAX, 4G wireless networks) to enhance the visits through outdoor and indoor Cultural Heritage environments. We are specifically working on a service-oriented system providing a valid support to a visitor browsing a town. The next step aims at freeing the system from the image recognition system. Using only SMS or MMS, a tourist interacts with the service, by 179

Massimo Ancona, Davide Conte, Donatella Pian, Sonia Pini, Gianluca Quercini, Antonella Traverso

requesting hints on what is more interesting to see in the considered cultural environment. The service detects, by one means or another, the tourist’s location and suggests a list of monuments or areas of interests close to that position, with additionally a small map with the directions as to how to reach them. Optionally, the users path, upon their authorisation, can be tracked by the service, which takes care to send them information about the area through which they are walking. Obviously, image recognition can still be used and all the photos sent to the service can also be used to draw a statistical graph of the visitors’ tastes. Again, this is easier said than done. Many technical details here omitted have to be taken into consideration, and envisaging effective solutions will be all but a straightforward task.

and Deploying a Context-Aware Tourist Guide: the GUIDE Project’ in MobiCom 2000: Proceedings of the Sixth Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, August 6-11, 2000, Boston, Massachusetts (New York: ACM Press), pp. 20-31 Dekleva, S. et al., 2007, ‘Evolution and Emerging Issues in Mobile Wireless Networks’, Communications of the ACM 50/6, pp. 38-43 Hallberg, J. et al., 2003, ‘Positioning with Bluetooth’ in 10th International Conference on Telecommunications. ICT 2003, February 23 – March 1, 2003, Sofitel Coralia Maeva Beach Hotel, Tahiti, Papeete, French Polynesia, I (Piscataway: IEEE), pp. 954-958 Krösche, J. et al., 2004, ‘MobiDENK – Mobile Multimedia in Monument Conservation’, IEEE MultiMedia 11/2, pp. 72-77 Pian, D. et al., 2006, ‘Agamemnon – L’Analisi del Pubblico come Strumento di Base per l’Elaborazione di Contenuti Specifici all’Interno dei Siti Archeologici’ in A. Traverso, D. Pian (eds) Comunicare archeologia: strumenti, metodi e obiettivi. Atti del workshop internazionale, Genova 25-26 maggio 2006 (Genova: Università di Genova D.AR.FI.CL.ET), pp. 109-120 Roffia, L. et al., 2005, ‘Context Awareness in Mobile Cultural Heritage Applications’ in M. Beigl (ed.) UbiComp2005: Ubiquitous Computing. 7th International Conference, UbiComp 2005, Tokyo, Japan, September 11-14, 2005. Proceedings (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer), pp. 33-36 Santos, P. et al., 2007, ‘CINeSPACE: Interactive Access to Cultural Heritage while On-the-Move’ in D. Schuler (ed.) Online Communities and Social Computing. Second International Conference, OCSC 2007, Held as Part of HCI International 2007, Beijing, China, July 22-27, 2007. Proceedings, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4564 (Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer), pp. 435-444 Vlahakis, V. et al., 2001, ‘Archeoguide: First Results of an Augmented Reality, Mobile Computing System in Cultural Heritage Sites’ in VAST 2001: Virtual Reality, Archaeology, and Cultural Heritage. Glyfada, Greece, November 28-30, 2001. Proceedings (New York: ACM Press), pp. 131-140 Zöllner, M. et al., 2007, ‘iTACITUS – Novel Interaction and Tracking Paradigms for Mobile AR’ in D. Arnold, F. Niccolucci, A. Chalmers (eds) VAST 2007: the 8th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology, and Intelligent Cultural Heritage. The 5th EUROGRAPHIC Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, Brighton, UK, November 26-30, 2007 (Aire-la-Ville: Eurographic Association), pp. 110-117

REFERENCES Ancona, M. et al., 1999, ‘Mobile Computing for Real Time Support in Archaeological Excavations’ in L. Dingwall, S. Exon, W. Gaffney, S. Laflin, M. Van Leusen (eds) Archaeology in the Age of the Internet. CAA97. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Proceedings of the 25th Anniversary Conference, University of Birmingham, April 1997, BAR S750 (Oxford: BAR Publishing), pp. 279-284 Ancona, M. et al., 2002, ‘Exploiting Wireless Networks for Virtual Archaeology: the Past Project’ in F. Nicolucci (ed.) Virtual Archaeology. Proceedings of the VAST Euroconference, Arezzo 24-25 November 2000, BAR S1075 (Oxford: BAR Publishing), pp. 195-200 Ancona, M. et al., 2006a, ‘Application of 3G Cellular Phones to Cultural Heritage: the Agamemnon Project’ in M. Baltsavias, A. Grün, L. Van Gool, M. Pateraki (eds) Recording, Modeling and Visualization of Cultural Heritage (London: Taylor & Francis), pp. 217-226 Ancona, M. et al., 2006b, ‘Mobile Vision and Cultural Heritage: the Agamemnon Project’ in 1st International Workshop on Mobile Vision, May 13, 2006, Graz, Austria, pp. 2-17 Ancona, M. et al., 2007a, ‘An Improved Text Entry Tool for PDAs’ in J. Phillips, D. Rogers, R. Ogeil (eds) Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the International Graphonomics Society (Melbourne: Monash University), pp. 201-204 Ancona, M. et al., 2007b, ‘Attention-Aware Cultural Heritage Applications on Mobile Phones’ in 8th IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks. Helsinki, Finland, 18-21 June 2007 (Los Alamitos: IEEE), pp. 1-8 Cheverst, K. et al., 2000, ‘Experiences of Developing

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NADIR – The Archaeological Research Network of the Department of Archaeology, University of Bologna  

Antonio Gottarelli Abstract By means of the NADIR network, designed by the Research Centre for Multimedia Technologies Applied to Archaeology (TE.M.P.L.A.), the Department of Archaeology of the University of Bologna organises, controls and develops the use of technologies in archaeological activities. The reach of NADIR covers a broad spectrum of activities that ranges from the management of the net and the working seats, to the organisation of the equipment logistics, to the realisation of special operational workspace and services (e.g., Unibook.it) and the experimental projects for remote-controlling of workspaces and multimedia exhibition halls (e.g., the Multimedia and Multifunctional Museum of Onferno).

1. INTRODUCTION The Department of Archaeology is heir of one among the most prestigious academical traditions on Antiquity studies, and today is one among the most important research centres at international level. The Department got 4 seats, 17 research labs, 3 specialised libraries, 15 expeditions in 7 Italian regions and 12 international missions, spread in 11 Countries in Europe, Africa and Asia. In 2001, TE.M.P.L.A. (Research Centre for Multimedia Technologies Applied to Archaeology) was born as an organisation for the logistics, the coordination, the programming and the development of all manifold activities connected to the use of technologies in archaeological information. The centre manages the functions of Archaeological Research Network (NADIR) and of the net connecting the headquarter in Bologna with the local offices in Ravenna, Monterenzio, Acquaviva Picena. To the ordinary activity of administration and tutorship of the Department LAN, TE.M.P.L.A. adds the purpose to promote knowledge, diffusion and discussion about methodological and practical implications in the use of technologies applied to archaeological research. The Centre is also active in the studies about the management of integrated networks for research, about technologies aimed at the survey of the archaeological excavations and the systems for computeraided vision, and, generally, about digital modeling of archaeological data (step by step, from data retrieval in the fieldwork to the processing, storage and multimedia museum exhibition). The conceptual structure of TE.M.P.L.A. is of a symbolic kind, based on three different levels, like the threefold levels that are present and common in every ancient cosmological tradition: a heavenly level, the middle Earth and the lower world (Fig. 1). • The upper level is AEROSTAT, aimed at research about air technologies for archaeology. • The middle level is TECA, acronym for ‘Tecnologie per la Catalogazione Archeologica’ (i.e., Technologies for the Archaeological Filing) that deals with the planning of multimedia storage systems and related software.

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The lower level is NADIR, acronym for ‘Network Archeologico di Ricerca’ (i.e., Archaeological Research Network) that deals with logistics management of instrumentations, communications network and structures.

2. Logistics integrated Network – Area codification NADIR is an idea of ‘working net’ whose aim is to manage entirely research operating processes, based on the integration between the infrastructure of communications network and the infrastructure of working seats and operational areas. It deals with standardisation of technologic systems for processing, filing and data editing and manages the network, the furniture of the working areas in the different seats, the logistics and coordinates the reciprocal functions. The logistics network is firstly based on a system that codifies places, areas and functions depending on hierarchy founded on user access privileges (Pl. IX: 1). The NetWork is structured on nodes, identifying with its seats or centres of activity and marked by membership institutions and place (e.g., for the seat in Bologna the node acronym is ArBo, namely Ar = Archaeology and Bo = Bologna). At present the Department network consists of five nodes: the intitutional seats in Bologna (ArBo) and Ravenna (ArRa), plus those in Monterenzio (ArMo), Quinzano (ArQu) and Aquaviva Picena (ArAq). The nodes, in turn, are branched in functional areas, diversified as to the kind of activity and the related access privilege and color, as follows (Fig. 3): • green, consultation areas (e.g., ArBOCo), where access is granted to every visitor. • yellow, areas for the storage and the processing aimed to the lab didactics (e.g., ArBoAr or ArBoEl), where access is granted only to students assistited by tutor. • orange, research areas (e.g., ArBoRi), where access is granted only to tutors and researchers. • red, server areas (e.g., ArBoSe), where access is granted only to NetWork administrators.

Antonio Gottarelli

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blue, areas in exclusive use by the professors of the Department (e.g., ArBoDo). The functional areas, in turn, are branched in operational workspaces, where a special technological function is performed. They are identified by the above-mentioned acronyms more the IP number (Internet Protocol) of the single computer (e.g., ArBoCo251) (Pl. IX: 2).

tronic components when decompression into the airplane takes place (Fig. 4). The medium-size cases, employed mainly for Total Stations, are equipped specificall with a rucksack to carry them to the broken grounds (Fig. 5).

5. Special Operational Workspaces: the Unibook.it Project

3. NetWorking and Web Software

The Network promotes the plan and the creation of operational workspaces with high-tech content, aimed at the realisation of services highly strategic for research. Unibook.it is an experimental technological module, and is constituted by three kinds of interconnected intruments. The aim of Unibook.it is to make the service for the research one and well identified, because it is an integrated system for digitalizing extra-rapidly, to process, to file and to print istantly scientific texts The system is the first part of a larger strategic project in progress at the University of Bologna and is, on the whole, a unicum because it is based on technologies that are absolutely innovative, not yet present in Italy in this config ration, and use an engine formed by a unit for extra-fast scanning bound documents, Kirtas APT 2400 (Fig. 6). This equipment, having an automated page turning system, is able to scan 2400 pages per hour, with a 24-bit color depth, 600 dpi resolution and with 27.5 x 35 cm max document size. Kirtas APT 2400 unit is interfaced with a second technological unit, which unifies the function to scan rapidly unbound document (in color or gray scale) with the high fast printing one. This second unit is formed from a Xerox Nuvera Copier/Printer 100 system and a Xerox DocuColor 250 system. These two units guarantee high-performance printing at up to 100 A4 pages per minute and 60 A3 pages per minute, with 4800 x 600 dpi resolution. These functions are integrated with two more modules for rapid scanning with an A3/A4 sheet feeder, with 120 pages per minute speed at 600 x 600 dpi resolution (Pl. X: 1). The complete digital processing of bound documents is the essential condition for fast carrying out great digital bibliographical archives; the constitution of an experimental unit doing this duty has got strategic outcomes on the possibility of a quick access to the now widespread world bibliographical sources and, at the same time, it promotes a higher visibility and dissemination of the ‘research product’. Moreover, since specialized texts fundamental for the archaeological research are often and unfortunately no more in print, a service for the on-demand istant print of those texts is a vital strategic resource to defend the circulation of scientific research contents, in a publishing market more and more forced from the massification of the demand.

The Department, with its 4 seats, has got ca 60 operational workspaces that are online, displaced in 12 functional areas and dedicated to research and lab didactics. Above all that, there are also the personal equipments in the offices of lecturers, research professors and administrative/technical personnel. The operations room of the TE.M.P.L.A., by means of its own software NADIR, monitors the check of the access, according to the privilege level, some fuctions for the remote-control of system commands (i.e., shutdown, restart and logout) and the activity level of each computer. The Web software architecture of NADIR is strongly innovative and is based on small applications located on the server that are shared by all the computers connected to the net, composing every single graphics interface. The technology, devised with Lingo language on Director MX 2004, is made up by a small cross-platform player (2 Mb) that, once installed on remote computer, loads remotely the elements of graphics interface; these ones, in turn, are the single applications aimed at specific functions (Pl. IX: 3). Thus, every update can happen working only on the shared file; it allows a decisive simplification in the management of the whole system. Beyond the remote-control of activity of all rolling stock, the NADIR player can monitor the different areas via cams.

4. Logistics management of the mobile technologies The NADIR network experiments innovative strategies for the logistics management of the equipments for the fiel work. A centralised warehouse is prepared at the node in Bologna, for the distribution of technologies aimed at the documentation and at the survey of an archaeological site. The organisation of the warehouse is based on the uniformity of the packaging for the protection of the instruments, and on the coding of the containers according to a positional criterion (Figs 2-3). The ledges are constantly controlled via cams to update automatically (by means of a system of video recognition) the cases which are present and the collected ones. The packaging is the result of a generous sponsorship by the GTLine company in Anzola dell’Emilia (Bologna); it is constituted by containers of Explorer Cases line. They are made of resin, are highly resistant to shock, crush and sand; moreover, they are waterproof and also airtight, by means of a valve which allows not to damage the elec-

6. Remote management of museum nodes: the project of a Multimedia and Multifunctional Museum The functions of the logistics Network foresee also the 182

NADIR – The Archaeological Research Network of the Department of Archaeology, University of Bologna

The main projection system is formed by eight Hitachi CP-A100 projectors with an ultra short throw capability. This technology guarantees a projection cone with a geometry allowing an exstensive visualisation per contiguous sectors, without the interference of the shadow cast by the onlookers (Pl. X: 3). These geometric proportions have imposed and fixed the dimensions and the interior proportions in the whole structure of the exhibition system. The project plans a predisposition of a remote-control information systems, based on a Mac Pro 8 core computer (two 3.2 Ghz Quad-Core INTEL Xeon 5400 processors) controlling eight wall-mounted projectors. A further computer is assigned to the control of floo -mounted projector and to the management of the touchscreen aimed to select the projected scenarios. The system allows also to connect the computers and the projectors to a Wide Area Network (WAN): in fact these ones are equipped with Ethernet port for the remote-control of functions as the on/off turning, the alert in case of loss and the monitoring of lamp wear. Moreover, the plan includes the testing of control and management remotely of room, as well as an on-site assistance for 24 months since the activation, to vouch for the fully functional system.

possibility to conceive new ways to manage those working environments that are decentralized, and have got special functions entirely remote-controlled from the operations room. The work in progress for a Multimedia and Multifunctional Museum of Onferno, in the municipality of Gemmano (Rimini), concerns the constitution of a museum entirely projected, the functions of which can be modified via software. The first configuration, or scenario, permits the function of using the exhibition hall as an information room preamble to the tour of the wildlife reserve of Onferno, with multimedia contents of historical and naturalistic kind; the second scenario allows to transform the room in a conference hall; the third one in a movie house. The projection system focuses, without interruption, on the three walls of the exhibition room, where three large screens are set up with a hanging panel system. This solution allows to emphasize the extensive character of the projection system on every vertical surface in the room, and so to enhance the perception of an immersive ambience by the spectator; besides, it suggests an idea of ‘projectionscreen museum’, where the multimedia content is not a part bound and determined punctually of the set, but it is also a structural and essential element (Pl. X: 2).

Fig. 1 - The conceptual structure of the TE.M.P.L.A. Research Centre.

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Fig. 2 - The shelves of the unified centre for logistics management of the mobile equipment.

Fig. 3 - Coding and security of cases.

Fig. 4 - GTLine Explorer Cases.

Fig. 5 - A rucksack for leaving off to broken grounds.

Fig. 6 - Kirtas APT 2400 device for the extra-fast scanning of bound documents.

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BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL ISSU

An introduction to Bioarchaeology through a zooarchaeological perspective  

Antonio Curci Abstract This paper is intended to provide a general introduction to the topic of Bioarchaeology within the field of modern archaeological research. It starts from the search for a definition of Bioarchaeology, a difficult task considering the different viewpoints in the scientific research landscape, that can explain both its applications and potential for assessing research questions. Hence the paper, mostly following the trend of zooarchaeological research, goes on providing a bird’s eye view of some important aspects concerning methods applied to this kind of research, and then focuses on some case studies in order to highlight interesting aspects according to the chronological periods. This aims at emphasising the need of integrating bioarchaeological disciplines within every modern archaeologal research project in order to contribute, despite the unavoidable methodological differences, to the complex research on ancient societies.

Introducing a discipline is always a difficult task. A wide variety of topics should be covered and choosing to focus on some of them may lead to overlook important aspects. However, trying to define this discipline may be a good starting point for introducing it. A modern, widely shared and continually updated tool as Wikipedia refers to Bioarchaeology as follows: ‘The term bioarchaeology was coined by Grahame Clark in 1972 as a reference to zooarchaeology, or the study of animal bones from archaeological sites. This term was redefined in 1977 by Jane Buikstra and bioarchaeology in the US now refers to the scientific study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites, a discipline known elsewhere as osteoarchaeology or palaeo-osteology. In England and other European countries, however, bioarchaeology can still refer to any biological remains recovered and analyzed from archaeological sites but is more commonly known as environmental archaeology’.1 As we can see, there is not a general agreement about a specific study subject and consequently, it appears that Bioarchaeology encompasses different disciplinary fields. Such different visions can be confusing when we read scientific publications about this discipline, as we can find unexpected aspects treated in them. Personally, as I view it under an entirely European viewpoint, I prefer to describe Bioarchaeology as the study of biological remains recovered during archaeological excavations, including anthropological, animal and vegetal remains. This is a very broad definition encompassing a number of different disciplines. Such a definition is not intended to describe a profession or a specific methodology, nor to identify the bioarchaeologist as a specific professional 1  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioarchaeology. The entry has been recently updated and an added sentence seems to be questionable as it reports that ‘Bioarchaeology refers to the study of human remains, in contrast to zooarchaeology, the study of animal remains’. According to this assumption, the study of human remains, as they are of biological origin, should be separated from that of animal remains, but there is no scientific basis for such a belief.

Rather, I would like to stress which categories of remains this discipline focuses on within the wider field of the archaeological research. Even if we wished to define archaeology by a single sentence we would see that there are different viewpoints, as it encompasses different research subjects and methodologies; an example is provided by the different viewpoints of researchers in Europe and in USA about the strict definition of Archaeology, since whereas the former consider it closely linked to history, the latter believe it is bound up to anthropology. Summing up, I believe that Bioarchaeology encompasses all those disciplines that, variously defined and with different study subjects, analyze the history of human life through the archaeological remains of ‘biological’ type, human, animal and botanical. Different disciplines focus on these kind of remains – Physical Anthropology, Zooarchaeology, Archaeobotany – and researches are carried out by specialists with various professional skills and qualifications as, for instance, the archaeomalacologist, the fishbone specialist or the bird specialist belonging to the Zooarchaeology field; likewise, the Archaeobotanical field includes specialists as carpologists, palynologists, and so on. Every discipline has its own features that cannot be standardized into a single methodological procedure and require specific skills and knowledge For example, osteology can be applied both to zooarchaeology and anthropology;2 although through different approaches, all these three disciplines take part in the reconstruction of human economy and diet in ancient times. In this contribution I wish to focus on the main methodological aspects and the perspectives of the zooarchaeological research, which represents my field of research. Other colleagues, anthropologists and archaeobotanics, will outline the characteristics of their disciplines in this volume. Obviously, it is impossible to provide a thorough analysis of this topic within a brief paper, but I hope to properly

  Interesting, and deserving further analysis that cannot be undertaken in this paper, is the term Archaeothanatology suggested by for the branch of Archaeology concerned with the study of burials (Duday 2006). 2

Antonio Curci

describe the most significant aspects of the subject 3 First of all, I would like to start defining Zooarchaeology a

parts of bones deeply influence the composition of the osteological sample. While analyzing a sample of an animal remain from an archaeological excavation, we should proceed step by step; the first step is the identification of the anatomical elements followed by the identification of the animal species. The various animal classes pose different identification problems and they must be solved through different methods and instruments. For example, the analysis of micromammal remains, bird egg fragments or earthworm granules will be possible only through the use of a scanning electron microscope. The high quantity of osteological elements of the vertebrates make their identification more complex. This phase is certainly the most time-consuming for the researcher. Therefore the researcher should have an adequate knowledge of comparative anatomy. With the exception of the following notes, I will skip over the basic principles and methods of this subject: the species determination is simply made through the identification of the morphological features of every vertebrate (or mollusk, vegetal, etc.); moreover, the possibility to identify the remains is not related to their size but to the preservation of their distinctive features; even if these features have a minimal size, they can be useful for the species determination. About this, it is absolutely necessary to have good comparative collections with samples of known age and gender in order to correctly identify the osteological remains; such a task is difficult to be carried out on the field, therefore the researcher must have at his disposal a more than adequate laboratory with the needed comparative collections. About age at death estimation, the most widely applied techniques to date have been on dental eruption and attrition, and on epiphysial fusion. The sequence and timing of the eruption of deciduous and permanent teeth, based on the observation of modern age animals, allow a good definition of the age ranges of the examined species. In the example shown in Fig. 4, we can see how, by knowing the moment in which the deciduous teeth are substituted by the permanent ones, we can determine the age of an animal (or, at least, its range). In the same way, a careful classification of the different wear stages of the teeth, by measuring the height of the crown or examining the morphology of the occlusal (= biting) surface, allows this kind of estimation. The data relative to the butchering age of the animals are collected mainly to understand the exploitation modes of the animal resources, in particular of domestic animals. Clearly, young animals are butchered mainly for their meat while mature animals are butchered after being exploited for other reasons, such as milk and wool in the case of ovines and caprines or milk and work power in the case of bovines. It is possible to establish the age at death also through the examination of long bones epiphysis. Bones have articular epiphysis that, at a certain age of the animal life, weld with their respective diaphysis. If we know the epiphysis welding age of every animal species, we can determine if a certain animal reached that age or not. However, this way of establishing the age at death is extremely superficial and approximate because the epiphysis welding process is rather gradual and requires several months. Besides these more traditional methods other procedures

‘the discipline that studies animal bone remains retrieved during archaeological excavations. In particular, research subject is the relationship between man and the animal world in past societies’ (Fig. 1). Such a definiti n clarifies that this discipline focuses not only on animal species, their features and evolution but, rather, on the economical aspects of the relationship established by the man with them; moreover, research takes also into consideration all the artistic, religious and ritual aspects related with this kind of relationship. Research subjects are essentially the biological remains, mainly bones and teeth but also sponges, corals, shells and other mineral products of mollusks, earthworm granules, insect exoskeletons, crustaceans and echinoderms, coprolites and parasite eggs, otoliths and fish scales, reptile and bird eggshells, mummies and frozen bodies, hair and skin (De Grossi Mazzorin 2008). From a methodological point of view, we can see a step series, a somewhat traditional course of action with the following phases: context analysis, identification, quantific tion, interpretation. During the last years, innovative and scientific research aspects have emerged and these will pave the way for new and very interesting research perspectives. As far as the analysis of the context is concerned, first of all a thorough analysis is necessary to determine how archaeological deposit formed. The diagram in Fig. 2 exemplifies the forming process of an archaeological deposit; here we can see a starting point represented by wild and domesticated animals living in areas neighbouring the site. Then, through a series of successive steps, some factors, not always detectable, caused a progressive loss of information (human involvement in butchering processes and food preparation; carnivore involvement; width of the excavation area; methods for collecting information, etc.). Finally, the archaeological excavation data are processed and published. The task of the researcher is to reconstruct the overall outline from the beginning on the grounds of the data collected from the final phase of life of the site, bearing in mind all the possible intermediate steps; this is a heavy but unavoidable task, if we wish to achieve a scientific reconstruction. First, both the formation and the composition of the osteological sample has to be taken into consideration. Methods for collecting the sample can be controlled by the researcher. On the other hand, the researcher cannot control the other agents modifying the composition of the deposit, such as the rodents activity or the carnivores activity (Fig. 3). Moreover the chemical action of the gastric juices leaves typical traces on the bone remains: in fact bones show a thinning of their surfaces and the exposure of the underlying sponge-like tissue. The digested bones clearly due to the carnivores activity testify the free roaming of the carnivores in the area of their finding However, human activity is the main factor of alteration: butchering processes and producing heaps or removing   In recent years several handbooks that can provide a sound basis have been published (e.g., Davis 1987, Reitz and Wing 1999, Chaix and Meniel 2001, De Grossi Mazzorin 2008). 3

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An introduction to Bioarchaeology through a zooarchaeological perspective

can be employed to establish the age of an animal through osteohistology, or the analysis of the levels of the growth tissues of bones and teeth, that is the yearly microscopic growths both in the teeth cementum, dentin, and in the bones periosteum (Dammers 2006). The best results can be obtained from the growth on the teeth, but they depends largely on the method employed to prepare samples for analysis. The method is based on the amount of secondary dentin that progressively fills up the pulp chamber, or on the cementum growth on the roots surface (Pl. XI: 1). Both these substances deposit season after season in different amounts, forming concentric rings. Alike in dendrochronology, counting growth levels allows to determine the animal age. The season in which the animal death occurred can be determined observing the nature of the last level, a growth level or a stasis one (Curci and Tagliacozzo 2000). However, the methods based on osteohistology, being destructive and time-consuming and expensive, can’t be employed on a large scale. Sex determination, like age at death determination, can supply useful information about the studied community regarding economic exploitation of animal resources, in fact these data are both necessary at the same time to identify the herds composition and management. It is possible to make such a distinction thanks to morphological and osteometrical criteria enabling us to obtain accurate determination. The morphological criteria are based on the presence of specific skeletal elements allowing sex identification; for example bovines and caprines show differences in shape and size of horns between the two genders; whereas among ovines, females may have very small horns or are hornless, as among cervids only male deers have antlers with the exception of the reindeer among which both males and females have antlers. Other useful hints are the morphological differences of some teeth, like the canines of the pig or the presence of the so-called penis bone or baculum in the male individuals among Insectivores, Rodents, Carnivores and some Primates except man. Theoretically, a useful tool to determine sex could be devised applying osteometry. As a matter of fact, it is well known the size difference between the two genders among mammals, where the males are bigger than females; consequently through bones measurement, it is possible in theory to point out particular differences in their size so to statistically assign them to a gender or another (e.g., Howard 1963). Actually statistical methods, although highly accurate, can hardly be applied to archaeological samples to distinguish sex among animals (O’Connor 2006), since they are often unable to distinguish between sexual dimorphism and other possible differentiation factors such as different breeds or species (Fig. 5). A possible solution could come from the analysis of ancient DNA, as it can identify sequences characteristic of the Y chromosome, and therefore only present in males. But the resource implications and destructive sampling render DNA analysis not applicable to this kind of research. The analysis of ancient DNA, indeed, can be successfully employed in other studies as for instance research on domestication of main mammals. Several important research projects on ancient DNA were carried out on pigs. These researches show how the ancient genetic records reveal a complex temporal and geographical pattern of changes in

pig haplotype distributions in Holocene Europe. DNA sequences place the origin of wild boar in inland South-East Asia, whence they dispersed across Eurasia (Larson et al. 2005). As far as domestication of pigs is concerned, new genetic data reveal multiple centers of domestication across Eurasia and that domestic pigs of Near Eastern ancestry were definitely introduced into Europe during the Neolithic. Local European wild boar were also domesticated by this time, possibly as a direct consequence of the introduction of Near Eastern domestic pigs (Larson et al. 2007). On the contrary, an interesting research conducted on bovines has highlighted how European aurochs did not provide any help in domesticating modern bovines, as the rare introgression phenomena genetically detectable attest that during the period of coexistence domestic cattle were kept separate from wild aurochs (Edwards et al. 2007). Now, about the analysis of the osteological sample, we are at the assessment of the sample representativity and interpretation; about this, we must consider the quantification methods, keeping in mind that there are no perfect methods. Every method shows a particular view of the examined specimen, with advantages and disadvantages, case by case. The most commonly used system is the simple counting of the number of remains of our specimen (NISP – Number of Identified Specimen); its advantage is simplicity and objectivity because it is independent from the operator’s evaluations; its disadvantages are that the bones fragmentation level, while measuring the relative quantity of the species, doesn’t count the different number of anatomical elements characterizing every animal. To make up for these drawbacks, we can use the MNI (Minimal Number of Individuals), that is to estimate the minimal number of animals represented in a context (e.g., a stratigraphical unit); the advantage: no problems due to fragmentations and differentiated bone preservation; the disadvantage: loss of objectivity as different operators can obtain different results. Besides, there is an over-representation effect of the less numerous species. Weighing the remains is another zooarchaeological investigating system; it is commonly used and it is mainly useful to compare the materials coming from various sites. Another system is the estimate of the meat yield for every animal; it gives the species importance, especially from the alimentary point of view. Generally, the meat yield completely changes the estimates from the other methods; for example, if we suppose a mean weight of 30 kg per individual in ovicaprines, 100 kg per individual in pigs and 200 kg per individual in bovines (as suggested in Vigne 1991), we completely change the figures given by NISP or MNI. This method has a limit: it is not able to estimate the species without alimentary uses. In the diagram relative to the fauna from a house in the Etruscan town of Marzabotto, we can see how the same specimen estimated through three different methods shows a difference in the order of the species and a greater weight of the species with a low number of remains (Fig. 6). Every type of quantification is necessary to understand the meaning of the examined specimen. Zooarchaeologists who study Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic societies are interested primarily in the reconstruction of subsistence practices and palaeoeconomies, while who study complex societies could be more interested in animals and animal 189

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products used in trade and exchange, or if animal remains could be used to reconstruct the economic and social organization (Crabtree 1990). These observations are conducted through the study of three zooarchaeological variables: the range of species present and the relative importance of the different animal species, the kill patterns and sex ratios of the main mammalian species, and the body part distributions for the main vertebrate species. Now we can see some case studies to show the features and potentialities of the bioarchaeological analysis in different contexts of different chronology. A very interesting case for the Upper Palaeolithic is that of Grotta Romanelli (near Lecce, in the southernmost extremity of Apulia), one of the most important Italian Palaeolithic deposits. At present, the cave opens at few metres from the sea, it was inhabited during the Epigravettian (from 12,000 to 9000 years ago), but it also has lower layers with stone working activity belonging to the Lower-Medium Palaeolithic transition. Its fauna is mainly composed of fallow deer and pachyderms. The Upper Palaeolithic fauna is mainly composed of birds (61%) and mammals (38%) while the absence of fishes and other sea resources shows the lack of interest towards this environment (Tagliacozzo 2003). Even if in that period the sea level was lower than today, the cave was only a few hundreds metres from the sea shore. Therefore, the scarcity of fish and other sea resources points to a specific economic management. Among the mammals, the main preys were the red deer, the aurochs and the Equus hydruntinus. There is also a high quantity of foxes who were the probable dwellers of the cave during the periods of man’s absence; anyway, an accurate taphonomic analysis has demonstrated that a high percentage of specimens was butchered by man not only for the fur but also for alimentary purposes (Fig. 7) (Compagnoni et al. 1997). In the same way, among the thousands of birds remains, lots of bone elements (mainly from little bustard, whitefronted goose, brent goose, etc.) showed traces of burns and of stone tools, consequence of food processing and cooking (Cassoli and Tagliacozzo 1997). Therefore, at Grotta Romanelli, the hunting activities were directed towards a wide range of animal species, both big and little mammals, lots of birds. This shows advanced hunting strategies and the use of very effective means particularly in birds hunting. For the same period, the Upper Palaeolithic, there is evidence for highly specialized hunting that led to settle, although only seasonly, in areas largely inadequate for settlement; but, even if the resources availability is abundant, it is not so various as well. A well known Italian example is Riparo Dalmeri, a site at 1240 m above sea level, near Trento in Northern Italy, where hearths, bone and stone tools have been found, together with lots of fauna remains, dated at more than 11,000 years ago. Recently, the interest for this site has increased due to the finding of ochre painted stones, also decorated with animal drawings representing ibexes, bovine, deer and carnivorous (Dalmeri et al. 2002). The analysis of the fauna remains showed that the ibex was the main target of the hunting activity (it counts more than

7,000 bone remains, about 86% of the fauna findings); the presence of deers and other animals is minimal (Tagliacozzo and Fiore 2000). Death age data of ibexes and deers, together with the season analysis based on the teeth thin sections, showed that the hunting activities were held in summer-autumn; this leads to the hypothesis that the site was inhabited by men moving from the valleys up to the mountains to hunt rock-goats in an area that was inaccessible during winter (Curci and Tagliacozzo 2000). Among the fauna remains found at Riparo Dalmeri, there are also many fish remains, mainly Ciprinides like the barbel and the European chub; this shows an interest in fishing at the close Brenta river in order to complete the mammals meat diet. In successive periods important aspects concerning bioarchaeological investigations can be possibly identified even in contexts where the fauna analysis appears to be less attractive due to animals domestication. Indeed, the presence of domestic animals suggests well established patterns of economic exploitation that are thus less liable to further investigation, as shown by the following case study. The site of Le Cerquete-Fianello is located on the reclaimed land of Maccarese (near Rome) and is considered a non-advanced phase of the Italian Eneolithic dated between 3300 and 2700 BC (Manfredini 2002). A preliminary analysis performed on the remains of the site revealed only domestic species. Mainly ovicaprines, followed by swine and cattle. No equid remains were identified in the sample. The analysis revealed a breeding economy with the exploitation of meat and secondary products. To date, no remains of wild mammals, birds or fish have been identified, although these animals must have been present in the area. During the 1994 excavation a pit was brought to light in which a horse and two young dogs were found (Curci and Tagliacozzo 1994, Curci and Tagliacozzo 1998). The pit is round and is 1 m in diameter and 60 to 70 cm deep (Fig. 9). Under the first layer two puppies, less than three months old, were found in anatomical connection. The two small skeletons were laid on their sides with their heads in the same direction and their backs placed in the shape of a circle. It’s probable that the puppies were placed in the pit inside a container of perishable material as suggested by their anatomical position. After removing the remains of the two dogs, many horse bones were brought to light, taking up the lower 30 to 40 cm of the pit in an apparently chaotic way, even if some connections are preserved (Fig. 8). The remains of the horse belong to only one animal, an adult, probably male. All the anatomical elements are present in the pit except the skull and the atlas, the whole right forelimb (Figs 9-10). An analysis of the modifications of the surfaces was performed on all the bones of the horse and many metal cut marks were found on the metapodials and the phalanges. These kind of traces can be attributed to the skinning of the animal. While the numerous traces on the femur and on the tibia can certainly be attributed to defleshing Spatial analysis and the location of butchering marks allow some hypothesis about the horse deposition. The hindlimbs were disarticuled from the pelvis, the forelimb was separated from the thorax, these limbs were put down into the pit when the main ligaments were still present, the vertebral column and the thorax were divided into large portions and put down above the limbs. 190

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In short, the find of Le Cerquete-Fianello can be considered a ritual deposition of a male horse and two dogs, buried after they had been dismembered and defleshed At present this burial is the most ancient example of the domestic horse in Italy, and it can be included in a larger sphere of ideological aspects linked to the widespread use of the domestic horse. A careful faunistic and taphonomic analysis contributed to the comprehension of the whole; moreover it demonstrated the use of metal in this period even if not a single bit of metal has been found all over the site. Two case studies from pre-Roman sites in Northern Italy highlight the potential of bioarchaeology analyses attesting the relevance of bioarchaeological data retrieved from complex societies contexts, even when it is generally assumed that information provided by other sources are sufficient; in such cases, interpretation of bioarchaeological remains can provide fresh insights into the history of economical processes concerning diet as well as exploitation of animal resources. The first case concerns the fauna recovered from the Etruscan town of Marzabotto near Bologna, within a house dated between the 6th and the 5th century BC. The archaeozoological data show that most of the remains are from three main categories of domestic animals that were kept for their meat: bovines, ovicaprines and pigs. Wild mammals, composed by deers only, have a very little part. Horse remains are almost absent. Horses and donkeys weren’t part of the usual diet as they were used for riding or drafting. Lots of bovine bones have metal saw marks in addition to the normal butchering marks; saws were used to get raw materials for tools. As finished or semifinished items are absent, we can argue that they were treated elsewhere. There are several modified pig astragali (Fig. 12), with leveled and smoothed surfaces; these items are generally ascribed to gaming habits but, as they had symbolic meanings in ancient times, they could also be used in rituals and magic practices. Another interesting aspect is the retrieval of a jaw-bone (Fig. 11) and a mandible of a dog with clear butchering marks, denoting skull skinning and mandible disarticulation from the skull. Dogs rarely occur as food animals in Italy; this kind of evidence clearly indicates that the animal was butchered for its meat, but a ritual sacrifice event cannot be excluded. Not far from Marzabotto is Monte Bibele, in the Bologna district, towards the Appennines Passes to Tuscany. In this site an Etruscan-Celtic settlement developed between the end of the 5th century BC and the beginning of the 2nd century BC. A large amount of faunal remains indicates that the community relied for its diet on the main domestic species traditionally used as food animals; they were integrated by hunting activities. Heavy reliance on pigs has also been observed, as it was facilitated by a mountainous and forested environment. In contrast ovicaprines and bovines on average are less numerous. But the most interesting aspects come from the wild fauna that proves the hunt for deers, roe-deers and wild boars, even of large size. There are also bears, wolves, foxes, wild cats, badgers, hares, martens or beech-martens and loirs. Even if bone finds of the wild species are scarce, we can obtain interesting data about the diet of the inhabitants of Monte Bibele. Some

humeri, from wolf, wild cat and badger, show clear butchering marks. The type and position of the marks indicate that wild animals not only must have provided secondary products as furs or bones but they contributed also to the diet (Fig. 13). On the contrary, the few loir remains aren’t sufficient to prove the consumption of their meat, even if we can here recall the large use of this species during the Roman age as a valued source of food, bred in special ceramic containers. The outline of the animal resources exploitation is enriched by the information obtained from the funerary offerings in the necropolis of Monte Tamburino and Monterenzio Vecchio, both of the same chronological age. There, placing food offerings into the tombs was an integral part of the funerary ritual; we can find animal bones in most of the burials, belonging both to children and to adults, without any difference between incinerated and buried corpses. The archaeozoological investigation showed a widespread standardization of such food offerings: there are portions of pig ribs from animals butchered at young or subadult age, exactly one per tomb (Fig. 14). On most of the remains, the taphonomic analysis showed cutting marks and fractures, homogeneous in typology and position. This similarity indicates standardized butchering, meat preparation and portioning procedures (Fig. 15). The absence of defleshing marks attests that food offering were probably boiled or roasted before the animal dismemberment. This widespread presence of standardized food offerings composed of meat portions without defleshing marks, and that may have been cooked, usually placed among the tomb pottery, clearly points to a ‘food for the dead’, a meat portion specificall prepared to be offered to the dead. These offerings were perhaps intended as a nourishment source for the dead person during his voyage to the underworld or for his heavenly life; they could also have a social value, connected with the funerary banquet in honor of the dead person, where the offering placed into the tomb symbolizes a sort of last meal, ideally shared with the rest of the community. To conclude this concise overview of case studies of zooarchaeological research presented to introduce the bioarchaological discipline, I wish to make a few, equally concise, remarks. To this purpose, I would like to recall what Pam Crabtree wrote in one of her works , as I fully agree with her: ‘Faunal analysis can be a useful method for studying the economic basis of complex societies. In addition to providing valuable information about diet and subsistence practices, animal bones can be used to reconstruct past exchange systems and in the identification of social status and ethnicity... This means that we must be archaeologists first and zooarchaeologists second’ (Crabtree 1990). In my opinion, this can be extended to every research focusing on biological materials as part of the subject of modern archaeological research. Bioarchaeological research, in fact, cannot be conducted as isolated research project or with different goals from those of the historical and archaeological research. It’s only through the combination of biological data and other lines of evidence that we can imagine to approach the ancient societies. 191

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References

Dammers, K., 2006, ‘Using Osteohistology for Ageing and Sexing’ in D. Ruscillo (ed.) Recent Advances in Ageing and Sexing Animal Bones (Oxford: Oxbow Books), pp. 9-39 Davis, S.J.M., 1987, The archaeology of Animals (London: B.T. Batsford) De Grossi Mazzorin, J., 2008, Archeozoologia: lo studio dei resti animali in archeologia (Roma, Bari: Laterza) Duday, H., 2006, ‘L’archaeothanatologie ou l’archaeologie de la mort’ in R. Gowland, C. Knüsel (eds) Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains (Oxford: Oxbow Books) Edwards, C.J. et al., 2007, ‘Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Shows a Near Eastern Neolithic Origin for Domestic Cattle and no Indication of Domestication of European Aurochs’, Proceeding of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274, pp. 1377-1385 Howard, M.M., 1963, ‘The Metrical Determination of the Metapodials and Skulls of Cattle’ in A.E. Mourant, F.E. Zeuner (eds) Man and Cattle (London: Royal Anthropological Institute), pp. 91-100 Larson, G. et al., 2005, ‘Worldwide Phylogeography of Wild Boar Reveals Multiple Centres of Pig Domestication’, Science 307, pp. 1618-1621 Larson, G. et al., 2007, ‘Ancient DNA, Pig Domestication, and the Spread of the Neolithic into Europe’, PNAS 104, pp. 15276-15281 Maini, E., Curci, A., in press, ‘Il cibo dei morti: offerte alimentari dalla necropoli di Monterenzio Vecchio (Bologna)’, in Atti del 5° Convegno Nazionale di Archeozoologia. Rovereto, 10-12 novembre 2006 Manfredini, A. (ed.), 2002, Le dune, il lago, il mare. Una comunità di villaggio dell’età del Rame a Maccarese (Firenze: Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria) O’Connor, G., 2006, ‘Vertebrate Demography by Numbers: Age, Sex and Zooarchaeological Practice’ in D. Ruscillo (ed.) Recent Advances in Ageing and Sexing Animal Bones (Oxford: Oxbow Books), pp. 1-8 Reitz, E., Wing, E., 1999, Zooarchaeology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Stallibrass, S., 1982, ‘The Use of Cement Layers for Absolute Ageing of Mammalian Teeth: a Selective Review of the Literature, with Suggestions for Further Studies and Alternative Applications’ in B. Wilson, C. Grigson, S. Payne (eds) Ageing and Sexing Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites, BAR British Series 109 (Oxford: BAR), pp. 109-126 Tagliacozzo, A., 2003, ‘Archeozoologia dei livelli dell’Epigravettiano finale di Grotta Romanelli (Castro, Lecce). Strategia di caccia ed economia di sussistenza’ in P.F. Fabbri, E. Ingravallo, A. Mangia (eds) Grotta Romanelli nel centenario della sua scoperta 1900-2000 (Lecce: Congedo editore), pp. 169-216 Tagliacozzo, A., Fiore, I., 2000, ‘Chasse specialisée dans une site de montagne: l’example de l’Abri Dalmeri (Trento, Italie)’, Anthropozoologica 31, pp. 69-76 Vigne, J.D., 1991, ‘The Meat and Offal Weight (MOW) Method and the Relative Proportion of Ovicaprines in some Ancient Meat Diets of the North-Western Mediterranean’, Rivista di Studi Liguri 57/1-4, pp. 21-47

Barone, R., 1996, Anatomia comparata dei Mammiferi domestici, III. Splancnologia: apparecchio digerente, apparecchio respiratorio (Bologna: Edagricole) Cassoli, P.F., Tagliacozzo, A., 1997, ‘Butchering and Cooking of Birds in the Palaeolithic Site of Grotta Romanelli (Italy)’, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 7, pp. 303-320 Chaix, L., Meniel, P., 2001, Archeozoologie: les animaux et l’archeologie (Paris: Errance) Compagnoni, B., Curci, A., Tagliacozzo, A., 1997, ‘Exploitation of the Fox in the Epigravettian Levels of Grotta Romanelli (Apulia, Italy)’, Anthropozoologica 25-26, pp. 319-328 Cornwall, I.W., 1956, Bones for the Archaeologist (London: Phoenix) Crabtree, P.J., 1990, ‘Zooarcheology and Complex Societies: Some Uses of Faunal Analysis for the Study of Trade, Social Status, and Ethnicity’ in M.B. Schiffer (ed.) Archaeological Method and Theory, II (Tucson: University of Arizona Press), pp. 155-205 Curci, A., Bigoni, M., Ferrari, V., 2006, ‘Le nuove analisi archeozoologiche a Marzabotto: Regio IV, Insula 2, Casa 1’ in A. Curci, D. Vitali (eds) Animali tra uomini e dei. Archeozoologia del mondo preromano. Atti del Convegno internazionale, 8-9 novembre 2002, Studi e Scavi n.s. 14 (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 197-204 Curci, A., Penzo, A., Cattabriga, S., 2006, ‘Animali a Monte Bibele: sacrifici per gli dei, cibo per gli uomini’ in A. Curci, D. Vitali (eds) Animali tra uomini e dei. Archeozoologia del mondo preromano. Atti del Convegno internazionale, 8-9 novembre 2002, Studi e Scavi n.s. 14 (Bologna: Ante quem), pp. 111-125 Curci, A., Tagliacozzo, A., 1994, ‘Il pozzetto rituale con scheletro di cavallo dall’abitato eneolitico di Le Cerquete-Fianello (Maccarese – RM). Alcune considerazioni sulla domesticazione del cavallo e la sua introduzione in Italia’, Origini 18, pp. 295-350 Curci, A., Tagliacozzo, A., 1998, ‘The Most Ancient Ritual Burial of Domestic Horse in Italy from the Neolithic site of Le Cerquete-Fianello (Maccarese – Rome)’ in Atti del XIII Congresso U.I.S.P.P., Forlì, Italia, 8-14 settembre 1996, VI, 1 (Forlì: A.B.A.C.O.), pp. 107-112 Curci, A., Tagliacozzo, A., 2000, ‘Determinazione dell’età di morte e della stagione di cattura attraverso lo studio dei livelli di accrescimento di cemento e dentina nei denti di mammiferi: l’esempio del Riparo Dalmeri (TN)’ in Atti del 2° Convegno nazionale di Archeozoologia. Asti, 14-16 novembre 1997 (Forlì: A.B.A.C.O.), pp. 23-30 Curci, A., Tagliacozzo, A., 2003, ‘Economic and Ecological Evidence from the Vertebrate Remains of the Neolithic Site of Makri (Thrace – Greece)’ in E. Kotjabopoulou, Y. Hamilakis, P. Halstead, C. Gamble, P. Elefanti (eds) Zooarchaeology in Greece: Recent Advances, British School at Athens Studies 9 (London: British School at Athens), pp. 123-131 Dalmeri, G. et. al., 2002, ‘Le pietre dipinte del sito epigravettiano di Riparo Dalmeri, Campagna di ricerche 2001’, Preistoria Alpina 38, pp. 3-34 192

An introduction to Bioarchaeology through a zooarchaeological perspective

Fig. 1 - A good image synthesis of the meaning of Zooarchaeology (from Cornwall 1956)

Fig. 2 - Some factors which may affect the zooarchaeological data (from Davis 1987).

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Fig. 3 - Wild cat humerus from Monte Bibele showing butchering cut marks together with punching and gnawing marks left by carnivores.

Fig. 4 - Incisors eruption, replacement and wear in bovines (from Barone 1996).

Fig. 5 - An ��������������������� example of how osteometry can be successfully applied to distinguish between species or different subspecies; more difficulties can be found in determining the sex of individuals (from Curci and Tagliacozzo 2003).

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Fig. 6 - Three different quantification methods (NISP: Number of Identified Specimen; MNI: Minimum Number of Individuals; Meat yield) applied to the same faunal specimen from Marzabotto.

Fig. 7 - Location of the main cut marks on the fox skeletons of Grotta Romanelli (from Compagnoni et al. 1999).

Fig. 8 - The pit with the ritual deposition of a male horse and two dogs, at Maccarese.

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Fig. 9 - Sequence of horse bones deposition, from Maccarese (drawing G. Carboni).

Fig. 10 - The horse skeleton, from Maccarese.

Fig. 11 - Modified pig astragali (in the middle) compared with non-modified astragali (on the sides), from Marzabotto. 196

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Fig. 12 - Dog jaw bone with butchering marks from Marzabotto.

Fig. 13 - Humeri of wolf, wild cat and badger with clear butchering marks from Monte Bibele.

Fig. 14 - ‘Food for the dead’ from a grave of Monterenzio Vecchio.

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Fig. 15 - A phase of the portioning procedure of the offering in the tombs of Monterenzio Vecchio.

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Bioarchaeology: the human skeleton as a historical source  

Maria Giovanna Belcastro, Valentina Mariotti Abstract Bioarchaeology is a discipline that emphasises the human biological component, especially bones and teeth, of the archaeological record. The bioarchaeological approach to the study of human skeletons underlines their importance as Cultural Heritage. The skeleton in fact is an important biological archive and preserves the marks of the individuals life history and the history of ancient populations (age at death, sex, health and alimentary status, traumas, physical activities, etc.) and contributes to the reconstruction of the biology and behaviour, style and quality of life (socio-economic and hygienic conditions, health status, type and availability of food resources, level of physical stress, etc.) of ancient humans, allowing us to estimate a date for ancient human adaptive strategies. This information becomes more and more important when other sources and documents are lacking as when it comes from very ancient human remains.

1. INTRODUCTION ‘From infancy to adolescence and youth, then to adulthood and old age, we leave part of us behind and we deliver it to death. Thus our life is constructed on death. Death and the subject who must experience it never meet. Hence, the only possibility to know it is the death of others. Only in this way do we comprehend that this body that was life and word is now inert and mute’ (Di Nola 2005). Bioarchaeology emphasises the human biological component within archaeological contexts. Although first applied to archaeozoology (Clark 1972), this term conventionally refers to the study of archaeological human remains (Larsen 1997, Belcastro et al. 1999, Mariotti et al. 2000, Belcastro et al. 2002). In this sense, anthropological data form an integral part of archaeological studies, as they are used to investigate past relationships between man and the environment expressed through biological-cultural responses (humans get sick and are cured, they age precociously if subjected to heavy workloads, etc.). Therefore, the skeleton represents an important biological archive, and the expertise of the anthropologist consists in the recognition and interpretation of the information contained in this archive. The skeleton provides information about the physical characteristics of individuals and thus of populations. This allows reconstruction of past relationships between man and the environment, his lifestyles and aspects of both his biological and cultural responses. This is possible because the skeleton (bone and teeth) consists of hard tissues (bone: osseous tissue; tooth: enamel, dentine and cement) that are more easily preserved in an archaeological context; thus, it is a fundamental research material in the study of the micro- and macroevolutionary processes that have characterised human evolution. Bones are subjected to continuous remodelling processes during life and preserve the results of growth and ageing, during which dynamic processes of bone apposition and resorpbelcastrotion occur. These processes can be affected by endogenous and exogenous, normal and pathological

factors. Teeth are usually not subjected to repair and their shape is defined early in ontogeny. Therefore, teeth preserve the results of physiological (wear) and pathological (decay, tooth loss, etc.) events. Since these tissues are under genetic and environmental control (Fig. 1) and preserve the marks of the life history of the individual (age at death, sex, health and alimentary status, traumas, physical activities, etc.), they help in the reconstruction of the biology and behaviour, lifestyle and quality of life (socio-economic and hygienic conditions, health status, type and availability of food resources, level of physical stress, etc.) of ancient individuals and populations, allowing inferences about ancient human adaptive strategies. This information becomes increasingly important when other sources and documents are lacking, as is typical of very ancient human remains. Thus, bones and teeth preserve traces that the anthropologist can recognise and interpret. However, difficulties are posed by the often fragmentary nature of the materials, the monotonous response of the bone, which can react to endogenous and exogenous agents only by producing and laying down newly formed tissue (exostosis) or by reabsorbing pre-existing tissue (osteolytic formations), and human variability. The last factor is expressed as differences between individuals of the same population or between different populations. Added to this is the variability among populations living in different periods. Hence, knowledge of the variability of populations is essential to understand what is ‘normal’ and what differs from ‘normality’, and thus to interpret in evolutionary terms the morphological differences observed on human skeletal remains. The task of the anthropologist and bioarchaeologist, therefore, is to recognise and interpret the biological characteristics of past individuals and populations, which also give indications of human behavioural models. The first phase of this research takes place in the field by means of direct analysis of skeletal remains within the funerary context, where possible. This is followed by a phase in the laboratory in which the study of specific markers (demographic, pathological, alimentary, activity, etc.) allows inferences about the demographic structure of the population, the health status, the activities and usual behaviours, etc.

Maria Giovanna Belcastro, Valentina Mariotti

2. FIELD STUDIES

sembling and gluing, marking and cataloguing of the various fragments) are aimed at reconstructing the integrity of the bone, both for general preservation of the material and for anthropological analyses. This provides a first level of knowledge of the skeletal material under study. Restoration, erroneously considered a mere technical activity, is an essential research phase because it provides thorough knowledge of the skeleton that otherwise would not be acquired and without which much information would be forever lost. This activity must be carried out by experts who know how to recognise the traces that will be recorded and interpreted, and thus must not be altered during this phase; for instance, the restorer must avoid gluing together bony parts that were intentionally cut peri mortem, must be careful when using cleaning instruments that could alter or cancel traces, e.g. when it occurs removing the sediments from the tooth that could also remove tartar or cause lesions that might result in false positives in microwear studies, etc. In this sense, restoration must be considered an important part of the training of an anthropologist concerned with the study of ancient populations, as well as a first phase of study of the material (Belcastro and Gualdi Russo 2002). The information obtained from the study of individuals is then used to acquire information about the sample as a whole and, by extrapolation, about the population. However, knowledge of the characteristics of past populations can only be partial, because it is hypothetical and dependent on the representativeness of the available sample (Fig. 4). Indeed, skeletal remains, very often deriving from prehistoric and protohistoric sites (from burial contexts or not), do not represent the population to which they refer. Instead, they represent a sample that could have been selected by conservation factors – chance or not (destruction of particularly fragile infant bones, alterations by diagenetic causes, ancient reuse of burial areas, etc.) – or by cultural factors (different graves for adults and children, removal of skeletal parts, etc.). It must also be considered that burial zones are generally used for periods corresponding to many generations, and it is difficult to specify the exact period except in rare cases in which archaeological or epigraphic evidence provides clear information about. Therefore, in the absence of specific archaeological information, the human remains deriving from a necropolis are often considered part of a single contemporary death event. Yet, only a few archaeological discoveries refer to contexts in which death contemporaneously struck a wide band of a population in a relatively short time (hours, months), as in the case of epidemics, catastrophic events, wars, etc. In addition to the problem of the representativeness of the sample, there is the no less important problem of the representativeness of single individuals. In fact, despite careful excavation and restoration, the fragmentary nature and incompleteness of the skeletal remains often prevent the reconstruction of whole individuals.

It is assumed that a funerary context is the expression of a deliberate action, and that this context exists because of the presence of the corpse/skeleton. Various materials are recovered from the excavations of burials (metals, stone materials, etc.), for which there are specific restoration and study methods. Human remains, which give meaning and value to the funerary context, must also be considered research materials on account of their informative potential, starting from the moment they come to light. The introduction of taphonomic analyses during excavations and the information deriving from new disciplines such as funerary archaeology allow interpretations of postburial modifica ions of the skeleton in relation to various biotic and abiotic factors. Using observations of the funerary contexts, the anthropologist tries to identify if modifications of the skeletal remains were due to deliberate interventions, and thus interpretable in cultural and symbolic terms, or to chance events. When the skeletal specimens are discovered, it is necessary to study the factors that determined the particular arrangement of the bones. Very often the position in which the bones are found does not reflect the original one, due to decomposition of the soft parts and other accidental events (collapse of the grave, intervention of animals, etc.) or to deliberate actions. The position in which the corpse was buried (supine, prone, huddled up, etc.) (Fig. 2) and the relative position of the single bones can provide information about: • the type of burial (primary, secondary, single, polysomic, ossuary, etc.); • the environment in which decomposition occurred (in a full space, in an empty space, etc.), based on the presence or absence of anatomical connections (weak or stable) at the various joints; • specific interventions to the corpse or the grave (secondary burial, repositioning of the skull or other bones, decapitation, etc.). The identificati n of foetal or infant bones can present particular difficulties on account of their morphology and small size (Fig. 3). Indeed, such bones are often overlooked or not recognised as such. The recognition of human bones used in cremation rites, which result in marked alterations, also requires specific expertise The anthropologist’s work in the field provides the archaeologist with a substratum of information without which any interpretation of the symbolic meaning of the graves can only be partial. The ‘reading’ of the excavation data is merely a working hypothesis because it is linked to cultural and mental reference models (current or not). Hence, only the integration of different expertises and an interdisciplinary approach can produce reliable interpretations of such contexts, as they are an expression of the intentions and actions of man in the past.

4. The study of human skeletal remains: possible applications and interpretations

3. LABORATORY STUDIES As in the excavation procedures, particular care must be taken during the subsequent laboratory investigations. Restoration operations (observation, cleaning, washing, as-

The many skeletal markers can be divided into demo200

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graphic (age at death and age), pathological (infectious, metabolic, congenital diseases, etc.) and behavioural. The last category can be subdivided into pathological and/or activity and alimentary markers, referring to alterations and bony and dental lesions that can be related to specific behaviours and habits of an individual and/or population. In particular, pathological and/or activity refers to traumatic bone lesions attributable to the physical activity carried out (robustness of the sites of insertion and origin of tendon-muscles and ligaments, joint diseases), accidental events (falls) or intentional actions (results of interpersonal violence), and to dental lesions and alterations not attributable to the diet, i.e. results of deliberate modifications for therapeutic and/or ritual purposes (avulsion, filing, settings, etc.) or other events (fractures, sulci and wear produced during the working of objects with the teeth, or for therapeutic or hygienic-sanitary uses of objects) (Milner and Larsen 1991). We also include alimentary markers observable on the teeth (decay, calculus, alimentary wear, chipping, etc.) among the behavioural markers because for man food is part of precise choices that depend on many factors, involving the availability and type of environmental resources and the use/exclusion of specific foods by the individual and/or population (Harris 1985, Hillson 1996). Age and sex are fundamental biological characteristics that must be attributed to unidentified human skeletal remains. They are important in reconstructing the demographic composition and health status (sex ratio, mortality, infant mortality, etc.) and for interpreting all the other markers (sex and age-related diseases, sex-related activity, etc.) of the population. The demographic data can also furnish information about the social structure (burials of horsemen or warriors, Lombard fara, etc.) or the specific use of the burial area (only female or only male graves referable to cemeteries of convents or monasteries, ratio burials/cremations and prone/supine burials, etc.). In addition they can supplement archaeological information from other sources, such as inscriptions. The estimation of age is based on modifications of the skeleton occurring throughout life. Therefore, it is always an estimate of biological age, the result of the interaction between the genetic component and the lifestyle, diet, health status, etc. For this reason, it is not possible to attribute an exact age to the subject, but rather a usually wide age range in which the specimen presumably falls. Different methods are used and they are better defined for children and adolescents than for adults (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994). The attribution of sex is usually performed on adult specimens since most skeletal indicators of sex are related to secondary sex characteristics and thus only recognisable after puberty. The most informative regions are the pelvis (on account of the reproductive functions) and the skull (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994). Many methods are available in the literature (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994) and others have recently been devised in our laboratory based on studies of osteological collections of documented age, sex and other demographic parameters (‘Frassetto’ collections, Museum of Anthropology, University of Bologna) (Brasili and Belcastro 1998, Facchini and Veschi 2004, Rastelli 2005, Belcastro et al. 2008, Cameriere et al. 2007). Age and sex assessments for skeletal remains present many

intrinsic difficulties related to the variability of the indicators used, expressed at both the individual and population level and in relation to the preservation status. In addition, growth rates and patterns have changed in time, for both genetic and environmental reasons. Hence, the age and sex indicators must be calibrated on the skeletal series under study or on a similar sample. The reliability of the attributions increases with the number of characters that can be scored. Further information about the lifestyle of ancient populations comes from morphological and functional analyses, particularly of activity indicators and palaeopathological markers (skeletal and dental). The morphology and degree of development of muscle and ligament attachments (entheses) vary greatly in relation to factors such as age, sex and mechanical stress. The analysis of these areas can reveal particularly heavy, stereotyped or repetitive physical activities (microtraumas). However, the relationship between movement and the development of muscle insertions is not unequivocal, since one muscle may be responsible for several movements and each movement is produced by the action of different muscles. Moreover, individual morphological characteristics (particular conformations of the bones or joints) can give rise to different movement mechanics and stresses on different areas. For these reasons, functional anthropological and biomechanical studies are in an initial phase, and the exact effects of many muscle functions on the skeleton have still not been clarified. The functional interpretation of these characters is also complicated by the modifications the bone undergoes during ageing. The standardised scoring methods devised in our laboratory on the ‘Frassetto’ collections have allowed us to examine some aspects of the multifactorial aetiology of these characters. For instance, osteolytic formations in muscle insertions are more frequently found in the bones of young individuals, while the degree of development and number of enthesophytic formations increase with age. The most reliable hypotheses about past activities can be made in cases of lateralization and when only a few specific entheses are particularly well developed (Mariotti et al. 2004b, Mariotti et al. 2007). Analyses of activity markers have been successfully performed on prehistoric specimens (Neanderthalian and Upper Palaeolithic) (Mariotti et al. 2004a, Belcastro et al. 2006e) and on more recent material (Belcastro et al. 2001b). The joints are also particularly subjected to mechanical stresses, which can result in the extension of articular surfaces (squatting facets on the talus and tibia, etc.), the formation of accessory articular facets (sacro-iliac, sacrolumbar, etc.) and articular degenerations (osteoarthritis). In young individuals, physical effort can even prevent the fusion of secondary ossification centres (e.g., os acromiale). Regarding the onset of osteoarthritis (which can be present with different characteristics – marginal osteophytic formations, porosity and eburnation of articular surfaces), it is difficult to separate the effects of age from mechanical effects, which may be concomitant. However, the aetiology of this disease can be hypothesised based on the affected joint and the manner in which it is expressed. For instance, degenerations of non-load-bearing joints, such as the elbow, wrist, etc., are more easily interpreted in func201

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tional terms, as are modificatio s of the articular surface (eburnation) rather than the margin of the articular area (marginal lipping) (Rogers and Waldron 1995, Belcastro and Facchini 2000). Like in the microtraumas the results of macrotraumas can also indicate both accidental events (e.g., Colles fracture of the distal third of the radius following a fall absorbed by the hand) and particular activities. The position, type of fracture (oblique, multi-fragmentary, etc.) and manner of healing or repair of fractures are informative about the times and ways the traumatic event occurred (fall, struggle, etc.) and the interventions carried out to favour recovery (Lovell 1997). For instance, a transverse fracture of the distal third of the ulna (parry fracture) (Fig. 5) is interpreted as the consequence of a defensive action against an aggressor. This, together with archaeological evidence or historical sources, can indicate interpersonal violence. It is easy to recognise traumatic lesions showing signs of repair processes and thus indicating the survival of the individual. These intra vitam traumas can be accidental (falls) or intentional (occasional vs. ritual) (trephination, result of violence, etc.). Cranial trephinations may have been practised for therapeutic purposes to treat a disease or a traumatic cranial event (Fornaciari 1992). In an adult male from the medieval necropolis of Collecchio (Parma), we observed the effects of two successive trephinations that the individual survived; this was shown by the evident signs of cicatrization and the fact that the second trephination intercepted the preceding one, modifying its contours (Fig. 6). Magical-ritual purposes can also be inferred if the trephination was carried out peri mortem or post mortem, although a deliberate intervention must be distinguished from a taphonomic event. Peri mortem traumas (no repair processes, fractures and lesions of bones that protect vital organs), which may have caused the death of the individual or occurred immediately after death, can also be accidental (falls) or intentional (occasional vs. ritual) and can provide information about interpersonal violence and treatment of the corpse for various purposes (cannibalism, human trophies, body concealment, etc.). The results of post mortem traumatic events can be accidental (taphonomic origin) or intentional (occasional vs. ritual) (disarticulation of skeletal parts for rituals and funerary practices, etc.). Studying the outcome of these events allows us to interpret how and when the traumas occurred (intra vitam, peri mortem, post mortem), possible therapies, level of interpersonal violence, and treatment of the body after death (secondary burial and/or cannibalism, etc.) (Belcastro et al. 2006a, Belcastro et al. 2006c, Belcastro et al. 2006d, Facchini et al. 2007). Bones can also exhibit the effects of deliberate attempts to treat and restore functionality, or perhaps to relieve pain. For instance, an attempt to alleviate walking difficulties due to alterations of the hip was observed in the Roman skeletal remains of the necropolis of Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna) (2nd-4th century): an anthropological study suggested the use of crutches (Belcastro and Mariotti 2000, Mariotti and Belcastro 2000). Other intra vitam traumatic lesions can be observed on the teeth; they can be attributed to particular behaviours or habits of individuals and/or populations and to uses of the teeth

as a third hand. These alterations usually involve the dental crown and its tissues (enamel and dentine). The alterations can persist if there has not been heavy wear or other lesions because dental enamel is not subject to repair processes (Milner and Larsen 1991). These alterations can be caused by various intentional and non-intentional factors: the former include those that modify the tooth by means of avulsions, settings, carvings, filings, etc., mainly for ritual purposes, as a sign of recognition of affiliation to a group or caste, aesthetic purposes, etc.; the latter comprise a series of dental wear not due to mastication (notches, interproximal grooves, labial surface wear, etc.) and fractures involving only the enamel or also the dentine according to a scale of severity devised by our laboratory (Bonfiglioli 2002, Belcastro et al. 2004, Bonfiglioli et al. 2004). These lesions are the result of use of the teeth in paramasticatory activities (treatment of the food before its consumption) or extra-masticatory activities (holding objects while the hands are busy with something else, working materials, retouching tools, etc.). These indicators can provide useful information about behavioural changes involving the use of teeth in non-masticatory activities in relation to social, economic and cultural changes (Belcastro et al. 2007, Belcastro et al. in press). Some genetic and hereditary conditions (dwarfism, thalassemia major, etc.), infectious diseases (tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy, etc.) and metabolic disorders (rickets, scurvy, etc.) can affect bone tissue at either the primary or secondary site (Ortner and Putschar 1981). These conditions are studied to reconstruct the health status of individuals and populations in relation to the physical (malaria and anaemias) and socio-economic environment in which they lived (diseases related to poor diet and nutritional intake, hygienic and sanitary conditions, high population density, etc.). In the study of infectious diseases that strike the skeleton, the osteoarchaeological data are the most important evidence concerning the times and means of onset and transmission of the diseases. This is the case of the epidemiology of leprosy in Europe, which is rather unclear because of difficulties in interpreting historical sources and medical documents. In particular, historical documents use the umbrella term ‘leprosy’ to indicate many diseases with skin lesions that were aetiologically distinct but quite similar in appearance, and whose mechanisms of contagion were unclear (e.g., psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, pellagra, lupus vulgaris, yaws, syphilis, etc.). Recent osteoarchaeological studies (Belcastro et al. 2005, Mariotti et al. 2005) have provided important information about the spread of this disease in Italy and Europe, extending its presence back to the 4th century BC and suggesting the need for a reinterpretation of the timing and context of the introduction of leprosy into Europe. In fact, a first probable osteoarchaeological case of leprosy was observed in a Celtic skeleton from Casalecchio di Reno (Italy, 4th century BC) (Mariotti et al. 2005). Some common diseases of the oral cavity can indicate the living conditions and thus the type of diet and economy. Indeed, teeth provide information about the diet, health and ‘beauty’, habits and behaviour. In particular, caries, ante mortem tooth loss, tartar and occlusal wear are highly informative about the diet and the availability of 202

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food resources. Caries is due to the consumption of carbohydrates and is characterised by focal demineralisation of dental hard tissues by organic acid produced by bacterial fermentation of dietary carbohydrates, especially sugars. Caries can lead to ante mortem tooth loss which together with periodontal disease results in progressive alveolar bone loss, even though the aetiology of these diseases is multifactorial, involving caries, hygiene, nutritional status, etc. Calculus, a deposit of calcified dental plaque, may be caused by poor oral hygiene and the dietary consumption of vegetable or animal proteins. Dental wear, a physiological process due to normal contact between the occlusal surfaces of the teeth, may indicate the hardness or softness of the food (Hillson 1996). Therefore, these indicators are widely used to study changes of human adaptive strategies, for instance in the phases of transition from one type of economy to another. Examples are the passage from a hunting-gathering economy, typical of Palaeolithic populations, to the manufacturing and agricultural economy of the Neolithic (Smith 1984), and the Late Antiquity / early Middle Ages transition that marked the end of the Roman Empire and the arrival in Western Europe of Germanic populations from North-Eastern Europe; these events were accompanied by profound changes in the biology and culture of early medieval populations and a general worsening of their living conditions (Belcastro et al. 2001a, Belcastro et al. 2001b, Belcastro et al. 2003, Belcastro et al. 2005, Belcastro et al. 2006b, Belcastro et al. 2007, Belcastro and Facchini 2001, Bonfiglioli et al. 2003, Manzi et al. 1999).

namely archaeologists and members of superintendences charged with the management, guardianship, maintenance and utilisation of archaeological materials. It should be emphasised that funerary contexts and the materials that represent them, which are considered cultural materials and attract substantial economic and human resources, acquire their meaning only in the presence of the deceased. It is the person buried there that gives value to the burial context and not vice versa. There are many reasons (cultural, historical, academic, economic, etc.) that scientists and common people think otherwise, but this attitude must be corrected. In this sense, much of the work must be carried out by the anthropologist who, through his/her specific cultural identity, must avoid the role of mere supplier of the age and sex of the buried individual in response to a request by the archaeologist. Although fundamental, they are not the only information that can be obtained from the study of the deceased. Finally, it should be remembered that the expertise of the anthropologist consists in the observation of specific diagnostic elements on the skeleton. The anthropologist’s approach to the study of skeletal pathologies is different from that of the orthopaedic surgeon or radiologist, for whom the diagnostic element is the anomalous condition reported by the patient or revealed by particular techniques (radiography, densitometry, etc.). Articular and enthesopathic alterations or other diseases at an early stage (inflammatory reaction of the subperiosteal bone, initial stages of hyperostotic disease, etc.) can only be inferred from the dry bone. Indeed, observation of these lesions is often the only way to recognise the initial stages and progression of specific disorders, helping to identify, or in some cases identifying, the timing and pattern of the onset of some diseases. Finally the anthropologist works always taking into account the variability of the population. Therefore the study of the skeletal features of the single individual has to be framed within the pattern of variability of the population to which the individual belongs.

5. CONCLUSIONS The skeleton is often the only vestige of a more or less distant past, either when forming (as fragmentary specimens) part of the fossil record of human evolution starting from around 2.5 million years ago or when discovered in clear funerary contexts starting from around 90,000 years ago (from that time onward, burials were increasingly and continuously used). Skeletons are the certain, most direct and concrete testimony (sometimes the only testimony) of men of the past and it is their presence in archaeological contexts that allows us to formulate hypotheses about macroand microevolutionary processes in human evolution. From the study of biological characteristics recorded on the skeleton, we can make inferences about cultural and behavioural practices, and thus adaptive strategies, that man adopted in the past. To reconstruct these aspects, an interdisciplinary approach and above all a true integration of data deriving from different fields of research on ancient man (archaeology, history, linguistics, demography, medicine, archaeozoology, archaeobotany, etc.) are necessary for a correct and complete interpretation of the archaeological contexts. However, the study of archaeological contexts can only be partial until human skeletal remains acquire the status of cultural ‘materials’, with the need to be carefully excavated, restored, utilised (through specialist studies and educational initiatives) and conserved. Hence, a primary objective is to sensitise the nonspecialist public on these topics, but also the direct interlocutors of anthropologists,

Acknowledgements The authors thank Nicolò Marchetti and Ingolf Thuesen for including bioarchaeological topics in the ARCHAIA programme, underlining the importance of biological disciplines in the study and safeguarding of archaeological and funerary contexts.

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Di Nola, A., 2005, La nera signora. Antropologia della morte e del lutto (Roma: Newton & Compton) Facchini, F., Rastelli, E., Belcastro, M.G., 2007, ‘Peri Mortem Cranial Injuries from a Medieval Grave in Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Bologna, Italy’, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 18/4, pp. 421-430 (www.interscience.wiley.com, DOI: 10.1002/oa.949) Facchini, F., Veschi, S., 2004, ‘Age Determination on Long Bones in a Skeletal Subadults Sample (b-12 Years)’, Collegium Antropologicum 28, pp. 89-98 Germanà, F., Fornaciari, G., 1992, Trapanazioni, craniotomie e trauma cranici in Italia. Dalla preistoria all’età moderna (Pisa: Giardini Editori e Stampatori in Pisa) Harris, M., 1985, Good to Eat. Riddles of Food and Culture (New York: Simon and Schuster) Hillson, S., 1996, Dental Anthropology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Larsen, C.S., 1997, Bioarchaeology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Lovell, N.C., 1997, ‘Trauma Analysis in Paleopathology’, Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 40, pp. 139-170 Manzi, G., Salvadei, L., Vienna, A., Passarello, P., 1999, ‘Discontinuity of Life Conditions at the Transition from the Roman Imperial Age to Early Middle Ages: Example from Central Italy Evaluated by Pathological Dento-Alveolar Lesions’, American Journal of Human Biology 11, pp. 327-341 Mariotti, V., Belcastro, M.G., 2000, ‘Functional Implications of Coxo-femoral Subluxation in a Roman Skeleton (T.115) from Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna, Italy; 2nd-3rd c. A.D.)’ in M. La Verghetta, L. Capasso (eds) Proceedings of the 13th European Meeting of the Paleopathology Association, Chieti, Italy, September 18-21, 2000 (Teramo: Edigrafital), pp. 187-19 Mariotti, V., Bonfiglioli, B., Belcastro, M.G., Facchini, F., Condemi, S., 2004a, ‘The Contribution of Anthropological Study to the Reconstruction of the Life Style of the Epipaleolithic Population of Taforalt (Morocco). Preliminary Report’ in Actes du XIVème Congrès UISPP, Université de Liège, Belgique (2-8 septembre

2001), VII. Le Mésolithique, BAR S1302 (Oxford: BAR Publishing), pp. 145-152 Mariotti, V., Dutour, O., Belcastro, M.G., Facchini, F., Brasili, P., 2005, ‘Probable Early Presence of Leprosy in Europe in a Celtic Skeleton of the 4th-3rd Century BC (Casalecchio di Reno, Bologna, Italy), International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 15/5, pp. 311-325 Mariotti, V., Facchini, F., Belcastro, M.G., 2000, La Bioarcheologia. Lo scheletro umano come documento storico (CD-ROM) (Progetto Finalizzato Beni Culturali CNR, contributo n. 99 03766 PF 36) Mariotti, V., Facchini, F., Belcastro, M.G., 2004b, ‘Enthesopathies – Proposal of a Standardized Scoring Method and Applications’, Collegium Antropologicum 28/1, pp.145-159 Mariotti, V., Facchini, F., Belcastro, M.G., 2007, ‘The Study of Entheses: Proposal of a Standardised Scoring Method for Twenty-Three Entheses of the Postcranial Skeleton’, Collegium Antropologicum 31/1, pp. 291-313 Milner, G.R., Larsen, C.S., 1991, ‘Teeth as Artefacts of Human Behaviour: Intentional Mutilation and Accidental Modification in M.A. Kelley, C.S. Larsen (eds) Advances in Dental Anthropology (New York, Chichester: Wiley-Liss), pp. 357-379 Ortner, D.J., Putschar, W.G.J., 1981, Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press) Rastelli, E., 2005, Ricerca metodologica su indicatori scheletrici di età adulta su collezioni di epoca moderna (prima metà del XX secolo) italiane (collezione di Sassari e collezione di Bologna) e portoghesi (Colecção de Esqueletos Identificados, Coimbra) di età e sesso noti (Ph.D. diss., University of Bologna) Rogers, J., Waldron, T., 1995, A Field Guide to Joint Disease in Archaeology (Chichester: Wiley) Smith, B.H., 1984, ‘Patterns of Molar Wear in Huntergatherers and Agriculturalists’, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 63, pp. 39-56

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Maria Giovanna Belcastro, Valentina Mariotti

THE HUMAN SKELETON GENETIC FACTORS

BONE AND TEETH

• Phylogeny • Microevolution • Socio-economic condition • Diet and nutritional status • Health status • Level of physical stress • Etc.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS • physical environment • diet • physical activity • traumas • diseases • etc.

Fig. 1 - Scheme representing that bone and teeth are under genetic and environmental control (physical environment, diet, etc.).

Fig. 2 - Neolithic burial of a child (about 7 year) of Fornace Cappuccini of Faenza (Ravenna, Italy).

Fig. 3 - Three humeral bones (adult, adolescent, newborn) (left) and two vertebrae (adult, newborn) (right) at different stage of development. Note the different size and shape of the bones: in the adolescent humeral bone the epiphyseal lines are still visible and in the humeral bone and vertebra of the newborn the secondary centres of ossifications (epiphysis) are still absent.

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Fig. 4 - Representation of the differences between the skeletal sample and the whole population to which it refers.

Fig. 5 - Parry fracture of the left ulna of a young adult of the early Middle Ages necropolis of Vicenne-Campochiaro (Campobasso, Italy). This fracture is the result of interpersonal violence and it occurs during the attempt to protect the head with the upper limb (a particular of the lesion at the left side).

Fig. 6 - (Superior view) Trephination of the left parietal of a male skull of a medieval necropolis of Collecchio (Parma, Italy). The area of first trephination is delimited by the dotted line and the area of the second trephination is delimited by the black line.

207

Faces from the past: the reconstruction of human physical appearance  

Niels Lynnerup, Bjørn Skaarup Abstract Throughout the last years, the Laboratory of Biological Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen has carried out the first attempts of facial reconstruction in Denmark. A unit consisting of a forensic anthropologist and physician, and an artistically skilled historian initiated the work according to the methods put forward by Richard Neave and John Prag from the University of Manchester. The first cases were conducted as ‘blind trials’ on historical characters of whom skulls and contemporary portraits were available. The first case was a Danish nobleman from the 17th century and the second an Egyptian mummy from the 1st century AD. Both of these reconstructions turned out well and led to a proposal by the National Museum of Denmark to reconstruct the face of the oldest known human being from Danish prehistory – an almost 11,000 years old Mesolithic woman from the island of Funen. One of our latest reconstructions was of a man buried at the so-called Treasury at Petra, Jordan.

1. Introduction Facial reconstruction has until recently never really been applied in Danish museology or forensics, apart from some early attempts at laterally viewed portraits, drawn from skull lateral views (e.g., Hansen 1924: 293-547). This seems to stem from museums viewing facial reconstruction as slightly unscientific or even as untimely meddling with what is viewed as archaeological objects. Skeletal finds are generally exhibited as found, usually in reconstructed burial circumstances: the skeletal material is thus presented as archaeologically ‘pure’. In terms of forensic applications, the Danish police has never considered using facial reconstructions in identific tion work, as by far most unidentified corpses are ultimately identified by means of forensic odontological analyses, DNA-analyses, etc. (e.g., Kringsholm et al. 2001). This is probably also due to Denmark having a fairly homogenous population for which abundant records exist (centralised personal identification records, social security, dental programs, free medical care, etc.). However, not least due to some new archaeological discoveries (Lynnerup 1998a) and refurbishings of museums, especially one concerning one of Denmark’s most famous human finds – the Grauballe man bog body (Lynnerup et al. 2002) – facial reconstruction is beginning to be viewed as a way to show the public, based on scientific methods, what people in the past looked like, instead of just presenting a skull or idealised or nonspecific drawings One of the first such ‘modern’ facial reconstructions made on Danish material, and probably the one to launch this new interest, was a reconstruction of an Egyptian mummy from the Ptolemaic period (Lynnerup 1998b, Lynnerup et al. 1998). The reconstruction was performed by Caroline Wilkinson, Unit of Art at Manchester University, U.K. (Wilkinson et al. 2001). The technique used is generally referred to as the ‘Manchester-method’, and was primarily developed by Richard Neave, combining aspects of the ‘American School’ and the ‘Russian School’ of facial reconstruction (Prag and Neave 1997). Wilkinson has also recently reconstructed the face of the Grauballe man, an

event widely publicised in Denmark and a reconstruction very much decisive in starting our endeavours.

2. Methods We used the Manchester method as described by Prag and Neave (ibid.). This is a combination of using tissue depths as deduced from forensic and anatomical analyses of both living and dead, and of modelling the major facial muscles, based on an anatomical knowledge. One of us (NL) is a medical doctor with several years of experience as a forensic pathologist, currently working in the field of forensic anthropology as well as teaching anatomy, and the other (BS) is a cultural historian, but with an extensive record of sculpting, drawing and painting, as well as illustrator for especially archaeologically based publications. For each of the cases described below, facial tissue thickness following Rhine and Moore (Rhine and Moore 1984) was used. The reconstruction was performed on plaster copies of the skulls. Wooden pins, 2 mm in diameter, were inserted and cut to appropriate length (Prag and Neave 1997��������������������������������������������������� , Rhine ������������������������������������������������� and Moore 1984����������������������������� ) (see also Fig. 8). The general shape and size of the nose was deduced by aligning wooden pins with the nasal bones and the palate and extending these outward till they crossed. Farcolina (R) Artifical Modelling Wax was used to model the soft tissue and muscles.

3. Case #1: Kaj Lykke Kaj Lykke was a Danish nobleman, who died at the age of ca 75 years in ca 1702. He became somewhat infamous in his time due to derogatory remarks about the Queen, leading to his banishment from Denmark, until the Queen died. His skull has previously attracted some interest: it was described by Virchow, the eminent German anatomist, when he attended a conference in Copenhagen in 1872 (Kaj Lykkes Cranium 1941). Due to marked supraorbital ridges,

Niels Lynnerup, Bjørn Skaarup

Virchow used Kaj Lykkes skull as an example of how Neanderthals did not represent a unique human species, as Neanderthal features could be found in modern humans. We used this skull as our first case, because it was readily available at our Laboratory, where a plaster replica has been on display, and as a portrait exists of him, probably painted when he was in his thirties (Fig. 1). The portrait is on display at Frederiksborg National Portrait Museum, and we did not look at the portrait prior to the reconstruction being finished The skull was indeed characteristic: massive bony supraorbital ridges, a sloping forehead and a long mid-face. The mandible was likewise robust and angular. These traits were clearly reflected in the finished model (Fig. 2) as well as in his portrait (Fig. 1). The finished reconstruction was furnished with a model wig in order to simulate the portrait (Fig. 2).

the FORDISC programme (Ousley and Jantz 1996), which indicated that the facial skeletal measures indicated female sex, while more overall skull measurement, e.g. skull base width, breath and length, indicated male sex. We concluded that the skull is indeed of a female, but that in the Mesolithic some traits were more robust than the present day. Male skulls from the same period show likewise pronounced features (Bennike and Alexandersen 1997). While the resultant face did show some broadness, it did not look so archaic as not to be a person who could have lived today (Fig. 7). Thus, facial reconstruction may also very directly show how even our earliest forebears were indeed people like us.

6. Case #4: The Man from the Treasury in Petra On the basis of recovered fragments of a cranium and mandible (TR.CY.EX. PETRA 03 / I.01.28.31 [a]), from graves beneath the so-called Treasury in Petra, Jordan, we performed a facial reconstruction. The anthropological analyses showed the remains to be of a male, 33-45 years old at time of death (Fig. 8). No pathological changes were found on the skeletal remains. Together with the Research Laboratory at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, we performed an analysis of mitochondrial DNA from a molar tooth. However, no authentic DNA was recovered from the tooth. The modelling of the male from Petra is shown in the sequence of Fig. 8.

4. Case #2: Egyptian Mummy The Carlsberg Glyptothek is the curator of this mummy. The mummy is furnished with a painted portrait, typical of the so-called Fayum portraits (Prag and Neave 1997). It is held that these mummy portraits, dating to the Ptolemaic period, reflect the once living person. Instead of highly stylised, even Godlike portraits, which had been the norm of the earlier Egyptian periods, the Fayum portraits try to establish a personal likeness. They may have been painted while the person was in fact alive and stored or hung to be used to adorn the mummy (Lynnerup 1998b). The present mummy was chosen not only due to the existence of the portrait (Fig. 3), but also because Danish TV wanted to make a production showing the various steps employed in studying mummies and facial reconstructive techniques. As such, the head region of the mummy was first CAT-scanned, and the images were subsequently segmented, so that a 3D model could be built by stereolithography (Hjalgrim et al. 1995). The stereolithographical model (Fig. 4) was used to make a plaster copy, which became the base for the reconstruction. The sculptor (BS) had no knowledge of the mummy portrait (Fig. 4) before the face was finished (Fig. 5). Hair and moustache were added for comparison.

7. Discussion Of the four cases presented here, a portrait of the once living person existed in two cases. We find a certain likeliness in both cases: Case #1 clearly shows the same noseridge, supraorbital ridges and overall head shape as the portrait, as is also the case for Case #2. It should be noted, of course, that even while the portraits do connote a specific likeness, these portraits cannot be viewed as exact representations of the portrayed. However, and another reason for carrying out these two studies, Roman portraits, and 16th century Baroque portraiture, did strive for naturalistic accuracy (Gombrich 1995: 668). Case #3 and #4 cannot be judged in terms of likeness. The former case presented potential problems in combining massive and robust Mesolithic skeletal traits with modern anatomical tissue depth tables. We find that the result does integrate these features: the neck and jaws are rendered as massive, yet the mid-face region, nose and eyes, clearly exhibit female traits. Taken together, they do not present any evident discrepancies, and may thus show the capability of this method of facial reconstruction to build natural looking faces even on skull material far removed in time.

5. Case #3: The Koelbjerg Woman The Koelbjerg woman is the epithet given to the oldest human skeletal find in Denmark. The skeleton has been dated to ca 9000 BC. The skeleton, of which only some post-cranial elements remain, is on display in Odense, near the find site. However, an extremely fine-detailed copy of the skull (Fig. 6) had been made in epoxy resin some years ago, so that a copy could be displayed at the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen. A plaster copy was made of the epoxy display copy. The skull exhibits such ‘ancestral traits’ as massive supraorbital ridges and robust muscle attachments and jaws. The sex determination was made on pelvic bones. Before modelling, several cranial measurements were analysed using 210

Faces from the past: the reconstruction of human physical appearance

8. Conclusion

Lynnerup, N., 1998a, �������������������������������� ‘������������������������������� Nivåbarnet, CT-scanning og computere’, Hørsholms Egns Museum Årbog 1998, pp. 29-35 Lynnerup, N., 1998b, ‘��������������������������������� ���������������������������������� Om fremstillingen af et mumiekranie’ in A.M Nielsen (ed.) Det sidste ansigt (København: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek), pp. 45-52 Lynnerup, N., Dalstra, M., Jurik, A, 2002, ‘Reconstructing the Grauballe Man. CAT-Scan, 3D Visualisation and Bog Bodies’, paper presented at the Seventy-First Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Adam’s Mark Hotel, Buffalo, New York, April 10-13, 2002 Lynnerup, N., Neave, R., Vanezis, M., Vanezis, P., Hjalgrim, H., 1998, ‘Skull Reconstruction by Stereolithography’ in J.G. Clement, C.D.L. Thomas (eds) Let’s Face It! Proceedings of the 7th Scientific Meeting of the International Association for Craniofacial Identification. Melbourne, Australia, 30 September – 3 October 1997 (Melbourne: Local Organising Committee of the International Association for Craniofacial Identification), pp. 7-1 Ousley, S.D., Jantz, R.L., 1996, FORDISC 2.0: Personal Computer Forensic Discriminant Functions (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee) Prag, J., Neave, R., 1997, Making Faces. Using Forensic and Archaeological Evidence (London: British Museum Press) Rhine, J.S., Moore, C.E., 1984, Facial Reproduction. Tables of Facial Tissue Thickness of American Caucasoids in Forensic Anthropology, Maxwell Museum Technical Series 1 (Albuquerque: Maxwell Museum of Anthropology) Wilkinson, C., Brier, B., Neave, R., Smith, D., 2001, ‘The Facial Reconstruction of Egyptian Mummies and Comparison with the Fayum Portraits’, paper presented at the 4th World Congress on Mummy Studies, 4.-9. September 2001, Nuuk, Greenland

Based on above cases, we feel that we have established the beginnings of facial reconstruction in Denmark. It is our hope that more museums will want to use reconstructions as part of their displays. As for forensic applications, there is the possibility that facial reconstruction may now more often be applied in Denmark. Denmark, like many European countries, is experiencing more immigration from foreign countries, some of which is illegal, which means that some people will be without the stringent registration otherwise applicable to citizens. This lack of registration will make it very difficult to find the sources for e.g. DNA-analyses and dental records, meaning that facial reconstruction may have a role to play.

References Bennike, P., Alexandersen, V., 1997, ‘������������������ ������������������� Danmarks Urbefolkning’, Nationalmuseets arbejdsmark 1997, pp. 143156 Gombrich, E., 1995, The Story of Art (London: Phaidon Press) (16th edition) Hansen, F.C.C., 1924, Anthropologia Medico-Historica Groenlandiæ Antiquæ, I, Herjolfsnes. Meddelelser om Grønland 67 (København: Reitzel) Hjalgrim, H., Lynnerup, N., Liversage, M., Rosenklint, A., 1995, ‘Stereolithography: Potential Applications in Anthropological Studies’, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 97, pp. 329-333 Kaj Lykkes Cranium, 1941, Dens Sapiens 1/9, pp. 192195 Kringsholm, B., Jakobsen, J., Sejrsen, B., Gregersen, M., 2001, ‘Unidentified Bodies/skulls Found in Danish Waters 1992-1996’, Forensic Science International 123, pp. 142-149

Fig. 2 - The modelled face of Kaj Lykke.

Fig. 1 - Portrait of the Danish nobleman Kaj Lykke. 211

Niels Lynnerup, Bjørn Skaarup

Fig. 4 - Stereolithographic skull made from CAT-scans of the mummy.

Fig. 3 - Portrait of the Fayum mummy.

Fig. 6 - The skull of the Mesolithic ‘Koelbjerg woman’. Fig. 5 - The modelled face of the Egyptian mummy.

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Fig. 7 - The modelled face of the ‘Koelbjerg woman’.

Fig. 8 - The modelled face of the man from the Treasury in Petra.

213

Palaeoenvironment and subsistence economy through the analysis of botanical macroremains  

Marialetizia Carra Abstract This report describes the methodology and the aims of the study of botanical remains in archaeological contexts. In the Department of Archaeology of Bologna, seat of Ravenna, there is a Laboratory of Archaeobotanical Research that deals with botanical remains studies, both in connection with the archaeological excavations conducted by the Department lecturers, and as external collaborations with other institutions like Universities, Museums or Superintendences. The works of the Research Centre concern several situations, both geographical (Italian or foreign archaeological excavations) and chronological (from prehistory to the Middle Ages). Due to the wide range of arguments, after a short description of the various remains typologies, we will examine the botanical macroremains, through some case studies carried out at the Laboratory.



All the branches that compose Archaeobotany show a close relationship between humans and their environment and their reciprocal influence: while nature influences the settlement choices of humans, who always search for the most favourable areas to build dwellings, humans also influence nature through the choice of the most useful species. Since the beginning of the plant domestication, we see a progressive and deeper control of the natural environment that was being shaped on the basis of man’s necessities. Therefore, the archaeologist cannot forget these aspects that can bring a lot of information about natural resources. Archaeobotany includes several disciplines that are concerned with the studies of the vegetal micro- and macroremains. Among the microremains, which are remains not visible by a naked eye, there are pollens and spores; these are microscopic structures (from 5 to 200 μm) generated by superior plants during their sexual reproduction. Pollens are produced by Angiosperms (plants with flowers) and Gymnosperms (conifers), while spores are produced by ferns and horsetails. Each plant typology produces pollens and spores with various morphologies and ornaments; the determination of plant species is based on these differences. Pollens and spores have a very resistant external shell, that is preserved for a long time in the sediment, in various context conditions. Palynology concerns the study of the remains found in archaeological sediments in order to reconstruct a particular palaeoenvironment. Phytoliths are microscopic structures not visible by a naked eye (from 20 to 100 μm), but they are not real vegetable remains, they are silicium particles, inorganic products of plants transpiration. The monosilicic acid (H4SiO4) is present in the ground, it is absorbed by roots and keeps in solution within the plants. The transpiration releases water molecules and it precipitates silicium as dioxide (SiO2), that fixes in vegetables tissues (H4SiO4 = SiO2 + nH2O). Therefore, phytoliths are cell casts (or inter-cell spaces) produced by their own plant species; their morphological diversity allows the determination of the species. As they are not vegetable remains, they are not subject to decomposition, and because of this fact, we can find a lot of phytoliths in archaeological sediments. Phytoliths contribute not only to the palaeoenvironment reconstruction of the sites, but also

to the analysis of the agricultural situation; this is because cereals (as all other gramineae) are great producers of phytoliths. Botanical macroremains include all the remains visible by a naked eye: woods, charcoals, seeds and fruits. We use the term ‘macro’ simply because the remains are bigger than pollens, spores and phytoliths, but a microscope is still used to analyze them. In archaeological contexts, woods and charcoals are remains frequently found and they can come from: parts of structural elements of dwellings, residues of hearths, and tools or parts of them. Determination is based on the morphology of the sections that we obtain by cutting wood or charcoal into three sections: the transverse section, the tangential section, the radial section. We observe the differences between the wood of Gymnosperms and the wood of Angiosperms (Fig. 1). A particular aspect concerning wood and charcoal is the chronological information that these remains can give through the study of growth rings. It is known that, each year, trees mark their own trunks with these growths. The width of these markings is proportional to climate and to various events such as landslides, fires, parasites, etc. From these marks, counted and compared with other remains, we can get ‘dendrochronological curves’. Chronology can be absolute (when we determine the precise year of falling or death of the plant); chronology can also be relative (when we can only make a time correlation within a group of analyzed trunks). Also in this discipline the count of the rings is made through microscope use. Another branch of Archaeobotany is palaeocarpology, the study of seeds and fruits. Among the most frequent remains are the following: remains of the cultivated plants (principally pulses and cereals, of which we can find both the edible parts and the discarded ones, such as rachis fragments); crop weeds; seeds and fruits of wild edible plants; remains from plants near settlements but with no use for human activities. After a brief general view of various typologies of remains, we can learn which are the information that we obtain from the macroremains study. • Analysis of the state of preservation of the botanical

Marialetizia Carra

macroremains, quantification of the unbroken macroremains on the whole amount of the findings and quantification of the indeterminable fragments; analysis of the various typologies of preservation (carbonized, mineralized, mummified, etc.) in relation with the various environments. • Study of the birth of agriculture, research of the first domestic plant forms and of their diffusion from the centres of origin. • Definition of the subsistence strategies based on the number of remains ascribable to wild or cultivated species. • Examination of cultivated species: the crops and the most frequent typologies (caryopsis, rachis fragment, cotyledons, etc.). • Observation of the annual crop weeds to reconstruct the agrarian calendar; research of possible marks of parasites to get the features of the foodstuff storage. • Identification of the wild species to evaluate the composition of the diet or other not strictly alimentary uses of the species (textile use, dyeing use, curative, ritual, etc.). • Analysis of the wild component to study the palaeoenvironment; analysis of the anthracological remains to establish the landscape reconstruction and the taxa most used for the burning. Observation of the autochthonous species and the remains from other vegetation associations. • Planimetrical analysis (to investigate potential areas with a particular use) and stratigraphic analysis, to observe possible changes of the vegetation or the subsistence economy. An important aspect which affects research is the mode of preservation of botanical macroremains. In fact, leaving the vegetable remains on the ground doesn’t guarantee their preservation, on the contrary, the remains will usually disintegrate through the action of decomposition. There are some particular conditions (climatic or sedimentary) that make preservation possible. There are five conditions of preservation. 1. Mummification. Progressive and continuous drying that happen in dry-hot land (desert) or dry-cold areas (ice). The macroremains are perfectly preserved and they are unaltered in morphology, size and composition. 1. Macroremains submerged in anoxic conditions. Extended permanence in water in anoxic conditions (in a marsh, lake bottom, sometimes in the sea, in areas not subject to currents). In this case, the state of preservation is good and the macroremains are unaltered in morphology, size and composition. 2. Mineralisation. Precipitation of calcium phosphate (phosphates derives from faecal materials or bones, calcium from percolation water). The remains are mineralized through an alternation of wet and dry phases; the first phase is an immersion in saturated salt water. Salts are crystallized in the vegetable tissues, that preserve the morphology of the internal structure of the botanical remain. As epidermis and ornaments are destroyed in the process, the species determination is more difficul . Moreover, mineralized remains are particularly fragile. 3. Impressions. When vegetal remains cannot be found in

the sediments, we can check for possible impressions in pottery or plaster fragments (vegetable are used as decorative elements or to degrease clay mixture). 4. Carbonisation. Carbonisation is certainly the most frequent cause of preservation; it is the transformation of the organic substance into charcoal due to the extreme roasting or action of fire (as Holocene deposits are too recent, there is no time for natural carbonisation to occur). Once carbonised, the botanical remains are not subject to natural decomposition, so carbonisation will preserve remains in most various geological and chronological contexts. However, the remains are altered in morphology, size and composition (in some cases the deformation is so strong that it prevents a reliable determination). We can see in details the four operative phases of the botanical macroremains analysis: sampling, treatment of samples, analysis with microscope and elaboration of the results.

