TOWARDS A DIGITAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARCHIVE: THE CASE STUDY OF THE ARTEFACTS OF THE AREA OF FORI IMPERIALI

Abstract. The following research aims to exploit the low-cost technologies, for the survey and mapping of historical archaeology in the Roman context. The main purposes of the research is to implement a large-scale survey campaign to understand the geometry and the materiality of the artefacts examined. Three-dimensional survey from photography, allows an immediate mapping of the materiality, of the degradation and of the architectural elements characteristic of the architecture in question. From the model it is possible to obtain an image that is faithful to the reality that can be the basis for developments in many disciplines such as, for example, in the restoration project, for the material analysis and the mapping of the degradation. The applications for this type of mapping are numerous, one of those proposed in this research concerns the virtual musealisation of historical artifacts. More and more in recent years, museums are exploiting the capabilities of three-dimensional modeling software of architectural elements to interactively convey architectural elements. A methodology of work that in recent archaeological excavations is not based solely on the didactic divulgation of the history of a place, but during the excavation phase on the mapping and cataloging of uncovered finds.</p

Digital methodologies for existing buildings emerging education and training for professionals

Processes such as Building Information Modeling and, more generally, those involving the digitization of the built environment whose BIM is one of the possible expressions, are becoming increasingly pervasive in many different practices, from the design activities to the building site and management. Professional skills and working experience have now to be fostered by specific training on new methodologies concerning virtual replicas of existing domains, to explore the possibilities offered by digital interactions with Smart Heritage artifacts. This paper delves into the outcomes from the BIM Master Program held at the University of Pisa since 2016, presenting the results of the application of novel teaching techniques and topics related to the digitization of the built historic environment for the design preservation of Cultural Heritage monuments or sites

Ruling Culture: Tomb Robbers, State Power, and the Struggle for Italian Antiquities.

Ancient artifacts and ruins are evocative symbols of modern Italy. Long subject to contingent valuations, ranging from hostility and active destruction to romanticization and ardent protection, antiquities are now fiercely contested resources for state power, scientific expertise, and cultural identity. Employing ethnographic, historical, material, and institutional methods, this dissertation shows how these domains of authority come together to constitute what I call cultural power. The nationalization of Italian antiquities offered a blueprint for other nation-states which sought to assert control over the circulation of ancient objects and ruins – key symbolic resources. The core finding in the dissertation is that cultural power is a distinct sphere of state power that is constituted by control over sites, objects, and practices but is not limited to the cultural sphere. Drawing on theories and methods from sociology, cultural anthropology, art history, and legal studies, I ask why the current framework for antiquities nationalization took shape the way it did, and what effect it has on the ways that people “know” the common national past. The reclassification of antiquities as state property was a crucial, early event in the amassing of cultural power in Italy. The 1969 establishment of the world’s first art crimes police unit (the “Art Squad”) extended Italian cultural power to repatriation practices, a key praxis in which nation-states’ heritage programs conflict and compete. A decades-long campaign against unauthorized excavators, known as “tomb robbers” (tombaroli in Italian) flexes cultural power at home. Cultural power also impacts nationhood epistemology. The confluence of science, state administration, and archaeological mysticism promotes a new mode of experience with Italy’s ancient past: indexical history, in which antiquities configure as quantifiable “wins”, as contrasted with iconical history, which narrated the past through select, sacralized images and objects. Key scholarly contributions of my project are clarification of the relationship between state power, science, and culture by transcending the traditional scholarly distinction between ethnic and civic nationalism; original ethnographic data that complicate existing scholarly views on looting and the illicit antiquities trade; and a material-focused agenda for studying the relationship between state and nation.PHDSociologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108983/1/frose_1.pd

Talkin' bout a revolution: Cultural Effects on the Transition from Oral to Written Literature

Using language and writing to distinguish cultures from each other is commonplace. They are defining characteristics of culture that enable members to identify themselves within their group - by having communication they are tied together. Oral communication is the key identifier for Nyikina people of northern-Western Australia. However, Nyikina language is severely endangered, and risks being lost altogether. If the language were to die, Nyikina people would lose a huge part of their cultural identity. Working with the Nyikina community as part of a language revitalisation project sparked my interest in the transition from oral to written literature within the Mediterranean. Why did Nyikina not develop their own script, but Minoans and Etruscans did? It would be beneficial to have Etruscan literature or sound recordings describing how the Etruscan language was influenced by Phoenician and Greek cultures, and to know why they created their own alphabet using elements from both colonising influences. Hence, the experience and situation regarding the Nyikina language may provide a general paradigm for understanding and extrapolating the contextual situations of Minoans and Etruscans with respect to their languages, and vice-versa. This was the spring-board to a Masters thesis exploring such changes

Talkin' bout a revolution: Cultural Effects on the Transition from Oral to Written Literature

