a digital reconstruction of the sunken villa con ingresso a protiro in the underwater archaeological site of baiae

The Underwater Cultural Heritage represents a key aspect of our historical memory still little known due to a number of limitations imposed by the underwater environment. The aim of this paper is to explore the use of digital three-dimensional reconstructions to support the research about this immeasurable archaeological and historical resource. The whole virtual reconstruction process is described step by step, focusing on the iterative feedback allowing for reaching the best virtual reconstruction solutions, helping the archaeologists to better focus their reasoning through a detailed visual representation, and the technical experts to avoid misleading details in the final virtual reconstruction

VIRTUAL TOUR IN THE SUNKEN “VILLA CON INGRESSO A PROTIRO” WITHIN THE UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF BAIAE

The paper presents the application of some Virtual Reality technologies developed in the Horizon 2020 i-MARECulture project to the case study of the sunken “Villa con ingresso a protiro”, dated around the II century AD, and located in the Marine Protected Area - Underwater Park of Baiae (Naples).The i-MARECulture project (www.imareculture.eu), in fact, aims to improve the public awareness about the underwater cultural heritage by developing new tool and techniques that take advantage of the virtual reality technologies to allow the general public to explore the archaeological remains outside of the submerged environment.To this end, the paper details the techniques and methods adopted for the development of an immersive virtual tour that allow users to explore, through a storytelling experience, a virtual replica and a 3D hypothetical reconstruction of the complex of the “Villa con ingresso a protiro”.</p

Definition of analytical cleaning procedures for archaeological pottery from underwater environments: The case study of samples from Baia (Naples, South Italy)

This work is focused on a multidisciplinary study of 13 pottery fragments collected in the submerged archaeological site of Baia (Naples, Italy). Founded by the Romans in the 1st century B.C., this archaeological area represents one of the greatest evidences of Roman architecture and it includes ancient ruins whose structures range from maritime villas and imperial buildings. Several diagnostic tests were carried out in order to characterize the archaeological materials, their structure and properties, as well as the alteration and degradation products. Degradation forms in seawater imply not only a variation in the physico-mechanical and chemical properties of the material but also an aesthetic damage, due to superficial deposits, which can lead to the illegibility of the artefacts. In this context, it is crucial to determine to what extent these decay factors, mainly attributable to biological growth, could affect the durability of pottery and what are the effects of cleaning procedures. The work offers further elements to obtain new insights into the underwater cultural heritage field and in the function of ceramic matter, especially related to several applications in technology and in the adoption of strategies for suitable conservation procedures. (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

DOCUMENTATION AND MONITORING OF UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES USING 3D IMAGING TECHNIQUES: THE CASE STUDY OF THE "NYMPHAEUM OF PUNTA EPITAFFIO" (BAIAE, NAPLES)

Abstract. The preservation status of an underwater cultural site can be determined as the combination of two primary factors, namely the site physical integrity, which results from the past and present interaction of the site itself with the biological/chemical agents located in the surrounding environment, and the exposure of the site to human-related threats. Methods to survey underwater archaeological sites have evolved considerably in the last years in order to face the challenges and problems in archaeological prospection, documentation, monitoring, and data collection.This paper presents a case-study of an archaeological documentation campaign addressed to study and monitor the preservation status of an underwater archaeological site by combining the quantitative measurements coming from optical and acoustic surveys with the study of biological colonization and bioerosion phenomena affecting ancient artefacts. In particular, we present the first results obtained in the survey and documentation campaign carried out during the spring – summer 2018 in the "Nymphaeum of Punta Epitaffio" located in the Marine Protected Area - Underwater Park of Baiae (Naples)

In situ conservation by cathodic protection of cast iron findings in marine environment

Nine cast iron cannons, dated between 17th and 18th century, were discovered in 2000 on the sea floor offshore the coast of the Marettimo Island (Sicily), scattered in an area of about 1200 square meters. The findings were left on the seabed, in the original place of their discovery, and a project for a marine archaeological park open to selected visitors was initiated by the Soprintendenza del Mare in collaboration with the Central Institute of Restoration. A comprehensive conservation plan was discussed among marine archeologists, conservators and materials engineers, aimed to identify efficient and non-invasive protection systems for the submerged cast iron objects. Cathodic protection was selected as the most interesting and promising conservation technique. Electrical protection of submerged steel components is a common practice for industrial or civil structures, that can be efficiently preserved circulating an external cathodic current on their surface using sacrificial anodes. In the case of components of artistic or historic relevance, particular care must be taken to guarantee the lowest impact on the object. Preliminary investigations concerning the materials and their conservation state (graphitization and corrosion potential), the position of the objects on the marine floor and the characteristics (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen) of the environment were necessary. Zinc anodes were dimensioned and connected to the cannons by an original mounting structure