1. The Samples 1.1. Sampling activities The best method to collect samples is very important in the research phase because archaeological excavation is destructive and if we don’t apply good criterion, the loss of information will be irreparable. There is no single method that can always be applied to each and every site. The number of samples to be collected changes in accordance to the context, the period and the typology of the sediment (clay earth is certainly more suitable for the conservation of botanical macroremains than a less coherent sediment). Next, we will examine a series of rules that have general validity; from time to time they can be changed with reference to the specific context • Sampling should be intensive and homogeneous (generally one sample for each layer and each area or square of excavation). • The ideal measure is 8-10 l of sediment equivalent to a bucket of earth (preferably sampled from anthropic layers and structures), but the better is the conservation status of the remains, the smaller is the needed quantity. • We should not pick single seeds, fruits or charcoals or only the pottery contents (these are supplementary to standard sampling). • It is better not to divide botanical macroremains from earth during the archaeological excavation. • It is necessary to always record the sampling techniques, the sampling quantity and modes. • Before the beginning of the archaeological excavation, we should program the typologies of sampling and also the periodic presence of an Archaeobotany specialist in the site to better evaluate particular contexts or situations. • The continuous collaboration between Archaeologist and Archaeobotanist is essential, in particular in the sampling activities and in the data interpretation phases. 1.2. Treatment of the samples After sampling, we have to divide the botanical macrore216

Palaeoenvironment and subsistence economy through the analysis of botanical macroremains

mains from the sediment without breaking the remains. The best method is flotation, that is, the separation of the vegetable remains through floating; the lighter elements (such as seeds, fruits, woods and charcoals) come to the surface and they can be separately picked with small mesh sieves (1 and 0.5 mm). Manual flotation is better when we have small amounts of sediments as it is a safer method to prevent the breaking of the remains; but, if we have a lot of sediment, we can use flotation machines. In a drum we add water from the bottom and the pressure makes the lighter elements float. Sometimes the carbonisation causes cavities in the remains; these cavities can be filled up by sediment, so that the botanical remains often do not float. So, in a second phase, the flotation residues are sieved in running water, to allow the picking of all the botanical materials. Then, the flotation and sieved residues are dried, to avoid the attack of mould. When the residues are dry, they are ready to be observed, counted and determined through the microscope.

reals and low percentages of naturally grown plants. As a rule, plant remains are rather plentiful; Structure 3 has given the highest number of findings and the widest range of typologies even if they are so fragmented that some genera are represented only by fragments (hazel, bramble). The first consideration comes from the connection between the cultivated species and the wild ones found in the various samples (Fig. 2). The agricultural activity prevails everywhere on the picking activity, even if the quantities may have been distorted due to the selectivity caused by carbonisation. Besides, we can state that there are not concentration areas of a single variety; on the contrary, there is a rather uniform distribution of the macroremains within the surveyed layers and structures. In terms of agriculture, the only findings are cereals, as there are no findings of pulses belonging to unquestionably cultivated species such as horse bean, lentil or pea, species rather frequent in other earlier Neolithic sites. The two found genera are wheat (Triticum sp. L.) and, to a smaller extent, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). These are the cultivated genera at the base of both the Near East agriculture and the ancient alimentary habits during a period lasted from Neolithic to the Middle Ages. The following wheat species have been found: Triticum dicoccum Schranch (Fig. 3), Triticum monococcum/dicoccum, Triticum spelta L. and Triticum dicoccum/spelta. There are no findings of naked wheat (Triticum aestivum/durum), a species already present in other earlier Neolithic settlements in Italy. Another consideration is the total figure of glume bases and of rachis fragments: they make up about 23% of the whole number of cereals found. This clearly confirms local cultivation, perhaps in areas near the settlement itself. Particular is the case of Structure 1 where glume bases and rachis fragments reach 36%; this could be interpreted as a sort of food treatment area or dump area for the cereal cleaning wastes. Grain fragments are the most well represented among all the samples; however, a better determination of these fragments is impossible due to the preservation state and the small dimensions of the findings Now, we can turn to the analysis of the wild component (Fig. 4). Even within this category, wild species used by humans prevail; the alimentary qualities of these wild species, like acorn, hazel, cornelian or some Rosaceae (all typically Neolithic edible fruits), could be improved through roasting. Acorns prove their human and animal alimentary use and probable tree cover by an oak wood, perhaps of limited extension (this is proved by the first data from the charcoal analysis in progress and also the archaeozoological study describes a widespread breeding activity). Some remains are vine stone fragments. Due to their dimensions and state of preservation, we can neither determine if this vine is wild or cultivated nor support an hypothesis of fermented drink production (the same is for the case of the cornel). The category Rosaceae, identified only through the name of the botanic family, takes up 36% of the findings of the whole amount of wild species (in the Layer 8C it takes up 70%). Fruit fragments belong to this category but, due to their state of preservation, a more accurate identification is impossible; they could be small parts of wild apple, sorb or hawthorn. There are only a few herbaceous vegetation findings. Among these, crop weeds prevail (Vetch – Vicia sp. L., that in some cases could also be used as food, Gal-

1.3. Determination and counting For a sure and correct determination it is essential to use both specific atlases and direct comparison with recent and ancient seeds and fruits collected in a suitable comparison collection. Through the botanical macroremains we can get a specific determination, sometimes also a subspecific one, because the macroremains have particular characteristics that clearly differentiate them. Determination is principally based on observing the following features of the macroremains: their morphology, their eventual surface ornaments and, to a lesser extent, their size. Size is not always a distinctive feature because we can find seeds with different sizes within the same species, due to the climatic and geographic conditions to which the plant is subject (humidity, temperature, exposure, ground typology, etc.).

2. Statistical elaboration of the results When we have identified all the elements of a sample, through the recognition of family, genera, species, remain typology (seed, fruit, rachis fragment, etc.) and number, the results are elaborated in tables and diagrams, for statistic analysis. It is clear that elaboration is the most complex research phase because we must examine a lot of variables that influence the composition of each sample (various seed production of the species, fragmentary level, anthropic influences, etc.) Having related methodological problems, we can now look at three case studies of various time periods: the Eneolithic site of Sesto Fiorentino (Florence, Italy), the Bronze Age site of Tilmen Höyük (Turkey) and the medieval site of Classe (Ravenna, Italy), to observe the information inferable from these diverse contexts. The first site is Sesto Fiorentino, a development-led excavation situated in the suburbs of Florence and dated to the Bell Beaker Culture. In detail, twenty samples divided into two layers and three structures (Layer 12A, Layer 8C, Structure 1, Structure 2 and Structure 3) were the target of the archaeobotanic analysis. 2209 plant macroremains were found, all carbonized. In most protohistorical sites, ours included, we frequently find high percentages of ce217

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ium sp. L. and Portulaca oleracea L. – common purslane) or ruderal plants spread in anthropised areas (Lamium sp. L, Fallopia convolvulus [L.] Holub.), as a further sign of the anthropic impact on the area. Weaving is another human activity not directly evidenced by the plant remains. The manual flotation of the samples and the recovery of the macroremains through thin mesh sifts, allowed the finding of some small carbonized fragments of twisted textile fibres, an unusual finding in sites like Sesto Fiorentino (Fig. 5). Due to the fibre thinness, its vegetable origin is plausible; further specific analysis could support this hypothesis. Another examined site is Tilmen Höyük, dating to the Bronze Age, excavated under the direction by N. Marchetti. The archaeobotanical analysis has examined 36 samples but it has given less results than Sesto Fiorentino, showing that the sediment type is a more relevant preservation factor than the age of the deposit. I analyzed the samples coming from three areas (Area G, K5 e L) of the settlement; these areas gave homogeneous results. Cultivated species prevail everywhere compared to the wild species (Fig. 6) and are made up by cereals (only barley and, in a lesser amount, emmer) and flax (Fig. 7) As the remains are too fragmented, it is difficult to determine if leguminosae belong to the wild or to the cultivated species. The same is for the pip stones (grapes seeds) (Fig. 8). Among the wild species, there are scarce remains mainly made up by crop weeds (Polygonaceae, Rubiaceae). Now, let us look at the site of Classe, a settlement characterized by a complex stratigraphy and chronology. The archaeobotanic study is still in progress and, up to now, it has examined four chronological phases from the 8th to the 15th century. Anyway, the 8th century is the most interesting phase as some partly underground storehouses (presumably structures built with wood and other deteriorating materials) (Fig. 9) belonging to this period have given a very large amount of macroremains. The species from the first storehouse have been determined as follows: barley (Fig. 10), lentils (Fig. 11) and chickpea probably preserved in sacks or in containers that have deteriorated. Their careful storage is notable; this is testified to by irrelevant traces of crop weeds and parasites. The same kinds of food also constitute the basis of the human diet in other contemporary settlements in Italy. Moreover, the inferior amounts of wheat and millets (seen in other storehouses not yet fully investigated) not only show a selective storage mode but also the possibility of crop rotation; this is in fact already known from the documentary sources. The edible fruit remains (walnut, fig, olive and grapes) are few but give us some information about diet. In conclusion, archaeobotany reveals human-environmental interaction in the social and economic systems that alternated during the ages and contributes to the reconstruction of the economic structures, from prehistory until today. Human communities interacted with the environment around them and were therefore strongly influenced in their choices about subsistence strategies. From the Neolithic, we can see a progressive modification of settlement dynamics and the natural environment that is being altered to fit the ever increasing human requirements (deforestation, slope terracing, reclamation works, etc.), thus evidencing

a falling of tree essences and a rise of weeds, ruderal and herbaceous species due to cultivation activities. While archaeology is appreciated and is a frequent part of several research projects, the so-called palaeoenvironmental disciplines still have a secondary role as they are wrongly considered a ‘subsidiary’ subject of archaeological research. On the contrary, the application of these kinds of study is fundamental in the reconstruction of the surveyed sites due to the vast amount of information provided by this type of research. This research integrates the data provided by the traditional typological analysis of the manufactured articles (both ceramic, lithic and metallic), of the settlement structures and, in particular, of everything concerning the diet, the subsistence economy, the definition of the inhabited spaces and the many uses of vegetal materials.

REFERENCES Augenti, A., Bondi, M., Carra, M., Cirelli, E., Malaguti, C., Rizzi, M., 2006, ‘Indagini archeologiche a Classe (scavi 2004): primi risultati sulle fasi di età altomedievale e dati archeobotanici’ in R. Francovich, M. Valenti (eds) Atti del IV Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale. Scriptorium dell’Abbazia. Abbazia di San Galgano (Chiusdino – Siena), 26-30 settembre 2006 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 124-131 Carra, M., 2008, ‘Plant Macroremains from the Cave of Sesto Fiorentino “Olmi 1 – Area B”. A Preliminary Study’ in M. Baioni et al. (eds) Bell Beaker in Every Day Life. Proceedings of the 10th International Meeting of ‘Archéologie et Gobelets’, Firenze, Siena, Villanuova sul Clisi (BS), Gavardo (BS), 12-16 maggio 2006, Millenni 6 (Firenze), pp. 59-66 Carra, M., in prep., ‘Archaeobotanical Analyses’ in N. Marchetti (ed.), Tilmen Höyük, I. The Survey of the Site and the Excavations in Areas A, C, E, H, Gaziantep Region Project Reports 1 (Bologna: Dipartimento di Archeologia) Lone, F.A., Khan, M., Buth, G.M., 1993, Palaeoethnobotany (Rotterdam: Balkema) Pearsall, D.M., 2000, Paleoethnobotany. A Handbook of Procedures (San Diego: Academic Press) (2nd edition) Pignatti, S., 1982, Flora d’Italia, I-III (Bologna: Edagricole) Renfrew, J.M., 1973, Palaeoethnobotany (London: Methuen) Schoch, W.H., Pawlik, B., Schweingruber, F.H., 1988, Botanical Macro-Remains (Bern, Stuttgart: Paul Haupt) Schweingruber, F.H., 1990, Anatomy of European Woods (Bern, Stuttgart: Paul Haupt) van Zeist, W., Wasylikowa, K., Behre, K.-E., 1991, Progress in Old World Palaeoethnobotany (Rotterdam: Balkema) Vernet, J.L., 2001, Guide d’identification des charbons de bois préhistoriques et récents (Paris: CNRS Editions) Zohari, D., Hopf, M., 1993, Domestication of Plants in the Old World (Oxford: Oxford Science Publication)

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Fig. 1 - The three sections of Gymnosperms and Angiosperms wood (from Schweingruber 1990).

Fig. 2 - Sesto Fiorentino. The connection between cultivated and wild species.

Fig. 3 - Sesto Fiorentino. Emmer (Triticum dicoccum Schrank).

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Fig. 4 - Sesto Fiorentino. The wild component.

Fig. 5 - Sesto Fiorentino. The twisted textile fibres.

Fig. 6 - Tilmen Höyük. The connection between cultivated and wild species.

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Fig. 7 - Tilmen Höyük. The cultivated species.

Fig. 8 - Tilmen Höyük. Pip stone (Vitis vinifera L.)

Fig. 9 - Classe. Underground storehouse.

Fig. 10 - Classe. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.).

Fig. 11 - Classe. Lentils (Lens culinaris Medicus). 221

The use of archaeobotanical assemblages in palaeoeconomic reconstructions  

Mette Marie Hald Abstract Charred plant remains from archaeological deposits are potentially useful for the reconstruction of ancient agricultural economies, including the origins of agriculture, and the practices of growing, harvesting, storing, distributing, and consuming a crop. Here the background, methods and theories of archaeobotanical research are outlined, and illustrated by examples from studies in the Near East.

1. Introduction Charred plant remains are often found in archaeological deposits and are potentially useful indicators of palaeoeconomic practices on ancient settlements. These practices include the production and management of crops; the storage, distribution and consumption of plants as food and fodder; methods of field cultivation and processing of crops; and the movement of crops as part of exchange relations with other sites. Apart from the purely economic and nutritional aspects of food, the cultural and social practices of food consumption may also be detected by the presence of charred plant remains in the archaeological deposits. The analytical methods of archaeobotany draw from a range of information including ecological, environmental, ethnographic and experimental studies, botanical surveys, archaeological interpretation, and historical sources.

2. Preservation of plant remains Archaeological plant remains are preserved as either charred, waterlogged or desiccated specimens. In the Near East, charring is the most common method of preservation. Unless there is considerable post-depositional disturbance, charred plant remains can survive in the ground for thousands of years. Preservation of plants by charring depends on a range of factors such as the temperature of the fire in which they are burnt, depositional and post-depositional formation processes, and the robustness and oil or moisture content of the plants. Charring of plants may happen through the catastrophic or intentional burning of a house or part of a settlement, through the intentional burning of plants as fuel in fir places, or through accidents during cooking or parching (to release glumes from glume wheat grain or to sterilise insect-infected crops). In order for plant material to survive, the temperature of the fire has to be either relatively low (200-400º C), or the plants have to be buried in the ashes so that the lack of oxygen prevents the plants from being burnt to ashes themselves (Hillman 1981: 139). The relative robustness of the various plant elements is also important for their preservation: to survive burning in a fireplace without being charred to ash, the plant elements need to be both heavy enough to fall into the lower parts

of the fire and escape the flames, and dense enough not to burn away completely (Boardman and Jones 1990, Hillman 1981: 139-40, Hillman 1984: 11). The plants also have to be robust enough to survive the formation processes of the archaeological deposits. These particular plant elements – cereal grains and seeds, the lower parts of glumes, rachis and straw nodes, and shells or stones from fruits and nuts – are the types of charred plant remains most commonly found on archaeological sites. Oil- or water-rich seeds or plants, such as flax or sesame, are comparatively less likely to survive burning; oil-rich seeds tend to boil and explode when exposed to fire, though if not undergoing too much post-depositional disturbance, the remains of them can still be found (Hald and Charles 2008). Water-rich and soft tissue plants such as vegetables rarely survive charring, though seeds of vegetables may be found, and tubers and parenchyma are also occasionally observed (Nesbitt 1995: 69).

3. Potential sources of plant remains – factors of variation in sample composition The archaeobotanical assemblage may derive from a wide range of potential sources, which need to be considered when using archaeobotanical remains for the reconstruction of past economic practices. Plants arrive on a site for a number of reasons: they may have been brought to a settlement intentionally as food for humans or fodder for animals, or for the use as, for instance, roof thatching, ceramic tempering or fuel for fireplaces. Plants may also have arrived on the site more indirectly, for instance when eaten by animals during grazing and appearing in dung used for fuel. Part of the challenge for the archaeobotanist is to identify the means by which an archaeobotanical assemblage arrived on a site; it goes without saying that archaeobotanical questions on, for instance, the food crop preferences of the inhabitants of an ancient settlement can only be answered through the analysis of plants intended for food, and not through plants intended for animal fodder, or used for fuel, or for construction material such as mudbricks. Before attempting to define the crop economy of a given site, therefore, it is necessary to ensure that an

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4. Field methods of archaeobotany

interpretation of archaeobotanical finds is based on an assemblage actually containing crops and/or weeds of crops.

4.1. Soil sampling During excavation, soil for recovering archaeobotanical material should be sampled from a range of contexts, such as pits, pots, fireplaces, and general room fill, to make sure that the samples are representative of all excavated areas. Sample size will vary, and may often be limited to the size of the context that it is taken from, such as a small pit or ceramic vessel. For larger contexts such as room fill, 50-litre samples can be taken at intervals across the room, which is useful in the investigation of spatial variation in the preparation and consumption of food products. In the case of large pits, multiple samples can also be taken at vertical intervals, which is useful in determining seasonal differentiation in the deposition of bioarchaeological waste, thus helping to determine seasonal events (Wright et al. 1989). Generally, sample size depends on the richness of charred plant remains in the soil: whereas only small samples may be needed from deposits with rich concentrations of seeds, from deposits with low seed density, large-volume samples are needed to recover a statistically representative number of plant remains. The volume of each sample should be recorded before processing in order to have a comparative measure of the concentrations of archaeobotanical material in each deposit. The density of a concentration (i.e., the number of seeds per litre of soil) is a reflection of the rate of deposition of plants; a large amount of crops, for instance, spoiled in storage or during cooking and deposited in a pit or bin as a single event, will tend to have been less mixed with other kinds of refuse than the crops which may have been discarded in smaller amounts over longer periods of time, for instance during day-to-day fine sieving and hand-sorting of grains before cooking. Calculating the density of plant items per litre of floated soil for each sample is thus useful for distinguishing between single and repeated events of discard (Jones 1987: 317). Samples should be taken as whole-earth samples, i.e., including everything that is found in the particular volume of soil. In this way the sample can serve as a control of the onsite recovery rate of archaeological material on the site; this method has proven useful at the Tell Brak project in NorthEastern Syria, particularly in the study of animal bones: though the soil samples taken at Tell Brak contained a higher number of smaller bone fragments, the variety and distribution of animal species found in the soil samples was similar to that of the handpicked material (J. Weber, pers. comm.).

3.1. Dung fuel as a potential source of plant remains The burning of dung fuel in particular has been discussed as an alternative source of charred plant remains to that of food or fodder (Miller and Smart 1984, Charles 1998). Dung from domestic animals, in the form of ‘dung cakes’ (dung mixed with straw and chaff as a ‘temper’) is a popular source of fuel in many areas of the Near East, both because of its good burning qualities but also because it is an alternative to wood which is often a rare resource in arid regions. Today, the use of dung as fuel is regularly associated with deforested areas (Miller and Smart 1984). Various plants are likely to be associated (though not exclusively) with dung: some wild taxa are noted for their usefulness as grazing plants, such as the legumes Astragalus, Medicago and Trigonella sp. (Townsend and Guest 1974); the former is also collected for fuel on its own (Nesbitt 1995: 77, Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1985: 234). Prosopis sp., the fruits of which are eaten by sheep and goats (and humans in times of food shortage), has been associated in particular with dung-derived archaeobotanical material due to its late flowering season; since crops in the Near East are primarily winter sown and harvested in the spring, Prosopis sp., fruiting in September, is not a crop weed, and when present in archaeobotanical material is more likely to have arrived with animal dung (Charles 1998: 114). Scirpus sp. has also been associated with dung in some archaeobotanical studies (Fairbairn et al. 2002: 45-48). Considering that archaeological plant remains often come from domestic hearths where dung could have been used as a fuel, it is important to identify and separate dung-derived plant material in an archaeobotanical assemblage before reaching any conclusions on ancient plant use. 3.2. Crop processing as a factor of sample composition Crop processing is the process by which a harvested crop is cleaned and prepared for consumption, by threshing, winnowing and sieving the crop to remove straw, chaff, weed seeds and other impurities such as earth and small stones. Ethnographic studies of ‘traditional’ non-mechanised farming economies have shown that a harvested crop goes through some thirty operational sequences in order to be cleaned (Hillman 1981, Hillman 1984, Jones 1984, Jones 1987, Jones 1990). The crop processing stages of winnowing, coarse and fine sieving each produce products and byproducts that are likely to appear in archaeological deposits. The various processes involved in cleaning a harvested crop change the original composition of crops and weeds in an assemblage, at the same time leaving specific ‘signature’ patterns in the relative abundance of plant components (grains, seeds and chaff) in the crop samples (Table 1). When investigating the habitat and crop management of specific crops, the origin of an archaeobotanical assemblage in terms of crop processing stages must therefore be identified, and comparisons made only between samples from the same processing stage, thus eliminating the variation in the samples that is due to crop processing rather than to, for instance, food preference.

4.2. Flotation of soil samples Extraction of plant remains from the soil matrix is carried out with the use of a flotation tank. A water-recycling fl tation system, based on the model developed by French (1971) and running on electrical pump power is by far the most efficient, and the system can be built with materials readily available in the Near East. Flotation works on the simple principle that soil, and any non-charred archaeological material included in the soil, is heavier than water, which again is heavier than carbon. Consequently, mixing a volume of soil with water in a flot tion tank will result in the soil (and archaeological remains 224

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such as bone, chipped stone, and ceramics) sinking to the bottom of the tank, and the charred plant remains floating to the surface of the water. The charred material, which is commonly referred to as the ‘flot’, is then easy to ‘decant’ into a sieve with a maximum mesh size of 300 μm, to ensure the retrieval of as many potentially identifiable seeds as possible. The remaining soil should be taken out of the tank to dry and be sorted for archaeological remains such as pottery, bones, chipped stone, and small objects such as beads. The flot should be hung up to dry in the shade, and taken to a lab for analysis.

out other fragments and thus preventing ‘double’ counting. These features, based on their being durable and easy to recognise, include embryo ends of cereal grains and grasses, and glume bases representing each side of a spikelet fork (Jones 1991: 65-66)

6. Pattern searching in the archaeobotanical assemblage An assemblage of archaeobotanical samples may potentially contain several thousand identified seeds, and hundreds of taxa (families, genera, species). The application of statistical tools is therefore useful in order to ‘make sense’, as it were, of the large dataset, and investigate patterns of variation between samples. Variation between archaeobotanical samples and the factors behind it (chronological variation, archaeological context, methods of crop management) can be investigated using correspondence analysis, which detects variation in the composition of samples by comparing the taxon composition of each sample with every other sample, and places each variable (samples or taxa) in a plot along axes according to the similarities or differences between the variables (Fig. 1). By coding each variable according to potential factors of variation (samples from different archaeological contexts, or taxa with different water level requirements), one can investigate which factors account for the most variation, which may lead to conclusions about crop management, the use of specific areas for the processing or storage of crops, chronological changes in crop preferences, and so on. As mentioned above, crop processing is a major factor in the composition of archaeobotanical samples, and needs to be accounted for when investigating an archaeobotanical assemblage. Studies by Glynis Jones (1984, 1987, 1990) have shown how specific crop processing stages of archaeobotanical samples can be identified using the weed seed attributes related to processing methods (size, weight, and ‘aerodynamic’ properties, that is, how well a seed ‘flies’; see ‘method/equipment’ column, Table 1). Jones’ ethnographic study of crop processing methods in Greece has shown that by-products (i.e., non-edible plant parts) of winnowing and coarse sieving and the by-product and product (i.e., the grains) of fine sieving can each be separated in groups by discriminant analysis, which, in the words of Shennan (1997: 350):

5. Quantitative analysis of charred plant assemblages Subsampling, identification and quantification of charred plant remains will now be briefly discussed Once the samples have arrived in the laboratory, a brief scanning of each sample is useful in order to assess the richness and variety of the assemblage. Depending on the richness, in plant remains, of the samples recovered from the excavation, it is sometimes necessary to split the samples to make the time-consuming laboratory analysis costefficient. In the case of rich samples, it has been estimated that in order to reach an accuracy to within 5% of the percentage content of a sample with an estimated total of 1000 seeds, 278 seeds are needed for analysis (Van der Veen and Fieller 1982: 296). Large samples can therefore be split down to this estimated size, using a sample splitter (ibid.). Identification of seeds is based on their morphological characteristics and is made with the help of modern seed reference collections, floras, seed atlases, photographs, drawings and keys (for the Near East, particularly useful reference works include Davis et al. 1965-1988, Guest 1966, Nesbitt 2006, Townsend and Guest 1966-85, Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1985, Van Zeist and BakkerHeeres 1986a, Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1986b, Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1988, Zohary and Hopf 2000). Morphological characteristics are still the main source of distinction between wild, cultivated and domesticated plants, used in the discussion of the origins of agriculture, the theories of which are primarily based on the presence of plants in various stages of domestication on archaeological sites, thereby mapping the spread and distribution of founder crops (Helbæk 1970, Zohary and Hopf 2000). Recently, the study of ancient DNA has been applied as a method of identifying agricultural founder crops (Brown 1999); though there are still some problems with this method, including the expense of the method and the unpredictability of actually retrieving DNA from charred plant remains, the analysis of DNA in archaeological material does hold great potential. Identified plant items are tabulated, most commonly as counts of ‘Minimum Number of Individuals’ (MNIs) in a spreadsheet. ‘MNI’, a term borrowed from the methodology used in the analysis of archaeozoological assemblages, ensures that counts are as realistic as possible, by avoiding accidentally counting fragments from the same seed more than once. To do this, certain features of seeds have been proposed as useful for representing whole seeds, leaving

‘presupposes that we can divide our observations into groups on the basis of some criterion and then attempts to find ways of distinguishing those same groups on the basis of some independent criterion derived from the data’. This method was used by Hald (2008) for comparing the weed seed composition of a Late Chalcolithic archaeobotanical assemblage from Tell Brak with those from the ethnographic study of crop processing made by Jones. By entering the archaeological material in the same plot as the ethnographically known samples, it was determined that the majority of the samples were fine sieving by-products, i.e. the chaff and small weed seeds from one of the 225

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last stages of crop processing (Fig. 2). This information could be used to determine where in the settlement the various stages of crop cleaning were carried out (or the byproducts stored), and to ensure that for the investigation of crop growing conditions, only samples from the same stage were compared.

with the chaff by-product of emmer wheat cleaning, indicating that this by-product may have held some economic importance. In the Early Bronze Age, however, barley is the only crop found in a definit storage context, and on a much larger institutional scale than the earlier storage areas. It appears, therefore, that storage practices changed through time, increased in scale, and came to focus on a much narrower range of crops to be held in communal storage than previously. The reasons for this intensification of the agricultural economy of the site may be found in the continuous growth of Tell Brak during the periods in question, necessitating a growing number of inhabitants to be freed from food production, and thus necessitating larger amounts of crops to be redistributed as food rations. Stable nitrogen isotope ratios in human bone collagen have been used to investigate past diet, particularly distinguishing between plant and animal based food. The method is based on the observation that δ15N increases up the food chain, with herbivores having higher values than the plants they eat (Bogaard et al. 2007), leading to the suggestion that comparatively high δ15N ratios in human bone collagen reflects a primarily meat-based diet. A recent study by Bogaard et al. (ibid.) has pointed out problems in this method, as the crop husbandry method of manuring cereal crops raises the levels of δ15N in the cereals, thus resembling a meat-based diet. Crop management practices, therefore, will need to be factored in when investigating ancient diet. The most direct evidence we have for ancient practices of food consumption is still the actual remains of food found in excavations, including the charred archaeological plants.

6.1. Investigating crop management practices from weed seeds Ancient crop management practices can be reconstructed partly from the presence and composition of crop species in archaeobotanical samples, but most importantly from the weed species associated with these crops. Whereas crop species can often grow in a range of different habitats and are usually relatively tolerant of changes in humidity, salinity, or methods of crop husbandry, some weed species are often comparatively more habitat-specific. Weed species associated with certain crop species, therefore, may be useful indicators of the conditions under which these crops were growing (Bogaard et al. 1999, Bogaard et al. 2001, Charles and Hoppé 2003, Charles et al. 2003, Jones 1984, Jones 1987). The Functional Interpretation of Botanical Surveys (FIBS) is a method used to infer ancient crop husbandry practices from archaeobotanical samples (Bogaard et al. 1999, Bogaard et al. 2001, Charles et al. 1997, Charles et al. 2003). Functional attributes related to different growing conditions are measured on weed species attested archaeologically. Attributes such as germination time, onset and length of flowering period, canopy height and leaf thickness relate to habitat conditions such as sowing time, watering, fallowing and crop rotation regimes. Once these specific attributes are known for the archaeological species, habitat conditions, and, by inference, past crop management practices, can be assessed. A study by Charles et al. (2003) on the Kerak Plateau, Northern Jordan, using this method, has shown that it is possible to recognise different watering regimes (fully or biennially irrigated, dry-farmed) used in fields, while a similar study by Bogaard et al. (1999) found that it was possible to discriminate between various crop rotation and fallowing regimes by using functional attributes. Recent attempts at detecting manuring and watering regimes of crops by the use of stable nitrogen isotope (δ15N) ratios in cereal grains have so far been successful (Bogaard et al. 2007). This method is highly useful when working on archaeobotanical assemblages that may not include a sufficient number of weed seeds for weed ecology studies such as FIBS (for instance, very clean stored crops).

7. Conclusion: Inclusion of archaeobotanical studies in archaeological research Charred plant remains from archaeological deposits offer a potentially valuable insight into past economic practices. They are also not the only tool in palaeoeconomic investigations, as results gained from archaeobotanical data may be tied in with results from animal and human bone collections, phytoliths, and, in some parts of the Near East, pollen cores and Coleoptera. Palaeoeconomic studies should therefore be considered in the preparation of the archaeological research agenda, they should be fully integrated into the archaeological fieldwork from the beginning of any project, and once fieldwork has been carried out, and post-excavation lab and office work has begun for everyone involved in the project, a steady and reliable information flow between researchers should be kept up in order to aid the archaeological interpretation and the publication work.

6.2. Investigating distribution, consumption and storage practices The finds of large on-site crop storage areas, such as those found at Tell Brak in North-Eastern Syria (Hald 2001, Hald and Charles 2008), among others, provide us with an opportunity to investigate the practices of crop storage, as well as indicators of the practices of distribution and consumption of crops within a settlement. A study of communal crop storage in Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age levels at Tell Brak (Hald and Charles 2008) has shown that in the Late Chalcolithic, several types of crops, including barley and flax, were stored in communal space, along

References Boardman, S., Jones, G., 1990, ‘Experiments on the Effects of Charring on Cereal Plant Components’, Journal of Archaeological Science 17, pp. 1-11 226

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Bogaard, A., Heaton, T.H.E., Poulton, P., Merbach, I., 2007, ‘The Impact of Manuring on Nitrogen Isotope Ratios in Cereals: Archaeological Implications for Reconstruction of Diet and Crop Management Practices’, Journal of Archaeological Science 34, pp. 335-343 Bogaard, A., Jones, G.E.M., Charles, M., Hodgson, J.G., 2001, ‘On the Archaeobotanical Inference of Crop Sowing Time Using the FIBS Method’, Journal of Archaeological Science 28, pp. 1171-1183 Bogaard, A., Palmer, C., Jones, G.E.M., Charles, M., 1999, ‘A FIBS Approach to the Use of Weed Ecology for the Archaeobotanical Recognition of Crop Rotation Regimes’, Journal of Archaeological Science 26, pp. 1211-1224 Brown, T.A., 1999, ‘How Ancient DNA May Help in Understanding the Origin and Spread of Agriculture’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 354, pp. 89-98 Charles, M., 1998, ‘Fodder from Dung: the Recognition and Interpretation of Dung-Derived Plant Material from Archaeological Sites’, Environmental Archaeology 1, pp. 111-122 Charles, M., Hoppé, C., 2003, ‘The Effects of Irrigation on the Weed Floras of Winter Cereal Crops in Wadi Ibn Hamad (Southern Jordan)’, Levant 35, pp. 213-230 Charles, M., Hoppé, C., Jones, G.E.M., Bogaard, A., Hodgson, J.G., 2003, ‘Using Weed Functional Attributes for the Identific tion of Irrigation Regimes in Jordan’, Journal of Archaeological Science 30, pp. 1429-1441 Charles, M., Jones, G.E.M., Hodgson, J.G., 1997, ‘FIBS in Archaeobotany: Functional Interpretation of Weed Floras in Relation to Husbandry Practices’, Journal of Archaeological Science 24, pp. 1151-1161 Davis, P.H., Cullen, J., Coode, M.J.E., 1965-1988, Flora of Turkey, I-X (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press) Fairbairn, A., Asouti, E., Near, J., Martinoli, D., 2002, ‘Macro-Botanical Evidence for Plant Use at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, South-Central Anatolia, Turkey’, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 11, pp. 41-54 French, D.H., 1971, ‘An Experiment in Water Sieving’, Anatolian Studies 21, pp. 59-64 Guest, E., 1966, Flora of Iraq, I (Baghdad: Ministry of Agriculture) Hald, M.M., 2001, ‘Plant Remains from the 2000 Excavation at Tell Brak, Area TC: Preliminary Results’, Iraq 63, pp. 40-45 Hald, M.M., 2008, A Thousand Years of Farming: Late Chalcolithic Agricultural Practices at Tell Brak in Northern Mesopotamia (Oxford: BAR Publishing) Hald, M.M., Charles, M., 2008, ‘Storage of Crops During the Fourth and Third Millennia BC at the Settlement Mound of Tell Brak, NE Syria’, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany (DOI: 10.1007/s00334-0080154-x) Helbæk, H., 1970, ‘The Plant Husbandry of Hacilar: A Study of Cultivation and Domestication’ in J. Mellaart (ed.) Excavations at Hacilar (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), pp. 189-244 Hillman, G., 1981, ‘Reconstructing Crop Husbandry Practices from Charred Remains of Crops’ in R. Mercer (ed.) Farming Practice in British Prehistory (Edin-

burgh: Edinburgh University Press), pp. 123-162 Hillman, G., 1984, ‘Interpretation of Archaeological Plant Remains: the Application of Ethnographic Models from Turkey’ in W. Van Zeist, W.A. Casparie (eds) Plants and Ancient Man: Studies in Palaeoethnobotany (Rotterdam: Balkema), pp. 1-41 Jones, G.E.M., 1984, ‘Interpretation of Archaeological Plant Remains: Ethnographic Models from Greece’ in W. Van Zeist, W.A. Casparie (eds) Plants and Ancient Man: Studies in Palaeoethnobotany (Rotterdam: Balkema), pp. 43-61 Jones, G.E.M., 1987, ‘A Statistical Approach to the Archaeological Identification of Crop Processing’, Journal of Archaeological Science 14, pp. 311-323 Jones, G.E.M., 1990, ‘The Application of Present-Day Cereal Processing Studies to Charred Archaeobotanical Remains’, Circaea 6, pp. 91-96 Jones, G.E.M., 1991, ‘Numerical Analysis in Archaeobotany’, in W. Van Zeist, K. Wasylikowa, K.-E. Behre (eds) Progress in Old World Palaeoethnobotany (Rotterdam: Balkema), pp. 63-80 Miller, N., Smart, T.L., 1984, ‘Intentional Burning of Dung as Fuel: a Mechanism for the Incorporation of Charred Seeds into the Archaeological Record’, Journal of Ethnobiology 4/1, pp. 15-28 Nesbitt, M., 1995, ‘Plants and People in Anatolia’, Biblical Archaeologist 58/2, pp. 68-81 Nesbitt, M., 2006, Identification Guide for Near Eastern Grass Seeds (London: Institute of Archaeology, UCL) Shennan, S., 1997, Quantifying Archaeology (Edinburgh: University Press) Townsend, C.C., Guest, E., 1966-1985, Flora of Iraq, IIIV, VIII-IX (Baghdad: Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform) Van der Veen, M., Fieller, N., 1982, ‘Sampling Seeds’, Journal of Archaeological Science 9, pp. 287-298 Van Zeist, W., Bakker-Heeres, J.A.H., 1985, ‘Archaeobotanical Studies in the Levant 1. Neolithic Sites in the Damascus Basin: Aswad, Ghoraifé, Ramad’, Palaeohistoria 24, pp. 165-256 Van Zeist, W., Bakker-Heeres, J.A.H., 1986a, ‘Archaeobotanical Studies in the Levant 2. Neolithic and Halaf levels at Ras Shamra’, Palaeohistoria 26, pp. 151-170 Van Zeist, W., Bakker-Heeres, J.A.H., 1986b, ‘Archaeobotanical Studies in the Levant 3. Late-Palaeolithic Mureybit’, Palaeohistoria 26, pp. 171-199 Van Zeist, W., Bakker-Heeres, J.A.H., 1988, ‘Archaeobotanical Studies in the Levant 4. Bronze Age Sites on the North Syrian Euphrates’, Palaeohistoria 27, pp. 247-316 Wright, H.T., Redding, R.W., Pollock, S., 1989, ‘Monitoring Interannual Variability: an Example from the Period of Early State Development in Southwestern Iran’ in P. Halstead, J. O’Shea (eds) Bad Year Economics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 106-113 Zohary, D., Hopf, M., 2000, Domestication of Plants in the Old World (Oxford: Oxford University Press) (3rd edition)

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Mette Marie Hald

Crop processing stage

Purpose

Method/equipment

Threshing

breaking off straw and chaff from grain

animal hooves or stick for pounding

no separation of plant parts

separating straw chaff from grain

wind: lighter plant parts (e.g., light chaff and weed seeds) are carried to the side by the wind while heavier parts (cereal grains and heavier chaff and weeds) travel less distance

by-product: straw, light chaff, small light weed seeds

Coarse sieving

separating large weed seeds, seeds in heads and unthreshed ears from the grain

coarse sieve: retains larger plant items while the threshed grains go through mesh

by-product: large weed seeds product: crop grains with small weed seeds

Fine sieving

separating small weed seeds from the grain

fine sieve: retains the grains while small seeds go through mesh

by-product: small heavy weed seeds product: semi-clean crop grains (before handsorting)

Winnowing

and

Plant composition pattern

product: crop grains with heavy weed seeds

Table 1 - Summary of major crop processing stages, the products and by-products of which are most likely to become charred.

Fig. 1 - Correspondence analysis plot with archaeobotanical samples represented as pie charts, showing the relative proportions of weed seeds with varying flowering times in the samples. The plot indicates that sample variation may be related to early- vs. late-flowering species, which ties in with crop growing conditions such as the use of irrigation or fallowing (after Hald 2008). 228

The use of archaeobotanical assemblages in palaeoeconomic reconstructions

Fig. 2 - Archaeological samples of charred plant remains analysed alongside modern samples from ethnographically known crop processing stages. The plot shows that the archaeological samples mostly resemble fine sieving by-products (after Hald 2008).

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An introduction to faunal remains and environmental studies: a mismatch or a match made in heaven?  

Pernille Bangsgaard Abstract This paper explores how faunal material can contribute to the field of environmental studies and why this type of evidence is of importance for our general understanding of a site and its social and physical environment. The potential limitation of the collection and registration methods as well as the general excavation strategy is discussed and it is argued that the understanding of the limitations is instrumental for the result of the following faunal analysis. Furthermore, various methods such as size variation within a population, stable isotopes analysis, modern habitat studies as well as sex and age profiling are all introduced and considered in the context of an environmental study. The site of Shkarat Msaied, a middle PPNB (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B) site in Jordan, is used as a case study to illustrate the various methods described above as well as exemplify how an environmentally focused faunal study can add to our understanding of a site and its contemporary environment.

1. Introduction Animals have been an important factor influencing human existence from the earliest prehistoric periods and remain so even in today’s modern world. The importance of animals and the products derived from them is not exclusively utilitarian, although they are essential as food sources, as means of transport, for clothing and for fuel to mention a few (Reitz and Wing 1999). However, animals are also instrumental in the cognitive processes of how we define and describe ourselves and the world that surrounds us (Ingold 1988). With this perspective in mind we can potentially retrieve information regarding many aspects of human existence from the large quantities of preserved faunal remains found on most archaeological sites. The information retractable from faunal material depends to a large extent on the specific context of the find. However, it could potentially include evidence for the basic consumption pattern in a village, for industrial production, for human social responses to environmental variation, as well as evidence for the religious practices identified through temple and grave offerings.

2. Faunal environmental studies Environmental studies are one avenue of research that faunal analysis could potentially be utilised for. It is defined by a focus on the interplay between human society and nature, as human society inevitably acts and develops within this context. The interplay is best described as an active relationship wherein human society influenced and was influenced by the local landscape, fauna and flora.There exist several definition of the term environment, however, it is here to be understood as the study of the biological, physical and social agents and relationships that influence a living being (Dincauze 2000). Due to the topic of this article, the focus is here on the various relationships existing between animal and human. The field

of Zooarchaeology has previously focused mainly on the purely biological aspects of environmental studies, where we attempt to understand the development of the changing conditions in the natural environment. However, at present this is no longer the only focus of environmental studies. Instead it has increasingly been recognised that an interdependent relationship exists between human society and animals and the environment that surrounds both. Therefore environmental studies today may well focus on the interplay between two or more components rather than focusing exclusively on a single component, whether this component is human society or animal population history (Reitz and Wing 1999). The natural environment clearly assumes an active role in the development of any human society as it dictates a framework of natural resources and landscapes that human society has to act within. However, the particular human response to this framework is by no means given and depends on the various characteristics of human society, as the variation in human societies and traditions across the globe so richly illustrates. However, human society also has an effect on the animal populations and the natural environment that it acts within. It can potentially create both small scale and regional changes to fauna as well as create new types of habitats within or immediately around permanent human settlements (Reitz and Wing 1999).

3. The faunal material An environmental study based on faunal material should start with the question: ‘What environment do we want to study?’. The question may seem superfluous, however, it is not without merits. An animal can only disclose information of the specific environment that it interacts with. The defin tion of this environment is based on the specific ecological demands the animal has, meaning what habitat preferences it has and what other fauna as well as flora does it interact

Pernille Bangsgaard

with. Therefore, it is worth considering what perspective the study should have before the analysis commences. An example where the context of the find was considered is the site of Caerleon in Great Britain where a Roman bath revealed a large amount of bones from a number of rodent species and a few frogs. Under other circumstances remains from rodents are often interpreted as an event of accidental trapping or death by natural causes without human interference. This means that the identified species potentially could testify to the environment of the site itself. However, the sheer number of bones as well as the specific find circumstances revealed that the accumulation in question was created by owl pellets. Therefore the collection probably originated in the environment that surrounded the site and was accumulated there by owls as a result of their hunting activities (O’Connor 2004). The faunal evidence we utilise in environmental studies typically consists of a combination of physical evidence from various animal species often in the shape of bone, teeth and shell fragments. These faunal materials all have a high survival rate in most soil conditions. Occasionally the collection may contain other faunal materials such as hair, skin, flesh and dung, however, this requires conditions of extraordinary preservation (Reitz and Wing 1999). The information retrieved from the faunal material is instrumental for most types of faunal analysis. However, the collection strategies and techniques we utilize when obtaining the faunal material may influence the composition of the collection. As a general rule all faunal material should be collected during excavation. A sampling strategy where only larger and more complete fragments of faunal material are collected is not advisable. The concept of a representatively collected selection of faunal material does not exist, as species composition as well as body part index for each species will always be influenced by such a practice. Therefore, any information retrieved from the analysis of an incomplete faunal selection is potentially flawed and would most likely procure a distorted result of little general use to anyone. Additionally it is important before and during the excavation to make conscious decisions concerning the kind of information that we want to retrieve from the faunal analysis. These decisions should be reflected in the selected excavation strategy, which includes the decision of when and where sieving or flotation is applied, as well as when selective soil samples are taken for microanalysis or when material is selected for later DNA or stable isotope analysis. The selected strategy is naturally planned within the framework of available time and money that a given project has vs. the amount of information that the faunal analysis can potentially procure. The time and labour invested in the initial collecting of the faunal material should include the same kind of rigid registration that we apply to other excavated objects or finds. The analysis of a faunal collection can not be carried out in a vacuum and the material should therefore be registered according to the specific strata and unit and include information concerning excavation method, sieving method and mask-size of the sieve in order to insure a good result in the following analysis. In some instances it may also be advisable to register each bone by the exact find coordinates. A good example of where the extra effort is well spent is in situ animal offerings, where a reconstruction of the butch-

ering sequence and rituals performed in connection with the deposit could potentially be revealed if registration permits it (for an example, see Højlund et al. 1981).

4. Method I will briefly describe the types of evidence that is routinely registered for each bone or teeth fragment during the initial analysis as they can potentially be utilised for environmental studies. Generally the mere presence of a particular fauna or species can potentially give evidence to the type of landscape, the availability of water or the overall climatic conditions existing around a site at the time of deposition. All species of animals make inherited demands on the environment that they inhabit and some may be very specific in these demands. The best known example of this is probably the koala, which feeds exclusively on the tree leaves of some eucalyptus species (Cork et al. 2000). Other species are less specific in their requirements but may still be utilised for interpreting the environmental fluctuations that occur over extended periods of time. These species are often termed ‘generalists’. An example of this are the various studies of species variation throughout Northern Europe during the glacial and interglacial periods, following the marked environmental changes and the expansion and retraction of the northern icecap (Kahlke 1994: 94-124; Aaris-Sørensen 2001). The information we utilise for environmental studies based on faunal remains invariably includes details of animal habitat preferences, food preferences, social behaviour and birth rate. Information of this type derives to a large extent from observations of animal populations living today. This practice could present a potential problem as we can not ascertain whether the information in all details relates to the studied population of the past. Therefore, one should always be cautious as to the amount of detail that is assumed to be the same. In order to minimise any inaccuracies it is advisable to utilise information that comes from studies of geographically close origin compared to the archaeological material. This is known as the actuality principle. The practice is due to the variation in habitat preferences known to occur between geographically separated present-day populations (see for example Mendelson and Yom-Tov 1999). Variations in relative species diversity and abundance may also reveal information used to identify fluctuations in the general environmental conditions. However, one should consider the origin of the faunal material we utilise for this type of study. The majority of the faunal material we identify at an occupation site is there as a result of human activities. Therefore, the relative abundance of each species reflects not only what could potentially be hunted or bred around the site but also reflects what the human population chose to hunt and breed. The potential influence of human preferences, cultural taboos and hunting tactics on the selection of faunal material should therefore be considered in the following analysis and a direct correlation between species abundance at a site and its relative availability in the area can not always be assumed. Furthermore, there are also a number of post-depositional and depositional factors which include biological as well as geological ones that 232

An introduction to faunal remains and environmental studies: a mismatch or a match made in heaven?

may influence the size and composition of the faunal collection (Meadows 1980). In environmental terms this means that the absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence. It would therefore be advisable to include information from several archaeological sources and preferable also faunal material from other contexts than human occupation, when the primary focus of an environmental study is species and population abundance. In contrast the faunal material from occupation sites is well suited for studying the intricate interplay between human and animal. The above described considerations of the potential human influence on the composition of the faunal collection should include consideration of possible transport of faunal material away from the original find or killing location, thereby distorting the find in time and space. Small scale movement on an intrasite scale and between two sites of close proximity probably occurs frequently in the archaeological record. This behaviour is exemplified by the transport of meat from American bison kill sites (O’Connor 2004: 133136) or the gathering and concentration of faunal material utilised for industrial glue production in 18th century AD Europe (West 1995). However, the type of faunal material most susceptible to longer interregional transport, where the faunal material is truly removed from its original context, is material that has additional functions beyond general consumption such as antlers used for tools, shells and teeth used for decoration as well as various worked bone objects (Reitz and Wing 1999). The registration of the faunal material will often include documentation of size and shape of the bone, as any identified variation in these relates to the size and shape of the animal (Reitz and Wing 1999). Variation in the two parameters could relate to general environmental changes on a broad scale, but factors such as sex, geographical isolation, breeding and dietary changes may also influence the result. Size reduction has for instance been identified for most of the domesticated animal species (Clutton-Brock 1999), although the size variation identified for early domesticated populations appear to have been linked to the relatively higher number of adult females (Zeder and Esse 2000). An example of size reduction was identified for Danish domesticated cattle from the Bronze Age period through to the Middle Ages. The phenomenon was in this case most likely caused by human controlled selective breeding and possible poor and insufficient diet (Møhl 1957) Another type of information retrievable from the faunal material includes time of death and sex identification, which can be utilised for creating sex and age profiling for a population of animals. Both may be used to identify changes in the intricate relationship between human and animal. An example is the study by Payne of the variation in kill-off-patterns between populations kept primarily for milk or for meat or for wool production (Payne 1973). If detailed sex and age information is available from the archaeological faunal material it becomes possible to indicate the type of subsistence production practised. Additionally, the evidence for time of death based on estimates of teeth eruption are also routinely used for estimating the exact period of occupation at early prehistoric sites where occupation and reoccupation in a seasonal based pattern can often be identified (Carter 2001)

Information originating from the analysis of human and animal coprolites and parasites can potentially also be utilised in environmental studies. The retrieval of coprolites from animals and humans may give direct information of the possible ailments humans and animals suffered from in the past, and thereby indirectly also give evidence to the general health and hygienic conditions in a given society. Due to the very small size of the specimens this type of study is completely dependent on a rigid soil sampling strategy of areas where material may potentially be found (Reitz and Wing 1999). This could include soil near in situ skeletons in a burial context, or soil inside structures that could potentially have functioned as latrines or as animal pens. Stable isotope analysis is still developing, but the method promises to add a different type of information to the pallet of archaeological evidence. It supplies direct evidence for the dietary composition of both animal and human populations and identifies geographical movement depending on the specific isotope used. Isotopes are atoms whose nucleus contains a different number of neutrons but have the same number of protons, which means it remains the same chemical element. An example of an isotope is carbon (Fig. 1), which is found naturally as two stable isotopes (12C and 13 C) and one unstable isotope (14C), the later of which can be used for dating. Isotopes are found throughout the Earth, in oceans, on land and in all living beings, but the quantities of each isotope may vary according to such factors as the environmental conditions, the geographical location, the specific dietary composition of plant or meat, the terrestrial or marine food and it is this fact that we can utilise. However, the factors that can influence the precise ratio of the isotope in a given animal are numerous. Therefore although isotopes may reveal new knowledge, it can potentially also be problematic and does contain pitfalls particular regarding the specific interpretation of the result and it should therefore be used with some caution (Bogaard et al. 2007, Hedges and Reynard 2007, Ambrose 1991). Some of the points made above can be illustrated by investigating the faunal evidence from a single site. The study selected is preliminary and based on a random selection of the mammal and avian fauna.

5. Shkarat Msaied Shkarat Msaied is located in the greater Petra Area, in Southern Jordan, approximately 13 km north of Petra, at an altitude of 1000 m, which positions the site on the edge of the Jordanian Plateau in the southern part of the Levantine Rift Valley system (Henry 1995: 60). Shkarat Msaied is a Middle PPNB site (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) and 14C dates it uncalibrated to around 9000 BP, in the early half of the MPPNB period. The site can be characterised as a small village with clusters of stone built and roughly circular buildings, with small enclosures and partitioning walls subdividing the rest of the available space (Fig. 2). Since 1999 the site has been excavated by a team from Copenhagen University (Jensen et al. 2008, Hermansen and Jensen 2002). At present the faunal analysis includes 16,000 fragments of bones (41,791 g) of which a third has been identified to species or family. The faunal material originates from 233

Pernille Bangsgaard

several buildings and open areas and includes room fills, floors and dump deposits. The conditions for finding bones by hand were good and experiments with sieving during the first season revealed that only small fragments below a size of 1 cm escaped hand recovery. Layers of special interest such as the floors were, however, still sieved. The good find conditions were also illustrated during a visit to the site where rodent bones were found ‘by hand’ and not during the following sieving. The fragments represent a large and diverse collection with at least 38 positively identified species. This wide selection is typical of the fauna recovered from an early Neolithic site in Jordan, where a broad based consumption pattern was the norm in this transitory phase of the initial domestication (Hecker 1975, Becker 1991, von den Driesch and Wodtke 1997).

species found exclusively in arid habitats as well as extremely adaptable species which can be found through a broad range of habitats across a wider geographical area, although not in true desert habitats (Mendelson and YomTov 1999, Hoath 2003, Harrison and Bates 1991). The mountainous group was created to distinguish the species that are especially adapted to a mountainous terrain; these species could otherwise have been placed in the arid category. The three groups, desert, arid and mountainous, includes both African species and species distributed across a wider area in Southern Europe, the Middle East and in Central Asia. With a few exceptions most of these species are found in the general area today. The few species not present in the area today, are probably not present due to historical hunting pressure (Mendelson and Yom-Tov 1999, Groves 1974, Harrison and Bates 1991, Uerpmann 1987) The three species in the Mediterranean group may be termed Palaearctic in their distribution pattern. Two of these are today generally to the north of Shkarat Msaied in Mediterranean environments and in Europe and Asia. The final species is the aurochs, the wild progenitor of domesticated cattle and is today extinct. It does, however, appear to have had a similar distribution to the two other species. It is characteristic of all three species that they are generally more demanding regarding the availability of food, shade and particular water availability (Uerpmann 1987, Mendelson and Yom-Tov 1999, Harrison and Bates 1991). The described distribution of animals indicates an environment with multiple habitats, which was utilised by the human population for hunting as a supplement to the primary herding strategy of sheep and goat. The species collection is similar to the environmental and zoological evidence retrieved from present-day studies of the area although with a slight variation. The fauna found in the area at the present time indicates a dryer and less forested environment, as the Mediterranean species are completely missing from the general Petra area today (Gebel 1992 ).

5.1. Mammals The overwhelming majority of the faunal material derived from goat and sheep. They contribute over 88% of the identified collection and goat dominates 6:1 between the two species. The identification and verification of the onset of domestication is not the topic of this article, and it involves a complex discussion of definitions, criteria used, etc. However, the evidence from Shkarat Msaied does appear to indicate that the majority of the goats and possibly also the sheep consumed at the site were probably in the initial phase of domestication. The evidence includes horn core morphology, and size variation which were utilised for population composition and kill-off pattern analysis (Zeder and Esse 2000). Therefore, the subsistence economy at the site appears to have been based primarily upon these probable domesticated animals and not on hunting. This could have implications for the social structure at the site. However, it may also have implications for the wild herbivorous populations that inhabited the surrounding areas, as the flocks of domesticated sheep and goat would be in direct competition with many of the wild herbivores for the available food. The remaining collection does include a number of wild mammals and in order to maintain an environmental perspective these species have been divided into groups reflecting their general habitat preferences (Fig. 3). The construction of these groups was based on information from present-day populations that are geographically close to the site of Shkarat Msaied, meaning that studies based on populations from Jordan, Israel and Egypt were preferred to information retrieved from studies of European populations (Uerpmann 1987, Mendelson and Yom-Tov 1999, Groves 1974, Harrison and Bates 1991, Hoath 2003). However, several of the species are not well studied and therefore habitat information as well as diet preferences and daily requirements are only partly accessible or may lack in the amount of details available. As a general rule, the desert species are to be found exclusively in desert environments today although they may occasionally spread into surrounding desert fringe areas. They can potentially tolerate longer periods without available water in their habitat either by utilising the water contained in their food or by minimising water loss through various physical or social strategies (Groves 1974, Uerpmann 1987). The arid category consists of two groups as it includes

5.2. Migratory Raptors In the Middle East the pattern of bird migration is another possible source of information. Many migratory birds from across Europe and Siberia use the area as a land bridge as they pass through the Middle East en route to and from their wintering grounds in Africa. Among the birds migrating through the Middle East are large numbers of raptors. They tend to fly by day and rely primarily on soaring flight and not on flap flight. Therefore, they are dependent on thermal and mountain updraft (Bieldstein 2006). Today 43 raptor species funnel through the Middle East every spring and autumn. Many fly along well established corridors and in flocks, in some cases containing over 10,000 individuals, particularly around migration bottlenecks. In the Middle East they often slope soar along the Levantine Rift Valley (Leshem 1985, Porter and Beaman 1985). A total of 300 fragments were identified as avian in the Shkarat Msaied material, which accounts for just over 5 % of the complete identified collection. For the avian group, all except five fragments were identified as belonged to raptors and include species that are found exclusively as migratory birds in the Middle East (Table 1) (Leshem 1985, 234

An introduction to faunal remains and environmental studies: a mismatch or a match made in heaven?

struction of Diet and Crop Management Practices’, Journal of Archaeological Science 34, pp. 335-343 Carter, R.J., 2001, ‘Dental Indicators of Seasonal Human Presence at the Danish Boreal Sites of Holmegaard I, IV and V and Mullerup and the Atlantic Sites of Tybrind Vig and Ringkloster’, Holocene 11/3, pp. 350-369 Clutton-Brock, J., 1999, A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals (Cambridge: University Press) (2nd edition) Cork, S.J., Clark, T.W., Mazur, N., 2000, ‘Introduction: An Interdisciplinary Effort for Koala Conversation’, Conservation Biology 14/3, pp. 606-609 Dincauze, D.F., 2000, Environmental Archaeology, Principles and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Gebel, H.G., 1992, ‘Territories and Palaeoenvironment: Location Analysis of Neolithic Site Settings in the Greater Petra Area, Southern Jordan’ in S. Kerner (ed.) The Near East in Antiquity, III (Amman: GoetheInstitut), pp. 85-96 Groves, C.P., 1974, Horses, Asses and Zebras in the Wild (London: David and Charles) Harrison, D., Bates, P., 1991, The Mammals of Arabia (Sevenoaks: Harrison Zoological Museum Publication) (2nd edition) Hedges, R.E.M., Reynard, L.M., 2007, ‘Nitrogen Isotopes and the Trophic Level of Humans in Archaeology’, Journal of Archaeological Science 34, pp. 1240-1251 Hecker, H.M., 1975, The Faunal Analysis of the Primary Food Animals from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Beidha, (unpublished Ph.D. diss., Columbia University) Henry, D.O., 1995, Prehistoric Cultural Ecology and Evolution. Insights from the Southern Jordan, Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology (New York: Plenum Press) Hermansen, B.D., Jensen, C.H., 2002, ‘Notes on some Features of Possible Ritual Significance at MPPNB Shaqarat Mazyad, Southern Jordan’ in H.G. Gebel et al. (eds) Magic, Practices and Ritual in the Near Eastern Neolithic: Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the 2nd International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE), Copenhagen University, May 2000, Studies in Near Eastern Production, Subsistence and Environment 8 (Berlin: ex oriente), pp. 91-101 Hoath, R., 2003, A Field Guide to the Mammals of Egypt (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press) Højlund, F., Jeppesen, K., Aaris-Sørensen., K., 1981, The Maussolleion at Halikarnassos, I. The Sacrificial Deposit, Jutland Archaeological Society Publications 15 (Højbjerg: Jutland Archaeological Society) Ingold, T., 1988, ‘Introduction’ in T. Ingold (ed.) What is an Animal?, One World Archaeology 1 (London: Unwin Hyman), pp. 1-16 Jensen, C.H. et al. 2008, ‘Workshops and Activity Areas in the PPNB Period: The Excavations at Shkārat Msaid’ in H. Kühne, R.M. Czichon, F.J. Kreppner (eds) Proceedings of the 4th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 29 March – 3 April 2004, Freie Universität Berlin, II (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz), pp. 331-344 Kahlke, H.D., 1994, Die Eiszeit (Berlin: Urania-Verlag)

Porter and Beaman 1985). The presence of these migrating raptors at Shkarat Msaied certainly confirms that the general migration patterns were in place at the time of deposit and that the main route was probably through the Levantine Rift Valley. The identification of migrating raptors also suggests that the site was inhabited in spring and fall. However, it is not possible to say whether it was as a year round occupation or whether the site was exclusively occupied in the spring and fall.

6. Conclusions The results from Shkarat Msaied are as mentioned preliminary. However, it appears that the inhabitants of the site relied mainly on the herding of goat and probably also sheep. A number of wild mammals were hunted most likely as a supplement to the diet. The collection of wild species suggests that some of the habitats surrounding the site included better access to water and fodder compared to those found in the area today. Finally, the identification of a number of raptors at the site suggests a period of occupation that included spring or fall. As the examples above have shown there are obvious possibilities, considerations and also limitations to the use of faunal material in environmental studies and it should be stated here that any serious and thorough environmental study would under normal circumstances include evidence from several sources such as pollen, macrobotanical evidence, landscape and geological studies. However, the examples have hopefully illustrated that the information retrievable from the faunal analysis does include information not available from any other source. The answer to the question posed in the title of this article is therefore that faunal analysis can be utilised for environmental studies. However, the success of the described methods such as presence of species, relative abundance of species, variations in size, sex and age distributions as well as coprolite and stable isotope analysis are all, to some extent, dependant on the strategy of collection and registration used during excavation.

References Aaris-Sørensen, K., 2001, The Danish Fauna Throughout 20,000 Year From Mammoth Steppe to Cultural Steppe: a Guide to an Exhibition about the Changeability of Nature (Copenhagen: Zoological Museum) Ambrose, S.H., 1991, ‘Effects of Diet, Climate and Physiology on Nitrogen Isotope Abundances in Terrestrial Foodwebs’, Journal of Archaeological Science 18/3, pp. 293-317 Becker, A., 1991, ‘The Analysis of Mammalian Bones from Basta, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site in Jordan: Problems and Potential’, Paléorient 17/1, pp. 59-75 Bieldstein, K.L., 2006, Migrating Raptors of the World, their Ecology and Conservation (London: Cornell University Press) Bogaard, A., Heaton, T.H.E., Poulton, P., Merbach, I., 2007, ‘The Impact of Manuring on Nitrogen Isotope Ratios in Cereals: Archaeological Implications for Recon235

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on Raptors: Based on the Proceedings of the Second World Conference on Birds of Prey, Held in Thessaloniki, Greece, April 1982, ICBP Technical Publication 5 (Cambridge: ICBP), pp. 237-242 Reitz, E.J., Wing, E.S., 1999, Zooarchaeology, Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) Uerpmann, H.-P., 1987, The Ancient Distribution of Ungulate Mammals in the Middle East. Fauna and Archaeological Sites in Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa, Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe A27 (Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag) von den Driesch, A., Wodtke, U., 1997, ‘The Fauna of ’Ain Ghazal, a Major PPN and Early PN Settlement in Central Jordan’ in H.G.K. Gebel, Z. Kafafi, G.O. Rollefson (eds) The Prehistory of Jordan, II. Perspectives from 1997, Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence and Environment 4 (Berlin: ex oriente), pp. 511-556 West, B., 1995, ‘The Case of the Missing Victuals’, Historical Archaeology 29, pp. 20-42 Zeder, P., Melinda, A., Hesse B., 2000, ‘The Initial Domestication of Goat (Capra hircus) in the Zagros Mountains 10,000 years ago’, Science 287, pp. 2254-2257

Leshem, Y., 1985, ‘Israel: An International Axis of Raptor Migration’ in I. Newton, R.D. Chancellor (eds) Conservation Studies on Raptors: Based on the Proceedings of the Second World Conference on Birds of Prey, Held in Thessaloniki, Greece, April 1982, ICBP Technical Publication 5 (Cambridge: ICBP), pp. 243-250 Meadows, R.H., 1980, ‘Animal Bones: Problems for the Archaeologist with Some Possible Solutions’, Paléorient 6, pp. 65-77 Mendelson, H., Yom-Tov, Y., 1999, Mammalia of Israel, Fauna Palaestina (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Science and Humanities) Møhl, U., 1957, ‘Zoologisk Gennemgang af Knoglematerialet fra Jernalderbopladserne Dalshøj og Sorte Muld, Bornholm’ in O. Klindt-Jensen (ed.) Bornholm i Folkevandringstiden (Copenhagen: Nationalmuseet) O’Connor, T. 2004, The Archaeology of Animal Bones (Stroud: Sutton Publishing Limited) Payne, S., 1973, ‘Kill-off Patterns in Sheep and Goats: the Mandibles from Aşvan Kale’, Anatolian Studies 23, pp. 281-303 Porter, R.F., Beaman, M.A.S., 1985, ‘A Resume of Raptor Migration in Europe and the Middle East’ in I. Newton, R.D. Chancellor (eds) Conservation Studies

Fig. 1 - Three carbon isotopes.

Fig. 2 - Plan of the excavated area at Shkarat Msaied.

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Fig. 3 - The distribution of wild mammals in habitat types.

Table 1 - The raptors identified at Shkarat Msaied.

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Conservation and presentation of historical European mining landscapes: the Rammelsberg and Goslar UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the North-Western Harz Mountains in Germany  

Christoph Bartels Abstract Mining activities in the Harz Mountains (Pl. XI: 2) have been traced back to the 1st century BC. Recent research dates the beginning of metal production to the Bronze Age. In three periods this production gained European importance: from 10th to 13th centuries AD; from late 16th to mid 18th centuries and – without a considerable break; from late 18th to late 20th centuries. Consequently, the mining landscape of the North-Western Harz comprises monuments and traces from antique, medieval, postmedieval and industrial times. This heritage demands an approach combining archaeological and historical methods. Written sources exist since the 10th century AD, but they are rare before 1250; and they cannot be fully understood without taking into consideration archaeological reports, too. This is true even in respect to 19th and earlier 20th century developments as demonstrated by recent research (Balck 1999, Slotta 1992). In respect to prehistory and considerable parts of the Middle Ages our knowledge is almost exclusively based on archaeological results.

1. Introduction Metal supply is vital for any society since prehistory. Useful minerals had mostly to be won by mining, which therefore belongs to the basic technologies of mankind (Stöllner in prep.). Being particularly hard work mining was from the beginnings a genuine field of technical experimentation and development. Mining occupations were linked to mythic and religious spheres, too. The oldest mines known in Europe, Africa and Australia aimed to red ochre, which was used for means of ritual body paintings and especially in burials, symbolising by the red colour blood and thus life (Weisgerber 1987: 3510; Bartels 1990: 14). Up to recent times the deeper underground was linked to ideas of underworld, the death, ghosts, etc. by perhaps any civilisation, and thus closely linked to spheres far from economy or technology (Bartels 2006a: 421-423). Metal production is bound to the mineral deposits, and to wood as the source of energy for the smelting processes. Wood-consumption was high, and not each region with metal deposits was directly linked to forest areas. Transportation of considerable masses of heavy materials was involved in mining activities. Often the products had large scale areas of distribution. Like other luxury goods, precious metals or rare minerals have been transported over thousands of miles since prehistory.1

2. The Harz Mountains The Harz is the northernmost mountain region of Germany with the Brocken hill (1142 m) being the highest mountain. From the geographic position a sort of vegetation  A very prominent example is the Uluburun shipwreck off the Anatolian coast of the Mediterranean, which transported among other things 9 t of copper and 1 t of tin – for details see Yalçin et al. 2005. 1

does result that is normally found in altitudes over 2000 m (Willerding 2000). The Harz extends from north-west to south-east over roughly 100 km, and from north-east to south-west over about 30 km. Geographers and Geologists name the western part – comprising ca 1/3 of the Harz Hills – ‘Upper Harz’, the more southern and eastern parts are named ‘Middle’ and ‘Lower Harz’. In an administrative sense the term ‘Lower Harz’ (Unterharz) was used in former times for the mining region around Goslar at the northern borderline of the Upper Harz (Oberharz), too. The colonization of the mountains began during the Neolithic in form of alpine pasture, and later on because of the metal deposits (Grunwald 2000). During the Middle Ages they were first property of the kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation2 and later on of regional sovereigns. Several mining districts did develop, in which a variety of ore was mined, processed and smelted using different but always innovative techniques. At the northern border of the Harz Mountains the deposit of the Rammelsberg offered copper, and lead ores with a certain content of silver, and zinc ores that became interesting not before the mid 19th century. They are of submarine sedimentary origin, have been folded and altered during the genesis of the Harz and outcropped just outside the walls of Goslar (Bartels 1988: 9-11; Weichmann and Tholl 2001). From ca AD 400 until 1988 these ores have been mined almost continuously. The adjoining Upper Harz south of Goslar offers numerous ore-veins reaching more than 1000 m under the surface (Fig. 1). The upper parts of the veins contained, besides galena with some silver content, rich silver ores in some quantity. To the depth galena became prevalent, followed by zones with more and more zinc enrichment. The genesis of the deposits was complex, and so was the composition of the different ore-veins. In a general tendency the ores were relatively rich in silver near   Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation.

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Christoph Bartels

the surface and became poor in precious metal towards the depth (Bartels 1992a: 23-31). The North-Western Harz region was unfavourable for agriculture. Pasturing developed in narrow limitations only. The natural landscape was characterised by extent forests. The present composition of the Harz forests, however, with spruce by far dominating, is man-made: the metal production of postmedieval times preferred this wood, and therefore in large areas beach, oak and maple have been replaced by spruce (Willerding 2000). The region is wet and offers between 1200 and 1600 mm of precipitation per year. This based the use of water driven machinery, which started around AD 1200; the water engineering systems grew until the 1870s, and their remains are most characteristic of the present Harz landscape (Fessner et al. 2002; Bartels 2006b: 58-59; Bartels et al. 2008: 146-151). The Harz Mountains were occupied by the Franconian king (and later emperor) Charlemagne during his wars with the Saxonians between AD 772 and 805, and thus became possessions of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation. It is likely that the occupation was motivated by the metal treasures of the region, which had developed to be a mining centre since pre-medieval times (Reininghaus and Köhne 2008: 37; Krabath et al. 1999). From the 10th century AD the region was very much in the focus of the policy of the emperors, and of their conflicts with other great houses. Those became increasingly infl ential, and from AD 1235 the region was left to the dukes from the house of the Welfe. During the late Middle Ages metal production lost its important place, and around AD 1350 the activities nearly stopped (Bartels 2004a). The reasons were diverse: political conflicts weakened old structures, climate changed, and from 1342 on the plague devastated Europe and left back deeply damaged societies. The demand for (precious) metals waned, the price of labour increased, what resulted in rising costs of production. Mining and metal production in the North-Western Harz did not begin to recover before the beginning of the 15th century. When a new boom developed from the 1460s on, it was initiated by the town government of Goslar, which tried to develop a city state like towns in Italy. The town council aimed to make the mineral treasures of the Harz an economic fundament of those developments. But Goslar lost in the end a long-time conflict with the Welfe dukes in 1552 (Rammelsberger Bergbaumuseum 2004). This ruling house had started to organise and consolidate an early modern State comprising the Harz, and the Welfe dominated the political developments until 1866 when the region was incorporated into Prussia (Henschke 1974, Bartels 1989).

deposit surface depression’ (Altlagerpinge) a stratum directly underneath the modern surface is characterised by manifold finds, dated ca AD 1000 (Bartels et al. 2007: 1517). The strata underneath are undisturbed and will contain information on earlier activities. Continuous mining started during the 10th century AD with only short interruptions until 1988. Medieval mining resulted in a large number of small mines; some 130 names are known from written sources (Bornhardt 1931, Bornhardt 1944). The deposit dives by an ankle of ca 45° into the mountain; and a deep cut into the overlying shale was made, very likely to dewater an early open-cast mine before first galleries were driven (Fig. 7). One of these, the ‘Ratstisfster Stollen’3 (finished around 1150) reached the deposit about 90 m underground after having been headed over a distance of ca 1000 m; it functioned in dewatering for centuries. It is still used to collect contaminated water of the abandoned mine, and to conduct it to the purification plant. The famous medieval scholar Albertus Magnus (ca 1200-1280) saw the gallery and adjoining mines ca AD 1240 (Bartels 2000), and some old works underground are likely to stem from those times. The actual function of the old gallery causes problems for the protection of the medieval structures. Around AD 1300 above the gallery a wheel-chamber was constructed over a shaft. It was part of water power installations most likely constructed by mining-masters of Walkenried Abbey which possessed one quarter of the mountain since the later 12th century (Fig. 2). In 1310 conflicts between the abbey and mine owners from Goslar, evoked by the new water power installations of the monks, had to be settled.4 The involvement of Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries in mining and metal production is well known; and they often used advanced technologies including water power installations (Benoit and Cailleaux 1991). Walkenried Abbey was involved in copper-, lead- and silver-production since the 12th century, and large systems of – now dry – artificial water courses have survived at the western Harz border near the village of Münchehof (i.e., Monk’s Yard). They have been constructed from the 1220s, on when the Abbey acquired a large territory in the western Harz region to install there their smelting factories and to supply them with charcoal and wood from the surrounding forests (Uhde 1965; Uhde 1968; Bartels 2001; Bartels et al. 2007: 15055). Recent excavations demonstrated the advanced technology of the monk’s forges with water wheels driving the bellows of the furnace (Bartels et al. 2007: 184-86).5 The new technologies of the 13th century replaced an older system of smelting metals. Its remains are numerous but less obvious than the younger ones. Before using water energy the smelting places were small. They were used for several smelting campaigns only, and in principle migrating in the

3. The Rammelsberg Mine and Ores

3   Ratstiefster Stollen = deepest gallery of the town council. The name dates from about AD 1300, when the town government had overtaken the command in the Rammelsberg mines. The town was then responsible for maintaining this important structure, and received fees from the mine owners to do so. 4   Latin text and German translation of the respective document in Bartels 2004a: 183-88. 5   The buildings of Cistercian factories, forges and other productive installations survived in five places in France: Fontenay, La Bussière, FontainJean, Preuilly and Louy (Benoit and Cailleaux 1991: 299-352).

The Rammelsberg deposits are situated at the border of the town of Goslar. Analyses of copper-containing artefacts from the Bronze Age have indicated an involvement of copper from the Rammelsberg site (Niederschlag et al. 2002: 71, 96; Bartels et al. 2007:128, 370). The area with outcropping ore was suitable for early open-cast mining, and on top of the ca 5 m thick infill of an edge of the ‘old 242

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forest, following the source of wood- and charcoal-supply. The furnaces were small, typically situated in the uppermost parts of the valleys above horizons with springs,6 and near to roads to facilitate ore-supply (Linke 2000). The furnaces formed little clusters; some places show three in a line (Fig. 3). Current analyses aim to understand whether those furnaces do represent a chain of technological steps.7 Before ca 1200, ores from the Rammelsberg based at first hand the production of copper. It is not clear yet in how far silver production was involved before the 13th century; the silver content of this ore is comparatively low.8 Copper production from sulphide ores does involve five general steps: 1. roasting the ore to remove part of the sulphur; 2. copper matte smelting; 3. black copper smelting; 4. raw copper smelting; 5. refining the raw copper (Suhling 1976; Hauptmann 1985; Bartels et al. 2007: 165-71). The ore is so fine-grained that its minerals9 could not be separated before smelting. The unwarranted components had to be separated in the smelting operations.10 The medieval smelting places were situated in forests up to a distance of over 40 km from Goslar. The distribution of the smelting places shows that parts of the forests obviously were reserved for means of working Rammelsberg ores. Others were used to smelt ore from the Upper Harz ore-veins. The slag produced in these operations is significantly different from that originating from working Rammelsberg material (Klappauf 2000: 19). Some parts of the forest areas, for instance the Goslar municipal forest, obviously have not been used as areas of smelting activities at all. From the 10th century on, the Harz forests and mineral deposits were property of the crown. But the German kings / Roman-German emperors gave parts of their properties to ecclesiastical and secular institutions, and noble families. The town of Goslar with the imperial palace did grow up mainly during the 11th and 12th centuries and became the administrative centre of the North-Western Harz, and one of the places important for the crown (Bartels et al. 2007: 75-92). During the 12th century regional powers (nobility, ecclesiastical institutions) became increasingly influential. During the 13th century patrician families began to dominate the scenery, and in 1290 the town could overtake the former imperial administration of mining and metal production (Reichsvogtei). In the meanwhile they had overtaken the mines and smelting places from parts of the nobility (Bartels et al. 2007: 93-97). But mining became more difficult; technical problems increased, capital investments became

vital for further developments. A climatic change after 1317 (‘little ice-age’) brought wet and cold conditions. Rising groundwater caused problems and increasing costs, while the quality of the ores became lower. The copper ores began to exhaust, but lead and silver production could not yet compensate this (Bartels 1997). From 1342 on, Europe was devastated by the plague. Districts like the North-Western Harz lost their productive potentials, and around 1360 mining and metal production collapsed (Bartels 2004a: 162-166). Until present the old churches, abbeys and hospitals demonstrate the prosperity of Goslar during the 11th to 13th centuries. Younger assemblages like the town fortifications, the gild-halls and mint of Goslar, were built during the 15th and the 16th centuries (Fig. 4). In a slow and difficult process, metal production began to recover since 1407 (Kraschewski 1994). It became especially difficult to produce high quality copper. Lead could be produced in considerable quantities, and the galena contained a certain amount of silver. But only a high demand for lead, caused by the rapidly developing techniques of the Seigerprocess (Blanchard 1995) to separate silver from copper in more effective ways,11 caused a new boom after 1460 (Bartels et al. 2007: 206-42). The Rammelsberg became one of the prominent sources for lead in Europe, and silver could be produced in considerable quantities. This based a new boom of Goslar until 1525, when politics began to intervene (Rammelsberger Bergbaumuseum 2004). These years were decisive for the postmedieval development of the town. When the Rammelsberg was listed together with the historical city as UNESCO World Heritage, this was due to both the medieval and postmedieval prosperous phases of mining and metallurgy (Roseneck 2001, I: 14-39).

4. The Upper Harz Mines and Metals Goslar was enclosed by the territories of the dukes from the house of Welfe, who gained increasing power since the late 15th century. Duke Henry (‘the younger’, 1489-1569) of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel developed his territories into an early modern State. Like the town government of Goslar he tried to make metal production the economic platform. From 1524 he reorganised metal production in his Harz territories and cut back the expansive attempts of the town of Goslar (Henschke 1974). Between 1527 and 1552 he was involved in severe conflicts with the town. In 1552 he used a time of weakness and political isolation of Goslar to conquer the command over the Rammelsberg mines in the treaty of Riechenberg (Rammelsberger Bergbaumuseum 2004). An able management of his mining and

  Water was needed for constructing the furnaces from stones and mud.   The research is done in the framework of a doctoral thesis by Bastian Asmus in the Institute of Archaeology, University College London under supervision of Thilo Rehren. 8   The silver content is in average 150-200 g per ton, the silver being bound to the galena in the ore (Bartels 1988: 9-11). 9   The main components are zinc-sulphide (25-30%), pyrite (25 %), galena (10 %), chalcopyrite (5%), barite (20%) and shale material (10%); besides these main components the ore contains some silver (150-200 g per ton) and gold (1 g per ton) and a variety of accessorial minerals like cadmium. The overall metal content was 24-27% metal, the sulphur content was very high. 10   Only in 1937 an advanced flotation process was developed to separate the minerals of the Rammelsberg ore (Bartels 1988: 41-42). 6

11 Many copper deposits contain a considerable amount of silver, examples are the copper shale of Thuringia and Poland and the fahlore of the Tyrol – for details see Suhling 1976 and Blanchard 1995. Since ancient times lead was used to separate silver from copper. In an older process, lead was added following copper matte smelting. The lead took up the silver content from copper matte and this could be separated from the lead in the process of cupellation. A much more effective variation was developed until the 1460s: the lead was now added after the step of black copper smelting, which decisively reduced the loss of metal (especially silver) in the processes. The new ‘seiger’-technology was developed around Nurnberg in Germany and quickly spread out over Europe after 1460, causing an enormous demand for lead and resulting in a considerable uprising of the price of this metal.

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smelting broke the economic prevailing of the powerful dynasties of metal smelters in Goslar until the 1580s (Bartels et al. 2007: 243-353). He united the mining districts of the North-Western Harz, gave them a powerful administration, and founded the seven Upper Harz mining towns.12 His son Julius (1528-1589), well known for his ducal entrepreneurship, cultural engagement and peaceful attitudes (Graefe 1989) developed mining and metallurgy to be an economic basis of this State (Kraschewski 1989). The new Upper Harz towns Zellerfeld and Clausthal now were the centres of metal production (Fig. 5). Goslar maintained its independency, but with minimal influence on mining. The Upper Harz had seen medieval mining activities of considerable importance (Bartels 2004b), but Goslar and the Rammelsberg had been in the focus then. Like in many other mining districts, the European Renaissance boom of mining and metallurgy ended in the late 16th century. When the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) devastated Europe, this set an end (or at least resulted in a permanent crisis) for many mining regions. But not for the Harz Mountains (Slotta and Bartels 1990: 58-139): here, the special composition of the deposits favoured an innovation of the early 17th century, the blasting with gunpowder (Bartels 1992a: 170-168). This allowed the use of large veins of galena with a low silver content, and together with a huge extension of the networks of water-driven machinery for means of pumping, hauling, crushing and smelting ore, it provoked a revolution in Harz mining (Bartels 1992a).13 The introduction of blasting and the extension of the networks of water-driven machinery14 were the starting point of a change towards industrial methods of mining (Bartels 1987, Bartels 1989, Bartels 1992a) and a deep and irreversible change of the landscape in the North-Western Harz Mountains (Fig. 6). Between 1777 and 1799 a new main gallery of more than 10 km length was driven into the Harz Mountains and then connected to all important deposits, reaching a total length of ca 18,500 m. It based a complete restructuring of the mines in the central Upper Harz. Until 1850 the Upper Harz became a model for the European ore-mining industry. The Mining Academy of Clausthal (founded 1775) became internationally influent and one of best respected institutions educating specialists of Earth sciences, mining, ore-processing and smelting technologies (Héron de Villefosse, 1810-1819, Technische Universität Clausthal, 1975). An industrial period of prosperity was initiated then (Bartels 1997, Bartels 2002). New shafts and complexes of buildings on the surface were connected by railroads from 1809 onwards. The new main gallery enabled to open up new parts of the deposits, and a new and very prosperous mine was opened: Bergwerkswohlfahrt. Ten years later another mine, Hilfe Gottes was opened near the mouth of the

new adit. These two mines were later united and named Erzbergwerk Grund, which continued to produce ore until 1992 (Bartels 1992b). The Rammelsberg was modernised from the late 18th century on, but continued to be a smaller mine for long. In 1859 a new part of the deposit, the Neues Lager was opened up. This enabled to continue production during the industrial age. Not before 1937 there was a new change: after developing a special flotation method for the Rammelsberg ores a new processing plant was built and a new main shaft was sunk in the so-called ‘Rammelsberg Project’. It was part of the National-Socialist economic policy of self-supply in the field of raw materials. A big, modern mine was created, but almost ruined by the war-policy of the Hitler regime. After a difficult process of reorganisation this mine continued production under the preconditions of world-markets and was closed down only 1988 because of exhaustion of the deposit (Bartels 1988).

5. The Mining Landscape and the Monuments The monuments and sites of historical metal production are to be found in the whole district (Roseneck 2001). One of the numerous monuments may be presented in some outlines, the unique Upper Harz water system. Out of 120 artificial water reservoirs, 60 have survived. The system had to guarantee a steady water supply for the numerous water wheels. Trenches with a low fall (between 1:400 and 1:1000) collected the water in high positions and conducted it to the ponds. A system of distribution-trenches, supplied the wheels of the mines, processing- and smelting-plants. Some 70 km (of originally ca 700 km) of trenches do actually conduct water, often combined with long tunnels. They had a total length of 30 km, 20 of which are actually in function. In general, the Harz represents the process of transforming an originally natural into a cultural landscape like a three-dimensional historical textbook. The settlements of the Upper Harz have been formed by mining and metallurgy and the necessary side-occupations. The road systems, the forests, the meadow areas round the settlements have been structured following the demands of producing metals in a process of more than 1000 years. Mining saw phases of depression, but the continuity of producing metal was never interrupted completely. In no time interval other occupations than mining did leave deeper impacts in this landscape before the 20th century. This region offers the unique opportunity to preserve and to understand the adaption of metal production to structures of societies from Antiquity up to modern times, each time-layer having its characteristic features. Today, only the dense cover of plants conceals, that there is no place of the dimensions of a sports area without signs and remains of the former mining economy. Huge areas are completely structured by that activity. From the beginning of the 20th century on, a decline of mining led to closing parts of the mines, processing- and smelting-plants. As a consequence of the world economic crisis of 1929/1930 the majority of the production sites were closed down. The foundation of the Oberharzer

12   Clausthal, Zellerfeld, Lautenthal, Wildemann, Grund, Altenau and Andreasberg. 13   Two unique plans of the main deposits in the Upper Harz figured the results of these developments that had been reached in only thirty years until 1661 (published in Buschendorf et al. 1971, tab. 31; Slotta and Bartels 1990: 252-257; a CD-ROM with the plans is to be found in Fessner et al. 2002). 14   A detailed description of the networks of water energy systems of the Upper Harz with maps demonstrating their overall impact on the landscape was published by Dumreicher 1868. For more detailed discussion of the Upper Harz mining-landscape see Bartels et al. 2008 and Bartels 2007.

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Bergwerksmuseum Zellerfeld was part of that development, decidedly aiming to preserve parts of the heritage of the mining landscape (Radday 1996). Many buildings and several pitheads were abandoned but not torn down. From the 1960s on, initiatives to protect and reuse those monuments and structures began to develop successfully. One result was the listing of one part of the heritage in the UNESCO World Heritage List:

Bartels, C., 1997, ‘Strukturwandel in Montanbetrieben des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit in Abhängigkeit von Lagerstättenstrukturen und Technologie’ in H.J. Gerhard (ed.) Struktur und Dimensionen. Festschrift für Karl Heinrich Kaufhold, I. Mittelalter und Frühe Neuzeit (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag), pp. 25-70 Bartels, C., 2000, ‘Zur Bergbaukrise des Mittelalters’ in C. Bartels, M.A. Denzel (eds) Konjunkturen im europäischen Bergbau in vorindustrieller Zeit. Festschrift für Ekkehard Westermann zum 60. Geburtstag, VSWG Beihefte 155 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag), pp. 157-172 Bartels, C., 2001, ‘Die Zisterzienser im Montanwesen des Mittelalters. Die Bedeutung ihrer Klöster für den Bergbau und das Hüttenwesen des Harzraumes’, Der Anschnitt 53, pp. 58-70 Bartels, C., 2002, ‘Industrialisierung im Oberharzer Bergbau 1750 bis 1913’ in T. Pierenkemper (ed.) Die Industrialisierung europäischer Montanregionen (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag), pp. 19-58 Bartels, C., 2004a, ‘Die Stadt Goslar und der Bergbau im Nordwestharz von den Anfängen bis zum Riechenberger Vertrag von 1552’ in K.H. Kaufhold, W. Reininghaus (eds) Stadt und Bergbau (Köln, Weimar, Wien: Böhlau), pp. 135-188 Bartels, C., 2004b, ‘Der Bergbau des nordwestlichen Harzes im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert’ in R. Tasser, E. Westermann (eds) Der Tiroler Bergbau und die Depression der europäischen Montanwirtschaft im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert. Akten der internationalen Bergbaugeschichtlichen Tagung Steinhaus (Innsbruck, Wien, München, Bozen: Studien Verlag), pp. 19-44 Bartels, C., 2006a, ‘A European Mining Landscape and its Computer-Based Representation: The Harz Mountains’ in L. Lévêque (ed.) Paysages de mémoire – Mémoire du paysage. Actes du colloque international de Besançon: Mémoire et devenir des paysages culturels d’Europe (Paris: L’Harmattan), pp. 421-443 Bartels, C., 2006b, ‘The Harz Mining Landscape in the North of Germany’ in L. Lévêque, M. Ruiz del Árbol, L. Pop, C. Bartels (eds) Journeys through European Landscapes – Voyages dans les paysages européens (Ponferrada: Fundación Las Médulas), pp. 57-60 Bartels, C., Fessner, M., Klappauf, L., Linke, F.A., 2007, Kupfer Blei und Silber aus dem Goslarer Rammelsberg von den Anfängen bis 1620. Die Entwicklung des Hüttenwesens von den frühmittelalterlichen Schmelzplätzen im Wald bis zur Metallerzeugung in großem Maßstab am Beginn des 17. Jahrhunderts nach archäologischen und schriftlichen Quellen (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau Museum) Bartels, C., Ruiz del Árbol, M., van Londen, H., Orejas, A., 2008, Landmarks – Profiling Europe’s Historic Landscapes (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) Benoit, P., Cailleaux, D. (eds), 1991, Moines & Metallurgie dans la France médiévale (Paris: Picard) Blanchard, I., 1995, International Lead Production and Trade in the ‘Age of the Saigerprozess’ 1460-1560 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag) Bornhardt, W., 1931, Geschichte des Rammelsberger Bergbaues von seiner Aufnahme bis zur Neuzeit, Archiv für Lagerstättenforschung 52 (Berlin: Preussische

‘Rammelsberg – Goslar, Germany, is one of the oldest mining and metallurgical complexes in the world and can be considered “a masterpiece of the creative genius” of man’, sais the official document of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee annual meeting (Santa Fé, New Mexico, USA, December 6th -14th, 1992) (Fig. 7). Subsequently the Rammelsberg was transformed to a mining museum, including large parts of the buildings and underground structures above ground water level (Roseneck 2001). Besides the two larger museums, most of the Upper Harz Towns run a museum or museum mine. The former central shafts of Clausthal have been preserved and are now used as visitor’s centres and for various cultural events. Recently, an electronic guide system through the Upper Harz Landscape has been developed, aiming especially to families and smaller groups. Most recently, Walkenried Abbey was restored, and is now housing the Zisterziensermuseum (Cistertian Museum) with a focus on the economic activities. Thus the Harz region plays quite an active role in the efforts to preserve, to understand and to present Cultural Heritage not only in a national but also in European dimensions.

References Balck, F., 1999, Wasserkraftmaschinen für den Bergbau im Harz. Frühneuzeitliche Spuren und deren Deutung am Beispiel der Grube Turm-Rosenhof und ausgewählter Anlagen (Clausthal: Technische Universität) Bartels, C., 1988, Das Erzbergwerk Rammelsberg. Die Betriebsgeschichte von 1924 bis 1988 mit einer lagerstättenkundlichen Einführung sowie einem Abriss der älteren Bergbaugeschichte (Goslar: Preussag AG Metall) Bartels, C., 1989, ‘The Development of the Turm-Rosenhof Mine, 1540-1820, Clausthal, Upper Harz’ in S.J. Fleming (ed.) History of Technology: the Role of Metals, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 6 (Philadelphia: MASCA), pp. 46-64 Bartels, C., 1990, ‘Der Bergbau vor der hochindustriellen Zeit – ein Überblick’ in R. Slotta, C. Bartels (eds) Meisterwerke bergbaulicher Kunst vom 13. bis 19. Jahrhundert (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum), pp. 14-32 Bartels, C., 1992a, Vom frühneuzeitlichen Montangewerbe zur Bergbauindustrie. Erzbergbau im Oberharz 16351866 (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) Bartels, C., 1992b, Das Erzbergwerk Grund. Die Betriebsgeschichte des Werkes und seiner Vorläufergruben Hilfe Gottes und Bergwerkswohlfahrtvon den Anfängen im 16. Jahrhundert bis zur Einstellung 1992 (Goslar: Preussag AG Metall) 245

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Geologische Landsanstalt) Bornhardt, W., 1944, ‘Zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte des Rammelsberger Bergbaus’, Zeitschrift für das Berg-, Hütten- und Salinenwesen im Deutschen Reich (special edition), pp. 1-15 Buschendorf, F., Dennert, H., Hannak, W., Hüttenhain, H., Mohr, K., Sperling, H., Stoppel, D., 1971, Die BleiZink-Erzgänge des Oberharzes, Lieferung, I. Geologie des Erzgang Reviers, Mineralogie des Ganginhalts und Geschichte des Bergbaus im Oberhar (Hannover: Bundesanstalt für Bodenforschung) Dumreicher, A., 1868, Gesamtüberblick über die Wasserwirthschaft des nordwestlichen Oberharzes (Clausthal: Verlag der Grosse’schen Buchhandlung) (reprint Clausthal-Zellerfeld 2000) Fessner, M., Friedrich, A., Bartels, C., 2002, ‘Gründliche Abbildung des uralten Bergwercks’. Eine virtuelle Reise durch den historischen Harzbergbau (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) Graefe, C. (ed.), 1989, Staatsklugheit und Frömmigkeit. Herzog Julius zu Braunschweig-Lüneburg, ein norddeutscher Landesherr des 16. Jahrhunderts (Weinheim: VCH – Acta Humaniora) Grunwald, L., 2000, ‘Der Oberharz und sein unmittelbares Vorland. Ein Abriss der Siedlungsgeschichte vor dem Einsetzen der schriftlichen Überlieferung im 8. Jh. N. Chr.’ in C. Segers-Glocke (ed.) Auf den Spuren einer frühen Industrielandschaft. �������������� Naturraum-Mensch-Umwelt im Harz, Arbeitshefte zur Denkmalpflege in Niedersachsen 21 (Hannover: Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege), pp. 55-6 Hauptmann, A., 1985, 5000 Jahre Kupfer in Oman, I. Die Entwicklung der Kupfermetallurgie vom 3. Jahrtausend bis zur Neuzeit, Der Anschnitt, Beiheft 4 (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) Henschke, E., 1974, Landesherrschaft und Bergbauwirtschaft. Zur Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungsgeschichte des Oberharzer Bergbaugebietes im 16. und 17. Jah���� rhundert (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot) Héron de Villefosse, A. M., 1810-1819, De la richesse minerale (Paris: École des Mines) Klappauf, L., 2000, ‘Spuren deuten – frühe Montanwirtschaft im Harz’ in C. Segers-Glocke (ed.) Auf den Spuren einer frühen Industrielandschaft. NaturraumMensch-Umwelt im Harz, Arbeitshefte zur Denkmalpflege in Niedersachsen 21 (Hannover: Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege), pp. 19-2 Klappauf, L., 2003, ‘Rammelsberg near Goslar – Northern Germany. 3000 Years old Mining District Waits to be Explored’ in Archaeometallurgy in Europe. Interna�������� tional Conference, 24-25-26 September 2003, Milan, Italy, I (Milano: Associazione Italiana di Metallurgia), pp. 645-654 Krabath, S., Lammers, D., Rehren, T., Schneider, J., 1999, ‘Die Herstellung und Verarbeitung von Buntmetall im karolingerzeitlichen Westfalen’ in C. Stiegemann, M. Wemhoff (eds) 799 – Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Karl der Große und Papst Leo III. in Paderborn, Beiträge zum Katalog der Ausstellung (Mainz: von Zabern), pp. 430-437 Kraschewski, H.-J., 1989, ‘Der “ökonomische” Fürst. Her-

zog Julius als Unternehmer-Verleger der Wirtschaft seines Landes, besonders des Harz-Bergbaus’ in C. Graefe (ed.) Staatsklugheit und Frömmigkeit. Herzog Julius zu Braunschweig-Lüneburg, ein norddeutscher Landesherr des 16. Jahrhunderts (Weinheim: VCH – Acta Humaniora), pp. 41-57 Kraschewski, H.-J., 1994, ‘Zur Arbeitsverfassung des Goslarer Bergbaus am Rammelsberg in der ersten Hälfte des 15. Jahrhunderts’, Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 66, pp. 1-45 Linke, F.A., 2000, ‘Archaeological survey of monuments of early mining and smelting in the Harz Mountains’ in C. Segers-Glocke, H. Witthöft (eds) Aspects of Mining and Smelting in the Upper Harz Mountains (up to the 13th/14th century) – in the Early Times of a Developing European Culture and Economy (St. Katharinen: Scripta Mercaturae Verlag), pp. 30-52 Niederschlag, E., Pernicka, E., Seifert, T., Bartelhelm, M., ‘The Determination of Lead Isotope Ratios by Multiple Collector ICP-MS: a Case Study of Early Bronze-Age Artefacts and their Possible Relation with Ore Deposits of the Erzgebirge’, Archaeometry 45, pp. 61-100 Radday, H., 1996, Das Oberharzer Bergwerksmuseum Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Clausthal-Zellerfeld: Pieper) Rammelsberger Bergbaumuseum (ed.), 2004, Der Riechenberger Vertrag (Goslar: Goslarsche Zeitung Karl Krause) Reininghaus, W., Köhne, R., 2008, Berg- Hütten- und Hammerwerke im Herzogtum Westfalen im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzei (Münster: Aschendorf) Roseneck, R. (ed.), 2001, Der Rammelsberg – Tausend Jahre Mensch – Natur – Technik, I-II (Goslar: Verlag Goslarsche Zeitung Karl Krause) Slotta, R., 1982, Einführung in die Industriearchäologie (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft) Slotta, R., Bartels, C., 1990, Meisterwerke bergbaulicher Kunst vom 13. bis 19. Jahrhundert (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) Stöllner, T., in prep., ‘Mining Landscapes in Early Societies – Imprinting Processes in Pre- and Protohistoric Economies?’ in C. Bartels, C. Küpper-Eichas (eds) Cultural Heritage and Landscapes in Europe / Landschaften – Kulturelles Erbe in Europ (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) Suhling, L., 1976, Der Seig����������������������������� erhüttenprozeß. Die Technologie des Kupferseigerns nach dem frühen metallurgischen Schrifttum (Stuttgart: Riederer) Technische Universität Clausthal (ed.), 1975, Technische Universität Clausthal. Zur Zweihundertjahrfeier 1775-1975, I. Die Bergakademie und ihre Vorgeschichte (Clausthal-Zellerfeld: Technische Universität Clausthal) Uhde, H., 1965, Die Gutswirtschaft Immedeshausen (1225-1445) und der Besitz des Klosters Walkenried am Westharz (Oldenburg: self-publishing) Uhde, H., 1968 ‘Forsten, Bergbau und Hüttenbetriebe des Klosters Walkenried am Westharz’, Harz-Zeitschrift 19/20, pp. 81-102 Weisgerber, G., 1987, ‘Montanarchäologie – ein Weg zum Verständnis früher Roghstoffversorgung’ in R. Pörtner, H.G. Niemeyer (eds) Die Großen Abenteuer der Archäologie, IX (Salzburg: Athenäum), pp. 3503-3540 246

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Glocke (ed.) Auf den Spuren einer frühen Industrielandschaft. Naturraum-Mensch-Umwelt im Harz, Arbeitshefte zur Denkmalpflege in Niedersachsen 21 (Hannover: Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege), pp. 47-5

Weichmann, M., Tholl, S., 2001, ‘Produkte aus dem Rammelsberg’ in R. Roseneck (ed.) Der Rammelsberg – Tausend Jahre Mensch – Natur – Technik, II (Goslar: Verlag Goslarsche Zeitung Karl Krause), pp. 282-295 Willerding, U., 2000, ‘Die Landschaft Harz’ in C. Segers-

Fig. 1 - The ore deposits of the North-Western Harz Mountains (from Bartels 1992a).

Fig. 2 - The water wheel chamber ‘Feuergezäher Gewölbe’ in the Rammelsberg, reconstruction with water wheel (Author).

Fig. 3 - The Huneberg smelting site near Bad Harzburg, ca AD 1100; reconstruction of the wooden building with three furnaces. For details see Bartels et al. 2007: 165-171 (F.A. Linke, Goslar). 247

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Fig. 4 - The town hall of Goslar (15th century) and the market with the big bronze basin (12th century) of the central fountain, historical postcard, from ca 1930 (original and photo: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum).

Fig. 5 - The mines between the Upper Harz Towns of Wildemann and Zellerfeld, wood engraving by Daniel Lindemeir based on plans of mine surveyor Zacharias Koch, 1606. The conic tipilike looking buildings housed horse-whims for purposes of hauling ore and rock (original and photo: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum).

Fig. 6 - Vertical section of the mines between Wildemann and Zellerfeld, mine surveyor Daniel Flach, 1661, detail. The section presents hundreds of detail information on technical equipment, extent of the operations, positions of buildings, machinery and mining techniques (original: TUI AG Hannover, photo: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum).

Fig. 7 - Historical photo of the Rammelsberg, ca 1900, showing the medieval dump areas on the slope of the mountain and the cut into the flank of the mountain, presumably to lead water out of ancient open-cast mines.

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Ten years of collaboration on cultural landscapes research  

Almudena Orejas, María Ruiz del Árbol Abstract This contribution summarises the history of scientific cooperation in the domain of historical landscapes from the mid 1990s, articulated through two consecutive Actions COST G2, Ancient landscapes and rural structures (PASTA) and A27, Understanding pre-industrial structures in rural and mining landscapes (LANDMARKS). Thanks to the very dynamic debates on the meaning of the term landscape, the different disciplines involved in Landscape Studies are consolidating a common ground. The Humanities are playing a major role in this process, stressing the cultural character of any landscape. These principles are the basis of several lines of research focusing in the historical depth of landscape. The above mentioned COST Actions have become the space for discussion and presentation both to the scholars and to a larger public.

The research teams involved in the cooperative projects which contribute to the Actions mentioned in the Abstract mainly come from two backgrounds; on the one hand, groups specialised in the development of specific methods and techniques applicable to Landscape Studies (GeoInformation Systems, palaeoenvironmental analysis, geoarchaeological studies, informatics…), on the other hand, groups working on regional projects all over Europe and interested in networking research on cultural landscapes / valorisation of landscapes as Cultural Heritage. The objectives and the outcomes of the Actions show in detail the main trends and potentialities of the new perspectives on Landscape Studies and their implications on European policies on cultural and environmental heritage, agrarian policy, regional development and territorial management.

