LiDAR-derived DTM for historical landscape evaluation: the case study of the “Harvesting Memories” project (Castro Valley and Mt. Barraù, Corleone – Palermo)

The project “Harvesting Memories” is focused on the analysis of the long-term transformation of the cultural landscape in a rural area of Central-Western Sicily (Castro Valley and Mt. Barraù, Corleone – Palermo). In order to quickly outline the history of the territory with an acceptable precision, our survey aimed at covering and sampling as much surface as possible, according to time and human resources available. To reach this goal, in the research design we opted for qualitative surveys. The choice of the fields to be surveyed was based on GIS analysis — our predictive model took in consideration slope, water sources and presence of points with high visibility in the landscape —, that h…

THE MOSAIC OF THE FRIGIDARIUM OF “VILLA BONANNO” IN PALERMO: MINERALOGICAL AND PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSES FOR IN SITU CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION INTERVENTIONS

The topic of this study was the mineralogical and petrographic characterization of bedding mortars (made of different layers) and tesserae of Roman age (3rd century A.D.), taken from the mosaic of the Frigidarium of “Villa Bonanno”, brought to light by archaeological excavations conducted in the historical centre of Palermo. The collected samples have been analysed by thin-section optical microscopy (PLM), and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). The study was aimed to define the “recipe” (composition of aggregate and binder, aggregate size distribution, aggregate/binder ratio), in order to assess the provenance of raw m…

SEGNI SU ANFORE DA TRASPORTO DELLA NECROPOLI ORIENTALE DI HIMERA

Analisi petrografica e chimica di anfore puniche dagli scavi di Himera.

Geophysical investigations at the Himera archaeological site, northern Sicily

In this paper we present a geophysical survey that was carried out as a research activity during field trips to the Himera archaeological site, where relics of a large Greek settlement are still buried, effected by a joint group of archaeologists and geophysicists during an educational project. Two-dimensional (2D) resistivity and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were performed to locate buried archaeological structures at this archaeological site. The results of the GPR surveys show some anomalies characterized by semi-hyperbolic shapes. In some restricted areas of the town, two grids of parallel GPR profiles were acquired while time- and depth-slices were calculated to identify the …

Long-term human occupation of a rural landscape in central-western Sicily (Castro/Giardinello valley and mt Barraù): Harvesting memoires project case study

The “Harvesting Memories” project focuses on the study of long-term landscape transformations as a diachronic result of the interaction between socio-economic human patterns and environmental and ecological trends in a rural area of Central-Western Sicily. The aim of this paper is to present the results of the archaeological survey carried out in Castro/Giardinello Valley and the Mt. Barraù area (Corleone, Palermo). The fieldwork confirmed the long occupation of this area characterized by archaeological evidences dating to the Middle Copper Age/Eneolithic, Bronze Age, Classical period, Middle Ages and Late Modern age. The detection of the high intensity of human presence in this area across…