Using language and writing to distinguish cultures from each other is commonplace. They are defining characteristics of culture that enable members to identify themselves within their group - by having communication they are tied together. Oral communication is the key identifier for Nyikina people of northern-Western Australia. However, Nyikina language is severely endangered, and risks being lost altogether. If the language were to die, Nyikina people would lose a huge part of their cultural identity. Working with the Nyikina community as part of a language revitalisation project sparked my interest in the transition from oral to written literature within the Mediterranean. Why did Nyikina not develop their own script, but Minoans and Etruscans did? It would be beneficial to have Etruscan literature or sound recordings describing how the Etruscan language was influenced by Phoenician and Greek cultures, and to know why they created their own alphabet using elements from both colonising influences. Hence, the experience and situation regarding the Nyikina language may provide a general paradigm for understanding and extrapolating the contextual situations of Minoans and Etruscans with respect to their languages, and vice-versa. This was the spring-board to a Masters thesis exploring such changes

Quantification of extracellular proteases and chitinases from marine bacteria

A total of 92 marine bacteria belonging to Pseudomonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Psychrobacter, and Shewanella were first screened for their proteolytic activity. In total, four Pseudomonas strains belonging to Ps. fluorescens, Ps. fragi, Ps. gessardii, and Ps. marginalis; 14 Pseudoalteromonas strains belonging to Psa. arctica, Psa. carrageenovora, Psa. elyakovii, Psa. issachenkonii, Psa. rubra, Psa. translucida, and Psa. tunicata; and two Shewanella strains belonging to S. baltica and S. putrefaciens were identified to have a weak to high proteolytic activity (from 478 to 4445 mU/mg trypsin equivalent) against skim milk casein as protein source. Further chitinolytic activity screening based on these 20 proteolytic strains using colloidal chitin yielded five positive strains which were tested against three different chitin substrates in order to determine the various types of chitinases. Among the strains that can produce both proteases and chitinases, Psa. rubra DSM 6842T expressed not only the highest proteolytic activity (2558 mU/mg trypsin equivalent) but also the highest activity of exochitinases, specifically, β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (6.33 mU/107 cfu) as well. We anticipate that this strain can be innovatively applied to the valorization of marine crustaceans side streams

Actors and Agents in Ritual Behavior: The Sanctuary at Grasceta dei Cavallari as a Case-Study of the E-L-C Votive Tradition in Republican Italy.

This dissertation uses the southern Etrurian sanctuary of Grasceta dei Cavallari in the Tolfa Mountains as a case-study to re-evaluate and challenge prevailing scholarship concerning the actors and agents participating in ritual behavior in fourth- to first-century BCE Italy. Through this period the dedication of anatomical terracotta votives—external body parts, internal organs—and terracotta heads was an extremely pervasive form of worship. Its spread is tied to Rome’s occupation of the peninsula, and its adoption by indigenous non-Roman peoples is seen as a hallmark of their acculturation under Rome’s hegemony. The present conventional perspective neglects to differentiate practice from identity: because participation in the essentially Roman ritual was virtually pan-Italic, so too was a Romanized identity, regardless of traditional cultural backgrounds. I argue that traditional local identities not only continued within the foreign rituals but also can be perceived and interpreted through the archaeological signatures of the votive offerings. I take as evidence the different formal styles of the votives at Grasceta dei Cavallari. Most notable are the schematic heads that are attributed to local workshops. Scholars depreciate this indigenous style as anomalous or as a naïve imitation of more “classical” Hellenic style products. I see, instead, a formal logic to the style. Informed by an entrenched and long-lived tradition within the Etruscan aesthetic repertoire, the style was ingrained in the habitus of the peoples. Its propagation into the anatomical votive tradition signals the agency of the Etruscans in maintaining visually their identity in the foreign cult. I disagree that the ritual tradition’s dominance mirrors the success of Rome to homogenize and Romanize the conquered peoples. There was no overarching imperial strategy guiding Roman expansion. Likewise, the native’s response to conquest extended beyond outright acceptance or resistance. Autonomy to evaluate imported customs enabled the conquered to adapt and refashion those which seemed advantageous. Thus, I argue that the tradition was taken up not to replace traditional belief systems, but to enhance them and provide novel ways for individuals and communities to manage their relationship with the divinities.Ph.D.Classical Art & ArchaeologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91529/1/kdicus_1.pd