1. Concept: BASIS for the scientific cooperation Landscape is the synthetic result of historical processes as well as a social construction in permanent change, and this dynamism is indispensable for explaining and understanding history in terms of social relationships. The scientific approach to landscape enables the reading of the net of social relations within their context in space and time, including their complexity. Landscape Studies have moved from a peripheral position to the core of the Humanities in the last decades. On one hand they are the ‘heirs’ of regional researches within the academic tradition of Geography. On the other, the approaches developed from the 1960s in several disciplines such as Archaeology, have stressed the spatial dimension of historical processes (Orejas 1998, Orejas et al. 2002). Landscape Studies are able to give consistency to the traditional approaches (based on artefacts, monuments, sites) and to integrate a large scope of approaches to the material record (palaeoenvironmental, palaeoeconomical, geo-archaeological…), analytical techniques and different documents and information (material record, writing memory, iconographic representations, intangible heritage). On the other hand,

Landscape Studies are proving their capacity for breaking down barriers between social and humanities disciplines and the research areas focusing on environment or natural resources. This aspect is crucial due to its implications in territorial planning and management and in the rationalisation and sustainable exploitation of resources, especially in rural areas, depressed or under pressure from tourism. Landscape Studies are the meeting point for various disciplines and tendencies; they garner old academic heritages together with recent approaches (Ruiz del Árbol and Beck 2004, Wheatley and Gillings 2002, Ruiz del Árbol 2004). In fact, the core of the study is not the past landscape in its materiality, fossilised and separated from us, but the historical synthesis of multiple realities synchronic and diachronic. That is why the research on historic landscapes connects past and present: it recognises the ongoing action of human communities on the environment. Landscapes are neither superimposed nor stratified but interacting. Today’s landscapes keep traces both of the remote and of the recent past. They are a continuous record, with a large scope of data that includes elements and structures reflec ing the occupation and exploitation, but also palaeosoils, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoeconomic information, traditions and concepts of the territorial configuration and its social meaning, and so on. The research on historical landscapes is much more than an enlargement of the geographical scale; it implies a perspective in the historical investigation in which the social relations and social change are the main axis. In order to investigate them in their whole complexity and richness a specifi methodology is necessary; to construct it is one of the major challenges of research today. It is important to stress that the departure point is a partial and often invisible record, weak and scarcely monumental, or only marginally. European collaboration in this area started in the mid-1990s as a consequence of previous informal contacts and bilateral cooperations. The formalisation and enlargement of the network in the frame of the Action G2 made it possible to constitute a meeting point for specialists from 14 countries and diverse disciplines (History, Archaeology, Mathematics, Informatics, Geology, and Law). Action A27 allowed

Almudena Orejas, María Ruiz del Árbol

the diversification and extension of the scientific contacts: 21 countries and a wider series of academic backgrounds. Two linchpins supported Action G2 and also support Action A27: the integration of significant regional projects (still embryonic in the 1990s but now quite consolidated) and the development and application of innovative methods and techniques. One overarching goal can be detected in the background of this cooperation: the need for solid research on historical landscapes (based both on the literary/iconographic evidence and on field data) consistent with proposals on the protection and valorisation of landscapes. That is why from the very beginning of the Actions we have been working on the construction of a network of Cultural Landscapes formalised as Cultural Parks. These basic concepts are behind the cooperation developed from 1995 thanks to these two different Actions, COST G2 Ancient landscapes and rural structures: texts and Archaeology (PASTA) (1995-2001) and A27 Understanding pre-industrial structures in rural and mining landscapes (2004-2008). In the following pages the main outlines of both cooperation projects are developed, but first of all it is important to stress that the participation of the large series of research teams is mainly based on the existence of local, regional or national projects. Some projects developed in different areas of Europe are exemplary cases, of which we can mention a number of initiatives currently involved in Action A27: the Dutch programmes Belvedere and BBO (Protection and Development of Dutch historicarchaeological landscape); the HLC programme (Historical Landscape Characterisation) of the English Heritage; and a series of cultural landscapes formalised as Cultural/ Archaeological parks: Parc Culturel du Biterrois (France), Las Médulas (Spain), Geo-Cultural Park of Eastern Aegean (Greece), Archaeological Park of Fregellae (Italy), Val di Cornia Parks (Italy)… Finally, it is important to mention the existence of networks and initiatives working throughout Europe for the consolidation and coordination of various proposals: the European Association of Archaeologists regularly disseminates news regarding Landscape Archaeology, Landscape Europe (International Network of Expertise in Landscape), ELCAI (European Landscape Character Assessment Initiative), or Interdisciplinary Scientific Initiative COST-ESF New Perspectives on Landscape Studies. A Network of Networks.

the practical application of research results through mechanisms of heritage valorisation, planning and dissemination (Sánchez-Palencia et al. 2003, Ruiz del Árbol et al. 2007, Orejas and Ruiz del Árbol 2006). Our research line operates within the conceptual frame already described and our scientific aim is the study of provincial Hispanic societies and their processes of social change, mainly in the transition from pre-Roman to Roman times. Areas covered by our projects are predominantly located in the North-Western Iberian Peninsula. Studies of pre-Roman times in these regions, addressed from this landscape viewpoint, have allowed a new view of the archaeological record and of the social organisation of the castro communities of the later Iron Age (Sastre 2002). A deeper knowledge of their forms of occupation and exploitation of the territory was absolutely necessary in order to better understand the impact of the Roman conquest and dominion (Orejas and Sánchez-Palencia 2002, Orejas and Sánchez-Palencia 2006). The study of the Roman period focuses on territorial and social organisation forms in the rural civitates established by the Roman power. In this region an essential element influencing the territorial and social organisation was the abundant gold-mining, incorporated within the Roman provincial dominion as metalla publica. A broad range of aspects such as the research on mining techniques, the legal status of provincial soil, the manpower in the mines, the analysis of agrarian structures and settlement models are studied. Results point to a social model based on a rural environment, which responds and conforms to Roman juridical, fiscal and administrative organisation forms, and is present in other nonurban areas (Orejas and Sastre 1999, Orejas et al. 2005, Sánchez-Palencia et al. 2007). Our project is carried out with a non hierarchical research strategy that incorporates interdisciplinary methods and uses both the archaeological record in a broad sense (including geo-archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data) and ancient written sources, both literary and epigraphic. Las Médulas (León, Spain) is an archaeological zone centred on the biggest open-cast gold mine in the Roman Empire. Research done at the Zona Arqueológica de Las Médulas includes both the mining structures (hydraulic network, working faces, washing areas, wastes) and the settlement strategy from pre-Roman to Roman times. Overall, 100 km2 have been subject to intensive research within this project. The gold mine itself resulted in the displacement of approximately 100,000,000 m3 of ore, leaving an accumulation of waste which greatly altered nearby valleys (Sánchez-Palencia 2000). In fact, the main waterway of the area was completely plugged, and an artificial lake was formed. Dozens of channels line the slopes of the mountains, collecting and carrying water to be used for the extraction and washing tasks; some of those channels are over 100 km long. Surveys and archaeological excavations have allowed us to locate some 50 ancient rural settlements, which have allowed us to better understand the role of the mine within local society, and it’s relation with Roman power. Actually, the core of the research being done is the evaluation of the impact of Roman mining activity in the context of the general transformations taking place during and after

2. Las Médulas (Leó n, Spain). A regional case study in the European context In order to illustrate the kind of projects that constitute the foundation of this European cooperation, we are briefly presenting one of the case studies involved in Actions G2 and A27. The Las Médulas research programme is developed by the research group Social Structure and TerritoryLandscape Archaeology (Institute of History. Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences, Spanish National Council for the Scientifi Research) since the final 1980s (SánchezPalencia 2000). From the very beginning, their work has been carried out with two main aims in mind: the development of new methodological approaches and new research techniques from a Landscape Archaeology perspective and 250

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the conquest, when the organisation of that territory was established in the region. The valorisation project shares the same main ideas. The main points of research mentioned above are the foundations for the valorisation strategy adopted for the establishment of this landscape as a part of our Cultural Heritage: the creation of information centres, itineraries and information points, dissemination and training programmes and publications addressed to different publics, including exhibitions. The values we want to show are not the singularity, the exceptionality or the beauty of the zone but its significance as a synthesis of a historical process, which affected both the local (permanent physical transformations and construction of a perceptual landscape in Las Médulas), regional (the whole North-West of Spain is home to hundreds of gold mines exploited at the same time) and European scales (as an example of the construction of Roman provincial landscapes).

scapes in Europe. The increase in the number and type of cases studied and the coordination of working practices became essential. The establishment of a dissemination plan involving scholars, regional authorities and local populations was one of the main priorities. In order to better achieve the aims, four Working Groups were set up: Technical sources (WG1), Informatics modelling and reconstruction of ancient landscapes (WG2), Historical Atlas of the forms of soil occupation (WG3) and Cultural Parks (WG4). The publications produced within the Action are listed below. The WG1 developed two main connected lines of research: the study and translation of some of the more significant technical treatises of the Roman land surveyors, Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum (Hyginus, Frontinus, Hyginus Gromaticus) and the impact of the practices described in such texts on the landscapes through time. The specific work on the manuscripts (from 1st to 6th centuries AD) was possible thanks to the collaboration between historians, specialists in Roman law, archaeologists and philologists. One of the most innovative aspects was the integration of field data in an analysis convergent with the textual evidence: existing landmarks, fossilised structures, isolated elements belonging to ancient networks, etc. The study of these operations, both in theory and in practice, has been put in relation with the abundant range of colonised landscapes documented throughout European history; landscapes which were forms of rationalisation and hierarchisation of territories. The Roman cadastral system was probably the first normative model disseminated on a large scale and able to produce a systematic archive of cartographic and descriptive documents. The corpus of Roman land-surveyors’ texts and the vestiges of their interventions in the rural environment (archaeologically proved) are simultaneously part of local and universal cultural-historical heritage. The collaborations within WG2 were based on the identification of tools and procedures for the detection and analysis of ancient landscapes and the evaluation of new spatial and information technologies such as GIS, remote sensing and the Internet. The participation in regional scientific programmes guaranteed the capacity for testing these technological approaches (Patras and Tanagra in Greece, North-West Gaule, Potenza Valley in Italy, Ammaia in Portugal, Béziers in France, Hvar in Croatia). Some specific applications were developed such as a ‘Cadastral Grid’, based on MapInfo, or the GIS-Web implemented by the Remote Sensing Laboratory of the University of Athens. The main goal of work within WG2 has been the application of a series of technologies for such diverse fields as the management of cultural resources, the documentation of archaeological excavations and the improvement of regional research based on landscape archaeology. One of the objectives of the Action was the collective presentation of selected exemplary cases adopting an Atlas format. WG 3 was responsible for the coordination of this activity and the production of the final four volumes that collected the contributions. The general aims of the Atlas were: the establishment of an updated inventory of regional researches, the presentation of significant regional investigations, methods and technologies, and the adoption of a homogeneous framework for the analysis and pres-

3. Action COST G2 Ancient landscapes and rural structures From 1995 until 2001 the Action G2 Ancient landscapes and rural structures (PASTA) was a very active framework for the interdisciplinary scientific collaboration on historic landscapes. The Action was chaired by Monique ClavelLévêque (France) and 14 signatories were involved: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The objectives of the Action were formulated as follows: • Understanding the links between natural environment and human action in the ancient geo-systems, based on biotic and abiotic components and their interrelations, including any strategy for the construction and appropriation of land. • Setting up an interdisciplinary research programme focusing in the methodologies and innovative techniques for the study and the public presentation of the geo-systems: GIS, cartography, virtual reconstructions and databases. • Testing models adapted both to ancient logic in territory management and based on the majority of available data (highly variable depending on the regions). • Proposing scientific support in decision-making processes, addressed to the knowledge and the preservation of the ‘soil archives’. It included comparative analysis of legal frameworks and the conceptualisation of Cultural Parks. • Producing effici nt scientific tools specifically adapted for research on ancient landscapes and cadastral areas: texts and iconographies of ancient technical treatises, GIS, landscape archaeology, epigraphy, palaeoenvironmental approaches. • Constructing databases and references or models useful in European research and policy. • Renewing concepts and updating interpretative models based on a serious critique of the prevailing methods. Action G2 was decisive for realising the diversity of ancient geo-systems across Europe as well as the very different policies adopted for the valorisation of cultural land251

Almudena Orejas, María Ruiz del Árbol

entation of data, allowing a comparative approach to the ancient geo-systems and the different forms of management and use of the space. The discussions of the WG3 focused in two main aspects: the definition of a common format in order to facilitate the comparative approach, and the establishment of criteria for the selection of regions and cases, in order to ensure their scientific representativeness. The completion of the Atlas has been possible thanks to the fluid contact between research teams for the exchange of experiences and expertise. About a hundred specialists have collaborated in the preparation of the four volumes. The two volumes of the Atlas historique des cadastres d’Europe included 35 contributions; 25 of them offered regional studies from Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom and Tunisia. Ten contributions presented technical dossiers, sometimes written in collaboration, involving members of different national delegations. In short, these two volumes synthesised the state of the art, offered important new interpretations and presented a number of unpublished results and documents. The Atlas historique des zones minières d’Europe allowed the compilation of 22 regional studies (from Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom) and 9 technical dossiers in two volumes. The main objective was to stress the importance of ancient mining in some European regions, and to show the forms of exploitation as well as the settlement patterns around the selected mining areas. One of the goals of these publications was to show the permanent traces of this activity and their consequences for the historical development of the regions: dramatic changes in the morphology of landscapes and in the use of soils, management of water, soil, water and atmospheric pollution, relations between agrarian activities and mining production, and so on. The series of Atlases sought to contribute to the recognition of the landscapes marked by ancient productive activities as a part of the European common Cultural Heritage. They synthesise complex and diachronic realities and required research based on interdisciplinary approaches and the convergence of sources, documents and techniques, from the ancient technical treatises to the off-site archaeological record and geo-system technologies. The WG4, Cultural Parks, acted as a transversal working group. Its main objective was to explore the potential of historical landscapes as Cultural Heritage. For this purpose the group focused on: impact evaluation of the traditional rural practices on the present landscapes; the possibilities for the preservation of local rural traditional memory and landscapes and their role in territorial management with sustainable development in mind. A series of debates focused on the criteria for the formalisation of cultural landscapes as cultural parks, using as reference points more than ten European experiences and good-practice models. The main idea was to go beyond the local or national strategies and to articulate some major themes: the content of cultural and environmental heritage, the involvement of the local populations, and the potential of landscape as a rich resource for tourism. Despite the very diverse academic, legal and administrative traditions in Europe, this WG established a solid base for the formalisation of cultural parks as a useful framework for the research and the public

presentation of landscapes as Cultural Heritage.

4. The Action COST A27 Understanding preindustrial structures in rural and mining landscapes (LANDMARKS) The collective works and reflections developed between 1995 and 2001 were the embryo of a deeper collaboration and debate on the scientific future of Landscape Studies and their connection with Cultural Heritage management. Thus, the point of departure of Action A27 was a wider perspective; landscapes (understood as highly synthetic expressions of human relationships through time) could become essential in a new way of understanding Cultural Heritage. The central aim of the Action is the identification and the evaluation of preindustrial structures in the European landscape, threatened by the abandonment of traditional agricultural and mining activities. Globalisation in the late 20th and early 21st centuries implies an important acceleration in the homogenisation of landscapes, destroying a distinctiveness resulting from traditional activities through time. The Action looks at the processes of change affecting these landscapes and the role of preindustrial structures and elements in the past and for the future. As mentioned before, Action A27 was conceived as a result of the new perspectives opened by the scientific collaboration stimulated by COST Action G2. In fact the core group of Action A27 was formed in G2. But there is another important reference in A27’s background: the European Landscape Convention. This document, approved in 2000, constitutes an excellent framework both for developing research on landscape and for improving links between research, policies, protection, dissemination and their integration in the daily life of urban and rural communities in Europe. In fact, some of the most representative activities done within the Action have to do with issues regarding the application and development of this useful document. Action 27 is articulated through the development of a series of more specific objectives • The analysis of ancient morphological elements and models for their integration in today’s landscape (networks of land divisions, agricultural terraces, field boundaries, historical mining areas). • The analysis of technologies related to the historical use of landscape, including the recovery and study of technical treatises and archives. • The diachronic study of specific legal and administrative practices, especially important for research related to the establishment of limits, and the control of occupation or abandonment. Territorial conflicts and the role of political organisation of territories are themes present throughout History. • Analysis of landscape perception through time by the communities that inhabited, exploited or visited them. By this we mean representations of the space, literary re-creation, mental maps… • Providing mechanisms for the public presentation and optimisation of Cultural Heritage in the form of landscapes. Diversification of cultural resources and enlargement of the Cultural Heritage protected, valor252

Ten years of collaboration on cultural landscapes research

ised and shown in order to contribute to the balance in many European regions. As a consequence of this, the activities developed within the Action are structured in three major fields: documentation work (including the written memory, the iconographic memory and the ‘soil memory’); production of flexible tools useful for research, exploitation, dissemination and valorisation (Web sites, Geo-Information Systems, etc.); proposing a coherent basis for the valorisation of the results of research on landscapes. The practical organisation of the Action is based on four Working Groups responsible for the Mining landscapes (WG1), Rural landscapes (WG2), Virtual landscapes, Geo-Information Systems and databases (WG3) and Transversal activities (WG4 – Web site, dissemination, Cultural Heritage valorisation). A total of 21 countries have joined the Action; it coordinates about 55 research teams, involving about 150 scientists. Regarding the main scientific results of LANDMARKS (A27), first of all it is important to stress the advances in the integration of ‘layers’ in Landscape Studies. These layers of information involve various approaches: palaeomorphologies, palaeoenvironment, legal framework, perceptions and representations through time (graphic and written). This multilayered approach depicts the unity of landscape, shaped by diversity. This holistic approach is feasible thanks to the integration of different disciplines with the common denominator of a rich, dynamic, diachronic and complex landscape. Due to this, archaeologists, historians, philologists, geographers, geologists, mathematicians and computer experts participate in collaborative research. LANDMARKS (A27) emphasises the protagonism of social and humanistic approaches, integrating cultural and environmental components of an integrated single heritage. The Action’s publications are listed below; four other books are now in preparation focusing in the Geo-Information Technology for Geo-Cultural Landscape Analysis, the Management and Protection of Landscape in Europe, the Heritage, Images, Memory of European Landscapes and the GeoArchaeological Aspects of Rivers and Rivers Plains. This approach requires the integration of different levels of information: from local or regional studies to a Euro-Mediterranean scale. It concerns both the input information and the final results or products of the Action and it is fully connected with the European policies on Cultural Heritage, regional development, territorial planning and agriculture. The Action relies on an acceptable geographical balance in the participation of several academic traditions and organisational frameworks. This is shown, for instance, in the last publications of the Action which include a large spectrum of cases and methodologies. These internal outcomes of LANDMARKS have the added value of contributing to the consolidation of the interdisciplinary studies on landscape in three differing ways: • Exploration of new themes or approaches and systematising research thanks to this forum that serves scientists from different disciplines. For instance, models from research to valorisation that include the multilayered landscape; Geo-Information Systems helping to integrate landscape as heritage in spatial planning; knowledge and preservation of preindustrial traditions in a postindustrial Europe.

• •

Agreement on methodological approaches and on valuable and consistent issues for research, dissemination and management. Opportunities for a deeper dialogue between different traditions and social sectors involved (academic, administrative, local population, visitors…).

5. Final remarks Ancient land divisions, historical terraces, preindustrial mines or rural traditional habitats are much more than fossilised morphologies or isolated relict elements present in today’s landscape. They are valuable as pieces of a complex network of invisible links which reflect the social relationships changing through time. The temporal dimension is as important as the spatial coordinates for understanding the landscape; and this essential temporality of the space shapes it as an historical product. This perspective implies the consideration of landscape as a continued record of diverse information connecting past and present. One of the main challenges is the construction of specific methodologies which enable making these intangible links comprehensible, using the application of adequate technologies, in particular in the field of Geo-Information Systems The approach adopted in Actions COST G2 and A27 is based on the convergence of scientific aims and ‘strategic’ objectives in the validation of scientific results, so that there may be a direct effect on territorial planning and regional development. This would be possible given a new conception of Cultural Heritage, an inclusive and integrative reality, based on the presentation of historical processes and social relations both through the visible and intangible heritage. This perspective breaks the 19th century conception exclusively based on monuments, aesthetics and singularities. The ‘landscapes’ studied don’t seek to deny this ‘traditional’ heritage but to integrate it within their social, spatial and temporal coordinates. It is necessary to move the centre of gravity away from the historical cities, singular monuments or leisure centres. The list of challenges is long: the need for standardisation of the language and of the applicable criteria, the connections of different scales in order to make clear links between local and regional characteristics in the frame of global historical processes, the potentiality of the European Landscape Convention, the role of the landscapes of mind… Landscape Studies are nowadays a crossroads for disciplines, research topics and policies, a focus of emerging themes and collaborations and a domain where social needs meet scientific issues

References Orejas, A., 1998, ‘El estudio del paisaje: visiones desde la Arqueología’, Arqueología Espacial 19-20, pp. 9-19 Orejas, A., Ruiz del Árbol, M., 2006, ‘Habiter et exploiter le paysage: autour des mines d’or de Las Medulas’ in L. Lévêque (ed.) Paysages de mémoire – Mémoire du paysage. Actes du colloque international de Besançon: Mémoire et devenir des paysages culturels d’Eu253

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rope (Paris: L’Harmattan), pp. 211-235 Or������������������������������������������������������ ejas, A., Ruiz del Árbol, M., López O., 2002, ‘Los registros del paisaje’, Archivo Español de Arqueología 75, pp. 287-311 Orejas, A., Ruiz del Árbol, M., Sastre, I., 2005, ‘L’ager mensura comprehensus et le sol provincial: l’Occident de la Péninsule Ibérique’ in D. Conso, A. Gonzales, J.Y. Guillaumin (eds) Les vocabulaires techniques des arpenteurs latins (Besançon: PUFC), pp. 193-199 Orejas, A., Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J., 2002, ‘Mines, Territorial Organisation and Social Structure in Roman Iberia: Carthago Nova and the Peninsular Northwest’, American Journal of Archaeology 106, pp. 581-599 Orejas, A., Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J., 2006, ‘Les mines et les formes de coloniser les territoires dans l’Occident d’Hispania’ in L. Lévêque, M. Ruiz del Árbol, L. Pop, C. Bartels (eds) Journeys through European Landscapes – Voyages dans les paysages européens (Ponferrada: Fundación Las Médulas), pp. 101-104 Orejas, A., Sastre, I., 1999, ‘Fiscalité et organisation du territoire dans le Nord-Ouest de la Péninsule Ibérique: ciuitates, tribut et ager mensura comprehensus’, Dialogues d’Historie Ancienne 25/1, pp. 159-188 Ruiz del Árbol, M., 2004, ‘����������������������������� The Study of Ancient Agricultural Structures: the Integration of Different Scales of Analysis’ in G. Carver (ed.) Digging in the Dirt. Excavation in a New Millennium, BAR S1256 (Oxford: BAR Publishing), pp. 181-189 Ruiz del Árbol, M., Beck, A., 2004, ‘Space Technologies and Cultural Heritage’, The European Archaeologist 22, pp. 2-5 Ruiz del Árbol, M., Orejas, A., Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J., 2007, ‘A Meeting Point for Diversity: Research and Valorisation on Cultural Landscapes in NW Iberian Peninsula’ in M. Drdácký, M. Chapuis (eds) Safeguarded Cultural Heritage. Understanding & Viability for the Enlarged Europe. Proceedings of the 7th European Conference ‘SAUVEUR’, 31st May – 3rd June 2006, Prague, Czech Republic, I (Praha: ITAM), pp. 355-362 Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J. (ed.), 2000, Las Médulas (León). Un paisaje cultural en la Asturia Augustana (León: Instituto Leonés de Cultura) Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J., Orejas, A., Ruiz del Árbol, M., 2003, ‘Archaeological Heritage as a Main Sustainable Resource for the Development of Rural Areas: the Experience of the Archaeological Zone of Las Médulas (ZAM)’ in R. Kozlowski et al. (eds) Cultural Heritage Research: a Pan-European Challenge. Proceedings of the 5th EC Conference, May 16-18 2002, Cracow Poland (Krakow: EC), pp. 280-282 (http://www. heritage.xtd.pl/conference_report) Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J., Orejas, A., Ruiz del Árbol, M., Sastre, I., 2008, ‘Las Médulas (León, Spain). A Rural and Mining Landscape’ in C. Bartels, M. Ruiz del Árbol, H. van Londen, A. Orejas (eds) Landmarks – Profiling Europe’s Historic Landscapes (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum), pp. 113-124 Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J., Orejas, A., Sastre, I., 2007, ‘Roman Gold Mines: Legal and Territorial Practices’ in F. Reduzzi Merola (ed.) Sfruttamento, tutela e valo-

rizzazione del territorio: dal diritto romano alla regolamentazione europea e internazionale, Diaphora 12 (Napoli: Jovene), pp. 181-192 Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J., Pérez, L.C., Orejas, A., 2000, ‘Geomorfology and Archaeology in the Las Médulas Archaeological Zone (ZAM) (León, Spain). Evaluation of Wastes and Gold Production’ in F. Vermeulen, M. De Dapper (eds) Geoarcheology of the Landscapes of Classical Antiquity. International Colloquium Ghent, 23-24 October 1998 (Leiden: Stichting Babesch), pp. 167-177 Sastre, I., 2002, ‘Forms of Social Inequality in the Castro Culture of Northwest Iberia’, European Journal of Archaeology 5/2, pp. 213-248 Wheatley, D., Gillings, M., 2002, Spatial Technology and Archaeology. The Archaeological Applications of GIS (London: Taylor & Francis) Publications of the Action COST G2 Behrends, O., Clavel-Lévêque, M., Conso, D., von Cranach, P., Gonzales, A., Guillaumin J.-Y., Pena, M.-J., Ratti, S., 1998, Frontin. L’œuvre gromatique (Luxembourg: OPOCE) Behrends, O., Clavel-Lévêque, M., Conso, D., Gonzales A., Guillaumin, J.-Y., Ratti, S., Capogrossi, L., Peyras, J., 2000, Hygin. L’œuvre gromatique (Luxembourg: OPOCE) Clavel-Lévêque, M., Conso, D., Gonzales, A., Guillaumin, J.-Y., Robin, P., 1996, Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum, IV. Hygin l’Arpenteur. L’établissement des limites (Napoli: Jovene; Luxembourg: OPOCE) Clavel-Lévêque, M., Orejas, A. (eds), 2002, Atlas historique des cadastres d’Europe, II (Luxembourg: OPOCE) Ñaco, T., Olesti, O., Prieto, A., 2000, Paleoenvironmental Analysis and Landscape Studies (Barcelona: EC) Orejas, A. (ed.), 2001-2003, Atlas historique des zones minières d’Europe, I-II (Luxembourg: OPOCE) Peterson, J. (ed.), 1998, The Use of Geographic Information Systems in the Study of Ancient Landscapes and Features Related to Ancient Land Use (Luxembourg: EC) Slapšak, B. (ed.), 2001, On the Good Use of Geographic Information Systems in Archaeological Landscape Studies (Luxembourg: EC) Vermeulen, F., De Dapper, M., 2000, Geoarchaeology of the Landscapes of Classical Antiquity. International Colloquium Ghent, 23-24 October 1998 (Leiden: Stichting Babesch) Publications of the Action COST A27 Bartels, C., Ruiz del Árbol, M., van Londen, H., Orejas, A. (eds), 2008, Landmarks – Profiling Europe’s Historic Landscapes (Bochum: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) Behrends, O., Clavel-Lévêque, M., Conso, D., Gonzales, A., Guillaumin, J.-Y., Peyras, J., Ratti, S., 2005, Agennius Urbicus. Controverses sur les terres (Napoli: Consorzio Interuniversitario; Paris: Gérard Boulvert) Clavel-Lévêque, M. (ed.), 2006, Le paysage en partage. Mémoirs des pratiques des arpenteurs. 3e colloque européen organisé au Parc Culturel Régional du Biterrois (Paris: L’Harmattan) 254

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Compatangelo-Soussignan, R., Bertrand, J.-R., Chapman, J., Laffont, J.-Y., 2008, Marqueurs des paysages et systèmes socio-économiques. Actes du Colloque COST du Mans, 7-9 décembre 2006 (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes) Lévêque, L. (ed.), 2006, Paysages de mémoire – Mémoire du paysage. Actes du colloque international de Besançon: Mémoire et devenir des paysages culturels d’Europe (Paris: L’Harmattan) Lévêque, L., Ruiz del Árbol, M., Pop, L., Bartels, C., 2006, Journeys through European Landscapes – Voyages dans les paysages européens (Ponferrada: Fundación Las Médulas) Reduzzi Merola, F. (ed.), 2007, Sfruttamento, tutela e valorizzazione del territorio: dal diritto romano alla regolamentazione europea e internazionale, Diaphora 12 (Napoli: Jovene) Ruiz del Árbol, M., Orejas, A., 2005, ‘Landscapes as Cultural Heritage in the European Research’ in Landscapes as Cultural Heritage in the European Research. Proceedings of the Open Workshop, Madrid, 29th October 2004, Biblioteca de Ciencias 22 (Madrid: CSIC)

Internet Links http://www.soc.staffs.ac.uk/jdw1/costa27home.html http://www.cost.esf.org/index.php?id=233&action_ number=a27 http://www.unipg.it/COSTactionA27/parks-activities/ http://www.sys.uea.ac.uk/Research/researchareas/JWMP/ COSTG2/costg2.html http://www.ih.csic.es/paginas/territorio/index.htm http://www.fundacionlasmedulas.com/

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From archaeological parks to the

enhancement of archaeological landscapes:

new directions in Italian heritage management  

Andrea Zifferero Abstract The purpose of this study is to highlight the current state of archaeological parks in Italy. Despite the relevant wealth of Italian archaeological and environmental heritage, Italian legislation has not yet produced an acceptable juridical framework that correctly identifies nature, function, purpose and management solutions of archaeological parks. The results prospected by environmental conservation seem to better fit the needs of archaeology. Our work analyses the potential role of archaeological research using multidisciplinary perspectives, for creating new integrated forms of environmental/archaeological conservation and enhancement. Some projects are presented to the reader, in order to illustrate the results of an integrated investigation of vegetation surrounding the archaeological sites, directed to define the steps of domestication of plants, through the analysis of germplasm. These experiences lead to new, integrated proposals for the protection of both cultural and environmental heritage.

1. The purpose of this contribution Terms such presentation or even better interpretation have a long tradition in the topic of European and overseas archaeological practice: their use is closely related to the results of the archaeological investigations made public. These terms fit into the framework of British archaeology, from around the beginning of the 1970s, in the practice of communicating the topics of nature and wilderness to the increasing number of visitors to the US national parks, after World War II (Binks et al. 1988; Gross and Zimmerman 2002: 32-33; Gross et al. 2006). A gradual introduction of these topics into the practices of European archaeology led us to explain the wide and rapid establishment of the visitor centres inside archaeological sites and parks: if the centre is the hub of the park’s interpretive program where trained staff help the visitors start their trip with the aid of exhibits, relief models, audio-visual programs and publications, the success of such actions in the field of archaeology is evident (Mills 1999; Gross 1999: 483). The difficult practice of attracting visitors to an archaeological site to its contents and significance has stimulated a wide range of contributions, starting from the complicate challenge produced by the site: we can say, beyond any reasonable doubt, that actual interpretation in archaeology spread to European countries from Britain, both in theory and in practice (Zifferero 2003). In contemporary society, archaeological parks are the tools to promote any conservation-based action, allowing at the same time the diffusion of the environmental, historical and cultural values of an area. Their existence and operation play a strategic role in landscape planning and management: the relationship between scientific research and conservation such as urban and landscape planning finds great support in archaeology, following an awareness that is slowly spreading in Italy. Archaeology may possibly share contacts with disciplines that rule urban and land-

scape planning, not only in terms of developing policies that include archaeology at the base of public works, urban planning and soils government: its main role, as I shall try to show, is in the conservation and increasing value of ancient landscapes survival within the contemporary landscape (Lenzi 1999). The subject of archaeological parks in Italy was discussed about ten years ago, on occasion of the 9th Summer School in Archaeology at the Certosa di Pontignano, promoted by the University of Siena, devoted to the theme of Museums and Archaeological Parks (Francovich and Zifferero 1999). The scientific discussion started from the exceedingly low profile of the archaeological park within current Italian legislation on archaeological heritage; at the same time, the first experience in planning and laying out archaeological parks offered the chance for the first up-to-date review of the subject. In those years, some high profile regional projects, originating from the framework of regional governments like the System of Archaeological Parks in Sicily (L.R. 20/2000, ‘Sistema Integrato di Parchi Archeologici in Sicilia’), were proposed to the scientific communit .

2. Archaeological Parks in Italy: a synthesis The actual mainstream of conservation in Italy points towards the planning and active management of the environment, attempting to create a balance between humans and nature: the tool for conservation of the wilderness is the national law on protected areas (L. 394/1991), which inspired the whole section of laws promoted by Italian regional councils. Current policy in the conservation of nature has developed a different trend, that has abandoned the exclusive ecological interest to consider a park a useful tool to protect biodiversity and local and traditional human approaches to obtain resources from the environment in

Andrea Zifferero

order to survive. A shared definition of the park in Italy is ‘the juridical-administrative asset of a territory with special environmental and human features, that are protected in a compatible reciprocity rule’ (Giacomini and Romani 1992: 65). A natural park is then a way to govern a territory, in which humans and nature may find a balance. The pathway of the archaeological park, on the contrary is certainly much more tormented: the problem is worth a brief digression. A formal definition of archaeological park was introduced in Italy in 1999 within the new comprehensive law on cultural and landscape heritage (T.U. 490/1999, Article 99c): the archaeological park is part of a territory with relevant archaeological characteristics, such as historical, landscape or environmental features, organized like an open-air museum, with the support of planned pathways and teaching aids. This definition has been transcribed in the actual law on cultural and landscape heritage (D.L. 42/2004, ‘Codice dei Beni Culturali e del Paesaggio’, Article 101e). The national law has come later than in some regional councils (e.g., among them the formal institution of archaeological parks in the Marche Region, in Central Italy: L.R. 16/1994), that issued local laws strongly inspired by the first national law on the conservation of landscapes, even in presence of monuments (L. 431/1985) and by the already mentioned national law on environmental conservation (L. 394/1991). This definition has certainly made progress inside the national law, even though it still lacks a more defined profile, being a juridical and institutional subject. This gap causes a serious weakness in the profile and management of archaeological parks, still in need of real autonomy in terms of management and development. The profile of the archaeological park introduced in 1999 defines a close relationship of the archaeological site with both landscape and environment: a feature that, under the same legislation, distinguishes the park from the site (area archeologica): in the same paragraph (T.U. 490/1999, Article 99b), the archaeological site is defined as a site comprehending the remains of a building complex, originally defined by its function and final destinatio It is intuitive, therefore, that a park has to be connected with landscape and environment: under different conditions it is merely an area archeologica. A further difference between park and site is the association of the park with the action of conservation and diffusion of its values to the public, a very different and distinctive element in comparison with the site. In this section of the law the park is clearly assimilated to an open-air museum, whose features, purposes and organization have a long and persisting tradition in Northern Europe, if compared with the archaeology of the Mediterranean area (Ruggieri Tricoli 2000: 114-145). The concept of enhancement (valorizzazione), such as the close relationship between a site and the environment (in the sense of nature, before landscape), has clearly derived from the sensibility to nature introduced by the national law 112/1998, related to cultural features (D.L. 112/1998, Article 148). The definition of both the site (area archeologica) and archaeological park (parco archeologico) expresses the concept of the value of a single public good, therefore bringing

value from the historical, artistic or archaeological point of view. In this vision a special importance was reserved to the single monument, without considering its environment, or landscape. This concept, coming from the laws promoted during the Fascist era, was developed by 1985 as a deeper sensitivity towards the context of the object to be protected. This new law (L. 431/1985) acknowledged the Italian Constitution in 1948 (Article 9), concerning the protection of landscape by the Italian Republic. Law 431/1985 marks a sensible step forward: the landscape is identified as a natural context of human communities, which have transformed and shaped it in the course of time. Therefore, it is not necessary that the landscape be protected due to the presence of natural beauty, providing a dynamic context that maintains the traces of the actions of human communities through the centuries. In the same law, historical and Cultural Heritage are protected in archaeological sites (zone di interesse archeologico), being zones of relevant natural interest (Zifferero 1999a). This trend is definitively accepted in Law 394/1991, enacted to give the basic juridical indication of a park aimed at protecting the environment: there it is clearly indicated what a natural park is, how it may be created and implemented, who may be the promoter, how it may be managed and how it may be funded to survive. The main purpose of this law is clearly the protection of the natural environment through conservation of animal and vegetal species, in their biological and geological context: nevertheless, though lacking an explicit indication and juridical definition of archaeological/cultural parks, in this law special attention is devoted to establish an equilibrium between the management of natural resources, in order to reach a specific integration between human communities and the environment, through the protection of anthropological, archaeological, historical and architectural values, such as agriculture, use of woods and traditional pastoral activities (L. 394/1991, Article 1b). The recent ‘Codice dei Beni Culturali e del Paesaggio’ has evidenced the limited importance of archaeological parks in Italian legislation. It should be said that the analysis of the archaeological landscape, such as the analysis of changes introduced in the natural environment by human communities, has gained more importance: the formation, development and abandonment of landscape has become the main topic of many regional projects (Tozzini 2005, Tozzini 2007, Tosco 2007). At the same time, subjects like urban archaeology, both in the analysis of the centres and peripheries of cities, have contributed to introduce a landscape sensitivity even in the perception of urban or peripheral open spaces, usually set aside for gardens, fields, intensive cultivations like vineyards and olive groves (Ricci 2002). From a scientific point of view, we are now close to considering archaeology as an important way to interpret the evolution of human landscape, such as the effects of human approach to natural environment: this new sensitivity towards the use of landscape in an historical perception, up to the consideration of contemporary landscape as the result of human approaches to nature, has sharpened the tools of archaeology towards a more complete approach to 258

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these topics (Cambi and Terrenato 2007). The common interest in the disciplines regulating the conservation of landscape has established, in the last decade, a bond with archaeology, even if the concept of the archaeological park has remained, as we have already seen, at a distance. The protection of the aesthetic values of an area was already covered in Law 1497/1939, through the tool of the landscape territorial plan (piano territoriale paesistico). The delicate matter of the conservation of landscape, such as the development of urban cities and towns was transferred from the State to the Regions in the 1970s. Notwithstanding a more efficient control on protection and enhancement of landscape which should have been promoted by Law 431/1985, introducing a mandatory landscape plan for Regions, the relationship between centre (the State) and peripheries (Regions and townships) was troublesome in terms of landscape protection. A possible solution towards the establishment of general rules to protect landscape was carried out by the T.U. 490/1999, Articles 149-150: the Regions introduced a specific rule on territories including natural landscape or even archaeological features, adopting specific plans (landscape or urban plans), in order to promote conservation and the enhancement of those values. These plans are considered by the State as priorities in the development of local governments, and the townships are obliged to include them in their urban planning. A further step towards a more organic consideration of the subject was promoted by the ‘Codice dei Beni Culturali e del Paesaggio’: in this juridical corpus the lawyer tried to transfer the imposition of bans in order to protect Cultural Heritage and landscape to the adoption of conservation and development tools, accepted and promoted on different levels of government (State, Regions, townships). The definition of ‘Cultural Heritage’ goes beyond the classical division inside Italian law of cultural and landscape/natural heritage: both are considered Cultural Heritage and State, Regions and local administrations must collaborate to their conservation and enhancement, through integrated plans (D.L. 42/2004, Article 2). Here the term landscape heritage replaces the term natural heritage, showing the importance and priority of defence and conservation of human landscape if compared with the conservation of natural heritage and need of local communities development. Landscape is defined as homogeneous part of a territory, whose features derive from nature and from human history in a integrated relationship (D.L. 42/2004, Article 131). The new perspective of this corpus is therefore more dynamic and moves towards an integrated and sustainable vision of cultural and natural heritage. Among landscape heritage (beni paesaggistici), are considered areas of archaeological interest (D.L. 42/2004, Article 142). The main tool for protection in the ‘Codice’ is the landscape plan (piano paesaggistico): each Region must organize its own plan, subdividing its features on different levels of protection. Only the heritage defined by each plan will be protected and enhanced by the authorities: the plan becomes the principal tool for local government and its action prevails on the urban tools of local townships. The very few cases of active archaeological parks in Italy are complex realities which are worthy of brief analysis.

One of the most relevant case studies is the Val di Cornia Parks system (Livorno). Located in Tuscany, along the Tyrrhenian coast, the Val di Cornia Parks system is entirely promoted by local administrations (townships of Piombino, Campiglia Marittima, Suvereto, San Vincenzo and Sassetta), in a vast district, characterized by a small population, concentrated for the most part at Piombino and strongly connected to the iron industry. The privatization of the national iron industry in the 1980s produced a major unemployment crisis, that induced local administrations to address local development elsewhere (Casini and Zucconi 2003). In the 1980s the wealth of natural, archaeological and industrial heritage in the area suggested the fundamental planning of an integrated park system. The connection of local townships in a Land Coordination Committee (Comitato di Coordinamento Territoriale), whose purpose was to integrate actions in terms of the creation of coordinated infrastructures for development, investing both urban and landscape areas, has led to the implementation of park projects (both natural and archaeological), for submission to EU funding, and to create at the same time a public management agency (Parchi Val di Cornia Spa), with a mission of directing and controlling the development of projects and monitoring expenses. At the same time, the agency has had a strategic role in the promotion of other public investments for the parks. Nowadays the agency directs all activities, under the surveillance of the local townships, providing services for the management of the natural and archaeological parks. The active parks at the moment are the Parco Archeominerario di San Silvestro (Campiglia Marittima), the Parco Archeologico di Baratti e Populonia (Piombino), the Parco Costiero della Sterpaia (Piombino), the Parco Costiero di Rimigliano (San Vincenzo), the Parco Naturale Interprovinciale di Montioni (Campiglia Marittima, Piombino and Suvereto, in the province of Livorno, Follonica and Massa Marittima in the province of Grosseto): each park expresses a specific vocation, according to its main features. All the parks are considered autonomous cost centres, being at the same time organized by the agency into two divisions, archaeological and environmental. The experience and the financia results of the agency, created in 1993, has clearly shown that: 1. the agency’s actions, organized as a private agency, even though it belongs to the local townships, with its own technical and administrative personnel, have developed extensive planning for the Val di Cornia, with excellent results in terms of projects funded by the Tuscany Region and EU; 2. the conservation and enhancement of the local environment and archaeological heritage has increased and elongated the tourist season in the Val di Cornia district; 3. park activity has stimulated and promoted employment in businesses connected to environmental and archaeological tourism in the parks (guided tours and assistance to schools with special activities like experimental archaeology, opening of bookshops, restaurants and hostels); 4. park activity has enhanced the management of marine



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tourism, regulating vehicle and camper parking areas and access to seashores of particular environmental value (Parco Costiero di Rimigliano and Parco Costiero della Sterpaia); 5. park activity has helped to highlight local resources (archaeological sites, mining and archaeometallurgical sites, woods, shorelines) as a value to be considered in a whole and integrated action of enhancement. From a strictly archaeological point of view, the opening of the Parco Archeominerario di San Silvestro and of the Parco Archeologico di Baratti e Populonia has indicated a consistent progress in the public management of archaeology in Italy. The first one, opened in 1996, protects an incredibly vast and branching ancient mine, dating from protohistory to contemporary times. The most relevant phases are the Etruscan and medieval mining activities, devoted to the mining and metallurgical smelting of sulphides (mainly copper and lead/silver ores). The Park (450 ha) was founded on the results of archaeological research promoted by the University of Siena inside the medieval Rocca San Silvestro, a mining and metallurgical site whose evidence stimulated the analytical survey of the mining heritage of the district: it has been created by the Campiglia Marittima township, with the urban tools offered by the State to the local governments. The second one opened in 1998, to preserve the archaeological heritage of Populonia, the Etruscan city located along the northern Tyrrhenian coast, famous in the Mediterranean area for its iron-related activities, exploiting ore coming from Elba Isle. The area of the park (about 90 ha: 80 property of the Piombino township, 10 leased by the State, through the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali to the Parchi Val di Cornia Spa), includes part of the ancient walled city and part of the tumuli and chamber tombs situated along the eastern slopes of the city. The park, at the edge of the Golfo di Baratti, was founded on the results of a long history of archaeological research: it was created by the Piombino township, acquiring most of the archaeological areas from private agencies and therefore obtaining the formal acknowledgement by the Tuscany Region as local interest environmental protected area (ANPIL), according to the regional current law on environmental conservation (L.R. 49/1995) (Casini and Zucconi 2003: 89-96). What gives the ever increasing satisfaction of this parks system to the public is the particular condition guaranteed by the network management of the Parchi Val di Cornia Spa. From the beginning of its activity, the high costs of the archaeological parks sustained by the agency immediately emerged, mainly due to staff and the expense of maintenance at the sites. The published financial and visitor data of the agency clearly show that relatively low income from visitors and high costs of conservation and security of the mines in the archaeological parks are maintained by the income of the coastal parks, mainly based on the services connected to marine tourism (Casini and Zucconi 2003: 119-156). It may be useful to have a general overview of archaeological parks in Italy: we have mainly statistical data, obtained from the first national survey made in 2000-2001 (Paradisi et al. 2002). A new systematic census of information, which has been

repeatedly carried out by Claudio Corsi in 2008, provides a comparison with the data edited in 2002. We can say that systematic work is virtually impossible, due to the different sources/quality of information on archaeological parks. Research was first conducted via Web, in order to obtain primary information on active or planned parks: an approach that has been successful in investigating the growing phenomenon of visitor centres connected to natural parks in Italy (Del Re 2006) (Tables 1-3; Figs 1-4). The data indicate an increase in archaeological parks in Italy since 2002, though in many cases, confirmed by more accurate information, simple ‘archaeological sites’ (aree archeologiche) are classified as ‘archaeological parks’ by the State or even by Regions and local townships. A general increase in numbers is observed (78 active parks, 39 projected for a total of 117 parks), with respect to 2002 (57 active parks, 27 projected for a total of 84 parks), but the most impressive data come from Southern Italy and the Isles, where the Apulia Region has created 15 new parks (just 5 in 2002) and the Basilicata Region has practically doubled its parks (7 parks in 2008, against 4 parks in 2002). Sicily, being an autonomous region, is completely independent in managing cultural and natural heritage: most of its 21 projected archaeological parks were created in 2000, on the basis of a specific regional law (L.R. 20/2000) A trend for Southern Italy and the Isles perfectly confirms the elevated and particular concentration of archaeological heritage in those regions: it is nevertheless difficult to demonstrate the effective activity of these parks, considering the very scarce consistency of data related to their management. On the conclusions of this work it is very interesting to observe, if compared with the systematic collection of data carried out for the Lazio Region, the impressive and successful role of the regional authority in promoting natural parks, according to the law on conservation of environment, enacted by the Lazio Region in 1997 (L.R. 29/1997), on the basis of the national law on conservation of nature (L. 394/1991) (Table 4; Fig. 5). The 166,236 ha protected by the Sistema Regionale delle Aree Naturali Protette del Lazio (not including national parks and reserves), is the result of the full application of a law specifically aimed at integrating humans inside a natural environment, through the conservation of anthropological, archaeological, historical and architectural values of areas, with respect of traditional activities connected to the environment. Data collected in Table 4 confirm the substantial presence of archaeological elements inside natural parks and reserves of the Lazio Region. It is also evident that some of them have been created to protect the environment of vast archaeological sites, like the Parco Suburbano Marturanum, created around the Etruscan site of San Giuliano (Viterbo), or the Parco Urbano Antichissima Città di Sutri, extended along the main cemetery and the Roman amphitheatre of the former Faliscan centre of Sutri (Viterbo), along the Cassia route (www.parks.it).

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3. Towards new directions in archaeological and environmental conservation: from the Progetto di Paesaggio Chianti to the VINUM and ELEIVA Projects

environmental and hydraulic engineers, geologists, agronomists and historians. 2. Nowadays, systematic knowledge of landscape use is much more difficult, even though we have satellite technology at our disposal for investigating areas, if compared with the knowledge of countryside expressed by the precise registration of estates, properties and cultivated areas in the detailed maps of the 17th and 18th centuries. The precision of such registrations reflects a real population density in the country, while the effects of abandonment tend to increase difficulties in studying the landscape (abandonment of the ancient road network, increasing extension of wooded areas, reduction of cultivated areas and so on). 3. These difficulti s elevate landscape protection and conservation costs and generally induce a selective protection action; these actions are usually promoted by large estates on more or less extended areas, in order to maintain a traditional identity with the production and locations. 4. Relating traditional identity to respective areas is the purpose of the project, in order to stimulate individual acts of conservation promoted by actual owners, based on sensitivity for protecting and restoring landscape with traditional methods. 5. The final goal of the project is the convergence of local landscape protection with economic sustainability induced by the conservation of traditional methods of cultivation and cultivars, giving a stronger and effective identity, in terms of attracting tourism, to Chianti wine and oil, nowadays menaced by the consequences of globalization. The Progetto di Paesaggio Chianti has been adopted by the province of Florence as a landscape management plan, according to the regional law of landscape protection and management: its features provide a work model that may be shared in other case studies. The link in the interpretation of archaeological data and the agrarian use of landscape has been further studied by some research experiences, the results of which may be useful to enhance our practices or models of landscape protection, conservation or restoration. The first research was carried out in the 1980s and 1990s in the north-western part of the province of Rome, in the format of the Monti della Tolfa – Valle del Mignone Project. Today this area maintains a remarkably high level of environmental preservation, thanks to negligible human influence, even though it is not yet recognized among the natural parks and reserves of the Lazio Region. These conditions have induced the survival of some relics of the Etruscan and Roman archaeological landscape, mainly around the open sites, through an extended network of terraces and containing walls, made of local stone, giving the picture of a relevant intensive agricultural activity between the end of the 7th century BC up to the Imperial age (Zifferero 1999b). The strong impact of the Etruscan cultivations, promoted by local communities under the economic and political control of the nearby city of Caere, along the middle Tyrrhenian coast, developed between the late Orientalizing period and the Archaic age (end of the 7th — end of the 6th century BC). This activity bears witness to an extended net-

The Italian trend to consider the preservation of the environment as a basis for protecting the archaeological/historical landscape at a regional/local level, has many consequences for the problem under consideration. First of all, a new perspective on landscape conservation can be mentioned. As we have seen from the general context of current legislation, new directions can be seen in the development of tools for urban and landscape planning; these tools emphasize the context rather than the single objects to be preserved. The desire expressed by several scholars in several disciplines to consider landscape as not only something to be protected through bans but as a developing trend, is to make people aware of and respect the landscape and to improve the features created by local communities in the course of the centuries. It is worth mentioning the Progetto di Paesaggio Chianti, a model of active landscape conservation, developed in Tuscany by a group of scholars under the direction of architect Paolo Baldeschi, from the University of Florence (Baldeschi 2000). This project came into being by the abandonment of the Chianti area (Florence), after the suppression of the mezzadria (sharecropping), a historical system of renting estates to private farmers, carried out until World War II in many areas of Tuscany. This system produced an incredibly concentrated and functional system of cultivation in the estates, with people assuring a very high level of landscape protection through dry walls, terraces for vineyards and olive groves, the local dominant cultivations, with a diffused control of surface waters. Its suppression, carried out in the 1960s, induced the general abandonment of the countryside with an associated reduction in productivity: local traditional cultures were abandoned and an incredibly vast heritage of knowledge dissolved. The contemporary history of the Chianti area has been marked by a general growth of tourism in the area, in the provinces of Florence and Siena, accompanied by the rebirth of intensive cultivation that introduced widespread use of mechanical technology in substitution of human manpower. The actual picture offers therefore an evolving landscape, in which the traditional and historical ways of cultivating were abandoned for modelling a new landscape, more suitable to mechanical cultivations: large fields with rows of vines and open fields with concentrated olive groves, instead of cultivated terraces and walls separating and protecting fields from geological disruption. The team of scholars at work analysed the Chianti district (Florence), focusing on the following points: 1. The historical and technical review of agricultural techniques has given an articulated identity and development to the traditional forms of production in the Chianti area, starting to the late medieval age with the beginning of typical vineyards and olive groves; the need for an interaction among disciplines has clearly emerged from the shared work of landscape architects, 261

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work of rural open sites, probably stimulated by an intense cultivation of vines, olive groves, and cereals, producing open landscapes on a hilly district, naturally covered with woods and rich in surface waters. This impact (integrated by the systematic cutting of forests), probably induced the first hydro-geological disruption, caused by the nature of local, very rich in clay, sedimentary soils (originating from flysch), and produced by surface waters. It is interesting to observe that this field system was utilised and continued to be used during the Roman conquest, at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, through an articulated system of villas, often superimposed or built near Etruscan open sites. The strong contraction of the Roman settlement system in the early medieval age induced the abandonment of the Etruscan and Roman field system, provoking an intense geological disruption, still operating nowadays in the fields along the southern slopes of the Monti della Tolfa area (Zifferero 1999b). The possibility of giving a chronological order to these phenomena in the investigated area has given a new perspective to local environmental conservation, through a more intense perception of the reaction of nature to human pressure and, at the same time, has conferred to landscape archaeology a strategic role in landscape planning. On the basis of these experiences the Insegnamento e Laboratorio di Etruscologia e Antichità Italiche (ILEAI) of the University of Siena (Department of Archaeology and History of Arts), has developed two research projects, intending to investigate the origins of and reasons for the persistence of the grapevine and olive plants in the vegetal landscape of Etruria, using the recently developed techniques of DNA research on genoma. The question at the base of both projects is that, according to the archaeological traces left by human activities on sites, even the environment may conserve in the actual natural vegetation some characteristics developed and implemented by the occupation and activity of an archaeological site (Ciacci and Zifferero 2005). Regarding the grapevine plants, these characteristics have to be searched for in the domestication of wild grapevine plants (Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris), or, on the contrary, in the actual form of wild plants descending from domestic plants cultivated in antiquity. The analysis of wild grapevine germplasm, performed by the botanists and molecular biologists of the University of Milan, if related to the investigation of the archaeological sites, may distinguish, with relative accuracy, the genetic characteristics of domestication activities (selection of the best plants for grape production or graft among cultivars and wild plants), promoted by ancient communities settling on nearby sites. Interaction among scholars has focused on the cultivation techniques and, above all, the possible morphology of ancient vineyards (Ciacci et al. 2007). One of the most important results of the VINUM Project is the identification of possible relics of Etruscan or Roman age vineyards, still surviving in districts of high profile environmental conservation, consisting in plants of wild grapevine bound to maple, elm or oak trees, which have guaranteed their survival. The archaeological bond between these plants and the ancient sites is revealed by the presence of grapevine presses, usually identifiable by the stone supports of the wooden arms of the press, made

of local limestone, usually well preserved. The Project, carried out during 2004-2007 in Southern Tuscany and Northern Lazio investigated several areas connected with the archaeological evidence of wine production in Etruscan and Roman ages, which had excellent fieldwork conditions in areas with elevated environmental conservation. In many cases, the systematic research on wild grapevine populations, still surviving on archaeological sites, showed an incredibly relevant presence of this species in the Monti della Tolfa area (Rome), still connected to the most important Etruscan sites of the ancient territory controlled by Caere. The research methods adopted in fieldwork were inspired by the ‘site catchment analysis’ developed by the practice of economic geography adopted by British archaeology in the 1970s (Ciacci and Zifferero 2007: 249-272). It was therefore possible to demonstrate that wild grapevine plants related to protohistoric, Etruscan and Roman sites (above all open sites, closely connected to agricultural production or those sites that provided grapevine seeds or presses), have developed, since antiquity, some differences in germplasm, if compared with those plant populations not connected with human communities: it is therefore presumed that the actual genetic asset of the populations nearby archaeological sites has been modified by the pressure exerted by the domestication (Imazio et al. 2007). The same basic principles of the VINUM Project have been considered in the formulation of the ELEIVA Project, promoted by ILEAI in 2007 and directed by Andrea Ciacci: the project aims to investigate the relationships between actual olive cultivars and the wild populations of oleasters, still present in nearby archaeological sites. A similar analytical process and the previous experiences of the VINUM Project have convinced us to select research areas where the ties between Etruscan and above all Roman period sites, terrace walls and oleasters are still visible. The southern slopes of the Monti della Tolfa area (Rome) provide again consistent evidence for discussion: the link between Etruscan open sites, Roman villas and wild olive trees has been maintained by the actual landscape, though threatened by hydro-geological disruption (Vallelonga and Zifferero in press).

acknowledgements I wish to thank Claudio Corsi, Alice Del Re and Carmine Sanchirico, for having helped me to revise and to update the files of the single parks in Italy, as well as for the help in the layout of both tables and figures. Arch. Sabrina Tozzini has offered several pieces of precious information about the juridical interpretation and practices in town and landscape planning, in connection with the parks. The English version of this contribution has been kindly revised by Ellen Beranek.

References Baldeschi, P. (ed.), 2000, Il Chianti fiorentino. Un progetto per la tutela del paesaggio (Roma, Bari: Laterza) 262

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Binks, G., Dyke, J., Dagnall, P., 1988, Visitors Welcome. A manual on the Presentation and Interpretation of Archaeological Excavations (London: English Heritage) Cambi, F., Terrenato, N., 2007, Introduzione all’archeologia dei paesaggi (Roma: Carocci) Casini, A., Zucconi, M., 2003, Un’impresa per sei parchi. Come gestire in modo imprenditoriale e innovativo il patrimonio culturale e ambientale pubblico (Milano: Il Sole 24 Ore) Ciacci, A., Rendini, P., Zifferero, A. (eds), 2007, Archeologia della vite e del vino in Etruria (Siena: Ci.Vin) Ciacci, A., Zifferero, A. (eds), 2005, VINUM. Un progetto per il riconoscimento della vite silvestre nel paesaggio archeologico della Toscana e del Lazio settentrionale (Siena: Ci.Vin) Ciacci, A., Zifferero, A., 2007, ‘Il “Progetto VINUM”: prime considerazioni conclusive’ in A. Ciacci, P. Rendini, A. Zifferero (eds) Archeologia della vite e del vino in Etruria (Siena: Ci.Vin), pp. 249-272 Del Re, A., 2006, ‘Centri Visita ai raggi X’, Parchi 49, pp. 29-40 Francovich, R., Zifferero, A. (eds), 1999, Musei e Parchi Archeologici. IX ciclo di lezioni sulla ricerca applicata in Archeologia, Certosa di Pontignano (Siena), 1521 dicembre 1997 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio) Giacobini, V., Romani, V., 1992, Uomini e Parchi (Milano: Franco Angeli) Gross, M., 1999, ‘Techniques, Materials and Trends in Open Air Interpretation in US National Parks’ in R. Francovich, A. Zifferero (eds) Musei e Parchi Archeologici. IX ciclo di lezioni sulla ricerca applicata in Archeologia, Certosa di Pontignano (Siena), 15-21 dicembre 1997 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 483-495 Gross, M., Zimmerman, R., 2002, Interpretive Centers. The History, Design, and Development of Nature and Visitor Centers (Stevens Point: UW-SP Foundation Press) Gross, M., Zimmerman, R., Buchholz, J., 2006, Signs, Trails, and Wayside Exhibits. Connecting People and Places (Stevens Point: UW-SP Foundation Press) (3rd edition) Imazio, S., De Mattia, F., Grassi, F., Labra, M., Failla, O., Scienza, A., 2007, ‘“Progetto VINUM”: metodi di analisi del menoma e primi risultati’ in A. Ciacci, P. Rendini, A. Zifferero (eds) Archeologia della vite e del vino in Etruria (Siena: Ci.Vin), pp. 238-248 Lenzi, F. (ed.), 1999, Archeologia e Ambiente (Forlì:

A.B.A.C.O.) Mills, N., 1999, ‘From Archaeological Sites to the Creation of Thematic Museums and Parks. An Overview from Britain’ in R. Francovich, A. Zifferero (eds) Musei e Parchi Archeologici. IX ciclo di lezioni sulla ricerca applicata in Archeologia, Certosa di Pontignano (Siena), 15-21 dicembre 1997 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 297-311 Paradisi, S., Traverso, E., Zifferero, A., ‘Archeologia nel Parco’, Archeo 210, pp. 62-85 Ricci, A. (ed.), 2002, Archeologia e Urbanistica (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio) Ruggieri Tricoli, M.C., 2000, I fantasmi e le cose. La messa in scena della storia nella comunicazione museale (Milano: Edizioni Lybra Immagine) Tosco, C., 2007, Il paesaggio come storia (Bologna: Il Mulino) Tozzini, S., 2005, I paesaggi dell’archeologia. Strategie e sinergie nel progetto dei parchi (Ph.D. diss., University of Florence) Tozzini, S., 2007, ‘Tra azione museologica e azione programmatica: sinergie da inseguire nel progetto paesaggistico per i parchi archeologici’ in G. Ferrara, G.G. Rizzo, M. Zoppi (eds) Paesaggio. Didattica, ricerche e progetti, 1997-2007 (Firenze: Firenze University Press), pp. 291-301 Vallelonga, F., Zifferero, A., in press, ‘Archeologia dell’olio e dell’olivo nel Lazio settentrionale’ in A. Ciacci (ed.) Eleiva, Oleum, Olio. Alle origini del patrimonio olivicolo toscano. Proceedings of the International Conference at San Quirico d’Orcia 2007 Zifferero, A., 1999a, ‘Archeologia e ambiente: note sulla situazione italiana, tra necessità di conservazione e prospettive di ricerca’ in F. Lenzi (ed.) Archeologia e Ambiente (Forlì: A.B.A.C.O.), pp. 319-328 Zifferero, A., 1999b, ‘Il contributo dell’archeologia alla pianificazione territoriale: il Parco dei monti della Tolfa’ in B. Amendolea (ed.) Carta archeologica e pianificazione territoriale. Un problema politico e metodologico (Roma: Fratelli Palombi Editori), pp. 74-82 Zifferero, A., 2003, ‘Archeologia sperimentale e parchi archeologici’ in P. Bellintani, L. Moser (eds) Archeologie sperimentali: metodologie ed esperienze fra verifica, riproduzione, comunicazione e simulazione. Atti del Convegno, Comano Terme – Fiavè (Trento, Italy, 13-15 settembre 2001) (Trento: Provincia autonoma di Trento), pp. 49-76

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REGION

PROVINCE

TOWN

PARK

INCEPTION YEAR

SIZE

STATUS

Emilia-Romagna

Modena

Castelnuovo Rangone

Parco Archeologico e Museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (1)

Emilia-Romagna

Piacenza

Lugagnano Val d’Arda

Parco Archeologico di Veleia (2)

Emilia-Romagna

Ravenna

Ravenna

Parco Archeologico di Classe (3)

Planned Planned

2.5 ha

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Udine

Aquileia

Parco Archeologico di Aquileia (4)

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Udine

Forgaria nel Friuli

Parco Archeologico Culturale di Castelraimondo (5)

2006

Lombardy

Brescia

Capo di Ponte

Parco Archeologico Nazionale dei Massi di Capo di Ponte (6)

2005

Lombardy

Brescia

Cividate Camuno

Parco Archeologico di Cividate Camuno (7)

2002

Lombardy

Brescia

Manerba del Garda

Parco Archeologico della Rocca di Manerba (8)

Lombardy

Como

Alzate Brianza

Archeopark di Alzate Brianza (9)

Lombardy

Lecco

Lecco, Galbiate, Garlate, Malgrate, Oggiono, Pescate, Valmadrera

Parco di Monte Barro (10)

1983

Lombardy

Mantova

Bagnolo San Vito

Parco Archeologico del Forcello (11)

2006

Lombardy

Milan

Milan

Parco Archeologico dell’Anfite tro Romano (12)

2004

Lombardy

Sondrio

Grosio

Parco delle Incisioni Rupestri con Rupe Magna di Grosio (13)

1978

Lombardy

Varese

Biandronno

Parco Archeologico dell’Isolino Virginia (14)

2006

Lombardy

Varese

Castelseprio

Parco Archeologico di Castelseprio (15)

Piemonte

Cuneo

Bene Vagienna

Riserva Naturale Speciale di Augusta Bagiennorum e Sorgenti del Belbo (16)

Piemonte

Turin

Susa

Parco Archeologico di Susa (17)

Trentino-Alto Adige

Bolzano

Senales

Archeopark della Val Senales (18)

Trentino-Alto Adige

Trento

Fiavè

Parco Archeologico di Fiavè (19)

Valle d’Aosta

Aosta

Aosta

Parco Archeologico dell’Area Megalitica di Saint Martin de Corlèans (20)

Veneto

Rovigo

Adria, Ariano nel Polesine, Corbola, Porto Viro, Rosolina

Parco Naturalistico Archeologico del Delta del Po (21)

Veneto

Treviso

Revine Lago

Parco Archeologico Didattico del Livelet (22)

Veneto

Venezia

Venezia

Parco Archeologico Naturale della Laguna di Venezia (23)

Table 1 - Archaeological Parks in Northern Italy (2008).

264

60 ha

90 ha Planned 665 ha

1.1 ha

13 ha 1993

626.13 ha

2001

04 ha 122 ha

Planned

1 ha

Opening in 2009 Planned

Planned

From archaeological parks to the enhancement of archaeological landscapes: new directions in Italian heritage management

REGION

PROVINCE

TOWN

PARK

INCEPTION YEAR

SIZE

STATUS

Abruzzi

Chieti

Atessa

Parco Archeologico Naturalistico di Monte Pallano (24)

Abruzzi

Chieti

Montenerodomo

Parco Archeologico di Juvanum (25)

Abruzzi

L’Aquila

Cansano

Parco Archeologico di Ocriticum (26)

Abruzzi

L’Aquila

San Vittorino

Parco Archeologico di Amiternum (27)

Lazio

Rome

Anzio

Parco Archeologico della Villa Imperiale di Anzio (28)

Lazio

Rome

Allumiere, Anguillara Sabazia, Cerveteri, Ladispoli, Manziana, Santa Marinella, Tolfa

Sistema delle Aree Archeologiche del Territorio Cerite, Tolfetano, Braccianese (29)

Planned

Lazio

Rome

Fiumicino

Parco Archeologico del Porto di Traiano (30)

Planned

Lazio

Rome

Rome

Oasi di Porto (31)

Lazio

Rome

Rome

Parco Archeologico della Via Latina (32)

Lazio

Viterbo

Canino, Montalto di Castro

Parco Naturalistico Archeologico di Vulci (33)

Lazio

Viterbo

Tarquinia

Parco Archeologico di Tarquinia (34)

Marche

Ancona

Castelleone di Suasa

Parco Archeologico di Suasa (35)

2000

20 ha

Marche

Ancona

Sassoferrato

Parco Archeologico di Sentinum (36)

2006

14 ha

Marche

Ascoli Piceno

Cupra Marittima

Parco Archeologico di Cupra Marittima (37)

32 ha

Marche

Ascoli Piceno

Falerone

Parco Archeologico di Falerone (38)

30 ha

Marche

Macerata

San Severino Marche

Parco Archeologico di Septempeda (39)

Marche

Macerata

Urbisaglia

Parco Archeologico di Urbisaglia (40)

Marche

Pesaro and Urbino

Fossombrone

Parco Archeologico di Forum Sempronii (41)

Molise

Campobasso

Larino

Parco Archeologico di Larino (42)

Molise

Campobasso

Sepino

Parco Archeologico di Altilia-Sepino (43)

Tuscany

Arezzo

Cortona

Parco Archeologico di Cortona (44)

2004 2002

2004

2000

33 ha

1997

960 ha Planned

Planned

Tuscany

Grosseto

Follonica, Gavorrano, Massa Marittima, Montieri

Tuscany

Grosseto

Massa Marittima

Parco Archeologico Minerario del Lago dell’Accesa (46)

2001

2 ha

Tuscany

Grosseto

Sorano

Parco Archeologico Città del Tufo (47)

1994

70 ha

1994

450 ha

1994

90 ha

Tuscany

Livorno

Campiglia Marittima

Tuscany

Livorno

Cecina

Parco Archeologico di San Vincenzino (49)

Tuscany

Livorno

Piombino

Parco Archeologico di Baratti e Populonia (50)

Tuscany

Massa Carrara

Carrara

Parco Archeologico delle Cave Antiche delle Alpi Apuane (51)

Tuscany

Pisa

Volterra

Parco Archeologico Urbano di Volterra (52)

Tuscany

Siena

Cetona

Parco Archeologico Naturalistico di Belverde (53)

Tuscany

Siena

Poggibonsi

Parco Archeologico di Poggio Imperiale (54)

Umbria

Terni

Otricoli

Parco Archeologico di Otricoli (55)

Umbria

Terni

Sangemini

Parco Archeologico di Carsulae (56)

Table 2 - Archaeological Parks in Central Italy (2008).

265

Planned

40 ha

Parco Nazionale Tecnologico Archeologico delle Colline Metallifere Toscane (45)

Parco Archeominerario di San Silvestro (48)

Private

Planned 1994

2003

12 ha

20 ha

Andrea Zifferero

REGION Basilicata

PROVINCE Matera

TOWN Matera, Montescaglioso

PARK Parco Storico Naturale delle Chiese Rupestri del Materano (57)

Basilicata

Matera

Metaponto

Parco Archeologico di Metaponto (58)

Basilicata

Matera

Policoro

Parco Archeologico di Policoro (59)

Basilicata

Potenza

Grumento Nova

Parco Archeologico della Val d’Agri (60) Parco Archeologico di Grumento (61)

Basilicata

Potenza

Grumento Nova

Basilicata

Potenza

Vaglio di Basilicata Parco Archeologico di Serra di Vaglio (62)

INCEPTION YEAR

SIZE

1990

6128 ha

STATUS

30 ha Planned 27 ha

Basilicata

Potenza

Venosa

Parco Archeologico di Venosa (63)

Calabria

Catanzaro

Borgia

Parco Archeologico della Roccelletta di Borgia (64)

40 ha

Calabria

Cosenza

Sibari

Parco Archeologico di Sibari (65)

168 ha

Calabria

Crotone

Crotone

Parco Archeologico di Capo Colonna (66)

20 ha

Calabria

Reggio Calabria Locri

Parco Archeologico di Locri Epizefiri (67

Campania

Naples

Bacoli

Parco Archeologico di Baia (68)

Campania

Naples

Bacoli

Parco Sommerso di Baia (69)

Campania

Naples

Bacoli, Naples, Monte Procida, Pozzuoli

Parco Regionale Campi Flegrei (70)

Campania

Naples

Naples

Parco Archeologico Pausylipon e Grotta di Seiano (71)

8000 ha

Campania

Naples

Pompei, Resina

Sistema Archeologico Vesuviano (72)

Campania

Naples

Pozzuoli

Parco Archeologico di Cuma (73)

Campania

Salerno

Ascea Marina

Parco Archeologico ed Antiquarium di Velia (74)

80 ha

Campania

Salerno

Pontecagnano, Faiano

Parco Archeologico di Pontecagnano (75)

22 ha

Apulia

Bari

Barletta

Parco Archeologico di Canne della Battaglia (76)

Apulia

Bari

Gioia del Colle

Parco Archeologico di Monte Sannace (77)

Apulia

Bari

Gravina in Puglia

Parco Archeologico di Botromagno (78)

Apulia

Bari

Gravina in Puglia

Parco Archeologico di Gravina in Puglia (79)

Apulia

Bari

Molfetta

Parco Tematico Archeologico di Molfetta (80)

Apulia

Brindisi

Fasano

Parco Archeologico di Egnazia (81)

Apulia

Foggia

Ascoli Satriano

Parco Archeologico dei Dauni (82)

Apulia

Foggia

Foggia

Parco Archeologico di Passo di Corvo (83)

Apulia

Foggia

Manfredonia

Parco Archeologico di Siponto (84)

Apulia

Lecce

Alezio

Parco Archeologico di Alezio (85)

Planned

400 ha

n Planned

Apulia

Lecce

Cavallino

Museo Diffuso di Cavallino (86)

Apulia

Lecce

Lecce

Parco Archeologico Messapico di Rudiae (87)

Planned Planned

Apulia

Lecce

Muro Leccese

Parco Archeologico di Muro Leccese (88)

Apulia

Taranto

Leporano

Parco Archeologico di Saturo (89)

Apulia

Taranto

Manduria

Parco Archeologico delle Mura Messapiche (90)

Sardinia

Cagliari

Cagliari

Parco Archeologico della Necropoli del Colle di Tuvixeddu (91)

Sardinia

Cagliari

Carbonia

Parco Archeologico di Monte Sirai (92)

Sardinia

Cagliari

Fluminimaggiore

Parco Archeologico Valle di Antas (93)

Sardinia

Cagliari

Pula

Parco Archeologico di Nora (94)

Sardinia

Cagliari

Villanovaforru

Parco Archeologico di Genna Maria (95)

Sardinia

Sassari

Porto Torres

Parco Archeologico di Porto Torres (96)

Sicily

Agrigento

Agrigento

Parco Archeologico della Valle dei Templi (97)

2003

Planned

1400 ha

Sicily

Agrigento

Cattolica Eraclea

Parco dell’Area Archeologica di Eraclea Minoa (98)

Planned

Sicily

Caltanissetta

Caltanissetta

Parco Archeologico di Sabucina (99)

Planned

Sicily

Caltanissetta

Gela

Parco Archeologico di Gela (100)

Planned

Sicily

Enna

Aidone

Parco Archeologico di Morgantina (101)

Planned

Piazza Armerina

Parco dell’Area Archeologica della Villa del Casale (102)

Planned

Sicily

Enna

266

From archaeological parks to the enhancement of archaeological landscapes: new directions in Italian heritage management

Sicily

Enna

Villarosa, Calascibetta

Parco dell’Area Archeologica della Valle del Morello (103)

Planned

Sicily

Messina

Giardini di Naxos

Parco Archeologico di Naxos (104)

Planned

Sicily

Messina

Lipari

Parco Archeologico delle Isole Eolie (105)

Planned

Sicily

Palermo

San Cipirello, San Giuseppe Jato

Parco Archeologico di Monte Jato (106)

Planned

Sicily

Palermo

Santa Flavia

Parco Archeologico di Solunto (107)

Planned

Sicily

Palermo

Termini Imerese

Parco Archeologico di Himera (108)

Sicily

Ragusa

Modica, Ispica, Rosolini

Parco Archeologico di Cava d’Ispica (109)

Planned

Sicily

Ragusa

Santa Croce Camarina

Parco Archeologico di Kamarina (110)

Planned

140 ha

Planned

Sicily

Siracusa

Lentini

Parco Archeologico di Lentini (111)

Planned

Sicily

Siracusa

Noto

Parco Archeologico di Eloro e Villa del Tellaro (112)

Planned

Sicily

Siracusa

Siracusa

Parco Archeologico della Neapolis (113)

Sicily

Trapani

Calatafim

Parco Archeologico di Segesta (114)

Sicily

Trapani

Castelvetrano, Campobello di Mazara

Parco Archeologico di Selinunte e Cave di Cusa (115)

24 ha

Planned Planned

270 ha

Planned

Sicily

Trapani

Marsala

Parco Archeologico di Mozia-Lilibeo (116)

Planned

Sicily

Trapani

Pantelleria

Parco Archeologico di Pantelleria (117)

Planned

Table 3 - Archaeological Parks in Southern Italy and Isles (2008). PROVINCE

TOWN

PARK

SIZE in ha

Frosinone, Latina

Ausonia, Campodimele, Esperia, Fondi, Formia, Itri, Lenola, Pico, Pontecorvo, Spigno Saturnia

Parco Naturale Regionale Monti Aurunci (1)

19,374 ha

Frosinone, Rome

Camerata Nuova, Cervara di Roma, Filettino, Jenne, Subiaco, Trevi nel Lazio, Vallepietra

Parco Naturale Regionale dei Monti Simbruini (2)

29,990 ha

Frosinone

Anagni, Fiuggi, Fumone, Torre Cajetani, Trivigliano

Riserva Naturale del Lago di Canterno (3)

1824 ha

Frosinone

Arce, Ceprano, Falvaterra, San Giovanni Incarico

Riserva Naturale Antichissime Città di Fregellae, Fabrateria Nova e del Lago di San Giovanni Incarico (4)

715 ha

X

Frosinone

Posta Fibreno

Riserva Naturale del Lago di Posta Fibreno (5)

345 ha

X

Frosinone

Isola del Liri

Monumento Naturale Area Verde Viscogliosi ex Cartiera Trito (6)

5.5 ha

Latina

Formia, Gaeta, Minturno, Sperlonga

Parco Regionale Riviera di Ulisse (7)

434 ha land area; 80 ha marine area

X

Latina

Cisterna di Latina

Riserva Naturale Giardino di Ninfa (8)

106 ha

X

Latina

Fondi

Monumento Naturale Mola della Corte, Settecannelle, Capodacqua (9)

4 ha

Latina, Frosinone

Fondi, Lenola, Vallecorsa

Monumento Naturale di Acquaviva, Cima del Monte, Quercia del Monaco (10)

240 ha

Latina

Fondi, Monte San Biagio

Monumento Naturale Lago di Fondi (11)

1746 ha

Latina

Sonnino, Terracina

Monumento Naturale di Campo Soriano (12)

974 ha

Latina

Terracina

Monumento Naturale Tempio di Giove Anxur (13)

23 ha

X

Rieti

Ascrea, Castel di Tora, Collalto Sabino, Collegiove, Marcetelli, Nespolo, Paganico, Rocca Sinibalda, Varco Sabino

Riserva Naturale di Monte Navegna-Monte Cervia (14)

3500 ha

X

Rieti

Borgorose

Riserva Naturale Montagne della Duchessa (15)

3543 ha

X

Rieti

Cantalice, Colli sul Velino, Contigliano, Poggio Bustone, Rieti, Rivodutri

Riserva Naturale dei Laghi Lungo e Ripasottile (16)

3000 ha

267

ARCHAEOLOGY

X

Andrea Zifferero

Rome

Albano Laziale, Ariccia, Castel Gandolfo, Frascati, Genzano di Roma, Grottaferrata, Lanuvio, Lariano, Marino, Monte Compatri, Monte Porzio Catone, Nemi, Rocca di Papa, Rocca Priora, Velletri

Parco Regionale dei Castelli Romani (17)

12.000 ha

X

Rome

Campagnano di Roma, Castelnuovo di Porto, Formello, Magliano Romano, Mazzano Romano, Morlupo, Riano, Rome, Sacrofano

Parco Regionale di Veio (18)

14.984 ha

X

Rome

Guidonia Montecelio

Parco Naturale Regionale dell’Inviolata (19)

535 ha

X

Rome

Rome, Ciampino, Marino

Parco Naturale Regionale dell’Appia Antica (20)

3500 ha

X

Rome, Rieti

Licenza, Marcellina, Monteflavio, Montorio Romano, Moricone, Palombara Sabina, Percile, Roccagiovine, San Polo dei Cavalieri, Vicovaro, Orvinio, Poggio Moiano, Scandriglia

Parco Naturale Regionale dei Monti Lucretili (21)

18.204 ha

X

Rome, Viterbo

Anguillara Sabazia, Bracciano, Campagnano di Roma, Manziana, Rome, Trevignano Romano, Bassano Romano, Monterosi, Oriolo Romano, Sutri

Parco Naturale Regionale di Bracciano e Martignano (22)

16.682 ha

X

Rome, Viterbo

Mazzano Romano, Calcata

Parco Regionale Valle del Treja (23)

656 ha

X

Rome

Rome

Aree Naturali Protette Romanatura (24)

15.529 ha

X

Rome

Anzio

Riserva Naturale Tor Caldara (25)

44 ha

X

Rome

Canale Monterano

Riserva Naturale di Monterano (26)

1084 ha

X

Rome

Mentana

Riserva Naturale Nomentum (27)

850 ha

X

Rome

Mentana, Romano

Riserva Naturale Macchia di Gattaceca e Macchia del Barco (28)

1200 ha

X

Rome

Nettuno

Riserva Naturale Villa Borghese (29)

46 ha

Rome

Santa Marinella

Riserva Naturale Regionale di Macchiatonda (30)

244 ha

Rome

Sant’Oreste

Riserva Naturale del Monte Soratte (31)

410 ha

X

Rome

Tivoli

Riserva Naturale di Monte Catillo (32)

1319 ha

X

Rome, Rieti

Nazzano, Torrita Tiberina, Montopoli in Sabina

Riserva Naturale Regionale Tevere-Farfa (33)

700 ha

Rome

Cave

Monumento Naturale Villa Clementi, Fonte Santo Stefano (34)

6 ha

Rome

Castel San Pietro Romano

Monumento Naturale Valle delle Cannuccete (35)

20 ha

Rome

Genazzano

Monumento Naturale La Selva (36)

25 ha

Rome

Ladispoli

Monumento Naturale Palude di Torre Flavia (37)

40 ha

X

Viterbo

Barbarano Romano

Parco Suburbano Marturanum (38)

1220 ha

X

Viterbo

Sutri

Parco Urbano Antichissima Città di Sutri (39)

7 ha

X

Viterbo

Acquapendente

Riserva Naturale Monte Rufeno (40)

2892 ha

Viterbo

Bomarzo

Riserva Naturale Monte Casoli di Bomarzo (41)

285 ha

X

Viterbo

Caprarola

Riserva Naturale del Lago di Vico (42)

3346 ha

X

Viterbo

Corchiano, Gallese

Monumento Naturale Pian Sant’Angelo (43)

600 ha

X

Viterbo

Farnese

Riserva Naturale della Selva del Lamone (44)

2002 ha

X

Viterbo

Tuscania

Riserva Naturale Tuscania (45)

1901 ha

X

Monterotondo,

Sant’Angelo

Table 4 - Synoptic view of regional parks system, regional reserves and natural monuments of the Lazio Region, according to the L.R. 29/1997 and subsequent legislative measures, compared with the presence of archaeological elements in the protected areas (2008).

268

From archaeological parks to the enhancement of archaeological landscapes: new directions in Italian heritage management

Fig. 1 - Archaeological parks in Italy (2008): black dots indicate effectively instituted parks, white dots indicate planned parks. Numbers refer to Tables 1-3.

269

Andrea Zifferero

Fig. 2 - Archaeological parks in Northern Italy (2008), with Regions indicated: black dots indicate the effectively instituted parks, white dots indicate planned parks. Numbers refer to Table 1.

Fig. 3 - Archaeological parks in Central Italy (2008), with Regions indicated: black dots indicate the effectively instituted parks, white dots indicate planned parks. Numbers refer to Table 2.

Fig. 4 - Archaeological parks in Southern Italy and Isles (2008), with Regions indicated: black dots indicate the effectively instituted parks, white dots indicate planned parks. Numbers refer to Table 3. 270

From archaeological parks to the enhancement of archaeological landscapes: new directions in Italian heritage management

Fig. 5 - The Sistema Regionale delle Aree Naturali Protette del Lazio (2008), with Provinces indicated: black dots indicate parks and reserves protecting archaeological sites, white dots indicate parks and reserves devoted exclusively to environmental conservation. Numbers refer to Table 4.

271

Environmental assessment of an archaeological site for the development of an archaeological park  

Paola Rossi Pisa, Gabriele Bitelli, Marco Bittelli, Maria Speranza, Lucia Ferroni, Pietro Catizone, Marco Vignudelli Abstract In this work we present a general description of techniques used to perform an integrated environmental assessment of an archaeological site, for the development of an archaeological park. The case study of Tilmen Höyük, an archaeological excavation in SouthEast Turkey, is presented to describe the combination of different integrated approaches. The site has been assessed from a climatic, topographical, pedological, hydrological, vegetational and vegetation management standpoint. All this information was included into a Geographic Information System, and used to define a management protocol. The present protocol is suitable to be used in other archaeological sites of the Mediterranean basin, since many climatic, environmental and vegetational features are often shared by different sites. This study provided a wealth of information that was used for both acquiring a deeper understanding of the past and present societies, but also to design and plan the archaeological park.

1. Introduction Archaeological sites are non-renewable resources that provide researchers with unique information on people and civilisations of the distant past, but also serve as valuable ecological and aesthetic assets that can enhance urban and rural environments. Traditionally, archaeological sites have been considered only for their historical and cultural aspects, without attributing any particular importance to the environmental context or to the landscape in which they are found. Increasingly, however, such sites are being considered natural and ‘cultural landscapes’ (Von Droste et al. 1995, Clavel-Lévêque 2001), or ‘open spaces of variable sizes, structured on a geo-historical space and around a specific theme from a central reference: an archaeological area or a site’ (Clavel-Lévêque et al. 2002). The relationships between archaeological structures and living organisms (lichens, fungi, cyanobacteria or plant communities) have traditionally focused on the deterioration that these can cause to archaeological structures, compromising their conservation and accessibility (Speranza et al. 1993, Caneva et al. 2003, Lisci et al. 2003). As an integral part of the site ecology, vegetation should be examined for possible usage patterns as an important landscape design element, and managed with well planned vegetation management and, if necessary, weed-control. In this paper we outline an integrated and holistic approach toward the planning and protection of archaeological sites, taking into consideration the physical landscape and biological environment around them (Celesti-Grapow and Blasi 2004, Sánchez-Palencia and Højring 2002). Such a multi-pronged, cross-disciplinary approach helps formulate better site management while conserving and sustaining the site’s archaeological structures and environmental resources. As conservation and site management become more multidisciplinary, skills and knowledge beyond the traditional confines of archaeology will play an increasingly impor-

tant role, especially in the ability to use instruments and alternative methods of territorial analysis. When archaeological sites are examined as ‘archaeological landscapes’ it is important to define the concept of heritage, heritage protection and heritage management (Mosler 2007). Heritage is defined as a valuable feature of the past that is being protected for the next generations, implying not only the preservation of cultural remains but also of natural and ecological resources that help define the ‘sense of place’ of a site. Mosler (1995) suggested that heritage be more specifically articulated using the terms preservation, conservation and reconstruction. Preservation maintains the archaeological remains in its existing state and the actions are aimed at mitigating future damage. Conservation includes all the processes coming after preservation such as restoration, adaptation and maintenance. Reconstruction involves a complete or partial rebuilding of a heritage on firm or supposed evidence of the original setting of a place. According to Mosler (1995), reconstruction should almost always be avoided, since it often involves a fictional, personal interpretation by the archaeologist. Tuchelt (1996) critically discussed that, after excavation, the desire to recreate the sense of heritage can lead to the creation of a souvenir value of ancient heritage. Indeed, the definition of what constitutes ‘authenticity’ is increasingly a point of discussion, especially as it relates to cultural tourism (Poria et al. 2003). Authenticity is perceived as a lack of alteration of the original landscape and Cultural Heritage. Chhabra et al. (2003) suggested that authenticity can be achieved even when the original source does not exist anymore, and that past events may be valued even if the physical traces are no longer present. A thorough understanding of the environment is key to understanding and preserving the original culture and natural features of the site, where topography, vegetation, water, architectural structures and artefacts all play a role in determining the landscape. However, integrated environmental assessment is also an important component in the development of an archaeological park that is environmentally

Paola Rossi Pisa, Gabriele Bitelli, Marco Bittelli, Maria Speranza, Lucia Ferroni, Pietro Catizone, Marco Vignudelli

sustainable and practical to maintain, while still preserving authenticity, emphasising the surrounding natural beauty and creating a pleasant, informative and manageable park for visitors. In this paper we present a case study at the archaeological excavation of Tilmen Höyük, in South-EasternTurkey. The project presents a multidisciplinary approach for a full assessment of the park from numerous points of view. The aim of this study was to employ integrated strategies for reducing damage to the surrounding environment by the excavations, while enhancing the existing environmental features of the surrounding habitat. The study included climate, topography, soil, hydrology, vegetation, weed control and site management. Finally, this integrated information was stored, analysed and interpreted using a Geographic Information System (GIS).

erages of 15 minute measurements, therefore providing a detailed characterisation of wind dynamics at the site (Fig. 3). The 360° (or 0°) corresponds to wind blowing from the north, while 45° corresponds to wind blowing from north-east, 90° from east and so forth. The arrows indicate wind speed peaks and corresponding wind direction. Overall wind speed at the site (during 2007) was relatively low with a maximum speed of 6.18 m s-1 on February 3rd, and average annual speed of 2.34 m s-1. The dominant direction for average wind speed was 360° corresponding to north, however, the dominant direction changed when wind speed increased, with the direction from north-east (45°) as shown by the arrows. In some cases the increased wind direction corresponded to precipitation events, indicating weather fronts from the north-east Anatolian region. Indeed, Tilmen Höyük is located in the Anatolian corridor, which at this latitude and longitude displays a north-east bending due to the Amanus and Taurus mountains; they are likely responsible for the observed trends in wind direction. The architecture team used wind velocity information gleaned from this study to design some light structures necessary for protecting some of the fragile, exposed, excavated areas (Musso, this volume). Indeed, the relatively high precipitation amount (900 mm year-1) poses a serious water erosion risk to walls and structures built with mudbricks. The areas where basaltic rock was used for foundations and main walls are more resistant to wind and water erosion and therefore did not require any particular protection.

2. Climate

(Paola Rossi Pisa)

The climate of an area, site or region determines many factors that can shape human society. The type of natural and cultivated plant species in an area affects dietary habits and food preparation, which in turn influence food storage such as pottery, animal husbandry, migration, transportation, commerce, etc. By studying past and present climate conditions, the evolution of native species and population dynamics can be better understood. Many studies have investigated the past climate of the Middle East (Weiss 1993, Weiss and Bradley 2001) and Turkey, confirming that until the end of the Pleistocene (10,600 to 8900 years BP) conditions were more humid, while for most of the mid-Holocene (8900 to 3000 years BP) until today, conditions have been increasingly drier (Eastwood et al. 2006). Today, the climate at Tilmen Höyük (Fig. 1) is continental, with hot summers and cold winters, as indicated by the Bagnouls and Gaussen diagram (Bagnouls and Gaussen 1957), which shows the occurrence of the dry and wet periods (when precipitation in mm is less or equal to twice the temperature in Celsius degrees). The intersection of the rainfall and temperature curves defines the extent of the dry period, typically May-September. Annual rainfall is 900 mm and mean annual air temperature is 16° C. The low average temperature during winter months indicates that below freezing temperatures are common. Precipitation, air temperature, wind velocity and direction, atmospheric pressure, global solar radiation and relative humidity were measured by automated stations. Data were collected by data loggers and post-processed to obtain hourly and daily values of the measured variables. Fig. 2 depicts (a) daily cumulative precipitation and average air temperature, and (b) average daily global solar radiation and relative humidity for the year 2007. Cumulative precipitation is concentrated in the fall and winter season with almost no precipitation during the summer months. Average daily temperature also depicts a climate characterised by cold winters (note that average temperature is below zero for a few days during December and January) and hot summers with average temperatures often above 30° C. Wind direction was computed by trigonometric daily av-

3. Topography and Surveying (Gabriele Bitelli)

Study and management of an archaeological area and its territory requires a rigorous topographical and cartographical characterisation in order to obtain the correct georeferences. The surveying procedures could have been designed and set up in many different ways. For instance, the survey could focus on local precision and high resolution, collecting the best quality data ‘relative’ to the local position but without a good ‘absolute’ positioning, or the survey could aim at acquiring good ‘absolute’ positioning by obtaining well determined cartographic coordinates, or both. For the site of Tilmen Höyük, the latter approach was followed, integrating modern geomatic techniques and technologies. This provided good metric knowledge of the site, including 3D relationships between single structures or parts of the city, but also good contextual, cartographic information, useful for studies at a larger level (e.g., at regional level). The core technique was the Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS measurements were carried out by geodetic instruments (single and double frequency) using different methods for different aims: • Absolute positioning was performed by static measurements of long duration (spanning many hours) and subsequent processing of these data together with data coming from independent GPS permanent stations (baselines up to hundreds of kilometres) in the ITRF2000 system. A main reference station was established at an open position at the top of the city. 274

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•

Local surveys were performed by a rapid-static method for establishment of other stations with a precision at the centimetre level or in kinematics form (in this case, the antenna is moving and the coordinates refer to points along a path): the first was applied to institute secondary vertices in the area, the second for the positioning of geophysical surveys and to obtain a large number of distributed points with 3D coordinates, to derive a good morphology description. GPS ellipsoidal heights were subject to geoidal undulation corrections by using a global model. All the planimetric data were provided in UTM-WGS84 fuse 37. Local description of the morphology and structures was then performed by topographical surveying using a total station, with reference points determined by GPS. In this way, an accurate description of the structures and determination of the digital terrain model of the site were achieved, developing a 3D system of coordinates usable also at a cartographic level, without being limited by a local network and reference system. Similarly, the use of GPS derived Ground Control Points (GCPs) permits the 3D models and data derived from photogrammetric surveys to be inserted into the cartographic system. They were carried out by semi-metric or calibrated digital cameras positioned on some structures of interest, following conventional schemes of picture recording and image acquisition. The contextualisation of the site in the framework of its territory is obviously of great importance for a multidisciplinary study. To have a wide picture of the area, imaging systems are the most appropriate choice, in particular through aerial photogrammetry or the use of Remote Sensing sensors and platforms (Fig. 4). Accurate georeferencing and geocoding of these datasets can support a well defined analysis of the region and its evolution. Optical imagery from satellites, in panchromatic or in multispectral arrangement, was used at different levels of geometric and spectral resolution. Very high resolution imagery can provide sub-metre ground resolution in panchromatic, useful for deriving orthoimages at large-medium scale, and can support photo-interpretation processes with high detail. In this case, Quickbird images with sub-metre pixel size were used for Tilmen Höyük, and georeferencing was obtained using a Rational Polynomial Function (RPF) model supported by ground control points obtained by GPS on-site measurements. Medium resolution images (Landsat, ASTER, etc.) are used for multispectral classification, providing the essential data to derive thematic maps for the overall region with pixel size in the order of 15-30 m. Stereoscopic satellite data were also used to derive a digital terrain model for a very large region, using automatic matching procedures. Radar data products were used adopting a Shuttle Radar Topographic Mapping (SRTM) model as a base for topographical analysis of the region; the SRTM model was compared with the one obtained by ASTER stereocouples, confirming an overall quality in the heights in the order of 15-20 m. Further use of radar data is expected. Finally, an attempt is under way to use some declassified images from the Corona mission for metrical purposes. The images were acquired for military purposes but are now being made available to the civilian community. With these images, change detection procedures can be performed with good geometrical resolution. Their process-

ing, however, is not obvious due to the panoramic mode adopted by the sensor and the lack of knowledge about geometrical and calibration data, neither for the camera, nor for the satellite platform.

4. Soil and hydrology (Marco Bittelli)

A soil analysis within an archaeological excavation is performed for several reasons: to reconstruct history of the site, to understand present and past vegetation, and to plan the management of the park. Often, the soil chemical composition is an indication of specific processes that occurred at the site, such as water lodging, human or animal bone decomposition, dietary indications and so forth. At Tilmen Höyük, investigation of soil properties was performed through drilling, core sampling and collection of disturbed and undisturbed soil samples at different points. Numerous physical and chemical properties were measured: sand, silt and clay content, calcium carbonate, potassium, nitrate, cation exchange capacity, salinity, pH and organic matter. The samples were: a. collected at the location displayed on the site map (Fig. 5), b. georeferenced by using a portable GPS, c. numbered to assign an identification number (ID) an d. integrated into a Geographical Information System. The dominant textural classes are loam, silty-loam and clay-loam. Considering that the bedrock is a coherent basalt deposit, and that the area is of small aerial extension, these variations in textural composition may also be due to human activity over the years, as well as natural phenomena such as soil-water erosion and weathering. The soil presents a relatively high content of nutrients and organic matter, facilitating the growth of many plant species and indicating the presence of grazing. Soils at Tilmen Höyük are naturally fertile but vulnerable to erosion because of the shallowness of the soil to basalt bedrock, as indicated by a soil survey and visible bedrock outcrops. During the soil survey, high concentrations of phosphorus and potassium were found in respect to average soil concentrations of these elements under natural conditions in similar environments. Phosphorus (P2O5) concentration ranged from 100 to 300 ppm, with an average of 219 ppm, while total potassium ranged from 220 to 2553 ppm with an average of 1105 ppm. High CaCO3 was also detected, indicating a possible accumulation of ash due to past burnings, since CaCO3 is the most dominant component of ash. The lack of strong alkaline conditions also indicates that the soil does not experience salt accumulation near the soil surface, usually due to high evaporation rates fed by a shallow groundwater. This is explained by the deep level of the groundwater in the upper part of the mound and by the good drainage of the soil. This is also confirmed by the neutrality or close to neutrality values of pH indicating aerobic conditions at the site, which indeed is well drained and does not favour water lodging or reducing conditions. The site was investigated hydrologically to identify the position of the groundwater level and the dynamics of soil water. The mound is surrounded on the west, east and 275

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north side by a small and shallow river. The reservoir on the north side is artificial, built recently for the irrigation of surrounding agriculture. The river, however, is part of the natural setting, and it probably still follows its natural course. These two water bodies allowed the establishment of a rich and diverse environment comprising a large variety of plants species, animals and insects. The site itself is positioned at a higher altitude than the surrounding area, the soil is permeable and well drained, and therefore the groundwater level is determined by the river and reservoir. A Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was used to identify groundwater depth in the south-east part of the city. In particular, Fig. 6 depicts the water table level in front of gateway K-6. The water table is shallow (130 cm ca) and is determined by the river in the north-eastern part. The water table tends to become deeper while moving in a south-westerly direction, due to the farther distance from the river.

Tilmen area, is present with 15 different species. The floristic study further emphasised the great interest of the site from the point of view of the presence of rare taxa endemic to the nearby Amanus mountains (e.g., Cerasus microcarpa subsp. tortuosa, Salvia indica, Carduus rechingeranus, Onopordum boissieri, Trifolium aintabense, Erodium micropetalum, Alcea apterocarpa and Rumex amanus). Pl. XI: 3 shows three endemic species of the Tilmen flora Among the flora of many Mediterranean archaeological sites, and in particular those of the East-Mediterranean, wild ancestors of some Old World cultivated plants are often present. Their presence should be pointed out to visitors, since they reflect the relationship between human history and the natural environment. At Tilmen several wild ancestors were found: Hordeum spontaneum, Aegilops biuncialis, Pisum sativum subsp. elatius var. elatius, Ficus carica subsp. rupestris, Olea europaea var. sylvestris, and Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris. The domestication of Hordeum spontaneum in the Fertile Crescent area gave rise to Hordeum vulgare (cultivated barley), the oldest cereal of Old World agriculture, dating back to 10,000 years BP. Much more recent is the domestication of Ficus carica subsp. rupestris (wild fig tree), Olea europaea var. sylvestris (wild olive tree) and Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris (wild grapevine), which started in the Early Bronze Age and developed in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, coinciding with the most important periods of occupation at Tilmen.

5. Vegetation

(Maria Speranza, Lucia Ferroni)

Landscape is strongly characterised by the vegetation cover, which depends on how different species are aggregated in specific local communities. There are three different hierarchic levels, each contributing to the overall value of the territory. The first is represented by the different plant species that constitute the flora of a given territory. The second by the plant communities that are the result of the different possible combinations of species of the flora influenced by varying environmental factors. The third level is represented by the landscape, in other words, the reciprocal arrangement of plant communities in spatial and functional relationships. All three components should be considered in a conservation and management project.

5.2. The vegetation Plants communities (collectively named vegetation) are ensembles of species of the flora of a given territory that are determined by the specific local combination of environmental factors. The repeated presence of a given plant community in different parts of the same territory corresponds to a repeated combination of the same environmental factors. The spatial distribution of different plant communities indicates discontinuities and heterogeneities in the spatial distribution of the environmental conditions. The plant communities growing in an archaeological site can help to identify the different environmental conditions and, consequently, help define different management approaches to best preserve, modify or suppress them. In general, stronger containment interventions or the elimination of plant communities (with weed control) must be reserved to communities that grow in direct contact or close to the archaeological structures, threatening their integrity and full enjoyment, while the rest should be left in its natural state. Usually, such intervention involves herbicides and the development of protocols for the doses and times for such treatment, depending on the climatic characteristics of the site and the specific composition of the plant communities to be controlled. Equally important is the management of the plant communities growing in recently excavated areas. Once excavation is finished, it is generally desirable to enhance vegetation cover in these areas. However, this cover should have different characteristics from the naturally formed communities that are recolonising areas severely disturbed more recently, following destruction of antecedent vegetation. In fact, in these new communities, where one or few species can be dominant, prickly and thorny annuals prevail.

