The everyday-life in neanderthal times: a full-immersive Pleistocene reconstruction for the Casal De' Pazzi Museum (Rome)

[EN] The Museum of Casal De' Pazzi (Rome) is built since about ten years on a Pleistocene floor consisting in the ancient riverbed of the Aniene river, at about 200.000 bp. Since its opening, it has been characterized by a strong narrative approach, and communication effort. The digital project realized by the Italian CNR (Institut for Technology applied to Cultural Heritage) implies three applications: a flood simulation, to show the water refilling of the ancient riverbed; a movie in computer-graphic, to be shown to the public, explaining neanderthal man and ancient elephant's life, and an edu-game, for children's learning, the Plei-stostation, implemented by touch-screen interaction dynamics.[ES] El Museo de Casal De' Pazzi (Roma) se construyó hace unos diez años en un terreno pleistocénico, en el que hace aproximadamente 200.000 años se encontraba el antiguo cauce del río Aniene. Desde su apertura, el Museo se ha caracterizado por un fuerte enfoque narrativo y comunicativo. El proyecto digital realizado porel CNR italiano (Instituto de las Tecnologías aplicadas a Bienes Culturales) incluye tres aplicaciones: una simulación de las inundaciones, que muestra como se anegó del antiguo lecho del río; una película de animación por ordenador, en la que se presenta al público cómo era el antiguo hombre de Neanderthal y la vida de los elefantes antiguos, y un juego educativo, que fomenta el aprendizaje de los niños, el Plei-sto-station, implementado mediante un sistema dinámico con pantalla de interacción táctil.Palombini, A.; Arnoldus Huyzendveld, A.; Di Ioia, M.; Gioia, P.; Persiani, C.; Pescarin, S. (2012). The everyday-life in neanderthal times: a full-immersive Pleistocene reconstruction for the Casal De' Pazzi Museum (Rome). Virtual Archaeology Review. 3(7):73-76. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2012.4391OJS737637FUNICIELLO R., GIORDANO G. (2008): "La geologia di Roma - Dal centro storico alla periferia". Memorie descrittive della Carta Geologica d'Italia n. 80/2008 - Servizio Geologico Nazionale - APAT

The Virtual Museum of the Tiber Valley Project

[EN] The aim of the Virtual Museum of the Tiber Valley project is the creation of an integrated digital system for the knowledge, valorisation and communication of the cultural landscape, archaeological and naturalistic sites along the Tiber Valley, in the Sabina area between Monte Soratte and the ancient city of Lucus Feroniae (Capena). Virtual reality applications, multimedia contents, together with a web site, are under construction and they will be accessed inside the museums of the territory and in a central museum in Rome. The different stages of work will cover the building of a geo-spatial archaeological database, the reconstruction of the ancient potential landscape and the creation of virtual models of the major archaeological sites. This paper will focus on the methodologies used and on present and future results.[ES] El objetivo del proyecto del Museo Virtual del Valle del Tiber es la creación de un sistema digital integrado para el conocimiento, la valorización y la comunicación del paisaje cultural, arqueológico y natural a lo largo del valle del Tíber, en la zona Sabina entre Monte Soratte y la antigua ciudad de Lucus Feroniae (Capena). Actualmente están en proceso de construcción varias aplicaciones de realidad virtual, contenidos multimedia, junto con un sitio web, a los que se tendrá acceso en diversos museos de la zona así como en un museo central ubicado en Roma. Las diferentes fases de trabajo se centrarán en la construcción de una base de datos arqueológicos geo-espacial, en la reconstrucción del paisaje antiguo y en la creación de los modelos virtuales de los sitios arqueológicos más importantes. Este documento se centra en la metodología utilizada, desgranado los resultados presentes y futuros esperados.Arnoldus Huyzendveld, A.; Di Ioia, M.; Ferdani, D.; Palombini, A.; Sanna, V.; Zanni, S.; Pietroni, E. (2012). The Virtual Museum of the Tiber Valley Project. Virtual Archaeology Review. 3(7):97-101. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2012.4396OJS9710137ADAM, J.P. (1988): L'arte di costruire presso i romani, Longanesi, Milano.CAMBI, F. (2004): "Le campagne di Falerii e di Capena dopo la romanizzazione", in Bridging the Tiber, London, pp. 75-102.COARELLI, F. (2009): "La romanizzazione della Sabina", in F. Coarelli et alii, "Falacrinae. Le origini di Vespasiano", Roma, pp. 11-17.DI GIUSEPPE, H. (2005): "Villae, villulae e fattorie nella Media Valle del Tevere, in Roman Villas around the Urbs: interaction with landscape and environment", in the Proceedings of a conference held at the Swedish Institute in Rome (September, 17-18, 2004), Roma.GROS, P. & TORELLI, M. (2007): Storia dell'urbanistica. Il mondo romano, Laterza, Roma.MORACHIELLO, P. & FONTANA, V. (2009): L'architettura del mondo romano, Laterza, Roma.PAROTTO, M. (2008): "Evoluzione paleogeografica dell'area romana: una breve sintesi", in Funiciello R., Praturlon A. & Giordano G. (ed) La Geologia di Roma dal centro storico alla periferia. Memorie Descrittive della Carta Geologica d'Italia, LXXX, pp. 25-39.SANTORO, P. (2006): "L'Etruria e i Sabini del Tevere: influenze culturali e commerciali", in Archeologia in Etruria meridionale, atti delle giornate di studio in ricordo di Mario Moretti (Civita Castellana, 14-15 novembre 2003), Roma, pp. 49-64.STERNINI, M. (2004): La Romanizzazione della Sabina Tiberina, Bari.TARQUINI, S., ISOLA, I., FAVALLI, M., MAZZARINI, F., BISSON, M., PARESCHI, M.T., BOSCHI, E. (2007): "TINITALY/01: a new Triangular Irregular Network of Italy", in Annals of Geophysics, nº 50, pp. 407-425.TARQUINI, S., VINCI, S., FAVALLI, M., DOUMAZ, F., FORNACIAI, A., NANNIPIERI, L. (2012): "Release of a 10-m-resolution DEM for the Italian territory: Comparison with global-coverage DEMs and anaglyph-mode exploration via the web", in Computers & Geosciences 38, 168-170. doi: doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2011.04.018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2011.04.018VITRUVIO, De Architectura