Landscape approaches for ecosystem management in Mediterranean Islands

This book presents a series of essays, drawing on the twm concepts of ecosystem management and landscape approaches, to elucidate and reflect on the present situation and future evolution of Mediterranean islands. This publication brings together contributions from Mediterranean individuals, non-Mediterranean individuals, islanders and non-islanders there is, after all, no geographical limit on who and what we can learn from. The essays presented here each contribute a specific perspective on the future evolution of Mediterranean islands. This book presents a series of essays, drawing on the twin concepts of ecosystem management and landscape approaches, to elucidate and reflect on the present situation and future evolution of Mediterranean islands. This publication brings together contributions from Mediterranean individuals, non-Mediterranean individuals, islanders and non-islanders; there is, after all, no geographical limit on who and what we can learn from. The essays presented here each contribute a specific perspective on the future evolution of Mediterranean islands. Following this introductory chapter, the first section of the book focuses on the contributions that can be made by the discipline of landscape ecology. loannis Vogiatzakis and Geoffrey Griffiths first explain the concepts and relevance of landscape ecology, also presenting and discussing a range of applied tools that can facilitate landscape planning in Mediterranean islands. Louis F. Cassar then reviews the 'offshoot' discipline of restoration ecology, making a strong case for offsetting the environmental damage inflicted on natural ecosystems over millennia of human occupation, with constructive efforts to effectively restore and/or rehabilitate ecosystems. The two following chapters bring the socio-economic dimension into the discussion. Godfrey Baldacchino first presents two contrasting paradigms for the development of island territories, reviewing the dual influences of ecological and economic factors, and exploring ways in which the two can be brought together in successful development strategies. Gordon Cordina and Nadia Farrugia then address the demographic dimension of development, presenting a model to explain the economic costs of high population densities on islands. The third block of chapters expands on the relevance of social and cultural dynamics to the management of Mediterranean Islands. Isil Cakcï, Nur Belkayali and Ilkden Tazebay explain the evolution of the concept of a 'cultural landscape', focusing on the challenges of managing change in landscapes with strong heritage values. The chapter concludes with a case study on the Turkish island of Gökçeada (lmbros), which is experiencing major challenges in balancing the conservation of a cultural landscape on the one hand, and the management of inevitable change, on the other. Elisabeth Conrad then discusses the role of social capital in managing the landscape resources of Mediterranean islands, reviewing the potential for this intangible social fabric to facilitate or impede the sustainable evolution of island territories. The fourth section includes four chapters, each of which addresses a different aspect relevant to policy development and implementation in Mediterranean islands. Salvino Busuttil presents an essay outlining the political influences on the management of coastal landscapes, the latter so relevant to Mediterranean island territories. The essay derives from the author's professional experience in various policy-related institutions for environmental management within the Mediterranean region. Maggie Roe then reflects on issues of landscape sustainability, focusing on the neglected aspect of intelligence. She discusses ways in which landscape research, knowledge and understanding can feed directly into frameworks for 'sustainable' landscape planning. In the subsequent chapter, Adrian Phillips takes from his substantial experience with international landscape policy, reviewing the gradual emergence of international and national landscape 'tools', to draw out lessons for application in Mediterranean islands. In the final chapter of this section, Riccardo Priore and Damiano Galla present a comprehensive discussion of the European Landscape Convention, the first international instrument to focus exclusively on landscape. The authors explain the innovative character of this convention, and discuss its potential implementation in Mediterranean islands. The publication concludes with a series of case studies, highlighting specific constraints, experiences and opportunities in different Mediterranean islands. Theano Terkenli explores the landscapes of tourism in Mediterranean islands - perhaps no other industry has played such a fundamental role in shaping the evolution of Mediterranean landscapes in recent years. The author reviews the theoretical relationship between landscape and tourism across Mediterranean islands, before focusing on the specific case of the Greek Cycladic islands. In the following chapter, Alex Camilleri, Isabella Colombini and Lorenzo Chelazzi present an in-depth review of the context and challenges being faced on a number of minor Mediterranean islands, namely those of the Tuscan archipelago (Elba, Giglio, Capraia, Montecristo, Pianosa, Gorgona and Giannutri), and Comino, the latter forming part of the Maltese archipelago. The comparison between these various islands enables an appreciation of both commonalities across these islands, as well as considerations that are specific to the context of each in dividual island. JeremyBoissevain then adopts an anthropological lens to review the cautionary tale of landscape change in Malta, exploring underlying causes of landscape destruction and limited civil engagement. In the subsequent chapter, Jala Makhzoumi outlines the richness of Mediterranean islands' rural landscapes, focusing on olive landscapes in Cyprus. Her research demonstrates the economic and ecological robustness of various olive cultivation practices, and whilst warning of several threats to such sustainable regimes, she outlines strategies for reconfiguring our approach to rural heritage, in order to integrate such assets into sustainable development strategies. Finally, Stephen Morse concludes the section with an evaluation of sustainable development indicators, and the contribution that these can make towards enhancing the management of Mediterranean island territories. He illustrates his arguments with reference to the two island states of Malta and Cyprus. To conclude, in the final chapter of this publication, we review key insights emerging from the various chapters, and summarize considerations for ecosystem management and sustainable development in Mediterranean Islands. We truly hope that this publication makes some contribution towards safeguarding the "magic' of Mediterranean islands, whilst embracing their dynamic characteristics.Published under the patronage of UNESCO and with the support of the Maltese National Commission for UNESCOpeer-reviewe