5.1. The flora The flora can be investigated by analysing small sampling areas following a homogeneous scheme, for which partial species lists are compiled. These lists are then merged into one overall list (flora), which includes all the species found in the investigated territory. The plant list is first analysed to provide an initial general overview of the analysed territory. The aspects are usually the floristic biodiversity, the dominance of particular botanical families, the presence of rare and/or endemic species, the presence of particular phyto-geographical elements, and the presence of disturbed environments and/or invasive species. For a sustainable management of an archaeological site, the study of the flora represents an important general framework for planning conservation and control actions. At Tilmen Höyük, the phyto-geographical analysis of the flora allowed us to classify the site within the Mediterranean framework with Eastern-Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian elements. The study of the flora, moreover, highlighted a remarkable taxonomic diversity (221 different plant taxa in an area of 25 ha), and a prevalence of the botanical families of Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Poaceae, as in the fl ra of the whole Turkish territory and many Mediterranean areas. Particularly significant was the specific diversity of the genus Trifolium (Fabaceae family) which, in the small 276

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5.3. The plant landscape The plant landscape is the spatial distribution and aggregation of the various plant communities in a given territory. In the Mediterranean, the landscape reflects a long history of a strong anthropic presence and plant cover disturbances from human activities. Overgrazing, agriculture and clearing have shaped the landscape, sometimes strongly simplifying and reducing the diversity of its components. In addition, in archaeological sites, the excavation activities have often introduced new disturbances. In the management of an archaeological site, it is important to take into account the overall characteristics of the plant landscape and its variability. Despite the fact that diversified landscapes are generally more pleasant than uniform and monotonous landscapes, the management and utilisation of an archaeological site should never introduce important elements of diversifica ion that contrast with the existing landscape, but should only build upon the diverse environmental elements already present. The infrastructures necessary to make the site usable by the public must be kept to a minimum and should fit into the plant landscape with shapes, sizes and volumes that are similar to the local traditional buildings, never dominating the historical-archaeological buildings. Plant species to be included in the areas welcoming visitors should be chosen from those that most appropriately characterise the local plant landscape. This requires close cooperation between plant ecologists and landscape ecologists on the one hand, and architects on the other. The archaeological site of Tilmen Höyük is set within a landscape that has managed to retain all its somewhat archaic charm, due to the great open spaces surrounding it, and very discreet human presence, which is felt only indirectly. Considered on a large scale, the landscape is quite homogenous, but on a more detailed scale it offers several points of diversificatio , thanks to the presence of an interesting system of water bodies and waterways, particularly appreciable during the dry summer period. At present there are no new buildings in the area, only the ancient city remains. These ruins, given their archaeological and historical value, must play a key role in the site landscape, as shown in Pl. XII: 2. Appropriate vegetation containment will keep the ancient buildings free from plants, allowing them to stand out better as the only anthropic elements dominating the landscape. But an equally important role is played by the surrounding plant landscape, and in particular by the more natural plant communities, which represent the best framework for this archaeological site.

Such communities are not particularly environmentally interesting, since they are the expression of a typically anthropogenic disturbance. Moreover, these communities are not even pleasing from an aesthetic point of view, because the predominance of annuals means that the plants are dry throughout the period of the long Mediterranean summer. Excavation should be done with caution, avoiding, for instance, the complete destruction of existing vegetation, ensuring temporary storage (until the end of the excavation) of the removed soil and especially the first soil layer, that contains seeds and vegetative propagules (parts of rhizomes or stolons). This material can be used to close the excavated area in an attempt to trigger a more rapid restoration process of the pre-excavation plant communities. Containment interventions, usually less harsh than those used in the areas occupied by archaeological sites, should be reserved to those communities along pathways within the archaeological area. For these situations only mechanical interventions may be scheduled, combined with appropriate chemical herbicide. Finally, plant communities less directly related to the archaeological structures and the site pathways should not be subject to interventions but to preservation and restoration measures. These plant communities usually represent the greatest interest from a naturalistic environmental point of view, as they are less subject to anthropogenic disturbance and are closer to sub-natural conditions. Their presence also enhances the site aesthetically. At Tilmen Höyük, the plant community analysis highlighted the environmental diversity of the site, where at least six different types of plant communities were recognised. The plant community analysis revealed that the most critical areas for development of management protocols are the recently excavated areas, where poorly covering plant communities have developed, mostly made up of annual herbaceous species (Centaurea solstitialis, Lactuca serriola, Chondrilla juncea, Trifolium purpureum, Aegilops biuncialis, Aegilops triuncialis). The management of these areas, where not occupied by archaeological artefacts, should encourage the formation of more balanced plant communities, with the presence of perennial herbaceous plants and some woody species (Styrax officinalis, Lonicera etrusca, Crataegus curvisepala, Paliurus spina-christi), which stay green during the summer. These kinds of communities are already present in the less recent excavation areas where the endemic species Alcea apterocarpa finds its habitat Pl. XII: 1 shows two different habitats present in the Tilmen Höyük area: Salix acmophylla igrophilous community along a little river (left) and Quercus coccifera dry shrub land (right). Finally, the vegetation analysis also identified the most interesting naturalistic-environmental areas, where site management protocols should aim for the maintenance and preservation of the corresponding plant communities. These are the areas occupied by hygrophilous communities along watercourses or by wetland communities, or by shrublands and open woods, where two important EastMediterranean Quercus species are present: Quercus coccifera and Quercus brantii, and where, in more protected, less dry stations, Ficus carica subsp. rupestris, the wild fig tree, is present.

6. Weed Control (Pietro Catizone)

In general, the herbicides used in an archaeological site should be of low toxicity for humans and animals, have low environmental transferability and not impact the archaeological remains. Many species are propagated trough seeds; therefore, the weed management should include a long-term intervention aimed at reducing hot spots by a residual effect, which prolongs the herbicide effect by re277

Paola Rossi Pisa, Gabriele Bitelli, Marco Bittelli, Maria Speranza, Lucia Ferroni, Pietro Catizone, Marco Vignudelli

maining active for longer periods in the soil. Usually, weed management includes an initial treatment over flora never treated before, and then a maintenance treatment to keep the plant population under control. Initial treatment can be performed with residual herbicides (terbuthylazine and oxadiazion), which stay active in the soil for longer periods and limit seed germination. It is then suggested to use herbicides applied to leaves, which moves through a symplastic transport (glyphosate and glyphosatetrimesium). Usually, the initial application should be performed at the beginning of the winter, while the secondary application should be applied 2-4 times throughout the year. The control of trees and shrubs is also important in archaeological sites, since their roots can be quite disruptive for archaeological remains. Table 1 (from Miravalle et al. 2001) describes the main herbicides to be used based on the dominant plant populations. The annual herbicide application for herbaceous plants should be performed when the species plant has completed emerged (usually between November and April for the northern hemisphere). However, it is sometimes suggested to combine a post-emergence treatment with a residual, full spectrum herbicide. In general, it is better to intervene early on, on relatively small biomasses. Also for perennial species, if possible it is suggested to apply the herbicide on small biomasses, aiming at preventing an excessive growth, which is more difficult to control. To control Rubus spp., Clematis and canes (Arundo donax and Phragmites australis), an uprooting treatment should be performed with systemic herbicides able to be transferred to the roots. The management of a controlled grass coverage, for aesthetic purposes within the archaeological park, can be achieved by using selective herbicides, allowing only specific species to develop. For instance, for a robust, resilient grass coverage, Cynodon dactylon and Trifolium fragiferum (perennial) were suggested for the Tilmen site, where they are naturally associated. From the vegetation analysis at Tilmen Höyük, it appeared that weed control had to be performed both on annual and perennial plants, therefore it was necessary to use chemicals able to enter through both leaves and roots. Weed control included the use of full spectrum herbicides to eliminate all the vegetation on the archaeological buildings and on the visitors pathways (cf. Fig. 3 in Marchetti, this volume). For this kind of application symplastic herbicides were used such as glyphosate and glufosinate.

data taken at Tilmen were georeferenced to the WGS84 Datum UTM 37 Coordinate System and have been managed by the software Arcview 3.2 (ESRI Inc.) and its extension, 3D Analyst. Many different thematic layers have been created: topography, vegetation clusters, archaeological excavations, tourist trails, information panels, 3D relief. All these layers are linked with their own attribute table, so that it is possible to create a continuous update of the information, particularly important and useful for the dynamic element of vegetation. When dealing with a complex environmental site with many variables, a Geographic Information System represents the best approach for integrating different data into one instrument (Pl. XII: 3).

8. Site management (Paola Rossi Pisa)

The integrated information collected by employing the different techniques described so far, should be used not only for obtaining a better understanding of the archaeological site, but also for a better planning and preservation of the archaeological park. This information will be transferable to other situations (up-scaling) in the Mediterranean area. The archaeological site should maintain vegetated areas, which represent the equilibrium between the soil and the biodiversity, both for plants and animals. Agronomic techniques should be performed with the minimum disturbance within the excavation area and surrounding landscape, to preserve the natural life in the archaeological park. It is highly suggested that the uppermost layer of fertile top soil and its seed bank be preserved during excavation in order to cover other excavated areas, and re-establish plant population. Often, the soil is excavated, mixed and repositioned without preserving its original layering. This practice usually results in positioning soil of bad quality on the top layer, with subsequent difficulti s for re-establishing plant population, because of lack of organic matter, nutrients, and reduced water holding capacity. During the development of the archaeological park, nature trails (Pl. XIII: 1) were developed with the aim of coupling the archaeological and naturalistic interests of the site, including topographic, vegetational and hydrological features. Specific information panels were designed and installed along the nature pathways, with information about climate, geology and vegetation: texts explain the evolution and relationships between man and his environment across different historical periods.

7. Integration into a Geographical Information System (Marco Vignudelli)

9. Conclusions

In a multidisciplinary approach of this kind, the various aspects to be considered can be best described and investigated in terms of their spatial extension and their spatial distribution using the formal structure of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). These systems have the advantage of allowing the creation of thematic databases, which can be usefully superimposed and crossed according to the different aspects being considered. All the information described above was incorporated into a GIS. All the spatial

In recent decades, the definition of heritage preservation acquired a broader meaning, including the concept of ‘cultural landscapes’ and ‘archaeological heritage conservation and management’. While in most cases the archaeological remains still characterise the dominant aspect of interest, the archaeological site should also be valued for its climatic, geological, environmental and vegetation features. The integration of these different aspects leads toward a broader concept of cultural landscape, where archaeologi278

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cal parks are not just an isolated feature of the landscape but rather serve an interactive role in environmental education, leisure and tourism. Within this framework, the archaeological excavation, site assessment and site management should take advantage of competencies from various disciplines, such as meteorology, geology, agronomy, topography, botany, geophysics. For example, past and present climate conditions help to understand the changes and migration of ancient human societies; the hydrological network, the geology and the soil aid in understanding urban development, while past and present vegetation are indicators of dietary habits. Overall, the design and management of an archaeological park with modern criteria should consider the archaeological component within an environmental context, that is the result of the interactions of a wide variety of physical, biotic and cultural factors, leading to a broader and deeper understanding of the archaeological site as a whole.

1508-1513 Chhabra, D., Healy, R., Sills, E., 2003, ‘Staged Authenticity and Heritage Tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research 30, pp. 702-719 Clavel-Lévêque, M., 2001, ‘Les parcs culturels: présentation d’une initiative européenne’ in J. Sagnes (ed.) Deux siècles de Tourisme en France, (Perpignan: Presses Universitaires de Perpignan), pp. 165-183 Clavel-Lévêque, M., Doukellis, P., Tirologos, G., 2002, ‘Cultural Landscapes: New Strategies of Preservation’, in R. Kozlowski et al. (eds) Cultural Heritage Research: a Pan-European Challenge. Proceedings th of the 5 EC Conference, May 16-18 2002, Cracow Poland (Krakow: EC) Eastwood, W.J., Leng, M.J., Roberts, N., Davis, B., 2007, ‘Holocene Climate Change in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: a Comparison of Stable Isotopes and Pollen Data from Lake Gölhisar, Southwest Turkey’, Journal of Quaternary Science 22, pp. 327-341 Lisci, M., Monte, M., Pacini., E., 2003, ‘Lichens and Higher Plants on Stone: a Review’, International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 51, pp. 1-17 Miravalle, R., Otto, S., Zanin, G., 2001, ‘Diserbo delle aree non agricole’, in P. Catizone, G. Zanin (eds) Malerbologia (Bologna: Patron Editore) Mosler, L., 2007, Landscape Architecture on Archaeological Sites, (Ph.D. diss., University of Munich) Poria, Y., Butler, R., D., Airey, 2003, ‘The Core of Heritage Tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research 30, pp. 238-254 Sánchez-Palencia, F.-J., Højring, K. (eds), 2002, Cultural Parks (Luxemburg: OPOCE) Speranza, M., Tibiletti E., Catizone, P., 1993, ‘Basic Study of Vegetation Management in Archaeological Sites: Experience at Selinunte’, Science and Technology for Cultural Heritage 2, pp. 87-98 Thompson, D.B.A., Hester, A.J., Usher, M.B. (eds), 1995, Heaths and Moorland: Cultural Landscapes (Edinburgh: HMSO) Tuchelt, K., 1996, ‘Didyma. Ein Kult Bezirk an der Denkmalpflege in Didyma’, Antike Welt. Zeitschrift fur Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte Sonderdruck 1, pp. 2-25 Von Droste, B., Plachter, H., Rossler M., 1995, Cultural Landscapes of Universal Value (Jena: Gustav Fischer Verlag) Weiss, H., 1993, ‘Abrupt Climatic Change and Mesopotamian Collapse’ in 57th Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archaeology, St. Louis, April 17, 1993, p. 146 Weiss, H., Bradley, R.S., 2001, ‘What Drive Societal Collapse?’, Science 292, pp. 667-673

Acknowledgements We would like to thank Nicolò Marchetti (Department of Archaeology, University of Bologna), director of the excavations at Tilmen Höyük, for his innovation and tireless enthusiasm, and without whom the present work would have not been possible. We also wish to thank many people who contributed to this work and participated in the excavation and design of the archaeological park: Luca Vittuari, Halil Çakan, Valentina Alena Girelli, Massimo Zanfini, Benedetta Panciroli, Elena Rosa, Luca Berichillo and Diego Zorgniotti. Last but not least, the Turkish workers who have provided a fundamental help during the excavations and data collections. This research was made possible thanks to a FIRB 2003 grant of the Ministry for Education, Universities and Research.

references Bagnouls, F., Gaussen, H., 1957, ‘Les climats biologiques et leur classification’, Annales de Géographie 335, pp. 193-220 Caneva, G., Pacini, E., Celesti-Grapow, L., Ceschin, S., 2003, ‘The Colosseum’s Use and State of Abandon of Analysed through its Flora’, International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 51, pp. 211-219 Celesti-Grapow, L., Blasi, C., 2004, ‘The Role of Alien and Native Weeds in the Deterioration of Archaeological Remains in Italy’, Weed Technology 18, pp.

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Herbicides

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Diuron

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Simazine

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Terbuthylazine

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Isoxaben

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Herbaceous: annuals and biennials dicotyledons

Hexazinone

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Herbaceous, trees and shrubs: annuals, biennials and perennials

Hexazinone + diuron

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Herbaceous: annuals and biennals annuals,

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Herbaceous: annuals and biennials dicotyledon, Equisetum, Pteridium and non-Poaceae monocotyledons

Picloram, Picloram+2,4 D

•

•

•

Trees and shrubs; herbaceous: annuals and biennials dicotyledons

Tryclopyr

•

•

•

Trees (except some conifers) and shrubs; annuals and perennials dicotyledons

Dalapon

•

•

•

Herbaceous: annuals and perennials Poaceae and some monocotyledons (Typha, Juncus)

Paraquat, Paraquat + Diquat

•

•

•

•

Herbaceous: Poaceae and annuals and biennals dicotyledon, and for temporary dessication of perennials.

Glyphosate

•

•

•

•

Herbaceous: Poaceae, annuals and biennals dicotyledon, monocotyledons non Poaceae (Typha), and Chamaephytes (Rubus)

Glyphosate+MCPA

•

•

•

Herbaceous: Poaceae, annuals and biennals dicotyledon, monocotyledons non Poaceae (Typha), and Chamaephytes (Rubus), Equisetaceae, and Pteridium.

Glufosinate-ammonium

•

•

•

Herbaceous: annuals and biennials dicotyledons;

Fosamine-ammonium

•

•

Deciduous trees Phragmites.

and

shrubs;

herbaceous,

Residual and leaves Picloram+bromacil

•

•

•

Trees and herbaceous

shrubs;

annuals

and

perennials

Dalapon+bromacil+duron

•

•

•

Herbaceous: Poaceae and annuals and biennials dicotyledons

Glyphosate+simazine

•

•

•

•

Herbaceous: Poaceae and annuals and biennials dicotyledons

Glyphosate+terbuthylazine

•

•

•

•

Herbaceous: Poaceae and annuals and biennials dicotyledons

Glyphosate+oxadiazon

•

•

•

•

Herbaceous: Poaceae and annuals and biennials dicotyledons

* It refers to the period of application.

Table 1 - Main herbicides for archaeological parks, period of application and plant (from Miravalle et al. 2001). 280

Environmental assessment of an archaeological site for the development of an archaeological park

Fig. 1 - Bagnouls and Gaussen diagram for the site of Tilmen Höyük.

Fig. 2 - Depiction of (a) daily cumulative precipitation and average air temperature, and (b) average daily global solar radiation and relative humidity for the year 2007.

281

Paola Rossi Pisa, Gabriele Bitelli, Marco Bittelli, Maria Speranza, Lucia Ferroni, Pietro Catizone, Marco Vignudelli

Fig. 3 - Wind speed (a) and wind direction (b) at the site.

Fig. 4 - Different products from remote sensing data: (a) orthophoto for the Tilmen Höyük archaeological site, obtained from Quickbird imagery; (b) colour composite ASTER image depicted on SRTM digital terrain model of the region; (c) multitemporal analysis about vegetation index change for an area of about 20 x 20 km2 around the site, from Landsat data.

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Environmental assessment of an archaeological site for the development of an archaeological park

Fig. 5 - 1 m contour line map of Tilmen Höyük with specification of the points where soil samples were collected.

Fig. 6 - Ground Penetrating Radar transect to identify the depth of the groundwater at the transect corresponding to the main gate of the ancient city (K-6 in the archaeological map, cf. Pl. XIII: 1). The time on the Y-axis indicated by the black horizontal line, corresponds to a depth of 130 cm ca, indicating the depth of the water table.

283

Culture, context, communication: an essay on the museological depth of field  

Tim Flohr Sørensen Abstract This paper discusses strategies and problems in the presentation and representation of archaeological sites and landscapes to a nonarchaeological audience and offers suggestions to potentials within the field. The paper will focus on contrasts between archaeological museum displays and archaeological landscapes, and their disparate ways of presenting and representing the relationship between artefact and cultural meaning. In the paper I discuss the dissemination of archaeological knowledge in these institutions, and examine two representations of Danish prehistory, addressing how the public gaze on the past is organised and staged.

1. Introduction In her short film Outside (2006) the Danish artist Kassandra Wellendorf explores the relationship between movement, perception and landscape. The film shows a group of tourists visiting an Icelandic landscape: an intense, volcanic and rocky badlands landscape. The tourists are moving around at a staged vantage point, where they photograph and video record the landscape. The object of their visit is the visual appropriation of the dramatic landscape. However, it is clear that the tourists have trouble appropriating the landscape as many of them keep pointing their cameras at different vistas, but do not seem satisfied with the portion of the landscape framed by the camera’s viewfinde . The totality of the landscape appears to be lost in the act of photographing it. In one part of the film a man is walking among large stones on a rock outcrop, in order to get from the vantage point to the right spot to capture a photograph. While moving around, he has trouble keeping his balance among the rocks, he stumbles and eventually falls. Meanwhile the voice-over laconically reads: ‘Now he wants to get to the landscape. He wants to get over to it. But the landscape has already got to him’.

2. Artefacts on display Visiting an archaeological or culture historical museum rarely poses the same problems as documented in Outside. First of all, the objects of the visit, the displayed artefacts, are easy to pick out as they are already framed in exhibition cases. In other words, the visitor knows where and how to look. Second, most museums are organised along the lines of a temporally progressive narrative, which is spelled out spatially: as one follows the route through the museum, one walks forward in time, with no risk of losing one’s bearing or focus as opposed to the tourists in Outside. In this way the museum is characterised by communicating archaeological knowledge through the display of a selection of artefacts, presenting a window to certain aspects of past societies. The museum display typically consists of exhibition cases containing artefacts, accompanied by an exhibition text of greater or lesser detail, identifying the

classificatory position of the artefact (e.g., pottery, flint knife, or ornament), its approximate age and cultural affiliation (e.g., Mycenaean, pre-Roman Iron Age, or Bell Beaker Culture). Such museum displays can occasionally be rather comprehensive, thorough and thought provoking, but ordinarily they are better described as rough historical summaries, frequently emphasising national narratives by way of the temporally linear narrative that portrays the evolution from primitive to complex; from tribe to chiefdom to nation State. Regrettably, museum displays may from time to time also assume the form of monotonous exhibitions of artefacts, locked up in cages, like animals in an early 20th century zoo, with little or no regard for the artefacts’ capability to speak to the audience. In both cases, the museum display is challenged by the inherent lack of cultural context between the artefact and the life-world of humans and things that it once inhabited. It has been transferred from its find-spot to the museum dwelling and has been set in a dubious spatial and cultural environment, which may seem rather randomly composed. The artefacts in a museum are – through the nature of archaeology – based on chance; they are a selection of the things that have been preserved and the things that have been found. This opportunistic strategy reaches as far back as the antiquarian collection organised by the neo-Babylonian King Nabonidus (reigning 555-539 BC). This collection included objects dating back to the 3rd millennium BC that were produced by excavations in connection with building activities (Roaf 1990: 201). In Nabonidus’ museum things were displayed as single objects like they are in many modern culture historical museums, where textual information and maps serve to reconstruct or construct some degree of illusion of context with other things, people and places.

3. Landscapes on display Another form of public display of archaeology is – unlike the museum – set ‘on location’ and is known as heritage site or cultural landscape. Archaeological displays at these locations utilise the actual find site, and often the find site is

Tim Flohr Sørensen

the very object of display – e.g., the Acropolis in Athens or Petra in Jordan. The public interest in these kinds of places has a long history that at least reaches back to the Romantic obsession with ruins and the dilapidated, but gained momentum already with the landscape painters of the 17th century; for example through the works of Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain and Salvatore Rosa. Previously, the form of the land had denoted the human exploitation of nature as a resource, but now it became inseparable from human perception, as the visual perspectives from the paintings dominated the ways landscapes were looked and acted upon (Andrews 1989: 67). The popularity of landscape paintings and the poetry of landscape led to a tourist industry in the course of the 18th century, which was particularly prosperous with the English bourgeois that desired the sensation of the actual landscape scenes. This furthermore resulted in the staging of landscapes along the lines of an idealised naturalness that was produced by the landscape gardeners of the time, the ‘picturesque’ landscapers, such as Lancelot Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton (Andrews 1989, Williamson 1995). In this way, landscapes became objectified and were conceived as material cultural entities that could be worshipped, travelled, and transformed. This meant that landscape began to denote an embodied position and a perceptual perspective in the land, and something to be encountered physically as well as mentally. This conceptualisation of landscape has left a significant impact on the ways in which landscape is still perceived. Landscapes can – like places – frame belonging, emotions and memory, but unlike places, a landscape can be encountered in more than one location as it stretches over multiple places. As opposed to space, landscapes can be touched. Landscapes can even hurt, and the landscape may get to us before we get to the landscape, as indicated in Outside. Unlike environment, landscape is not just the sum of biological specimens and resources, and their spatial distribution. And in contrast to regions, topography or geography, landscapes cannot be mapped out and perceived objectively, as landscape is just as much a perceptual position as it is an object of perception (see e.g. Bender 2006, Casey 2001, Cosgrove 1989, Ingold 1993, Olwig 2005, Tilley 2004, Tuan 1977 for such renderings of landscape). Nevertheless, these definitions do not spell out clearly what landscape is, but rather what it is not. This is because landscape is indeed a slippery concept, and because it is a totality of experience rather than a distinct analytical unit. But in order to understand landscape as more than disintegrated and monolithic historical surfaces, it is essential to approach and appreciate the lived landscape: the landscape in which human beings exist. Landscape may relate to the individual’s perception, but it also connects individual and collective identities. It is this interplay between the individual, the social and nature that gives landscape a multivocal character, since different agents with different identities, experiences and agendas have used, manipulated and understood the landscape and its temporalities in different ways and from different perspectives. According to Fred Myers,

uniform “tradition” and the failure to conceptualize the potentially conflicting and disaggregated practices through which socially recognized identities with place and places themselves are produced’ (Myers 2000: 107). This is not only due to the multilayered character of landscapes, but also because the character of our experience of landscapes is layered: we forget or repress parts of previous experiences, emphasise and maintain others, deny or detest some places and celebrate and sanctify others. Thereby the landscape and places in the landscape become exposed to changes, challenges and contestation, and struggles over power and identity. As such, there are always multiple landscapes in existence in what we may perceive at first to be one landscape, which means that we have to appreciate the plurality of voices in the landscape (Rodman 1992). Different experiences and identities exist simultaneously and remain visible within the same spatial horizon akin to a palimpsest (Bender 1998, Bender 2006, Stoddart and Zubrow 1999). As a consequence, imprints from different epochs and episodes exist simultaneously and remain tangible within the same landscape, or at least parts of them are intelligible; ‘there are many landscapes in existence: some are lightly etched to the point of being invisible, whereas others are heavily etched and are therefore visible to the naked eye’ (Wilkinson 2003: 7). Through this perplexing coexistence of many landscapes within one and the same spatial plane, the landscape represents a variety of social phenomena: identity, tradition, power, belonging, gender relations, emotions and memory. Landscape is thus imbued with sometimes conflic ing realities and agencies, which may seem to sediment as confluent layers of a schizophrenic past that is not all that easy to get hold of. This further means that the representation of archaeological knowledge and artefacts, whether in museums or in landscapes, runs the risk of omitting important aspects and perspectives, because such representations must necessarily be selective. However, the situation and context of the objects of archaeological knowledge can be staged and communicated in ways that not simply leave the artefacts with no social meaning or cultural emplacement. This could be regarded as a central obligation of the profession of communicating archaeological knowledge: to transfer the object of the past from being a silent ‘something’ to a positioned ‘thing’ among other things.

4. The Sun Chariot and the Trundholm Bog In the inventory of the archaeological identity of the Danish nation and in the communication of archaeology to nonprofessionals, it is possible to point to a number of artefacts that constitute key references to a given period, an event or to social phenomena. Examples of such artefacts are a number of famous finds, such as the Golden Horns of Gallehus (ca 400 BC), the Grauballe Bog Body (ca 290 BC) and the Rune Stone from Jelling (ca AD 965). Another of these single finds that assumes a pivotal role in the Danish archaeological consciousness is the Sun Chariot from

‘Our most difficult problem in theorizing the relationship to land has been the focus on an imagined 286

Culture, context, communication: an essay on the museological depth of field

Trundholm, dating to the 14th century BC, which offers interesting perspectives on the relationship between artefact and landscape in the communication of archaeology. The Sun Chariot is a sculpture made in the Early Bronze Age and is produced of bronze by the lost wax method. It represents a horse that pulls a chariot supporting a disc, commonly interpreted as the sun disc, which played a central role in the cosmology and much of the iconography of the Scandinavian Early Bronze Age (Gelling and Davidson 1969, Kaul 2003, Kaul 2004). The gold coated side is taken to represent the dayside of the disc, while the other side in the darker bronze material represents the nocturnal side (Kaul 2003: 36). The sculpture is 60 cm long and the sun disc is 25 cm in diameter (Jensen 2002: 274, 276). It was deposited as a wetland offering sometime in the 14th century BC in a part of Trundholm Bog that cannot have been too wet, judging from later excavations at the site (������ Brøndsted 1939: 90). The Trundholm Bog is located in North-Western Zealand, Denmark, and appears to have constituted a larger bog area or bog system in prehistory, but during historical times it was largely drained to give way to farming. The bog is surrounded by hills to the north, east and south, and bordered by a coastal landscape to the west, while the bog itself remains a large tract of flat land of ca 450 ha. Today, the agricultural activities on the bog are not terribly intensive, and much of the land is placed under the European Union’s agricultural set-aside scheme, while an organisation of plot owners works to develop the bog as a protected environmental and recreational landscape (Fig. 1). Parts of the sun chariot were discovered in 1902 by a farmer, who pulled the chariot out of the soil while ploughing his field. He then gave it to his children to play with, but it was soon examined by scholars from the National Museum in Copenhagen. They also excavated the find-spot and discovered pieces of the wheels and fragments of the gold plating (Kaul 1999: 36). Over the following years the find-spot was investigated several times, yet with little result. Local rumours had it that there had been a rider on the horse, but investigations in 1941 and 1952 yielded no such result. In 1962, a memorial was put up ca 200 m south of the find-spot, adjacent to a small country road (Fig. 2). Then in 1967 new reports of additional artefacts associated with the chariot surfaced again; this time it was said that already in 1885 there had been talk of a golden horse and a golden cart close to the find-spot of the Trundholm Sun Chariot, but the investigation gave no result. In 1996 the find-spot was re-examined, this time with a metal detector, which produced a piece from one of the wheels of the chariot and an initiative to re-excavate the find-spot in 1998 resulted in the discovery of several pieces from the chariot (Kaul 1999). In connection with the 100 year anniversary in 2002, the memorial was furthermore transferred to a new location by a new, larger road (Fig. 3). It is still located some 200 m from the find-spot, but now adjacent to a regional expressway and with a small picnic area. The memorial stone is the same as the one set up in 1962, but an information board now accompanies the stone, offering details on the chariot and the Bronze Age. In 2006 the Sun Chariot was added to ‘Denmark’s Culture Canon’, which is a list of

108 works of art that a commission under the Ministry of Culture designated as essential to the Danish Cultural Heritage. The chariot is here described as ‘the oldest known Danish artwork’ (Kulturkanon 2006). The exhibition of the chariot in the National Museum in Copenhagen is emblematic of this object’s de-contextualisation from its landscape: in the recently reorganised display of ‘Danmarks Oldtid’ (Danish Prehistory), the chariot is located in a free-standing exhibition case and only associated with other finds at an entirely conceptual level as a religious object. The exhibition text informs about the place of discovery, but does not in any way mention that it was found in a bog as a sacrificial deposit. When the National Museum organised the temporary exhibition ‘Himmelskiven og Solvognen’ (The Sky Disc and the Sun Chariot) in 2005, where the chariot was displayed in connection with the sky disc from Nebra, Germany, there was no elaboration on the find location in a bog and its cultural landscape context. Likewise, the exhibition of a copy of the Sun Chariot in the recently opened local culture historical museum in Nykøbing Sjælland, not far from the find-spot, pays no attention to the chariot’s role as a wetland offering, as the object is displayed in a separate exhibition case, dissociated from other finds and its wetland provenance The lack of spatial context and reference to the chariot’s role as a wetland offering is striking, and is reproduced in most literature on the Sun Chariot. The find location is ordinarily mentioned in passing, informing where and how the chariot was discovered, but not setting up an interpretative framework for understanding the relationship between thing and place. This deprives the chariot of a crucial aspect of its past meaning, since the reason it was deposited in the bog appears to revolve around its potential as a religious object for offering. In this context the bog needs to be properly understood, as the nature of the bog and the landscape of the bog must have constituted the cosmological reason for offering the chariot at the place where it was discovered some 3400 years later. Moreover, at Trundholm, the visitor who wants to see the actual find-spot of the Sun Chariot will have to look long and hard, be well equipped with boots, maps and GPS in order to find the actual place where the chariot was discovered. Similarly, the memorial place commemorating the discovery of the chariot remains dull and carries very little information. This is probably also why only few people visit the place or at least leave soon after arriving. In addition, the memorial for the chariot has been moved around, and today it seems – at least from an academic point of view – difficult to maintain any deference for the mode of commemoration. The object that could be portrayed and displayed easily and with great conviction is the landscape, where the chariot was deposited around 3400 years ago. Even though it has changed significantl , it still remains a bog landscape in many parts, and the discovery of the chariot could in this way be put in its right setting. Nevertheless, the landscape is today only something you pass through on your way to the memorial and carries no value in the communication of the meaning of the Sun Chariot.

287

Tim Flohr Sørensen

5. The Prehistoric Forest Landscape

historic Trail necessitates the visitor’s subjective and creative engagement with the perceived environment. Apart from the prehistoric forest environment, the trail also passes by a number of cultural constructions; among these are both original and reconstructed Neolithic burial monuments, a reconstructed Neolithic cult house (Fig. 6), a reconstructed Iron Age longhouse and relict medieval field systems. The reconstructed buildings have all been moved to their current locations in order to preserve them from destruction in their originally locations. These elements of the cultural landscape play no pronounced role in the communication of the prehistoric forest environments, and their presence along the trail can appear as mere supplements to the natural environment. In this way, the ordinary culture historical focus on what humans did to the landscape seems almost reversed. On the Prehistoric Trail, we encounter the landscape in a form close to how people in prehistory could have experienced it, and hence approach possible reflections on the impact of the landscape on human sensation. The landscape is thus not subject to the mercy of human activities, but is communicated as a space of human dwelling. When open-air museums ordinarily represent the land and human activities therein, the focus is directed to relatively stereotype representations of architecture, agriculture, and domestic and industrial production, whereby land and landscape assume the roles of mere backgrounds to human agency. What the Prehistoric Trail offers, in contrast, is the potential engagement with human experience of the landscape’s agency; its working on human perception, movement and mood. This encounter with a lived landscape brings the audience a little closer to people in the past. It necessitates an empathic effort on the visitor’s part that allows prehistoric people to become humanised rather than remaining abstract, schematic units of antiquarian interest.

The understanding of the relationship between an artefact and the landscape can naturally be difficult to disseminate and obtain at a museum, which is of course because a museum may not be the ideal place to communicate contextual understandings of Cultural Heritage. An alternative to the museum’s limitations is to transfer the scene for the communication to a situated cultural context. Such a display method is exemplified by the Prehistoric Trail at the archaeological and ethnographical Moesgaard Museum in Eastern Jutland, Denmark. The Prehistoric Trail is a 4 km long path through the Moesgaard Forest, where prehistoric forest environments have been recreated since 1963. Four different environmental periods are represented in the forest, namely Birch and Pine Period (ca 9500-8250 BC), Hazel and Pine Period (ca 8250-7000 BC), Early Lime Period (ca 7000-3800 BC) and Late Lime Period (ca 3800-600 BC). Apart from the representation of the various periods, a forest swamp has also been recreated, belonging to no particular period (Fig. 4). There is no formal entry or exit to the forest and the visitor is guided through the forest by following white painted rocks with red dots. The path is supplemented with a few information boards at the transition from one period to another, allowing the audience to obtain information on the part of the forest they are entering: what vegetation characterised the period, what animals inhabited the forest, how was the climate and how did human societies get by. The landscapes of the prehistoric time periods are recreated through the vegetation that was characteristic of these periods, and the visitor can move along the trail and experience the different types of landscapes through her or his own senses. The staging of the Prehistoric Trail makes no claim to an authenticity of the past, but recreates the landscapes as they are thought to have appeared in their respective prehistoric periods. As a consequence, the archaeological authority over the prehistoric environment is also left to be negotiated by the visitor. The information boards do indeed communicate formal, archaeological knowledge, but the dissemination of this knowledge is not very manifest, as a walk through the forest can be enjoyed for the sake of the experience of the forest and does not depend entirely on the meaning of its orchestration. This enables the visitor to engage with the past on a very different level than through viewing objects in cases in a museum. Walking through the forest, the visitor is conducting a move through a tentative lived space that demands a sensuous presence in the landscape (Fig. 5). Parts of the forest are rather inaccessible during seasons of the year, when the water table in the wet areas of the forest rises, resulting in dirty boots and jeans, should one choose to walk these paths in spite of the muddy ground. Nevertheless, the forest offers precisely the seasonal variation that is often lost in the communication of prehistoric environments in museums exhibitions as well as in the literature. The visitor is subject to weather, seasons, animal activity and mood, which can be characterised by raw and chilly weather, mist and the dark density of the forest, or the sound of birds’ twittering, anemones on the forest floor and trees coming into leaf on a sunny day in springtime. In this way, the Pre-

6. The Depth of field of museological representations This critique may seem like a wholesale dismissal of museums as a means of archaeological communication. Nevertheless, like landscapes museums are challenged, change and transform, and recent years have brought more attention to interaction and understanding as a remedy to alter the museum’s more sterile and apathetical modes of display. This said, the link between the museum and its guests can still be understood through Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopy (Foucault 1986). In Foucault’s perspective, the modern museum is characterised by ‘the idea of accumulating everything, of establishing a sort of general archive, the will to enclose in one place all times, all epochs, all forms, all tastes, the idea of constituting a place of all times that is itself outside of time and inaccessible to its ravages’ (Foucault 1986: 26). This is what he terms the heterotopy; a place that refers to another place, but is essentially different from it (ibid.: 24). 288

Culture, context, communication: an essay on the museological depth of field

way of solving this inadequacy would be to create various editions of archaeological representations at one and the same location, whereby visitors may choose to focus on different levels of information and personal engagement in the exhibited material, location or landscape. Another option is to set the narrative of an artefact like the Trundholm Sun Chariot in the bog, and contextualise it within its lived landscape of power, identity, belonging, religious concerns, cosmology, movement, mood and emotion. At the same time it is important to avoid the theme park spectacle, which is so dominant of most of the major sites where Cultural Heritage is produced today. These theme parks represent segregated and disassembled representations, where the visitor is at the mercy of canonised grand narratives; narratives that are more or less intimately based on the agendas of the respective nation States or shrouded in nostalgia for a romanticised past. In order to avoid the simplified, linear and authoritarian narratives, we need to demand a certain level of interest and participation from the visitors to archaeological sites and landscapes, and the participation should require intellectual as well as physical activity. In other words it is not enough to trample the muddy bog at Trundholm or the Prehistoric Trail on a bitter, rainy autumn afternoon; we also need to make people think, perceive and wonder. The aim is not necessarily to include visitors in the hammering of flint pieces, the coiling of pottery or battling with rubber swords in foam castles. The aim is instead to make the visitor conduct experiential, perceptual and cognitive movements, and thus achieve new knowledge, new experiences and new reflections. As such, the ambition is to create a friction between the audience and the landscape, and thus to insert the audience in a situation similar to that of the tourists in Outside: roaming and perplexed, but as a consequence also embracing and consuming the landscape, recognising its sensuous, tactile and tangible materiality through body and mind. Is this an ambitious goal? I believe it is indeed. Is it too ambitious? I certainly do not think so. First of all, we have to respect the consumers of the archaeological knowledge; the knowledge of artefacts, texts, buildings, landscapes. We should remind ourselves that the visitor at an archaeological site chooses to be there herself or himself, and hence we may expect a certain degree of participation and engagement on the visitor’s part. It is this predisposed readiness on the visitor’s part that we must reach out to, nurse and stimulate, whereby the willingness to look and listen means that we can build better and more critical connections between the visitor and the communication of archaeological knowledge. Second, this archaeological knowledge should not remain pure data in the minds of the consumers of archaeological findings. Rather, we should stimulate new insights and reflections with the archaeological audience in a reflective and creative engagement, and thereby make people think critically about the past and the discipline of archaeology. This insight does not have to be more – but even that is already quite an accomplishment – than to get a feeling of humanised contact with the people of the past and their life worlds through the engagement with ‘their’ landscapes. In order to get there, it is essential that the process of reaching archaeological interpretations and conclusions is trans-

This means that the museum is constituted by basically citing other places and accumulating the stuff of their times. The artefact has in most museological displays a very pronounced tendency to overshadow the landscape that was embedded in the past meaning of the object, which is exemplified by the museological lack of connection between the Sun Chariot from Trundholm and its landscape. As demonstrated above, the bog itself needs to be included in the communication of the Sun Chariot and achieve a sensuous reality for the chariot to obtain any meaningful significance. The past meaning and the artefact’s social context has been disentangled by its position within the ordinary museum context, where it largely constitutes a representation of a time period rather than communicating social meaning in its own right. As exemplified with the Prehistoric Trail, the integration of context and object offers the audience an opportunity to engage with the past in a sensuous and subjective way, whereby the audience may achieve a more complex and empathic understanding of the connection between people, places and things. This has in part to do with the two different kinds of spatial movements involved in museums and landscapes respectively. As explained previously, the movement through a museum is ordinarily organised along the lines of a linear narrative that takes the audience through history, beginning with the older and ending with the younger periods. Within these sections, times are frozen and stand still and the visitor moves from one chronological station to the next. This form of movement is contrasted by the movement through the Prehistoric Trail, which allows for a movement that is more akin to the Situationist dérive: the informal exploration of an environment with little or no preconception, but open to the bodily and emotional impact of the landscape (Careri 2002). In this vein, the communication of the Prehistoric Trail is admittedly subjective and creative, and in being so, it relies on the willing participation of the visitor for the communication of the archaeological display to succeed. This offers the possibility to wander off in directions not dictated by the actual trail, where one may explore the forest floo , plants, moss, tree trunks or simply take a path of one’s own choice. In this way, the periods of the forest may also be crossed or reversed, and the experience of narrative continuities can implode or explode with the visitor’s own storyline, created through her or his bodily movements. This also means that the times and temporalities of the forest are characterised by duration rather than frozen stations, which is further emphasised by the unceasing metamorphosis of the forest and its continuous growth and wear and tear. The two avenues – the museum and the open-air heritage landscape – should not be seen as mutually exclusive or as distinct oppositions. Instead, it is necessary to bridge the contextualising and empathising landscape representation and the object-focused museum business. By and large the two strands share the same interests: to communicate knowledge of and questions to the past to a non-archaeological audience. Nevertheless, the public displays are often very concerned with establishing authoritarian and formalised representation of artefacts, meaning that they primarily communicate factual data that can be stated objectively, whereby a great deal of complexity is lost. One 289

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and Other Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd) Ingold, T., 1993, ‘The Temporality of the Landscape’, World Archaeology 25/2, pp. 152-174 Jensen, J., 2002, Danmarks Oldtid – Bronzealder 2.000500 f.Kr. (København: Gyldendal) Kaul, F., 1999, ‘Solvognen – Solbilledet fra Trundholm’, Naturens Verden 8, pp. 34-40 Kaul, F., 2003, ‘Der Mythos von der Reise der Sonne: Darstellungen auf Bronzegegenständen der späten Nordischen Bronzezeit’ in A. Grebe et al. (eds) Gold und Kult der Bronzezeit (Nürnberg: Verlag der Germanishen Nationalmuseums) Kaul, F., 2004, Bronzealderens religion – Studier af den nordiske Bronzealders Ikonografi (København: Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldsskriftselskab) Kulturkanon, 2006, http://kulturkanon.kum.dk/?vaerk=12 (accessed 19/03/2008) Myers, F., 2000, ‘Ways of Placemaking’ in K. Flint, H. Morphy (eds) Culture, Landscape and the Environment: the Linacre Lectures, 1997 (Oxford: Oxford University Press) Olwig, K. R., 2005, ‘Liminality, Seasonality and Landscape’, Landscape Research 30/2, pp. 259-271 Roaf, M., 1990, Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East (New York: Facts on File) Rodman, M., 1992, ‘Empowering Place: Multilocality and Multivocality’, American Anthropologist 94/3, pp. 640-656 Stoddart, S., Zubrow, E., 1999, ‘Changing Places’, Antiquity 73, pp. 686-688 Tilley, C., 2004, Materiality of Stone: Explorations in Landscape Phenomenology (Oxford: Berg Pu­ blishers) Tuan, Y.-F., 1977, Space and Place: the Perspective of Experience (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press) Wilkinson, T.J., 2003, Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East (Tucson: University of Arizona Press) Williamson, T., 1995, Polite Landscapes: Gardens and Society in Eighteen-Century England (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press)

parent, necessitating an openness with regard to the aims and objectives of archaeological fieldwork and research. In other words, the communication of archaeology has to be clear with respect to why certain conclusions are established, while others are dismissed. This is admittedly an ambitious programme that aims at stimulating a greater level of democratic take on historical and archaeological knowledge, but it gives the audience an opportunity to become acquainted with the research strategies and the interpretative process that lead to specific conclusions at the expense of others. By facilitating multivocal and pluralistic modes of knowledge consumption, this programme also requires that we are ready to dismantle the grand narratives and dogmas of archaeology and offer the audience of archaeology a transparent, critical and contextual embrace of the objects and objectives of the discipline.

References Andrews, M., 1989, The Search for the Picturesque: Landscape Aesthetics and Tourism in Britain, 17601800 (Aldershot: Scholar Press) Bender, B., 1998, Stonehenge: Making Space (Oxford: Berg Publishers) Bender, B., 2006, ‘Place and Landscape’ in C. Tilley et al. (eds) Handbook of Material Culture (London: Sage Publications), pp. 303-314 Brøndsted, J., 1939, Danmarks Oldtid – Bronzealderen (København: Nordisk Forlag) Careri, F., 2002, Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic Experience (Barcelona: Gili) Casey, E.S., 2001, ‘Between Geography and Philosophy: What Does It Mean to Be in the Place-World’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 91/4, pp. 683-693 Cosgrove, D., 1989, ‘Geography Is Everywhere: Culture and Symbolism in Human Landscapes’ in D. Gregory, R. Walford (eds) Horizons in Human Geography (Totowa: Barnes and Noble Books) Foucault, M., 1986, ‘Of Other Spaces’, Diacritics 16, pp. 22-27 Gelling, P., Davidson, H.E., 1969, The Chariot of the Sun –

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Fig. 1 - Post-productive farmland on the Trundholm Bog.

Fig. 2 - The old country road through the Trundholm Bog. 291

Tim Flohr Sørensen

Fig. 3 - The current memorial site for the discovery of the Sun Chariot. The find-spot is located in the background at a distance of ca 200 m.

Fig. 4 - Wooden path on the Prehistoric Trail going through the forest swamp.

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Fig. 5 - View of the Prehistoric Forest.

Fig. 6 - Reconstructed Neolithic cult house in the Prehistoric Forest. 293

Global climate change and archaeological heritage: prevision, impact and mapping  

Cristina Sabbioni, Alessandra Bonazza, Palmira Messina Abstract The paper focuses on the application of current knowledge on climate change to archaeological heritage for the purpose of its protection, conservation and management. The purpose of the work performed was to identify the most important climate parameters affecting Cultural Heritage. Outputs from the General and Regional Hadley Models (HadCM3 and HadRM3) were used to provide future scenarios of the European climate from 1961 to 2099. The data were employed to produce maps capable of presenting broad regional future threats to European cultural landscapes over the next 100 years, i.e. climate maps, heritage climate maps, damage maps, and risk maps. The effects of future climate variations on Cultural Heritage are investigated for the first time, and the results produced allow the identification of the problems arising from the impact of climate changes on Europe’s archaeological sites.

1. Introduction Despite the strong interest currently focused at the research level in the area of climate change, both in terms of exploring the scientific basis of climate change and evaluating its impact on different areas, such as agriculture, marine system, energy, and human health, very little attention has so far been directed towards the impact of future change on Cultural Heritage. Cultural Heritage, especially archaeological sites, built heritage and cultural landscapes, have not yet been included in the international reports that treat this issue at the global level, such as the IPCC Reports (IPCC 2001, IPCC 2007). Cultural Heritage is a non-renewable resource to be transmitted to future generations (Cassar 2005), yet up to now, climate change has never been taken into account as a factor threatening Cultural Heritage, including archaeological sites (Baer and Snethlage 1997). Correspondingly, the existing knowledge, methodologies and models achieved for predicting climate parameters and their impacts have not been applied to the materials and structures characterizing Cultural Heritage, except in the Noah’s Ark Project funded by the European Commission. The project’s aim was to fill the gaps in knowledge on the effects of future climate variations on Cultural Heritage, acknowledging for the first time the problems arising from the impact of climate changes on Europe’s built heritage and cultural landscape (Sabbioni et al. 2006). Archaeological sites are particularly vulnerable to future threats of climate change. Excavated assets are characterized by a multiplicity of materials, including stones, mortars, bricks, metals, wood, whose damage processes are driven by material-atmosphere interactions. The European Parliament’s STOA report on Technological Requirements for Solutions in the Conservation and Protection of Historic Monuments and Archaeological Remains (September 2001), identifie ‘major research gaps… in understanding materials, monitoring change, modelling and predicting behaviour, managing Cultural Heritage and preventing damage’ (Cassar et al. 2001). Buried remains may be even more affected by climate change, because of their close in-

teraction with changes in the soil. The present paper briefly presents the approach adopted to predict and map climate change impact on Cultural Heritage, with particular reference to archaeological sites.

2. Methodological approach 2.1. Parameters critical to Cultural Heritage protection in a future perspective Materials and structures characterizing archaeological sites are exposed to atmospheric impact, which includes the effects induced by microclimate parameters, such as relative humidity or precipitation, and by the deposition of airborne gases and particles, emitted both by natural sources, e.g. sea spray and sand, and anthropogenic sources, i.e. combustions. The literature extensively reports works on the processes occurring in the past or in progress at present on Cultural Heritage (Bonazza et al. 2005, Sabbioni et al. 2007a, Bonazza et al. 2007). However, the provision for future scenarios requires a different perspective. A selection of climate parameters critical to the built Cultural Heritage was performed, and the respective climate data were derived from the General Climate Model (HadCM3) and the Regional Climate Model (HadRM3) of the Hadley Centre (UK). HadCM3 is an Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Model (AOGCM) that couples the Atmospheric General Circulation Models (AGCMs) and Ocean General Circulation Models (OGCMs). The nucleus of these complex atmosphere and ocean models is based upon physical laws describing the dynamics of atmosphere and ocean, expressed by mathematical equations that are solved using a three-dimensional grid over the globe. They are designed mainly for studying climate processes and natural climate variability, and for projecting the response to future scenarios of forcing agents (e.g., greenhouse gases and aerosols). HadRM3 is a regional climate model and consists of a finer spatial scale model with initial conditions, time-depend lateral meteorological conditions and surface boundary conditions, driven by the general climate model. It can provide a high resolution and is capable of describing climate feed-

Cristina Sabbioni, Alessandra Bonazza, Palmira Messina

back mechanisms acting at regional scales, and increasing the validity of individual cell predictions. The HadCM3 General Model has a grid resolution of 2.5 x 3.75 degrees (each cell: 295 x 278 km at 45°N latitude). The HadRM3 Regional Climate Model encompasses a European region at a higher resolution based on a grid of equal-area cells of 50 x 50 km (each cell: 0.5 x 0.5 degree at 45°N latitude). The model output used for mapping relied on A2 scenarios (IPCC SRES Emission Scenarios used in TAR and FAR). The A2 scenario storyline and scenario family describes a very heterogeneous world. The underlying theme is selfreliance and the preservation of local identity. Fertility patterns across the regions covered change slowly, which allows for a continuously increasing population. Economic development is primarily regionally oriented and per capita economic growth and technological change are more fragmented and slower than in other time lines. The selected geographical area is centred on Europe (i.e., for the general model a region of 33.75°W-67.50°E longitude and 80°N-25°N latitude, and for the regional one of 30°W-55°E longitude and 72°N-35°N latitude). An air pollution database for gas, such as SO2, HNO3, O3 concentrations and pH precipitation, was also created in order to produce future scenarios. Regarding future emission levels, two scenarios were developed for 2020 (using the dataset available for Europe within the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution-CLRTAP and EMEP), and for 2085 (from the Clean Air for Europe Program-CAFE, Maximum feasible technical reductionMFTR scenario). Yearly means of SO2, HNO3 and O3 air concentrations and pH precipitation for the years 1990, 2020 and 2085 over the European area were used, with a grid resolution of 0.4 x 0.4 degrees. In the procedure of critical parameter selection and extraction from the climate models, the concept of heritage climatologies was introduced, with the aim of thinking in terms of Cultural Heritage protection and conservation. A database of future climate variables was created on the basis of: • temperature derived parameters: temperature range, thermal shock, freeze-thaw cycles, one early result being an indication of a decline in the frequency of freezing during the 21st century and a lower potential for frost damage; • water derived parameters: precipitation amount, total number of rainy days, extreme rain events, consecutive number of rainy days, mean relative humidity, relative humidity range, relative humidity shocks; • wind derived parameters: wind speed, wind speed counts, wind driven rain, wind driven sand; • pollution derived parameters: SO2, HNO3, O3 and pH precipitation. As well as the parameterisation of future climate variables, a selection of materials was chosen on which to focus the prediction of climate change impact, based mainly on their frequency of use as building materials in European Cultural Heritage and their susceptibility to effects of climate change. In order to maximize the effectiveness of the three-year pe-

riod project, it was decided to limit the number of materials under study, leading for example to the exclusion of modern materials, such as polymers. With particular reference to archaeological assets, materials employed as protective treatments, consolidants or coatings were not included. This choice was made with a view to focus research efforts on the materials which constitute almost entirely historic monuments and archaeological sites, and does not imply a judgment of the historic value of objects realized in modern materials. Based on the above criteria the following materials were selected: natural stones (marble, limestone, sandstone and clay-containing materials), lime mortar, brick, metals (iron and carbon steel, zinc, copper, bronze, lead), wood and glass, representative of medieval stained glass window 2.2. Damage function Once climate parameters and materials had been selected, a review of the existing functions in the literature, which quantify the damage occurring as a consequence of climate factor effects, was undertaken. The research highlighted that the literature deals mainly with damage functions for carbonate stones, particularly marbles and limestones, and metals, while there remains a conspicuous lack of related functions concerning brick, mortars, clay-containing materials, wood and glass. Existing damage functions were modified and adapted as necessary, and new models were developed for the selected materials. The models included meteorological (temperature, relative humidity, etc.) and pollution (SO2, rain pH, etc.) parameters. On the subject of stones, the earliest and most extensively studied are marbles and low porosity limestone, largely because they have been widely used in statuary and buildings all over the world. In addition, thanks to their chemical homogeneity, these stones represent a more simple system than others, since they are almost entirely composed of calcium (or, more rarely Ca and Mg) carbonates. A wide range of effects was considered during the course of the research work. For example, it is known that carbonate stones frequently undergo to surface recession and processes of soiling and blackening in urban environments, while freezethaw cycles and salt crystallization affect especially porous stones, both natural (sandstone) and man-made (brick and mortars). Marble and granite are particularly susceptible to thermal stress. Finally, the main mechanism in the deterioration of clay-containing materials is the swelling and shrinkage of the clayey binder induced by cycles of wetting-drying. All these building materials undergo biodeterioration as a result of colonization by lichens, cyanobacteria, algae and mosses. For wood, both mechanical damage due to variations in relative humidity in indoor environments and outdoor decay by wood destroying fungi were considered. Models and damage functions were proposed for all such deterioration processes; in particular for metals and glass, the experience gained within the exposure programmes ‘ICP Materials’, ‘ISOCORRAG’ and the EC Project ‘MULTI-ASSESS’ was utilized. A chloride deposition model, based on future wind speeds extracted from HadCM3, was also proposed. Chloride 296

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deposition is active particularly in accelerating metal corrosion, and in causing the degradation of stone materials due to salt crystallization-dissolution cycles. The research work allowed the application of different types of models for mapping the damage of Cultural Heritage due to climate change impact: • damage functions based on experimental field data obtained from large exposure programmes (Kucera et al. 2007); • damage functions from the literature survey, subsequently developed within the Noah’s Ark Project’s on the basis of analysis of the dominant effects; • damage functions based on original laboratory investigations performed within the project. In total, the set of damage functions that was developed represents a significant achievement and a substantial advancement of the state of the art.

ment of the future threat to Cultural Heritage, and opens up a challenging new area for interdisciplinary research. The Guidelines offer adaptation strategies for Cultural Heritage management in the face of climate change, with the main aim of assisting heritage stakeholders, owners and curators of historic buildings and collections, public policy-makers and national heritage organizations to deal with future climate change pressures. The compilation of the comprehensive set of guidelines for mitigation and adaptation to climate change represents the state of the art in the field. The approach was to use the research results to augment the experience of the authors, and to provide meaningful and feasible strategies for coping with the most likely consequences of climate change on Cultural Heritage. The research activity performed highlighted the great importance of water as a threat to heritage. Despite the fact that temperature is often considered the most recognizable agent of climate change, water seems to dominate when European monuments are considered. This may be water as seen in times of intense rain, flood, or storm surges. In a more subtle, but more pervasive, way it can be seen in how increased rainfall can overload roofing and gutters, penetrate into materials or deliver pollutants to building surfaces (Briblecombe et al. 2006). Water is also involved in the humidity changes that affect the growth of microorganisms on stone and wood, and the formation of salts that degrade surfaces and influence corrosion A Europe with heavier rainfall may experience greater water penetration (especially into vernacular architectural materials, such as unfired bricks, or thatching), and surface flooding. However, drier summers overall threaten to increase salt weathering of stone, along with the desiccation of soils that protect archaeological remains and support building foundations. In addition, more specific results relating to the different damage processes considered can be advanced. On the subject of the surface recession of marble and compact limestone, the data analysis highlights that in the future, Central Europe, Norway, the Northern UK and Spain will experience a surface recession ranging between 20 and 35 µm/y (Fig. 1). Climate change is expected to have the greatest impact in the far future, strengthening the difference between South and North. More precisely, difference maps indicate that a general risk increase (max 4 µm/y) in Northern Europe is forecast, while Central Europe is expected to have unchanged risk levels. Generally, a decrease in surface recession of about 1-5 µm/y in Southern Europe is predicted, indicating it to be an area of decreasing risk. The map relating to the far future, obtained with the output of the regional model (HadRM3), shows that surface recession is expected to be higher in the areas that will be more affected by precipitation, i.e. mountain chains (Alps, Carpathians, Pyrenees) and westerly exposed areas, reaching values higher than 35 µm/y (Fig. 2). It is to be underlined that a threshold of 8 µm/y should not be exceeded. Additionally, monuments in marble located in the Mediterranean basin will generally continue to experience the highest levels of thermal stress. The impact of solar radiation on stone materials will still be relevant in the Mediterranean regions, in particular Sicily, Southern Spain, and

2.3. Mapping climate change for Cultural Heritage For each chosen climate parameter, using the output of HadCM3, 30-year mean value maps were developed, as they are more climatologically significant. They were produced for the recent past (1961-1990), near future (20102030) and far future (2070-2099), and show how the scenarios of a particular parameter evolve. Additionally, difference value maps between the far future and recent past, and near future and recent past, were generated in order to better quantify the changes with respect to the present scenario. The regional model (HadRM3) of far future values was also plotted with higher resolution. The far future period is crucial in climate investigations, since it is estimated that the most significant changes will occur in this period. These data were used to produce hierarchical maps aimed at presenting broad regional future threats. Firstly, climate change was mapped in terms of conventional climate parameters relevant to Cultural Heritage (e.g., yearly precipitation, rainfall intensity, frost) for producing climate maps. Subsequently, climate parameters were combined to produce specific heritage climatologies, e.g. wet-frost, based on rain followed by intense freezing, allowing the preparation of the heritage climate maps. A further step employed climate parameters to determine the amount of damage occurring on building materials in future scenarios, and to obtain damage maps (e.g., the surface recession induced by rain, metal corrosion and thermal stress). Finally, risk maps were prepared combining two or more damage processes that could occur in different regions of Europe (Sabbioni et al. 2007b).

3. Results The results of the three-year activity converged on the production of a Vulnerability Atlas and Guidelines, which represent the major outputs of the Noah’s Ark Project (Sabbioni et al. 2007c). The Vulnerability Atlas contains the hierarchical maps above described, relating to European climate scenarios from the recent past to the late 21st century. It is to be underlined that mapping provides a strategic tool for a sustainable manage297

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to apply the knowledge achieved within Noah’s Ark, it is fundamental to use climate models in specific case studies The impact of rising sea levels on Cultural Heritage protection was not taken into account within the Project, and it is a further area which needs future development in order to preserve for the future the enormous heritage of archaeological sites located along the coast, especially in the Mediterranean area. For the protection of archaeological assets, it is also very important to forecast the future climate change impact on indoor environments. A huge amount of archaeological heritage is preserved in museums, archives and collections. It is composed of a variety of materials, including organic materials, particularly sensitive to climate variation. Future steps require the application of the methodology adopted for outdoor environments to indoor ones. There is, finall , an urgent request from Cultural Heritage managers for the development of adaptation strategies that prioritizes early and cost-effective actions. From this first and unique European project, it is evident that gaps still exist not only at research level but also at policy levels, which require urgent responses. At the policy level, future needs include: • Inclusion of Cultural Heritage among the priorities in existing and forthcoming legislation and policies. • Inclusion in future IPCC Reports and other international reports (e.g., UNFCCC). • International cooperation particularly with developing countries (e.g., China and India), neighbouring (e.g., candidate countries, Mediterranean area) and industrialized countries (e.g., USA and Japan). • Dissemination of knowledge to raise awareness of national, regional, local authorities, private sector (e.g., insurance) and citizens. In spite of the limit of existing knowledge in predicting future change, it is important that the scientific and research community provides Cultural Heritage managers with an indication of the risk that they face and adaptation measures for dealing with climate change, this being the only possibility of developing knowledge-based protection strategies.

Greece, and will extend their effect to Central Europe, including all Italy, Spain, Portugal and the Balkan area. In all of these areas archaeological sites and remains in marble are widespread. Sandstones containing clay will experience in future increase damage induced by wet and dry cycles in the North of Europe, mainly because of high precipitation. Drier areas – Spain, Italy, Turkey and North Africa – will be less endangered. With regard to damage on porous materials, such as sandstone, mortar and brick, the number of cycles per year of relative humidity around 75.5%, which are responsible for the crystallisation and dissolution of sodium chloride, is plotted as a quantitative indicator of salt crystallisation events: the data obtained indicate they are likely to increase all over Europe. By contrast, a general reduction in frost damage is forecast, with the exception of northern and mountain areas (Grossi et al. 2007). This is due to the increase of temperature, which will produce a reduction in freeze-thaw cycles throughout Europe, with the exception of Northern Europe and Russia. The problem may increase in areas characterised by permafrost (Greenland, Iceland) above all with regard to organic materials (wood). Outdoor decay by wood-destroying fungi occurs in warm conditions in the presence of excess moisture. As Northern and Eastern Europe become warmer in the future, with high precipitation levels, greater attention will be required in the protection of wood structures against rainwater effects. Regarding metals, whilst zinc corrosion is expected to increase in European areas affected by high chloride deposition, both urban and rural, the damage on iron and bronze will increase in the cities of Northern Europe. The latter trend is dominated by the effect of average annual temperature, where a maximum corrosion effect is observed at 10° C. Finally, a slight decrease in glass corrosion all over Europe is predicted, meaning that glass will remain at risk in many areas.

4. Concluding remarks The prediction of future threats using available knowledge on the impact on Cultural Heritage has been developed within the Noah’s Ark Project, applying the output of climate models with the damage processes occurring on material characterizing the built heritage and cultural landscape. This has allowed the identification at a European scale of the areas experiencing different levels of risk in relation to different materials and single processes. The Project has both provided the basis for a novel area of research, opening the sector of investigation on the impact of climate change on Cultural Heritage, including the archaeological heritage, and has highlighted the need for future research. A priority is to provide scenarios on local scales in European archaeological sites by using predictive models which allow a downscaling, both at a spatial and at a temporal level. On the basis of the work carried out, it is not possible to provide predictions for areas lower than 50 x 50 km, and at this resolution for the near future period, closer to 2070. In order

Acknowledgements The Noah’s Ark Project on ‘Global Climate Change Impact on Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes’ was funded by the European Commission within the 6FP on Research (Contract SSPI-CT-2003-501837). The authors wish to thank the other partners involved in the Noah’s Ark project and their staff: M. Cassar, N. Blades and P. Biddulph, University College of London (UK); P. Brimblecombe, C. Grossi and I. Harris, University of East Anglia (UK); J. Tidblad , Corrosion and Metals Research Institute (Sweden); R. Kozlowski and L. Bratasz, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland); M. Drdácký, Zuzana Slížková and Ivo Herle, Czech Academy of Sciences (Czech Republic); C. Saiz- Jimenez and J. Gonzales Grau, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiologia (Spain); T. Grøntoft and Gaute Svenningsen, Norwegian Institute for Air Research (Norway); I. Wainwright and C. Hawkings, 298

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Ecclesiastical Insurance Group (UK); A. Gomez Bolea and X. Ariño Vila, Biologia y Medio Ambiente S.L. (Spain).

age and Archaeological Sites in a Changing Climate’, Science of the Total Environment 377, pp. 273-281 IPCC, 2001, Climate Change 2001: The scientific Basis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) IPCC, 2007, Climate Change 2007 (Geneva, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (Cambridge: Cambridge Univesity Press) Kucera, V. et al. 2007, ‘UN/ECE ICP Materials Dose-Response Functions for the Multi-Pollutant Situation’ in P. Brimblecombe, H. Hara, D. Houle, M. Novak (eds) Acid Rain – Deposition to Recovery (Berlin: Springer Netherland) Sabbioni, C. et al. 2006, ‘Global Climate Change on Built Heritage and Cultural Landscapes’ in R. Fort, M. Alvarez de Buergo, M. Gomez-Heras, C. VazquezCalvo (eds) Heritage, Weathering and Conservation (London: Taylor & Francis) Sabbioni C. et al. 2007a, ‘Atmospheric Pollution Effects on Hydraulic Mortars’, Pollution atmosphérique, pp. 55-62 Sabbioni C. et.al., 2007b, ‘Mapping Climate Change and Cultural Heritage’ in M. Drdácky, M. Chapuis (eds) Safeguarded Cultural Heritage. Understanding & Viability for the Enlarged Europe. Proceedings of the 7th European Conference ‘SAUVEUR’, 31st May - 3rd June 2006, Prague, Czech Republic (Praha: ITAM) Sabbioni C. et al. 2007c, Global Climate Change Impact on Built Heritage and cultural Landscapes – Atlas and Guidelines (London: ISAC, CNR)

References Baer, N.S., Snethlage, R., 1997, Saving our Architectural Heritage: the Conservation of Historic Structures (Chichester, New York: Wiley & Sons) Bonazza A. et al. 2005, ‘Quantitative Data on Carbon Fractions in Interpretation of Black Crusts and Soiling on European Built Heritage’, Atmospheric Environment 39, pp. 2607-2618 Bonazza A. et al. 2007, ‘Blackening as Major Atmospheric Pollution Effect on Monuments’, Pollution atmosphérique, pp. 7-12 Brimblecombe P., Grossi, C.M., Harris, I., 2006, ‘Long term trends in dampness in England’, Weather 61, pp. 278-281 Cassar, M., 2005, Climate Change and the Historic Environment (London: University College London) Cassar, M. et al. 2001, Technological Requirements for Solutions in the Conservation and Protection of Historic Monuments and Archaeological Remains (Scientific and Technological Options Assessment Unit, PE 303.120/Fin.St.) (Brussels: European Parliament, DG for Research) Grossi, C.M., Brimblecombe P., Harris I., 2007,‘Predicting Long Term Freeze-Thaw Risks on Europe Built Herit-

Fig. 1 - Mean annual surface recession of carbonate stone for recent past (1961-1990), near future (20102039) and far future (2070-2099) under the A2 scenario derived from HadCM3 output. 299

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Fig. 2 - Mean surface recession projections for the far future (2070-2099) under the A2 scenario derived from HadRM3 output.

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CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT AND PRESENTATION OF SIT

The restoration and consolidation of archaeological sites and historical buildings. Science – research – technology  

Pasquale Zaffaroni Abstract This paper concerns the restoration interventions to be carried out to restore or maintain an archaeological site or a historical building. In this context a particular attention has to be put on four necessary operations, i.e. analysis, diagnosis, choice of the materials and application methodologies which help us study and develop a specific product line, MAPE-ANTIQUE, especially, conceived and used for these purposes.

1. INTRODUCTION In order to deal with restoration interventions on historical buildings, it is necessary to pay a particular attention to the quality of the materials used to avoid damages which are quite difficult, if not impossible, to be remedied

2. DISCUSSION A restoration project is an activity which requires great knowledge, preliminary studies, different types of analysis. In the absence of precise directives, in order to deal correctly with the restoration of a historical building, it is necessary to carry out at least four operations: • analysis • diagnosis • choice of the materials • definition of the application methodologies Analysis. An analysis is necessary, since it is directed to collect historical data on the structure, and information on the materials that compose the historical buildings and on their state of conservation. Diagnosis. Through numerous and complex chemical analyses a diagnosis is used to evaluate the degradation state of the materials and to define its causes in order to allow the restorers to act on the origin of the phenomenon. The choice of the materials is a very important operation, since the materials chosen should be both reversible and should respect the historical building which is going to be restored. In short, these should be compatible with the original materials both from a chemical, physical, mechanical and an elastic point of view. Unfortunately, very often, these three simple but important concepts are disregarded; one, in fact, tends to use products and application techniques identical to the ones which have always been used, forgetting that these are not always the aptest ones; their choice should depend also on the different environmental conditions one is going to work in. Sometimes, on the contrary, one chooses materials which

have not been properly and seriously tested and which, therefore, may cause, with the passing of time, problems to the restored buildings. For example, to consolidate an original material containing some gypsum, it is necessary to use a product that doesn’t give rise to any chemical reaction with this salt (Fig. 1). Or, in case the historical building has to be protected, the system that has to be chosen for this aim should ensure to the treated material a high vapour permeability. This avoids that this material scales with the time because of tensions which may arise from the presence of humidity inside it. Application methodologies depend on the type of product chosen and that has to be applied correctly according to the indications recommended by the producer. If these are not followed, the results obtained can be poor and the risk not to meet the required performances is rather high. Therefore, in the study of a restoration project, more specialists are involved, that is, not only archaeologists, architects, engineers, historians but also material manufacturers who, on the basis of the found problem, should suggest the most suitable products and guarantee a constant technical assistance while the works are in progress. As you can infer from our above mentioned considerations, the restoration project requires a strong professional effort also from the suppliers, who should do their best to reach the important objective which is the safeguarding of the historical buildings. MAPEI has actually always devoted a lot of effort to research, by investing in it about 5% of its sales. MAPEI has seven main research centres: two in Italy, one in France, one in Germany, one in Canada, one in the United States and one in Norway. Research is the sector where MAPEI continues to hire most of its employees. The labs are equipped with high-tech instruments and work in contact with universities and scientific and industrial research institutes. They also support the technical service departments to solve customers’ most challenging problems. The ability to analyse raw materials and identify their potential is essential for the technological development of new products. This is why MAPEI labs use the most advanced worktools and techniques for chemical and chemical-physical analysis, such as X-ray diffractometers, spectrophotometers, chromatographs of every kind and ESEMFEG electronic microscopes.

Pasquale Zaffaroni

MAPEI is renowned as a technical innovator across the world. Its involvement in many large scale prestigious projects has been facilitated by its complete range of products, developed to meet specific design requirements for new constructions, as well as for repair, consolidation, reinforcement. The problems of repairing buildings affected by rising damp, and of consolidating historic building are solved by using products that are mechanically and chemically compatible with old masonry: cement-free dehumidifying mortars, durable in spite of their high porosity (MAPEANTIQUE line).

masonry producing gypsum. In case of presence of aluminates these sulphates form also crystals of ettringite, a highly expansive salt able to create cracks and a strong degradation. In the products of the MAPE-ANTIQUE range this phenomenon does not occur thanks to the total absence of free lime. Thanks to these characteristics the MAPE-ANTIQUE products show, from a morphological point of view, already after a few days, a structure which may be compared with that of a lime and pozzolan-based binder, which only reaches this state after years of ageing.

3. Mape-Antique line

4. MORPHOLOGY OF THE MORTARS

The products of the MAPE-ANTIQUE range contain ecopozzolan, a non-organic, synthetic, pozzolanic material which is extremely light in colour, particularly rich in amorphous silica and with a large specific surface area of high reactivity. Thanks to these characteristics, eco-pozzolan has the capacity of setting-off the hardening of hydrated lime in a very short space of time, which makes the restoration mortar and injection slurry completely resistant to soluble salts only a few days after the application. Unlike binders normally used in the building industry, such as aerated lime, hydraulic lime and natural hydraulic lime which also harden by carbonation, the reaction between lime and eco-pozzolan leads to the formation of silicon-aluminates, where the free lime is already completely ‘consumed’ only a few days after its application. This important characteristic gives the product in the MAPE-ANTIQUE range, which is made up of lime and eco-pozzolan, high resistance to all the soluble salts present in the masonry work after only a very short time. The products of the MAPE-ANTIQUE range are completely free from cement and have been specially created for the consolidation and repair of the masonry work of historical brick, stone and tuff buildings subject to deterioration phenomenon, especially when due to the presence of capillary rising damp. These products possess physical-mechanical characteristics similar to those of the materials used for the original design, and have a high level of physical and chemical resistance to an attack by aggressive agents, such as sulphates, chlorides and nitrates, which are either already present in the masonry or are transported into it by capillary rising damp. All the products in the MAPE-ANTIQUE range have a macroporous structure, which allows the water contained in the masonry to evaporate off, thus guaranteeing that the structure effected by the humidity dries off quickly, and that the salts inside the masonry are able to crystallize without producing stresses which could then damage the render (Fig. 2). On the contrary, products that contain hydraulic lime, hydrated lime and natural hydraulic lime, even if sufficiently porous and mechanically compatible with the materials originally used, are not immune from the risk of chemical attack. In fact, the free lime contained in these materials may set off chemical reactions with the sulphates coming from the

The binder of MAPE-ANTIQUE range reveals a microstructure very similar to that of the binder in the ‘period mortar’. The micrograph shows the rounded structure characteristic of a system that is already stabilized. These properties have been also confirmed by chemical and physical-mechanical analyses carried out by MAPEI analytical lab (Figs 3-4).

5. EXAMPLES OF APPLICATION Here is a list of some restorations carried out with the MAPE-ANTIQUE (see the bibliography and for further references the site www.mapei.com). Palazzo dei Normanni, Palermo – Italy. Basilica di San Francesco, Assisi – Italy (Balsamo et al. 1998, Cerulli and Salvioni 1998, Cerulli and Salvioni 1999). Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, Milan – Italy (Bandera 2004). Domus Aurea, Rome – Italy. Jericho – Palestine (Figs 5-6). Tilmen Höyük – Turkey (Fig. 7). Church of the Santissima Annunziata, Ispica – Italy (Fig. 8). Castle of Caen – France (Fig. 9).

6. CONCLUSIONS In this paper we have highlighted the steps to be taken when restoring archaeological sites and historical buildings, and the typical procedure followed on this purpose using MAPEI products of the MAPE-ANTIQUE range. We have also highlighted how this products range is able to confer to restored buildings a high durability making them admirable and usable for a very long time.

REFERENCES Balsamo, A., Battista, U., Calandrino, N., Soffi, R., 1998, ‘Attraverso l’occhio di San Francesco’, Realtà Mapei 34, pp. 2-8 Cerulli, T., Salvioni, D., 1998, ‘Mechanical ChemicalPhysical Characterisation of Bricks and Mortars of 304

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the 13th Century used for the Construction of the Basilica of S. Francesco in Assisi’, in L. Jany (ed.) Proceedings of the Twentieth International Conference on Cement Microscopy, April 19-23, 1998, Presidente Inter-Continental Hotel, Guadalajara, Mexico (Duncanville: International Cement Microscopy Association), pp. 385-393 Cerulli, T., Salvioni, D., 1999, ‘Comparative Study among the Possible Binders for the Restoration of Histori-

Fig. 1 - ANSTETT TEST – Resistance to sulphates. Products not resistant to sulphates. It is possible to notice a considerable expansion due to the formation of ettringite.

Fig. 3 - Electron microscope micrograph of the ‘period’mortar, showing the completed carbonated amorphous matrix.

cal Buildings and in Particular of the San Francesco Basilica in Assisi’, in L. Jany (ed.) Proceedings of the Twenty-First International Conference on Cement Microscopy, April 25-29, 1999, Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (Duncanville: International Cement Microscopy Association), pp. 415-428 Bandera, D., 2004, ‘Sant’Ambrogio, l’oratorio ritrovato’, Realtà Mapei 66, pp. 2-9

Fig. 2 - Photo by ESEM showing the numerous porosities present in the products of MAPE-ANTIQUE range.

Fig. 4 - Electron microscope micrograph of MAPEANTIQUE after eight days of curing, showing the rounded structure of an already stabilized system

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Fig. 5 - Restorations of 3rd millennium BC mudbrick walls at Jericho (Palestine).

Fig. 6 - Consolidation by means of ethyl-silicate of 2nd millennium BC mudbrick walls at Jericho.

Fig. 7 - Consolidation of 2nd millennium BC floors at Tilmen Höyük (Turkey).

Fig. 8 - Restoration of the vaults of the Baroque church of Santissima Annunziata at Ispica, Sicily.

Fig. 9 - Restoration of the limestone walls of the medieval castle of Caen (France), by means of injections of MAPE-ANTIQUE I.

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Giovanna De Palma Abstract In the last decades, the ISCR (formerly Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, now Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro) has been deeply concerned with several frontiers of technological innovation and advanced research. Around 1970 the attention towards conservation brought to the opening of a new training course in the ISCR school, specifically aimed at the archaeological finds. Two aspects of the problem need to be stressed because they are closely connected with the problem of archaeological operations: the specific training of the archaeological restorer and the creations of homogeneous standards in conservation operations. The various activities carried out share a common goal – the perfection of methods for safeguarding our Artistic and Cultural Heritage – to provide reliable guidelines by exploring new approaches, testing their actual feasibility and sharing new experience among the wider community of conservators and archaeologists interested and practically involved in conservation.

In the last decades, the ISCR (formerly Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, now Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro) has been deeply concerned with several frontiers of technological innovation and advanced research. Actually, the ultimate goal of our Institute branch is to provide reliable guidelines by exploring new approaches, testing their actual feasibility and sharing new experience among the wider community of conservators and archaeologists interested and practically involved in conservation. Many of these studies involved experimental applications, and many proposed a new, highly dynamic relationship between the conservation of archaeological areas, isolated structures and artefacts of variable complexity. We are gradually abandoning the idea of the existence of sharp boundaries between ‘areas’, ‘environments’ and complex artefacts that in many cases may represent highly peculiar microenvironments in themselves. It would be impossible to summarize everything in the short time of this presentation. Therefore I will limit myself to present some of the relevant research themes and practical experimental applications carried on by our Archaeological Heritage branch. The subjects I will mention are conservation on the field, laboratory microexcavations, advances in the restoration treatment and conservation of ancient bronzes, and our recent experience in conservation and microenvironmental monitoring of highly peculiar archaeological contexts, such as underground buried chamber graves with painted surfaces. The case studies concern some Etruscan graves of outstanding archaeological relevance. In each case study, our main effort was to test new conservation strategies and new methods (for documentation, actual restoration and post-treatment monitoring). Conservation on the field – and this means in the excavation trench itself, as soon as the endangered object comes to light – is universally acknowledged as a form of preventive intervention. Prevention means that the find comes under the protection of specialists before major damages are actually observed. In this light, an immediate intervention on the field is not only mandatory for the safeguard of newly exposed cultural items, but is also cheaper. In the very moment when the object faces a radical microenvironment transformation, it minimises costs for maximizing

conservation. In the most delicate moment of the individual history of each object, field conservation places the item in the wider framework of its general environmental and microenvironmental constraints. We insist that a conservator constantly active on the field, working side by side with archaeologists, warrants the best chances of survival for the excavated finds and a critical understanding of many key aspects of the deposition environment. Nonetheless, we believe for short-sighted economical planning, this basic issue is largely ignored, not only in the ‘hard core’ reality of rescue and contract archaeology, but, most often, in the frame of well funded and carefully planned archaeological projects. Around 1970 this attention for conservation brought to the opening of a new training course in the ISCR school, specifically aimed at the archaeological finds. Two aspects of the problem need to be stressed because they are closely connected with the problem of archaeological operations: the specific training of the archaeological restorer and the creations of homogeneous standards in conservation operations. Usually the archaeologist considers the conservation operation to be done on the field as exceptional situations wich are hurried under pressure of emergency cases. It is not sufficiently appreciated that even the most common cases of field rescue of materials can determine the survival of the finds. Only the collaboration between the archaeologist and the restorer and their work side by side, not only making decisions on how to carry out the rescue of fragile materials and their stabilization, but also on the general planning of the conservation and on the relative costing, can contribute to the resolution of the problem. Our institute has in fact pursued, in recent years, this type of policy, putting the students in contact, on the field, with the methodological problems and the techniques of documentation of a stratigraphic excavation, intervening both in excavations conducted by Italian universities and in emergency excavations, such as practical training (Figs 1-2). A logically consequent step, and sometimes a practical alternative, widely applied by our Institute and by many archaeological field projects, is the removal of large blocks of archaeological sediments including the artefacts to be

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treated and the transport of the block to a well equipped conservation laboratory. The excavation may then proceed in total security and far from the demanding contingencies of the archaeological dig. The acquisition of this smallerscale archaeological context involves the arrival of a small but highly meaningful fraction of the archaeological area or site in the protected environment of the lab. Conservators and archaeologists will understand its contingencies only if the intervention on the field previously brought on a critical evaluation of the general environmental and depositional context. In fact, this solution is frequently applied when dealing with complex assemblages like those we might encounter in some rich graves. The blocks to be ‘microexcavated’ may be highly variable in size, shape and fragility. The growth in weight is exponentially related to the size of the object to be removed, and every single step of this operation needs to be carefully planned before being actually performed by experienced personnel. In our experience, anyhow, a competent conservator, an archaeologist and a team of expert yard workers can overcome any kind of practical problems. The steps we envisage for this kind of approach include a careful documentation of the local stratigraphy, with particular attention to the presence of faint negative interfaces and traces left by wooden objects (i.e., boxes, coffins, artefacts); the gradual isolation and undercutting of the block to be lifted, simultaneously supported by wooden planks, iron fittings and protected by soft buffer materials (in first place poliuretane foams); extraction and transport; microclimatic control in the laboratory; documentation, analytical studies, detailed excavation, recovery of the individual artefacts and conservation treatment. The cases followed by my Institute include the microexcavation of the funerary urns of a proto-Villanovian cemetery at Pratica di Mare near Rome (10th-9th centuries BC), the extremely rich graves of Alianello and Chiaromonte (Basilicata, Italy) (6th century BC) (Figs 3-4) and the unique case of a princely grave at Sirolo (Marche, Italy, 5th century BC) where, besides a very rich inhumation floor with hundreds of personal ornaments and other objects, we have been intrigued with the documentation and the museal reconstruction of a huge funerary chariot with bronze fittings (Fig. 5) Our experience suggests that the concept of ‘laboratory microexcavation’ may be usefully extended from portions of the local stratigraphy to particularly complex artefacts. One of the formal features that may distinguish artificial objects from natural contexts is concentric geometry, and in many cases we deal with artefacts containing other artefacts. In some cases, for example, the sediments we find are purely artifi ial and should be considered as complex artefacts under any point of view. This is the case, for example, of residues of the original casting cores trapped within the interior cavities of large bronze statues. These cavities, for our purposes, can be considered very peculiar ‘archaeological areas’ or sites in themselves, on the basis of their contextual features. The scale of archaeological detail to be applied in each case depends upon the type of scientific questions we pose, rather than the absolute size or volume of the contexts we study. The archaeology and archaeometry of the casting cores became an important part of analytical studies on the large-

scale metallurgy of the ancient world only since the last thirty years, after seminal conservation projects such as our work on the Selinus youth, the Zeus found at Ugento or the restoration carried out at Florence on the Riace bronzes. My Institute developed the investigation of metallurgical interiors to what we recommend as a mandatory standard, involving subsequent and interconnected analytical applications such as X- and γ-rays radiography, videoendoscopy and remotedly controlled videoprobe inspections, before proceeding to similarly remotedly controlled manual microexcavations. At Reggio Calabria, the universally famous Riace bronze ‘twins’, threatened by a bronze disease promoted by the permanence on the inner walls of large amounts of the original casting clay, were manually microexcavated recording cross sections at intervals of 5-3 cm (Fig. 6). The sections, like in medical tomography, recorded the inner structure of the casting core revealing the intricated details of a hand-modelling technique so far unknown, and not reported by the ancient sources on this ancient technology. Thus, the conservation issue (the unavoidable removal of the clay from interior) brought us to reveal new light on the manufacturing technology, pointing to a direct casting instead of the previously hypothesized indirect process. At the same time, the careful recollection of thousands of samples of the clay used in each statue enabled us to start new studies aimed at characterizing the clay materials, defining their possible provenience from mainland Greece (Argos or Athens), and , even more recently, the current effort at dating the casting cores by the means of 14C-AMS measurements of a large number of organic samples found in the statues. This latter research is carried out by our colleagues of CEDAD (Centro di Datazione e Diagnostica), University of Salento, Lecce. Similar microexcavations, after the Riace experience, were applied to other archaeological bronzes, such as the Brindisi shipwreck collection and the ‘dancing satyr’ recovered offshore Mazara del Vallo in Sicily. Let me conclude with the conservative exploration of another type of artificial cavities and microenvironments, Etruscan graves. If in the Riace case we had to treat the inner surface for saving the bronze structure, in Etruscan painted graves we have to apply a diametrally contrary approach: to work on the structure (and its atmospheric content) in order to save its extremely delicate interior painted surfaces. In the Tomba dell’Orco, at Tarquinia (Fig. 7), our experts carried out specialized research for the monitoring of the aereal microbiological load, gathering information about aerodiffused microorganisms in order to evaluate the biodeterioration risk. At the same time, special non destructive techniques for the diagnosis in situ were applied for the identification of the pigment palette, reconstruction of the execution techniques, and a general evaluation of the state of conservation of the painting complex. We also identified in this way past restoration activities not documented by the available records. At Tarquinia, we also monitored the temperature and humidity variations between the interior and the exterior of the grave chambers along the night/day cycles, and the complex interaction between such cycles and the variable number of visitors allowed in the chambers. In the last years an increasing attention has been paid to 308

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the conservation of archaeological heritage, with particular reference to sites in the Mediterranean region. Such topics have been a main research interest for ISCR. Cultural Heritage, in its physical component, is subject to decay, caused by numerous different factors. The extension of the concept of Cultural Heritage or of cultural assets, an extremely stratified and varied complex of documents of the past that have a civilized, cultural value, requires an objective identification of the components of this heritage and of its state of conservation, as well as the necessity of real measures with well defined orders of priority. Thus the first aim is the study of the relations between factors of environmental danger, of vulnerability of individual assets and the methodology of assessment of the level of risk, as well as the study of the specific nature of the methodology of survey on the state of conservation, and hence the vulnerability, of the items of archaeological interest. From 1992 ISCR is developing the so-called Italian Cultural Heritage Risk Map, the most extensive system of data-banks, both alphanumerical and cartographic, today existing in Italy. It is based on significant studies and actual tests on the state of conservation of monumental buildings, archaeological areas, decorative complexes and various works of artistic and historical interest, trough special conservative sheets; and it contains, explores, overlaps and processes the informations on the potential risk factors and the tipology and territorial distribution of the heritage items, thus providing the basis for a programme of preventive conservation. Further, the ISCR together with ENEA (National Council for Research and Development) carried out a project focused on the development of a methodology for the design and planning of protective shelters in archeological

contexts. The aim was to standardize the planning process and define a guiding methodology to support the planning process for sheltering. The innovative element of the project was its interdisciplinary approach based on studies on microenvironmental control techniques, new methods in architectural planning and research of new materials leading to tangible progress in the development of structures for the protection of archaeological sites (Fig. 8). More recently ISCR has been pursuing a line of research regarding the possibility to realize a maintenance project, based on the priority of treatments and the intervention times for each architectural element regarding a monument. The case study is based on the revision of previous restorations of the three temples of Ceres, Neptune and Basilica in the archaeological area of Paestum. The temples were restored between 1997 and 1999 (Figs 9-12). In order to characterize the types of deterioration after a period of 6-10 years since the last restoration, a procedure of seasonal reconnaissance, photographic documentation and taxonomical identification of biodeteriorating agents was carried out. On the basis of the results the evaluation of progressive deterioration of travertine, sandstone and restoration materials was accomplished. The aim of the research is to provide reliable data for a programme of preventive conservation of the temples, in order to avoid large intervention by means of frequent and cheap treatments. Conservation of archaeological heritage is difficult, costly, and – in the light of the ongoing damage to our heritage – often frustrating. Nonetheless, the established fact that in every case analytical studies at the same time promote our general archaeological knowledge of the past, and give to the heritage better chances of survival in a fastly changing world is very encouraging.

Figs 1-2 - Faragola (Foggia), late imperial Roman villa. Burnt wood detached by one of the ISCR students.

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Fig. 3 - Policoro, Museo della Siritide, Tomb 594 from Alianello (Matera) before the microexcavation.

Fig. 4 - Policoro, Museo della Siritide, Tomb 594 from Alianello (Matera) after the microexcavation.

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Fig. 5 - I Pini di Sirolo (Ancona): the female grave before the detachment.

Fig. 6 - Museo Nazionale di Reggio Calabria, Statue ‘B’ during the removal of the casting clay.

Fig. 7 - Tarquinia (Viterbo), Tomba dell’Orco, didactic restoration work on the wall paintings.

Fig. 8 - Castellammare di Stabia (Napoli), Villa di Arianna, the new shelter.

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Fig. 9 - Paestum (Salerno), Ceres temple before the restoration.

Fig. 10 - Paestum (Salerno), Ceres temple after the restoration.

Fig. 11 - Paestum (Salerno), Neptune temple before the restoration.

Fig. 12 - Paestum (Salerno), Neptune temple after the restoration.

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The policy for the conservation of the archaeological heritage in Turkey  

Abdullah Kocapınar Abstract This paper summarizes the main guidelines adopted by the Turkish Ministry of Culture for research, protection, conservation and management of the archaeological heritage. References are made here to laws of the Republic and to ministerial regulations, as well as to our official views and priorities as expressed in our policy on the subject.

Turkey has been a home to many civilizations for centuries as its geographical characteristics were suitable for human settlement. The ruins of these civilizations made Turkey one of the most important countries with a substantial World Cultural Heritage. As well as that, the facilities that our natural heritage provides are complementary to our Cultural Heritage. Cultural and natural property consist of assets that are irreplaceable once they are ruined and can easily be damaged. As well as its advantages, heritage brings about big problems and responsibilities. Thus, it is obligatory to sustain the conservation efforts intensively and effectively. The first legal document for the conservation of the Cultural Heritage is the ‘Decree of Antiquities’ enacted in 1869. In 1874, a new regulation was adopted. The most important provision in this regulation stipulates that the ancient monuments are the property of the State. The 1906 regulation, which had very modern provisions for its time, was used until 1973. The foundation for the conservation of the modern Cultural Heritage in Turkey was laid once the High Commission of Immovable Antiquities and Monuments started its activities based on a law enacted in 1951. In 1973, The Law on Antiquities no. 1710, which is the first Antiquities Law of the Republican Period, was enacted. This Law brought forward modern approaches and new definitions to conservation, maintenance and assessment of the cultural and natural property and formed the institutional regulations. As this law was not sufficient to address the changing needs, The Law on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties no. 2863 was enacted in 1983. The Article 63 of our Constitution stipulates that ‘the State ensures the conservation of historical, cultural and natural properties and heritage and takes measures to support and encourage this effort’. The task of conserving the cultural, natural, historical and urban properties is given to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with Law no. 2863. As the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, our task is to conserve and renovate the cultural and natural heritage, establish a balance between conservation and utilization and most importantly, revitalize and transmit them to the next generations, within the framework of the Law on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties no. 2863. Being aware of the importance of our Cultural Herit-

age for our Country and the development of our cultural identity, we are effectively carrying out planning, management and training services for our cultural and natural properties on the basis of extensive and sustainable conservation, governance and local ownership principles. We are trying to increase the countrywide quality of conservation and establish strategies through participatory relations with the relevant institutions, at the national and international level. As a result of revision efforts for the conservation legislation, important and effective legislative changes were made in the Conservation Law in 2004. Important developments have taken place in the conservation of Cultural Heritage with the enactment of Law no. 5226 and the other relevant regulations. Within the scope of this restructuring phase it is aimed to develop a conservation policy that covers all the central and local governments, establish the necessary infrastructure, prepare the resources in order to sustain this policy and protect the users during the conservation activities. As a result of the changes that were made: • Sanctions were brought forward along with the implementation of conservation - oriented construction plans. • In order to support the preparation of conservationoriented construction plans by the Municipalities, allocations were transferred to the budget of the Provincial Bank and the Special Provincial Administrations. • A provision to establish Conservation, Implementation and Inspection Offices that have the authority to give permits for and inspect simple renovations within the area of the Municipalities and Governorates. The 10% contributions levied from the Real Estate Tax for the Immovable Cultural Properties are transferred to the projects that are devised to conserve and assess the cultural properties, to be used for the conservation and assessment of the cultural properties in the area of Municipalities. • A VAT rebate was foreseen for the revitalizing activities for the listed properties. Moreover exemptions in various taxes and duties are made for these properties. • 10% of the loans to be given from the Mass Housing Fund are used for the maintenance and renovation of the cultural properties.

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Moreover, in accordance with the ‘Regulation on Assistance to Renovation of Immovable Cultural Properties’ adopted in 2005, assistance has been extended to the conservation of immovable cultural and natural properties under the possession of real and legal entities. To this end, procedures for in cash assistance to the building survey, restoration and restitution projects have been carried out (Fig. 1). Within the mainframe of this Regulation the Ministry extended assistance to 246 projects in 2005, 416 projects in 2006 and 247 projects in 2007. The process concerning the revision of the legislation on conservation has been completed to a great extent, whereas the activities for smooth continuation of implementations concerning conservation are continuing. Turkey has taken her place in the activities which have been intensified in the area of conservation at the International platform as from 1970s. Turkey, along with the UNESCO member States, adopted the Convention on the Conservation of World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1983 and is thus committed to ensure conservation of cultural and natural heritage in her territories. The sites in our Country which are included in the List of World Cultural Properties are as follows: Pamukkale (Hierapolis), Göreme-Cappadocia, Istanbul, BoğazköyHattusha, Mount Nemrut, Xanthos-Letoon, Divriği Ulu Mosque and Darüşşifa, Safranbolu and Troy. With regard to these sites, periodic reporting and follow-up activities under the UNESCO have been ongoing. Furthermore, a protocol was signed between our Ministry and the National Committee of UNESCO in 2006 in order to establish the List of National Cultural Properties of Turkey. Putting together the cultural properties into a List of Cultural Properties, it is aimed to set out a joint strategy for conservation and development, to build up and strengthen national awareness. The List of National Properties is being established since 2007. For the conservation of our cultural properties various building surveys, restitution and restoration projects are being developed and implemented. Depending on the substance of the activity, joint projects are also being developed in cooperation with international organisations and institutions such as UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICCROM, World Bank, European Union, Global Heritage Fund, World Monuments Fund. On the basis of a holistic approach, comprehensive projects are being developed and conducted on the conservation, documentation and development of management plans for the conservation, development and assessment of special and archaeological sites or monumental properties, which have priority for conservation and which are in the List of World Cultural Properties, in the support list or expected to be in the list. The identification activities which have been carried out within the scope of the Law on the Conservation of the Cultural and Natural Properties across the Country are being conducted through consultations with the relevant institutions and organisations, under the coordination of our Ministry. An inventory of immovable cultural properties across Turkey has been developed. A total of 9161 Protected Sites and 81,887 Listed Immovable Cultural Properties across

Turkey have been identified at of the end of 2007 (Table 1). The Conservation Boards have been conducting activities with regard to these Protected Sites and Immovable Cultural and Natural Properties on the basis of their power conferred by law. The Supreme Board for Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties and the Regional Boards for Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties, attached to our Ministry in accordance with the Conservation Law, aim to ensure conservation of cultural, natural and urban properties in Turkey as well as execution of services on Immovable Cultural Properties on the basis of scientific principles The duties and powers of the Supreme Board are to set the principles to be applicable in the procedures concerning the conservation of Immovable Cultural Properties, to evaluate the overall problems which arise in implementation due to the decisions taken by the regional boards for conservation and to present an opinion to the Ministry on the same, to evaluate the appeals to the decisions taken with regard to the Protected Areas and render a decision. The Supreme Board for Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties and the Regional Boards for Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties are the decisionmaking bodies on ‘conservation’ activities, due to their duties defined by law. Establishment of a sound relationship between the urban dwellers and managers, and upkeep of the identities of cities can be possible through ‘correct’ application of the decisions. In order to ensure more swift and sound execution of conservation services, the number of Regional Conservation Boards was increased to 31 in 2006 and 2007 (Pl. IV: 3).1 The resolutions of the Supreme Board for Conservation cover the principles to be followed in the practices for the conservation, rehabilitation and improvement of Immovable Cultural and Natural Properties. Regional Conservation Boards take decisions within the mainframe of the resolution of the Supreme Board for Conservation. Regional Conservation Boards are composed of a total of seven permanent members; five representatives to be selected by the Ministry among experts on archaeology, history of art, law, architecture and urban planning; and two representatives to be selected by the Supreme Board of Education, as well as relevant members representing the Ministry and the institutions. Within the framework of the ‘Law on Conservation of Deteriorated Immovable Historical and Cultural Properties by Renovation and Utilization through Revitalization’ no. 5366 adopted in 2005, in order to take decisions on renewal projects, as many Regional Conservation Boards as needed could be established, provided that their powers and responsibilities are restricted with the renewal areas in accordance with the Law no. 2863 on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties. Within the scope of this provision Ankara and Istanbul Renewal Areas Regional Conservation Boards have been established, in order to execute the procedures and practices pertaining to the renewal areas declared in Istanbul and A   t the time of going into the press we learn that in August 2008 the Council of Ministers has decided to establish another three Regional Boards in addition to those listed in Pl. IV: 3: Gaziantep, Kütahya and Istanbul VII (Editors’ note). 1

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Ankara, and these Boards are currently operational. Moreover the Law no. 5226 confers powers to particularly the local administrations in addition to responsibilities for conservation, and defines new resources for the execution of conservation services. The power of supervision of certain duties and applications executed by Regional Boards for Conservation of Cultural and Natural Properties regarding the immovable cultural and natural Properties, Conservation Sites and Protected Sites has been delegated to the local administrations. Thus it has been aimed to: • accelerate implementation; • reduce the work load of Regional Conservation Boards; • ensure an operational supervision mechanism; • ensure an effective conservation culture. One of the significant novelties introduced by the said legislation is the Conservation, Implementation and Supervision Offices (KUDEB). The establishment of Conservation Implementation and Supervision Offices under the Special Provincial Administrations and Municipalities reduced the intensity of issues and problems at the Boards, and brought about more effective execution of procedures regarding the cultural and natural properties. The activities are conducted in order to conserve the immovable Cultural Heritage in our Country, to harmonize them with current conditions and to evaluate them, ensure the conservation and transfer to future generations of immovable cultural properties that are the relics of our ancestors. Moreover the local administrations, private and legal entities are guided through model practices. The Directorate General has been conducting its activities through the investment budget of the Ministry or Directorate of Revolving Fund Enterprises, within the scope of the Conservation Law and other relevant legislation. In accordance with the Conservation Law and the Regulation adopted in connection with this Law in 1984 on ‘Surveys, Exploration and Excavations for Cultural and Natural Properties’, the permits concerning the excavations and researches to be conducted by local and foreign experts are granted by the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Museums under our Ministry. In recent years we have faced the duty of reanalyzing, evaluating the Turkish archaeology, archaeological excavations and surveys, our understanding of conservation and developing new policies. These new policies and criteria to be set are objective assessments which do not target individuals and a specific segment, are not subjective and are totally for the benefit of the Turkish archaeology and the Country. In this mainframe rather than increasing the number of excavations, it has been aimed to carry out a small number of quality excavations accommodating well equipped dig houses and excavation warehouses, employing experienced and sufficient number of experts from related fields, ensuring financi l resources for at least ten years and being executed by teams that are supported by universities and other scientific institutions. As for the surveys, it has been deemed appropriate that these surveys are conducted by

teams, the scientific competence and experience of which have been confirmed by universities and scientific boards on related disciplines, and having sufficient financial resources. Excavations and surveys conducted by our Directorate General are categorized under the following topics: • National Excavations permitted by Cabinet Decree • Foreign Excavations permitted by Cabinet Decree • Museum Excavations • Museum Salvage Excavations • Activities in Dam Regions • Turkish Surveys • Foreign Surveys In 2007 Turkish and Foreign Scientific Missions conducted 180 excavations permitted by Cabinet Decree and 102 surveys. 81 of the excavations were conducted by Turkish and 43 were conducted by foreign missions, whereas 68 of the surveys were executed by Turkish and 28 were executed by foreign missions (Figs 2-4). The requests for excavations and researches extended to our Ministry in 2008 have been evaluated in line with the legislation in effect and in consideration of their compatibility with scientific criteria, by the commission established under our Ministry with the participation of expert academics from related disciplines. The procedures concerning the cultural and natural properties in the sea and under the water, which need conservation as much as those on ground, also fall under the mandate of the Directorate General of Cultural Properties and Museums. Detection and conservation of underwater archaeological sites and execution of excavation and survey activities in these sites, particularly in sunken ships, are among activities conducted by our organization. The process in underwater excavations is conducted in parallel to the activities on the ground. Within the scope of the events held by UNESCO on ‘Museums Day’, celebrated on May 18th across the world in order to explain the importance of Cultural Heritage and conservation, May 18th-24th is celebrated every year as ‘Museums Week’ under the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Museums. Throughout this week children’s festivals, workshops, theatrical shows, seminars, conferences, meetings and visits to archaeological sites are organized in order to introduce the idea of conservation to the people, particularly to the children. In addition to the activities held by the Ministry with the aim of conserving and improving the archaeological heritage of various civilisations, the Ministry has launched the National Conservation Awards in order to encourage people who carry out and contribute in conservation activities. These awards are aimed at safeguarding our assets and properties created in the past and ensuring high quality architecture of today that will be a legacy for the future. Finally, every year our Directorate General holds an International Excavation, Research and Archaeometry Symposium with regards to the excavations and surveys conducted in Turkey: the 30th symposium has been held on May 26th-30th 2008 in Ankara.