Site location and resources exploitation: predictive models for the plain of Grosseto. Archeologia Medievale

This paper focuses on a small area north-west of Grosseto, near the central western Italian coast, and on a short time-span: the early middle ages (6th to 10th centuries AD). We compare and integrate literary sources, archaeological data and the environmental context to study the settlement pattern and the resource exploitation. In particular, our goal was to investigate the presence of salt extraction activity. This paper is a follow up of Citter, Arnoldus-Huyzendveld 2012, where we studied the south-eastern portion of the plain. In this case, we have the same goal, but we shall apply a different method and refer to a shorter time-span. The environmental analysis puts literary sources and archaeological data in their proper context, raising more questions than before. In the conclusion, we shall outline some general remarks about the concept of predictive models in landscape archaeology. We propose a broader and more flexible definition, focused more on the questions and goals than on the procedures and the methods applied. This allows us to avoid the constraints of inductive-quantitative approaches, which have proved to be of limited practical use for landscape archaeology

Un ritrovamento nel c.d. Fiume Morto. Nuove riflessioni su Ostia arcaica

Una grande trave di legno lavorata, immersa in un deposito alluvionale del I secolo d.C., è stata rinvenuta lungo il meandro abbandonato del Tevere («Fiume Morto») di Ostia Antica. È stata datata tramite l’analisi al radiocarbonio al VI-IV secolo a.C. La sua forma e dimensione suggeriscono un uso contro l’erosione fluviale («passonata»). Questo ritrovamento getta una nuova luce sulla tanto discussa presenza e posizione dell’Ostia arcaica.A find in the so-called Fiume Morto. New reflections on archaic Ostia. A large worked wooden beam, immersed in an alluvial deposit of the first century CE, was found along the abandoned Tiber meander («Fiume Morto») near Ostia Antica (Rome, Italy). It was dated by radiocarbon analysis to the sixth-fourth century BCE. Its form and size suggest a use against river erosion. This find sheds a new light on the much-debated presence and position of archaic Ostia

Il paleoambiente di Monte Giulio e della parte nord-orientale del bacino portuale di Claudio

This publication focuses on the site of Monte Giulio (Fiumicino, RM, Italy), the complex that makes up the internal (eastern) delimitation of the harbour basin of Claudius, investigated through a series of cores, trenches and excavations between 2007 and 2009. We recognized various natural and anthropical phases, from the construction of the structures on Monte Giulio in the Trajanic period until the end of the occupation of the area, dated not beyond the beginning of the fifth century. Hypotheses are put forward as to the extension and the limited depth of the interdunal lagoon located in pre-imperial times behind the coastline north of the future harbour of Trajan, and on Monte Giulio as a complex functional for small-sized boats, constructed on a natural dune ridge in this lagoon. Moreover, hypotheses are put forward on the general environmental conditions of the area in pre-Roman and Roman times, and on the probability that Claudius did not dredge the entire lagoon, but may have done so only locally through the excavation of channels in the bottom; he then cut through the coastal barrier to let the sea enter, and concentrated the maritime traffic on Portus through the creation of harbour structures along the original coast line. On the basis of the excavation data, the sea level in the second century AD results to have been more than one meter below the present level, and rising continuously in the centuries thereafter. Integration of new radiocarbon datings with those known from literature has confirmed that the shift of the Tiber mouth from north to south has occurred most probably in the eight century BC or slightly later

Predictivity – postdictivity: a theoretical framework

This paper focuses on the theoretical framework of recent approaches to predictivity and postdictivity. In particular, we stress the latter due to the high potential of its use in historical interpretation

La Vigna Barberini II. Domus, palais impérial et temples : stratigraphie du secteur nord-est du Palatin

