Abstract
In the field of human sciences, a huge potential resource to share with civil society is formed by in-depth knowledge of archaeological contexts, gathered by teams of Heritage experts through specialised scientific analyses carried out in various research areas within universities. The proposed theme aims to increase the knowledge of two sample sites, and share the skills acquired in the archaeological field by the two RUs involved: using advanced information technologies, this can be made available for the community in a collaborative and inclusive outlook, as an incitement to a wider awareness of the cultural potential of the Country, with an undeniable effect on economy and development. In recent decades archaeological research has made great steps forward in converting local interests in single elements/monuments into broader investigations on an urban and territorial scale, focused on understanding the historical processes affecting ancient landscapes. The reason behind this change was the chance to analyse the ancient world not only in a merely horizontal way, but also recognizing its diachronic development over time, recovering the deepest chronological dimension through excavations and complex interpretations of sites. This proved to be particularly useful in the study of long-life urban centres, defined as “pluri-stratified” for this reason. Urban archaeology, carried out in Rome and in other large centres from the 1980s, developed thanks to the diffusion of the stratigraphic method and a consequent reading of ancient history by phases. This has made it possible to recognize the flowing of time by analysing the contexts found underground, allowing the reconstruction of long periods of occupation and transformations. However, only in recent years some of the earliest phases of occupation and birth of ancient cities are being investigated, and an attempt to understand lesser-known moments in the history of these places is being made. Hence, Pompeii and Ravenna have been identified as two ideal cities for the knowledge of urban landscapes in their development. In Pompeii, only one period is well known and widely documented, preventing from knowing its most ancient plot for long: the one extraordinarily preserved under Vesuvius’ volcanic deposits which buried the city in 79 AD. In Ravenna, on the other hand, some notably rich chronological phases - the late Antiquity and early Middle Ages, represented by the magnificent world-known mosaics - have blurred the awareness of the equally meaningful earlier time periods. Prone to a minor attention from the scientific community, these less monumentally visible time spans are still rather unknown to the general public and citizens, who could instead become better acquainted with those phases through apps connected to GIS databases: in this way they might become familiar and appreciate a more vertical dimension of our past, becoming aware of the city that we often unknowingly have under our feet.
Results achieved
Results can be divided in the following categories. Site-specific results: • Core sampling. Two core samples from the archaeological area of the church of Santa Croce were examined. These samples, realized for geo-structural purposes in 2022 e stored by the local Superintendence, were analysed to reconstruct the geoarchaeological sequence and further sampled in order to conduct more targeted analyses which can shed light the paleoenvironmental changes between the Prehistoric and the Medieval period. • Study of material culture. Thanks to the study of the find from the excavation carried out in 1995 at viale Galilei, further evidence of the south-eastern suburb of Ravenna in the Roman period, related to the problematic location of the Augustan harbour and to the road system, have been clarified Methodological and technical results: • WebGIS and legacy data. The online webGIS “Ravenna sotto piedi”, collecting known archaeological evidence from bibliography, was implemented and enriched with legacy data from the archives of the Superintendence of Ravenna. Interpretive results: • Diachronic reconstruction of the settlement. A preliminary reconstruction of settlement dynamics and palaeo-environmental evolution of Ravenna was made possible thanks to the research on the contexts of Santa Croce and viale Galilei. Impact and dissemination: • Presentation of the webGIS. Public meetings have constituted the occasion to present to the citizenship this instrument thought to be a mean by which to let local communities know their “hidden” archaeological heritage • On some occasions (e.g. the European Researchers’ Night 2025) initiatives targeted to different kind of publics, such as conferences and treasure hunt in the historical centre of the city were organised • Dissemination and scientific output. In addition to the conferenced hosted by OU1 at the Sapienza University of Roma, a final conference was organised at the Museo Nazionale di Ravenna (https://disci.unibo.it/it/agenda-eventi/evento/da-ravenna-sotto-i-piedi-al-progetto-maps) • Publications. The major outcome was the publication of the volume “MAPS Project. Methods and processes for the Analysis of Pluristratified Sites”, collecting contribution from the conference hosted by OU1 at the Sapienza University of Roma. In addition, another open-access paper on the e-journal GROMA: Documenting Archaeology was published.Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Enrico Giorgi
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà
Coordinator:
"Sapienza" Universita' Di Roma(Italy)
Total Unibo Contribution: Euro (EUR) 74.615,00
Project Duration in months: 24
Start Date:
30/11/2023
End Date:
28/02/2026