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TYPE OF SITE

2004

2005

2006

Archaeological Sites

6037

6192

6687

Natural Sites

932

947

1081

Urban Sites

191

194

207

Historical Sites

130

132

137

Other

380

385

409

-

-

37

7670

7850

8558

Urban Archaeological Total

Table 1 - Number of registered cultural sites in Turkey.

AID FUND FOR REGISTERED BUILDINGS

450

416 400

Fig. 1 - Aid fund for registered buildings.

350

300

250

246 247

200

Project Application

150 100

107 50

40

2

0 2005

2006 2007

EXCAVATION 2007

90 81

80

83

70 60 54 50 43 40 30 20 17 10 0

Fig. 2 - Total number of excavations carried out in Turkey in 2007.

Turkish

316

2 Foreign

Museum

Salvation Excavations

Dam Salvation

Highways Salvation

The policy for the conservation of the archaeological heritage in Turkey

FOREIGN EXCAVATIONS (2002-2007) 44

Fig. 3 - Foreign excavations (2002-2007).

43 42

40

38

39

38 37 36

36

37

34

32 2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

FOREIGN EXCAVATIONS (2002-2007)

14

13

12 10 8

8 7

6 5

4

317

Belgium

Austria

France

UK

Italy

USA

Fig. 4 - Foreign excavations by Country in 2007.

Germany

0

1

1

1

1

Netherlands

2

Canada

2

Japan

2

Sweden

2

Low impact restoration techniques, coverings and fixed devices in an archaeological park: a case study at Tilmen Höyük in Turkey  

Stefano F. Musso Abstract This article deals with an experience on the construction, development and application of a ‘model’ for the planning, accomplishment and management of an archaeological park, starting from the crucial issue concerning the conservation and restoration of its ancient remains. This model was tested through a real action, carried out in the field: the case study of Tilmen Höyük in South-East Turkey. The model was conceived as a transferable one to other archaeological sites in the Mediterranean area, and was developed assuming as a benchmark the basic requirements of historical, archaeological, technological, chemical-physical, environmental and social sciences, with a particular attention for the problems presented by the foreseen mixed touristic-didactic uses of the site. As far as accessibility and use are concerned, we set up a modular system prototype for covering archaeological areas, with low costs adaptable to other sites, and all modular devices – fixed and mobile – necessary for a correct use of the park. The achieved results, culminated with the inauguration of the archaeological park in October 2007, are the product of a real interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work, which has been constantly developed giving prominent attention to the themes of eco-compatibility and sustainabilit, under the social, economic, technical and environmental points of view within a strict and coherent idea of international cooperation.

1. Aims Within a research programme, funded by the Italian Ministry for Education, Universities and Research – FIRB 2003 Programme – the Research Unit in Genoa put forward and completed a ‘model’ for the planning, accomplishment and management of an archaeological park, starting from the crucial issue concerning the conservation and restoration of ancient remains. This model was to be tested through a real ‘constructive action’, carried out in the field: the case study of Tilmen Höyük (Islahiye – Gaziantep Region – South-East Turkey) (Figs 1-2). From the actual research start point, it was conceived to be transferable to other archaeological sites in the Mediterranean area, both of Classical and pre-Classical origin. In line with the main goals of the project, the huge mass of different material produced during the past three years (databases, technical reports, surveys, drawings and technical descriptions, etc.) can be considered and assumed as an important ground, on which building some sort of guidelines as regards restoration methods for ancient structures and planning activities for an archaeological park to rest. The whole plot was developed assuming as a prominent benchmark the requirements of historical, archaeological, technological, chemical-physical, environmental and social sciences, with a particular attention on the problems presented by the foreseen mixed tourist and didactic uses of the site. As a part of this project, in particular, as far as accessibility and use are concerned, the Genoa Unit set up a modular system prototype for covering archaeological areas, with low production costs, and all modular devices – fixed and mobile – necessary for a correct use of the park.1  The architects member of the Research Unity of the University of Genoa, Italy – Department of Sciences for Architecture (DSA) were: M. Benedetta Spadolini, DSA (research unit responsible), Stefano F. Musso, DSA (responsible for restoration works and for the archaeological park), Gio1

The core of the entire programme was that such a project should have been developed and carried out on an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and, also, trans-disciplinary ground. For this reason, five different groups worked together with the aim of implementing an integrated archaeological park, also involving some Turkish partners in order to enhance the transfer of knowledge, accomplishing one of the main goals of the programme.2 The project, in our minds, should have included the design and accomplishment of the ‘visit paths’ for tourists, by installing a complete and structured system of illustrative panels, the design and execution of the restoration interventions for the safeguard and conservation of ancient excavated structures, but also the construction of a modular and removable covering structure for the mudbrick walls excavated in area K-5. Besides, the eco-sustainability of the whole intervention and the site management required the control of the environment through climate and ground measurements and demanded to plan and adopt some vegetation control plans along with a management model for the archaeological site and its green areas of outstanding naturalistic interest. A GSM-connected network for the remote monitoring vanna Franco, DIPARC (project coordinator for the park and its equipments), Niccolò Casiddu, DSA (project for the park and its equipments), Elena Rosa, DSA (comunication graphics and ‘on-site’ works) and Chiara Davite – Archièo s.r.l. (restoration works design and on-site interventions), Gabriele Vescovi (comunication graphics and 3D elaborations). Partnerships were estabilished with the following Turkish Universities: for archaeological aspects with Istanbul (Faculty of Arts and Humanities), for environmental issues with Çukurova (Faculty of Sciences and Humanities), for design aspects with Marmara (Faculty of Fine Arts) and for restoration activities with Ankara (Faculty of Languages, History and Geography). 2  The five research units were: Roma 1 (Paolo Matthiae, national coordinator); Bologna 1 (Nicolò Marchetti, director of the Tilmen project); Bologna 2 (Paola Rossi, Maria Speranza, Marco Bittelli); Genoa (Benedetta Spadolini, Stefano F. Musso); Ecosearch s.r.l (Vincenzo Fortunati).

Stefano F. Musso

of these features, finalized the environment and structures conservation, was thus implemented in order to ensure the site integrated management. The system is remotely controlled through a Web site, in which one can read data collected by sensors located within the park. To introduce briefly the main results of our research we can use here some keywords to characterise its products: • Sustainability: eco- and environmental (choice of local materials like: stones, wood, lime mortars, etc.), but also economic and technical (choice of simple technologies and processes to prepare the elements and apply them on the site, selection of local materials and workers). • Compatibility and reversibility: at least for structures and elements emerging from the ground, thanks to the choice of all local and traditional materials and building techniques (apart from some really limited foundation works, which need to be placed safely and steadily in the ground). • Low impact: limited earth movements to allow a safe and comfortable visit by setting some parts of the park steady; limited height of design elements (panels, fences, covering structure, etc.), respecting the preexisting skyline, if seen from a distance. • Feasibility and maintainability: use of local materials, well known by local workers for their defects, qualities and durability; simple design of elements and structures (capable of sustaining and bearing the unavoidable changes and modificat ons during fieldwork) and fitting for supporting local restrains concerning technical and technological assets, without loosing its concept, idea and functionality. • Understatement and simplicity: choice of elements and structures, but also of a design which, thanks to the selected materials, technologies and building techniques, help us avoiding any temptation to overpower the site and its natural assets. These elements and structures should belong to and be metabolized within the existing state of the site, rather than marking a sign only for us, thus exceeding their basic, limited and provisional purposes. • Authenticity and integrity: selection of materials, restoration techniques and ‘design behaviour’ to grant the rigorous compliance of the archaeological remains, in their existing formal and physical consistency and in their historically acquired relationships with their environment, always according to the so-called minimum intervention principle or approach.

for our research, particularly concerning the construction of the structures needed to allow a real accessibility to the involved areas, and to ensure the rigorous and scientific protection of ancient artefacts, also granted by their covering, whether temporary or permanent. For these reasons, our research begun from the survey, record and subsequent critical analysis of what happened and how, both at some great and very well known archaeological sites in the Mediterranean area (of Classical and pre-Classical date) and in smaller and more fragile sites. Regarding the latter, in fact, the attempts to organize archaeological parks are more recent and less assessed or tested, while it is difficult – yet even more important – to work on the following basic problems: a. organizing people’s claim to visit the site; b. design of technical equipments needed; c. evaluation and monitoring of the impact of such a public use of the site and its archaeological remain conservation; d. selection of conservation and restoration methodologies and techniques which could fit to the aims of the park and rigorous protection of the remains, according to international quality standards elaborated in this field (Binks et al. 1988, Amendolea 1995, Pearson and Sullivan 1995, Cacace 2006). In this respect, the discovery and excavations of Ebla in Syria, directed by Paolo Matthiae, and the Italian-Palestinian excavations carried out at Tell es-Sultan (ancient Jericho), codirected by Nicolò Marchetti, constituted for us an important benchmark for a critical analysis of the problems connected to the establishment of an archaeological park in the Near East. These places are, in fact, rich as regards touristic potentialities but also extremely problematic for the conservation of archaeological remains. It is thus not by chance that, side by side with these themes of general planning, the crucial importance of how to attend to the physical safeguard of the sites and their remains was clearly remarked since the beginning. We all know, in this particular field, how and why we are well aware, at least in Italy, as regards the protection of the historical, formal and material authenticity and integrity of the archaeological remains, also according to recent or less recent international charters, declarations and documents on the subject (Musso 1996, Musso 2006, Carbonara 1996). The problem of introducing new structures in archaeological areas is tightly connected to this issue and it always necessarily raises special problems of a cultural and technical nature, especially valuable as regards the heatedly debated and crucial relationships and dialogue between the ‘ancient’ and the ‘new’ (Caperton 1993). We also cannot forget the outstanding problems concerning the relationships between the new elements, the surrounding environment and the remains, at least in terms of legibility of pre-existing artefacts within their intact environment. We must at least remember, about these topics, the statements in the several Restoration Charters edited during the past decades (Athens 1931; Italian Restoration Charters 1932, 1972, 1987; Venice Charter 1964; Nora Declaration; etc.). This potential conflict and all related problems are evident in several experiences of the recent and less recent past, considering design and accomplishment of provisional or

2. Scientific starting ground The research is framed within the broader themes of conservation, restoration, protection, use and management of the archaeological parks, with particular attention to the fate of their ancient remains, for which one must gain real chances of a broader public recognition and culturally conscious use. More than ten years of experiences carried out in planning and managing such kinds of devices at sensitive sites, constituted a serious and fundamental scientific starting ground 320

Low impact restoration techniques, coverings and fixed devices in an archaeological park: a case study at Tilmen Höyük in Turkey

definitive shelters and coverings, and the more complex and problematic ‘volumetric reconstructions’, even if made with materials truly belonging to our ‘present days’ and for didactic and not only for conservative purposes (see just as examples: the church in Madaba, Jordan, 1997; the project for the archaeological site in Pompei, by Renzo Piano, 1990; the design for restoration and enhancement of the Gallo-Roman sanctuary in Grand, France, 1998). Besides these, several other no less important technical problems have been recently raised, often underestimated before but really significant today, because of their being more directly tied to the primary objective of sites protection (Aslan 1997). For these reasons, the planning approach is today more careful and conscious for the technical requirements needed for any protective structure, open or totally closed (with rigid or pneumatic materials), permanent or removable (Carroll 1998), to prevent any possible fault or damage that can arise during the design, construction and management processes (Ranellucci 1996, Cacace 2006), affecting the structures and, above all, the remains they should protect. Among the different problems that could arise in the design and construction of open covering structures, we must also remember the following crucial ones: a. insufficient protection from aggressive agents (acid rains, weather infiltrations, wind-driven water, thermal fluctuations, wind action and snow load) b. incompatibility among different materials used to accomplish the new structure, but also between those and the materials featuring the archaeological remains to which new structures are eventually anchored (even if this possibility should be carefully avoided); c. hard maintainability of some structures of their own (in terms of problematic and unsafe accessibility, feasibility of repairing, dismasntling and cleaning, if needed). Also in case of ‘wrapping’ enclosure systems, the majority of the above mentioned technical problems refer to the interactions, very often unfavourable, between new structures and elements and the environment, under the viewpoint of ‘physicality’, but also as regards their visual impact on it, which appears to be often negative, because new insertions radically change the fragile balance of the site with landscape and panoramas. Some undesired effects are in fact unfortunately present, such as, for example: a. excessive relative humidity provoked under, or inside, the new structure which can encourage the growth of micro- or macrovegetal organisms; b. formation of condensation and salts; c. excessive overheating in the presence of translucent or transparent material, with consequent problems for deterioration of materials, like the metals, and the comfort downgrading inside confined spaces (see Piazza Armerina, Sicily, 1961); d. uncertain resistance to seismic events. To solve some of these problems, P. Zumthor (Chur 1988) designed, just to refer to an example, an enclosing envelope for archaeological remains, built with spaced wood staves which grant the natural ventilation of the indoor space. The suggested critical reading of numerous similar inter-

ventions, supported by an informative database, allowed us to choose our own solutions for the site of Timen Höyük and, further on, to define some sort of guidelines applicable to different contexts, as an important contribution of the research. In particular, the necessity of a continuous monitoring of environmental conditions clearly emerges from this inquiry, to prevent the onset of harmful and undesired phenomena of decay and deterioration of new structures. In any case, the results of this part of our work will be disseminated through the Web and on the Web site of our research programme (now under construction) and all the records of this database will be at the full disposal of the general public, scholars and experts (archaeologists, restorers, architects, etc.).

3. Stages of research and products The first work stage, developed by the Genoa group in cooperation with the other research units, provided the systematic recording and critical examination of the scientific literature related to: 1. general planning criteria for archaeological parks in analogous sites (by size, features, layout, and potential users); 2. methodologies of conservative and protective interventions for archaeological remains, as regards Italian and international culture of restoration; 3. technical and building components linked to the problem of infrastructural organization of a park to be established, with particular attention to provisional and covering structures (fixed and removable) 4. ‘light’ systems for accessibility and for allowing a safe visit to the site); 5. eligible manufactured articles of service (central plant engineering, hygienic services, etc.) and utility systems (electric, technical lighting, sewer, etc.); 6. systems and elements supporting the communication for the tourist-didactic use of the site. At the same time, the revision of the previous surveys at the site begun (Figs 4, 6; Pl. XIV: 1), and on this ground a preliminary project of intervention was prepared, supported by some on-site technical experimentations (some prototypes of didactic panels and other elements were set on the site to evaluate their behaviour under environmental stresses). The second work stage included evaluation of the acquired information and was mainly devoted to: 1. ultimate selection, on the results verified at the end of the first year and thanks to the first experimentations on the field (samples of cleaning and of consolidation of stones and mortars, reconstructive limited interventions on collapsed elements, etc.), of the techniques of archaeological remains restoration; 2. ultimate guidelines drafting for conservational interventions on archaeological remains, exportable to other contexts, by means of technical files and protocols including chosen criteria of selection and technical operations; 3. tuning of the overall archaeological park project, in terms of physical organization of the site, its accessi321

Stefano F. Musso

bility and usability for tourist-didactic goals, by means of graphic and virtual outputs; 4. ultimate planning and subsequent accomplishment on the site of a covering structure prototype for the residency in area K-5, characterised by the presence of mudbricks. The 2007 activities have been devoted to the conclusion of the on-site works and to the layout of research final synthesis, validation and diffusion of its results.

abandonment of the site and its exposure to the aggression of environmental agents has been the main cause leading to erosion, destruction of materials, local and partial collapse or loss of elements and structures. For the above mentioned reasons and attempting to give a sustainable and durable answer to the problems highlighted by the diagnostic enquiries, we selected and accomplished the main following interventions, describing them in specific records and protocols to allow a correct on-site realization (Fig. 6): • the ancient mudbrick structures in area K-5, having shown a disintegrated and powdery surface, were treated with mechanical surface cleaning, biocides, and consolidation with ethyl-silicate (supplied by MAPEI), applied in various ‘wet-on-wet’ layers, knowing that these fragile elements would have been in any case protected by the new covering (Fig. 8); • the large perfectly squared stones (‘orthostats’) inserted in the walls of the K-5 building and of Royal Palace A, were found in a bad conservation state, for the presence of extensive cracking and for diffused local loss of cohesion and subsequent erosion. Patching of cracks and fixing detached or semi-detached fragments by epoxy resin or, when necessary, by steel pin reinforcement have been the selected restoration techniques (Fig. 7); • the walls of the K-5 residency often made by loose stones, because of erosion and weathering, required patching and consolidation with a grout of sifted earth, consolidator (MAPEI Primer 3296) and sisal (also termed agave) fibres as a natural binder (Fig. 9) • in some buildings remains, further on, the masonry (e.g., K-3) has been locally restored also by reinstalling few recently fallen down stones in some voids of the walls or on its top, only to ensure their structural equilibrium and stability, avoiding any reconstructional intention exclusively due to aesthetical or architectural reasons, thus respecting the outstanding behaviour recommendations elaborated by the international debate in this field; in any case, a thin sheet of lead (inserted for few centimetres between the stones) marks the boundary and the interface between the original part of the masonry, still in place at the beginning of the interventions, and the reallocated elements (Figs 11-12); • some rare plaster remains, found on the stone walls of the K-5 structures, have been treated through micropatching of the surface and reappointing of the boundaries, using a mortar made of lime and local sand, and by fixing and consolidating them using repeated limewater treatments (Fig. 16).

4. Conservation works and guidelines for preservation and restoration The Genoa Research Unit was also in charge of proposing the guidelines and accomplishing the actual execution of the interventions for the conservation of the remains, with particular attention to the problems concerning cleaning, consolidation, integration, protection and design of the provisional means of structural protection. This stage took advantage of the skills of a working group coordinated by myself, specifically qualified in the disciplines of restoration. Our main cultural and technical references have been the literature and normative texts emanated by international organizations (ICCROM, ICOMOS, ICR), along with the standards of acceptability which they suggest for interventions on World Heritage monuments. On the other hand, the Unit was also supported by the expertise developed during the last few years and well expressed by a recent publication, that assisted the selection of the techniques of intervention within the frame of a general system of ‘classification (Torsello and Musso 2003). Another important help derived by the presence, within the team, of Chiara Davite, an archaeologist with a specific skill for the restoration of ancient structures. The project of the restoration works on the ruins of Tilmen Höyük aimed at the deepest and greatest respect for the ancient structures and for the present state of the site. A ‘minimum intervention’ approach allowed both purposes of recovering a general perception of the site and preserving, after repairing from time decay effects, the ancient remains without provoking deep and irreversible alterations to them. After a preliminary survey stage and an accurate data-gathering, the analysis was focused on recurrent damages and decay phenomena affecting ancient masonries and other building elements, to define the most effective and less invasive restoration techniques. This attitude and behaviour has been all applied to interventions: a. remove infesting vegetation; b. cleaning; c. consolidating; d. reinforcement and fixing – with compatible and possibly reversible material – the collapsing elements; e. integrating only the minimum amount of materials or elements, carefully avoiding any over-reconstruction action and any confusion between the existing and the newly accomplished parts (Figs 10-12). The emerging and recurring problems in the area were mainly represented by the extensive biological attack and the absence of weather shelters or rainwater drainage. The

5. Planning of the archaeological park Another important action within this stage of the research was represented by the planning, design and construction of a covering structure, modular, fixed but removable and of all the other elements needed to allow and regulate the

322

Low impact restoration techniques, coverings and fixed devices in an archaeological park: a case study at Tilmen Höyük in Turkey

site visit.3 In this field, the research unit has been supported by the qualifications of the coordinator, Benedetta Spadolini, with Niccolò Casiddu and Elena Rosa, all of them bringing their expertise about innovations of process and product and the design of temporary structures. The development of the project was also supported by Giovanna Franco who is an expert of building technologies, traditional and innovative, also as regards the recovery of ancient structures. All the proposals were constantly tested as regards cultural and technical debate concerning archaeological restoration, including my own contribution. Finally, the archaeologists of the University of Bologna had the task of realizing several elements locally: their skill in adapting our projects to production constraints has been commendable, as well as the care shown by them in taking care of the park implementation. Before going into some details, we have to remind that the park was intended to match a site that is very ‘strong’ for its features and, therefore, that its environment needed to be enhanced without superimposing to it invasive structures, yet searching for the easiest way to ‘use’ it while always preserving its most suggestive perception (Figs 2-5, 16, 20). For these reasons, all the technical elements and the final project for the park and its elements were to answer to the following requirements: 1. reduced environmental and landscape impact (height of the elements not exceeding the skyline seen from a distance); 2. structural lightness; 3. high resistance to weathering and aggression of environmental agents; 4. corresponding reduced necessity of maintenance or easier maintainability; 5. controllable and reduced physical and visual interference with the archaeological remains to be protected; 6. low economical impact or reduced costs; 7. easy availability of materials and widespread accessibility to technical means and procedures necessary to perform the work; 8. modularity, high flexibility and easiness of assembly of the covering system base elements and every other system component (Figs 17-18). For these reasons, the materials chosen have been mainly natural stuff as local stone, wood (treated pine tree), earth, hemp rope and, above all, easy production and installing procedures, with simple maintainability and the possibility

to be easily replaced (Fig. 13). For what specifically regards the new covering built in area K-5 (Pl. XIII: 2), where the mudbrick walls needed a stable and safe protection, we decided to accomplish a simple gluelam timber structure synthetically composed by: a. foundations (concrete blocks beneath surface); b. simple pillars with a rectangular section; c. a double bearing structure for the covering (principal and secondary beams made of simple wooden staves); d. a sheet of transparent and impermeable material (to protect the area below it from rain water), enclosed between two layers of reeds (to avoid the direct penetration of sun light) (Figs 2, 15-16). The project consequently was bound to sustainability, compatibility and minimum impact right from the start of the design and accomplishment of some equipped tracks for the visit. The main tracks in the park are two (Pl. XIII: 1); departing from the first, mainly archaeological, a second track runs toward the naturalistic sceneries (the artificial lake, the river and its shores, with the existing flora and fauna, the rock crops in the surroundings, etc.). The archaeological track begins at the ancient city gate K-6, on the riverbank (Fig. 14), and ascends the staircase K-5 leading to the acropolis. At the top of the hill the royal palace (A) is placed, with its throne hall and, at its feet, a fortress (H) (Figs 4-5, 21). From the acropolis, following the main track, the visitor is guided to a temple (M), in which a beautiful stele from 1650 BC was found (Fig. 24), postern K-3 (Fig. 20), the ‘casemates’ fortification, finally reaching the small artificial lake at the exit (Fig. 3). A series of didactic and informative panels, both archaeological and naturalistic (Figs 19-24), complete the concept and the equipment of the park offering to the visitors the most updated scientific information about the site and its remains and contents, using a simple and clear graphic layout ( Pl. XIV: 2-3) and with the aid of: a. regional and local plans; b. pictures of correlated archaeological sites in the Near East; c. pictures of the excavation and restoration works; d. some 3D renders that put forward an ‘aseptic’ reconstructive hypothesis about how that part of the site or that particular building, now liyng as a ruin, could have looked at the moment of their construction.

6. In the form of a provisional conclusion

 The research unit, in particular, designed the following elements, built or put into place by the archaeologists: • parking and building for the management of the park (information office, storeroom / lecture hall) entrance bridge (in steel and wood), crossing the Kara Su, river • and renewal of the fence on the east side of the site; • system of accesibility: paving, entrance footbridge, stairs, retaining structures (consolidation techniques depending on the condition of the soil but, in any case, using natural materials and techniques of naturalistic engineering); railings and supporting structures; • • tourist and didactic panels, with archaeological and naturalistic contents; • a covering structure, built in wood, to protect the mudbrick walls in the K-5 excavation sector. 3

The park was inaugurated on October 24th 2007 and too short a time has elapsed to allow any ultimate evaluation of this experience. Nor this judgement could be left on us only. Anyway, I do not want to escape from my responsibilities. So, all I can say to conclude is that I have found particularly interesting in my personal opinion: the park ‘simply exists’, obviously with some defects, many lost occasions, mistakes etc., but it does fortunately exist, it can be used and of course it can be modified, changed, improved, cor323

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rected, integrated … and — why not? — also judged and evaluated by everyone, visitor or expert. I actually think that this is, perhaps, a small result but it is one real result anyway, especially if we think of the limited amount of public money available which, in this case, did not only produce ‘knowledge’ (and it would already be a good result, not so frequent) but also a real outcome for us and for a foreign Country. This also means: a sign of cooperation without any one-way imposition of our skills, technologies, materials and ideas.

S ites in the S outhwest US A: a Colloquium Held at Tumacacori, Arizona, 9-12 January 2001’, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 5/1-2 Jacobs, J.M., Gale, F ., 1995, Tourism and the Protection of Aboriginal Cultural Sites (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing S ervice) Jameson, J.H. (ed.), 1997, Presenting Archaeology to the Public. Digging for Truths (Walnut Creek, London: AltaMira Press) Jerome, P., 1995, ‘Proposed Permanent S helter for Building 5 at the Bronze Age S ite of Palaikastro, Crete’, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 1, pp. 35-42. Kerr, J.S ., 1996, The Conservation Plan: A Guide to the Preparation of Conservation Plans for Places of European Cultural Significance (S ydney : N ational Trust of Australia) (4th edition) Manzelle, M., 1996, ‘La copertura di un sito archeologico: un problema architettonico’ in G. Biscontin, G. Driussi (eds), Dal sito archeologico all’archeologia del costruito: conoscenza, progetto e conservazione (Padova: Arcadia ricerche) Musso, S .F ., 1996, ‘Archeologia, Restauro, Riutilizzazione’ in G. Biscontin, G. Driussi (eds) Dal sito archeologico all’archeologia del costruito: conoscenza, progetto e conservazione (Padova: Arcadia ricerche), pp. 49-60 Musso, S .F ., 2006, ‘L’antico tra archeologia e restauro’, in N . Cucuzza, M. Medri (eds) Archeologie. Studi in onore di Tiziano Mannoni, I (Bari: E dipuglia), pp. 489-491 Pearson, M., S ullivan, S ., 1995, Looking After Heritage Places. The Basics of Heritage Planning for Managers, Landowners and Administrators (Carlton: Melbourne University Press) Piano, R., 1990, Renzo Piano. Building Workshop 19801990. /Projects for the Future. /Fitting out of the Archaeological Sites, Monografias de Arquitectura y Vivienda 23 (Madrid: Arquitectura Viva), pp. 72-73, 88 Prosperi Porta, C., 1996, ‘Arslantepe (Malatya). Una esperienza in corso di protezione delle strutture e musealizzazione del sito’ in G. Biscontin, G. Driussi (eds) Dal sito archeologico all’archeologia del costruito: conoscenza, progetto e conservazione (Padova: Arcadia ricerche), pp. 549-559 Ranellucci, S ., 1996, Strutture Protettive e Conservazione dei Siti Archeologici (Pescara: Carsa E dizioni) S egarra Lagunes, M.M. (ed.), 1997, La reintegrazione nel restauro dell’antico: la protezione del patrimonio dal rischio sismico. Atti del Seminario di studi, Paestum 11-12 aprile 1997 (Roma: Gangemi) Torsello, B.P., Musso, S .F ., 2003, Tecniche di restauro (Torino: UTE T) De la Torre, M. (ed.), 1997, The Conservation of Archaeological Sites in the Mediterranean Region (Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute) The Getty Conservation Institute, 2003, The GCI Project Bibliographies series. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites (http://www.getty.edu/ conservation/publications/pdf_publications/archaeology_bib.pdf)

Refe ren ces ACOR, 1997, ‘The shelter over the Petra Church’, ACOR Newsletter, Summer 1997 Agnew, N . et al., 1996, ‘Performance of a Lightweight Modular S ite S helter’, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 1/3, pp. 139-150 Amendolea, B. (ed.), 1995, I siti archeologici: un problema di musealizzazione all’aperto. Secondo seminario di studi, Roma, gennaio 1994 (Roma: Gruppo E ditoriale Internazionale) Aslan, Z., 1997, ‘Protective S tructures for the Conservation and Presentation of Archaeological S ites’, Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies 3, pp. 9-26 Berry, A.Q., Brown, I.W. (eds), 1995, Managing Ancient Monuments: An Integrated Approach (Mold: Clwyd Archaeology S ervice) Bertaux, J.P., Michel, G., Mechling, J.M., Meistersheim, P., Crevoisier, J.P., 1998, ‘The Gallo-Roman S anctuary at Grand, F rance. II: The Protection and Development of the Amphitheatre’, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 2, pp. 217-228 Bianchi, C., Bonomi, S ., Perissinotto, M.E ., 1996, ‘L’area archeologica di Montegrotto Terme. N ote su un progetto di copertura’ in G. Biscontin, G. Driussi (eds) Dal sito archeologico all’archeologia del costruito (Padova: Arcadia Ricerche), pp. 387-398 Bikai, P., Bikai, P.M., 1997, ‘Caring for the Cultural Heritage: S helters’, ACOR Newsletter 9, pp. 1-3 Binks, G., Dyke, J., Dagnall, P., 1988, Visitors Welcome. A Manual on the Presentation and Interpretation of Archaeological Excavation (London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office Cacace, C. (ed.), 2006, ICR – Le coperture delle aree archeologiche. Museo aperto (Roma: Gangemi) Carbonara, G. (ed.), 1996, Trattato di Restauro (Torino: UTE T) Caperton, T.J., 1993, ‘An E valuation of Geotextile S helters: F ort S elden, N ew Mexico’, US/ICOMOS Committee on Earthen Architecture Newsletter 9/10 Carroll, S ., 1998, ‘Temporary Protection of a Tel S ite E xcavation in Central Turkey’, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 2, pp. 155-162 De Bussac, G., 2001, Archi-archéo. 12 structures de protection de fouilles archéologiques (E cole d’Architecture de Clermont-F errand) Gizzi, S ., 1988, Le reintegrazioni nel restauro. Casistica nell’Abruzzo aquilano (Roma: Kappa) ICCROM, 2001, ‘Protective S helters for Archaeological 324

Low impact restoration techniques, coverings and fixed devices in an archaeological park: a case study at Tilmen Höyük in Turkey

Fig. 1 - The Near East with some of the main 2nd millennium BC sites.

Fig. 2 - Tilmen from south-east: the covering in area K-5 does not protrude from the site skyline.

Fig. 4 - The ruins of the Royal Palace A seen from north (ca 1800-1600 BC).

Fig. 3 - The artificial lake, the dam, the parking area and the exit of the site from west.

Fig. 5 - The palace area and the open area, with steps descending from the acropolis summit.

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Fig. 6 - Example of a technical form used as a guide in planning restoration interventions.

Fig. 7 - A repaired big squared stone (‘orthostat’).

Fig. 8 - Consolidating ancient mudbricks and stones in area K-5.

Fig. 9 - Insertion of new mortars (MAPE-ANTIQUE line by MAPEI) between the stone masonry.

Fig. 10 - Repair and consolidation of an ancient wall by inserting some new smaller filling stones.

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Fig. 11 - Partial reconstruction of a masonry in squared stones fallen down in the 1970s in area K-3.

Fig. 12 - A thin sheet of lead is inserted between the in situ stones and the reallocated ones.

Fig. 13 - One of the panoramic viewpoints realized along the archaeological visit path.

Fig. 14 - The entrance path and the new bridge on the Kara Su river (in background, the entrance building with its introductory panels).

Fig. 15 - The covering structure of gluelam timber wood in area K-5, built in order to protect the mudbrick walls. 327

Fig. 16 - The covering structure seen from the acropolis summit has a limited impact on the site.

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Fig. 17 - Some technical drawings prepared for the realization of the covering structure.

Fig. 18 - Technical drawings for the benches.

Fig. 19 - Technical drawings for the archaeological panels.

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Low impact restoration techniques, coverings and fixed devices in an archaeological park: a case study at Tilmen Höyük in Turkey

Fig. 20 - A panoramic viewpoint with a bench, an archaeological didactic panel, the ground treatment and the protective railings (in area K-3).

Fig. 21 - A view of the main archaeological path towards the acropolis summit across 2nd millennium BC wall remains (between areas C and K-5).

Fig. 22 - The panel at the entrance of the Park.

Fig. 23 - An example of didactic environmental panels (west of the site).

Fig. 24 - An example of didactic archaeological panel in area M.

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Preservation and presentation of Neolithic sites: a case study at Shkarat Msaied, Southern Jordan  

Moritz Kinzel Abstract Hitherto the preservation and presentation of Neolithic sites in Jordan was an often ignored field and more or less neglected. Famous sites like Beidha and Basta were left after excavation and massive degradation took place in the following years. The archaeological remains were endangered by visitors stepping on the walls, balks and other fragile features. In the last years the awareness for the preservation and presentation of these sites arose, and preliminary considerations on this topic were done by various teams. This contribution discusses general possibilities for site preservation and presentation concepts and will focus on the case study of the early Neolithic site of Shkarat Msaied, Southern Jordan in the framework of a regional concept of site presentation. Shkarat Msaied will be, together with other Neolithic sites like Ghwair, Beidha, Ba’ja and Basta, part of the planned ‘Neolithic Heritage Trail’.

1. Introduction In the last twenty years, very extensive fieldwork was done on the Neolithic in the Southern Levant. At the same time the question arose: ‘How to preserve these sites for the future?’. For a long time there were no answers to that question. Even today there are only a few answers. Most of the projects were aware of the problems of conservation. Site presentation has been a concern for post-excavation work up to now. Presenting an archaeological project from the very early beginnings to the public is a relatively new procedure and therefore we need different new ways of site management. In this contribution I will focus on the preservation and presentation of Neolithic sites in the Greater Petra Area, Southern Jordan.

2. General Thoughts on Site Preservation Site preservation is a controversial topic. On the one hand there is usually no clear date of closing of archaeological on-site investigations (e.g., unexpected discoveries result in further excavation work) and on the other hand it is impossible to plan all investigations on a site already during the preparation of the project. It is hard to say, whether any further excavation work needs to be done on a given excavation site or whether conservation or preservation work can already be started. Therefore we have to distinguish between a. preservation work parallel to excavation and fiel work, and b. post-excavation conservation work. In general there are the following strategies for the preservation of archaeological sites, whether during excavation or after the excavation work has been concluded:1 1 A   ccording to the ICOMOS charter from 1990, archaeological site maintenance and conservation should contain the following aspects: ‘Article 6. The overall objective of archaeological heritage management should be the preservation of monuments and sites in situ, including proper longterm conservation and curation of all related records and collections, etc.

1. Backfill: if at all possible, backfill is the most efficient way of preserving the excavated remains. To backfill at least sensitive parts, e.g., to avoid the collapsing of walls or balks, and to protect wall foundations and other sensitive finds/features might be a good viable solution to the common lack of restoration or conservation financing 2. Consolidation of wall tops: a consolidation or conservation of wall tops, can avoid wall collapse and in the context of Neolithic architecture relatively simple methods can be employed to achieve this end. In general, there are some aesthetic problems with wall top conservation within the context of site presentation, but this is another story. There are at least four ways: a. Cleaning the stones including the joints to a certain depth. Filling the joints with a ‘new’ mortar based on the analyses of the original one. b. Covering the wall top with a layer of local soils (best after salt and mineral analyses). c. Leaving preserved mortar/plaster remains in situ on the wall tops, when there is no longer any other relevant data to expect. This method/guideline ‘preserve features to protect other features’ might be problematic in terms of archaeological research, but in terms of heritage conservation it is a very practical and useable one. Any transfer of elements of the heritage to new locations represents a violation of the principle of preserving the heritage in its original context. This principle stresses the need for proper maintenance, conservation and management. It also asserts the principle that the archaeological heritage should not be exposed by excavation or left exposed after excavation if provision for its proper maintenance and management after excavation cannot be guaranteed. Local commitment and participation should be actively sought and encouraged as a means of promoting the maintenance of the archaeological heritage. This principle is especially important when dealing with the heritage of indigenous peoples or local cultural groups. In some cases it may be appropriate to entrust responsibility for the protection and management of sites and monuments to indigenous peoples. Owing to the inevitable limitations of available resources, active maintenance will have to be carried out on a selective basis. It should therefore be applied to a sample of the diversity of sites and monuments, based upon a scientific assessment of their significance and representative character, and not confined to the more notable and visually attractive monuments’ (ICOMOS 2004a).

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d. Provisory shelters. All methods need a maintenance schedule. 3. Protection and consolidation of walls and wall foundations: even more important than the consolidation of the wall tops is the protection and consolidation of the walls themselves and their foundations. Neglected care on this issue results in wall collapse and massive degradation of the archaeological remains. The state and the condition of the preserved remains should be under observation and a periodical inspection should be part of a conservation concept. A simple method to prevent the destruction of foundations is to backfill to a certain height of the wall. Furthermore, structural additions, if really necessary, could help to fix and support the foundations, and/or refilling of joints with a mortar mixed with specific ingredients according to the conditions of the site. All these additions have to be reversible according to the general guidelines of heritage conservation (Deutsches Nationalkomitee für Denkmalschutz 1996, ICOMOS 2004b). 4. Protection of the trenches and balk profiles: a drainage system might be helpful, but a row of stones along the trenches is normally very efficient. ‘Self-guided’ trails for visitors to keep them out of the sensitive areas of work and features are a successful way to prevent erosion and dilapidation processes. Additionally, some temporal signs: ‘Do not step on the walls and balks’, are needed as well. There are other methods with chemical injection into a profile for stabilisation, but this could affect the results or findings in later investigations. 5. Shelter: a frequently used way of protection and preservation of a site is to build a shelter over the most exciting/important find-spot. Shelters can provide a good solution for many conservation problems. Using a shelter needs a more advanced drainage system to avoid gully systems created by the shelter-collected water. The construction of a shelter on an archaeological site always adds a new dominant component to the site, even the ‘lightest’ structure changes the character and/or perception of the site. If possible we should avoid the use of shelters, because an important aspect of the Neolithic sites is their landscape location. 6. Fence: an easy and nowadays regularly used way of protecting a site in general is to build a fence around it. A fence can be useful to prevent damage through both animals and people. In addition to the fence there should be a guard around who looks after the site from time to time to prevent a dismantling of the fence, e.g., as observed on sites like ‘Ain Jammam near Ras anNaqb, where only the posts are still on-site, whereas the fence is gone. For each site an individual ‘cocktail’ from the above mentioned possibilities should be mixed. There is not the one and only method for the preservation of a site. The planning for preservation and conservation work should already be started during the excavation. If that is the case it is important to ask the question: ‘When to stop an excavation and how to leave the site?’. Preservation works, like backfil ing and provisory wall top consolidation, can already be begun during the excavation as part of the fieldwork. Here

might be a key for new ways of fund raising. We should see preservation work as an integral part of the excavation fieldwork and archaeological research (e.g., results from archaeological analyses of plaster, mortar and soils can also be used for the conservation work). In this context of general site protection and preservation we have to think about the ways of site presentation through site preservation. What do we wish and/or can we preserve/conserve to present it to visitors on site?

3. General Thoughts on Site Presentation There are a lot of possible strategies for presenting a site. Usually each team chooses a different concept of public relation work. Site presentation should start very early, right at the beginning of an archaeological project. There should be a concept for a continuing development for the presentation of archaeological research. This includes the work and the results of a survey, the excavation fieldwork and the work of the different laboratories involved in the analysis and the processing of the material from the excavation. Here are some general site presentation strategies: 1. Publication: ‘classical’ (preliminary) reports on the project work in journals and/or newsletters providing information to colleagues and a limited public. Popular publications in newspapers and/or journals, like National Geographic or GEO. The final publication plays a major role for the site presentation as it is the major outcome of archaeological research. For a wider public there should be also some more popular publications, like (paperback) guidebooks, flye , brochures, postcards with motives related to the site (e.g., important finds, characteristic features, site setting, etc.), etc. (Pedersen 2002). 2. On-site presentation: a. ‘All inclusive’ model: there is a site-museum with a visitor centre, all the necessary facilities are available, including shop, toilets, storage rooms, research laboratories, paved trails, parking lots, and an ‘easy access for the elderly people’ to the archaeological remains. b. ‘Minimal’ model: on site no information is provided to the visitor. A path (probably illegal?) guides the visitor around or into the excavation area. The remains have to talk for themselves. c. ‘Combination/Compromise’ model: on site should be a (clear) trail and information system, but there should be only the absolutely minimal additions necessary to the site in terms of buildings, shelters, information panels, etc. 3. Regional Visitor Centre: a regional concept of site presentation allows joining the forces of all participating projects. For a regional visitor centre concept it is more realistic to find a long-term financial basis and to run it as a community-embedded heritage project (Bachich 2007a). In contrast, on-site visitor centres often just get some money at one point to be planned and built. Even the wages for local guards and/or guides are seldom calculated into on-site presentations. Addi332

Preservation and presentation of Neolithic sites: a case study at Shkarat Msaied, Southern Jordan

tionally, a regional visitor centre reduces the need for on-site facilities. On the sites it is then possible to concentrate on-site specific topics and features. Whenever available, already existing buildings and/or facilities should be used for this purpose. 4. Network of sites: sites and projects should be presented in a network of other sites from the same period in the region. This allows one to focus on specific topics of a period and to concentrate on common features and unique finds of the sites themselves. A cooperation/ network of different projects could be very efficient in joining financial resources for a regional visitor centre. 5. Exhibition: an exhibition is often a good way to present results, finds and the working process to the public. There are a lot of possible concepts for exhibitions on archaeological research. One option would be a photo gallery with fieldwork pictures, or one could offer a presentation of the most spectacular finds or a reconstruction of the period with different aspects and viewpoints concerning a given topic. Here some interactive elements could be used to explain the interpretation of the presented ‘news from the past’. An exhibition can present a site and the related questions to the public all over the world without interfering directly with the on-site work. 6. Internet Platform: a Web site could be a good vehicle for the presentation of the site during the fieldwork. It can be used for an ongoing process of site interpretation and the exchange of data with colleagues. A Web site can be presented as an online exhibition. However, a Web site could also create some problems concerning publication and copy rights of archaeological data. This is especially true when finds and/or features are published on the Web without an interpretation or description directly after they have been uncovered. 7. Film/Play/Fiction: a (in terms of inaccuracy and speculation) problematic, but widely recognized way of presenting a site to the public is in the context of a film, a play or a fiction book. Whether presented in a more scientifi documentation, or in the framework of a feature film and/or report, films can be helpful for the understanding of a site and its temporal order in the context of a museum or visitor centre. Plays or fiction can reach a completely different audience. With all these media it is possible to develop different forms of imaginative ‘interpretation’ of the results of on-site interpretation. What is true for the preservation of archaeological sites also applies to the presentation of an archaeological site. Does really each and every site need an on-site presentation? It is open to doubt whether every site is presentable or attractive for the public, nor does every site need a visitor centre with all ‘UNESCO World Heritage’-facilities. Thus, quite often a regional concept of site presentation is a good and realistic choice. Therefore a regional visitor centre or museum can present information about the sites in their specific contexts better than it would be possible to do on each site itself. In a regional visitor centre a site could be presented by thematic posters, models and finds In general, on-site presentation should be as unobtrusive

as possible. The archaeological remains should be still the most important and dominant component of the site. To guide visitors through an excavation it is important to define clear borders and trails (or paths) to walk on. These trails make it possible to visit an excavation during the fieldwork without disturbing the working process and the documentation work. Creating ‘self-guided’ trails is both part of the site preservation as well as part of the site presentation. Along these trails some information points with signs or boards can be installed according to the features and their context. At a specific viewpoint and/or the entrance to the site should be a board with a top plan of the site or the excavation areas. Probably it would be helpful to have a panel like a building-siteboard, where one can find all important information on who is excavating what and since when. This could be installed as soon as the excavation starts. Thematic information desks/signs can give some information on specific results or discoveries. If there is a more regional presentation concept, we have to decide which facilities are really needed for the excavators, the presentation and the visitors. The guideline for presentation and preservation should be to do only what is absolutely necessary, neither more nor less. Is a 1:1 reconstruction of an architectural structure necessary for a visitor centre? Is it necessary to have a reconstruction for presenting the site? If it is necessary, it should always be a scientific reconstruction based on the results of the research done on the architectural remains. For some detailed information, locals could be trained as ‘tourist guides’ and additionally there should be a small guidebook on each site or one for all sites, which could be sold by the local guides. There are many other merchandising and marketing opportunities with respect to an archaeological site, but this contribution cannot cover all these aspects. In what follows I will offer some scenarios for the preservation and presentation of archaeological results in the case of the Neolithic site of Shkarat Msaied in Southern Jordan.

4. Case Study: The Preservation and Presentation of Neolithic Shkarat Msaied and other Neolithic Sites in the Greater Petra Area 4.1. History and development of the preservation and presentation of Neolithic sites in Southern Jordan The Neolithic is a prominent period in Southern Jordan. The first excavated PPNB site here was Beidha.2 Beidha was excavated by Diane Kirkbride between 1958 and 1983 (Kirkbride 1966, Byrd 2005). After the last excavation in    The Neolithic site of Beidha was excavated in eight seasons by Diane Kirkbride from 1958 to 1983 (Kirkbride 1966). Kirkbride excavated a settlement with several occupation layers. The Neolithic occupation started with semi-subterranean roundhouses with a wooden scaffold followed by curvilinear structures to finally rectangular (corridor-) houses. In 2005 the final publication on the architecture was published by Brian Byrd (Byrd 2005). Since 2002 a sensitive, but limited, conservation work started and a concept for the site presentation was developed by Samantha Dennis (Dennis 2002, Dennis 2003). 2

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a Neolithic Heritage Trail (Finlayson et al. 2007, Bachich 2007b). This ‘Trail’ will connect the Neolithic sites between Basta and Ghwair. The project started to work on a general concept which was handed in as a project proposal to the Department of Antiquities in 2007. The aims are to pay more attention to this important part of the heritage of Jordan and of human culture, to present the sites in a similar way and to join forces for their preservation and site management.

1984 the site has in most parts been neglected. Many of the uncovered houses have since become damaged, with a loss of original stones and mortar. The archaeological remains were endangered by visitors stepping on the walls, because there were no pathways or trails to lead visitors through the site. Basta is another important site dating to the PPNB . The excavation of Neolithic Basta uncovered a spectacularly well preserved architecture. Immediately the question of how to preserve this architecture arose. The Department of Antiquities of Jordan carried out a test conservation on some walls (Gebel 2004). The chosen mortar was not compatible with the original and created additional problems for the conservation of the formerly well preserved structures. Nothing happened after this test, because of a lack of interest and financial resources During the fieldwork of the Ba’ja Neolithic Project, under the directorship of Hans Georg Gebel, concepts of preserving and presenting a Neolithic site were discussed for the first time within the team in 1997 . The site offers spectacularly well preserved architecture. The difficult access results in limited transport capacities for tools and materials. Therefore only ‘low-tech & low-cost’ solutions were considered for the preservation of the archaeological remains of Ba’ja . Under the supervision of Boris Borowski different kinds of mortar were tested and an exemplary consolidation of wall tops and wall faces was done in 2001. The unique and spectacular setting of Ba’ja makes it very attractive for visitors. For the site itself this interest could become very problematic, because of the limited space on the excavation area and the extended use of the very sensitive environment of the Siq al-Ba’ja. Therefore Borowski also developed a preliminary concept of how the site of Ba’ja could be presented, today and after the excavation work will be finished (Borowski 2007) Meanwhile Samantha Dennis started her project on the conservation and presentation of the Neolithic site of Beidha (Dennis 2002, Dennis 2003). This includes some experimental structures used for scientific research on early Neolithic architecture as well as a small visitor centre (Dennis 2004, Dennis and Finlayson 2005) At the same time the excavation area was cleaned up and self-guided trails for tourists were created. As a first step limited conservation and restoration work was also done on the excavated remains. Also during the fieldwork of Shkarat Msaied Neolithic Project, directed by Ingolf Thuesen since 1999, different and controversial concepts for site preservation and presentation were discussed with the Department of Antiquities. In 2004 or 2005 the local tourist agencies thought about a ‘Neolithic trail’ to keep the tourists one or two more days in the Petra region. The tourists would go to Beidha, where they would participate in a Neolithic workshop, e.g., grinding cereals or producing flint tools. The locals could be trained in flint technologies to produce flint tools as souvenirs. Included in that ‘Neolithic trail’ was a walk to Ba’ja and finally a nice dinner out in Shkarat Msaied. Because the area north of Petra was included in the Petra Archaeological Park, all archaeological missions working on the Neolithic period in the region agreed on a cooperation for

4.2. Preservation and presentation of the Neolithic site of Shkarat Msaied The Neolithic site of Shkarat Msaied is under excavation since 1999 by a Danish team of the Carsten Niebuhr Institute, University of Copenhagen directed by Ingolf Thuesen (Rehhoff Kaliszan et al. 2002, Jensen et al. 2005, Hermansen et al. 2006). Shkarat Msaied is located on a small plateau on a saddle 1000 m above sea level between two peaks and Wadi systems some 13 km north of Petra / Wadi Musa (Figs 1, 2: A). On the site at least 16 well preserved Roundhouses dated to the E/MPPNB (~ 7000 BC) were excavated. The houses are 3 to 6.5 m in diameter and walls were preserved up to a height of 0.2 m to 1.6 m (Hermansen et al. 2006). Hitherto Shkarat Msaied seemed to be similar to Beidha phase A (Byrd 2005), but over the years it became clear that Shkarat Msaied can contribute specific features thus enhancing our knowledge and understanding of architecture (Kinzel 2004, Kinzel 2005) and burial practices in the Neolithic period. For the preservation and presentation of the site we discussed several scenarios according to the above mentioned ones (Fig. 3). In the case of Shkarat Msaied we never concentrated on one issue alone. All aspects of both issues were discussed at the same time, because the ways of preservation have a direct influence on the presentation. Which concepts are possible for the Neolithic site of Shkarat Msaied? Here are some of the discussed possibilities: 1. Backfill of the complete excavation area: for the preservation of the archaeological remains this is surely the best solution. Underlying idea of this suggestion: there is no need for an on-site presentation afterwards. 2. Required backfill and consolidation: this seems to be a very useful and practical solution. Parts of the excavated areas will be backfilled to prevent a collapse of walls and foundations. In addition, the consolidation of wall tops can complete this preventive concept. Conservation should be seen as a continuous process. This will be an ongoing task that will require routine and regular maintenance (Fig. 2: B). 3. Additional Shelter: for the most significant building units in Shkarat Msaied, Unit F and K, a shelter could be a practical solution. Individual shelters covering only the single units are problematic for the protection of the surrounding structures. A shelter covering the complete excavation area could protect the site and preserve the archaeological remains, but shelters often create new water drainage systems resulting in gully erosion and destruction of walls and archaeological remains. As mentioned above, a shelter adds a very dominant component to the site which ‘negates’ the archaeological remains themselves. ‘Spectacular-de334

Preservation and presentation of Neolithic sites: a case study at Shkarat Msaied, Southern Jordan

signed’ shelter constructions can provide an aspect of identification for visitors and/or tourists into the landscape, but in the case of Shkarat Msaied this component is not really needed. The place itself contributes a beautiful setting with its majestic sandstone formations nearby. Fig. 2: C shows a possible shelter for the whole excavation area inspired by the shelter built for the Neolithic site of Tenta in Cyprus (Todd 1998). 4. Additionally a visitor centre: in addition to the conservation work and the presentation of the excavation area, an on-site visitor centre can give more detailed information on the results of archaeological research. For Shkarat Msaied there would be additional information on e.g., the architecture, burial practices, flint and greenstone industries, palaeobotany and palaeozoology, etc. However, a visitor centre on site would be a massive intervention into the site and its surroundings. A visitor centre needs several facilities, e.g., a parking lot, a shop, toilets, a café, etc. Especially the site of Shkarat Msaied offers the temptation to build a recreation area with picnic places, parking, etc., because it is placed right in the middle of the tour from Wadi Faynan (and Wadi Araba) to Wadi Musa / Petra. 5. Addition to the visitor centre: reconstructions could be part of an informal visitor centre as an archaeological experiment. Reconstructions should not stand alone as a visitor centre, because it is very difficult to understand a reconstruction and the experiments without any explanations. So there is a need for continuous monitoring and regular maintenance of the visitor facilities and the information posters/panels. 6. Final steps toward an ‘archaeological park’: there is an option to include the near surroundings in the concept of site presentation. A walkway or path can lead through the amazing scenery of the landscape. This trail could be equipped with information panels on e.g., the biotic and abiotic resources today and during the Neolithic. This should include information on both the past landscape and the present environment. In such a combination of the visitor centre with the surroundings there could be some places for experimental activities for the visitors. In principle, all above mentioned scenarios would be possible, but not all of them are practical and desirable for Shkarat Msaied. For this site we chose the following strategies.

For the backfill the sieved soil from the excavation dumps was used. For further investigations we agreed to follow the guideline of the Neolithic Heritage Trail-Project: all areas which are not needed for the site presentation should be backfilled completely or to a certain height In 2004 a ‘self-guided’ trail was created around the excavation area to keep visitors off the actual remains (Figs 5-6). The clearly marked trail is leading to some significant spots of the excavation. There is already a limited presentation of some heavy and big grinders near the trench where they were discovered (Fig. 5). In addition we established a Web site with preliminary excavation reports (www.neolithicshkaratmsaied.hum.ku.dk). It is planned to equip the site with information panels. These panels will be designed for all Neolithic Heritage Trail-sites in the same way. This will enable the visitor to recognize that they belong to the same period and they are part of the heritage trail. In Shkarat Msaied one information point should be at the entrance to the site and another one could be on the so-called ‘Tell’ (Fig. 5). The information panels will present specific information on the site and the Neolithic period in general, e.g., preservation conditions (visitors should be aware of how fragile the site is and how important it is to protect the site!), reconstruction of the architecture, burial practices, flint and greenstone industries, palaeobotany and palaeozoology, etc. Furthermore it is planned to introduce a system of monitoring to ensure that conservation can be undertaken as required. In Shkarat Msaied no conservation or restoration was done so far. In 2004 we already planned some consolidation work together with the Department of Antiquities and the CARIP (Conservation and Restoration Centre in Petra). Different concepts of wall top consolidation and mortar exchanges were discussed. We think that consolidation and conservation should be undertaken only where it is required (Fig. 4). There is still an ongoing discussion on which mortar materials should be used. One possible solution could be an individually mixed restoration mortar, which was tested and analysed by Djum’a Gublan from the CARIP in 2004. Another solution was suggested by Bernhard Lucke (Lucke and Bäumler 2007) during his stay in Ba’ja, where he analysed the local soils and deposits. His field test revealed that the local sandy soils harden without further additives. Soaking the soils in water and drying them out in the sun produced solid, very hard lumps. The local soils seem to be very suitable for all plaster and mortar purposes. This approach in local resource analysis provides us with an important insight: for the conservation of all mortar-relevant issues, we can use the local soils, if they have the same characteristics as the Ba’ja soils. There seems to be no need for ‘special mortar’ mixed in a laboratory. For Shkarat Msaied we are planning to work with this ‘low-tech’ concept for the conservation of the wall tops and walls themselves. It is clear that this way of conservation and restoration needs regular maintenance. There will also be a need for a periodical clearance of the excavation area. In Shkarat Msaied it is not necessary to build a temporary shelter, even if this might be a solution for the conservation of Unit K and its significant stairs, or for Unit F with its unique burial cluster. Neither is there a need for an on-site reconstruction of one of the houses, since we have the ex-

4.3. Concepts practiced and/or planned in/for Shkarat Msaied A first step for the protection of the trench profiles was done during the excavation fieldwork with stone rows along the trenches, and a simple drainage system for slope surface runoff water was installed in 2004 (Fig. 4). Two low walls were erected in traditional dry stone masonry to define a clear border between the excavation area and its surrounding and the road (Fig. 5). These walls turned out to be a very efficient ‘tool’ to keep tourists/visitors out of the actual excavation trench during the fieldwork. The Department of Antiquities decided in 2005 to build a fence around the site as a reaction to damage caused by animals and illegal diggings. Parts of the excavation area were backfilled to protect the foundations, walls and findings/find (Figs 4-5). 335

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Neolithic Spatial Organization and Vernacular Architecture. The Excavations of Mrs. Diana Kirkbride-Helbaek, Beidha Excavations 2, British Academy Monographs in Archaeology 14 (Oxford: Oxford University Press) Dennis, S., 2002, ‘“Beidha Late Than Never”: Presentation and Conservation of Prehistoric Sites in Jordan’, CBRL Newsletter 2002, pp. 6-8 Dennis, S., 2003, ‘The Experimental Reconstruction of a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Structure at Beidha in Jordan’, Levant 35, pp. 39-48 Dennis, S., 2004, ‘PhD Dissertation Project: the Use of Experimental Archaeology to Explain and Present PrePottery Neolithic Architecture at Beidha in Southern Jordan’, Neo-Lithics 2/03, pp. 37-38 Dennis S., B. Finlayson, 2005, ‘Comments on “Some Notes on the Reconstruction of PPNB Architecture” by Moritz Kinzel (Neo-Lithics 2/04)’, Neo-Lithics 1/05, pp. 30-31 Deutsches Nationalkomitee für Denkmalschutz (ed.), 1996, Denkmalschutz. Texte zum Denkmalschutz und zur Denkmalpflege, Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Nationalkomitees für Denkmalschutz 52 (Bonn: Deutsches Nationalkomitee für Denkmalshutz) Finlayson, B., Dennis, S., Gebel, H.G., Jensen, C.H., Najjar, M., Simmons, A., Thuesen, I., al-Amarin, T.H., 2007, A Neolithic Heritage Trail (draft) Gebel, H.G., 1988, ‘Late Epipalaeolithic – Aceramic Neolithic Sites in the Petra area’ in A. Garrard, H.G. Gebel (eds) The Prehistory of Jordan. The State of Research in 1986, BAR S396 (Oxford: BAR), pp. 67-100 Gebel, H.G.K., 2004, ‘Site Preservation and Site Formation Processes’ in H.J. Nissen, M. Muheisen, H.G.K. Gebel (eds) Basta I. The Human Ecology, Bibliotheca neolithica Asiae meridionalis et occidentalis & Yarmouk University, Monograph of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology 4 (Berlin: ex oriente), pp. 95-116 Gebel, H.G.K., Bienert, H.D., 1997, ‘Ba’ja Hidden in the Petra Mountains. Preliminary Report on the 1997 Excavations’ in H.G.K. Gebel, Z. Kafafi, O.G. Rollefson (eds) The Prehistory of Jordan, II. Perspectives from 1997, Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment 4 (Berlin: ex oriente), pp. 221-262 (with contributions by T. Krämer, B. MüllerNeuhof, R. Neef, J. Timm and K.I. Wright) Gebel, H.G.K., Hermansen, B.D., Kinzel, M., 2006, ‘Ba‘ja 2005. A Two-Storied Building and Collective Burials. Results of the 6th Season of Excavation’, Neo-Lithics 1/06, pp. 12-19 Gebel, H.G.K., Kinzel, M., 2007, ‘Ba‘ja 2007: Crawl Spaces, Rich Room Dumps, and High Energy Events. Results on the 7th Season of Excavations’, Neo-Lithics 1/07, pp. 24-33 Gebel, H.G.K., Nissen, H.J., Zaid, Z., 2006, Basta, II. The Architecture and Stratigraphy, Bibliotheca neolithica Asiae meridionalis et occidentalis & Yarmouk University, Monograph of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology 5 (Berlin: ex oriente) Hermansen, B.D., Thuesen, I., Jensen, C.H., Kinzel, M., Petersen, M.B., Jorkov, M.L., Lynnerup, N., 2006,

perimental structures in Beidha, which also will be part of the Neolithic Heritage Trail (NHT). Shkarat Msaied could be presented in the NHT-visitor centre with a model and some virtual reality models in the framework of an interactive ‘the Neolithic period in the Petra region’-platform.

5. Perspectives We advocate a network of the Neolithic sites in the Petra region, with different concepts for specific conservation problems and needs, but with an underlying general concept of site presentation in the framework of a regional concept on a local basis. It is planned to introduce a regional ‘visitor centre’ on the Neolithic period in the Petra region. The Neolithic sites will be promoted in the context of the Neolithic Heritage Trail, including the sites of Basta, Ba’ja, Beidha, Shkarat Msaied, Ghuwayr 1 and Wadi Faynan 16. It is planned to publish a guidebook presenting the sites along the trail, the past landscape and the present environment, and the local communities. In addition there will be some flyers or brochures There are plans for the continuation of the excavation in Shkarat Msaied. Already during these concluding excavation seasons some of the above mentioned conservation works will be undertaken as an integral part of the fiel work. Not until the end of the excavation the on-site presentation will be established completely. To present the results of the archaeological research to a wider public there are some plans for an exhibition about the site. Not only the virtual reconstruction of the architecture and the past landscape should be included, rather the reconstruction of the Neolithic ‘sound- and sense-scape’ should be part of this exhibition (pers. comm. Bo Dahl Hermansen). This approach of site presentation could offer new perspectives for the interpretation of archaeological remains and findings The preservation and presentation of an archaeological site is a complex matter. First steps are done, but now we have to go much further than this one step. We have to find a way between our ideal solution and a practical and realistic one. We have to be aware of the different interests of all so-called stakeholders. We should know the limits and possibilities of site preservation and presentation, to avoid taking measures that could prove irreversible. We should only do what is absolutely necessary, neither more nor less, to protect, to preserve and to present an archaeological site.

References Bachich, M., 2007a, Community-Based Rural Heritage Management in Syria. A Case Study of Dmenieh alSharkiyeh Village (unpublished M.A. diss., Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus) Bachich, M., 2007b, Managing and Marketing of Neolithic Sites in South Jordan (unpublished draft, Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus) Borowski, B., 2007, Konzepte zur Präsentation des frühneolithischen Fundortes Baja, Südjordanien (unpublished M.A. diss., Technical University of Berlin) Byrd, B.F., 2005, Early Village Life at Beidha, Jordan: 336

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‘Shkarat Msaied: the 2005 Season of Excavations. A Short Preliminary Report’, Neo-Lithics 1/06, pp. 3-7 ICOMOS, 2004a, ‘Charter for the Protection and Management of the Archaeological Heritage (1990)’ in International Charters for Conservation and Restoration (Paris: ICOMOS), pp. 13-17 ICOMOS, 2004b, ‘ICOMOS Charter-Principles for the Analysis, Conservation and Structural Restoration of Architectural Heritage (2003)’ in International Charters for Conservation and Restoration (Paris: ICOMOS), pp. 34-37 Jensen, C.H., Hermansen, B.D., Kinzel, M., Hald, M.M., Bangsgaard, P., Bille, M., Petersen, M., Lynnerup, N., Thuesen, I., 2005, ‘The Excavations at Shkârat Msaied, 1999-2004’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 49, pp. 115-134 Kinzel, M., 2004, ‘Some Notes on the Reconstruction of PPNB Architecture’, Neo-Lithics 2/04, pp. 18-22 Kinzel, M., 2005, ‘Stein auf Stein. Frühjungsteinzeitliches Bauen in Südjordanien’, AIV Forum 1/2005, pp. 5559 Kinzel, M., 2006, ‘The Architectural Reconstruction of Basta’ in H.G.K. Gebel, H.J. Nissen, Z. Zaid, Basta, II. The Architecture and Stratigraphy, Bibliotheca neolithica Asiae meridionalis et occidentalis & Yarmouk University, Monograph of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology 5 (Berlin: ex oriente) Kinzel, M., Zaid Z., in prep., The Old Village of Basta: Studies on Traditional Vernacular Architecture in Southern Jordan Kirkbride, D., 1966, ‘Five Seasons at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Village of Beidha in Jordan’, Palestine Exploration Quarterly 98, pp. 8-72

Lucke, B., Bäumler, R., 2007, ‘Soils and Paleosols at Ba’ja’, Neo-Lithics 2/07, pp. 43-50 Nissen, H.J., Muheisen, M., Gebel, H.G.K., 2004, Basta, I. The Human Ecology, Bibliotheca neolithica Asiae meridionalis et occidentalis & Yarmouk University, Monograph of the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology 4 (Berlin: ex oriente) Pedersen, A., 2002, Managing Tourism at World Heritage Sites: A Practical Manual for World Heritage Site Managers (Paris: UNESCO World Heritage Centre) Rehhoff Kaliszan, L., Hermansen, B.D., Hoffmann Jensen, C., Skuldbøl, T., Bille, M., Bangsgaard, P., Ihr, A., Sørensen, M.I., Markussen, B., 2002, ‘Shaqarat Mazyad: the Village on the Edge’, Neo-Lithics 1/02, pp. 16-19 Todd, I.A., 1998, Kalavasos-Tenta (Nicosia: The Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation & The Department of Antiquities)

Internet Links www.cbrl.org.uk www.exoriente.org www.neolithic-shkaratmsaied.hum.ku.dk

Note All photos, sketches and drawings are by Moritz Kinzel, Shkarat Msaied Neolithic Project.

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Fig. 1 - Map with Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Sites in the Southern Levant.

Fig. 2 - Site preservation strategies for Shkarat Msaied: A) Present-day situation (end of 2005 excavation). B) Required partial backfill (shaded in grey). C) Shelter(inspired by Tenta/Cyprus).

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Fig. 3 - Shkarat Msaied: preservation concept: top plan with mapping of required and planned backfill (shaded in grey),wall top consolidation/conservation (white) and other restoration work (dark grey).

Fig. 4 - Protection of excavation trench against surface runoff water with stones.

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Fig. 5 - Preservation and presentation concept: 3D model simulation.

Fig. 6 - Shkarat Msaied: ‘self-guided’ trail around the excavation area.

340

Cultural Heritage management: the special case of the World Heritage Site of Petra  

May Shaer Abstract The Petra Archaeological Park has been the subject of management planning since several years. The complex and wide range of issues related on the one hand to the archaeological and natural heritage and their protection, and on the other hand to managing tourism in a way that is considered as sustainable taking into consideration the interests of the local community, has led to better understanding of the necessity for a clear management process that ensures the long-term sustainability of this very significant heritage.

1. Introduction Petra, a World Heritage Site since 1985, is located about 260 km south of Amman, the capital of Jordan. The Petra Archaeological Park encompasses an area of 264 km2 that was declared as a protected site in 1993, while the whole Petra region is about 1000 km2, and includes the surrounding areas and urban centres. The Petra Archaeological Park is rich with cultural remains and natural features that have made it the most visited site in Jordan, where tourism is one of the country’s most important resources. Until 1985, members of the local Bdoul tribe were living inside the rock-cut caves and monuments, when they were relocated to the nearby village of Umm Sayhoun. Nevertheless, tourism constitutes the most significant source of revenue for the Petra region in general, and the local community in particular. Petra has a long history of settlement that precedes the establishment of the Nabataean Kingdom. Several sites dated to the Neolithic period were discovered in its vicinity, and there is archaeological evidence of habitation from the Iron Age, followed by the Hellenistic, Nabataean and Roman periods. Petra became the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, which prospered mainly between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. Undoubtedly, the monumental architecture that was left to us by the Nabataeans, as well as the ingenious water harvesting systems, are witness to the great importance of this capital (Fig. 1).

2. State of Conservation, Challenges and Management Issues Although many of the monuments of Petra have survived for about 2000 years, they cannot be considered in the best state of preservation. The effects of weathering and deterioration are clearly evident on the sandstone buildings. The erosion is caused by sand, wind, and rain. Since the monuments are mostly part of the sandstone mountains, this situation has been aggravated as the sandstone itself contains high concentrations of soluble salts. These, along with humidity, eventually lead to the detachment and loss of stone surfaces. Studies aiming at the evaluation of damage to the monuments and the quantificati n of the weathered state of

monuments have been carried out by Fitzner and Heinrichs (1998; Heinrichs and Fitzner 1999, Heinrichs and Fitzner 2000a, Heinrichs and Fitzner 2000b). Paradise has linked the weathering at Petra with aspect and annular solar flux, and as a result of variations in rock matrix (Paradise 1999, Paradise 2002). Moreover, the present state of the ancient hydraulic structures does not allow rainwater collection and drainage, hence causing large amounts of water to run through the site, and flooding in times of heavy rainfall. Also, the two massive earthquakes that occurred in AD 363 and AD 747 caused severe damage to the city, where many of the built structures collapsed and several geological joints and faults appeared in the sandstone formations. In addition to the natural causes such as weathering, earthquakes and floo ing, that potentially impact the state of preservation of the site, there are other factors that could also affect it. These are more related to management issues such as urban development around the site, the management of tourism and creating a balance between increased tourism visitation and establishing tourism services, and the site’s conservation.

3. The Need for Sustainable Management ‘The principal objective of a management plan is to conserve the cultural significance of a site, not to meet the needs of tourists, archaeologists, or developers – although these concerns may also be addressed to varying degrees’ (Sullivan 1997: 15-16). Site management planning has been described as a process that should involve all stakeholders and should eventually arrive at solutions for conserving the site’s cultural significance (Sullivan 1997), and also one that is based on the entire values of the site (Demas 2002). According to the Petra Archaeological Park Operating Plan (2000, II: 3) the statement of significance of the site describes Petra as ‘an outstanding example of a cultural landscape in which can be traced human settlement and land use for over 10,000 years and in which features of great

May Shaer

cultural, natural, and geologic interest are combined in a scene of high aesthetic merit’.

management plans for Petra have been formulated since the 1960s. The first was established in 1968 by the United States Natural Park Service, the second was prepared with the assistance of UNESCO in 1994, while the latest, the Petra Archaeological Park Operating Plan was finalised in the year 2000. The management plan of 1968 tackled the importance of the site’s preservation and recommended the establishment of a National Park, while that of 1994 proposed establishing a Park Authority with administrative and financial autonomy, and a management committee that includes representatives of all major stakeholders. It further highlighted the importance of creating different zones of protection within the site’s boundaries as well as buffer zones. The Petra Archaeological Park Operating Plan, which was prepared with the assistance of the US National Park Service in 2000, gives the responsibility of all aspects of the park’s management to its director, who in turn reports to the Department of Antiquities. The management objectives of the operating plan take into consideration preservation of the site, the local community through public participation in planning and management for the site, provision for public awareness for appreciation of the site, consideration of all negative impacts on site, supporting research activities and ensuring that services are well maintained. Moreover, the operating plan provides an outline of what should constitute the archaeological resources management plan, the monitoring plan, the conservation plan, the collection management plan (museum and archival collections) and the natural resources management plan. The operational plan also provides some basic guidelines for the ‘treatment of the resource’, and the criteria for the types of activities to be allowed on site. Akrawi (2002) presents a more detailed description of these plans. Despite the clear guiding principles outlined in the operating plan, there has still been some difficulty in the implementation and in the initiation of the necessary detailed plans. It has been pointed out that a reason for this was that, during the formulation of the previous plans – i.e. prior to the operational plan that was completed in the year 2000 – stakeholders did not thoroughly participate in identifying the site’s values and issues and subsequently in the follow up of recommendations (Akrawi 2002: 106). In any case, and although the mandate of the Department of Antiquities has become clear in the operating plan, and is in fact in accordance with the Antiquities Law no. 21, for the year 1988 and its amendments in 2004, there still appeared to be some overlaps in authority regarding some management issues. Additionally, insufficient human and financial resources have been a factor preventing actual implementation of the operating plan and in setting up the strategies and action plans. The latest step, in attempting to solve issues related to the site’s management that have hindered its adequate operation, was in issuing the Petra Archeological Park Administration By-law in 2007 (By-law no. 78 for the year 2007) with the aim of creating an administration that is able to resolve all such obstacles. According to the by-law, a Council for the Park’s administration is formed, chaired by the Minister, with members representing the main stakeholder organisations, including the Director General of the

Site values have been outlined as those relating to identity, scientific and historical rarity, aesthetic or artistic, and contemporary socio-economic values that are in fact connected to tourism and its impact on income and economic revenue. To natural values could be added the overall setting of the site, as well as the fauna and flora which present a unique environment. In realising the overall importance of the site, with all its values, whether cultural or socio-economic, and considering the site’s fragility, conservation becomes of highest priority not only for dealing with immediate conservation issues, but also for eventually ensuring the site’s long-term sustainability. The importance of conserving the site values has been mentioned in the Petra Archaeological Park Operating Plan that was prepared in the year 2000: ‘Site values are those that must be preserved in order to retain the essential character of the site. These values are what should be most closely monitored by site management. The interpretative program, in its turn, should be designed to educate the public about these values and so to enlist the support of the visitor in the preservation effort’. In order to ensure sustainability of the site, a balance should be achieved between its conservation needs, research needs that include archaeological excavation and investigation, socio-economic development, and tourism needs, services and management – i.e. site interpretation, visitor circulation and pathways, preventive maintenance, and tourist safety.

4. Conservation and Management Planning at Petra Attempts to conserve and present the Petra monuments started already in the 1950s and have continued until today, focusing on single significant monuments such as alKhazneh (the Treasury) or Qasr al-Bint, or at excavated sites such as the Great Temple (Joukowsky 2000: 333-334) or the residential complex at az-Zantur (Kolb et al. 1999; Kolb and Keller 2000), among other sites. Moreover, the issue of the weathering of the sandstone façades, which can be considered as the major contributor to the deterioration of the monuments, was addressed within the framework of the Petra Stone Preservation Project between 1993 and 2002. The project was carried out with the support of the German government, through the Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) as technical assistance to the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. A methodology for the conservation of the façades was developed and includes all the necessary documentation and studies, to be followed by testing of materials and the evaluation of data, planning for conservation, and finally the implementation of conservation measures (Aslan and Shaer 2000, Kühlenthal and Fischer 2000). As for comprehensive management planning, a number of 342

Cultural Heritage management: the special case of the World Heritage Site of Petra

University 19-22 May 2000, Corinth, Greece (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute), pp. 98-112 Aslan, Z., Shaer, M., 2000, ‘Condition Assessment and Execution Plan for Tomb 825’ in M. Kühlenthal, H. Fischer (eds) Petra, Arbeitshefte des Bayerischen Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege 105 (Munich: Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege), pp. 209-216 Demas, M., 2002, ‘Planning for Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites: a Value Based Approach’ in J.M. Teutonico, G. Palumbo (eds) Management Planning for Archaeological Sites, An International Workshop Organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and Loyola Marymount University 19-22 May 2000, Corinth, Greece (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute), pp. 27-54 Fitzner, B., Heinrichs, K., 1998, ‘Evaluation of Weathering Damages on Monuments Carved from Bedrocks in Petra/Jordan – a Research Project 1996-1999’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 42, pp. 341-360 Heinrichs, K., Fitzner, B., 1999, ‘Comprehensive Characterization and Rating of Weathering State of Rock Carved Monuments in Petra/Jordan – Weathering Forms, Damage Categories and Damage Index’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 43, pp. 321-351 Heinrichs, K., Fitzner, B., 2000a, ‘Deterioration of Rock Monuments in Petra/Jordan’ in V. Fassina (ed.) Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Deterioration and Conservation of Stone, Venice 19-24 June 2000, II (Amsterdam: Elsevier), pp. 53-61 Heinrichs, K., Fitzner, B., 2000b, ‘Lithotypes of Rockcarved Monuments in Petra/Jordan – Classification and Petrographical Properties’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 44, pp. 283-312 Joukowsky, M., 2000, ‘Brown University 1999 Excavations at the Petra Great Temple’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 44, pp. 313-334 Kolb, B., Gorgerat, L., Grawehr, M., 1999, ‘Swiss-Liechtenstein Excavations on az-Zantur in Petra, 1998’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 43, pp. 261-277 Kolb, B., Keller, D., 2000, ‘Swiss-Liechtenstein Excavations at az-Zantur/Petra: the Tenth Season’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 44, pp. 355372 Kühlenthal, M., Fischer, H. (eds), 2000, Petra, Arbeitshefte des Bayerischen Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege105 (Munich: Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Paradise, T.M., 1999, ‘Analysis of Sandstone Weathering of the Roman Theatre in Petra, Jordan’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 43, pp. 353-368 Paradise, T.M., 2002, ‘Sandstone Weathering and Aspect in Petra, Jordan’, Zeitung für Geomorphologie 46/1, pp. 1-17 Sullivan, S., 1997, ‘A Planning Model for the Management of Archaeological Sites’ in M. de la Torre (ed.) The Conservation of Archaeological Sites in the Mediterranean Region. An International Conference Organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and the J.

Department of Antiquities, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism, the Director of Petra Region Authority, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment, the Governor of the Petra district, the Chief of Police of the Petra district, the Director of the Petra Archaeological Park, a representative of the Petra National Trust, and with the possibility to appoint two additional interested members nominated by the Minister. Among other issues, the Council is responsible for drafting the general policy for the administration of the park and approving the management plans and all of its annexes and the detailed executive plan. Moreover, and in an attempt to ensure the proper financial framework, the Park can open and run one or more of its own accounts in a bank, and can directly receive grants, donations, fees and a percentage of the park’s entrance fees to be specified

5. Discussion and Conclusions It is a now a known fact that tourism development must be sustainable, i.e., ‘ecologically bearable in the long term, as well as economically viable, and ethically and socially equitable for local communities’ (Charter for Sustainable Tourism 1995). A recent substantial increase in visitor numbers to Petra has resulted in the gathering of large concentrations of visitor groups inside the site, in specific areas and during certain hours of the day. There is growing awareness that this might ultimately affect the site, and therefore such impacts need to be measured and monitoring systems should be installed. Moreover, the need for sufficient services and facilities at the site has become more apparent. Of these, one is the necessity for resolving the issue of parking spaces for buses and vehicles bringing tour groups to Petra. Although this tackles an issue that is outside the park’s boundaries, it has an impact on the site itself. Hence, comprehensive planning is necessary, whereby not only the site itself is considered, but also the surrounding buffer zones and beyond. The fragility of Petra, with all its cultural and natural values, should be of prime consideration in the management planning process. The interests of the local community should definitel be considered as well as that of the visitors (Figs 2-3). Nevertheless, conservation planning should lead the management process since Petra is a non-renewable resource, and at the same time an important economic resource with high socio-cultural significance. In that regard, assessments and understanding of all aspects of the site are necessary and should be considered as a first step in the planning. These assessments include the archaeological and natural resource, its state of conservation, community needs and tourists’ needs.

REFERENCES Akrawi, A., 2002, ‘Petra, Jordan’ in J.M. Teutonico, G. Palumbo (eds) Management Planning for Archaeological Sites, An International Workshop Organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and Loyola Marymount 343

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Paul Getty Museum, 6-12 May 1995 (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute), pp. 15-26 The Petra Archaeological Park Operating Plan, 2000 (produced under a memorandum of agreement between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ministry of Tour-

ism and Antiquities and the United States National Parks Service) UNESCO-SECA, 1994, Jordan Petra National Park Management Plan: Main Report (coordination B. Lane and B. Bousquet)

Fig. 1 - al-Khazneh (the so-called ‘Treasury’), is one of the best examples of monumental architecture in Petra.

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Fig. 2 - One of the stands used for selling items to visitors by the local community.

Fig. 3 - View of the basin area of Petra where areas for servicing the visitors are common. 345

The desert and the sown: Islamic cities
as a paradigm for sites on the fringe?  

Alan Walmsley Abstract Anglo-European belief systems have adversely impacted on the interpretation and presentation of archaeological sites in Syria-Palestine, especially famous Biblical and Classical places but also large rural sites of Late Antiquity. The consequences for archaeology, the writing of site histories, and the presentation of sites to a visiting public have been disastrous, resulting in cultural appropriation, the denial of an indigenous past, and site neglect. To overcome these misconceptions, new strategies are required in order to offer the visitor, both local and international, a rewarding and informative experience. Such an initiative will require constructive dialogue between heritage consultants, site managers, archaeologists, local participants, and tourism operators alike.

1. Introduction Conventional European concepts of what defines an ‘urban’ or ‘rural’ settlement have moulded contemporary approaches to site presentation in the Middle East. This paper questions the validity of such approaches, arguing that archaeological sites need to be evaluated for their own qualities and characteristics, not from an Anglo-European concept of ‘impressive’ or ‘civilized’. These outdated approaches to archaeological sites deny proper recognition and presentation to modern observers and cloud contemporary understanding of past societies. Therefore, new strategies need to be put in place to overcome the misrepresentation of sites.

2. European definitions of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ settlements and their impact on site presentation in the Middle East 20th century archaeology in the Middle East inherited powerful Anglo-European belief systems that had a profound, yet often negative, impact on the intellectual interpretation of archaeological sites in the region, especially visually prominent and historically renowned Biblical-period and Classical-period localities. For Biblical sites, the intent and interpretation was couched in terms of understanding ‘God’ and ‘The Bible’ as perceived from a strictly Western belief system (Silberman 1998), with classic examples being the extensive archaeological excavations undertaken in Jerusalem and large scale investigations of the great archaeological mounds of Palestine, such as Jericho, Megiddo, and Baysan/Scythopolis (Figs 1-2). The focus of this archaeological work was on defending and illuminating ‘Biblical truths’ in response to European secularism and atheism that challenged the authenticity of God’s Word.1 Biblical scholars, of whom frighteningly few held any archaeological qualifications, set out with a fervent determi See the perceptive discussion of aspects of these issues in Dever 1999 and Silberman 1999 1

nation to ‘prove’ the undoubted and unquestionable historicity of the Bible through undertaking what was offered up as scientific research, an ambition linked to strong and barely disguised anticommunist/anti-Marxist subthemes. In dealing with sites in the Middle East ascribed to the Classical (Hellenistic and Roman) and early Christian (termed Byzantine in this region) periods, archaeologists similarly adopted Anglo-European concepts relevant to their own world views, and were comfortably compatible with them. With a focus on exposing the monumental and spectacular, little attempt was made to systematically excavate, interpret and evaluate Classical-period sites. All too frequently, these sites were understood and proudly presented to an Anglo-European audience as categorical evidence for the domination, if not superiority, of Western political order and culture as opposed to a ‘chaotic’ East, a point of view not without its contemporary relevance to the colonial powers of the 20th century. The archaeologist was, thereby, poorly equipped (and even disinclined?) to offer a dispassionate explanation of the social context of sites from a clearly defined professional basis, one that could also empower the archaeologist to identify, classify, and challenge prejudicial approaches. Missing was any serious critical self-analysis by Near Eastern archaeologists working on Classical and post-Classical sites, with few individuals evaluating their role as a professional archaeologist and the intellectual purpose (apart from the mindless clearing of monuments) of the discipline to which they belonged, and to which they owed a professional obligation. A classic example of this overly submissive intellectual approach to the past can be seen in the interpretation and explanation of the visually rich site of Jarash (Gerasa), in Jordan. Jarash, until recently, has been conventionally understood and presented as a solely Roman and early Christian (Byzantine) period site, seen in its rich embellishment with grand temples, theatres, colonnaded and paved streets, a grand nymphaeum, and many churches lavishly decorated with brightly coloured floor mosaics (Fig. 3). Without doubt such romantic ruins are easy (almost too easy) to present to the visitor and, superficiall , require little explanation beyond the clichéd ‘greatness that was Rome’ and ‘the prosperity of a lost empire’. In seeking

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to explain the supposed sudden end of a site like Jarash, the same old culprits were and still are paraded out for condemnation, notably the ‘Islamic/Muslim/Arab conquest’ and subsequent ‘repression’ by the new Muslim masters through supposed excessive taxation and deliberate persecution, including the destruction of churches. Such blighted opinions, while now utterly discredited, still manage to surface (sadly) in current literature.2 The result for archaeology, site histories, and the presentation of sites to the visiting public has been catastrophic, with denial, appropriation, and neglect as unexpected – although not unpredictable – consequences. Those outcomes have found expression in many ways, and include the following: • Denial of an indigenous past, with the effect of disconnecting current inhabitants of a region from their own past, with the result that they see little or no relevance of the past to them. • A colonial-style appropriation of local cultures by other interest groups, and the redefinition of indigenous cultures to comply with prevailing Western concepts.3 • A resultant refusal by local populations to connect with the past (as, erroneously, ‘not theirs’), and a failure to adequately protect heritage and to seek repatriation of local cultural property. • Similarly, the neglect and even deliberate rejection of other, nonrelevant periods.

3. Case study: Jarash and sites of the Jordanian badiyah The celebrated archaeological site of Jarash (Gerasa), Jordan’s second-most important tourist destination after Petra, presents at first sight a wonderful impression of a Classical-period city in the East (Fig. 3). Archaeological and historical studies over eighty years have focussed on the site’s monumental aspect: temples (two large complexes), theatres (three, including one at the nearby rich water source of Birkatayn), colonnaded streets, gateways and monumental arches (including the iconic Trajanic triple-gate Fig. 4), and numerous early Christian churches, typically blessed with the provision of elaborately coloured mosaic carpets.4 Archaeology has, over these eight decades, done wonders in exposing the impressive architectural heritage of Jarash, although not quite as well at presenting it, and even worse at preserving the built environment of the site. This paper deals solely with the issue of presentation, which at Jarash poses significant problems. Some of these are practical, for Jarash covers a large area over which are scattered many of the site’s primary monuments, which poses significant obstacles (particularly in the challenging seasons of winter and summer) to hassle-free visitor access. Nevertheless, from a conceptual point of view, the unwitting visitor of-

ten faces a much greater problem in understanding what they are seeing, for conventionally Jarash has been, and continues to be, presented solely from entrenched AngloEuropean concepts of the past. A few of these would repay a little more detailed comment at this point. • Jarash is Roman: the Romans ‘did it’ – imposed the planning and chose the architecture, were responsible for the construction, and paid for it; local input is absolutely denied. • The site is truly ‘impressive’: that is to say, only Romans would have been capable of such a feat (the ‘locals’ were/are not) • The site epitomises the meaning of ‘civilized’: the West brought/brings civilisation and educates the barbarian locals, and they are better off for it. • The result, intentional or otherwise, at Jarash and elsewhere are sanitised archaeological sites that present an entirely fictitious site-view that, in turn, continues to influence beliefs today —— For the European tourists, viewing the contemporary ruins, a confirmation (erroneously) of supposedly ‘marauding Arabs’ and a destructive Islamic conquest, straight out of Rose Macaulay’s oftpublished Pleasure of Ruins.5 —— For the local visitor, the perpetuation of a longstanding disconnection from their own heritage and history in that, as presented, they are presented with a view that highlights only ‘the other’. But where at Jarash, as a product of archaeological research, is the home-grown aspect of its long history? In particular, where can the international and local visitor alike see and find details about Jarash as a home-grown product? Two important issues have received little attention until recently. • Firstly, how is it possible to locate and adequately present the character of an indigenous Jarash in Roman and early Christian times, which requires addressing the question: were there any ‘Romans’ there at all?6 • Secondly, how should the visitor perceive Jarash after the arrival of Islam, free of a Macaulayesque Pleasure of Ruins approach? In other word, what was the nature of settlement of early Islamic Jarash, and what impact of the arrival of Islam, if any, can be seen in the archaeological record? The outcomes of such approaches will serve to, simultaneously, connect local people with their past while challenging Western intellectual impositions on historical interpretations.

4. Rural sites in late antiquity: Umm al-Jimal, Umm al-Rasas, and the settlement of the badiyah region The various challenges of presenting major archaeological sites in the Middle East adequately and appropriately to the

 Some recent examples are Ribak 2007 and the malicious work of Ye’or 1996. 3  Well analysed in the pioneering papers of Glock (1999a, 1999b). 4  There are over hundred publications central to an understanding of Jarash, of which significant are: Bellinger 1938, Crowfoot 1931, Gullini et al. 1983-1984, D.L. Kennedy 2007, Kraeling 1938, Marot 1998, Piccirillo 1993, Uscatescu 1996, Zayadine 1986 and Zayadine 1989. 2

 Even more evocative in the illustrated 1977 edition. Macaulay and Beny 1977. 6  See the challenging approach in Ball 2000, with Jarash at the forefront of his discussions. 5

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Problematically, a range of outdated approaches – a product of a colonial age – continue to cloud contemporary understandings of archaeological sites in the badiyah and deny proper recognition and presentation to modern observers, thereby reinforcing contemporary misconceptions of Arabs, Islam, and the Middle East.

public do not, nevertheless, match the greater obstacles of acquainting and explaining to the visitor rural sites situated in the steppe fringe lands of Syria and Jordan, known as the badiyah. This flat and largely pastoral area, located east of the predominately hilly agricultural region (Fig. 5), functioned as a zone of significant cultural and economic interaction on a scale comparable with the Mediterranean coast, although the nature of this exchange was different.7 Yet, despite this importance and in part due to the regions geographical and cultural isolation from Europe, the badiyah and the archaeological sites found there, have not figured significantly in Western scholarship after a flurry of initial survey work in the later 19th and early 20th century and, when discussed, are often misrepresented as being something of a curiosity and in conflict to the urban order of the Classical towns. The results compound misunderstanding, as outlined in the following points. • The continued neglect of rural sites in steppe areas, with only few (although notable) exceptions such as Umm al-Jimal and Umm al-Rasas in Jordan (Bujard et al. 2001, Piccirillo and Alliata 1994, de Vries 1998). • Badiyah sites are often interpreted as structurally random and disorganised, a view rarely challenged due to a duality of negative factors: the ongoing deficiency of archaeological research and poor presentation. Hence the walled sector of Umm al-Rasas appears, at first glance, unplanned (Fig. 6), but with analysis and taking into account the many centuries of occupation, reveals an urban order indicative of a well established cultural and economic structure (Fig. 7). Similarly, the layout of Umm al-Jimal reveals a social structure not immediately apparent at first look (Knauf 1984 and Walmsley 2007: 42-45). • Sadly, the image of the disordered rural settlement has been presented as ‘typical’ of Arab settlements, and in supposed stark contrast to the urban order perceived as usual in the Classical towns of the region. Lastly, the opinion prevails, although is increasingly disputed, that with Islam such disorder was inflicted on cities, such as with Aleppo.8 While H. Kennedy has argued in an often quoted article that urban decay began long before the arrival of Islam, the concept of decay remains the same (Kennedy 1985). However, a contrary argument can be proposed based on a detailed reassessment of the evidence, in which an ordered development within an urban environment can be observed, not disorder. This is especially true at Jarash, previously dismissed as unimportant in early Islamic times,9 but where recent excavations by the Danish-Jordanian Islamic Jarash Project have found a large Congregational Mosque, adjacent shops, other associated structures, as well as significant cultural and economic settlement following the arrival of Islam.10

5. New strategies to overcome the misrepresentation of sites Given the decisive and long-lasting influence of site presentation on local, regional and international visitors to archaeological sites in the Middle East, new strategies are required to overcome the misrepresentation of sites and to offer the visitor a rewarding and informative experience. In doing so, it is important that we should be brave enough to tackle difficult issues. Jarash offers an interesting example. The visitor has every right to expect that during their tour of Jarash, they are offered a number of issues relevant to the site and presented with concise, but informative, answers. For example: • Who were responsible for the planning and construction of Jarash in Roman times, and why did they choose to adopt the urban style still visible today? • What features characterise the monumental tradition of Roman and early Christian Jarash, what is distinctive – including local – in this tradition, what changes occurred to these over time, and how is the history of these monuments explained and understood from modern historiographical, archaeological and anthropological/sociological perspectives? The intention with offering a site visit that is both all-encompassing yet does not gloss-over difficult issues is to avoid presenting Jarash as part of a monolithic society that only succeeded due to Roman intervention. Rather, as recent archaeological work increasingly demonstrates, Jarash was an ethnically and culturally diverse society that, for instance, encompassed different professions of faith: pagan, Jewish, Christian and Muslim, often simultaneously! A culturally proscribed society is a 19th century nationalist view, and has little relevance to understanding how premodern societies worked. The challenge facing modern site managers is to find ways in which diversity and complexity can be presented to the visitor, and specifically to offer a history that is multilayered, evolving, and therefore interesting (read: human). Crucially, visitors need to be presented with a diversity of site experiences, both within one site and, just as importantly, across a range of sites, from large monument-laced sites such as Jarash to the more challenging, yet intriguing, places such as Umm al-Jimal and Umm al-Rasas. Today the problem is not so much the visitor, but more the heritage managers; people will quickly understand if they are being treated as idiots and it is imperative to avoid offering what can only be described as ‘idiot tourism’. The critical factor here is a constructive engagement between heritage consultants, site managers, archaeologists, local participants, and tourism operators. Planning must turn to a bottom-up, not top down, approach – this is, after all, the modern academic method of understanding past

 The complex role of the badiyah is considered from various aspects – historically, archaeologically, and culturally – in Donner 1989, Gaube 1979, Graf 2001, Jabbur 1995, D. Kennedy 2000, Lenzen 2003, Shahîd 1995a, Shahîd 1995b, Shahîd 2002, and Whitcomb 1996. 8  Conventionally, Sauvaget 1941. 9 A   s in H. Kennedy 1999, Liebeschuetz 2000 and Northedge 1999, in which Jarash is specifically named 10  Reports: Blanke et al. 2007, Walmsley 2003, Walmsley and Damgaard 2005; see also the comprehensive study of Jarash’s denied past in Simpson 2007, in which substandard archaeological scrutiny is held to account. 7

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society. Hence at Jarash the intention within the Islamic Jarash Project is to create an informative Islamic vista within the Roman urban shell, in which the multilayered history of the site is presented in full and through which the negative impact of past archaeological practices and their faulty interpretation are finally rectifie

1984, ‘Gerasa I. Report of the Italian Archaeological Expedition at Jerash. Campaigns 1977-1981’, Mesopotamia 18-19, pp. 5-134 Jabbur, J.S., 1995, The Bedouins and the Desert. Aspects of Nomadic Life in the Arab East (Albany: State University of New York Press) Kennedy, D.L., 2000, ‘The Frontier of Settlement in Roman Arabia: Gerasa to Umm el-Jimal ... and beyond’, Mediterraneo Antico 3, pp. 397-453 Kennedy, D.L., 2007, Gerasa and the Decapolis: a ‘Virtual Island’ in Northwest Jordan (London: Duckworth) Kennedy, H., 1985, ‘From Polis to Madina: Urban Change in Late Antique and Early Islamic Syria’, Past & Present 106, pp. 3-27 Kennedy, H., 1999, ‘Islam’ in G.W. Bowersock, P. Brown, O. Grabar (eds) Late Antiquity. A Guide to the PostClassical World (Cambridge: Belknap Press), pp. 219-237 Knauf, E.A., 1984, ‘Umm al-Jimal: an Arab Town in Late Antiquity’, Revue biblique 91, pp. 578-586 Kraeling, C.H., 1938, Gerasa, City of the Decapolis (New Haven: American Schools of Oriental Research) Lenzen, C.J., 2003, ‘The Desert and the Sown: an Introduction to the Archaeological and Historiographic Challenge’, Mediterranean Archaeology 16, pp. 1-14 Liebeschuetz, W., 2000, ‘Late Late Antiquity (6th and 7th Centuries) in the Cities of the Roman Near East’, Mediterraneo Antico 3, pp. 43-75 Macaulay, R., Beny, R., 1977, Pleasure of Ruins (London: Thames & Hudson) (rev. edition) Marot, T., 1998, Las monedas del Macellum de Gerasa (Ýaraš, Jordania): aproximación a la circulación monetaria en la provincia de Arabia (Madrid: Museo Casa de la Moneda) Northedge, A., 1999, ‘Archaeology and Islam’ in G. Barker (ed.) Companion Encyclopedia of Archaeology (London: Routledge), pp. 1077-1106 Piccirillo, M., 1993, The Mosaics of Jordan (Amman: American Center of Oriental Research) Piccirillo, M., Alliata, E., 1994, Umm al-Rasas – Mayfa’ah, I. Gli scavi del complesso di Santo Stefano (Jerusalem: Studium Biblicum Franciscanum) Ribak, E., 2007, Religious Communities in Byzantine Palestina: the Relationship between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, AD 400-700, BAR S1646 (Oxford: BAR Publishing) Sauvaget, J., 1941, Alep. Essai sur le développement d’une grande ville syrienne, des origines au milieu du XIXe siècle (Paris: Paul Geuthner) Shahîd, I., 1995a, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, I, 1. Political and Military History (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks) Shahîd, I., 1995b, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, I, 2. Ecclesiastical History (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks) Shahîd, I., 2002, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, II, 1. Toponymy, Monuments, Historical Geography, and Frontier Studies (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks) Silberman, N.A., 1998, ‘Whose Game is it Anyway? The Political and Social Transformations of American

REFERENCES Ball, W., 2000, Rome in the East: the Transformation of an Empire (London: Routledge) Bellinger, A.R., 1938, Coins from Jerash, 1928-1934 (New York: American Numismatic Society) Blanke, L., Damgaard, K., Simpson, I., Walmsley, A., 2007, ‘From Bathhouse to Congregational Mosque: Further Discoveries on the Urban History of Islamic Jarash’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 51, pp. 177-197 Bujard, J., Genequand, D., Trillen W., 2001, ‘Umm al-Walid et Khan az-Zabib, deux établissements omeyyades en limite du désert Jordanien’ in B. Geyer (ed.) Conquête de la steppe et appropriation des terres sur les marges arides du Croissant fertile (Lyon: Maison de l’Orient Méditerranéen – Jean Pouilloux), pp. 189218 Crowfoot, J.W., 1931, Churches at Jerash, British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, Supplementary Papers 3 (London: The Council) Dever, W.G., 1999, ‘Can “Biblical Archaeology” be an Academic and Professional Discipline?’ in T. Kapitan (ed.) Archaeology, History and Culture in Palestine and the Near East: Essays in Memory of Albert E. Glock (Atlanta: Scholars Press), pp. 11-22 de Vries, B., 1998, Umm el-Jimal. A Frontier Town and its Landscape in Northern Jordan, I. Fieldwork 19721981 (Portsmouth: Journal of Roman Archaeology) Donner, F.M., 1989, ‘The Role of the Nomads in the Near East in Late Antiquity (400-800 C.E.)’ in F.M. Clover, R.S. Humphreys (eds) Tradition and Innovation in Late Antiquity (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press), pp. 73-85 Gaube, H., 1979, ‘Die syrischen Wüstenschlösser. Einige wirtschlaftliche und politische Gesichtspunkte zu ihrer Entstehung’, Zeitschrift des Deutschen PalästinaVereins 95, pp. 182-209 Glock, A.E., 1999a, ‘Archaeology as Cultural Survival: the Future of the Palestinian Past’ in T. Kapitan (ed.) Archaeology, History and Culture in Palestine and the Near East: Essays in Memory of Albert E. Glock (Atlanta: Scholars Press), pp. 302-323 Glock, A.E., 1999b, ‘Cultural Bias in Archaeology’ in T. Kapitan (ed.) Archaeology, History and Culture in Palestine and the Near East: Essays in Memory of Albert E. Glock (Atlanta: Scholars Press), pp. 324-342 Graf, D.F., 2001, ‘Town and Countryside in Roman Arabia during Late Antiquity’ in T.S. Burns, J. Eadie (eds) Urban Centers and Rural Contexts in Late Antiquity (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press), pp. 219-238 Gullini, G., Pierobon, R., Parapetti, R., Piazza, M.G., 1983350

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Biblical Archaeology’ in L. Meskell (ed.) Archaeology Under Fire: Nationalism, Politics and Heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (London: Routledge), pp. 175-188 Silberman, N.A., 1999, ‘Albert E. Glock (1925-1992): a Remembrance’ in T. Kapitan (ed.) Archaeology, History and Culture in Palestine and the Near East: Essays in Memory of Albert E. Glock (Atlanta: Scholars Press), pp. 1-10 Simpson, I., 2007, Marginalising the Islamic Past: Bilad al-Sham in Archaeological and Heritage Practice (unpublished M.A. diss., University of Copenhagen) Uscatescu, A. 1996, La Cerámica del Macellum de Gerasa (Yaras, Jordania) (Madrid: Instituto del Patrimonio Histórico Español) Walmsley, A., 2003, ‘The Friday Mosque of Early Islamic Jarash in Jordan: the 2002 Field Season of the DanishJordanian Islamic Jarash Project’, Journal of the C. L. David Collection 1, pp. 110-131 Walmsley, A., 2007, Early Islamic Syria: an Archaeological Assessment (London: Duckworth)

Walmsley, A., Damgaard, K., 2005, ‘The Umayyad Congregational Mosque of Jarash in Jordan and its Relationship to Early Mosques’, Antiquity 79, pp. 362378 Whitcomb, D., 1996, ‘Urbanism in Arabia’, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 7, pp. 38-51 Wirth, E., 2002, Die orientalische Stadt im islamischen Vorderasien und Nordafrika: städtische Bausubstanz und räumliche Ordnung, Wirtschaftsleben und soziale Organisation (Mainz: von Zabern) Ye’or , B., 1996, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam. From Jihad to Dhimmitude: Seventh-Twentieth Century (Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press) Zayadine, F. (ed.), 1986, Jerash Archaeological Project, I. 1981-1983 (Amman: Department of Antiquities of Jordan) Zayadine, F. (ed.), 1989, Jerash Archaeological Project, II. 1984-1988 (Paris, Amman: Department of Antiquities of Jordan)

Fig. 1 - Map of major sites in Palestine-Jordan, all the subject of archaeological research to some extent (Walmsley 2007).