International audienc

Verso una metodologia condivisa per l'analisi del paesaggio antico: il Progetto "Valle del Tevere"

The Tiber Valley Project aims to create a series of digital applications for 3D reconstructing, visualization and real time browsing of the ancient and current Tiber Valley landscape (particularly for the Villa dei Volusii and Lucus Feroniae areas), in four different historical phases. In this perspective, the first problem to face is the need for a valid methodology for ancient landscape ecosystem reconstruction, before dealing with monuments and building. On the basis of an intense multi-disciplinary discussion and the previous VH Lab experience in this field, in this article we are presenting a scheme for a standardized reconstruction procedure, where the landscape is built using all available sources and elevation data obtained by a photogrammetry process on historical pictures. Ecosystem areas are then calculated through GIS elaboration in GRASS-GIS environment, through a procedure which may be shared for any situation of historical landscape reconstruction, allowing the matching and the mathematical processing of geographical data aimed to the definition of different ecological areas (both in terms of natural vegetation and cultivated lands). Maps are then created to be imported in procedural landscape generation engines: the last part of the paper focuses on the lack of effective open source software in this field, and a possible proposal implementation in this sense1. Il progetto " Valle del Tevere " Il presente lavoro illustra la sperimentazione di una metodologia per la ricostruzione del paesaggio storico, con particolare riguardo agli aspetti di definizione delle diverse presenze vegetazionali e antropiche del territorio in determinate epoche del passato. Il caso di studio è rappresentato dal lavoro che l'Istituto per le Tecnologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali (ITABC) del CNR sta svolgendo nell'ambito del Programma " Arcus " , finalizzato alla creazione di un sistema integrato di conoscenza, valorizzazione e comunicazione del paesaggio culturale della Valle del Tevere (contesti archeologici, storico-arti-stici, naturalistici, antropici), in particolare dell'area compresa tra il Monte Soratte e Fiano Romano, in direzione N-S, e il tracciato della via Flaminia antica e Palombara Sabina, in direzione E-O. Il progetto prevede una variegata serie di prodotti finali, quali: – un'installazione di realtà virtuale ludico-educativa, caratterizzata da un sistema di natural interaction (interazione attraverso i movimenti del corpo), localizzata all'interno di un museo di Roma, quale porta privilegiata di accesso e promozione del territorio della Valle del Tevere; – una guida multimediale alla Villa dei Volusii e al sito di Lucus Feroniae, da fruire sia su mobile che presso il Museo di Lucus Feroniae; – una guida alla Riserva del Tevere-Farfa, per smartphone o tablet, da fruire durante la visita all'area naturalistica; – un'installazione multimediale-filmica dedicata alla Riserva naturale del Teve-re-Farfa e destinata alle scuole, da fruire nel Museo del Fiume di Nazzano; – un sito web sul paesaggio culturale, basato su un sistema informativo geo-grafico in 3D e dedicato al pubblico di turisti, studiosi, operatori, scuole. Il lavoro comporta una ricostruzione fotorealistica del paesaggio natu-rale e antropico rispetto alle seguenti fasi cronologiche: – fase preistorica (ricostruzione della storia geologica dell'area, formazione della Valle del Tevere e dell'alveo fluviale, tra 3 milioni di anni fa e 12.000 anni fa); – fase pre-romana (focalizzata sull'Età del Ferro e sul periodo Orientaliz-zante); – fase romana (focalizzata, in particolare, sul periodo augusteo); – fase medievale (focalizzata, in particolare, sul XII secolo); – fase contemporanea

The everyday-life in neanderthal times: a full-immersive Pleistocene reconstruction for the Casal De' Pazzi Museum (Rome)

The Museum of Casal De' Pazzi (Rome) is built since about ten years on a Pleistocene floor consisting in the ancient riverbed of the Aniene river, at about 200.000 bp. Since its opening, it has been characterized by a strong narrative approach, and communication effort. The digital project realized by the Italian CNR (Institut for Technology applied to Cultural Heritage) implies three applications: a flood simulation, to show the water refilling of the ancient riverbed; a movie in computer-graphic, to be shown to the public, explaining neanderthal man and ancient elephant's life, and an edu-game, for children's learning, the Plei-stostation, implemented by touch-screen interaction dynamics.El Museo de Casal De' Pazzi (Roma) se construyó hace unos diez años en un terreno pleistocénico, en el que hace aproximadamente 200.000 años se encontraba el antiguo cauce del río Aniene. Desde su apertura, el Museo se ha caracterizado por un fuerte enfoque narrativo y comunicativo. El proyecto digital realizado por el CNR italiano (Instituto de las Tecnologías aplicadas a Bienes Culturales) incluye tres aplicaciones: una simulación de las inundaciones, que muestra como se anegó del antiguo lecho del río; una película de animación por ordenador, en la que se presenta al público cómo era el antiguo hombre de Neanderthal y la vida de los elefantes antiguos, y un juego educativo, que fomenta el aprendizaje de los niños, el Plei-sto-station, implementado mediante un sistema dinámico con pantalla de interacción táctil