Fig. 2 - The classic Middle Eastern tell: a view over the Roman-period theatre towards Tell Husn at Baysan (Biblical Beth Shan), with the flattened top a result of years of excavation (photo: Walmsley 1998).

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Fig. 3 - General view of Jarash, Jordan (photo: Walmsley 1977).

Fig. 4 - The Hadrianic gate, ca AD 129, at Jarash (photo: Walmsley 1985).

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Fig. 6 - View within the walled settlement of Umm al-Rasas (Kastron Mefaa), at first appearing as an incomprehensible jumble of stone (photo: Walmsley 2007).

Fig. 5 - View towards the badiyah of North Jordan, exhibiting a mixed economy of agriculture and pastoral activities (photo: Walmsley 2003).

Fig. 7 - Plan of the walled settlement of Umm al-Rasas, revealing the systematic layout in the plan of the site, divided into six (three sets of two identical) units. Greyed structures: churches; grey and black hatched structures: shops; grey and white hatched structures: enclosed market next to church (from Wirth 2002, modified Walmsley 2008). 353

The archaeological park and open-air museum at the Middle Bronze Age site of Montale (Modena, Italy)  

Andrea Cardarelli, Ilaria Pulini Abstract The idea of opening an archaeological park and open-air museum dedicated to the terramare civilization, which developed in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages (1650-1200 BC) in the Po River Plain, came as a response by the Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology to an increasing demand for new methods of exhibiting past cultures, capable to combine a sound scientific approach with a high level of interactivity. From this point of view, the existence at Montale of a still partially preserved terramara, where the Modena Museum has been conducting fruitful research excavations since the 19th century and which was the source of most of the museum’s terramare exhibits, offered an excellent opportunity. Thanks to the support of the EU programme Archaeolive, a project was launched that starting from archaeological investigations at Montale site could lead to a museographic presentation using methods typically employed in the archaeological open-air museums of Central and Northern Europe, where archaeological settings are reconstructed with a highly evocative approach.

In 1868 Carlo Boni identified the remains of a prehistoric settlement beneath the hillock of Montale, a village just outside the town of Modena in Northern Italy, and three years later he started archaeological excavation at the site. Those remains were quite similar to many others that were discovered in the same period throughout the Emilia region, which were given the name of terre marne (rich dark soils) or terremare, because they were formed by rich deposits of organic matter which was used by farmers as a concentrated source of compost (Boni 1868, Saltini 1997). As is known, terramare settlements were common in Northern Italy throughout the Po River Plain from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age (1650-1200 BC). They were surrounded by an embankment and a water-filled moat and their size varied from 1 or 2 ha in the earlier phases to as much as 20 ha in the more advanced ones. Inside the villages, rectangular dwellings were built either on the ground or on wooden platforms and were arranged following a predetermined and rational plan that included storage facilities and open areas (Peroni and Magnani 1996, Bernabò Brea et al. 1997). From the outset, Boni’s research in the terramara of Montale aroused great interest amongst scholars across Europe, many of whom had the chance to visit the archaeological site during the 5th International Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology, which was held in Bologna in 1871. Archaeological finds from Montale were displayed at the Bologna Congress and back in Modena became the first exhibit of the Civic Museum founded by Carlo Boni that year. The excavations, which went on for several years, revealed a 4 m deep archaeological deposit (Fig. 1) and the remains of the ancient embankment (Bonizzi 1871, Boni 1882, Boni 1884). Despite the importance of the finds, the hillock of Montale was intensively exploited for peat extraction, like most of the terramare settlements in the Po River Plain. In 1895, of the ancient village that originally occupied about 1 ha with a height of almost 4 m, nothing was left except the area occupied by the 17th century’s church buildings, corresponding to about one quarter of the village’s original size. At the end of the 19th century, studies on the terramare sites came to an abrupt halt and it was

not until almost one hundred years later that, in a climate of renewed interest, the Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology1 recommenced archaeological investigations at Montale (Cardarelli 1995, Cardarelli et al. 1997, Cattani and Labate 1997, Cardarelli et al. 1998). In 1994 the archaeological investigations focussed on the moat and embankment that surrounded the village. Following these investigations, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage placed a preservation order on the site, which at the time belonged to the Church, and the Municipal Authority of Castelnuovo Rangone, of which Montale is part, ordered for the site to be preserved as a park land. Excavation work continued in summer 1996, with the unearthing of an area of intact archaeological deposit. On that occasion, the stratigraphic section was brought to light and a perfectly faithful cast was made. At the bottom level of the terramare, traces of structural elements and postholes belonging to the earliest phases of the settlement were unearthed. The interest in the terramare was boosted in 1997 by the exhibition ‘The terramare: the most ancient civilisation of the Po Plain’, organised by the Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Emilia-Romagna Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage (Bernabò Brea et al. 1997). In the exhibition, the results of excavations carried out both during the 19th century and in recent years were presented to the public with the aid of reconstructions and plaster casts (including the Montale stratigraphic section) which heightened the impact of the exhibition, as did the video ‘3500 years ago in the Great Plain’, showing a hypothetical reconstruction of a terramara and two demonstrations of experimental archaeology (Cardarelli and Vannini 1997). Visitors’ surveys indicated that there was considerable appreciation, particularly on the part of schools and families, for presentation of archaeological settings involving environmental reconstruction and first hand experience.2   In 1962 the Modena Civic Museum was divided into two sectors: Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and Civic Museum of Art. 2  The success of the exhibition can be measured in the remarkable number of visitors (39,000) from various parts of Italy and in particular from cit1

Andrea Cardarelli, Ilaria Pulini

The terramare exhibition was such a success that the Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology decided to keep working with new ways of exhibiting past cultures, capable to combine a sound scientific approach with a high level of interactivity. With this objective in mind, a project was launched that starting from archaeological investigations could lead to a presentation of the terramare civilisation, using methods typically employed in the archaeological open-air museums of Central and Northern Europe, where archaeological settings are reconstructed with a highly evocative approach. The existence at Montale of a still partially preserved terramara, where the Modena Museum has been conducting fruitful research excavations since the 19th century and which was the source of most of the museum’s terramare exhibits (Cardarelli and Merlo 1999), offered an excellent opportunity. With the intention of enhancing such a project, the Municipal Authority of Castelnuovo Rangone purchased from the Church the piece of land protected by preservation order. The fact that the archaeological site was actually located in the middle of a a built-up area, which might at first glance have seemed a disadvantage for the creation of an open-air museum, on the contrary was considered to be a further element for the success of the project, which could contribute to reinforce the cultural identity of quite a featureless area of modern suburbs. In 1998 the Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology started excavation work on the intact stratification that had been located during the surveys in 1996, investigations that were to continue until 2002. As the archaeological information was collected, the park project gradually developed, with the identification of the destination and use of the space available. The idea was to create a visit area that included: a. an ‘archaeological park’ inside the archaeological area originally occupied by the terramara, b. an ‘open-air museum’ with reconstruction of dwellings in an area neighbouring with the archaeological site.3 In order to acquire the necessary funding to go on with the project, in summer 1998 the Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology launched a three-year project called Archaeolive, which received EU support as part of the Raffaello programme.4 The aim of Archaeolive was to foster cooperation between Montale and two other museums working on similar projects, with the final objective to disseminate knowledge about the strong cultural unity that characterised the Bronze Age throughout Europe (Barth et al. 2003, Cardarelli et al. 2004). The other two museums involved in the project were the Pfahlbaumuseum in Unteruhldingen on Lake Constance, which is one of the oldest archaeological open-air museums established in Eu-

rope (Schöbel 2005) and the Vienna’s Naturhistorisches Museum which was leading a reconstruction project in the Hallstatt valley near Salzburg (Barth and Lobisser 2002, Barth and Lobisser 2005). The projects of the three European partners, despite their thematic and chronological differences, shared a common methodology, based on the use of reconstruction as a tool for boosting the knowledge of archaeological settings without monumental remains.5 Continental Europe’s protohistoric settlements, which were built using perishable material such as wood and clay, have not left archaeological evidence which can be easily understood by the public. In most cases, of the large wooden and earth structures that characterised many Bronze Age villages nothing remains but residual traces that are on the whole unsuitable for the visit. The primary objective of the Archaeolive project was to contribute to disseminate knowledge and understanding of European protohistory through philological reconstruction of dwellings and productive processes, which could convey a highly suggestive and explanatory picture of the archaeological contexts. At the same, the Archaeolive methodology has satisfied another indication of the European Commission: the preservation of archaeological sites. The use of reconstruction, increasing awareness of the historical and cultural significance of protohistory among the general public, is in fact a method to promote an ‘active and direct preservation’ of those archaeological sites that, due to their scarce evidence, are at great risk of destruction. In April 1999 an administrative agreement was signed between the Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Castelnuovo Rangone Municipal Authority.6 This document identified the respective areas of competence and responsibilities within the framework of the project and presented a three-year financial plan. Whereas the Museum of Modena, in agreement with the EmiliaRomagna Superintendence for Archaeological Heritage, was in charge of the excavation and scientific research and of the reconstructions, the Castelnuovo Rangone Municipal Authority was responsible for the building and maintenance of service infrastructures and layout of the park land. A second agreement between Castelnuovo Rangone Municipal Authority and the Modena Museum established the management policy and set the general outline of the programmes for visitors. The foreseen opening date of the park (September 2003) was postponed to March 2004, after a fire caused extensive damage to the near-finished reconstructions of the open-air museum in July 2002.

  The three projects dealt with European Bronze Age sites which date from different chronological periods. The Montale terramara dates to the Middle and Late Bronze Age ( 17th - early 12th century BC). The project in Hallstatt, which is a well known site for its rock salt mines and for an important Iron Age burial ground, regarded the late central European Bronze Age (13th-12th century BC), as did that of Unteruhldingen, regarding a lake-dwelling dating to 10th - 9th century BC. On a strictly museographic level, the projects developed by the three partners related to different but usefully integrating situations as regards experience and know how: Montale and Unterhuldingen worked at the reconstruction of dwellings, the Hallstatt experience regarded wooden storage facilities used to process and store pork meat. 6   City Council Act n. 107 of the 26/04/1999. 5

ies within a radius of 250 km from Modena. Substantial press coverage, numerous television programmes, and two international awards won by the documentary films which accompanied the exhibition contributed to this success. 3   The project’s scientific direction was carried out by Andrea Cardarelli, who was at that time director of the Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The architectural project was performed by Riccardo Merlo. 4   The project was funded by the European Commission with a contribution of € 250,000, € 125,000 of which were allocated to Modena Museum as project leader, and the remainder was divided between the European partners.

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The archaeological park and open-air museum at the Middle Bronze Age site of Montale (Modena, Italy)

1. The results of the archaeological investigations

thought to have been a dwelling, was separated from the other house by a narrow walkway about 2 m wide, perhaps a narrow street between the houses (Candelato et al. 2002) (Pl. XV: 3). This feature, together with the evidence that houses of phase I and II, as well as those of the later phases, are almost completely overlapping stratigraphically and planimetrically, indicate that house building in the terramara of Montale followed a preset grid-like layout, which would appear to be a typical feature of the organisation of the residential space in terramare settlements and in piledwelling sites in general. Starting from phase IV and certainly with phase VI, corresponding to an evolved phase of Middle Bronze 3, which can be dated between the second half of the 15th century and the early 14th century BC, the structural remains come from ground level dwellings, rather than from pile-dwellings. In phase IV there are evident traces of ground-level beams forming the perimeter of a house with a mud floor inside. In phase V, corresponding to Middle Bronze 3, no remains of houses were found, however there is evidence of craft activity for the production of bronze objects: in addition to a melting pit, several fragments of bellows, nozzles, broken stone casting moulds, an axe, a dagger, a bronze arrow head and a significant amount of tiny bronze fragments have been found. After phase VI, the structural evidence becomes scarcer on account of the poor conservation of the layers. Nevertheless, interesting finds were unearthed in phase VIII, which is thought to date from the early 14th century BC. This phase is characterised by a fire level composed by millions of carbonised seeds of various types of wheat and barley, originally probably stored in a barn whose structural remains have been probably identified The whole excavation provided a wealth of archaeobotanical and archaeozoological remains which were analysed by specialists of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and other Italian universities. The analysis yielded a great deal of useful information for the reconstruction of the terramare habitat (Accorsi et al. 2004, De Grossi Mazzorin and Ruggini 2004, Capotorto 2004, Mercuri et al. 2006a, Mercuri et al. 2006b).

Here below we present a brief outline of the results of the archaeological research and stratigraphic excavation which form the basis for the reconstructions carried out in the open-air museum (Cardarelli 2004a, Cardarelli and Labate 2004a, Cardarelli and Labate 2004b). The archaeological research has proven that the moat which surrounded the settlement was up to 30 m wide and about 4 m deep. 19th century excavation sections and notes suggest that the embankment must have been at least 10 m wide at the base. Its original height is not known, but we know that in the 19th century surveys its deposits reached a residual height of 3 m. The stratigraphic investigations have provided insight into the phases of building and abandon of the moat. It was dug at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, at the same time when the village was founded. The abandon of the settlement led to the disuse of the moat, which was filled with alluvial sediment and deposits from the embankment which collapsed into it. The reuse of the moat during the Etruscan and Roman eras and in the Middle Ages has been also documented by the archaeological investigation.7 The archaeological excavation carried out from 1998 to 2002 involved a surface area of about 45 m2 (Pl. XV: 1). It unearthed a complex stratigraphy made up of eleven main phases, that can be further broken down into sub phases. Dating was obtained by the archaeological finds and by radiocarbon calibration and suggests that the Montale terramara covered a time period between Middle Bronze 2 and Late Bronze 1, i.e. between the early 16th and the early 13th centuries BC. The most consistent structural information comes from the first two phases (I and II), where the presence of postholes and wooden elements has led to the reconstruction of the floor plans of two dwellings and of part of the height of the house of phase II (Pl. XV: 2). The houses share the same structural model and both date to the central phase of the Middle Bronze Age, from Middle Bronze 2A to the end of Middle Bronze 2B (between the early 16th and first half of the 15th century BC). They were built on platforms raised 110-130 cm from the ground and had a rectangular plan, with a long side of about 9 m and a short side of 6.5-7.5 m. In addition to the alignment of the load bearing stakes which supported the roof and walls, stilts were used to support the wooden platform. Both houses had a three-nave structure with a porch along the south-facing wall. Some of the load bearing stakes were preserved for a few metres and their arrangement suggests the existence of an intermediate floor in each house. At the highest point, the roof was probably over 7 m from the ground. In phase II, a portion of a second structure, which is also

2. Presentation of archaeological research and excavations Despite the limited area of the excavation, the archaeological research has yielded a wealth of information that formed the basis of the presentation in the park area and in the open-air museum. Exhibition is arranged in such a way to highlight the close ties between archaeological research and reconstruction. With this in mind, the executive plans included a visit route that started from the archaeological area and passed through the excavation area before coming to an end in the open-air museum (Fig. 2). In the area once occupied by the terramara, the outline of the moat and embankment is suggested by a gentle slope along the original perimeter of the village. In the route that leads to the archaeological excavation, display panels provide general information on the settlement, on the history of the site both before and after the terramara, and on the early excavation work and the destruction caused by quarrying.

  During the Etruscan and Roman eras, it was no longer recognisable and the hill that formed on the terramara site was lapped to the west by a river, which interested just a stretch of the former moat. In the Middle Ages, a new moat was dug in connection with a castle that was built on top of the hill, which in places followed the line of the terramara embankment. The medieval moat was found to contain part of the castle’s perimeter walls, which were made with large stones and tiles reused from Roman times, and which had collapsed into it. The perimeter walls were punctuated by a series of quadrangular towers that were open on the inside. 7

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The area of the archaeological excavation is covered by a building that recreates the profile of the hillock before the excavation work began. Inside the building the results of the investigations are explained with the aid of two casts: one is the copy of the stratigraphy, and the other reproduces the archaeological layer of phase II, presenting the situation relating to the collapse of the houses. On the ground level, the original layer of phase I shows the postholes belonging both to the house built in phase I and to houses of later phases whose stakes had penetrated deeper into the ground (Fig. 3). This kind of exhibition gives one the impression of penetrating into the heart of the hill and visiting an archaeological dig in progress. On the wall next to the stratigraphy, display panels give a clear picture of the development of the site, showing phases, layers, levels and materials. Each phase is documented by photographs of the layers and by illustrations reproducing the events that caused their formation (construction, destruction, fires and reconstruction) (Fig. 4). Drawings of the archaeological materials unearthed in the excavation are ordered according to phase and class of materials (ceramic, bronze, horn/ bone, wood, amber). Other display panels refer to archaeobotanical and archaeozoological aspects: the former testify to the variations in the presence of pollens, seeds and fruits during the three centuries of the village’s life, the latter to the percentage patterns of domestic and wild animals.

Marchesi terramara (Mutti 1997), thus creating a gateway flanked by two pairs of log structures which were standing slightly forward from the line of the embankment and were joined by a bridge (Fig. 6). The reconstruction of the two dwellings followed in a strict philological sense the indications provided by the floor plans of the excavation, with the reproduction of two threenave structures with a porch along the southern side, where the main entrance is also located. In line with the results of the archaeobotanical analysis performed, oak wood was used for the load bearing structures. Some of the work was performed using faithful copies of original Bronze Age axes and knives, in order to experimentally verify the hypotheses deriving from the archaeological data. The house building was carried out according the following steps: 1. digging of the holes to house the poles, according to the measurements and floor plans found in the dig 2. erection of the vertical poles and subsequent positioning of the horizontal stakes; 3. construction of the raised floor 4. creation of the double-pitched roof. The roofing was made using bundles of swamp reeds fixed to the stakes with cordage using a large wooden needle, according to a traditional technique still found in the region of the Po River delta (Fig. 7). To build the walls, different techniques were used following the excavation data: weaving frames with ash and hazel branches, filling of the frames with twigs held down by horizontal stakes or with bundles of swamp reeds arranged horizontally and again held down by stakes. The daub of the walls, similar to that found in minute fragments of the dig, was created using a mixture made up primarily of clay and secondarily of sand, with the addition of small amounts of animal dung. The wooden floor was spread with beaten earth, on top of which a layer of mud and sand was lain according to the sedimentological analysis of floor remains from the excavation. A number of hearths and two domeshaped kilns were built in direct contact with the floo . On the floor of the phase I dwelling there is a trapdoor for discarding ash and other residues, whose presence, as first suggested by 19th century authors on the basis of the well known stratigraphic characteristics of terramare settlements, could be indicated by the conspicuous conical ash deposits found in the dig. In order to link the two houses to the terramare social context, it was decided to refer them to emblematic figures and features of the terramare society: the phase I dwelling was imagined as the home of common people, while the dwelling of phase II is presented as the home of a higher status family, connected to a socially emerging figure such as that of a warrior with sword (Figs 8-9). The common people dwelling is equipped with a work area for craftwork, including wood and deer horn production of tools, bows, arrows and farming instruments. The rest of the house is occupied by several beds and by a deposit with large pots for food storage. The intermediate floor reconstructed on the ground of the excavation data has been supposed to be used as a storage area. In the second dwelling, to highlight the social status of its occupants, an area has been created in which the head of the family, surrounded by weapons, could receive his guests and offer them libations in the fine

3. The open-air museum The open-air museum presents a life-size reconstruction of a sector of the village, including a portion of moat and embankment and the two dwellings unearthed in phases I and II of the archaeological excavation (Fig. 5), complete with furniture and objects (Cardarelli 2004b: 70-77). The methodology used for the reconstruction envisaged using the evidence from the Montale excavation as the primary source of information, but also contemplated the possibility of integrating the presentation with elements taken from other terramare in the Emilia area, such as ���������������� S. Rosa di Poviglio (Reggio Emilia) (Bernabò Brea and Cremaschi 2004) or Castione dei Marchesi (Parma), or from other Bronze Age sites in Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean, especially as regards those artefacts for which the Montale site did not provided any direct evidence.8 The reconstruction of the moat and embankment took into account the archaeological information but was adapted as regards both size and characteristics in relation to the space available (the moat is about 10 m narrower) and to safety requirements. Although the excavation did not provide any evidence of a gateway to the village, it was assumed by comparison with contemporary examples of stone architecture in the Italian peninsula, that towers stood at the entrance with the dual purpose of retaining the embankment and strengthening the village’s defense.9 It was then decided to build wooden towers taking into account the size and shape of the log structures found in the Castione dei  A great deal of information was taken by the excavation data of the lake dwelling site of Fiavé in the alpine area (see Fiavé VI in Perini 1987). 9   See for example the fortified entrance to the village of Coppa Nevigata in Puglia which was erected ca 1700 BC (Cazzella 1991). 8

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black earthenware that characterises the most refined terramare production. Next to it, there is an area dedicated to resting, with a bed for the headman and other simpler beds. A corner of the house is furnished with tools for metalworking, a production which is likely to be controlled by the elite. Bronze and ceramic objects which furnish the two houses are replicas of originals recovered from the excavation at the Montale site or at other terramare settlements (Cardarelli 2004b: 80-88). Some objects were reconstructed using experimental archaeology techniques that allowed to investigate aspects of the production and use of the objects. For this purpose, two kilns for pottery production were built close to the dwellings, which were used to create medium and large size pots.10 The production of bronze objects was performed in an open pit using replicas of the tools (bellows, crucibles and casting moulds) unearthed in Montale excavations and in other terramare (Binggeli et al. 1997). Two vertical weighted looms were also included in the furnishing of the two houses (Fig. 10). At Montale, and most other terramare, no archaeological evidence of yarns or textiles has ever been found. However, the large number of spindles and clay loom weights found at the site suggests that its residents had well developed the art of weaving. The width of the two reconstructed looms, of 120 and 160 cm respectively, was deducted from excavation data from other terramare and Bronze Age sites, where loom weights maintaining their original alignments are documented (Bernabò Brea 1997a, Bernabò Brea 1997b). As regards the use of fibre, it was chosen to present both wool and linen. The Montale site and other terramare provide plentiful evidence on the presence of wool thanks to the remains of sheep, and especially adult individuals that would seem to indicate livestock used for the production of wool and milk. Flax seeds, of which evidence has been found in other terramare, are not present in the archaeobotanical remains at Montale, however on account of the limited area investigated it is not possible to rule out the use of linen in the village (Rast-Eicher 1997, Pulini and Righi 2004). For reproductions of male and female clothing, as there is no direct evidence of the way the terramare inhabitants dressed, inspiration was drawn from the Bronze Age clothing found in Northern Europe. Additional information about female clothes was offered by the graves of the burial ground at Olmo di Nogara (Verona), which give indications about the use of two different types of typical terramare pins in relation to clothing.11 The textiles have been decorated with patterns copied from pottery as well as from spindles or bone combs, which were used by women to press the weft of the weave (Pulini and Righi 2004). Next to the two dwellings, a sector of the open-air museum has been dedicated to farming some of the plants documented by the excavations of terramare: corn, barley, millet, legumes (Vicia faba and Lens culinaris) and flax The technique followed for the reconstructions necessarily had to be adapted to suit sustainability criteria, not merely from an economic point of view but also as regards safety

and accessibility. This need somehow limited the application of a philological criterion in the construction of the houses. We refer in particular to the use of screws and nails in sectors of the reconstructions and to the installation of the alarm systems and fire prevention equipment inside and outside the dwellings. A ramp leading to the houses and a bridge connecting the two dwellings were built to allow access to disabled visitors.

4. The dialogue with visitors Between its opening to the public in April 2004 and March 2008, Montale Archaeological Park and Open-Air Museum was visited by over 63,000 people. Visitors belong to two main categories of public: general public, mainly families (40%) and schools (60%). The Modena Civic Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology ensures a high quality program which is constantly updated thanks to a close cooperation with the Academic World and in particular with the Department of Cultural Heritage Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Great care is given to the training programmes for the staff, which is constituted primarily of young archaeologists, many of whom also took part in the archaeological research and excavation at the Montale site. More recently, participation in the LiveARCH project organised by the European Union as part of the Culture 2000 programme, which is still in progress, has allowed a deeper insight in the topic of quality in archaeological open-air museums, carried out also through exchanges with other European museums (www.livearch.eu). The park is open to visitors on Sundays and bank holidays, in the months of April, May, June, September and October. The visit inside the archaeological area and in the two dwellings is guided by the museum’s guides. In addition to describing the exhibits, they provide information on the scientific aspects employed to create the park, highlighting the close ties between the archaeological data and the reconstructions built in the open-air museum. They also clearly explain to the visitors the different sources which have provided information for the reconstruction (the Montale dig, other terramare settlements, other settings). The visit to the open-air museum also includes a programme of demonstrations of ancient craft techniques that is different every Sunday. Next to the two reconstructed dwellings, the public can watch bronze casting, weaving on the vertical loom, bone and horn carving, flint chipping, pottery making and firing, etc. (Fig. 11). Sometimes the park’s staff present to the public the results of ongoing experimental archaeology projects on bronze casting or pottery making, and in these circumstances the public is taught about the progress of the research and attends one or more phases of the experiments. Activities for school groups are organised throughout the school year, from September to May. Educational visits last three hours and are aimed at junior and secondary schools, where the intriguing aspect of the reconstruction is combined with the scientific aspects of the archaeological digs. The visit is not merely a journey into the atmosphere of a Bronze Age village, but rather an authentic research expe-

The model was taken by the kiln excavated at the terramara site of Basilicanova, near Parma (Cattani 1997). 11 Especially for the the central and later phases of the Middle Bronze Age (Salzani 2005). 10

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le, II. Scavi del 1882 e 1883 (Modena) Bonizzi. P., 1871, ‘Relazione e conclusioni sugli scavi fatti nella terramara del Montale nel settembre del 1871’, Atti della Società dei Naturalisti Modenesi VI, pp. 307-334 Candelato, F., et al. 2002, ‘Il sistema informativo dello scavo della Terramara di Montale, in Analisi informatizzata e trattamento dati delle strutture di abitato di età preistorica e protostorica in Italia’ in C. Peretto (ed.) Analisi informatizzata e trattamento dati nelle strutture di abitato di età preistorica e protostorica in Italia, Origines, Progetti 1 (Firenze: Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria), pp. 257-270 Capotorto, C., 2004, Analisi morfometrica dei vinaccioli del sito terramaricolo di Montale – Modena (B.A. diss., University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) Cardarelli, A., 1995, ‘La terramara di Montale (Castelnuovo Rangone, Modena)’ in A. Aspes (ed.) Italia Padana e Centro-Alpina, Guide Archeologiche 5 (Forlì: A.B.A.C.O.) pp. 18-25 Cardarelli, A., 2004a, ‘I materiali archeologici’ in A. Cardarelli (ed.) Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico), pp. 50-60 Cardarelli, A. (ed.), 2004b, Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico) Cardarelli, A., Barth, F.E., Schöbel, G., 2004, ‘Parchi Archeologici della Protostoria Europea’ in A. Cardarelli (ed.) Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico), pp. 101-104 Cardarelli, A., Cattani, M., Labate, D., 1998, ‘Castelnuovo Rangone, Loc. Montale’, Archeologia dell’Emilia Romagna 2/2, pp. 29-32 Cardarelli, A., Labate, D., 2004a, ‘Fossato e terrapieno’ in A. Cardarelli (ed.) Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico), pp. 26-29 Cardarelli, A., Labate, D., 2004b, ‘Lo scavo 1996-2001’ in A. Cardarelli (ed.) Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico), pp. 30-49 Cardarelli, A., Merlo, R., 1999, ‘Terramara di Montale: parco archeologico e museo all’aperto’ in R. Francovich, A. Zifferero (eds) Musei e Parchi archeologici. IX ciclo di lezioni sulla ricerca applicata in Archeologia, Certosa di Pontignano (Siena), 15-21 dicembre 1997 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio), pp. 279-296 Cardarelli, A., Pulini, I., Zanasi, C., 2005, ‘Italienische Bronzezeit lebendig gemacht. ����������������������� Ein Park fur die Terramare von Montale’, Plattform 11/12, pp. 117-127 Cardarelli, A., Vannini, F., 1997, 3500 anni fa nella grande pianura, VHS presented at the exhibition Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana (Roma: Giochi Metropolitani) Cardarelli, A. et al., 1997, ‘Nuove ricerche nella terramara di Montale (MO)’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi (eds) Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), pp. 224-228

rience that retraces the steps of the archaeologists’ work. Schoolchildren are first engaged in an archaeological excavation in a ditch recreated near the original excavation area (Fig. 12). Then they go to the laboratory of the park where they analyse and study what they have just unearthed from the dig. After training on the methods of the archaeological research, they finally go to the reconstructed dwellings to cross-check the data they have collected with the reconstructed setting of the open-air museum (Zanasi 2004).

REfEREnces Accorsi, C.A. et al., 2004, ‘I dati archeozologici’ in A. Cardarelli (ed.) Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico), pp. 62-65 Barth, F.E., Cardarelli, A., Lobisser, W., Schöbel, G., 2003, ‘Il progetto Archaeolive: parchi archeologici della protostoria europea’ in P. Bellintani, L. Moser (eds) Archeologie sperimentali: metodologie ed esperienze fra verifica, riproduzione, comunicazione e simulazione. Atti del Convegno, Comano Terme – Fiavè (Trento, Italy, 13-15 settembre 2001) (Trento: Provincia autonoma di Trento), pp. 129-144 Barth, F.E., Lobisser, W., 2002, Das EU-Projekt Archaeolive und das archäeologische Erbe von Hallstatt, Verhöffentlichungen auf dem Naturhistorisches Museum in Wien 29 (Wien: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) Barth, F.E., Lobisser, ����������������������������������� W., 2005, ‘Prosciutto aus dem Salzbergwerk’, Plattform 11/12, pp. 128-133 Bernabò Brea, M., 1997a, ‘Gruppo di pesi da telaio dal Villaggio grande di Poviglio’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi (eds) Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), p. 550 Bernabò Brea, M., 1997b, ‘Gruppo di pesi da telaio dal Villaggio piccolo di Poviglio’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi (eds) Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), p. 550 Bernabò Brea, M., Cardarelli, A., Cremaschi, M. (eds), 1997, Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa) Bernabò Brea, M.A., Cremaschi, M. (eds), 2004, Il villaggio piccolo della Terramara di Santa Rosa di Poviglio. Scavi 1987-1992 (Firenze: Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria) Binggeli, M., Binggeli, M., Boschetti, A., Müller, F., 1997, ‘Una dimostrazione di archeologia sperimentale: la fusione di oggetti in bronzo’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi (eds) Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), pp. 567-569 Boni, C., 1868, ‘Terramare di Montale’, Il Panaro 237, October 13th Boni, C., 1882, La Terramara del Montale. Scavo Generale, I. Scavi dell’ottobre, novembre e dicembre 1881 (Modena: Tipografia di Paolo Toschi) Boni, C., 1884, La Terramara del Montale. Scavo Genera360

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tica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), pp. 216-218 Perini, R., 1987, Scavi Archeologici nella zona palafitticola di Fiavè – Carera, II (Trento: Servizio beni culturali della Provincia autonoma di Trento) Peroni, R., Magnani, P. (eds), 1996, Le Terremare. I grandi villaggi dell’età del bronzo in Val Padana. La ‘quaestio’ nella storiografia classica. Antologia degli autori ‘800-‘900 (Reggio Emilia: Nova et vetera; Paris: Picard) Pulini, I., Righi, M.E., 2004, ‘Intrecci, tessuti e abbigliamento’ in A. Cardarelli (ed.) Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico), pp. 88-93 Rast-Eicher, A., 1997, ‘Tessuti dell’Età del Bronzo in Europa’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi, M. (eds) Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), pp. 545-550 Saltini, A., 1997, ‘L’estrazione della “terra mara”: un’industria rurale nell’Emilia dell’Ottocento’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi (eds) Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), pp. 82-86 Salzani, L. (ed.), 2005, La necropoli dell’età del bronzo all’Olmo di Nogara, Memorie del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona, Sezione Scienze dell’Uomo 8 (Verona: Comune di Verona) Schöbel, G., 2005, ��������������������������������� ‘�������������������������������� Fünf neue Häuser im Pfahlbaumuseum. Bronzezeit nach Ausgrabungen reconstruiert’, Plattform, 11/12, pp. 5-35 Zanasi, C., 2004, ‘Il parco per le scuole’ in A. Cardarelli (ed.) Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico), pp. 96-99

Cattani, M., 1997, ‘Una fornace per ceramica delle terramare’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi (eds) Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), pp. 507-511 Cattani, M., Labate, D., 1997, ‘La terramara del Montale (MO)’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi (eds) Le Terramare. La più antica civiltà padana. Guida alla mostra (Milano: Electa), pp. 97-99 Cazzella, A., 1991, ‘Insediamenti fortificati e controllo del territorio durante l’età del Bronzo nell’Italia sudorientale’ in E. Herring, R. Whitehouse, J. Wilkins (eds) The Archaeology of Power, Papers of the Fourth Conference of Italian Archaeology (London: Accordia Research Center), pp. 49-60 De Grossi Mazzorin, J., Ruggini, C., 2004, ‘I dati archeozoologici’ in A. Cardarelli (ed.) Parco archeologico e museo all’aperto della Terramara di Montale (Modena: Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico), pp. 66-67 Mercuri, A.M. et al., 2006a, ‘Economy and Environment of Bronze Age Settlements – Terramaras – on the Po Plain (Northern Italy): First Results from the Archaeobotanical Research at the Terramara di Montale’, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 16/1, pp. 43-60 Mercuri, A.M. et al., 2006b, ‘Cereal Fields from the Middle-Recent Bronze Age, as Found in the Terramara di Montale, in the Po Plain (Emilia Romagna, Northern Italy), Based on Pollen, Seeds/Fruits and Microcharchoals’ in J.P. Morel, J. Tresseras, J.C. Matamala (eds) The Archaeology of Crop Fields and Gardens. Proceeding of the 1st Conference on ‘Crop Fields and Gardens Archaeology’, Barcelona (Spain), 1-3 June 2006 (Bari: Edipuglia), pp. 251-270 Mutti, A., 1997, ‘Strutture perimetrali della terramara di Castione dei Marchesi’ in M. Bernabò Brea, A. Cardarelli, M. Cremaschi (eds) Le Terramare. La più an-

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Fig. 1 - The excavation at the terramara of Montale in 1871.

Fig. 2 - Plan of the Archaeological Park (right) and Open-Air Museum (left) of the terramara of Montale.

Fig. 3 - The area of the archaeological excavations.

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Fig. 4 - Example of a display panel inside the archaeological area: the house of phase II under construction and its disassemblement after destruction by a fire.

Fig. 5 - The two houses of phase I (left) and II (right) reconstructed in the openair museums.

Fig. 6 - The gateway with the defensive towers at the entrance of the open-air museum.

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Fig. 7 - The construction of the thatched roof.

Fig. 8 - The interior of the house of phase I, representing a dwelling inhabited by common people.

Fig. 9 - The interior of the house of phase II, representing a dwelling inhabited by a high status group.

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Fig. 10 - The weaving loom of the house of phase II with a linen cloth; to the right reconstruction of a female dress.

Fig. 11 - Demonstration of bronze casting in the open-air museum.

Fig. 12 - Schoolchildren learning the methods of the archaeological excavation.

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Strategic management of enhancement projects on urban archaeological sites: the APPEAR method  

Anne Warnotte, Marianne Tinant, Pierre Hupet Abstract Exploitation of the urban substrata is usually regulated by law. This allows for investigation of archaeological remains and imposes a number of conditions on all parties concerned. On the other hand, the enhancement of discovered sites essentially results from opportunity based on local appreciation of the situation. For the decision - maker, the issue consists in nurturing a coherent project in the face of sometimes conflicting interests, and reconciling four equally legitimate points: social and economic development, archaeological research, conservation of the remains and public access to the site. The management method proposed to deal this issue is inspired by the model of strategic management. It offers a structured mechanism for project players to establish the goals to be reached within their areas of expertise and to conceive and execute appropriate actions to reach these goals with realism, flexibility and creativity, essential elements in the successful completion of enhancement projects.

1. Review of the situation and comments All towns are the theatre of human activity which constantly builds, destroys and rebuilds new urban landscapes. The archaeological remains revealed during this process represent a tangible yet fragile witness to this constantly changing collective life. Since the 1960s urban archaeology has become of increasing concern in Europe. Many excavations have taken place in the historic heart of our cities. These can result in asking the questions: ‘Can we integrate the remains which have been uncovered into the contemporary urban environment? When is in situ preservation desirable? And how these remains can be made accessible, understandable and enjoyable for the widest possible audience?’ Urban archaeological discoveries can pose problems. But our buried heritage also has the potential to act as a driving force for sustainable development. In recent years there has been a significant increase in public interest in the past in general and archaeology in particular. As a result many sites open to the public have enjoyed a boom period. This success may be explained by the growing need for an identity in a context of globalisation, the development of ‘cultural’ tourism and a new approach to a long-neglected Cultural Heritage. There are many examples of successful enhancement of urban archaeological sites. Some are less successful. The experiences, both good and bad, have given rise to a number of questions. The complexity of such projects has been unanimously recognised. It arises from the large number of constraints – specific to the urban environment – to be taken into account, whether they are imposed by the sites or by the parties involved. 1.1. Constraints inherent to the sites These constraints arise mainly from archaeology, conservation, integration and displaying to the general public. The interactions between these various domains make the choices regarding enhancement more difficult. Each choice inevitably has a direct impact on the visitor’s perception

and an indirect impact on the numbers visiting the site and its many spin-offs. A series of recurrent problems with which the actors involved in an enhancement project are likely to be confronted have been identified for each one of the domains mentioned. 1.1.1. Archaeology The act of excavation is by nature destructive. Since the decision to preserve a site is often taken during the excavation work, reflections on preventive conservation should be held prior to the start of any archaeological work even though it is not yet known, or only partly known, what will be found. Deciding which remains are to be destroyed would then be based on new rules depending on the objectives being pursued. In urban areas, the decision is particularly delicate since the remains are usually highly concentrated and the archaeological research is conducted hastily. The pertinence of the decisions will depend on the ability of the archaeologists to strike a delicate balance between the achievement of quality results (without which any enhancement is pointless), the preservation of archaeological remains for future generations and the selection of remains to be displayed to future visitors to enable them to understand the historical evolution of the place. It must be noted that even though the sites are opened to the general public, they still constitute veritable reservoirs of knowledge to which those needing to consult them must have access. Researchers must then work in a very different context, but the challenges they face are still the same. 1.1.2. Conservation In urban areas, archaeological remains are subjected to specific agents which are damaging. Depending on whether they are covered or left in the open air, conservation raises problems to which more or less satisfactory solutions can be found. It is acknowledged that in most cases, optimal conservation cannot be achieved without protective covering. However, this is not always possible. In the absence of this, only remains of a monumental nature are conserved

Anne Warnotte, Marianne Tinant, Pierre Hupet

as they can resist damage better. Work is often carried out to ensure their stability and coherence. This provides them (at least for a certain time) with some resistance to damage caused by climate change, environmental pollution, the growth of vegetation, the number of visitors, etc. However the work may undermine their aesthetic appeal or even their authenticity. Even when the remains have protective covering, the question of conservation is still complex. The parameters of a new microenvironment must be grasped, and in most cases regulated, in order to create suitable environmental conditions for preserving the site, for the welfare of the site managers and the general public, and to ensure the smooth running of equipment.

these messages and to articulate them visually and spatially. These choices are dependent on a number of constraints: the quantity and quality of the archaeological remains and of the scientific information that can be exploited, the types of target groups, the size and configuration of the available space, the requirements for preventive conservation, the budget and resources set aside to organise and maintain display measures, etc. Irrespective of the extent and sophistication of these measures, their performance will be assessed on the basis of their ability to allow different target groups to grasp the cultural significance of the site and to achieve effectively the cultural and social objectives that any enhancement project must pursue. 1.2. Human constraints Enhancing an archaeological site, which is a complex, sensitive process with many requirements and implications, marshals a large number of protagonists (decision-makers, experts, economic actors, local authorities, etc.). The protagonists do not always share the same interests and have approaches that are usually difficult to reconcile. Decisionmaking is often an area of dispute. While legal texts state that only voluntary, close and ongoing cooperation among all will guarantee the success of the undertaking, reality shows that where this cooperation exists, it is generally far from ideal. Either there is a lack of will to involve all the parties concerned in dialogue, or there is no structure or only a defective structure within which each party can find its place. As a result, the decision-making chain is often incomplete and anarchical. It is frequently observed that the success of an enhancement project is based on exceptional circumstances: the presence of a charismatic character and/or the involvement of the population. In a number of cases, it is a question of a persistent and enthusiastic person who, despite the problems that arose, has managed to bring together partners who, because of their skills, have made essential contributions to building the project. The success of these undertakings is also due to lengthy awareness-raising and information campaigns, with respect to both decision-makers and the general public. The role of some protagonists thus often exceeds the strict limits of their area of competence. An archaeologist, for instance, is quite often asked to manage the project and must engage in dialogue with more and more partners from spheres far removed from his own, for instance scenography, marketing, etc. To meet the emergence of new needs, in relation to communications in particular, more and more partners are appearing out of the private sector, as the authorities are no longer able to cope with the requirements arising from what is a veritable transformation of the management of Cultural Heritage. Faced with this rapid change and in order to reduce risks of all kinds of abuses, there is now a need to redefine the process of enhancing archaeological heritage, as well as the place and responsibilities of each one of the partners in the process. Appropriate tools are vital to ensure effective management of the growing number of actors involved and the increasing complexity of the decision-making chain. Tools that enable archaeologists to have their say and to put forward their arguments on how to make use of the

1.1.3. Integration The relationship between a site and its environment plays an important role in enhancing remains. In urban areas, a number of remains might be discovered during excavation work carried out prior to a development of a real estate project. The project is then often modified to reconcile its initial function with that of providing access to the remains for the general public, or even dropped in order to create an archaeological park or museum complex. Irrespective of the solution decided on, enhancement of the site gives rise to changes that affect the structural and functional aspects of the immediate environment of the site, the district or even beyond. To ensure suitable integration of the site, the nature and extent that the impact of enhancing it will have on the town and its users, and vice versa, must be pinpointed. The success of the recontextualisation and reappropriation of the remains will depend on the quality of this integration. In addition to the question of the ‘physical’ integration of the site, there is also the question of its ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ integration. It is commonplace to recall how important it is to pay attention and to respond suitably to the expectations of the population. The involvement of local residents from the preliminary discussions stage makes it possible to avoid rejection. Once a site is properly integrated into local life, making it accessible to the public is liable to improve the quality of life of each and everyone thanks to the sociocultural and economic spin-off it can generate. 1.1.4. Displaying to the public Displaying an archaeological site to the public means rendering remains imbued with values understandable and attractive, and creating quality ‘space-time’ to allow visitors to obtain lasting impressions, both intellectual and emotional. Above all the aim is to grasp the cultural significance of the site through a rigorous examination of these values: why is the site important or valuable? There are many types of values – aesthetic, historical, social, scientific, religious, economic, educational, etc. – which are appreciated to differing degrees by scientific, social and cultural groups. Identifying them exhaustively and evaluating them with pertinence makes it possible to justify the preservation of remains, and also to effectively orient the content of messages to be conveyed to visitors. In addition to formulating quality messages, judicial choices must be made as regards the means to be used to convey 368

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•

Preventive conservation: study of the conditions and scientific and technical methods needed to ensure long-term conservation of the archaeological remains and objects. • Urban and architectural integration: study of the methods for the creation or adaptation of an architectural envelope to optimise conservation of the archaeological remains, public access, continuing archaeological research and the integration of the formal and functional characteristics of the envelope into its surroundings. • Display of the site to the public: study, design and implementation of systems to make the archaeological site more intelligible, to increase its power to attract and to promote its adoption by the community. • Visitor management: study of the methods available for management of the cultural facility for education and information and communication programmes so as to ensure its acceptance by the community and its full integration into the existing cultural and tourist resources. The actions undertaken in each of these fields are analysed side by side to be able to address the overall issue adequately. The matters raised and proposed solutions are compared and confronted regularly to ensure the quality and consistency of the results. The method uses a planned sequential process consisting of six phases, gradually developing the project: • assessment • feasibility studies • definition of the option • project design • execution • operation Each phase is divided into three stages: • Planning: identification of the players and their interactions; setting up the working structure so that the decision - making process is seen to be performing and appropriate. This means developing a method to ensure maximum cooperation throughout the phase, • Action: implementation of the tasks required to make informed decisions. This is the work programme for achievement of the objectives. • Review: analysis and synthesis of the results and amendment of the decisions made. The results achieved during the planning and execution stages are assessed to help produce the most relevant decisions during each phase of the project. Assessment of the results examines their reliability, validity and usefulness. During each of the three stages, questions are raised about the decision-making process, the tasks to be undertaken to take the project forward and the evaluation of the results. The operational response to these questions is reflected in a number of interlinked actions (key actions) to be carried out in the various areas of competence (Table 1).

heritage are just as essential. To date we are far from having satisfactory answers to the numerous questions raised by conservation and access by the public to archaeological sites. The diversity and unequal quality of the solutions adopted to this end clearly demonstrate this. The problem is all the more complex in that practices in this domain are relatively recent and are constantly evolving, and sustainability objectives must be met while at the same time coping with the needs of a consumer society in which the culture of urgency and of immediate and specific interests takes precedence. These concerns were all the focus of the European study, APPEAR.1 Developed by experts and representatives of local authorities convinced that respecting the traces of the past means respecting humanity, this study has given rise to the APPEAR method.

2. The APPEAR method 2.1. Overview Based on case studies, the APPEAR method is aimed at all those engaged in a project to enhance archaeological remains in urban areas. It may be regarded as a guideline for steering all the operations to be carried out from the emergence of the idea for the project up until the opening of the site to the general public and its everyday management. This practical guide and the accompanying resources have been formulated in such a way as to meet the needs of the various actors involved in such projects, regardless of the domain in which they work. The sole aim of the method is to help these actors make the right choices at the right time, given the situations they face. The APPEAR method is based on the principles of strategic management adapted for the specific needs of the enhancement of urban archaeological sites. Its aim is to control the process through the combined efforts of the partners and planning. These partners are called upon to deal with a series of issues which relate to seven fields of expertise involving a number of disciplines: • Management: design and implementation of the decision - making and organisation processes, especially looking at the performance, appropriateness and acceptability of the decisions and the actions taken. • Financial management: analysis of the economic factors of an enhancement project including its effect on urban life, on a local and regional level, with a view to setting up the financial programme and optimising the quality and quantity of investments. • Archaeology: exploration and study of excavated archaeological remains and objects to gain a better understanding of the past and to assess their potential for reuse. 1   APPEAR is the acronym of Accessibility Projects. Sustainable Preservation and Enhancement of Urban Subsoil Archaeological Remains. ‘Accessibility project’ means all the actions undertaken to enhance archaeological remains discovered during urban excavations, with a view to sustainable development of the town. This includes making these remains visible, intelligible and attractive for the largest number at the same time as ensuring their long-term preservation, their scientific use and their harmonious integration into the urban fabric.

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2.2. The six phases

Specifying and putting into context the favourable and unfavourable elements. • Establishing the foreseeable impacts of enhancement. Defining the constraints which will impact on all those involved by: • Specifying exact conditions for carrying out the enhancement. • Fixing tolerance levels for each field of expertise The analysis should outline appropriate enhancement solutions likely to answer the needs of the site and its context as well as satisfying the expectations of all parties involved. At the end of this second phase, the project partners have: • A flexible and enduring project steering system • Full and accurate reports for each field of expertise, catalogued and permanently available, which can be consulted throughout the enhancement process. • A cross-disciplinary analysis justifying the feasibility and viability of the enhancement together with conditions for the execution of the project. •

2.2.1. Phase 1 - Assessment. Should the site be enhanced? This phase consists of understanding the site and its context and to gather, often in a very short space of time, the information essential to build a convincing argument for carrying out or not an enhancement project. This information will also help define the feasibility studies to be undertaken during the next phase, if the project goes ahead. A report on what is known and what still needs to be known has to be produced. This aims to establish the importance of the site before any major financial engagement • What do we know about this site at the moment when the idea to enhance it first emerges? Do we know enough about it to make a decision about enhancing it? If not, what other information do we need? Is it possible to get that information? Is it necessary, useful or desirable? The assessment phase is done at a very general level. It depends on available skills, time and resources: • What human, technical and financial means are readily to hand? What needs to be done to engage these? How much time is there in which to make a decision? It also depends on how advanced the archaeological research is: • Is the site known about and well recorded or is it a chance discovery during recent development work? Are the excavations proposed or underway? Can the site’s importance already be predicted or is it still unknown? At the end of this first phase, the project partners have • General and contextual information allowing an initial estimate of the importance of the site based on objective and subjective values. • An appraisal of gaps in knowledge and questions that still require answers. • Initial ideas for enhancement and definition of feasibility studies.

2.2.3. Phase 3 - Definition of the options. What are the fundamental options for enhancement? The feasibility studies enabled the identification and assessment of the positive and negative consequences of enhancing and opening the site to the public. The criteria for feasibility and viability form the basis for a common study, leading to the definition of the guiding principles and fundamental options which will inform the programme for the rest of the process. This programme constitutes a reference document, clarifying the issues and helping make the decisions. Its development represents an important step in itself because it allows those involved, by means of an iterative process, to compare their analyses, find the common priorities and define the fundamental options which will lead to the formulation of the final project plan during the next phase Definition of the fundamental options also serves to place the project in the context of the urban policies: • Integration within the town: the options for enhancement must fit into the wider policy framework for the management of the urban space, as well as harmonising the various urban functions (economy, housing, mobility, culture and pastimes, security, etc.) without compromising the current balance at the local, area or global scale. • Acceptance by the community: the options for enhancement must allow the community to accept the project in its development stage by respecting the various issues which drive the town (creation of partnerships between economic, tourism and cultural players; involving the town’s users in making the essential choices; reinforcing community spirit and enhancing the town’s image, etc.). • Sustainable development: the options for enhancement must form part of an urban development project conscious of the real needs of the town’s users without compromising the ability of future generations to find answers to their own needs. The developing project must therefore base itself on fundamental principles which guarantee the protection of the archaeology as a fragile and non-renewable resource in a changing

2.2.2. Phase 2 - Feasibility studies. Is it possible to enhance the site? At the end of the assessment phase the project partners produced a summary of what is known about the site and a list of the gaps in knowledge to be filled in the event of an enhancement. This defined limits for the in-depth studies essential for continuing the project. The feasibility studies help formulate the initial direction for the project including conditions for feasibility and viability, taking into account the characteristics of the site and the context which is likely to change over time. The aim of this phase is to provide an exhaustive analysis of all the tangible and intangible issues relating to enhancement including: Examining the project in terms of how it is perceived by all the interested parties by: • Defining and putting into context the expectations of each of these parties. • Defining and putting into context the issues which motivate the town. Examining all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints relating to the site and its context by: 370

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environment. The options for enhancement need to be embodied in a functional programme sufficiently defined to be able to measure its success after completion. At the end of this third phase, the project partners have: • A current list of needs and expectations of the various players. • A description of the options chosen in each field of expertise and summary of integrated options together with an estimate of the resources required to carry out the project and manage the cultural facility. • A description of the criteria for selection of the people to work on the project design.

tion and assessment of the works must be established to guarantee the smooth running of the operations: • Select the contractors: taking into account the requirements of the specification, which candidates present the best guarantee of success in terms of skills and aptitude? (Note that for ease of reference, the generic term ‘contractors’ has been used throughout). • Plan the operations: a general execution plan including all the information needed to steer the works for the different areas of expertise and cross-functionality must be developed. Which contractors are required? What are the methods of execution, the timetabling, the results to be achieved and the resources to be mobilised? What are the particular constraints to take into account and the procedures to be applied to ensure preservation of the archaeological layers and optimal use of the resources? • Start the works: implementation of the general execution plan. What strategies for coordination and methods of execution need to be deployed to reinforce the efficiency of the operations • Assess the results: the works must be regularly monitored to assess the quality of the results against the set objectives. What indicators can be used to measure the works against the general execution plan? What criteria can be used to measure their conformity to the specifications At the end of this fifth phase, the project partners have • An enhancement of the archaeological site according to the guiding principles and the fundamental options steering the design and execution of the project. • A commissioning file of all the documents needed for the operation of the cultural facility. • Action plans and evaluation procedures for each field of expertise, required for the development of the management plan during the next phase.

2.2.4. Phase 4 - Project design. How are the options transformed into the final project plan? The fundamental options making up the programme must now be converted into a clearly defined project plan. All the objectives and performances stipulated by the programme must be met in an efficient, sustainable and balanced way through the most appropriate means. Every field of expertise works on refining the solutions in their area and these, when integrated, will constitute the final project plan The conversion of the fundamental options into the final project plan is entrusted to a project team. The first objective therefore is to select this team then to develop a way of working with them and define the resources needed for the project. • Select the project team: taking into account the programme requirements, which candidates present the best guarantee of success in terms of skills and aptitude? • Develop the design process: what course must be followed in each field of expertise and overall to end up with a sound and coherent project, assessed and validated throughout its development? What are the most appropriate methods to define all the characteristics and precise specification of the final project pla • Define the resources required: taking into account the requirements of the programme and the final project selected, what resources are required for the development of the project? At the end of this fourth phase, the project partners have: • Detailed action plans for each field of expertise, including methodological and technical recommendations and instructions, and an inventory of useful tools, • A list of criteria for the selection of the contractors to undertake the work for the final project • Budgets, financial set-up and timetable

2.2.6. Phase 6 - Operation. How can the long-term future of the cultural facility be assured? The cultural facility is operational. It conforms absolutely to the guiding principles and the fundamental options which have inspired the design and execution phases. The steering group organises the appointment of the site manager entrusted with the task of ensuring the functioning and long-term future of the site, and provides all the necessary information during the takeover. The site manager is responsible for the implementation of the action plans and the evaluation procedures developed during the previous phase. Depending on the situation, she become involved in the enhancement at different times but s/he must be appointed at the latest at the beginning of this phase. Then it is a case of: • Arranging the manager’s appointment: the manager must be given all the intellectual and practical information needed to start managing the site as soon as possible. • Opening the site to the public: opening the site to the public allows the testing of the relevance and resilience of all the components of the cultural facility. This is a running in period when the interactions between the site, the public and the systems developed

2.2.5. Phase 5 - Execution. How is the final project plan implemented? The final project plan must be implemented according to good practice. Executing the different works requires a pre-established method of working which allows the work to be organised, planned and timetabled, and to control its correct execution until its successful completion and handover to the project owner. Implementation of the project requires the intervention of a number of contractors. The first objective of this phase is to select them. Then a process for the preparation, execu371

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within each field of expertise are tested and corrected as necessary. • Ensuring the long-term future of the cultural facility: as soon as the site is open to the public, all management plans and procedures should be put in place and regularly assessed to check they are performing effectively in the following areas: conservation of the remains, scientific research and access to the greatest number of people possible. It is also important to ensure the long-term future of the facility by ensuring it is included in the various urban policies. Enhancement of archaeological remains is not an end in itself: it only has sense when it is part of everyday life. The management team must harmonise with the community. This openness is not only motivated by the wish to ensure the long-term future of the facility. It is also the only legitimate answer to the current and future needs of the urban community. A system of exchange and mutual support is the only way to forge lasting links between the site and the visitors. The manager and partners should pay particular attention to expressed or sensed changes in cultural, tourist and socio-economic needs. They should regularly evaluate the relevance of their operation against the planning, employment, mobility, participation, etc., policies of the local or regional authorities.

• • • • • • •

Luxen Jean-Louis, Léon Lozano Consuelo (International Council on Monuments and Sites); Martinet Francesca, Zidda Gianfranco (Regione Autonoma Valle d’Aosta, Italy); Ruiz-Jimenez Jorge, Asensio Mikel (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain); Sanz Noèlia, Colomer Laia, Nicolau i Martì Antoni (Institut de Cultura de Barcelona, Spain); Sarkadi Eszter, Páll Leona (Réseau Alliance de Villes Européennes de Culture, Hungary); Wilson Valerie, Miles David (English Heritage, United Kingdom); Zwetkoff Catherine, Lefert Sophie, Teller Jacques, Hachimi Tatiana (Université de Liège, Belgium).

The results of the APPEAR research, in particular the APPEAR method, are available on the Internet: http://www.in-situ.be/A_pres_overview.html.

3. Conclusion The APPEAR method does not advocate systematic enhancement of discovered remains. In many cases, alternative methods such as total excavation or the establishment of protected archaeological areas may be a better solution. If, however, the option to enhance is chosen, the project may take many and varied forms. Its scope will be determined by the context and the means that are realistically available. Whether it takes place in a metropolis or a small town, a prosperous capital or a local community with a modest budget, the APPEAR method offers to its users an ethos rather than a technique. The process in this method tries to be as exhaustive as possible to cover all the requirements of a large project, but it can also be adapted to suit smaller projects.

Acknowledgements The APPEAR project is partly funded by the European Commission. Fifth Framework Programme: Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development. Key Action 4: the city of tomorrow and Cultural Heritage. Action 4.2.3: foster integration of Cultural Heritage in the urban setting. The project partners, who have jointly devised the APPEAR method, are: • Diaz Pedragal Pierre, Le Bouëtté Sandrine (In Extenso, France); • Léotard Jean-Marc (Direction générale de l’Aménagement du Territoire, du Logement et du Patrimoine de la Région wallonne, Belgium);

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Strategic management of enhancement projects on urban archaeological sites: the APPEAR method

overview

Mains players

• •

• • Objectives

•

Key actions

Phase 1 - Assessment

Phase 2 - Feasibility studies

Should the site be enhanced?

Is it possible to enhance the site?

Sponsor Working group

Identifying potential players and setting up a working group Reporting on state of knowledge about the site and its context so as to assess the general potential, limits and constraints Testing the initial idea for enhancement

• • •

Project owner Project manager Core group

•

Setting up an effective and durable organisational structure Exhaustive analysis of all tangible and intangible aspects relating to the issue Outline solutions for enhancement likely to answer the needs of the site and its context as well as the legitimate aspirations of all parties

• •

• • • • •

Project owner Project manager Expanded core group Community Implementing a programming process capable of integrating gradually the needs and expectations of the various parties as well as the objectives and performances to be achieved in each field of expertis Defining the guiding principles and fundamental options, in line with the objectives and performances, which will regulate the future phases of the process

•

[M]

Set up a working group

[M]

Set up the core group

[M]

[M]

Identify the stakeholders

[M]

[DP]

Understand the site

Open the process to the community

Organise interaction between the skills areas

[M]

[PC]

Understand the state of preservation of the remains and their surroundings

[M]

Organise ‘working together’

Consult and ensure the participation of the stakeholders

[DP]

Identify the site’s value

[M]

[UI]

Analyse the urban and architectural context

[A]

Assess the archaeological potential

Structure the programming process

[A]

[VM]

Understand the possibilities for visitor management

[PC]

Identify the deterioration factors and their modes of action

Draw up the options for archaeological management

[PC]

Define the aims of conservatio

[PC]

Establish a conservation plan for the objects to be displayed in situ

[UI]

Formulate the architectural options

[DP]

Draw up the options for display

[VM]

Draw up the options for visitor management Draw up the evaluation for visitor management

[M]

Understand the social, cultural, political and economic context

[FM]

Estimate the cost of the feasibility studies

[PC]

Analyse the state of conservation of the excavated artefacts

[UI]

Analyse the urban setting

[VM]

Identify the potential public

[M]

Assess the potential for partnership

[M]

Identify the variables of the socio-political, economic and institutional context

[VM]

[FM]

Assess the cost of investment and [M] potential funding

[FM]

Assess the economic and social impact

[FM]

• •

Product

Phase 3 - Definition of the options What are the fundamental options for enhancement?

• •

General and contextual information allowing an initial estimate of the importance of the site based on objective and subjective values Appraisal of gaps in knowledge and questions that still require answers Initial ideas for enhancement and definition of feasibility studie

•

•

A flexible and enduring project steering system: project owner, project manager, core group, representatives of the community Full and accurate reports for each field of expertise, catalogued and permanently available, which can be consulted throughout the enhancement process A cross-disciplinary analysis justifying the feasibility and viability of the enhancement together with conditions for the execution of the project

• •

•

Draw up the management options for the project and the cultural facility Produce and provisional budget

Current list of needs and expectations of the various players Description of the options chosen in each field of expertise and summary of integrated options together with an estimate of the resources required to carry out the project and manage the cultural facility Description of the criteria for selection of the people to work on the project design

Table 1 - This table shows all the information useful in managing the six phases of the APPEAR method (main players, objectives, key actions, outputs). It has been designed to help the user throughout the process.

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Anne Warnotte, Marianne Tinant, Pierre Hupet

overview

Mains players

Phase 4 - Project design

Phase 5 - Execution

Phase 6 - Operation

How are the options transformed into the final project plan

How is the final project plan implemented?

How can the long-term future of the cultural facility be assured?

• •

• Objectives

•

• • • •

Steering group Project team

Interaction between all the fields of expertise based on the objectives and performances to be achieved Converting the programme into a coherent project plan

•

•

Steering group Site manager Users

•

Organising the appointment of the site manager responsible for its operation and long-term future Permanent evaluation of the relevance and resilience of all the component parts of the cultural facility Harmoniously developing the various functions assigned to the cultural facility while ensuring its sustainable integration into the different urban policies

•

•

Set up the project team

[M]

Set up a stakeholder committee

[M]

Manage change

[A]

Refine and apply the archaeological management plan

[M]

Develop a coordination strategy

[PC]

[M]

Monitor the execution and correct the practices

Implement the long-term preventive conservation plan

[CF]

[CF]

Monitor the works

Optimise public welcome and functioning of the equipment

[PC]

Develop a long-term preventive conservation plan

[DP]

Draw up procedures for monitoring the museum display

Guarantee the preservation of the remains

[PC]

Draw up guidelines for the approval of materials and procedures to be used

[UI]

Draw up the architectural plans

[DP] [VM]

Draw up the museum display plan [VM] Implement and test the visitor Design and test the visitor management plan management plan [M] Create the project archive Draw up the evaluation plan

[M] [FM]

Draw up the budget for execution and the financial timetabl

[FM]

Forecast the economic conditions for operation

• •

Product

Defining the operating method to enable the works to be organised, planned and controlled throughout their execution until successful completion Executing the anticipated operations while respecting the constraints and procedures aimed at ensuring the preservation of the archaeology, the quality of the work and the optimal deployment of the resources Preparing the commissioning of the cultural facility

• • •

[M]

[PC]

Key actions

Steering group Project team Contractors

• •

Detailed action plans for each field of expertise, including methodological and technical recommendations and instructions, and an inventory of useful tools List of criteria for the selection of the contractors to undertake the work for the final projec Budgets, financial set-up and timetable

• •

Enhancement of the archaeological site according to the guiding principles and the fundamental options steering the design and execution of the project Commissioning file of all the documents needed for the operation of the cultural facility Action plans and evaluation procedures for each field of expertise, required for the development of the management plan during the next phase

[FM] Implement the evaluation plan for the economic conditions of operation

• • •

Implementation of the management plan and opening of the site to the public Regular updates from each field of expertise and correction of practices. Programme for insertion into urban policies and proactive management of change

Fields of expertise [M] Management [FM] Financial management [A] Archaeology

[PC] [UI] [DP]

Preventive conservation Urban and architectural integration Display of the site to the public

Table 1 (cont.)

374

[VM] Visitor management [CF] Combined fields of expertis

Understanding the historic urban fabric of towns: implications for archaeological research design and public archaeology  

Ian Simpson Abstract Urban archaeology can provide knowledge of the past development and structuring of historic towns but this knowledge has not often been utilized in modern urban planning in the Middle East. Using examples of historic towns in the region, this article shows how the archaeological past has shaped the modern urban fabric and discusses strategies for archaeological research designs with the relationship between archaeology, urban development, and archaeological heritage issues in mind. Problems addressed focus on stakeholders in the archaeological process and the historical continuity of towns.

This chapter concerns ����������������������������������� the practice ���������������������� of archaeology in historic urban contexts of the Middle East, specifically modern towns and cities which have long occupation records exhibiting topographic changes and considerable reuse and rebuilding. In many cases these long-term, internal settlement processes have created complex stratigraphic and extensive material culture records. Examples of archaeologi������������ cal practice at Jarash in Jordan and at Beirut in Lebanon are discussed in relation to heritage and development in modern urban settings in the Middle East. The discussion illustrates how significant the archaeological past can be in shaping the heritage fabric of cities and the character of urban life today. With a number of issues in mind that this raises, the chapter will summarise the implications for possible archaeological research strategies for working in historic urban contexts. The terms archaeological heritage (Carman 2002; Skeates 2000) and public archaeology (Merriman 2004) will be used in discussing the general topic. It may serve as a starting point to ask why people should be concerned with conserving and managing the past in living towns today. Besides the intellectual interest, a key reason is that historical awareness and feeling of attachment to the history of a town among its inhabitants is important for their quality of life and for a town’s continuing development. This relationship between the urban heritage fabric and quality of life has been highlighted by the work of the World Heritage Committee, among others. It has been argued moreover that understanding the archaeological layering of the past can also make a contribution to this richness of our urban environments (Caitlin 2005: 520). More generally, this reasoning is related to concerns with the relationship between archaeology and social and economic development in the Middle East, a topic which has been slow to gain attention outside tourism-related literature.1  A brief, early discussion of this topic was presented in 1982, in Economic Development and Archaeology in the Middle East. Amman: Department of Antiquities of Jordan, and ASOR. More recently, the development of the region and its relation to Cultural Heritage more generally has been emphasised by the World Bank (2001), in Cultural Heritage and Development: A Framework for Action in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

1

Secondly, in most towns, significant events or opportunities arise during the course of urban development which demand extensive or large-scale urban planning and may require appropriate archaeology research designs to be employed and archaeological work to be undertaken. Thirdly, as the majority of historic urban settlements continue to evolve and grow, they often encroach on or overwhelm standing ancient and historic remains in the process, and some towns will expand over archaeological remains, whether already identified or unknown Most practitioners concerned with conserving and managing the past in historic towns are architects, town planners, engineers, historians, or conservation and heritage professionals. Rarely are they archaeologists. However, strategies to manage cultural archaeological resources and public archaeology in archaeological research design might allow urban development to benefit more from the understanding of settlement history provided through archaeological research. Where ��������������������������������������������� conservation studies and management often focus on individual monuments and are site specific, archaeology can also be beneficial because it can inform us about the long-term history across a site and can offer a more connected (but sometimes also multivariate) and a more holistic view of a town’s physical and social history. It is noteworthy that while the holistic approach to urban planning and development proposed here is based on examination of cases in the Middle East, assessments elsewhere have argued similarly, such as Caitlin (2005). In reviewing the development of urban sites it is possible to identify a number of general conservation and heritage issues related to the archaeological record which can be addressed in archaeology research design. In terms of modern construction in historic urban settings, examples of archaeological opportunities in ongoing development consist of the building of underground infrastructure, the construction of buildings and foundations, and redevelopment involving demolition and renewal. Examination of Jarash (ancient Gerasa), located in northern Jordan, is illustrative of some of these heritage issues that centre on relations between archaeology and urban development. Jarash is an historic town with occupation dating back to the Iron

Ian Simpson

Age. The most extensive remains date from the Hellenistic, Roman, early Islamic, and late Ottoman periods. Jarash is well-known for its well-preserved ancient temples and colonnaded streets, and has long been a key tourist destination in Jordan and the east Mediterranean������������� . ����������� From an archeological and social heritage point of view, continuous urban growth and expansion are among the main issues of contention at Jarash. One of the biggest concerns is that the modern town of Jarash is divorced or cut off from its ancient and historic past. It is so in several ways. The problem is at least partly to do with the type of archaeology research design, public presentation, and archaeological practice that has been undertaken at Jarash. Western archaeology research designs have focussed on investigating and presenting Jarash as an exclusively Classical city, i.e. only as a Graeco-Roman town. This is despite discoveries already in the 1920s and 1930s of extensive Islamic deposits at Jarash, which first made people aware that occupation continued for several centuries after the Roman town (Kraeling 1938). Thus, the continuity between cultural periods of the past has been overlooked.����������������������������������������������� In addition, research projects have been fragmented and poorly coordinated with each other, and several have not been published, or published only in foreign languages. Furthermore, Jarash has become physically divided into two parts: ancient on the west side and modern on the east, even though the ancient site is, in fact, also located in the east urban area (Simpson 2007: 92; Watts 1991:81). Archaeology research designs have made the division worse by focussing on individual monuments and not considering urban development and structure as a coherent whole. The speed of modern urban growth is also an issue, recognised by several urban planning studies (Mohammad 2005; Werkmeister and Heimer 1980), but there has been very little implementation of municipal planning and protective measures in the city and surrounding area. There are also conflicting policies regarding what to do with traditional buildings. This range of issues has created a perception of Jarash in which the past often seems far removed from the physical and social context of the modern town. As a result, there is a degree to which the local inhabitants are disconnected from their heritage. The above points could be addressed by adopting better strategies in archaeological research design. Firstly, research proposals could assess more carefully the historical significance of a research problem in a more broadly heritage sensitive manner. For instance, in the case of Jarash, there are gaps in knowledge regarding Islamic periods of occupation and transitions between historical periods, and there is little understanding of the long-term development and structuring of the urban site. Efforts can be made to investigate the continuity of the historic fabric of a town as a more coherent whole. A comparative example of this are the coordinated urban archaeology investigations carried out in Buenos Aires, the results of which have revised the traditional perception of this city as having a strongly European influence by showing, through its material culture record, that its development has been rather more ‘multicultural, multinational, pluriethnic’ (Schavelzon 1999: 152). For such approaches in urban archaeology, it is help-

ful to apply and synthesize the results of suitable methods such as GIS, consolidation of data bodies, ethnographic study, and study of historic photographs, land records and archival documents. The Islamic Jarash Project, begun in 2002, has attempted to investigate Jarash from the above perspective of re-assessing the historical significance embodied in past research designs used at the site (Walmsley 2003). The present project design identified the Islamic periods as historically significant because they represented a knowledge gap in the urban history of the site. The project has found that the urban fabric of Jarash exemplifies much more historic continuity than previously argued.����������������� ���������������� For example, research shows there are Muslim sites of continuity with the Roman infrastructure, such as the locations of an Umayyad congregational mosque and an early twentieth century mosque, both located on a Roman street, the South Decumanus. Additionally, a late Ottoman mosque is located on another street formerly of the Roman town, corresponding to modern Al-Malik Abdullah Street. Furthermore,������� establishment of a new settlement in circa 1878 also made use of the ancient infrastructure, which included re-using ancient water channels, building plinths and dressed building stones, and perhaps most significantl , the ancient street pattern (Simpson 2007: 82-88; Watts ������������������������ 1997�������������� ). Such������� knowledge of the continuity of urban development can be of value in public archaeology. Another concern in evaluating the rupture between past and present at Jarash is the place of the public as stakeholders in research activities concerned with the past. Archaeological research projects in the Middle East are commonly led by foreigners and have traditionally overlooked the importance of public outreach, education, and heritage issues, even in urban sites where the archaeological–public intersection can be more readily apparent. This has been the case in most of the work carried out at Jarash over the last hundred years, a situation that probably encourages local inhabitants to question the right of foreigners to be excavating their past. Illustrated recently at Jarash when Jordanian school pupils visiting the antiquities area vocally contested the right of European archaeologists excavating an early Islamic mosque, it is clear there is an acute and long-overdue need to address further the issue of public participation and public stakeholders in the archaeological process and to develop better public archaeology strategies for modern urban settings. Few archaeological projects in the Middle East seek pragmatic solutions to this problem. The relationship between urban development and archaeology can also be discussed through considering examples of events and change in urban places which result in the need for extensive planning of large areas. Earthquakes and armed conflict are examples of such events, which can both lead to serious damage of historic towns. Archaeological work done in Beirut following the War of Lebanon has brought to attention a number of important issues with implications for research design and public archaeology. In the aftermath of the war in the 1990s, large-scale openplan excavations were carried out in central Beirut and the city centre was then redeveloped with consideration of the archaeological results. During this process of postwar reconstruction in the centre of Beirut, archaeology and 376

Understanding the historic urban fabric of towns: implications for archaeological research design and public archaeology

heritage practices became politicised and much contested (Naccache 1998; Seeden 2000). One specific case involved careful excavation of Islamic levels associated with an early 16th century Muslim building, most often referred to as a ribat, located in an area scheduled for redevelopment. During the course of excavations a dispute arose about the site in which social actors with few visible historic links to central Beirut contested the way the archaeological heritage was being defined. The site was contested between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, with both groups making claim to it. Some of the archaeologists working at the site were Christians and were perceived as a threat to the Muslim site because people believed the archaeologists were only interested in looking for earlier periods. This particular belief may be a result of archaeological research having neglected the Islamic past in Lebanon for many years (Seeden 1989). Despite the high standard and historical inclusiveness of the archaeological work undertaken in central Beirut, the archaeologists, operating in difficult conditions, found themselves without tools at hand to allow better public archaeology during excavation. The archaeologists responsible for excavation of the disputed building in Beirut did employ a research design that was culturally inclusive, but the dispute arose nonetheless, perhaps due to stakeholders not being involved in the archaeological process from the outset. Significant time passed before the complete research results could be published, eventually making the enormous value of the archaeology more available. In cases of territorial cultural-political conflict and dispute like this where archaeological practice is notably implicated, strategies for participation, debate, and outreach through public archaeology are crucial. The archaeological research design could identify the potential range of stakeholders at an early stage and include strategic management of communication, debate and negotiation between stakeholders in relation to both project planning and findings. Pragmatic methods can be devised suited to the individual context of a site which bring in stakeholder participation and interpretation of the archaeology, and immediate accessibility or presentation of findings. The project management can include better preparedness for involvement of media news and pro-active use of the media, so that archaeologists are included in the groups of public and other stakeholders setting the media agenda. Despite differences between the rescue and public archaeology done at Beirut and the traditional academic archaeology carried out at Jarash, a number of key heritage issues concerning the interrelated fields of archaeological practice and urban development can be summarised, as exemplified by reviewing work at these urban places. These issues may also be applicable to the development of historic towns in the Middle East more generally. 1. Public awareness of archaeological research in modern urban sites is, on the whole, poor. 2. The modern social and built environment is disconnected from the ancient and historic urban past, and the public tends to be disconnected from its heritage in an archaeological understanding of the long past. 3. Archaeological research designs deployed in modern urban environments largely overlook continuities be-

tween cultural periods of the past. 4. The past is contested and disputed through culturalpolitical territorial claims by urban groups. 5. The use of archaeological research in urban planning is relatively uncommon. Archaeological research designs incorporating strategies to deal with the above issues can play a valuable role in the urban development of Middle Eastern cities and towns. Strategies are needed to address the following points: a. Narrow assessments of historical significance and the focus on individual monuments in previous projects; b. The need ���������������������������������������������� for greater understanding of historic urban fabric, structure and development as a coherent whole; c. Fragmented data bodies and research projects that tend to be uncoordinated with each other; d. Low level of public archaeology practice; e. Oversight of financial planning for later stages of archaeological research projects, such as publication; f. Indigenous languages rarely used in publication of archaeological research projects with heavy foreign involvement conducted in the Middle East. With these issues on the table, strategies can be proposed for a more pragmatic, inclusive and holistic approach which emphasizes public archaeology in drawing up archaeological research designs for historic urban sites. Some of these strategies have also been outlined as generally applicable in archaeology (Black and Jolly 2003; Zimmerman 2003). Strategies need to reveal relations between past and present. This entails assessing the historical significance of the site, within national legislative criteria where applicable, with respect to filling knowledge gaps and generating new knowledge. When deciding on the historical context of the research, one should be aware of its cultural historical significance from a heritage value standpoint, continuity of the historic fabric, and long-term �������������������������������� development and structuring of historic urban sites. Integration or synthesis of existing bodies of data and new data can be carried out by using ���������������������������������������������� landscape archaeology, GIS, ethnographic studies, historic photography, land registry records and other recent history. Strategies in archaeological research designs for Middle Eastern urban settings can concentrate more on public archaeology in a number of ways. Project planning can identify potential social actors and stakeholders, with a view to them participating in the archaeological process, especially indigenous and descendant communities. Tools to encourage greater public collaboration might consist of creating points of interaction between social actors and archaeology by using volunteer work programmes, running open or partially open archaeological sites, and creating Internet access to different levels of data. Language planning policies in the Middle East could attempt to ensure a minimum level of public presentation and dissemination in indigenous languages as a requirement of foreign-led Cultural Heritage projects in order to alleviate the still widespread practice of using only foreign languages for publication. Public media communication and management in the field and in post-fieldwork stages can utilize journalist and In-

377

Ian Simpson

ternet2 channels, in addition to public information literature, displays and signs. Academic ������������������������������� dissemination and public archaeology are both needed, and if initial budgeting is not well-planned for completing both post-excavation and publication stages of work, the research design risks compounding the problem of fragmented data bodies and other difficulties outlined above In conclusion, the issues identifi d here concerning archaeology and development in historic urban settings in the Middle East show that archaeology has been overlooked as a key resource in development and policy planning. In addition to being a means of learning about the human past and urban history, archaeology can also be a formidable tool in urban development in the Middle East, and not only where it is exploited for tourism. The research design strategies for archaeology discussed here may help to promote public archaeology as a more integrated part of archaeological practice in general, both in academic archaeology and heritage management projects, and may help to sustain the heritage fabric of historic towns in a way that makes archaeology a more accessible and valuable resource in urban development in the present. This approach to urban archaeology and Cultural Heritage, with its aim of improving the quality of life for users and inhabitants in urban environments, is motivated by a more general social, economic and political need to seek solutions of sustainability in the Middle East.

Architecture in the Roman City of Jerash “Gerasa”: “The Revival of the Natural and Cultural Settings”’ in Proceedings of ICOMOS 15th General Assembly and Scientific Symposium (Xi’an, China, 17-21 October 2005). Monuments and Sites in Their Setting: Conserving Cultural Heritage in Changing Townscapes and Landscapes (Xi’an: World Publishing Corporation), 51-57 Naccache, A.F.H., 1998, ‘Beirut’s Memorycide: Hear No Evil, See No Evil’ in L. Meskell (ed.) Archaeology Under Fire: Nationalism, Politics and Heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (London: Routledge), pp. 140-158 Schofield, J., Leech, R., 1987, Urban Archaeology in Britain (London: Council for British Archaeology) Schavelzon, D., 1999, The Historical Archaeology of Buenos Aires: a City at the End of the World (Hingham: Kluwer Academic Publishers) Seeden, H., 1989, ‘Search for the Missing Link: Archaeology and the Public in Lebanon’ in P.W. Gathercole, D. Lowenthal (eds) Politics of the Past (London: Routledge), pp. 141-159 Seeden, H., 2000, ‘Lebanon’s Archaeological Heritage on Trial in Beirut: What Future for Beirut’s Past’ in F.P. Macmanamon, A. Hatton (eds) Cultural Resource Management in Contemporary Society: Perspectives on Managing & Presenting the Past (London: Routledge), pp. 168-169 Simpson, I., 2007, Marginalising the Islamic Past: Bilad al-Sham in Archaeological and Heritage Practice (unpublished M.A. diss., University of Copenhagen) Skeates, R., 2000, Debating the Archaeological Heritage (London: Duckworth) Stone, P.G., Molyneaux, B.L. (eds), 1994, The Presented Past: Heritage, Museums and Education (London: Routledge) Walmsley, A., 2003, ‘The Friday Mosque of Early Islamic Jarash in Jordan’, Journal of the David Collection 1, pp. 110-131 Watts, D., 1991, ‘Coherence and Contradiction in the International Tourism and Urban Development of Jerash, Jordan’ in Adaptation or Evolution of the Physical Environment: the Politics of Planning, Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Working Paper Series 29 (Berkeley: IASTE), pp. 75-104 Werkmeister, H., Heimer, M., 1980, Gate to a Sound Future: Landscape Plan Jerash (Hildesheim: Werkmeister and Heimer Landscape Architects) World Bank, 2001, Cultural Heritage and Development: a Framework for Action in the Middle East and North Africa (Washington D.C.: World Bank) Zimmerman, L.J., 2003, Presenting the Past (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press)

REFERENCES Black, S.L., Jolly, K., 2003, Archaeology by Design (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press) Carman, J., 2002, Archaeology and Heritage: an Introduction (London: Continuum) Caitlin, A., 2005, ‘Archaeology and Urban Planning: Using the Past in Design for the Future’ in Proceedings of ICOMOS 15th General Assembly and Scientific Symposium (Xi’an, China, 17-21 October 2005). Monuments and Sites in Their Setting: Conserving Cultural Heritage in Changing Townscapes and Landscapes (Xi’an: World Publishing Corporation), pp. 516-523 Clark, J.W., 1986, Urban Archaeology: a Culture History of a Mexican-American Barrio in Laredo (Austin: Publications in Archaeology) Kraeling, C.H., 1938, ‘The History of Gerasa’ in Carl H. Kraeling (ed.) Gerasa, City of the Decapolis (New Haven: American Schools of Oriental Research), pp. 27-69 Merriman, N., 2004, Public Archaeology (London, New York: Routledge) Mohammad, E.-K., 2005, ‘A Comprehensive Analysis of the Natural and Cultural Settings of the Landscape 2   For examples of urban archaeology projects using Internet sites for purposes of public archaeology, see Excavations of the Souk Area, Beirut (http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/900/930/930.1/beirut/urban/index. html), Five Points Archaeological Project, New York City (http://r2.gsa. gov/fivept/fphome.htm), and Tennessee Hollow Watershed Archeological Project, San Francisco (http://www.stanford.edu/group/presidio/)

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Late antique mosaics and their archaeological context  

Isabella Baldini Abstract The late antique mosaic floor can be used as an emblematic example for the analysis and understanding of ancient artefacts in relation to the historical and social framework. Many aspects must be considered: archaeological methods, recording systems, investigation of materials and technical qualities, iconographic and stylistic studies, all of which could be useful in an interpretation of the monuments and social classes which generate this type of decoration. It is part of the archaeological process which also concerns, in a sense, the ‘future’ of mosaic, not only within the projects of restoration and conservation, but also the proper planning and extensive use of the object in a cultural project with broad implications. These issues are analysed through some famous and significant Italian examples: Piazza Armerina (Villa del Casale), Faenza (Domus di via Dogana), Rimini (Piazza Ferrari, Domus di Palazzo Gioia) and Ravenna (Palazzo di Teoderico, Domus di via d’Azeglio).

The social, economic, religious and cultural transformations which characterise Late Antiquity are clearly reflected in the building practices and in decoration, particularly those of the mosaic floor: in fact, the mosaic technique itself can be analysed under various aspects, through which many new elements can be found, in a complex dialectical relationship with the past, which was instrumental in the development of a new and original artistic language. The heritage of Roman imperial tradition can be assessed most effectively through technical and stylistic elements, which depend on the continuity of mosaic schools in some important cities and in their cultural areas. Over time, however, ideological and religious elements tend to influence the formal result, giving rise to images in which the aesthetic effect is connected to the desire to make symbols and concepts visible. So, the artistic process can be characterised as an educational journey, which is implemented using conventional elements (frontal position, flattening and paratactic placement of the figures, altered perspective, in order to allow an immediate and comprehensive vision of the image, iconographic simplification). All these elements allow everyone who is part of this expressive language to understand immediately the meanings of the images. The iconographic choices are also affected by the need to affirm the role and the ideological concepts of the patrons within a strongly hierarchical society: the mosaic decoration, due to its expense, is significant as a privileged artistic form; its lack can be equally symptomatic of the absence of those upper classes, who can be defined as part of the typological and behavioural group who played a significant part in providing commissions to the workshops. This aspect is also connected to the phenomena of mobility of artisans and models. Specific areas can be geographically distant, but artists and clients join together the same cultural koiné. At a time of general crisis within cities and of settlement modifications, the analysis of mosaics offers important data on the society and on the impact of general phenomena on specific situations which led to a broad renewal of the previous monumental heritage and acquisition of a new cultural identity. In addition to private and public traditional patrons of works, religious patronage gradually increases, characterised by

considerable economic resources partly arising from imperial contributions. The energetic activities of the Church, with the building of richly decorated churches, has been intensively researched in the history of academic studies. However, there is also a secular artistic production. At least until the second half of the 6th century AD, contemporary secular production has a remarkable capacity for renewal, using the same workshops and, at least partially, the same models of expression. The composition of the mosaic floors and the frequency of the different subjects in the various rooms of the houses are the most important aspects to be considered in the evaluation of the communication systems being used and of the models that can be constructed from them. In fact, the creation of mosaics and of floors in opus sectile, as well as the replacement of decorative floors, provide information on the workshops, the taste of the commissioners and the ideological and cultural trends. Furthermore, they allow one to verify the existence of privileged itineraries within the buildings, indicating a classific tion of the rooms, in a way that reflects the hierarchical ideas of late antique societ . These general considerations are the preconditions for further reflections on the correct archaeological approach to late antique mosaic floors, which can be used as an emblematic example for the analysis and understanding of ancient artefacts in their relationship to the historical and social framework. Many aspects must be considered: archaeological methods, recording systems, investigation of materials and technologies, iconographic and stylistic analysis. All these elements can be useful to a reconstruction of the monument, the topography and the social classes that generate this type of decoration. It is part of the archaeological process which also concerns, in a sense, the ‘future’ of a mosaic, not only in projects of restoration and conservation, but also the proper planning and extensive use of the object, in a cultural project with broad implications. With this perspective, some methodological contributions and guidelines are fundamental, for example the ICCM (International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics, www.iccm.pro.cy) guidelines, with thirty years of experience, as well as the reflections of AIEMA (Association Internationale pour l’étude de la mosaïque antique, founded

Isabella Baldini

in 1963, www.archeo.ens.fr/aiema), of the national associations formed in France, Great Britain, Spain, Tunisia, North America and – since 1990 – also in Italy (AISCOM, Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico, www.aiscom.org). In the recent methodological choices and practices, there is a prevailing interest in the context of reference, a strongly growing research trend despite the limitations of a past strongly influenced by another type of antiquarian interest. In the case of decorated floors, there was for a long time a real tendency to ‘hunt for mosaics’, as they were considered important objects in themselves, quite apart from the analysis and understanding of the original monument. The importance of a close link between artefacts and contextual analysis seems particularly relevant for the postClassical period, considering the methods and aims of past archaeological research, which took, a priori, the artefacts out of their chronological levels. This situation is well represented, for example, by the mosaics of Antioch (Campbell 1988, with bibliography), one of the most significant examples of Roman and late antique mosaics, which were taken from their context and dispersed among different museums. This also happened because of the simultaneous presence on the site of numerous archaeological teams, joined between 1932 and 1939 in the Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity (Louvre, Baltimore Museum of Art, Worcester Art Museum, Princeton University, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Dumbarton Oaks). The cases can be unfortunately extended to most of the historical collections. Consequently, the attempt of a recovery a posteriori of available information has often had to concentrate, primarily, on aesthetic analysis of mosaics and on relative correlation’s between buildings of the same area. Of course, the best results can be obtained through an examination that starts by stratigraphic excavation in a building consciously chosen for its archaeological relevance: the mosaic is one of the elements of this context, closely inserted in an interpretative framework based on a complex system, in which converge different and complementary data. Such investigations are fortunately increasingly numerous, and some examples will be taken into consideration below. As part of the complex debate on methods of conservation of mosaics, taking into account the diversity of situations and the need to preserve the fundamental integrity of the building, it is necessary to emphasise that the maintenance of the mosaics in situ is in general the best option.1 On the one hand it encourages the preservation of the monument, on the other it allows investigation, verification and updating even at a later date. Furthermore, the publication of the findings takes place long after excavation: this last situation is certainly not desirable, but not rare. Some of the famous late antique floors in the villa at Piazza Armerina (Sicily) can be chosen as a prime example of this ‘delayed’ analysis: important researches were done, and published, during half a century (Gentili 1950, Pace 1955, Settis 1975, Vera 1983, Carandini et al. 1982, Gentili

1999), until the recent investigations into the medieval village overlying the well known residential complex (Pensabene and Sfameni 2006, with bibliography). The monument is an essential point of reference in the research on 4th century AD housing, on typological models and decorative choices of the upper classes (Baldini Lippolis 2001: 37-39; Baldini Lippolis 2005; Sfameni 2006: 29-46, with bibliography). It is a complex in which a reading of the stratigraphy was published only in 1999 (Gentili 1999). Even though the excavation was conducted in a pioneering phase of archaeological research, the stratigraphy invites a profound reflection on the phases and on the logical meaning of the decoration. This includes floor mosaics and parietal frescoes, and their relation to building structures. The choice of the subjects combines with the functions of the rooms, and develops in relation to the possible pathways in the villa, also revealing from this point of view a complete adherence to the models developed by the aristocracy for their residences and lifestyle. The most famous mosaic of the complex is in room 26: the decoration attracted a particular exegetical interest, which did not escape the attention of the media: it is one of the tourist attractions and the very symbol of the archaeological site (Fig. 1). A square room is accessible through a vestibule from the south-east of the large peristyle court to the villa, which is at a height lower than that of the room. Typologically, the position and the shape of the room do not have specific elements, except that the openings between the court and the vestibule and between the vestibule and the inner room are not aligned, a measure adopted to safeguard their privacy (Baldini Lippolis 2008: 348). The vestibule has a geometric mosaic floo , while the walls are decorated in fresco with girls who carry objects. The mosaic of room 26, visible from the point of view of those entering from the vestibule, is divided into two levels (Fig. 2). In the upper one, on a grassy plain divided into horizontal bands of colour, there are five female figures, only four of which are entirely preserved: from the left, a girl with the halteres for the long jump, one in the act of preparing to throw the disk, two running to the right. They all have similar clothing, red and green, a type that is known from literary sources for sporting activity (Baldini Lippolis 2008: 348, with bibliography). Their hair varies, alternating between loose hair on the shoulders or gathered up at the top in both levels. The scene seems to be continued and completed, with five other girls, four of whom are similarly dressed. The couple on the left plays with the ball, a third figure has the palm of victory and crowns herself with flo ers, a fourth is represented as the winner with the hoop, receiving the palm of victory from a fifth girl, turned to the right and dressed in a golden cloak. The mosaic is more recent than a geometric floor that was found at the level of the floor of the peristyle. This renovation has been attributed to the need to protect the rooms from water coming up, as is shown by a drainage pipe in the direction of a drain in the adjacent room.2 This intervention, and the later mosaic, can be dated after the first quarter of the 4th century AD on the basis of the findings from the preparation layer (Carandini et al. 1982: 54; Gentili 1999, I:

  For example, Mosaics In Situ Project, Illustrated Glossary, Definitions of terms used for the graphic documentation of in situ floor mosaics Developed by the Getty Conservation Institute and the Israel Antiquities Authority, 2003 (www.getty.edu/conservation/publications/pdf); I mosaici. Cul���� tura, Tecnologia, Conservazione. Atti del Convegno di Studi, Bressanone, 2-5 luglio 2002. 1

2   Settis 1975: 924; Carandini et al. 1982: 151; Gentili 1999, I: 125-126. Discussion also in Baldini Lippolis 2008: 349.

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(André 1984), or athletics scene of girls with five specialities (Gentili 1950: 322; Diem 1960: 295; Carandini et al. 1982: 76; Kyrkos 1982: 275-285; Lee 1984: 45-76; Gentili 1999, I: 126; ibid., III: 66; Thuiller 1999), in a circus or in a stadium (Gentili 1999, III: 69); or, lastly, athletics exercises for aesthetic purposes, related to the care of the body. In this last case, the mosaic presupposes educational purposes and constitutes a kind of memorandum of athletics exercises within a specific ‘culture of behaviour’, without any desire to show a real competition (Dolch 1992: 153-181). In this regard, it documents two aspects, the iconographic choice and its relationship with the rest of the decoration of the villa. In the first case, the indication of gestures and attributes, a combination of five different situations and the girls’ clothing, necessarily leads to the conclusion that this is an athletic representation. While it can be a didactic depiction, not fully realistic, as in the case of the baths already mentioned, it is clear, however, the desire to portray a specific subject; the representation of victory and the number of events indicate the semantic field of competition with five contests, in which the typical male fight is replaced by the ball-game, and a final prize Furthermore, with regard to its relationship to the decoration of the rest of the villa it has a connection, so far neglected, with the wall decoration of semicircular room 36, paved with fishing erotes (Gentili 1999, I: 175-179; ibid. III: 124-132). At the right side of this room (Fig. 5), in fact, there are two painted panels with games of children: in the first one, a pair of girls wearing subligar reproduces exactly the scheme of the lower level in the right side of room 26, with the girls playing a ball-game: the analogy between the two scenes concerns both the position and the hair of the figures, the one on the right with her hair untied, the other on the left with her hair gathered up. The organisation of the scene is even more similar considering the possibility of a repair of the right arm of one of the female figures with the ball in room 26, originally advanced to the left and lifted up. Alongside the pair was a third youth with a purple cloak and a palm branch, waiting for the winner. In the second panel are depicted two children playing with a hoop, a theme that has been recently analysed (Donati 2005: 303-349). The combination between the painting with children-athletes on the wall of room 36 and the mosaic of room 26 is analogous to other scenes replicated on the floors and on the walls of the villa, in a dialectical relationship between official images with adults and a different tone, less official, with erotes or children: the subjects appear in different rooms, such as the hunting theme, with adults or children (room 17) (Gentili 1999, III: 148-155), or the races in the Circus Maximus, that become a race of pueri (room 18) (Gentili 1999, III: 156-160). This thematic reduplication is important, because it reiterates the value attributed to the scene not only as a means of illustration, but also for its symbolic meaning, representation and conveyance of values. This last intention has been clearly illustrated (Donati 2005) as many competitive practices of childhood were reserved for members of the upper classes: it was an expression of status even without a concrete link with real forms of entertainment – in a city or inside the villa. In the interpretation of scenes with athletic girls maybe there is a precise intention to refer to an elevated social level, by

126-127). Concurrent with the new floor is also the remaking of the wall decoration with geometric and polychrome panels, made at the new level of the room. The replacement of a mosaic floor with another is not an isolated phenomenon in the villa: the niches of the apodyterium in the baths-building (room 57), in the same way, show the obliteration of mosaics by a raising of the floor (Fig. 3) (Gentili 1999, I: 229-235; ibid., III: 233-247; Baldini Lippolis 2008: 349-350). The only original decoration is in the western apse, which connects the apodyterium with the calidarium: here were represented four people, one of them in a central location in the act of wearing the stole and the footwear after the bath, between secondary male figures (Fig. 4). In the second phase, the iconographic scheme is replicated without substantial changes, and the only difference seems to be the elimination of the male figure placed at the right end Probably, the two events have to be considered as a part of a restructuring program in some rooms in the villa, a few decades later than the main building activity, perhaps about the middle of the 4th century AD. Room 26, in particular, shows clearly that the decorative choice was intentional and not simply linked to a contingent necessity. In some areas of the villa the criterion for the choice of subjects seemingly depends on function, sometimes expressed through almost didactic images, identifying the different actions carried out in the rooms: that choice often revolves around the representation of an ideal dominus (Baldini Lippolis 2008: 349). In many other examples, however, the understanding of the relationship between images and function is problematic, due to both the use of allusive, allegorical or mythological elements, and the lack of typological elements and of detailed sources about the form and function of the rooms. Finally, also due to the lack of adequate documentation of objects in relationship to their context, in conjunction with the development of the building and with the changing use of the spaces. It is clear, for example, in the apodyterium/frigidarium, that the didactic function is committed to the radial exedras, but the centre of the room has a mosaic with a complex scene with a thiasos and fishing erotes (Baldini Lippolis 2008: 350), which conjures up the water and the pleasantness of the sea, its richness in natural forms of life, with an allusion to pools and thermal entertainment, as if it was a poetic ekphrasis inside a narrative speech. In other cases, the situation is probably more complex and the use of literary sources in order to understand the function of the rooms does not always produce convincing results: these proposals, in fact, frequently hint to references that are difficult to be verified, since they show substantial discrepancies in the presentation and interpretation of the data. The theme of room 26, mainly interpreted as a cubiculum,3 may constitute a case example. It must be emphasised that the interest in the mosaic derives primarily from the peculiar character, or rather from the theme, which is not easily identifiable in the traditional repertoire and has no precisely similar example with which to compare it in the same period. Various researches have offered different solutions: ‘girls in bikini’ dancing in the water (Pace 1955: 57, 84; Backhaus 1978: 243-244; Olivova 1984: 187) or in a baths-building   Baldini Lippolis 2008: 348. On late antique cubicula see also Baldini Lippolis 2001: 62-63.

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adopting an aristocratic language, which recognises women’s competitive practices as a formal status. In fact, the meaning expressed by the scene can be connected to some literary sources, pointing to a tradition in the aristocratic society, as, for example, the scenes of sacrifice or the representation of the athlete in the palaestra. The female competition appears in concrete public events at least until 2nd-3rd century AD, when games with women in different contexts and in international sacred competitions are still celebrated (Arrigoni 1985: 111-112; Miranda 1992-1993: 69-98; Caldelli 1993; Mantas 1995: 125-144; Bielman 1998: 33-50; Caldelli 2003: 104-119). In epigraphic and literary sources, after the end of the 3rd century AD, women’s competitions are documented, but it is significant that even in the 6th century AD Malalas refers to the Commodeia women, putting them in conjunction with an aristocratic social level. Citing the Olympia celebrated in the Commodian xystus of Antioch, the writer points out that the games involved young noble girls, including virgins who practice philosophy: these were under vows of chastity and competed in fighting, in walking, in races, declaiming and reciting hymns in Greek. The winners, men and women, were crowned in the midst of the people, and received a religious ordination.4 Women in competition are a parallel theme in some way to the dominus in athletic nudity within the baths. They recall elements of pagan tradition that cannot be evidence of a specific practice, but serve to record a model of behaviour that had denoted pagan society, regarding their ethical and cultural values. Probably the theme of noble athletes, adult or girls, as in the room 36 paintings, can be connected to the main themes of the Piazza Armerina mosaics, as an intentional subject in the process of restructuring of the villa: it illustrates in different ways – pragmatic and ideological – an aristocratic life which corresponds to a particular lifestyle and is completely connected with the architecture and the history of the villa. In other cases, but with a very different interpretation, paying attention to the mosaic floors reveals the existence of profound changes and interruptions in the history of the buildings, showing developments in urban and social structure. Just considering the examples available for a limited but significant region such as Emilia-Romagna, there is a higher incidence of non-ecclesiastical buildings with mosaics in the area under the influence of Ravenna, after the city became the seat of the imperial court in AD 402. Even more significantl , the mosaics with human figures are extremely rare in the western sector of the region, apart from the mosaic from vicolo Assi, in Modena, with a female personification (Figs 6-7) 5 More extensive is the documentation of the eastern sector, depending on Ravenna, with interesting examples in Rimini (Palazzo Gioia) and Faenza (domus di via Dogana): they show a greater participation in the representative visual language of the elite of the period, and their consequent social models. The mosaic of Faenza is dated to the 5th century AD (Fig. 8) (Gentili 1980; Maioli 1987; Grassigli 1999: 337-339; Guarnieri 2000: 201-202; Baldini Lippolis 2001: 200-201). The main scene, focusing on the figure of Achilles, is in-

serted in the middle of the vestibule of a large apsidal room; the mosaic includes squares, each incorporating a figure: five soldiers with a helmet, bearded men wearing long tunics, Muses and a female figure riding a dolphin. The main panel, however, centres upon a young man with a halo, sitting on a throne, dressed only in a purple cloak, with a long sceptre in his right hand; on either side of him there are soldiers with cuirasses and helmets. On the ground, a pile of weapons (evoked by a set of armour and two shields); left to the central figure, a bearded old man, leaning on to a stick, with tunic, cloak and Phrygian hat; right, finally, a female figure with a pained expression. The subject was interpreted initially as an imperial apotheosis, identifying the main figures with the Emperor Honorius and his dignitary Stilicho, while the female figure on the dolphin would be the personification of the city of Ravenna (Gentili 1980). Subsequent research points to the scene being in relation to the cycle of Achilles. Variants of this subject are frequent in Late Antiquity in silver vessels, ivories, terra sigillata ware, marble and mosaic floors, reproducing mainly two episodes of the hero’s life: his stay in Skiros and the return of Hector’s body and weapons to Priam, both summarised here in the mosaic of Faenza (Ghedini 1996, with bibliography). It seems that the Achilles’ legend has at this time a particular development, becoming a symbol of the Classical age and of heroic apotheosis. In this sense, it is likely that the mosaic shows an ideal connection between Achilles and the owner of the building, raised to a supernatural level, conscious and proud of his classical culture. Even depictions of people making offerings in Palazzo Gioia (Rimini) (Maioli 1990; Grassigli 1999: 337-339; Baldini Lippolis 2001: 261-262), probably a private building with representative functions, contribute to the exaltation of the dominus. In 4th-5th century AD a new mosaic floor is created in the porch and it becomes a corridor: the eastern side shows a procession (Fig. 9) walking to the right, with three human figures, the first of which is under an architectural structure. This is a scene of offering with the clientes or the servants of the dominus. To the same building phase also belong the rooms east of the peristyle court, including a large apsed hall with a central pool and a floor with geometric and vegetal decoration, a small room with a mosaic depicting a peacock, and a third large room, accessible through two steps, decorated with figurative mosaics The only figurative representation (Fig. 10) is a Venus with a mirror. According to a recent hypothesis, this would be a mythological transfiguration of the domina of the house, according to an identification process similar to that of the mosaic of Faenza (Baldini Lippolis 2001: 261, with bibliography). More probably, however, even in this case the connection between the subject and the owner is not direct, but mediated through a series of elements that recalls especially the social status of the owners. In this sense the mosaic also takes on an ideological character, becoming the privileged expression for the purchaser’s desire of self- representation. In Ravenna there is much more documented. Some mosaics were found during the excavations of G. Ghirardini between 1908 and 1914 to the north of via Alberoni, in the area of the Palazzo di Teoderico. Here a large court was found with the porches adorned with overlaid mosaics (Ghirardini 1918;

   Joannis Malalae, Chronographia (Dindorf 1831: 288).   It was found in 1934 and excavated making a hole with a diameter of 1.30 m (Pedrazzi 1934; Cardarelli 1988: 55). 4 5

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Berti 1976; Rizzardi 1996; Baldini Lippolis 1998; Baldini Lippolis 2001: 253-258; Augenti 2005; Rizzardi and Vernia 2007). This is a very complex stratigraphic situation, that testifies to a substantial continuity of the complex from the 1st to the 6th century AD. Among the subjects, in regards to the pre-Theoderician phase, there is a circus scene with one charioteer, two other figures and a section of the carceres. Another renovation is witnessed by new mosaics, which represented clearly a specific decorative choice: in the southern porch, from the right, panels show a venatio, charioteers of the four Byzantine factions with their horses (Fig. 11), a scene of circus games, a depiction of the circus itself, a scene of hunting wild boar and a second venatio. To the same phase can probably be attributed also the mosaics of the north and east porches of the peristyle, as in previous cases under aniconic floors. In the eastern porch there is the lower part of a male figure (Fig. 12), probably Apollo (Baldini Lippolis 1998). In one of the southern rooms there is a geometric design including personifications of the Seasons. Particularly relevant is the mosaic in the triclinium, built ex novo during the age of Theodericus to the northeast of the peristyle: for this hall, was chosen a mythological scene, common also in other residential contexts: Bellerophont and the Chimaera (Fig. 13), with the busts of the Seasons, two erotes carrying a tabula inscriptionis, whose text invites the tasting of the fruits of the seasons (Rizzardi 1996: 355-356, with bibliography). More recently, a large complex was revealed by archaeological excavations conducted between 1993 and 1996 in via d’Azeglio (Fig. 14): the excavated area originally occupied two blocks separated by a road, with houses dated between the Augustan age and the 5th century AD. One of the buildings was paved in the 4th century AD with a mosaic: there is a young man in pastoral dress between two sheep (Fig. 15) (Marini Calvani and Maioli 1995; Baldini Lippolis 2001: 259-261; Montevecchi 2004). This emblema, apparently without any religious connotation,6 is inserted in a design with geometric motifs. To the last phase belong mosaics with geometric and figur tive designs and in opus sectile, dating from the 5th to the end of the 6th century AD. Among these, in a domus located in the southern area, is a prestigious room, probably a triclinium, with a large mosaic (Baldini Lippolis in Montevecchi 2004: 103-109) (Fig. 16): there are depicted the Genii of the Seasons dancing in a circle to the sound of the syrinx played by a musician. Autumn is wearing a white tunic and a crown for the banquet; Spring, a red short tunic and a crown of leaves and flowers; on his feet he wears a pair of sandals. Winter, a green coat with a hood and a crown of marshland plants; Summer, finall , is only partially preserved: he wears a short tunic and sandals. The mosaic is done with a large use of glass and also with gold tesserae, used in particular for the syrinx. The iconography may not be unconnected with allusive references to specific propitiatory celebrations and, symbolically, also to the Dionysiac tradition (Canuti 1995-1996, Canuti 1997). It seems, however, to relate directly to the prosperity of the dominus, to the banquet and subjects connected with it such as dance, music, and the continuous renewal of time in its seasonal

manifestations. There was also a mosaic pavement on the upper floor of the house, as the excavations have revealed The stratigraphic character of the investigations made it possible to distinguish the building and decorative phases of this residential complex, showing the diachronic succession of events. In the most recent phases, for example, the end of the use of the buildings with mosaic is shown by levels of abandonment and by graves excavated in the previous floor (Negrelli in Montevecchi 2004: 120-125), revealing a complete change in the use of the spaces and buildings (Fig. 17). The same phenomenon appears in a similar manner in some rooms of the buildings of Piazza Ferrari (Rimini), where a residential block was systematically excavated between 1989 and 2006.7 The late antique house, that occupied the front part of a roman block (Domus del Chirurgo), after a violent destruction at the time of the war between the Goths and the Byzantines, was covered by burials: here too, careful archaeological research has allowed for an understanding of the relationship between this small necropolis cutting the mosaic floors and the previously destroyed building (Fig. 18) In both cases, the choice of ‘on-site museums’ allows a reading of the general diachronic development of the buildings, including this phase that marks an important break in the original function of the areas.8 This transformation shows a crisis concerning private property and the disappearance of the private construction system, based on the type of a single domus. It is the expression of the last remaining upper classes and its end coincides with a completely different idea of the city. These last examples, from which, due to the difficulties inherent in an urban excavation, the publication of the fin ings is still incomplete, show the results of the integration of complementary systems of study: it is necessary to start with an archaeological research attentive to the adequate investigation methods and not to confuse the practice of intervention with the goal of the research. It is necessary also to deal with the problem of the relationship between the stratigraphic sequence, the location, the iconographic and cultural meaning of mosaics: the floors are considered as expressions of specific social instances, indirect remains of models and lifestyles adopted or abandoned. The contextual analysis of the mosaic becomes one of the most important elements in the study of the city and of late antique society, effectively able to create, through the use and enjoyment of the archaeological areas, a link between present and past.

references André, J.M., 1984, Les loisirs en Grèce et à Rome (Paris: Presses universitaires de France) Arrigoni, G., 1985, ‘Donne e sport nel mondo greco, religione e società’ in G. Arrigoni (ed.) Le donne in Grecia (Roma, Bari: Laterza), pp. 111-112 Augenti, A., 2005, ‘Archeologia e topografia a Ravenna: il 7   On the results of the excavations: Ortalli 2000, Ortalli 2003, Ortalli 2005, Ortalli 2007, with bibliography. 8    For the same area, see many examples in Ortalli and Heinzelmann 2003. Discussion of the general problems in Brogiolo and Chavarria Arnau 2005.

6    But see the discussion of G. Montevecchi and C. Leoni, in Montevecchi 2004: 48-55.

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Palazzo di Teoderico e la Moneta Aurea’, Archeologia Medievale 32, pp. 7-34 Backhaus, W., 1978, ‘Öffentliche Spiele. Sport und Gesellschaft in der römischen Antike’ in H. Überhorst (ed.) Geschichte der Leibesübungen, II (Berlin, München, Frankfurt a.M.: Verl. Bartels & Wernitz KG), pp. 200-249 Baldini Lippolis, I., 1998, ‘Articolazione e decorazione del palazzo imperiale di Ravenna’ in R. Farioli Campanati (ed.) Seminario Internazionale di Studi sul tema: ‘Ricerche di archeologia e topografia’: Ravenna, 22-26 marzo 1997, in memoria di Nereo Alfieri, XLIII Corso di cultura sull’arte ravennate e bizantina (Ravenna: Edizioni del Girasole), pp. 1-31 Baldini Lippolis, I., 2001, La domus tardoantica. Forme e rappresentazioni dello spazio domestico nelle città del Mediterraneo (Imola: University Press) Baldini Lippolis, I., 2005, L’architettura residenziale nelle città tardoantiche (Roma: Carocci) Baldini Lippolis, I., 2008, ‘Atletismo femminile e ideologia aristocratica nel programma decorativo della villa di Piazza Armerina’ in C. Angelelli, F. Rinaldi (eds) Atti del XIII Colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico (Tivoli: Scripta manent), pp. 347-354 Berti, F., 1976, Mosaici antichi in Italia, Regio VIII: Ravenna (Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato Bielman, A., 1998, ‘Femmes et jeux dans le monde grec hellénistique et impérial’ in R. Frei-Stolba, A. Bielman (eds) Femmes et vie publique dans l’antiquité grécoromaine (Lausanne: Faculté des lettres de l’Université), pp. 33-50 Biscontin, G., Driussi, G. (eds), 2002, I mosaici. Cultura, Tecnologia, Conservazione. Atti ������������������������� del Convegno di Studi, Bressanone, 2-5 luglio 2002 (Marghera, Venezia: Arcadia Ricerche) Brogiolo G.P., Chavarria Arnau A., 2005, Aristocrazie e campagne nell’Occidente da Costantino a Carlo Magno (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio) Caldelli, M.L., 1993, L’Agon capitolinus. Storia e protagonisti dall’istituzione domizianea al IV secolo (Roma: Don Bosco) Caldelli, M.L., 2003, ‘Gli agoni in età imperiale’ in A. La Regina (ed.) Nike. Il gioco e la vittoria (Milano: Electa), pp. 104-119 Campbell, S., 1988, The Mosaics of Antioch (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Canuti, G., 1995-1996, ‘L’ultima eco di Dioniso a Ravenna: considerazioni sul mosaico con la danza delle stagioni’, Felix Ravenna 149-152, pp. 71-110 Canuti, G., 1997, ‘Una proposta di lettura del mosaico con le stagioni di via D’Azeglio a Ravenna’, Ocnus 5, pp. 45-60 Carandini, A., Ricci, A., De Vos, M., 1982, Filosofiana. La villa di Piazza Armerina. Immagine di un aristocratico romano al tempo di Costantino (Palermo: Flaccovio) Cardarelli, A. (ed.), 1988, Modena dalle origini all’anno Mille. Studi di archeologia e storia, I-II (Modena: Edizioni Panini) Diem, C., 1960, Weltgeschichte des Sports und der Leibeserziehung (Stuttgart, Zürich, Salzburg: Europäischer Buchklub)

Dindorf, L. (ed.), 1831, Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae (Bonn) Dolch, M., 1992, ‘Wasserrevue oder diätische Übungen? Das Mosaik mit den zehn Mädchen in der Römischen villa bei Piazza Armerina auf Sizilien’, Nikephoros 5, pp. 153-181 Donati, F., 2005, ‘Pueri nell’arena: fonti per un’iconografia’, ArchCl 56, pp. 303-349 Gentili, G.V., 1950, ‘Piazza Armerina – Grandiosa villa romana in Contrada Casale’, Notizie degli scavi di antichità 4, pp. 291-339 Gentili, G.V., 1980, ‘I mosaici dell’edificio tardoromano di via Dogana’ in Un museo archeologico per Faenza: repertorio e progetto (Bologna: Istituto per i beni artistici culturali e naturali della regione Emilia-Romagna), pp. 427-479 Gentili, G.V., 1999, La villa romana di Piazza Armerina Palazzo Erculio, I-III (Osimo: Fondazione Don Carlo) Ghedini, F., 1997, ‘Achille a Sciro nella tradizione musiva tardoantica. Iconografia e iconologia’ in R.M Carra Bonacasa, F. Guidobaldi (eds) Atti del IV Colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico, Palermo, 9-13 dicembre 1996 (Ravenna: Edizioni del Girasole), pp. 687-702 Ghirardini, G., 1918, Gli scavi del Palazzo di Teoderico a Ravenna (Roma: Accademia dei Lincei) Grassigli, G.L., 1999, La scena domestica e il suo immaginario (Napoli: Edizioni scientifiche italiane Guarnieri, C., 2000, Progettare il passato. Faenza tra pianificazione urbana e carta archeologica (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio) Kyrkos, B.A., 1982, ‘The Development of Sport in the Hellenistic and Roman Period’ in N. Yalouris (ed.) The Olympic Games in Ancient Greece (Athens: Ekdotike Athenon S.A.), pp. 275-285 Lee, H.M., 1984, ‘Athletics and the Bikini Girls from Piazza Armerina’, Stadion 10, pp. 45-76 Maioli, M.G., 1987, ‘Il complesso di via Dogana e altri mosaici tardo antichi in Faenza’, Journal of Roman Archaeology Suppl. 9, pp. 189-206 Maioli, M.G., 1990, ‘Frammento di pavimento in mosaico con scena di offerta’ in Milano capitale dell’impero romano, 286-402 d.C. (Milano: Silvana Editoriale), p. 259 Mantas, K., 1995,’Women and Athletics in the Romans East’, Nikephoros 8, pp. 125-144 Marini Calvani, M., Maioli, M.G., 1995, I mosaici di via d’Azeglio a Ravenna (Ravenna: Longo Angelo) Miranda, E., 1992-1993, ‘Testimonianze sui Kommodeia’, Scienze dell’Antichità 6-7, pp. 69-98 Montevecchi, G. (ed.), 2004, Archeologia urbana a Ravenna: la ‘Domus dei tappeti di pietra’. Il complesso archeologico di via d’Azeglio (Ravenna: Longo Angelo) Olivova, V., 1984, Sport and Games in the Ancient World (London: Orbis Publishing) Ortalli, J., 2000, ‘Rimini: la domus del Chirurgo’ in M. Marini Calvani, R. Curina, E. Lippolis (eds) Aemilia. La cultura romana in Emilia Romagna dal III secolo a.C. all’età costantiniana (Venezia: Marsilio), pp. 512-526 Ortalli, J., 2003, ‘L’insediamento residenziale urbano nella Cispadana’ in J. Ortalli, M. Heinzelmann (eds) Abitare in città. La Cisalpina tra impero e medioevo. Convegno tenuto a Roma il quattro e cinque novembre 1999 (Wie384

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Rizzardi, C., 1996, ‘I mosaici del triclinio del Palazzo di Teoderico a Ravenna’ in F. Guidobaldi, A. Guiglia Guidobaldi (eds) Atti del III Colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico. Bordighera, 6-10 dicembre 1995 (Bordighera: Istituto internazionale di studi liguri), pp. 353-362 Rizzardi, C., Vernia, B., 2007, ‘Scene circensi nei mosaici pavimentali provenienti dal Palazzo di Teodorico a Ravenna: ipotesi ricostruttive e significati in C. Angelelli, A. Paribeni (eds) Atti del XII Colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico. Padova-Brescia, 14-17 febbraio 2006 (Tivoli: Scripta manent), pp. 119-130 Settis, S., 1975, ‘Per l’interpretazione di Piazza Armerina’, MEFRA 87, pp. 251-263 Sfameni, C., 2006, Ville residenziali nell’Italia tardoantica (Bari: Edipuglia) Thuiller, J.-P., 1999, Sport im antiken Rom (Darmstadt: Primus-Verlag) Vera, D., 1983, ‘Temi e problemi della villa di Piazza Armerina’, Opus 2, pp. 581-593

sbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag), pp. 106-111 Ortalli, J., 2005 ‘Uno spaccato tra scavo e museo: la Domus “del Chirurgo” e altro’ in F. Morandini, F. Rossi (eds) Domus romane: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione (Milano: Edizioni ET), pp. 135-144 Ortalli, J., 2007, La domus del Chirurgo e gli scavi archeologici di piazza Ferrari (Rimini) Ortalli, J., Heinzelmann, M. (eds), 2003, Abitare in città. La Cisalpina tra impero e medioevo. Convegno tenuto a Roma il quattro e cinque novembre 1999 (Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag) Pace, B., 1955, I mosaici di Piazza Armerina (Roma: Casini) Pedrazzi, A., 1934, Modena romana. Pavimento a mosaico policromo nel sottosuolo di Vicolo delle Asse, Mutina (Modena: Cooperativa tipografi Pensabene, P., Sfameni, C. (eds), 2006, Iblatasah Placea Piazza. L’insediamento medievale sulla Villa del Casale: nuovi e vecchi scavi. Mostra archeologica, Piazza Armeerina, 8 agosto 2006 – 31 gennaio 2007 (Palermo: Regione Siciliana, Roma: Università degli Studi ‘La Sapienza’)

Fig. 1 - Piazza Armerina, villa, room 26 and vestibule (from Baldini Lippolis 2008).

Fig. 2 - Piazza Armerina, room 26 (from Gentili 1999).

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Fig. 3 - Piazza Armerina, room 57, second phase (from Gentili 1999).

Fig. 4 - Piazza Armerina, room 57, first phase (from Gentili 1999).

Fig. 5 - Piazza Armerina, room 36, wall paintings (from Gentili 1999).

Fig. 6 - Modena, Vicolo Assi, excavation of the mosaic (from Pedrazzi 1934).

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Fig. 7 - Modena, drawing of the mosaic from Vicolo Assi (from ‘Modena sottosopra’, Modena 1999).

Fig. 8 - Faenza, Domus di Via Dogana, main room (from Baldini Lippolis 2001).

Fig. 9 - Rimini, Domus di Palazzo Gioia, procession with people making offerings (from Baldini Lippolis 2001).

Fig. 10 - Rimini, Domus di Palazzo Gioia, Venus with the mirror (from Baldini Lippolis 2001).

Fig. 11 - Ravenna, S. Salvatore, mosaic with charioteer from the Palazzo di Teoderico (from Berti 1976). 387

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Fig. 12 - Ravenna, S. Salvatore, mosaic with male figure from the Palazzo di Teoderico (from Berti 1976).

Fig. 13 - Ravenna, S. Salvatore, mosaic with Bellerophont from the Palazzo di Teoderico (from Berti 1976).

Fig. 14 - Ravenna, Domus di Via d’Azeglio, 6th century phase (from Montevecchi 2004).

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Fig. 15 - Ravenna, Domus di Via d’Azeglio, mosaic of room 11 (from Montevecchi 2004).

Fig. 16 - Ravenna, Domus di Via d’Azeglio, mosaic of room 10 (from Montevecchi 2004).

Fig. 17 - Ravenna, Domus di Via d’Azeglio, 6th-7th century grave (from Montevecchi 2004).

Fig. 18 - Rimini, Domus del Chirurgo, 7th century grave excavated in the mosaic floor.

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Archaeology and its museums: from the excavation to multimedia dissemination  

Maria Teresa Guaitoli Abstract Since the 1980s, archaeological museology, as a science, leads us to interpret the archaeological museum in its typological characterizations, thus allowing us to delineate the structure of the present archaeological museum in itself, namely the archaeological park. Within archaeological parks, we find five categories – in which many other sciences interact – strictly linked to the landscape, and connected to a wide communication system, aimed at disseminating the archaeological, environmental and landscape information, by means of multimedia technologies.

What are the reasons for the birth of archaeological museology (Donati 2003; Donati 2006)? This is a specious question, as the specific case of musealization of archaeological remains is absolutely atypical compared to the traditional and collective idea of the Museum. The significanc of archaeological museology rests in its function as a vehicle for knowledge transmission about the history of the ancient world, but a double difficulty must be faced: one related to communication, through archaeological objects and remains, of contexts reconstructed on the basis of scientific criteria, and the latter – sometimes parallel – implying the transmission of contents from a context, often far from the material evidences, through a message that must be addressed to different targets of users. The difference between an archaeological museum and a museum of art history which exclusively communicates aesthetic values and messages, is that the specific aim of an archaeological museum is to present a reference for historical reconstruction and transmission of collective values and memories, beyond the simple conservation of the socalled ‘artistic heritage’. The definition of an archaeological museum is deeply influenced by its specific valorisation activity: from ancient art collections to material culture museums (more recently introduced, after the Positivism of the second half of the 19th century), and to Archaeological Sites or Parks (with all the peculiarities, deriving from the relations with dynamics of the ancient landscape, the environmental context and the human impact), all related to the same aims of conservation – maintenance – communication/education. The realisation of these structures involves technical and ideological choices; the Archaeological Museum, as someone has said, is still the ‘material sign of a historicized reality’ which must communicate the ‘knowledge of the human activities expressed through the artefacts and reasons of their production’ and is aimed at ‘provoking the relationship between the material culture contextualized in the contemporary values system, beyond the category of beautiful’. The archaeological museum, in a deep interaction with the surrounding territory, has two main functions: 1. A passive function, which involves: a. recovery

b. preservation c. tutelage 2. And an active function, involving: a. transmission of contents b. exhibitions c. display d. education e. research f. cultural dissemination, which is related to the communicative and social role of the institution. Archaeological museology involves three typologies of spaces: 1. Traditional museums, where the relationship between space and content in the display must take into consideration a wide range of different elements, from the collections to the ‘historical’ materials gathered in the past, to the new acquisition of materials coming from the recent excavations. 2. Archaeological sites and parks, where the relationship between content and territory mirrors the above relation between space and content. 3. ‘Neutral’ space, aimed at displaying archaeological materials with unknown provenance and context or impounded. The complexity of the archaeological reality involves a series of steps aimed at its conservation and valorisation; since in fact from the 1980s, the museum institutions involved in archaeology have been divided in a sort of typological characterization which is still valid and consistent (Gualandi 1983: 18; Genito Gualandi 2004). From the point of view of archaeological practice, especially in the Universities, some general criteria should be included in a professional education and career: • Methodology: basic to each research project or archaeological excavation. • Realisation: this depends on the chrono-typological evaluation of the archaeological evidence under examination and influencing the technical aspect of the most appropriate solutions for a wide fruition. • Education: for students interested in improving their professional skills in the field of Cultural Heritage preservation. Students must then receive, in addition to a solid background in the Humanities, an effective

Maria Teresa Guaitoli

knowledge of the disciplines of communication (tested according to the needs of different target users) and multimedia dissemination, as well as the basic notions of management, administration and marketing (also in order to supply the institutions with independent funding). • Communication: the key factor of any kind of valorisation, which should be specific to the different types of archaeological museum. Content must be related to the reconstruction of the material context from the archaeological site (in the case of a traditional museum) or, on the contrary, to create logical and organized pathways aimed at explaining to visitors the history of the monumental emergencies within archaeological sites or parks. In Italy the association between the archaeologist and the role of valorisation of museums and archaeological heritage is not so obvious, mostly because the training of the students in communication is confined to specific postgraduate courses or masters, or is limited to other disciplines such as art history. The aspects of valorisation and communication of the archaeological heritage plays a key role in the education of younger students, because is a good practice in research to include the musealization and valorisation of the discovered evidence, which are traces of an often forgotten or hidden past. From the point of view of the archaeologist, this is an ethical, civic and social duty, as excavations, especially in urban areas, involve a considerable inconvenience to the town’s community. The problem of a proper valorisation of an archaeological site sometimes derives from the choice to keep in situ the archaeological remains (mostly structures) and more valuable furnishings (painted walls, mosaics, etc.), inevitably reducing the archaeological area to a sort of ‘ruin’. A solution, in this case, can be found in the association between the musealization of the so-called ‘ruin’, the construction of a museum for the archaeological material from the excavations and a wider valorisation of the whole site. According to the latest guidelines, this can eventually involve the environment, the landscape and the reproduction of some human activities. Some methodological criteria are however needed in any operation of this type: • the former, concerning the forced selection of the main objects or chronological phases to show; • the latter, the philological approach which includes the preliminary study of the excavation data that can be inferred from the analysis of the site and its chronological sequence (human actions). According to the typology proposed by Gualandi (1980: 80 ff.; Genito Gualandi 2004), referring to the state of the art for Italian archaeological museums in the decades between the 1950s and 1980s, we can define seven major categories: • museums and archaeological areas (Palestrina, Agrigento, Molina di Ledro) (Fig. 3); • musealized excavation areas (Villa Adriana); • museums and surrounding context / City Museums (collecting the archaeological documentation of a whole territory or urban area: e.g., Museums of the Magna Grecia, the Museum of London, etc.), today

belonging to the category of Territorial Museums; regional museums (born in the second half of the 19th century alongside Positivism); • national museums (of the independent Soprintendenze); • collections (Musei Capitolini, Musei Vaticani, etc.); • documentary Museums (born for educational purposes: such as the ‘Gipsoteche’); The main character for a successful valorisation of the cultural, historical and environmental heritage is the relationship with the territory. In the case of the City Museums, there are some distinctions that, based on the principle that they should communicate the cultural vocation and the identity of the city (Marani and Pavoni 2006: 92 ff.), led to different choices being made according to specific, individual institutions, such as collecting the archaeological and historical testimonies of the life in the urban centre (see the Museum of London), or the creation of an integrated museum system, disseminated in the territory. As well as the distinctions listed above, and still widely accepted, a new addition to the typology, more closely related to the ancient landscape dynamics, can be added: the archaeological park. The difference between the archaeological park and archaeological sites or thematic parks is quite clear: instead of a single monument or context, the archaeological park represents the result of the interaction between environment, landscape and human activities in the ancient world. It is an achievement combining the needs of preservation with the civic awareness of public tutelage of archaeological heritage, closely linked to its historic, social, civil, and environmental context. For this reason, the valorisation in the form of an archaeological park must be the final step of the archaeological excavation, consisting in its presentation and communication to the public. So, the best type of archaeological museum is the one able to valorise every stage of the archaeological work, from the excavation to the creation of the archaeological park, not excluding the examples of underwater archaeological parks, such as the Campi Flegrei or the remains of the port of Caesarea Maritima. The contextualization of the archaeological site in its landscape and the reconstruction of the ancient environment is a key element for understanding the sites themselves. However, other means of communication of archaeological excavations exist. As D. Manacorda (2008) said, ‘Museums and exhibitions: the stage of archaeology’ are precisely two of the available forms taken into consideration as places of valorisation and dissemination of the archaeological data. Aside from the official terminology (that still tends to define exhibitions as temporary exhibitions, characterising them with a negative meaning compared to the museum’s main collection), the role of the exhibition’s relationship to the museum’s permanent collections are still an open problem (Gualandi 1983, Genito Gualandi 2004). Nevertheless, thanks to their temporary character, they tend to be frequented by occasional visitors representing the last segment of the public, estimated as ‘potential’. This feature reflects the different social role that these two poles play towards the society, but the main advantage of the exhibitions consists in the solid background of research and •

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transmission of new knowledge, while the ‘fixed image of the institution of the museum is often perceived as a collector of objects and structures crystallized in the time of their museal valorisation, but essentially detached from clear exposition, and from effective communicative tools (Manacorda 2008: 242-243). In this operation, effectively many museums should ‘learn’ from temporary exhibitions and then – to quote of G. Gualandi (1980: 18 ff.) – ‘The museum becomes (or should become!) exhibition’. ‘The museum becomes exhibit’ idea represents a metaphorical meaning. Submitting museums to testing and design projects ensures new achievements, to allow a process of renewal. First, the operation is aimed at the presentation of the archaeological material, obtained on two levels: 1. the primary meaning, or the message about the emergency of the archaeological artefacts, communicated by archaeological evidence; 2. the primary meaning communicates the secondary meaning, or the message about the history of the exposure of the archaeological artefacts, transmitted by their context inside the museum, an operation usually fulfilled by temporary exhibitions Therefore, we should reject the antithesis between: permanent museum and temporary exhibition. The question that everyone should ask is not ‘why an exhibition?’, but ‘how to organise an exhibition?’ recalling the key role of intermediate institutions, between experts and public, played by the exhibitions. It is clear therefore that the main requirement for any form of museum based valorisation, in particular in the archaeological field, is the communicative approach, with the public and especially for the public. A tendency to reconstruct archaeological sites has developed, often with the help of scenographic apparatus, which developed and became widespread especially in the Anglo-Saxon world. The main reasons of this trend may be found in the so-called ‘interpretation’, the organization of the information about the site – excavation or archaeological site – through a specific economic and funding plan. This need to interpret the past is supported by disciplines such as experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology, whose testing grounds are the thematic parks, amongst which must be mentioned the Archéodrome de Bourgogne (Beaune-Mersault), and the Archeon (Netherland). This system presents a reinterpretation of moments of ancient social and everyday life of antiquity, based on objective excavation data and on experimentation linked to precise comparisons with current social systems. The problems related to the project of an archaeological park concern: • its principles • its aims. • Fundamental is the connection between territorial management and planning, and the contributions of the natural and environmental preservation debate. The archaeological park represents in fact a solution of protection and tutelage, together with other related values (archaeological evidence, natural and cultural environment, integration with the development of the territorial settlement), combining the three aspects of archaeology, environment and society.

Based on these principles, the organisation of archaeological areas must be planned on the basis of the following criteria: • urbanisation • landscape • environment • economics The final aim must be the public dissemination closely related to the scientific and didactic aspect The territorial factor is a key component of the archaeological park (as well as the education) in order to avoid to move the objects from their original context and place them in individual and indissoluble complexes (Ethnographical Museums of the Northern Europe of the end of the 19th / beginning of the 20th centuries, Open-Air Museum at Skansen, Stockolm). Indeed, the archaeological park, intended as an aid to urban planning, is an integrated system of services, from: • the site, representing the ‘archaeological trace of human activity’, but also the smaller territorial unit of the park, in the wider frame of an environmental preservation policy; • but that also needs a system of: • networks linked to research and the transmission of results, with the aim of reconstructing the archaeological research process. The various possibilities can be summarized into three broad categories related to different applications depending on the type of archaeological intervention, the first two in situ and closely linked the interventions of urban archaeology and rescue excavations, and the third combining in a single park monuments and structures belonging to different chronological phases, to create a sort of historical development derived from the best known evidences of a civilization. 1. the first category derives from the rescue excavation (on-site); 2. the second involves the valorisation of monuments through the reconstruction of the architectonical structures, at different levels of intrusiveness (Xanten, Portonaccio) (Fig. 1); 3. the third is represented by the theme parks (off-site) (Archéodrome, Archeon). In Italy there are several cases of Archaeological Parks, which follow three different trends: • A ‘legislative’ definition which follows the T.U. 490/1999 Article 99, according to which an archaeological area is a ‘site on which are remains of a context for a specific use’; while the park is a ‘territorial area characterized by significant archaeological evidence and by the presence of historic, environmental, natural values, supplied as an openair Museum to facilitate its comprehension through educational aids’. •

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An ‘Urban definition’, according to which the park is a component of the diachronic valorisation of the territorial resources, with connections between archaeological object and modern urban and rural context (the Archaeometric Park of Rocca S. Silvestro and the Ar-

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chaeological Park of Populonia-Porto Baratti, linked to the wine routes). • A ‘Naturalistic definition’, where the park is a ‘cultural landscape’, resulting from the human activity on the modern agricultural and settlement dynamics (the area of Castenaso near Bologna). The contribution of experimental archaeology and the ethnoarchaeology for research and communication is fundamental in the design of an archaeological park. Of course the goal of the former, experimental archaeology, interpreted as verification of archaeological hypotheses through repetitive experiments in order to refine end interpretation, is based on simulation and analogy, in two areas: 1. the production of artefacts through the reinterpretation of ancient techniques; 2. the reconstruction of domestic contexts and their degradation/destruction, to verify the depositional dynamics (archaeological record). These goals do not involve only research activity, but also the social sphere; therefore, the process/project can be summarized in these steps: • reconstruction of productive cycles (experiments) presented through the issue of: • education that implies the: • presentation and interpretation (of the site). In particular, we must consider not only the aspects of communication, but also of tourism, which contributes to the spread of cultural ideas behind the idea of valorisation of the past, to keep alive the cultural identity of a society or a civilization. In the system of archaeological parks, there are five categories: • Archaeological Sites involving the use both of reconstructions, and of experimental activities related to archaeology (Fig. 2). • Natural/Archaeological Parks. • Archaeoparks (thematic parks, off-site), including the special category of the ‘exhibition-activity centre’ related to the archaeological education, in the absence of dwellings or productive structures conserved in situ (e.g., the Ribe Vikingcenter – Denmark). • Open-air Museums; these too take advantage, for comunication purposes, of reconstructions and experimental archaeology. • Research and Education/Training Centres. In conclusion, we can imagine, as the final step of the archaeological excavation, a valorisation-conservation process, implemented on the archaeological materials that may be: a) moveable, b) immovable. The musealization process may be realized: a) in situ b) not in situ. In the second case it is essential the relationship with the environment and its reconstruction, in which a relevant role is played by the disciplines of palaeobotany and archaeozoology. The whole process must take into account the communicative aspect, closely related to education, and necessarily involve the use of experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology. The archaeological park therefore represents the result of an interaction between: landscape archaeology, production and experimental archaeology, in close correlation with the

environment: the ‘integrated valorisation of a territory’, which best combines these facets, through the relationship between three factors: 1. archaeological evidence; 2. historical and natural environment; and 3. integration with the modern territorial settlement. As a synthesis, we may say: archaeology – environment – society. Therefore, it is only through close cooperation between the humanities and natural sciences that an archaeological park can be designed, from a project that begins with initial planning of the archaeological research, to the integration with investigations to reconstruct the connections between the site or monument to its context. The final achievement will therefore have achieved the aim of the valorisation of all the historic contents of a territory. In this process interact five scientific fields, related both to the research field and to communication: 1. topographical survey 2. archaeological research and restoration 3. material culture 4. anthropology and environment 5. data processing and presentation It is clear therefore, that the archaeological park, in the proper sense, must be interpreted as the final complex product resulting from the interdisciplinary approach combining different methodologies and applied with the same research purpose, conservation and valorisation of archaeological sites within their natural environment. Beyond this realisation, the most appropriate means for the valorisation of new exhibition spaces must be pre-agreed. The changes in the museum spaces concern in particular the creation of polyvalent rooms allowing an alternation between the exposition areas, and the areas for transit and socialization, not excluding areas specifically related to the marketing aspect. Beneath this policy is a new idea of the museum as an ‘area of communication and interaction with the contents’ (Monaci 2005), which adds to the principle of safeguarding Cultural Heritage, the concept of virtual heritage, combining the traditional requirement of conservation in a dynamic relationship. At this point we must recall modern instruments of communication which can contribute to the effective transmission of information contained in the ‘complex of objects in the Museum’. The systems currently in use in archaeological museums tend to prefer the use of digital technologies to facilitate the transmission of the message, and also virtual reconstructions. Surely these systems – together with new technologies – create a valid support for many museums, archaeological sites and parks recently created, but with the consequence of a fairly reduced public attendance of traditional museums. This methodological problem concerns the so-called ‘Brand name’ attracting visitors in specific places or museums, regardless of the contents or services provided (Antinucci 2007). Apart from this problem, essentially related to their promotion in Tourism and cultural systems in general, an organic transmission of contents should be made more effective for the visitor through well known instruments. This frontier has, in recent years, been tested (experimentation of the Wireless Museum in the 394

Archaeology and its museums: from the excavation to the multimedia dissemination

Cinema National Museum in Turin, CineMo prototype for visiting Torre Aquila of Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento, etc.) and solved by the use of PDA’s (Personal Digital Assistant) which combine ease of navigation with content based audio and video in synchronised format, in which the images are, however, not a mere replacement of direct sight. In the realisation of an archaeological museum four elements must be therefore considered: 1. the context of the museum, namely its history 2. the ideology of the Museum and its aims 3. internal operations, the collections 4. external operations and communication

dei resti nelle aree archeologiche’, paper presented at the Seminario della Direzione generale per i Beni Archeologici, Roma Francovich, R., Zifferero, A. (eds), 1999, Musei e Parchi archeologici. IX ciclo di lezioni sulla ricerca applicata in Archeologia, Certosa di Pontignano (Siena), 1521 dicembre 1997 (Firenze: all’Insegna del Giglio) Genito Gualandi, M.C. (ed.), 2004, Musei, mostre e collezioni negli scritti di Giorgio Gualandi, Studi e Scavi n.s. 5 (Bologna: Ante quem) Gualandi, G., 1980, ‘Dallo scavo al Museo’ in E. Bianchi et al. (eds) Capire l’Italia. I Musei, IV (Milano: TCI), pp. 80-111 Gualandi, G., 1983, ‘Il Museo archeologico si fa mostra’, Musei e Gallerie d’Italia XXXVI/75, n.s. 3-4, pp. 1848 Lenzi, F., Zifferero, A. (eds), 2004, Archeologia del museo: i caratteri originali del museo e la sua documentazione storica fra conservazione e comunicazione (Bologna: Il Mulino) Manacorda, D., 2007, Il sito archeologico: fra ricerca e valorizzazione, Le Bussole 279 (Roma: Carocci) Manacorda, D., 2008, Lezioni di archeologia, Grandi opere (Roma, Bari: Laterza) Marani, P.C., Pavoni, R., 2006, Musei. Trasformazione di un’istituzione dall’età moderna al contemporaneo. Elementi (Venezia: Marsilio) Monaci, S., 2005, Il futuro nel Museo. Come i nuovi media cambiano l’esperienza con il pubblico (Milano: Guerini Studio) Ruggieri Tricoli, M.C, 2004, I siti archeologici: dalla definizione del valore alla protezione della materia (Palermo: D. Flaccovio)

References Antinucci, F., 2004, Comunicare nel Museo, Percorsi 62 (Roma, Bari: Laterza) Antinucci, F., 2007, Musei virtuali, Percorsi 101 (Roma, Bari: Laterza) Bellintani, P., Moser, L. (eds), 2003, Archeologie sperimentali: metodologie ed esperienze fra verifica, riproduzione, comunicazione e simulazione. Atti del Convegno, Comano Terme – Fiavè (Trento, Italy, 1315 settembre 2001) (Trento: Provincia autonoma di Trento) Donati, F., 2003, L’archeologia e i suoi Musei. Corso di Laurea in Beni Culturali: insegnamento di museologia applicata all’archeologia (Pisa: Servizio Editoriale Universitario) Donati, F., 2006, ‘L’insegnamento della Museologia archeologica: comunicazione, presentazione e lettura

Fig. 1 - The Etruscan temple of Portonaccio, Veio (Italy).

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Maria Teresa Guaitoli

Fig. 2 - The reconstruction of the hut in Fidene (Rome, Italy).

Fig. 3 - The pile-dwellings museum of Molina di Ledro (Trento, Italy).

Fig. 4 - The archaeological area of the ancient Roman settlement in Trento (SASS – Spazio Archeologico Sotterraneo del Sass). 396

NATIONAL POLICIES: CROATIA AS A CASE STUDY

The Croatian archaeological heritage: some introductory remarks  

Nenad Cambi, Giuseppe Lepore People who go and visit Croatia (Fig. 1) face two different realities: the first one is that it is a small Country full of monuments, most of them unknown in Europe and around the world. The second one is that these monuments are as important as the artistic heritage present in the rest of Europe, and for this reason, we must insist, it is impossible that they continue to be ignored. From a scientifi point of view, the richness of these exceptional archaeological sites has not been studied carefully enough in the past, but the new political stability of the Country, reached during the last years, is going to catch the attention of scholars abroad. Nowadays a lot of archaeological excavations have been restarted all over the Croatian territory, and the connection with some European and international institutions active in the field of Cultural Heritage has brought about the publication of many related scientific articles Among the different archaeological projects recently carried out in Croatia, as explained by some of our colleagues in the following pages, we would like to point out the one which focuses on ancient Burnum. This project is characterized by the quality of the scientific results which have been reached until now and by its targets, that is to say preservation and enhancement of the archaeological site itself. To this end, a cooperation has been started between the University of Bologna, the University of Zara and the Drniš Museum. The researches are mainly aimed at: 1. producing new and modern documentation;

2. completing the mapping of some areas thanks to new geophysical and scientific researches 3. integrating the different geophysical survey techniques (like the georadar and magnetometric ones, for example); 4. creating some field laboratories 5. implementing the restoration of ancient monuments. The researches carried out at Burnum represent a very good example of a working strategy from a methodological point of view. The integration of many instruments has been the starting point of every activity, both in the planning phase and during the fieldwork The results of the researches carried out in the area surrounding the amphitheatre of Burnum, and the aspects related to tourism at this site have brought about the interest of the Direction of the Krka National Park and of the Ministry of Culture: for this reason the first Archaeological Park in the Croatian territory will be created there. Our intention is to give to the citizens and to the tourists the possibility to face an historical heritage but also a naturalistic reality, which they can come to know and experience. The approach to the Park, which has been a static one until now because of the reality of the ‘open air museum’, will turn into a dynamic approach where both archaeology and the interaction with the environment will be brought into the foreground, as well as favouring the economic development of regions in great need of it.

Fig. 1 - Map of Croatia (from ‘Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia’)

The archaeological site of Burnum: research perspectives within a protected natural landscape  

Igor Borzić Abstract Archaeology is a scientific research discipline whose research methods actively affect the environment. The aim of the present article is to demonstrate the relationship between archaeology and its impact on the environment by using as an example the case of the Roman site of Burnum, located in the Krka National Park. Archaeological activity in the areas of the National Park is only allowed on the condition of preserving the essential natural values of the environment. On this basis, this article aims to demonstrate the complexity of issues in relation to archaeological practice, conservation, restoration and the presentation of activities and their impact on the naturally protected area of the National Park, which will, in a cultural sense, profit from the archaeological research of this site.

Archaeology is a scientific research discipline, whose methods interlink with the principles of other sciences, among others those whose opus of interests is based on the ecological-cultural aspect of the environment. It is exactly the existing relationship between archaeology and environment that we shall try to present in this article with the example of the archaeological site of Burnum, which constitutes the larger part of its area, of Krka National Park. Although the borders of the Park embrace a whole list of archaeological sites (Zaninović 2007: 259-276), where, back to the earliest times of human history, potential conditions for ideal standards of life were in place, in this article we will discuss the case of Burnum. Here systematic archaeological excavations have been conducted since 2003 (Cambi et al. 2006). The excavations are, in their essence, confronting the other aspects of Krka National Park. Burnum is a complex archaeological site located in the vicinity of Ivoševci, the settlement on the plateau alongside the right shore of the steep, canyon-formed bed of the river Krka (Fig. 1). This is the exact location where the course of the river Krka’s changes from its longitudinal flow to its transversal flo . Not far from this site there are calcareous tufa barriers over the Brljan and Manojlovac waterfalls, which throughout history served as bridging the river’s bed over. This particular circumstance allowed the emergence of the antique Burnum, which was established at the beginning of the 1st century AD as a Roman legion camp (Cambi et al. 2007), which, progressively, developed into a civilian settlement. No more mention about this settlement was found after Byzantine-Gothic wars in the middle of the 6th century AD. As previously mentioned, the site is to a large extent within the borders of Krka National Park, founded in 1985, with a geographical extension of 109 km2 (Fig. 2). According to the Act of Protection of Nature of the Republic of Croatia, among protected natural assets, national parks are defined as vast, for the most part unchanged, areas of land and/or sea, of exceptional and multiple natural values, which embrace one or more preserved, negligible changed ecological systems. The basic phenomenon, because of which this area falls into the category of protected naturally valuable resources, is a natural and karst river Krka, with its calcareous tufa

barriers and affluents. The area that surrounds the river concurred in forming a characteristic ecosystem. In addition to this, the character of the river’s flow also provides with the conditions for the formation of the particular, anthropogenic landscape, which was until recently dominated by traditional agriculture and cattle raising. The Krka National Park is characteristic for the fact that the aspect of landscape is in many parts accentuated because of the existence of numerous culture zones, starting from agricultural landscapes, ethnological zones (water mills at the river’s flow), cultural-historic sites (medieval and modernhistory fortifications above the Krka’s canyon), and also archaeological zones, which by their character promote archaeological excavations (Zaninović and Gaurina 2007: 297-308, 319-330; Živković 2007: 309-318). The site of Burnum has a special place. Taking into account the fact that it is by itself a zone inside the Park, it is important to emphasize that the regulation established by the Krka National Park has determined that archaeological excavations inside the zone of the so-called ‘essential natural phenomenon’ can be conducted only in a way that protects the essential natural assets of landscape. It is precisely because of the long-term plan of archaeological excavation, that could perhaps be extended to a period of over a century of scientific research of this site, that underpins important subjects that need to be taken into account in order to take care of the impact of archaeological works on today’s protected environment areas. The starting point, from which we should move in search of the way of uniting archaeology and landscape, is a cognition of space the way it existed until recently, that is to say until the beginning of the research. From a natural-geographical perspective, it is a North Dalmatian karst plateau, which extends across both banks of the river Krka. This relief is dominated by the even spreading with numerous karst valley recesses. In terms of flora diversity, this area is embraced into the Mediterranean-mountainous belt with mixed forests of Jupiter’s distaff and hop hornbeam as autochthon forest communities. The toponym Bukovica, which dates from the 17th century, as a name of that part of the plateau where Burnum is situated, suggests that the area then was characterized by its forest cover. Forest areas

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have been to a large extent degraded, so today, the wider Burnum area is dominated by the bush forest communities. Also, certain parts of the plateau are characterized by agricultural areas of different soil quality (particularly terra rossa) and deforested, karst rocky grounds. Except for the natural predispositions of the terrain, this kind of landscape is a result of a centenary anthropogenic activity. That is to say, economic orientations of the rural population have been till today based on agriculture and cattle raising, which activities conditioned deforestation, that brings along progressive erosion of the soil. Social relations and economy led up to a formation of a specific anthropogenic landscape, which is dominated by smaller cultivable lands fenced in dry stone walls and stony piles, formed by extricating soil from stones. Viewed from a culturological side, this kind of landscape represents part of a newer history of the Burnum area, which manifests the ways of using the soil, characteristic for the Dalmatian karst area. Inside the archaeological site of Burnum, the development of the described cultural landscape was partly shaped by the discovery of ruins of the antique settlement (Figs 3-4). Changes in the population density and economy of the area during the last few centuries led up to the use of those ruins as a source of stone for building country premises, as well as fence walls in allotments for agricultural purposes. Agricultural activities in this area have caused numerous ‘problems’ by destroying moveable and immovable archaeological material, possibly lost forever as a scientifi resource. Since the land, in which the antique Burnum is located, represented the source of existence for the majority of the local population, the local population can’t be entirely blamed for the destruction of the archaeological site, and, in addition to this, the lack of understanding of the importance of the archaeological heritage, especially in the earlier times, when awareness of the scientific value of the sites wasn’t yet of concern for the population. Nowadays the future of this site, from the archaeological perspective, seems to look more promising than in the past years. Due to the socio-cultural and economic changes a large part of agricultural land had been neglected, owing to a postwar situation, depopulation and the impossibility of intensive exploiting of smaller surfaces of karst. From these reasons the possibility of buying off the land and gradually transfer it into the hands of the National Park, whose managers recognized the potential of the site. Through buying off the land and protecting it, frequent plunders of the site, usual in the past in this area, have been prevented. Through these measures the conditions for the revitalization of Burnum have been made. The ownership of the land issue in which the archaeological sites are situated, as well as the possibilities of its research and management have always been relevant for archaeology. The developments in Burnum are now heading in a good direction. There’s a useful comparison with Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, in which 2/3 of the surface of the land are still in private hands and used for farming, which makes archaeological research considerably more difficult. This particular problem can be solved by promoting socio-cultural awareness of the culturological importance of the archaeological heritage below the surface. This action would require a fi-

nancial sponsorship by the State and other related governmental agencies. It was not such a long time ago that the Burnum landscape was still dominated by only two preserved arches of the principium of the legion camp and the later centre of the civilian settlement (Fig. 4), which were also known in the ancient times (Fortis 1984). Perhaps the reason for this preservation lies in the fact that local people throughout the history considered the arches (toponyme Šupljaja) to be the remaining parts of a church and thus had piety towards the ruins, so that it remained the only visible trace of the Roman Burnum in landscape. In this area two archaeological excavations were conducted in the past, in 1912/1913 and 1973/1974, and they established the topography of space (Reisch 1913: 112-135; Zabehlicky-Scheffenegger and Kandler 1979). The excavated surface was taken back to the previous state by covering up the finds, without conservation of the architectural parts. New systematic research, started in 2003, brought many changes in that respect. The new results of the special transformation are already visible. Maybe the best example of the cyclic course of events is an amphitheatre, at which the research has been directed. The amphitheatre, to all appearances, arose in the times of the Emperor Claudius, at the spot of a little natural depression, in the vicinity of the legion camp (Cambi et al. 2006). In the moment when the amphitheatre, probably during the late Empire, stops being a utilitarian edifice, it becomes a ‘stone-pit’, whose stones are visible in the walls of numerous houses in nearby villages. Also, the terrain around the amphitheatre eventually became cultivable land, and it was parceled into smaller agricultural parts (Fig. 3). Owners of those parts were, through cleaning their land, covering up with stones the area of the cavae of the amphitheatre, to the extent that scientists had doubts whether it was the same edifice (Ilakovac 1984). The doubt was emphasized by the bushy vegetation which overgrew the area of the arena and the auditorium (Figs 5-6). The whole space around the amphitheatre is characterised by a series of shallow and large sink-holes of oval shape, so it was for a long time considered that in this case it was also at the same time a natural, and not an artificial form. Nowadays, after research has been fostered, the amphitheatre is being freed from ‘recent’ tumbled stones. A simple way of presenting the entrance through stone structures, enables relatively simple conservation of the existing and in reconstruction of the missing parts of the building (Figs 7-9). Thus the appearance of the amphitheatre will get closer to its original state. Another concrete example is related to a nearby agricultural parcel, where archaeological excavation is also being conducted on an edifice whose purpose can still not be precisely determined. It is probably a castellum or a campus. The lines of its walls were covered by a pile of dumped amorphous stones, emerged by cleaning cultivable land inside the fence of the parcel (Fig. 3). Fragments of tegulae and treated stone blocks indicate that here we also have an example of an antique edifice, which was confirmed by removing the recent stone dam. Traces of a stone ‘defensive wall’, with a tripartite entrance on the eastern, and a defensive wall of the still incompletely excavated entrance on the northern side of the edifice (Fig. 8) was found. The whole open line of the defensive 402

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wall with the doors was conserved under being dug out until the level of the wall preservation (ca 0.5 m). The image of a long continuous line of a large stone dam up to 2 m high has been substantially changed. With these two examples we have tried to point out how still modest archaeological interventions considerably change the existing landscape, and plans for Burnum are a lot bigger. Viewed from the archaeological and topographical perspective, the borders of the legion and supporting camps, canabae, civilian settlement, roads, necropolis, aqueduct and other edifices have been approximately defined (Miletić 2007: 181-202), and there are plans to make further research on them, since they offer a possibility of reconstruction of the whole settlement with all its phases. Archaeology is with all its auxiliary methods the key and the basis for this kind of research. Among other activities in cooperation with the University of Bologna at Burnum, there has been conducted nondestructive researching, which enriches exploration and makes the excavations easier (Cambi et al. 2007: 37-64). In order to comprehend fully the site with all its development phases, the classic ‘destructive’ method of archaeological excavation is inevitable. Excavations are unavoidable for the site to be conserved and presented as part of the tourist offer of the Krka National Park. It is to be expected that the works started will be continued with the same course, which means with excavations and conservation, which will eventually change more and more the existing landscape, which will acquire a ‘new-old’ cultural dimension, in which we can look for justification for destructive archaeological activities. However, what has to be emphasized as a condition for continuing research in Burnum, is precisely the determined working plan, which has to conform with the interests of a larger professional community, which finds its interests in this area. As far as archaeology is concerned, first of all it has to be determined which parts of the site will be explored, in which sequence and intensity, which will depend, in most cases on available finds, property-legal relations and other strategically important issues. The attractiveness of every area in Burnum is not in question, but the use of excavations on smaller surfaces seems to be not the right choice. Undoubtedly the research on the amphitheatre has to be brought to an end, and after that systematic exploration of the other bigger parts of the site has to start, be it campus/castellum, legion camp or other. Due to the complexity of the site, it is necessary to use a wider repertory of research methods, and a thorough documentation, which will be in the final phase of the material processing of vital importance for understanding the site. Creation of the geodetic plans has to be in the beginning of the research, followed by the continuous work of situational plans from different phases of research. Smaller archaeological material requires special attention in excavations, because it speaks most, among the appearance and the way of building of particular edifices, about its purpose (cult, military, civilian and others) and dates. It is still only after the excavations that the real problems appear, primarily related to the question about what and how to do with the findings, which will require the right

elaboration. Problems of the moveable archaeological material will be solved by opening a new archaeological museum in the village of Puljani. Architectural remains, though, reopen the discussion on the ways of their conservation and presentation, which also has to be done in accordance with profession and protected environment. On the other hand, if certain layers of architecture have to be removed in archaeological excavations in order to get through to lower layers, regularly managed documentation enables the restoration and conservation of walls and other elements from all the registered phases of construction. Sacrificing one phase because of emphasizing the others is one of conservation procedures. It is not necessary to use the same practice in Burnum. Conservation has to take care of giving a steadfast emphasis on all the registered periods of the settlement life, in order to leave the landscape, wherever possible, in the form in which it was found by arriving at the site. It is of course to expect that certain situations and demands won’t allow that, but Burnum is big enough to represent a kind of walk through centuries of life in this area, from prehistory to the present time. Given the intention of presenting the authentic sight with accuracy, but primarily because of ecological reasons, in conservation we have to use to a maximum extent found constructing stone material for conservation, left from the ruins. For example, we can use again the case of the amphitheatre because it has been so far best known and intensively worked on. During its construction, the Romans mainly used local stone material. To build the amphitheatre walls, local limestone was used of relatively bad quality, which resulted in its deterioration, mostly lamination. Limestone of somewhat better quality, whose origin is still to be determined, was used for the construction of the perimeter wall of the arena, the pillars, and the monumental inscription of the Emperor Vespasian, placed above the southern entrance. Almost all the imploded and usable stone material from the edifice has already been used in the former conservation, with imitating the structure and the way of putting plaster as a cohesive instrument (Fig. 9). Acquisition of stone of the same quality and character shouldn’t be a problem; stone from the nearby fence walls of parcels can be used too. That stone originates from this and other Roman edifices, so with its structure and shape it corresponds to the needs of the conservation. With regards to the protected environment, opening new stone-pits for the needs of finding raw material for conservation isn’t a good solution, at least not inside the National Park area. Special attention should be directed to reusing the discovered calcareous tufa blocks, which were part of the arch above the passages, and which were most probably taken by the Romans from the neighboring calcareous tufa barriers Brljan and Manojlovac. Calcareous tufa should be regarded as a particular phenomenon in the confrontation of Pokrčje in the old days and in the present. Throughout the whole history such a natural thing was of vital importance for the life of people. Former research has shown massive usage of calcareous tufa for arches and vaults of the edifices in Burnum. In the past the ecological value of calcareous tufa wasn’t taken that much into account, and its usage was much more active than nowadays. Except for the fact that calcareous tufa barriers were, in the past, 403

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as well as today, a place of linking two banks of the river, which was of enormous importance, calcareous tufa was because of its physical characteristics used in construction, especially in the construction of vaults, which required light but solid material. Today it is unthinkable to use calcareous tufa, which forms cascades, which are a protected natural phenomenon that makes Krka recognizable as one of the most beautiful rivers of Europe, and is one of the reasons for proclaiming Krka a national park. Cascades on calcareous tufa barriers are the main tourist attraction of the Park, with barriers being protected by the law as monuments of natural architecture. Preserving the authenticity of the natural environment should be accomplished through an nonaggressive and subtle way of conservation, in order for the restored parts of architecture not to be too distinguished form the conserved original parts, and not to form too big and closed entities. In that way would the appearance of open, airy space be kept, with spatial aspects, and the landscape would remain exposed to the influences of Krka. Emphasizing specific forms of edific s and closed entities can be accomplished in other ways, primarily through horticultural arrangement, which, on the other hand, has to be in accordance with ambient, without introducing flora which wasn’t autochthon in these areas. Archaeological research and presentation of monuments should consider also the disposition of older communications, to achieve the authenticity of the site. Already now can we hint characteristic areas, the main directions of connecting the camp, the amphitheatre, the outgoing road with necropolis and other. Antique communications and modern country roads should inevitably be incorporated into tourist paths and itineraries, which would facilitate the understanding of the site and make it much easier for visitors. Communications, in the form of small paths, should be followed by signs with descriptions, explanations and dating, maybe even pictorial reconstructions of the edifices by which one passes. Signs should be made in a way that doesn’t stand out from natural ambient. Growth of tourist activity in the future will generate in the need of building an information centre. The construction of this centre should be based on the principles of traditional construction of buildings for this area, maybe even imitating the shape of one of the Roman edifices. Respecting natural ambient should be conducted on other, at first sight small details, such as arrangement of the parking space, incoming roads, souvenir shops, gazebo, etc. If the problem of Burnum is viewed through the prism of the National Park, this research is a big asset. National parks as institutions are characterized by their scientific, cultural and education role, into which this research on Burnum fits perfectly. Scientific aspects will be satisfied by the constant influx of archaeological material and information that will come from the field and will bring up to date findings about Burnum in a narrow and in a broad sense. Educational role will manifest itself through possibilities of organizing different archaeological schools and thematic excursions, as it was already the case in 2007, and through well planned presentations and guided tours of the site. A cultural component will be, among a sort of an open-air museum and theatre plays on the site, emphasized with the already men-

tioned opening of the museum in nearby Puljane, where moveable archaeological material from the site would be exhibited. This museum would be only a part of a complex in which all the natural and cultural characteristics of this part of the National Park would be presented. From the tourist perspective, it is true that the majority of the Krka National Park’s visitors stay mainly in the lower flow of the river Krka, dominated by the calcaire tufa barriers of Skradin cascade, Prokljansko lake, Skradin and other attractions. The tendency to create the archaeological park of Burnum would to a large extent enrich the offer of the cultural tourism of the northern part of the Park, which has been until now outside the zone of bigger attendance rate, despite natural attractions such as the Manojlovac cascade and the Brljansko lake, as well as cultural monuments (the Aranđelovac monastery and the old hydroelectric power plant Manojlovac). As in many other opportunities for the National Park and its visitors, as well as for the archaeological profession, we can now look for a good excuse for the change of the present landscape. Archaeological activity, conservation and presentation in the Burnum area will bring certain ecological changes, which should be taken into account, especially because it is a protected natural area. It is very important to ensure that the undertaken activities do not cause changes in the fragile karst landscape. Losing a dosage of the ‘wilderness’ of the landscape is unavoidable. The astonishing beauty of the site will attract more and more visitors, so a clear vision of ecological protection must be kept in mind in the last management proposal for the use of this space. What archaeologists, that is to say members of research teams, can do on this plan is to conduct their operational plan in harmony with ecological awareness, seaking a harm minimization strategy that is congruent with the conservation of local flora and fauna Through the gradual transfer of Burnum into the framework of the Krka National Park, it enters under the protection of an institution, which has, as a main task, the preservation of nature. Thus we all, who in any way participate in the ‘usage’ of this space, must have the duty to put in the foreground that aspect, and only after that put in place the professional aspect, which will create further basis for the reconciliation of archaeology and the aims of protecting vulnerable areas such as the Krka National Park. Under this philosophy, this area will be able to continue to be distinguished by its attractions and interesting sites, that have always attracted numerous chance travelers.

references Birin, J., Poslončec-Petrić, V., 1998, Turistička karta Nacionalnog parka Krka (Zagreb) Cambi, N. et al., 2006, Amphitheatre at Burnum. Excavation 2003.-2005., Burnum – Catalogues and Monographs 1 (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Krka National Park) Cambi, N. et al., 2007, Rimska vojska u Burnumu, Burnum – Catalogues and Monographs 2 (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Gradski Musej) Fortis, A., 1984, Put po Dalmaciji (Zagreb: Globus) Ilakovac, B., 1984, Burnum, II. Der römische Aquädukt 404

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Plavno polje – Burnum, Bericht über die Forschungen 1973 und 1974 (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften) Miletić, Ž., 2007, ‘Prostorna organizacija i urbanizam rimskog Burnuma’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 181-202 Reisch, E., 1913, ‘Die Grabungen des Österreichischen archäologischen Institutes während der Jahre 1912 und 1913. Das Standlager von Burnum’, Jahreshefte des Österreichischen archäologischen Institutes in Wien 16, pp. 112-135 Zabehlicky-Scheffenegger, S., Kandler, M., 1979, Burnum, I. Erster Bericht über die Kleinfunde der Grabungen 1973 und 1974 auf dem Forum, Schriften der Balkankommission, Antiquarische Abteilung 14 (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften) Zaninović, J., Gaurina, D., 2007a, ‘Nelipićeve utvrde na rijekama Krka i Čikola’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park

Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 297-308 Zaninović, J., Gaurina, D., 2007b, ‘Vodenice (mlinovi) na Roškom slapu (povijesni pregled)’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 319-330 Zaninović, M., 1968, ‘Burnum. Castellum – municipium’, Diadora 4, pp. 119-129 Zaninović, N., 2007, ‘Arheološka topografija na prostoru NP Krka’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 259-276 Živković, Z., 2007, ‘Tradicijsko graditeljsvo oko rijeke Krke’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 309318

Fig. 1 - Satellite photo of the wider Burnum area (source: Google Earth).

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Fig. 3 - Aerial photo of the Burnum amphitheatrum and campus/castellum area (photo by S. Ferić).

Fig. 2 - Map of the Krka National Park (from Birin and Poslončec-Petrić 1998).

Fig. 4 - Aerial photo of the Burnum castrum area (photo by S. Ferić).

Fig. 5 - Burnum: amphitheatrum, before excavation.

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Fig. 6 - Burnum: amphitheatrum, before excavation.

Fig. 7 - Burnum: amphitheatrum, present state (photo by S. Ferić).

Fig. 8 - Burnum: campus/castellum, the eastern entrance after conservation.

Fig. 9 - Burnum: amphitheatrum, the southern entrance after conservation.

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Archaeological diagnostics experiences at Burnum  

Federica Boschi, Alessandro Campedelli Abstract The Burnum Project was started in 2005 as a joint research project between the Department of Archaeology (University of Zadar), the Civic Museum of Drniš and the Department of Archaeology (University of Bologna), under the aegis of the Centre for the Study of the Archaeology of the Adriatic Sea (Ravenna). Aims of the project are the knowledge and preservation of the archaeological site of Burnum, in the Krka valley. The methodological issue of the Burnum Project is to test a protocol of intervention based on the following points: many archaeological sites, excavated in the past, are increasingly exposed to degradation; today the nonintrusive methods of investigation in archaeology allow the detection of the archaeological evidence without exposing it to the risk of damages; a deeper knowledge and documentation of the archaeological heritage are the basis for proper interventions of preservation and valorization. The use and implementation of different nonintrusive methodologies of analysis to detect the presence of buried evidences in the subsoil, together with the careful survey of the unburied structures, brought the following results (still in progress): a convincing reconstruction of the historical phases of the area occupied by the basilica of Burnum; the preservation of the Roman arches (part of the basilica, the only visible physical remain of the whole ancient settlement); the education of young students and researchers; the improvement of strategies of international cooperation and networking and the development of shared protocols for archaeological documentation and communication.

1. THE SITE The site of Burnum is located on the right bank of the river Krka (ancient Titius), in Central-Northern Dalmatia, at the border between the Liburnian and the Dalmatian territory, in the area which today is part of the Krka National Park. Today it is possible to see on the site two big stone arches made of stones, which are the only remainsof the Forensic basilica, and a big amphitheatre recently excavated by our Croatian colleagues (Fig. 1). The hydro-geological characteristics of the river, up- and downstream of Burnum it flows in a deep canyon, made this area the unique place where the ford was easier and moreover a strategically extremely important place: the river marked the boundary between Liburnia and Dalmatia ‘Arsiae gens Liburnorum iungitur usque ad flumen Titium… Liburniae finis et initium Dalmatiae…’ (Plinius, H.N., III, 139-140), i.e., between populations respectively friendly and hostile to Rome (Fig. 2). This exceptional position of control on the crossing point of the river meant it was garrisoned since the pre-Roman age, as demonstrated by the rests of the fortified settlement of Liburnians.1 Also, according to some historical studies the first Roman camp could have been established on the Liburnian camp, which was previously located on the same site. In any case, the successive castrum has been built on   The site is located near the village Puljane and represents one of the most important prehistorical ‘gradine’ (castle ruins) in Croatia. On the top of this promontory, a sort of peninsula lapped by the water of the Krka, it is still possible to recognise the large defensive embankment delimitating the internal space in which, in the ondulating land, the rests of the ancient Liburnian settlements are visible: around fifty elements, built up in dry stone walling. A large quantity of ceramic fragments from pre-Roman and Roman age indicates that the fortified settlement continued to exist after the foundation of the castrum on the opposite river bank. The knowledge of the site is almost exclusively due to the researches carried out by W. Buttler (1932) in the 1930s. 1

the other side of the river, during the first phases of the Roman landholding. The analysis of the archaeological material shows that the site was occupied, already at the end of the Illyrian campaigns of Octavian (33 BC), by the Legio XX. The castrum, whose construction is attributable to the military forces of the Legio XI (in Burnum since AD 10), reached its defin tive importance at the time of the Emperor Claudius, during AD 50.2 In AD 86 Dalmatia was proclaimed provincia inermis, the legion troops departed and the castrum became a population centre. At the beginning of the 2nd century AD the centre acquired the legal status of municipium. After the birth of the municipality the strategic-military control of the area, crucial crossroad of important streets connecting the coast and the inland of the province,3 was anyway guaranteed by the auxiliaries of the Cohors I Belgarum, the Cohors III Alpinorum, and, for a short period towards the half of the 2nd century AD, also by some departments of the Legio VIII Augusta (again in Dalmatia in the age of Antoninus Pius), located in a camp next to the town, as we can guess from the air images. The concentration of inscriptions of beneficiaries to consu2   For the whole 1st century AD this important strategic area has been garrisoned, other than by the legionary troops based in the castrum, also by various auxiliary units settled in one or more fortified camps, the castella, close to the castrum. Among those auxilia it is worth recalling the Ala I Hispanorum, the Cohors II Cyrrhestarum sagittaria and the Cohors I Montanorum civium Romanorum. 3   To be able to understand the value of the strategic role of Burnum it is sufficient to look at the Peutingerian Table. This document shows Burno (Burnum) as a crucial crossroad where five important roads met. Three of these crossed the Liburnian territory: the first one ran from Senia in direction of the internal part of the province and reached the centres on the Danube, the second one from Jadera (Iader) through Nedino (Nedinum) and Aserie (Asseria) reached Burno, the third one ran from Jadera along the coast and crossed Scardona; and two others (one along the coast and the other across the hinterland) crossed the Dalmatian territory and ended in Salona (Bojanovski 1974: 203-210).

Federica Boschi, Alessandro Campedelli

lar officers in Burnum witnesses, once again, that the former settlement remained an important administrative and military centre of the Dalmatia in the 2nd-3rd century AD.4 The municipality had a significant role until the Late Antiquity. Notwithstanding this, the Gothic-Byzantine war, which involved in its last phase various centres of the northern inland territories of the Dalmatia, resulted in AD 536-537 in the elimination of Burnum from the historical stage (Procop., Goth., I, 16).

The Burnum amphitheatre should have been built during the Claudium age. The discovered building presents the following dimensions: 130 x 117 m, with an arena of 50 x 47 m, four entrances and access stairs for the steps and the arena itself. The discovery of a stone monumental inscription, found by the southern door, describing the name of the Emperor Vespasian, and dated AD 76-77, allows us to speculate on a possible extension of the constructions during those years (Fig. 4).7 The results of the research carried out in the area of the Burnum amphitheatre and the archaeological and tourismrelated potentialities of the site brought about a very big interest from the side of the Direction of the National Park of Krka and of the Culture Ministry, so that the planning and realization of an archaeological park, the first one on the Croatian territory, has been initiated. To this aim the conservation and enhancement needs of the Burnum seemed to be compliant to the goals of the Department of Archaeology of the University of Bologna. For this reason in the year 2005 a collaboration with the archaeologists of the University of Zara and of the Drniš Museum has been started in order to realize a project for the preliminary documentation inside the area of the ancient Roman site of Burnum. The agreed aims have resulted in the following activities: the development of laboratories on site with both scientific and educational objectives, archaeological topography researches, analyses of the wall structures, restoration diagnostics and analyses of the archaeological and archaeozoological materials; the production of a new and modern documentation and of new scientific research All these aims involved the fields of research, of education, of valorisation and of information disclosure.

2. previous ARCHAEOLOGical RESEARCH The site of Burnum has been systematically archaeologically investigated by the researchers from the Archaeological Institute of Vienna during two campaigns. The first campaign was carried out between 1912 and 1913. The main goal of this campaign was to clarify the architectural typology of the arches. They have been described for the first time by Alberto Fortis in his Viaggio in Dalmazia, issued in 1774.5 The results were successful and allowed to discover the castrum principia and a part of the successive town forum which had been built on these principia. To the most ancient period belonged a small complex having a rectangular form (60 x 40 m), closed on the short northern side by a series of rooms, among which the central one (9 x 15 m) had an apse in correspondence to the middle axis of the whole construction (Reisch 1913). These structures were then destroyed to realise the paving of an open space belonging to a larger complex, which maintained the orientation of the previous structures, as shown by the axis of the room with the apse (T) maintained in the next room (G). The area of the second complex covered a rectangular surface of 93 x 73 m, having on the short northern side a central room with apse (G); this central room had then on both sides three identical rooms, symmetric to it (Fig. 3). The second campaign was carried out between 1970 and 1971. Its goal was to analyse the results of the first campaign by using control trenches (Kandler 1976-1977: 3945; Zabehlichy-Scheffenegger and Kandler 1979). To these survey documents, it is possible now to add the preliminary data of the excavation campaign in the amphitheatre, which was started in the year 2003 by the archaeologists of the University of Zara and of the Drniš Museum.6

3. THE renEWed RESEARCH project Between 2005 and 2007 the archaeological site of Burnum has been analysed using different nonintrusive survey approaches, thanks to the team of the Department of Archaeology of the University of Bologna (direction: Enrico Giorgi, Giuseppe Lepore, Alessandro Campedelli) and to the participation of the LAPetLAB of the University of Siena, of the DISTA of the University of Bologna, of the company SoIng of Livorno, of Michel Dabas (company GEOCARTA, Paris) and of the CGT of the University of Siena. After carrying out an accurate historical and topographical study of the context,8 we decided to collect and analyse some

4 The stations (stationes) of the consular beneficiaries, officers of the administrative office of the province ambassador, have been displaced, after the demilitarization of Dalmatia, along the main arterial roads and near the main commercial nodes. These stations represented the most important administrative and military body for the control of the province. 5 The travel experience of Alberto Fortis produced the most important evidence on the Dalmatian territory in the 6th century: the Viaggio in Dalmazia (Travels into Dalmatia), published in two volumes by Tipaldo in Venice in 1774. The precision of the representation and the sound science with which it is presented (Fortis introduced the use of a metric scale in Venetian feet), with methods recalling ante litteram the modern archaeological survey, lead to take into consideration the scientific validity of this evidence for archaeology. 6 The hypothesis that the castrum of Burnum had an amphitheatre had already been proposed in the 1930s. Researchers like Bulić and Marun thought in fact that the elliptical sinking delimited by a large heap of stones, present in the south-western area of the site, could hide its rests. Since no surveys had been carried out, there was no reliable evidence of its existence until 2003, when, after having eliminated the vegetation covering the structures, the rests of the southern entrance of the amphitheatre

were found. The excavation and documentation works, patronised by the Direction of the National Park of Krka, are being carried on and will take probably another couple of years. 7 The block (dimensions: 294 x 100 x 32 cm), broken in two parts probably at the moment of the breakdown, shows the inscription in a basrelief, delimited by a tabula biansata. The limestone is of superior quality with respect to the material used for the construction of the amphitheatre. The name of the Emperor Vespasian is followed by the imperial title. The eighth tribunicia potestas indicates the date AD 76-77. As second criterion of dating we have the fact that in the second half of AD 76 Vespasian has been proclaimed Imperator for the eighteenth time (Cambi et al. 2006). 8  This part of the research has been carried out by Alessandro Campedelli

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air photographs which revealed the presence in the current landscape, in particular in the field allotment, of the original border lines of the Roman castrum. In some areas moreover, we tested the system of the air photograph by kite, a system which has underlined once again the potentiality of this method for the recognition of the tracks on the ground.9 After a first positive test carried out during August 2005 through the radar system, the participation in the successive programmes of many institutes and professionals, both Italians and foreigners, allowed us to notably extend the identification of the sub-superficial levels of the ground by the integrated use of different geophysical survey instruments.10 The southern area of the castrum has been quite good investigated thanks to the cross use of various methods of geophysical prospecting: magnetometer, georadar, geoelectrics (Fig. 5). Also some areas near the amphitheatre have been subject to a magnetic survey. First a georadar survey and a magnetic survey were carried out: the first one through a Ramac Mala GeoScience instrument equipped with a mono-static antenna of 250 MHz,11 the second one through a magnetometer GEM 19 Overhauser in a degree-metrical attitude.12 Secondly the geoelectric method with the system ARP has been tested thanks not only to the direct contribution on site of Michel Dabas of the company GEOCARTA,13 but also to an intense summer shower which has increased notably the ground conductivity, creating the most favourable conditions for this kind of implementation. Eventually we carried out an electric vertical tomography with a geo-covering OhmMapper in order to gain precise information about the depth of some evidences identified with

the radar, the magnetometric and the bedrock systems.14 The organization of the jobs on site resulted in the setting of regular racks working as a base for the geophysical survey. These racks have been then identified topographically by a total station and a GPS system.15 The different investigated areas have been named with letters from A to L conventionally. All georadar surveys have been carried out under a 50 cm resolution, while for the magnetic surveys the acquisition has been carried out continuously (survey mode, walk grad) along profiles set at a distance of 1 m one from the other, with a medium sampling space of 35 cm between each measurement. Thanks to the OhmMapper geo-coating system we have realized some geoelectric spreading which enabled us to obtain a vertical tomography related to the single profiles of the investigated ground, into the areas A and D. The area A was chosen because it had been subject to the Austrian excavations in 1912, while the area D was chosen because the radar profiles and the acquired magnetic data revealed many anomalies of special interest (Fig. 7). Thanks to all methods that have been implemented, a good contrast between the physical features of the buried targets and the features of the surrounding matrix has been discovered. The best results have been obtained thanks to the ARP system and to the magnetic survey. In the planimetric views realized with the two systems, one can clearly see an archaeological stratification which is extremely rich and it is almost possible to develop a reliable reconstruction of the buried items based on the obtained data. Also the georadar method has brought about good results, and, considering the starting quotes and the characteristics of the archaeological evidences present in the subsoil, it could be useful to test, in the future, an antenna with a higher frequency, in order to obtain even more detailed results. By the area D it has been possible to use all the methods available, and the results that we obtained were more than positive (Fig. 6). The upper half of the area appears to be completely occupied by structures and rooms of different dimensions, which should probably be related to big buildings facing a big road, whose direction was north-east/ south-west. Also in the lower half of the investigated area it is possible to recognize various archaeological evidences, underlined above all by the magnetic surveys and the radar slices. These archaeological evidences have been interpreted as a small construction of a squared or rectangular shape. The total image which we obtain by the area D is the one of an intensively built-up surface following a regular scheme. The structures appear to continue until the southern line of the field and to stop right on the border of the gully on the river Krka. Therefore, it is possible to assume the presence of an original extension towards the southern terraced area beyond its current extension or length. Considering the mag-

(Ph.D. candidate at the University of Bologna). For the Burnum Project please see Campedelli et al. 2007, Cambi et al. 2007. 9  The kite photographs have been realized thanks to an instrument developed by Michele Silani (Master’s Degree at the University of Bologna), which consists of a static kite and remote controlled picavet clicking system. To this aim please see Campedelli et al. 2006: 134-135; Cambi et al. 2007: 54-55. 10  The 2005 georadar survey has been carried out with an instrument SIR2 equipped with a mono-static antenna of 500 MHz, owned by the Geophysician Antonio Edoardo Bracci, holder of the company GeoExploration of Forlì; we kindly thank him for his kindness and willingness. 11   The georadar survey has been carried out by Federica Boschi and Michele Silani, by using a Ramac Malac Geoscience georadar owned by the DISTA of the University of Bologna. We kindly thank Paola Rossi Pisa and Marco Bittelli of the DISTA for their willingness and collaboration. 12   The magnetic survey has been carried out by Barbara Frezza (Ph.D. candidate at the University of Siena) and by Mariaelena Ghisleni (Ph.D. candidate at the University of Siena) of the LAPetLAB of the University of Siena: we kindly thank them for the collaboration. 13   We want to thank in particular Michel Dabas (CNRS, Paris; company GEOCARTA) and Gianfranco Morelli (SoIng, Livorno) who allowed us to test the ARP system in Burnum. We also want to thank Giovanni Bitella (SoIng) for his good job on site. The ARP system (Automatic Resistivity Profiling) has been patented by the French company GEOCARTA, and currently represents the most updated system. It is made of a complex processing equipment consisting in four couples of gear wheel which enter the ground for a few centimetres, in order to be always in touch with the ground without modifying its structure and composition. The carriage is towed by a motor quad and equipped with a centimetrical GPS device which can grant the absolute and immediate positioning of all acquired measurements. This instrument allows to investigate huge spaces within short time periods and without any energy input from the side of the operator.  For the results of the ARP surveys in Burnum please see the second issue of the journal Groma, now in press.

  The use of the OhmMapper system has been possible thanks to the paricipation of the CGT of the University of Siena. Marta Bottacchi (Ph.D. candidate at the University of Siena) has organized the work on site, and we would like to thank her for the good job. 15  The GPS positioning has been carried out by the DISMeC of the Univeristy of Modena and Reggio Emilia. We would like to thank in particular Marco Dubbini and Cristina Castagnetti. The total station survey has been carried out by the Bologna team, and in particular by Julian Bogdani (Ph.D. candidate at the University of Bologna). 14

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netic values, it is possible to proof the buried archaeological structures, built mostly of bricks and calcium lime, or with materials subject to thermal magnetisation. On the other hand, both georadar and geoelectric revealed a good conservation of these structures for at least a depth of 60-70 cm. The production of time-slices related to different depths, after processing the radar profiles 16 allows us to read the magnetic prospecting data more carefully and to get important information about the depth of many evidences readable on the magnetic tests. In the radar slice related to a depth of 15-25 n/sec (estimated depth of 80-90 cm) it is possible to recognize some floor levels which tend to disappear into the slice related to a bigger depth (25-35 n/sec). In this slice it is easier to recognize the walls surrounding buildings and rooms. The street with a north-east/south-west orientation presents a width of about 5 m and is recognizable for at least 55 m. It seems to be surrounded by small buildings and closed rooms facing it, some of them with real openings more recognizable through the magnetic survey. Moreover, in the central part of the area it is possible to recognize a second route perpendicular to the first, with a north-west/south-east orientation. This second route is also about 5 m wide. In the lower part of the grid, where the ground presents a gradual slope towards the river Krka, the georadar prospecting pointed out the presence of rocks and stones deposits. Since the first experiences carried out in Burnum during the year 2005, the area E brought about very encouraging results (Fig. 7). In facts, the documents related to the Austrian excavations, carried out in the past, reveal that many of the structures and rooms discovered in this sector have been interpreted as the west side of the tabernae of the forum. The magnetic and georadar surveys which we carried out in the southern part, looking towards the arches of the basilica, pointed out the presence of some important structures with a north-east/south-west orientation and a length of at least 50 m. The overlapping of the data coming from the geophysical survey and the excavation documents, both of them GIS geo-referred, allows us to suggest that the evidences recognizable both through the magnetic surveys and through the radar slices can be referred to the eastern area of the tabernae. It is possible that the buried structures have been preserved at a height of about 50 cm and that they have been built with bricks and calcium lime, considering their high magnetic properties. During the recent researches carried out during the year 2007, we implemented the documents related to the areas A and C where an ARP system controlled mapping and a new radar method have been applied. For the area A the ARP confirmed the presence of the structures related to the basilica, partially excavated during the year 1912, and also the main anomalies already discovered through the georadar

and magnetic systems during the previous campaigns. The georadar has been more intensively implemented into area C. After processing the data the resulting slices were quite detailed. Starting from a depth of about 70 cm we pointed out the presence of very big wall structures and possible floor (Fig. 5). The structure orientation can be estimated thanks to the radar slices and appears to be perfectly coherent with the one discovered into the adjacent area D (Fig. 8). Also for the area G we collected new elements. The surveys on the area G started in the year 2007. Thanks to the magnetometric systems it has been possible to recognize a series of parallel wall structures with an north-south orientation and also at least two rooms of a square shape. Some of these structures have been confirmed by the georadar survey and also by the ARP system. All the results obtained by the ARP system into the area F are very interesting. The surveys show quite clearly a big built-up area (to different depths), which presents a concentric system of four belts, alternatively conductive and resistant, which can be interpreted as an auxiliary castrum. After the first experiences carried out in Burnum during the last years, it was anticipated that the implementation of the research during the campaign 2007 brought about very encouraging results and contributed to increase, from the point of view of the quality and of the quantity, all information related to the archaeological deposit and to its internal articulation. Integration was at the base of every activity, both during the phase of survey planning (during which we had a constant dialogue with the Italian and Croatian colleagues and we referred continuously to the previous documents, like archive data, air images, excavations, etc.), and during the execution of the job. The support of all experts and technicians involved has been fundamental for the interpretation of the obtained data.

REferences Arnold, J.E., Ambos, E.L., Larson, D.O., ‘Geophysical Surveys of Stratigraphically Complex Island California Sites: New Implications for Household Archaeology’, Antiquity 71/271, pp. 157-168 Bojanovski, I., 1974, Dolabelin sistem cesta u rimskoj provinciji Dalmaciji (Sarajevo: Akademija nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine) Buttler, W., 1932, ‘Burgwälle in Norddalmatien’, Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 21, pp. 183 ff. Cambi et al., 2006, Amfiteater u Burnumu. Stanje istraživanja 2003.-2005. (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Nacionalni park Krka) Cambi et al., 2007, Rimska vojska u Burnumu – L’esercito romano a Burnum, Burnum – Catalogues and Monographs 2 (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Nacionalni park Krka) Campedelli, A., 2007, ‘Il Progetto Burnum (Croazia)’, Ocnus 15, pp. 57-78 Campedelli, A., Boschi, F., Curci, A., Silani, M., 2007, ‘Sul campo: il municipium romano di Burnum (Drniš, Croazia)’, Groma 1, pp. 131-138

16   The data processing has been realised through the GPR Process software, designed by Lawrence B. Conyers and Jeffrey Lucius, and especially developed for the archaeological implementations of the radar method. We would like to kindly thank Lawrence Conyers (associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Denver, Colorado) for his willingness, for his precious teaching and his enthusiasm, which has been also contagious. About archaeological applications of the radar method and about the interpolation of the radar data, please see Conyers and Lucius 1996; Arnold et al. 1997; Conyers and Goodman 1997; Piro 1998; Conyers et al. 2002: 39-40; Conyers 2004: chapter 7.

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Clark, A., 1990, Seeing Beneath the Soil: Prospecting Methods in Archaeology (London: B. T. Batsford) Conyers, L.B., 2004, Ground-Penetrating Radar for Archaeology (Walnut Creek, Oxford: AltaMira Press) Conyers, L.B., Ernenwein, E.G., Bedal, L.A., 2002, ‘Ground-Penetrating Radar Discovery at Petra, Jordan’, Antiquity 76/292, pp. 339-340 Conyers, L.B., Lucius, J.E., 1996, ‘Velocity Analysis in Archaeological Ground-Penetrating Radar Studies’, Archaeological Prospection 3, pp. 312-333 Conyers, L.B., Goodman, D., 1997, Ground-Penetrating Radar: an Introduction for Archaeologists (Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press) Dabas, M., 2006, ‘La prospection géophysique’ in M. Dabas, H. Delétang, A. Ferdière, C. Jung, W.H. Zimmermann, La prospection (Paris: Editions

Errance), pp. 167-216 Kandler, M., 1976-1977, ‘Burnum’, Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 51, pp. 39-45 Reisch, E., 1913, ‘Die Grabungen des Österreichischen archäologischen Institutes während der Jahre 1912 und 1913. Das Standlager von Burnum’, Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 16, pp. 112-135 Zabehlichy-Scheffenegger, S., Kandler, M., 1979, Burnum, I. Erster Bericht über die Kleinfunde der Grabungen 1973 und 1974 auf dem Forum, Schriften der Balkankommission, Antiquarische Abteilung 14 (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften)

Fig. 1 - Topographic map of the Roman province of Dalmatia with the most important centres.

Fig. 2 - The canyon of the Krka River.

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Fig. 3 - Plan of the principia of the castrum. The trenches made by Kandler in 1973-1974 are marked in grey.

Fig. 4 - Aerial view of the Roman amphitheatre of Burnum.

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Fig. 5 - Results of the magnetic and georadar surveys in the southern area of the castrum. Acquisition and feedback of the data: Barbara Frezza and Mariaelena Ghisleni (LAPetLAB, University of Siena), Federica Boschi and Michele Silani (University of Bologna).

Fig. 6 - Results of the georadar and magnetic surveys in area D.

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Fig. 7 - Area of the basilica (areas A and E). Overlapping of the results of the magnetometric system with the Austrian excavations 1912-1913 (CAD drawing in white colour).

Fig. 8 - Area C. Radar slices to different depths which reveal the presence, by different elevations, of floor levels and wall structures, with a northeast/south-west orientation.

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Critical approach to the exhibitions of the
imperial cult in the Roman Illyricum with regard
 to its early stage of development  

Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić Abstract We discuss the period when the imperial cult was introduced in the Roman province of Illyricum, as well as political and social characteristics of that institution. On the basis of such framework we consider critically the exhibitions of the monuments at the archaeological museums in Zadar, Split and Vid. Although there is great number of monuments related to state and imperial promotion of power, they are scattered in different units concerning religion, architecture and the so-called fine arts. We must treat it as a whole which offers an opportunity to reconstruct high politics, social relations and processes of Romanization.

1. The beginnings of the imperial cult and the development of the divine status of the Emperors The eastern Adriatic coast, which belonged for the most part to the Roman province of Illyricum, and Dalmatia later on, was an area of early introduction of the imperial cult and of intensive honouring of the imperial family. Primary intention of this article is to consider the period when the cult was introduced, to describe political and social characteristics and institutions of the Roman Empire and to describe some manifestations characteristic for the province of Dalmatia. On the basis of such framework we will try to consider critically the museum exhibitions of the monuments of the imperial cult and to present some new suggestions. In the period of Hellenization of Roman culture and religion from the 2nd century BC divine honours were usually assigned to distinguished individuals (Fishwick 1993: 2145). However, Roman institution of permanent divinization was not a mere copy of models from Hellenistic divine monarchies, nor was it a result of political obsequiousness of the East, which manifested itself through honouring distinguished Romans and worshipping the personified republican goddess Roma (Fishwick 1993: 46-51). The imperial cult was primarily a consequence of constant influence of the aristocracy’s private religion to Roman public religion (Rüpke 2007: 25-26). That is why this institution of dominantly political character has its roots in Roman private religion. Augustus’ policy made possible the institution of the imperial cult in a specific period of transformation of the republican system into principate headed by the gens Iulia. Gentilician cult of the god Veiovis, which was identified with Ascanius Iulus, ancestor of the Iulii, was transformed into a public imperial cult (Porte 1981: 333-340; Rüpke 2007: 27-28, 248-251). Sodales Augustales were formed in the year of Augustus’ death, and the centre of the collegium was at the sanctuary of the gens Iulia in Bovillae (CIL 7, 1984 ff.; CIL 14, 2388 ff.; Strasburger 1940: 1219). The imperial cult has Roman roots, but it was also significantly affected by eastern rituals and belief in the divine character

of the emperor. Through three centuries the idea about Caesar having a remote divine ancestor to whom they join after death, was transformed into his comprehension as divine governor on Earth and finally into a vision of God himself – Diocletian who is Iovius. Augustus and Tiberius created a complex structure of the cult and an imperial ideology of power in order to ratify new social and government order (Rufus Fears 1981: 56-66) (Fig. 1). They looked for support among the Empire’s new inhabitants – peregrini who did not care much about the republican traditions. At the same time the centre of the Empire was connected with its periphery, settling down centrifugal and separatist actions. Emperors were also close with elites of different social classes, rewarding their supporters abundantly. Model of reciprocity ensured ever larger popularity of the cult. That is why collegia and priests were carefully organized for every social class, and for all parts of the Empire, with distinction between Rome with Italy and provinces and municipia. Social cohesion was strengthened by determining exact positions in the cult for senators, equites, freedmen, peregrini, and even women from families with citizenship. Performing functions in some of the institutions of the imperial cult could improve one’s career and status, so it is regularly mentioned at the list of duties (cursus honorum) in epigraphic monuments. Caesar was the first Roman honoured as state god posthumously by a decree of the Senate and Roman people: ‘Genio Deivi Iuli, parentis patriae, quem senatus populusque Romanus in deorum numerum rettulit’ (CIL 9, 2628). In 29 BC a temple, aedes Divi Julii, was dedicated to Caesar by his nephew Octavian who was adopted posthumously (Platner and Ashby 1929: 286-287; Mowery 2002: 102), and Sextus Apuleus became flamen Iulialis, replacing Mark Antony who was once Caesar’s right-hand man, at the duty of honouring the Divine (Jullian 1896: 1175). Julius Caesar marks the beginning of domus divina, but he never became the first of Divi Imperatores, they start with Augustus. Between 14 and 12 BC the cult of the imperial genius was established, which formally followed the republican tradition. A new aspect of the cult was the sacrifice of a bull like in the Jupiter’s cult, instead of offering wine, flo -

Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić

ers and incense as in traditional cult of the genius (Otto 1910: 1155; Fishwick 1970: 191). Shortly before Augustus died, Tiberius dedicated the famous altar numinis Augusti, which was a crucial act in the process of accepting the divine character of the Emperor (Hor. Epist. 2. 1.15; Ovid. Trist. 3. 8.13; Liebeschuetz 1979: 63). Augustus became θει̃ος ‘ανήρ – god’s messenger and interpreter for the human kind. Augustus was still not a god; he was a mediator for the mankind, which worshipped him with divine honours. The intensity of the cult varied throughout the Empire. In the East it was easily acceptable as a consequence of a tradition several centuries long of Hellenistic divine monarchies. The temple of Augustus and Roma in Pergamum was consecrated at the request of the community of Asian cities (Deininger 1965: 16-19). After Augustus’ death Tiberius founded the collegium sodales Augustales which was formed by 21 senators, joined extra ordinem by the members of the imperial family – Emperor Tiberius himself, Drusus, Germanicus, and later on Claudius as well (Suet., Claud. 6; Smith 1870, 180; Cagnat 1908; 1371-1372; Strasburger 1940, 1219-1220) (Fig. 2). Women of the imperial family were also involved in the cult, after Livia had become a priestess of her husband, and later was divinized by Claudius (Cass. Dio 56, 46; Velleius 2, 75; Suet., Claud. 11; Cass. Dio 60, 5). Although Tiberius once said that he would like that his actions speak about him rather than stone, in AD 26 another temple of the provincial imperial cult in Asia was built, and it was dedicated to Tiberius, Livia and the Senate. Smyrna was chosen among eleven candidates, with Sardis as the biggest rival. The temple of Roma already existed in Smyrna for two centuries which was its biggest advantage among other equally rich cities (Tac., Ann. 4, 15; 4, 55-56). Imperial statues were put up in provincial temples of Augustus and Tiberius in Asia Minor. Representations of the imperial family in different iconographic variations ensured imperial presence even in the most distant provinces; they expressed the unity of the dynasty and the ability of inheritance. During Domitianus reign, the third provincial imperial temple was built in Asia (Ephesus) in order to express loyalty to a new, Flavian dynasty (Trebilko 2004: 31-32). Augustus rejected the possibility of erecting his own temple in Rome and Italy in his lifetime (Tac. Ann. 4.37; Suet., Aug. 52; Cass. Dio 51, 20, 6-8). However, it seems that the careful decision was only a consequence of his evaluation about a possible strong reaction among political enemies. Expressions of loyalty of people, private and public were common, as well as indirect worship through dedications to imperial virtues. Numerous places for the municipal cult were determined, even during Augustus’ lifetime, and it was always together with Roma (Fig. 3).

as a means of controlling newly conquered provinces. In peaceful senatorial provinces which were regularly earlier territorial acquisitions, the imperial cult was generally introduced later. Early imperial cult in the western provinces was related to Gallic, Celtic-Iberian and Illyric territories, the ones marked by significant war victories of Caesar and Octavian. That is why a council (concillium Galliarum) for three Gallic provinces was founded, positioned in Lugdunum. Drusus the Elder set up an altar dedicated Romae et Augusto in 12 BC, also proclaiming a Heduan Vercondaridubno the head priest of the imperial Gallic cult (Livy, Per., 139; Deininger 1965: 21-24, 99-110; Fishwick 1993: 97-137; Fishwick 2002, 60). Centres of the provincial cult were usually centres of the provincial iuridicus conventus. By the end of Cantabrian wars between 22 and 19 BC the governor of Hispania Citerior, Lucius Sestius Quirinalis, set up three altars (arae Sestiae) at the territory of Cantabria and Asturias to honour Augustus’ victories (Dopico Caínzos 1986: 265 ff.; Alföldy 2000: 185-187). The consequence of the war was annexation of Cantabria and Asturias to Roman Hispania which was celebrated by erecting the temple of Jupiter Tonans on Capitol, which evokes one of the episodes from that campaign (Suet., Aug. 91.2; Fears 1981: 59). Assimilation policy was to be expressed through strong visual state and imperial symbols. Impressive expression of the Roman power over the defeated enemy was setting up tropaeum, which had the magic quality to transfer the energy of the defeated into the victorius army leader by the agency of Jupiter. Tropaeum is a first-class political symbol of triumphant Rome. Augustus in the midst of Cantabrian wars erects tropaeum in Saint-Bertrand de Comminges (Lugdunum Convenarum), in order to commemorate the triple victory in Aquitania, the Battle of Actium and in Northern Hispania (Diego Santos 1975: 531-543). There were at least two examples of tropaeum in Illyric: the earlier one was set up to commemorate Octavian’s victories in 35-33 and it was not preserved; the later one, commemorating Delmatian-Pannonian war, was in a poor state of preservation. It was once part of an architectural construction erected somewhere near the legion camp in Tilurium (Cambi 1984; Cambi 2002: 92-93; Cambi 2005: 24-25, fig 21-24) (Fig. 4). At the initiative of the provincials in AD 15 the Senate approved to Tarraco the building of the temple of divine Augustus, now without association with Roma (Tac., Ann., 1, 58). The temple was a centre of council of Hispania Citerior headed by flamen and flaminica provinciae (Deininger 1965: 27, 121-126; Fishwick 1993: 150-168; Fishwick 2002: 73-137). ‘Eastern’ model was applied for the first time in Tarraco in which the provincial population initiated creation of a cult place. It is likely that the reason might be long-term existence of the early regional cult which developed around Sestius’ altars. In Hispania Citerior (Tarraconensis) besides the central place of the provincial cult there were also several peripheral ones which covered territorially regions within provinces. What is more, at least one regional conventus preceded the central institution of the provincial cult. In the inscription Tabula Lougeiorum (AE 1984, 553) the oldest known conventus arae Augustae is mentioned, confirmed in the first year of the 1st century, with the centre in civitas Lougeiorum, where one of

2. Early provincial and regional cults in the West In the western provinces the initiative did not come from the provincials but from the imperial family. Fishwick (1993: 148) had every right to emphasize that the imperial cult in the West was introduced by the imperial family 418

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among distinguished persons from civitates and was regularly a member of the equestrian rank. However, we do not know when the provincial cult was created, nor where its centre was, i.e. where the central altar was around which the council gathered. We can only guess it was in Salona, the capital of the province, but there are no confirmations for this logical supposition. Namely the imperial cult in Salona was confirmed by several sculptures and inscriptions with character that can easily be interpreted as provincial and also as municipal cult of the imperator. Priest titles in the inscriptions still do not offer enough information for the identificatio of municipal imperial cult in Salona, with civil and freedmen’s collegia.

three mentioned Sestius’ altars was placed. This Hispanic example points that regional cults, related to native communities, were created in the initial period of Augustus’ administrative and religious reforms, when the imperial cult had not been divided into central (Roman), provincial and municipal one. That is why we can consider it as a separate manifestation in this early period, which is introduced into territories which were recently conquered by Caesar and Octavian Augustus. In time it gradually became a part of the structure of the provincial cult. Ara Ubiorum might be another similar example from Gallic-Germanic territory. It was set up around 9 BC during Drusus’ activities in this region, and its name was preserved in the later name of the place Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Fishwick 1993: 137-139). Local aristocracy was entrusted with the organization of the cult. The altar of Ubians is usually considered to be the central place of honouring the Emperor in imaginary Great Germania, some kind of counterpart of provincial imperial Gallic cult in Lyon. We can suppose that this is a regional cult of a population that helped Caesar in wars, because their name (Ubians) was mentioned, also because there is no confirmation of any kind about later organization of imperial cult in Germania, finally the province of Germania Inferior was constituted only during Domitian’s reign. Emphasizing Caesar’s divine origin was necessary in order to strengthen imperial ideology of power. Inclusion of Gauls, Ibero-Celts, Illyrians, and others into the Empire meant that they had to honour the superhuman powers of victorious emperors.

4. Introduction of the imperial cult into Illyricum Manifestations of the imperial cult in Illyricum started to appear in Octavian Augustus’ time, although they seem scarce in comparison with Tiberius’ time, mainly due to poor record of the monuments (Cambi 2000: 31, no. 16; ibid. 33, no. 20; Cambi 2005: 19). During Augustus’ reign Collegium Iuliales was probably formed, whose sexvir was Lucius Tettius Sperches, mentioned in the inscription from ancient Zadar (Iader), the only colony in Roman Liburnia. Caesars flamen in Rome could have served as a model for this municipal collegium of freedmen (Rüpke 2008, DNr1039). It is not likely that Iuliales came into existence earlier than 12 BC, because that would not correspond to the general political and religious processes in the empire. The development of municipal civil and freedmen’s collegia of the imperial cults in the West was initiated by the creation of provincial centres, especially the one in Lugdunum. Sacral corporations were formed for Roman citizens – sacerdotes Augustales provinciae and flamines (flaminicae) Augustales provinciae, with priests flamines flaminicae, and sacerdotes (Tacit., Ann. 1.10; Suet., Aug. 52; Cass. Dio 51, 20; Fishwick 1987: 301; García 2008). Freedmen could have served as Seviri Augustales, from 12 BC organized in collegia mentioned in the inscriptions as collegium Augustalium, corpus Augustalium or Augustales corporati (Wissowa 1896: 2352-2355, 2357-2360). Rich freedmen acquired social prestige through the duty of sexvir, offering an opportunity to their descendants to perform important city duties, and often they could enter higher classes, such as equestrian rank or even become senators (Fig. 5). Iuliales were formed before Tiberius’ time, because his ideology of imperial power was based on Augustus’ divine character. How did this early and exceptional cult magistracy appear in Zadar? When Augustus became pontifex maximus in 12 BC, he gathered both profane and sacral magistrate duties in one person. He was a pater, patronus and benefactor of the Roman world, model for patrons of the cities and governors of the provinces. Augustus as a patron of the colony of Iader built fortifications for Iadertines. The forum at Iader was built at the same time financed by the governor of Illyricum Gnaeus Tamphilus Vala. Some time later, during Tiberius’ reign this forum was decorated with reliefs representing Jupiter Amon and Gorgona, which

3. Provincial cult in Illyricum Illyric and Liburni were an important episode in Caesar’s civil war and an important subject of Augustus’ testament. Augustus’ task was to strengthen and ratify the principate under the leadership of the Julian dynasty. An important method for achieving such aim was glorifying war victories and attracting numerous population of peregrini from new provinces, through participation in the imperial cult. Tiberius’ policy was based on the divine character and conquering successes of Augustus, the emperor’s adoptive father. Provincial cult in Illyricum was a part of complex processes of constituting the province and introducing Roman institutions after Caesar’s civil war and Augustus’ conquests in Illyricum 35-33 BC. After the disastrous war with two Batos from AD 6 to 9 the province needed to be revitalized. The fragmentary inscription (CIL 3, 12762+12766; Truhelka 1893: 278, no. 8) from Zenica possibly mentioning sacerdos or sacerdotalis [provi]nc(iae) Del[l]ma[tiae] indicates that there might have been provincial cult in Dalmatia. Stronger confirmation of that institution is an inscription from the 2nd or 3rd century mentioning the patron of the province C. Iulius Silvanus Melanius (CIL 3, 12732; Radimský 1893: 234, fig. 30; Pflaum 1960: 734-735). He was an eques whose another inscription was found in Lugdunum, where the Gallic provincial altar was set up (CIL 13, 1729; Pflaum 1961: 1054). Sacerdos provinciae who also presided over the council of the province, was chosen 419

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Oneum (present-day Omiš) also date back to Tiberius’ time (Cambi 1997: 78-79), and that Drusus Caesar was in Illyricum on two occasions over the course of three years in order to gain popularity in army and with people as a prince successor, and to promote his father’s policy (Tac. Ann., 2.44; Rendić-Miočević 1952: 43-47). Despite the fact that it is hard to determine whether sculptures, inscriptions and sanctuaries relate to municipal, provincial or regional cult, their great amount and historical circumstances strongly confirm the possibility that the Liburnian cult was formed as early as Tiberius’ time. At the same time groups of the imperial statues were erected in the towns on the coast of the Roman province Dalmatia (Cambi 1998: 55; Cambi 2005: 24-36). The next Tiberius’ governor Lucius Volusis Saturninus continued systematic activities relating the establishment of the imperial cult. Was the regional imperial cult established only for the Liburnia or were there two more centres bound to other two iuridici conventi in Salona and Narona? Numerous statues of the emperors were found in Narona as well as Dolabella’s inscription in the Augusteum. However many inscriptions of sexviri reflect cult activities of municipal freedmen’s collegia of augustali, whereas inscriptions of two sacerdotes and a Titus’ flamen show activities of civil municipal institutions. In any case activities related to the cult were strong (CIL 3, 6361; CIL 3, 1796; CIL 3 1822). The situation was similar at Salona. It is necessary to mention that Salona and Narona were colonies with dominant Italic settlers, and not autochtonous inhabitants for which the regional cult was intended as at Scardona. Having that in mind we should pay attention to the finds from Oneum, Roman settlement of autochtonous origin near the eastern edge of Salona’s ager. The big altar with inscriptions at the front and back side is one of the crucial finds (Gotovac 1993; Cambi 1997: 71-76). An earlier inscription dedicated to divine Augustus and Roma is at the front: [Div]o Aug(usto) et [Romae] sacru[m]. A later inscription dedicated to Genius loci is found at the back side of the imperial (Augustan) altar. If considered together with dedication from the front side, it shows strong characteristics of promotion of the state cult, i.e. imperial cult. The marble head of Tiberius was discovered at the same location, which was dated to the same period as the earlier inscription from the altar by N. Cambi, on the basis of physiognomical details, classicistic style characteristics and fashion details (Cambi 1997: 71-76). However this date must be considered with caution due to heavy damages on the head. An inscription dedicated to Tiberius (Fig. 8), and another one dedicated to Claudius set up in 51/52 by governor Publius Antaeus Rufus were found on the same location (Bulić 1908; Bulić 1914: 104-105). Due to these findings we can say with certainty that this place presented an important sanctuary, which possibly could be related to the regional cult, the one of iuridicus conventus in Salona. The situation with the regional cults is made even more complex by Dolabella’s inscription from Cavtat set up by civitates Superioris provinciae Hillyrici (CIL 3, 1741; Lučić 1966-1967: 543545), as well as ara Caesaris from Doclea (Fishwick 2002: 289). The restoration of the imperial cult in the province, whether municipal, regional or provincial, happened under the Fla-

is an example of iconography in service of imperial ideology (Cambi 2002: 89-92; Cambi 2005: 24-27, figs 25-27; Fadić 1986). Augustus decided to act benevolently towards Iadertini because Liburni had always been loyal to him and Caesar during numerous wars in Illyricum. A fleet of Pompey’s admirals was defeated during the Battle of Pharsalus thanks to small and agile boats of Liburnian Iadertini who were on Caesar’s side. Hirtius (de bello Alexandrino 42) wrote: ‘…paucis navibus Iadertinorum, quorum semper im rem publicam singulare constiterat officium, dispersis Octavianis navibus erat potitus, ut vel classe dimicare posset adiunctis captivis navibus sociorum’. Caesar’s and Octavian’s military actions in hostile Delmatian territory used summer (and later winter) military camp Burnum at the bordering Liburnian territory as a starting point (Cambi et al. 2007: 13-15). An important aspect of patronage, although neglected in scientific literature, is the promotion of the cult of the imperial family.

5. Regional cult in Liburnia Such good relations between the Julians and Liburni resulted in the early organization of the regional Liburnian imperial cult ad aram Augusti Liburnorum (CIL 3, 2810 ff.; ILJug 1963, 199) and the iuridicus conventus (Pliny, Nat. hist., 3.139) named Conventus Scardonis in a recently discovered inscription from Skradin which has not been published yet (Fig. 6). These institutions further confirm the specific, separate status of Liburnia within the territory of the province of Illyricum, and later in Dalmatia (Medini 1980). In the 1st century autochtonous inhabitants of Liburnia were exposed to strong process of Romanization, which was further strengthened through the cult whose centre was at altar in Scardona, and through the judicial processes that could take place in the praetorium building, which also served for the needs of the governor of the province (CIL III, 2809; Glavičić 2007: 251-253) (Fig. 7). The examples of the provinces of Hispania, Asia and Dalmatia show firm connection between the institution of conventus with juridical and cult activities (Dopico Caínzos 1986: 266). For the time being it is difficult to say whether the Liburnian regional cult preceded provincial Illyric cult, as in Hispania, where the regional cult of Cantabria and Asturias preceded the organization of the federal cult in Tarraco. Liburnian cult was probably formed in Tiberius’ time, when civitates Liburniae set up an inscription to Germanicus’ son Nero Caesar (CIL 3, 9879=2808). Fishwick (1993: 145-146) believes it to be an isolated action, and that lack of evidence allows a possibility that the imperial cult in Liburnian conventus at Scardona was formed in Flavian period. It seems to us that there are many indirect indications that cult at Scardona was formed as early as Tiberius’ time. Namely, his governor Publius Cornelius Dolabella actively organized the imperial cult in Illyricum. We would like to emphasize that Dolabella’s inscription has been found in the recently explored Augusteum in Narona (Marin 2004: 67) and that the inscription (CIL 3, 1741; Lučić 1966-1967: 543-545) of the similar character stood in a sanctuary that has still not been located somewhere in Epidaurum. It is also worth mentioning that the altar and the sanctuary from 420

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vian dynasty, which is confirmed by numerous inscriptions of priests and patrons, as well as sculptures of the members of the Flavian dynasty.

Diocletian’s villa in Split, a huge building with complex functions, is a world important monument of Cultural Heritage. Its basic function was to serve as an apartment of the retired emperor, who was of divine character. This is visible in the iconography of the villa’s decoration and also in the disposition of the edifices. The peristyle with the protyron takes the central position which served as an architectural scenographic framework that emphasized the vision of the emperor – dominus (Gabričević, 1987: 249255) (Fig. 10). That is where Diocletian was presented as a supernatural being whereas his subjects prostrated in acts of proskynesis. The palace is an exceptional symbol of imperial power. It should be a part of permanent exhibition in the Archaeological Museum in Split, not only as an object representing the beginning of formation of the town Split, but also as a monument-metaphor of new social order – dominate, a period in which the emperor-god is positioned at the top of the social pyramid. Diocletian’s Villa vividly reflects the decline of paganism, and the ways in which Christians subdued the pagan elements and transformed the residence of the emperorprosecutor into the late antique town Split decorated with symbols of Christian emperors (Cambi 1994: 23-25; Cambi 2002: 173-181). The educative and didactic approach, which would be difficult to achieve in the palace as a living organism and museum exhibit at the same time, could be easily presented in a museum. It is worthwhile for such a purpose to solve a great problem of lack of place, maybe by erecting a pavilion in the garden behind the museum or in some other way. Finally, the new museum at Narona was planned to isolate and protect the imperial sanctuary – the Augusteum in situ (Fig. 11). Placing of the monumental modern architectural construction over undoubtedly valuable site implies consistent compliance with the central theme – the imperial cult. The concept of the first floo , above the Augusteum, though useful for archaeology and tourists, diminishes the main idea which is the presentation and protection of separate object with its contents. The upper floor is organized as a general museum for different valuable monuments from Narona, which were previously deposited in different inappropriate rooms or other museum institutions. The terrace of the museum serves as a gazebo and a depot of stone monuments that are not exhibited. In that way a certain presentations of life in ancient pagan and early Christian Narona is created, but the main idea of representing a pagan sanctuary of the imperial cult has somehow faded away. The question of usefulness for the audience is open for discussion. The problem is that the museum of Augusteum is at the same time the museum of the colony of Narona, captured in the Augusteum shell and vice versa. The area around the building has not been archaeologically excavated, and its neighbourhood consists of overgrown gardens and plain houses. By its appearance and its meaning this sanctuary-museum is isolated like an island in a rural environment with scarce archaeological patches, with little understanding of local community, a situation which creates strong semantic tension. The only solution is the purchase of a piece of land and demolishing recently built houses close to the museum that have no environmental, aesthetic and cultural value; clearing new areas for archae-

6. On the manner of presentation of the imperial cult in museum exhibitions This overview with discussion about certain questions served to present a wide range of themes and rich content of the imperial cult institution. Material remains should be exhibited with acknowledgement of the richness of processes and complexity of this social phenomenon. Although there is a great number of monuments related to state and imperial promotion of power, in several existing archaeological museums they are not treated as a whole which offers an opportunity to reconstruct high politics, social relations and processes of Romanization, but they are scattered in different units concerning religion, architecture, so-called fine arts, etc. Such situation in the Archaeological Museum in Zadar was made even more difficult because antique collection was completely dismantled, in order to be protected during the Croatian War of Independence. This collection will be exhibited again, now with a completely new conception. The old collection neglected sociological aspects of the monuments. They were seen as mere decoration, which is unacceptable in archaeological museums, which present places that try to offer a reconstruction of life and not collections of fine arts. As an example, Heracles’ head wrongly interpreted as Emperor Commodus, together with Augustus’ sculpture originally from Nin (part of a great collection scattered over Croatia, Italy, Denmark and elsewhere) used to decorate the stairway leading to the antique collection. Though it is indisputable that every monument has its own value, we believe that placing separate monuments into context can only attract audience’s attention. Monuments should also be provided with additional information, offered appropriately. According to semantics communication, boredom appears when there is too much information, but also when there is not enough information. In the exceptionally rich collection of stone monuments of the Archaeological Museum in Split, there are several exhibits that make an assemblage which could be called ‘Emperor – government – state institutions in the province’ (Fig 9). However, such units are difficult to recognise to a layman. Numerous monuments are exhibited without any mutual connections within a certain group, as separate artefacts and without captions. Constant accession of new valuable finds led to lack of space, and contamination by monuments that do not belong to a certain unit, because of which certain themes became senseless. The exhibition value of the monuments is diminished because many of them cannot be seen, hidden in dark corners or behind another monument, too far away or too high. Redesign of collection is necessary as well as extension of the entire collection of stone monuments. Reduction of the number of exhibits would make separate monuments more visible and the value of each should be increased by emphasizing the meaning of the whole theme. Didactic means should be introduced in an appropriate way. 421

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des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines de Daremberg et Saglio, IV, 2 (Paris: Hachette), pp. 1371-1372 Cambi, N., 1984, ‘Gardunski tropej’, in Cetinska krajina od prethistorije do dolaska Turaka, Izdanja HAD-a 8, (Split: Hrvatsko arheološko drustvo), pp. 77-92 Cambi, N., 1994, ‘Dioklecijanova palača i Dioklecijan (lik i ličnost)’, in Dioklecijanova palača (Split: Lions club), pp. 11-27 Cambi, N., 1997, ‘Svetište (Augusteum) u Oneu (Oneum)?’, Radovi Filozofskog Fakulteta Zadar 35/22, pp. 71-81 Cambi, N., 1998, ‘Skupine carskih kipova u rimskoj provinciji Dalmaciji’, Histria antiqua 4, pp. 45-61 Cambi, N., 2000, Imago animi. Antički portret u Hrvatskoj (Split: Književni krug) Cambi, N., 2002, Antika (Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak) Cambi, N., 2005, Kiparstvo rimske Dalmacije. The ���������� sculpture of the Roman Province of Dalmatia (Split: Književni krug) Cambi, N. et al., 2007, Rimska vojska u Burnumu – L’esercito romano a Burnum, Burnum – Catalogues and Monographs 2 (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Nacionalni park Krka) Deininger, J., 1965, Die Provinziallandtage der römischen Kaiserzeit von Augustus bis zum Ende des dritten Jahrhunderts n. Chr., Vestigia 6, (München: Verlag C. H. Beck) Diego Santos, F., 1975, ‘Die Integration Nord- und Nordwestspaniens als römische Provinz in der Reichspolitik des Augustus. Von der konsularischen zur hispanischen Ära’, in H. Temporini, W. Haas (eds) Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II, 3 (Berlin, New York: W. de Gruyter), pp. 523-571 Dopico Caínzos, M., 1986, ‘Los conventus iuridici. Origen, cronología y naturaleza histórica’, Gerion 4, pp. 265-283 Fadić, I., 1986, ‘Ime prokonzula Cn. Tamphila Vále na zdencu foruma Jadera’, Arheološki vestnik 37, pp. 409-433 Fears, J.R., 1981, ‘The Cult of Jupiter and Roman Imperial Ideology’, in W. Haas (ed.) Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II, 17, 1 (Berlin, New York: W. de Gruyter), pp. 3-141 Fishwick, D., 1970, ‘Numina Augustorum’, The Classical Quarterly N.S. 20/1, pp. 191-197 Fishwick, D., 1987, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire, I, 2 (Leiden, New York: Brill) Fishwick, D., 1993, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire, I, 1 (Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill) (2nd edition) Fishwick, D., 1995, ‘The Inscription of Mamia Again: the Cult of Genius Augusti and the Temple of the Imperial Cult on the Forum of Pompeii’, Epigraphica 57, pp. 17-38 Fishwick, D., 2002, The Imperial Cult in the Latin West: Studies in the Ruler Cult of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire, III, 2 (Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill) Gabričević, B., 1956, ‘Une inscription inédite provenant

ological excavations and forming a park, as well as recreating of exhibitions on the upper floor of the museum above Augusteum in situ. To put it briefl , there is a lot of space for improvement of the exhibition of numerous and valuable monuments of the imperial cult in Dalmatia, as well as for presentation of that social phenomenon.

Abbreviations AE – L’Année épigraphique. Revue des publications épigraphiques relatives à l’antiquité romaine CIL 3 – Mommsen, T. et al. (eds), 1873, Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum, III (Berlin) (Suppl. 1902) CIL 7 – Hubner, E. (ed.), 1873, Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum, VII (Berlin) CIL 9 – Mommsen, T. (ed.), 1883, Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum, IX (Berlin) CIL 13 – Hirschfeld, O. et al. (eds), 1899, Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum, XIII (Berlin) CIL 14 – Wickert, L. (ed.), 1887, Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum, XIV (Berlin) ILJug – Šašel, A., Šašel, J., 1963, Inscriptiones latinae quae in Iugoslavia inter annos MCMXL et MCMLX repertae et editae sunt, Situla 5 (Ljubljana: Narodni Muzej) Šašel, A., Šašel, J., 1978, Inscriptiones latinae quae in Iugoslavia inter annos MCMLX et MCMLXX repertae et editae sunt, Situla 19 (Ljubljana: Narodni Muzej)

Literary passages Cassius Dio 51, 20; 56, 46; 60, 5 Hirtius, bell. Alex. 42 Horace, Epistles 4, 1.15 Livy, Per., 139 Ovid, Tristia 3.8.13 Pliny the Elder, Nat. hist., 3.139 Suet., Aug. 52; 92; Claud. 6; 11 Tacitus, Ann. 1, 10; 1, 58; 4, 15; 4, 55-56 Velleius Paterculus, Hist. Rom. 2, 75

References Alföldy, G., 2000, ‘Das Neue Edikt des Augustus aus El Bierzo in Hispanien’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 131, pp. 177-205 Bosch-Gimpera, P., 1975, ‘Katalonien in der römischen Zeit’, in H. Temporini, W. Haas (eds) Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II, 3 (Berlin, New York: W. de Gruyter), pp. 572-600 Bulić, F., 1908, ‘Iscrizione del legatus Aug. pro. praetore P. Anteius Rufus trovata a Oneum (Omiš, Almissa)’, BASD 31, pp. 3-8 Bulić, F., 1914, ‘Iscrizione dell’imperatore Tiberio trovata in Oneum (Omiš, Almissa)’, BASD 37, pp. 104-105. Cagnat, R., 1908, ‘Sodales Augustales’, in Dictionnaire 422

Critical approach to the exhibitions of the imperial cult in Roman Illyricum with regard to its early stage of development

de Senia’, Archaelogia Iugoslavica 2, pp. 53-56 Gabričević, B., 1987, Studije i članci o religijama i kultovima antičkog svijeta (Split: Književni krug) García, J.R.C., 2008, ‘Algunos Aspectos del Culto Imperial, en la Dacia Romana’ (http://www.hottopos.com/ notand8/carbo.htm 12/02/2008) Giunio, K.A., 2005, ‘Carski kult u Zadru’, Histria antiqua 13, pp. 167-176 Glavičić, M., 1994, ‘Natpisi antičke Senije’, Radovi Filozofskog Fakulteta Zadar 33/20, pp. 55-81 Glavičić, M., 2007, ‘O municipalitetu antičke Skardone’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 251-258 Gotovac, V., 1993, ‘Antički žrtvenik sa dva natpisa iz Omiša’, Radovi Filozofskog Fakulteta Zadar 31/18, pp. 53-61 Jullian, C., 1896, ‘Flamen, flaminica, flamonium in Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines de Daremberg et Saglio, II, 2 (Paris: Hachette), pp. 11561188 Liebeschuetz, J. H.W.G., 1979, Continuity and Change in Roman Religion (Oxford: Clarendon Press) Lučić, J., 1966-1967, ‘O nekim problemima najstarije dubrovačke povijesti’, Historijski zbornik 19-20, pp. 537-547 Marin, E., 2004, ‘Les inscripcions’, in E. Marin, I. Roda (eds) Divo Augusto. La descoberda d’un temple Romà a Croàcia (Split: Arheološki Musej), pp. 67-69 Medini, J., 1980, ‘Provincia Liburnia’, Diadora 9, pp. 363444 Mowery, R.L., 2002, ‘Son of God in Roman Imperial Titles and Matthew’, Biblica 83, pp. 100-110 (http:// www.bsw.org/project/biblica/bibl83/Ani03m.html 18/02/2008) Otto, F. W, 1910, ‘Genius’ in G. Wissowa et al. (eds) Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, VII, 1 (Stuttgart: Metzler), cols 1155-1170 Pflaum, H.-G., 1960, Les Carrières procuratoriennes Équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain, II (Paris: Librérie orientaliste Paul Geuthner) Pflaum, H.-G., 1961, Les Carrières procuratoriennes Équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain, III (Paris: Librérie orientaliste Paul Geuthner) Platner S.B., Ashby, T., 1929, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (London: Oxford University Press) Porte, D., 1981, ‘Romulus-Quirinus, prince et dieu, dieu des princes. Etude sur le personnage de Quirinus et

sur son évolution, des origines à Auguste’ in W. Haas (ed.) Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II, 17, 1 (Berlin, New York: W. de Gruyter), pp. 300342 Price, S.R.F., 1984, Rituals and Power. The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: University Press) Radimský, W., 1893, ‘Generalbericht über die bisherigen Ausgrabungen der römischen Stadt Domavia in Gradina bei Srebrenica’, Wissenschaftliche Mittheilungen aus Bosnien und der Hercegovina 1, pp. 218-253 Rehak, P., 2001, ‘Aeneas or Numa? Rethinking the Meaning of the Ara Pacis Augustae’, The Art Bulletin 83/2, pp. 190-208 Rendić-Miočević, D., 1952, ‘Druzov boravak u Dalmaciji u svijetlu novog viškog natpisa’, Vjesnik za arheologiju i historiju Dalmatinsku 54, pp. 41-50 Rufus���������������������������������������������������� Fears���������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������� , J������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������� ., 1981, ‘��������������������������������� The������������������������������ Cult������������������������� ����������������������������� of���������������������� ������������������������ Jupiter�������������� ��������������������� and���������� ������������� Roman���� ��������� Im��� perial Ideology’ in W. Haas (ed.) Aufstieg������������ und�������� ����������� Nieder������� gang der römischen Welt, II, 17, 1 (Berlin, New York: W. de Gruyter), pp. 3-141 Rüpke, J., 2007, Religion of the Romans (Cambridge: Polity Press) Rüpke, J., 2008, ‘Religiöse Spezialisten republikanischer Zeit in Rom Biographien’ (http://www.uni-erfurt. de/vergleichende_religionswissenschaft/bio.htm 19/02/2008) Smith, W., 1870, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (London: James Walton) Strasburger, H., 1940, ‘Sodales Augustales’ in G. Wissowa et al. (eds) Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Suppl. VII �������������������� (Stuttgart: Metzler), cols 1219-1220 Trebilco, P.R., 2004, The Early Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck) Truhelka, Ć., 1893, ‘Zenica und Stolac. Beiträge zur römischen Archäologie Bosniens und der Hercegovina’, Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen aus Bosnien und der Hercegovina 1, pp. 273-302 Wissowa, G., 1896, ‘Augustales’ in G. Wissowa et al. (eds) Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, II, 2 (Stuttgart: Metzler), cols 23492361

Notes All photos were made by Miroslav Glavičić and Željko Miletić.

423

Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić

Fig. 1 - Two statues of Julio-Claudian emperors, part of the group discovered in Aenona, present-day Nin (Archaeological Museum in Zadar).

Fig. 2 - Monument in honour of A. Ducenius Geminus, sodalis Augustalis, governor in the province Dalmatia during the reign of Nero, patronus of the colony Narona (Archaeological Museum in Narona).

Fig. 3 - Temple of Augustus and Roma on forum in Pola, present-day Pula in Croatia.

Fig. 4 - Inscription panel from the front of a tropaeum, found in Tilurium (Archaeological Museum in Split).

424

Critical approach to the exhibitions of the imperial cult in Roman Illyricum with regard to its early stage of development

Fig. 5 - Funeral titulus of VI vir L. Annaeus Palaestricus, erected by the thiasus iuventutis of the colony Narona, (Archeological Museum in Narona).

Fig. 6 - Roman public inscription recently discovered mentioning conventus Scardonis (Parish office at Skradin).

Fig. 7 - Inscription mentioning the renovation of the praetorium in Scardona (Parish office at Skradin).

425

Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić

Fig. 8 - Emperor Tiberius inscription from Oneum (City Museum at Omiš).

Fig. 9 - Students of archaeology from Zadar are visiting the collection of Roman imperial sculptures in the Archaeological Museum in Split.

Fig. 10 - The peristyle with protyron in the Diocletian’s palace in Split.

Fig. 11 - Shrine of emperors exhibited in situ inside the Archaeological Museum in Narona.

426

Archaeological heritage alongside the Krka River  

Josko Zaninović Abstract Without numerous archaeological localities situated in the area around the Krka River, it would be hard to interpret the history of this and many other places. This paper is limited to the study of the archaeological localities alongside the Krka River, with the aim of creating the basis for their multidisciplinary research and subsequent presentation.

1. Introduction The Krka River is one of the six Croatian rivers that belong to the Adriatic Sea river-basin. Including its inundated river mouth – its estuary – the river is 72.5 km long. Freshwater waterways are 49 km long, and brackish water flows through 23.5 km. The most famous of its seven waterfalls are those of Manojlovac (59.6 m), Roški Slap (25.5 m) and Skradinski Buk (45.7 m). Downstream of the town of Skradin, the Krka reaches the lake of Prukljan, and it flows into the sea near the city of Šibenik. The basin of the Krka River (Krka basin) is a geographically vast, mainly untouched area with astonishing natural values. It incorporates one or more preserved or slightly moderated ecosystems. For these reasons the Krka River was proclaimed National Park in 1985, becoming the 8th National Park of Croatia. Located entirely in the territory of Šibenik-Knin County, it extends over the area of 109 km2 along the river flo . Its tributaries are Krčić, Kosovčica, Orašnica, Butišnica and Čikola with Vrba. With its seven travertine barriers and the total fall of 242 m, the Krka River is a natural and karst phenomenon. Not only is the river considered a natural phenomenon, it is a cultural phenomenon as well. This region has been attracting visitors, writers, cartographers, warriors and priests since ancient times till this day and age; however, the visitors of today are tourists from all over the world. Travelling has become the new form of communication among people. Archaeological localities and museums have become part of the tourist information of a territory or area. Even so, tourist information in its written form usually doesn’t follow the archaeological results in the field, and this often creates incorrect conceptions about the localities. The example of the Roman camp of Burnum shows how the results achieved by the archaeological research have been regularly published, and therefore used for tourist presentation. This successful model will be applied to other archaeological localities alongside the Krka River, its final aim being securing the financial means for research, conservation and presentation from the overall tourist income. We intend to transform the area of the Roman camp of Burnum into an archaeological park with daylong tourist attractions. The Krka River is one of the six Croatian rivers that belong to the Adriatic Sea river-basin. Its source is at the foot of the mountain Dinara, near the town of Knin, underneath the 22 meters high waterfall Topoljski Buk or Krčić wa-

terfall, formed by the Krka’s tributary – the Krčić. Including its inundated river mouth – its estuary – the river is 72.5 km long. Freshwater waterways are 49 km long, and brackish water flows through 23.5 km. The Krka has seven waterfalls. The first waterfall is Bilušića Buk (22.4 m) followed by Brljan (15.5 m), Manojlovac (59.6 m), Rošnjak (8.4 m) Miljacka (23.8 m), Roški Slap (25.5 m) and Skradindki Buk (45.7 m). Downstream of the city of Skradin, the Krka reaches the lake Prukljan and flows into the sea near Šibenik.

​2. Archaeology Over an area of about 109 km2 there are around fifty archaeological localities, dating from the prehistoric period to the Middle Ages. Systematic excavations have been performed only in the area of the Roman camp of Burnum and the locality Oziđana Pećina (the Walled Cavern) near Roški Slap. The Austrian Archaeological Institute performed the excavations on the area of the principia of the camp before the Great War and in the 1970s. Systematic research on the amphitheatre has begun in 2003. Archaeologists began excavations on the locality of Oziđana Pećina in 2005. Moreover, the researches are being performed on the medieval fort of Ključica and prehistoric hill fort and the medieval church in the village Ključ. On the territory of antique Scardona there have been several occasions in which protective research and studies performed by sondes were made. There were no systematic excavations, which consequently lead to the imprecisely positioned antique Scardona. Systematic excavations on the Krka River were initiated in late 2003 on the area of the Roman military camp Burnum, more precisely, on its amphitheatre. The research has continued till today, aiming towards the systematic study of the entire area of the camp and the municipium with the belonging necropolis. The intention is to include the hill fort in Puljani in this research, because it would be difficult to interpret the complete history of Burnum without it. However, it is important to form a strong scientific site for systematic multidisciplinary research. For this reason, the Government of the Republic of Croatia decided to concede former barracks and its infrastructure to the National Park and the Municipal Museum of Drniš. The signing of a mutual agreement permitted the adaptation of one building for

Josko Zaninović

tary camp of Burnum, which is located on the right bank of the river. The hill fort is placed on the plateau over the steep and high crag, wept by the Krka River that forms here the waterfall of Manojlovac. Considerable amounts of pre-Roman and Roman ceramics found here supports the thesis that this Roman hill fort persisted even after the Roman conquests and foundation of the castrum on the opposite river bank. The importance of the hill fort emerges from significant dominant and controlling position over the easy passage across the river. Its position played a crucial role in this area. In front of it, the Roman castrum of the same name – Burnum was founded. Due to its position, it is easy to comprehend why Plinius includes the hill fort as one of ‘for the numbers famous fortresses’. Burnum (Ivoševci): the Roman military camp of Burnum is situated on the right bank of the Krka River on the territory of present-day village Ivoševci. It extends over about 15 ha. Archaeological recognisance has established the existence of a camp with ramparts, an aqueduct, of which 36 km are preserved, an amphitheatre, and a reinforcement military camp. The existence of the bridge over the waterfall of Manojlovac is also confirmed by the archaeological recognisance. The remains of a wooden bridge that lately transformed into travertine have been discovered. A considerable quantity of archaeological findings originates in the Roman camp: coins, various metal, glass and ceramic utensils, monumental architectonic fragments and numerous epigraphic monuments. Burnum got to the centre of the scientific interests very early due to visible remains, especially the arches of the principia, amphitheatre and aqueduct. In the 16th century, the Venetian cartographer M. Pagano drew the map of the Northern Dalmatia particularly emphasising the remains of the antique Burnum. The same ruins are documented in later cartography, especially that of the 18th century. In particular, in the second half of the 18th century, the famous writer and naturalist Alberto Fortis in his work Travels into Dalmatia describes the remains of Burnum, speaking about its history. He brings the drawing of three arches of the principia of Burnum. Fortis’ work encouraged other scientists to take interest in this locality. Consequently, in the 19th century the scientists began to publish intensively the results of their research. However, the first systematic archaeological excavations were initiated by the Archaeological Institute of Vienna in 1912 and 1913. They were exploring the principia. Two building phases were brought to light, discovering a small praetorium in the first building phase and a larger one in the later phase. In 1973 and 1974, the Institute effected the revising research and subsequently published the results. In that period, the archaeologists performed research by sondes on the Burnum aqueduct. In the middle of 2002, a large archaeological recognisance was initiated on this area for the development of the spatial plan of the National Park Krka. The whole area was geodetically documented. Thanks to the aerial photographs, the exact position of the rampart and of the amphitheatre was revealed. Detection of the amphitheatre was the additional motive for systematic archaeological excavations that were initiated in 2003 and have continued till today. The southern, northern and eastern entrances as well as the entire arena have been explored till now. It has been

the museum ‘Burnum’ collection, as well as the modific tion of other premises for a congress centre and sleeping facilities. The scientific research centre at Puljani would also represent the referential centre for all future research performed on the area alongside the Krka River. In addition to the referential centre, this object would have the function of being the starting point of organised tourist visits to the localities situated on the upper and middle flow of the river. Archaeological localities as a part of tourist information would bring considerable profit, invested afterwards in later excavations. Additionally, the localities as the Roman military camp of Burnum, ancient hill fort at Puljani, medieval forts Nečven and Trošenj would be transformed into archaeological parks with a daylong offer of attractions. Systematic excavations on the amphitheatre of Burnum are already partly financed in this way. Promoting activities would be presented in two directions: one scientific and one touristic. The research team has established the practice of publishing the results of scientific investigation and studies to update the scientific public on the new findings. Following the scientific promotion, the results need to be modified for the tourist promoting purposes of the National Park Krka, and the tourist guides working in the zone ought to be educated.

3. Catalogue of important archaeological localities from prehistory to the Middle Ages It has been mentioned previously that there are around fifty archaeological localities on the territory alongside the Krka River. Only those frequently mentioned in the literature or those important for the cultural history of the area that exceeds the territory of the Krka basin will be stated here. Marasovine is a locality on the left bank of the Krka River situated in its upper stream. Archaeological findings identified here originate in the Roman period. A fraction of a Roman inscription and several objects for different purposes come from the local cemetery. Bobodol is a lake and a travertine barrier that disappeared after the regulation of the river flo . These travertine barriers were used as a passage over the Krka River in prehistoric period, and a bridge was constructed above them in the antique period. A number of findings originating in the antiquity (coins, epigraphic monuments, fragments that belonged to buildings, etc.) have been found here. The known writer and naturalist of the 18th century, Alberto Fortis, noted down when visiting the Krka River that a marble architrave and cornice ornamented by carvings had been found on the travertine of the waterfall of Bobodol (Čavlinovac). In the course of the regulation of the upper stream of the Krka River in the 19th century, on the very travertine of the Bobodol waterfall epigraphic monument, stone pylons, a Corinthian capital, and spiral column have been found. In CIL 3, 2827 the inscription from Bobodol dedicated to Neptune is mentioned. Gradina – Hill fort (Puljani) is archaeological locality situated in the village Puljane above the left bank of the river of Krka (Fig. 1). This is one of the most significant ancient hill forts in Croatia positioned opposite of the Roman mili428

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established that the amphitheatre is elliptically shaped, its outer axes are 118 and 50 m, and the ones of the arena are 78 and 47 m. An inscription with the name of the Emperor Vespasian has been found above the southern entrance and it is of great importance for dating of the object. Trošenj: the medieval fort of Trošenj-grad is situated on the right bank of the Krka River on the territory of today’s village Čučevo, in front of the medieval fort Nečven. These two fortresses used to be connected by a bridge. The Croatian noble family Šubić erected and owned the fort of Trošenj-grad. The position of the fort was very important. Large stone blocks, righteously believed to have belonged to a prehistoric hill fort (because fragments of prehistoric ceramics were found here), together with some antique findings have been discovered on the spot. The Šubić family, who ruled over the right bank of the river, owned the fort during the Middle Ages. The fort passed in the hands of other Croatian nobles with the diminishing of the power of the Šubić family. In the beginning of the 16th century Turks attacked these territories, conquering in 1522 the entire zone of the Krka River, almost to the town of Skradin. They stationed their military troops in the fort, built the round tower and adapted the fortress for their own needs. With the infiltration of the Venetian army in this area in 1684, the fort was partly damaged. Trošenj-grad was abandoned and has been deteriorating since then (Fig. 2). Nečven: the medieval fort of Nečven is situated on the territory of the village that bears its name over the left bank of the river. The Croatian noble family Nelipić, who ruled the left bank of the Krka River, was in possession of the fort. Built on a cliff, the fort has four sides and irregular form. The south-western defence walls follow the natural inclination of the terrain. On the other hand, the eastern and south-eastern walls had ditches around them to facilitate the defence (Fig. 3). The town gate was placed on the north-west of the city walls and it was controlled from the polygon tower situated on the eastern side of the entrance. Inside the city walls there was a big court. An external staircase led from this court to the upper main platform. It was possible to access the first floor of the five-storey mansion attached to the five-sided tower from the court, as well. The major part of this is ruined today. Nevertheless, with its inner scheme and quality of construction, the fort of Nečven demonstrates eminent building accomplishments and the prosperity of its lords. In the lower construction, the foundations of a sacred object have been found. Two tables with the name of Constantine inscribed on them were discovered on the altar of this sacral object. Archaeological and conservatory researches were made in 1988, but their results are unknown to us. Maratovo is a village situated on the left bank of Krka. Ancient tomb inscription found here unquestionably originates from the river bank itself. It was erected by Quint Calventius for Aulo Senti, a veteran of the Legion XI, born in Arecio. The inscription can be dated to the first half of the 1st century AD, because the honourable names of the legion attributed to it in the year AD 42 do not accompany the name of the legion itself. The inscription is very important for two topographic facts: the antique name of the Krka River is mentioned in it (Titum flumen) as well as the place where Aulo Senti was killed (ad petram longam

– Duga stina – Long Rock, a name preserved till today). Furthermore, the inscription mentions the term finibus Varvarinorum. Bogočin: the remains of the medieval fort Bogočin are situated on the left bank of the Krka River. They are located on a vertical cliff. The fort can be reached by a medieval path that is largely preserved. The supports of, presumably, a moveable bridge that was used to access the main entrance to the fort are also very well preserved. It is possible to approach the fort only from the eastern side. The existence of prehistoric graves is established in the vicinity of the fort, but the idea that a hill fort had been built in this area is still considered. Some of the discovered tombs belong to the late medieval period and two sculpted stone crosses found here support this thesis. Oziđana pećina (the Walled Cavern) is one of the most unusual archaeological localities and monuments of architectural tradition in the territory of the National Park Krka and even in the Croatian territory. The cavern is situated several hundred metres upstream of the Roški Slap, almost in the middle of a huge cliff on the right bank of the Krka River. It can be spotted easily when sailing from the Roški Slap to the Monastery of Krka. Roški Slap is situated in the middle stream of the river. It is 650 m long and 450 m wide. It is made of the big waterfalls formed by the 22.5 metres high cascades, large number of canals, gushes, travertine islands and fertile zones. The total height of the waterfall is 27 m. On this spot Krka is bridged by a 60 arches long stone overpass. It was probably built on the antique foundations. In the Roman period, the territory of the Roški Slap belonged to the Roman military camp of Burnum, and it was populated by the Roman military veterans. Three tomb stone inscriptions verify this. One of them belonged to a cavalier of the Legion XI, Marco Fracsiani Sesto, born in Regio Lepido, who, judging by the inscriptions, could have been proud of numerous medals surely won in the war with Dalmats. The inscription was carved in the living rock. The second inscription is found on the right bank of the river, on a big rock separated from the edge of the canyon. It belonged to the soldier Alpinius, born in Faventi, who served as a centurion in the III Macedonian Legion. On the left bank of the river, on a large stone, cut off from the edge of the canyon, a tombstone of the soldier Titus Cilius from Larando, a veteran of the Legion XI was also discovered. Another interesting antique monument originates from this archaeological site. It is a sacrifice altar consecrated to the local divinity – the godess Latra – by Guy Turanium, evoker of Augustus. It has the form of a block. As for the other finds of antique material culture, some small items were found. Brištane is one of seven hamlets of Miljevci, situated on the left side of the Krka River. On this area several localities have been established dating from prehistory to the Middle Ages. Particular attention is drawn to an epigraphic monument found on the remains of a villa rustica in the late 19th century. It is dedicated to the god Mars by Guy Terentius Celzo, the evoker. Rogovo: the medieval fort Rogovo (Rog) is situated on the right bank of the Krka River. Hardly any written documents about this fortress are preserved, and its ruins are barely visible. The archaeological finds from this locality 429

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4. Archaeological tourism and the Krka River

are unknown. Kamičak: the medieval fort of Kamičak is mentioned in historical sources of the 13th and 14th century. Originally, it was in possession of the Croatian noble family Nelipić, but the families Utješinović and Mišljenović overtook it. The fort is famous for the birth of the first Croatian cardinal Juraj Utješinović (Martinušić). After Ivan Zapolja, the Croatian-Hungaric king, had died, Juraj Utješinović became his son’s legal guardian and hence was appointed to bring all the decisions about the destiny of Hungarians. Defence walls and fundaments of a quadrangular tower have been discovered in the foundations of Kamičak. The access path to the fortress was carved in the natural rock. Kamičak lost its importance when Turks penetrated and conquered the area and has been abandoned ever since. The inhabitants of the nearby villages used it as the source of rocks for the construction of their houses. The remains of the fortress are fully documented. Ključica: the medieval fort of Ključica is situated on the right side of the canyon of the Čikola River, on the territory of today’s village Ključ. It is the biggest and the best preserved fortress in the area of the Krka River. Its position makes accessing it very difficul . The fort consists of a fortification and a lower construction. The fortress is distinguished by its long rectangular shape and multilevel round tower on its western side. The walls of a three-storey palace, as well as the houses for soldiers and assisting rooms leaning to the northern city walls are partially preserved inside the rampart. There is also a cistern on the northern side. The defence walls of the lower construction are mostly preserved together with two river-port court gates positioned under the tower and remains of the fortified gates in the south-western angle of the court. Archaeological and conservatory excavations were initiated in 2006 (Figs 4-5). Skradinski Buk is a locality bearing the same name as the waterfalls on the Krka River. Skradinski Buk is the most famous part of the river, visited yearly by about 700,000 visitors from all over the world. The aqueduct on the right bank of Skradinski Buk bears witness to the fact that drinkable water was conducted from here to antique Scardona. Above the aqueduct there is the route of a Roman road. It is likely that there was an antique crossing (a bridge) over the Skradinski Buk, but this is yet to be confirmed. Skradin is a town on the right bank of the Krka River. Hidden in a bay of the lake of Prukljan, on the border line between Dalmatic and Liburn territory, Scardona developed as the centre of pre-Roman civitas and Roman municipium. According to an inscription dedicated to Genius, municipium flavi, it is considered that the town obtained the autonomy in the Flavium period (in the second half of the 1st century AD). Scardona was the centre of the iurisdictive convent for Liburn and Japod communities and the centre of the cult of emperor. Furthermore, it was used as seaport in service of the Roman military camp in Burnum (the shortest distance from the sea). In Late Antiquity, a bishop was ordained in Scardona, and in the 7th century, during the great movement of the people, the town was destroyed and robbed. It was renovated in the Middle Ages. In its two thousand years long history, the town has been destroyed and robbed several times.

The Krka river is an extraordinary example of sublimation of Natural and Cultural Heritage. They are intertwined along the entire river flo . Interesting natural phenomena of the river (Skradinski Buk, Roški Slap, Manojlovački Slapovi), attractive even for modern visitors, were noticed since prehistoric times. Furthermore, the Krka River has had the role of being the border between different ethnic groups or people since prehistoric times till today. The warriors were shortly replaced by writers, notaries, cartographers, priests… They document the condition they found themselves in and each time impressively write about the Krka River. The new mode of communicating between people is tourism. Archaeological localities and museums have become a part of the tourist information of an area or territory. Tourist information in its written form frequently doesn’t follow the archaeological results on the field, so wrong perceptions of localities are formed. The example of the Roman military camp of Burnum shows us the way in which archaeology stands in the way of dilettantes. The results obtained by archaeological research are regularly published and used for tourist purposes. This successful model will be applied to other archaeological localities alongside the Krka River, its final aim being securing the financial means for research, conservation and presentation from the overall tourist income. We intend to transform the area of the Roman camp of Burnum into an archaeological park with daylong tourist attractions.

5. Cultural phenomena of the Krka River: the Water mills There were 50 water mills and about 200 mill wheels positioned on the main course and tributaries of the Krka River till recently. Numerous historical sources tell us about a thousand years long tradition of mills on the river. The question is whether those kinds of mills existed in antiquity. They certainly did, and to bear witness to this presumption there is an inscription on a copper plate originating from nearby ancient Promona: ‘… pagani Prom[onenses] / molis molit utendae aquae Prom[onenses]…’ (CIL 3, 14962). It talks about the right to use water for the mills. Inhabitants of the country community (pagus) of Promona were interested in its usage. The water mills were, together with hand millstones, the most widespread type of mills due to a multitude of rivers, creeks and canals that move water wheels with blades (spoons). The first water-powered mill was horizontal. It is called the Greek mill (because it was invented in ancient Greece), or Scandinavian mill (because it was long used in Scandinavia). These mills (water mills) on the Krka River and most of the other Dalmatian rivers and creeks function even nowadays. There are no water mills with vertically positioned water wheels in our area.

430

Archaeological heritage alongside the Krka River

Abbreviations

park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 319-330 Ilakovac, B., 1984, Burnum, II. Der römische Aquädukt Plavno polje - Burnum, Bericht über die Forschungen 1973 und 1974 (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften) Ljubić, Š., 1891, ‘Rimski nadpis’, VHAD 13/1, p. 30 Marun, L., 1998, ‘Starinarski dnevnik’, Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika, p. 324 Miletić, Ž., 2007, ‘Prostorna organizacija i urbanizam rimskog Burnuma’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 181-202 Patsch, K.,1895, ‘Rimski kameniti spomenici kninskog muzeja’, Glasnik Zemaljskog Muzeja Sarajevu 7/3, pp. 379-422 Reisch, E., 1913, ‘Die Grabungen des Österreichischen archäologischen Institutes während der Jahre 1912 und 1913. Das Standlager von Burnum’, Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 16, pp. 112-135 Šimić-Kanaet Z., Zaninović, J., 2007, ‘Lončarski pečati na rimskoj keramici iz Burnuma I Tilurija’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 229-244 Wilkes, J.J., 1969, Dalmatia (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul) Zabehlicky-Scheffenegger, S., Kandler, M., 1979, Burnum, I. Erster Bericht über die Kleinfunde der Grabungen 1973 und 1974 auf dem Forum, Schriften der Balkankommission, Antiquarische Abteilung 14 (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften) Zaninović, M., 1968, ‘Burnum. Castellum – municipium’, Diadora 4, pp. 119-129 Zaninović, M., 1985, ‘Prata legionis u Kosovom polju kraj Knina s osvrtom na teritorij Tilurija’, Opuscula Archaelogica 10, pp. 63-79 Zaninović, N., 2007, ‘Arheološka topografija na prostoru NP Krka’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 259-276

CIL 3 –Mommsen, T. et al. (eds), 1873, Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum, III (Berlin) (Suppl. 1902)

references Abramić, M., 1924, ‘Militaria Burnensia’ in M. Abramić,V. Hoffiller (eds) Strena Buliciana (Zagreb, Split), pp. 221-228 Bulić, F., 1882, ‘Varvaria (Rožki Slap)’, Bulletino di archeologia e storia dalmata 11, p. 177 Bulić, F., 1896, ‘Starinska izkopina u selu Brištanim pokraj Krke’, Bulletino di archeologia e storia dalmata 6, pp. 86-87 Buttler, W., 1932, ‘Burgwälle in Norddalmatien’, Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 21, p. 192, tab. 33-1, 36-1 Cambi, N., 2007, ‘Kiparstvo rimskog legijskog logora I kasnijeg municipija Burnum’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 23-48 Cambi, N., Glavičić, M., Maršić, D., Miletić, Ž., Zaninović, J., 2006, Amfiteatar u Burnumu – stanje istraživanja 2003. - 2005. (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Nacionalni park Krka) Cambi, N., Glavičić, M., Maršić, D., Miletić, Ž., Zaninović, J., 2007, Rimska vojska u Burnumu – L’esercito romano a Burnum, ����������������������������� Burnum����������������������� – �������������������� Catalogues���������� ��������� and������ ����� Monographs 2 (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Gradski Musej) Čače, S., 1989, ‘Pogranične zajednice i jugoistočna granica Liburnije u kasno predrimskoi rimsko doba’, Diadora 11, pp. 59-91 Fortis, A., 1984, Put po Dalmaciji (Zagreb: Globus) Friganović, M., 1987, Nacionalni park Krka (Zagreb: Geografski institut, Sveučilište u Zagrebu) Gaurina, D., Zaninović, J., 2007a, ‘Nelipićeve utvrde na rijekama Krki i Čikoli’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 297-308 Gaurina, D., Zaninović, J., 2007b, ‘Vodenice (mlinovi) na Roškom slapu (povijesni pregled)’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni

431

Josko Zaninović

Fig. 1 - Aerial view of the Puljani’ s Hill fort.

Fig. 2 - Picture of the medieval fort of Trošenj-grad.

Fig. 3 - The ruins of Nečven.

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Archaeological heritage alongside the Krka River

Fig. 4 - Ključica: the remains of the fortifications.

Fig. 5 - The medieval fort of Ključ.

433

Roman epigraphical monuments from Asseria and Burnum: the role of epigraphy in reconstructing the history of sites  

Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić Abstract The Department of Archaeology of the University of Zadar together with partner-teams performs systematic excavations of the sites Asseria (Podgrađe near Benkovac) and Burnum (military legion camp near Kistanje) in the Roman province of Dalmatia. Some examples of the rich epigraphic material from old acquisition and recently excavation can illustrate the importance of epigraphy in the reconstruction of a settlement’s history in Antiquity, with consideration of the entire archaeological context and previous knowledge about social, political, military, and other circumstances happening at wider region in antiquity. All our knowledge and skills, acquired during basic archaeological education, and studies of analysis of epigraphic (and numismatic) material should be applied in practice to improve our knowledge about urbanization of certain pre-Roman and Roman settlements, about the ethnical and social structure of their populations and about many cultural and social phenomena. Finally archaeological material must be presented in an adequate manner and made accessible to a wider audience. That is why the Department of Archaeology of the University of Zadar together with partner-teams works on the foundation of the archaeological museum, conservation of the excavated objects and organization of the archaeological park in which visitors would have an opportunity to see natural beauties and historical heritage of the region.

Epigraphy (Greek ἐπιγραφή) is an historical sciences studying inscriptions engraved into some solid (durable) material: stone, metal, ceramic, mosaic. The basic task of an epigraphist is to read a certain inscription properly, but the task of an archaeologist who is also an epigraphist is to read an inscription and to collect as many relevant facts as possible on the basis of the contents of the inscription, in order to analyze them and offer a thorough interpretation of the inscription. Acquired information should be observed in the context of social, political, religious, economic and all other circumstances which were affecting the lives of an individual, or of the inhabitants of a certain town or settlement at the time when the inscription was engraved. The study of inscriptions, i.e. epigraphic heritage, from a certain region must be interdisciplinary, meaning that palaeographers, linguists, onomastic experts, topographers, and numismatists (if coins with inscriptions are in question) must give their evaluation. Methodology of research and professional work of different disciplines are applied in this kind of analysis leading to scientifically based results We had the privilege that in our regions there were several sites which revealed a considerable amount of epigraphic material, which can serve as a basis for reliable reconstruction of historical development of an ancient settlement. New archaeological excavations and finds of new inscriptions improve our knowledge about urbanization of certain pre-Roman and Roman settlements, about ethnical and social structures of their populations and about many cultural and social phenomena. As the Department of Archaeology of the University of Zadar together with partners performs systematic excavations of the sites of Asseria (today Podgrađe near Benkovac) and Burnum (military legion camp near Kistanje), we would like mention some new facts about these sites. Asseria was the centre of autochtonous civitas which became a Roman town with municipal status in the mid 1st century AD (Liebl and Wilberg 1908: 17-83; Alföldy 1965:

84-85; Wilkes 1969: 214-215; Suić 1981: 244-245; Fadić 2003b: 417-428). The settlement was founded on the fla tened plateau between the fertile region of Ravni kotari and the karstic region of Bukovica, but a crucial factor for the development of the community was its position on the merchant route leading from the colony of Iader towards the hinterland of the province and connecting some important autochtonous oppida like Nedinum, Asseria, Varvaria, Burnum (Miletić 2003: 409-416; Miletić 2004: 7-21). Immigrant Italics and native inhabitants – Asseriates – had benefits from the trade, especially the members of local aristocracy who gained citizenship at the beginning of the 1st century AD (Glavičić 2003b: 429-434) (Fig. 1). The first excavations were performed by the Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut in Wien at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, and present archaeological excavations are conducted by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Zadar, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Ancient Glass (Liebl and Wilberg 1908: 17-83; Fadić 2003a). Results have that in the mid 1st century AD the Iron Age settlement was transformed into an ancient town after intensive building activities. A Roman forum was built in the place of the earlier centre of the Iron Age settlement, and there was found an inscription partially preserved on an architrave which was used as spolium in the church of the Holy Spirit that was built in the Middle Ages (Liebl and Wilberg 1908: 69-70). The same inscription suggests the time when Asseria gained municipal autonomy. We read that L(ucius) Caninius T(iti) f(ilius) Cla(udia tribu) Fronto, duovir, flamen divi Claudii, duovir quinq(ennalis) had built some edifice at the forum or somewhere in its vicinity. Fronto was a local magistrate, but he also served as municipal priest of the divine Claudius’ cult (flamen divi Claudii), which is a very valuable information. As the cult of the divinized emperor is mentioned in the inscription, it can be dated back to the period immediately after Claudius’ death (AD 54) and the first years of Nero’s reign, and special sensibility towards

Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić

the deceased emperor can be related to achieving municipal status during his reign (Fig. 2). Inscriptions found in the area of the ancient forum or built in the walls of the church of the Holy Spirit confirm the existence of other public objects that were financed by rich individuals, who spent more money for these activities than mentioned Fronto. One donor, which unfortunately remained anonymous, gave their fellow-citizens public objects or they built their parts – porches (porticus in inscription) which was common practice in Roman times (CIL 3, 15027). Gratitude of the community was granted so that such benefactors were honoured as town patrons (with honorary statue in the town’s centre), and the same honour was paid to the town’s distinguished person who earned the title primus omnium Asseriatium (CIL 3, 15026). Although the mentioned inscriptions stand as excellent testimonies about building activities in Asseria, the most famous inscription about some public edifice in this town is the one at the town gates built by Lucius Laelius L. f. Cla(udia tribu) Proculus (CIL 3, 15034 + 15021; Liebl and Wilberg 1908: 71-72). The text of the inscription reveals that it was set up in honour of the Emperor Traianus, but the specific reason of the dedication is not known. Some archaeologists believe that some privilege that the emperor assigned to inhabitants of Asseria could be the reason for this dedication, and according to the latest theory it was made because Trajan himself visited Asseria, at the beginning of war campaign against Dacians in today’s Romania. The town gates (so-called Porta Traiana) were built on the western side of the town by interpolation into the existing town wall. Walls surrounding Asseria were built of huge blocks of local origin in early Imperial period. Remains of the Trajan’s gates had still been visible when the Austrian archaeologists excavated Asseria which made their reconstruction easier. The inscription stood at the front of the town gates, and restored it says: Imp(eratori) Caesari, divi Ne[r]vae f(ilio), / Nervae Traiano Optimo / Aug(usto), Germ(anico), Dacico, pont(ifici) max(imo), / trib(unicia) pot(estate) XVII, imp(eratori) VI, c[o](n)s(uli) VI, p(atri) p(atriae). // L(ucius) Laelius L(uci) f(ilius) Cla(udia tribu) Proculus / t(estamento) f(ieri) i(ussit) epuloque dedicari. Mentioning of Trajan’s titles, which he held when the inscription was made, helps to determine the precise date. He received the tribunitia potestas for the 17th time on December 10th in 112 and obtained it until December 9th in 113, he became an emperor for the 6th time in 106 (for the 7th time in 114), received consulate for the 6th time in 112, and the title Optimus in 113. To be summarized, the inscriptions is from AD 113. The second part of the inscription reveals the information that L. Laelius Proculus ordered by testament that munificientia should be performed and a feast (epulum) organized. We have no information about Proculus, maybe some day a lucky find might shed more light on this subject, but for the time being we can presume, according to his name, that he was a distinguished person of Italic origin, just like the aforementioned town donors (Fig. 3). Ethnical and social structure of a certain settlement is best reflected in the funerary inscriptions, because they contain names of the deceased (one or more) and the commemorator who were usually in close family or marital relations. Stelae with portraits – great funerary monuments with

the presentation of the deceased – can be found in coastal towns of the province of Dalmatia and in settlements in the hinterland. The greatest number of stelae with portraits was discovered in Salona. They were also found in other Roman colonies and municipia (Iader, Narona, Aequum), legion camps (Tilurium, Burnum), and autochtonous settlements in Liburnia, including Asseria. The most famous stela with portraits from Asseria is the one of Vadica Titua, daughter of Aplus (Vadica Apli filia Titua), who had a monument set up with the help of her sons, while she was still alive (viva fecit sibi), to herself and her mother whose name was Pasina Voltissa, Quinti filia (Rendić-Miočević 1960: 117-121). All mentioned names in the inscription are Latinized native names (Vadica, Titua, Pasina, Voltissa, Aplus, Aetor, Ceunus), and they were confirmed in inscriptions from other settlements in Liburnia, where they were also incorporated in the standard Roman naming pattern, as well as other Latinized native names. There is an opinion in the literature dealing with this onomastic peculiarity that individuals with Latinized local names within Roman naming pattern had Latin citizenship and not yet full Roman citizenship. Building of expensive funerary monument shows that Vadica and her family belonged to the richest part of the local community, i.e. the local aristocracy whose members were about to obtain the Roman citizenship in the following generations and to become magistrates in their municipia (Fig. 4). During archaeological excavations that we carried out next to the northern side of Asseria’s wall, we discovered that in Late Antiquity (in the 5th or 6th century) a massive wall consisting of funerary monuments and parts of funerary architecture was built in front of the monumental imperial wall, in order to strengthen the town’s defence system. The area between this wall and the old town’s wall was used as a cemetery, and parts of funerary architecture and funerary monuments were used as building material for tombs from Late Antiquity. A stela with portraits was used as a cover for one of these tombs, actually only a part of it with an inscription whereas the upper part with portraits of the deceased was damaged (Glavičić 2003a: 79-86). The text of the inscription was written in seven lines and restored it says: Clodia Tur[i f(ilia)] / Aeta sibi et Tito / Safinio Septumi f(ilio) / Rufo (et) Safiniae Septu/mi f(iliae) Secundae, filis / suis, / viva fecit. The interpretation of the text is simple: the funerary monument was set up by Clodia Aeta to herself and her children – the son Titus Safinius Rufus and the daughter Safinia Secunda. Naming is again interesting because we have a combination of native and Roman names integrated into a Roman naming pattern. Clodia Aeta belongs to the native inhabitants of Asseria which is obvious from her cognomen (Aeta is feminine form of the name Aetor) and filiation (her father’s name is Turus), but she has the Roman gentilicium Clodius. The names of her children are of Roman origin, which was usual because they represent the second or third generation after gaining the Roman citizenship. Local names were slowly disappearing, being replaced with Roman ones which made it more difficult to make difference between Romanized native inhabitants and immigrant Italics. However, there are some traces (in this case it is clear because of the mother’s name) which point to the ethnical background of a certain 436

Roman epigraphical monuments from Asseria and Burnum: the role of epigraphy in reconstructing the history of sites

iae infeliciss(imae) / pos(uit). Commemorator is the father who sets up the monument to his daughter. The inscription reads: Sexto Livio Maximo, Iulia Maximilla posuit. The names of the deceased and the commemorator are mentioned, without information about family relations (Fig. 9). Iulia Iadestina erects a funerary monument to her friend (amicae) Baebia Saturnina, a priestess of some college (sodali), maybe the one of the imperial cult. Baebiae / Saturninae, / Iulia Iadestina / amicae et sodali / bene meriate / viva posuit (Fadić 2006: 91) (Fig. 10). Motifs that are not usually found on other types of funerary monuments in the province of Dalmatia can appear on Liburnian cippi. Cupids holding a garland are represented on this monument. Between the Cupids there is a small niche in which we can see Roman Mercury, i.e. Hermes Psychopompos. The inscription is engraved above the garland and consists of only a name of the deceased Iulia Secundilla. The nominative case shows that she had the monument set up (Fadić 2004: 92-93) (Fig. 11). The inscription field on this cippus was defined with garlands on three sides. The inscription reads: Rubria Q(uinti) f(ilia) / Rufina, / infelicis(s)i/ma, sibi p(osuit) (Fadić 2004: 93-94). Rufina set up the monument to herself while she was still alive, and marked it with an inscription. Her portrait is above the horizontal garland which makes this cippus unique (Fig. 12). Liburnian cippi and other funerary monuments that were mentioned above were found during the archaeological excavations at the area in front of the north-western and northern part of the town wall of Asseria. They were built into a fortificati n wall from Late Antiquity or they were used as building material for tombs from the same period. As the archaeological excavations of the area in front of the wall have not been finished, it is reasonable to expect several dozens of new monuments with inscriptions which will offer new information about inhabitants of Asseria, and help in better understanding of the processes related to the Romanization of the native community, which accepts readily achievements of Roman civilization and soon becomes its integral part. The Department of Archaeology of the University of Zadar participates in excavations of another important site – the military legion camp of Burnum near the village of Ivoševci near Kistanje. The City Museum of Drniš and the Krka National Park also took part in this project as well as the colleagues from the Department of Archaeology of the University of Bologna (Fig. 13). Burnum is a common name used for an agglomeration which consisted of a Roman legion’s military camp (castra), military camp of auxiliary units (castellum), municipium which developed from canabae, and settlement of the Liburnian Burnistae (oppidum) which was situated at Gradina near Puljani (Reisch 1913: 112-135; Abramić 1924: 221-228; Alföldy 1965: 87-88; Zaninović 1968: 119-130; Wilkes 1969: 217-218; Suić 1981: 233, 248-249; ZabehlickyScheffenegger and Kandler 1979; Ilakovac 1984; Cambi et al. 2006; Cambi et al. 2007; Miletić 2007: 181-202) (see Pl. XVI: 1). Burnistae belonged to Liburnian tribes who were Roman allies on the border with Delmatae, famous for their aggressive temperament. In the first phases of the

family even in later periods (Fig. 5). The inscription on a funerary altar from the late 2nd century can serve as an illustration of this statement. The monument was found used as spolium in the mentioned defensive wall and the inscription says: D(is) M(anibus). / C(aio) T(itio) Priscino, / aed(ili), duovir(o), a/nnorum / XXXIII, m(ensium) VII, d(ierum) / VIII. Laetilia Fr/ucta, mater, f/ ilio pientis/simo fecit (Fadić 2001: 157-176) (Fig. 6). The inscription text is simple: the mother Laetia Fructa set up the monument to her deceased thirty-year-old son (with precise information about his age – 33 years, 7 months and 8 days which is one of the characteristics of funerary inscriptions of the late Principate). It needs to be mentioned that Priscinus was a magistrate in Asseria, serving as aedilis and duovir which means that he belonged to the local aristocracy, and because of his and his family’s reputation his gentilicium was marked only with sigla – starting letter T (the second characteristic is that, not so often, the gentilicia were sometimes written abbreviated if they were derived from the praenomen, in this case Titus). Priscinus mother is also mentioned on an inscription from nearby village Perušić: D(is) M(anibus) / Laetiliae / Aprillae / Laetilia / Fructa / matri {e}(f)ecit (CIL 3, 2852), as a commemorator to her mother named Laetilia Aprilla. This dedication was made on a special type of funerary monument called Liburnian cippus, which is quite a firm indication for the supposition that individuals mentioned on this inscription also belonged to Romanized native families. Namely, the Liburnian cippus is characteristic only for the region of Liburnia (hence the name), and its presence and distribution is considered as a local particularity in Roman funerary art in these regions. About one hundred such monuments were found, and more than half in Asseria and its surrounding (Fadić 1990: 209-299). The Liburnian cippus consists of a cylindrical body which at the bottom (on the basis) and at the transition from the body to the calotte has moulding, usually double, or some plastic decoration such as interwoven rope or some floral ornament. Mouldings divide the body from the calotte which is covered in scales (squamae), and the calotte usually had a cone at the top, which is often missing at the moment of the discovery. Moulded inscription field can be found on the body, with a very short text with main information about the deceased and commemorator, often with explanation of family relations. For example, two women were mentioned in the inscription: Trosiae C(ai) f(iliae) / Secundillae, / Veratia L(uci) f(ilia) / Maximilla / mater inf/elicissima / p(osuit) (Fadić 2003c: 118-119). The unfortunate (infelicissima) mother sets up a monument to her daughter (Fig. 7). Cippi found in Asseria all were made of local limestone which can be of rather poor quality. The inscription reads: L(ucio) Papirio Rufos (with grammatical error –os), / L(ucius) Papirius Didim(us), / pater f(ilio) se viv(o) / posuit (Fadić 2006: 94). Translated: the father Didimus set up a monument to himself and his son while he was still alive (son might be deceased) (Fig 8). The inscription field on this cippus is adorned with garlands on three sides. The inscription is damaged but enough was preserved to read the inscription (Fadić 2003c: 119-121): Cae[l]iae / Facundae, / [C]aelius [F]a/cundus, pat(er) / fil437

Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić

Illyricum’s pacification they presented a constant threat for the Romans. Due to strategic reasons Romans chose Burnum as a place to accomodate part of the provincial army and to build a military camp, at first a temporary one (castra aestiva), and after the rebellion of the Delmatae and the Panonian tribes (AD 6-9) permanent military camp (castra legionis) for a legion and its auxiliary units. This camp was built by the members of the Legion XI (Legio XI) which stayed at Burnum for the longest period of time, until AD 68/69 when it was withdrawn to Italy during the civil war after Nero’s death. The Legion XI, called Legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis since AD 42, was replaced by the Legion IV with the honorary title Flavia Felix, which remained at Burnum until about AD 86. Since that time there were no legion units in Dalmatia, as the previously turbulent area got stabilized over the course of about half of a century. Military functions in the province (provincia inermis) were taken over by auxiliary units and beneficiaries. Remaining soldiers stayed in the auxiliary camp – castellum. After the army had left the camp, the area was used for civil purposes. A civil settlement (canabae) had earlier developed spontaneously around the military camp, but now it spread over the camp’s area. The civil forum was formed at the place of the legion headquarters (principia), and a basilica was built as well as cult objects, etc. These building activities were probably related to the realization of the municipal status, and the civil settlement together with civitas peregrinorum becomes municipium in Hadrian’s time at the latest. Numerous epigraphic findings, and specially funerary monuments – soldiers’ stelae – offer information about lives of soldiers and veterans who remained on estates around Burnum after their military career. Besides names of soldiers and veterans, these inscriptions also reveal information about their origin (origo, domo). Data about units (name of the legion, cohors, or ala) in which they spent several years (stipendiorum tot, militavit annorum tot) are of exceptional importance because they provide basis for quite reliable reconstruction of chronology of legions’ and auxiliary units’ stay at Burnum in the 1st century AD. E.g.: T(itus) Fuficius C(ai) f(ilius) Pol(lia tribu) vet(eranus) leg(ionis) XX // T(itus) Fuficius T(iti) l(ibertus) Privatus / Fuficia G(aiae) l(iberta) Prisca, Fuficia T(iti) l(iberta) Prima. Funerary monument with portraits of family members of Titus Fuficius, who was a veteran of the Legion XX which remained at Burnum until AD 9 (CIL 3, 2030) (Fig. 14). M(arcus) Domitius / M(arci) f(ilius) Fabia (tribu) Sev/erus (domo) Brix{s}ia / miles leg(ionis) XI / ann(orum) XXX / stip(endiorum) VIII h(ic) s(itus) e(st) / heres posuit. Inscription of Marcus Domitius Severus, soldier of the Legion XI, dated back to the period before AD 42 (after that year the Legion XI gets the honorary title of Claudia Pia Fidelis) (CIL 3, 14997, 2) (Fig. 15). Q(uintus) Iulius Q(uinti) f(ilius) / Ouf(entina tribu) Man/ suetus (domo) Co/mo miles / leg(ionis) XI C(laudiae) P(iae) F(ielis) / ann(norum) XXXV [s]tip(endiorum) XIIII t(estamento) f(ieri) i(ussit) Q(uintus) Iul(ius) / Annius mil(es) leg(ionis) / eiusd(em) f(ratri) p(ientissimo) f(aciendum) c(uravit). Funerary monument set up to Quintus Iulius Mansuetus by his brother Annius as ordered by

testament. Both brothers served in the Legion XI after AD 42 (ILJug, 836) (Fig. 16). Dacnas / Apsaei f(ilius) / mil(es) coh(ortis) II / Cyrrhestaru(m) / dom(o) Berea / ann(orum) L stip(endiorum) XXIV / h(ic) s(itus) e(st). Funerary monument of Dagnas, soldier of the Cohors II Cyrrhestarum which was stationed at Burnum from AD 42 until 60 (ILJug, 2820) (Fig. 17). Funerary monuments from Burnum were set up to soldiers or by soldiers mostly, and their analysis requires a separate study. At the moment we shall focus on archaeological material and inscriptions discovered during the systematic archaeological excavations which started in 2003 by the excavation of the amphitheatre (Fig. 18). The Roman military amphitheatre was built at the southwestern periphery of the complex of the Roman military camp, about 500 m from the principia and close to the road leading to Varvaria and Asseria (Cambi et al. 2006). The amphitheatre at Burnum typologically belongs to those with four entrances (two main entrances in the crown of the ellipse and two side ones). The arena with perimeter wall has been excavated so far as well as the southern, eastern and northern entrance. Emperor Vespasian inscription was found, as well as many architectural fragments and a great amount of small archaeological finds Architectural solutions utilizing the terrain configuration were discovered and documented, namely large a karst valley which was adapted to meet the needs of the amphitheatre builders. Archaeological excavations revealed two main building phases: the first one during Claudius’ reign (works performed by so far soldiers of the Legion XI), and the second one in Vespasian’s time (works performed by so far soldiers of the Legion IV). As the natural karst valley was used for building amphitheatre, it was necessary to prepare and adjust the terrain for building separate architectural parts. The Romans have levelled the terrain by cutting and hewing bedrock, especially next to the walls, which provided better foundations and material for building, and also by filling up larger cavities and levelling certain areas with soil, which will become a rich source of archaeological finds. That is why there is a compact cultural layer in front of the entrance and underneath the stands and outer embankment of the auditorium, which is very rich in small archaeological finds such as numerous pottery sherds (amphora parts, plain pottery shreds, terra sigillata fragments, lamp fragments) and glass (luxury glasses and bowls), bronze and copper early Imperial coins, parts of military equipment (usually bronze aucissa fibulae, bronze- and silver-plated belt buckles and rings of military belts, bronze- and silver-plated pendants), bronze strigilis, bronze vessel – simpulum, bronze bell tintinabulum, legion ivory stamp for wax impressing, crest carrier of a military helmet, parts of the horse equipment, iron nails, and scarce iron tools and weapons. All finds can be easily dated to the early Imperial period, but the most important finds with reference to datation are coins About 120 coins have been found in this stratigraphically clearly defined formation, which is a satisfying amount for making reliable conclusions. Almost all discovered coins were analyzed and preserved. Most coins can be dated to the beginning of the Empire, i.e. mainly copper and bronze sestertii (sestertius), dupondia (dupondius), asses (as) and 438

Roman epigraphical monuments from Asseria and Burnum: the role of epigraphy in reconstructing the history of sites

According to the discovered material and especially coins we can assume that the building of the amphitheatre started in Claudius’ time, which is also when the first building phase was finished The amphitheatre at Burnum got its final form in AD 76/77, when Veaspasian’s inscription was placed on the front of the southern entrance which marked the end of the amphitheatre building. Members of the Legion IV performed works financed by Vespasian, an activity that can be considered as a reconstruction or construction of an annex. At that time passages were vaulted, funnel walls were added at the entrances, the auditorium was enlarged and the arena was walled-in by regular white limestone blocks. The monumental inscription of the Emperor Vespasian that originally stood over the main entrance was found in the debris of the collapsed vault (Cambi et al. 2006: 13-14). The slab was broken in two pieces. The left part of the inscription was found in the debris in the front part of the entrance, and the right part was lying on the floor in front of the entrance. The inscription was inscribed in a large limestone block of good quality, which is 294 cm long, 100 cm high and 32 cm thick. The inscription was inscribed using monumental Roman capitals in the moulded field in the shape of tabula ansata and it reads: Imp(erator) Caesar Ve[s]pasianus Aug(ustus) pont(ifex) max(imus) / trib(unicia) pot(estate) VII imp(erator) XVIII p(ater) p(atriae). The explicit mentioning of the public tribune service, obtained by Vespasian for the eighth time, is of exceptional importance because it reveals the precise date of the inscription in AD 76/77, i.e. it confirms the end of the works on the amphitheatre, which were financed by the emperor, as his name is in nominative case. Works were performed by members of the Legion IV (Legio IIII Flavia felix) which was stationed at Burnum at the time, when the amphitheatre served for military needs but also for leisure. Organization of different spectacles attracted numerous spectators, not only soldiers but also civilians from the surrounding area, which was certainly one of the important means of imperial politics promotion, and an aspect of the Romanization of the native community which was in that way getting to know and accept the Roman customs and way of life. Therefore Vespasian’s financing of the building of the amphitheatre at Burnum was not accidental, and he was probably favourably disposed to commanders and soldiers of the Legion IV, who had the honorary title of its founder (Legio IIII Flavia felix). We have used two important ancient sites (Asseria and Burnum), with the presentation of only a small part of the rich epigraphic material, to illustrate the importance of epigraphy in the reconstruction of a certain settlement’s history in antiquity, with consideration of entire archaeological context and previous knowledge about social, political, military, and other circumstances happening at wider region in antiquity. All our knowledge and skills acquired during basic archaeological education and specialistic studies of analysis of epigraphic (and numismatic) material should be applied in practice. Finally, the archaeological material must be analyzed professionally and scientificall , but it also has to be presented in an adequate manner and made accessible to a wider audience. That is why the Department of Archaeology of the University of Zadar together with

quadrantes (quadrans) were found, coined from August until Claudius. Emperor August’s aureus (minted 19-18 BC) was found in the cultural layer in front of the southern entrance and represents a special rarity. A few coins from the Republican period were also found, silver denarii (denar) and quinarii (quinarius), which were quite worn out because they were in use for a long time owing to their quality and constant value. We will see some examples of Republican Roman coins ordered chronologically. AR Denarius (3.7 g), L. Flaminius Chilo, Roma, 109-108 BC. AV: Head of Roma right, ROMA, X (Fig. 19). RV: Victory in biga right, L FLAM[INI / CILO] (Fig. 20). Crawford 302/1. AR Denarius (4.02 g), D. Iunius Silanus, Roma, 91 BC. AV: Head of Roma right. RV. Victory in biga right, D SILAN[VS L F / ROMA] Crawford 337/3. AR Denarius (4.13 g), C. Annius T. f. T. n. and C. Tarquitius P. f., Roma, 82-81 BC. AV: Diademed head of Anna Perenna right; scales beneath chin, [C. ANNIVS. T. F. T. N. PRO. COS.] EX S C around. RV: Victory in biga right; [XXXXII] above, Q below, C. TARQVITI P [F] in exergue. Crawford 366/4. AR Denarius, Q. Sicinius and C. Coponius, 49 BC. Minted in the East during Pompey expedition. AV: Diademed head of Apollo right; star below, Q. SICINIVS III. VIR. RV: Club of Hercules surmounted by a facing lion’s scalp; arrow left, bow right, [C COPONIVS] PR S C. Crawford 444/1a. AR Denarius (3.87 g), Man. Acilius Glabrio, Roma, 49 BC. AV: Laureate head of Salus right, SALVTIS upward behind. RV: Valetudo standing left, leaning on column and holding snake, [MN AC ]ILIVS III VIR V [ALETV] behind and before. Crawford 442/1a. AU Aureus (7.75 g), Octavian as Augustus, Roma, 19-18 BC. AV: CAESAR / AVGVSTVS between two laurel branches (Fig. 21). RV: OB / CIVIS / SERVATOS within oak-wreath (Fig. 22). RIC 249 (Augustus). Coins from later Imperial period and Dominate are rare and as they were found at the surface, i.e. in the shallow deposit formed above the original walking surface which is well preserved at the southern and eastern entrance, they are not relevant for determination of the building chronology. 439

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pura’, Asseria 2, pp. 73-103 Fadić, I., 2006, ‘Novi liburnski nadgrobni spomenici iz Aserije’, Asseria 4, pp. 73-104 Glavičić, M., 2003a, ‘Tri nova nadgrobna natpisa iz Aserije’, Asseria 1, pp. 71-95 Glavičić, M., 2003b, ‘Stanovništvo Aserije’, Histria antiqua 11, pp. 429-434 Ilakovac, B ., 1984, Burnum, II . Der römische Aquädukt Plavno polje������������������������������������� – Burnum, ���������������������������������� Bericht über die Forschungen 1973 und 1974 (Wien: V erlag der Österreichischen A kademie der Wissenschaften) Liebl, H., Wilberg, W., 1908, ‘Ausgrabungen in Asseria’, Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 11, pp. 17-83 Miletić, Ž., 2003, ‘Territorium Asseriae’, Histria antiqua 11, pp. 409-416 Miletić, Ž., 2004, ‘O rimskim cestama na aserijatskom području’, Asseria 2, pp. 7-21 Miletić, Ž., 2007, ‘Prostorna organizacija i urbanizam rimskog Burnuma’ in D. Marguš (ed.) Zbornik radova sa Simpozij Rijeka Krka i Nacionalni park Krka, prirodna i kulturna baština, zaštita i odrŽivi razvitak, Šibenik, 5.-8. listopada 2005. (Šibenik: Javna Ustanova), pp. 181-202 Reisch, E., 1913, ‘Die Grabungen des Österreichischen archäologischen Institutes während der Jahre 1912 und 1913. Das Standlager von Burnum’, Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 16, pp. 112-135 Rendić-Miočević, D., 1960, ‘Nekoliko monumentalnih nadgrobnih stela s portretima iz sjeverne Dalmacije’, Diadora 1, pp. 107-130 Suić, M., 1981, Zadar u starom vijeku, Prošlost Zadra 1 (Zadar: Filozofski fakultet Zadar) Wilkes, J.J., 1969, Dalmatia (London: R outledge & Kegan Paul) Zabehlicky-S cheffenegger, S ., Kandler, M., 1979, Burnum, I. Erster Bericht über die Kleinfunde der Grabungen 1973 und 1974 auf dem Forum, S chriften der B alkankommission, A ntiquarische A bteilung 14 (Wien: V erlag der Österreichischen A kademie der Wissenschaften) Zaninović, M., 1968, ‘Burnum. Castellum – municipium’, Diadora 4, pp. 119-129

team-partners works on the foundation of the archaeological museum, the conservation of the excavated objects and the organization of the archaeological park in which visitors would have an opportunity to see the natural beauties and historical heritage of the National Park.

abbrevia

tio ns

CIL 3 – Mommsen, T . et al. (eds), 1873, Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum, III (B erlin) (S uppl. 1902) ILJug – Šašel, A ., Šašel, J., 1963, Inscriptiones latinae quae in Iugoslavia inter annos MCMXL et MCMLX repertae et editae sunt, S itula 5 (Ljubljana: Narodni Muzej) Šašel, A ., Šašel, J., 1978, Inscriptiones latinae quae in Iugoslavia inter annos MCMLX et MCMLXX repertae et editae sunt, S itula 19 (Ljubljana: Narodni Muzej) RIC – S utherland, C.H.V., Carson, R .A .G. (eds), 1999, The Roman Imperial Coinage, I (London: S pink and S on Ltd) (rev. edition)

RE FERE NCES Abramić, M., 1924, ‘Militaria Burnensia’ in M. Abramić,V. Hoffiller (eds) Strena Buliciana (Zagreb, S plit), pp. 221-228 A lföldy, G., 1965, Bevölkerung und Gesellschaft in der römischen Provinz Dalmatien (B udapest: A kadémiai Kiadó) Cambi, N. et al., 2006, Amphitheatre at Burnum. Excavation 2003.-2005., B urnum – Catalogues and Monographs 1 (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Krka National Park) Cambi, N. et al., 2007, Rimska vojska u Burnumu – L’esercito romano a Burnum, B urnum – Catalogues and Monographs 2 (Drniš, Šibenik, Zadar: Gradski Musej) Crawford, M., 1987, Roman Republican Coinage (Cambridge: University Press) Fadić, I., 1990, ‘Asserijatska skupina liburnskih nadgrobnih spomenika, tzv. liburnskih cipusa’, Diadora 12, pp. 209-299 Fadić, I., 2001, ‘Priscinus – edil i duovir Aserije’, Diadora 20, pp. 157-176 Fadić, I., 2003a, Asseria: 5 godina istraŽivanja (1998.2002.) (Zadar: A rheološki Musej) Fadić, I., 2003b, ‘Uspon i pad Aserije’, Histria antiqua 11, pp. 417-428 Fadić, I., 2003c, ‘Novi liburnski cipusi iz Aserije’, Asseria 1, pp. 97-131 Fadić, I., 2004, ‘Novi epigrafski spomenici iz Aserije i Le-

Note All sketches and photos were made by Miroslav Glavičić and Željko Miletić, except Figs 2-3.

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Roman epigraphical monuments from Asseria and Burnum: the role of epigraphy in reconstructing the history of sites

Fig. 1 - Asseria (Gradina near Podagra-Benkovac).

Fig. 2 - Beam with the inscription mentioning L. Caninius Fronto, magistratus of Asseria (after Liebl and Wilberg 1908).

Fig. 3 - Reconstruction of Porta Traiana (after Liebl and Wilberg 1908). 441

Miroslav Glavičić, Željko Miletić

Fig. 4 - Portrait stela of Vadica Titua, daughter of Aplus, from Asseria (Archaeological Museum in Zadar).

Fig. 5 - Stela of Clodia Aeta, daughter of Turus, from Asseria (City Museum of Benkovac).

Fig. 7 - Inscription on Liburnian cippus of Trosia Secundilla (City Museum of Benkovac).

Fig. 6 - Funerary altar of C. Titius Priscinus, magistratus of Asseria (City Museum of Benkovac).

Fig. 8 - Inscription on Liburnian cippus mentioning L. Papirius Rufus (City Museum of Benkovac).

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Fig. 9 - Liburninan cippus of Sex. Livius Maximus (City Museum of Benkovac).

Roman epigraphical monuments from Asseria and Burnum: the role of epigraphy in reconstructing the history of sites

Fig. 10 - Liburnian cippus of Baebia Saturnina (City Museum of Benkovac).

Fig. 11 - Figure of Hermes Psyhopompos shown on Liburnian cippus of Iulia Secundilla (City Museum of Benkovac).

Fig. 12 - Liburnian cippus adorned with garlands and portrait of Rubria Rufina (City Museum of Benkovac).

Fig. 13 - Aerial view of the Roman legionary camp in Burnum.

Fig. 14 - Family of T. Fuficius, veteranus of the Legion XX, portrayed on funerary stela (Archaeological Museum in Split). 443

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Fig. 15 - Funerary Inscription of M. Domitius Severus, soldier of the Legion XI (Archaeological Museum in Zadar).

Fig. 16 - Funerary stela of Q. Iulius Mansuetus, soldier of the Legion XI CPF (Archaeological Museum in Zadar)

Fig. 17 - Funerary monument of Dagnas, soldier of the Cohors II Cyrrhestarum (Archaeological Museum in Zadar).

Fig. 18 - Burnum. Aerial view of the amphitheatre during the excavations in 2007.

Fig. 19 - Denarius, L. Flaminius Chilo, Roma, 109-108 BC. AV: head of Roma.

Fig. 20 - Denarius, L. Flaminius Chilo, Roma, 109-108 BC. RV: Victory in biga.

Fig. 21 - Aureus, Octavian as Augustus, Roma, 19-18 BC. AV: CAESAR / AVGVSTVS between two laurel branches.

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Fig. 22 - Aureus, Octavian as Augustus, Roma, 19-18 BC. RV: OB / CIVIS / SERVATOS within oak-wreath.

Addresses of contributors Amici, Carla Maria Department of Cultural Heritage Salento University Via D. Birago 64 I-73100 Lecce (Italy) [email protected]

Belcastro, Maria Giovanna f) BES - Department of Evolutionary and Experimental Biology [email protected] Bitelli, Gabriele g) DISTART - Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Water and Territorial Survey Engineering [email protected]

Ancona, Massimo Department of Computer Science University of Genoa Via Dodecaneso 35 I-16146 Genova (Italy) [email protected]

Bittelli, Marco c) DiSTA - Department of Agro-Environmental Science and Technology [email protected]

Anglos, Demetrios IESL-FORTH Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas P.O. Box 1527 GR-711 10 Heraklion (Greece) [email protected]

Bonazza, Alessandra Istituto ISAC - CNR Via Gobetti 101 I-40129 Bologna (Italy) [email protected]

Apostolaki, Chrysa Department of Mineral Resources Engineering Technical University of Crete GR-73100 Chania (Greece)

Borzić, Igor d) Department of Archaeology [email protected] Boschi, Federica a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Argyropulos, Vasilike Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art Technological Educational Institute of Athens Ag. Spyridonos, Aigaleo GR-12210 Athens (Greece) [email protected]

Cambi, Nenad d) Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Baldini, Isabella a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Campedelli, Alessandro a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Bangsgaard, Pernille b) ToRS - Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies [email protected]

Cardarelli, Andrea Department of Historical, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences of Antiquity University of Rome «La Sapienza» P.le A. Moro 5 I-00185 Roma (Italy) [email protected]

Barceló, Juan A. Department of Prehistory Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona Edifici B Campus de la UAB Bellaterr E-08193 Cerdanyola del vallès, Barcelona (Spain) [email protected]

Carra, Marialetizia a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Bartels, Christoph Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Am Bergbaumuseum 28 D-44791 Bochum (Germany) [email protected]

Catizone, Pietro c) DiSTA - Department of Agro-Environmental Science and Technology [email protected]

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Cattani, Maurizio a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Giorgi, Enrico a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Cevolin, Guglielmo Department of Law Sciences University of Udine Via Palladio 8, Palazzo Florio I-33100 Udine (Italy) [email protected]

Glavičić, Miroslav d) Department of Archaeology [email protected] Gottarelli, Antonio a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Conte, Davide Department of Computer Science University of Genoa Via Dodecaneso 35 I-16146 Genova (Italy) [email protected]

Govi, Elisabetta a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected] Gruen, Armin Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry ETH Zurich Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 15 CH-8093 Zurich (Switzerland) [email protected]

Curci, Antonio a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected] De Palma, Giovanna Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro Piazza S. Francesco di Paola 9 I-00184 Roma (Italy) [email protected]

Guaitoli, Maria Teresa a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected] Hald, Mette Marie b) ToRS - Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies [email protected]

De Paoli, Flavio Department of Informatics, Systems and Communication University of Milan - Bicocca Viale Sarca 336/14 I-20126 Milano (Italy) [email protected]

Hupet, Pierre IN SITU - Centre de recherche archéologique c/o Service de l’Archéologie du MRW Avenue des Tilleuls 62 B-4000 Liège (Belgium) [email protected]

Ferroni, Lucia c) DiSTA - Department of Agro-Environmental Science and Technology [email protected]

Kantarelou, Vasiliki Laboratory for Material Analysis - Institute of Nuclear Physics NCSR Demokritos GR-15310 Aghia Paraskevi (Greece)

Flohr Sørensen, Tim Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Linguistics University of Aarhus DK-8270 Højbjerg (Denmark) [email protected]

Karydas, Andreas G. Laboratory for Material Analysis - Institute of Nuclear Physics NCSR Demokritos GR-15310 Aghia Paraskevi (Greece) [email protected]

Giakoumaki, Anastasia IESL-FORTH Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas P.O. Box 1527 GR-711 10 Heraklion (Greece) Giannoulaki, Maria Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art Technological Educational Institute of Athens Ag. Spyridonos, Aigaleo GR-12210 Athens (Greece) [email protected]

Kerner, Susanne b) ToRS - Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies [email protected]

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Kinzel, Moritz Berlin Technical University Strasse des 17. Juni 152 D-10623 Berlin (Germany) [email protected]

Minguzzi, Vanna e) Department of Earth Sciences and Environment [email protected] Musso, Stefano F. Department of Architectural Sciences University of Genoa Stradone di S. Agostino 37 I-16123 Genova (Italy) [email protected]

Kocapınar, Abdullah Directorate General for Cultural Heritage and Museums T. C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı II. Meclis Binası TR-06100 Ulus/Ankara (Turkey) [email protected]

Nannetti, Maria Carla e) Department of Earth Sciences and Environment [email protected]

Lepore, Giuseppe a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Orejas, Almudena Instituto de Historia - CSIC C/ Albasanz 26-28 E-28037 Madrid (Spain) [email protected]

Lynnerup, Niels Laboratory of Biological Anthropology Institute of Forensic Medicine Frederik d. 5´s Vej 11 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø (Denmark) [email protected]

Panou, Theodoros Department of Medical Radiologic Technologists Technological Educational Institution of Athens Ag. Spyridonos, Aigaleo GR-12210 Athens (Greece) [email protected]

Mantegari, Glauco Department of Informatics, Systems and Communication University of Milan - Bicocca Viale Sarca 336/14 I-20126 Milano (Italy) [email protected]

Perdikatsis, Vassilis Department of Mineral Resources Engineering Technical University of Crete GR-73100 Chania (Greece) [email protected]

Marchetti, Nicolò a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Pian, Donatella Department of Archaeology and Classical Philology University of Genoa Via Balbi 4 I-16126 Genova (Italy) [email protected]

Mariotti, Valentina f) BES - Department of Evolutionary and Experimental Biology [email protected] Mazzeo Saracino, Luisa a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology [email protected]

Pini, Sonia Department of Computer Science University of Genoa Via Dodecaneso 35 I-16146 Genova (Italy) [email protected]

Messina, Palmira Istituto ISAC - CNR Via Gobetti 101 I-40129 Bologna (Italy) [email protected]

Poulimenea, Stavroula Society of Messenian Archaeological Studies Athens (Greece)

Michalakakos, G. Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art Technological Educational Institute of Athens Ag. Spyridonos, Aigaleo GR-12210 Athens (Greece)

Pulini, Ilaria Museo Civico Archeologico Etnologico Viale Vittorio Veneto 5 I-41100 Modena (Italy) [email protected]

Miletić, Željko d) Department of Archaeology [email protected]

447

Quercini, Gianluca Department of Computer Science University of Genoa Via Dodecaneso 35 I-16146 Genova (Italy) [email protected]

Tinant, Marianne IN SITU - Centre de recherche archéologique c/o Service de l’Archéologie du MRW Avenue des Tilleuls 62 B-4000 Liège (Belgium) [email protected]

Rossi Pisa, Paola c) DiSTA - Department of Agro-Environmental Science and Technology [email protected]

Traverso, Antonella Department of Archaeology and Classical Philology University of Genoa Via Balbi 4 I-16126 Genova (Italy) [email protected]

Ruiz del Árbol, María LabTel - CCHS, CSIC C/ Albasanz 26-28 E-28037 Madrid (Spain) [email protected]

Vignudelli, Marco c) DiSTA - Department of Agro-Environmental Science and Technology

Sabbioni, Cristina Istituto ISAC - CNR Via P. Gobetti 101 I-40129 Bologna (Italy) [email protected]

Vittuari, Luca g) DISTART - Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Water and Territorial Survey Engineering [email protected] Walmsley, Alan b) ToRS - Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies [email protected]

Shaer, May Department of Antiquities Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities P.O. Box 88 Amman 11118 (Jordan) [email protected]

Warnotte, Anne IN SITU - Centre de recherche archéologique c/o Service de l’Archéologie du MRW Avenue des Tilleuls 62 B-4000 Liège (Belgium) [email protected]

Simpson, Ian b) ToRS - Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies [email protected]; [email protected]

Zaffaroni, Pasquale Mapei S.p.A. Via Cafiero 2 I-20158 Milano (Italy) [email protected]

Skaarup, Bjørn Laboratory of Biological Anthropology Institute of Forensic Medicine Frederik d. 5´s Vej 11 DK-2100 København Ø (Denmark) [email protected]

Zaninović, Josko Drniš Municipal Museum Domovinskog rata 38 HR-22320 Drniš (Croatia) [email protected]

Speranza, Maria c) DiSTA - Department of Agro-Environmental Science and Technology [email protected]

Zanutta, Antonio g) DISTART - Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Water and Territorial Survey Engineering [email protected]

Themelis, Petros Society of Messenian Archaeological Studies Athens (Greece) Thuesen, Ingolf c) ToRS - Department of Cross Cultural and Regional Studies [email protected]

Zifferero, Andrea Department of Archaeology and Art History University of Siena Via Roma 56 I-53100 Siena (Italy) [email protected]

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ADDRESS LEGEND a) DIPARCH - Department of Archaeology University of Bologna Piazza S. Giovanni in Monte 2 I-40124 Bologna (Italy) www.archeologia.unibo.it b) ToRS - Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies The Carsten Niebuhr Institute University of Copenhagen Snorresgade 17-19 DK-2300 København S (Denmark) www.tors.ku.dk c) DiSTA - Department of Agro-Environmental Science and Technology University of Bologna Viale Fanin 44 I-40127 Bologna (Italy) www.dista.agrsci.unibo.it/ d) Department of Archaeology University of Zadar Obala kralja P. Krešimira IV, br. 2 HR-23000 Zadar (Croatia) www.unizd.hr/odjeli/arheologija/index.html e) Department of Earth Sciences and Environment University of Bologna Piazza di Porta S. Donato 1 I-40126 Bologna (Italy) www.geomin.unibo.it f) BES - Department of Evolutionary and Experimental Biology University of Bologna Via Selmi 3 I-40126 Bologna (Italy) www.biologia.unibo.it/BES/default.htm g) DISTART - Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Water and Territorial Survey Engineering University of Bologna Viale Risorgimento 2 I-40136 Bologna (Italy) www.distart.ing.unibo.it

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COLOUR PLATES

Pl. I

Marchetti

1 - Quickbird satellite imagery of the landscape around Tilmen Höyük, Turkey (shot in June 2003; © Digital Globe Inc.), DTM model of the Islahiye valley (by G. Bitelli) and the mound of Tilmen from the north.

2 - A remote control monitoring system at Tilmen Höyük, in which probes in the ground measure soil characteristics, while steel bars monitor walls stability. Through data loggers, the data collected are sent wirelessly to a main station off the site, which transmits into the Internet (system by Ecosearch Ltd.).

3 - Excavation of the Middle Bronze II (ca 1800-1600 BC) residency in area K-5 at Tilmen Höyük in 2006.

Pl. II

Bitelli

1 - Georeferencing and digital processing of an 18th century map of Bologna. From left to right: the original map; a detail showing the three dimensional scenographic representation; the visualization of parameters derived from the geometrical transformation during the georeferencing process (distortion grid, isolines for cartographic scale, residuals at some control points); the 3D model derived from the map for a central part of the city georeferenced and superimposed on the current satellite image in Google Earth.

2 - Integrated multiscale surveying: from the three-dimensional 1:500 numerical mapping derived from aerial Photogrammetry to close-range photogrammetric image acquisition and restitution of a church (1:100 scale), and finally orthophoto of one part of the dome.

3 - Top (from left to right): scheme of the GPS absolute positioning by long baselines and long period data acquisition, results of kinematic positioning for the survey of some structural remains, photoplane of the west façade by closerange Photogrammetry, in vector and raster mode. Bottom (from left to right): true orthophoto of the south façade, close-range simulation of a stereoscopic camera system for the survey of low reliefs in the basement, anaglyph for a single subject, development of a QTVR visual reality scene by connecting some 360° panoramic scenes realized in different places, inside or outside the building.

Bitelli – Vittuari

1 - Top (from left to right): Pan sharpened image from IKONOS high resolution satellite imagery and superimposition of contour lines on the orthophoto; device specifically developed for low-height photogrammetric mapping by balloon or kites. Bottom (from left to right): drawing from photogrammetric survey; visual reality, exploration of the overall town by georeferenced panoramic photographic nodes; a similar approach for the virtual navigation of Building VIII at Bakchias (Egypt), connection with archaeological data and interactive exploration of findings.

2 - Digital Terrain Model of the archaeological site of Sarazm derived by a continuous GNSS kinematic survey. Over the three-dimensional schematic representation, the tracks of the 70 km of surveyed profiles, selected in the field as representative of the main morphological characteristics of the topographical surface, are superimposed.

Pl. III

Pl. IV

Kinzel – Kocapınar

1 - Shkarat Msaied: site situation AD 2003.

2 - Shkarat Msaied: reconstructed site situation 7000 BC.

3 - Regional Conservation Boards in Turkey and their coverage.

Minguzzi, Nannetti

1 - The content of organic matter (wt%) in the samples of bucchero compared with the quantity of blackening observed in the samples.

2 - (a) Photomicrograph of lithic fragment (highlighted with dash), crossed-polarized light, bar scale = 1350 µm in coarse ceramic; (b) photomicrograph of fossil organism (highlighted with dash), planepolarized light, bar scale = 250 µm in coarse ceramic; (c) photomicrograph of black gloss coating (highlighted awith dash), plane-polarized light, bar scale = 300 µm in ‘refined’ ceramic.

3 - Sherds of Roman black gloss pottery found in Rimini (at the top) and in Suasa (at the bottom).

Pl. V

Cattani

Pl. VI

1 - The GIS of the excavation at the terramara of Montale, 1998-2001.

The GIS of the excavation at “terramara del Montale 1998-2001

2 - Mursia, Pantelleria. The GIS of the excavation, 2001-2006.

Mursia, Pantelleria. The GIS of the excavation



3 - Mursia, Pantelleria. Photo archive and retrieval system.

  

  



 

Cattani

Pl. VII

1 - Result of searching with list of images.

Department of Archaeology, University of Bologna. Excavations at Mursia, Pantelleria, Area B, hut 6

2 - Exemple applied to the excavations at Mursia (Pantelleria) by the Department of Archaeology, University of Bologna. Basins for production of ?

Internal wall dividing the hut in two areas

Separate entrance to each area

A webGIS for the Bronze age in Northern Italy: General Layout

reference map

project info

3 - A WebGIS for the Bronze Age in Northern Italy: general layout.

GIS tools

map

layers' choice

Pl. VIII

Cattani

1 - Example of pottery database.

2 - Another example of pottery database related to the image browser Cumulus.

Distribution of Cilindro-Rette handle. Density analysis with weighted occurrence 3 - Distribution of ‘CilindroRette’ handle. Density analysis with weighted occurrence.

Gottarelli

Pl. IX

1 - NADIR Network: the coding system of nodes, areas and operational workspaces.

2 - Organisation of the nodes areas of the Department of Archaeology in Bologna.

3 - NADIR: scheme of the Web software architecture and Web software interface.

Pl. X

Gottarelli

1 - Structure of the technologic module Unibook.it.

2 - Multimedia and Multifunctional Museum of Onferno: view of the set elements.

3 - Multimedia and Multifunctional Museum of Onferno: view of the wall-mounted projection system.

Curci – Bartels – Rossi Pisa et al.

Pl. XI

1 - Exemplification of cementum growth and secondary dentin in an ibex molar from Riparo Dalmeri (drawing from Stallibrass 1982).

2 - The Harz Mountains in Northern Germany.

3 - Three endemic species of the Tilmen Höyük flora (Turkey); from left to right Salvia indica, Cerasus microcarpa subsp. tortuosa, Alcea apterocarpa

Pl. XII

Rossi Pisa et al.

1 - Two different habitats present in the Tilmen Höyük area: Salix acmophylla igrophilous community along a little river (left) and Quercus coccifera dry shrubland (right).

2 - Environmental and cultural remains (right, Building C) in the fascinating landscape of Tilmen Höyük.

3 - Overlay of excavation and vegetation survey layers on a three-dimensional relief plan.

Musso

Pl. XIII

1 - General plan of the archaeological and environmental park of Tilmen Höyük with its legend.

2 - Photo-orthorectified aerial view of area K-5 with notes for planning the covering of the ancient residency.

Pl. XIV

Musso

1 - DTM model of Tilmen Höyük.

2 - An archaeological didactic panel at Tilmen Höyük.

3 - An environmental didactic panel at Tilmen Höyük.

Cardarelli, Pulini

Pl. XV

1 - General plan of the terramara site with the indication of researches and excavations carried out from the 19th century to 2002.

2 - Plans of the houses of phase I (left) and phase II (right).

3 - 3D reconstructions of the structures of phase II. A) the wooden stakes found in the stratigraphic excavation are raised up to their residual height; B) the structure of the house is reconstructed from the evidence of postholes and residual wooden elements (in brown: stakes found in the excavation, in red: reconstructed stakes); on the foreground the wall of the second house and the walkway in between.

Pl. XVI

Boschi, Campedelli

1 - Burnum, topography of the site.

2 - Burnum, area E, 3D display of the radar slice, at a depth of 35-40 n/sec.